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.'^

^I^ESEN/PED

<-^-«-yf^

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The Deanery,
St. Catharines.

HISTORY

OF THE

y y Missions in Western Canada

VERY BEY. W. R. HARRIS,

Dean of St. Ckithorines.

HUNTER

ROSE AND COMPANV.
1893.

Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada in the year one thou-
sand eight hundred and ninety-three, by Hunter, Rose & Co., at the
Department of Agriculture.

THE VERY KEVEKENl) AND KEVEUEND

Oriic CratljoUt («:ii?r0» of (Dnttt4;ii?»

THIS VOLUxME

IS RESrECTFULLV AND GRATEFULLY INSCRICED.

'^m

PREFACE.

-•♦•-

Tins work is an expansion and a development of a
sketch prepared some time ago, and published in the
"Jubilee Volume," issued on the twenty-fifth anniver-
sary of the consecration of His Grace, the Archbishop of
Toronto. The critical reader will at once notice that it
has been hastily written, and that the varying phases of
composition and style betoken fre([uent interruption and
annoying breaks. It has been composed during leisure
moments snatched from the busy life of a Parish Priest.
Yet it is a beginning and will, I trust, be an incentive to
others who have time and talent to lend their aid in
gathering material for the Ecclesiastical History of this
Province. The sources of information concerning the
early history of the Catholic Church in Canada are very
copious. The " Jesuit Relations " are an inexhaustible
well of information, and, with regard to accuracy, touch-
ing the condition and character of the Indians of North
America, their authority is invaluable. Francis Parkman
says that after the closest examination he is satisfied that
the missionaries wrote in perfect good faith, and that these
letters hold a high place as authentic and trustworthy
documents. Bancroft, Jared Sparks and others bear sim-

I'KEFACE.

ilar k'stiiuuny. Coiiiiiiencino- with Fatlier Biard, 1011,
and Lalciiiant, 1626, the "Jesuit Relations" are continu-
ous from 1632 to 1672. Tlie whole series was reprinted
at Quebec in l.SocS, in three volumes, octavo, under the
supervision an<l editorship of Father Martin. Later on,
this eminent Priest published in 1801, " Relations Ine-
dites," wdiich brouo-ht the authentic account of the In-
dian Missions down to 1079. He supplemented the
above by publishing the lives of several of the early
missionaries, ami the " Relation Abrdgde " of Bressani.
It is well to bear in mind that after the dispersion of
the Hurons in 1650, the Jesuit Fathers could scarcely be
said to have any fixed Missions in Ontario, save in the
neighborhood of 8ault Ste. Marie, until after the founda-
tion of Detroit, when Father De la Richardie, in about
172cS, established a Mission on the Canadian side for the
Petun-Hurons. Michillimackinac, the shores of Lake
Michigan, the northern coast of Lake Huron and, later
on, the territory along the Mississippi were meantime
the scenes of their labor. In the collection of material
for this volume I have received valuable aid from Father
Jones, of St. Mary's College, Montreal ; Father Rouxel,
of the Seminary of St. Sulpice ; Mr. J. H. Coyne, St.
Thomas ; Mr. James Bain, of the Toronto Library, and
John Henderson, M.A., of this city. When I add that
the late Gilmarj^ Shea spent ten years in compiling his
" History of the Catholic Missions among the Indian

PREFACE.

Vll

Tribes in tlio United States," a work of five linndrcd
pao-es, the reader will have some idea of the time and
labor involved in the preparation of this volume. I
have tried all through to be historically accurate, have
arranf,^ed and put tofjether the material which I found
scattered here and there among the old authors, have
Ijrushed the dust and mildew from valuable bits of
ancient chronicle, and now offer them for the instruction
and, I trust, the edification of my readers.

The Deankky, St. Catharines, Oxtaiuo,
June 1st, 1893.

Hutbortties Consulted in tbe preparation ot tbis

Morft.

Indians of North America Drake}^

Hiatoire de la Colonie Francaise (3 vols.) Faillon,

Christian Missions. (2 vols. ) Marshall.

Relations des Jesuites. (3 vols. )

Vie de P. Jean De Brebeuf Martin.

" " P. Isaac Jogues Martin.

Relation de la Nouvelle France Bressani.

Narrative and Critical History of America (8 vols.) Justin Winsor.

Vie de Monsieur Oiler Lajeure.

History of Catholic Missions among the Indian Tribes of the

United States Shea.

" "Western " *' " " DeSmet^

Vie de Mile Mance Le Blond.

Voyages de S. Champlain. (3 vols. )

Early Jesuits in North America Kip.

The Early Jesuit Missions in North America , Parkman.

La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West do.

Chaumonot, sa Vie »icrite par luimeme

Histoire de Nouvelle France. (6 vols.) Charlevoix.

" de Montreal Dollier de Casson.

Abrege de la Mission de Kento do.

Canada in the 17th Century Boucher.

Voyage de M. M. Dollier de Casson et de Galinee. 1669-70.

Histoire du Canada. (4 vols.) Sagard.

History of Canada. (5 vols. ) Kingsford.

Life of M. Olier Headley Thompson.

Buffalo and the Benecas ; . . Ketchum.

Missious in Western New York Timon.

Annals of Fort Mackinac Kelton.

Documentary History of New York O'Gallaghan.

First Establishment of the Favh in New France Le Clercq.

North- West Territory (Report) Hind.

Missionary Labors Verroyst.

Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Shea.

Memoirti P^'^'ot.

Canadian Archives Douglas Brymner.

History of the United States Bancroft.

ot tbis

. . . Drakey
. . Faillon,
Marshall.

, .Martin.
. . Martin,
. Bressani.
n Winsor.
. Lajeure.
e

Shea.

. De Smet.
Le Blond.

Kip.

Parkman.
do.

■harlevoix.
de Casson.
io.

Boucher.

. .Sagard.
Kingsford.
Vhompson.
, Ketchum.
. . . Timon.

, . Kelton.
"Jallaghan.
Le Clercq.
. . . . Hind.
. Verroyst.

.... Shea.
Perot.

Brymner.
. Bancroft.

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN

CANADA.

CHAPTER I.

THE NATIVE TR1I5ES.

Their Divisions and Sub-divisions— The Totems — Moral Condition of
the Tribes -Their Ferocity and Cruelty — Their Thirst for Blood —
Their Religious Conceptions — Their Redeeming Features — Ros-
scau's "Ideal Man."'

IjKKore entering upon a history of the heroism and self-
denial of the priests of the Catholic Church who attempted
tlie reclamation and conversion oT the Xomadic tribes of
Western Canada, let us rapidly survey the divisions, sub-
divisions, and general moral condition of tlic fierce and
ciaFty race of men who roamed the forests of Canada
along the banks of the St. Lawrence and on the margins
of the great lakes. Of the eight great nations of savages,
'livided into four hundred and sixty-five tribes, who
occupied tlie vast prairies and desolation of wilderness
lying between the Esipiinjaux country of Labrador, the
Mississippi and the Atlantic, three only claimed the ex-

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

elusive privilege of calling the waters and hunting-grounds
of this great Dominion their own. Tliese were the Algon-
quin, the Huron-Iro(iuois and the Sioux or Dacotah.
These nations having each a generic language, were
divided into tribes, which were again sub-divided into
clans or families. The Huron-Iroijuois nation was com-
posed of eleven or twelve separate tribes speaking a
common language, but diflering in patois or dialect. The
Attiwendarons of the Niagara peninsula, the Tiimontates
or Tobacco nation of the Blue Ridge, tlie Erie or Cat
nation, the Andastes of the Susquehanna, and several
otlier tribes occupying lands stretching from Lake Huron
to Lake Erie, and far into Western New York, w^ere
memlters of the great Huron or Wyandot nation, tliat in
the fifteenth century broke apart from the Iro(|Uois and
forme<l separate and distinct confederacies. Tlie families,
tribes, and nations were recognized and distinguished by
symbolic signs or emblems called totems. There was the
national totem, akin to the English lion ; the tribal
totem, similar to tlie heraldic eud)lem of a Scotch clan,
and the family totem, like unto the Ibnise of York, or
the English Howards. The wolf, bear, beaver, deei-,
snipe, heron, hawk, turtle or snake, painted on the doors
of their wigwams, indicated the family or tribe of the
occupants. It is worthy of note that the Wild-Oats of
Lake Michigan had for their tribal totem an eagle perched
on a cross. A remarkable fact, which goes far to prove

THE NATIVE TRIBES.

grounds
! Algon-
)acotah.
e, were
led into
as com-
iking a
;t. The
lontates
I or Cat

several
Q Huron
k, were
, that in
uois and
families,
ished by

was the
e tribal
tch clan,
York, or
L'r, ih'cy,
he doors
)e of the
1-Oats of
; perched
to prove

that the American savacje was familiar with the disas-
trous effects of intermarriaf^e with blood relations was,
that no warrior ever took a wife from a family that b(jre
tlie same totem as his own. Among the Iro({Uois, no man
could marry a woman of his own tribe, for tliey were all
within the ])rohibited degrees of consanguinity, and, even
to this day, among the remnants settled on government
n.'servations, this prohibition is still enforced. The moral
debasement of the tribes was something api)alling. A
friohtful heirloom of entailed and indefeasible accursed-
ness, in association with senseless ignorance and brutal
customs, was the only inheritance to which they could
look forward. All their lives the victims of unrestrained
and l)rutal passions, that opened wide the door to
every species of hard-heartedness, and every degree
of cruelty, their regeneration would never have
come from themselves, and could oidy be accompHshed
by men dowered with tireless patience and God-like
attributes. The insatiable and loatlisome cruelty, the
ignorance and hideous superstition, that overshadowed the
land and its people, were calculated to awe the stoutest
heart that dared to redeem them.

If, now when we move amid tlie green mounds that
mark their graves, or with curious eye inspect their rude
trinkets and only treasures — tlie clay-pipe, the arrow-
head and the wampum — the soft sadness of pity steals
over us, we must not forget that their inhuman hard-

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

-s''

liuartedneHS was unparalleled in the history of our fallen
humanity.

" They are not men," moaned an unfortunate woman
whose child the Irotjuois had torn from her breast, boiled
and devoured in lier presence, " they ai'e wolves," It is
ditlicult to conceive a more atrocious refinement of cruelty
than that of exposino- n living, naked body in a broiling
sun, on the margin of some marsli, where the victim
perished from famine or an accunuilation of torture, in-
duced by reptiles and moscpiitoes. Unable to move hand,
foot or any portion of his body, burning with fever and
devovu'ed with thirst, he was left to die a dreadful, linger-
ing death, with water at his feet and buzzards moving
and circling around him, in loathsome expectation of the
hour when it would be safe for them to feast upon the
unhappy victim. Yet, this was not an unconnnon method
of punishing their enemies. There is a sul)tle connection
between cruelty and lust which no metaphysical enquiry
has yet satisfactorily explained, and hence we are not
surprised to read that they had no conception of morality
even in the abstract. In truth, until the coming among
them of the priests of the Catholic Church, they had no
word to give expression to the idea of virtue, morals,
religion, faith and the like.

The Jesuit Father, Paid llagueneau, than whom no
man was better ([ualitied to know, wrote his Superior in
France that " morality was unknown among the tribes,

THE NATIVE TRIHES.

nr fallen

woman
;t, boiled
," It is
t' cnu'lty
broiling
B victim
tiire, in-
vc hand,
3ver and
1, ling-er-
1 moving
n of the
ipon the

method

tnu'ctioii

en(|uiiy

are not
morality
^ among

had no

morals,

hom no
lerior in
le tribes,

and a shocking license of nin-estrained intercoui'se evcry-
wluM-e obtained." Among a people who had no ivgard
I'oi" chastity, it was not to be expected that an}' respect
wonid lie had for the sanctity of woman's nature. Hence,
among tliem woman was treated with a callous disregard
i'or the weakness of her sex, the memory of which sends
a blush to the cheek of our manhood. Atl'righted man
I'ecoils with horror from the perusal of woman's degra-
dation as penned by the elo(|Uent Le Jeune. The honoi-
and heart of man can never be impeached with meanei"
or fouler crimes than are there recoi'ded. All the menial
offices of the camp, the heavy burdens of the chase, the
labors of the cornfield, in a word, all that implied hard
woi'k was her allotted portion. Her infirmities excited
no connniseration : and witli the crippled, maimed and
weak, she was more often a victim of contempt than
an object of pit}'. Is it any won<ler then that woman
become so utterly shameless, hard-liearted and cruel —
that in vindictiveness and fierceness, she surpassed, as
Chaumonot tells us, the brutalit}^ oli^man ? The crown-
ing infamy of all the inhuman abominations of the
American Indian, was his utter contempt and disregai'd
for human life. Savage as he was by inheritance, and
brutal as his passions had made him, it was yet to be
hoped that the instinct which moves one animal to spare
another of its own species, would have lingered amid the
wreck and ruin of his fallen nature. Such, however,

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTEHK CANADA.

Was not the c.-ihu. Tlic most trivial jiccidoiit or a tliii-st
for blood, at timos loil to a war which often ended in the
dis[)ersion or annihilation of a tribe. Fre(|uently, and
for no other end than ac(|nirini;- renown and scalps, the
Indian wari'ior oathei-ed his braves around him, and after
harano'uiiig them on the great deeds of their ancestors,
and theii" own past and pros])ective exploits, raised the
fa-miliar wai'- whoop and moved ont to a mission of blood-
shed and pillao-o. With the cunning of the fox and the
fei'ocity of the tiger, they fell upon tlieir prey in the
darkness of night or in the dawning morning, and indis-
criminately slaughtered men, women and children
" They ajrproached like foxes," writes one of the mission-
aries, "attacked like lions, and disappeared like birds."
" I crept ai'ound them them like a wolf, said a Chippewa
Chief," telling of an attack he made on a Sioux family.
" I crawled up to them like a snake ; I fell upon them
like lightning: I cut down two men and scalped them,"
Their prisoners were treated with unparalleled brutality.
Some were mutilated inch by inch until they expii'ed
from extremity of suffering, others were reserved to be
tortured by fire, and by a refinement of cruelty surpassing
belief, tlieir agonies w^ere prolonged from day to day.
There was a tradition among the Mohawks that the
night after a great battle between the Iro(juois and the
Eries, the forest was lighted by a thousand fires, at each
of which an Erie was roasting alive. Others of their cap-

a thii'st

1 in the

tly, and

dps, the

\d after

icestors,

ised the

>f hlood-

and the

in the

d indis-

:hildreii

luission-

L' birds."

lippewa

fanlil3^

on them

1 them."

■utality.

expired

ed to be

"l^assintj s|

to day. r
hat the ^

""■.■it

and the f

at each f

leir cap- v

THE NATIVE TRIBES. 16

tives tliey cut to pieces, boiled and devoured with unspeak-
able relish. " I saw the Iroquois," writes Father Bressani,
" tear out the lieart from a Huron captive whom they
had killed, and in the presence of the other prisoners
roast and devour it." In a word, says the heroic
Lalemaiit, " they eat luiman flesh with as much appetite
and more relisli than hunters eat the meat of the deer."*
It would appear that they set no value on the attributes
of nature which made them superior to the animals around
them. Ferocity, strength, activity and endurance alone
excited their admiration, and, as a result, they approached,
as near as it vvas possible for human beings, to the con-
dition of the wild beasts in which these (junlities pre-
dominate. To make a hero of the American Indian, as is
often done by writers of fiction, is to raise a monument to
cruelty on a pedestal of lust. Their religious conceptions
were no higher than tiieir moral actions. They believed
all things to be animated with good or bad s{)irits ; and
when on the war trail they not unfrecpiently sacritici'd
human beings to propitiate the O/'is* oi- Mitnitoi's that
inrtuenced the future of the triljes, " On the third day
after my arrival among the Irocjuois," writes Fnther

*Tlie American Indian was not, properly speaking, a canniV)al. 'IMic
hitleous practice of eating their enemies partook rather of the nature of
a superstition than any thirst for human flesli. In partaking of the
tlesh of his enemy, particularly if he showed superior courage, the
Indian warrior believed that he was acquiring the strengtlf, fortitude
and courage of hin foe.

■^l

EARLY MISSrONR IN WESPKHX CANADA.

Jofrnes, " tliey sacrificed an Alj^onqniii woman in lionor
o\' Areskoni, tlieir war-i^od, inviting tlie ^rini demon as
ii' lie was present, to come and feast with tliem on the
mnrdered woman's ilesh." Tliey liad no idea of God as
we nn<lerstand the word. Tlie sighing of tlie winds, tlic
mehmclioly moan of the midniglit forest, the clasli of
tlinnder, the gleam of lightning, were the voices of the
shadow-phantoms that hovei'ed in the air aronnd them.
Every animal was aniniated with a spirit, and diseases,
plagues and pestilence were the awful effects of the anger
of some 0/,i or Matdiou. In the vile abominations of
their lives there were, however, some redeeming features.
The members of a tribe were friendly towards each other,
they had a tender consideration for and a generosity to-
wards one another that was not excelled in civilized so-
ciety. 'I'hey were true to each other in their friendships,
held elocjuence in high repute, were remarkably hospit-
able, and, in times of famine, divided with each other
the morsel that chance or the fortune of the hunt cast
in their way. They were a courageous people, but their
valor was disgraced by its brutality ; and no form of
vice, however loathsome, or cruelty, however fiendish, to
an enemy, met with condemnation, or, indeed, attracted
attention. Such, briefly, were the prevailing traits in
the character and life of the American savages. Day
after day, for many a dreary age, the sun looked down
upon their enormous wickedness till, wasted with desola-

'■-M.

THE XATIVE TRIHES.

'>M

tioii, they i'a(le<l from olf tlio face of the eartli, supplying-,
l)y their ruin, additional Ktren((th to the prophecy of
Isaiah that, " The people wlio will not serve (Jod shall
perish." The American Indian approached, as near as it
was possible, to llosseaii's " Ideal Man," in a state of
naturr. He was untainted by civilization, was moved
only by natural impulses, and was not yet depraved by
meditation," Ihomme qui meditate est un animal deprave,"
and was a living example of the Fi-ench infidel's false
philosophy. Chateaultriaud's assertion, that man, " with-
out religion, was the most dangerous animal that walked
the earth," found its verification in almost every savage
that loamed the American continent.

CHAPTER II.

THE FRANCISCANS OR RECOLLETS.

The Missionaries — Francis of Assisiuni — Tfis Conversion — Tlislovcof the
poor — His visit to Pope Innocent the Tiiinl — Founding of the Fran-
ciscans — Their Pi'eaching — The ••'ranciscans in Canada — Joseph Le
Caron — His journey to the Hurous— Le Caron with the Hurons —
Ciianiphiin — Le Caron among the Tinnontates — Hardships of Mis-
sionary life — Sagard and Viel — The RecoUets in the Maritime Pro-
vinces — End of the RecoUet Mission.

We liavc now to ask ourselves what manner of men
were they wlio conceived, and, under accumulated hard-
ships, in a measure bore into etiect the magnificent
resolve t)t' Christianizino- these halt' humanized hordes.
The men who were selected l)v the Church from her mis-
sionary and teaching orders were, many of them,
members of noble and honorable families. They had
graduated in the best schools of Europe, and some of
tliem — like Oalinee, the Sulpician — had a European repu-
tation for scholarship ; others had cultivated a literary
taste so remarkable foi' its chasteness and purity as to
merit the praises of the ablest scholans and historians of
America. They were cultured and refined, animated
with an ardent zeal for the salvation of souls, and a

courage so heroic as to elicit the admiration of savage

THE rilAN'ClSCAXS OR UECOLLETS.

Wiirriors wlio wore tlicinsclvt's the onilKxlinuMit of conv-
jii!*' Mini t'lKhiiMTice. 'I'ln'cc centuries lu'l'ore tlie waters
of the St. Ij.'iwrcnce were disturlu'd hy tlie hurk nt'
.l.'iO(|n('s Ciirtier, a youno- man, a son oi' wcaltliy ])arents,
lay at <leatl»'s <loor. Hope was almost abandoned, when
£;ra<lually a chano^c tor the better took ])lace, and the
haughty yonni;' Francis oi" Assisiuni rose from his sick
bed, an altered man. Reflections came to him durin<^ the
weai'v weeks of his recovery : rellections that wroiiifht an
extraordinary, a supernatural, change in the man, Piefore
his illness he was merry-hearted and careless, was ^iven
to tine clothes and the fashionable amusements of his
day. But now he held these thinos in strange contempt,
his love of amusement and worldly display went out
from him, and there came in to take their place in his
soul, love of poverty, commiseration for the poor, and
sympathy for all kinds of human suttering. Ringing in
his ears, as if with metallic clearness, were the words of
the gospel, " Do not possess gold nor silver nor money in
youi' purses." They came to him as messengers from
another world, and his heart answered with a pledge of
obedience. Then casting from him his purse and golden
oi'naments, he took oti' his shoes, threw aside his fashion-
able raiment, clothed himself in a rough tunic girded with
a rope, and entered on a career of self-<lenial and peniten-
tial preaching that has won for him a place among the
saints of the Catholic Church. Gnawing at his heart.

EAULV MISSIONS l\ WKSTKKX CANADA.

li.

not iner(*ly l)U/zin^ in liis Itruin, tlir words kopt sniitino-
liim, " Hi'ovitle ncitlier <^<»1(1, nor silver, noi* In-jiss in yonr
pnrscs, noitluM" scrip lor yonr jonrnt^y, neither two coats,
nor yet staves, for tlio workman is wortliy of liis meat."
Once before, be<r<rars had clian^ed the face of tlie world,
with no other ecpiipment than faitli and (^)d's ijrace.
And why not attain ? Francis of Assisium went ont
into the world with no donht of Ins mission, with no
fear for tlie morrow, for (h'd not (Jod })rovide for tlie
youn<T^ I'avens wliom F'l-ancis loved and spoke to in
ocstac37^ of joy ? Barely ^ivin^j^ him.self time to snatch a
few hours' sleep, he continued his journey and passed on
into the city of Rome and knelt at the feet of that gi'eat
Pope, Innocent the Third, asking his blessino- and recogni-
tion. The Pontiff was walking in his garden of the
Lateran when Francis entered. Startled by the sudden
apparition of the 3^oung man, thinned to emaciation*
shoeless, half-clad, bare-headed, withal a beggar of
gentleness and visible refinement, Innocent asked him his
mission. The Pontiff's eye penetrated through the rags
of the beggar and saw the saint. The Pope approved of
his project, and Francis returned home carrying in his
pocket a draught of his afterw^ards famous " Rule."
Gathering unto himself twelve others, all young, all
aglow^ with the same divine fire, he began his extraor-
dinary career. Nearly all of knightly rank and gentle
blood, they surrendered their claim to everything in the

ill

litino-

THE KRAXCISCANS oil IlKCOLLETS.

(I on

Hhap(3 of property, ami, t'ollowin*,' tlieir ^avat leader's
example, stripped tlu'iiiselves ol' all worldly possessions,
and literally became be^^ars for Christ's sake. IJaro-
footed l)e;,^i;ai's they were, and as money was the root of
all evil, tlu'y wonid not tonch even with the tips of their
tinkers, the accursed thing, " Ye cannot servo iUh\ and
mammon," Krancis said, in Christ's own words. These
apostles of poverty, of pity, of devourin;^ love for their
fellow creatures, went forth two by two to preach the
gos[»el anew to the jjoor. Called to live amou<( the
])eoplo, to subsist U[)on alms, to bear the hardest toil, their
mission was to reconcile the people with faith, to give a
living example of Christian patience, devoted sacrifice
and self-denial. If ever men preached C'hrist, these men
tlid. They had no systum, no views, they combate*! no
opiniims, they took no side. Discussion, controversy, and
theological dispute they left to the rhetoricians and the
schoolmen. That Christ had died, had rise'U again and
was alive for evermore was an indisputable but awful
fact. Francis and his companions in their day were
known as Fratres Minores, but future generations, out of
love and admiration for this wonderful saint, insist on
calling them Franciscans. Their mission was to the
poor, to those masses sweltering in foul hovels with never
a roof to cover them, laiddling in groups, alive with ver-
min, covered with gha -tly wens ; lepers too shocking for
the people to gaze upon, and driven outside the walls to

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN ('ANA])A.

.3:

die in the lazar houses. To these came Francis with a
message of liope and consolation. To these outcasts,
wlierever found, came those other twelve to whom the
saint had communicated love for the poor and suV)lime
self-surrender, " We are come," they said attectionately,
' as your friends, nay even as your servants to live among
you, to wash your sores and to help you to hear the bur-
den of disease and wretchedness. Our Lord sends us to
you. We too are beggars, and have not whereon to lay
our heads. Christ died for you as well as for us, and
there is liope beyond the grave." As they spoke so they
lived, and as it was said of Him of old, that He had not
whereon to lay His head, neither had those who were
now walking in His footsteps. In the presence of these
stupendous acts of self-denial and heroic love the cynic
was silenced, the proud man hung down his head, and
the rich man was recalled to his duty. In 1215, the
Franciscans held their first Chapter at the Church of the
I'ortiuncula. Their meml)ers began to increase, and from
Italy they Mowed over into France, (jrermany, Spain and
England. In France a branch of the Franciscans took
the name of llecoUets, who devoted themselves to the care
of foreign missions. When Champlain returned to
France after his first visit to Canada in 1607, he waited
ujion Bernard du Verger, the Superior of the Recollets,
re<iuesting that missionaries be sent to Canada to bear
the message of the gospel to the roving hordes that filled

THE FRANCISCANS OR RECOLLETS.

with a
utcasts,
lom the

5Ul)lilllC

)iiately,
aiiioiio-
lie bur-
ls us to
1 to lay
us, and
so they
lad not

were
)t* these
e cynic
\id, and
15, the

1 oi' tlie
d from
lin and
s took
lie care
led to
waited
collets,
:o bear
: filled

■■.:\'js

the forests from Quebec to Lake Huron. In compliance
with his wish, and with the authority of the Pope,
there sailed with him — 24th April, 1615 — on his
return to New France, four members of the Francis-
can Order, Joseph Le Caron, John D'olbeau, Denis
Jainay and Paciticiue Duplessis, a lay brother. Father
D'olbeau immediately bej^jan his mission to the JVlontag-
naisof the Saugenay region, with whom he passed a win-
ter of great suffering and affliction. Never did man endure
a ruder or more severe apprenticeship. Unaciiuainted
with their kinguage, which presented almost insurmount-
able difficulties of pronunciation and construction, un-
seasoned to the hardships of a Canadian winter, and un-
trained to the use of the snowshoe, the pious missionary
almost succumbed to the horrors of a tribal encampment.
Still, he bent to his work with an admirable fortitude,
and patiently sustained the burden of his position till he
con<|uered the language and compiled his famous " Dic-
tionary of the Montagnais Language." He was a man of
eminent piety, virtue and zeal, and has left his name
indeliljly stamped on the early records of our ecclesias-
tical history. On the 1st of July, K)15, in company with
a band of Hurons and AlgoiKjuins of the Ottawa, Fatiier
Joseph Le Caron started on his wondrous journey of
seven hundred miles to the shores of the great Lake of
the Hurons. Sailing up the St. Lawrence, amid a silence
only broken by the splash of the paddle, they entered

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

S !

- i

the (Jttawa, rounded the islands of Alumette, and, at
length, reached the tril)utary water of the Mattawan.
For forty miles or more they continued tlieir journey.
Bearing the canoes on their shoulders, they crossed a
seven mile portage,* and, through an opening in the for-
est, Le Caron, the first of white men, looked out upon tlie
placid waters of Lake Nipissing. Skirting along its
picturesque shores, they entered French River, whose placid
current bore them to the great Lake of the Hurons, pre-
cisely one month before Champlain's canoes shot into its
waters. For more than a hundred miles they sailed
tlu'ough the tortuous channels of the Georgian Bay.
Around them on every side, as if floating on the waters,
arose a thousand islands, thickly wooded, green with
emerald moss, and rank with luxuriant vegetation. The
great Manitoulin lay directly on their front, they hugged
the eastern sliore,sailed by Byng Inlet, Point au Barrie and
Shawanga Bay, coasted by the picturescjue shores of Parry
Sound, and, sweeping on past the Seven Miles Narrows,
Moose Point and Midland, beached their canoes at tlic
entrance to the Bay of Matchedash, to the west of tlie
Harbor of Penetangirishene. Following through woods
and thickets an Indian trail, they passed l)road meadows,
fields of maize, beds of vegetables and entered the palli-
saded Huron town of O oucha. Here, in what is now the

* Booth's Railway now covers this portage.

THE FRAXCISCAXS OR RECOLLETS.

and, at
ittawan.
(Hiriiey.
ossed a
the for-
poii the
oii^- its
id placid
iis, pre-
into its
' sailed
n Bay.
waters,
11 with
1. The
hut^ged
Tie and
I:' Parry
irrows,
at tlie
of the
woods
iadows,
3 palli-
low the

nortliern and western portion of Sinieoe Count}', emhrac-
ing tlie peninsula formed \)y the Nottawasaga and
iVIatchedasli Hays, the River Severn and Lake Sinicoe
were the fishino- and hunting grounds of the great nation
of the Wyandots or Hurons, comprising a population,
according to Champlain, of twenty or thirty thousand
souls,* a confederacy of four distinct tribes, afterwards in-
creased to five by the addition of tlie 'I'iiniontates.
Perhaps of all the races of red men, the Hurons, " living
like brute beasts, without law, without religion, without
God," were the least liable to be attracted by, or become
attached to, the practices of a Christian life. The}' Mere
given over completely to sensuality, feasting and plea-
sure. " Their every inclination," writes the good mission-
ary "is brutal. They are naturally gluttonous, having
their farewell feasts, their complimentary feasts,war, peace,
death, health and marriage feasts." Father Le Caron,
bound by his vow to the life of a beggar, was, however,
'-eceived hospitably by them. A wigwani was built for
his convenience in the town of Caragouha, r,ear Notta-
wasaga Bay, where he offered his first mass. He was

* Champlain, no doubt, included the Tinnontate.s in liis estimate.
Tlie inference of the census commissioners would lead one to supjjose
that ten or twelve thousand would be a faii t-stimate. See Census of
Canada 1871, Vol. iV., page Tvi, for detail^^. But wlien the Jesuits took
the census in 1(J;^9, notwithstanding that disease and war had thinned
the Huron ranks, there was still a population of twelve thousand, not
including the Tinnontates.

^'^

■ i
i i

' M

2(j EARLY MISSIONS IX WESTERN CANADA.

joined one month artenvards by Clianipluin, mass was
again chanted, a Te Deum sun^, and tlie cross, tlie
emblem of man's salvation, planted on the shores ol* Lake
Huron. Tims, two hundred and eighty years ago, with
solenni mass, with holy blessing and the "Te Deum," the
standard ol' the cross was elevated, the law of the gos])el
proclaimed, and the work of christianizing the Canadian
tribes begun. For six months this great Franciscan
missionary, amid the hardships and perils of his solitary
life,continued to study the language of the tribe, and, with
a patience and zeal truly lieroic, endeavored to make
known the great saving truths of Christianity On
February 1st, 1616, he visited the Tinnontates or To-
bacco Nation, who occupied lands in wdiat are included
now wdthin the limits of Collingwood, Nottawasaga and
Sunnidale townships, but, being received with fear and
suspicion, he was cruelly treated and compelled to return
to Caragoulia, where he spent the winter instructing the
Wyandot tribes and preparing the first dictionary of the
Huron language. On the 20tli May, 1616, in company
with a band of Hurons who were going down to Three ^
Rivers to exchange their furs and peltries, he left for M
Montreal, and, in the spring of 1623, accompanied by
Father Nicholas Viel and Brother Gabriel Sagard (after- :

wards the historian of the Huron missions), he returned |
to the tribes, who received him with open arms, built him >
a chapel at Ossasanee, where he said mass every day and

n.'xss was
•OSS, tlie
s ol' Lake
igo, with
iiuii," the
le o-()S])el
Janadiaii
L-anciscaii
i solitary
xnd, with
to make
ity On
s or To-
included
saga and
fear and
to return
cting the
L'y of the
company
to Three

left for
mied by
•d (after-
returned
built liim

day and

THE FRAXCISCANS OR ItECOLLETS.

gave instructions in the faith. Tliis chapel he dedicated
to St. Joseph, whom he chose as patron of the country.
The mission now took a definite character, and the labors
of the Fathers' began in earnest. "It would be diHicult
to tell you," writes Father Le Caron, " the fatigue I sutler,
being ol)liged to have my })addle in hand all day long,
and run with all ni}" strength with the Indians. I have
more than a hundi'ed times walked in the rivers over the
sharp rocks which cut my feet, in the nnid, in the woods,
where I carried the canoe and my little l)aggage in order
to avoid the rapids and frightful water falls. I sa}'
nothing of the painful fast which beset us, having only
a little sagamite, which is a kind of ]nilmentum composed
of water and the meal of Indian corn, a small (juantity
of which is dealt out to us morning and evening ; yet I
must avow that amitl my pains I felt much consolation-
For, alas : when we see such a great number of inh'dels,
and nothing but a drop of water is needed to make them
children of God, one feels an ardor, which I cannot
express, to labor for their conversion and to sacrifice for
it one's repose and life." " Meat was so rare with us,"
adds Sagard, "that we often passed six weeks or two whole
months without tasting a bit, unless a small piece of doo*,
bear, or fowl, given to us at bancpiets." Father Viel,
liaving by heroic patience and perseverance accjuired a
fair knowledge of the language, began giving the Indians
instructions and teaching therxi the " Our Father," the

.1 6 !ii

i !| I

I.;;' f

«ll!

28 EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

'' Hail Mary," .'ind tlio ''Creed." His success, howevei-,
was iKjt eiic(mra«j^iii£(. He sent a lettei* to Father Le
Carol), who luul t^oiie to Qiiehec on business of tlie
mission, tliat nioi'e lielp was wanted. Le Caron, witli
characteristic disinterestedness wrote to France, inviting'
tlie Jesuit Fathers to come to their assistance. Here,
virtuidly, end tlie lal)ors of tlie Recollet or Franciscan
Fatliei-s in nortliern Canada. Tlieir dream of evano'eliz-
in^ tlie tribes from tlie ocean to the Mississippi, from the
Ohio to the frozen lands of the Es([uimaux, ended in
disappointment. Still they will live in history as
examples of un<launted courage, as men who coiKpiered
the incredible difficulties pi-esented by the AlgoiU|uin and :|

Huron lanouages. In spite of the zeal, disinterestedness
and self-sacrifice of these heroic and generous men, cir-
cumstances did not permit of their mission assuming a
permanent form. Father Le Caron never again visited
the Hui-ons. He returned to France — re-visiting Quebec
with Champlain in l()2(j — and after a short stay sailed
again for France where, on the 29th of March, 16J^2,
worn out with labor, he died in the odor ov sanctity.
Father Nicholas Viel, if not a martyr, had a martyr's
will. He was on his way to Quebec to procure some
necessary articles for the mission of St. Joseph, when,
according to the historian Le Clerq, he was hurle«l I y his
Indian companion into the last rapid of the River Des
Prairies, known to this day as the " Sault Au Recollet."

THE FRANCISCANS OR HECOLJETS.

however,
ather Le
IS ol' tlie
on, with
invitiiii''
?. Here,
'ancisejiij
^^ano-eliz-
froiii the
nided ill
(tory as
•iiqiiered
juin and
'stedness
nen, cir-
aniing a
ii visited
1 Quebec
,y sailed
li, 1C82,
sanctity,
fnartyr's
re some
1, when,
d by his
ver Des
,ecollet."

Father Viel had already added to Le Caron's dictionary
of the Huron lano-uage, and left at the mission interest-
iiif and valuable notes of his labors. San-;ird, who re-
turned to France, also wrote a dictionary of the Huron
lano-nao-e, and a series of narratives tluit to this day fur-
nisli a source of ethnological, L;eon-raphic, and historic
data for all writers on early Canadian history. The
Recollets or Franciscans estaV)lished missions at Tadousac
and (Jaspe for the JNlontao-nais Indians : at Miscou, for the
Micmacs; at Three Rivers, and at Georgian Way for the
Hurons. The missions of New Brunswick, Xo\a Scotia,
and (}aspe were under the care of Father John D'olbcau,
with three assistants, one of whom, Father Sebastian,
perished of starvation on his way to a mission on the St.
John's River. The others, despjiirino- of softenino- the
liardeiied hearts of the ]\Hcmacsand Montagnais, returned
to Quebec. One of them. Father William i'oullain, was
afterwards ca})tured by the Iro([Uois, who stri])pt'd him
for the torture, when he was provi<lentially saved from
the horrors of mutilation by the arrival of a messao-e
from the French with an otter of exchange. In l()2S,
Fathers Daniel Boursier and Francis (Jirard sailed v\'itli
a lieet commanded by De RouipU'mont, but the vessels
were captured in the St. Lawrence lliverby Admiral Kirke,
and the Ilecollet Fathers were brouo-ht ])rison('rs to FnjL^-
laiid, without ever havinu' touched the soil of the land

''!

30 KAULY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

they were coiiiino' to evangelize.* " The country," writes
the historian Kinosl'ord, " owes tlie Order (the Francis-
cans) a (lel)t ol' g-ratitu(lo, wliich liistory has only imper-
fectly paid ; any mention oF their name has been merely
perfunctoiy witliout acknowledgment or sympathy."

"'riie histoiiaii Lo Clercrj, who invented Ihe Micniac hieroglyphics,
says there was a RecoUet missinn established anu.n^' tlie MiomacP, of
Nova Scotia, in 1014, and that the Fathers had puhlished a short history
of their labors among t iiein. It woidd appear ihat the Relation is lost,
for it is not given by any Canadian or American historian. The last
representative of tiie Recollels on the missio. s of this eonntiy, Father
Conhtantine, was hilled in ITOii, in the attack made by the Miamis on
the Ottawus at Detroit.

CHAPTER III.

THE JESUITS.

DiHusion of their Onler-Ignatiua Loyola-His Conversion-His Asso-
.ialcs ^KsUiblishes the Society of Jesus, known as the Jesiiits-
The Spectre of Jesuitism-Opinions of the Historians -Arrival
of the Jesuits in Canada-Jean de lirebeuf-His Mission to tlie
Algon.iuins-Leaves for the Huron country-The Voyage- Arrives
in Huronia.

The Fmnclscan Fathers had scarcely retired from the
field of action wlieii the Catholic Church sent another
detachment ot her soldiers to take up anew tlie positions
vacate<l by the llecoUets. True to the imperishable prin-
ciple ol' their Institute, " for the greater glory of God,"
the Jesuits had been the fearless champions of the cross
in almost every region of the earth. Towards the noon
of the sixteenth century all Europe heard, and with
amazement, the tale of the heroism of these mortified
men who, under the shadow of Vishnu's temple were
teaching theology to the Brahmins of India, instructuig
the Bonzes of Japan, at the base of Shjicca's statue, and
scattering the seed of the gospel amongst the people of
Cathay.

" India repaired half Europe's loss ;
''• O'er a new hemisphere the Cross

Shone in the azure sky ;
And from the isles of fair Japan
To the broad Andes, won o'er man
A bloodless victory."

EAIU.Y MISSIONS IN WESTKHN CANADA.

Ill

The Church is an army led by its Sovoroion Pontiff,
directed by its thousand Inshops, flanked by its liun-
dred orders of Religions, aniono- whom stands in the
first rank the Jesuits, who, l)orn in an age ol' struggle
are more than all others organized i'or the battle, and
nifiy not inaptly l)e called the Imperial (Juard ol' the
Catholic Cliurch. Ignatius of Loyola, a man as brave in
coinbut as his sword was sharp in action, served in the
Spanish army, and in the 3^ear 1521 was desi)erately
wounded at the siege of Pamjxduna and carried otY the
lield. Of a noble family, Ignatius rose from the position
of a page of King Ferdinand, to the captaincy of his
regiment. While recovering from the efl'ects of his
wounds, he began to rea<l the lives of the martyrs, com-
mencing with the history of the Passion of our Lord.
An extraordinary change was gradually taking i)lace in
his great soul, and, when he left his room, Ignatius Loy-
ola, bidding good-bye for ever to the army of Spain,
entered the militia of Jesus Christ, lie connnenced the
work of voluntaiy detachment from all earthly things by
distributing his goods to the ])oor, and entering the Mon-
astery of Mount Serrat, in Catalonia, took off his sword,
and suspended it from a pillar in the church. He now
entered upon a spiritual retreat, made a general confes-
sion, and, after receiving Holy Connnunion, began to
write his famous " Exercises," and draw up the plan of
his Constitution. We next liear of him as a bare-footed

iiej.
aft

agt

THE JESUITES.

l,('(;o;u-, journeying" ns a pilgrim to the Holy Lund, wlien,
after veneratinf^ its sacred places, lie returned to Europe,
and entered as a student, in the thirty-sixth year ol' his
;i<^e, the collerjeot' St. Barltara. His extraordinary piety,
his t;reat zeal, and his w(jnderl*ul strength of character,
nuule a strong impression upon many ol' his companions,
.loining to himselfc' Francis Xavier, a Xavarrcin of a noble
family, James Laynez, Antonio Salmeron, Alphonso of
Hohadilla, the Portuguese Kodri(|uez Arzevedo and James
Lefevre, he laid the foundations of the now famous So-
ciety of Jesus. On the fifteenth of August, 15-U, thc^
Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, these
seven, after having fasted and prayed in connnon, met
together in the cha[)el of JMontmartre and received Holy
Coimiuniion in a body. They bound themselves l)^^ vow
to per[)etual poverty, to live chastely, and to be obe<lient
in all spiritual things to the Sovereign Pontitt". As time
went on, they associated with themselves other pious and
self-sacriticing men, till in the year 1540, Pope Paul the
HI. at their re([uest, instituted them an Order under the
style and title of the Society of Jesus. This was all. The
now famous and historic society of Jesuits entered the
lieid for Christ, and for three hundi'ed years has formed
the vanguard of the great army of the Catholic Church.
Ol these were the men who are now alx)ut to attempt
the conversion and reclamation of the Hurons. It is no
compliment to the honesty and intelligence of our age

EA1{LY MISSIONS IN VVESTEUN CANADA.

tluit even ih3W, with tlie iniperisliuMe purcliiiuMit of their
heroic deeds uiirollrd het'ore us, there are to lie found
those wliose }){irti}inty is so pronounce<i, thjit tliey can-
not tliiidv of tlie Jesuits witliout associati no- with them
l)lood, poison and da<(o'('rs. The rcjK'ated and tinie-worn
cahnniiics of secrecy, unscrupulous ag-encies, conspiracies
and tlie like, make up the reli<;Mous and literary i-uhhish
that too often jmsses for delectahk- reading- at many a
rural Hrcside. The conventional Jesuit is a familiar
Hyure an<l a teriuhle one. He is as grotesipic as he is
unreliable and intanoihie. 15ut we of the Household of
the Faith have known the Jesuits from the day that
I^-natius Loyola, in the orotto of Mani'eza, thi'ew himself
heart and soul into the militia of Jesus Christ. We
have witnessed their suMinu' virtue, their undaunted
courage, their ma.^nitieent sacrifices on l>ehalf of the
cross, and we challenoe history to show us their jteers.
" They were the tirst," writes Spauldin;^', " to put the
forest brand)les aside, they were the first to ci'oss tlie
threshold of the wigwams of every native tribe, the tirst
to plant the cross of Christ in the wilderness and shed
their blood cheerfully at its base." We have studied
their lives from the hour that Francis Xavier asked him-
self the portentous (juestion, " What will it profit a man
to <^ain the whole world if he lose his own soul ?" down
to the present day, and our liearts go out in love and
reverence towards them. From the halls of their insti-

I w

THE .lESUITES.

tlieir
IoiukI
cjin-
tlieiri
Worn
acics
l)l)i.sl.
my .-i

Miliar
lit' is

>M of
that

Hi.sclf
Wv

iiitud

.' the

»eors.

tutcs cairje men wliose iiaineHnri' Itcadsol" ^ol<l wortliy to
lie Hied on the Rosary (»f Fame: men oi' saintly lives and
of a transcendent greatness that raises them hi^h al»ove
the level even of good men, and whosi' sacritiecs for
Christ and humanity challenge the admiration of the
hrave, and stagger faith itself. Of these wen; the men
who, l)reaking with the fondest ties, forsaking the tmii-
ing fields and ]»leasant vineyards of sunny France, faeetl
the storms of northern climates and buried themselves in
the revolting companionship of tierce and inhospitable
hordes, "Away from the amenities of life," wi'itcs IJan-
ci'oft, "away from the temptation of vain glory, tluy
became dead to the world, and possesse*! theii' souls in
unaltei'able peace. The few who lived to grow ohl,
thougli by the toils of a long mission, were still kindled
with the fervor of Apostolic zeal. The history of their
labors is connected with the origin of every celebrated
town in the annals of French Amei'ica. Not a cape was
tui'ni'<l, nor a river entered, but a Jesuit led the way."
" Maligners may taunt the .Jesuits if they will," says the
industrious and learned I'arkman, " with cretlulity, super-
''^tition and blind enthusiasm, but slander itself cainiot
accuse them of liypocrisy or aml)ition." With those
who came to Canada in tlie sixteenth century, were
many wdio were influenced by motives of avarice an(i
ambition. Among them was the high-spirited cav;dier,
bound on romantic enterprise ; the fearless sea rover, in

KAULV MISSIONS iX WESTERN CANADA.

