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U J \ ( rf The HiuoTYPEPRnnmoCD JSO I^EvaiisHmKST Boaroi. KOQUOI8 pivE Nations and |y|i8sioi i ^nd|V1i8sionSites.i656-i684. byJohnS.Claf^k.i879. ' y| / Country of M« HURON i/triBSH //' Conquered hy lAe f^*OQ^iMfJ ^^'' . 1 ] i //! / f IMIKFACK Wlioii tlio writer bo),'iin llio ro-icardios onl of wliicli llio following pajrcs liiivo K'rowii. Iio did not anticipiili' liial lliu \vori< woi.ld n^ai'ii ilH [ircrtciit proportions. His orijjiiml doaign was siaiply to IriiiiHJato from tlio liclalinns of tlio Jesuit Katii- cr.s at liis command, »ucli extracts as deacrilji-d tlieir labors anionj; llio Cayiigas wlioso canton, known to the French as (ioi-o-)j;oncn. was larj^cly comprised witliin tlio linn'ts of the county wliicli boars th(!ir nanic — .'ind of special interest to tlio local historian as its earliest annals an J written by the lirat white men who trod its soil. The several translations were carefully made for the purpose, and with the desire that the work of tlioso heroic and devoted men should apeak for it.^elf. With this view, a series of articles, which first ai)poared in the Auburn Daily Aloeititer, was prepared, but carrying the histor}' of the Mission in detail no further than 107'2 (the Rchitions in the writer's possession elosinj; with that year) ami they were subscfiuontly trathercd into a pamphlet as originally printed. The i)ublic:itiou attracted attention outside the innncdiatc locality for which it was intended ; and a second series was nndortaken at the suggestion and with the o.)-opjration of Di*. John tiihnary Slioa, the accomplished historian of L'ntlio- lie Mi-sims ivnonj <,V.' Inli'i.i Trilicn of the Uidkd States, who generously pro- posed to arrange and translate from the ampler material in his possession, the nar- rative of the Cayuga Mission from lG7'i, the point where it was left in the pre- vious publication, to its close. The translations mailo by Dr. Shea with this view, are included in chapter VII of the present series and also cover the complete account of the Sulpitian Mission among the Emigrant Cayugas about Qnlnte Bay, which forms an ''"nortant cliaiuer in the religious history of this people. The proof shoots of entire work have passed under his revision, and the Introduction, from his pen, happily interprets its scope and purpose. It gives me great satis- faction to acknowledge Uiis courtesy, and the invaluable service thus rendered in the interests of our local history, while the [ilcasant relations which have sprung up in this mutual labor, arc by no means among the least of its rewards. The opening chapter, containing the preliminary history common to the aovoral Irorpioia Missions, appears for the first in the present edition, and is con- donsoJ from the several lidations which cover that period. IV Tlio writor tiikoa this opportunity to ronow his ncknowloilKAiontH, in tlio prefa- tory nolo to tlio llrst oilition, to Mr. Thooiloro P. Ciiso of Auburn, for vuluii- bio mi in tlio work of triinsliitiou. and to Mr. John II. OHborno, iiIho of tliiH city, whoso colluction of niro volunioa, nui[M, 4o., ilhmtriUivo of tlio oiirly iiistory of tho country havo boon of osHentml uao in tho preparation of tiicso papers, atid whoso asHiaUinco has boon most sorviccublo in their publication. He ia also tin- der special obligations to (ton. John S. Clark, of Auburn, for tho topograpliical and archifological information to be found in tho several notes over his initials, lie having given much time and careful study to tho location of Iroquois towns and kindred researches; also, for tho map prepared expressly for tho i)re8ent work and embracing the territory with tho places, routes and relative positions of the several Indian nation.s, referred to in tho text. ,, ,., t It is only necessary to adi, that the whole work has boon carofiilly revised, ro-arranged and annotated; and contains, it is confidently believed, as full a narra- tive of those early and self sacrificing labors to Christianizo tho Cayugas, in com- mon with tho other Iro(|uois nations, as it is possible to compile from existing sources. It is re-issued in this more completo form, not without tho hope that it mar contribute somewhat to a truer and more impartial estimate of what has been wrought centuries ago, on this groimd, by men who forsook all and en- dured all, to win those liorco barbarians to tho Christian Faith. C. II. AUDUUX, N. Y., Juno, 1879. / ■!> ' . '■'<--; ,,'i.^Vf' ■J-',t\{^: i;M.; Iho profii- for viiliiti- f lliiH oily, hi>*tory of mpors, atid is also tin- mgrapliical initials, lio lowns and ?8ent work ons of tiio lly revised, nil a narra- ts, in com- >m existing liopo that of what ill and on- 0. H. INTRODIM'TION Tlio Jesuit l{olati(»ns, or Ucportsdf Missions condiu'tod 1)V tlio religious < t the Soeiety of Jesus in Canadii, have had a eurioua history. They are a series of small volumes issued in Kraneo from 1«>82 to 1«)72, soon after the annual arrival in that eountry of the shii)s from Canada, bearing, with the s' ipments of Anier- lean produee, the report of the Su})erior of the Jesuit missions. These volumes were issued in eheaj) form, and seem to have eir- culated widely among the pious, in some eases several editiona apjjearing. They thus exeitcd an interest in the Ameriean mis- sion, and led to the estahlishment in Canada of the Sulpitians, the Ursuline and Hospital Nuns, as well as iu'^ueed many to emi- grate to the eountry and settle there from religious motives. That they contributed greatly to the colonization and relief of Canans, and (U'|HMid in iii;niy ea^^es on nianuseript copies or extracts wlien ht' was so fortunate as to lind even them in tlie liands of some kind coUector. Of one vohinu" a siiigh' co])y alone was known, and that had l).'en secured liy tlie vetei-an Karih.iult for the Parliament Li- brary in Canada. That })erished when the valuable collection of books M'as destroved bv a mob. Kortunatelv, Mr. James L?nox, c> f New ^'ork, had caused an '.•urate tnuisci-ipt to b.' m: de of it, and he reprinted this R',?lation, as well as two others, of th very scaiwst in the series. Dr. ()"C.illagh:ui ))rep.uv.l a biblii gra])hical acei )unt of the whole collc-tion for the Xew ^'oi'k Historical Society, who })rinted it in their Prov-eediiigs. This jstimulated interest in the books, and the Jesuit Relations were souu'ht bv collectors witli ureat aviditv and in the competition rose to very high ]»riees. The Canadian government, however, ro[)rinted the whole se- ries in three stout volumes, thus enabling studt'ntsto obtain ac- cess to the Relations, which the biblioni'iuiae-s wer^' making it ruinous for any ordinary student to think of attempting to ob- tain in the original form. While the old French volumes are still the i)ride of a few choice libraries, the matter they contain is aceessibh' to all and has been widely considted and used. S:)me indeed, hearing of the interest attacheil to these V(»lumes, are disapitointctl when T VI 1 tlicv collie to oxamiiio tluMii, and coiisidtM- tlioir value ovornitod. Hilt tlicv were not written with any view of sni)i»lyin«>- doeu- iiieiits for the historvol" a vast rei)n])li(' to whom I'i'ovidenee wa;* to eon tide so niiieh of tliiseontinent. As the .lesiiit missionaries toile(l fearlessly throii.uh the wilderness in the Fiidiaii ("iiioe or l»y the Indian trail, their wildest fancy never studded the land with the thrivinji; cities and Imsy a.irrit-ultnre of the fiuure. They werezi'aloiis missionaries, full of their work, pious, often enthiisi- a-ticaiid sanguine, and they wrote not to leave data for historians, lint sini])ly to edify and interest the jjions in France. 'Plieir Re- lations are tlu> work of many hands, thrown together hastily hy the Superior of the Mission, with no attemi)t at literary effect, hut tlu'v hear the impress of honesty and of heing priiite written. The missions emhraced Canada and the whole frontier, from ^faine to Fiuke Superior and Illinois: and the Hi'lations give informatiou as to the various tril)i>s, their language, ideas, relations and annals for nearly half a century. When testent of the information they give incidentally, excellent data: while it is almost impo.ssible to read them without feeling a jtersoual interest in tlu^ educated men who facet! such perils for a noble cause, and who record their trials, hardships and tlu> deaths of fellow laborers with such simi)licitv. The general historians of our country have felt the iiilluence and drawn from this source chapt(M's full of ehnpieuce and beauty : the latest liistt)riaii of our own State has used them freel\-, and thus investetl his narrative with an interest whii*li previous writers on New York could not coinmaud. But the Relations themselves actpiire a new importance, and local history receives ;i valuable addition in works of which the present opens a new series. IIei'(> the long and p:itient re- VI 11 search and toixtgrapliical knovvlodue of tlu' antiquarian aid the translator by «letorniining the j>osition of everv mission, town and hamlet, the direotion of trails, the position of friendly and hostile tribes, and the nnrrative eomes with a fresh interest as we follow the missionary of two centuries ajro in his labors on si)ots with which we are famihar, and with pleasure we listen to the story of liis labors and his hopes, what he was doing for the cause of Christianity among the savage inhabitants of our land. Grand old Cayuga chiefs come up ])efore us, sketched by a few traits and incidents, friends or opponents of the missions. We live in their midst, listen to their harangues, scan their i)olicy, and watch their conduct in })eace and war. When the work which is here done for Cavuira is accom- plished for each mission, maps will be ])ossible which we can scarcely dream of now, and a translation of all the Relations V)e one of the greatest contributions to American History. Writers have been reproaclied for not giving maps fixing the sites of missions two centuries ago. But those who censured little knew the hours and days which had to be spent in deter- mining the sites mentioned in this volume. Guesses and fancies would have been worthless. Here are given the fruits of long and patient study. Cayuga here establishes her claim as the ])ioncer in this de- partment of accurate and authentic study. * John Gilmakv Siik.v. EuzAiiETii. N. J., Juno l.'l, 1879. EARLY CHAPTERS OF CAYUGA HISTORY. w I In ' if '■ It !! // / H If;suit Blissians ^manj): i\it) i^aijugas. It was in the year 1656, that the French Jesuit Fatliers lirst attem[)ted a mission among the Cayugas, one of tlie five nations then comprising the far-famed Iroquois League/ The same year, and with concert of plan, missions were planted in the other can- tons with Onondaga' as tlie centre of operations, it being also the recognized capital of the confederacy. It had been for some time a chcrislied project with these zeal- ous pioneers, both in religion and civilization on tliis continent, to win these lierce and powerful nations to the Catholic Faith and, at the same time, secure their friendship to the colony of New France, then aspiring to the mastery of tlie New World. The IIu- rons, a compact and numerous nation on the western border of the French possessions in Canada, Mdiose alliance to the crown of France had been secured by a similar policy,'' had been driven from their country by the Iroquois and reduced to a wretched remnant, a part of whom sought refuge near Quebec, under the 1 Its Heveral cantons extended from east to west in the following order: ^(uhawks, Oneidas, Onoiidagas, Cuyugus, Seneciis, the last four corresponding in locality to the conntie." which bear their respective names. '-' This was the chief town of the Onondagas, situated on a consideraldc elevation between two deep ravines, formed by the west and middle branches of Limestone creek, in the present town of Pompey, N. V., two miles s. The mission was interrupted during the occupa- tion of Quebec by the English (ItiiU-lftJJ), but was resumed and maintained with signal heroism and success, until the destruction of the nation by the Iroquois in ]tV4!), when the mission fell with it ; not, however, until five of the missionary Fathers had won the coveted crown of martyrdom. Four of them, viz., Anthony Daniel, in lt)4H, John de Brebeuf, (ia- jbriel Lalemant, and Charles (lamier, in It>49, fell at their posts and shared the cruel fate which befell their converts, at the hands of their savage conquerors. {Jarnier's colleague, I Father Chabanel, was, at the same time, tomahawked by an apostate Huron, who afterward IconfeBscd the deed. 10 jirotectioii of tlio FrtMuili, while others were scattered among their western neighbors. The overthrow of the Hurons was (juiekly followed hy the destruction of the Neuter nation occupying the territory iax l)oth sides of the Niagara, and now the iM'ies, the only remaining barrier to Iroquois ambition on the west, had in turn become the objects of the same relentless spirit of conquest. This was in 1658. Besides this bloody work with neighbor- ing tribes, the Iroc^uois had made frequent i)icursions upon the Canadian settlements, consisting of Quebec, Montreal and Three llivers. But now they were ready for peace with the French, at least while they had on their hands this war with the Erics. Accordingly, in the summer of this year, sixty Onondagas, rep- resenting also the Cayugas and Senecas, appeared in sight of the fort at Montreal, shouting from their can."<^s that they came for peace. An Oneida delegation soon followed. The French, at first, suspected treachery and were slow to accept assurances of friendship so suddenly tendered, especially as bands of Mohawks were infesting Montreal and Three Jiivers at the time. But ar- rangements were made for a council, at Quebec; and in Febru- ary of the following year (1654), the embassy arrived prepared to conclude the desired peace. Tlie council was convened, when the Onondaga chief, who headed the deputation, presented six large belts of wampum, indicating the principal points of his speech. The first was to calm the spirit of the French, and prepare their minds to receive without misunderstanding or offence what he had to say. The second was in token that his heart was upon his tongue, and his tongue in his heart, i. e., that all he was about to say was from a sincere desire for friendship and peace. The third represented a tree, he said, planted in the midst of the great river St. Lawrence, opposite the fort of (.Quebec and the house of Onontio, whose top reaches above the clouds, to the end that all the nations of the earth could see it, and repose in jieace under its shadow. The fourth opened a wide and deep abyss in which should be buried all past differences, and all persons who should attempt to disturb, or in any way violate the peace about to be concluded. )ng their quickly ying the li-ies. the t, had in jonquest. leighbor- upon the nd Three 13 French, the Eries. Eigas, rep- rht of the came for French, at irances of Mohawks , But ar- in Febru- 1 prepared convened, presented ints of his id prepare 'ence what is tongue, to say was le midst of uebec and >uds, to the repose in should be attempt to concluded. 11 The fifth was to take away the clouds which had so long ob- scured the sun, referring to the false speeches of the Algoncjuins, and Montagnais, which like clouds had prevented the sweet light of day on them and on the French, and made darkness every- where. Finally, in the sixth present, they promi.sed to bury deei) in the earth the war kettle in which they had been accu.stomed to boil the flesl' of captives taken in battle, since all their old ha- treds were now changed into love. Evei'ything seemed to make for peace; as if indeed the cloud was to be lifted which hung so darkly over the French settle- ments. " Yesterday," wrote Father Le Mercier, of the overtures the summer ])revious, ''all was dejection and gloom: to-day all is smiles and gaiety. On Wednesday, massacre, burning, pillage. On Thurs(hiy, gifts and visits as among friends. If the Iroipiois have their hidden designs, so, too, has God." "There was noth- ing but joy and opening of heart," he writes of the'council, "and the sun has no rays more benign than shone in the faces of these embassadors. But a dark night follows a bright day." It aj)- pears that the Onondaga orator, who had made this fine speech in the council, had ai)proached several of the Huron chiefs with a pro[)osition that the following spring a colony of Huron fami- lies, under pretence of a desire to be nearer Montreal, should re- move to a point between that place and Three Kivers, where a party of Iroquois, to the number of five or six hundred would meet them, when the i»lan would be more fully disclosed, and all under pledge of inviolable secrecy. A similar project for a col- ony had come from the Mohawk.s. The Hurons at once sus- pected treachery, and one of then* chiefs disclosed the secret to the Governor General, while the council was yet in })rogress, and sought advice as to the answer they should give to this i^roposal, which had greatly disturbed them. " It is for thee now, Onontio, and not for us to speak," said the Huron : "We have been dead for four years, since our country was desolated. Death follows us every where. It is ever before our eyes. We live only in thee. We see only through thine eyes. We breathe only in thy ])er- son. Our thoughts are without reason only as thou givest it to us. It is then, for thee, Onontio, to draw us from these perils and tell us what to do." 13 ! I' ii It was concludeu tbut the French authoritic!; .shouUl appear to concur in the enter{)rise, witli the understanding that i'. should be post})oned for at least a year; and the Huron chief, thus instruct- ed, r(!i)licd to the embassador in a private conference, that ilie project would doubtless siicceed beyond their ])resent hopes ; that the French themselves were disposed to form a colony on the great Lake of the Iroquois ; and for this reason it would be bet- ter in all frankness to communicate to them the design, and not attempt to conceal so important a movement. The Iroquois as- sented, and it was arranged by the Hurons that the enterprise should be deferred for a year at least, and in the meantime a resi- dence should be provided for the Jesuit Fathers somewhere in the Iroquois countr}', and that then they would go willingly, with their wives and children. The Governor General gave his assent in a speech accompanied by six presents, the i)urport of which was that the Hurons must l)e left to act with entire free- dom, and go to whichever of the Irofjuois cantons they desired, or back to their ancient country, or still farther, to remain with the French if they preferred. He suggested that the tree of peace, which the Onondaga orator had fixed opposite Quebec, be transplanted to Montreal, on the frontier, where it could be more readily seen by neighboring nations. He also urged harmony among the Iroi^uois, themselves, that they might maintain peace with others, and skillfully used their own project of a Huron col- ony to excite the liope of each of the cantons that it might ol)- tain the desired acquisition." In response to these overtures of peace, but as a precautionary step, it was concluded to send Father Simon LeMoyne, a veteran Huron missionary, as a special envoy to Onondaga to confirm these friendly proposals, l^efore venturing either a mission or a colony in their country. Lc Moyne left Quebec July 2, 1654:. He was joined at Montreal by a young Frenchman, noted for l)oth courage and piety, and taking two or three Indians as guides, started on his adventurous journey by way of the St. Lawrence, in a single canoe. Thu'teen days were consumed in making their way u\^ the river, struggling with the rapids and encountering heavy S #3' 1 Jielation, 1634, Chap. II. The references to the Jiela/ionn, unless otherwise indicated, art- to edition printed at Quebec, 1858. 