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Mapa, piataa, charta, ate. may ba fllmad at diffarant raductlon ratloa. Thoaa too larga to ba antiraly included In ona axpoaura ara fllmad baginning in tha uppar laft hand corner, loft to right and top to bottom, aa many framaa aa raquirad. Tha following diagrama illuatrata tha mathod: Laa cartaa. planchaa. tableaux, ate. pauvant ttra flimto A daa taux da rMuctlon difftranu. Loraqua la document eat trap grand pour itra reproduH en un aeul clich4. 11 eat filmA i partir da I'angia aupAriaur gauche, do gauche i droite. et do haut an baa. an prenant la nombre d'imagea nteaaaaire. Lea diagrammea auivanta iliuatrent la mithoda. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^ »>' "^j ""k^i*' ■'*-"i;^-;^ Iteratibe of a Capt^fritg AMONG THE MOHAWK INDIANS, A DfeaOBIPTION OF NEW NETHERLAND IN 1642-3, AND OTHER PAPERS. FATHER ISAAC JOGUES, OF TBX BOOIRT • I \ INTRODUCTORY NOTE. -*^^- m •■ The following papers, written by the illustrious missionary between the years 1642 and 1646, consist of, I. Narrative of his Captivity among the Mohawks, from a Latin manuscript preserved at Montreal, and in Alegambe. II. Account of his Escape, from the Relation of 1642-8, p. 284. III. Description of New Netherland, from his original manuscript. IV. His last Letters in 1646, from the Relation of 1646-7. v. Captivity and Death of Ren6 Goupil, from his original manu- script. YI. Letters of Gov. Kieft announcing his death, from an attested copy preserved at Montreal. The narrative of his captivity forms part of a manuscript volume, entitled "Memoires touchant la mort et les vertns des peres Isaac Jogues, Anne de Noue, Antoine Daniel, Jean de Brebeuf, Gabriel Lale- mant, Charles Garnier, Noel Chabanel et Ren6 Goupil," consisting of authentic papers relating to their life and death, being copied from originals, and each sworn to by Fathers Paul Ragueneau and Joseph Foncet ; as to Father Jogues, it includes Father Butenx's " Narr6 de la prise du p. Isaac Jogues," Jogues' own narrative, his account of tb • captivity and death of Goupil, and letters of Fathers Buteux and De Qnen relative to his death. It was found, accompanied by the Description of New Netherland, and the account of Goupil's death, in the handwriting of Father Jogues himself, both in letter form, with the folds and incisions for sealing in use at the time, and both more easily read than the court-hand of the volume. They were found in the Hos- pital of the Angusttn nuns, or Hotel Dien, at Quebec, where they had been deposited shortly before 1800 by Father Cazot, the last of the old race of the Jesuits of the French colony, avIio seeing his body then about to expire by the enactments of the English conquerors, which prevented their receiving new members, wished to save for Catholicity at least- a few of the most valuable of the papers in the archives. The INT80DU0T0RY NOM. '. and faith- thefr return by the Rev. TMpondlng MEMOIR. *'" Isaac Jooveb was bora at Orleans, in France, on the tenth of January, 1607, and his family still enjoys the esteem of his natire city. Educated in a Jesuit college but lately opened there, his tender piety, his wonderful love of the Gross, or, in less ascetic language, of sufferings, and a desire of pouring out his blood in attempting to convert the heathen to the Faith of Christ, induced him, towards the close of his studies, to ask to be enrolled among the members of the celebrated Society which had directed his education. Admitted to the Rouen novitiate in 1624, he was sent, after the two years of seclusion and prayer which usher in the religious life, to Paris to continue his literary studies. In 1629, he began his career as a teacher, and for four years attracted universal admiration by his able scholarship and ability in the direction of youth. The following let- ter in its latinity would do credit to a scholar writing in the quiet of his study ; and other monuments are extant to show how easily he might have grasped at literary fame. He sighed, however, for the missions ; and it was with joy that he received a summons to repair to the Clermont College, at Paris, to prepare, by the study of divinity, for the order of priesthood, which would enable him to set out for that field which he had ever ardently desired. In 1636, after four years' study, he was ordained priest, and or- dered to prepare for immediate embarkation to Canada, to which, when all chance of the European mission was cut o£f, his longings had been turned. After bidding farewell to his mother and family, he set sail from Dieppe with Father Gamier and Father Chatelain, and after a stormy voyage reached Miscou, a little island at the entrance of Chaleurs Bay, where the Jesuits then had a missionary station. Here he landed ; but after a short stay proceeded to Que- bec, and arrived in the city on the 2d of July : his two companions 6 MEMOIR. had already started for the Huron mission — a long and painful voy- age by the Ottawa river. Ho followed, embarking in bis frail canoe at Three Rivers, on the 24tli of AuguHt. " It would not be eany," says he, in a letter to his mother, " to detail all the miseries of the voyage ; but the love of God, who calls us to those missions, and our desire of contributing something to the conversion of these poor savages, renders this so sweet, that wo would not exchange these pains for all the joys of earth. Our food on the way is a little Indian corn, pounded between two stones, and boiled in water without any seasoning ; our bed the earth, or the frightful rocks, lining the great river, which rolled by us in the clear moonlight, for we always slept in the open air. The posture to be taken in the canoe is extremely inconvenient ; you cannot stretch out your legs, so little and cramped is it : scarcely do you venture to move, for fear of capsizing all into the river. I was forced to keep perfect silence, being able neither to understand nor make myself understood by my Indians. Another source of pain and hardship is, that in this voyage we meet sixty or eighty cataracts, or waterfalls, which descend so precipitously, and from such a height,' that the canoes are often ingulfed by approaching too near them. We indeed were not exposed to this, as we went against the current ; but we were not the less obliged to land very frequently, and make through the neighboring rocks and wood a detour of a league or more, loaded with our baggage, and with even our canoe. As for me, I not only carried my little bundle, but I also helped our Indians and relieved them as much as I could, till at last a boy some ten or twelve years old, belonging to our party» fell sick * then I was forced to carr)- hira on my shoulders in the marches occa- sioned by the falls, of which I have spoken." This and the heavy burdens which he afterwards had to carry broke him down, so that soon after his arrival at the mission of St. Joseph's, at Ihonatiria, he was prostrated by a dangerous malady. Destitute of every suitable remedy, of food, and even of care, as his fellow-missioners, one by one, were prostrated around, he trusted to Providence alone, and soon recovered. He was immediately initiated into a missionary life by Father Brebeuf, and spent the winter in hurrying from town to town to visit the victims of a pestilence then ragins^ throughout the coun- try. Like all the missionaries, he had to contest every inch of ground with the medicine men, who saw in the new apostles the destroyers of their influence. The study of the language engaged his leisure hours ; and when the violence of the epidemic abated, he daily visited IIKMOIR. fl number of cnbinii to loam the practice, then returned to listen to the theory of the Huron language explaine«l by its first master, Drebeuf. After passing unscathed through the terrible persecution and immi* nent danger to which the missionaries were exposed when tlio plague broke out anew a year later, and almost depeopled the land, Father Jogues, with the rest of the missionaries, removed to Teananstayae, the second St. Joseph's, (the first missionary station, Ihonatiria, hav- ing dwindled to a few cabins.) We find him next, with Gamier, carrying the Cross to the Petuns, who had imbibed such prejudice against them, that the town Ehwaa, unmindful of Indian hospitality, olosed its doors against them in the depth of winter, and compelled the missionaries to depart from their ungrateful cabins. Never again had it a season of mercy ; the next year it was a heap of ruins, de- stroyed by famine, pestilence, and war. On his return from this painful mission, Father Jogues was sta- tioned at the permanent residence which, under the name of St. Mary's, had risen on the banks of the river Wye. As in old con- vents, a hospice stood hard by, where the wayfarer might enter in, and where neophytes came from the most distant villages to receive, away from the noise of their towns, full and particular instruction in the truths of Christianity. From this seminary issued many of the ablest and most fervent Catechists of the Huron Church. Father Jogues was not, however, to remain here long : the Jesuit, like the soldier, is ever liable to receive orders for a distant march. In the summer of 1641, the neighboring nations had gathered in the Huron country to witness the games, the dances and the alternately joyful and lugubrious ceremonies of the Feast of the Dead. Among the rest, came the Pauoitigoueieuhak, from the rapid outlet of Lake Su- perior. Charmed with the conduct of the missionaries, they invited them to their lodges, and Father mbault was chosen to visit them from his skill in Algonquin ; Father Jogues was assigned to him as a companion, and they launched their bark in September on the Fresh- Water Sea ; and, wandering amid its maze of isles, hallowed to the Indian's mind, in seventeen days reached the Sault de Gaston, which henceforth assumes in the mission annals the name we still give it — Sault St. Mary's. Here, where the adventurous Nicolet had pene- trated a few years before, Jogues and Raymbault planted the Cross turned to the South, where a great river was said to stretch away to ft vast lake, passing by the villages of countless tribes. Two thousand Indians assembled round the Cross, and listened with attention to 8 UBHOIB. the words of truth ; they earnestly pressed the missionaries to winter with them ; but the Huron land reclaimed them, and they returned to their labors there. While the missionaries were thus extending their spiritual con- quests on every side, they were personally reduced to a state of most frightful poverty ; their clothes were in shreds, their little stock of flour for hosts, was all but expended ; for wine, they pressed the wild grape of the forest, but even then they had not chalices and vest- ments enough for the various missions. The want of the mere com< forts of life had no weight with them, but now they needed what could not be foregone ; and though the Iroquois, who had for some time back prevented all intercourse with Quebec, still waylaid the passage, a Father must be sent : the Superior stated to Jogues his wish that he should go; he had already asked of heaven an occasion of suffering; his prayer was heard; he bowed his head and de- parted. The following letters (i.-iv.) will detail his subsequent history, and give us, in his own words, the sufferings of this refined scholar and poet, yet no loss humble and zealous missionary. The sequel of his career after his captivity can be shortly told. He left New York in a small bark on the 6th of November, and after much hardship, put into Falmouth, in England, having al- most fallen into the hands of a Parliament cruiser. Here their bark was entered by robbers, and F. Jogues stripped of his hat and coat. Having seen a French collier, he went up to him, and though at first taken for a beggar, made known his real character, and obtained passage to the French coast, which he reached, between Brest and St. Pol de Leon on Christmas Day, early enough to satisfy his devotion by receiving communion, of which he bad so long been deprived. A good merchant took him to Rennes : unknown, he presented himself at the college of his order as one who brought news from Canada. The Rector, who was preparing to say Mass, hurried to see the stranger as soon as he heard the word Canada. Almost his first question was as to Father Jogues. " Do you know him?" "J know him well," said the other. " We have heard of his capture by the Iroquois, and his horrible sufferings. What has become of him ? Is he still alive ?" " He is alive," said F. Jogues ; "he is free, he is now speaking to you ! " — and he cast himself at the feet of his astonished Superior to ask his blessing. Once known, honors met him on every side ; objects belonging MEMOIR. 9 to him were eagerly sought as relics ; the Queen Regent even re- quested that he should come to Paris, that she might see so illus- trious a sufiferer. All this was painful to him, and it was not till three times summoned that he pi-oceeded to the capital. He longed to return to Canada; but one thing prevented his departure. The mangled hands which had been reverently kissed by the Queen and Court of France, were an obstacle to his celebrating the Holy Sacri- fice of the Altar. A dispensation was needed. Urban VHI. then sat in the See of Peter~a Pope noted especially for the stringent rules which he introduced against any symptom of public veneration to the departed servants of God until their lite and virtues had been sifted and examined in the long and minute legal proceedings for canonization. Yet when the application of Father Jogues was pre- sented, and he had learned the story of his sufferings, he forgot his own laws, and exclaimed, as he granted it, " Indignum esse Christi martyrem Christi non bibere sanguinem." Nothing now detained the missionary in Franco ; and early in the spring of 1644 he was again in Canada. The colony was on the brink of ruin ; but the Governor fortunately brought the Mohawks to offer peace. It was concluded at Three Rivers on the 12th of July, 1645. Father Jogues, though stationed at Montreal, was pres- ent, and an anxious observer of the state of feeling. The treaty was at last confirmed on the Mohawk, and again renewed on the St. Law- rence, with a request for a missionary. Conscious that he would be selected. Father Jdgites announced to his friends his perilous mission, (v.;) and in April, 1646, readily accepted it when offered by his Superior, (vi.) Though a mission was resolved upon, it was thought better that he should go first as ambassador, and was accordingly sent with Mr. Bourdon, an oflScer in the employ of the colony.