(|UeHt of new Imirels in unsailed seas; the restless adven-
turer, wooing the charm of novelty in unexplored lands,
and the disgraced courtier, resolved by reckless daring t«^
wipe out the memory of his humiliation. With them
sailed the <lark-rol)ed soldier of the Catholic Church,
brave as the bravest among them, fearless and undaunted
in the shadow of the land but yesterday pressed by the
boot of civilization. To-day, dispassionately and calndy
examining the historical and documentary evidence of
tlie zeal, courage and piety of the great Missionaiy
Orders, it is difficult to know to which of the three, the
Franciscans, the Sulpicians, or the Jesuits, belongs the
])alm of excellence. The " (Ircat Jesuit Order," as Lord
Macaulay called the Society, bathed the country with the
blood of its members : but the indomitable courage and
self-denial of the Franciscans, and the Christian willing-
ness with which the Sid])icians fearlessly entered upon
the most dangerous missions assigned them, are conclusive
evidence that, if circumstances demanded it, they also
were pre})are(l to furnish for the faith and the salvation
of souls, a bead-roll of martyrs. On the 1 9th of June,
l(i25. Fathers Charles Lalemant, Enemond Masse and
Jean de Hrebeuf, members of the Jesuit Order, in answer
to the invitation of the Franciscans, arrived at Quebec-
With them came as an escort Joseph de la Roche Dallion,
a Franciscan Priest of a nobl(> family, " as illustrious,"
wrote Champlain, " for his zeal and energy as for his

THE JESUITES.

dven-
arids,
ng t(^
them
urcli,
int(>(I
the
liiily

Itirth." Tlioir iii'st act on ivacliini^ slunv wus to kneel
down iumI kiss tlie eai-tli, the scene ol' tlieir I'ntnn' laltors;
tlit'ii tlu'V tlu'inked tlu- \\o]y 'I'rinity for Iwivinn- cliosen
thrill lor thf work oF the mission, sainted tlic onardian
ani;'t'is of the land and i-ose to tlieir feet, pi'cpared to
spend or lie spent in the service of tlieir Master. Father
Masse had ali'ead}' ]iassed sometime with the Micmacs of
No\a Scotia, and was, in a measuiv, inured to the hai'd"
ships of Indian lil'e. Father Charles Lalemant remained
at (^)uel)ec, and in the following" year wrote the first letter
of the now famous " Relations of the Jesuits." Jean de
Bi'eheuf, the descendant of a noble family, was selected
for the Huron Mission, He passed the autunni and
winter with a roving- hand of Montagnais Indians, en<lur-
ino- foi- five months the hardships of their wandering
life, and all the penalties of filth, vermin and smoke — the
ine\ital)le abominations of a savage camp. During these
months he ac<|uired a fair know ledge of their language,
and when spring opened it found him prepared to stai't,
July, l(i2(), in compau}'' with Fathers De None who
with Father Noirot, had just ai-rived from Fi-ance, an.d
Jo.sepli de la Roche Dallion, for the shores of the great
lake of the Ilurons. In comjiany with a band of Indians,
who had come down from theCJeorgian l>ay to the French
settlements, and were now returninii-, after l>arterini»' to
advantage their furs an«l peltries, the three Piiests bade
good-bye to their friends and embarked with their

EARLY MISSIONS IN' WESTERN CANADA.

swarthy CLUupanioiis, whose canoes were headed for the
Huron hnutini;' grounds in nortliern forests, Brebeuf
WJis a man of bi'ijad frame and commanding mien,
endowed witli giant strejigtli and tireless endurance.
His stay among the Montagnais tauglit liim tliat pliysical
supei'iority invited tlic respect of tlie savage, wlien
Clu'istian \ irtues often jjrovoked liis ridicule. Stroke for
stroke with the strongest of the Hurons, he dipped his
paddle from morning till night, and, to the amazement
of his savage companions, showed no sign of fatigue.
^I'hirty-tive times in that weary journey of seven lunidred
miles,* Brebeuf and his associates l)ore their share of the
heavy burdens aci'oss the portages. Through pestilent
swamp an<l stagnant pool the}' waded, across the stony
beds of shallow streams, over fallen trees and prostrate
ti'unks, they made their devious way ; descending, climb-
ing, chunbering over sharp and jagged rocks, till their
clothes hung around them in shreds, these soldiers of the
cross ki'pt pace with thestubbornniarch of their leggined
and moccasined companions. Now and then tlie com-
paratively feeble and aged De None, worn out with
the hardships of the journey, weakened under his load.
In spite of his indomital)le will, his strength would fail
him, and his manly but feeble attempts to hold the pace

* Historians and writer.s on Canada, following Bressani, give nine
hundred miles, but that untiring literary burrower, Father Martin,
S. J., proves the distance to be seven hundred, in a note to Bressani.

THE .lESUITES

M- his ,v.l companioiis-whose every til.re .'UkI muscle
w.iv iKinlencl by years or Imntiu- and cano.'in--1>iit
proN..kea their laughter and ridicule. The heroic Urebeul,
llyh,.- to bis assistance, would then relieve him of his
harden, and, to the astonisluiient of the band, contnme
fo, hours bearing his double load. The Hurons then.-
srlv.s were often spent with fatigue, and marvelled at an
,u,hn'ance that distance could not tire nor fatigue con.juer.
After a weary and trying journey of three weeks, they
at last reached tlie Huron country, and entered upon
their great work of the conversion and civilization of the
tribes.

(^HAPTF.R IV.

THE HUllONS.

M :

■ ■ ■ I
■!

Their Hunting (i rounds — The Huron League — Their Lodges — Okis and
Maiutous — Huron Superstitions— Social and Political Organization
— Sorcerers — Condition of Women among the Hurous — Huron
Warriors — Social Life — Brutality in War — Treatment of Prisoners
— Torture of an Iroijuois Prisoner.

'Vuv: o-ivat nation of the Hurons, occupied, as we liave
already seen, the northern and western portion ol' Sini-
coe cinmty, Ontario, embraced witliin tlie peninsula
formed by the Matchedash and Notawassaga Bays, the
River Severn and Lake Simcoe. The Huron lea^'ue was
composed of the four following- nations : the Attio-ouan-
tans, Attigonenons, Arendorons and the Tohontaenrats,
and known to the French as the nations of the l»ear,
the Wolf, the Hawk and the Heron. They derived
tlie modern title of Huron fi'om the French, but their
proper name was Oiuendat or Wyantlot. Their towns
were not rude collections of bark huts, as popularly sup-
posed, but were ft)rmed of fairly well constructed buiUb
ings, and were, many of them, especially on the frontier,
fortified with rows of cedar pickets and flanking bastions.

Unlike the Algon(|uin hordes, that roamed the forests to

THE lU'UOXS.

LIm- iioi'tli ol' tlu'iii, tlR-y were ;i scdt'iit.-uy people, eultivu-
tiiio" itatche.s ol' i-i'ouii'l, in wliicli thev' .sowed Indian corn.
lie.ins, pumpkins, toliacco and Indian lienip, stores of
which they laid l)yror the winter. They developed con-
sideralile skill in buildina- canoes, curino- tlie skins of
animals, w Inch they wore as covei-ing in the winter, and
in manulacturini'' the huck and doe skin into shoes
lamiliarlv known as moccasins, 'i'heir liouses were com-
lortably and commodiously built, many of them indeed
sixty or eighty feet in length, in which e'i^ht or ten
families in friendly amity took up their abode. The
tires were on the u'roun*! on a line drawn throuii'li the
centre with an opening in the ro(jf, which in the winter
served for chinni<'y and windou'. Here, grizzly warriors,
shrivelled Sipiaws, young boys aspiring to become braves,
and girls ripening into maturity, noisj' children, and dogs
that couM not bark mingled indiscriminately together.
There was no modesty to be shocked, no decency to be
insulted, no retinement of feeling to be wounded, for
modesty, decency and reli)iement of feeling were dea<l
centuries before the missionary lifted the cross in the
Huron forests. They had no religion, having neither
altars, priests, temples or oblations, and whatever idea
they had of iJod was so hazy and obscure that it comes
not within the range of definition. They, however, be-
lieved in the existence of good and bad s[)irits, and to
a]))K'ase the one and draw upon themselves the favor of

I :'

EAULV MISSIONS IX WESTERN CANADA.

the otlier ofFei'ed sacrifices on the sli^^ditest provocation.
Tohacco was thrown into the fire witli tlie hope tliat its
smoke would be pleasing to an Old, and oil poured upon
tlie water when a storm threatened, with an appeal to
the M(('nifou to have pity on them. There is no evidence
to prove that they adored the sun, but the}^ appealed to
it to confirm the truth of their statements, and as proof
of their innocence when charged with crime. In the
absence of religion or any fixed f)elief, it was but natural
tliat tliey should surrender themselves to the grossest
superstitions. Every act of their lives, their dreams,
feasts, games, diseases, tlieir hunting, fishing and tra\'el-
lin*'", were always and inextricably interwoven witli forms
of superstition. The whole nation w'as under its malign
and baneful influence, and the chain of superstitious
error which bound tliem was almost too strong for Christ-
ianity itself to break. To throw into tlie fire any part
of the fishes they had caught, or to cast to the dogs the
bones of certain animals they had killed, would expose
them, they firmly l)elieved, to bad luck in their future
expeditions after game. The social and political organ-
ization of the Hurons had about it certain elements of a
eivili/ed character. Whatever public authority existed
resided in the chiefs, who were generally chosen for their
bravery in war, or in recognition of services bestow^ed
upon the tribe. To the \var chiefs were intrusted all
affairs that made for the protection or extension of the

■I

THE HUROXS. 48

iiiiti<Jii. 'I'lic (loiiii'stic Jiinl civil jiffairs wci-c coii'.iiiittt'd
t(» cliici's soK'ctt'd I'or tliat purpose. Every canton li. id a
h'_i;islatui'<' composed ol' chiefs and old men, l)ut, when
(piestions afibctinn; the interests of the nation wei-e to he
dehated, eacli villaije connnissionecl its de])uties to .-ittend
the ocneral council and speak for them. Tlie authority
of a chief rested u])on the esteem and atlection enter-
tained Ity Ids people for him, and, losin*;- these, he nn'<dit
at any time Ik- deposed. The mode of ci'iminal procedure
was individual and ai'hitrar}' rather than judicial. With-
out a])pealin<^ to any court, each man pi-otected his own
intei-ests and those of his famil3^ When a man was rob-
1>im1, and aftei'wai-ds discovered his goods in the possession
ol" an(jtlier,he had the rio-ht not only to take what helono--
ed to him, 1»ut all that the rohher owned. If, however,
a murder was conmiitted, the whole villaf^e took up the
cause of the nuu'dered man and compelled the murderer to
make restitution by the presentation of o-ifts to the

^ family (jf the victim. The Hurons held sorcerei-s or

, witches in detestation, and when a sorcerer was accused
of practisin^,^ his malio-n art, any member of the tribe
had a right to kill him. Nowdiere were the laws of

;S hospitality more honorably and sacredly observed tlian
among the Hurons. The moment a stranger entere<l

S a Huron wigwam ho w^as for the time a mendter of the

lit

family, and came and went at his i)leasui-e. Jle took
his place at the table without being invited, and acted

EARLY Mrssr<)^is tv western oanada.

(

► ti

! (

'II

witli the siuiie f'reodoiii as tliumsolves, Tlu; condition
of woniuu umony tlic Hurons wa.s like unto that of
nearly all sava<4'e trihes. She was iv<;ardc<l as the in-
ferior of man, and upon her devolved not only all house-
liold duties, 1)ut also the cultivation of the wardens,
planting, seeding and hoeing. Witli lier stone hatchet
she chopped and brought lionie the wood for the winter
fires, fre(piently went after the game when her husl)and
killed it, and in fact performed all the menial duties of
camp and village life. No warrior ever dreamed of as-
sisting her in these occupations. She was the wife, but
not the companion of her husband, and was alwa^'s his
servant. Whatever of beauty an Indian maiden possess-
ed before she reached the age of seventeen, was soon de-
stroyed by hardship and exposure, or the intolerable
smoke of the cabin in which she was compelled to ])ass
many a dreary week in winter. A Huron woman at
twenty-five began to shiivel up and wither, and when
she reached her fiftieth year was in appearance an old
hag. The men were generally of good height, of wiry
and sinewy frames, well knitted and able to endure great
hardships. They were active and agile, fast runners,
and able to hold the pace for a long time. The}^ were
not, however, ef^ual in strength to the whites, and when
the French coareurs de hois became accustomed to the
Indian mode of living, they not only excelled him in
strength, but indeed very often in swiftness and endur-

■t*jr
'4

^^1

THE HTHONS. 45

.iiu'c. Tho men iU^voted t-licniselves to hunting' ;ui»l lisli-
iiio-, ti'iuliiii: with other nations, niakinii- l)o\vs an<l ar-
rows, stone tonialiawks, canoes, paddles and snow slioes.
Tliey liad readied sucli proficiency in tlie manufacture of
I tliese articles that Champlain was surpi'ised when he
I saw them, and Father Bressani remarked, that intelli-
I frent Europeans could contrive nothing superior. When

i alH)ut to set out on the war trail they tatooed themselves

I . . . . ,

i with charcoal, oiled their l)odies with bear's grease or

I.'

I the oil of the sun-ilow^-r, and spent the night before
I their departure in feasting and dancing. They lirought
no provisions with them, depending for sustenance upon
the game they killed on the way. Armed with bow
and ([uivers, the stone axe, and the scalping knife, a
Huron warrior was indeed a formidable enemy. In
s])ite of their vanity and frivolity, they were a kindly
and humane people, possessing many admirable domes-
tic traits, were attached to their children, and as neigh-
bors, were very fi'iendly with each other. It was only
when they went to war tliat the <lemon of l)rutality
and ferociousness took possession of them ,and called
into action all their savage passions. When it became
a ([uestion of revenging tluMuselves on their enemies,
cruelty itself assumed a ferociousness that was frightful
ill the extreme. In the relations of 1 (Kid it is i-ecorded
that an Tro(|uois who was taken ])i'is()ner in war was
subject to a torture surpassing in deviltry anything

4(1

KAKI.V MISSIONS IN WKSTKUN CANADA.

. :!!i

i i

over concoivtMl by Daiitu in his Iiit'cnio. His punisii-
mt'iit lu'^'aii tliu iiioninit lio wus tjikeii, when one ut' liis
li.-inds was cnislied jind torn witli Ju^'^^xmI stones, several
lin^-erscut ofi'and <^aslies made all over his l»ody. Wlien
the victim was ))ronght into the village they clothed him
as if for a triumphal ceremcjny. Over his mutilated and
l)]ecdin<jj shoulders a beaver robe was thrown, a collar of
wampum placed around his neck, juid his forehead en-
circled with a crown. Thus a])i)arelled he was led thr()Uij;-h
the village, chanting in the meantime his war-song and
defying them to do their worst. He gloried in his Iro-
(|Uois origin, lauded his kinsmen as a race of uneon(|Uered
warriors, and, taunting the Hui"ons with cowardice and
poltroonery, challenged them to wreak their vengeance
on him, and see how bravely an lro(piois could die. This
defiance of death at the hands of an enemy was connnon
to both Huron and Iroipiois, and was supposed to prepare
for him a hospitalile welcome among his dead kinsmen,
an<l to reflect honor upon the bravery of his nation. The
unfortunate prisoner was accompanied by a shouting and
jeering" mol), mad with the spirit of vengeance, and tilled
with the expectatitai of the pleasure that would be theirs
when they saw the Mohawk roasting in the flamcw. He
was then led to the torture cabin and iimnediately entered
on a night of agony. In a straight line, frotu end to end
of the wiii'wsixi, tires were bui-nin<>'. and on either side
s(juatted the crowd of expectant Hurons, frenzied with

THE HUllONS.

cruelty aiul <lnmk witli 1»l()od. When tlie Ir().|Uois
entered, his luinds tied beliind liis back, lie ^lanced dc-
iiiintly around, when every Huron rose to his feet,
snatched each a burnino- l)rand, an.l stooil as bron/e
statues, while the Chief harano-ued theni, and appealed to
them to acpiit themselves as men. The scene of cruel
torture begins, the victim is now pushed into the nearest
tire, driven thence he is forced to run to the next, and as
he passes from fire to fire he is struck and beaten with
burning torches, while the whoops and shouts of exul-
tation till the cabin, and, floating out upon the air, re-
echo in the woods around. Taken out of the ilames,
tiie torches arc applied to every part of his body, they
gash him with knives, being careful to touch no vital
part, while his war-cry and shouts of deHance are smoth-
ered in the frightful turmoil of the yelping crowd. His
tingers are broken one after another, burning hatchets
applied to his feet, his shoulders and his sides. Seven
times the uncon«pierable Iro(iuois passed through the fires,
till at length overcome with exhaustion he fell to the
oround. The Hurons hurried to revive him, hoping to
prolong his tortures until daylight, for it was a tradition
among them that a prisoner ought not to succumb to his
wounds until the rising of the sun. A s<iuaw approached
and administered a little nourishment, api)ealing to him
with the tenderness of a mother to try and eat some-
thino-. The chief who condemned him to death oflered

4cS

KAULN .MISSION'S IN WKSTEllN CANADA.

liim liis own pipe to smoke, wip('(l the clottcfl l)loo(l, ilic
jislu's jind sweat IVom his I'aee, mikI raiiiicd liim repojitedly
that lie iiiii'lit reii'-'iiH some streiiii'tlj- Wlieii lie was al»lo
to stand n]i, the horrihle tra<;'e<l3' heo-aii anew, and with
refinement of cruelty his torturers covered liim with in-
sults and o])prol)ium ; " Uncle," said one oF them, "you
have done well to come and die amonf' the Ilurons."
" Look at this hatchet," said another, and he; appiiiMl
the burning- iron to his (juiverini;' llesh, " it is pleasant
for you to he caresse(l by us. ' The cabin was a livin<^
hell ; all ni^'ht they taxed their ino-cnuity to add to his
sufierini^rs, and ami<l Hendish yells and Jeei-s covered him
with their mockery. J)ay dawned, the sun rose upon the
village and the Ti'ixpiois was still li vini;'. lie was then le<l
out, lifted on to a scatibld and tied to a post, but free to
turn at his will. Then followed an awful scene, burniny-
brands were applied to his eyes and ears, his mouth
forced o])en and a flamino- torch thrust down his throat.
I'he eyes of the Irocpiois are closing' forever in death
an<l, as he siidvs to the platform they lling themselves
upon him, cut otl' his ft^et and hands and sever the head
from the l)ody. His sutlerings were at an end, but the
vcnii'eance of his ruthless tornientoi's was not vet
satiated. They cut up the bo<ly, boiled the pieces and
devoured them, and all that night the entire population
passed .scaring away his ghost by beating with sticks
against the bark sides of their lodges.

CllAPTKll V.

DE LA llOCHl': DALLION.

The iMissionaiies— Dallion Leaves for the Neutrals— His Journey-
Arrival at the Neutral Villages— Wou'ler of the Indians-Their
Habits of Life -Souharissen— His Authority— Kvil Reports— Dal-
lion in Danger -Is Roughly Treated-Rcport of his Death-De-
scription of the Country— Returns to the Hurons.

When tlicy arrived at the mission of St. Jose|)l], Ilioiia-
tiiia.*' near Peiietaii.^-uisliene, tliey found Father Veil's
hark eliapel still standino-. Fathers Breheuf and ])c
None remained here instructinn- the inhahitants of this
villao-e while Fntlier Dallion went to open the mission
of the Conception. Keturninf]^ in a few months, the
RecoUet, hold to temerity, visited the Neutral nation, or
Attiwindarons, a fierce and exceedino-ly superstitious
people, on whose hardened hearts he could make no im-
pression. 'I'hoy claimed as their territory tlie lands ly-
ino- l)et\veen the Niagara river and Sarnia, and those
to the south of a line drawn from Toronto to Goderich.
He left a record of his journey to, and sojourn amon<;

*Ihonatiria, according to Martin in his appendix to Bressani's Rc-
lation-Abr<'g('e, was on a point running out into Lake Huron, on the
western entrance of what is now called Penetanguishenc Bay.

KAlll.V MISSIONS IN WESTKKN CANADA.

tlK'iii (lurint;- tlic wintci" of l()2(j, wliich is oivuii by Lc
C'lorc(i, from wliose works wu extract it.

Fatlior Joseph <le la Roche Dallioii's letter to a IrieiKl
in Pai-is :

toll

\ 111

"Sir,

"Though faraway, it is still permitted to visit mir friends
by missives whicli render the absent present. Our Indians were
ania/ed at it, seeing us often write to our Fathers at a distance, and
that l)y our letters they learn our ideas, and what the (same) Indians
had done at our residence. After having made some stay in our
Canada convent, nnd con)municated with our Fathers and the (Rever-
end) Jesuit Fathers, I was compelled by a religious affection to visit the
sedentary nations, whom we call Hurons, and with me the Rev. Fathers
Brebeuf and de Noue, Jesuits. Having arrived there with all the
hardships that any one may imagine, by reason of the wretched way.
Sometimes afterwards I received a letter from our Reverend Father
Joseph le Caron, by which he encouraged me to pass on to a nation we
call Neutral, of which the interpreter (Bruslc') told wonders. Encour-
aged, then, l)y so good a Father, and the grand account given me of
these people, I started for their country, setting out from the Huron'j
with this design October 18th, 1G26, with men called (irenole and
LivalK'e, Frenchmen by birth. Passing the Petun nation, I made ac-
ijuaintance and friendship with an Indian chief, who is in great credit,
who promised to guide me to the Neutral nations, and supply Indians
to carry our baggage and what little provision we had ; for to think to
live in these countries as mendicants is self-deceit ; these people giv-
ing only as far as you oblige them, so that you must often make long
stages, and often spend many nights with no shelter but the stars. He
fulfilled what he had profnised to our satisfaction, and we slept only
five nights in the woods, and on the sixth day arrived at the first vil-
lage, where we were well received, thanks to our Lord, and then at

DE I. A KOCIIE DAM.IOX.

tour oLliir villages, which envied each other in bringing us food,— some
venison, others s<juashcs, neintliaony, and the be&t they had.

"Ail were astonishetl to see nie dressed as 1 was, and to see that 1
desired nothing of theirs, except that I invited them (by signs) to lift
their eves to heaven, make the sign of the cross, and receive the faith
of .lesus Christ. What filled them with wonder was to see me retire
it certain hours in the day to pray to God and attend to my spiritual
ati'airs, for they had never seen religious, except towards the Petuneux
ami llurons, their neighbors. At last we arrived at the sixth village,
,' here I had been advised to remain. I called a council. Remark by
t he way, if you please, they call every assembly a council. They hold
I hem as often as it pleases the chiefs. They sit on the ground, in a
oal)in, or the open field, in profound (very strict) silence, while the
rhief liuiangues, and they are inviolable observers of what has once
liecn concluded and I'esolved.

'• There I toM them, as well as I could, that I came on behalf of the
Frencli to eontract alliance and friendship with them, and to invite
tliem to come to trade. I also begged them to allow me to remain in
their country to (be able to) instruct them in the law ot our l!od, which
is the only means of going to Heaven (Paradise). They accepted all
iny oilers, and showed me that they were very agreeable, lieing much
consoled at this, I made tliem a present of what little I had, as little
knives and other trifies, and which they esteemed highly. For in this
country nothing is done with the Imlians without making them some
kind of a ]>resent. In return they adopted me, as they say — that is to
say, they declared me a citizen and child of the country, and gave mo
in trust — mark of great aHection— to Souharissen, wlio was my father
and host ; for according to age, they are accustomed to call us cousin,
brother, son, uncle, or nephew. This man is the chief of the greatest
credit and authority that has ever been in all these nations ; for he
is not only chief of this village, but of all those of liis nation, composed
of (in lunnlier) twenty-eight townti, cities and villages, made like those
in the Huron country, and also of several little hamlets of seven or

f^9

EAlll.Y MISSIONS IX WESTERN CANADA.

eight cal)ins, built in various parts convenient for fishing, hunting or
agriculture. It is unexampled in the other nations to have so absolute
a chief. He acquired this honor and power Ijy his courage, and by hav-
ing been repeatedly at war with seventeen nations, which are their
enemies, and taken heads or brought in prisoners from them all.
Those who are so valiant are much esteemed among them, and, although
tliey have only the club, bow and arrow, yet they are, nevertheless^
very adroit and warlike with these arms.

" After all this cordial welcome our Frenchmen returned, and I re-
mained, the happiest man in the world, hoping to do sometliing there
to advance (!od's glory, or at least to discover the means (which would
be no small thing, and to endeavor to discover the mouth of the river
of the Hiroquois (Niagara), in order to bring them to trade). I did my
best to learn their manners and way of living. During my stay I
visited them in their cabins to know and instruct them. I found them
tractable enough, and I often made the little children, who are very
bright, naked and dishevelled, make the sign of the (holy) cross. I
remarked that in all the country I met no humpback, one-eyed, or
deformed persons.*

"During three months I had every reason in the world to be satis-
fied with my people ; but the Hurons, having discovered that I talked

*Here in Sagard is the following : " I have always seen them constant
in their resolution to go with at least four canoes to the trade, if I
would guide them, the whole difficulty being that we did not know
the way. Younjuet, an Indian hunter known in those countries, who
had come there with twenty of his men hunting for beaver, and who
took fully five hundred, would never give us any mark to know th'3
mouth of the river. He and several of the Hurons assured us well that
it was only ten days' journey to the trading place ; but we were afraid
of taking one river for another, and losing our way, or dying of hunger
on the land." This was evidently the Niagara river and the route
through Lake Ontario. lie apparently crossed the river, as he was on
the Iro(|uois frontier. The omission of the passage by Le Clerccj was
evidently caused l)y tlie allusions to trade.

1)E LA ROCHE DALLION.

ry.\

of leading tliem to trade, spread in all tlie villages where wo passed
v(!ry bad reports about nic ; that I was a great magician ; that I had
laiuted the air of their country and poisoned many ; that if they did
not kill me soon that I would set tire to their villages and kill all their
children. In fine, I was, as they said, a great atatanite — that is tlieir
word to mean him who performs sorceries, whom they hold in great
horror. And now, by the way, that there are a great many sorcerers,
who pretend to heal diseases by mummeries and other fancies. In a
word, the Hurons told them so much evil of us, to prevent their going
to trade ; that the French were unapproachably rude, sad, melancholy
people, who live only on snakes and poison ; that we eat thunder,
which they imagine to be an unparalleled chimera, relating a thousand
strange stories about it ; that we all had a tail like animals ; that the
women had only one nipple in the centre of the breast ; that they bare
five or six children at a time ; adding a thousand other absurdities to
make us hated by them, and prevent their trading with us, so that
they might have the trade with these nations themselves exclusively,
w hioh is very profitable to them. In fact, these good people, who are
very easy to persuade, grew very suspicious of me. As soon as any one
fell sick, they came to ask me whether it was not true that I had
jioisoned him, and that they would surely kill me if I did not cure him.
1 had great difficulty in excusing and defending myself. At last ten
men of the last village, called Ouaroronon, one day's journey from the
Iroquois, their relatives and friends, coming to trade at our village,
came to visit me, and invited me to come and see them in their village. I
promised to do so without fail when the snow ceased (melted), and to give
them all some little presents (trifles), with which they seemed satisfied.
Thereupon they left the cabin where I was living, always concealing
their evil designs against me. Seeing that it was growing late, they
came back after me, and abruptly began a quarrel without i)rovocation.
One knocked me down with a blow of his list ; another took an axe and
tried to split my head. (Jod averted his hand ; the blow fell on a bar
(post) near me. I also received much other ill-treatment ; but that is

EAULV MI.SSK^XS IX WESTEUX CAXADA.

1* '•

what we came to seek in tliis country, becoming somewhat appooacd,
they vented their wrath on what little goods were left us ; they tool;
our writing-desk, blanket, breviarjs and Ijag, which contained aonn
knives, needles, awls, and other small objects of the kind. And iiavinj:
thus stripped me, they went ofl' all that night, full of joy at their exploit.
On arriving at the village and examining the spoil, touched, perhaps.
by repentance coming from the Most High, they sent me back our brc
viary, compass, desk, blanket and bag — enii)tj', however. When they
arrived in my village, called Ounontisaston, tlicre were only women
there. The men had gone to hunt stags. On their return they declar-
ed they were much grieved at the misfortune that had befallen nic
(after which no more was said about it).

" The report at once spread to the Hurons that 1 had been killed.
On this the good Fathers Brebeuf and de Noue, who remained theu'.
sent (Jrenole to me at once to learn the truth, with orders to bring nu'
back if 1 was still alive. The letter they wrote me (with the pen of
their good will) also invited me to do so. I ditl not Avisli to gainsay
them, as this was their advice, and that of all the Frenchmen, who
feared more misfortune than profit by my death, 1 accordingly ret urn
ed to the Huron country, where I now am, all admiring the divine ef-
fects of Heaven. The country of this Neutral nation is incomparably
larger, more beautiful, and better than any other of all these countries.
There is an incredible number of stags, great abundance of moose or
elk, beaver, wild oats, and black squirrels larger than the French ; a
great quantity of wild geese, turkeys, cranes, and other animals, which
are there all winter, which is not long and rigorous as in Canada. No
snow had fallen bv the 2'2nd of November, and it never was over two
feet deep, and began to melt on the 'JUth January. On the Sth of
March there was none at all in the open places, though tJ>«i"e was a
little indeed still left in the low grounds (woods). A stay there is
quite recreating and convenient ; li>e rivers furnish mucii excellent
fish ; the eaith gives good grain, more than is needed. They have
s(juashes, bearrs, and other vegetables in abundance, and very good

■-•1

•i

I)E LA R(JC11E DALLIOX.

oil, wliich tlicy call Atouionton (a Touronton), so that I have no hesi-
tation in saying that wc should settle there rather than elsewhere.
riuloubtetUy with a longer stay there would be hope ot advancing
( iod's glory, which should be more sought after than anything else, and
their conversion to the faith is more to be hoped for than that of the
Hurons. Tlieir real business is iuinting and war. Out of that th y
are very lazy, and you see them, like beggars in P^iance, when they
have their fill, lying on their belly in the sun. Their life, like that of
the Ifurons, ia very impure, and their manners and customs are (juite
the same. Their language is different, however, yet they understand
each other, as the Algon(|uins and Montagnais do.

" Thej' say two new Fathers have come to us from France, named
Father Daniel Boursier and Father Francis de Binvdle, who had been
promised us lust year. If this is eo, I beg of you, in addition to all the
trouble you take for me, to let me have by a safe hand a habit that is
sent me. It is all I ask (for there is no cloth made here, ours being all
norn out. I cannot do without one). The poor religious of St. Francis,
iiaving food and raiment, have all their earthly i)ortion. We hope
Heaven from (iod's goodness (by the favor of our good (iod), and for it
most willingly serve in the salvation of these blinded nations ; we risk
our lives in order that it may please Him, if He accepts our efVorts, lo
make Christianity to bud forth in these countries. (Jod permits mar-
tyrdom to those who deserve it. I regret that I am not in a fit state,
and, nevertheless, am not ignorant that to be recognized as a true
child of (iod, we must expose ourselvesfor our brethren. Let pain and
toil come bravely then ; all difficulties and death itself will be agreeable
to me, if (iod's grace is with me, which I beg by the means of the
prayers of all our good friends over there, of whom, and of you, sir,

1 am,

''The most humble servant in our Lord,

"JosKi'ii Dk La Rociik Dai. i. ion."

" Dated at lonachin (Toanchain), Huron

Village, this ISth July, 1(527."

5()

EAKLV MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

If lu' saw the Falls, he would have been the lii'st white
man that ever oaze<l upon the oreat cataract. Father
Dallion* i"eniained hut a short time amouo- the Hurons
after his return. Being sunnnoned to Quehec, he left
Ossossane in the fall of 1027, and never ao-ain returned
to the country. Father De None, unahle t<j muster
the Huron lang-uage, and suffering from ill-healtli, left
in the spring of 1027 with a Huron ilotilla of twenty
canoes, and John ])e lirebeuf was alone in the Huron
missions.

* Very little is known of Father Joseph de la Roche Dallion. He is
mentioned in the Relation of 1641, p. 74. In Pierre Margry, vol. 1,
p. 4, I find the following extract: "One of our Fathers was the
first to visit the Neutral nation, a tribe occupying a large extent of
country, and hitherto comparatively unknown. One of the Jesuit
Fathers (Brebeuf), who was dwelling among the Hurons, having heard
that hid life was in danger, sent two Frenchmen to l>ring liim back. "
In " Lea Voyages de Champlain," Canadian Ed. , Book '2nd, chap. 1,
Ki'J,"), he is first mentioned as having come over from France in the
same ship with Sieur de Caen, that he was an exemplary priest, con-
nected with the family of the Count Du Lude, and that he abandoned
all worldly honors and temporal benefits for things spiritual. He ar-
rived at Quebec, June 19th, l(ji2o. He is again mentioned in " Les
Voyages de Champlain " as having accompanied the Jesuit Fathers, De
Noue and Brebeuf, to the Huron country. He is referred to again and
for the last time by Champlain in 1G29. Champlain was at Quebec
and short of provisions, in fact the colony was threatened with famine.
He says : "I called on Father Joseph de la Roche, a very good re-
ligious, to know if I could obtain provisions from the Fathers, if they
had any to spate." He replied, •' 80 far as he was concerned, he was
ready to give every assistance, that he would at once see Father Josej)!!
Le Caron and speak to him about it." He left (Quebec with two other
RecoUets to return to France, Sept. t)th, 16*20. In Noiseux " Liste
Chronologicjue," the date of his death is given, July 16th, 1656.

CHAITEU VI.

miEIJEUF WITH THE HUKONS.

Alone with the Tribes— Reflections— Instructing the Indians - Tlieii-
Atlection for him— Returns to Quebec— Sails with Champlain for
France.

TiiEiiE is something singularly touching tmd pathetic
in the spectacle of this wonderful nuui taking up his
solitary position, and fearlessly and alone fighting the
battle of Christianity in the midst of the foes them-
selves. The descendant of a noble family, from whom
the English Arundels claim descent, reared from child-
hood to mature years in the refined society of cultivated
men and women, John De Brebeuf had leisure in his
frio-htful solitude to call back the memories of the past,
and dwell with pardonable complacency on the pros-
])ects which he had brushed aside as if they were trifles,
and tlie generous friends on whom for ever he had turned
his back, tliat henceforth he might be a " leper among
the lepers." Limitless forests and wide expanse of
waters stretched around or befoi-e him ; his companions,
an ignorant and grossly superstitious pe()i)le ; his food,
pounded maize, and his drink, the water from the brook.
Tht' soul of tlie great priest was ecpial to th(5 occasion,

5cS

KAIM.V MISSIONS IN WKSI'HIiN fANADA.

ciiul lie liont liiiii.sclt' with iTiir\V('(l fiu'i'i^y to his woi-k.
It is (loiilttfiil if at any period in liis life he i'iijoy('(l .1
luoi'c siihliiiiu repose. Tliis soldier ot^ the Cross was ;i
man who rose superior to ids sniToundiiio-s, and if evi'i'
the temptation to recede one foot found a momentary
lodiXi^icnt in Ins bi'east it was l)anislied once i'or all.
When he formed the determination of enterinii' on the
Huron missions, there <^rew njxjn him the desire to wel-
come suffering's, come they from v/hat source they
mi<];ht. He visited the Hurons in their cahins, associ-
atetl on friendly terms of familiarity with them, and
won their esteem and atl'ection, hut could not break the
chain of superstition which bound them, nor stao-oer
their indifference, if not their contempt i'or his teach-
ings. In many w^ays he reached their ideal of a man.
He was well-built, capable of cndurino- oivat hai-<I.siups,
and fearless in danger or in the discharge of his duty.
With a savage courtesy characteristic of their meetings,
they gave him a respectful hearing, but no sign of en-
couragement or indication of a change. " Kclion*," they
would say to him, " your customs are not ours ; oin'
people are so different from ^^ours that it is not })ossib]e
for them to have the same God." The Father was (juick

*Fathcr Brebeuf's Indian name. After Father JJrcbeuf's death,
Father Chaunionob fell heir to his title. Father LcMoyne, who dis-
covered the salt springs at Onondaga, was known among the Iroijuoi.s 1
Ity the title of (Jndersonk.

r.REHEUK WITH rilE IIIMIONS.

lo iierccivc tli.'it a wull-coiicealed ])ri(le and an attachment
to a licentious life, wedded to superstitious practices and
national prejudices, operate<l most powerfully in fixing
tlu'iii in their obstinacy. He knew that until they became
(lead to theniselves there was very little liope of a great
cliange taking place. Time, liowever, and the grace of
(iod woukl work wonders. He continued to labor and
t<> hope, visited the sick, and stayed with them until they
recovered their healtli ; the little chiklren loved liim,
ami all entertained a kindly feeling towards him.
Thoroughly familiar with the Huron language, he
walked through the village ringing a bell and sunnnon-
ing young and old to meet him in conference. When
the Ii'jlians assembled, he explained to them the doc-
trines of the Church, exhorted them to repentance for
ilieir sins, and pictured the awful sufferings of hell, till
their hardened liearts trembled in the contemplation of
w hat might happen after death. " Echon," said a war-
rior to him one morning, in the presence of a large
assemblage, " you want us to love the Irotpiois, to take
only one wife and to keep her for all time, that we
must not eat the tlesh of our enemies: you ask us to
uive up our medicine feasts and many other things. 1
tt'll you, you are asking something which we caiuiot do,
nnless your God will change us from what we are."
IJiebeuf replied that the grace of God was all-powerful,
and would yet give the:n the strength to do great things.

KAKLV MISSION'S IN WKS'I'KUN CANADA.

Olio of liis first converts was a raiiious war cliiel* iiaiiu'*!
Aliasistari, who, it would apjx-ai', embraced the faith
under tlie inlhience ol" a supernatural impulse. " Be-
fore you came to this coiuitry," he said to the <rveai
missionary, " I esca])e<l from many perils when all ai'ound
me perished, and I often said to myself some powerful
s[)irit protects me, and now I believe you were sent to
me for some good end." Aliasistari was instructed ami
ba|)tixed, and as lie was a man respected for his honesty
and great courage, his example had a beneficial effect
upon the others. About this time Father JUebeuf trans-
lated Ledeamas' catechism into the Huron whicii Champ-
lain afterwards incorporated with the history of his
travels. Father Jjrel)euf failed to make much impres-
sion on the hardened hearts of the Hurons, but he suc-
ceeded admirably in winning their affection and esteem,
and when, in l()2S, he was sunnnoned to Quebec, his de-
parture was regarded as a public calamity by the people
with whom he had already passed two years. "Must
you then leave us, Echon T' they said to him. "For the
two years that you dwelt with us you have learned our
language, and taught us to know the Master of Life.
Already you speak our language as well as we do, but
we do not yet understand how to adore and [)ray to your
God as you do." The priest was singularly touched by
these manifestations of affection, and promised that he
would again return to them. A short time after his

i»,i{Ki'.KrF WITH rin: iiiiioxs.

;in-iv;il in (^)iU'l)OC, tlic city snrrt'ndcrcd, .July 2()tli, l(i2!),
to tli<' lMii;iis)i licet, f()iinii.'iii(l<'(l l»y Adiiiii-al Kirkc,* .'i
I'l-fiicli CiiKinist, who lu-ou^lit CMiumijl.'iiii Jiiid tlio
i'laiiciscan .'ind .Icsuit pri(>sts witli liiin to Kn»;'l}in(l, IVoin
wliciicc tlu-y saik'd for Fi'ance, arriviiio- tlioro October
2!lth, 1()2!).

'I have foUowetl the modern spelling of the name as more familiar
to Knglish readers. Tliere were three brothers of the Kirkea. David,
the admiral, Louis and Tliomas, captains of vessels in the fleet. Thej'
were all horn at Dieppe, and were of vScotch extraction on tlie father's
side.

]

:■■

I :

CHAITKR VII.

AfJAIX WITH THE IllKOXS.

(Quebec delivered to the French — The TViesta leuve for Huronia — The
Voyage — iWehcuf abundoned — Arrives at the Village of the lluroiis
— Daniel and Davost Devotion of the Fathers Tlie Medicine Men
— Opposition to the I'rieste — Their Home Life- Curiosity of the
Indiana — The Magnet and the Clock,

Ox tlio 29th of March, 1().S2, hy the tonus of the ti'oaty
entered into between Eno;lan(l and France, Canada was
ceded to tlie hitter countr}'. Emery de Caen lianded to
Louis Kirke tlie lettei-s patent of Cliarles I. of Enj^hmd.
commanding Kirke to evacuate the Fort, and on tlie
18th July, UuV2, Caen, accompanied by Fathers Paul Le
Jeune and De None,* who sailed with him from Honlleur,

* Father De None, before entering the Society of Jesus, was a page
at the French Court. On the 30tli January, lt)40, he left Three Rivers
to hear the confessions of the French soldiers guarding the Fort at the
mouth of the Richelieu, accompanied by two soldiers and an Indian.
As the 8t. Lawrence was frozen solid and covered with snow, they
started on snow shoes, and after travelling eighteen miles camped for
the night on the shores of Lake St. Peter. Father De ^'^oue awoke
about two o'clock in the morning, and as the French soldiers with him,
unaccustomed to snow shoes, were greatly fatigued, he thought, in the
generosity of his nature, that he would strike out alone for the Fort
and send men to assist them in carrying their baggage. He lost his
way and perished from exposure. When his body was found, his hat
and snow shoes lay at his side. He was in kneeling posture, his eyes

A(iAIN WITH TIIK IllJUONS.

(j;{

riitcrcd \\\)n\\ |H)ssoH,si()ii ol' fclic city. 'I'lic I'ol lowing- ycur,
M.iv l'\vi\. Kutlicrs llrclH'ul" and MasHc* ai-rivctl witli
( 'liaiiiplai!!, and tlic Katlu'i's l)roaii aiu^w to cast liopdul
looks to the land ol' the Hurons. Owiii^' to tlic o})])o-
sition of tile Aln-oiKjuiiis ol' the Ottawa, wlio rel'usi'd
pMssa^v throui^li their eountry to the Freneh traders, the
missionaries were detained for some time at <^)uehec.
The I'reneii finally puivhascd " rio-ht ol* way" through
till' AlL;\)ni|uin forests, and on 'h\]y thelith, KiMli, Fathers
h.niiel, l)avost,+ and lirebeuf eml)arked with a party of
llurons, and, after weeks of incredible hardshi]»s, at
leiii'th reached their destination. To Davost an<l
Daniel the journey furnislied a foretaste of the rude ex-
|ierience of their future lives amonr^ the tribes. Fatlier

o]ion ami looking u[) to Heiiven, ami lii;s liands clasped on his l)rea.st.
1 1 Ls body waa frozen solid, and rested against tlie bank of snow which
surrounded a circidar excavation he had made, "Thus,'" adds I'ark-
iiian, *' in an act of kindness and charity died the first martyr of the
Canadian Mission."

'Father Edmund Masse, in company with Father liiard, founded, in
I (il I, the Acadian Mission among the Micniacs. This was his second
voyage to Canada, lie was twenty years on the missions, and died at
Sillery, near Quebec, in 104(5, well advanced in years. His grave was
discovered in 1809, and over his sanctified remains the people of
'^Uiebec erected an imposing monument to his memory.

t Father Ambrose Davost came to Canada in lO.'Vi, with Father
Daniel, aad wufi at first appointed to the mission of St. Ann, on the
I^sland of Cape Breton, at tlie entrance of the Gulf of St Lawrence.
W'i find his name also associated with Quebec and M«mtrcal. Threat
eued with scurvy, he sailed for F'rance in 1()4.S, but died on ship-board
an<l was buried at sea.

EAllLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

Diivo.st was al)ai)doiiu(l among tlie Ottawas of Alluinettc
aftei" lie was roblied of most of his l)aggage. Daniel was
suhjected to fre<|uent volleys of brutal jest and obscene
joke, whicli, fortunately for his jieace of mind, he did
not understand. Brebeuf 's companions, landing twenty
miles above the village of Ihonatiria, hid their canoes in
a tamarac swamp, and, plunging into the forest, left him
solitary and alone in the gloom of approaching night.
" After they had left me," he writes, " I fell upon my
knees to thank the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph for the
favors and blessings accorded me on our long voyage. I
saluted the Guardian Angel of this land, and I com-
mended myself to our Saviour, feeling sure that he wouM
not now abandon me, since he had preserved me to the pre-
sent." Rising from his devotions, he hid his baggage in
the woods, foun<l, after some difficulty indications of a
trail, and after following its windings for some time, he
came upon the ruins of the village of Toanche.* Night
was falling, and the solitary priest stood for a moment to
gaze upon the few posts that were left of the rude chapel,
where he had so often said mass. After some moments
of meditation, he took up the trail, which led him to the

1 <

*This word is spelled with many variations. Sagard has it Toan-
chen. Father Hrebeuf spells it Toanche, Toachim, TeandeoniaL.
Charlevoix, Otoucha. Father Le Caron opened the mission of St.
Nicholas here, and when he dedicated Upper Canada to St. Joseph,
he called the entrance to the bay of Penetanguishene, near which the
town of Toanche was built, Port St. Joseph.