13 ppear to jould be instruct- that i.ie pes; that y on the d be bet- , and not )quois as- Miterprise me a resi- Dwl'.ere in willingly, gave his )VU'pc)rt of iitire free- sy desired. ;nain with lie tree of .Quebec, be d be more harmony tain peace Huron col- niight ob- cautionary , a veteran nfirm these a colony in was joined ouragc and ted on his ni a single leir way up ring heavy ■■0 indicated, are winds, wliicli greatly retarucd their progress. At night tliey would seek shelter in the w»j<)d.s, or, if more convenient, under their inverted canoe, and .sometimes in the bark hut they would build for the emergency. Game was })lenty, and the large herds of elk they met seemed little disturbed by their presence. They reached Lake Ontario, July 30, but such was th' s'iolenee of the wind that they were eom])elled to take to the islands in the vi- cinity, and traver.«e them on foot, carrying their luggage, ])rovi.s- lons and canoe on their shoulders. They soon fell in with a par- ty of Iroquois fishermen, who proved friendly and concbicted Le Moyne and his companions to their village, where the good Fath- er was met by .several of his old Huron Christians, wdio recog- nized him with exi'ressions of delight, and to whom he, in turn, gave the consolations of religion. From this jioint they took the usual course through the woods, reaching Onondaga on the fifth of August, after a journey of three weeks from Montreal.' Le Moyne was received at tlie L'oquois capital with every mark of respect and enthusiasm. They overwhelmed him with kind attentions, tempting him with the choicest luxuries of the season, such as roasting ears of the young corn, with a bread made of its pulp, than which they knew nothing more delicious. One would call him ''brother," another "uncle," another "cous- in," while every face beamed a welcome. Familiar as the rai.s- sionary was with barbarous life and custom.s, he writes: "I never saw the like among Lidiaus before." Deputies from the Onei- das, Cayugas and Senecas soon arrived ; and on the tenth of Au- gust the council was convened by criers passing through the town proclaiming its purpose and summoning all to come to the cabin of Ondessoidc,' and listen to his word.s. After invoking the blessing of Heaven in solemn prayer, the sagacious Father, who was well ver.sed in the arts of Indian diplomacy, dis])laycd his presents and began his speech, wdiich he tells us lasted two full hours, and in which he imitated the tone and manner of their owMi chiefs on such occasions. He caught the spirit of metaphor characteristic of their oratory, and a(hh-cssed each of the nations represented in the council, as if he had alvva3s knowni their his- 1 Relation, 1654, Chap. VI. •i Huron name given to Le >[oyne. I I I; // r 14 tory and been fjiiniliar with the deeds of their noted saclienis and warriors, all of which drew from the dusky couiieillors repeated ejaculations of approval. In the eighth, ninth, tenth and elev- enth presents he gave to the four nations "each a hatchet for the war in which they were then engaged with their new ene- mies, -the Kries." In another present he encouraged them "to strengthen their palisades that they might be i)repared against every attack of the enemy:" and in another he proposed "to daub their countenances, since it is the custom of the warriors never to go into battle except they ])aint their faces either ])lack' or red, or in divers colors, each having Ins own favorite color, like a particular uniforr ., to which lie adheres until death." The nineteenth present, with which the elo(|uent Father ckxsed his s})eech, was " to dry uj) the tears of the young warriors at the death of their great chief, Annercroas, who had just before fallen into the hands of the Eries." The reply of the orator, who spoke in behalf of the council, was all tliat could be desired. He was specially importunate that the French should select a spot for their colony "on the shores of the Great Lake, where they would dwell .securely in the midst of the country of the Iroquois as they already dwelt in their hearts." Le Moyne added two presents to confirm this proposal ; and with this favorable termination of his mission, returned to Montreal, where he arrived on the seventh of September, having been absent nearly nine weeks.' He was followed, the next year (1655), by Father Joseph Chaumonot, also an experienced Huron missionary, accom})anied by Father Claude Dablon, recently come fi'om France. They arrived at Onondaga on the fifth of November; and the iifteenth of the same month was appointed for convening a general coun- cil and the delivery of the customary presents. At ten o'clock in the morning of that day, the preparations having been com- menced, and while the ])rayers were being recited amid the still- ness of the vast assembly, news came that the embas.sy from Cay- uga had entered the village. The announcement put an end to this part of the ceremony, in order that the deputation might be '•eceived with the formalities due to their rank. \Rdunnn, 1654, Chap. VII. 15 hems ami i ropeatoil ami clev- itcliet for ■ now cue- them "to B(l against )()fle(l "to Q warriors ther black 3rite ct)lor, ith." The closed his lors at the jfore fallen auncil, was ite that the 3 shores of 1 the midst ■It in their s [)roposal ; eturncd to 3er, having icr Joseph companied ice. Tliey le fifteenth ncral coun- ten o'clock l)oen com- id the still- y from Cay- t an end to )n might be The Father made them two compHmentary presents to wiiieh they responded with the same nnmher, and adding a third, de- sired that furtiier ceremonies might be deferreil nntil the morrow. as the day was alrea) led nothing hut evil.* luivk nmiiculu. ' IMifwii, l(i5», Clmp. \ III. '•'The pliicc flrgt Holected for the French Kt'ttk-iiieiit ai>|K'iits to huve bwii on the Hoiitli Imiik of Siihnon rivur, iit thf proxeiit Hitoof I'ort Ontario, about u mile from the Lake, afterward known ax Cahilioiiova^'c. Tlie journal desiriliini; Le Moyiie's return journey in Iti.M. iiftir leaving; Omwcj^o river, fay.'< ; " We arrived at tlie i>luee wliieli i.-* II xed upon for our liouse and u Frc^iu'h nctlement, beautiful prairies, ;.'o(id llshiu'^. r/ it^oil itf nil ikiUdiik, uluTe I fouiul new Chricliann, who i-onfei'scd and inspired me with devotion." Tlie same l)laee Is mentioned by Chaunionot and l)ab!on in Iti.Vl, Oct. iJt): "We arrived about nine o'clock in the niornlnx iit Otihatangue (the name of the river). They presented us with a re- past of welcome. Otlhatanf,'ue is a river which Mows Into Lake Ontario, narrow at its month, but much wider above. It abounds in meadow s which it fertili/es, and divides into hilly and flat islands, all suitable for sowin;; ;rrain." (h'l/iiHiiii, U'M.) An Indian town is indicated at this point on a map of '• I'ere Corouelli, Paris, ItiH'^," described as "Cabiliono- vague, or La Famiiu', where the i;reater part of the IriKpiois disembark to trade their beaver.'' Another nnip of l(i"y says, 'it is the place wlierc most of llie IriMpiois and Loups land to {,'0 in the beaver trade at New York." In KiH-J, Mons. de lu Uarre, (Jovernor of Can- ada, landed with li's army on the opposite side of the river nearer the lake at the i)oint now known as Selkirk. The place was desciibed by him in Ills otHcial report as " La Fam- ine, a port favorable for fishiui; aiul huntintr and four leaitues from the river of Oiuiontague '• (.It Oswego I. Col. Hist. N. Y., IX, ai;i, Charlevoix visited the place in 17;il. In describ- ing it he says : "Famine Hay, thus named since M. de la Barre, (iovernor Ueneral of New France, had like to have lost 'ill his army here, by hung('r and distemper, in jjoing to make war with the Irocinois." Charlevoix evidently errs as to the origin of the name, for It was attached to the locality many years previous to M. de la Harre's campaign, and undoubtedly resulted from the sufferings experienced by Mons. l)ii I'uys and his companions while on their way to establish the French colony In the country of the Onondagas In Itioti. For many years historians considered Famine Bay as Identical with Hungry Bay mow Henderson, l sev- eral miles north, but at the present time tlie best authorities concede that the Famine Bay of the French was the extreme Bonth-eastern angle of Lake Ontario, and that the (Iraiid F"ain- ine, and Petite Famine rivers, correspond respectively to Great and Little Salmon rivers of the present day. Tlie great central trail of the Mohawk Valley, If pndonged westward in a di- rect line from Home, would follow substantiully the line of the Rome and Watertown R. R. an 18 '•^ i:i^:i[: !ii:i^ After a review of the whole ground and in the liftht of tiiese fresh disclosures, it was considered too late to retreat, notwith- standing the dangers visible on all sides, as a refusal now to car- ry out the negotiations already agreed npon, would bring upon the P'rencli settlements the combined fury of the Iroquois na- tions, while at the worst the result of the present enterprise would be the sacrifice of the few in place of the many. It was, moreover, the only door opened to them to maintain peaceful re- lations begun with these savages and for the spread of the Faith ; and on the 17th of May, 1(556, the entire company embarked at Quebec in two large shallops, with a number of canoes, for On- ondaga. It was composed of the missionary Fathers Rene' Menard, Claude Dablon, .lames Fremin, and Francis Lc Mercier, the P'ather Superior, and Brothers Ambrose Broas and Josepli Boursier; ten soldiers, with between thirty and forty French col- onists nnder command of M. DuPuys. Ilurons, Onondagasand Senecas completed the pai'ty. They had a long and perilous jour- ney. On reaching Lake Ontario they had exhausted their provis- ions, and the fisliing being poor, tliey were without food for six days except a small berry found in the woods, and were saved from starvation only by a bountiful supply of Indian corn and sal- mon despatched from Onondaga whither they had sent a courier for relief. This was while at oi' near the i)oint still called Fam- ine Bay, from whence the whole flotilla proceeded by way of far as Salmon River and from thence continuing on tlie soutli banli of the liver, reach Lake Ontario at Caliilionovaj^e. This was tlie most convenient and direct ronte for tlie Orange (Albany) traders to reach the nuineroiiH Indian tribes of the great lakes via Qiiinte Bay. In like manner the great thoroughfare of the French, to their possessions in the south west, passed through this point, the forty miles along the eastern end of lake Ontario being com- mon to the two routes. Thi-< accounts for its being described as llic jilaci- of nnoii of (til ii(t- l''jiiK, and for this reascm was considered as second o!ily in importance to Cataraipiy, (Kings- ton.) In the great strife for dominion between the French and English colonies, the French sought to attract and control the western trade, by {\w establishment, in 1073, of the trading post and fort at C'ataraquy. The English, no less mindful of their interests, found means to divert this trade to the south shore of Lake Ontario, and thence to their market. This led to the expedition of Denonville against the Senecns, in 1687, and the construction of Fort Niag- ara. In 1727 the Marquis de Heauh.iriiols. claimed that the French, at some tin;e previous, had a fort of settlement at La Famine, (Col. Hist. V, 837) which Oov. Burnet, in answer, says was abandoned before the treaty of I'trecht (1712). (Col. Hist. V, 82!».) The naip of Col. Homer shows a fort on the bank of the river at Oswego as early as 17uO ; and Gov. Dougan, in 1(187, says that M. de la Barre canio to Cahihonovage, whfvi' the Inilidiin iioiiltt hat'c- ine ftutlil a fori. (Doc. Hist. Ill, 475.) From these accounts it appears that the French had a fort, or settle- ment, at or near this point, at some time previous to 1712, that the English were solicited by the Five Nations to locate there, but probably considering? Oswego as preferable, concluded to establlBh the English post at that point.— J. S. C. i ^1 19 it of these t, notwith- ow to car- )nng upon oquois na- eiiterprise (T. It wasj )eaceful ve- the Faith ; nbarked at es, for On- Mevii Renv Lc Mercier, iiul Joseph French col- •nihigas and jrilous jour- heh- provis- food for six ! saved from rn and sai- nt a courier jailed Fam- by way of Iver, reach Luke for the Orange (iiiinte Buy. In 1 the south west, tario beins coni- f nxort of (ill iKi- atiirmiuy, (Kin<,'s- juief, !'ie French 7i, of tlie truding ', found u>eani< to rket. This h'll to ion of Fort Niug- iu'o previous, liad , in answer, says luii) of Col. Koniev Doiigan, in 1(187, (■(- //«• ft'iilil (t fort. a u fort, or settle- were solicited by 'erable, concluded Ji|: m the O.svvego river and entered Lake Gancntaa the eleventh of July, liring a salvo of guns which made the forests resound with its echoes, to the delight and astonishment of the crowds of savages along its banks. A grand council was soon assembled to condrni the alliance, and Father Chaumonot, who had been on the ground through the previous winter, was the spokesman for his missionary brethren and their companions. His speech on the occasion is described as one of remarkable eloquence, in which he disclosed, with en- tire frankness and characteristic earnestness, the design of their coming. '* It is not trade " he said "that brings us here. Our })urpose is a more lofty one. Do you think that your be:'.'er skins can pay us for all the toils and dangers of a long and we;i y voyage? Keep them, if you like, for the Hollanders; an I if any fall into our hands, we shall use them only for your serv i 3. We .seek not the things that perish. It is for the Faith that we have left our country ; it is for the Faith that we have forsaken parents and friends ; it is for the Faith that we have crossed the ocean and left the great ships of France to cunbark in your little canoes. It is for the Faith that we have left our comfortable houses to live in your hovels of bark. It is for the Faith that we have denied ourselves the food that is natural to us, for that which the beasts of our country would scarcely touch." And here displaying a large and beautiful belt most artistically de- siirned,' he continued : " It is for the Faith that I take in my hands this rich present and o})cn my mouth to remind you of the pledges you gave at the time you came to Quebec, to conduct us into your country. You with great solenmity promised to give ear to the words of 1 The Onondagas have preserved with great care to the present time, the ancient wnmpuin belts of the Confederncy. Those associated with the first union and league of the Five Na- tions are looked upon witli peculiar reverence and held as sacred treasures. Among these is one aliout four feet in length, composed principally of purple shell beads of the richest hues, and for this reason esteemed as of great value. At one end of this belt is a rude representa- tion of a man, and at the other that of a cross, with a narrow white stripe connecting the two. The legend of this belt us expluined at this day is as follows : " (Jreat nuiny years ago, " a company from Canada presented this belt, desiring tliat missionaries from the Roman " Catholic Church might be settle«)/;fc qf the great tobacco iri]>e. In their own language, according to Greenhalgli in 1077, the French called the Cayugas Les Petuneun. This is an obsolete word, with ii similar signification eciuivalent to "to/xwco iixer^." The totem of the Cayugas was a calumet, or (freat tobacco i)ii>e, and their chief sachem is often called Sanun-awean-towa, signifying the tongue, or voice, of the great pijw. On the return of the Cnyugas after the destruction of their towns in 1779, in Oen. Sullivairs campaign, they appear to have established their castle, one and a half miles north of Union Springs, where it appears on several early maps. The early French writers applied ;the term Goi-o-gouen, also to the country and canton of the Cay-i^gas.— J. S. C. 1 This superstition that the Missionary Fathers caused all their misfortunes was one great obstacle to success among the Hurons, and often brought the missionaries themselves into great peril. Menard had often encountered it, and he does not appear to be surprised at find- ing tliat the old prejudice, as created by these Huron captives, had preceded him at Oayugu. '•i Ancsris, the word used to denote the chiefs of the council in distinction from the war chiefs. 23 ef sojourn ng Father be formed. which the f, persuad- tune to the y', and ren- ■orthless in o out of re- th us, and t endanger s after our employed a condition nished and led the pic- pectacle the IS that they ;ountenance dant oppor- t were they ical instruc- s, that thev many neo- the natives ■oinix. In their tt« Le« Petiitieiiiv. CO u(ier»."' The sachem is often On the return s campaign, they n Springs, where nu Goi-o-gouen, 108 was one great tliemselves into surprised atflnd- rt him at Cayugu. )u from tlie war Many bnjught their children to me for Baptism ; and aided me in teaching them the prayers, by repeating tliem after me . and in a sliort time grace wrought such marvelous changes, that the little childi'cn, who at iii'st made me the constant object of their ridicule and sport, now rendered me the offices of good an- gels, conducting me into the cabins, attending me whei'cver I visited, and giving me the names of those I ba])tized, as well as the names of their parents ; which these barbarians are accus- tomed to conceal from us, believing that we record their names that we may send them to France, and thei'e procure their death bv magic. The providence of God gave me three excellent teachers for acquiring the language. They are brothers, natives of the coun- try, and of good natural dispositions. Their kindness in inviting me to their houses, and the patience and assiduity with which they have instructed me, very soon qualified me to instruct them, and by means of the pictures, which greatly excited their curi- osity, lead them to apprehend our mysteries. The first adult person that I judged capable of baptism, was an old man eighty years of aire, who, having been touched of '' God oi\ hearing me instruct a Christian, desired me, two days after, to visit him, being to all appearance nigh imto death. I had no hesitation in according to him baptism, finding in him all the dispositions of a soul chosen for heaven, in the way to which he lias had opportunity to prepare himself. The second adult that I baptized, w.as a cripjile whose face was covered with a cancer, which rendei'ed him horrible to the sight. This poor afflicted one received me with a joy, equalled only by the fervor of desire he had evinced that I should visit him, and applied himself so faithfully to retain the prayers and instru(;tions, that I soon conferred upon him baptism in our chapel. Perhaps these graces, which God has wrought in him, are the fruits of the charity that he manifested for Fathers Bre- bcuf and Laleniant some time befoi'c. He told me that he was a witness of their death, and having by his valor acquitted him- self with ci'edit among his fellow warriors on that same day in which he had slain with his own hand eight Hurons and taken live othei-s prisonei-s, he had pitv on these two captive Fathers, i 24 and had bought them of tlie Moliawks for two beautiful wani- ])uni belts, with the design of returning them to us in safety ; but that soon their captors gave back to him these pledges, re- claimed their prisoners and burned them with all imaginable fury.' This poor La/arus, as I have named him in baptism, is much esteemed in the canton ; and he is tlie first sup[)ort that it pleased God to give to this little Church, which he augments con- tinually in attracting others to tlie Faith, through the zeal of his discourse and his example. The enemy of the Gospel, unable to endure its progres.s, has not wanted for calumnies with which to trouble the Christians. Our faith is accused of being the murderer of all who profess it : and the death of several Christians at Onondaga having given occasion for this delusion of the savages, the speech of a certain chief, an enemy of our religion, made at a council, served to ex- cite still more their prejudices. So that not only many natives of the country, judging it was safer to believe what this man of authority among them said than to put faith in the totally op- posite ex})erience of our ancient Hurons, have begged me to re- gard it well for them to omit attendance at prayers, until their fear of me should abate ; but also they accuse the Faith of the French of all the evils, both public and private, with which they a]ipcar to be afflicted. This it is, that a certain apostate endeav- ored to make these barbarians believe, citing the Hollanders for ■ii 1 On tho 16th of Miirch, 1()49, at daybreak, an army of a tliousantl Iroquois burst upon thu Huron town of Taenhatentaron, the mission station of St. Ignatius, which, after a resolute but ineffectual defence was involved in a general massacre. The two missionaries, the vet- eran Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalennuit, whib engaged ni ministering to the wounded and dying, fell into the hands of the Iroquois, who, after tearing out their nails, forced them through the gauntlet of a do\ible row of savages, dealing their furious blows on every side, to the place of torture. Each was bound to a stake. The hands of Brebeuf were cut off, and the body of Lalemant pierced with awls and pointed irons. Ued hot hatchets were thrust under the arm pits and between the thighs of the sufferers, and around the neck of Brebeuf they hung a collar of the heated weapons. As tho voice of the old Huron missionary was heard above the din, consoling his converts and proclaiming the judgments of (Jod upon the unbeliever, his enraged tormentors crushed in his mouth with a stone, cut off his nose and thrust a burning brand into his throat ; and as if this was not enougli they tore off his scalp, and thrice, in de- rision of baptism, poured scalding water upon his head. Then, after hacking off his feet, they tore out his heart and devoured it. The gentle Lalemant was wrapped in pieces of bark, which were set on Are, and after a series of tort ' similar to tliose which liad been InJlicted on Brebeuf, they tomahawked him, leaving the arred and manglea bodies of their Tictims among tho ashes of the town.