* Of his embassy, the missionary drew up a full account, which was in existence till 1800, when it was, with other papers belonging to the Canada Jesuits, seized by the British Government. It has now disappeared. The " Relation," which doubtless followed it, says that they left Three * As the misssionaiy was about to set out, an Algonquin chief advised him to lay aside his religions habit His reason was striking : it exemplifies per- fectly what has been called " the hideous face of Christianity.'' " There is nothing," said the Algonquin chiefs, " nothing more repulsive at first than this doctrinn, that seems to exterminate all that men hold dearest. Your long gown preaches it as strongly as your lips : leave it, and go in a short coat" M f 10 MEMOIR. Rivers on the 16th of May, 1646, with four Mohawks and two Algon- quins. Ascending the Sorel, they traversed Lake Champlain, and on the 29th of May reached the beautiful lake below it. Its Iroquois name was Andiataroct« : for Europeans it was without a name, but as it was the eve of Corpus Christi, the festival instituted by the Church to honor Christ's presence in the Holy Sacrament, the mis- sionary gave it the name, which it bore for more than a century — Lake Saint Sacrament.* Continuing their march, they came to Ossaragu^, a fishing sta- tion on the Maurice, or Upper Hudson, which they descended to Fort Orange. When the missionary had here repaid his debt of gratitude to his generous benefactors, the embassy proceeded to the Mohawk. The first castle was reached on the 7th of June, its name had been changed from Ossernenon to Oneougoure. Here Jogues was wel- comed as a friend : a council of Sachems was soon convened, and he delivered the presents of the Governor, and in a discourse, still pre- served, urged them to thoughts of peace. He was heard with atten- tion, and responded to in a similar strain. According to Indian cus- tom, he presentedi a belt of wampum to the tribe into which he had been incorporated. The Wolf replied that Ondessont should ever find among them his mat to rest upon, and a fire to warm him. Another present was yet to be made. Jogues had remarked among the spectators some Onondaga braves, and to these also he made a present, to smooth the way for the French to their land of lakes. This was cheerfully accepted ; and Jogues, no longer a tem- poral envoy, turned to his spiritual avocations. The captive Chris- tians were soon visited and consoled, the sacraments of baptism or penance conferred on many ; but he could not delay as long as his zeal desired. The Iroquois pressed his departure, and on the 16th he left their castles for the St. Lawrence. As he expected to return speedily, he left a box containing his little missionary furniture : they showed a disinclination to keep it, but as he opened it in their- presence he thought their suspicions dispelled, and went his way. On his arrival in Canada, joy, such as had not been known for years, quickened every heart, for all had been so suspicious of the Mohawks, that public prayers had been constantly offered for the missionary and his companion. His immediate return to the Mohawk was now expected ; but * It would need but a sliglit change to make Lake George, Lake Jogues, and snrely its great discoverer deserves it better than a Hanoverian king. MEMOIR. 11 and on suddenly there came mysterious rumors, and the Superiors paused. Jogues must not go. * But as the summer wore on all became quiet, and, yielding to his entreaty, the Superior permitted him to depart ^ In September, 1646, he left Three Rivers for the last time with Lalande, a worthy successor of Goupil, and some Hurons. As they advanced, they heard tidings wliich seemed positive as to the end of the peace: some Hurons left them, but Jogues went fearlessly on. After the return of these, the French were left in the greatest anxiety and uncertainty as to his fate. Months rolled by, and no tidings reached them : at last, almost at the same time, they heard from some Hurons, who had escaped from the Mohawk, an account of his death, and received letters from (xovernor Kieft which confirmed it. The Indian account, as preserved in the manuscript of Father Buteux and Father De Quen, is, that when the missionary was within two days' march of the castles, that is, half way between Lake George and the Mohawk, he was met by a war party out against the French. The missionary and his companion were immediately seized, and in spite of his remonstrances stripped and beaten : they then turned homeward, and Father Jogues was again led naked into Gandawagufi, f the place of his former captivity. Blows were mingled with threats of death on the morrow. " You shall not be burned," they cried ; " you shall die beneath our hatchets, and your heads shall be fixed on our palisades, to show your brethren whom we take." In vain did he endeavor to show them the injustice of treating him as an enemy, when he came the messenger of peace : deaf to the voice of rea- son, and blinded by superstition, they began their butchery. Slicing oflF the flesh from his arms and back, they cried, " Lot us see whether this white flesh is the flesh of an Otkon." " I am but a man like yourselves," replied the dauntless missionary, "though I fear not * Decision in the Superior's jonmaL f Thus do all the French Relations from this time name the place of his death : it is the same as Caughawaga, and means " at the rapids." Father Foncet, in the narrative of hia captivity on the Mohawk, makes the place of 6on- pil's death that of Jogues' also, to be the second village, the Andagoron, or Gan- dagoron, of Father Jogues. The present Gaughnawaga may therefore be con- sidered the place of the missionaiy's death, as we have nothing to show that the village in question lay south of the Mohawk, although the first village did. Gaughnawaga became, too, in the sequel, the centre of the most successful Gatholio mission among the Iroquois, and is hallowed, not only by the of Jogues and Goupil, but by the birth of the sainted Catharine Tehgi is our holy ground. . 12 MBMOIB/ death, nor your tortures. Ym, ^« t« your «,unt.7 to ZJZl r^*^ '"! ^^ ^ »»-« co.e •bow you the way to^eaven,^„T;ou't:^::^^\ *^« '""'^' ^^ *« the chast,sementof Him who rulea both t^! 7 '*' '^ ^°^^ ^««' In spite of their threats his fat! /""" ""'^ *^« French!" great families in each trib^ tht V ' '"^ "°^^'^«' labored in -;;t~rciL-^^^^^ wilderness, rne up perhaps bvL '' ^ "^''^ ^^P^orer of the -anofdeepandtende%Z&7^°*^-^^^^ ^« -- a of soul, timid by nature, yet o^' Wed l''^ '^°^^' *°^ «P««ness n^an who saw all in God and in fi ^^' '°^ ^^'"^'o ^^ness -a band of Providence. T^Z^: ^7"""' ''''''''''' '"^^ ^^^^^^ Bona suffering was his only thtgt ST 1 ^ ^^^^'^^ °^ P- •upenor men who rise from time t tt ''°''': ^' ^^ ^'^^ ^^ ^bose 8;"'shed from all around by anll^eJ""; '° *^« ^^"'^^b. so distin all Christian virtue, as to make m -i ''°'*'*^' ^^ * P^-^^^e of -i-culous powe« in tTeirhtdT ' ^^"^^^^ ^^^^^^--^ onten NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY OF FATHER ISAAC JOGUES, OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, AMONG THE MOHAWKS, IN 1648 AND 1648. ^♦»- Rbvbrend Father in Christ, The Feaob of Christ : WiSHixa to write to your Reverence, I at first hesitated in what language to do so, for after so long a disuse, almost equally forgetful of both, I found equal difficulty in either. Two reasons, however, induced me to write in the less com- mon idiom. I shall be better enabled to employ the words of Holy Scripture which have at all times been my greatest consolation, "amid the tribulations which have found us exceedingly," (Ps. xlv. 2 ;) I also wished this letter less easily understood. The exceeding charity of your Reverence, which in other days overlooked my manifold trangressions, will excuse me if, after eight years' intercourse and residence with savages, nay, a savage now in form and dress myself, aught be here wanting in correctness or decorum. I fear still more, that, rude in language, I may be more so in knowledge, "nor know the time of my visitation," (Luke xix. 44,) nor re- member the character imposed on me by God, of preacher of his Gospel, Jesuit and Priest. This induced me to write to you, that if this letter should ever reach your hands, I may, though living here in this hard land amid Iroquois and Maaquas, be helped by your masses and the prayers of your whole province. This aid, I trust, will be more earnestly given, when from a perusal of this letter ^ you shall have * This letter is adddrassed to the Provincial of the Jesuits at Paris. The original in its classic Latin has been printed bj Alegambe, in his " Mortes fllns- tres," Rome, 1657 ; and by Tanner in his '' Societas militans," Prague, 1675. 14 THE JOGUKS PAPERS. seen both how much I am indebted to the Almighty, and in what need I am of the prayers of the pious, in which, I am aware, I have a powerful shield. We sailed from the Hurons on the 13th of June, 1642, in four small boats, here called canoes ; we were twenty- three in all, five of us being French.* The line of travel is in itself most difficult for many reasons, and especially because in no less than forty places both canoes and bag- gage must 1 carried by land on the shoulders. It was, moreover, now full of dangers, from fear of the enemy, who every year, by lying in wait on the roads to the French settlements, carry oft' many as prisoners ; in fact. Father John de Brebeuf had been all but taken the year before. Be- sides this, they not long previous had carried off two French- men, but afterwards brought them back to their countrymen unharmed, demanding peace on most unjust terms, and then conducted themselves in a very hostile manner, so that they were driven off by our cannons. On this they declared, that if they took another Frenchman prisoner, they would torture him cruelly, like their other captives, and then bum him alive at the stake. The Superior, conscious of the dangers to which I was exposed on this journey (one, however, absolutely necessary for God's glory,) assigned the task to me in such a way as to leave me at liberty to decline it if I chose. "I did not," however, " resist, I did not go back," (Isaias 1.,) but willingly and cheerfully accepted this mission imposed upon me by obedience and charity. Had I declined it, it would have fallen to another, far more worthy than myself. Having therefore loosed from St. Mary's of the Hurons, amid ever-varying fears of the enemy, dangers of every kind, losses by land and water, we at last, on the thirtieth day A sworn copy of the autograph letter is preserved at Montreal, examined and attested in 1652 by Father Poncet, whose sufferings and captivity the next year were but a copy of those of Jogues and Bressani, who had preceded liim to the Mohawk. There is also ano&er narrative of F. Jogues' captivity, extorted from him by Father Buteux, when his superior, which is more full in some respects. This narrative was translated into Italian by Bressani in his work « Breve Relatione," into German in the edition of Tanner in that language, and part of it into French in the "Relation" of 1647; but, though written at the capital of the State of New York, has never till now appeared in English. * The place from which they departed was the Mission-house of St. Mary's, on a little river now called the Wye. Traces still exist to mark the site of this cradle of European colonization in Upper Canada. It was at first at some dis- tance from any Huron town, but some years after this date, on the ruin of the frontier towns, a village was grouped around it THE JOQUES PAPERS. 15 after our departure, reached in safety the Conception of the Blessed Virgin. This is a French settlement or colony, called Three Rivers, from a most charming stream which just there empties by three mouths into the great River St. Lawrence.* We returned hearty thanks to God, and re- mained here and at Quebec about two weeks. Having transacted the business which had brought us down, we celebrated the feast of our holy father, Ignatius ; and on the second of August were once more on. our way for Huronia. The second day after our departure had just dawned when, by the early light, some of our party discov- ered fresh foot-prints on the shore. While some were main- taining that they were the trail of a hostile, others that of a friendly party, Eustace Ahatsistari, to whom for hif? gal- lant feats of arms all yielded the first rank, exclaimed, " Brothers 1 be they the bravest of the foe, for such I judge them by their trail, they are not more than three canoes, and we number enough not to dread such a handful of the enemy" We were, in fact, forty, for some others had joined us. We consequently urged on our way, but had scarcely advanced a mile when we fell into an ambush of the enemy, who lay in two divisions on the opposite banks of the river, to the number of seventy in twelve canoes. As soon as we reached the spot where they lay in ambush, lurking in the reeds and tall grass, they poured in a volley of musketry, for they were well supplied with arms, riddling our canoes, but killing none : one Huron only was shot through the hand.f At the first report of the fire-arms, the Hurons, almost to a man, abandoned the canoes, which, to avoid the more rapid current of the centre of the river, were advanc- ing close by the bank, and, in headlong flight, plunged into the .thickest of the woods. We, the four Frenchmen, thus left with a few either already Christians, or at least Cate- chumens, offering up a prayer to Christ, faced the enemy * The Algonquin name was Metaberontse. It had been, prior to their ex- pulBion from Canada, the site of an Iroquois town. Kel. 1634 ; Perrot MS. f Father Jogues omits a fact worth mentioning. Tlie pilot of his canoe was unbaptized, though instructed. Regardless of the balls whizzing around, he bade him kneel, and, bending down, took up a handful of water and baptized him. This Indian, Bernard Atieronhonk, afterwards escaped, and was cease- lees in his praise of the Missionary. " Ondesonk," he would exclaim, " forgot self at the sight of danger ; he thought only of me and my salvation ; he feared not to lose his own life, but feared lest I should be lost forever." 