AOAIN WITH THE IirilOXS.

()5

villaiio of Ilioiiatiria. Wlieii liis arrival was iiiado known,
his i'oniier neoijlivtcs and Iiis friends of tlie village ruslicd

It/ o

to welcome liini. "So you have come ayain, l^^clion, my
ii('])]u'W, my hrotlier, my cousin, you are with us once
more. For a lon^' time we have expected 3'ou ; Echon is
come ag'ain ; our crops will now flourish, for he will pro-
tect them." Brel)euf was kindly entertained by Awan-
(loay, a man of much importance in the villai^e, witli
whom he remained some weeks, awaitinf^ nervously the
arrival of his priestly comjtanions. At last they came :
Father Daniel worn out with watchini:^ and spent with
fatiii'uo; Davost famished an<l thin to emaciation. Awan-
doay received tliem as his o-uosts,mass was a<,^ain ottered
up, a Te ])eum chanted, and for the third time tiie
"Mission of the Hurons " was hegun, never aoain to
l>e inteiTupted till the last of the Hurons had left the
IVninsula. The Fathers, scarcely ji;'ivino- themselves
time to recover from the fati^-ue of their journey, be^-an
at once the erection of a log Imilding, which served
tlu'm foi- house and chapel. Day after day, in tlie
frosts of winter, and in the burning heat of sununer,
these men of God went from village to village, from hut
to hut, censuring vice, correcting abuses, and patiently
taming, by the iniluence of their teaching and exam]>le.
tliL' savage natures around them. At every op))oi-tunity
they gatliered the children together, and, clothed in sur-

EARLY MISSIONS IX WESTEHN C^ANADA.

■•

plicc jind harettn, for fijreater soloniiiity, tiiiii^difc tliciii
tlie " Our Fatlier," the cliildrcii re])eiitiii*^' it ai'tcr thoin.
In laii^-uao-o suitod to their uiulerstaiKlinr,', lircheiif in-
structed them in tlie conunandnients, and witli words ol'
oncouraovment, accompanied with some trillino- ])rescnts,
dismissed them for tlie time. Later on he miolit be seen,
encircled by a curious crowd of warriors, Saoamores and
Sijuaws, explaining- tlie mysteries of religion, descrilnno-
lieaven and hell, and picturing with all tlu; strength of
his vigorous elo(|uence the horrors of eternal fire and the
tortures of the dannied, till their hardened hearts (piailed
in the presence of the verbal picture of their approaching
doom. The success which attended the preaching of
Hrcbeuf alarmed the " Medicine Men " of the tril)e, and
they publicly charged the Fathers with conspiring to
blight their crops by suspending for weeks the rain in
the heavens. They said the cross which was planted
before the residence of the Fathers, was a fetich, oi* in-
strument of witch-craft, find threatened to destroy it.
Brebeuf, after petitioning St. Joseph, and asking tlie
prayers of his two companions, met the Medicine Men in
a council of Sachems, and succeeded in convincing the
chiefs that neither the Fathers nor the cross were respon-
sible for the drought. The Fathers arrived in tlie Huron
countiy in 1634, and in the following year Fathers Fierre
Pijart and Francis Le Mercier came, and with t'ds

1 \

ui( .

A(iAIN WITH THE HUUONS.

addition to liis iiuiuIkm's, Fatlu'i' Hrebont' was aUlc to cx-
tt'iid liis tield oHabors. Notliing could Ix' iiion^ apostolic
than the life which they led. " All their moments,"
wiites Charlevoix, "were marked by some heroic action,
l»y conversions or ]>y sntterings, which they C(^nsideretl
us a real iiKk'nniity when their lal»ors ha<l not produced
all the fruit which they had hoped for. From the hour
of four in the niornin«r, when the}'' rose, till eight, they
oeiierally remained within : this was the time for ]ii-ayer,
and the only part of the day which they had for their
pi'ivate exercises of devotion. At eight each went
whithersoever his duty called him : some visited the sick,
others walked into the tields to see those who were cul-
tivating the earth, others repaired to the neighboring
villages which were destitute of pastors. These excur-
sions answered many good purposes, for in the iirst place
no children, or least ver}' few, died without baptism ;
even adults, who had refused to receive instruction while
in health, applied for it when they were sick. They
were not proof against the ingenious and indefatigable
charity of their physicians." The missionaries live<l with
their spiritual children, adopted their mode of life, in so
far as it was possible, shared their privations, accompan-
ied them in their fishing and hunting expeditions, and
became all to all that they might gain their souls for
Christ. In the simple Indians many of the articles which

I i

EAllLV MISSIONS IX WESTERN CANADA.

}

tlu* F.'itliers Itrounlit with tliein tVoni QucTk'c excited
wonder {iiid deli*;-lit. There was the conipass whose needle
was animated by a spirit tliat was never hjqipy but
when looking to the nortli. They addressed it in endear-
ing terms, and piifted tol)acco smoke upcm it to invoke
its good-will in their behalf. The mill for grinding corn
they turned unceasingly, patting it the while lovingly
on the sides. There was the magnifying glass that to
their astonishment. enlari<e<l a hwr till it assumed the
size of a caribou. The multiplying lense whicli po.ssessed
the mysterious power of changing a single bead into a
wampum belt. The magnet that when breathing drew
to itself a neighboring neelle, and the pi'ison that re-
fracted and dellected the light of the sun-Ciod. But
the clock which stood on the shelf in the priests' ^Tigwam,
was to them an insoluble mystery, and the greatest spirit
of them all. In crowds thev aathered around it, warriors,
chiefs, s(juaws, children an<l old men. They listened to
its ticking, the beating of its heart, asked what it fed on,
and did it ever slee]i : and when it struck, they started
in terror, as if its s]iirit was about to stalk through their
midst. The Fathers had finally to establish regulations
for the Indians, so dense became the crowd. At twelve
they feasted their visitors on sagamite, and at four the
doors of their wigwam wei'e closed. When the " Captain,"
as tliey began to call the clock, struck twelve, he ordei-ed

A(JAIN WITH THE HMRONS.

tlu- iiiissionaricH to " brin^' out the saj^-amite," and vvlioii
it struck four it told the Indians "to get up and
uo home"— an injunction whicli tliey always ol)eyed.
Tlie Fathers availed themselves of these curiosities to
attract the Indians, and every day for months instructed
the crowds that came from far and near to see the
prodigious wonders.

CHAPTER Vlll.

THE JESUIT AND THE IIURONS.

!■!■

K.iLher .fogiics -ITis Arrival in the Country — FiCaves for Huronia — DilH-
culties of the Voyage — Hrcbeuf's letter — Jogues' arrival in Huronia
— The Drought— Tlie Medicine Men and tlie Red Cross -The Epid-
emic — The I'riests charged with Conspiracy — The Chiefs in Coun-
cil— Koldoess of Brebeuf — The Council Dissolved — Priest and Assas-
sin — Doomed to Death— ^Waiting for the "(Jiear Call."

TowAiiDS the end of the year 1G35 Fathers Daniel mid
Davost returned to Quebec, bringing with them three
boys wliom they proposed to place in a Huron school
which they intended to found, that some of the young
Hurons might be trained up in religion and the arts of
life. On the Ottawa river they met Fathers Garnier
and Chastelain, who had left Quebec a few days before
in company with Amons, a chief of the Hurons, and em-
barked for the Northern missions. When the priests
reached Three Rivers, Father Jogues, who had shortly
before arrived from France, was there to receive them.
He was amazed at the povert^'^ and outward wretchedness
of the missionaries. " They were," said he, in a letter
to his mother, " barefooted and exhausted, their under-
clothes worn out, and their cassocks hanging in rags on

their emaciated bodies ; yet their faces were expressive

THE JKSUl'l' AND 11 IK UrilOXS.

nl" coiitiMit !iii<l sjitisl'iiction with tlie life wliicii tliey led,
uud excited in me, botli l)y their looks aii<l converKation,
ii desire to <fo aii<l share witli them tlie crosses to which the
Lord attached such unction." The desire of tlie illustri-
ous Triest, the future martyr of the Mohawks, was soon
to he ^'ratified. A party of Huron braves, on their de-
liai'ture fi'om Quel)CC for their forest homes, asked Jog'ues
to accom]>any them ; and having- received permission of
l-ather Le Jeune,* Superior of the Missions of Canada,
lie o-ot ready for the voyage. It was not without a cer-
tain feeling of emotion, that barefooted he took his place
in the bireh canoe, and with his swarthy companions
lit'cau the ascent of the o-reat river. Father Jo^-ues, in a

;~> c^ C7>

sense, was familiar with the difficulties of his perilous
voyage, from the instructions and wise counsels addrcss-
(•(l by Ih-ebeuf to the Fathers at Quel tec. " Easy as the
journey may appear," writes this model of missionaries,
"it will, however, present difficulties of a formidable nature
to the heart that is not strengthened by self-denial and
mortification. The activity of his Indian companions
will neither shorten the portages, make smooth tlu* rocks,
nor banish danger. The voyage will take at least tliree

* Father Paul Le Jeune arrived at (Quebec on the 5th of July, 103*2.
He was a convert from Calvinism and took an active part in the cstab-
lishiuent of the Canadian missions. He was Superior of the Order in
this country for fifteen years, and was the author of the " Relations"' ap-
pearing from 1032 to 1042. It was Father Le Jeune who preached the
funeral oration of Champlain. He died at the age of 72 in 1(5()4.

I .(:

KAIll.Y MISSIONS l\ WKS'IKUN CANADA.

or four vviHjks, witli ('oiiipaiiions whom lio porlui[)s iiuver
Ix't'oro iiiut ; \\v, will Ijc coiiHucd within tJic Hiiiit of Ji
hiirk canoe, Jind in m, position .so painful and inconvenient
tluit lie will not he free to change it without exposing-
the canoe to the danger of heing capsized, or injured on
the rocks. During the day the sun will scorch him, and
at night the mos([uitoes will allow him no repose. After
ascen<Iing six or seven rapids his only meal will be of
Indian corn steeped in water, his bed will be the earth,
or a jagged or uneven rock. At times the stars will bo
his blanket, "and around him, night and day, perpetual
silence." On the eleventh of Septembei", KiSG, Jogues
arrived in the village of Ihonatiria, where were the
mission of St. Joseph and the residence of the Fathers.
Needless to say that he was received with open arms.
The sunnuer of 1030 was an exceptionally dry one. The
drought extended far and near, but seemed to have been
felt more keenly in the village in which the Fathers were
living and its surroundings. The Indians had recourse
without success to their customary expedients to invite
the rain. At length a " Me<licine Man " famous for his
invocations was appealed to, to bringdown the showers;
lie replie<l, that he could not, that the thunder-bird was
frightenetl away by the llaming color of the cross planted
before the Frenchman's cabin. The chiefs of the village
waited upon Brebeuf, and thus addressed him : "My
nephew, we will die of famine if the rain does not come,

THE .lESl'IT AND 'i'lIE JUHONS.

H
Z
m

TJ
O

:o
H
>
O
m

i
1

f! i'

EARLY MISSIONS IX WKSTEUN CANADA.

i :<

i:|

yon .surely do not vvisli our deutli ; t.'ikt' down tho cross
and iiidi! it in your culun t)r sink it in tho luki.^ so that
the tluinder-l>ird will not bo fri^litened, and after we have
gathered our corn, you can put it up again." Tlie priest
replied that the Author of life had died ujion the cross,
and that he would not remove it, adding that tlie cross
and its color had nothing to do with the rain; he yielded
so far, however, as to paint the cross white, and the rain
still holding off, tlie Hurons were convinced that the
color of the cross had nothing to do with the drought.
Father Brebeuf then called the chiefs and people togeth-
er, asked them to go down upon their knees and join
with him in a prayer to the Author of rain and sunshine.
That evening copious showers fell, continuing the whole
night, and when morning broke the effect was greater
than all the sermons the Fathers had been preaching
during their stay among the Hurons. Appearances were
now assuming a fair complexion, and, while the Fathers
had made comparatively few converts they were per-
mitted to baptize the dying children, and to their dis-
courses a more patient hearing was given, when there
happened an event which proved almost disastrous to
them. An epidemic had visited the tribes and swept off*
large numbers, and the Hurons, who were of an incon-
stant and fickle nature, began to charge the Fathers with
being the authors of their misfortune. They claimed
that in the cabin of the priests was hidden a dead body

THE JESUIT AND THE Hl'IlONS.

which was t\m cause of all their iniseiy, and that the
iiTuat miinher of children who had been taken otl'ltv the
epidemic was owing" t<j their sorceries. The missionaries,
tliey sai<l, stabbed a chihl to death in the woods with
awls. (Others amon«^ them believed that a hideous ser-
pent or some other animal, whose lu'eath spread pestil-
ei)ce, was hidden in a barrel in the priests' cabin, '^i'hey
ordered the clock to be stopped, saying' that every time
it struck it marked the death of a Huron. Even the
weather vane on the house of the priests excited their
suspicion, for to whatever direction it ])ointed, it meant
death to the sick. A painting in the chapel, represent-
ing- the sutteringof the damned, alarmed them, the Hames
were the burning fever which devoured theii- dying, and
the demons, monsters that held them in the throes of
disease until they were dead. If similar accusations were
brought against one of their " Medicine Men," a blow
of a hatchet would have emphasised the charge, but the
fear of oti'ending the French in Quebec, stayed the hand
of the assassin. Moreover, the missionaries were to them
extraordinary men, and even after death might revenge
themselves upon the tribe. However, the excitement
continued, and Brebeuf, dreading that these accusations
and calunniies would end disastrously to the mission, en-
tered on a bold course. He summoned a meeting of the
chiefs, declaring that he had an important communica-
tion to lay before them. The council met in the open

EAIILY MISHION'S IN WESTERN CANADA.

I' ,11' I

13 '!

jiii', surr<)UU<U'(l ])y a ^a})inf( crowd of woinon, yoim^^irls
uinl ciiildren, (l(iVoiin'<l with curiosity to see wluit the
" J^hick Kobes" were J^oing to do. Jirebcut' opened tlie
inoetiu^ with a present of tobacco. After the pipes were
lio'lited he began his ad(h*ess ; in a voice bold and distinct,
he unfolde<l to tlwui tlie daily life of tlic missionaries
since they came among the'»i, and tlie reason of their,
cominjif. " Have we not left our countrv, our friends and
relations, in order to dwell with you, to instruct 3'ou, to
teach you to love and serve the Great Spirit, so that you
may escape the punishment of the dannied, and merit
the reward of eternal happiness ?" He recalled to their
memories the sacrifices the priests had made in their be-
half, their zeal for their welfare and their devotion to
their sick during the contagion. He was heard with at-
tention, and was gaining their sym])athy w^hen suddenly
a warrior broke in and invited the chiefs to a feast. A
Huron was never yet known to resist an invitation to a
meal, and before Brebeuf could finish his discourse they
were all gone. The plague continued, and as it threat-
ened to become a national calamity, a general council
was summoned, to which Brebeuf was invited. He was
advised by a friend that things had assumed a very
threatening complexion. Twenty-eight towns w^ere re-
presented at this council, at which the priests were pub-
licly charged with being the authors of their misfortune.
No one had the courage to speak in their behalf. Bre-

THE .IKSl'IT AM) 11 IK IIUIIOXS.

licul" rose, claimin;^ liis ri^rlit to speak as an invited
(^ut'st, and Itepm to reply to their eliai'^i^es. Alto\'e the
connnotion, the discordant noises and protestations caused
hy his hardihoo<l, Ihvheufs voici- rose, hrandin*,^ their ac-
cusations as caliuunies. " Vou arc a liar," said one, " a
sorcerer, and you ou^ht to 1)e killed." U you <lo nothe-
•jieve nie," said the man ol' («o<l with characteristic cool-
ness, "send some one to our cabin, search it throu«;hout,
and if you think I am deceivino* you, take our thin^^s
iuid throw thwni into the lake."

He then explained to them that the })est was a con-
tagious disease, and spi-ead itself accor«lin<if to the hiws of
nature. Then, with a hardihoo<l hordering on temerity,
he claimed that (iod was ])unisliin<^ them for their sins.
The meeting lasted until midnight and broke up without
taking any action. Upon leaving the tent, an old war-
rior shouted out, "Jf some one would split your head,
none of us would regret it." Night was on the land, and
already (hirkness was slowly shrouding tent and cal>in
when Brebeuf moved out into the open. From the festal
lodge came the croaking gutturals of the host boasting
ills valorous deeds to the applauding " hos ! — bravos " of
his gluttonous guests. '^I'he priest passed on through a
noisy crowd of men and S(|uaws, restless, screeching
children and chattering old hags. Knots of Indians,
their faces dark with dejection and terror, shot hatred
at him from under scowling brows. Whispering groups

EAIILV MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

of Huron inaideiis ^^azed after him as a man doomed
to dcatli. Brel>euf, buried in serious thouf^ht, strode
onward wlien, as lie passed a Iodide on the outskirts of
tlie village, a moan, as of a man in agony, almost at his
very ear, awoke him from his reveries. He stopped to
listen, and, as he did so, to his feet there rolled a trunk-
less hea<l — as cleanly severe<l from the body as if by the
knife of tlu! guilhjtine. The priest turned, and was con-
fronted by a tall, lanky savage, coolly wii)ing with his
thumb an<l finger the 1)lood from his hatchet. Believing
the savage had taken another for himself, Brebeuf, with
chfiractei'istic intre])idity, acldrcssed him, " ])id you in-
ten<l that blow for me ? " he cahnly asked. " No," answer-
ed the other, "you may pass on, this man was a miser-
able sorcerer and I thought it was time for him to leave
the country." Brebeuf returne(l to his priestly compan-
ions, doubting the truth of the Huron's speech. The
storm, however, had not passe<l over. An attempt was
ma<le to burn the cabin of the mission, es, and a band
of young warriors of the Ik'ar tribe, in secret session de-
termined to kill tliem as soon as the elders would leave
for the autinnn fishing. Towards the end of October,
the niission.'iries received orders to appear in person be-
fore another council, which was hastily called. "Come
(piickly," said the messenger, "you are as good as dead
men."

The Fathers believing that their houj- had come,

THE JESUIT AND THE HU JiOXS.

iVained a joint letter, wliich exists to-day, to hear wit-
ness to their won<lert'ul faith, Immility, zeal and heroic
coniage.* A singular custom obtained anion^ the Hur-
ous from time innnemorial. Everv man who thouLdit
lie was about to die, before leaving* this life invited
iiis relatives, his friends, and even his executioners,
to his farewell feast, which was known among them as
Atrataion. It marked a defiance of death, and was sup-
posed to give to the living an exaniple of l)ravery on the
part of the dying man. Brebeuf, l)elieving that their
hour had come, deemed it advisable to conform to this
custom. He wished to give an example of Christian
eharity, more powerful than death and stronger than
hate, and to convince them that the " IJlack Roljes" were
as brave as then^selves, since they voluntarily surrend-
ered themselves to those who were clamoring for their
lives. On occasions of this kind, the host, instead of
partaking of food, entered upon, in a loud voice, a recital
of the valorous deeds and brave actions in which he
ligured, the guests meatitime devouring his substance
and shouting out their applause. Father Brebeuf, dis-
daining to allude to the heroism of his life, spoke of God
find the hereafter. During his whole discourse not one
word of a])probation escape) I the lips of his savage
audience. A mournful silence settled down ui)on them,

*8ee appendix.

f .

E.viiLv Airssroxs iiV wksteux canada.

.'111(1 wliilc tlie prit'sfc was continuing tliey, one l>y one,
vanished. BrebeuF and his brother priests, "doomed
to deatli, yet fated not to die," returned to the mission
house at Ossossane, where they prepared themselves for
sacritice." The next (hiy passed, night came on, and
JiiorninjT broke a^rain, findino- tliem prostrate on their
i<nees, and offering to (Jod the sacrifice of their lives.
Hour after hour, tliey lived in momentary expectation
that the " clear call " would surely come, and yet the
messenger of death tarried. The Hurons, for some un-
accountable reason, laid down the murderous hatchet,
and it was never again taken up seriously by the tribe
against the missionaries.

11 i

! (i

CHAFTEll IX.

FEAST OF THE DEAD.

riie Mclipse- Krebeiif Adopted by the Tribe— Narrow Escapes-TJie
(eiisu.s Feast of the Dead— Manner of Private Interment— Com-
munal Burial— (lathering of the Tribes— Burial Cerenionies— Last

Scone.

Oxtlie ovciiin*,^ of tlie 31st December, 1G37, the moon
slioiie witli unusual splendor, when presently it was seen
to apparently fade from the heavens, and darkness set-
tled down on the Huron towns. Suddenly, and as if
uvcicome with awe and fear, tlie inhabitants of Ossoss-
.(iie ovithered around the priest's wi^'wam.and sunnnoncd
I'.ivhcuf to appear. " Eehon," said one of tlie chiefs,
• tliou hast spoken the truth ; thou art very powerful,
and know the future that is hidden from us." It ap-
pears that Father Brebeuf announced the lunar phenom-
enon some time ])efore, told them of the signs that
would accompany it, its commencement, its duration, and
its end. Everything happened as he pre<licted, and th(^
Hurons, stupefied with amazement, believed that the
missionaries were in league with supenial ])owers, and
therefore' worthy of respect in the eyes of all. At a
council which was convened the following day, Father

lit ''

n I

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

Hi'('])eiir wjis (ra/L'tte<] ;i captain of tlio tribe, a singular
and (listiiioiiislu'd liojior, and pennission was given to
liiin and the other Fatliers to carry on tlieir work of
teaching whenever and wlierever tliey pleased. But
even after tliis promise, while no tribal action was
tnken against thein, there were occasional individual
attempts on their lives from which they escaped as if
by a miracle. One day at Ossossand, Father du Peron
was flung to the ground by a 3'oung warrior who lifted
his tomahawk to brain him, when a woman standing by
rushed to his rescue and saved his life. The admirable
self-possession of 1^'ather llagueneau alone stood between
him and death. A pagan Huron, thinking that the
little skull which w^as attached to the cross pendant
from his l)eads, was a dangerous annilet, snatched the
crucifix from the breast of the priest. The Father
closed with him, determined to save the crucifix from
})rofanation, and the savage, breaking away, glared at
him ferociously, and brandished 'lis tomahawk to lay
open his skull. Haguencau stood in his tracks, sternly
looked him in the eye, as if daring him to strike, and
the Huron, awed by his won<lrous self-possession, re-
coiled, con(iuered by the fearlessness of the priest.
Another day Father Le Mercier* w^as speaking to a

'Father Francis Le iMercicr arrived in (i)uebcc in 1035, and almost
immediately proceeded to the Huron missions. He received the title
of Chaumose from the Hurons. He was for six years Superior of the

BUST OF THE PRIEST DE BREBEUF.

>S4

KAHLV MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

.']

miinber of savages in a wigwam in the village of St.
Louis when suddenly a chief of some importance en-
tered, an<l began to overwiielm him with reproaches and
insults. Infuriated by the calnniess and silence of the
priest, he snatched a burning torch, and hurling it at
liim, exclaimed, " Some day we w^ill burn you alive."
Le Mercier met the torch and the insult without moving
from his position, till the Indian, marvelling at his forti-
tude, witlidrew in silence. There were now nine priests
on the Huron missions, viz., Fathers Brebeuf, Le Mercier,
Chastelain, Ciarnier, Jogues, Ragueneau,* Duperon, Le
Moyne and Jerome Lalemant, who acted as Superior.
Five were stationed at OssossanC^, and four, liaving at
their head Father Brebeuf, dwelt at Teanaustayae, who
likewise attended to the mission of St. Michael and St.

Cinadian missions, went on a visit to the Onondagas, and wrote an
exceedingly interesting relation of his stay among them. On return-
ing to France, he was sent to the West Indies, and died a most holy
death. f\ither Le Mercier was the author of many of the " Relations
of the Jesuits," and was held in reverential respect and esteem, not
only for his exalted virtues, but also for his scholarship and practical
connnon sense.

*Father Paul Ragueneau came to Canada in 1G36, and left for tiio
Huron country in the following year, where he remained until 1(550,
when he relumed to Quebec as leader of the miserable remnant of the
Hurons, who had taken refuge on Chiistian Island. For sixteen years
after his return he devoted himself to the conversion of the Iro<(uois
and the wandering Hurons. He returned to France, and died at Paris,
i^rd September, KJSO, at the age of 75 years. He wrote tlie Relations
of 1649, U)50, 1(151 an<l 1652,

FEAST OF THE DEAD.

&■>

I^aiatiiis. In tlie ineaiitiiiio FutluT l^'elxnif (HHiijtletod
his dictionary and grainniar. In tliis yi'ar, 1()3S, the
Katlier.s took the census of the Huron country. It was
late in the .autumn, and the Indians Imd I'eturned from
their hunting and fishing expeditions. Two by two the
missionaries traveUed from one end of tlie land to tlie
other, taking note of the nund»er of villages, counting
the people and making topographical maps. On return-
ing, they compared notes, and the results showed .S2
villages, 700 lodges, 2,000 fires, and 12,000 persons, wlio
cultivated the soil, fished in Lake Huron, and hunted in
the surrounding woods. The population since Champ-
Iain's time, forty years before, had dwindled by continual
wars and murderous epidemics to less than one-half.*
Ill this year occurred the decennial " Burial of the Dead,"
when from all parts of Huronia the tribes and families
came together with the bones of their dead for final
interment. Father Brebeuf, who was present at this
great cantonal burial, has left us a detailed description.
" Our Indians," he writes, " in the duties and respect to-

*The map which Father Brebeuf made of the country was unfortun-
ately lost, but, in all probability, the one drawn by Father Ducreux in
lOGO, and inserted in his *' History of Canada," published in 1(J()4,
was a duplicate of Father Brebeuf's. It is hard to understand why
Cliarlevoix ignored the existence of Ducreuv's map. Belin's chart
winch Charlevoix inserts in his valuable work, is defective, and leaves
out the Huron towns marked on the miniature chart, which is the
complement to Ducreux's.

EARF.V MISSIONS IX WESTERN CANADA.

wards th" (ltii<l alid in tlu; (li'cmcy tlicy oliservc in tlic
pructicfs licM sacri'd in the country, an; not ltoIiin<l
many ol* our civili/ed nations. One would tliink tliat
tlie lal>or tliry enj^oiocd in and the traHic tliey under-
took wei-e done to acijuire tlie njoans wlierewith to pay
distin^uislied lionor to tlieir dead. The prodi^-iouH (|uan-
tities of t'ui's, hateliets and wampum, and, in fact, the
wealth of tlie country aic fathered for years for this
^reat hurial ceremonial. I have .seen many of them <^o
almost naked, even in winter, while hanging in their
tents wei-e \alual)le furs which they were reserving as
]ire.sents for their dead." Among the Hurous w(;re two
kinds of burials, the one temporary and of a jirivate
nature, at which ordy assi.sted the members of the family
and intimate friends of the deceased ; the other, which
took place every ten or twelve years, wasccnnmunal and
final, and was the liomage the whole nation paid to tho.se
who had died in the meantime. When the funeral was
private, the dead Indian wms wrapped in furs and en-
closed in a bark cotHn ; then, amid tears and lamen-
tations, the body was borne to the burial place. Here
already hail been prepared an aerial platforiii supported
on four posts, where the body remained until the " feast
of the dead." Some families preferred the earth to the
scaffold, and l)rouglit tlieir dead to the margin of a
stream, wiiere they

FEAST OF THE DEAD.

Prepared the hollow tomb, and placed him low,
His trusty bow and arrow by his side ;
For long the journey is tliat he must go,
Without a partner and without a guide.

This national ])urial was an event of ^vvat iniport-
iiiico to the ti'ihe, at which every member deemed liim-
self reli<;i()Usly hound to he present. As tlie time ap-
jiroached for the connnnnal burial, runners were sent
(tut to inform the distant tribes or isolated families, tell-
ing them of the (hiys appointed for the " Great Feast."
livery family bef^an now to prepare for the memoi'abh'
event. The dead were reinoved from the elevated plat-
forms, the flesh scraped from the bones, and the remains
wi-apped in precious furs. At a given signal the mem-
bers of the family began tlieir melancholy journey to-
wards the appointed burial place; they moved solenndy
and slowly, the women sobbing and Khe<lding sympath-
etic tears, the men in silence, and the march regulated
with almost military precision. The great grave pre-
paivd for the occasion was generally an oblong square,
eight or nine yards in length and about three in depth.
As each family arrived, it reverentially placed the bones
of its dead on a raised stage near the grave, and from
which the tribal orators at stated intervals were to de-
liver the panegyrics. In the meantime men were em-
ployed lining the grave with furs reserved for the
occasion. Beaver robes, skins of bear and elk, and furs

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

of otlh'i' uniinals, to tlic miiiilx'i' of live or six liundr<Ml,
were ('in])luy('<l for the purpose. Tlie deeonitions tiii-
islied, the families of tlie tribes, eacli in order, came
forward, and placed by tlu^ grave their ott'erings for the
dead, ami articles considered useful for the souls in their
wanderings in the othei- world. Hatchets, arrowdieails,
carved ])ipes, belts of wampum, collars and bracelets
fashioned from shell and porcupine ([uills, and kettles
ready to be slung over the fire lay in heaps around.
These preparatory ceremonies completed, the l>ones of
the dead were then borne to the innnense grave, ten-
derly received by famous warriors chosen for the occa-
sion, and laid to rest, never again to be disturbed. Over
the bones a covering of furs was then spread, the grave
filled in, and to prevent it from being disturbed by ani-
mals, stones were heaped upon it, and a staked fence
of cedar uprights built around. After this the dead
were supposed to enter upon their journey to the land
of souls far beyond the setting sun.

" To the islands of the Blessed,
To the kingdom of Ponemah,
To the land of the hereafter,"

and where, according to their deserts, they received
their rewards or punishments.

h i

CHAPTER X.

IIEIKHSM OF THE PRIESTS.

Kesitlcnce Sainte Marie — The Tobacco Nation— Jogtics and (Jarnier —
Their Journey to the Petuns — The " Bhick Sorcerers " — On tlie
Margin of Death — Return to the Hurons — Jogiies and Rayml)ault
—Their Voyage to Lake Superior— Smallpox among the Hurons —
Heroic Devotion of the I'riests —Threats of Violence— Council of
tlie Chiefs— Brebeuf's Harangue.

1 1' \vji8 at fiifst tlie intention of the uiissioiiaries to estab-
lish periiianeiit missions in the principal Hui'on towns,
Imt when the epidemic decimated the village of Ihona-
teria, and compelled its inhabitants to seek another and
healthier locality, the Fathers divided themselves be-
tween the town of Ossossane, which they called " Con-
ception," and that of Teanaustayae, to which they gavci
the name of "St. Joseph," in memory of their first mission
at Ihonateria. The establishment of these two missions,
however, did not Ci\mi\ their expectations, nor were they
sufficient for the wants of the country. They became
satisfied that a permanent and central residence, isolated
from the Huron towns, and which would serve as their
hea(l< quarters for northern Canada, was a necessity.
They chose a solitary piece (^f ground north-east of the
Huron peninsula, on the banks of what is now known as
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23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

ts'A

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

the River Wye, overlooking the present town of Pene-
tanguishene. A chain of buildings, including a large
chapel, an extensive residence and a hospital, built on
solid stone foun<lations, rose in the midst of the country
of the Attasonchronons, who beheld with astonishment
and delight the growth of those wondrous buildings that
would never stop till they pierced the clouds. When
the series of buildings was completed they dedicated
them to the Blessed Virgin, under the title of " Residence
Sainte Marie."* The Fathers, who were now eight in
number, had already visited every Huron town, and
were in most of them hospitably received and invited to
return. It cannot be said that their success was com-
mensurate with their hopes, but with a sublime confi-
dence in God, and a constancy as heroic as it was admir-
able, they continued their missionary labors. The wis-
dom of their action in establishing this residence now

* The foundations of this building still remain, and though over-
grown with weeds and underbush, may yet be distinctly traced.
Major Henry H. (Iray, of the Government Staff of Civil Engineers, ex-
pressed to me his surprise that the Jesuits had succeeded in manufac-
turing a cement ec^ual to the best Portland, and the secret of which
seems to have been lost. On Christian Island, the foundations of
their buildinij; were laid in liydraulic cement, that to this day excites
the wonder of engineers and contractors. In ((uality, this cement is
much like the Virnt, a standard article, manufactured and much used
in France. The distance was too great, and the transportation too
difHcult for the Jesuits to have brought the cement from pjurope, con-
secjuently, the raw material must have been discovered at or near the
mission and manufactured on the spot.

IIEIIOISM OF THE I'illE^iTS.

became apparent. New missions were opened, converts
began to increase, and hope dawned anew for these de-
voted men. Among the mountains, at the liead of Not-
tawassaga Bay, forty-eight liours journey from the
Huron towns, dwelt the Tionnontates, known to the
Frencli as Petuns or Tobacco nation, from the large
({uantities of tobacco raised by them for the j^urposes of
trade with neighboring tribes. In the montli of Decem-
ber, 1()39, Fathers Jogues and Garnier, unable to obtain
a guide among tlie Hurons, fearlessly plunged into the
forest, and, after three days and niglits of incredible
hardships, entered at eight o'clock in the evening, the
tirst Tobacco town.

They went forth,

Strengthened to suffer — gifted to subdue

The might of human passion — to pass on •

Quietly to the sacrifice of all

Tlie lofty hopes of manhood, and to turn

The high ambition written on their brow,

From the first dream of power and human fame.

The Indians of this town were told that the pest which
had annihilated the town of Ihonateria was brought
al)out by the prayers and incantations of the " Black
Sorcerers," as the Jesuits were known to them. When
the two priests stood on the margin of their village,
l)oldly outlined against the northern sky, terror took
[)ossession of them all. They fled to their cabins, scream-

EAKI.Y MISSIONS IN WKSTEltN CANADA.

fl:

iii^ tliat the demons of " Famine and Pest " were liere to
blight them. The door of every wigwam was closed
against the priests, and nothing but the feeling of fear
and awe which they excited saved them from the deadly
blow of the tomahawk. From town to town they travel-
ed, loaded with curses and maledictions, unable to obtain
a hearing, and on every side meeting with scowling
brows and murderously furtive looks. The children, as
they passed, cried v/ith fear, and from out the cabins
came the pleading of the squaws, appealing to the
young braves to lay open their heads. The priests bore
a charmed life. But finding that the time had not come
to establish a permanent mission among the Petuns, they
returned to Sainte Marie. " Nowhere," adds Parkman,
" is the power of courage, faith and untiinching purposes
more strikingly displayed than in the mission of these
two priests." Their visit was not, however, barren of
results. They became familiar with the joui-ney, learned
something of the habits of the people, and prepared the
way for Father Charles Garnier, who, the following year,
took up his abode with the tribe, and established in their
midst the mission of the Apostles.

In 1641 a deputation of the Ottawas, representing the
great Algoncpiin nation, came down from the shores of
Lake Superior to visit some of their Algoncpiin country-
men, and to be present at their great " Feast of the Dead."
This particular Algoncpiin tribe, now visited by the

HEROISM OK THE PRIESTS.

( )ttciwns, dwelt for some tiineon tli(! inar((in of tlic Huron
(H)untry, witli wliosc people they were on tei-ins of
fjiniiliurity. Father Charles Raynibanlt*, who sjioke
their laiiguao-e fluently, visited them from time to time,
and had already made many converts among them. On
the I7th September, 1()41, accompanied by Father Jogues,

"He died at Quebec, Oct. •2'2nd, 1()42. He was visited on his death-
lied by Mangouch, a chief of the Nipissings, wlio from the day that
Father I'ijart opened a mission among them on the borders of the lake
which bears their name, hospitably entertained the missionaries, but
who continued wedded to his Pagan superstitions, doggedly resisting
all argument and appeal. Mangouch was at Three Rivers when Father
Raymbault was forced to take to ]\is bed. He was strongly attached
to the missionary, whohadrepeatedly tried to convert him. The dying
priest opened his arms to receive him, tbanked him for all his past
kindness, and taking him by the hand said with a trembling voice :
"Mangouch, T am dying. You do not think that I would deceive you
on my death-bed ; believe me, there is an eternal fire reserved for those
who will not believe." The Nipissing had heard these words often be-
fore without being moved, but now, coming from tlie moutli of the dying
priest, they strangely affected him. Day and night they kept ringing
in his ears, till at length he yielded, asked for baptism, and ever aftei-
wards remained a fervent christiaii. Father Raymbault, accompanied
by F'ather Jogues, visited Sault Ste. Marie in l(i40, one year after his
arrival among the Hurons. He and Father Rene Menard were nearly
lost in a storm on the lake when going to the Nipissings, among whom
a mission had l)een opened by Father Claude Pijart early in the year of
1040. He came to Canada in I6S7, and unable to stand the hardships
of missionary life, returned to Quebec afteu a stay of some years in the
Huron country. This distinguished priest, even in failing health, enter-
tained the lofty hope of bearing thecross to she shores of the Ar<!tic Ocean.
He was only 41 years of age at his death. He was the first of the .1 esuits
who died in the country, and through respect for his memory, the
colony decreed that he should be buried in the same tondj with
Champlain.

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

... f,

lie I'eturiied witli tlie Ottawa flotilla and spent sonic
weeks with the tribe, whose villa<^es were planted at
Sault Ste. Marie and in its neighborhood. The two
priests were the first Euro]:)eans that ever passed through
the Sault and stood on the shore of the great Northern
Lake.* " Tlius did the religious zeal of the French,"
writes Bancroft, conunenting on the faitli and daring ol'
the priests, " bear the cross to the bank of the St. Marys
and the confines of Lake Superior, and look wistfully to-
wards the lionies of the Sioux in the valley of the Mis-
sissippi, five yeai-s before the New England Eliot had ad-
dressed the tribe of Lidians that dwelt within six miles of
Boston harbor." The Sachems of the Ottawas invited the
Jesuits to dwell among them ; but the time was not yet
ripe for the establishment of a fixed mission, and the
Fathers returned to St. Marys on the Wye. The con-
stancy and courage of the human heart were, perhaps,
never j)ut to a severer trial than that which the Fathers
experienced when the small-pox broke out among the
tribes. Some Hurons, who were returning from Quebec
at the beginning of autunni, tarried for awhile with an

*Tlie Franciscau historian, Sagard, who wrote ia 1632, says that
P]tieune Brule, the companion of Champlain, left that explorer at
Tonache and started with an associate named Grenolle on a voyage to
the Upper Lakes. On his return to Qaebec, bringing with him a large
ingot of copper, he claimed to have visited the Sault, and gave an ela-
borate description of Lake Superior, but all this information he could
have obtained from the Wild Oats of Lake Michigan, who traded with
the Algon(|uins of the North.

HEROISM OF THE PRIESTS.

Aln'oiKjuiii horde, whicli a sliort time before was ravaged
by the small-pox. On the return ol' the Hurons to their
own country, one of them fell a victim to the dread
disease, and it soon became a fatal leeacv that visited
every tribe and almost every family. The filthy habits
of the Indians, the ott'al and garbage of the camp, that
lay reeking around every wigwam, invited disease, and
as a result, their bodies offered a rich pasturage for the
epidemics that periodically fed upon them. Whole vil-
lages, while the plague lasted, were more like charnel-
houses than homes of living men ; and day after day, for
many a dreary month, men, women and children, from
whose bones the flesh had rotted, sank under the accumu-
lation of their sufferings. The Fathers explained to
them the nature of the disease, insisting that, if they
wished to save themselves, they must separate the sick
from those who were still healthy. The Hurons paid no
attention to .their advice. The plague continued to spread
from village to village, and threatened the destruction
of the nation. The Fathers, seeing their counsels de-
spised, flung themselves heart and soul into the infected
villages, and gave to the Hurons examples of self-denial
and contempt of danger that awakened their surprise and
aroused their suspicions. The most elementary precau-
tions were neglected by the Indians, and, notwithctand-
ing the heroic eftbrts of the missionaries, great numbers
perished. The heroism of the priests in these trying

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

ordeals, provoked tlie aHtoiiisbiiient of tlie Hiirons, whose
stubborn natures yielded but to miracles of self-denial and
contempt of danger. With all the patience and tender-
ness of Sisters of Charity, they went from wigwam to
wigwam, instructing some, consoling others, baptising
those who would receive the sacrament, and to all brinij-
ing consolation and relief. The sufferings they endured
and the hardships they encountered, may be learned
from the letters filed among the archives of their Order.
Even the indomitable Brebeuf, whose chivalric nature
rose superior to complaint, wrote to his Superior in
France, " Let those who come here come well provided
with patience and charity, for they will become rich
in troul)les, — but where will tlie laboring ox go, if he
does not draw the plough, how can there be a har-
vest ? "

The Hurons, in their despair, unable to account for
the existence of the disease, or to understand its wide-
spread diffusion, began to charge the missionaries with
being the authors of their misfortune. " This disease,"
they said, " first appeared near the stone wigwam. They
themselves go everywhere among the sick without catch-
it ; surely they bring it with them, and spread it around
among us. Our only hope is to kill them." The " Sor-
cerers " of the tribe, or " Medicine Men," changed the
Fathers with being the cause of their aflfliction. The
chanting of their sacred litanies, and the ceremonies of

HEROISM OF THE PRIESTS.

tlio mass wore incantations casting a malign spell on the
c)'o})s and people, paralyzing the arm of th(! brave in
war, and desiroying the swiftness of the hunter in the
chase. The threats of violence, which at first were only
heard in whispers, were now pnhlicly proclaimed, and
from threats they proceeded to acts. " They have visited
us in bands," writes Father Lalemant, " entered armed
into our tents, as if to attack some one. They have
already torn down the cross which was on the house.
iSlany of them have lain in wait for us secretly on the
road, intending to kill us. They have snatched from us
our crucifixes, which we carry when visiting the sick,
and some of the Fathers, who endeavored to baptize the
dying, have been badly beaten. Still none of us yet
have sutt'ered death." During this time Father Brebeuf,
who, with Father Chastelain,* had charge of the mission
of St. Joseph, was subjected to pretty rough treatment.

* Father Peter Chastelain arrived in Canada in 16.36. He met a
Huron flotilla at Three Rivers, and arrived at Huronia in 1637. The
Hurons, unable to pronounce the French names, gave to eacli Fatlier
an Indian one. Father Chastelain was known among them as "Arioo,"
Father Daniel as ''Anwennen," Charles Garnier they called " War-
acha," Francis du Peron, " Anonchiara " ; Jerome Lalemant, " Achien-
dasse"; Jogues, " Ondessone " ; Paul Ragueneau, " Aondechete," and
Simon Le Moyne, " Wane." — Relation, 1639; p. 53. Father Chaste-
lain had charge of the missions of St. Louis and St. Denis. He accom-
panied the Hurons in their flight to Christian Island, and descended
with them to Quebec, when they fled to that city. The Relations make
no further mention of him.

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

I'ti I

I '

When lie moved through tlie vilhige, lie was stoned and
beaten, but this abuse seemed only to increase his zeal.
" He neglects," says Father Lalemant, " no opportunity
of helping these unfortunate peo])le, both in soul and
body. The food which he recpiired for his own nourish-
ment he brought to those who were .sick, his thanks very
often were insults, frequently carried to blows. They say
that he is the most powerful and dangerous of the French
sorcerers, and that he is the primary cause of the plague
which is now destroying them." In proportion to the
rough treatment he leeeived, the soul of Brebeuf rose
superior to insult and suffering. He knew neither dis-
couragement nor hesitation and so long as he felt that
he was doing something for the souls of these unhappy
people, he was consoled in his afflictions The dangers
of infection from the plague were trivial compared to the
peril of the tomahawk. Brebeuf and his companions, in
solemn council of the Sachems were condemned to death,
find were only saved, as they piously believed, through
the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph.
Amid all the discomforts and privations of savage life,
the Fathers were sustained by a holy enthusiasm that
con(|uered all natural fears. When Brebeuf heard that
the sentence of death was passed upon them he strode
fearlessly into the council-house, and, to the amazement
of the chiefs, demanded to be heard. He was master of

HEROISM OF THE PRIESTS.

tlifir L.ii(ua^'e; and, l)ein<;- naturally cloijueut, liarangue<l
tlu' assembly in words so forcible and persuasive as to
ol)tain a reversal of the sentence passed upon the Fathers.
The pla^rue spent itself in a short time, and with it died
out the bitterness against the missionaries.