— See Shea's IRstui ,, of Catholic Mindoim, &c., 188-191 ; also Jielatloii, 1049, Chap. Ill, IV. 2y proof of wliat ho said, when he assorted that the children of the Iroquois died two yciars after their baptism; and that the Chris- tians either l)roke a leg, or pierced their foot with a thorn, or be- came emaciated, or vomited up the soul with the blood, or were attacked with some other signal malady. If our reputation is thus calumniated, our life is in no greater safety. A warrior of my acquaintance, having come to lodge in our cabin, has given me no little anxiety. For having entered three nights in succession, with a species of ])osscssion which ren- ders him furious, he has attempted to take my life; and would, without doubt, have succeeded in his purpose if he had not been ]n'evented by our host I was threatened with death, after a more haughty fashion, by a young man, who, after having heard me instruct a catechu- men, very sick, whom I wished to prepare for death, said to me that I was a sorcerer of whom it was necessary to rid themselves ; that I caused to live or die such as I pleased ; and that it was as easy for me to heal this man, as to lead him to heaven. Was not this an agreeable reproach ? ' Nevertheless, these difficulties, raised by the Evil One, have not prevented the faith from gaining day by day upon the con- fidence of the people ; nor that I should be heard everywhere ; nor our chapel from being filled with catechumens ; and finally, that I should not baptize daily either children or adults. This is what the Father has informed us during the two months he has had charge of the mission, having been obliged to leave there and return and join his labors with those of the 1 The persecution of the Jesuit Fatliers as sorcerers was common among the Ilurons. In a liouse of Ossossane, a young Indian rushed suddenly upon Father Francis Du Peron and lift- ed his tomahawk to brain him, when a scjuaw caught his hand. Paul Kaj;ueneaii wore a cru- ciflx 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. Ragueueau stood motionless, waiting the blow. The as- sailant forbore and withdrew, muttering. Pierre Cliaumouot was emerging from a Huron town, named by the Jesuits St. Michel, where he had just baptized a, dying girl, wlien her brother, standing hidden in tlie doorway, struck him on the head with a stone. Cliaumonot, severely wounded, staggered without falling, when the Indian sprung upon him with a toma- hawk; but the bystamlers averted the blow. A noted chief, in the town of St. Louis, assailed Le Mercier, with tlio violence of a madman, charging upon him all the miseries of the nation. and seizing a lire brand from the lire, shook it in the Jesuit's face and told him that he should I be burned alive. Le .Mercier met him with looks as determined as his own, till, abashed at this umhuinted front and bold denunciations, the Indian stood confounded. — I'arkmaii'g ../(■Kiiiln ill Xoith America, 124-5. 2« two otlicr Fatbcr.s at Onondaga, where they have established the foundation and the seminary of all the other missions among the Iroijuois. Sinee then, however, at that same i)lacc, the Father having re- turned there accompanied by live or six French and the more prominent of the village, who had come here to Ijeg him to re- turn, he has Ijeen received with all the eclat imaginable. Hav- ing f(jund the chapel in the same condition in wliich he left it, he resumed })rayers on the day of his arrival ; and so great was the zeal manifested by the converts and the catechumens, that the Father writes that this church is not less promising than that of Onondaga." In a(hlition to this account of the labors of Menard at Cayuga, during the year he was there, and the dangers to which he was exposed, we lind in Chap. VIII of the lielalion 16(32-3, written after his death, this passage alluding to his connection with the mission: '"His courage was equivl to his zeal. He had seen without fear the Irocpiois rushing upon him knife in hand to cut his throat, while laboring for their conversion in the village of Cayuga. Others in the same place had lifted tlieir hatchets to cleave his skull, but he preserved his calmness. He met, with a benign countenance, the insults of the little children who hooted at him in the streets, as if he were a lunatic. *" But this generous Father gloried with the apostle in being counted a fool for Jesus' sake, that in the very j^angs of persecu- tion, he might give birth to this Iroquois church founded by him and which, in a short time, grew to the number of four hun- dred Christian.s, with the hopeful prospect of converting the en- tire hourg, had he not been arrested in the midst of this work. This was when wc were obliged to abandon the Iroquois mis- sions in consequence of the fresh murders committed V)y these treacherous savages, on our frontier settlements. Thus was he forced to abandon this bountiful harvest, the lirst fruits of which he had offered to heaven, in the death of many little ones and also of adults, whom he had baptized. It was like taking his heart from his body, or tearing a loving mother from her children." We have in the Relation of 1659-60 an account oi the last la- bors of this devoted missionary. In 1659, tw(^ years after he (1 the <»• the ng re- 3 more L to rc- liav- Icft it, sat was IS, that an that Jayuga. he was written /ith tiie ad seen 1 to cut illage of chets to ^, witli a hooted iu being persecu- \ded by )ur hun- the en- work. LOIS mis- y these was he of whicii )nes and iking his hiklren." le hast la- after he IS 27 was forced to leave Cayuga at the breaking up of the Iro([Uoi3 missions, Menard, then at Quebec, was selected to found a mis- sion among the Sioux, who, with otlier western tribes hud desired commerce with the French that they might gain the means to resist the Iroquois. lie was commissioned to visit Green Bay and Lake Superior, and at some convenient inlet establish a resi- dence as a missionary center for the surrounding nations. The enterprise was regarded as one involving peculiar exposures and jK'rils from the rigor of the climate and the pitiless bai-barity of the savage ; notwithstanding which, this aged man, obedient to the vows of his order, and trusting, as he said, "in the Provi- dence which feeds the little birds of the desert, and clothes the wild flowers of the forest," went forth into the wilderness to scat- ter the seeds of truth which could only be sown in tears. He appears to have had a premonition that this would prove liis last work, as writing in haste from Three Kivers, August 27, 1660, to a dear friend, he says: "In three or four months you may add my name to the memento of the dead."^ After a journey crowded with hardships and peril, he reached in the month of Oc- tober, the bay which he named St. Theresa, where he remained eight months, when he yielded to the entreaties of a wretched company of Huron Christians, refugees on Black Eiver, who implored him to come to them in their misery, lest they should lose altogether a knowledge of the faith ; and against the expostu- lation of both the French and his neophytes, the aged Father departed with a single attendant, a Frcnchaian, for the bay of Chegoimegoji on Lake Superior by the way of Keweena Lake. About the tenth of August (1661), while making a portage, Menard became separated from his companion, who was trans- :]i()rtmg the canoe, and missing his way was lost in the forest and was never again seen. His faithful attendant, after a fruitless search, shouting and firing his gun repeatedly in the hope that tlie poor Father might be attracted by the noise, started for the nearest Huron village, to procure help at any cost; but, unfor- Itunately, he himself lost his way, and only reached the village rtwo days after, under the guidance of an Indian whom he 1 liehi/ion 1000, p. 30, in which the letter is given in full. J 28 clianeei] to moot in liis waiKleriiigrf. It was some time before he could make the savages uudci'stantl liim, unable as lie was to speak a word of their language. At last, however, he succeeded by signs and gestures, in making known his sad errand, and in assuring them that they would be liberally rewarded for any as- sistance they might render in searching for the lost Father — when the whole village was thrown into sudden alarm ])y a cry to arms, as the enemy was at their doors, and in the confusion, the last hope of continuing the search dissipated. Some time aftei', the cassock of the lost missionaiy, was seen in the possession of an Indian ; but he would not acknowledge that he had found the body, lest suspicion should rest npon him that he had dealt the fatal blow. Other articles used in worship, belonging to the Father, were seen in an Indian cabin; but no satisfactory clue could be discovered as to the time or mode of his death. A small piece of dried meat which he had with him would suffice to appease his hunger for two or three days only; and the most probable supposition is that he died of starvation. But whatevei- doubt there may hang over the circumstances of his death, none can rest upon the sincerity and fervor of his apostolic zeal, or the heroism of his self-sacrifice, whether the lot fell to him to be the first to plant the cross among the Cayugas, or to bear it to the nations not less fierce that dwelt by the great maritime lakes of the distant west. III. Tlie first missions among tlie Inxiuois were of short duration. Tiie settlement of tlie Freneh witli tlie Onondagas, instead of on the banks of Lake Ontario as at lirst proposed, and on ground common to tlie several nations, iiad provoked anew tlie hatred of the Mohawks, while the murder of three of the colonists ])y the Oneidas, had led to acts of retaliation on the part of the French. Moreover, the war heing waged for the extermination of the Eries was at its height; and the prisoners, including women and children, were brought in numbers to Onondaga and other Iro- quois villages, and after the customary tortures consigned to the flames. In the midst of the general turmoil, a conspiracy was organized for the slaughter of the colony, including the mission- aries. The plot was disclosed by a dying Onondaga who had re- cently been bai)tized. Messengers were sent in haste to call in the missionary Fathers from the several cantons, who together with the colonists, lifty-three in number, were speedily gathered in their fortified house on Lake Ganentaa. M. Du Puys, the oflticer in command, immediately entered upon preparations for their esca})e from the country. Every movement had to be con- ducted with the utmost secrecy, as the slightest suspicion of their intentions would lie the signal for a general massacre. Moreover the savages were on the watch day and night as they lounged before the gate of the mission house or stealthily crept about the palisade that enclosed the i)remises. The French find- ing that they had only canoes for half their number, built in the garret of the Jesuits' house, unsuspected by the Indians, two batteaux of light (h-aft and capable of holding fifteen persons each, which were kept concealed until everything should be in readiness for the dei)arture. Resort was now had to strategem. Among the French was a A^oung mar who had been adopted into the family of an Onon- daga chief and had acquired great influence with the tribe. He 80 f^'ravely toM liis TosUm- fatlicM- tliiit lie had (Iroaincd the previous iii^ht liu was at a feast at which the j,'U(\sts ate; everything set before thetn, and asked permission to make a simihir feast for the whole tribe.' A day was named for the ban(iuet; the stores of the settlement were freely contrii)nted to swell the bount\' and give zest to the festivities, which took jilace on the evening of the 20th of March in a large enclosure outside the ])alisade that protected the mission house. Here, amid the glare of bla/.ing tires, Frenchmen and Iroquois joined in the dance, the nmsicians, in the meanwhile, with drums, trum|)ets and cymbals keeping up n continuous uproar, in the midst of which those in charge of the boats were making the necessary preparations for the em- barcation. The feast lasted until midnight, when gorged to re- pletion and under the .soothing notes of the guitar played by the young Frenchman, the guests fell into a jirofound slumber. He then silently withdrew and joined his companions who lay ujion their oars anxiously awaiting his corning; and Ijef ore morning, the fugitives were far on their wa}' to Oswego. Late into the next day, the Indians stood wondering at the silence that reigned in the mission house; yet, as the afternoon wore away, their i)a- tience was exhausted, and scaling the palisade, they burst open the doors to tind, to their amazement, every Frenchman gone. Gaz- ing at each other in silence, they fled from the house. Xo trace betrayed the flight of the P'reiich. " They have become invisible," cried the savages, "and flown or walked upon the waters, for canoes they had not.'"'-' Tlie party reached Montreal, after a perilous journey, on the 3d of A})ril, with the loss of a single canoe and three of their num- ber drowned in the St. Lawrence. The same year, (1657) a fe- I'ocious war between the French and Iroquois raged all along the Canadian frontier. It lasted some two years, during which the juissionary Fathers had a steadfast friend in Garacontie, the re- nowned chief of the Onondagas, who left no means untried to 'A (Ircnm was rcirardcd ns n most imperative foim of diviiu' revelation, mid wasi to bo olicyed at all hazards. This sort of feast at wliich everytliiiis was to be eaten {J\Miii d mumjn tk Reiotulion, I, S29-230. 31 bring about ;i pcaoo for tin; sivko of tlieir return.' It was through liis influence tluit an embassy under charge of Saonchiogwa, the head sachem (jf the Cayugas, was sent to Montreal to secure this object. The negotiations were attended with many dilTiculties, and recpiired adroit management on the part of the Caviiga orator. The French had learned to view with distrust such overtures, if they had not lost all conildi'nce in lr(M(Uois sincerity. "They cry ))eace," writes Father Le Jeunc in his account of this em- bassy, ''and murder in the same breath. Peace is made at Mon- treal and war is waged at Quebec and Three Rivers. While wo receive them at our homes, th(!y kill us in the forests, and our people arc murdered by those who protest that they are our Ijost friends." In giving the account of the embassy we follow the narrative of Le .Jeunc: ''It was in the month of July (16(K») amid such disasters, that there appeared above Montreal two canoes of the Iroquois, who, on displaying a white llag, came boldly under that standard and put themselves into our hands as if their own were not red with our blood. It is true they had with them a pass- port that put them above all f(!arof harm from us, go where they would, in four French captives whom tlun' came to return as a pledge of their sincerity. They asked for a conference, saying that they were deputed by the Cayugas and Onondagas, from w'hom they had brought messages of importance. Indeed, the head of the embassy was the celebrated Captain of the Cayuga na- 1 It \va-> not until lifter the llij^'lit (;f the Kroiich tliiit (iiiracoiitic lii'caiiie tin- uvowi-d \mi- tector of CliriKtiniis imd tlit- advocate of peace. Indeed, Iw tUtcd up in liif* own ciibin a (•Impel, iind maintained, so far as he \\-.\n iilile, the enil>leniH and aHsociatioiis of the Faith. He liueceedt'd in refcninj; a ininil)er of Kreiieli c-iptives brou^lit to the dilVercnt eantoi>. iind these he would a«seint)le at Oiionda;,'a, niorniiii,' and eveiiiii^r, witli the llnroiH to prayer, at the Hound of the mission liell, whicli he had carefully preserved, and wliicli was only allowed to he used on the n;rave»t public occasions. A war party of the Mohawks in one of these raids in the vicinity of (Quebec, took from the Hurons on the Isle of Orleans a crucifix, siune two feet in lonj,'th, which they bore ainc-ni; their sjioils to their vill.'i<,'e. On learniii'.' of this, (iaracontie went in person to the villafrc and by arj;uinents and rich presents rescued the sa- cred symbol from lunfaiiation and set it uji over the altar whicli awaitid the letiun of the missionaiy Fathers. On the resumption of the mission at OnondaL'a, Father Milet, in spenk- ini,' of his methods of as.sembliiii! the adults to Catechumen, says : " 1 borrowed for this pur pose n bell which they had thirteen or fourteen years a^o fnun those of our Fathers who were in this mission when the war was kindled there." He also speaks of its havini: been used to summon the deputies to the council, the same that had called the faithful ro worship to the .Tesuifs chapel at (ianenfici. Jhta/io/i, llidl, tW : lli;o, .')!. For an interesting account (.f the finding' of fragments of this bell, see Clark'.s //i.v/. Ononilwja Co., II, !.'5r, 2715. 