16 THB JOOUES PAPERS. ■M ; i We were, however, outnumbered, being scarcely twelve or fourteen aGiainst thirty ; yet we fought on till our comrades, seeing fresh canoes shoot out from the opposite bank of the river, lost heart and fled. Then a Frenchman named Rene Goupil, who was fighting with the bravest, was taken, to- gether with some of the Hurons. When I saw this, I neither could nor cared to fly. Whither, indeed, could I escape, barefooted as I was ? ** Conceal myself amid the reeds and tall grass I could indeed, and thus, perhaps, escape ; but could I leave a countryman and the unchristened Hurons, already taken, or soon to be ? As the enemy, in hot pur- suit of the fugitives, had passed on, leaving me standing on the battle-field, I called out to one of those who had re- mained to guard the prisoners, and bade him place me beside his French captive, that as I had been his companion on the way, so would I be in his dangers and death. Scarce crediting what he heard, and fearful for himself, he ad- vanced and led me to the other prisoners. " Dearest brother," I then exclaimed, "wonderfully hath God dealt with us ; ' but he is the Lord, let him do what is good in his eight,' (1 Kings, iii. 18 ;) as it hath pleased him, so hath it come to pass, blessed be his name." Then, healing his confession, I gave him absohition. I now turn- ed to the Huron prisoners, and instructing them one by one, baptized them. As new prisoners were constantly taken in their flight, my labor was constantly renewed. At length, Eustace Ahasistari, that famous Christian chief, was brought in : when he saw me, he exclaimed, " Solemnly, indeed, did I swear, brother, that I would live or die by thee." What answer I made I know not, so much had grief overcome me. Last of all, William Couture was dragged in : he, too, had set out from Huronia with me. When he saw all routed, he had, with the. rest, taken to the woods, . and being a young man, as gifted in body as in mind, had by his agility left the enemy far behind ; but when he looked around and could see nothing of me, — " Shall I," said he to himself, "abandon my dear Father a prisoner in the hands of the savages, and fly without him ? — ^not I." Then, returning by the path which he had taken in flight, he gave himself up to the enemy. Would that he had fled, * To keep their canoes free from sand and gravel, the Indians reqiuied all *to enter them barefoot. Few even of th» missionaries were exempted from this rule. THE JOGUEB PAPERS. w nor swelled our mournful band 1 — for, in such a case, it is no comfort to have companions, especially those whom you love as yourself. Yet such are the souls who, though but laymen, serve God and the society among the Hurons, with no views of earthly reward.** It is painful to think even of all his terrible sufferings. Their hate was enkindled against all the French, but especially against him, as they knew that one of their bravest had fallen by his hand in the fight. He was accordingly first stripped naked, all his nails torn out, his very fingers gnawed, and a broad sword driven through his right hand. Mindful of the wounds o^ our Lord Jesus Christ, this pain, though most acute, he borCj as he afterwards told me, with great joy. When I beheld him thus bound and naked, I could not contain myself, but, leaving my keepers, rushed through the midst of the savages who had brought him, embraced him most tenderly ; exhorted him to offer all this to God for himself, and those at whose hands he suffered. They at first looked on, in wonder, at my proceeding ; then, as if recollecting themselves, and gathering all their rage, they fell upon me, and with their fists, thongs and clubs beat me till I fell senseless. Two of them then dragged me back to where I had been before ; and scarcely had I begun to breathe, when some others, attacking me, tore out, by biting, almost all my nails, and crunched my two fore-fiugers with their teeth, giving me intense pain. The same was done to Rene Goupil, the Huron captives being left untouched. When all had come in from the pursuit, in which two Hurons were killed, they carried us across the river, and there shared the plunder of the twelve canoes (for eight had joined us). This was very great ; for, independent of what each Frenchman had with him, we had twenty packages, con- taining Church plate and vestments, books and other arti- cles of the kind — a rich cargo, indeed, considering the poverty of our Huron mission. While they were dividing the plunder, I completed the instruction of such as were unchristened and baptized them. Among the rest, was one P * Gonpil and Contare were \vbat are called in the old French wiitera, Donnii, that is, men given : they wefe not religiooa of the order to which they attached themselves, but laymen, who, from motives of zeal, gave themselves to the missionaries, to be employed as they saw fit. There probably never was a set of more humble and heroic men than the Donn4B of the early Catholic missions. BEOOND SERIES. — ^YOL. III. 12 18 THE JOOUES PAPERS. sere octogenarian warrior, who, when ordered to enter the canoe to be borne off with the rest, exclaimed, " What I shall I, a hoary old man, go to a strange and foreign land ? Never ! here will I die," and there he died, for absolutely refusing to go, they slew him on the very spot, where he had just been baptized. Raising then a joyful shout, which made the forest ring, ''as conquerors who rejoice after taking a prey," [Isaiah ix. 3,] they bore us off, as captives towards their own land. We were twenty-two, three had been killed. By the favor of God our sufferings on that march, which lasted thirteen days,*^ were indeed great ; hunger and heat and menaces, the savage fury of the Indians, the intense pain of our untended and now putrifying wounds, which actually swarmed with worms. No trial, however, came harder upon me than to see them five or six days after approach us jaded with the march, and, in cold blood, with minds in nowise excited by passion, pluck out our hair and beard and drive their nails, which are always very sharp, deep into parts most tender and sensitive to the slightest impression. But this was outward ; ' my internal sufferings affected me still more, when I beheld that funereal procession of doomed Christians pass before my eyes, among them five old converts, the main pillars of the infant Huron Churcb.f Indeed I ingenuously admit that I was again and again unable to withhold my tears, mourning over their lot and that of my other com- panions, and full of anxious solicitude for the future. For I beheld the way to the Christian faith closed by these Iroquois on the Hurons and countless other nations, unless they were checked by some seasonable dispensation of Divine Providence. On the eighth day we fell in with a troop of 200J Indians * Every copy of this letter printed in Latin or other languages, till the dia- covery of the manuscript at Montreal, has here 88 days, although the context ■hows the error. Taken the 2d, they reached the Castles on the 15th, leaving just 13 days as the manuscript actually has. The Relation of 1647, Bressani, in nis worlc in 1658, as well as Alegambe and Tanner, have the erroneous number. f The progress of the missionaries among the Hurons was at first extremely slow ; three years elapsed after their return before a single adult was baptized, and indeed the conversion of Ahasistari, just before the date of this narrative, was the first impulse given. On his example and influence the missionaries had built many fond hopes, and Jogues might well grieve to see them blasted. The conversions of the Huron in any considerable number took place only when the nation was on the brink of ruin. See Bressani, Breve ReL t Charlevoix, probably by a misprint, says 700. The ^ace waa an island ia Lake Champlaio. See account of Ren6 GonpU. THB JOOUEB PAPERS. 19 going out to fight ; and as it is the custom for savages when out on war parties to initiate themselves, 'as it were, by cruelty, under the belief that their success will be greater as they shall have been more cruel, they thus received us. First rendering thanks to the Sun, which they imagine pre- sides over war, they congratulated their countrymen by a joyful volley of musketry. Each then cut some stout clubs in the neighboring wood in order to receive us. After we bad landed from the canoes they fell upou us' from both sides with their clubs in such fury, that I, who was the last and therefore most exposed to their blows, sank overcome by their number and severity, before I had accomplished half the rocky way that led to the hill on which a stage had been erected for us. I thought I should soon die there ; and so, partly because I could not, partly because I cared not, I did not arise. How long they spent their fury on me He knows, for whose love and sake it is delightful and glorious thus to suffer. Moved at length by a cruel mercy, and wishing to carry me to their country alive, they ceased to strike. And thus half dead and drenched in blood, they bore me to the scaffold. Here I had scarce begun to breathe when they ordered me to come down to load me with scoffs and insults, and countless blows on my head and shoulders, and indeed on my whole body. I should be tedious were I to attempt to tell all that the French prisoners suffered. They burnt one of my fingers, and crunched another with their teeth ; others already thus mangled they so wrenched by the tattered nerves, that even now, though healed, they are frightfully deformed. Nor indeed was the lot of my fellow- sufferers much better. But one thing showed that Go*d watched over us, and was rather trying than cutting us off. One of these savages, breathing naught but blood and cruelty, came up to me, scarce able to stand on my feet, and, seizing my nose with one hand, prepared to cut it off with a large knife which he held in the other. What could I do ? Believing that I was soon to be burnt at the stake, unmoved, I awaited the stroke, groaning to my Godwin heart, when, as if stayed by a supernatural power, he drew back his hand in the very act of cutting. About a quarter of an hour after he returned, and, as it were, condemning his cowardice and faintheart^ ness, again prepared to do it ; when again held back by similar unseen hand he departed. Had he carried vli 1' I ' I : 'i 90 THE JOOUES PAPERS. design my fate was sealed, for it is not their custom to grant life to captives thus mutilated. My sufferings were great in themselves, heightened by the sight of what a like cruelty had wreaked on the Christian Hurons, fiercer than all in the case of Eustace ; for they had cut off both his thumbs,** and through the stump of the left one they, with savage cruelty, drove a pointed stake up to his verv ^Ibow. This frightful pain he bore most nobly and piously. The following day we fell in with some other war canoes, who out off some of our companions' fingers to our great dread. On the tenth day about noon, we left our canoes, and performed on foot the rest of the journey, which lasted four days. Besides the usual hardships of the march came that of carrying the baggage ; hunger, too, was ever increased by the ever increasing want of food, so much so that for three days we ate nothing but some berries once gathered on the way.f [Aug. 15th,] At last, on the eve of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, we reached the first village of the Iroquois, I thank our Lord JesuA Christ that on the day when the whole Christian world exults in the glory of His Mother's Assumption into heaven, he called us to some small share and fellowship of his sufi'erings and cross. Indeed we had, during the journey, always foreseen that it would be a sad and bitter day for us. It would have been easy for Ben6 and me to escape that day and the flames, for being often unbound and at a distance from our guards, we might, in th^ darkness of night, have struck off from the road, and even though we should never reach our countrymen, we would at least meet a less cruel death in the woods. He constantly refused to do this, and I was resolved to suffer all that could befall me, rather than forsake in death Frenchmen and Christian Hurons, depriving them of the consolation which a priest can afford. On the eve of Assumption, then, about three o'clock, we * This practice of cutting off fingers so constant with the Iroquois was, be- fore firearms were known, a matter of policy, to uifit their prisoners from hand- ling the bow. Sagard, 461. t The text in Alegambe, and others, has here some details which I omit, as they are not in the mannscripb One of these describes tiie Indian custom of taking wana water to check the pangs of hunger. THS J0OUB8 PAPKnH. 81 reached a . river, which flows by their village [Ogsemenon], Both banks were filled with Iroquois, who received )b with clubs, fists and stones. As a bald or thinly cover^^d head is an object of aversion to them, this tempi ■'t burst in it§ fury on my bare head.