CHAFTi^ni xr.

i:il

THE XF.UTIIALS.

Their Country— Wealth of Ft rest and Stream— Luxuriant Growth of
Vine and Timber -Variety of Animal Life Birds of Varied Plum-
age — Neutral Origin — Their Habits of Life Physical Develop-
ment -Tattooing —Vapor Baths- Respect for Parents— Develop-
ment of Their Senses— Powers of Endurance— Neutral Women.

At the tiiuu tluit the Jesuit Fatliers liad established
their jiiissions among the Hurons, tlie desohition of forest
stretching from their frontier town to tlie Niagara river
and heyond, was occnpie<l by one of the most powerful
tribes of the great Canadian wilderness. The peninsular
land stretching between lakes Erie and Ontario, and lying
to the south of a line drawn from Toronto to Goderich
was at intervals dotte<l with their villages. No part of
the American continent furni'^hed a more healthy or lux-
uriant growth of stajile timbers. The great American
pine, reaching to the height of sixty or seventy feet,
yielded large (piantities of gum that served the Indian
for seaming his canoe, and dressing his wounds and sores.
Cedars, firs and spruce grew side bj' side with the tam-
arac and hemlock. All over were to be found magnificent
growths of maple, birch and beech. The oak, ash and

100

TIIK NEUTRALS.

101

t'lin, witli tlic wjilnut trcf and swuiiip maple, runiislicd a
safe ivtrcat for a variety of w il<l animals that have lonL'
since (lisaj)[)eare(l. Asjx-ns oi' all sijrts, on whieh tiie
heavers led, hasswood that I'nrnished vahiahle woixl Tor
pivserving the Indian grain, and a speeies of henq), out
of which he made his ropes, grew at convenient distances
from each village. Chestnuts, midberry and hazel trees
grew side hy side with the elder, hawthorn and plum.
Willows and alders drooped over the winding streams.
Wild fruit trees of vast variety, gooseberry, currant and
other fruit-producing bushes covered the sides of the
sloping hills. '^I'he i-aspberry, strawberry and Itlack-
berry plants and wild vines, rich in their wealth of
gi-apes, furnished to the Indians in season abundance
and variety of savage luxuries. Through this rank and
luxuriant growth of tind)er, vine, bush and plant, there
I'oamed countless numbers of animals of great variety
and many species. Here, in their native forest, roamed
the elk, buftalo,* caribou and black bear : deer, wolves,
foxes, martins and wild cats tilled the woods : the i)orcu-
pine, groiuidhog, hares of different species, s(|uirrels o^
great variety, including the almost extinct Hying-S([uiiTel,

*The limits of the wanderings of the buffalo care recorded in a nar-
rative of Major Long's expedition, " The buffalo was formerly found
throughout the whole territory of the United States, with the excep-
tion of that part which lies east of the Hudson River, and of Lake
Champlain, and of narrow strips of coast on the Atlantic and the (iuif
of Mexico." See also Relation, 1641.

102

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

were everywhere. Every stream gave hospitable shelter
to tlie beaver, the otter and the muskrat, wliile weasels,
moles and field mice burrowed almost under every tree.
Snakes of various kinds, lizards of ilitierent hues, frogs
innumerable, added to the life and variety of this won-
drous land. Their lakes, ponds and rivers were alive
with swans, brant geese, wild geese, cranes, ducks, teal,
divers of innumerable kinds, ernes, bitterns, herons,
white pelicans, trumpeter swans. Birds of varied plum-
age, the eagle, the wikl turkey and different kinds of
partridge filled the woods. Enormous flocks of wild
pigeons, starlings, thrushes, robins and ortolans darkened
the heavens ; swallows, martins, jays and magpies, owls
of different species, humming birds innumerable, and
n\yriads of plover and snipe added variety and life to a
land already ricl\ in everything that could tempt the
covetousness of man. The streams, rivers and lakes
furnished a vast variety of fishes, on which the cormorant
and gull feasted, with the indigenous savage. Such was
the land, and such the opulence of animal and vegetable
life that lay in the possession and ownership of the great
Neutral tribe. To their Indian countrymen at a distance,
the members of this tribe were known as the Attiwan-
darons, but were called by the French, Neutrals. They
were of the parent stock of the Huron-Iroquois, speaking
with dialectic variations, the same language, and wedded
to many of the same customs. In the almost continual

THE XET:TKALS.

103

and always relentless wars l)etween the Irofiiiois and the
Hurons, the Attiwandarons took no part. They held
aloof, claiming to be friends of both parties, unwilling
to give assistance to one, fearing to give offence to tlie
other. When by accident or otherwise, members of the
contending factions met in the villages of tlie Neu-
trals, they were held to keep the peace, and any viola-
tion thereof was looked upon as a gross breach of hospi-
tality. They numbered in the neighborhood of twenty
or .thirty thousand souls, and when in 1G30, before their
league with the Petuns, the Hurons could only call into
action two thousand men, Sagard tells us the Neutrals
could nuister six thousand braves. As late as 1640, not-
withstanding that for tliree years they suffered severely
from war, famine and sickness, they were able to send
into the field four thousand fighting men. They were
a sedentary people, living in villages, which were con-
structed wdth considerable skill. Their cabins, which
were built from ash or elm bark and covered with cedar,
were high and roomy. The men cut down the trees
and cleared the land for sowing, while the women did
the seeding, weeding, reaping and harvesting. Like the
Tionnontates of the Huron league, the Neutrals were
famous for the large amount and superior quality of
tobacco which they raised for home consum])tion, and
for trade with other nations. They were, physically,
the finest class of Indians on the American continent.

104

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

tall, stmi^])t and well built, remarkable for their endur-
ance and activity, and, as a body, so free from any de-
formity that ])allion states, during his stay among them
of over tliree months, he did not notice a single lame,
hunchbacked or deformed person. They were inveterate
gamesters, and so possessed were they with the passion
for gambling, that it was not unconnnon for parties of
tifty or sixty to continue at the games for days and
nights, unbroken by food or rest, till the challenged or
challenging party had lost everything in their possession,
and returned home, frecpiently in the midst of wintei*,
with not even a shred to cover their nakedness. In sum-
mer the men wore only moccasins, they tattooed their
bodies with powdered charcoal ; many of their chiefs and
leading warriors underwent the trying ordeal of tattooing
with fixed pigments from head to foot ; snakes, worms,
animals, monstrosities of every conceivable nature orna-
mented, or disfigured their persons. In winter they
clothed themselves in skins of beasts, but, winter or sum-
mer, they wore no covering on their heads They dressed
their hair each according to his own peculiar whim, but
they never attempted to curl it, and held in contempt
the man who, even by the accident of nature, had curled
hair. The women always wore their hair drooping
full upon the back, and men and women frecpiently
smeared their heads and bodies with oil. They were a
ferocious people, given over to every form oT licentious-

THE NEUTRALS.

105

ness, but, while polygamy was not condemned among
them, it was not customarv to have more than one wife.
Yet in the gratification of their brutal passions and de-
sires they were shameless. Ferocious and valorous, they
were continually at war with the Mascoutins, or Nation
of Fire, whom they eventually destroyed as a people.*
With the Iro(iuois, tlieir ferocity extended to tlie bui*n-
ing and mutilation of female prisoners, a practice which,
to the honor of the Hurons, was unknown among them.
They were inveterate smokers, and when they were told
by the French that smoking was almost unknown among
the men of their country, they expressed extraordinary
surprise. Each warrior carried a small bag around his
neck, which was known as the " medicine bag," and con-
tained one or two objects or charms, which he treated
with religious reverence. When suft'ering from colds
or kindred ailments they had recourse to the vapor
bath. Six oi' seven at a time would shut themselves up
l>ack to back, in a wigwam, having already built a fire
and placed vessels of water at a convenient distance,
large stones were then heated in the fire, water poured

*In the Relation of 1643 we read : " Last summer two thousand
warriors of the Neutral Dation attacked a town of the Nation of Fire,
well fortified and defended by nine hundred warriors. They took it
after a siege of ten days, killed many on the spot and captured a great
number of prisoners, men women and children. After burning seventy
of the best warriors, they put out the eyes of the old men, cut away
their lips, and left them to drag out a miserable existence."

•

106

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

on thein, and the steam arising therfjfrom produced a
copious perspiration. Their principal food was meat and
Indian corn, out of which they made a palatable dish
called sagamite. Bread, wine, salt, vegetables and spices
were unknown. They were a gluttonous people, who,
when not on the war-trail or hunting, were continually
feasting. A feast was given on the slightest excuse, and
one of these, of a superstitious nature, required that
every man should eat all that was put before him, and it
was fre(iuently a very large amount. As a result, the
digestive organs of many of them were seriously and
permanently impaired. It is a singular fact that among
them, as among most of the tribes of North America, par-
ents were held in great respect by their children. Bres-
sani states, that on one occasion a young man so far for-
got himself as to lift his hand to his parent. A number
of young men rushed forward to punish him, when the
father stopped them, crying out, "Don't touch him, have
you not felt the earth tremble with horror at his crime ? "
They were excessively fond of dancing, which partook
more of the nature of rythmic stamping than sprightli-
ness. In their war and scalp dances their fiendish pas-
sions found expression in violent gesture, loud shouting,
triumphant song and barbarous feasting, which were
prolonged for many days. Their senses reached a de-
velopment of acuteness and sharpness truly wonderful.
They could see objects and perceive the smoke of an

THE NEUTRALS.

107

enemy's camp where there wa.s nothing*' to lje observed by
a white man. Their touch was pecuHarly sensitiv e, and
their organs of smell developed to a perfection, second
only to that of animals. Such was their intuitive know-
ledge of localities and places that it miglit be said they
possessed a sixth sense, for if a Neutral was five hundred
miles away from his home, surrounded by a dense wild-
erness of forest, lake and stream, he would make straight
for his village through the pathless wood. Tlieir power
of endurance almost surpasses belief, and they fre(|uently
bore fire, heat or cold without complaint. It was not
unusual for a Neutral to abstain from food for twelve or
fourteen days to propitiate some oki or spirit, and sucli
was tlieir contempt for suffering that even a woman
would be despised who complained of pain. Eloipience
was held in high repute, and tlieir orators had developed
powers of memory and expression that excited at times
the astonisliment of the French. Woman, alas ! held the
same position of inferiority among them as among all the
tribes of the American continent. As a girl, she was a
harlot, and when married became a drudge. She mould-
ed the earthen pots, spun twine from hemp, wove tlie
rush mats and made fishing-nets. She extracted the oil
from fish and the sunflower, embroidered moccasins with
quills of hedgehog, tilled the fields and bore the burdens
of the chase. Divorce was a matter of caprice or agree-
ment, and it was not unusual for a Neutral woman to
have five or six husbands in succession.

: Si'

4i!

'ill

; ■

■if'':

CHAPTER XII.

THE NEUTRALS (CONTINUED.)

Their Theogony — Sacrifices — Sorcerers — Laws of Hospitality — Social
Qualities — Love for their Dead — Organizing a War Party — On the
War I'ath — Return of the Braves — Mourning for their Dead — The
Neutrals at War with the Nation of Fire — Prisoners — The Tor-
ture Fire — At War with the Iroquois — Destruction of the Neutrals.

The Neutrals had no conception of God as a Supreme
Being. Their Theogony was a mixture of Manicheisni
and Pantlieism. All things they believed to be animated,
not only witli life, but also with an immortal and sen-
tient soul. A vague idea obtained among them that
there were good and bad spirits governed by their great
chiefs, and hence their offering's of propitiation were
nearly always directed to the spirits of Evil, sensibly
concluding that the good Manitous would never injure
them. The great act of worship among the Neutrals, as
among the tribes east and west of them, was a species of
sacrifice, which generally partook of the nature of pro-
pitiation. Each individual offered to his tutelary divin-
ity his own sacrifice, which very often consisted of a
gift of tobacco and tobacco-smoke. When, however

the tribe sficrificed as a body, a dog was chosen as the

108

THE NEUTRALS.

109

victim, and on occasions four or five were slaujii^litered at
a time. Their supreme act of religion, however, took
phice when some great calamity threatened them — this
was the sacrifice of the " wliite dog," which was killed in
the presence of the assembled warriors and chiefs, and
after being ottered to the great Manitou, was devoured
by the leading braves. Sorcerers they held in abomina
tion, and sometimes on mere suspicion, one of their num-
ber, who was charged with the crime of sorcery, was kill-
ed or burned at the stake. The horror in which they
lield these supposed magicians was born of t\m supposi-
tion that they were in league with evil spirits, and
through their agency brought suffering and misfortune
to the tribe. When the Jesuit missionaries, Brebeuf and
Chaumonot, visited them in 1640, they would have been
hospitably received if the Neutrals had not heard from
Pagan Hurons that they were powerful sorcerers whose
incantations would destroy their crops, poison tlieir
streams and bring disaster upon them all. Then their
kindness turned to intense and implacable hatred, and
nothing but the fear of provoking a w^ar with the French,
saved the Fathers from death. As it was, the four
months that the Jesuits spent among them were months
of dreadful suffering, and wherever tliey went they were
met with insulting speech and scowling brows. But for
this ineradicable suspicion, there is every reason to believe
that missions would have been successfully established

EAUI.Y MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANAIU.

i 1'.

iii

!l I

witli tlic nation, and tliat a harvest of converts would
liave been the reward of the priests' labors. The virtue
of hospitality was held in hi^-li repute among the Neu-
trals, wlio cheerfully entertained members of other tribes
witli which they were not at war ; the ordinary traveller
was welcomed as a relative, and the best food and place
in tlie wigwam given to liim. Towards eacli other they
were exceedingly cluD-itable, .and when any family was
found to be in want, one of tlieir leading men would
pass through the village soliciting for the destitute food
and help, which were invariably given according to each
one's ability. In fact, towards each other they were com-
passionate and pitiful, and the aflection among relatives
was admirable even to a christian. This spirit of gener-
ous cordiality and tenderness to one another in alHiction
and suffering was connnon to all American Indians, and
attracted the attention of the Jesuits as well as of other
travellers from civilized lands. " I have found," says
Humboldt, the great German, " that, even in those coun-
tries where the most brutal passions characterize the na-
tives in battle, among themselves there is often a tender
consideration for, and a generosity towards, each other
not excelled, if at all equalled in the higher society of
the more civilized world." When the weather was tine
an<l provisions plentiful, they were joyous and full of
frolic and fun, fond of telling stories, laughing innnoder-
ately at any trilling joke or absurdity, and seemed to

THE NEUTRALS.

Ill

tlioroiifijhly cuijoy existence ; but in sickne&H they were
nmeh depressed, becnie nuelaancholy and morose, and
songlit consolation and lielp from the monotonous drum-
ming of the conjurer or Medicine Man. The devotion to
their dead was striking in its pathetic tendernnss. When
a full grown member of a family died, the women gave
themselves up to mourning and lamentation, and while
the father and brother of the deceased passed through
the village mournfully singing the requiem of the dead,
the neighbors placed the corpse in a sitting position, sur-
rounding it with weapons of war and articles which he
most loved when in life. The body was retained in the
wigwam for weeks and often months, till at length the
odor of putrefaction made it impossible for the living
to longer keep company with the dead. It was then
placed upon a raised scaffold or consigned to the earth
to await the great communal burial, " the feast of the
dead," which took place, as among the Hurons, every
ten or twelve years. One predominant and ruling pas-
sion was common to the great Neutral nation, as indeed
it was to all the tribes of North America. The Neutral
was an inveterate gambler, shamelessly licentious, and
intensely fond of hunting, but when he once took to the
war-trail, all other emotions and feelings became ab-
sorbed in the devouring craving for blood. Only at
rare intervals did the Neutrals, as a body, engage in
war, but frequently, and for no other end than to gratify

112

KAIU.V MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

his longing for the oxcitement of battle, a chief would
gather around him the young men of his village, and
after feasting tliem sumptuously, announce that he was
about to enter upon the war trail, and invite liis friends
to join liim. Those who felt disposed to link their
fortunes with his, left their places and gathered around
him. Then they separated, collected their weapons and
provisions for the journey, and held themselves in readi-
ness for departure on the appointed day. The iiight
before entering npon the war ti*ail, they spent in feast-
ing and carousing, and concluded with a scalp dance,
in which they brandished their tomahawks and dealt
murderous blows at the heads of their imaginary foes.
The scalp dance was a most weird and frightful spec-
tacle. Their fiendish passions expressed themselves in
looks of intense hatred, in threatening gesture, loud and
violent vociferation, in whoops and yells and barbarous
feasting. For the time being tliey seemed to be possess-
ed of a diabolic spirit, murderous in its outward and
frequent expression of gesture and emotion, till at length,
nature, unable to bear the awful strain, the exulting war-
rior retired from the dance overcome with exhaustion.
Once having passed the boundary of their own lands,
each man became a human fox, in which every element
of caution and cunning assumed a conspicuous place.
Scouts were deployed, frequent consultations held among
the leading braves, and, marching in file, each warrior

THE NEUTilALS.

113

treaded so securely in the footsteps of another as to leave
the impression that only one man had passed by the way.
When a Neutral entered on the war-trail he never allowed
his mind to be occupied with the hope of booty or ex-
pectation of spoils, but only of the dead relatives he
might avenge and the punishment he would inflict upon
his foes. He dreamed of the scalps he was about to take,
the prisoners he would capture, and the notches he would
carve on his death stick. When the enemy's (piarters were
reached, a sudden onslaught was made, frec^uently before
the dawn of day ; ere the foe was aroused to his danger
the tomahawk and scalping knife were already doing
their deadly work. When the conquering braves re-
traced their path, «lragging with them the prisoners re-
served for the torture, runners were sent in advance to
announce to their friends the victory, the num])er of
prisoners taken and the hour they might be expected to
arrive. Entering the village with reeking scalp-locks,*
plunder and prisoners, they were greeted on all sides
with shouts of approbation, made hideous with shrieks
from the old hags, and the wild cries of the children. If,
on the other hand, they suffered defeat, the flying remnant
that escaped from the enemy entered in detached nuni-
bers and were saluted by the old women, men and chil-
dren with howls and lamentations. The baffled hand-

See note in appendix on scalping.

114

EAItLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN t-'ANADA.

ful tliat returned skulked to their lonley wigwams, while
all through the long night mothers, sisters and maidens
were heard giving expression to their sorrow in moans
and plaintive cries of woe. Women and children gave
away to grief ; the women shrieked and moaned through
the niglit, tearing out their hair and covering their heads
with ashes. The men blackened their faces, wtuck knives,
needles and thorns into their flesh, but gave no other
outward signs of grief. They sat for hours in melan-
choly silence, but whatever may have been their feelings
or emotions, they never found expression in tears, for
the Neutral like the Huron " was a Stoic of the woods, a
man without a tear." In 1638, the whole tribe declared
war on the Mascoutins. Two thousand warriors took
the war-path, and, after a siege of four months, stormed
the fortified towns of the enemy and indiscriminately
slaughtered the old, the disabled and the infants, and
returned to their own country dragging with them a
great number of prisoners. The woeful fate which await-
ed them was only too familiar from the treatment they
themselves had measured out to their Neutral captives
in other days. They were portioned out among the
Neutral cantons, and everywhere exposed to insults, jibes
and mocking laughter. Indian custom demanded that
before being subjected to torture by fire, the prisoner
should run the gauntlet. An avenue extending two or

THE NEUTllALS.

115

threo liuiulred yimls, liiiod on cithor si<lo with yelping
fiends, S(|na\v8, warriors and youn^ l>oyH, constituted the
race-course, over which the doomed man was I'orcetl to
run. As lie passed on his way, lie wa.-> struck witli stones
and sticks, buffeted an«l })ounded till it fVeciuently hap-
pened that from sheer exhaustion he i'ainte<l in the race.
He was then turned over to the women and children
who, like famishing do^s, bit off" his finders, tore the
flesh from his hands and inHicted every indignity and
suffering upon him, slujrt of death itself. The next day,
ex))Osed stark-naked, on a raised platform, they renewed
the torture. The nails were torn from whatever fingers
were left upon his hands, burning brands applied to his
legs and arms, taking care, however, to touch no vital
organ. After gratifying the fiendish appetites of the
women and children, the warriors took him in charge and
to a tent prepared for the purpose, the prisoner was drag-
ged. While they were lighting the fire to roast liim
alive, he intoned his death-song, proclaimed the valor of
his ancestors and appealed to their spirits to witness how
bravely he could die. And now the death torture began
in earnest. A slow tire was built around him, and rmid
the fiendish yells and shouts of triumph of the Neutral
braves, the odor of burning flesh filled the wigwam. For
hours this horrifying scene continue<l, till the prisoner
sank to death from sheer weakness, or, if he bore his

116

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTEllN CANADA.

suffering with great fortitude, from a blow of the toma-
hawk. They were continually at war with the tribes to
the west of them, and particularly with the " Nation of
Fire," which they eventually destroyed. The friendly re-
ception and hospitality extended to a fugitiv^e band of
Hurons after the ruin and dispersion of that unhappy
people, excited the wrath of the Iroquois, who for some
time were impatiently waiting for a pretext to declare war.
In 1050, the Iroquois sent twelve hundred warriors into
the Neutral territory. They captured two of their fron-
tier towns, one of which contained a population of six-
teen hundred souls, took a great number of prisoners and
slaughtered the old people and cliildren. The Neutrals
retaliated, killing two hundred Mohawks and Senecas.
The Iro(]uois, when they learned of the death of their war-
liors, threw fifteen hundred men into the enemy's
country, stormed one of the chief towns, having a popu-
lation of two thousand souls, and made it a slaughter
house. They returned with troops of captives reserved
for the torture or adoption.* This battle led to the
ruin of the Neutral nation. The other towns took fright
and scattered in all directions. They abandoned their
cornfields and villages in the wildest terror, dispersed

* Father Fremin in his Relation of 1()69, says that he found a
number of the Neutrals among the Henecas, and adds that many of them
hivd beconte ChristianH,

THE NEUTRALS.

117

themselves in the forests, crossed lakes and rivers in search
of food, and thousands perished from starvation and ex-
posure. Some of them found their way to Montreal and
became Christians.*

CHAPTER XIII.

MISSION TO THE NEUTRALS.

Brebauf and Chaumonot— Their Journey to the Neutral Country—
Brebeuf 's vision— Arrive at Kandoucho— Their reception— Taken
for Sorcerers— Instruments of Witchcraft— Assembly of the Chiefs
—Brebeuf speaks— Condemned to Death— Dream of Brebeuf— Sus-
pension of the Sentence.

On tlie 2nd November, 1640, John de Brebeuf and Joseph
Chaumonot left the village of Teanaustaye to announce
the gospel of salvation to the great Neutral tribe. The
village from which they took their departure was situ-
ated in the present township of Medonte. When the
Fathers became sufficiently numerous to spare one or two
from their number. Fathers Daniel and Chabanel, were
told off for this town, and opened the mission of St.
Joseph. From this bourg, doomed to destruction in a
few years at the hands of the Iroquois, the two Priests,
after offering the Holy Sacrifice, fearlessly set out on
their journey to a people who had never, but once in
their lives, met a Priest of the Catholic Church. They
were accompanied by two devoted French servants, who,
in order to conciliate the savages, were connnissioned to
begin a temporary commerce with fhein. They had also

118

MISSION TO THE NEUTRALS.

119

engaged two interpreters to act as guides, but these
abandoned them on tlie eve of their departure. Witliout,
liowever, allowing themselves to be troubled, the Priests
fell upon their knees and commended themselves to God
in their abandonment. Then rising with a renewed
resolution, they continued their journey till, meeting
with a young hunter, they prevailed upon him to
accompany them. The task they had undertaken was
one fraught with serious difficulties ; the path lay through
a country frightful in the desolation of its solitude.
Winding through the primeval forest, it crossed streams
through which they waded knee deep, fallen and up-
rooted trees lay everywhere around them, and when
niglit, with its eternal silence, closed in, they sought a
few hours' rest under the shadow of some friendly pine.
Their only provisions were a few cakes baked from In-
dian corn, and often, indeed, no other food but the nuts
they gathered on their journey. Toiling incessantly,
living as it were without nourishment, carrying their
portable altar on their backs, and their lives in their
hands, they prepared for death, whether it came to them
from the tomahawk or the brand of the torture fire, but
were consoled with the hope that their mission would
meet with at least a moiety of success. When morning
broke, after their customary prayers, they began anew
their journey, and, fortified with a burning zeal for the
salvation of souls, continued on their way, thanking God

120 EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

for the privilege vouchsafed to them in being selected
for this perilous mission. They felt they were protected
by Heaven, and that God rewarded them by singular
favors. One afternoon, worn with fatigue. Father Bre-
beuf beheld in a dream a host of heavenly spirits, who
seemed to beckon him on, and invite him to advance
with confidence. In gratitude for this vision, he dedicated
the country to the Holy Angels, and resolved, when he
reached a Neutral settlement, to open there a mission,
and call it the Mission of All Saints. After a journey of
five days, remarkable for excessive fatigue and spiritual
consolations, the travellers, on the 7th of November, en-
tered Kandoucho, the first village of the Neutral nation,
four days' march from the Niagara River.* The Fathers
were detained here sometime awaiting the return of a
prominent chief, without whose authority they could
not proceed further on their mission. Their reception in
this town augured badly for the success of their under-
taking. To their surprise, they learned that an evil
reputation had already preceded them, and grave suspi-

*The missionaries, on their way to Queenston, from which place they
crossed to visit the four or five Neutral towns on the other side of the
Niagara River, would have passed through the counties of Simcoe,
Dufferiu, Peel, Halton, Wentworth and Lincoln. Their path lay, so
far ap I can make out from researches, through the towns of Beeton,
Orangeville, Georgetown, the north-western end of the city of Hamil-
ton and the city of St. Catharines. Thirty-six villages of the Neutrals
were in Canadian territory, and the last of the four or five towns on
the American side was where the city of Lockport now stands.

MISSION TO THE NEUTRALS.

121

cions of their character were entertained. Brebeuf, whose
Indian name of Echon was so favorably l<:nown to the
Hurons, was loolied upon as a dangerous enemy and a
sorcerer, wliose incantations were dreadful in their
effects. They charged him with coming among them to
effect their ruin, and told him that neither he nor his
companion was welcome. It appears that some of the
pagan Hurons, hearing that Brebeuf and Chaumonot
were about to start for the Neutral country, disappeared
in the forest, and arrived some days before the mission-
aries. They brought with them a gift of nine toma-
liawks, and everywhere circulated the report that the
" blackrobes," by their incantations, would destroy the
people. The Neutrals, who, like all the Algic tribes, held
sorcerers in horror and detestation, endeavored to pre-
vail on them to leave the country. " What is the mean-
ing of these strange costumes ? " they said among them-
selves ; " and this strange life they lead ? Do they not
conceal some dangerous purpose ? Can we not see for
ourselves that they have with them their instruments of
magic, these things which they carry about with them,
these breviaries, these crucifixes, and these beads, what
are they ? And this strange writing which they put on
]>aper, that tells them things without speaking. Why
(]o they go so often upon their knees ? Are not these
the postures of sorcerers ? " A thousand nameless fears

took possession of them, they shunned the men Oi
H

iii

122

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTEIIN CANADA.

God, «is they would })oisonou,s reptiles, and treiidded
with fear if one of the missionaries put his foot inside
their cabin ; " the very si(^ht of them," they said, " brought
disease upon their children, and wherever they went a
plague was sure to follow," If one of the missionaries
entered a lodge, the law of hospitality, which was held
to be sacred and inviolable among the Neutrals, alone
saved him from rough treatment, but terror took the place
of security, and while he remained the occupants wei-e in
a continual state of trepidation. No one dared to touch a
single object belonging to them ; even the presents which
they offered were received with suspicion and looked upon
as things of evil omen. Their very footsteps were avoided,
the paths on which they walked were infected, and the
streams from which they drank were poisoned, the spectres
of fear and consternation were floating in the very air.
In presence of this universal terror the chiefs called a
council to know what should be done with these strang-
ers. Criers, chosen for the purpose, proclaimed from
the tops of the wigwams the call to assemble. Brebeuf,
familiar with these assemblies and the mode of procedure
boldly strode into the council room. Strong in the con-
viction of the holiness of his cause, and relying on the
help of God, he determined to expose the object of his
mission and, if possible, win freedom to preach the gospel.
When he entered, he saw around him, crouching in mel-
ancholy silence, a motley crowd of bronzeel warriors.

MISSION TO THE NErTltAI.S.

123

young hoys and old men wl\oso oiled ])odies exludcd a
pungent odor with which liis nostrils were long familiar,
His lirst act, according to custom, was to distribute mor-
sels of tobacco, for the Neutrals always deliberated with
lighted pipes. Then he threw down, as a present, a
collar of wampum as an evidence of the sincerity of liis
good-will towards them. " We will accept no })resent
from you," shouted out one of the orators, " you must
leave the country." " Do you not know," said another,
" the danger you are running ; every man, woman and
child is demanding your death, we know the curse you

have brought upon the Hurons, and we are determined
that you shall not treat us as you have treated them."
Tile great priest attempted to continue, but the frequent
interruptions and the threatening language of the crowd
drowned his voice. After useless efforts, and seeint^ that
nothing was to be gained by further attempts, lie ceased
speaking and returned to the wigwam of the family from
whom he had craved hospitality. The two priests now
resigned themselves to death which, from all appearances
av/aited them. After making preparation for their ap-
})n)aching doom, they returned to snatch a few hours re-
pose for the ordeal they had invited. Brebeuf beheld,
in a dream, a hideous spectre, bearing on his countenance
the impress of deadly hatred and ferocity. In his hand
he held three javelins with which he threatened him.
Then drawing back his arm he cast them one after the

124

EAlll.Y MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

other at the missionaries, but before they reached their
human targets, tliey fell harmlessly at his feet as if some
invisible hand had caught them in mid air. The dream
seemed to liave liUed him with consolation * and he con-
tinued to sleep as if he had nothing to fear. After
Brcbeuf had retired from the council, the chiefs and lead-
ing warriors remained in session. Three times the Fath-
ers were doomed to death and three times they reconsid-
ed their decision. At length one or two of the elders ar-
<nied on grounds of policy, that it would be detrimental to
the interests of the nation to put these strangers to death.
They contended that as they were domiciled' among the
Hurons it might provoke them to retaliation, but above
all they argued that the French of Quebec being their
kinsmen would surely demand satisfaction. These reasons
prevailed with the council, and the uplifted tomahawk
was laid once more upon the ground. Among those pres-
ent at the council was the man in whose cabin Brebeuf
and Chaumonot were resting, and as soon as he heard the
linal decision of the warriors, he immediately returned
to the missionaries. To his unutterable surprise lie found
them buried in deep sleep, and how they could continue
to slumber with the knowledge that at any moment they
might be dragged forth to torture surprised his under-
standimr. He awoke them at once and informed them

* Relations 1649, p 20.

MISSION TO THE NEUTRALS.

125

of the result of tlie meeting. Brebeuf, recalling his dream,
threw himself with Chaumonot on his knees and gave
tlianks to God for his Fatherly pi'otection. Their lives
were saved, but they owed their preservation more to
fear than to any good feeling on the part of the Neutrals.
If they were preserved h'om the nuirderous blows of the
hatchet, they were not protected against calunniy and
suspicion. Even those who had pleaded for their lives
were among the first to send abroad seriously damaging
reports, not so much indeed to excite hatred against them
as to make theii' stay with the tribe so intolerable that
they would in disgust leave the country. But they
knew not the men they were dealing with. These
priests had wrenched themselv^es from the strong ties
that bound them to home and friends. Long ago they
bade good-bye to the refinements of civilized society.
Long ago they buried for ever all hopes of worldly pleas-
ure and ambition, and when they enlisted in the army
of Jesus Christ, they flung themselves into the battle
with the enthusiasm of men who realized thej^ were
lighting for a great cause.

CHArTER XIV.

THE .lESUlTH AND THE NEUTRAT.S.

Perisliing with Cold— In a Neutral Wigwam— The Jesuits Tlireatened
— Friendly Advance*-.— Curiosity of the Neutrals — Life in a Neu-
tral Lodge— More Trials and Sulferiugs-Woeful Plight of the Mis-
sionaries—Insults meekly Borne — Every door closed Against them
— Sublime Resignation of the Priests.

At Oiioaiara, a town on the eastern banks of tlie Niag-
ara River, tliey were charged witli forming a league with
tlie Iroquois to effect the ruin of the people. They were
loaded with insult and, short of serious bodily injury, met
with the roughest of treatment. At another village they
were almost frozen to death. It was in the month of
February, on an intensely cold night, that after aweary
tramp of nine hours through the snow, they craved in
vain for hospitality. Every door was closed against them,
till at length, fearing they would perish from exposure,
they took up their position at the door of a wigwam
awaiting a favorable opportunity to slip in. After some
delay a savage stepped out and the missionaries at once
entered, knowing that the Indian code of hospitality
compelled the dwellers therein to allow them to remain.
Other visitors would at once be greeted with the familiar

126

THE .lESUITS ANJ) THE NEFTllALS.

127

'■ Sliiiy !" — " wolcoinc !" mats s})re}i(l Tor tluMii l)y tlio lire
l);ikc<l S(|nashes and roasted corn or a disli ot* sagainite
placed l>er(n-e tlieiu, hut the Fatliers were stared at in
nloomy silence i'roni under scowlin^^ Itrovvs. Teiror at
once took possession of tlie inmates, but yet tlieyattempt-
(mI no violence to the priests. The report of their pres-
ence in the cahin spread thi'ou^-hout the vill.M^v.and soon
the lod^'c was surrounded by men, women and children.
They Ijegan to discuss amon^- themselves what measures
they should take to ^vt I'id ol" these unwelcome intruders.
\Vhil(! they were under the bark coverinf,' of a cabin,
their persons wore held to bo inviolable. The elders of
the villag-e entered and loaded the stranj^'ors with reproach-
es and threaten! n<]fs. The younjr 1 raves, impatient and
restless, craved for permission to split their heads. " I am
tired," said one of them, " eating the dark llesh of our
enemies, and I want to taste the white flesh of the
Frenchmen." Another snatched his b&w and quiver and
took aim at the heart of Chaumonot. As if remember-
ing that he was about to violate a Neutral law, ho drop-
ped his arm and turned on his heel, ashamed of his ac-
tion. Brebcuf strode to the door of the tent, and hohling
up his hand exclaimed : " We have not come here for any
other purpose than to do you a friendly service. We
wish to teach you to worship the Master of Life, so that
you may be happy in this world and in the other." His
fearlessness and address con(|uered, and those who a few

128

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

moments het'oro were ^Ued with fury and indif^n.'tion,
be^an to wonder at lii.s audacity. They entered into a
friendly conversation with the missionaricH, and, witli
tlie capriciousneHs of children, asked to see and touch
their clothes, and the articles they carried alioutthem.
One took off the shoes of Brebeuf and htted them on
himself, another examined Father Chaumonot's hat, and
puttinj^ it on, masqueraded through the crowd. In one
of Father Chaumonot's letters, he tells us that nothing
appeared so mysterious to them as the written charac-
ters on their papers. " Father Brebeuf," he says, " at my
request, left the wigwam and retired to a distance where
he could not hear us. One of the Indians present then
dictated to me in a subdued v^oice the following senten-
ces : — " I went hunting the other day and came
across a deer; I took an arrow and fixed it in my
bow ; I bent the bow, fired, and at the first shot
brought down my; prey ; then I placed him on my shoul-
ders. I brought him home to my tent and made a feast
for my friends." Father Brebeuf was then called in,
looked at the paper and, naturally enough, read out
word for word what had been dictated to me. At this
extraordinary feat the savages burst into exclamations
of surprise. They took up the paper, and, after turning
it every way, said among themselves, " Where, then,
is the figure that represents the hunter ? Where is the
deer that he shot, or where are the pictures to show the

I I !

THE JESUITS AND THE NEUTRALS.

129

ciibin Mild tilt' fin; Tor tho feast ? We see nothing at all
(»r tlu'iii, and yet this o/.i has told it all to Echon."
With the fickleness of children, the cries which a few
iMonients before were those of death, became now those
of admiration, and in the presence of familiarity, fear
disappeared. The Fathers were now four months in the
country, but as they were not permitted to sow the seed
of truth they made no converts, and, what was to them
more painful, they could see no hopes for the future.
When the priests spoke to them of secular things they
listened with rapt attention, but the moment they began
to speak of the hereafter, of God and his dealings with
men, they showed visible signs of displeasure. The
months they passed with the tribe constituted a linger-
ing painful martyrdom, in which they were continuall}'
nailed upon to exercise the virtues of patience and mor-
tification. It was, indeed, a humiliating and penitential
season, especially when they were subjected to the horrors
of living under an Indian roof. A Neutral wigwam was
constructed of bark, fastened to poles ecpii -distant apart,
with an opening in the roof to allow the smoke to escape,
and the door made of bark or the skins of animals
sewed together. The suffocating smoke compelled one
to take up a crouching or lying posture, a position which
was the ordinary and familiar one of the Indians. When
tlie fire went down the cold became intense ; at other
times the heat was frightful, and, when the wind was

VM)

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA

li!

i! !

anFav()i';il)l(', tlio n-rcjit ([uuntity of sinokc, added te^ the
intense heat, made it a iiiiniatnre liell. At other times,
in severe storms, tlie cold winds entered through a thous-
and openiiio-s, and if some one of tlie inmates faik'd (hn--
ing tlie nio-ht to keep up the tire there was danoer of
frecizing to death. Often Father Brebcuf lay awake at
ni<;ht resting on Ills back, and through tlie opening in
the tent gazed on tlie moon and stars as if lie w^u'e lying
on the snow-covered plain, and

While ga/ing on the sky above,
May half forget the dreams of home
That nightly with his slumber come ;
The tranquil skies of sunny France,
The peasant's harvest 3ong and dance.

Mucli, however, as thej^ suffered from the extremes of
heat and cold, they complained that the torture from
smoke was almost intolerable. At times they were com-
pell(Ml to lie upon the ground, face downwards, in order
to breathe : and even the savage inmates, who for years
liad been fjimiHarized with Hfe in a smoky tent and in a
measure inured to it, were compelled to have recourse to
the same expedient. " I have sometimes for hours re-
mained in this position," writes one of them, " especially
when the cold was so intense that I dare not remain
outside, and it seemed to me that my throat, my nostrils
and my eyes were dui'ing this time in a continual state
of inllannnation. At times T tliought I would go blind,

;'1

THE JESUITS AND THE NEUTRALS.

131

111}' eyes wore burning in my liead and T conld sec around
1110 only dimly and in a confused manner. Wlien the
Indians rose up to cross tlie tent they seemed to me like
trees walkino-." When they made an efl'ort to say their
office, the letters were written in blood, became blurred
and dimmed ; and they were oblio-ed to close their books,
unable to continue the piinis exercises. Tlui doos, AvJiich
wcvii their inseparable companions, added to tlui horrors
ol' their position. Halt' famished, the}^ were continually
running in and out searching for something to cat, and
failing in their efforts, made night hideous with their
bowlings. The food whicli tluy were compelle<l to eat
\vas badly cooked, and served up in wooilen plates so
filthy that frequently the stomachs of the missionaries
I'cvoltcd. Often they were oliliged to go for days with-
out eating, a misfortune they shared in common with
those around them. Their driidc was fre<[uently melted
snow, and foi* napkins they used tlieir moccasins or wiped
their hands on the dogs around them, following the ex-
ample of their savage companions. They slept in their
clotlies, and, when they took off their soutane or stock-
ings, it was only to remove the vermin that were insep-
arably associated with every mendier of the wigwam.
The cries of the children, the howling of the dogs, the
insufferable stench that was a part of their filthy sur-
roundings and their equally filthy companions, made
fh(Mr lives one long unbroken ag(^ny. At one village

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132 EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

they were compelled to pass six days in a wigwam with
a family whose child was suffering from ulcerating sores,
from which there exhaled an odor so abominable as to
render life itself almost unbearable. The whole family,
with the priests, ladled their food out of a conniion pot,
that to Jill appearances had not been washed for months.
Wherever they rested they were made a target for the
laughter, the ridicule, the buffoonery and contempt of their
companions which they bore with sublime patience.
These attacks they endured in silence, deeming it pru-
dent to abstain from remonstrance, fearing to give ad-
ditional irritation to their ruthless tormenters. "If,"
said Father Chaumonot on his return, "we reaped no
other fruit from our visit to the Neutrals, we have
brought back a fertile repertoire of most opprobrious
epithets." When sometimes they essayed to enter into
conversation, they were insultingly told to keep their
mouths closed. " Ye have beards on ye like rabbits,"
they were told. " Ye are not men at all, — ye are more
like bears or like dogs, — your heads are made like cit-
rons, — ye are deformed, — ye are cowards and afraid to
go to war." This raillery would be kei)t up for hours,
amid the mocking laughter of the barbarous inmates.
There was no vile epithet of the Neutral language that
was not applied to them, and the ridicule visited on their
devoted persons flowed in continuous streams. The}^
abstained, however, from inflicting any serious injury.

THE JESUITS AND THE NEUTRALS.

133

and tlie good sense of the Fathers accepted tlieir in-
sults and ridicule with the hope that their spirit of re-
signation and patience would be pleasing to God. Tlie
suhlinie constancy of the priests tluring these trying or-
deals surpasses belief, and the heroism with which they
sustained and patiently accepted their intense mental
and bodily sufferings excites our admiration. The con-
sciousness that they were working in the service of God
and the salvation of souls sustained them in the long
night of their persecution. It would be hard to put to
a trial greater constancy of the human heart than that
wliich they bore with during these weary months of
wretchedness and misery.

The Fathers visited eighteen towns, but were every-
where received, as were Jogues and Garnier among the
Pctuns, with a storm of execration and malediction.
Along the winding paths through the forest that inter-
laced and crossed, and crossed again, they went from
town to town suft'ering from cold and hunger and bear-
ing a charmed life. At least some one town will receive
tliem and listen to their pleadings. So they thought
and toiled on. But the " black sorcerers," with their in-
struments of necromancy, their crucifixes, crosses and
rosary, the complete outfit, to call down withering blight,
l>lagues and diseases, were held in terror and detesta-
tion. Every door was closed, and closed fast against

;' ! I ;

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KAHI.Y MISSIONS IN WKSTEllN CANADA.

I i

y !i

,ir

:!!i

them, for it' once lulmitted, wouM not a curse fall upon
the family ^

The heroism of these saintly men surpasses belief.
With a devotion and resignation that to this day excite
our astonishment, they meekly bore the insults and
taunts of men, women and children. Refused food and
drink, they lived on roots or a morsel that some pitying
hand in mercy Hung them. In one village only, that of
Kioeta, which they christened St. Michaels, . did they
meet with a reception that bore the appearance of a
half-hearted welcome.

Nowhere have we read of more sublime abneiration
than that which was practised by these missionary
Fathers when among the Neutrals. Half famished with
cold and hunger, covered with hourly opprobrium and
subjected to indignities humiliating to their refined
natures, they continued their work and pursued their
way with a sublime constancy that fills us with wonder
and astonishment. " You come among us," said a chief
one day, "for no good purpose; you 'black robes' are
sorcerers, and in our country sorcerers are put to death,
and I do not know what Manitou protects you, for we
would wish to murder you, but fear your spirits would
destroy us." Brebeuf in vain tried to convince him that
they came only for the good of the trilx', and the chief
answered by spitting in his face. Tlie priest consoled

rilF. JESUITS AND THE NEl'TilALS.

i;i5

hiiusi'lf, tliaiikiiifr God tluit he was deemed worfchv to
Hiitter the .same indignity to which his Divine Master
was subjected by the Jews. He was a. man naturally
lirave and instinctively (juick to resent an insult, but lie
had so long trained himself in the practice of christian
virtues that nothing seemed to disturb the unalterable
peace of his great soul. By weary months of hope de-
ferred, their zeal was sorely tried. They fasted, prayed,
preached and toiled with no apparent success or impres-
sion made on the human ramparts of error and super-
stition.. They walked in the shadow of perpetual danger.
The tomahawk gleamed above their heads, the arrow
was set to the bow, the uuirderous hand was drawn to
strike, but undismayed by threats, undaunted by tlie
assassin's look, heedless of scowling glance or insulting
speech, they passed on, satislied that God at least was
l)leased with their labors. These w^ere men whose preach-
ing and self-denying lives among a more civilized people
would have won respect if not success. When men with
a divine fervor proclaim a truth or eren have a truth,
instinctively the soul of man will bow in reverence, but
those to whom they were now preacliing hoarsely grum-
l)led out their dissatisfaction in grating gutturals. Four
luonths before, they left their brethren with em[)ty
pitchers to fight the battle of the Lord like Gideon's
hosts, and whose desires, as far as tlie things of this world

136

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

}

■ii

went, were summed up in the single petition : " Give us
this day our daily bread." Even at this day the mem-
ory of their heroism sends a thrill of noble emotion to
the heart of humanity, and the Divine tremor does not
soon subside among the pure, the generous and the lofty
souls that are not all of the earth, earthly.

i I

CHAPTER XV.