82 tion, who was friendly to us when we were among the Iroquois, and the host of our Fathers in their labors to found the first church among his people. We ai)pointed a day for the conference, and received him as if innocent of any participation in the murders which had been committed throughout our settlements. The day arrived, when he displayed twenty belts of wampum, which spoke more elo- quently than his speech, marked tliough it was from beginning to end with much native grace, and presenting with great adroit- ness all the points to be secured by his mission. He had come, and this was the important object of the embassy,' to obtain the release of eight Cayugas, his countrymen, ke^t at Montreal since the i)revious year. In order to induce us to liberate these pris- oners, he broke the bonds of the four Frenchmen he had V>rought with him, promising at the same time the liberty of twenty oth- ers who were held at Onondaga ; and finally assured us of the good will of liis nation, notwithstanding the acts of hostility committed during the past two years. His speech was clothed in excellent terms and was attended with much ceremony. First of all he offered a present to Heaven to bring back, he said, the Sun which had been in eclipse during these wars, the evils of which that luminary had refused to look upon. It had been, he said, forced, as it were, to retire so as not to shine upon the inhumanities that attend such conflicts among men. Having thus pro])itiated Heaven, he next sought to restore the earth, convulsed as it had been by the tumult of war. This he did by a present which was intended at the same time to calm the rivers, clear out all the rocks, smooth down the rapids and thus establish free and safe intercourse between us and them. Another present covered all the blood that had been shed and brought again to life all that had been slain in these wars. An- other gave us back the comfort and peace we had lost in the troubles we had suffered. Another was to restore the voice, clear the tln'oat and organs of speech, that none but the pleasant words of peace might pass between us ; and in order to show with what sincerity he desired to be bound to us, he said, in pre- senting a magnificent belt : This is to draw tlie Frenchman to us that he may return to his mat which we still preserve at Ga- 88 nentaa;' where the liouse is vet standing that he had when he dwelt among us. The tire has not been extinguished since his dei>arture, and the lields. which we have tilled, await but his hand to gather in the harvest: he will make peace flourish again in the midst of us bv his sta}', as he had banished all the evils of war. And to cement this alliance, and bind us together so firm- ly that the demons, jealous of our happiness, shall never be able to cross our good designs, we ask that the holy sisters should come and see us, as well to take care of the sick as to instruct the children, (he intended to speak of the Hospital nuns and the Ursu- lines); we will erect roomy cabins, furnished with the n. ...u beau- tiful mats the country affords ; and they need have no fear of the water-falls or the rapids, foi' we have so united the rivers that they may put their own hands to the oar without trouble or fear. Finally, he made a full recital of the comforts these good nuns would find in his country, not forgetting to mention the abun- dance of Indian corn, strawberries, and other fruits of this sort, which he set forth in his discourse as the strongest inducement to attract them on this expedition. His whole manner, both of gesture and posture, in arranging the two presents given with tins object, indicated that he was moved in their bestowal by his gallantry, rather than by any expectation that the request would be granted. The tinal word he spoke, was in a tone of stern resolve, as raising the last belt he exclaimed, a Black- gown must come with me, otherwise no peace ; and on his com- ing depend the lives of twenty Frenchmen at Onondaga. In saying this he produced a leaf from some book, on the mai'gin of which these twenty Frenchmen had written their names, in confirmation of the object of the embassy. 1 (iancntiia— The site of the Mission of St. :N:ary. Tlie Onomliijjns liad a miall Indian village, used as a landinj^ place, situated near ttie southern extremity of Onondaj;u Lalce. Nortli of this and about midway between the two extremities of tlie lake, on the north side, was the site assigned for the French residence and Mission. It was about twelve miles from the nniin villa^'e of the Onondajxas, who then lived about two miles south of the jjresent village of Manlius in the town of Pompey. The "Jesuits Well " still exists with its iicconipanying salt fountains, and may be found just north of the railroad bri(li;e on lot IDti. This was the Jlr-i Caf/to/ic C/iiipel i-rnletl in the jire-n-zif territonj of the Stale iif Xeiv York. Frontenac, in ItiOti, erected a palisaded fort on this site, for tlie protection of his batteaux and supplies, while en- gaged in the destruction of the Onondaga and Oneida villages. In 17!(7 Judge (ieddes, in mnlving surveys for the Slate, found the remains of a palisaded work at this point, some of the pickets of which were still standimr. This was i)rol)al)ly erected on the same site in I75ii by Sir Willl;im Johnson for the Onondagas. (See instructions for building, Uoc. Hist. X. v.. II. 44Mro.)— J. S. C. 84 After the speech, he formally delivered up the four French captives, who recounted to us the lio=pitable rece})tion given them at Onondaga and the kind treatment bestowed upon their companions whom they had left behind. Finall)', these poor Frenchmen im[)lored us, with clasped hands, to have pitv on them as we had nothing to fear from these ])eople among whom they had thus been cared for, and begged us to send one of the Fathers to break the bonds of their fellow captives and deliver them fi-om the flames, lo which otherwise they were inevitably doomed. The diplomacy of Saonchiogwa proved a success, and, not- withstanding tlie misgivings of the French as to his personal safety. Father Le Moyne, who.se visit to Onondaga in 1653 opened the way for the first missions, was allowed to return with tlie em- bassy, and arrived .it Onondaga the 12th of August, 1660, when the jiledge given by Saonchiogwa was fulfilled in the release of the French prisoners and their safe return with the Father to Montreal. The chief ob.stacle to resuming the mis.sions at this time, was in the implacable hostility of the Mohawks, who per- sistently refused to make peace with the French, until .six years after, when they were attacked on their own ten-itory by a force of a thousand men, led in person by M. de Tracy, Viceroy of Canada, and th-ee of their villages, with a large (juantity of corn, destroyed. This was in the autumn of 16()6, and resulted in the restoration of peace, followed by the I'esumption of the missions in the several cantons of the Iroquois. Before his return to Montreal, (1662) Le Moyne made a l)rief visit to the Mohawks,' which nearly cost him his life, and he was ' 1)1 1(>5."), Lo Moyne iiindi! n \W\t to the Moliiiwks, mul instead of retnrning directh' to (Que- bec, piiss-c'l tlio winter in Xew Nutlii'i'liinil, and for tlu: liivt time saw New Amsterdam, the Duteli capital, eontiiininf,' tlieu abont l.lXKI inlial)itants. Wliiie tliere. sajH Brodliead, illist. N. Y. Vol. 1. pp. 04")1 lie formed a warm friendship with Dominie Johannes Me-xapolensis, whose early missionary efforts amonij; tlie ^Iohrt\sks led him to look witli lively interest, if not witli entire sympathy, on the /e.ilons labors of the .Jesuit Fathers. It was at this tinn' that Le Moyne coninuiniciited to his distiniriiislied friend an aeeonnt of his visit in lt).")4 to the ■' ( having been placed in his hands at Quebec, for Onondaga where he is chief. But the ne- cessity of affairs at present has compelled the arrangement as it is." This conflict of rights, however, and this emulation as to who will have these nussionaries is sulhcient ground for great hopes, and is proof that to establish the faith, all that isre(iuired is the necessary number of evangelical laborers. The famous Garacontie, the most renowned of all the Irocpiois chiefs, and the most friendly of all to the French, earnestly de- sires baptism. He no longer accepts a (b'cam as a guide to hu- man conduct;' and promises that hereafter he will no more grant the things that are dreamed, without the explicit understanding that it is not because it is a dream that he accedes to the request. Furthermore he has so conquered hiuiself that he will no longer have more than one wife. But inasmuch as it is necessary in a chief of his reputation, that all these matters should uudergo a strict examination, we still defer baptism.^ lie has made the host of Father de Carheil a present of a •wampum belt, to affirm peace and to establish our Fathers iu'mly in that country. Moreover, everybody among the Iroquois con- 1 The refurcnce licfe is to Father Freniln, who, the previous year had accoini)anie(l Suon- thiowaira from Montreal, l)iit inffteatl of reniuiniiii; at Cayuga proceeded to tlie Moluiwlis, and was at this time Superior of tlie Iroquois Missions. 5 In tlie existinjj arran^'cment, tlic distribution of missionaries was as follows: I)al)lon, who was with Chaumonot »\ Onondaga m lOoti, and .lean I'ierron, who had jiist arrived from France were assigned to the Moluiwks. Bruyas, who had been about a year in Canada, and who af- terward became so distinguished as an Indian philologist, was sent to the Oneidas. Gamier the first Jesuit ordained at (Quebec, and Milet were at Onondaga, when Carheil was transferred to Cayuga. Fremin. after being made Superior of the Missions, went to theSeneeas and was soon joined by Uaffeix. There was a Senceii village, named (Jandougare, composed of refu- gees from the Neuter Nation and the Hurons, which Fremin himself took charge of. detail- ing Gamier from Onondaga to Gandacliira;.;ou, about four miles south of the great town of the Senecas, Sonnontouan. :i Dreams were the oracles of the Iroquois, and wore to be obeyed at all hazard-*. •» In .June t6ro, on embassy led by (iaracontie visited (iuebec, at which time the renowned chief was baptized by tlie Lord Bishop Laval, with great ceremony, and took the name of Uuniel, from Courcelles, Governor of Canada. Ilis Indian name signified— .Vi/w that wlraiiceg. tinues to appreciate tlie blessings of peace, after seeing the victo- ries of the French arms among their neighbors. Nevertheless, nothing is so assured among these barbarians, that it is not necessary always to be on one's guard. Father de Cai'heil, perceiving tliat it had a good efTect, by way of ridicule, with those savages who choose something created and vile as the master of their lives,' to frame a prayer in ac- cordance with their notions, has, in cei'tain instances, resorted to this method : " We must pray," said he, " to the master of our life ; and since this beaver is the master of thy life, let us offer him a prayer: Thou Beaver, loho canst not speak, thou art the master of the life of me, w/io can speak! Thou who hast no soul, thou art the master of my life loho have a soul r One such prayer brought them to serious reflection, and made tliem admit that they had hitherto shown a want of common sense in recognizing these creatures as the masters of their lives. Thus he introduces little by little, the knowledge of the true God, and teaches them his command- ments, which they find to be most reasonable. But alas! these fair beginnings are unhappily reversed. All the powers of hell are arrayed in opposition. Superstition has taken a new lease of life ; and the Father has discovered that in a heathen and barbarous country a missionary is compelled to carry his life in his hand. The Father had gone to Tiohero, and there been invited to a feast, at which everything was to be eaten,' for the healing of a sick person, whom he went to visit ) The tnanitou, or master of life, was the spirit that ruled all things. It might be of a bird, a buffalo, a bear, &c., or even a feather or a skin. It is said, moreover, that no Indian would choose the manitou of a tmm for an object of adoration. 3 Each guest was required to eat the whole of the portion assigned him, however great the qusintity ; otlierwise his host would be outraged, the community shocked, the evil spirits be roused to vengeance, and death and disaster ensue to the individual and the nation. This kind of feast had other significations, as would appear from an incident which Mr. John Bartram relates as occurring on his journey from Philadelphia to Onondaga in the sum- mer of 1743. He was in company with Conrad Weiser, who was in high repute with the Delawares and Iroquois, Lewis Evans and Shickalmy, the father of the celebrated Logan. "We lodged," he writes, "within about ftfty yards of a hunting cabin, where there were two men, a squaw, and a child. The men came to our Are, made' us a present of some venison and invited Mr. Weiser, Shickalmy and his son to a feast at their cabin. It is incumbent on those who partake of a feast of this sort, to eat all that comes to their share or burn it. Kow Weiser, being a traveler, was entitled to a double share ; but being not very well, was forced to take the benefit of a liberty indulged him of 48 Wthe bts be This I John I 811 m- with Orated vhere Ireeent their II that bouble kiin of with the design of liaptizing her, jiftor imparting tiie necessary instruction. Observing thtit he did not e;it all this tliey had pre- pared for him, they insisted that it was essential that he should eat it all in order to heal the sick one. " I do not sec my broth- ers," he re[)lied, "that I can heal her In making myself sick by over eating, and by a remedy which the Master of our lives for- bids; since it would make two persons sick instead of one — the tirst one remaining sick and he who over eats becoming so.'' All were taken by surprise with this reply. The sick person, above all, approved of what had been said, declaring that since this was not the i^ropcr course, she was resolved to have nothing more to do with superstitious remedies of this sort, nor with their dances as well, which only served to split a sick person's head.' After that, she permitted no remedy which the missionary deemed superstitious, and after baptism, she was taken from Tiohero to Cayuga where she made confession of sins committed since she had received the grace of baptism. At length she died, filled with the consolation of knowing that after death she would be eternally happy. Her death, however, joined with the wide spread impression that baptism caused the death of individuals, con- firmed the delusion with which the Evil One has blinded these people to prevent their salvation. Since this occurrence, the Father writes us, that he has often been repulsed and even driven from the cabins whither he has gone to visit the sick. But to understand fully the situation in which lie soon found himself, and the danger of losing one's life, eating by proxy, and called me. But both being unable to cope with it, Evans came to our asHistiince, notwithstanding which we were hard f>et to get down the necli and throat, for these were allotted to us. And now we had experienced the utmost bounds of their indul- gence, for Lewis, ignorant of the ceremony of throwing the bone to the dog, though hungry dogs are generally nimble, the Indian more nimble, laid hold of it first and committed it to the Are, religiously covering it over with hot ashes. This seems to be a kind of offering, perhaps first fruits to the Almighty power to crave future success in the approaching hunting season." These Indians proved to be Qiiyugis, on their return to their own country.— Obfierralionx &c., in his (ravel* from Pi^uHlvania to Oiiomla^o, Oswego, &c., London, 1751, p. 24. 1 Charlevoix gives an extended account of the superstitious customs here alluded to. The instance as told him by a missionary Fatiier who witnessed the scene, was that of a Huron woman afflicted with a rheumatic distemper, who tooli it into her head that she should be cured bv means of a fe;ist. the ceremonies of which were under h>>- own direction. The va- rious performances lasted four days, attended with cries or rather bowlings and all sorts of extravazant actions. Hi* informant stated that she was not cured, but claimed to be better than before ; nevertheless, he added, a strong and healthy person would have been killed by the coTumony .—See JourMy in North America, 11, 202-200. TT* 44 •to wliich tlio ini.ssioiuii'y iti this licatlieii couMtry is coiitinuiiUy exposed, it is necessary to give, in I'.is own w lus, the evil treut- ment he has received, more partienhirly on one or two oeeasions. "\ had entered a cabin," he says, "to instruct and hapti/e a young vvoiniiii, the «hiughter of a Huron (japtive; and though the time foi" baptism was ])ressiii;^- she would not listen to nu; as she did at the commencement of her siekness, when her father answered saying, ''Thou speakest as formerly spoke Father Brelieuf in our country. Thon teachest that which he taught ; and as he caused men to die by Douring water on their heads, thou wilt cause us to die in tl ■, ame manner." I well knew from that moment that there was nothing to hope for. Im- mediately after this, I observed one to enter who is a medicine; man of our eal)in: nevertheless he is much attached to me, and is in the habit of praying to God, and even kn(jws the prayers by heart. He remained for some time with(jut disclosing his purpose, but .seeing that I did not retire, he commenced, in my presence, lirst to a})i)ly some remedies in which I saw no harm ; and then not wishing my presence during the application he was al)out to make of certain other remedies, he insisted that I shovdd leave the cabin. It caused me great sorrow to make u|) my mind to leave, and I could not do it, as I looked uj)on this poor ci'ea- ture dying, without weeping with all the comi)assion of which my eyes were ea}>able. As I saw the people that Tilled the cabin astonished at my tears, and also met the look of the sick person who at the first had turned her eyes from me, I spoke to them after this manner : " Why do you wonder, my brothers, to .see me wcejj thus? I love the salvation of this soul, and I see her about to fall into eternal lire, becau.se she is not willing to hear my words. I bewail her danger which you cannot know as I do." After this I left and sought a neighboring iield to ]K)ur out my complaint to Grod, still beseeching the salvation of this per.son. But there was no more tunc ; for a few moments after they had driven me out, and in my person the mercy of God, this unhappy soul was taken from the body b}^ divine justice and banisiied eternally from heaven. I felt, through the evening, my heart tilled with the bitterness of grief, which took away all disposition to sleep, ever keeping 45 bcforo my cyos tlio loss of this soul that I lovcil iiiid df^sircd ti» save, l)Ut vvliicli now was lost. I then had a nuK-h clearer e<}n- eeption than ever before of the singular anguish of the heart of .lesus who loved all men and desired to siwo. them all, but who nevertheless knew the prodigious multitud»( of men that would darmi themselves in the course of the ages. His .sorrow was in proporticm to the greatness of his love. That, which at the loss of this one .soul, so beat down mv heart, was out of love which did not approach the love of Jesus — only a feeble spark of it. () God, what was the condition of the Savic^U's heart, (;on.scious of this universal sorrow over the fate of all the damned ! O how small is the grief which men feel for tcMuporal losses in compar- ison with that which oni; feiils for the loss of souls, when he re- alizes their inlinite worth! Then the words of St. Paul, which describe the sulTerings lu; recounts from his experience, cauie into my mind; and it seemed to me that those which expressed his deepest anguish, were S!i>Uicituilo Eccleslnnitn — the care of the churches. Whilst engaged in these thoughts I was astonished at the ap- pearance of my host, who approa(;hed me witli a frightened coun- tenance and whispered in my ear, that I must not go abroad on the morrow, nor (>ven for three day.s on the side T)f the town in which is the cabin of the woman who had just died. My lirst thought was that they had formed tlu; design to tomahawk me. Then all the bitterness of my heart was dissipated and changed into extreme joy, at .seeing myself in danger of death for the sal- vation of souls.' I urged him to give me the reason why I should not go in that cpmrtcr; and though he did not .seem willing that I shoidd think they intended to kill me, he never- theless said enough to make mc believe it. I did what ])rudence demanded, and replied that I would restrain my.self from going, 1 The Jesuit ruisBiontiry craved, iiliove till thliign, the j,'lory of miirtyrdoin. The desire some- timex roi^e to a jiusKioii, as in the vow of Urebeiif ^^hlch he renewed each day. cxchiiniintr iis lie partook of the sacred wafer : What n/iafl I rnnlcr unto flit-c, Jmim my Lwilfnv all thii Ix-n- (lit". I will accap' thij cup, aivl inrok- thij nam'. / voir Ihinfinv in the xirjhl of thy Ktcrnid Futh-r uml th" IMy Si)int ; in th" itiyhf of thy mM lltly Molhir, nml .SV. Joni'jih ; heforr the holy anje'.K, (lip^'o an-l mirlyrx, anl before my xaint'd FMi'rn If/n'tHwi anil Fruncii Zarler, to tliee my Jeftis I row, nerer to it-clln-. thi ojip'jrtiinity of mirtyrose in favor of Ilis elect and the mo.st suitable time for the infallible operation of His grace. The ])erson of all this neighborhood, who had given me most sohcitude with respect to her baptism, and finally the most con- solation, is a woman of the Senecas, who had been sick for nine or ten months. The extraordinary number of persons she liad seen die after the arrival of Father Fremin in her canton, men, women and children ; and the noise made everywliere about him as the sole autlior of this general desolation, and by his sorceries and magic and poisons causing death wherever he went, had given this woman such a horror of our person and remedies, our instructions and of ba[)tism, that I could not gain access to her, nor obtain an opjKirtunity to sjjeak to her of her salvation. She had even conununicated this aversion to all in the same cabin, saying that they were dead if they ])ermitted me to come near tliem. She had alarmed them to such a degree, that as soon as I entered the cabin they all remained in })rofound silence, regarding me with a friuhtened look, and in their unwilliu'jjness to hear mc, making no response, except that T should leave forthwith. Tn exchanging her residence subscipiently, she fortunately went to live with persons who were friendly to me; still she prescu-ved in her heart the old aversion toward me as one who carried about with him a deadly poison, with the j)ower to communicate it by 50 woi'd or look.' But the more this poor woman held me in repug- nance, the more our Lord enabled me to exercise charity toward her, and to hope for her salvation, even against hope • and though I saw no way in which this could be brought about, night and day I thought ot her, commending her to God, and her guardian angel, and to the one who has care of me, and to those who watch for the salval if.n of the people near to her. The night of her death I felt strangely impressed to offer mass solely for her ; and in this I solemnly vowed to our Lord that there was noth- ing in this world that I was not willing to sacrifice to Him, i)ro- vided he would accord to me this soul for whose salvation He had given a thousand fold more than I could offer Him, since He had bought it with His own blood, and by His life. After mass, I went to visit her five or si.x times; but the Evil One still retained his hold upon her blinded mind. She would only re- gard me with a fierce and angry look and drive me from her presence. One time her resentment rose to such a pitch, that weak as she was, she took one of her shoes and-hurled it at me, and I left the cabin. But God, who would save this soul, pressed me to re-enter immediately ; and prompted me to adopt this method of gaining her attention. I addressed the people about her, saying to them the things which I would teach the sick person herself, as if intended for them. In this way she was led to apprehend very clearly the danger of eternal misery, which hung over her, and was touched with the thought of in- finite happiness in paradise, now brought so near for her ac- ceptance. In availing myself of this mode of address, I spoke before her to those persons of all these things, to which I added > David Brainerd in his diary of iniHsionary labors among tlie Selawaref> in 1744, writes thus : '• I jjcrceived that some of them were afraid to hearlten to and embrace Christianity leet tliey should be enchanted and poisoned by some of the poicatvs ; but I was enabled to plead with them not to fear these ; and conftding in God for safety and deliverance, I bid a challenge to all thew jmivem qf darknens to do their worst on me first." (Life of Bminerd, p. lOT.) John Brainerd, brother of David, also a missionary among the Delawares thus alludes to the same superstition : " It is said that the Indians keep poison among them ; and that it is of such a nature that if one takes it in his breath it will cause him in a few months to pine away and die. \nd this is supposed to be in the keeping of their old and principal men, and by this means they keep the people in continued dread of them. And some of the Indians seem to be so sottish as to imagine that they can poison them by only speaking the word, thougli they are at a distance of twenty or thirty miles, and are consequently afraid to dis- please them in any point. "—/,(/(? qf John Brahwrd, p. 234. 51 some considerations on the mercy of Jesus Clirii , who became man for our salvation, giving her to understand that He would bestow upon her His everlasting love, if she would only have recourse to Him in simple trust. I passed the day without any satisfactory result Finally, I returned that evening as for the last time. It proved however, the first in which I gained her confidence. This time I only spake to her with my eyes, regard- ing her with a gentle kindness, and a sympathy sensibly touched by her afliiction, and endeavoring to render some little attentions to alleviate her condition. I perceived that she began to relent and show a disposition to tolerate me. But God availed himself of a brave woman, who was instrumental in finally gaining this soul to Him, "It is time," she said "that thou hearest this which the Father would teach, to the end that thou maycst be happy through all eternity." " I am content," replied the sick person, "let him instruct me, I will hear him gladly." She now listened with remai'kable attention and docilitv. She re- ceived with faith all my instructions, and at my request that she would repeat after me the prayers, said: "Tliou seest well, my brother, that I can scarcely speak. My disease is heavy upon my chest and suffocates my voice, but I pray you believe that my heart says all that thou sayest, and what my tongue cannot sa}'. Now baptize me without delay ; I wish to die a Christian, that Jesus may have pity on me." I baptized her on the mo- ment, and the same night God called her to heaven. Oh ! how well we are rewarded for all our anxieties, painful as they may be, by one such marvelous conversion; and how happy is a missionary in awaiting from God that which to his feebleness appears impossible. lie realizes the truth of the words of the evangelist, that God can cause to he horn of these very stones chil- a unto Ahraham — that is to say, choose his elect from these hearts which to us appear so hard and im|)enetrable to His grace. I declare in all sincerity that it is to me a great consolation to see myself surrounded by so many sepulchres of saints in a place, where, on my arrival, my eyes rested only on the graves of the heathen; and as it was this spectacle of the dead which struck me so painfully on my first coming here, so it is now, the thought that gives me the greatest joy. 52 The first winter after I cjiine to this vilhige, God favored nic with the privih'ge of giving baptism to two good women, one of whom liad called me expressly to baptize her, on tiie Day of PuriHeation. They both survived their baptism an entire year, and as they had been faithful to their promises, and fre(|uented thejn-a^'crsand sacraments with devotion, I doubt not they have increased the number of the elect in Heaven. A Christian man and Christian woman of our ancient church of the Ilurons, have also given me the greatest consolation as the witness of the purity of their faith and of their liv^es, until death for which they had attained a saintly preparation in tlie use of the sacraments of the church. In arranging for my first catechetical exercise, and apjjrehen- sive that none would, of their own accord, respond in pul)lic, I drilled befoi-ehand some of the children more [)articularly, as an example to the others of the manner I would have them answer the questions. But I was taken by surprise when I saw three or foul' women, among the more aged, rise on their feet to an- ticipate the children in their responses. After the first day, we counted eighty-eight })ersons present, besides a number who listened at the door. One day, after explaining the crea- tion of the world and the number of years we count since the beginning to our time, and in order tiiat they might the more readily comprehend the matter, 1 had shown it by some small stones which I used as counters, to prevent confusion and aid them to repeat the com])Utation, when a warrior rose all at once in his place and faithfully rehearsed all that I had said ; but he did not fail to demand, by way of reward, the same priw that I gave to the children.' ' LeJeune thus describes liis mstliod of ciitochetical instnictloii while union;? tlie Algon- (luins. Calling the children around liini witli his little hell, lie had them all join in the open- ing exercise, in tliis prayer in their own language \—Noiikldma»n .hMm iuf/otia Khutliiohi- inonitou KMkitoiiiiiu mi- K/iitrntaiiwiiiii. Canitoimchkhieu Murui omraoiuct ,/e>iii ra catu- miachichuii ■foi-t-p/i uiinihitoulKUn —Mij Cojitaiii, Jt:tii.i, teach tiie i/nj ivarilx (iiid thy will. O good Man/, iiwther of God ,' () {HkmI Jostph, pray for iik. After this tliey were iiiadc! to repeat the several parts of the catecliism, wiicn the Fatlier would explain to them the niysteriis of the faith, as the Holy Trinity, or the Incarnation ; after which he would ask ; Do you nn, deretand nie ? At which they replied— A'wo, J^xv, ninisitioidenaii — I'ei, yes, ire understand. Then followed such questions as these : How many (iods are there y Which of the three persons became man !• The exercises being concluded by chanting in their native tongue the Pater Xolain in as clear a maimer as possible these things, by comparing the mind with itself, when it simply recalls by an act of memory distant scenes, and when in a dream it only imagines what ap- pears to be present. Y'ou know well, I said, that during the day our soul remembers what occurred some time ago, and in places very far oft". Is it not true that even now it presents the coun- try of the Andastogues, Outaouaks, (.Quebec and Montreal, to those of you who have been there, as if you were there now? ^'our soul has not left your body to go to any of these places, for y(ni are still alive: it has not passed the great river, nor made any journey. The same thing occurs in dreams during the night. But again I said to them, why should the mere rep- resentations of objects which arc in the mind while we are asleei) be the ma.sters of our lives rather than the images of the same objects which are depicted in the same mind while awake? For this, whi(!h is called a memory during the day, is called a dream if it occur in the night. I then asked them if children not yet born had not some one who was master of their life? They said yes. Now it is not possible, I replied, that this should l)e a dream, for as yet it is not possible for them to have a dream. In fact, of ".at could they 57 " (li-ciim? Of knives, hatchets, swords or the like tliintrs? Tliey h;ive never seen iinv. It cannot he a (hvain that is the master of their hfe Ijofore l)irth, nor even a loni"' time after they eorno into the work), since it is some years befoi'e they have dreams. .It is necessary then that they shonid have some other master of their hfe, and anotiier god than the dream, for all this while. But when they begin to dream, it cannot he that the one who was formerly the master of their hfe should cease to be such. None wonkl know liow to dispkice him nor rob liini of this (jual- ity and tliis power that lie exercised over this infant beton; he l»e- gan to dream. He continues then to be the ."same as l)efore, and thus he is their master before tlieir birtli, and when as yet they have had no dreams. He is their master after tlieir birth and when they begin to dream. He is e(|ually sue;! in the time of their youth and of tlieir old age; in fact t(j tlieir death, and even after their death. And know that this Master, whose power is innnutable and et(!rnal, is the God whom we adore, and who will recompense all of us according to our deeds. It is lutt the dream, which, as your own experience has often told you, on!}' imjioses upon you impious and unreasonable demands, and which has deceived you a hundred times in the course of your lives. These barbarians show that they are capable of listening to reason and of perceiving its light in all its purity; for some of th.e more enlightened declare that they were convinced of the truth of what I had said to them and have since renounced these vain superstitions.' The inclinations of these people only prompt them to engage in the chase or in war. They form into parties of twenty, thir- t}', iifty, a hundred, sometimes two hundred, — rarely do thev amount to a thousand in a single troop; and these bands divide in pursuit, the one of men and the other of beasts. Thev make war more as robbers than as soldiers, and their expeditions ai'e rather surprises than regular battles. Then- chief glory is in I'c- turning accompanied l)y captives, men, women and children. 1 For account of the Dream Feast of the Iroquois as witnes.--ed by Dablon niicl Cliaunioiiot, see Appendix. 68 or Indeii with the scalps of those whom they have slain in the fight.' As for the rest, one can only say that there are no greater ob- stacles to the success of our missions than the victories they ob- tain over their enemies, which only render them insolent; and that there is nothing more desirable for the advancement of Christianity in this country than the humiliation oi' their spirits, which breathe only bl(x)d and carnage; which glory in killing and burning their fellowmen and whose ])rntal (lis[)osition is so diroctl> opposed to the meek and humble heart of Jesus Christ. We have passed the last winter quite peaceably, and without the alarm into which, ordinarily, the incursions of the Andas- togues. who have been long enemies of this nation, have occa- sioned us. But last Autunm they sent a messenger with three waini)um belts to treat for peace. He had been until the month of March awaiting a reply in order to return home. But the Onondagas having made war with the Andastogues this last winter, and having taken from them eight or nine prisoners, pre- sented two of them to the inhabitants of Cayuga with forty belts of wampum to induce them to continue the war against the connnon enemy. Immediately after this, they broke the head of the unfortunate messenger whom they had detained for live or six months, and who believed himself to be on the eve of his departure. His body was buried after his death, and a nephew of his, who had ac;iompanied him, shared the same fate at the hands of these savages who care but little for the laws of nations, and who keep faith no further than it serves their own interests. We can truly say that we are among them as perpetual victims, since there is no day in which we are not in danger of being massacred. But this a'so is our greatest joy. and the spring of our purest con.solation. 1 Tlic i^miillor parties* of six or seven were tlie most to bo dicaded. They would follow the trail of iin enemy to kill him while 'le slept, or lie in nmbnsh near ii villiisje for an oi)portu. nity to tomahawk, it miylit be, a woman and her children, when the brave would tly back with his companions to hani; the trophies in his cabin. It was the danger of such inroads in time of war that made every English family on the frontier insecnrc. VI. of TIio Cayuga mission had from tlic first a steadfast friend and ])atron in Saoncliiogwa, the chief of the canton, wlio may be said to liave stood next to Garacontie, the great Onondaga chieftain, in esteem and influence among both the Iroquois and tiic French. Ilis speeches at the general council, which opened the way for the establishment of the missions in the several cantons (^f the confederacy, and as the head of the emljassy to Montreal for the restoration of peace with the French, in 1600, as given in previ- ous numbers, are line specimens of Indian sagacity and elo- quence. The year 1671 is signalized in the history of the mis- sion by the ba[)tism of this tlistingnished sachem. The event took place in (.Quebec, and was attended with marked solemnities. It appeal's from the JMation for 1671, that in the spring of that year, a Seneca embassy headed by Saoncliiogwa, was sent to Quebec, to restore some P'>ttawatamies whom the braves of that canton had captured by a surprise and in violation of good faith toward the French. The account proceeds to say that as soon as Saoncliiogwa arrived at Quebec, he labored incessaiuly to ac- quit himself of the commission with which he was charged by the Senecas. " He held a council with the Governor, and })laced in his hands the eight captives with earnest protestations on the part of the Senecas of submission and obedience to all his orders. The Governor entertained him and his suite, and all things be- ing concluded with testimonials of satisfaction on both sides, the Chief concentrated all his energies upon the important matter of his salvation, to the exclusion of every other subject. lie had an earnest conference with Father Chaumonot then in ciiarge of the Huron Mission. It was not necessary to devote much time for his instruction and enlightenment in the knowledge of our holy mystei'ies. He had been well informed concerning them for more than fifteen years, even from our first arrival in their coun- »^""M'« ',-«^»['.' 60 trv, when it was his good fortune to he present in t'.ie distin- guishetl couneil of the Five nations at Onondaga, whieh Father Chaumonot addressed, foi- two entire honrs. in exphniation of the prineipal artieles of ourfaitli. This Father was hstened to with a siknit and wrapt attention, that was very notieeable, par- tieularly iri the eountenance and eyes of our Catechumen. The Chiefs of these nations, each in his turn, repeated, according tf our faitli. It was on the tirst (hiy of the year tiiat wo presented for a New Year's olfering to our Lord, songs of ])raise. wliich wo liave since continued witli ])rolit, and niucii to the satisfaction of our savages. L am occu]>ii'(l the most of each (hiy in visiting the sick, to giv<' them the |»ro)>er instruction, in orih'i' that thev may not (Wo witliout receiving l>a])tism.' (lod did not ]iermit me to succeed with the lii'st one wliom 1 visited on my arrival here, and who died soon after. I went to see him many times and connnenet'd with the neces.^ary coiir.se of in.struetion. l\nt his niotlu'r would not ])ermit it. One day. as I remaine(l with the sick pei'soii a longei' time than suited liei' mind, she seized a stick to drive me out. and hci' daughter, at the same time, threw a large stone, which, however, failed to hit lav. I seizeil evei'v opportunity to make an imi)ressiou. I .'*poke in different interviews to this wretched mother, beseeching' her to have pity on her son. But she remained in11exil)k^ to the kist. Thus this poor young man died without ljaj)tisni. at least the actual administration. It seems as if the cur.se of Clod rested upon this cabin — the same in which Fatlier (k' Carheil had keen treated with still greater indignity than myself, and foi- a kke reason. Some time after this allliction, which greatly grieved me, it pk\ased God to console me by the conversion of a ])ris()ner of war, a young' man from twenty to twenty-two years of age. I have never found a .ravage more docile. They chojiped off the half of one kand. and tore out his Iniger nails, while a crowd of people surrounded kim on all sides, and demanded that ke skould sing to them. In the intervals in which they allow^'d him to take breath, I seized the occasion to instruct him. It ap})eared in the midst of all this torture that he retained the presence of mind to ai)])reeiate the Christian truth that I taught ' Tlio lift' (if tho Josuit nii-i«i()iiiii\v wns simpk' and uniforni, Tlio earlicsf hours from four to tight were occupied in private ilevotions. Tlie day was fi;iveii to visitiiiij tlic sicVc. iu- stnictinj; tlie catecliiiiueiiv, and n .