*^ Two of my nails had hitherto escaped, these they tore out with their teeth and with their keen nails strippd off the flesh beneath to the very bones. When satisfied with the cruelty and mockeries which we thus received by the river side, they led us to their village on the top of the hill. At its entrance we met the youth of all that district, awaiting us in a line on each side of the road, all armed with clubs. Conscious that if we withdrew our- selves from the ranks of those chastised, we no less withdrew ourselves from those of the children, we cheerfully offered ourselves to our God, thus like a father chastising us, that in us " he might be well pleased." Our order was as follows : in the front of the line they placed a Frenchman, alas I en- tirely naked, not having even his drawers ; Ben^ Goupil was in the centre, and I, last of all, closed the line. The Iroquois scattered themselves through the line between us and the Hurons, to check our speed and afford more time and ease to our torturers to strike us thus separ- ately as we passed. Long and cruelly indeed " did the wicked work upon my back," [Psalms, cxxviii. 3,] not with clubs merely, but even with iron rods, which they, have in abundance, from their proximity to the Europeans ; one of the foremost, armed with an iron ball of the size of a fist, slung to a thong, dealt me so violent a blow that I should have fallen senseless, had not fear of a second given me strength and courage. Bunning then our long race amid this fearful hail of blows, we with difficulty reached the stage erected in the centre of the village. If each here presented a face to excite compassion, Bend's was certainly the most pitiable. Being by no means quick or active he had received so many blows all over his body, but espjcially in the fate, that nothing could be dis- tinguished there but the white of his eyes ; more beautiful, indeed, as he more resembled Him, whom we have beheld * as a leper and smitten by God for us,' " in whom there was no comeliness or beauty." [Isaias liii. 2.] We had but just time to draw breath on this stage when • Not in MSS. 22 THE JOGUES PAPERS. I : one, with a huge club, gave us Frenchmen three terrible blows on the bare back ; the savages now took out their knives and began to mount the stage, and cut off the fingers of many of the prisoners, and as a captive meets with cruelty proportioned to his dignity they began with me, as my manner of acting showed me to be in authority among the French and Hurons. Accordingly an old man and a woman^ approached the spot where I stood ; and he commanded her to cut off my thumb ; she at first drew back, but at last when the old wretch had three or four times re- peated the order, as if by compulsion she cut off my left thumb where it joins the hand. Then taking in my other hand the amputated thumb, I offered it to thee, my true and living God, calling to mind the sacrifices which I had for seven years constantly offered Thee in thy Church. At last warned by one of my comrades to desist, since they might otherwise force it into my mouth and compel me to eat it as it was, I flung it from me on the scaffold and left it I know not where. Ben6 had his right thumb cut off at the first joint. I must thank the Almighty that it was his will that my right should be untouched, thus ena- bling me to write this letter to beg my dear Fathers and brothers to offer up their masses, prayers, supplications and entreaties in the Holy Church of God, to which we feel our- selves now entitled by a new right, for she often prays for the afliicted and the captive.f On the following day, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, after spending the morning on the stage, we were taken about mid-day to another village, [Andagoron,] about two miles distant from the^first. As I was on the point of start- ing, the Indian who had brought me, loth to lose my shirt, sent me off with nothing but an old and tattered pair of drawers ; when I beheld myself thus naked, " Surely, brother," said I, " thou wilt not send me off thus naked, thou hast taken enough of our property to enrich thee." This touched him, and he gave me enough of the hempen bagging, in which our packages had been put up, to cover my shoulders and part of my body. But my flesh, mangled * In tbe printed text are here some words, stating ber to have been a Chris- fian Algonqnin, named Jane, not long before taken by the Iroquois. t Here ends the Urst part, written apparently apart from what follows ; which is not in the attested copy in Canada. 'Ibis we have hitherto followed, the rest we take as given by Tanner and Alegambe. I THE JOGUES PAPERS. 23 by their blows and stripes, could not bear this rough and coarse cloth. On the way, while scarcely and at last not at all covered by it, the heat of the sun was so intense, that my skin was dried, as though in an oven, and peeled off from my back and arms. As we entered the second village blows were not spared, though this is contrary to their usual custom, which is to be content with making prisoners run the gauntlet once. The Almighty, doubtless, wished us to be somewhat likened in this point to his Apostle, who glories that he was thrice beaten with rods, and though they received us with fewer blows than the first, these were more cruelly given, being better aimed from there being less of a crowd, and some struck constantly on the shins to our exquisite pain. The rest of the day we spent on the stage, and the nigbt in a hut tied down half naked to the bare ground, at the mercy of all ages and sexes ; for we had been handed over to the sport of the children and youth, who threw hot coals on our naked bodies, which, bound as we were, it was no easy matter to shake off. In this manner Indian children make their apprenticeship in cruelty, and from less grow ac- customed to greater. In this village we spent two days and nights, with scarcely any food or sleep, in great anguish of mind as far as I was concerned ; for from time to time they mounted the stage, cutting off the fingers of my Huron companions, and binding their clenched hands in hard cords so tightly drawn that they fainted, and while each suffered but his own pain, I suffered that of all. I was afflicted with as intense grief as you can imagine a most loving father's heart to feel at the sight of his children's misery, for, with the exception of a few old Christians, I had begotten them all recently in Christ by baptism. Yet amid all this the Lord gave me such strength, that suffering myself I was able to console the suffering Hurons and French ; so that both on the road and on the stage, when the tormenting crowd of 'saluters' * had dropped away, I exhorted them, at one time together, at another individu- ally, to preserve their patience and not lose confidence, which would have a great reward ; to remember " that by many * (So tihey call those who wreak their cmelty on captives brought in.) Note> m the originaL ! 24 THB JOGUES PAPERS. !''■ ' '1 S; ; III ■ :!i lid ' !i i I I i i !;: I :i" I :i| 1 1 ) I tribulations it behoves us to enter into the kingdom of heaven ;" that the time was come, indeed, foretold us by God, when he said : " Ye shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy ;" that we were like to " a woman who, when she is in travail, hath sorrow because her hour is come ; but when she has brought forth, no longer remembers her anguish for joy that a man is born into the world ; " [John xvi. 21 ;] so should they feel assured that in a few days these momentary pains would give place to never-ending joys. And surely I had reason to. rejoice when I beheld them so well disposed, especially the older Christians, Joseph, Eustace and two others, for on the very day that we reached the first village, the fifth one, Theodore, had freed himself from his bonds, but as in the battle his shoulder had been broken by a blow of a musket, he died on his way to the French. Never till now had the Indian scafibld beheld French or other Christian captives.* Hence, contrary to usual cus- tom, we were led around through all their villages to gratify the general curiosity. - The third indeed [Teonontogen] we entered scatheless, but on the scafibld a scene met my eyes more heart-rending than any torment ; it was a group of four Hurons taken elsewhere by another party and dragged in to swell our wretched company. Among other cruelties, every one of these had lost some fingers, and the eldest of the band his two thumbs. As soon as I reached them, I began to instruct them separately on the articles of faith, then on the very stage itself I baptized two with rain-drops gathered from the leaves of a stalk of Indian corn given us to chew ; the other two I baptized at a little stream, which we passed when led to another village. At this place, cold setting in after the rain, we suflered extremely from it as we were entirely uncovered. Often shivering with cold on the stage, I would, unordered, come down and enter some hut but I could scarcely begin to warm myself when I was commanded to return to the scaffold. William Couture had thus far lost none of his fingers ; this excited the displeasure of an Indian in the village, and he sawed off half the forefinger of his right hand ; the pain * A Frenchman, Peter Mngnan, had indeed been put to death as earlj as 1628 by the Mohawks to whom he went as ambassador. (Sagard, p. 483. Le Clerc, ch. ix.) But this was probably forgotten by them and unknown to F. Jogues. Margueri6 and Godefroy, taken in 1640, were not tortured. Rel. 1C40-1. THS JOGUES PAPERS. 30 kingdom of lusbyGod, fc the world joy;" that ravail, hath las brought It a man is i they feel ains would had reason especially ers, foron ' fifth one, as in the a musket, d French isual cus- to gratify ogen] we ; my eyes group of dragged cruelties, eldest of them, I >f faith, in-drops ?iven us u. which _ce, cold it as we on the ue hut I was ingers ; :e, and le pain early ns p. 483, vn to F. 1C40-1. was more excruciating, as he employed not a knife, but a shell very common there. As it could not sever the sinews, which were hard and slippery, he wrenched the finger so violently that when the sinews gave way, the poor sufferer's arms swelled frightfully up to his very elbow. An Indian seeing it, was touched with compassion and took him to his hut where he kept him the two days which we spent in that village, leaving me in ignorance and great anxiety as to his fate. At nightfall we were taken to a hut, where the youth awaited us. Being oi-dered to sing as other captives do, we at last complied, for alas I what could we do ; but we " sang the canticles of the Lord in a strange land." Tor- ture followed the chanting, and its fury burst especially on Ben6 and myself, for the good savage still kept William in his hut. On me then, and especially on Ben6, they threw hot ashes and live coals, by which he was severely burnt in the breast. They next hung me between two poles in the hut, tied by the arms above the elbow, with coarse rope woven of the bark of trees.* Then I thought I was to be burnt, for this is one of their usual preliminaries ; and that I might know, that I had thus far borne any thing with fortitude or even with patience, this came not from myself, but from Him who gives strength to the weary. Now as though left to my- self in this torture I groaned aloud, for " I will glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may dwell in me," [2 Cor. xii. 9,] and from my intense pain I begged my tor- turers to ease me some little from those hard rough ropes. But God justly ordained that the more I pleaded, the more they drew my bonds. At last, when I had been hanging thus about a quarter of an hour, they unloosed me, as I was on the point of fainting. I render thee thanks, Lord Jesus, that I have been allowed to learn, by some slight experience, how much thou didst deign to suffer on the cross for me, when the weight of thy most holy body hung not by ropes, but by thy hands and feet pierced by hardest nails I Other chains followed these, for we were tied to the ground to pass the rest of the night. What did they not then do to my poor Huron companions, thus tied hand and foot? What did they not attempt on me? But once * Bressani was hung np in the same way and loaded ■with chains. This tor- ture is not unlike that of the thumbscrew applied to the Jesuits in more civilized countries. See Jardine on the Use of Torture in England. 26 THE JOGUES PAPERS. • 11 u u \% f I priest, ever*un&umed ftom^'J?' *^** ^^^'^ ^^'^st save me ihrr lad now been for Beverfi V^i^?^^ detennined. We from eoaffoW to scaffoMbeeZ, f *"" """«« «" village good pleasure of God and ?L7'^°"* ^*« ^^^^rors, yet the hod endured such opposU oi of • *^'^'°'^*^^ "P^^ ilim That • the^gn.^""°^ oa n., advice, be .evS IL*-" - l^tj, ^o3.JtSC t'h''%''f''''="'«» -solved H«j,na they likewi^ g^S Ti'i ? '''°'»' "» «"« THE JOGUKS PAPERS. at save me, thy the savages, t village, we Hch we had Dined. We to village, G^odand to ness, a scoif ^t Jast told les. Sooth '"» yet the Jife, where >ne of joy. or the last eir mental Him that • ^self ; not ')) but to } to reign especially d not be d raising i> so that one after our ar- aade me resolved gard to council all the cepted, in the Anda- n, and ned in le bore en seek nd thus tod and all most piously, and while it is usual for dying captives to cry out, — " Exoriaro aliqnis nostris ex osdbiu nltor." — Ms. W. 625. Bise from oor scattered bones, avenger, rise I '■' he, on the contrary, in the Christian spirit which he had so deeply imbibed in baptism, implored his countrymen who stood around not to let any feelings for his fate prevent the conclusion of a peace with the Iroquois. Paul Onon- horaton, who, after the usual fiery ordeal, was tomahawked in the village of Ossernenon, was a young man of about twenty-five, full of life and courage ; for such they generally put to death, to sap, as it were, the life-blood of the hostile tribe. With' a noble contempt of death, arising, as he openly professed on [the way, from his hope of a better life, this generous man had repeatedly, when the Iroquois came up to me to tear out my nails, or inflict some other injury, offered himself to them, begging them to leave me and turn their rage on him. May the Lord return him a hundred- fold, with usury, for that heroic charity which led him to give " his life for his friend," and for those " who had be- gotten him in Christ in bondage." Towards evening of that day they carried off William Couture, whom they regarded as a young man of unpar- alleled courage, to Teonontogen, the furthest village of their canton, and gave him to an Indian family. (It is the cus- tom of these savages, when they spare a prisoner's life, to adopt him into some family, to supply the place of a de- ceased member, to whose rights he, in a manner, succeeds ; he is subject thenceforward to no man's orders but those of the head of the family, who, to acquire this right, offers some presents.