THE JESUrrS AN]) neutrals (COXTINrED).

Failing Hopes— The Priests lose Heart— Begin the Homeward Journey
—Sufferings on the Way— Hrebeuf a Famous Vision— The Floating
Cross- Visions of other Days— On the March to St. William— A
Friend at Last— Kindness of a Neutral Woman— Entering again
on the Homeward Trail— The Via Dolorosa -Accident to Brebeuf
—Home again— Christian Hurons among the Neutrals— Night
Falls on the Day of Grace.

The love for perishiiio- souls that l)ore them on through
the long night of weaiy suftering, failed to move the
hardened hearts of the Neutrals, and at last, with droop-
ing spirits, but with faith undaunted, the missionaries
hegan to lose hope. Wliatever might be the mysterious
designs of Providence with regard to this lascivious and
superstitious people, their hour of salvation had not yet
struck, so, despairing of overcoming their inveterate pre-
judices, the Fathers resolved to bid them good-bye and
retrace the path to the Huron villages. Their complete
self-abnegation, the generous enthusiasm with which they
fearlessly ilung themselves into the figlit, and the devour-
ing zeal which filled them for the glory of God, merited
a happier termination to their mission. Nowhere in the
history of religion do we read of greater sacrifices for
the salvation of souls than we witness in this mission,
1 137

( I

! \

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138 EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

and nowliere have we heard ol* a pa<^an people who so
firmly closed their eyes to the light of truth, or so effect-
ually hardened their hearts against the softening influ-
ence of God's redeeming grace. When Brebeuf and
Chaumonot left Huronia four months ago, Indian sum-
mer was tinting birch and maple with variegated shades
of wondrous beauty. The air was filled with dreamy
languor and the pleasant odor of smoking pine. Their
path was then encumbered with logs, rotting trees, tangled
with roots and underbrush, damp with perpetual shade
and redolent of decayed leaves and mouldering wood.
The wilderness spread before them in savage slumber.
River, lake and stream were yet in maiden beauty, as
they flowed from the hand of God centuries before.
Above them was a cloudless sky, and with them gener-
ous hopes and love for human souls. And now these
hopes were blighted. They had not even stirred the dry
bones. The dust of sin and corruption lay unswept upon
the country, though the Breath of the Divine Spirit had
blown upon it. These devoted men saw no return for
their months of labor ; — not even one solitary heart
changed, not even a solitary resolution tending to a
change. Pity, tenderness, sympathy failed them, and
with hearts bowed down they sank to their knees, " Oh
gentle Jesus, where art Thou. Hast Thou no love for
Thy lost sheep, Thou crucified Saviour of men ? " All
nature was in sympathy with them. Winter was still

THE .TESriTS AND THE NEUTRALS.

139

upon the land, and stream and pond, rivulet and marsh
were frozen hard, and snow lay resting on plain and
liillside. In the second week of February, 1G41, they
sorrowfully began their homeward journey. The snow
was falling when they left the village Onguiara, crossed
the Niagara River near Queenston, ascended its banks
and disappeared in the shrouding forest. The path, which
led through an unbroken wilderness lay buried in snow.
The cold pierced them through and through. The cords
on Father Chaumonot's snow-shoe broke, and his stiflfened
lingers could scarcely tie the knot. Innumerable flakes
of snow were falling from innumerable branches. Their
only food was a pittance of Indian corn mixed with
melted snow, their only guide, a compass. Worn and
spent with hardships, these saintly men, carrying in sacks
their portable altar, were returning to announce to their
priestly companions on the Wye, the dismal ne\vs of their
melancholy failure and defeat. There was not a hungry
wolf that passed them but looked back and half forgave
them being human. There was not a tree but looked down
upon them with pity and commiseration. Night was
closing in when, spent with fatigue, they saw smoke ris-
ing at a distance. Soon they reached a clearing and des-
cried before them a cluster of bark lodges. Here these
Christian soldiers of the cross bivouacked for the night.*

*The village of Ganata, where Brebeuf and Chaunionot spent the
night, was close to the present village of Grimsby and may indeed luivc
occupied the same site.

1 •

140

EARLY MISSIONS IX WESTERN CANADA.

':i^i

•!'i

l{larly tliat evening while Cljauinonot, worn with trav-
elling and overcome witli sleep, threw hinisell* to rest on
a bed that was not made up since the creation of the world,
Fatlier l^rebeiif, to escape for a time the acrid and pungent
smoke that filled tlie cabin, went out to commune with
God alone in prayer. Early as it was, there was no one
moving around, for the night was bitterly cold, and eveiy
door was closed. As the priest passed through the bourg,
flickering ril3ands of light gleamed across his path, —
from out the lodges came loud laughter and sounds of
boisterous merriment, for neighbors were telling to each
other rude jokes Jind spicy stories. Brebeuf moved to-
w^ards the margin of tlie woods, when presently he
stopped as if transfixed. Far away to the south-east,
high in air and boldly outlined, a huge cross floated ;
Suspended in mid heaven. " Was it stationary ? " No, it
moved tow^ards him from the land of the Iroquois. The
saintly face lighted with unwonted splendor, for he saw
in the vision the presage of the mai'tyr's crown. Tree
and hillside, lodge and village, faded aw\ay, and, while
the cross was still slowly approaching, the soul of the
great priest went out in ecstacy, in loving adoration to
his Lord and his God. It was but another manifestation
of God's love for him. Years ago, embowered in beatific
vision, he beheld, on sloping hillside, the Angels of
Heaven, choirs of Holy Virgins, and the Mother of Jesus
gazing gracious approbation upon him. Again the cruci-

lilt: JKSIJITS AND TllK NElJ'niAI.S.

141

tied Saviour, His liuad ci'owiilmI with tliorns, and Mis
HIosslhI ]\It)ther, witli heart transpierced, were before liini,
and made him understand that, following in tlie footsteps
of his Divine Master, he also should enter on the thorny
path that led to martyrdom. Once before, when o])-
] tressed witli gloomy forebodings, Christ foMed him in
His loving embrace, chose him as a vessel of election
to bear unto the Gentiles the message of salvation, and
strengthened him for the things he was to suffer in His
name. Overcome with emotion, he exclaims, " Who will
separate me from the love of my Lord ? Shall tribula-
tion, nakedness, peril, distress, or fann*ne,or the sword T'
Kmparadised in ecstatic vision, he again cries out with
enthusiastic loyalty, ">SWi^io Tiie vehementer imi^elli ad
moriendii'm jiTo Christo:" — "I feel within me a mighty
impulse to die for Christ," and, flinging him.self upon his
knees as a victim for the sacrifice or a holocaust for sin,
he registered his wondrous " vow " to meet martyrdom,
when it came to him, with the joy and resignation be-
fitting a disciple of his Lord.* When he returned to
himself, the cross had faded away, innumerable stars
were brightly sliining, the cold was wrapping him in icy
mantle, and he retraced his footsteps to the smoky cabin.
He fiung himself beside his weary brother and laid him
down to welcome rest. When morning broke, they be-

■ Relation, IGIS, page IS; see appeiulix,

142

KAKLY MISSIONS IN WKSTKKN (JANADA.

I iW

<;jiii anew tlii'ii' toilsome journey, lioldin^ t'rieiully con-
verse. " Was the cross large?" asked Father Chaunionot.
" Large," spoke hack the other, "yes, large enough to
crucify us all." I wonder it' the indomitable spirit ot*
this heroic priest (juailed in the presence of this porten-
tous and prophetic sign, or did he welcome the apparition
as foretelling the near approach of his hopes and prayers
for the martyr's crown. Late that afternoon they
reached the town of Teatonguiaton. They visited this
town, which they christened 8t. William, when outward
hound, and here happened one of the most consoling in-
cidents of their rough experience in the countiy. They
rested here all night, and when morning dawned they
were snow-hound, and compelled for a time to abandon
their journey. The squaw, into whose cal)in they were
led as if by the hand of Cod, seemed to have been in-
spired from heaven to treat them with a tenderness and
kindness in striking contrast to the injuries and insults
they had everywhere received. The season of Lent was
upon them with its rigorous abstinence, and the woman,
noticing that they did not touch the meat placed before
them, prepared dishes of Lidian corn and fish. The
Fathers, profiting by their forced delay, endeavored to
perfect themselves in the dialect of the Neutrals.* Their
hostess lent her services to the work. She dictated to

\\\

*Father Brebeuf collected the material for his Neutral dictionary
while staying in this village.

THE JESUITS AND THE NEUTRALS.

143

them the words of tlie hin^"ua<i;e, and sylhiblc l>y Ryllable,
oxphiined their ditt'ereiit meaiiin<ifs and applications.
She instructed her cliildron to regard them with great
respect. The Fathers treated tliesc little ones with a
friendliness that won their hearts, and they in turn
reciprocated with kindly services. The S(iuaw was ridi-
culed an<l subjected to annoying persecution by her
Indian companions, Imt, during the twenty-Hve days that
the missionaries passed under her hospitable roof, there
was no change in her bearing towards them. " Sad to
relate," writes Father Chaumonot, " this good woman, so
devoted in her attentions and so tender in her sympathies,
opened not her heart to the grace of God, and we had
not the consolation of baptizing her before leaving."
Bidding good-bye to this good woman and her children,
they again took up the homeward trail. Two weeks of
March had already passed away, but the cold was still
intense, while lake and pond were frozen solid, and the
snow hard enough to support the weary travellers. That
night it grew still colder, and they began to suffer in-
tensely. " It was so cold," writes Father Chaumonot,
" that the trees around us s]:)lit with the frost, and the
ice in places opened with a great noise ; but in spite of
cold, weariness, and repeated falls, the marks of which
are still left on my knees, we marched along courageously
and joyously." Father Brebeuf , however, met with an
accident which was very serious in its effects. When

KAllLV .MISSION'S IN WESTEKN CANADA.

illll

crossing- a wiud-swopt pond, wliose ice was like polished
glass, he slip})ed and fell so violently that he lost con-
sciousness. When he retrained his senses and was assisted
to his feet by Father Chaunionot, he complained of
great pain, an<l on examination it was found he had
broken his shoulder-blade. Under the circumstances,
they could do nothing but proceed on their journey,
which was for Father Brebouf, by reason of his intense
sufferings, a veritable via dolorosa. When climbing a
hill he was freipiently obliged to rest himself against a
tree ; and when going down he was assisted by Father
Chaumonot, who feared the consecpiences of another
fall. About this time the Fathers met a Huron guide,
who was sent from St. Mary's to escort them home. The
guide and Father Chaumonot, in pity for Brebeuf 's suf-
ferings and unable to relieve him, tried to persuade him
to rest for a time until they would make a sleigh, on
which they proposed to draw their wounded companion.
The heroic Brebeuf, whose energy of character and
intrepid courage sustained him in every trial, courteously
declined the offer, and after a short rest, the two priests
and the guide faced again towards the Huron country.
On the 19th of March, 164J, the feast of St. Joseph,
Patron of the land, Fathers Brebeuf and Chaumonot,
after an absence of almost five months, reached the
familiar village of St. Mary's of the Hurons. Priests,
neophytes, and Huron warriors, gathered around and

THE JESUITS AM) THE XEl 'I'KAI.S.

145

oroeted tliem as men who had returned from tlieir
oraves. They entered the viHnge early in the morning,
and after the customary salutations were over, ottered up
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and received Holy Com-
iHunion, " to us," adds Chaumonot, " the greatest conso-
lation and the most powerful support in our apostolic
lal)ors." 80 endetl the mission to the Neutrals. The
I'ailure of Fathers Brebeuf and Chaumonot did not, how-
ever, put an end to the hojie that some day they would
return and meet with a more favorable reception. It
was no p£t,rt of the creed of the Fathers to despair of con-
verting a people who opened hospitable graves for the
martyred bodies of the Jesuits, much less of those who
only treated them with contempt and ridicule. " The
fewness of our number," writes Father Lalemant,"*
scarcely sufficient for the towns around us, prevents us
from going to the Neutral nation where three years ago
we sowed the seed of the gospel. Some Christian Hurons,
however, have taken our place and are doing the work
of apostles with perhaps as much success as if we our-
selves were there." A year or so after the return of
Chaumonot and Brebeuf, Stephen Totiri, a Christian
Huron from the village of St. Joseph, accompanied hy
his brother, visited the frontier towns of the Neutrals and
began to explain to the people the doctrines and myste-

Relation, 1G41, page 97,

146

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

,! I

'1 :

ries of the faith. They were favorably received, and ex-
cited such interest and curiosity that visitors came at all
hours of the night and day to interview them. The
brothers carried their beads suspended from their necks,
and the Neutrals, who were as curious as children, asked
them to explain what these things were, and if the cruci-
fixes attached to the beads were not okis. " They are a
sign," replied Stephen, " that we acknowledge for Mas-
tt" Him who created heaven and earth. Though invisi-
ble, He fills the whole world with His presence, governs
all things, as the soul fills and governs our bodies, even
though we do not see it." Another Huron convert,
Barnabe Otsinnonannhont, made a long sojourn in the
Neutral country. He was a man of considerable author-
ity among the Hurons and manifested great zeal in teach-
ing the mysteries of religion to the Neutrals. The effect
of his good example was greater even than his dis-
courses. He declined to take any part in ceremonies
which his conscience told him were wrong, and virtu-
ously spurned advances tolerated by the customs of the
country but opposed to the law of morality. The Neu-
trals, who were very much attached to dreams, which
they believe to be emanations from some protecting
Manitoit, could not understand why Barnabe condemned
belief in them as unworthy of men and even beneath
the contempt of women. When the Neutrals complained
that the Christian religion was an insupportable yoke

THE JESUITS A\D THE NEUTRALS.

147

and took from them the pleasures that alone made exist-
teiice tolerable, he answered, " Not so, for if I knew a
road leading to Paradise, though broken with frightful
precipices, I would enter upon it cheerfully, knowing
that I was on the road to Heaven. At whatever price
we purchase eternal happiness, we have made a good
bargain." In the spring of 1G45, a band of a hundred
Neutrals visited the Hurons. They beheld with wonder
and surprise the Christian churches that were built in
the Huron villages. They invited the Fathers to return
with them, assuring them that, if they came again, they
would j-eceive a hospitable welcome. •' God grant," adds
Father Lalemant, " that it may be so." But the day of
grace for the Neutrals had gone for ever, and not from
the north, but from the south a message was borne to
them, and its burden was, " The Iroquois are digging the
grave of the great Neutral nation, and the war-cry of the
Senecas will be the requiem for your dead."

■ II!

III

'4'

CHAPTER XVI.

THE AL(J()N(^UINS.

Algonquin Tribes — Extentof Territory Claimed by Them — No Military
Unity— Tlieir Theogony— Schoolcraft's Opinion — " Kitchi-Mani-
tou"and " MitcliiManitou" — Algonquin Sacrifices — The Medicine
Men — Offerings to the Manitous— Dreams — The Nipissings — Their
Hunting <i rounds — A I»Jation of Sorcerers— Sagard — Father Pijart
and the Nipissings.

The great Algonquin nation, at tlie tinio of which wo
write, included one lnin(h-ed and four scattered tribes
wliose lumting grounds stretclied from the St. Lawrence
ah)ng the Ottawa, sweeping northerly past the Huron
country till they touched the land of the Sioux and the
great North- West. All the New England ti-ibes, those of
the Delaware region, the Abena(]uis of Maine, the Creeks
of the CJreat Slave Lake, the Ottawas and Pottawataniies
of Michigan, bore the Algonquin totem. New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, Quebec, Virginia, Pennsylvania and all New
England were occupied by tribes speaking the Algon(iuin
language. Even into Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and
Indiana, detached hordes roamed. This great nation
must have numbered, when Cartier arrived at Montreal,
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand
souls. As a nation they did not at any time reach an

148

THE Al/JONtiUINS.

149

.ipproucli to civilization borderiiio- on the Huron Iro(]iiois.
The extent of territory over wliicli they roamed, the
multitudinous tribes claiming Aloon(]uin descent, the in-
cessant wars and feuds in which they were engaged
among themselves, weakened their fighting strength and,
when the Mohawks and Senecas atttacked tluan on the
Hast, and the 8ioux on the West, they were generally
worsted. The coliesiveness which bound togethei- the
tribes of the Wyandots, and those of the ]ro(jUois, was
the secret of their strength, when compared numerically
with the Algon(juins. The Iroijuois parliament represent-
Hig the five nations, met at Onondaga, and the Huron
Council assembled at Ossossn/ne, but we find no place or
town in which the Algon(juins converged in cases of dan-
ger to the whole nation :* hence, wiiile they surpassed in
numbers the Iroquois and Hurons cond>ined, they were
unequal to either in the field. It would appear from the
testimony of early travellers that many of the tribes of
the Algon(juins entertained some notions of a Creating
Spirit. " They believed," says Schoolcraft, " in the exist-
ence of a Supreme Being who create<l the earth and the
hea\ ens, men and animals, and filled sjmce with subor-
<linate spirits to whom he gave part of his [)Ower."' Char-

'* General Cass (His. Lee, p. 14) says that the Council-fire of the
Algonquin Confederacy had, from times remote, been in the custody
of th*} Cliipewas, and the seat of its power was on the South-western
shore of Lake Superior. He does uot support his opinion by any
authority.

150

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

levoix and Loskiel are of tlie same opinion. This ^reat
spirit they denominated Kitchi-Manitou. Inferior in
power to this great and good Being, was an evil spirit
called Mitohi-Manitou, Avho came into existence after
Kitchi-Manitou. The symbol of the good spirit was the
Sun and that of the evil spirit the Serpent. To both
these spirits the Algonquin offered a species of sacritice, to
propitiate the one, and appease the other.* Like all the
other tribes of North America, the religion of the Algon-
quins was a tissue of absurdities. They had no doctrine
or distinct priesthood, and that which seemed to be a
doctrine, w.is so buried in their traditional superstitions,
that it could scarcely be said to have had a breathing exist-
ence. With them superstition, the child of error and ignor-
ance, was continually fostered by the awful natural phen-
omena around them. The " Medicine Man " was the near-
est approach to a priest known to the Algoncpiins. In
sickness, in trials and trouble, they resorted to him as
densely ignorant and stupid people do to fortune-tellers
in our own country to-day. In fact, with this class of
people professing to be Christian, the fortune-teller or

* This belief has been beautifully expressed by McGee in his charm-
ing poem, Jacqties Cartier,

** He told them of the Algonquin braves — the heroes of the wild,
Of how the Indian mother in the forest rocks her child ;
Of how, poor souls, they fancy in every living thing,
A spirit, good or evil, that claims their worshipping."

iiii III

THE ALGONQUINS.

151

clairvoyant stands in about the same relation that the
Medicine Man did to the superstitious Algonquin. To
the Algoncjuins the earth, the air, storm and tempest
and animals of all kinds were animated with spirits
which they called Manitous, In fact all e::isting things
had a Manitoii which they invoked when starting on the
war or hunting trail. Sacrifices were oftered in their
honor to solicit their good offices in behalf of themselves
or friends. When they sacrificed to the Sun, the act of
worship was accompanied with a feast at which every-
tliing was consumed. Thanks were returned for the
light the Sun vouchsafed them and, for the sake of the
feast which was offered in his honor, a continuance of
his good offices was solicited for the future. Tobacco was
then thrown into the fire, and the shouts and clamour
of the tribe mingled with the rising incense. When on
the lakes a storm threatened them, they threw a dog in-
to the waters, appealing to the storm to be still, in grati-
tude for their offering. In dangerous places in the rivers
and bays, offerings were cast on the rocks, or hung upon
the trees, to propitiate the divinity that presided over
the locality. The snow and ice they believed to be ani-
mated with spirits that moved them to disappear in the
spring and return in the winter. They tliought that
crows and hawks and other birds, as well as certain
animals, could talk and understand each other. Cur-
iously enough, believing that fishes were animated with

152

EAllF.Y MISSIONS IX WESTERN CANADA.

souls, they liekl tluit wlien a fish was killed or died,
tlie spirit passed into another fish, and for this reason
an Al^oncjuin was never known to throw the remains
of a fish he liad eaten into the fire, believino- if he did
so, that particular kind would never again enter his
net. I'heir ti'ibal sacrifices nearly always ended in feasts
of debauchery and impure dances. Concubinage and
polygamy obtained everywhere among them ; men and
women separating at will, taking other partners unto
themselves. Their girls were shameless wantons. Even
their very dreams they supposed to be influenced by a
s])irit, and often they spent seven or eight days in un-
broken fast in order to invite a vision of a herd of moose
or a band of flying Iroquois regarding them as omens of
good luck. Disease with an Algonquin was supposed to
be the result of his failure to perform some specific duty,
or the introduction of some tantalizing in)p of evil im-
port who entered into his body or to that part of his
system most affected. Hence, if a man had a headache
or a severe pain in any part of his body, he complained
that he was possessed of a Maintoii and would have no
rest until he was Ijanished. The " medicine man " of the
tribe was then sent for, who applied his mouth to the
afflicted part^ and after a series of incantations and weird
actions declared that he had banished the spirit and
nothing remained for him now but to give a feast. In
truth the superstitions which formed the religion of the

THE ALGONQUINS.

153

Algonquin entered into almost every act of his life, con-
fronted him in every journey or duty he was undertak-
ing, until all his actions became a tissue of absurdities.
I'o the Algonquin nation belonged the Nipissings among
whom the Jesuits were soon to open a mission with the
hope that in the course of time they would be able
to send evangelists to all the other Algie tribes. The
territory claimed by this particular tribe lay on both
sides of the lake which bears their name, and included
the present townships of Patterson, Hardy, McConkey,
Lount, the present Indian Reserve on the northern shore
of Lake Nipissing, extending on both si<les of the Cana-
dian Pacific Railway as far as the banks of the Spanish
River. The Hurons and the French stigmatized them
as a nation of sorcerers, not that they were all such, but
because as a people they boasted themselves on consult-
ing the spirits in their necessity. " When," writes Sagard,
" they wished to communicate and learn anything from
the spirits, their ordinary custom was to build a wigwam
for the occasion, and there invoke the devil and receive
his oracles, which were indeed oftener announcements of
falsehood than truth. Indeed, there are those among
them who say they have seen their demons, spoken to
them and had intercourse with them. These sorcerers
claim to have the power of bringing on those whom they
hate certain diseases which can only be cured by sorcer-
ers stronger than themselves, or by extraordinary re-

154

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

medies. I have found, however, among them good-
natured people, courteous in their conversation and of a
nature capable of developing much good if they were
only instructed in the law of God. "^Pheir dress and the
manner of wearing their hair is similar to that of the
other Algonquins."*

Father Pijart says that when in the winter of 1641 he
opened a mission among the Petuns there were two
towns occupied by the Nipissings in which the Algonquin
language was spoken exclusively, and in which the men
were entirely naked ; he adds that they changed their
villages almost every season. In the spring a band of
them would betake themselves to streams where there
was good fishing, another party would start for Lake
Superior and spend the time trafficking with the people
on the shores. As early as 1G40, Fathers Claude Pijart
and Claude Raymbault left Three Rivers to open a mis-
sion among the Nipissings, remaining fifteen days with
them, during which time they were most hospitably and
kindly entertained. Their principal chief, Ikasoumir,
went through the village crying out : " Let every one
come to pray and honor God after the manner of the
French." No obstacle was placed in the way of the
Fathers either in instructing or baptizing the sick. This

*While with the Nipissings Sagard lost his manuscripts containing
an account of his travels since he left Dieppe.

THE AL(;()NQriNs.

155

was the bcginiiin^r of the mission of tlie Holy ({},ost
among the the Nipissings, of which we will treat in the
following chapter. Father Pijart visited other towns in
the Nipissing country, in one of which there were five
hundred souls gathered together from the different tribes,
to whom he announced the gospel. Writing of the Nip-
issings he says. " Tl^ese people are of a friendly nature,
not at all proud : they are good managers, the women'
arc very industrious and the children, when (^f an age to
do so, occupy their time in fishing. The youths show a
great desire to be instructed and are very fond of sing-
ing." Father Kagueneau says that he and Father Men-
ard in 1648 celebrated the Feast of the Assumption with
this tribe, and that in their bark chapel prayers were
chanted in Latin, Algonfpiin and Huron.

CHAITKR XVII.

MISSION TO THE Nll»ISSIN(iS.

The Nipissings— The Bedouins of the Forest— Mission of the Holy
(ihost — Feast of the Dead — Dance of the Nipissings — Pijart and
(Jarreau — With the Roving Horde- Heroism of the Priests — Dis-
persion of the Nipissings — Father Claude AUouez— His Story.

In U) 42, Fathers Claude Pijart and Charles Rayinbault
oi)eiied a mission on the northern shore ot* Lake Nipis-
sinf(, about where the village of Beaucage, in the Indian
reserve, now stands. The year before, Father Pijart left
Three Rivers early in the spring, and passed some
months instructing and ministering to the Indians tiiere.
It could only have been a " flying church," for the Nip-
issings were a roving horde, having no towns, permanent
villa<Tes, or, indeed, any fixed abode, but throwing to-
o-ether their temporary cabins, sometimes in the northern
forests of Algoma, again amid the lonely lakes of the
Muskoka region and Parry Sound, or in the desolation
of wilderness that stretched from their own shore to
Tamagaminguc Lake. Sometimes buried in the dense
forest, again siiuatting on the islands of the lakes around
them, they were continually on the move, and except in
the winter, when they drew near to the Huron frontier,

156

MISSION TO THE NIPISSINCJS.

157

were sciirccly over I'onr months in tlic same ])lufM'. " If
there are (Uin^ers to us in tliis wuiuhrino- lil'i', mure,
iiKleed, on tlic water tlian on tlie hmd : il" we suffer lianl-
ships f()llowinf( tliese poor savaf^es, il' fati<^ues are associ-
ated with our journeys, Heaven, nevertheless, ^i*ants us
many consolations." * The success of the Fatlu'rs, how-
ever, was not conniieusurate with their lahOrs. They
were confronted with almost insurmountable ditlieulties ;
the same gross stupidity, the .same lic'utiousness, the
same dirt and filth, only in a more revolting* form, which
they found among the Hurons, were everywhere ar(nu»<l
them. They lamented their want of success, and the
oidy attempt at an excuse or explanation tor apparent
failure found in the whole " Jesuit Relations," appears in
this letter of Father Pijart : " To make a Christian out
of a savage is not the work of a single day ; the seed
which the husbandman scatters on the soil re(|uires time
to germinate." The missionai'ies had first to become
acquainted with the tribe, to ac(|uire some knowledge of
the language, which was an Algoncpiin j)tdois, to fami-
liarize themselves with their habits and manner of life,
befoi'c they could make any progress. The next obstacle
which lay across their path was the intense prejutlice
whicli this " nation of sorcerers " entertained against the
faith. With an admirable simplicity, as gentle as it was

^Father Pijart's letter to Father J erome Lalemant.

158

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERX CANADA.

lill

child like, tlirHu self-denying men congratulato<l tlieni-
selvcson bein^r ])erniitted to baptize a few sickly children.
These infants, fortunately, recovered their health, and the
Nipissings beo-an to think that the " black-robes " were not
only medicine-men of great power, but also men who
were disposed to advance the interest of the tribe. The
bitterness of opposition gradually died out, but the Nip-
issings, who were often on the verge of famine, were too
busy finding sustenance for their bodies to pay much
attention to their souls, and it is <loubtful if they ever
would becunu! Christians while they continued their
rovings. In this year, when autunni was just opening,
the Algoncjuins celebrated their "Feast of the Dead,"
gathering the bones of their friends and relatives from
their respective burial-places and conve^nng them to a
common centre on the shores of Parry Sound, On a
given day early in Septembei", the confedei'ated ti'ibes,
responding to invitations sent out sometime before, met
togethei-. The Algomjuins of Lake Superior were thi'
tirst to arrive with a llotilla of forty canoes. As they
approachetl the shore they threw into the water offerings
to the tutelary ok'it< and inaniioas of the locality. Each
tribe, when it reached the place of meeting, spread
out on the cround its presents for the dead. Robes

of beaver, skius of deer, bear and wild cat, hatchets.

kettles and belts of

and articles which were

ampum,
considered valuable, covered the ground. Each chief

MISSION TO THE NIPISSINGS.

159

made a .special present, offering for acceptance that
wliicli was considered suitable. Pijai't and Raynibault,
who came down with the Nipissings, presented their
gifts as offerings to the living, at the same time express-
ing the hope that the}" would em])race the faith, in
order to be happy hereafter in heaven. This wish on
the part of the Fathers excited considerable surprise, for
it was opposed t(- the immemorial custom whicli de-
manded expressions of sorrow for the dead and words of
consolation for the living. When the ceremony of pres-
entation was over, fort}^ warriors chosen for the purpose
strode into the open, and, to the music of voice and drum,
Ix'gan the "dance for the dead;" each man facing his
neighbor with uplifted tomahawk, as if to strike, held
himself in readiness for the mimic battle. A Sauteur
breaks away from the ranks as if pursued by an enemy.
Aftei' a short run, he turns swiftly around to give battle
to the foe: then, shouting out his war-cry, he rushes for-
ward and buries his hatchet in the head of his imaginary
enemy, and retui-ns victorious to his friends. When he
re-enters the ranks, a war party armed with bows and
(juivers moves swiftly out, as if to meet the Irocpiois.
Their gestures, movements, and gyrations were those of
men intensely excited. As the combat <leepened, detached
bands of warriors rushed to the assistance of their
friends. The air is rent with war-cries; men struggle
hand to hand, writhing, twisting, contorting, until the

IGO

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

ilf

4 hi

j ;

scene takes on the appearance of an actual battle, me
Iroquois defeated, the Algonquins return with imitations
of reeking scalp-locks, and are greeted on every side
with exultant shouts of approbation. After a momentary
pause, the tribal musicians appear, and the second part
of the dance begins. Commencing with eight persons,
every few minutes tw^o or three more joined, till all the
warriors took part. This was followed by the dance of
the squaws, a dance remarkable for its rythmic move-
ment and grace of action. The ballet over, they pro-
ceeded to the election of their chiefs, whose names were
proclaimed by a herald, chosen for the purpose. The
elected chiefs strode forward, clothed in rich robes, and
offered valuable presents of beaver and bear skins. The
ceremony of the " Resurrection of Names " now took
place. It consisted in conferring the names of the dis-
tinguished dead on those whose valorous deeds entitled
them to the honor, and was done to keep alive the mem-
ory of their great men. While this ceremony was going,
on, the w^omen were occupied in decorating a large wng-
wam, built for this special occasion. Its walls were
lined with most valuable furs ; for flooring it had pre-
cious skins of beaver and bear, and within were heaped
the rich presents which each tribe had brought to the
trysting-place. The women now carried in the bones of
the dead, which were coffined in cedar boxes, elaborately
lined with robes and decorated with strings of wampum.

rt>

MISSION TO THE NIPISSINGS,

161

Around each coffin tlie female relatives gatlieretl and
sang tlieir mournful requiems. When the women liad
finished their lamentations, a dozen men entered, and
the S(j[uaws began anew their mourning chants, till the
tent was filled again with plaintive cries of woe. Night
was already far advanced ; the melancholy dirge rose at
times to a shriek and again fell in dying cadences, when
presently those outside caught up tlie lingering strains
which were carried from tribe to tribe till the forest was
filled with a chorus of lamentations. This requiem of
the dead continued the whole night, and when morning
broke the squaws distributed gifts of corn, ornamented
moccasins and other articles manufactured for the feast,
addressing themselves the while to the souls of their
dead, whom they believed were present to participate
in the ceremony. They waived palm branches over the
dry bones that their rest might be peaceful. Then from
some neighboring hill there rushed down a band of
braves, brandishing their weapons and piercinsf the air
with their frightful war-cries, leaping, shouting, yelping
as if in actual battle, until they reached the tent, which
they stormed, the women fieeing in apparent terror. The
warriors now took possession of the lodge and celebrated
their victory in prolonged dances, till each tribe hat]
taken part in the ceremony. When the dance was fin-
ished, the Algonquins of the north slaughtered a number
of dogs and bears, wliich they brought with thom in

162

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

1^1

tlieir canoes, and tlic feast of death was entered upon.
After tliey liad breakfasted they brought together the
bones of tlieir dead, and, in a hxrge pit, lined with pre-
cious ro))es, hiid tliem to rest. They tlien filled in the
liuge grave, covered it witli stones, built a picket fence
around it, and the " Feast of the Dead " was over. The
priests were silent spectators at this ceremony, mingled
art'ectionately with the visitors from the north, and ap-
parently made a favorable impression upon them. The
Algonipiins of Lake Superior invited the Fathers to
open a mission in their country, stating that the Potta-
watamies, who were driven by the Iroquois from their
own foi'ests, were now dwelling with them. The priests
stated that they were on tb.eir way to the Hurons, but
that in all probability the following year some of them
would visit the northern tril)es. In ]()45, Fathers Pi-
Jart .'Uid Garreau* wintered witli the Nipissings and

* Father Leonard Garreau, almost immediately after his ai rival in
the country, 1644, proceeded to the mission of the Hurons. After the
dispersion of the Hurons, he retired with a remnant to "Christian
Island," from which place he made freijuent excursions to the northern
shore of the great lake to minister to the scattered families that tied to
these parts. After he returned to Quebec with the fugitive Hurons,
he remained there for some time winistering to these unhappy people.
Father do Quen, in his Relation of 165G, says that a party of Hurons
who had taken refuge with the Ottawas, came to Quebec and invited
Father (Jarreau to return with them. He accepted the invitation, and
in company with Father Dreuilletes and a party of French hunters,
left with the Indian flotilla. When they arrived at Three Rivers the
hunters lost heart and returned to Quebec, The priests continued on,

MISSION TO THE XIPIS.SINOS.

163

suffered intensely i'rom cold .'uid privation. Tliey left
St. Mary's in the last days of November, and were five
days on their journey, continually exposed to storms,
snow and very severe weather. They Ijuilt for them-
selves a small lodge, in which they said mass every
day. Father Garreau fell ill and was very near d^^ng.
Father Pijart was ver^^ seriously wounded by a sorcerer,
and would undoubtedly have been killed but for the
intervention of one of the tribe. "Truly," he writes,
" we can only abandon ourselves into the hands of Pro-
vidence, for althounrh many among them have a kindly
feeling for us, still any man may kill us, satisfied he
has nothing to fear from the tribe." When spring opened,
the Nipissings dispersed, and the Fathers returned to
Huronia.

There are few pages in our early history more touch-
ing and romantic than those which record the labors and
sufferings of these mortified men. By insults meekly
borne, by ti'ials innumerable and b}- saintly patience,
they began to win gradually these Bedouins of the for-
est. Through months of weary exile, through nightly
vigil, they sowed in tears before they reaped in joy. In

and as they reached the mouth of the Ottawa, the flotilla was attacked
by the Iroquois, and Father (iarreau's backbone was broken by a bul-
let. As the French were at peace with the Iroquois nation at the time.
Father (Jarreau was brought by them to Montreal, and presents ottered
to appease the anger of the (Jovernor. Father (Jarreau lived in great
agony for three days, and died on the second of September, 1056.

164

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

l-i|:!

!i'

II!

;

wiiitur, perishing vvitli cold aiid lialf starved, tliey croucli-
ed in the smoky lodges, and by tlie l>lazino- tires instructed
those halt'-hunianized liordes in the rudiments of Cliris-
tianity. Aoain, in the burning lieat of summer, in tlie
drencliing storms of spring and autunni, living on acorns
and rock tripe, they followed their savage companions
on their fishing excursions, roamed with them through
the northern forests of Nipissing, or, while tlie horde
camped for a time amid the desolate rocks of Muskoka,

Rocks hoary with age,

While yet the Greek

Was hewing the Pentelicus to forms

Of symmetry, and rearing on its rock

The glittering Parthenon,

expounded the mysteries of the Faith, in language divine
in its sincerity and earnestness. Hunger and cold and
disease they fought and conquered with a burning zeal
that sustained and cheered their wasted and sinking
frames. If the flesh trembled, the uncon(|uerable spirit
never faltered. Disappointment and discouragement too,
were theirs, for often, when perishing souls whom they
came to rescue listened for months with apparent interest
and seemed to promise some return for the sacrifices
made on their behalf, the Fathers beheld but the dry
husks of hypocrisy. Still they sowed on, and the harvest
they reaped was not altogether one of barren regrets.
The missionaries, worn and spent with labor, leturned

MISSION TO THE NIPISSINGS.

165

to Huroiiia for a short rest. Father Pijart* fell seriously
ill, and Menard-f- takin<^ his place, accompanied Father
Garreau on his way back to the Nipissin^s. On their ar-
rival they opened the mission of St. Michael and made
many converts who retained their religion until death.
There is every reason to believe that if it were not for
tlie dispersion and partial extinction of the tribe, the
Nipissings, if once permanently settled, would have
been won eventually to the faith, for the Jesuits, once

*Father Pijart arrived in the Huron country, 1635. In May, 16.37, he
established the mission of the Immaculate Conception at Ossossanc.
He returned to France broken in health, after passing fifteen years on
the Canadian missions. His eldest brother Claude stepped into the
breach made vacant by his departure. He left for the Huron Missions
in 1640 and labored for some years among the Nipissings and Petun-
Hurons. He accompanied the Huron remnant to Quebec where he died
at the age of 63 in 1683.

tFather Rene Menard reached Quebec on June 4th, 1640. The fol-
lowing year he ascended to the Huron country. Until 1649 he labored
among the Hurons, the Nipissings and other Algonquin tribes. De-
scending with Father Ragueneau, after the destruction of the Hurons,
he wrought for sometime among the Indians in the French settlements.
In July, 1656, he left for the Irotjuois missions, but, after three years
of almost fruitless labor, returned in 1660 to Three Rivers. ^Ve next
hear of him among the Algonquins of Lake Superior, where, on August
15th, 1061, he was lost on his way to an inland tribe. His remains
were never discovered, nor was he ever afterwards lieard of. Father
Menard was the first Priest that said Mass in what is now the state
of Wisconsin, August 15th, 1661. It seemed that he had a pre-
sentiment of his death, for a short time before it occurred he wrote to
one of the Fathers : "In three or four months in your Masses remem-
ber me as among your dead." Years afterwards his Breviary was found
among the Sioux who treasured it as a potent amulet.

i(i()

KAIILV MISSIONS r\ WESTEI{N CANADA.

they entered upon the conversion of a tribe, never
retreated. If disease or tlie tojnahawk felled tlie con-
secrated soldier into the ^i-ave, another, sorrowing for
his conj])anion, presse*! forward, cross in hand, prc-
])ared to close with the spirits of superstition and dark-
ness, and, if needs be, share in his broth(^i''s fate. "No-
thin<(," wrote one of them years afterwards, when de-
scribing the niart^^rdom of his two companions, — " No-
thing has happened to them for which they were not
prepare(l when they gave themselves to the conversion
of the Indians " In the grandeur of his Fiiith, in the
magnificence of his dying love for his Lord and Master,
each one felt that sooner or later in his own blood
he would be " baptv.ed for the dead," for those who in
the gloomy forests were sleeping the sleep of death.
Each one rejoiced that he was appointed unto death.
" Ibo et non redibo, — I will go but will not come back,"
were the prophetic words of Jogues* when, already
scarred and nuitilated by the knives of the Iroquois, he
returned to the Mohawks, bearing once again the mes-
sage of salvation. Truly tliey were all Baptists crying
in the wilderness as in the days of old, and praying
that even their wandering Hocks would some day " see
the salvation of God."

In 1(550 the Nipissings were attacked and defeated by

*Kip's Jesuit Missions, page 67.

MISSION TO THK MIMSSIN(iS.

1G7

the Iroquois. The Hyin^ remnant left the country and
settled on the shores of Lake Nepigon, where they
remained for twenty years unvisited by a ]n-iest. On
the l()th of May, 1(3()7, Father Alloucz* took his depart-
ure from Clie(|uame<>jon Hay, with three Ottawa com-
panions, and, after a perilous voyage of twelve hours in
a bark canoe, reached the northern banlcs of Lake
Superior. They coasted along the shore of this great,
lake and entered the mouth of the Nepigon Kiver, where
they rested for two days. Here they met twenty or
thirty Nipissing hunters, to whom he preached the gos-
pel, and who still retained a kindly regard for the l)lack
robes, whom they liad know^n on the shores of their
own lake twenty years before. "I must here relate,"
writes Father Allouez, "a remarkable story told to me
by these Nipissings. Tw^o women, a mother and her
daughter, who were instructed by Father Pijart, have

*Father Claude Allouez came to Quebec ia 1657, and after labor-
ing for some time at Three Rivers and Montreal, embarked for the
North-western regions in August, 1665, in company with more than
four hundred Indians of different tribes, who were returning to their
forest homes after bartering their furs and peltries. For twenty-five
years this wonderful priest travelled from tribe to tribe through tlie
great states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota, enduring the hor-
rors of cold and hunger, bearing the message of the gospel to those
who were seated in the shadow of death, and expiring in 1690, amid the
lamentations and regrets of his pagan and christian children of the for-
est. He met LaSalle in Illinois in the year .1679. An extended notice
of the life of this extraordinary priest will he found in th«>, "History of
the discovery of the Mississippi," page 67.

168

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

always had recourse to God and continually receiv-
ed help from Him. They were captured by the Iro-
(juois and luckily escaped death by fire and torture.
Shortly afterwards they again fell into the hands of
their enemies, and prepared themselves by prayer for
the frightful ordeal which awaited them. One day,
being left alone with a solitary guard, his companions
having gone on a hunting expedition, the daughter
remarked to the mother, ' There is now a chance for us
to escape.' She was dressing a beaver skin, according
to command, and asked the Iroquois for a knife. Im-
ploring the help of Heaven, she rushed upon him and
buried the knife in his bosom, her mother at the same
time braining him with a stick of wood. Then hastily
gathering what provisions they could, they fled into the
woods, and after a weary journey of some days, reached
their village." Father AUouez arrived in safety, and
remained with them some months. The " Relations "
make no further mention of the Nipissings, and it is
probable that, weakened by disease and war, they lost
their tribal identity and were absorbed by the other Al-
gonquin nations.

CHAPTKR XVIIT.

THE MAUTYll OK THE MOHAWKS,

St. Mary's-on-the-Wye — Fatlier Jogiies — Before the Altar of the Bless-
ed Sacrament — On the way to Quebec — The Return — Capture of
the Huron riotilla — Jogues a Prisoner — His Indifference to Danger
— Couture — His Heroic Devotion — On to the Mohawk Villages —
Atrocious Torture — The Fishing Party — At a Mohawk Village —
Plight of an Algonquin Woman — Excruciating Sufferings of Jogues
— Suspended in the Air — Death of Ren6 (Joupil — Jogues' Attach-
ment to his Friend— Searching for the Dead — Ransomed by the
Dutch — In France again — Jcgues and the Superior General —
Jogues Sails for Canada— Sent as Ambassador to the Mohawks —
Returns to (Quebec — Leaves to open the Mohawk Mission — His
Prophetic Utterance — I'ortured again — In a Mohawk Lodge — Re-
flections — Death of the great Priest.

AiJOUT the middle of June, 1G42, the Residence of the
Fatliers at St. Mary's-on-the-Wye, its outcourt and sur-
rounding buildings, slept in dreamy, peaceful slumber.
The donnes, or lay brothers, were busily engaged attend-
ing to their various duties. Some were working in the
garden, some at the anvil, and more at the plane and saw,
all contributing their share to the prosperity and respecta-
Uility of the group of buildings forming a hosj^ital,
chapel, fort and residence. Some of the Fathers were
visiting the Hurons in their wigwams, others were occu-
pied writing letters to friends at Quebec and in France,
K 169

170

EARLY MISSIONS I\ WESTERN CANADA.