■»ervic" for proselytes. It is said of Brebeuf that sonietiines he would walk tln'ou!.'h a Hurou \illai;e and its environs, invitini; tlie braves and principal ones to a conference, when ho would discuss with them the deeper mysteries of '.lie Faith 6& him. At last, I was so well satistied tliat I baptized liim. This gave liim such jov that he publicly thanked me, even singing of the love I had shown him,' I count thirtv, both children and adults, to whom God has given the same grace, since the depai'ture of Father de Carheil. I trust that this troop of little innocents will move God at last, bv the ])rayers they make to him, to hasten the time for the conversion of these barbarians, which as yet does not seem to be near. To believe that an entire nation is to be converted at once, and to expect to make Christians by the hundreds and thousands in this country, is to deceive one's self. Canada is not a land of flovve'-s ; to lind one, you must walk far among brambles and thorns. Persons of exalted virtue find here enough to call out their zeal. Tiie less worthy, like my- self, are happy in finding themselves com])elled to suffer much, to be without consolation save in God alone, nnd to labor inces- santly foi' ]iersonal sanetification. I sincerely beg your Rev- erence, to retain me in. this blessed service all my life, and to be assured that this is the greatest favor that can be conferred upon me. I will add a word (says the Father) to give you some ac- count of our petty waix Tiie day of Ascension, twenty Senecas and forty of our young braves, went from this town to make an attack u})on the An- ' Brebeuf describes the torture of sin Iroijuoifi prisoner taken by the Hurons in 1()37. with eight others while tishing in the Iroquois Lake. All but this one made their escape. On the way to the cabins of his conquerors, the hands of the prisoner were crushed between stones, his tingers torn off, his arms scorched and gashed to the bone, while he himself preserved his tranquillity and sang the songs of his nation. At one village after another, festivals were given in his name, at which they compelled him to sing. A young maiden was given him as a coni])«nion of his last loves. The old chief who might have adopted him in place of a fall- en nephew chose rather to gratify his revenge, and doomed him to death. "That is well," was the captive's reply. The sister of the slain wiirrior, in whose place it had been pro- posed to receive him, still treated him with the tenderness dne to a brother, offering hina food, and serving him with every token of affection. The father caressed him as though he had become his kinsman, gave him a pipe and wiped the thick drops of sweat from his face. This last entertainment given at the charge of the bereaved chief began at noon. To the crowd of guests, he declared : "My brothers, I am going to die. Make merry around me with good heart. 1 am a man. I fear neither death nor your torments ;"' and then sang aloud. The feast being ended he was conducted to the ciibin of blood. They place him on a mat and bind his hands. He then rises to his feet and dances around the cabin chanting his death song. At eight in the evening eleven tires had been kindled and these are hedged in by files of spectators. A war chief now strips the prisoner, assigns their oiMce to tlie tor- mentors and exhorts them to do their work faithfully. Then ensued a scene most horrible, lasting until sunrise, when the wretched victim was carried out of the village and hacked to pieces.— /Wr/f'/o/*, \m7, Chap. II, 109-119. (57 (lastes, whose eouiitrv is four days' joiinicv from here. The Seiiecas, who formed u band by themselves, tlie others liavino- l)reviously gone by water, were attacked by a partv of sixty young An(histes, from fifteen to sixteen years of age, and i)ut to flight with a loss of two of their men — one killed on the spot and the other carried away i)risoner. The youthful victors, learning that the band of the Cayugas had gone by water,' im- mediately took to their canoes in hot jjursuit, and oyertakini'- them beat them in the hght. Eight of the Cayugas were slain in their canoes, and fifteen or sixteen wounded by arrows and knives or half killed by strokes of the hatchet. The field of battle was left with the Andastes, with a loss, it is said, of fif- teen or sixteen of their nnml)er. God preserves the Andastes who have barely three hundred men of war. He favors their arms to humble the Iroquois, and preserve to us peace and our missions.* ' Via Cayuga Lake and the Susquehannah river. ■! Every success of n war party was a loss to the Fiiith ami every reverse was a gain. Mean- while a more repulsive or a more critical existence than that of Jesuit Father in an Iro- quois town is scarcely conceivable. The torture of prisoners turned into a horrible festivi- ty for the whole tribe ; foul and crazy orgies in whicli as the priest thought, the powers of darkness took special delight ; drunken riots the work of Dutch brandy, when he was forced to seek refuge from death in his chapel— a sanctuary which superstitious fear with- held the Indians from violating ; these and a thousand disgusts and miseries Hlled the record of his days and he bore them all in patience.— 6*^ Htijime in Canada, 317-318. VII. 1 lit'P'' is necessarily some repetition in these animal narratives III' tlie work of the missionary whose lilV' was a simple roninl of the same dntii's with snhstantially the same ohstaeles to sneeess, and the ever impendinii' pei'il of death at the will and e\-en whim of the savaf>e. Hnt this \'ery monotony of duties and danji'er only serves to exalt the devotion and ('ouraive vividness and uMvat interest to the whole picture. After writing the lett(>i' just given, Katliei' RaU'eix ])roeeede(l to the Seneca country to assist Father Garnier ; and Father de Carheil, after a yt'ars res])ite, returned to the mission with re- stored health. The record is that "finding human skill una- vailing, he made a ])ilgrimage to the shrine of St. Anne' and ol)- tained deliverance from the nervous distmler which afllieted him." He resumed liis labors at Cayuga with eharaoteristie zeal, aud in the face of increasing o})positiou as ap})ears from the fol- lowing letter contained in Belaiion l()72-3* Chap. VI. " The number of l)a])tized this year is hfty-tive. of whom eleven are adults, the rest are children, of whom thirteen received bap- tism in the cha})el with the ceremonies, the others without cere- monies. I had not yet until this year been able to baptizie any one exee})t secretly, and without any one being cognizant of it exce})t those from whom I could not conceal it, wdien necessity and an evident danger of death obliged nie to ju'epare them for ' St. Anne, about twonty niilos below Q,iiebec, on the St. Lawrence, in the idaco here re- ferred to. Parknian found the oUl chai)el still utandinj; in 1878, but about to bo rei)liiced by a new and much larger one in course of erection. It \# said that thirteen Canadian jiar- ishes bear the name of St. Anne, but of all her shiines, none have the fame or receive the devotion which attach to this, nestled under the heights of the Petite Ca]). i Jii-UiHon ('e (/tit i)''e'anishinu' it from tlieii' minds, oi* at least gradually diminishinu' it, although from all the etl'orts 1 had made to this end in previous years. I coidd not see any success, and this yeai" even, 1 could hope for it still K'.ss than ordinarily because siekne.ss and deaths had been more fi'e(|uent than before, ^'et 1 do not know how I'royidenee has acted, but it has done me the j^'race (in sjtite of all the false rumors whieli have been spread against me more than usually) to infuse into the heart of some mothers disjiositions whit-h I could not expi'et from my endeavors. 'I'here lia\e been thirteen who have aske(l me toi' their children what they did not yet wish To ask for themselvt's; they have besought nii' to baj)tize them, l>ringiiig them to me in the eha])el. This [trayer et)uld not but 1h! inlinitt'ly agreeable to me, as it was a lirst stej) in elfacing from minds all the false impressions against ba])tism. to remo\-e the aversion towards it and to ]iro(bice the love and esteem for it which 1 desired; but as nothing shoidil be done ])recipitatel\', I never granted on the spot what tluy asked me. 1 lia\e al- wa\'s put them olT to some coming holida\'. in ordei- b\- this de- lay to make them coneiMve a better idea of what 1 wished to grant tlaMu and which I in fact granted on the appointed da\'. baptizing their childi'en with the c(M"emonies and e\en making some who were capable, answer the intcM'rogations which are to be made therein. There are still otlun* mothers who solicit at mv \iands baptism for their chihhvn, and to whom [granted it in time, 70 having loaniod by exporioiice that those wliosechihlrcn are bap- tized, have much oreator respeet for a inissionarv, ami couHe- quently a greater (lisponition for tlie Faith than the othew, inas- iiuR'li as they esteem themselves as it were l)ovm ;.'i'rat was tlir ji>v 1 f't'lt, and the assiii';iiic(' tlwit lie would prav canifstlv U>y iiic liiforc li(»(l, accoi'diiiL:' to tlic |iroiiiis(' wliicli lie had made iiic" III ('ha|). \'. Sec. 'J of /i'r/afion KIT.'!-'*.' Fatli<'r Dahlou (jii«.tt',-t the accoiiiit of tlu' coiiNci'sioii and dt-atli of this \'oniiLi' warrior I'l'oni the ahovc U'ttcr of Carhcil as a rcinarl\al)l(' ilhistratioii of tiic power tliat tlic I'^aith oiicc (•Hil)iM"i'd has o\('r thi' convcrtctl sava;ic. "The iioiif of I'arailisc,'" he writes. " Liiscs the lro(|Uois eon\ I'l'ts ineoiiiparahle eoiiraLic. and oiiee tlii'\ ha\e cinliraecd the Christian reliLi'ioii in earnest, tliey iiold fast to it eoiiraLic- (tnsly in \iew of I'aradise, and in the hojic of tlie eternal happi- iiess whieh Faith promises us."" The followiii;i' extracts from the //(/a/io/is //in/ilc-^'-' (■<)]i\\\\\\r the historv of the mission for the years lUT'l ami l(i74. •'Althou!.--irace and nature were in conlliet. 1 was beuinninu' to cherish some sliiiiit hope, when tuiMiin^si' in fury upon uie she seized my face with all the ener^iiy of which she was capable, and she would assuredly have wounded nu' seriously had hei' .strength e([ualled her rage, but she was too weak to do me the injury she desired. Her weakness caused me to turnin,L!' to her no more. Vet 1 did not fail to return the next nu)rnin,r, "you ha\e but a moment to li\e, why will you lose yom- sold forever, when Volt can still save it?" These few wonls softened her lieai't, which so many others had failed to shake. Slie leaneil over t(:\,ards me, she mad- the jirayer which I suji'g'ested to her, iniuced sorrow for her past sins, asked baptism to efface them and received it to be conlirnuMl in u'race by the death which (inickl V iMisued. to r li;i\(' I(';ini('(l ]>y tlic cNjiiiiiilc of tins sick woiiiaii lliat I sliditld iievt'i' abandon any one. whatever jvsistanoc lie may of- fer, so '.Miu' as there is left a remnant of life and reason, and that my ho])e and my laljors should ha\'e no limit, sa\'e that whieli (lod sets to Ilis merey.'" in Cha]). \. Section \ii. of Rehition 1()73 this case is cited as an illustration of the (jualities of a faithful missionary, as that of the youuii' warrior already i|Uoted in this chapter, as proof of the virtue and ('onstancy of the Indian con\erts. The Iro- ((iiois missionaries, it says. ae(|uire especially two. which are vci'y >iiiL:ularly theirs. The first is a holy addrt'ss to seize dili- ,aently and prolit hy e\cry occasion, so as to allow no sick ])ei'- son or child to die without haptisni. The other is a heroic pa- tit'uce to suH'cr everything', and he repulse(l hy nothing', wdion the salvation of a soul is at stake, ne\'er losing hope, whatever theopposition, hut await the time of grace. In lii4alioiis Inediies. \'ol. 11. p. 11. ])al)lon in a letter to the l'i'o\incial Fatlu'i' i'inette. wi'ites: "Further on we lind the town o{ Oiogouin whci'C Father al which does not liiid that the Indians correspond to his care: hut I thiidc that he asks fi'om them too much virtue for beginnings. If he does not sanctify as manv of them as he would, it is c'crtain that he sauctiiies himself in a good degree as do l''athers (Jarnier and RaU'eix in the towns of the Sonnt>'.touans." (Seneeas). All that I'cmaius to be gatluM'e(l from the JicIa(io7i.s concern- ing the Cayuga ^[i.«[ier Inxpiois. that is to say those that ari' most I'cniote from us. as the Somiontouans ainl the Oioguen-; are the mt >t haughty and the most insolent, running after thi' missionaries with ax(> in hand, chasing and pelting thei i witi .tones, tlirow- ' Ilrliiliiiii ilf ci- (/III •>■'( >'^ /)H'ii ili< itliie mntniiiiihli- aii.r nii>"'ioii-i ilix /'<;■<•,< tli- la Compaf/nie (ie Jisiis, I II hi Xiiiii'i//i- Fraiici i < itniitut UiTli < / lOti'. iiig down tlioir chapels and their little cabins, and in a tiiousand other ways treating them with indi several missions: "By all that we have n^late*]. it may be judged that the Iro- rpiois missions render great gioi'v to (Jod and contril)Ute largely to the salvation of so\ds. This encourages the missionaries amii'e than thirty at o)ie of ilic towns of .Vu'iiie (^lohawk). and Father Biaiyas in another (M,L;hty : Father dohn de Land»ei'\'ille se\'enty-two at ()nnon1a,i:e. and Fatlier I'iei'i'on ninety at Sou- nontonan. It is estimated that they have plaeecl in lieaven more than two hniKb'ed souls of ehildivn and siek adults, all dead after bai)tism."" 'I'he Mission at (/ayiiLia for the remaining!' brief ])erioil of its <'ontinuane(> was unmai'ked ]\y any striking' event. tii(> ol)Stinate and liauji'hty spirit of tli(> jieople being the same, until about the vear l(>8-t. when Father de CarluMl wdio for sixteen vears had labored so faithfully for their Li'opd. was plundered of everv thinu" and (li'iven IVoiii the eouiitrv bv Oreliaoue' and Sarenuoa ' Till' siiiiio iiti'rruil to in note pnso •"'■ Fiitlier Jdlin de LmnbtTvillu of Onon(lnj.'ii, in ;i letter to M. de la I'urre, Feb. 10, 1()>'4. \vl■ite^' ; ■' The mnii iiinned Orehaoiie of eayii<;ii, told nie also he intended to vImjI yon at Montreal. It is he who niiule Father de Carheil to withdraw from Cayuga and who treacherously l)roujj;ht t!ie six Tionnontates there, lie is e.\- eeedin^ly i)rond. Sorreinm and ho are the two vt'rnor of Now York liad so far sncoeedod in destroying the influenee of the Freneli with the Iro([nois tliat, tliongh liini- self a CatliorK'. he dirceted all his t'll'orts to exju'l the Canadian missionaries; and to ins]»ire the Indians with eonlidenec. lie ])roinised to send them Knglish .lesuits instead, and bnihl them ehurehes in their cantons. As a rcsnlt the Oneida and Seneca missions were hroken ^\\) a year liefore the expulsion of Father de Carheii from Cayuga. Father .lolin Lamhei-NiUi! was tiie last to leave his post, at Onondaga, where his hfe was ]Hit in })eril, owing to the alleged treachery on the jiai't of tlie Krencli in seizing a nundu'r of Iroijuois as [O'isoncrs and taking them to Fort Catarocoui. In concluding the history of the mission at Cayuga, so long the scene of tlu' labors of Father di- Carheii. a sketch of this ae- eomplished and intr(>})i(l missionai-y is herewith a])})ended. lie came from France to t^uehec in lli.M! and was immediately sent to the liui'ons among whom he ac([uirc(l great inlluence. and wh' gave him the name of ^Voudechete. In l()(i7, he acci>m- criior, whom they had so loii;^ miset'd, and thank him for liis jroodness in icstoiing to tliom a chief whom the}' had supposed irrocovei-alily lost. The deputation hrought haciv word ex- ])ressiny; tlie great joy felt l)y the Five Nations at tlie return of Oreliaouc wliom they still re- garded as cliief of their country, htit dciiianding his iironipt return to them and that he lie accompanied liy a messenger and all who had been his compiiuions in captivity, when furth- er consull>nlion would he had in the matter. It was also di'Mumded that full rei)aration be made for the treacherous seizure of the prisoners ;u (innneout. before any further negotia- tions could be had. Frontenac wiis greiitly mortitied at this turn of aflfairs, and for the time was disposed to blame Orehaoue as either iusensibh^ to the kindness shown him or us want- ing in inlluence with his nation. The great war chief himself wa.s cliagrined as he felt the justice of the rebuke ; but without evincing the least ainioyance, counselled Fronteiuic to remember that rni his return from France he had found the cantons bound by an alliance with the Kiiglisli iiiid so embittered against the French, w hose treachery had driven them to contract this idlianco, that it became necessary to trust to time and circumstances for a more favorable disposition ; that for his own part he could reproach himself with nothing ; that his refusal to return to hi?< own canton where he was passionately desired should banish every susi)icion of hislidelity ; and if, notwithstandini; so unmistakable a token of hisiittach- ment to the French, they were so unjust as to entertain any such suspicions he would soon dispel them. Orehaoue renounced his own jieople and becaiiu' Hrinly attiiched to the cause of the French. He was active in hostile operations against the Irocpiois, mid such was his valor that the other tribes demanded him for their chief, lie died at C^uebec, in l(i08, from an at- tack of pleurisy, after a brief illness, greatly lamented as ■• a worthy Frenchman iind a good Christian ;" and ns a mark of distinction for his fidelity and eminent service was buried with ecclesiastical and military honors.— See Ci}t. llUt. X. Y., IX, 4(i4, 524, liSl ; also Shea's Clutr- ItiuLv, IV, l.'Jl, 203, 212, 24ii. to ce to ir a 79 ])nnie(l Ganicontic, tlic Oiionda;:';! cliicf, tVoiii Qncljec ami tin* t'<)llo\viiiersuade(l as he was, that the liomn's and success he miiilit have attained \i[)on a more l)i'illiant arena would lia\-e ivsulted in the loss of his soul ; and that this tlaaight was his unfailing consolation amid the sterile residts of his long and toilsome apostt)late. '' I have deemed it my duty to ivcord this liright example, that those now entering upon the calling of an evangelist may under.staud""that no vears and no toils can Ijc lost, if through . ■ .