*) But seeing that Ken6 and I were less vigorous, they led us to the first village, the residence of the party that had captured us, and left us there [Ossernenon] till some new resolution should be taken. After so many a long day spent fasting, after so many sleepless nights, after so many wounds and stripes, especially after such heart-rending anguish of mind, when time was, 80 to speak, given us at last to feel our sufferings, we sank into a state of helplessness. Scarce able to walk or even stand erect, nor night nor day brought a moment of repose, *** This is a note added apparently by another hand, as it intermpts the nar- rative. mm i8 UM H THB JOGUES PAPERS, «.jing : ™=^' ' "'°™ true he„ th^tt^"^ «^- them ^th il ° ™° "' ™ote, and Mn!,!i- °''.f ""^ ''''« «f ""ovoSC T^'^- After tfctkF """■' """^ *o death ^ m," r '','°«^. "hen TO wem 1 u? """^ J""' where The nwT ^"'^'"^'^ ^t" Ne^ Pmni"^ ™ltreated the great ri^erS^"?"""." «<> called fomS *" '^? P°»' engated ,„ f ? ' ^""rence : here «mrin„ ' """Pt'es into ffiRht Th. " ™™dmg many moiTfll "> *hat afteV had been glT '^""^ ■^'"""ed ftS^i/ »?/'"*''« «»' to demanded^Stef "' k"" " S forth^/i'd"®'' "-^^ "ally and niv if"""* """'« eompWnta S'""". ""^^ »«• Iseptrr„ "°^"°"'°'''^'-ff^t?: THE J00UE8 PAPERS. 29 mded wounds ; ne myriads of > keep from us this, we suf- 3where is the add to their corn, care- ought to the oach refused almost lost day by day, some bits of hem, mixed 'Q were just it to be put maltreated > the point mpties into 'of French eh'eu, they the rest as Q a single Imost un- orks. At a handful 10 bravely hat after 8 rest to ugh they ■' ^rong, "It is uld live three of espe- . He off the id Vir- lement not more than twenty leagues from these Indians, came with two others to effect our liberation.* He remained there several days, offered much, promised more, obtained nothing. But as they are a wily and cunning race of savages, in order not to seem to refuse all that a friend asked, but to concede something to his desires, they lyingly asserted that they would in a few days restore us to our countrymen. This was perhaps the wish of some of them ; but in the latter part of September (for constant rains had put off the matter till that time) a final council was held on our fate, although osten- sibly provisions had been prepared and men appointed to take us back. Here the opinion of the few well inclined was rejected, confusion carried the day, and some clamorous braves declared that they would never suffer a Frenchman to be taken back alive. The council broke up in alarm, and each, as if in flight, returned to his lodge or the village whence he came. Left thus to the cruelty of bloodthirsty men, attempts were constantly made on our lives. Some, tomahawk in hand, prowled arqjand the cabins to find and despatch us. However, towards the close of the council, God had inspired me with some thought that induced me to draw my companions together, without the village, in a field be- longing to the cabin where I was. Here, ignorant of what had transpired, we lay hid in comparative safety, until the storm under which we should all have fallen, had we re- mained in the village, was somewhat calmed. William was after this taken back by his master to his own village. Ken6 and I, perceiving that there was now no hope of our return, withdrew to pray on a neighboring hill which commands the village. Here, remote from every wit- ness and from all officious intrusion, we resigned ourselves entirely to God and to His holy will. On our road back to the village we were reciting our beads, and had already com- pleted four decades of the rosary, when we met two young men, who commanded us to return to the village. " Dear brother," said I, " we know not whdt may be, in this period of general excitement, the design of these men; let us com- * This was the celebrated Arendt Van Curler, so highly esteemed by the French and Indians. The latter even gave his name perpetually to the English governors. He was the constant friend of Father Jogues, and after many ineffectual attempts to ransom him, by the charitable contributions of the Dutch colonists, aided him to escape. The journal of his present visit to the Mohawk Tillages has been publiBhed by Dr. O'Collaghaa in his History of New Nether- land, vol, i. p. 834. 111! 30 THE JOOUES PAPias. ! , ^end ourselves earnestlr f« n ^ Viipn our good MoTht " w^°l^ ?°^ ^'^ *he most bless«^ prayer, when at its ve?i* «„,^^ ^^^ reached the vilk^« • nf 1,,- Vvp oupenors, to whom hi , aiterwards. bv THE JOOUES PAPERS. 81 his breast and forehead ; for a superstitious old Indian, the grandfather of the boy, seeing this, ordered him to be killed. This I afterwards learned from the boy's mother, who told me that he had been killed by the old man for that reason. But to resume my narrative. After I had been a little while in our hut, where my life had been pretty tranquil, I was taken to another, the hut of the one that had cut off my thumb, a most bitter enemy of the Algonquins, and conse- quently of the French. Here not I alone, but the Iroquois generally, expected every moment to see me tomahawked. In consequence some who had given me articles of clothing, that I might in part at least cover my person, now asked them back, for fear of losing them by my death. The next day I was filled with so great an anxiety to know what had become of my dear companion that I re- solved to look for his body at all hazards, and commit it, if possible, to the earth. After stripping it, they had con- temptuously tied a rope around the neck and dragged it through the village to a ravine at a considerable distance, where they flung it. As I was going out of the village I met the old man in whose lodge I had previously been ; he advised me to stay at home : " Whither art thou hurrying," he exclaimed, " thou art scarce alive ; they seek thee every where to slay thee, and yet thou goest to find an already putrefying corpse ; dost thou not see those fierce young braves who are about to kill thee ? " Some in fact had gone out of the village just before me with arms in their hands ; but fearlessly, for in my bitter anguish it was * a pain to live, a gain to die' in such a work of charity, I^'pursued my way. When the old man saw me so resolute he asked another Indian to go with me. By his assistance I found the body which the dogs had begun to gnaw about the hips, and, sinking it in the deepest part of the torrent, I covered it with a heap of stones, intending to return the next day with a spade and bury it secretly and alone, for I was afraid that they would disinter it. As I re-entered our hut I found two young men waiting to take me to their village to put me to death. Aware of their design I told them that I was in the hands of those with whom I lived, that if they gave the slightest consent I would accompany them ; as I would, in fact, have done. Seeing that they gained nothing in this way, the next day one of them, who, at the time of our capture had; with his brother, been wounded ^in the action. 32 THK JOOUES PAPERS. liffl'i 111 I i ' f kill mo, when he wis stonned h! ' ?."^ ^«« '"«Wnff on to «^d presented from accoritrhj'^f l°anofou4miy Ahnighty teach me "tH^^^^^^^ Thus did the / knowmg that he hath care L "^ ^o^'citude on him '' foar the face of man" when, )I^^ of my life, without whole Iri- "^^'^^'^ ^«« '^e protect from my head. '^ Permission not a hair cSuld fall ceeded to S'spoTeari ^h^'^^^^f °^Pl«h ^T design, I pro- hoe t, i^ter the bod; Vut Xs TT?' '^^^^ ^ ^de ^ brother. I returned to the snot T^'^ had carried off Z the foot of which fhn '"®^P°*» I ascended the mmm* „{ searched the wood on ZJ ^'^?' ^ ^'^^^e'^ded S^-l The torrent ran swoUe^ by'thTS ^'^n^"' «" '° -in' either by its depth or the co d fS '^"'',' ^"* undeterred K I tried the bottom with m/.-', ""^^ *^« ^''st of Octo- that the stream mighT nerh " V*''^^"^ ^eet, as I thought «pot ; I asked all whom^teTwth ^'T ^^ *° Sj ot him ; but as they are a mo^f -! ^'^ ^^^ ^"^ew any thinff give an affirmative anXrw1u?^^^«»« '^ce and alS lalsely told me that it Cd blen dm 'T^ *° truth, H ' , nver What groans diS I not uttff 1 *" ? ^'^''^ ^'«t«nt from he young men^htttryVdt^^^^^^^ away I hetd ot the Frenchman. Hurrviru.T *J *"® scattered bones the half-gnawed bonettKinl^i ?'b ^ gathered up foxes and the crows, and clea^T nf /f^*u ^y *^e dogs, th? n several places; thes^reve'^'li'/tf .*^%«k»II fral^tured the earth that I might onrda* if ''?^' ^ committed to hear them with me as a^eat ^if '"'^ ^ere God's will Chnstian land. ^^^^ *^easure to a consecrated did thTlrrufie'^Sr"'^^^ ' ^-- -d W not .quois were; but thefXCrfe t?^ ^""°"« as ZiToi m our cabin an idiot XaX/ "'? ""^^ ^"'i^'- There was .hands' breadth from a wretctpH kT J'' ^'* ^^ eut off two yet all that I had to cov ml 4 t'^ °^' ''^'^^ong. THE JOGUES PAPERS. 33 ing ; but do as thou wilt." My modest excuse offended him ; and when soon after I went to the huts of the bap- tized Huron8, whom I daily instructed and " bore again till Christ should bo formed in them," (Gal. iv. 19,) he came in search of me and fiercely bade me return. Whei) I entered the cabin. Bend's murderer was sent for, that the same hand might end both our lives ; they looked for him in yain ; he could not be found. I was accordingly sent the next day with two women into a field of his, where he was then stay- ing, under the pretence of bringing back some article or other, but in fact to be exposed to death ; for two days be- fore the only son of one of their noble women had died in our cabin, and I was to be sacrificed to his manes. These women actually had with them the squashes, corn, and other articles of the kind which were to be the fee of my execu- tioner. " But I like a deaf man heard not '* the vain things they devised, " and like a dumb man opened not my mouth, and I became like a man that heareth not, nor hath a reply in his mouth," (Ps, xxvii. 14,) " because in Thee, tiord, have I hoped ;" but mindful of his meekness, " who was led like a lamb to the slaughter," (Acts, viii. 32,) I went to my death begging the Lord with David "to turn away evU from my enemies and scatter them in his truth." (Ps. liii. 7.) About midway we met the looked-for murderer. Seeing him at a distance, I commended myself for the last time to God, begging him to receive a life spent with care and anguish ; but my sins still rendered me unworthy. He passed quietly by us, and his mother, who soon met us^ addressed some words, of what import I know not, to those who conducted me ; on this, trembling and as if in flight, they darted off, leaving me in the road, for they saw that I was aware of their design. Amid this frequent fear and death, while every day I die, or rather drag on a life more bitter than any death, two months glided away. During this time, I made no effort to learn their language ; for why should I, who every mo- ment expected to die ? The village was a prison for me ; I avoided being seen ; I loved the wild wood, where I beg- ged the Lord not to disdain to speak to his servant ; to give me strength in such fearful trials — in which indeed, if I have become a prodigy to many, God was my stout helper, and often, by His unfailing goodness, roused my drooping spirits. I had recourse to the Holy Scriptures, my only SECOND SERIES. VOL. III. 13 34 THK JOGUES PAPERS. refuge "in the tribulations which had found me exceeding- ly : " these did I venerate ; with these I wished to die. Of all the books which we were carrying to Huronia for the use of the Frenchmen living there, none had fallen into my hands but the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews, with the paraphrase of the Bight Bev. Anthony Godeau, Bishop of uratz. This little book, with a picture of St. Bruno, the illustrious founder of the Carthusian order, to which some indulgences were attached, and a rude wooden cross which I had made, I always carried about me ; so that wherever death, ever present before my eyes, should strike me down, I might cheerfully die with the Holy Scriptures, which had ever been my greatest consolation, with the graces and indulgences of my most holy mother the Church, whom I always greatly, but now most tenderly loved, and with the cross of my Lord and Saviour. And now the middle of October was come, when the Indians leave their villages to go and hunt deer, which they take by traps, or kill with their guns, in the use of which they are very skilful. This season, to the Indians one of relaxation and enjoyment, brought its new burden of sor- rows for me ; for I was given to a party who were at first amazed at me, then ridiculed, and at last began to hate me. Mindful of the character imposed upon me by God, I began with modesty to discourse with them of the adora- tion of one only God, of the observance of his command- ments, of heaven, hell, and the other mysteries of our faith, as fully as I was able. At first, indeed, they listened ; but when they saw me constantly recur to these things, and especially when the chase did not meet with the desired success, then they declared that I was a demon who caused them to take so little game. But what turned their ill-will into perfect rage and fury, so to speak, was this : it is the custom with all these nations to have recourse, in their hunting, fishing, war, sickness, and the like, to a certain demon, whom they call Aireskoi.