; i

I'or the IluroH llotilla for Three Kivers was to leave early
the rollowiiio- ni()riiin<;'. Kneeling .st)litary and alone in
tlie cha])el was a priest apparently in llu; prime of life,
whose oval face and classical nionld of features indicated
a modest, refined and meditative nature. The few years
he had spent on the Huron missions were full of hard-
ships not devoid of romance. A year a^o, accompanied
by another, he made a hazardous journey to the Petun-
Hurons, and barely escaped with his life. After a breath-
ing spell passed at St. Mary's, he started on his return
from the Petuns to visit the Algon(|uin tribes on the
shores of Lake Superior, and having preached the gospel
to the tH^auters who dwelt on the n^argin of the great
lake, returned to St. Mary's, subject to the orders of his
Superior. He was now prostrate in the chapel before
the Blessed Sacrament, and in the intensity of his zeal
and piety put forth this strange re([uest: " Lord grant
me to drink deeply of Thy chalice." This prayer he re-
peated with great fervor, when suddenly he heard a
voice speaking to his heart : " Son, thy prayer is heard,
thou shalt have what thou hast asked, take courage and
be strong." Father Jogues, for it was he, with a face
radiant with happiness left the chapel satisfied that his
prayer was answered. A few days afterwards, Father
Jerome Lalemant, acting-Superior of the Huron mis-
sions, remarked that it would be necessary for one of
them to go to Quebec to procure supplies for the mis-

■nil-: MAirrvii or tiiI': moiiawks,

171

sioM. Tlie joiinicy wjis bristling' witli (liinn'ci", I'or the
Ir()(|iiois wero on the \v<ir-|>}itli iin«l iiit'estt'(l tlic ( )tt}i\Vii
foivHts. Futlicr .Jo<;m's vohintei'iHMl for tlie voyMi,^', ami,
{iccoinpiiuitMl hy Ueiie (Joupil and (iuilhinnu' Couture
(Ion lies of tlu' mission, an<l a lunuhei' ol" Hurons, k'ft in a
few (lays and arrived safely at (j)ui!l)ec. Havintr com-
pleted his purchases in that city, tlie party starte(l on
the return journey. They sailed up the St. Lawrence,
and, hu^^'ing the shore, reached the western end of Lake
St. Peter, when suddenly the dreaded war-whoop of the
lro([Uois niinf,ded with the re[)orts of guns l)roke the
silence. Canoes tilled with warriors pushed out from
the rushes and made for the Hui'on flotilla. Many of
the Hurons, paraly/ed with fear, leaped ashore and dis-
appeared in the forest. Some of the Christian Hui'ons
aii<l the two Frenchmen showed tight, Imt, unahle to
cope with the superior nundjer of the Irocpiois, were
killed or captured.

Father Jogues, who sat in one of the leading canoes,
sprang into the Imlrushes and nn'ght have esca])ed, but
when he saw Goupil and some of the Hui'ons prisoners,
he left his hiding-place and, to the astonishment of the
enemy, gave himself up. At the sound of the first shot
he recognized the danger, but, so calm and self-possessed
was he, that even under the fire of the Iro(|Uois, lie bap-
tized the pilot of the canoe, who was as yet a catechumen.
This man was Bernard Atierouhonk, and, ever after-

H
li

t ■

172

EAULY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

ward.s reiiuiiiiud a true CliriHtiaii. " I thank God," lie said
on liis return from tlie Iro(|Uois country, " tluit I entered
tlie Cliurch !)y sueli a way. In tlie moment of the
^Teatest dano;er (Jndesonk (Father Jogues' Indian name)
forgot himself to think only of me. Instead of seeking
his own safety, he baptized me: he loved me more than
himself. Death here below had no terrors for him, he
feared only for his soul."* Couture might also have
escaped, he already had disappeared in the forest, but,
when he thought of Fathei' Jogues and his companion
Goupil, his emotions overcame him, and, retracing his
steps, boldly took up his position beside the priest. As
he did so, one of the Iroipiois lifted his gun to shoot
him, but Couture, anticipating his intention, shot him
dead. At once four or tive rushed upon him, tore oH'
his clothino' oiiawed the fingers from his hands and
were stripping the flesh from his arms, when Jogues,
breaking away from his guards, rushed forward an(i
threw his arms lovingly around Couture's neck. The
Inxpiois jerked hin\ oft", beat him to unconsciousness, and
with the fury of famished dogs lacerated his fingers with
their teeth. They tore out his nails, crushe<l the bones
of the two foreiingers and, turning upon Goupil, treated
him with e(pial fi'rocity. At last they started, dragging
with them the priest, the two Frenchmen and about

*Martin"s liife of Father Jogues, p. 73.

THE MARTYR OF THE MOHAWKS.

173

twenty Huron captives. Tlicy were in liasto to reach
their own country. Their captives lay bound at the hot-
toni ol' their canoes, subject to tlie mocker,' of the vic-
torious Irotjuois, who, at times, anmsed themselves by
tearing open the wounds that already were beo-iimiiio-
to close. '^I'hey sailed up the River Richelieu and Lake
C'liam])lain, crossed Lake George on their way to the
Moliawk towns. At the end of Lake Champlain they
met an Iro([uois war party, who compelled the prisoners
to run the gauntlet. Father Jogues, who was last in
line, i'ell from exliaustion, and, as he regained ids feet,
tliey ap])lied fire to his }>ody and mangled liim atro-
ciously.* "They showered so many Itlows on us,"
lie writes, "that I fell to tlie ground under their
nnnd>er and cruelty. I thought that I must surely die
under this frightful torture. Either from weakness or
from cowardice, I could not rise. God alone, for whose
love and glory it is sweet and glorious thus to suffer,
knows how long and how savagely they beat me. A cruel
compassion jn'ompted ;' hem to stop, so that they might
take me into their countiy alive. They carrie*! me to

*Thc Mohawks had three towns. The town they were now approach-
ing was known as Osscrwenon, and, on the site of tliis town, the ( 'atli-
olics of the State of New York are Imihling a magnificent Memorial
Church to commemorate ihe death and heroism of Father Jogues, the
first apostle of the Troijuois, and known as the " Martyr of the Mo-
liawk.'" So far as it was possible, the foundations of the Church were
laid almost on the very spot where Fatlier Jogues was killed. Auries-
ville is the name of the town that now occupies the site of Osserwenon.

174

EARLY MISSIONS IX WESTERN CANADA.

tlicii- ])l!itr()nii li;iir-(l«;a(l aii«l stream iii<^ with Idood.
When they ])erceive(l that I was retraining consciousness,
tliey made me come down and overwliehned me witli in-
sults and imprecations, again sliowering blows on my
head and hack and all over my hody. They ])urned
one of my tinners and crushed another with their teetli,
those that had already been crushe<l, were violently
twisted, so that even after they healed, they remained
horril>ly deformed. The fate of my companions was no
better."

At last they reached the first of the Mohawk towns,
The prisoners suffered fiightfully on the way. At the
portages they were loaded down with heavy burdens,
and at night were bound to stakes and abandonetl to in-
numerable swarms of mosipiitoes that left them no sleep.
As they were about entering tlie village, they were met
by a howling, shrieking mob, that, armed with clubs and
thorny sticks, ranged themselves in two lines between
which the captives were compelled to run. As Father
Jogues was passing tlirough this "narrow road to
Heaven," as he himself called it, he was felled to the
ground from the blow of an iron ball, but he rose again
and staggered on with the rest. They were now all
placed on a rai.sed platform and mercilessly tormented.
Jogues, as the chief man among the French captives,
fared the worse. His two remaining finger nails were
gnawed off by an infuriated old man. Another, a white-

THE MARTYH OF THE MOHAWKS.

175

licunlcMl sorcerer, seiziiif^ hold of a Christian Alf(oii(|uin
woman, a prisoner among tlieni, onlered her to cut off
tlie left thuml) of the missionaiy. Three times this
wretched woman advanced to obey him and three times
she recoiled with horror; at the fourth attempt, ahnost
beside lierself with mental agony, she sawed rather than
cut off the Itriest's tlunnb at the root. Father Jogues
stooped down and with his nmtilated liand picked up tlie
amputated member, and holding it aloft asked God to
forgive him " For the want of love and reverence of
which he had been guilty in touching His Sacred iiody."
A Huron exile whispered into his ear to drop his hand,
for if the Mohawks noticed him they would force him
to eat the l)loody thumb. Jogues did so, an<l threw it
far from him. That night he passed extended on the
ground, bound hand and foot to four stakes. To satisfy
the curiosity of all the mend)ers of the tribe, the prison-
ers were led from village to village, everywhere sur-
i-ounded b}'- the same horrors and saluted wnth the same
yells, screeches and tempests of blows. " They suspend-
ed me by my arms," writes Father Jogues, " with ropes
made of bark, from two posts raised in the centre of the
cabin. I expected to be burned, for such is the torture
usually given to victims condennied to the stake." He
i-emained hanging by the wrists for some twenty min-
utes, suiiering intensely until he was on the point of
swooning, when a visiting Indian, an accidental witness

176

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

of the torture, approaclied and with one stroke of his
knife cut the cords and released him.*

Couture, who seems to have been a man of wondrous
fortitude and iron mould, excited, by his endurance and
bravery, the admiration of tlie Mohawks. He was
brutally tortured, but was at length liberated and adopt-
ed into one of their families. Goupil, after endurinf^ in-
tense sufferings, was walking one day with Father
Jogues when, struck on the head with a hatchet, he fell
at the feet of the priest with a prayer on his lips.
Jogues dropped upon his knees and gave the still breath-
ing man conditional absolution. Goupil's body was
dragged through the town and, amid the hootings and
insulting epithets of the people, flung outside of tlie
village, as carrion for dogs to feed upon. The priest
passed two days and nights in prayer and mourning,
fearing to venture out oi' his cabin lest he himself would
meet with the same fate. At length, reckless of li''\ he

* About a year afterwards, Father Jogues, being still a prisoner with
the Mohawks, accompanied his master on a fishing excursion. They
were then about two hundred miles from Tionnontonguen, the village
where the priest was so atrociously tortured, when, on entering a
cabin. Father Jogues saw before him a man in the throes of dissolu-
tion. Jogues approached him. " Do you not know me, Onde-
sonk ? " gasped the dying man, and, before the priest had time to answer,
added. *' Do you not remember him who a year ago cut the ropes when
you were almost dead? I am he." Jogues gratefully embraced
his deliverer and, with his consent, baptized him and received him into
the church.

1 1 iii

Tii;,l

THE MARTYR OF THE MOHAWKS.

177

went in search of his I'riend's btxly. An old Indian met
liim on the way and advised liini to ^o hack. " Those
young warriors whom you see at the end of tlie path
arc watching for you and will surely kill you." But
Jogues went on and tlu; old Indian hurriedly sent a man
after him to save him. At last he discovered the body,
and its pitiable condition moved him to tears. He drag
ged it into a neighboring stream, and, to save it fi'om
further mutilation, covered it with stones, intending to
return the next day and bury it. His description of
what happened is intensely moving : — " I went to the
spot where I had laid the remains, I climbed the hill, by
the foot of which the torrent runs: I descended it ; I went
through the wood on the otiier side ; my search was useless.
In spite of the depth of the water, wliich came up to my
waist — for it had rained all night — and in spite of the
cold — it was the first of October — I sounded with my-
feet and my staff to see whether the current had not
carried the corpse farther along. I asked every Indian
I saw whether he knew what had become of it ; they
told me that it had been carried down by the current to
the river near by, wliich was untrue. Oh, what sighs I
uttered, what tears I shed to mingle with the waters of
the torrent, while I chanted to Thee, my God, the
psahns of Holy Church in the Office of the Dead." The
truth was that two young braves, who had seen Father
Jogues sink the body, returned that night, removed it

178

EARLY MISSIOXS IN WESTERN CANADA.

ami <lr.*i<^^a'fl it into tlie woods. " After the tliaws," lie
wi'ites, " I went to tliu spot pointed out to iiie, and
pitliered some bones partly gnawed, left there by the
do^H, wolves and crows, and es})ecial]y a skull fractured
in several places. I reverently kissed the hallowed rel-
ics, and hid them in the earth, that I may one day, if
such be God's will, enrich them with a Clu'istian and
holy burial."

After Goupil's death, Joo-ues' life wasn't worth an
hour's purchase. He went around on errands for his
master, cxpectin<4' death, and if it was (jlods will, would
have welcomed it as a boon. Time and aoain jis he pass-
ed thvoui»h the villafje he was told that he had not lon<i"
to live, but life had lost all attractions for him : he pass-
ed in and out defying as it were, by his courageous bear-
ing, the threats of his enemies, and each night, to his
.own astonishment, he found himself still among the
living. About the end of July he went with a fishing
party and camped with them about twentj^ miles below
Fort Orange ; some of this jiarty went up to Rensselaer-
swyck to trade with the Dutch, and took Jogues with
them. Here he was advised to make his escape, but, be-
lieving that there yet remained foi* him some good to be
done in the country, he hesitated. Sometime before,
Couture ha<l a<lvised him to escap(^ saying that he would
folh)W him, but that so long as Father Jogues would re-
main in the country he (Couture) would stay to share

THE MARTYR OF THE MOHAWKS.

17!>

liis r.-ito. .l<»((iU'S sjR'nt the iiijL^lit in prayer aii«l iiKMlitii-
tion, Jind at last resolved on tlif^lit, l»elieviii^ that it
would he more pleafsinnto God. He remained conceale<l
for six weeks, during- which time he experienced i^reat
kindness from the Calvinist clergyman, Mei^apolensis,
the Director General of the Dutch settlement, and a
number of others. At lenoth he was placed in a small
vessel which carried him down the Hudson. Heie he
was transferred to a ship sailin*^ for Falmouth, fron»
which place he sailed in a French vessel, and landed a
short distance to the north of Brest. Knocking at the
door of a cottage, he asked the way to the nearest
chui'ch. Ti^e man and his wife invited him to share
their meal, which he cheerfully did, being sadly in need
of nourishment. After supper, he went to the church
and made a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.* On the
evening of January 5th, 1044, he knocke<l at tlte door of
the College of Rennes ami asked for the Father Sujuu-ior.
The porter, deceived by his gaunt and haggard appear-
ance, his coarse and ragged clothing, took him for a beg-
gar. The Superior, being told that there was a poor

* Parkinan says : he reached the chiircli in time for the evening
Mass and received Communion. It is hard to understand how a writ-
er of Parkman's reputation for accuracy and research should make
this egregious blunder, especially when a short note to any Catholic
priest or a (question put to. his Catholic gardener would have brought
the answer, that evening Mass and evening Communion are never cele-
brated in the Catholic Church.

ISO

EAIILY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

i i-

man in tlu; luiUway, vvlu) sjiitl ]\v was from Canada
and wanted lo see him, innnediatcly Ici't the chapel and
went to tlie liall. " Tiie hvotlier porter," said tlie Snpei'-
ior, " tells me that you aie from Canada." Joo-nes re-
plied that he was. The Superior then asked him
several (piestions about the Fathers on the missions, and
at last asked him if he knew Father Jo^ues. "I know
him very well," replied the other, " I am he." The Su-
perior was astounde<]: lie at once recognized him and
embraced him warndy. When he saw his nmtilated
hands, his attenuated ap]K>ai'ance and outward wretch-
edness, he could scarcely I'estrain his tears. It was with
much difficulty that they prevailed upon him to tell of
his sufferings.

His humility would not allow him to enter into details,
till at length he was ordered by his Superior to reduce to
writing ^ic history of his captivity. A ])i'icst with any
deformity of body is prevented by Canon law from saying
Mass, but when Pope Urban the Eighth heard of his con-
dition he granted him a dispensation, remarking, that it
was only right that one who has shed his blood for Jesus
Christ should be permitted to offer up the Holy Sacrifice.
When spring opened, Father Jogues sailed again for Can-
ada, and after a lengthy stay at Quebec and Montreal,
was selected as Ambassador to the Mohawks, to confirm
a treaty already entered into between themselves and
the French. He was also commissioned by his ecclesias-

THE MAllTVH OF THE MOHAWKS.

181

tical superior to open a mission with that trihe. He left
Three Rivers in the month of May in company witli four
>h)hawk j^uides, two AI^oiKpiins, and a Frencli engineer
named Bourdon, and after passing over the usual water-
way reached in safety tiie Mohawk town. Here he met
the Moliawks in council and delivered to them the gifts,
wampum belts, and messages of the Governor of Canada,
liaving fulHlled his commission, he returned to report
the result of his end)assy and arrived at Quebec on June
27tli, 1()4G.

His political errand over, it now became a (juestion as
to the advisability of returning to open the mission.
After a serious discussion of the subject, he received or-
• lers to hold liimself in readiness for departure. He set
out on the 24th of August, accompanied by some Hu-
rous and a Frenchman named Lalande, a dovut' of the
mission. Father Jogues felt a presentment that he
would never return, and before leaving he wrote to a
l»rother priest, " Ibo et non redibo, — I shall go and
shall not return." When passing the Richelieu they met
some Algoiujuins who told them that the feelings of the
Moliawks towards the French had changed, and that they
had better return. The frightened Hurons refused to go
any further, but Father Jogues and Lalande pushed on
and i-eached safely the end of their journey. The Al-
gon([uinH were right. The Mohawks had indeed changed
in their feelings to Jogues as well aa to the French.

182

EAllI.Y MISSIONS IN WKSTEUN CANADA.

'I'lioy el»ar;^e<l Jogues with beiiif]^ a sorccror, who wms
rospoiisihlo for tlie Hickiicss now in tlic town, and tin-
innuniorahle swarm oi' catt'i'])illai's tliat weiv devouring-
tliuir corn. Of tlie three clans into wliicli the Mohawks
were divided, the 'I'ortoise and tlie Wolf were in favor
of sendin<^ Jo(*'nes out of the country, but the Bear clan
liowled for war aj^ainst the French, and demanded the
death of Jo<4iU's. Opinion ran hioh, till at length the
Bear chiefs bore down all opposition, and sin<>'ing their
war-songs ])repared for an expedition against the French.
They seized Jogues and Lalande, tore the clothes from
them anil drove them with sticks throuoh the town.
The women and children beat them mercilessly with
clubs and switches. A furious savage rushed upon Father
Jogues, and tearing the flesh from his shoulders and arms
began to devour it, saying, " Let us see whether this
white tlesh is the tlesh of a Manitou" "No," answered
the victim with unflinching firnniess, " I am a man like
yourself, but I do not fear death. I have come to- make
peace and to teach you the way to Heaven, and ye treat
me like a wild beast." — " You shall die to-morrow," they
cried out, " we w^ill cut off your heads, place them on the
palisades, so that your brothers when we take them
prisoners, may see ye when they come."

On the afternoon of the eighteenth of October, the
chiefs of the Bear clan were sunnnoned to a council. The
session was secret. The deputies of the Wolf and Tor-

THE MARTYR OF THE MOHAWKS.

183

toise clans Iwul petitioned t'or tlie lil'e of Jo^ues, and the
Bear chiefs were now discussing what Hnal nieasnres
would be taken in re<j;ard to the prisoner. Meanwhile in
a nci<.(hl)orin^ cabin, Father Jof^ues, seated on a i"(>u<ih
bench, was buried in th(ni<;ht: t'or clothinnr, he wore a
tattered shirt and pants torn and (ijashed with Iroipiois
knives and stained all over with clotted blood. Thiou^jjh
the crevices of the wretched lodiie the Octolier winds
entered, and pierced him through and throuoh, till his
emaciated body trend )lcd with cold. The lod(^e was f^rimy
and lined witli soot; from the poles that, like the perches
of a hen-coop, stretched from side to side of the cabin,
hunrij ears of corn, cured furs, and wampum ornaments
'^{"o one side, on a bear skin, sat a griz/led oM warrior
leisurely smoking and sharpening a tomahawk for his
son, wlio on the morrow was to set out on the war-path
against the French. A wi'inkled and gray-haired S(juaw
was boiling the exti'aet of the mulberry with which she
dried the hedgehog quills to ornament the mocassins for
the Dutch trade.

The old couple from time to time entered into snatches
of broken conversation, while the priest at the other end
of the wigwam was occupied with his own retlections
He was pitiable to look upon. His wasted frame had
borne all that the human body could endure, and live;
but a fever, intense and unciucnchable, a zeal confusing,
in its sublimity, to common minds, and a love for human

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184

EARLY iMISSlONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

' I

souls almost divine in its devouring ardor, were taber-
nacled in that sliivcring body, that a few short years
before was full of energy and fair to look upon. His
head rested on his chest and his face seemed radiant
with happiness. I wonder if his memory carried him
back to his native land — to France, where he heard in
her sacred temples, as afar off, the music of the solemn
mass, bringing back to his mind the glory of column,
arch and dome ! Did he revisit, in fancy, the halls of
his beloved college in Rennes, enter the peaceful and
familiar chapel and kneel again before the marble taber-
nacle where, shrined in gold and silver, our blessed Lord
in other days inundated his soul with ardent love for
God and his neighbor ? The air in the tent grows colder,
a thrdl shakes his frame, but, unconscious of the chill,
he dreams on. He recalls his priestly companions on
the Wye, their gracious kindness to him, their sympathy
and tenderness for one another, and the spirit of bro-
therly love that bound them each to each, till they clove
to each other as did David to Jonathan in the days of
old. He could hear them speaking to him, telling of the
glory of God, the endless happiness of the blessed, and
the rewards " that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,"
which God stored up for those who love Him. And then
there came back to him the memory of that hour, when
prostrate before the Blessed Sacrament, his soul went
out to his Lord and his God in an ecstasy of love, and

THE MARTYR OF THE MOHAWKS.

LS5

lie cried aloud, " Lord, o-rjint me to drink dcejdy (jf Thy
eliulice ! " Tlieii, lie i'elt that liis prayer was lieard, but
now, he knows that he is answered. Presently he is
conscious of someone standing near him, and as he lifts
his eyes a Mohawk beckons him to follow, telling him
that he is invited to a feast. He accompanied the mes-
senger, and as he passed ))y the lodges the e^'es of the
people followed hitn as a man they should never look
upon again. At length they stood before the festal tent.
His companion drew aside the bark curtain that served
for a door, and held it, beckoning for the priest to enter.
He did so and {idvanced a few paces, when he fell upon
his knees, bathed in blood, from a blow of a tomahawk.
Thus he died in the noon of his life.

" Not (|uietlj' into the silent grave stealing,
But torn, like the blasted oak, sudden away."

Morning (hiwned at last upon his long and pitiless
night of suttering, and as he sank to his tleatli, like
another Stephen, he saw " the glory of God, the heavens
open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of
His eternal Father." The next morning Lalande was
killed, the bodies of both Hung into the Mohawk River,
and their heads exposed on the palisades of the town.
When the news reached the Fathers on the Wye they
were overcome with emotion. " We have regarded his
death," says Father Jerome Lalemant, " as the death of a

im'

186

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

martyr. Althougli we were separated from one aiiothei-
when we learned it, several Fathers witliout any prev-
ious consultation, found that they could not bring them-
selves to offer a Requiem Mass for him, but they pre-
sented the Adorable Sacrifice in thanksgiving for the
benefits which God had bestowed upon liim. We raay
regard him as a martyr before God."*

* Father Isaac Jogues was born at Orleans, France, on the 10th of
January, 1607. He was of a family eminently respectable, whose des-
cendants arc to this day distinguished for their probity and religious
zeal. He wrote a description of New Netherland, which was publish-
ed by the New York Historical Society, and an interesting memoir of
Ren6 Goupil. His letters were collected by Father Martin, S.J., and
published in this country. His life was also written by the same dis-
tinguished priest.

CHAPTER XIX.

AX ITALTAX PRIEST.

Father Joseph Brcbsani — His arrival at (,)uebec — Leaves for Huronia —
Taken by the Iroijuois — Letter of a Poor Cripple — On the Upper
Hudson — A Children's Playthintr — A Taste of Fire -The Fingerlcss
Hand — Atrocious Torture — An Old Woman's Ward — Humanity of
the Dutch — In Huronia again — On the way to (|)uebec — Pleading
for Assistance — Reinforcements for the Mission — On the Ottawa —
The Night Attack — The Meeting — In Italy again — Father Bres-
sani's Death.

Towards the middle of the year 1042, a yoiiiio- priest,
Fatlier Joseph Bressani, arrived at the city of Quebec in
fulfihnent of a pled^-e that lie had made to dedicate him-
self to the Indian missions. He was of Italian parentage,
l)orn in Rome in 1(512, and although he did not close his
career on the scene of his apostolic labor and sufferings,
yet his magnificent heroism and his splendid fortitude
under Iro([Uois torture have won him an honorable posi-
tion in the ranks of the early French Jesuits. He passed
two years laboring among the French at Quebec and the
Algonquins of Three Rivers, during which time he de-
voted himself to the study of the Huron and Algon(piin
languages. On the 27th of April, 1()44, he was recjuested

by his Superior to undertake a perilous mission to the

187

188

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

1 1

Huron country. For two years all communication be-
tween Huronia, where were fourteen Jesuit Fathers, and
the Frencli settlements alon<^ tlie St. Lawrence, was com-
pletely cut off. The Fatliers among tlie Hurons were
known to be short of supplies, in fact, in destitute cir-
cumstances, and, perilous as the undertaking promised to
be, the Superior of the Order at Quebec I'esolved upon an
effort to relieve them. For two years, since tlie death of
Father Jogues, the Mohawk and Iro(|Uois ambushed loth
sides of the Ottawa river, and indiscriminately attacked
French, Algoiupiin and Huron. The young Italian ])riest,
Joseph Bressani, conscious of the perils of the voyage,
generously stepped to the front and offered to attempt
the journey to Huronia. This young priest had .success-
fully and successively lilled the Chairs of Philosoph}^ and
Mathematics in one of the leading colleges of Europe.
He was essentially a scholar, like many others of his
priestl}^ companions in New France, but animated with
zeal for the conversion of souls, had turned his back on
the pleasures of literature and science to face the horrors
of missionary life in the forests of Canada. Clmrged
with letters for the Fathers on the shores of Lake Huron,
and such articles as were deemed necessary for the mis-
sion, he started with a lay brother and six Christian
Hurons, who had spent a year in the Huron Seminary,
near Quebec. The morning of his departure the priest
offered up the Holy Sacrifice of the Ma^-s for the hu,pp3^

ill'

AN ITAl.lAN IMJIEST.

189

termination of liis undortakinir, the other seven received
Holy Connnnnion from liis liands, for they were all fully
awake to the perilous nature of the voyage. When they
left Three Rivers late in April, s])rin^ was gradually
opening, but floating ice was encountered on the St.
Lawrence. As they sailed up the river, the trees on
cither side were just budding into renewed life. Flocks
of wild geese and ducks returning from the south were
winging their way to the inland lakes and marshes. As
a covey of canvas-l)acks flew over the canoe, a young
Indian foolishly fired his gun, and the report startled the
ears of a Mohawk war-party. Reconnoitering from their
place of concealment, they beheld the canoe with its
occupants and immediately attacked them, killing one
and capturing the rest. They were borne in triumph to
the Mohawk towns, undergoing on the way the same
torture, rough treatment and abuse that Father Jogues
and his party underwent two years before. On tlie
fifteenth of July following;. Father Bressani wi"ote from
the land of his imprisonment to the General of the Je-
suits; "Here is the letter of a poor cripple who was well
enough kncjwn to you once wlien in better health.
There is no help for it being hard to recognize. The
letter is poorly written, for, besides other drawbacks, the
writer has not two whole fingers on his right hand. He
is using powder from an anjuebnse foi* ink, a carving
knife for a pen, and his knees for a table, The paper has

190

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

often 1)een soaked witli water, and liis tincj^ers, still bleed-
in^', do tlieir share in soilin^^ it. It is written you I'roni
the land of the Irofpiois, where he is a prisoner. Should
you care for a brief account of what Divine Providence
has ordained for him these latter days, here it is." He
follows this introduction with an lunnble history of their
sufferings from the day of their capture till his final re-
lease. After scalping the dea<l Huron, the Iro(|uois cut
off' his hands and feet, and brought these with them as
food upt)n the road. They ascended the River Riche-
lieu, and, landing at Chambly, continued their journey
tlii'ough the pathless forest. When they reached the
Upper Hudson, a large tishing party met them, and the
toi'ture of the prisoners began. They split Father Bre.s-
sani's hand with a knife, mercilessly beat him with sticks
xmtil he was covered with blood, and dragged liim to the
torture scailbld, where they saluted him with shouts of
mockery and derision. After torturing him for two
hoiu's, he was given over to tlie children, who, ordering
liim to sing and dance for their anmsement, pricked him
with sharp sticks, and pulled out his hair and beard.
They delayed here for some days, and several times he
was burnt with live coals and red hot stones. He was
forced to walk on hot cinders, and some of his finger
nails were torn out. "One evening," he writes, "our cajv
tors burned our finger-nails, another evening a l)ig toe,
next evening another toe, and nearly six others at dif-

AN ITALIAN I'RIEST.

191

ferent times. Tliey applied heated irons to my liands
eighteen times, and made me sing tlie while. '

" This sport lasted until an hour after midnight, and
then they left me, sometimes in an open place, where
the rain fell heavily on me, with no covering or mattress,
save a small skin which covered but part of my body,
and often with nothing at all. To make me a bandage
they had already torn to pieces my shred of a soutane,
and kept the rest themselves. In this way, and worse,
they treated me a whole month. I would never have
believed that any one could have lived through such
wretchedness."

One evening they sent him to the river to wash a
beaver he had previously skinned at their command. It
had been dead for some time and was already far ad-
vanced in putrefaction. Misunderstanding their instruc-
tions, he threw it into the river. Thev fished it out,
cut (jff two of his fingers, and compelled him to eat of
the putrefied meat. That evening the children again
tormented him. " Come, sing," vsaid one. " Hold your
tongue," said another, and when he obeyed the one,
the other would strike him. " We will burn you to
death ; we will then eat you ! " "I will eat one of your
hands, and I will eat one of your feet." They forced
him to take fire in his hand and hold it there until the
palm was burned. In the evening they assendiled in a

102

KAllLY MISSION'S IN WESTKllN CANADA.

:ii'

lai'm' c;il)in, Jind tcjiriiio' ofi' tlu' v;i<f of the soutane that
still cluii^- to liiiii, thrust spears and arrows into his
Hesh, lorc't'd liini to walk on hot ashes and hui'ninn- coals,
and conipellcfl him to sin^' durino- his apjiallin^' snfler-
in<;s. "01* my ten tin^^'ers, I have now,"' he excdaimed,
" but one good one." He was unahK; to feed himsell',
and some, from retinement of cruelty, put food in his
mouth, mock ino'ly telling him that they wished to fatten
him before putting him to death. " For seven days they
tortured me in ways which beggar descri})t'on, and
wliiclj you would not read of without blushing. 'I'hey
pourcil hot menl over me, and then brought the dogs,
who often bit me when eatinu' it. How those ni<»-hts, tiie
sliortest of the year, seemed to me the longest I My
God, what must Purgatory be, if ^Phou wilt give us the
grace to go there ? This thought sweetened my pains.
Under this treatment I became so repulsive to all that
they used to drive me oft' as so much carrion, and they
would lend me no sort of covering. They came near me
only to torment me. With difficulty I could ftnd any
one to pour into my mouth our only fo(jd, a little flour,
or Indian corn, cooked in water. I was all covered with
sores and matter, and I had no one to bandage me, nor
any means of doing it myself. This is why worms
were generating in my wounds ; I drew out more than
four from one finger in one day. I have said to rotten-

A\ ITAIJAX I'llIEST.

i!);j

iiL'SS, ' Thou art iiiv ratiier ' ; to woi'iiis, ■ M \- mother aii<l
sister.' 1 am Ijecoiue unto myself a himleii. " At U'iii;tli,
tlie}' h'l't the encampment and reached tl»e Mohawk
town. To follow the revoltini;- details he here endured
would be but an idle rejtetition of his nuseries. 'I'hey
suspended him, liead downwards from a beam restin<;' on
two U])righis, and after he had remained in this ])osi-
tion until he was almost dead, they took him down and
placed him on his back, putting- f(jod for their do^'s on
his naked l)ody.

The doo-s, famished with hun^^'er, devoure<l the i'ooil,
and as his wounds were still open they be^-an to Un'il
upon his ilesh. At last he was (h'ao-o-ed into a lod^'e and
told to remain tliei-e until his fate was decided. 'I'he
council met, and after a prolon*4'e<l discussion, concluded
to spare his life. He was then oiven with due ceremony
to an old scjuaw, and was a<lopted by her to HU the
place of a dead relative. He presented such a hideous
appearance, and in his mangled condition was so re-
pulsive, that tlie savages themselves were astounded and
wondered that he did not die. The old woman, finding
that he was useless, sent her son to the Dutch at Fort
Orange, now Albany, to say that they would sell him
for a consideration. With the same humanity which
they had shown in the case of Jogues, they redeemed
him with a generous ransom. They clothed him anew,
tenderly cared for him until his health was sutliciently

I.:

194

EMILY MLSSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

J,'

recovered, and with a letter from the Dutch Governor *
sent him to France on an outward bound vessel. He
arrived safely on the 15th of Nov^ember; but maimed
and disfigured as he was, yet restored in health, he re-
(>mbarked the followin^^ spring to begin anew his mis-
sionary labors, and, if need be, to face once more the
knives and fire-brands of the Iroquois. In the autumn
of 1()45 he arrived in the Huron country, and was re-
ceived by his brother priests as one who by God's per-
mission came back to them from the grave.

By the Hurons, pagan and Christian, lie was looked
upon as a hero, who had borne his sutt'erings with the
courage and fortitude of a brave. He had not yet ac-
(juired their language, but his mutilated hands pleaded
with them more eloquently than words. " He may at
once," said Father Ragueneau, the Superior of the mis-

i ■

jlii'

*The following is the Governor's letter, taken from Ducreux's " His-
toria Canadensis " : —

"We, William Kieft, Governor-General of New Belgium. To all
into whose hands this letter may fall. Greeting : Francis Joseph
Bressani of the Society of Jesus, held in captivity for some time by the
Iroquois savages, commonly called Mohawks, frightfully tortured by
them and on the eve of being burned to death, was fortunately, after con-
siderable trouble, purchased by us and given his freedom. Now, that with
our consent he goes to Holland, to re-enter France, Christian charity
demands that all those to whom he will address himself shall receive
him with kindness. Therefore we request all Governors, Command-
ers, their captains and lieutenants, to treat him generously on his
arrival and departure, and we pledge them similar service in like cases.
Given at the Fort of New Amsterdam, in New Belgium, the twentieth
of September, this year of Salvation, 1644.

AN ITAI-IAN I'UIEsr.

195

sioii, " enter upon liis lal)<)rs witli fruit. His poor liands,
his disjointed tinkers, liis Ijody all scarred, have made
him from tlie liour he came here a better preaclier tluin
any of us, and liave served more tlian all our instruc-
tions to make known the truths of our faith." This
heroic and saintly missionary continued for three years
laboring on the Huron mission, travelling from town to
town, exhorting, encouraging, and entreating the perish-
ing souls to save theuLselves. Jn 1()4(S, he was chosen
to accompany a Huron Hot/lla, which was preparing to
go down to Three Rivei's, to re-open at all hazards, ne-
gotiations with the French at Quel)ec. The treaty of
peace between the Ii'ocpiois and the French, which a
short time before had been ratified, only lasted for a
very short time. The Iroquois were again on the war
ti-ail, and held the water-courses that led to the French
colony.

But the resources of the Huroos were exhausted ; their
robes, skins, and peltries were rotting on their hands, and
they were in sore need of axes, kettles, guns and am-
munition, so they resolved at all hazards to force a pas-
sage if necessary, through the enemy's ranks. Tliey se-
lected for the expedition they were now sending out, two
hundred and fifty warriors, including a hundred and
twenty Cliristians and two Frenchmen, under the com-
mand of the most experienced Huron chiefs. On the
seventeenth of July, 1048, as they were approaching

11!

ill

I9()

EARLY MISSIONS IX WESTERN CANADA.

',!

fill

li;

II 1

i;;;
ill'

'I'liice Kivers, the fiotilla was attacked by the enemy,
but tlie Hnroiis wlio were tboroii^lily disciplined beat
them oft*, killed a considerable number and took many
prisoners. Father Bressaniwas commissioned when leav-
ini;- Hui-onia to plead with the Superior of the Jesuits of
(Quebec on l)ehalf of the reciuirements of the Huron mis-
sion. He l)e<^i^e(l for more priests, and inrespcmse to his
appeal, Fathers (Jabriel Lalemant, James Bcmin, Adrian
(Jrelon, and Adrian Daran, were selected to return with
him. There was not one among them, but realized the
dano'crs which confronted him on this distant mivssion.
'I'heir courao-e rose in proportion to the ditHculties and
sacrifices which the voyage and the country ottered.
" We may be taken prisonei's," said one of them, " we
may be massacred or burned, what of it ! Death on the
bed is not always the happiest." On the sixth of August,
1()48, the Huron flotilla of sixty canoes left Three Riv-
ers on the homeward voyage, where it arrived safely to
the great joy of priests and people.

After the destruction of the Huron villages, the Fath-
ers with a large number of their coriverts took refuge
on Christian Island. Hero, threatened with famine.
Father JJressani again volunteered to undertake the haz-
ardous journey to Quebec to solicit assistance for the
perishing Hurons. He left the island in the month of
September, 1(]49, arriving safely at his destination live
weeks afterwards. He pleaded elo(|uently but in vain

II the

ii^u.sfc,

Riv-

ly to

Illft-G

mine,

Bi htiz-

r the

til of

five

vjiiu

AN ITALIAN PRIEST.

11)7

witli ])'Ailleb<mst, the Governor-General. He represent-
ed to him that unless reinforcements were sent to assist
the HurOns they and the priests with them were in dan-
ger of death at the hands of the Iro(iuois. But the
French colony was at this time in a wretched pli<;'lit
and rcfjuired all its strength to protect itself. Ye
Father Bressani continued to plead, an<l at length suc-
ceeded in ol)tainini»' a reinforcement of thirtv soldiers,
with whom on the fifteenth of June he left Three Rivers
on his return voyage. They were joined hy a detach-
ment of Hurons who had wintered at Quebec. On their
way up the Ottawa, they experienced a foretaste of what
they might expect from the Iro(|Uois. Late one dark
night they camped on the bank of the rivei', and before
wrapping themselves in their blankets, set guards to
arouse them if there should be any sign of the enemy.
Further up the river ten or twelve Iroquois warriors had
constructed a sort of a lilock-house of felled trees where
they passed the winter and were now patiently waiting
to waylay any Huron or French ])arty that sailed up or
down the Ottawa. A scout whom they had sent out, re-
turned and reported the landing of Bressani's party.
Biding their time, tlie Irocjuois approached; with the si-
lence and vStealth of snakes they glided into the Huron
camp, for the guards had fallen asleep, and each selecting
his victim, prepared to strike. Before doing so, they
uttered their dread war-whoop, and as the sleeping men

! 1

i I .

I i

198

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

arose, Htruck seven of them witli the swiftness of light
ning. The Frencli and Hurons were on their feet in an
instant and grappled with the Iroquois before they had
time to escape. A desperate hand-to-hand contlict now
ensued, but the enemy was outnumbered ten to one, and
six of them wei'e killed and two made prisoners. The
other two fought their way through the crowd, and, ut-
tering again their shrill war-whoop, bounded into the for-
est and escaped in the darkness. As Bressani's party
continued up the river they met wnth another serious
alarm. The scouts who were sent in advance hastily re-
turned saying they had seen fresh foot-prints in the for-
est. They moved up cautiously, and at length descried,
at a bend in the river, a number of canoes approaching
them. Both parties backed water, and stood on guard,
They remained thus for a short time, when one of Bi-es-
sani's Hurons told him that he saw Father Ragueneau in
one of the canoes. This was the unfortunate remnant
that with their priests were driven by famine from
Christian Island, and were now, under the leadership of
their spiritual guides, on their way to Quebec. Father
Bressani with his soldiers had come too late, and after
fraternizing with and embracing his priestly companions,
turned his canoes and sailed with them down the Ottawa.
Father Bressani's health now began to fail him, and on
the first of November, 1650, he was compelled to sail for
Italy. Here he gradually grew stronger, and as he did

i'i\y

AN ITALIAN PRIEST.

J 99

SO, he renewed in tlie Italian villages his missionary
(hities. He died at Florence on the ninth of September,
1672, after having completed his now famous History of
the Huron missions.*

* The "Br6ve Relation" of Father Francis Joseph Bressani is per-
haps the best account of the Huron missions that exists. He publish-
ed this Relation in 1653, at Macerata, Italy, sometime after his return
from Canada. In 1852, this history, now out of print, was edited and
published in Montreal by the celebrated Father Martin, who has ren-
dered invaluable service to our country by his researches and writings
Among the archives ot St. Mary's College, Montreal, there is a bundle
of precious documents collected by Father Martin from which Cana-
dian and American historians have freely drawn, and which some day
t is to be hoped, will be edited and given to the public.

mi'.\

1 1

i 1 i:

Iff

l> I'

CHAPTER XX.

! il

MARTYRDOM OF RRE15EUF AND LALEMANT.

Flourishing Condition of the Missions— ^Marvellous Changes — Praying
for their Enemies — The Irocjuois — Storming of a Frontier Village
— Death of Father Daniel — Slaughter at the Mission of St. Joseph
— Mohawks and Senecas — Capture of St. Ignatius — lirebeuf and
Lalemant Taken — jNIartyrdom of Brebeuf and Lalemant — Heroism
of the Priests.

Ix tlio year 1G48, the Jesuits beheld with increasing
hope the approaching realizations of their great hibors.
Flourisliing missions were establislied and cliapels built
in wliat are now the townships of Sunnidale, Tiny, Me-
donte, Tay. Matchedash and North Orillia. Scattered
througli these townships were the missions of St. Joseph,
St. Michael, St. Louis, St. Denis, St. Charles, St. Igna-
tius, St. Agnes, St. Cecilia, and several others. On the
Great Manitoulin, Father Poncet opened a mission with
the Ottawas. Among the Algomjuins of Lake Nipissing,
and those that dwelt on the western coast of Lake
Huron, were erected the missions of the Holy Ghost, St.
Peter and St. Michael. Even Jfinong the Tobacco Nation,
where a few years before Father Jogues and Gamier
were almost murdered, two missions, St. John and St.

Matthew, were permanently established. These missions

200

MAUrVl;iM»,M (>!• l!l{KI!l«:i I'- AND LAI.EMAN'I

201

Igna-

wrir .itkuded l»y ci'^liU'eii K-itlici-s,* who, looUiii^' t'or-
w.-ird to thii arrival of others Troiii Fiviiici' ami (^)ucbce,
hc^aii now to cast wistCiil I'yos towards tlic Dacotah of
tht' Mississippi, the Sioux of the })hiiiis and the Al^on-
(|uins of the north. The Puants and the Nation of Fire,
dwelling- alon^- tlie sliores of Lake Micliioan, had already
asked to have missionaries sent aniono'st tlieni. In one
ye.ir were 1)aptized eighteen hundred souls, and though
the Fathers attendint^" outlying stations were sul)jected to
frightful hardships, they were consoled in their sutt'er-
ings by the pros})ects of ultimate success. There were
scarcely any families among the Hurons that had not
one mend)er acknowledging the true God. f Now that

*" There are now," writes Breasani, in his Rehition, i)age 36, " eigh-
teen missionaries serving eleven missions." Here are their nuimea :
Paul llagueneau, Francis Le Mercier, Peter Chastellain, John de lire-
heuf, Claude Pijart, Antoine Daniel, Simon Lc Moyne, Charles Garnier,
Reuat Menard, Francis du Perou, Natal Chabanel, Leonard (Jarreau,
Joseph Poncet, Joan M. Chaumonot, Francis Bressani, Galjriel Lale-
niant, J aciiues Morin, Adrian Daran, Adrian Grelon. Bancroft is in error
when he states that there were forty missionaries with the Huro)is, and
Marshall still mure so, when (juoting from Walters, in his '* Christian
Missions,' volume I., he places the number at sixty. Father Martin,
S.J., in his api)eudix to Bressani's History, gives the names of all the
jjiiosts who served on the Huron missions, from the Franciscan, Joseph
Lo Caron, who opened the first mission to the Hurons in 1615, to
Adrian (Jrelon, S.J., who was the last of the priests to arrive in
Uuronia, August 6th, 1648.

1 " Whereas, at the date of our arrival, we found not a single soul
[lussessing a knowledge of the true God ; at the present <lay, in
spite of persecution, want, famine, war and pestilence, there is not a
single family which does not count some Christians, even where all the

■ i

: !|

202

EAllLV MISSIONS IN WKSTEUN CANADA.

\V(! Jii'(i r.-iiiiilijir witli the iiiipljicaldc liutrcd .'iinl \ iudic
tiveiioss oi' r(!oliii^' vvliicli the llui'on Njitioii tiiti'itaiiicii
For tlu! Iro(|ii()is, wu can measure tlu; wondrous t'H'cct of
the teacliiiiii' of tlie Fathers on tliese rude and savam'
natures.

Their grossness and lasciviousness of manners, their
su))erstitious rites, were yieldin^^ day by day to tlie de-
votion and preacliin<^' of tlie missionai-ies. Tlie converts
we.re in their lives examples of the iidluence of Chris-
tian teachino- on savage and licentious hearts. So great
were the numbers attending mass every morning that
the French who passed thi'ough the Huron countiy e\-
pi'iissed surprise, and declared that the paths leading to
the chapels

Where prayers were made and masses were said,
Some for the living and some for the dead,

were more worn than those leading to tlie council -house.
As an instance of how C()m])letely these savage na-
tures were changed, that which took place in the large
chapel of St. Mary's, on (Jood Friday, 1045, is remark-
able, Wlien the customary devotions were ended, the
whole congregati'.ni, composed of men, women and chil-
dren, repeated with Father Lalemant, the following
prayer ; " Pardon, () Loi'd, those who pursue us (the

members have not yet professed tlie faith. Such has been the work of
twenty years," — Bn'fisaHi'n Rdation Abr<'(j<'e.,

V iiulif-
H'cct of

sav{i<;c

rs, tlu'ir
iW (Ic-
30iiverts
F Cliris-
So great
iiio- tl>!it
ntry ex-
'adiiiii' t»)

MAinVKDoM ()!• 151lE15ErF AND LALEMANT.