~7" , HTT^* 'y ■ ■ 80 tlR'iii all tliev attain saiiitliiicss of cliai-actcr; that the coiivcr- j^ion (if souls is alone the work of ^racc: tliat no natural talent, iior even the snl)liniest virtues, i-an havi' any ]»()\v»>i- to melt hard hearts, except as (iod liiniself may ^liive them (jlUeicney : and that amid all their fiMiitless toils, they should i'V(M- remember, that those ministerin countries, and is cited ))y many writers as constituting an authority in such matters. '•This Father enjoyed in France the re})utation of an excel- lent litterateur: he ]night have taken his place beside the \\\- vasseurs, the Conunires, the Jouvaneys, the de la Hues, but he sighed only for the i)ainful missions of New France. The rec- tor of the college of Agamies, wdicre he taught humanities, oj)- posed the (lei)arture of the young profes.sor; and there exists in the archives of the (lesu at Home, a letter from the Father Gen- eral of tlie Jesuits, which authorized the Provincial of the Prov- ince of France to leave Father de Carheil still at the college of A^annes, but without this leadhig to any result, and without in- ducing us to believe that distinguished talents were a motive for excluding one from the foreign missions. It was ])robably to enter into the views of his (Jeneral that the Father Pi-ovin- cial according to the ])ious desires of the young religious, per- mitted him the following year to set out for Canada. "There F'ather de Carheil accpiired universal esteem, as much bv his vii'tues asbv his rare talents. Hut it is a remarkable thing that this zealous missio)iary who had receive(l as his portion the 1 HisMrc (l(- la Nonvclk Fraii-c, J'arix, ItlJ. Toiii' Pninh'r, 403-404. .SI iimst prt'cious jiil'ts of iiiiturc ;iiiil L:r!ii\e tiu'iii etlieieiiey." Vet we must not think that the zealous laliors of >';ither de (,'arheil wei'e entirely fruit- less, 'i'rulv ajiostolic hhmi always do i^'ood in souls, at h^ast an interior u'ood. ;iiid wliieh (io(l ;iloiie knows. Alori 'over the rep- utatioii which l""ather de Carheil en joyed ainoiij:' I'Veiidi and In- dians, ••who." savs ('liarle\()ix aiiaiii, ••a,L;ree Carhoil. It is ti^ue that he knew othi'rs in the se([uel to whom hi' i^endi'i'ed tlii' same jus- tice." CharleNoix makes freijuent refereuee to this distin^^uished Huron, and vouches for the ji'eueral opinion that no Indian had evei' ])o.s.sessed greater merit, a finer miiu' moi-e valor, i)nidenee, or discernment in understandini>'thos h whom he had to deal. His measures were always found wi.se. he was nevi'r without resource, hence he always succeeded, ile was as famous for his ehiqueipce as for his wis(h>m ainl valor. He never opened his lips in council without ajiplause even from tho.se w ho (hsliked him. lie -was not le.ss brilliant in conversation in ])rivate. an'ai'ds the further history of I'Vench Missions amoUL:' the Iroipiois. it is only necessary to adil that in L7'r()und of their labors and saci'iticcs. But in the continued stru;.>;uie between the Kn^'lish and l''rench for the dominant inlluencc. little was accomplished, when liy the treatv of Ctrecht. concluded in 1712, Louis XIV acknowl- edired the ri,u'ht of Knuland to the whole Territoi'v occujiicd by the Five Nations and thus completely closed their cantons ao-aiust tlu- French Jesuit Fathers. 1 The render who would leiirii more of this remarkiihle Indian is referred to Lt Jfnnlait'i Voyiti/t." h lir. 1*1. 191 : also Sliea's Chii-Umix IV, 12, 14, 5r ; V, liH, 110, 141, 143, 14.vr, from which the above sketcli has been derived. Tliv Siilpitiau BJissian ut Quiut(5 Bai), III the Rdatloii foi- KidS. iiieiitiou is iiiudo oL" ;i colony of Cay- ugas who for fear of tlic Aiulustes had tixed their abode on the north side of Lake Ontario, at the western extremity of <^uiuti' Bay. Th.e h^nguage of the Relation iuiphes tliat Jesuit mission- aries liad hibored among them for some two years previous, Uut no statement is made elsewiiere as to the fact.' If they had a mission there in KJOG, at the partial conclusion of peace l)etween the French and the Iro([uois, the ^Nrohawks alone remaining hos- tile, it was surrendered at the re-opening of the missions in the .several rro(jUois cantons in KiiiS to the Society of Sulpitians. founded some twent}' years bel'on; in the parish of St. Sulpiee. Paris, V)y Jean Ja(;([ues Olier, and to which had been transferred the lauded proprietorship of the island of ^[ontreal. Two mem- bers of the order, Claude Trouvi.'' and Francis de Salignac de Fenelon.' who arrived at Montreal in June. 1()H7, were selected for the ^Mission (the lirst under the ausi)ices of the Sul[)itians among the Iroquois) luid the following year i)roceeded to their Held of laljor which they reached Oct. 28, 1668. ' Shon's Chiirtii-iiir Ml, 110. note. -Trouvc was of the dioci^se of Tours, ami was only a snli-dcacon when he came to Caniiila. He wa;* ordained prient a fliorf, time after his arrival at Montreal. In llilK), at the capture of Port ]{oyal by the Enirlish Admiral I'hibs. he was taken jjrisoner with a number of others, and one acconiU says carried to ISosloii. But on the raisim; of the siege of (Quebec, in the same year, byAdmiral I'hibs, Tnnive was recovered l)y the Kreiidi in an exchaiifje uf prison- ers. See Shea's C/iar/erou' III, 110, n.; IV, UT, n. 1.5ecting a Su- perior from France that year, our gentlemen thought best (o beg them to return, not deeming it right to inidertake an aTair of this inii)ortance without awaiting his advice, so as to do nothiny; ill tlu^ matter, except in conformity with his orders. In the month of September the Chief of that village ivtiuMicd jiunctually at the time assigned to him, in ordi-r to endeavor to obtain missionaries and conduct them t(; his country. The Abbe dv' Quclns having by that time arrived as Superior of this communitv, it was referred to him, and he very willinglv gave his consent to this design, in conscfiuence of which we apjtlied to the Bishop who sup[)orted us by his formal act. As to the Governor and Intendant of thisxountry we had no dillicnltv in obtaining their consent, inasmuch as they lia^ ^^ ' o^ 4'J--? A '/ 1 M \ \\ ^^ "^W«^"fMI"l" I I^III^IIP lllll ■' ' *«' P-T- J % ^ 86 made tliein a present of some biscuits wliicli they at once tlircw into a little water to soften and to be able the sooner to a[>iH'ase tlieii' hunj^er. Tlunr canoe was so small that tln'v could scarce- ly sit in it witiiout upsetting it. Our two Indians consulted to- gether what was to be done. They resolved to take these two l)oor victims and the boy with them to their village, and as the women feared they would be burned, as that is the usual piui- ishment for fugitive slaves among the Indians, they began to show their grief; then I endeavored to speak to the Indians and induce them to let these women uio, as thcv would soon be among the French. I told them that if they took these W(jmen, the Governor on being informed of it, would l)e convinced that there was no sure ground for peace, inasmuch as one of the ar- ticles of peace was that prisoners should be given up. All these threats had no ett'ect on their minds. They gave us as a reason that the life of these women was im[)ortant. that if the Indians of the village from which they had escaped, should happen to meet them they would tomahawk them at once. Then we advanced for four days through the most diflicult rai)ids that there are on this route. After that one of our In- dians who carried a little keg of brandy to his country, di'ank some, and so much that he got drunk, for they (h) not drink otherwise or with any other object unless some one prevents them by force. Now as these [jcop.le are tcTrible in their intoxi- cation, tlu; prisoners thought it was all over with them, because Indians usmilly get drunk to commit their evil deeds. This Iro- (|Uois having pa.ssed into this excess, entered into a fui'ious and unai)proachable state, and tlien he began to pursue one of these women. She, in her alarm, llef Europe. It may even be .said that it is wronging them to give them the name of citrouilles. Tlu'v are of a very great va- riety of shapes and scarcely one has any resemblance to those in France. There are some so hard as to reqnire a hatchet if you wish to split them open before cooking. AH have ditlercnt names. 88 One poor man liaving nothing to give us, wtus all day long fisliing in order to catch something for us, and having taken only a little j)ickerel presented it to us, utterly discomlited and con- fused to have only that to give ns. There is nothing more cap- able of mortifying an Iroc^uois than to have a stranger arrive in his country when he has nothing to oll'er him : they are very hospitable and very often go to invite those who arrive in their nation to come and lodge with them. It is true that since they fretpient the Europeans, they begin to act in a different maimer: but seeing that the English and Dutch sell everything to them, if it is only an ai)ple, they like them less than the French who usually make them a present of bread or other little things, when they I'ome to our houses. Xo one could be received in a more friendly way than we were by these savages. Every one did what he could, even to a good old woman, who for a great treat threw a little salt in a sagamite or boiled Indian corn she was preparing for us. After having breathed a little the air of this country, Mr. de F('ueli)n and I delibcratetl what we should do on the subject of religion. We agreed to apply on this [toint to the chief of the village called Rohiario, who had obliged us to go t»^ his country. In consequence of which we went to say to h.im that he was per- fectly aware that he had come to seek us in order to instruct them, that we had come only for that purpose, that he ought to begin to aid us in this design, that he should notify every one in his village to send his children to our cabin in order to be in- structed. This having succeeded as we had desired, sometime after wt; begged this same Indian to hud it go(xl and persuade his nation that we should baj)ti/e their children. To this that old man replied: "It is said that this washing with water (so they call V»aj)tisin) makes the children die. If thou bapti/est them and they die, they will say that thou art an Andastogueronon (who are their enemies) who has come into our village to -destroy us." •'Do not fear,'" said I to him. "they are ill-advised who told thee that this baptism killed children, for we French are all bap- tized, and but for that we would not go to heaven, and yet thou knowest well we are very numerous.'" ling I If 89 Tlicii ho said: "Do as tliou wilt : tliou art master." Wo a(jc()r(liiii>ly assigned a day when we sh(>nld cotifer this great saeranient. Several adults were present, and W(.' Itapti/ced ahout tiftv little ehildreu. among wiioin llohiario's daughter — his only one — was the first. She was named ^[al•v, thus cut- ting our tirst fruits under the proteetion of the Blessed Virgin. What is to be remarked is, that as no one of the first fifty bap- tized dieil, they leivc U') longer any dillieidty against holy ba[)- tism, although several otherehildren have since' died after ba[)tisin. In the spring of l()i)I>, Mr. de Fe'nelon having gone down to Montreal for eonsidtatiou as to sonu; dilUeulties that he liad. dur- ing the voyage in whieh he draggtd his eanoe himself, both as- cending and descending amid the most fui'ious ra|)ids. lu; bap- tized a child which died soon after. This greatly gladdened him amid his Jianlships which are so great that w(! should not be believeil, it" we ventured to relati; them, .since in many i)laeesand \cry often you ascend waters more impetuous than a mill-fall, bi'- ing sometimes up to tiie armpils, walking barefoot over vei-y cut- ting stones with whieh most of these watei's are paved. ^Ir. de Fenelon on his return from Montreal brought with him another missionary who was A[r. d' Urfe. Then having ar- rived, he went to winter in the village of (jaudatsetiagon, settled \>y detached Souontouans. who had come to the north shore of which we have charg'": these j)eople having asked us to go and instruct them, wen; tlelighted that this faxor was granted them so soon after they had asked it. As for us, having been obliged to go with the Fndians into the woods in order to extricate our- selves from the want of food in which we were because our settlement was new, by a singular ])rovidence 1 fell on the trail of some Jiidians who had jtassed shortly In-fore, but we were suri)rised in the evening on .seeing ourselves arrive in a place where there was .smoke. It was the very Indians wh(»se trail we had been following in the snow. Api)i'oaeliiiig nearer, we saw some branches of trees, from which a little smoke arcjse: it was a ])oor Ir(X[Uois woman who had been delivered of two chiMren, who were hidden under this wretched eabinage with some others. Then her iiusl)and waking up said to me: '•Come Blaek-gown, she has been delivered of three children." 90 Tliese poor people were reduced to the last necessity, for they had no food, and subsisted only by means of some porcui)ines which they killed and ate. The whole was not enough to satisfy two pooi)le, although they were more than nine or ten. On see- ing this poor woman I was all the inore touched from my ina- bility to render her any assistance, for wo wcr(> at least as desti- tute as they. I asked her if her children were in good health. The husband answered that one of the two would soon die. The woman utn'olled them l)oth before me and I .saw that they were half fi'ozen, and beside one had a fever and was dying. From this I took occasion to speak to them of our religion, telling them that T was verv .sorry that these children were sointr to die without being ba[)tized, and that they would never go to heaven without it. After which I explained these things to them more in detail, till the husband interrupted mc saying, "Courage, baptize them both, my brother, it is a pity not to go to heaven." This consent given, I baptized them both, and soon after a good number of these new Christians went to enjoy glory that .same winter which was in 1670. Since then something occurred to Mr. d'Urfe which had well nigh proved fatal to him, and which I wish to note. After .say- ing holv mass he went out into the woods to offer his thankssiv- ing, but struck in so far that he lost his way and could not get back. He spent a whole day and night .seeking his way but un- able to lind it, and at last after he was obliged to take his rest, which he did in a wolf pit which an Indian had made some time before. The next day in the midst of the anxiety which Ins position caused him, he had recour.se to the late Mr. Oilier, to whom he commended himself, and pursuing his march came straight to the village. For this he believed himself greatly in- debted to his ]>rotection. During his ab.sence the Indians had run in all directions to seek him, and when he returned '^'■ey all made a feast to thank the Spirit, that he had not died in the woods. lie said that during his march he had supported i.uu- self by those bad mushrooms which grow around the foot of trees, and he assured us that he had found thein good, so true is it that ap[)etite give3 the best taste to things which are the worst. In 1671 tliis same) iiiis.si<»nary well iii^^Ii ju'rislic>(l by anotlKT miscliaiico. This was, that on his way to Montreal his canoe n|)S(!t almost in the middle of the river, being nnder sail and a violent wind astern, bnt fortnnately, althonjfh he did not know how to swim, (rod preserveil him, so that he (•lnn<,f so firmlv to the eanoe, that they had time to help him, although they were at some distance. This last year Mr. d'llrfe having made some stay in a \illiige of onr mission called GanerasUe, he took a resolution to go and visit some Indians settled about live leagues from it. to see whether there was not S(;mething to do for religion. The day after his arrival a ))oor Inxjuois woman was .sei/.ed with pains of labor. Now as these poor women are extremely shame-faeed when they are in this state and strangers near, this ])(x)r woman resolved without saying anything about it, to go out into the snow to be delivered, although it was in the very depth of win- ter. In fact soon after they heard the child cry, the women of the cabin, taken all by surprise, ran out to take the child and assist the mother. Mr. d'Urfe seeing that this shame had produced so distressing a result, set out in all haste to return to (Janeraske and leave tlu; cabin free; but on the third day he determined to go back to that cabin with some Frenchmen, inasmuch as his chapel service had been left there. On his return to the place he found the Indian woman very low. The other women told him that after his departure ohe had had another child also, and had lost all her blood. Three quai'ters of an hour later, the sick woman called out aloud to one of her companions, "Give me some water," and she died at the very instant. Immediately af- ter, those who attended her thrust her into a corner of the cabin like a log, and threw her two living children near her, to be buried the next morning with their mother. Mr. d'Urfe who was near enough to hear, but not in a position to see what passed, asked what was the matter and why there was so much bustle. The Indians told nim : Because that woman is dead. Then that gentleman having attested, with his own eyes, the death of the mother, wished to guarantee the two children by baptism, as he did on the spot, and very seasonably, for one of them dieil the same night. The other, though (piite well, was takcm I)y an 92 Indian tlio next day to Iniry alive with its inotlier. Mr, d'Urfe said to him, "Is tliat your method of doinerstition, would not for anything in the worM, suckle a dead woman's ehild. The missionary returning to see his orphan found it dead to the W(jrld and living to eternity, after having lived on this juiee and syru|) for sevrn-al (hiys. Sueh is the misery to whieh these poor Indians are reduced, which extends not only to women who are ])i'egnant, a great many of whom die for want of wherewith to relieve them in childhed, but also to all sick women, for they have no delieaeies r.nd a poor })atient in tliese nations is delighted to receive a missionary visit, ho})ing after the instruction which the latter is going to o-jve him. he will make him a ])re.>^ent of a i)rune, two or three raisins t)r a small jiicce of sugar as big as a nut. We have had from time to time adults, whom God has so touched in their maladies, that after having obtained holy baj)- tism, they died in our hands with acbuirable sentiments of sor- row for their past sins. Where it is to be remarked that the Indians not having received like us this great grace of Christian education, they tii'e not in compensation, punished like us at deatli l)y that great hardening of the heart, then ordinarily found among us, when we have lived badly; on the contrary, as soon as these people are pro.strated by the disease, and by this means in a better state to rellcct on the littleness ol this life and the greatness of Ilim who is thus the Master of our day.s, if Providence at this time i)Uts him iu the hands of a missionary, he commonly dies with all the a])pearance of a great regret for all the past. I nmst relate an example whieh happened this year, (1872) on this subject. Moreover tliere is something extraordinary in it m which (leaorves hciiiir ln'tnight to the light. An rii kept incessantly soliciting baptism from us in or- der to go and see his Creator, but we always deferred conferring it upon him, l)oth on accoiuit of the eircumspcMion we practice on this point, and on account of the great advantage v.hich the sick man would derive from his fervent desire in ])reparing to receive this sacrament : at last after many importunities on the same subject, we granted him his earnest wish, when we saw that it was time to do so, and after iuiving been washed with this salutary water, having editied every one of those who saw him practice so many beautiful acts of virtue, he died to live more happily, going to the place he sighed for in the Ijist d;ivs of his life. Such good works con.stitutc the sole consolation of missiona- ries amid all the diihenlties they encounter in the instruction of these poor forsaken ones. I call them so even in regard to their souls, because very often they have not all the aid that is neees- sarv for them in s[)iritual things, operarii p'Hici, messis rero vindla. We have three villaues' in this extent of our mission without 1 Till! villa^csi miiiitioni'd ii> tlio imrnitivc ns \iii(Ut the cure of llic mis-ion, uro Kenti;, (iiincriiwliti, at the wentern extremity of (^uinte Bay, n long, lrre;.'iihir. windini; body of water divided from Lake Ontario by tlie pcninnnla of Prince Ed- ward, and indented on every side by fiuall bays and eovec, olTerinj,' ancliorajje and shelter for such vessels ns navigate the Lakes. The lake harbor nt this point Is now known as Pres(|ue Isle, and is abont 70 miles west by NOiith from Kingston. (Janeraskii was located at or near the i)resent harbor of I'ort Uoiie, the capitol of Dinlunn eoiiiity, nt thesoiitli termin- us of the Midland railway, and on the Grand Trnnk Line, fiO miles east by north of Toronto. Oandntsiagon, a Seneca village, corresp >nds to Whitby, also a port of entry, tho capital of Ontario connty. south terminus of the Whitby and Perry railway, and on the (ir.nid Trunk line. 30 miles east by north of Toronto. The harbor is said to be one of the best on the lake. ^ ^^M^" f ' " 'i . '* ^ - ^ ^ »" 5»5 tlit'v coiiit.! iiiitl obtain frotii our tci'i'itorio.s, aiitl afterwards carry t(t other nations than ours, those appointeil to execute and os- tahhsli it will l)e al)le to reci'ive (38, were ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Laval, the linst Bishop of New France, who also supported them l)y his formal act, in the instruc- tions already referred to, and which are herewith given as an important part of the history. The document is from the Regis- ter of the Arclibishopric of Quebec, as in Memoirs of the Mon- treal Historical Society, iv, pp. 260-8. IXSTKl'CTION FOR OUK WELL BELOVED IN OUR LORD, CLAUDE TROUVE AND FRANCIS DE SALAGNAC, PRIESTS, GOING ON A MISSION TO THE IROQUOIS SITUATED ON THE NORTH SHORE OF LAKE ONTARIO. I. Let them be well persuaded that being sent to labor in the conversion of the inlidel.s, they have the most important employ- ment there is in the Church, which should oblige them to ren- der themselves worthy instruments of God, to perfect them.selves in all tlie virtues })ro[)er to an Apostolic ^lissionary, often medi- tating in imitation of St. Francis Xavier, the pati n and ideal of missionaries, these words of tlie Gospel : " What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul."' II. Let them endeavor to avoid the two extremes, which are to be feared in those who devote themselves to the conversion of souls, excessive liope or excessive despair. Those who hope for too much are often the lirst to desj)air of everything, in view of the great dilhculties met with in tlie undertakinu; of converting the intidels, which is i-atherthe work of God, than man's indus- ftrt try. L'l tlieiii roiiieiulKM* tluit tlic sfcl of the WoC'l <»l" n.nl Ik'ui's fruit ill piitieiuu!. Thos ; who liavo i'<»t, tliis paticiu'c ar' in the Id'Lriiiiiiiiii) of losiiiu' coiirauf,.' at last, and alt;iiiiloiiiii;^' the iuiih-rl.ikiirj'. nr. 