** Whoever desires his fishing, hunting, or other expeditions to be successful, takes meat and other of the better articles of food, and begs the * In Huron, Agreskoni. This demon or divinity is evidently the same as TharonhyawagOD, or the holder of the heavens, whose worship, even among the so-called Pagan Iroqnois, has been superseded by that of the true God, called by them " Niio," a corruption otDieu, or with an Indian prefix, Haw- enniia . , THl JOaUKB PAFERB. 35 oldest of tho house or village to bless them for him, if I may use the expression, and there are some to whose blessings they attach more value 'ihan to others. The old man stand- ing opposite the one wijo holds the meat, in a loud and dis- tinct voice, speaks thus : " Oh, demon Aireskoi I lo we offer thee this meat, and of it we prepare thee a banquet, that thou mayest eat thereof and show us where lurk the deer, and lead then into our traps ; " or if not during the chase, " that by thee we may again behold the spring, taste the new harvest, and again engage in the chase in the fall : ' if it be a case of illness — "that by thee we may recovei health." The very first time I heard a formula couched in such words, I was filled with a deep detestation of this barba- rian superstition, and firmly resolved to abstain for ever from meats thus offered. They interpreted this abstinence on my part, and this contempt of their demon, as the cause of their taking little game : " the wicked have hated mo without cause." (John xv. 25.) As under the influence of this hate, they would neither listen to my instrnctionn, nor help me to aoquire their language in which I refuted their fables, I resolved to devote my time entirely to spiritual exercises. Accordingly, I went forth every morning from the midst of this Babylon, that is, our hut, where constant worship was paid to the devil and to dreams,*^ and " saved myself in the mountain," (Gen. xix. 17,) a neighboring hill. Here I had formed a large cross on a majestic tree, by strip- ping off the bark, and at its foot I spent almost the whole day with my God, whom, almost alone in those vast wilds, I worshipped and loved : sometimes in meditation or in prayer, at other times reading an Imitation of Christ, which I had just before recovered. This for some time was unper- ceived ; but on one occasion finding me, as was my wont, in prayer before my cross, they attacked me most violently, saying that they hated the cross, that it was a sign they and their friends, tho neighboring Europeans, knew not, (alluding to the Dutch Protestants). Upon this, I changed * An instance of their saperstitions worship of dreams gave him an occasion of Christian fortitude. A sick man, for whom the medicine-men were perform- ing their usual mummeries, dreamed that he should recover if Ondesson were to come with his Airihsa, or hook, and do as the French did when they prayed; — they called on Jogues to satisfy this dream ; but he resolutely refused, though threatened with death ; and when they attempted to drag him there, he •soaped by a precipitate flight— At^sux** ilf ^deed Leat chiefly lived had S Uj t'oT^r ^^'^^ 4S twns, I spent many davfS- *^® ^^^^^^^ ^ these obla when.I came in fa4h'd I wS' '"^ "^'"''«* ^^4 ntht over their fleshpots, which mvj ''' °"^ %yptian7sit fng aw prevented iSy toucMng. "^^fd ^nn ^"^"^ «elf.impos^f red to me m a manner dissuantn *^T"Sb reasons occur- by God's grace, I never su£j°^ "^^J'^"^ ^J course, y" when thou wnrtru ly ^fiutj .^" War/' (K^ xv S m thy holy city Je/usa/em^fel%hr^ryservanl 'r ^„^!^!5-™- ' (Ps. oxlvilYA ^'^" ^^^* ^" ^or ever m with^;,^--^^^^^ - — ve. dered to sleep uncovered on th?^^^^^ ^* "'^^^^ ^ben oT! bark ; for though thev h^H li ^'^ ?'°"°d ^^^ «ome rouSi useless to them,^ot one was & "* '^^^^"^^^'^^^ P^Sy times, on a ver^ bitter nlhtT *?.'"^ ' «»y> when some- «ecretly take one, they rSe\ t on"'^' ^T''' ^ the cSd ^e, so great was'theiJenmitv M ' ?°^ «*"PP«1 it from the filth of dust," (Job vii 5 V ;V ^^ * ^*^ withered with ^^ great pain all Lrr^y'^/ «P'^* ^^'h cold, and gave r^t ^r'*"--^^^^^^ on these remembered that I had been rSlv .^""V^-'^^^'^We. I ueen recently covered with the life's THE JOGTTES PAPERS. 87 blood of my dearest companion — and those who came from William's Villa^- told me that he had already been put to death, with exquisite torture, and that I myself, on my re- turn, was to meet the same fate. With this came up the remembrance of my past life, stained with so many sins, and so unfaithful to God ; and I grieved that I was thus to be torn away, unaided by any of the sacraments, in the midst of my course — rejected, as it were, by God, with no good works sent on to plead my cause. In this state, loath- ing life, yet shrinking from death, I uttered many a mourn- ful cry, and said unto my God : When shall my sorrows and miseries have an end ? — How long wilt thou forget our want and our tribulation ? — When, after this tempest, wilt thou give us calm, and, after weeping, joy and exultation ? — "And had not those days been shortened, my flesh had not been saved." (Mark xiii. 20.) I had recourse to my wonted refuge of the Scriptures, my usual retreat, and passages which my memory had retained taught me how I should think of God in goodness, even though .not upheld by sensi- ble devotion ; that I should know that " the just man lives by faith." (Wis. i. 1.) I searched them ; I followed their streamlets, and sought, as it were, to quench my daily thirst. " I meditated on the law of God night and day," (Ps. i. 2,) and " had not the law of God been my meditation, I had perhaps perished in my abjection," (Ps. cxviii 92,) and " my soul had passed through a water insupportable." (Ps. cxxiii. 8.) " But blessed be God; who did not give us a prey to the teeth of our enemies," (Ps. cxxiii. 6,) "whose hour had come and the power of darkness," (Luke xxii. 53,) " in which we were overmuch oppressed," (2 Cor. i. 8 ;) so that I was weary of life, and could say with Job, though in a different meaning, "Although he should kill me, I will trust in him." (Job. xiii. 15 ) Thus passed two months away in this retreat, where, like St. Bernard, a disciple of the trees of the forest, I thought of naught but God, until, having become an object too hateful to all to be any longer borne with, I was sent back to the village before the usual time. During this journey, which took us eight days, " I was become like a beast of burthen before God," (Ps. Ixxii. 23j) under the heavy load of venison which I carried ; and being ignorant what fate awaited me at the village, since many reports had been spread about me by a party that had gone before, I endeav- 38 f M ', ii; i ; ! THE J0GUE8 Papebs. dressed in the cWh^ ^ "^"^ ^ ^^"7 saw thrS'''*' °°' I can, in trnff, V, i. . ° '""»•--«*.. iv. 647. .„ ■». ,„i^ „ „. „,.,._ .... ""'''f ">« took care t Some of these nobla mnw cowipbon, abandoned "^ngs on the I was nearly le open air.« ^ery, for the anuary. In oy worn-out I the streets tJayjoin me ep-skins, in •Id was not ndians well aggage had 't and day >ved to see Bdicated to If leggings 7. iod up to mger and ' no fixed e are re- irit; we he refuse ' (1 Cor. returned 38, until y, hear- ts house ■ This found oly son in the k care woman, Ige over nto the :to the was set ndoned council THE JOijrUES PAPERS. of me, and " the Lord gave me grace in her eyes." Yet all this was but a slight solace in such woe. When I saw that my life was at last in some sort spared, I applied myself to the study of the language, and as our cabin was the council- hall not only of the village, but almost all that canton, I began to instruct the oldest on the articles of our faith. They, too, put me many questions as to the sun and moon, the face which seems to appear on her disk, the circumference of the earth, the size of the ocean, its tides, whether, as they had heard, the heavens and the earth anywhere met each other ? Adapting my philosophy to their reach, I satisfied them on all these points ; — then, indeed, they began to wonder and say : " Indeed we should have lost a great treasure, had we put this man to death, as we have been so often on the point of doing." Then I endeavored to raise their minds from creatures to a know- ledge of the Creator : I confuted their old wives' tales of the creation of the world, which their fable makes out to have been created by a tortoise : the sun was, I showed them, not only without intellect, but even a lifeless mass, much less a God : " with whose beauty, if they, being de- lighted, took it to be a God, they should know how much the Lord of it is more beautiful than it," (Wis. xiii. 3;) that Aireskoi, whom they pretended to be the author and preserver of life, and the giver of all the good things which they enjoyed, was not a God, but a demon. Were they as easy in belief as they are easy to be con- vinced, the matter would soon be settled ; but " the prince of this world" (John xii. 31,) expelled from almost every quarter of the globe by the power of the Cross, seems to have retreated into these regions as his last stronghold ; so that the kingdom which this "strong man armed" (Luke xi. 21) has possessed here for so many thousand years, can be overthrown only in lapse of time, and by unconquerable con- stancy on the part of the soldiers of Christ. From time to time, however, Christ, their true Lord and Lord of all, chooses some for himself, not only among the infants, many of whom are now in heaven, but even among adults, some of whom I baptized in sickness or in bondage. Many other native adtilts I instructed ; but some refused to listen to me, others rejected me, others assented merely with the lips, from a kind of politeness which makes them consider it rude to contradict you, and which would easily i i li'Uii ^ ; THE JOQUES PAPERS. mislead most. I ««»»«♦• (d Kings XIX. 18,) and Z l\! i ^°®® '^fore Baal " their confessions, to announce a « w ' ^^''^ ^^^^ heariL I was able, to succor thedLl w '^'"5^ ''^^'•^^ «<> far af fants in danger of death & ^"* especiaUy to save in bitterest mental pangs and onT ?^ ^^^^ We in my vmted a «eighbon-ng V 1 a^e and , J^'". "^'^^ ^^is vie "f dien, I learned soon after in «?i^^'® ^^^P^^^ed five chil- In ^i!'"* to heaven ^°"'^^^ ^^«««ion, that all had stud/of Xir '&^^^^^^^ therefore, and efforts at the Ma r ^i *^° «oS\Sd bv^^^ IT '^''' b« without March, when the snow hfd mp].3^' ^^°"* *he middle of them to their fishinglound ^ a *'7^' '^^^ *°°k me with this-with the entrS of deer %,,,' Jt^'' ^uch food 2 fied excrement, boiled LJn«' ?" '^^^^^'^d and half.p„tre^ whole, head and feet S" ' "^^'^^^^ ^^^^t^rs, fmgs eaten custom, and want7f\e ue^ ""!?' T^'^^'^-^^huntr resound with the praits Af fU^ ZT'''''' ««d wild-w<^ creation they had LThefrd t V^^^'J' ^^^^^ ^^^ S trees of the forest did I car^pi' How often on the statelv that, seeing it, the demo^ Ith'^t '^''l^ »^°^e of Je „/ they hear it I How ofSn to^d^ T ^' ^^"^ ^'•^"^hle when to form the most holy cros's of Vt / ^°^ '*"P ^^ the bark flj before it ; and thit by thou Or i '^'' *^^ ^°« «^S S'' '? .*^ ^^^«' <>f thy enemTei^ fp^' ^^P^^^' ""^i^ht mies of thy Cross," (PfaH i« iS *F^- '"'''■ 2,) " the ene- pagan who dwell in thJli "i ^'^ '^e misbeliever anrl Jl tearfully there I ? • • ^^°'^' *"d the demons w?ni ^^ THE JOGUES PAPERS. 41 irsions to the the Christian before Baal " after hearing ere, so far as ^ to save in- 3olace in my ' this view I ed five chil- that all had Sforts at the be without * middle of )ok me with 'gly started, oy and my- where we ails of these ty, the fish ch food as half-putre- rogs eaten id hunger, ' tolerable, nd in that bylon and xvi. 1-4,) y God on d we sing i^ild-wood om their 3 stately of Jesus, le when le bark, »e might 'niight he ene- md the rule so by the Church recalls the story of His Passion, ro that I might more un- interruptedly remember the course of its bitterness and gall, and " my soul pine away at the remembrance," Jer. iii. 20. When, therefore, I had fulfilled the task imposed on me by my masters as their slave — the slave of savages — when I had cut and brought in wood for the fire in the lodge, I spent almost all the rest of my time before a large cross which I had formed on a huge pine-tree at a considerable distance from the hut. But I was not long allowed to en- joy this holy repose ; indeed too many days had passed un- alarmed by my wonted terrors. On Monday in Holy Week, an Indian came to us from the village ; the reason of his coming was this : Ten Iroquois, among whom was the son of the man who had cut off my thumb, and in whose hut I now dwelt, had gone out on a war-party about midsum- mer. Summer, fall, and even the long winter passed, and yet no tidings of them came : they were consequently given up. especially as neighboring nations said that they had fallen victims to the cruelty of the enemy. Early in the spring, during our absence, a captive was brought in, who being also questioned as to them, gave the same answer, and said that they had been killed. Then indeed deeming, what they already believed, to be now passed doubt, they sacrificed that very captive to the manes of the young brave, my master's son. But the soul of this captive seemed too vile to atone for the life of the noble youth. I was accord- ingly sent for from the lake where we were, that my life with his might compensate for the death of the chieftain. Such, at least, was the conclusion to which one or two old women and a decrepit old man had come. We consequent- ly set out the next day, as if in flight, under the pretence that parties of the enemy were around us. We reached the village towards evening, on Maundy Thursday, April 2. The morrow, which had closed the Saviour's life, was now to close mine also, when it pleased Him who, by dying on that day, had given life to my spirit, to give it to my body also. Accordingly on that day, when I was to have been put to death, rumor was spread, as if without good au- thority, that those supposed to be dead were still alive ; then it came that they had joined another war party, and were now bringing in twenty-two captives. Thus did God scatter the malignant designs of the savages — instructing and showing me that he took care of 42 THE J00UJC8 PAPEBs. •"d other |a„^r"™"/«Joi^- '^^*'^^« ? provide ,^?..