'lo:]

nl -bouse,
vao-e 1 la-
the large

re 111 ark -
iided, tlu'
and cliil-

ol lowing
us (the

the work of

lro(|U()is) with undying liatred, wiio nnu'der us without
pity. Open their eyes to tlie truth, grant tliat they may
know and love Thee, that they may l»e friends to Thee
and to us, so that we may all together acknowledge our-
selves Your children."* All history may be challenged
to produce any more signal triumph of grace over
nature than that which we witness in this prayer of
the Hurons for their deadly and relentles enemy. In
another ])lace we read of a Huron convert inviting his
brethren to join him in a prayer, begging of God that, in
pity for the souls of men, He would move them ab,
Iro([uois and Huron, to end)race the faith of Jesus
Christ.

This marvellous change was brought about by years
of patient waiting, years fraught with innumerable
deeds of heroic self-sacritice and heroic self-abnegation
on the part of the priests. In the early years, so full of
(lisai)pointments, they hibored on, hoping that the day
of conversion for theii- tawny llocks would surely break.
And they could atibrd to wait, for theirs was the ancient
faith with a history rich in the records of generous deeds,
and glorified with the consoling memories of hosts of

*.Ieroinc Lalemant, from the Huron country this loth of May, 1()45.
Father Jerome Lalemant waa twice Supcrior-dleiieral in Canada. He
is the author of several of the Relations. Marie de 1' Incarnation
writing to her brother said that Father Jerome waa the most holy man
hIic had ever known. He died at (j)uel)ec in 1073, at the age of 80.

i : t

! ) 1.

i:i^

204

K.\ia-V MISSIONS IN Wl'JSTKUN CANADA.

111!

I'!

t'ill ;

: Jill

: :,'!■

'iiiili 'ii

i I' 'I

! 'MP I

i lli 'I

1 Jit, I ^

I m

m.iriyis .-iiitl coiire.swors. 'I'Ik'.Y tlu.'iiiselvcs wcic iih'Ii ;ill
iiiilow with ;t Divine ciitlnisi;isin ln'iiotti'U ol' ccst.-itic
tlioun-|it, iiH'ii, to wiiosi' souls till' Spirit ol" the Jnmiortul
was ever whis[)crinLi,', aii<l on whose eais there liii^ei'cd
tlie music ol' the mighty past. 'They were all men ol"
Divine i'ervoi-, with the oiTt ol" utterance, with the,
])()vver to drivi' home truth to the intellect, and tc> solten
the hardened heart to pity ami to teiKlerness. Their
matchless skill, their ahility, their unalfected piety, their
perfect knowIed<;e ol" the lan^ua^c, their ])atience and
meekness, all these Vv'i'ouoht upon the hearts around
them, and natures animalized and de^^raded, they Ijore into
the realms of manhness and holiness. Multitudes of de-
hased sava^'es were reclaimed from the bondage of Faoan
superstition, lifted to the dignit}' of men, and very often
carrii'd to the elevation of saints. Their success w^as
due less to their preachini^, elo(|uent and earnest as it
was, than to the example of their self-denying- and holy
lives. Before such lives, i^rovelling su[)erstition ruftired,
and inveterate prtjudice yielded. Savai^e o[)position to
these men of alien race, those " Jilack -sorcerers," went
down before halitual manifestations of charity and mir-
acles of Divine love, till the worn and faded cassock,
the crucifix and rosary, from ohjects of hatred and sus-
l)icion, became syml,>oIs of deathless friendship and af-
fection. The bai.'k chapel was a haven of rest to wdiich

MAIJTVlinoM OF I'.RKP.ra'r A\I> I,.\I-EM.\N"r.

•205

iiidi all
ecstatic
iiiuji'taj
iiiiicivd

111011 oi'

ith the

) sotti'ii

Their

y, their

lice and

around

ore into

s ol' de-

' l'ai;an

y often

ss was

t as it

I lioly

y(tired,

iioii to

went

I iiiir-

issoek,

id SU8-

iid ai'-
which

weaiy nnd sin-l>ni'dend souls lied Tor sol ce and re]ioso,
,111(1 where

Fiom the ruHtic altai' tlic ciiicilix
Ijookod with its agoni/od taco on the niultitudo kncelinti honealli it.

J'iXciy day ;idded to the nuinl»(!i' of (heir ct>n\'ei"ts, .ind.
if it wei'e not Tor llie excnts we ;ii-<' nhoutto relate, the
whole Ilui'on nation would in a, I'ew ve.'ii's ha\'e heen
em-oiled umlei' the hanner of the cross.

For a lono- time a deadly t'eud existed hetween the Tro-
ijuois ;in<] the Hui'ons, and liad, at the j^eriod ol' which
we write, reached the proportions oi' a war oC exterminii-
tion. In 1047, the terrihie Jr()(|Uois, who dwelt u\ cen-
ti';d Xew York, and t'or a consi(h'ra,l»le distance aloni;' the
north and south shores of the St. l.,awi-ence, had almost
nimihilated tlie Alo-oncpiins oi" the ( )ttawa, and sent scout-
ino' pai'ties as i'ai- as the outlying;' Huron villao'es. They
were the most wnrlike and ruthless amono- the Amei-ic;ni
[iidians. In the sj^rino- of 1()4<S, emboldened l»y repeated
successes, a laro'e war-p,arty cro.ssed the St. LawnMico,
nnd uro'cd hy implacable hate of their her(^ditary foes, the
liurons, hurst U])on the fi-ontiei' villay-e of St. dosejih,
ncMr whei'e now is the ]iros]ier(Mis town of IJarrie, and
indiscriminatelv slauchtei'ed m''n, women nnd children.
l''or weeks before th(> massaciu?, they inl'ested the i'orest,
lyin;;' in ambush, \\ovo and there, till a i'nxorable oppor-
tunity presented its(df, when they sjiranii' 'i''^'*' ti<i^<'rs on

ill

200

KATU.V MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA,

:|!ii|

:|i;ii

! ill:,:'

Vil II

their pre}', roiidiiif^^ the i'onist with (h'luoiiijic yells oi'
triumphant victory. FatluT Daniel * was in charge ol"
this mission, and, when the Irocpiois carried the town,
he had just finished Mass. The mission chapel was
crowded, and as the (lrea<l war-whoops hroke upon the
doomed people they became paralyzed with fear and
terroi'. Two days before the attack, the finhtinrj men
had <j|;ono on a huntino- expedition, and only old men,
women and children were there to meet the enemy.
Father Daniel tried to rally them to the defence, but his
etl'oi'ts were in vain. He then called to them to fly for
their lives, adding that he himself would remain to con-
sole the dyin^. He returned to the cha])el, followed by
a crowd of women and children. Turniufr a^ain to them.
\m exclaimed, " My children, fly and retain your faith
until death." Among them was a large number the
Father was instructing for baptism. Dipping his hand-
kerchi(^f in water, he baptized them bj^ aspersion col-
h'ctively, and to those who had already received the
sacrament he gave a general absolution. The village is

* Father Daniel arrived in Huronia in 10.33, one year after Father
Brebeuf had returned to the country. When lie was shot down the Iro-
quois rushed upon him and washed their hands and faces in his blood,
lauding him as a brave man who did not fear death. The heroism of
his end inspired many of the Pagan Hurons to become Christians lie
was a man remarkable for his humility, zeal for the salvation of souls,
and a gentle nature wedded to a brave heart. He was the first of the
priests in Northern Canada to receive the martyr's crown, and is known
as the " proto- martyr " of the Hurons.

MAnTvnnoM of p.rep.et'f axd t.ai.emaxt.

•207

yolls of
liur^c ol'
lie town,
ipt'l was
ipoii the
'c.'ir and
iiio- men
)1(1 men,

enemy.
, but his

Hy for
to con-

)we(l l)y
to them,
•ur faitli
ibcr tlie
is hand-
^ion col-
vecl the
illaf^e is

ier Father
'n the Iro-
his blood,
leroism of
ians He

1 of souls,
irst of the

is known

now hiirnin^^; tlu* Iro((nois a}t))roach the cha})el ; the
priest turns to tlie people, saying, " We will die here
an<l sIimU meet a^'ain in PFeavxMi ; " and tlusn, striding* to
the door,^ h(^ serenely confronts the enemy. The Mo-
iiawks iivo struck with astonishment, and, for n, monunit,
remain rooted with sur])rise that one; alone should have
the hardihood to meet them. At len^jth they opened fire
upon him with hullet and arrow ; but, though pierced
and rent with wounds, he continued to exhort his cate-
chumens till death in mercy ended his sutlerings. " lie
died murnnirino- the name of Jesus, surrenderino- his soul
to(}od, like the Good Shepherd who <;"ives his life foi-
his flock."* Chapel, priest and conc^regation were con-
sumed to<4'ether. The wilderness is their grave; their
ashes, floating upon the air, drop sanctihed fertility on
the land ; and, while no man knows their resting-place,
their monument is so large that, though its foundations
aie on the earth, its apex touches the great white throne
of the Eternal — Si inonumentam requiris, circumspive.
So died the first martyr of the Huron mission in the
forty-eighth year of his age, after spending eighteen
years on the Northern missions. Twice after death he
appeared to the Fathers assembled in council, radiant
in the sweetest form of celestial glory. The mission of
St. Joseph became a charred ruin,

* Letter of Fatlier Kau;ueiieau, ir)4S.

20S

KAllLV MISSION'S IN WKSIEItN CANADA.

An<l where the house of prayer aroHe,

Ami tlio holy hymn at (layIi;,'lit'H t-lose,

And tlic aged piiest stood up to l)le88

The childr(!n of the wilderness,

There is naught save aslies, sodden and dank.

Tlic Ir()(|Hois slauf^^litcnMl the cliildi'cii, tlic rK'l))l('Ss .-iiid
tlio a«^('<l, jiinl ivtinMJ, (Ir.'iij^oinj^Mvitli tliciii seven lnin<lr(Ml
prisoners, many of whom ixftcrwjirds pci-isiicd l»y lirt'.
tortui'o, or tlio tomahawk. '^Phc warniti^' ()UL,dit tohaxc
boon sufficient I'or the otliei- Huron towns to prepare I'o)'
the impendine^ conllict. M'ho winter passed away witliont
t'urtlier disturltance, and the Kathers continu('(| to liojic
tliat all danj^er was at an end.

On the morninn; of the lOth ol' Mareh. l(!4f), Father
Ra^uoneau, who had charge of the mission of St. Mary's,
was on his knees before the Blessed Sacrament, after
having ottered up the Holy Sacrifice of the Ma.ss, w lien
a Hunm runner, breathless and bleedini;' fi-om a bullet
wound, entei'cd the villafje and announce*! to the terrified
people that the Iro([Uois' had ca]itured the foi-tiiled town
of St. Louis, slaughtered the men, women, and children,
and mif^ht at any hour attack St. Maiy's. " WIum'c are
Fathers Lalemant and Brebeuf ? " asked the ]^riest, who.
licaring the commotion, left the chapel and strode into
the crowd of bewnldered Hurons. " '^rhev are dead,"
spoke back the I'unner. " Dead ! " Fathei- Hac^uiMieau fell
back aghast with horror, and I'eturned to the altar of the

M.\i:rvi!iM).M HI' i;i!i;i!i:ri' am» lalkmant,

■2{y.)

(less ;|||(|
lmil*liv<|

f>V filT.

to ll.'IAC

jKirc !'(»)•
withont
to hope

F.-itlu'i-
AImiv's.
it, .'il'tci-
s, wlioi)
1 1 in] lot
<M-i'ifi(Ml

il towi)

'liMi'cii,

^t, who.
'!<' into

dead,"
'Mil foil

or the

I'.lrsscd Siifr.'iinciit. 'I'lic r-oinicr wms iiiistnUcii ; the two
jiricsts wriT not dead, liut (licir end was not farod'. ()i)r
thousand Iro(Hiois. clMclly Sciiccas and Mohawks tlic
tio'ci's ol" tlic I'oi'cst, ami the holdcst a.nd tio'ccst wan'ioivs
ol" North Amci'ica — liad, late in tlic antunni, taken the
war-])ath, wintoivd amid the I'oi'csts ol' Xipissini;-, and
cai'Iy in March captui-rd tlic Huron town ol' St In'iiatius.
tonialiawkcd, scaljx'd, and l)ut('h('r('d its iidiahitants.
Tlicii, snicai'ini'' thcii' Tares witli the hjood ol' (heii-
xictims to i;i\*' additional iioi'i'oi- to theii* savae-c ;i])
itearanco, they nioxcd out on the I'un for tlie neie-hhorine-
\illae'(^ of St. Louis, thi'oun'h a, forest wliose silence was
at intervals ln'oken 1>y tlie eclioes ol' tlieii' ])itiless war-
whoops. Despite tlie des]icrate valoi' ol' the llurons.
who I'oue-ht like (lemons, the lro<|Uois cai-riecl the I'oi't.
set tire to the town, and (lune- in ainono- the hurnino'
cahins the wounded and <lyine-, whose shrieks ol" ao-ony
were drowned in the whoops and yells of the con(|Uerinij,-
h)e. 'idle Tro(|U()is retraced their path to St. [(.I'liatius.
• h'ao-rriuo- with them a inmdier ol' pi-isoners, amone- them
the lion-heart(Ml lirebeui" and his delicate and _e-(>ntle com-
l>anion, Tialemaiit. Three times wdn'Ie the enemy were
stornn'nj:>- St. Louis, the Huron warrioi-s urcrcd the jiriests
to tly, as tlio road was still o])en to St. Marys. " We can-
not," answeriMl the stalwart Jh-eheur. "where should the
pi'iest he found hut with his peopled' Amid a, jxdtiuff
rain of hidl(>ts an<l ai-i-ows they continued j^'ivino- Ahsolu-

■i

210

KARLY MISSIONS I\ WESTERN CANADA.

1 1

Jvi'l .ill

■t'i 1

ill ,

i "I

tion and Baptism to souls tliat were fast I'^iving bodies,
mutilated and torn by the deadly missiles of the Seneeas.
When the Iro([Uois entered the town, Brebeuf rose from
tlie siile of a wounded l^rave and confronted them with a
face whose calmness was in strange contrast to his stormy
surroundings. Lalemant, frail of constitution and deli-
cate from childhood, was une({ual to a similar display of
fortitude; his slender body trembled in the presence of
the tomahawk raised to brain him ; his weakness was
but for a moment, when, summoning his faith to his
assistance, he looked his enemy in the face and bowed
his head for the blow. He was reserved for a more cruel
and horrible fate. Four hours after the capture of St.
Louis, while the ashes from its ruins were still floating
over tlie virgin forest, John de Brebeuf was stripped of
his clothes, led to a st.akc, to wdiich he was bound, and
his torture began. The courage of Brebeuf was of that
indomitable character that rises superior to fear. He
foresaw the appalling sufferings that awaited him, but
when the Iroquois closed in on him, they looked in vain
for any sign of cowardice or symptom of weakne.ss.
They tore the Hesh in strips from his body and devoured
it in his presence, plucked out his finger nails and
scorched him wnth burning brands. " You do not scream,
Echon," they said to him, " Why do you not moan i
We will make you." Heating red hot a collar of hat-
chets, they Hung it over his head till the Hesh on his

MARTVRDOM of BIlEr.EUF AND LALEMANT.

211

Id'Ofid slionlders shrivelled to the consistency ol* chjirred
li'citlier. The odor of burning liesh made them demons.
They glared upon him like tigers; and, wlien the unctni-
(|uerable priest raised his voice in withering denunciation
oi' their wickedness, they tore away his lips and cut out
iiis tongue. Still they wrung from him no cry of pain.
With torn lips and nuitilated tongue, he endeavored
to warn thcin of God's awful punishments. I'hey replied
with shouts of derision, obscenity and filthy songs, cut
oft' his fingers, joint by joint, and scorche<l him with
brands from head to foot ; but the iron frfime and uncon-
([Uerably resolute nature of the indomitable priest did not
(|uail, and even they, stolid and brutal as they were, mar-
velled at a courage that gave no sign of weakness. They
poured boiling water on his head, and, in mockery of the
Sacrament of Baptism, cried out : " We b.iptise you,
Echon, that you may be happy in Heaven — for you
black gowns tell us that no one can be saved without
Baptism," Despairing of overcoming his wondrous for-
titude, they tore the scalp from his head, laid open his
side, and, scooping up his blood in their hands, drank it
with the hope that they might partake of some part of
his marvellous courage. A chief tlu^n advanced, and,
burying his hunting-knife in the priest's breast, tore out
the palpitating heart, aiwl, holding it aloft that all might
see it, began to devour it with unspeakable relish. The
lustre of the ey(^ is dimmed, the power of utterance is

212

RMJLV MISSION'S IN WKSTERX CANAhA.

M'l

fcj,,::

1'^

1 '

-4

'■"

'1:!
Ill

j^fOMc I'oi'ovrr, his oonntiMiancc is manvd and ])itial»le to
look upon, and, likr liis Divine Master, wlion the storjn
oi' Mis ei'ueifixion swept over Him, "There is no hcanty
in his r.-iee nor oonielint ss. " Thus died dolni de l^reljenl',*
]>riest of the (.atliolie Clmi'oli, .'ind one of the £,n-andesi
men tliat ever trod th(^ Anieric;in Continent. From tliat
niomorahle dnv, wlicn. kncdiii''' on the I'oek at Stadjieona.
lie (hMli(;nted In's life to the eomcrsion of the trihrs, lie
nm'er wavered in Ids liiiili resol\-e. Vov twcnt\'-ronr
years of iMhoi'ior.s iviid nnceasino- sncriliec, amid ])erils as
fearfnl as evei- trie<l the heai't of man, he walked the

* Fallicr Brobcnf was horn at Bayoux, in Xornianrly, France, on the
'Jfjili of March, l")!),'?. ITe is the aulhor of two llehitions ; one o'
which, princi])ally a treatise on the Huron hans^uage, was lepublishod
in the transiictions of the American Anti(|uarian Society. His k'tter
on the manners and customs of the Hurona is a complete summary of
tlie domestic, civil and national life of the great tribe. Doctors <iil
mary Sliea and Francis Parkman, who are usuall}' so accurate, are in
error when they state that the remains of the great ])ric8t wore per
mancntly interred at the Seminary of St. Marys on the Wye. "^I'hey
were brought to (k)uebec, the bones having previously been kiln-dried
and sacredly wrapped in plush. The skull of the martyred priest is
preserved in a silver reli(|uary, in the Hotel Dieu at (j)uebec, and may
be seen by anyone desirous of venerating the sacred relic. In St Mar
tin's Cinirch (Ritualist), Brighton, Kngland, there is a figured window
to tiie memory of Father Brebeuf. He is robed in priestly vestments
with an aureole above his head, and a miniature map of the Hujon
country at his feet. I regret that time did not permit me to await the
return of the iU'i^tor wlio was absent, and learn from him the history
of the window. Mr. Douglas Brymner, Canadian Archivist, in Ids
report for 1SS4, inserts an original account of the martyrdom. 'I'o Mr.
l?rymner belongs the credit of discovering and giving this document
to the public. The reader is referred to the appendix.

!!• I

■«l

I Hi

214

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTKKN CANADA.

V'l'^ 'I

; ,'! I,

:;i !

lii'i

Bill

n 1 1

furrow to tlie martyr's stake, nor cast one halting, Iin<ijer-
ing look behind. His zeal, his coura^^e, his fidelity to
duty in the presence of the greatest dangers, his forti-
tude under hunger, weariness and excessive fatigue, his
angelic piety and his prodigious heroism under the ex-
cruciating ordeal of Indian torture, preach an elocpient
sermon, and its burden is : '* All ye that seek the King-
dom of God, behold the paths that lead ye to it." Bre-
beuf's companion. Father Lalemant,* was torturetl with
atrocious cruelty. His body was swatlied in birch bark,
smeared with pitch, and the torch put to it. In this
state he was led out while they wx're rending the body
of Brebeuf, and, when he beheld the unutterable con-
dition of the heroic priest, whom he loved with the love
of a l>rother, his agitation overcame him, and, throwing
himself at the feet of the dying martyr, lu^ exclaimed :

*Father Gabriel Lalemant arrived on the Huron missions, 20th Sept.,
1G4U, he was the nephew of Fathers Charles and Jerome Lalemant.
Before coming to Canada he was Professor of Metaphysics in France,
where he ac(juired considerahle distinction. Bressani says of him that
he was of a gentle disposition, was of a noble family anil distinguished
for his great piety, In a remarka1)lu document, wliich was found in
his handwriting after his death, we read that lie a'^andoned himself
entirely to Clod's providence, expressing a wish to undergo any priva-
tions for His sake and the hope that (>od would find him worthy to
choose him for martyrdom, if in any M\ay his death could add to the
glory of his Master. Father Charles Lalemant, who was the first
Superior of the Jesuits at (Quebec, was Chtimplain's confessor. He
crossed the ocean eight times. He died in France in 1674, at the age
of 87. He was twice shipwrecked, and was nominated to the Episco
pate which he declined in obedience to the rule of his Order.

■n

MAUTVUDO.M OK I'-KKIiEHK AND T.Al.EMANT,

215

Kiii^-

" My G()(] ! we're iiuulo a spectacle to the worM, to an<;-els
,111(1 to men. " He was then (lrat^»^e<l away and, for seven-
teen hours, from sunset to sunrise, was tortured with a
i-etinemcnt of cruelty that fills us with affri^dit and be-
wilderment. By a slow process, he was literally roasted
alive ; from head to foot there was no part of his bo<ly
that was not burncnl, even to his eyes, in which wen;
placed live coals.

r I

' i

Ml,'

I M I

iii

(^llAITKll X\I.

DESl'lvLH riON ()!•' THE III llON'S.

Alarm at Sl. Mary's- Flight ot the In)i(U<)i« -lluniing otM. Mary's
oii-tlio-Wye — Leave for Christian Island — Alarming News-Storm-
ing of a I'etun Town -Marlyidom of Father (larnier — His Heroic
Death — Death of Father Chabanel — Fathers (Jrelon and (Jarreau
— Ou Christian Island — The Famine — Plight of the Hurons - De
votion of Huron Converts — Abandoinnent of Christian Island —
I'riests and Hurons on their way to ljae])ec — Jesuits with the
Northern Tribes — Death i)f Father Menard — Claude Allouez and
the Algontjuins.

'riiio (Instruction ot* St. l^'natuis jiiul St. Louis appalled

the Hurons. 'I'lK-'y were jiaralyzed with fear, and, des-

])airini;' of ever recovering' from the disMstrous etl'ects ol'

the terrihh) onslauoht made u])on them, and unahle to

cope with the all-concjuering Iro([Uois, they resolved to

abandon their country. All was over witli them, and

havin<j;' determined on ili^'ht they at once prepared to

carry the resolution into effect. They disap})eared in

bands ol' iil'teen and twenty families, ileeinn-, many ol"

them to the Northern forests and the islands of Lake

Huron. Some sought refuge with the Neutrals : others

found an asylum amono; the Alo()n(|uins and the Petuns,

while many of them asked and received hospitality from

21()

1 1. Ahiry's
3 — St<n'ni-
lia Heroic
1 (Jiirreau
foils — Du-
Islaiid -
with the
ouez tuul

p]);lllc(l
1<1, (les-
ccts ol"
al'lc U)
ivcd to
m, ,'iin]
iivd to
mnl ill
any of
I' Lake
other;;
Vtim.s,
y From

DESTRUCTION OF THE IIURONS.

217

tlio Andasti's and Erics, At St. Mary's on the Wye, six
miles from the mission of St. Ignatius, all was commo-
tion and excitement. Iro(inois scouts were seen prowl-
ing near the walls of the mission-fort, and the Fathers,
with the Hurons who had taken refuge with them, were
in momentary expectation of attack. The Hurons with a
handful of Frenchmen stood on guard, while in the ch/ipcl
were gathered the women, oilering pra^'^ers and vows un-
ceasing. In the meantime the Iro(|Uois, seized with an
unaccountable panic lied the country after a series of
atrocious and damning acts. Binding hand and foot
those of their prisoners who were too weak to accompany
them, and whom they liad not time to torture, they set
fire to the town. They lingered for a time to listen to
and enjoy the appalling shrieks of human agony that
escaped from the mothers and children who were roast-
ing in the flames. While the town w^as hurning, the Mo-
hawks and Senecas disapjteared in the woods, dragging
with them to their homes in Western New York the
prisoners reserved for the torture. The Fathers resolved
to make a desperate effort to gather together their scat-
tered flocks, and for this purpose prepared to remove to
the island of Manitoulin. Yielding, liowever, to the ear-
I nest solicitations of many of the Huron converts, they
I changed their destination and selected an island on Lake
I Huron to which they gave the name of Isle St. Jofieph,

218

EAULY MISSIONS IN WKSTKI.'X CANADA.

to tlieir mission buildinirs, and in a few lionrs all that
remained of the historic pile wo-c the stone foundations.
It was not without feelin<^s of intense sorrow that the
Fathers bade farewell to scenes and surround intjjs sancti-
fied by years of heroic labor.* Every stone in the build-
ings of St. Mary's, every tree that cast a shadow on the
ground which was the theatre of years of labor was vu-
dcfired to them. Tln^ memory of what they iiad suti'ered
in the past, the hardships thty endured and the olorious
hope that lightened the long night of sorrow and atHic-
tion, crowded irresistibly upon them, and their regrets
found expression in a plaintive diige. " Must we now
quit forever," laments one of them, "the scenes of our
labors, the buildings which, though poor, were works of
art to the eyes of the poor Indians, and tlie cultivated
fields which promised to us all a rich harvest ^ Must we
abandon a land which is for us a second home with its
hopes and recollections, a land which was the cradle of
Christianity, and where the servants of desus CMnist had
built their chapel and found an ayhnn." On the 14tli
of June, 1G49, the Fathers with thirty or forty families
arrived on Christian Island. They selected a favc^rablc
spot on the southern promontory and outlinecl a military

* "It was not without tears," writes Father Ragueneau, " that we
left the country of our hearts and liojjes, m hich, already red with tlic
blood of our brethren, promised us a like happiness, and opened for us
the gates of heaven, "—Relfition, 1650, page 26.

lii

all tliat
idatioiis.
tliat tlic

S SUlK'ti-

10 Iniild-

V on tlic
was (,'11-
siiti'oivd
(•'loriuus

[\(\ atHic-

V ivii'i-ets
we now

;s oF our
^V()l•ks of
iltivated
Must wr
with its
cradle of
irist liad
"lo 14tli
'am il it's
\()i'al)lt'
lilitaiy

i)ES'i'i:r^"i'n>\ oi' iiiK iiiiioNs.

2ia

" that Wf

with the

ned for us

fort, strcn^tlifiicd witli ilaukinn' lNistion>. 'I'lif stoiu-
walls, wlucli wen- twelve feet lii^^-li, they loojt-lioled and
deeply trent'lu'd. 'I'he Huron villai,;-e wliieli ^ivw u])
around tlie fort was ])rotected with redoubts which servi'<i
to cover and shield it fi'oin sudden attack. Wlien the
\ illae-c and fort were completed, and the Fathers were
con^-ratulatine- th<'nisel\e,s uw heini;- ai)le to repel an\' at-
tack from the watchful and ruthless rroipiois, news was
l>rouoht that at any hour they mieht look for the foe.
An escaped ])risonei' arrived at the island on the e\"enine'
of October .*i()th, and reported that a numerous war-party
of Senecas and Mohawks had re-entered the country and
were undecided whether they would attack the Hurons
on Christian Island or the Petuns. Messeiieei-s were at
once despatched to the Petuns, informinf( them of their
iuipendino' dano'er. The frontier villa|;e of Ktharita
sumiiionino- its iiohbinn- strength, calmly awaited the at-
tack. ])ays passed, and no foe a})pearine-, the i'etun
warriors left the villaee in search of the enemy. Two
days after their departui'e, the Iro([uois storm hrokeupon
the town. Fathei' Garnier had charo'e of this mission,
known fis that of St. John the K\an^\'list, and when the
lro(|Uois burst in ujton them, he hastened to bapti/e the
Neoi>hytes and abst)lve the converts. Th"n he i-ushcd t()
the church and addri'ssed the ccnveriiii;' ^\()lllt•n, \\ ho in
fear and trejiidation had ^atheivd theiv. " We are about
to die, my children ; those of you who can escape do so

il:=

m i

III-

I h :

220

EAIILV MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

niid hold r.-ist tli(> Faith until death." 'I'hon lie loft the
church, and was .seen to fall to the ground i)ierced with
a Imllet. lie rose to his knees, and lookini: to the riHit
and left, saw at a distance an old man writhinr^ in the
ai^^onies of death. The priest rose to iiis feet and fell
a^ain ; lie then dia^^^cMl himself on his hands and knees,
fell on his side, recovered himself and crawled on. lie
liad almost reached the dyino" man, when an Irofjuois
rushed upon liim, dealt him two l>lows of a hatchet, and
all was over. His companion, Father Chabanel, had
left the town two days before, i-ecalled by his Su]iei-ior,
Father llaijueneau, who deemed it madness to expose to
death more than one priest in the face of thi'eatenin^"
danger. He was joined on his return by eifjht or nine
Chi'istian Hurons. On his way he stopped at Ekaren-
niondi, where the mission of St. Matthew was opene<l
some time before. Proceeding on their journey, ni^ht
fell, and they bivouacked in the snow. Father Chabanel
could not sleep, and about midnicjht he heard in the dis-
tance mingled outcries, voices and sonf^s. The Iro({uois
war-party were returning with their prisoners. Chaba-
nel called to his companions, who sprang to their feet,
listened for a moment, and at once took to flight. The
priest tried to follow^ but was unable tt) keep up with
his companions, and w^as never again seen. The Hurons,
who safely arrived at the island of St. Joseph, reported
that Father Chabanel had left them and had taken an-

il:!

i :l

loi't the
:i'(l witli
,]\v riiilit
if>- in tlif

and iVlI

(1 klUH\S,

on. Ho

Iroquois

liet, and

lol, liad

iuporior,

xpos»> to

\atonino

or ninf

Kkai-i'ii-

opc'iK'd

r, ni^lit

liabantd

jlie dis-

i'0(|nois

Clia1)a-

ir foot.

It. I^lic

p witli

Turons,

sported

ren an-

Oi).)

KAKLV MISSIONS IN WKsTKKN r\\.\[t\.

■<v

nllifi rmitr l<» ii'.-icli llic isl;iii<l. I''(»i' ;i loiii;' lime the
prifsts wt'ic ill doiiln w lul lici' ( "li.ili.iiicl was dcid nr
.ilisc: tlit'V sii|t]t(»s('(l tliat. Ill' liatl lust his way and |)i'i-
islicil IVuiii cold and liuno'cr. Sonict inic afti'iu ards, an
a]()stat(' llnion, nanuMJ I.onis I lonaiccnliax. acknow-
I(m|o(.(| tliat lie had UiHcci the ]a'i(st and llunn- his IkhIv
into the ri\('i'. When asked his rca^cn Inr (hiinj-' s<>. hr
iTplifd ■• h'roni the da\' that I ami ni\' laniiU' liccanii'
( 'hiistians, we ha\c nift with all kinds of niisforlinir. "
l^'athcr Ha^uciifan adds that tiiis nnn his wilV ( Icnt'-
\ ir\t'. and their nunn runs I'annlx'. r.c risluMJ inis«'ia))l\' at
the hands ol" the lr()(|U()is. Kather < 'haliiinel, it seems,
had a presentiment ol* his death, lor hrroic iea\ in^" St.
Mary's-on-the-Wye, he \n I'ote to Ids hiother that he an-
ticipatetl deatli .'it tlie hands of the li'o(|Uois. He ^\ as ol'
a natni'e natni'ally tinn<), and when he lii'st eiitei'ed u| on
tli«' llni'on missions, he eonecixcd a hoiror t'oi' his ];osi-
tion. His I'l'lincd natnic re\(>lte<l at the tilth and inde-
ei'iicy <»r the Indians, and lie Avas at times tenqitccl to ask
tor a chanu'e. In tliis I'raJiie of mind, he eiitci'ed the
chapel and i'ei;istere(l a sol^nni \-ow * toi'cmain per[>etn-

*TIio following is Fattier ( 'li!il)iuiet's vow. It is talicii tioni tliu
appendix to " Les .li'siiilcs-Mailyrs du Canada.'' "My l-iord -lesiKs
Clirist, wlio, ill tlie adiniiable disposition of Thy I'ateiiial Providence,
liasi willed tliat 1 should l)e a loadjutor with tlic holy apostles in this
vineyard of tlie Huroiis, thouj^li I acknowledge myself most iinwortiiy,
impelled l»y tiie desire of coiiforniing witli tlie will of ttie Holy diiost,
ju advancing tin- c(iii\eisi«in to the laitli of tliese savages of itie Huron

iiiM- tlic
i|(','i(| (If
iinl jicr-
anls, .•111
ickiiow
lis lio(|\-
^' >^<>, 111'

lu'C.'llllC

ortuiit'."

' <U'11C-

■al)ly at

/ St'ClllS,

ill";- St.

lit' aii-
' was of
i'(l u| on

is ):()si-

i<l iiide-
I to ask
•<m| the
crpctii-

Irom the
i<l 'lesu.s
ivideiice,
;a ill this
iworthy,
y (Oiost,
e Huron

DEATH OF THE PRIEST P. CHABANEL.

(Fiviii a 17th Century imnting.)

I '

224

KA HLY MISSIONS I\ WESTERN CANADA.

ally .'ittaclicd to tlic mission ol' the Huroiis. Hciicol'ortli
hu was wholly iiKlillrront to danger and his sun-onnd-
inos. lie (3ver at'tciwards believed that the change
which was wrought in him wa« the effect of God's re-
deeming kindness. After the destruction of Etharita
and the slaughter of its inliahitants the lro(|Uois attack-
ed the town of St. Matthew, b\ithers CJrelon and (lar-
roau ha<l charge of this mission, but fortunately were
recalled to St, Joseph sometime before the attack. When

the priests first visited this town, tlu'y were brnnded as
sorcerers in league with the enemy. A council wns call-
ed, and they were condemned to death. When they left
their cabin, they fearlessly passed through a furious
crowd, who, yelling and screeching, brandished over their
heads knives and hatchets, and threatened them with
death. The priests showed no signs of fear, and to the
amazement of the peo})]e jiassed on and entered the
council-house. For some reason their lives were spared
and they themselves ever afterwards attributed their
salvation to the Providence of (Jod. They succeeded in
making many converts, and Father (larreau expressed

country, I, Noel Chabanel, in the presence of the Most Holy Sacrament
of Thy Body and of Thy Moat Precious Blood, which is (Jod's taljcr-
nacle among men, vow to remain perpetually in this mission of the Hu-
rons, understanding all things according to the interpretation of my
Superiors, an<l of the disposal they wish to make of me. Therefore, 1
beseech Tiiee to accept me as the perpetual servant of this mi.ssion, and
to make me worthy of a ministry so sublime. Amen. The 'JUth day of
June, 1047." ,

DPXrKUCrioN OL'" THE IIUKONS.

225

his soijow tli.-it tlu'y wore not in the town vvlu-n it was
.•ittjick('(l, tliat they |jni<4;lit isluirc the fate ol' their iVtiin
converts. Meanwhile the po[)ulatioii on Christian Island
he^an to increase rapidly. Their ])rovisioiis became ex-
hausted, and unable to cultivate the land through i'ear of
the enemy, they lived })rincipally on roots and acorns,
and when winter came famine was its com])anion. 'Fhe
severity of the winter added to the horrors of hunger,
and the island, which had already furnished graves for a
c'onsidei'ablo iuunl)er, threatened to become a charnel-
house. The fathers had collected three or four hun(h-ed
hushels of acorns, which they now served out to tlieir
famishing flocks. The famine, however, continued, and
the desolation was a})palling. Out of every wigwam,
cabin and lodge the unfortunate Hurons came creeping
on their liands and knees, for they were too weak to
walk. They looked like anatomies of death ; their voices
were those of ghosts speaking from the grave. They fed
on the carrion renuiins of dogs and foxes, and in the aw-
ful extremity of their cravings, opened the graves, took
out the freshly-buried bodies, and devoured them with
the hunirer of doirs.

<lay of

Hungry was the air around them,
Hungry was the sky above them,
And the hungry stars in lieaven,
Like the eyes of wolves ghired at them !

A ])athetic and intensely touching episode is recorded

(;

22f)

E.\in,V MISSION'S (X WESTKKX CANADA.

I :

fii'

'■!

hy one ol' tlir iiiissiniinrics. An Indian inotluT, i't'»luct'(l
l»y stai'vati(Jii almost to a skeleton, lay in a coi'iier ol' her
wiovvain, with her infant child iiiakiui'' an expiiini'" etl'oi't
to diaw nouiishnient IVoni hreasts lon^' siiiee dried iij):
turninn'to a crucifix, a lew moments hel'oi-e herdeath, antl
jiressinu- to her liosom the child which had Jnst died, she
exclaime<l, "() Lord (lod, ^Fhou ait the Master ol' oiir
lives, hiess, we he.seeeh Thee, our dvinii" Christians. 1
would have heen lost, and my cliildren with me, if Wni
had not consoled me in my atlliction, and tried me with
suHeiMUi;'. We have i-eceived l)a|)tism, and 1 iirndy he-
liove that we will rise aeain to*;'ether." Most touchini^
scenes, with acts of heroism and Christian I'esiu-nation
worthy of the l)rii;'htest days of ( Mn-istianity, were wit-
nessed : while their families, their country, their veiy
nation, wei'e perisliin<»" before tlu'lr e3'es, tlie Hu-
rons a])}X'aled to (lod to have pity on them in their
desolation. The cha,])el was too small to hold the
crowds tliat ^'athered foi" ])rayei', and ten oi" twelve
times each moi'nina' and as often evei'v evenino- it was
1ille«l and emptiecl. ^I'he prii'sts themselves were worn
to attenuation, hut went fiom cahin to cahin instruct-
inu^ and clieerini>: the nerisJn'nii' cri-atures. At Ien<i:th,
hroken-heai'ted and discouraged, the; HuJ'ons left the
island early in the spriiii;'. le(l l»y their ])i'iests, and
beg'an th<'ir jiei-ilous joui'uey to (^)uehec. The charred
remains of the martyivd [)riests, Brebeuf and Lalemaut,

DKSTIM'C'IloX (>V Till': iiri!0\S.

227

Mi«^tli,

wliicli had l»»'('ii sacrcilly |iri'sci\ ri|, wrir now jdaiHMl
ill two small lioxcs, ;iii<l Ixo'iic with (hem on their way
to (^)iR;l)t'C. TIk' hodirs ol' tlic uthci- mai'tyrt'd )»i'i«'sts
\\<'i'c i;i\('ii a, (iraxc in the w ildci-ncss, and the Huron
nation hccaino thcii- niouiMU'is. No inoimnicnt of i^a'anitc
oi- niarhh' is tln'i'c to challenge the attention of p.-issine-
man and tell him that licrc lie the aslics of hci'ors an<I
ol* saints. Around them rise in stately grandeur the
sujivini'" nines, whose xouth the martvi's saw : the watei-s
ol* the hroad Hui'on still lave tlie I'ertile shoi'es, thr
scene of their m!Li'ht\' deeds: and the same sun that
thri'c hun«li'ed years a<jjo shone upon theii' hei'oism, to-
day warms the <j,reen tui'f that shrou<ls their sanetitied
remains.

On theii' wa}' to I'^rench River, they skiite<l alono' tlie
coast of their own familial- eoniitrv. now a land of hor-
ror and desolation, fiake Xipissin^', on whose shoi'es
there dwelt a, few vrars hefoi'e. a ouce uumi'rt)ns and pow-
erful trihe. was stillness itself. {'"rom the frini;-e of the
(leoriiian lla\' to the mouth of the ( )ttawa the land was
a, vast o'raveyard, o\rr which tlii'r<> hroocleil thr silence
of death. On their wa\' down the ()ttawa. the\' met
l''ather Ihcssani, returnini;' w ith a party of I'^rrnch and
llurons with sup])lies for the mission of St. .losejth. ( )n
lea.rnin<4' fhat the island was ;i desert, and no lixini;'
soul left upon it, l''aihei' Ih'es^ani retraced his idute, and
in a few we(d\s the whole compan\ I'eached (^hieliec,

iii

228

KAKLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

iM '\.

M I ■

July 2!Stli, KioO. 'I'lu'y scttk'd in a place .soiiu; tliirU'cii
miles tVom the city, now called Lorrette, where still
dwell all that remains ot* that mi<(hty race of hunters
and tighters once known as the Huron nation. They
and their tawny converts are gone forever, but on the
altar of a church Imilt near their cherished St. Marys
on-the-Wye is still celebrated the same unchangeable
sacrifice that the martyred priests oflered to the ador-
able God centuries ago. A broad-shouldered, fair-com-
})lexioned people now listen to the same innnortal truths
that Hrebeuf and his companions preached to the dark-
haired Hurons in the forests of Ihonatiria ; and, while
these unalterable truths are wedded to the soul of man,
the memory of the dead priests will live in the hearts of
the brave and true. " It may Ite asked," writes Ban-
croft, "if these massacres (pienched enthusiasm. 1
answer that the Jesuits never receded one foot; but, as
in a brave army new troops press forward to fill the
places of the fallen, they were never wanting in heroism
and enterprise on behalf of the cross,"*

The scattered bands of Hurons were accompanied by
their priests. Father Grelon, whose soutane hung in rags
around him, clothed himself in the skins of animals, and
northward by the shores of Lake Huron, amid the islets
and rocks of its desolate coast, searched for the remnants

* Bancroft, Vol. III., page 141. Ed. 1840.

■1

DESTRUCTION OF TITE IIURONS.

•>9()

. I

of liis Rcattored Hock.* Anothor j^lmio-cd iiit(» tlio foivst
witli a company ol" faiMishiii^- proselyti's ; and, amid tlieir
miserable rovin^a through thicket and mountain, endur-
ed for months tlie liorrors of cold and hunger. Father
Simon Lo IMoyne, years afterwards, visits the Onondanns,
and is the first white man to ascend the St. Lawrence
Kiver.f P^re Chaumonot and Claude Dablon follow
him a year after; and, to the fierce Irofjuois who, a few
years before, had perpetrated such atrocious cruelties on
the Hurons, preached the savinf]^ truths of Christianity.

* We followed the fugitives from one rocky island to anotlier, and
for three hundred miles through the forest, to console them, and keep
alive in their hearis the faith that for them was newly born. — Ih-i fisn)ti,
page :J9l.

t Father Le iMoyne left Queliec for the Huron country in Decern
ber, 163S. He began a mission with Father Daniel among the Huron
tribe of Arendahronons and had also charge with Father Charles (iar-
nier of the mission of St. Joseph. In 1054, he went on an embassy to
the Iroquois, where, after miraculously escaping death, at the hands of
a maddened Mohawk, he returned to Montreal. Five times before his
death, which occurred on November 24th, 16(55, in the (list year of his
age, he journeyed to the Iroquois. Among the Hurf)ns he received
the name of Onikssonk, and by this title was always addressed, even
when among the Mohawks. He was the founder of the Iroquois mis-
sions which were opened some time liefore by the martyred -logues.
For nearly thirty years, this distinguished priest labored on the Huron
and Iro(iuois missions, and was justly held in high repute by French
and Indians. When the Iro(|Uois heard of his death, they sent vain
able presents to console his friends and wipe away their tears. The
companion of Jogues, Brebeuf, Daniel, and (Jarnier at Huronia, he
takes high rank in the small army of the soldiers of the Cross, who
fought the battle of the Lord, in the forests of Canada and Central
New York.

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2'M)

i;\i:l\ missions in wkstkux (wsxda.

Kuiic Mcii;(i-<l, ill If!.")!!. tiikc.'S ii]t ;i |!ci-iii;m( lit aliodc witli
tlic ( ';iyui;n.s : ,'iinl Cluniiiiouot. tlic follow ino' year. fcMr-
Icssly enters the <leiis ol" tlie lions the N'illae'es of the
Seiiecas. Ill KiT)!), Fathei's ( !al»riel I )ruillette.s and Leon-
ard ( Jjirrejiu — the one alreadv ha\in<j,' carried the cross
tlirouo-h the forests of Maine, and the other, ei<jfhttu'n
years liofore, a missionary witli the Tobacco nation, are
ca]iture'| hy the Mohawks when ahout to lea\<' on a mis-
sion to the i^reat Sioux nation,* Thus, hefoiv the ex]>ir-
ation of the year Kiod. the desnit [)i'iests, takino- their
lives in their hands, lieoan the comi'i'sion of these war-
liawks of the wilderness the five nations of tlie Ji'o-
quois.