'I'h ' lati'j'iiaj'* is iiec'LV-tsarv to act with the Iii'liaiis. >'('t it is oiii' of th-.' least pirts of a ,iroo(l niissiouarv. ju-it as in Fraiiee. speaking' Fiviieli well is not what makes one preach with fruit. r\'. Th'' talents which constitute li'ok'I missionaries, arc 1st, To li.' full of the Spirit of (io:l; that Spirit must anitnate our words and our hi'.irts. " ( )ut of tho nhmidanec of the hcai-t the mouth speakt'th." 2d, To Ikuc Lireat prudcniH' in the choici- and oriler of tiic tliini!'s necessary to !)• doni' cither to iMili'jiitcn the mind, or to bend the will : all that docs not eontrihute to this are words lost. .'iil. To pay j^'reat attention not to losi; the mo ments for the .salvation of .soids, and to mak<' nj) for the iie>jli- genei' which often creeps over Catcchuniens, for as the (le\il on his sidi' "gooth about lilce a I'oarin;/ lion, si.'el essary to avoid railleries and unbridled laughter and in general all that is couti'ary to a holy and cheerful modesty, '"Let your mod(^sty be known to all men." V, Their main care in the actual (Condition they are in. will be, as far as p(»ssible. to let no Indian die without baptism : let them take care nevertheless to act always A'ith prudence and re- serve op occasion in regard to the baptism of adidts, and e\'cn of children not in dauLier of t' liis salvation, (•aiis(( liiiii to iiiakt* a iii'iicral coiifession of his whole life, iiistnictinti- liitii lu'l'oivhainl on tht^ nu'aii-* ofdoinif it Wfll. VII. lift them take uTi'at can' to cnttM' in uriliii^' the nanus of the l)a|iti/.eil. their fathers and mothers, ami even some other relatives, the day. month and year nf the liaptism. VIII. When tliey have (rn^v-Jion let them writi^ to the .lesiiil Fathers, whi) are employed in ihi' lro([ii.tis missions in order t" resolve tlieir donlits and to rcn-ive from their lonir e\|ierlencr the necessary liuht for their eondiiet. IX. They will also take ^'reat eai-e to inform us. l>y all the oc- casions that otVcr. of the stati! of their mi.-ision, and the progres.-; they make in the conversion of souls. X. Let tliciii often read these conn-i.-Is. and the other Memoirs of Instructions which we h.ave u-iven them in ord"r to refresh the mcmor\' and oliserve them well. |>"rsu idin,!^' themselves well that thereon depends the liap|>v success of their mission. FHAXCIS. IVishopof Petr.e!,. A contempornncous letter of Bishop Laval to Mr. i|e Ki-nelon. under (lati- of S"pt. lo. ir»(!s ( Ar/hives of tli« Seminary of Mon- treal. Faillon. Hist, de la Colonic l''rancaise. III. pp. 1!)2-J>) proli- ably a.'companieil tli" aUove instructions a)id is in the foUowiii'^- ti.'rms : Touru WKi,i.-in<:i.ovi:i) in one Loui*. KuAXcrs i)i<; Salac. NA(*. I'lUKST. — It is With a siii,L:ular satisfaction and consolation of our soul that we have seiMi tln3 fervor and coura,ij."e with which you devote yourself to the conversion of the heathen nations, and that you have made known to us the sentiments which Go.) has ijiven you to ti'o. Itcfore this winter, to a place situate towarils the outlet nearest to us of the lake called Ontario, north shore, to lal)or there for the eoiiver.siou of a nation, which has heen s(?t- tled there for ahout three ye'ars. and to .seek there the straved sheep which heret<)flease the Sovei-eign Pastor of souls to make us all partakers of the same grace and same blessings. This is what we imi)lore him to grant you through the intercession of his most holy Mother and of the Blessed Saint Joseiih, especial Patron of this rising church. Faillon, in his account of the mission, follows Dollierde Casson giving few other facts. Couicelle and Talon made them agrajit of lands at Kente bay to settle and clear, with right of fishing in the bay and lake of that name, in the Tanaouate river, and in Lake Ontario from Kente to Gagouion bay. (Letter of Mr. Tron- son to Mr. Trouve June 1, 1681. Archives of Seminary of Monireal, October 5th, 1679.) They spent the winter of 1668 at KiMite. Li the spring Fenelon went to Montreal and Quebec. He returned with Mr. Lascaris and Mr. d'Urfe. The Sul])itians having resolved to maintain the mission, sent uj) cattle, etc., with laborers to clear the land, and other work- men to build a farm with a large house, which was supplied with all agricultural implements, furniture, provisions and other nec- essaries for such a settlement. (Letter of Mr. Tronson, April 2otli. 1675. Letter of Mr. Bretonvilliers, May, 1675, A})riloth, 1(>77.) '• Resides Mr. Trouv^, Mr. de Fenelon and Mr. dTMe, other priests of the Seminary were emjiloyed on this mission, and among them Mr. de Cice and Mr. Mariet." It was perhaps some 1 III explniiation of the (liffereiicc of titlo ns applied to the Jesuit Fathers and the Siilpitiiin Illis^'i(lllaril■» it ought to \h> i*aiil tliat tlic SiilpitiaiiH arc a community of secuinr i)rii'stt<, and devoted especially to the direction of theolonieal xcminarles. They are not a relifriouc or- der, as the Jesuits, hound by vow» ; and they are invariably spoken of as Mr. Trouvc, Mr. de Kcnelon, iVc. (the Uev. being used in Knglish), never as Father. This title is properly used only of members of a religious order, and it is a iiii:?nonier to apply it, as it is eoniinou with the newspapers, to every secular priest. Hi England, until the Ucforniation, the secu- lar priest had the title Sir, like a Kniftht. {»9 one of these inissionaries who coinitosed ii inaimscript. formerly l)reserve(l in the Ma/iiriu Librarv ontitU^l : "Abritlj.nneiitof the hfe and nirtnners. and other partieiihirs of the Iroi^uois nation which is divided into live viilaj^es and tribes, A.trnies, Onneionts, Nontagues, Goyoouans, Sonnontouans." Faillon, llistoire de \ii Colonie Franeaise III, ]>. 198, note. Tliis cf)nipletcs the Snlpitian mission at Kente. When Fort Catarocouy was erected, liecolleets were a])])ointed chaplains, and the Sulpitians apparently withdrew.' When a clergyman speaking Iroquois was needed there, Father Milet was sent np, the same who with de Carheil and Garnier re established the Onondaga missi(jn in 16()8. Nothing is said of the chapel, if any was erected by the Sulpitians, or of the condition and num- bers of the little llock they finally gathered; but of the devotion and heroism of these self-denying men the record of their lal)ors gives abundant testimony. It is a record which, like that of the earlier and more extended efforts of the Jesuit missionaries oc- cupying the larger share of our attention in these chapters, will never lose its charm, nor cease to command the respect and ad- miration of men irrespective of religious opinion or prejudice, though all trace of their work has passed away with the di.sap- pearance of the once powerful nations for whose conversion they toiled with such zeal and self-sacrifice. 1 The first llecoUect miHsionarien sent to the >.— Brnyas. Mofiawk Radicals. Some render the word '• La cervelle renverBee,"— " the disordered brain.' 103 IE of those with whom we lodged, wearied with his outcry, went to ascertain what would satisfy liini. The furious creature replied: " I kill a Frenchman; that ! my dream, and it must be done at any sacrifice." Our host then threw hiiu a I'lench dress as though the clothes of the dead man, at the same time assuming a like fury, saying that he would avenge the Frenchman's death, and that his loss would lie that of the whole village, which he would lay in ashes, beginning with his own cabin. Upon that, he drove out parents, friends, servants, the whole crowd gathered to witness the issue of this hubbub. Having his house to himself he bolted the door and set (ire to the interior in every part. At the in- stant that the spectators were looking to see the cabii in ilames. Father Chaumo- not, on an errand of charity, arrived, and seeing the -smoke issuing from the bark house, exclaimed, "this must not l)e," — burst open the door, threw himself in the midst of the smoke and flame, .subdued the tire, and gently drew our host from his peril, contrary to the expectations of the whole populace who had supjiosed that the demon of dreams was irresistible. The man however continued to man- ifest his fury. He coursed the streets and cabins, shouting at the top of his voice that everything should be set on lire to avenge the deaih of the Frenchman. Tiiey then offered him a dog as a victim to his ange?- and to the god of his passion. " It is not enougli," he said " to efface the disgrace and infamy of the attempt to slay a Frenchman lodged in my house." They then made a second offering simi- lar to the first, when he at once Iiecame calm and retired by himself as if nothing had occurred. " It is to be remarked in ]5assing, that as in their wars they make more of the spoil taken from the prisoner than they do of his life, so when one dreams that he must kill any one, he is often content with the clothes of the one to be slain, in place of hi.s person. Thus it was that the Frenchman's dress was given to the dreamer, with which he was entirely appeased. Hut to pass to other instances. " The brother of our host had a part also in the performances (piite as promi- nent as any of the others He arrayed himself to personate a Satyr, covering himself from head to foot with the husks of Indian corn. He dressed up two women as veritable Furies, with their hair parted, their faces blackened with with charcoal, each covered with the skin of a wolf and armed with a light and a heavy slick. The Satyr, and his companions thus etjuipped, came about our cabin singing and howling witli all their might. He mountetl the roof followed by the shrews, and there played a thousand pranks, shouting and screaming as if everything was going to destruction. This being over, he came down and marched soberly through the village, preceded by these women who cleared the way with their slicks, breaking indiscriminately whatever lay in their path. If it is true, that there is no man who has not at least a grain of madness, and the number of fools is infinite, it must be confessed that the-;e people havf; each more than half an ounce. Hut this is not all. " Hardly had our Satyr and his companions disappeared, when a woman threw herself into our cabin, armed with an arquebuse, which s4ie had obtained through her dream. She sang, shouted, screamed, declaring that she was about to go to the war .against the Cat Nation ; that she would fight and bring back prisoners, calling down a thousand imprecations and maledictions if the thing did not come out as she had dreamed. 1(»4 " A warrior followed this Amazon arnu'tl witii a long bow, arrows and spear in hand. He dancecover secrets, lie was most ridiculously accoutred, holding in his hand a sort of rod, which served him to point out the spot where the thing was concealeii. It was needful, neverthele.-.s, that lie should have an assistant who carried a vase tilled with I know not what kind of licpior, of which he would take a mouthful, and sputter or blow it out on the head, the face, the hands, and on the rod of the (!i\iiicv. who after this, never failed to dis- cover the matter in (piestion. " Next came a woman w ilii a mat which she held in her hand, and moved about as if she were catching li>h. 'I'hi^ was to indicate that they had to give her some lish because of iicr dream. Another woman simply iioed up ihe ground with a mattock, which meant that some one would give her a field or piece of land that .■•he thought was justly her right. She was satisfied htiwever with the possession of five holes in which to plant Indian corn. " One of the princii)al men of the village presented himself in a mi>eral)le plight. He was all covered witii ashes ; ami because no one had told his dream which demanded two human hearts, he succeeded in prolonging the festival for a day and a night, and during that lime did nt)t cease the repetition of his mad- ness. Me came to our cabin where there were a number of firc'^, and .--eating himself befcux' the first, threw into the air tlij coals and ashes. He re[)eated this at the second and third fire-jilace ; but when he came to our fire, he refrained from the performance out of respect to us. " Some came fully armed, and as if actually engaged in combat, they went through the positions, the war cry, the skirmish, as when two armies nu.'et each other. Others marched in bands, danced and put on all the contor- tions of body, like those with evil possessions. Hut we should never get through with the narrative if we were disposed to n.'hearse all that was done through the three days and night.^ in which this folly ladled, with one continual uproar, in which one could not so nuuli as think of a moment'.-> repose. " Nevertheless, it did not hinder llie i)ia\er-. from being made as usual in our chapel, nor the manifestation of I'lod's love toward this poor jieople in certain miraculous casus of healing accorded by virtue of holy bajitism, of which we can- not now speak ; and thus we close the accoinU of the homage they render to their dreams." J^clntivii 1656, chap.. I\, 2(1-29. WAll FEAST OF THE IROQUOIS. In chapter X of his delation (1656) Dablon describes this feast, the imiredi- a'e occasiun of which was the conlempiaied war with the Eries alluded to i'l the account of the establishment of the missions among the Iroquois as given in the preliminary chapter of this work. " We saw in the latter part of January (1656) the ceremony which takes place every winter, in their preparations for war, and which serves to stiiaulate their courage for the approaching conflict. First of all the war kettle, as they call it, is hung over the fire as early as the preceding autumn, in order that each of the allies going to the war may have the opportunity to throw in some precious morsel, to be kept cooking through the winter, by which act they are solemnly pledged to take , ">rt in the proposed enterprise. The kettle having been kept steadily boiling up to the month of February, a large number of warriors, Sene- cas as wel! as Cayugas, gathered to celebrate the war feast which continue . for several nights in succession. They sang their war songs, danced and went through all possible contortions of body and expressions of countenance, protest- ing the while, that never should they retire from the combat, but fight to the death, whatever tortures they might suffer, before they would yield an inch of ground. At the same time that they make this boast of their courage, they hurl at one another fire brands and hot ashes, strike each other heavy blows, and burn one another to show they do not fear the very worst the enemy can do. Indeed, one must remain firm and suffer himself to be bruised or burned by his nearest friends without flinching ; otherwise he is regarded as a miserable cow- ard. This being done. Father Chaumonot was invited to put something into the war-kettle as a mark of favor toward the enterprise. He replied that this ac- corded with his own desire, and accommodating himself to their customs, he as- sured them the F'rench would put powder under the kettle. This pleased them greatly. The next thing they do, by way of supporting their courage, respects the medi- cines relied upon to heal the wounds they may receive in battle ; and to ensure iheir virtue for this purpose all the sorcerers ox jcngleurs of the town who are the medi- cine men of the country, come together, that by their incantations they may impart to these medicines an efticacy and healing power which is not natural to them. The chief of these sorcerers places himself in the midst of his fellows surrounded by a vast crowd of people ; then elevating his voice he dec) ires that he is alwut to infuse into herbs or roots, which he i.os in k bag, the power to heal wounds of every description. Whereupon he sings with a full, clear voice, while the others respond by repeating the words of the song, until the healing virtue has entered into the roots ; and to prove that this has been really accomplished, he does two 106 things : First lie scarifies his own lips, from which the blood is allowed to flow until it drops upon his chin, when he applies, in the sight of all the crowd, the remedy to the wound, at the same time adroitly sucking the blood from his lips, upon which the people seeing that the blood has ceased to flow, raise a great shout as if the medicine had suddenly healed the wound. The second thing he does is to demonstrate that his roots have not only the power to heal, but also to restore life. To prove this he draws from the bag a small dead squirrel that he retains the control of by a secret attachment at the end of the animal's tail, and placing it upou his arm so that every one can see that it is really dead, he ap- plies the medicinal root, and at the same moment skillfully drawing upon the string makes the animal re-enter the bag, to all appearance as if it had been re- stored to life. He produces the little creature again, and cau.ses him to move about at will, much as the French jugglers manage their puppets There is scarcely one of the vast crowd that does not elevate his shoulders in admiration of the wonderful virtues of the medicines which have wrought such miracles Immediately after this marvelous prodigy the chief .sorcerer goes through the streets of the village, followed by the crowd of people, shouting at the top of his voice and parading his roots as empowered with this strange efficacy — the whole effect of which is to take from the younger warriors all dread of being wounded in battle, since they may have at hand a remedy so sovereign. It is not in America alone but in Europe also, that people seem to take pleasure in being deceived. If these incantations make no impression upon the spirits, they cer- tainly have succeeded in inspiring an admirable courage for the war already deter- mined against the nation of the Eries."