*^n»» the infJi,,i""^8« 'hem ■'"their tor- * About th- • * °**K THE JOGUES PAPERS. 45 18, their festivals ler and sorrow " md the nativity sorrows on me 3 slaughter of a earful torments, mtons. "Woe e ruin of my •e^"myJifeia (fS. XXX. 11,) "»ty, and hath . xxxviii. 12 ;) inebriated me he comforter, > 16;) "but favor of God d us," (Rom. and wiJJ not o*' a hireling, •e made, ther through ', did I wish I nailed me, ive and die. 1 captives? 3ned Huron ly brought their tor- ters? who nstruction "'■ a pecu- nation. had risen in ndent tribe, «mph, as a »or, and he finding tho "'M dying, sympathy, ■"ty hy the illed by a io esoaps ; fallen from the true Catholic religion, barred the entrance of the faith to these regions, on one side, and on the other, a fierce war between savage nations, and on their account with the French, I should have fallen into the hands of these Indians, who by the will of God reluctantly, and I may say against their will, have thus far spared my life, that through me, though unworthy, those might be instructed, believe and be baptized, who are predestined to eternal life. Since the time when I was taken, I have baptized seventy children, young and old, of five different nations and lan- guages, that of " every tribe, and people, and tongue, they might stand in the sight of the Lord." (Apoc. vii. 9.) Therefore do I daily bow my knee to my Lord and to the Father of my Lord, that if it be for his glory, he may confound all the designs of the Europeans and savages for ransoming me or sending me back to the whites ; for many of the Indians speak of my being restored, and the Dutch, among whom I write this, have frequently' oflfered, and now again are offering to rescue me and my companions. I have visited them twice, and have been most kindly welcomed ; they leave no stone unturned to effect our deliverance, and have made many presents to the Indians with whom I am, to induce them to treat me humanely. But I am now weary of so long and so prolix a letter ; I therefore earnestly beg your Reverence ever to recognize me, though unworthy, as one of yours ; for though a savage in dress and manner, and almost without God in so tossed a life, yet as I have ever lived a son of the most holy Church of Rome and of the Society, so do I wish to die. Obtain for me from God, Reverend Father, by your holy sacrifices, that though I have hitherto but ill-employed the means He gave me to attain the highest sanctity, I may at least employ well this last occasifon which Ue ofiers me. Your bounty, surely, owes this to a son who has recourse to you ; for I lead a truly wretched lifie, where every virtue is in danger : Faith in the dense darkness of paganism, Hope in so long and hard trials. Charity amid so much corruption, deprived of all the sacraments. Purity is not, indeed, endangered here by delights, but is tried, amid this promiscuous and intimate intercourse of both sexes, by the perfect liberty of all in hearing and doing what they please ; and, most of all, in their constant nakedness. For here, willing or not, you must often see what elsewhere 46 ! ' i';; 'I 1-1 ■■'li If;; . THE JOODES PAPERS. IS shut oufc, not onlv fr««. naked ah if -r*^ *"® ^e^« to whirh k1 k *"°^ super- fi../^'"'"''' °»® through vou. .« JsAAoJoouEs. Your most humble servant an^ • ervant and son in Christ, J^ATHEB JOGUES TO Mr J\„ fWntten in a jargon of French llr . Of the Iroquois' °T;^"''*\^'"«'* «'««« I fell int. .u . did : he if „?• "*S:e, nor has he Jn«f ! '" V^® gauntlet . •This letter w«a written '^^^ tali. The co«te.y and kind ^pSh^T '"' ^°°^« ^^^JSSsSfXt^lt'r^ TBS J00UE8 PAPERS. 47 yen from curi- ' ^gging Him dead ;— beg- d Buch super- exposed me, y be undefiled hen that good ther the dis- ther us from 3n 1 Amen I" JOOUES. all my dear i cherish in acrifices and JOGUES. ERNOB OP the hands iting here and I are real, was gauntlet rs as we J"ght in rties are hat the J. The holj mi». >• he was d-bearted i™ eveiy Iroquois here are about 700 ; they have 300 arouebusses, and handle them well. They can reach Three Kivers by different streams. Fort Bichelieu gives them a little more trouble, but does not hinder them. The Iroquois say that if those who took and killed the French at Montreal had known how you acted in rescuing the Sokokiois from the bands of the Algonquins, they would not have done so. They had set out in midwinter, before the news came. For all that, a new party has just set out, and Mathurin's man (F. Brebeuf knows him well) is with them, and leads the band, as he did at our capture last year. This troop desires and intends to take French as well as Algonquins. Do not let any consideration for me prevent your doing what may be for God's glory. The design of the Iroquois, as far as I can see, is to take all the Hurons, if they can, put to death the most emi- nent, and a good part of the rest, and make of the two one people and one land. I feel great compassion for these poor people, many of whom are Christians, others Catechumens, prepared for baptism. When shall these evils be stopped H When they are all *;aken ? I received many letters from the Hurons with the Melation taken at Montreal. The Dutch have wished to deliver us, but in vain. They are now making another effort, but will be, I think, equally fruitless. I am more and more resolved to stay here, as long as it shall please our Lord, and not go away, even if an occasion should offer.' My presence consoles the French, Hurons and Algonquins. I have baptized more than sixty persons, many of whom are now in heaven. This is my only consolation, with the will of God, to which I most cheerfully unite mine. I beg you to recommend them to offer prayers and masses for us, and especially for him who desires ever to be Your most humble servant, ISAAO JOQUES, S. J. L-oqnois Tillage, Jane SOth, 1648. in. father joques to his superior in canada. Beverend Father: The Peace of Christ. On the very day of the feast of our holy Father Ignatius (July 31), I left the village where I was a prisoner to follow and accompany some Iroquois who were going first to trade, f I 48 rag JOOOia PAPEBS. »"i ttl(8, then to fish Wn * «»«l«l to a 'nl»Ir„ . * S°' through thoir tr««i„ .u I»»t, which ron Z""-"' '"'«'" '""Sncs b*S'?,'„''T, P"^ « noffl;; - ™bin, I am very loneirSt""? surpSe „'? *» carry to the iSf h"?' "»'»« '» ask i-xrw:Sdr o'/t',?'? •»"'; ^^"'ihanor^^'" fflc, they pro- •«^tho Dutch hin^'. While f J us that nn nd, had killed "oiierfl, two of th rnoro than 08t keen and ptizod these Wnd might a good old 0, as well as her nephew, i^ould much B here," I > at the vil- •mpelled to perpetrate, without my this good toke some- red in the icted, and ^e had to wnst the burn me. against resolved French d, taken to ask fhaps to ubt the mce of iJachery o write elf I would etters. THE J0QUI8 PAPERS. 49 I foresaw my death, but it seemed to me sweet and agree- able, employed for the public good, and the consolation of our French, and the poor Indians who listen to the word of Jesus Christ. My heart was undisturbed by fear at the sight of all that might happen — God's glory was concerned. So I gave my letter to the young brave, who never re- turned. The story given by his comrades is, that he carried it to Fort Richelieu, and that as soon as the Fren'^h saw it, they fired their cannon at them ; that alarmed at this, most of them took to flight all naked, leaving one of their canoes, in which were three arquebuses, powder, ball and other ar- ticles. When this news was brought into the village, the cry was raised that my letter had caused them to be treated so. The rumor spread around ; it reached my ears ; I was taunted with the mishap ; they talked of nothing but burn- ing me ; and had I been found in the village when these braves returned, fire, rage and cruelty had deprived me of life. To increase my misfortune, another party, returning from the neighborhood of Montreal, where they had laid an ambush for the French, said that two of their party had been killed and two wounded. All made me guilty of these mishaps. They were now beside themselves with rage, and impatient for my return. All these reports I heard, offer- ing myself unreservedly to our Lord, and resigning myself all in all to His most holy will. The commander of the Dutch post where we were, aware of the evil design of the savages, and aware, too, that the Chevalier de Montmagny had prevented the Canada Indians from coming to kill the Dutch, had offered me means of escape. ' Here,' said he, ' lies a vessel at anchor, to sail in a few days. Get privately on board. It is bound first to Virginia, whence it will carry you to Bordeaux or Bochelle, where it must stop.' Thanking him with much respect and courtesy, I told him that the Iroquois would suspect them of favoring my escape, and perhaps do some injury to their people. * No 1 no !' he replied, * do not fear ; get on board, it is a fine opportunity, and you will never find a surer way of escaping.' At these words my heart was perplexed. I doubted whether it was not for the greater glory of our Lord to ex- pose myself to the danger of savage fury and flames in order to aid in the salvation of some soul. I therefore replied, SECOND SERIES. — VOL. III. 14 so THE J00UE8 PAPiaS. give you an answer on thi?l!!; '"P^'^n*. that I cannot to-mght, to thibk it oZ I wjS * ' ^^^ "'^^ if you pS I will examine the Sons on iT^^r "*^ ''' *« our& £^i . "^ '®^"e8*- The niffhf T .«» . ?**^^ aatonished, he jimplonng our Lord not to K*e aS' '° PT^"-' «*"»« % but to give me light to know vf P' * conclusion myself if - he'r^^ '^^^ ~tS'\z\':^i/''' ' *^'* - «. Ihe reasons to retain me in . k ^^^' ^ ^o"Jd follow ^deration of the French and Inf '*'"?''^ ^^^^ the con! fe t 80 great a desire to 4 nf -J*"' '* ^ ^^^ed them and ^t-n; but now I beh^/rV^\?PaStntl^;^ '^.^C^^^^^ '^ '^^tn-tr^ ^^^'' P-oe„ Ture .^ '^ °»«^«acred at my feet %S^°^ ®««Pi', had «I- pure as an angel. , Henry ti^fn J^ ^"""S «>«» was as the woods; because wffi i^ at Montreal, had fled t^ I L K**u''^yn,''°«Jd treat him «„ TZ' """"^ ^"'^"ow told William Couture I lu' '*<"' «« «>' »«,» d^, ^^ l^T I see no more of you T win ' *'^ **» escape : as J^nL well that I remairS thfs "a^vr '', ^' °« ^ou^now your best, then, to escape fbff^ °°^^ ^'^^ y^^r sake do liberty or life tUl I seT?oi i n if.T' *bink of my 'own young friend had bee^iCt" '*'^*^;' ^'^^, tSl gZ Jim that he would let h?m 1 1 *" °^^.i°«°^ who isu^ dehyerance ; so that I no lol Jr ^^^ '^ ^ ^^'Jd eCt^ on^ccount of the French ^ "*"" ^^^ '«««on to remSJ THK JOOUEB PAPERS. 51 \ kept aloof from me, as a victim destined to the flames, be- cause they feared to come in for a share of the rage and hatred which the Iroquois bore me. I saw, too, that I had some knowledge of their language, that I knew their country and their strength, and that I could perhaps contribute bet- ter to their salvation in other ways than by remaining among them. All this knowledge, it occurred to me, would die with me if I did not escape. The wretches, too, had so little intention of giving us up, that they committed an act of perfidy against the right and custom of all these nations. An Indian of the country of the Sokokois, allies of the Iro- quois, having been taken by the upper Algonquins and brought to Three Rivers or Quebec as a prisoner, was deliv- ered and set at liberty by the intervention of the Governor of New France, at the solicitation of our Fathers. The good Indian, seeing that the French had saved his life, sent beau- tiful presents in the month of April to deliver at least one of the French. The Iroquois retained the presents without setting one of us at liberty ; a treachery perhaps unexam- pled among these tribes, ibr they invariably observe the law, that whoso touches or accepts the present made him, must execute what is asked by the present. Accordingly, when they do not wish to grant what is desired, they send back the presents, or make others in their stead. But to return to my purpose. Having weighed before God, with all possible abstraction from self, the reasons for remaining among the Indians, and those for leaving, I con- cluded that our Lord would be more pleased with my taking the opportunity to escape. As soon as it was day I went to sahite the Dutch Gov- ernor, and told him the resolution I had come to before God ; he called for the officers of the ship, told them his intentions, and exhorted them to receive and conceal me — in a word, to carry me over to Europe. They replied, that if I could once set foot in their vessel, I was safe ; I should not leave it till I reached Bordeaux or Bochelle. " Cheer up, then,' said the Governor ; ' return with the Indians, and this evening, or in the night, steal off quietly and make for the river, there you will find a little boat which I will have ready to take you to the ship.' After most humble thanks to all those gentlemen, I left the Dutch the better to con- ceal my design. In the evening, I retired with ten or twelve Iroquois, to a bam, where we spent the night : before lying 52 THB JOOUES PAPERS. down, I went out ^to see where I could most easily escape. The dogs then let loose ran at me, and a large and power- ful one snapped at my hare leg and hit it severely ; I immediately entered the harn, the Iroquois closed the door securely, and to guard me better, came and lay beside me, especially one who was in a manner appointed to watch me. Seeing myself beset with these mishaps, and the bam well shut and surrounded by dogs, that would betray me if I attempted to go out, I almost thought that I could not es- cape, I sweetly complained to my God, that having given the thought of escaping, ' He hath shut up my way with square stones, and in a spacious place my feet.' (Lament, iii. 9.) This whole night also I spent without sleep ; towards day, I heard the cocks crow : — soon after, a servant of the Dutch farmer who bad received us into h^s barn, entered by some door I did not see. I went up to him softly, and not understanding his Flemish, made him a sign to stop the dogs barking ; he immediately went out, and I after him as soon as I had taken my little luggage, con8i8ting of a Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, an Imitation of Christ, and a wooden cross which I had made to keep me in mind of my Saviour's sufferings. Having got out of the barn without making any noise or waking my guards, I climbed over a fence which enclosed the house, and ran straight to the river where the ship was ; it was as much as my wounded leg could do, for the distance was a good quarter of a league. I found the boat as I had been told, but as the tide had gone down, it was high and dry ; I pushed it to get it to the water, but finding it too heavy, I called to the ship to send me their boat to take me on board. There was no answer ; I do not know whether they heard me ; be that as it may, no one appeared, and day was now beginning to reveal to the Iro- quois the robbery which I had made of myself, and I feared to be surprised in my innocent crime. Weary of hallooing, I returned to my boat, and praying to the Almighty to in- crease my strength, I succeeded at last so well by working it dowly on, and pushing stoutly, that I got it into the wa- ter. As soon as it floated, I jumped in and reached the ves- sel alone, unperceived by any Iroquois. I was immediately lodgedin the bottom of the hold, and to hide me they put a large box on the hatch. I was two days and two nights in the hold of this ship, in such a state that I expected to be suffocated and die of the stench, when I remembered poor THE JOOUES PAPEBS. fts Jonas, and prayed our Lord ' that I might not flee from His face/ (Jonas i. 3,) nor depart from His will ; but on the contrary, Hhat He would infatuate all counsels' (2 Kings zv. 31) that were not for His glory, and to keep me in the land of these heathen if He did not approve my retreat and flight. The second night of my voluntary imprisonment, the Minister of the Hollanders came to tell me that the Iro* quois had made much trouble, and that the Dutch settlers were afraid that they would set fire to their houses and kill their cattle. They have reason to fear them, for they are armed with good arquebuses. ' If,' I replied, ' for my sake this great tempest is upon you, cast me into the sea.' (Jonas i. 12.) If this trouble has been caused by me, I am ready to appeaee it at the loss of my life. I had never wished to es- cape to the injury of the least man in the colony.** At last, ^ben, I had to leave my den ; the sailors took umbrage, siyl 'tb-it they had pledged their word in case I could set i. . a?' the ship, and that they were now taking me oft .ae very moment when they should have brought me, had I not been there ; that I had put my life in danger by escaping on their promise, and that, cost what it might, they must stick to it.' This honest bluntness touched me, but I begged them to let me go, as the captain, who had opened to me the doorway of escaping, now asked me back.t I was taken to hb house, where he kept me concealed. These comings and goings were done by night, so that I was not discovered. In all this proceeding I might have urged my own reasons, but it was not for me to speak in my own cause, but rather to follow the commands of others ; I cheerfully submitted. At last the captain told me that we must yield calmly to the storm, and wait till the minds of the Indians were appeased : in this advice all concurred. Here, then, I am a voluntary prisoner in his house, whence I write this. If you ask my thoughts in all this affair, I will tell you first, that the vessel which had wished to save me has gone off without me ; second, that if our Lord does not in an almost miraculous way protect me, the Indians, who come and go here every moment, will dis- * He could taj no more, for, spent with suflferinga of mind and body, and with want of food, he fell senseless on the deck. — MS. of F. BuTBnx. \ By Captain, he means apparently another than Van Curler, whom he calls Governor, for he was not in his house. 94 THEkJOOUKS PAPERS. cover me ; and if they ever believe that I am still here, I must necessarily be restored to their hands. Nbwj when they had such fury against me before my flight, how will they treat me when I fall again into their power ? I will die by no ordinary death ; their fire, rage, and new-devised cruelties will wring out my life. Blessed be Qod'a name for ever I We are ever in the bosom of His divine and adorable providence. 'Tea, the very hairs of your head are numbered. Fear not, therefore ; you are of more value than many sparrows,' ' not one of whom falls to the earth without your Father.' (Luke xii. 7.) I have been hidden ten or twelve days, and it is hardly possible that an evil day will not come upon me. In the third place, you will see our great need of your prayers, and of the holy sacrifices of all our Fathers. Give us this alms ' that the Lord may render me fit to love Him, patient to endure, constant to persevere in His holy love and service." This and a little New Testament from Europe are my sole desires. Fray for these poor nations that burn and eat each other, that they may come to a knowledge of their Creator, and render Him the tribute of their love. ' I am mindful of you in my bonds,' captivity cannot enchain my remembrance. I am, in heart and affection, &c. Beoaelurwyok, 80 Angost, 1643. * IV. LETTER OF FATHER JOQUES TO FATHER CHARLES LALEMANT. Renub*, January 6, 1644. 'Now I know in very deed that the Lord hath sent His angels and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the Jews.' (Acts xii. 11.) The Iroquois came to the Dutch post about the middle of September, and made a great deal of disturbance, but at last received the presents made by the captain who had me concealed. They amounted to about three hundred livres, which I will endeavor to repay. All things being quieted, * The Mohawks were not eauly appeased, and Father Jognes remained a close prisoner for six weeks ; so mncii neglected by his honest, but, it would seem, avaricious host, that he actually suffered hunger and thirst ; for, though his excellent Mend Megapolensis constantly sent him victuak firom his own ta- ble, it was not idways ttiat his present readied the missionary. THE J00UK8 PAPERS. t» I wa» sent to Manhattan, where the Governor of the country resides. He received me very kindly, gave me clothes, and passage in a vessel which crossed the ocean in mid-winter. Having put in in England, I got on a collier's vessel which brought me to Lower Brittany, with a nightcap on my head, in utter want of every thing, as you landed at St. Sebastian, but not aft'' two shipwrecks.*^ V. FATHEE JOaUES' DESCRIPTION OF NEW NETHERLAND. New Holland, which the Dutch call in Latin Novum Belgium — in their own language, Nieuw Netherlands that is to say. New Low Countries — is situated between Virginia and New England. The mouth of the river, which some people call Nassau, or the Great North Biver, to distinguish it from another which they call the South Biver, and from some maps that I have recently seen I think Maurice Biver, is at 40 deg. 30 min. The channel is deep, fit for the largest ships, which ascend to Manhatte's Island, which is seven leagues in circuit, and on which there is a fort to serve as the commencement of a town to be built here, and to be called New Amsterdam. The fort, which is at the point of the island, about five or six league::i from the mouth, is called Fort Amsterdam ; it has four regular bastions mounted, with several pieces of artillery. All these bastions and the curtains were, in 1643, but mounds, most of which had crumbled away, so that they entered the fort on all sides. There were no ditches. For the garrison of the said fort, and another which they had built still further up against the incursions of the savages, their enemies, there were sixty soldiers. They were begin- ning to face the gates and bastions with stone. Within the fort there was a pretty large stone church, the house of the Governor, whom they call Director General, quite neatly built of brick, the storehouses and barracks. On the Island of Manhatte, and in its environs, there may well be four or five hundred men of diflFerent sects and nations : the Director General told me that there were men of eighteen different languages ; they are scattered here and there on the river, above and below, as the beauty and con- • See Bel. 1642-8, p. 284. 56 THE JOGUZS PAPERS. yenience of the spot invited each to settle : some, mecha- nics, however, who ply their trade, are ranged under the fort ; all t*^-^ others were exposed to the incursions of the natives, who, 1 the year 1643, while I was there, actually killed some two score Hollanders, and burnt many houses and barns full of wheat. The river, which is very straight, and runs due north and south, is at least a league broad before the fort. Ships lie at anchor in a bay which forms the other side of the island, and can be defended from the fort. Shortly before I arrived there, three large ships of 300 tons each had come to' load wheat ; two found cargoes, the third could not be loaded, because the savages had burnt a part of their grain. These ships came from the West In- dies, where the West India Company usually keeps up seventeen ships of war." No religion is publicly exercised but the Calvinist, and orders are to admit none, but Oalvinists, but this is not ob- served ; for there are in the Colony besides the Calvinists, Catholics, English Puritans, Lutherans, Anabaptists, here called Mnistes, &c., &c. V^hen any one comes to settle in the country, they lend him horses, cows, &c. ; they give him provisions, aU which he returns as soon as he is at ease ; and as to the land, after ten years he pays to the West India Company the tenth of the produce which he reaps. This country is bounded on the New England side by a river which they call the Fresche river, which serves as a boundary between them and the English. The English, however, come very near to them, choosing tahold lands un- der the Hollanders, who ask nothing, rather than depend on English Lords, who exact rents, and would fain be absolute. On the other side, southward, towards Virginia, its limits are the river which they call the South river, on which there is also a Dutch settlement, but the Swedes have one at its mouth extremely well supplied with cannons and men. It is believed that these Swedes are maintained by some Am- sterdam merchants, who are not satisfied that the West In- dia Company should alone enjoy all the conmierce of these parts. Xt is near this river that a gold mine is reported to have been found. See in the work of the Sieur de Laet of Antwerp, the table and chapter on New Belgium, as he sometimes calls it, or the map " Nova Anglia, Novum Belgium et Virginia." THE JOGUES PAPERS. 57 It 18 about forty years since the Hollanders came to these parts. The fort was begun in the year 1615 ; they began to settle about twenty years ago, and there is al- reMy some little commerce with Virginia and New Eng- land. The first comers found lands fit for use, formerly cleared by the savages, who had fields here. Those who came later have cleared the woods, which are mostly oak. The soil is good. Deer hunting is abundant in the fall. There are some houses built of stone : — lime they make of oyster shells, great heaps of which are found here, made' formerly by the savages, who subsist in part by that fish- ery. The climate is very mild. Lying at 40f ° there are many European fruits, as apples, pears, cherries. I reached there in October, and found even then a considerable quan- tity of peaches. Ascending the river to the 43d degree, you meet the second Dutch settlement, which the tide reaches but does not pass. Ships of a hundred and a hundred and twenty tons can come up to it. There are two things in this settlement (which is called Benselaerswick, as if to say, settlement of Benselaers, who is a rich Amsterdam merchant) — 1st, a miserable little fort called Fort Orange, built of logs, with four or five pieces of Breteuil cannon, and as many swivels. This has been reserved, and is maintained by the West India Com- pany. This fort was formerly on an island in the river ; it is now on the mainland, towards the Hiroquois, a little above the said island. 2d, a colony sent here by this Ben- selaers, who is the patron. — This colony is composed of about a hundred persons, who reside in some twenty-five or thirty houses built along the river, as each found most convenient. In the principal house lives the patron's agent ; the Minis- ter has his apart, in which service is performed. There is also a kind of Bailiff here, whom they call the Seneschal, who administers justice. ,Their houses are merely of boards and thatched, with no mason work except the chimneys. The forest furnishing many large pines, they make boards by means of their mills, which they have here for the pur- pose. They found some pieces of ground all ready, which the savages had formerly cleared, and in which they sow wheat and 96 THE JOGUEB PAPEBS. oats for beer, and for their horses, of which they have great numbers.* There is little land fit for tillage, being hemmed in by hills, which are poor soil. This obliges them to sepa- rate, and they already occupy two or three leagues of country. Trade is free to all ; this gives the In