In !()()(), tlie a(4'e(l ^h'na^■d, after weeks of ureat hai'd-
shij) and snff'eriiie-, visiti'<l the southern shore of l^ake
Superior: and liaviii'j^' ])en-un a mission aniono- the scat-

* Fatiibh (iAimiKr, DiiuiM.KTTEs, suvnamed tlie patriarcli by the
Abena([uis, arrived in this country in IM'.i. He went on a mission to
the Abena(|uis of Maine and dwelt with them for two years. Return-
ing in 1 (!.")!, he was nent with a deputation to Lho (Jovernor of New
I'higland, soliciting assistance against the Iroijuoio. In Kt'ili, he left
with Fat luT Leonard (J arreau, to enter upon a mission to the Sioux;
the flotilla was attacked l)y the Irni|uoi8 and the party compelled to
return. In 16(51, he and Father Dahlon opened the mission of St. Fran-
cis Xavior among the Crees of the North-west. In this year the tv.'O
priests started on an overland journey to the HudHon'a Bay, but owing
to uuforseen diiliculties were obliged to return. In Kit!!!, he was with
Man|Uette, and continued laboring among the Algoncjuin tribes until
16T!>, when, returning to Quebec ho died in that city on the 8th of
April, 1681, at the age of S8, forty live years of which were passed on
the mission.

DESTHrCTIOX OF THE IIFROXS.

2.^!

tered H^l^(Jll^ louml in tliat iv^'ioii, })lunoe(l into tlif for-
est t(> visit an inland ti'il>t\ find is ne\'er a^'nin licard of.
The lion-liearted Claude Alloue/ steps into the hi'each
made l»v his deatli, anil, tor thirt\' vears this ('onl'essoi- of
till' faith het'onies the eonijianion of rovinn- Alnoiniuins.
He ^a\'e the name Ste. Mai'ie to tlie waters dixidine-
Lakes Superior and !Iur()n, wliere lie estalilishe(j the
first permanent mission on the si)ot conseci-ated twenty-
live years hefoi'e hy the visit of the niartyi' Jollies ami
tlie sainth' l'avnd)ault. This exti'aordinarv l)ri('st estah-
lislied missions during- his lono- sojoui'ii in the upper
country anionn' moi'e than twenty dillei-ent nations, in-
cludinn' Miamis, Mississai>'ues, Saidteui's, Menonionii's,
Illinois, CMiippewas. Sacs. Winni haloes, Foxes, i\)ttawat-
taniics of I^ake Michigan, Ivickapoos, and amonn' the scat-
tered Hiu'ons and Ottawas. In HKiS, I''athers DaMon,*
Nicolas, and Manpiette, soon to enter upon the explora-
tion of the Mississippi, are with the trihes that occuity
the vast reirions extendine- from (Iri-en Ih-iv to the head
of Lake Superior, '■ nun^'lino- hap[)iness with sullerin*;'

* Father l>al)lou ai'rivetl in <Juel)cc in Km,"), and towards ilie I'lid
of the same year started on a mission to the ()nondai,'as. In Kids, in
company with Father Marquette, he had charge of the mission of the
TToly (Ihost on the shores of l.ake Superior. He established the first
permanent mission, Suult Ste Marie, 'like two Relations of IliTI and
KIT-, so full of interesting and valuable details of the Northern and
Western regions of Wisconsin and Dntario, wen; written by l'"ather
Dablon.

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232

KAHLV MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

aiul wiiiiiiiio- (>i„]ni-iiio- ^loiy hy their fearless pursever-
aiice."

Truly ther^' were giants in those days; and it is impos-
sible not to admire the sul.lime influence of the Catholic
Church on tlie hearts of men— an influence w^hich then,
as now% inspired lier priests to turn aside from the alluiv-
ments of civili/ed society, and, untrammelled w^ith wives
or families, devote themselves unresei-vedly to the eleva-
tion of thesavarre races that weiv l.uri(^d in the dai'kness
of the Valley of Dentli.

)ursover-

shiipoK-
Catholic
3h til oil,
2 allni-c-
bli wives
o elov.'i-
.'irkncss

CHAPTER XXII.

FLIGHT OF THE HUROxNS,

On Manitoiilin Island— Capture of a Foraging Party— Stephen Anna-
otaha -Strategy and Dissimulation— The Iro({uois Deputies— Slaugh-
ter of the Senecas— Flight of the Iroiiuois— l»leading for Adoption-
Received by the Senecas— Fidelity of Huron Converts— Chaumonot
Among the Iro(iuois— Example of Earnest Piety— The Eries and the
Hurons— ^Var lietween the Eries and the Irocjuois— Storming of the
Erie Towns—Slaughter and Destruction of the Eries.

'I'he lirst band of tlio Huron fugitives fled to the Nor-
thern ishinds of Lake Huron, but chiefly to Manitoulin,
where a mission liad been opened eiglit months be-
fore. It was ahnost a barren solitude, and the fugitives
clierished tlie hope that the Iroquois would never molest
tliem in their island liome. But the Mohawks and Sen-
ecas were liuman bloodhounds, and, once on the scent of
an enemy they followed him to the death. A remark-
able incident in this war of extermination happened
while the Hurons were on the island ; the Iroquois, who
had discovered the retreat of the Hurons, deeming them-
selves too few in number to attack them successfully,
l)uilt a fort on a neighboring headland and awaited a
favorable opportunity to take the Hurons by surprise.
A short time after their fort was built, they captured a
o 233

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234

EAllJ.Y MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

foraging party, and witli tlieiii Stephen Ainiaotalia, a
fervent Cliristian and a man of considerable repute
among his own people. When surprised by the Iri»-
(juois, he determined to sell his life dearly and die as a
brave should die, with his weapons in his hands and his
face to the foe. To his amazement, the Iroquois told
liim that they were about to leave the island, to aban-
don their feud with the Hurons, and that they were on
their way to offer them peace and a home among them-
selves in their own country. " Let us," said they, " be-
come one people, so that each may inherit the glory of
the other." The Huron, wdio was a past master in strat-
egy, suspected a sinister motive in their hypocritical
language, and seeing he was unequal in strength to his
enemies, determined to tight them with their own wea-
pons. He pretended to accept their proposition with dc
light, threw down his arms, and went with them to
their fort, "^rhey displayed to his astonished gazt^ the
presents which they intended for his countrymen, and
asked him to open negotiations with them. " It would
ill become me," replied Stephen, " to take upon myself
the glory of bringing about a truce. Among my people
there are a nundjcr of elders, whose duty it is to admin-
ister the attaii's of the tribe ; send 3^our ambassadors with
the gifts, and i will remain here as a hostage ; wlnwt-
ever the elders will decide upon, the tribe will agree to.
His answer was so a})parently stiaightforward and direct

I'LKJIir Ob' 'IMIK III'IJONS.

'l:\n

laotalia, a
•le repute
^ the Ii'o-
l (lie as a
Is and liis
[uois told
to aban-
i were on
mg theni-
liey, " 1)0-
[i ^i,dory of
' in strat-
pocritical
ifth to Ills
wn wea-
I with dc-
theni to
<^'az(i the
men, and
It wouM
n myself
ly people
o admin-
lors with
3; wJukt-
'tjree to. "
nd direct

that the lro((Uois helieved he was sineere. " In any
case," tliey sai<l, " it will be better for yon to aeeompany
our and)assadors to explain matters to your people : your
('om])anions can remain here until your return." Ste])hen
undertook to escort the three Iroipiois deputies. When
thev reached the Huron town, his shouts of jov and ex-
ultation attracted the attentioii of the warriors. "Ura-
ven at last," lie cried out, "is favorable to us: in tlie midst
of death we have found life. The Ii'0(piois ai'e no lon^--
er our enemies, they liave become our friends, our rel-
atives and our benefactors. The ^'raves which they
o])ened for us th(y' liave closed aj^-ain. They offer to us
not only their f)-ien<lship but a ])ermanent home ainon^;'
themselves: henceforth we will be as one nation, num-
erous, industrious and bi'ave." His lan^'nao-e, so full of
a.ssurance and confidence, deadencsd all susj)ieion on the
part of th(! Iro(piois. But the Huron chiefs, trained in the
bitter school of experience, seemed confused, and .sou^'ht
an op])ortunity foi" an ex[)lanation in [)i'ivate. A mo-
ment's conv^ersation set them rlt^'ht, and, co!*cealin<>- with
chai'acteristic cunning their ti'm; sentiments, shouted
with joy, excitino- the women and children to enthusiasm
and deli^-ht. The Inxpiois de[)uties, deceived hy the ap-
parent sincerity of the public re_j()icin<^', lielieved their
end to b(j already accoiaplished. They fratei'uized free-
ly with the Hurons and pai'took of a feast prepared for
their special benefit. In the meantime, Stephen (piietly

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'2m

KAIIIA' MISSKKNS IN WK.s'lKKX CANADA.

|)re[)HrtM| with tlic lliii'oii chiel's liis [)lau (»!' jietioii.
Ilavini;- IK) (;()i»H(l(^nc«> iij tlic sincerity <>t* tli«'ir i'lU'iiiics,
who, timr and a^ain, had jU'oNcd tliemsclvos jicrliiHoiis,
and cruel, they deternune(l to l)e;it the Inxpiois at their
own ;4';inie. Tlie chiet's, to o-ive assui'ance to tlie ani-
hasHudors, proclaimed throughout the viliao'e that in
three (layH tlic peo[)le, nnist l)e read}' to leave and ac-
coin[)jiny their friends and allies, the Iroijuois. "With
them," they said, " we will llnd security, repose and plen-
ty."' These words were as music to the ears of tlie depu-
ties, and to their great delight they beheld the people,
men, women, and children, alread}' preparing for the
journey. Stephen, full of confidence, returned with the
(lelei'-ates, who announced the success of their mission.
The Irtxjuois were beside themselves witiijoy. 'I'he pny
they hail been hunting was almost in their grasp, and they
loaded Stephen with presents to testify their appreciation
of the work he had done?. Acting upon his instructions,
they sent thirty of their warriors with Stephen, that they
might see for themselves the preparations the Hurons
were making for the journey, and encourage by their
presence the activity and good-will of their future com-
panions. While the Mohawks were scattered through
the village, totally unsus[)icious of danger, the Hurons at
a given signal rushed u))on them and slaughtered them.
Three only escaped ; they owed their safety to Stephen,
who s])ared them in return I'oi- kindness they had done

of action.
ir iMU'Uiifs,

jM'l'tl(lit)US,

)is at tlit'ii'
) the Jiiii-
;•(' that ill
;v and ac-
is. -'With
3 and plen-
f tlie (Icpu-
tlit^ peoplt\
iio' for tile
il with tlu'
ir mission,
'riie prey
]), and tlu'V
^preciation
istructions,
tliat they
»(! Hurons
(' )iy tlieir
iituro coni-

1 tlirou^'h

Hurons at
cred them,
o Stephen,
Y had done

FI-KMIT OK rilK IirUONS.

287

liiiii in otlirr i\i\ys. It ii]>]»i .irs tluit tlifsc three spared
Ills life, when the IroijUois destroy<'d the \ illML;vs of St.
Ignatius and St. Louis. One of tlie Seneca warriors cx-
(•l;iimc(1, when dyin;4', 'We only ;4'<)t wliat we desei-\-e(I,
.iiiJ you did to us wliat we would have done to you."
W'lieii the IroipKtis, who were at the fort, heard of the
iiias.sacre they lied in terroi'. 'I'lie Hurons i-emainc(l for
sdiiie months on the i.slaiid, hut, feai'iiiL!; that the eiieniv
would return to avenge the death of their warricji's, they
left the island and made their wav to (,)uehec. Another
party of the llui'ons, in their extremity, r<'S()rte<l to a
tlcsperate and hazardous exjUMlient.

The hatred cherished hy the Troipiois foi- the Hurons,
tliounh oi'ioiiially of one stock, would appear to have
lu'cn dial)(»lic in its intensity, and when an Tro(|Uois en-
t('re<l upon tlu; trail of a \Vyan(h)t he followed it witii
ruthless pertinacity. Both nations entertained foi* each
other a spirit of vindictive enmity, growing in intensity
from generation to generation. The twelve hini(h-i'(i
wai'riors who hroke in uj)on the villages of the Hurons
iutended tlie complete destruction and annihilation of
the Huron nation. It is then with a feeling akin to
Juiiazement that we read of one tlviui:' renniant of the
Hurons appealing to the generosity of their foe, not only
for their lives but for their future protection. This
hroken and disheartened renniant occupied the villages

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2'iS

EARLY MISSIONS IX WESTEUX CAXADA.

;

i i

ol' St. MicliJicI Mild Sfc, Joliii tli(' l)a]»tisi., mid were minis
turcd to l»y Kutlicrs IJrcs.suiii iiiid dii I'crron.

Tli(!y Kent a dei)ntati()n to tlic Seiiccas, one of tlie five
Irofjuois nations, acknowledging" tliat tliey were no long-
er' ;il)le toeontiime tlie war, sued for peace, and asked I'oi'
a home in tlie lro(|Uois country. Tlie Senecas agreed to
I'eceive them, set apart a lai'ge piecc^ of ground for tlieir
special use, whei'O thev huilt for tliemselves tlie villaor
of Oandoumirae.'^ As manv of this fun-itive han<l were
Christians, they calle<l their village the Mi.ssion of St.
Michael, in honor of the town they liad ahandoned in
Huronia. Strange to relate, these Christians, with the
Neophytes whom the priests were preparing for Bap-
tism, when the Huron towns were sacked, continued to
practise all the pious exercises taught them by the Fathers.
It is i-ecorded of them that fre(iuentlv in their interviews
and conversations with tlieir Iro(|uois neighhoi-s, they en-
deavored to convince them of the benefits of th-> Faitii.
Wlien Father Chaumonot visited them in 1 ()5(), he express-
ed his sur])rise and delight at fin<ling them firm in the faitli.
" I could not," he writes, " keep l)ack the tears which filled
my eyes, when 1 saw these })oor exiles practising their re-
ligion in the midst of a pagan ])eopk\" When Father Freiii-
in called at this village in KiGH, lie met an old man, Francis

* When Father Lemoyne visited them in 16r)4, he found the mar
tyr Brebeuf'a New Testament and (Jarnier's breviary in their hands.

FLKillT OF THE l£URONS.

239

ere iiiiiiis

:)f the five

e IK) lono--

asked i'oi-

aijfived to

1 t'or tlicir

hv villai^v

r,\]\i\ wci'c

ion of St,

iidoned in

, witli tlio

i'ov Hajt-

iti 11110(1 to

Fatlu'i's.
iitervii^'Nvs
■5, they ('11-
tli-) Faitli.
le oxpress-

1 tlie faitli.
hidi filled
(f thoir I'c-
hcr Fiviii-
11, Francis

nd the mar-
eir hands.

Talioroiiliio((o, who twenty-five year.s before was l»aptized
by Father Le Moyiie in tlu; Huron mission of 8t. John
the Jjajitist. This venerable jiatriareh kept his own fam-
ily safely in the patlis of religion, and converted many
of tlie pao-an Indians around liim. For twenty years he
had never s])oken to a pi-iest, but persisted in holdin^^
family prayers and liegging of (Jod to send liim a priest
that he miglit receive tlie sacraments before <lying. At
lon<;th his praj^er was lieard When he learned that
Father Fremin was in tlie vilhifje he raised his hands to
heaven. "At last," he exclaimed, "God has listened to
nie, I will now die contented." A touchiiii^' example is
f^iven in the Relations, proving the infiuence of the vir-
tuous lives of the Hurons on their ])a^an conipierors. A
Christiaii oirl married an Irocpiois and her first care was
to inspire him with respect and esteem for her religion.
Under the softening influence of her association, he ac-
knowledged himself van(|uislie(i, and exjiressed a desire
for V)aptisni. The young wife continued to liope and
pray that a " black-robe " would soon visit them. One
day wdiilc fishing with her husband, who had })een for
some time in delicate health, a consideralile distance
away from the village, a ]»riest happened to pass the
place. When the Iro(jUois saw the " Black gown " ap-
proaching, he threw' himself upon his knees and asked
to be baptized. " For two years," said he, " I have asked
of (Jod to grant me this grace before dying." The priest

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240

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

baptized him an<i in a few da^^s he expired. Tlie Hvdix)n
wife then related to tlie missionary the history of his
case. " I liad made up my mind," she said, " to visit a
priest who I heard was at a place one hundred and fifty
miles from here, and to ask him to come and bajitize my
husband, whom I had already instructed as well as I
could, and now God has sent you to me."

Another wretched party of the Hurons fled into the
forest, and continued their long and weary journey over
land and lake and river till they reached the Erics, who
were dwelling on the southern shore of the lake which
bears their name. The Eries were of Huron extraction,
spoke th» same language, were settled in pallisaded vil-
lages, and, when occasion required, could send tw^o thous-
and warriors into the field. They received the fljnng
Hurons as brothers, and made them by adoi)tion niembeis
of the tribe. When the Iroquois learned of the presence
of the Hurons (though they had already entered into a
treaty of peace with the Eries) they sought an occasion to
provoke a war. An Erie deputation which was sent
among the Senecas with large presents to confirm the
treaty of peace, vvas ruthlessly slaughtered on some triv-
ial provocation. The Eries retaliated, and a war of re-
prisals was entered upon. A famous Seneca chief was
captured by the Eries, and against the advice of the eldei's
of the tribe, was tortured to death. When they were
kindling the fire he warned them that in burning him

FLKJIIT OF THE HinoNS.

241

tlioy wo)v bui'iiino- the \vli(>l(> Erir nation, since his Iro-
(jiiois kinsnu']) would un(loul)ttM||y i'»'ven<^'o liis dcjitli.
Hi.s words weiv proplu'tic, I'oi- when Ins countrymen
heard of his deatli the wliole nation took up his caus(>.
The Erie warriors were perlia])s th(; l)est hownien then
existin<Tj on tlie American continent, the\' used poisoned
arrows, wielded the tomaliawk and scal])in<T-knit'e with
teri'ible effect, and as they were as (juick as wild -cats
in their movements, the Iro(|uois entered upon tlie wai-
with grave doubts as to its results. Tlie nation made a
vow to tlie (iod of tlie Frenchmen that if successful in
their undertakiiiir, they would ever nfterwfirds woi-sliii)
Him. The i)i'omise and the success which followed was
of coiisideral)le assistance to the niissionai'v Fathers wlien
they came to evan»;elize the Jio(|uois. When they
reached the fortified towns of the I'^i'ies, tliey stormed
them one after anotluM-, and the Imtcheiy that followcfl
was frii>litful.

were
liim

The barriers which they builded from the soil

To keep the foe at bay — till o'er the walls

The wild l)eleagucrs broke, and, one by one,

The strongholds of the plain were forced and heaped

With corpses.

The Fries were literally wiped out, and with them th(^
Hurons who had taken ivfuoe in their vilhif^es. The
<;reat lake on whose shores they dwelt perpetuates their

V. f

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242

EAllLV MISSIONS IX WESTERX CANADA.

njiiiie, liistory records tlu'ir cxistonce, luit as a ])eo])l(^
fchuy luive disappeared IVoiii ofl'tlie face of tlie eartli.*

* Tlic Erics who dwelt to the south and east of F.ake Krie were
called by the early French the Nation of the Cat, from the large num-
ber of wild-cats or lynxes that filled their forests. The Iro(juois called
the Neutrals the "Cats," for the same reason. No mission was ever
opened among this tribe. It is not probalde that thoy were ever visit-
ed by a white man, unless Ktienne Brule, Cliam])lain's interpreter, went
among them in 1(11"). According to Father l)c (^)uen in his Relation,
KioO, the Krie war and the ruin of the nation resulted from the ven-
geance of a woman, who, contrary to the winlirs of the Krie Chiefs, in-
sisted upon the burning of an Onondaga warrior, taken in war, to atone
for the murder of her brother, who was sent on an embassy the previous
year to the Onondagas and killed while in their town.

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ClIAin'KR XXIIT.

FLKJHT OF THE TIXXONTATKS.

The Tobacco Nution Tlie Missions — departure of the Tiiho Parsuecl
by the Iroquois Appeal to the Aiidastes Driven Hack by the Daco-
tali — Attack the Sioux Their Ketreat Devoured by Famine-
Renr Menanl -Ifis Msit to the Tribe -Man|Uette and tlie Tinnon-
tates-Tho I'ril^e at Detroit — Their Extinction.

SorTll of tlu' NottawasjiiTH Bay, and about two <lavs'
journey west of the Huron towns, were situated nine or
ten villa<^es ol' tlie Tinnojitates or 'I'oltaeeo nation, known
to tlie Fi-encli as i'etuns.* 'I'lx'V nundu'rcd about ten
thousand souls, when they joined tlu' Huron Cont'cilci--
acy in 1()4().-'- They sh;ire(] to a lar^^e extent in the ruin
and dispersion of that unha])[>y ])eopl('. Aniono- tlieni
the mai'tyred ])riests Garniei- and Chabanel had eharo-e
of the mission of St. John, while Fathers (Jarreau and
(irelon looked after the mission of St. Matthias. Their

1 • i

* Mr. David Boyle, the Canadian Archa'ologist, in an interesting
paper on tliis tribe, publiehed ISS!), would lead us to infer, from the
remaina of their villagi's and burial mounds, that they were not only a
numerous ])eople, l)ut, in point of intelligence, superior to the other
tribes of Xoith America.

t In KllH, (Jhamplain and Father Lo Caron visited them, but nei-
ther ('ham))lain, Sagard. or Le Clerci] mentions their distance from the
Huron towns. Their language seems to liave l)een identical with the
Hurons, not even diflering in dialect.

24;J

244

KAIU.Y MISSIONS IX WKSTEHX CANADA.

I!'

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])i('ty, zoul, und .seU'-dLnijil were softt'iiini;' the Hinty
lieart/K oi' tlic IVtnns : and wlieii tlic Iru(|ii()i.s Im'ojui tlicir
war of cxtci'inination, tlie liglit of conversion was already
l)reakinf»; above the hori/on. When driven from their
country, tlie remnant of tliis oreat clan licld to^i^etlier and
retained its tril)al organization. ^Phere is not in modern
history, and taking no account of numbers, perliapsnonc
in all history, an event less generally known, or more
striking to the imagination, than the ilight of this tribe
across the boundless plains, and through the forests of
North America. In the intense sufferings of the men,
women, and children, there is nuich that appeals to the
sympathy and pity of humanity. The gloomy venge-
ance of the ruthless enemy that hung upon the reyr of
the fugitive band, was, like the solitary Miltonic hand,
]iursuing through desert spaces a rebellious host and over-
taking those who believed themselves alread}^ within
the security of darkness. The reverses sustained by the
tribe, the untravelled forests through which it opened a
])ath, the foe ever doggedly hanging to its skirts, and the
hardships that became a part of its very existence, in-
vest its exodus with melancholy interest. The Anabasis
of the younger C^'rus, and the subsequent retreat of the
ten thousand to the shores of the Black Sea ; the Parth-
ian expeditions of the Romans, especially those of Cras-
sus and Julian, and the retreat of the French soldiers
from Moscow, whilst more disasti'ous in loss of life, were

FLIGHT OF TMK TIXNONTA'I'KS.

245

not more pitiful in the siifierin<(s eiiduivd. In Jlioi, nc-
conling to Dablon and I'errot, they Hed to Micliihnack-
inac. We next hear of tlieni on the shores of No(|uette
Bay, whicli they abandoned in 1()55, crossin*^ over to the
other side of Lake Micliipm, and now the history of
their wanderin^-s becomes intensely pathetic. The dar-
ing and ferocious Iro({Uois drove them thence, and with
the pertinacity of bloodhounds hun^ upon their trail,
forcin*;- them to seek refuse with the Puants of Green
Bay. From here they were driven to the nundter of tive
hundred, and continued their wanderings until they
reached the country of the Illinois. No hospitable greet-
ing awaited them : and, worn out and discouraged, they
addressed a most pathetic appeal to the Andastes, plead-
ing for shelter among them. " We come from the land
of souls where all is sorrow, dismay, and desolation.
Our fields are covered with blood, our wigwams are filled,
but with the dead, and we ourselves have only life enough
to beg our friends to take pity on a people drawing near
their end." Such was the burden of their melancholy
appeal, but the Andastes, fearing to provoke the anger of
the Irocjuois, turned a deaf ear to their petition, and the
unhappy people began anew their wearisome journey,
this time towards the plains of the Mississippi. They
descended the Wisconsin, and, sailing up the Mississippi
to the river of the lowas rested for awhile. The Daco-
tah met them and drove them back. They next faced

■!

■ oi<

■ V

'-■

I 1

1 '^^^ I

1- -

24()

HAHLV MISSIONS IN WKSTKUN CANADA.

towards Lake Siipci-ior. hi K).")!), ( 'lioujirt and I'icrre
d'Ksprit iiict tliciii in t\\v marsli lands near tlir sources
ol' tlio ('hi|)[)('wa, Wisconsin, wIhtc tlicy wciv ckino-
out a inisrraiilo I'xist.cnct'.' In l(i(i(), joining' the Ottawas,
they made war on tlie Sioux. After a series of bloody
en}''ao'enients, the allie(l t'oi'ces were defeated and imnied-
iat(dy beoan their ivtreat towards the Bhick River. In
this I'etreat, as theV' formed the rear ijfUfird of the llvina'
tribe, they suffered intensely. Famine added itself to
the horrors of their surround in^-s. The puisuin^- foe al-
lowed them no rest ; and throu<^h the trackless wilder-
ness, across stagnant ponds, reeking marshes, and broad
rivers, thev draoa'ed their famishino' bodies, till at lejioth,
devoui'ed by hunger, they liegan to feed upon their
own dead. At last they reached the shores of the IJlack
River, and pushijig onward, settle(l in the Wisconsin
wilderness. On the 15th of October, in the same year.
Father Rene Menai'd, liiddino" o'ood-bve to ( 'houai't and
Piei're d'Kspi'it, left Keweenaw l>ay to visit this tribe in
their soggy home, and was never again heard of. His
cassock and breN'iar}^ weic afterwai'<ls found among the
Sioux, and it is tlMnmht that he was either killed or <lied
fi'om ex])osure.*' We next heai'of them at Cheijuamegon

* I'errot the exploior says, that Menard foHoweil the Tiiinontates
when they fled to the Mississippi ; if that be so, Father Menard was
the first white man that ever saw the great river ; twelve years before
Marquette and Joliet sailed down its waters. But tlie " Rehition'" of
1G63 proves Terrot'a statement incorrect.

elf to
:'oe al-
•il.lor-
l)roa(l
ni;tl\,
tlu'ir
151ac-k
consin
vt'ar,
t an»l
iltc in
His

)l'<

lic.l

hiie»i;<>H

liiontatos
laid was
rs before
Lion'" of

FLHMIT OV IHE TINXON TATHS.

247

l)ay, where Fatlier Alloucz visited tlu'iu in KKIT, aiul
left on record the follow in<^ "Relation;" "TheTinnon-
tates of to-day are the same people; wlio wvw formerly
called the Hurons of the Tobacco Trihe. Thev were
oblii^ed, like the other tribes, to leave their country to
flee fnjm tlie Tro(|Uois, and to withdraw towards the
end of the laro-e lake, where distance and lack of ^rjune
served as protection M^ainst their enemies. Formerly they
formed a part of the llourishinn- Church of the Hurons,
and they had the ao-cd Father Clai-nier for their Pastor,
who so courageously ^-ave his life for his deal* tlock ;
hence they cherish a paiticulai- veneration for his men»-
orv.

Since their expulsion from their own countiy, they
have not been trained in the exercises of the Christian
religion; hence they are Christians rather by condition
(having been Baptized in their native country) than by
profession. They glory in that beautiful name : but the
intercourse they have had with pagans for a long time
has almost etl'aced from their minds every vestige of
religion, and caused tlum to resume many of their anci-
ent customs. They have their villages pretty near our
place of abode, which makes it |)ossible for me to attend
to this mission with greater assiduity than the others
farther away, 1 have, therefore, endeavored to restore
this mission to its former state, by preaching the W^jrd of
God, and by the a<lministration of the Sacraments. The

248

EARIA' MISSIONS IN WKSTKKN CANADA.

very first winter I [)aHsetl with tlieni, I cout'ei'red Ba})-
tisin on one Inindred children, jind sulise(|nently on others
durin^f tlu; first two years tliat J attended tlieni. Tlie
a(hilts approaclied the Sacrament of Penance, assisted at
tlie FHoly Sacrifice of the Mass, said prayers both in
])nl)lic and [irivate — in a word, they practised their re-
ligion as if they had been very well instructed. It was
not difheult for me to re-establish piety in their hearts,
and re-awaken the j^ood sentiments tln^y used to have for
the faith. Of tlie children J3apti/ed, (xod only designed
to take two, that ilew away to Heaven after their baj)-
tism. As to the adults, there are three for whose salva-
tion it seems God sent me here. The first was an old
man an Ousaki (Sac) by birth, formerly an eminent man
amongst those of his tribe, and who had always been
esteemed by the Hurons, by wliom he had been taken
captive in war. A few days aftei- my arrival in this
country, 1 learned that he was sick about four leagues
distant. I went to him, instructed and IJaptized him,
and three hours afterwards he died, leaving me all pos-
sible indications that God had bestowed mercy on him.
If my voyage from Quebec had no other fruit than the
salvation of this poor old man, I would consider all my
steps but too w^ell recompensed, since the Son of God
shed even the last drop of His blood for him. The sec-
ond person, of whom I have to speak, is a woman very
far advanced in age. She was detained, about two

FLIOH'J' OK 'I'llE TINXOXTATES.

240

(I Hap-
others
1. Thv
i.stiMl at
)otli in
iieir re-
It was
hearts,
lave for
iesigncd
eir bap-
e salva-
aii old
iut man
ys been
n taken
in this
leagues
ed him,
all pos-
on liim.
hnn the
r all luy
of Ood
The sec-
lan very
Jilt two

leagues IVoiii oui' dwelliiig-})]aco, l»y a dangerous sick-
ness, caused by a bag of j)owd(U' accidentally taking fire in
her wigwam. Father (iarnier had promised her Baptism
more than fifteen years ago, which lie was ready to con-
fer when he was killed l)y the Irocpiois. Tliis good
Fathei' did not forget his prouiise. Likt; a good Shep-
herd, he procureil l)y his intercession that I should be
here before she died. 1 went to see her the day of All
Saints (Nov. 1st) an<l, having refreshed her memory on
all our mysteries, I found that the seeds of the Word of
(Jod, sowed in her soul so many 3^ears ago, had produced
fruit, which only waited the waters of Ba})tism to come
to maturity. Having well prepared her, I conferred this
Sacr.iment upon her, and that very night she resigned
her soul to her C.-reator, The third person is a young
girl, fourteen years of age, who diligently attended all
the catechetical instructions I gave, and joined in the
prayers wliich I had them say, of which she held learned
a good many by heart. She fell sick. Her mother,
who was not a Christian, called the sorcerers, and hsul
them perform all the follies of their infamous trade. I
heard about it, went to seek the girl and made lier a pro-
]>osal of Baptism. She was overjoyed to receive it ;
after which, child though she was, she opposed all the
juggleries they tried to perform around her, saying by
her baptism she had renounced all these superstitions ;
and in this generons combat she died, praying to God

! I

250

EAIU.Y MISSIONS IN' WKSTKHX CANADA.

1 I

* !

until .she hrcathed her last si^h. " Tlieir stay hen» wms
l)ut temporary. Persuaded by tlie Ottawas to join them
in an expedition a^^ainst the Sioux, a i)arty to tlie num-
ber of a hundred attacked the enemy, and retreatin^^
to the narrow necks of land into wliich the country
is cut up were all taken actually in nets. To prevent
their escape, the Sioux stretched nets with bells at-
tached across each isthmus, and when the liurons, in
the dark, attempted to steal away they were all taken
but one, called by the French " Le Froid." The Hui'ons
now returned to Mackinaw, where Marcjuette opened
among them the mission of St. Ignatius. In 1(172
Marciuette wrote Dablon that the Petuns or Hurons
called Tinnon4)ates, who composed the mission of St.
Ignatius, began last year to build a fort enclosing all
their cabins. They left here and retired to the main
land, constructing a village from which Man^uette* and

* Father P. Marquette, the discoverer of the Mississippi, died Marcli
18, 1675, on the banks of Lake Michigan, and, on the 8th of June, 1(577,
hia remains were transferred to Point St. Ignace, Michigan, and re-
interred. The precise place of his burial lay undiscovered for two hun-
dred years, till on May 4th, 1877, Father Edward Jacker, of Eagle
Harbor, Michigan, discovered it after a long and patient search. Fath-
er Marquette entered with Joliet upon his great voyage of discovery
at the request of Talon, the Intendant of New France, who, when on
the point of quitting Canada, wished to signalize the last period of liis
stay in the country by having the banner of France borne to the Mis-
sissippi. The bones of Father Man^uette are now sacredly preserved,
in the Marquette College at Milwaukee. The reader is referred to the
appendix for information touching his death.

KKKMIT OF Till-; TFN NONTA'I'KS.

251

iTo wns
in tlu'iii
le iiiiin-
brcatin^^
country
prevent
)ells at-
irons. in
11 taken
Hurons
opened
in 1(172
Hiirons
of St.
sin^ all
le main
,te* and

led March
line, 1(577,
, and re-
two hun-

of Eagle
h. Fath-
discovery

when on
iod of his

the Mis-
jreserved,
red to the

.lolict set ont (»n their exjilnratioji (»!' tln' Missi.sHi|t)ii.
Tliis was the saiiie village to wldeli the remains of Mar-
(|Uette were so stran;;ly ln'oiiLjIit, as desci'ilM'd l»y Dahlon
in his Relation, 1(17!*.

When thev left Maekinaw, l''ath«'i' Stciihcn DeCaiheil
had ehar(,n' of them at Detroit. 'I'he Ixeeollet Father
('onstantiiie, who was killed in an attack made hy the
Ottawas on the Miamis, was their pastor. They removed
to Sandusky, where Father l)e la Uiehard estahlished a
nussion amon^' them. A lar^^e number of the 'I'innon-
tates of Detroit made peace with Sir \Vm. Johnson, at
Nia<^ara, in duly, 17(54, tliose of Sandusky holding* aloof.
From this year until their ^ladual ahsorption hy othii*
tribes, or dispei'sion, they are known in American ivcords
as Dinncmdadies and Wyandots. AU that exist of tiiem
to-day — a mere handful — are settled in the Kansas I'es-
ervation, and in a few more years the last of them will
have disappeared. During the long and weary yeais of
the rovings of the Tinnontates, tlie Fathers of the Soci-
ety of Jesus had, when possible, faithfully atten<led to
their spiritual wants. Fathers Dablon, Menard, Allouez,
Marquette, Pierson, Marest, Nouvel, Enjalran, DeCai-heil,
and many others, were with them from time to time,
and kept alive the faith in their midst. So exemplary
were the lives of these priests, and such the de\otion to
their Indian Hocks, impelling them to follow the tribes
in their wanderings, that Sir William Jo}\nson, writ-

1.'
I' i

252

EARF.Y MfSSrOXS rx WESTEKX CAXADA

i i

i, j

(■

in^ to tin- Loi'ds of 'IVjkIc, C()iii])l;iiii('(| tliat Protestant
iiiissioiiarios weiv t'ailuri's, and iniirlit never look for sue-
cess in converting- the Indians till they could pi'actise
sufficient self-denial to do as the priests were doinf]^.*

*Note, Col. History, Vol. XII., page TiSO. The Swedish travellei-,
Kalm was, it would appear, of the same opinion when he wrote : " 'I'he
Knglish do not pay so much attention to a work of so mucli conse-
(|uencc as the PVench do, and do not send such able men to instruct
the Indians as they ought to do." I'inkerton, ^'ol. XIII., page 5SS,
(| noted by Marshal.

CHAI'^IM^II XXIV.

CU.Vr.NKtXOT AXI) \A-: MOVXE.

From the Old Fiance to the Xew — Safe witli Friends I'hauinonot —
At Loietto— Northward JJound — Life witii tlie 'I'rihes — A " ( lose
Call" — At the Mission of St. Francis Xavier -Flight of the Xavier-
ites — Following His Klock-Peace at Last 'I'lie Onondaga Depu-
ties- Father Le Moyne The Deputies and the Priest On the
Way to the Iioijuois Tlie Fishing Village Le Moyne with the
Onondagas Speech of Le Moyne— Harangue of the Onondaga Ora-
tor — Propositions — Discovery of the Ononchiga Salt Wells — Keturn
of Le Moyne..

On the 4tli (»r M;iy, IG-'i!), .-t vcshoI snilcW (.)ut ol' ])i('[)j)(,'.
France, rreio-htiMl with a vjihuildc earoc) Wn- the colon-
ists of (Quebec. 'I'he vessel and its voyae-e are historical.
It cairied, as an old chronicle tells ns, " a House of Hos-
[)ital Nuns, an ri'suline Convent, and a college of .)es-
iiits." Madame de la Peltrie, and Mother Mary of the
Incai'nation, re[)r<.'sented tlu' Ci'snlines. Sister Mary
Guenet came to estaMish the Hos[)ital, and the priests
(Jhaunionot and Poncet were on their way tojoin the
Jesuit missionaries lahorino- for tlu^ convei'sion of the
tribes. After a lono- and stormy \ oyane of three months,
they ai-rived ha])])!!}' in (^)ue))ec on the Hrst of Aui^ust.
He Montmaoiiy, CioveriKjr-lieneial of Canada, with his

stntr and a laro-e concourse of ])eo[)le, received them on

253

254

EAUI-V .MISS[()NS l\ WKSTEKX CANADA.

tlioir lundiiif^, ami from the wluirt' ])roceudetl to tlu; church
where prayers and a liymii of tliank.s<^ivin^ were ofi'ered
for their safe arrival. Father Cliaumoiiot, scarcely f^iv-
in<( himself time to recover from the fatigue of his loiij^
voyage, started witli a band of six Hurons for the great
linnting-grounds of the Northern tribes. On the 10th of
September, he reached tlie Huron missions, and, after a
hospitable greeting from Father Jerome Lalemant, im-
mediately entere<l upon the Held of his labors. Joseph
Marie Chaumonot was but twenty-seven years of ago
when he arrived amono- tlie Hurons. Ho was boini in
Chatillon, France, where lie ac([uii'ed the rudiments of
the Latin language from his uncle, a priest in that parish.
At an early age lie made a pilgrimage to the shrine of
Loretto, whejv, in the enthusiasm of his devotion, he
dedicated himself to the Canadinn missions, promising,
that if he ever should ivach the scene of his labors, he
would build a chajjel in honor of tlu; Blessed Virgin, a
vow, which, as we shall presently see, he faithfully ful-
filleil. Among the heroic band of saintly men who threw
themselves into the gi'eat work of Christianizing and
civilizing the (^anadian tribes, he was consi)icuous for the
enthusiasm of his zeal and the intensity of his})iety. His
memory was ])henominal, and, after a short stay among
the tribes, he ac([uired not oidy a complete knowleclgeof
their iangiiages, but also of eveiy idiom and peculiarity
belonging to thtsir forms of speech. Indet-d, so great was

CHAUMONOT AND LE MOYNE.

255

his ac(|waintance wltli the different idioms of the tribal
tongues, that tlie Indians tiieniselves at times were as-
tonished at the rapidity and smoothness with vvliich their
nnhibial hmguaf^e ffowed from his lips. In his child-like
simplicity he jjjave no credit to himself, either for this
wonderful talent or its development, but always contend-
ed that he was indeljted to the intercession of the
Blessed Vir^^in and St. Joseph for whatever knowledge
of languages and their separate dialects he possessed.
He began his labors among the Indians at a critical mo-
ment. 'I'he Huron warriors who had taken the war trail
a short time before, were defeated in several engagements.
Famine already threatened the tribe, and now, to add to
the horrors of their situation, the small-pox broke out
among them. They attributed their misfortunes to the
.sorcery and witchcraft of the priests, and, had it not been
for the elo(pient pleading of Brebeuf, the Ajax of the
mission, the ])riests would, in all probability, have filled
their graves before the expiration of the month. After
a time, the smallpox spent itself, and life began again to
assume its daily routine. ChauuKmot was now becoming
familiar with the hardships and labors of missionary
life. •' Our dwellings," he writes, "like those of the In-
dians, are of bark, with no partitions except for the
chapel. For want of table and furiuture we eat on the
ground, and drink out of bark cups. Our kitchen and
dining room furnitures consists _of a great wooden dish

256

EAULY MISSIONS IN WESTEllN (JANADA.

full of sai^aiiiite, which I van cou\\nivv to iiothiiio- but tin-
paste uhlmI for wall ])a})e)-. Oui- lii'«l ishaik, with a thin
blanket; wheets, we have none, even in sickness, but the
iircatest inconvenience is the smoke, which, lor want of

try

a chinniey, tills the whole cabin. ( )ur inannei' of anntnnic-
ing the Word of God to the Indians is, not to j^o u]) into
a pulpit and preach in a public place : we nuist visit each
house separately, and, by the file, t'X])lain the mysteries
of our holy Faith to those whochoose to listen." Father
C^haumonot was by nature peculiarly sensitive to lidicule,
and when he entered a <-abin and be<;an to explain to the
inmates the doctrines of the Faith, he was fivipit^ntly re-
ceived with ribald lau^^hter and mockint( jest, [t re(|uir-
ed a su])erhuman eHbrt on his jiart to bear patiently this
ridicule, and he was continually makini^ heioic acts ol
self-denial that (Jod would <;ive liim the grace to over-
come his natural dislike to these visits. " So m-eat a re-
pufjnance had I to makine- these visits," lu^ tells us, "that
every time F entered a cabin, I seemed to be ooinu- to the
torture, so nuich did I shrink from tlu' I'ailleries to which
I was subjected." On the 2nd of N()vend»ei", I(i40,
Fathers Chaumonot and Brebeuf, as we have seen in
another phice, set out for the Neutral country, and ])assed
the winter with that ti'ibe. Soon after his return, (Miau-
monotjoine<l Father Daniel at the frontier mission of St.
Michael. On one occasion the two priests entered tlu'
cabin of a dying' woman with the hop«! that they would

CWAUMOXOT AND LE MOYXE.

257

lit' able to i)i-('vail iiiMtii her to I'cccive the saei'uint'iit of
}5aptisiii. A relati\'(' of the S(|ua\v who happened to I^e
in tlie lodo-e at the ti:iie cliai-ovd tlieiii with usiiio- incaii-
tatioihs and sorcery to destroy his cousin. (Iiaiimonot
endeavored to explain tlie pur[)ort of their visit. The
man anoriiy i-efused to listen to him, and with scowlino-
hi-ows left the eahin, thi-eat<'nino- as he went, to split their
hea<ls. WIk'Ii the ])riests passed thiounh the <lo()i' to
\isit anothei- ealiin, the infmiate<l Ihn-on I'ushed u[)on
Kather Ciiaum«.not, and hefoi-e Daniel could tlv to his
assistance, felled him to the nr,,iii„| vvith a laroc stone.
"I almost lost my senses," he tells us, -and the assassin
seized his tomahawk to finish me, when Father J)aniel
wrest(!d it fro!n his ^rasp. \ was tak(;n to our host's
cahin, where another Indian hecame my physician. See-
in*;- the lui'n'e tumoi" I ]ia<l on my head, he took a sliarp
stone and made an incision, ])ressino- out at the same
time all the exti'.-ivasated hlood : he then hathed the top
of my head with a decoction of ])ounded roots an<l cold
water. Some of tliis infusion he took into his mouth
and stpiirted int(j the incision. 1 soon recovered from
my wound, (lod was satisfied with my wish for martyr-
dom, oi- it may he I was deemed unworthv of the (dorv
of a martyr's death." For eiuht years, amid hardships
and perils as severe as evei- ti-ied the heart of man, he
labored unceasinoly aniono- the Huron and Aln(,n(|uin
hihes on the northei-n shore of the i-reat lake. When

258

KAKI.Y MISSIONS IN WKSTEllN CANADA.

I r

tlu^ TrfKiuois dealt the Huron nation its dcitli l>lo\v, Cliuu-
nionot was in cl»ai'<;c oi' the nnssion oF St. Francis Xav-
ivv, and wlien the news was bront^lit to the town by a
ruinier, that tlie enemy in i'nll force was ap])roachiii(,', tlie
])eople were seized with })anic, and fled to the Petuns,
Followed by their priest, who recoi-ds in nionrni'ul accents
their departure and joui'ney.

"At the time of this greatest defeat of the Huron na-
tion," he writes, "I had charge of a town almost entirely
Christian. The Irocpiois, having attacked the villages
about ten miles off', gave our warriors a chance to rush
out and meet them : but the enemy were in greater
force than we sup])0sed, and our braves were defeated.
Two days after their defeat, news came that all our war-
riors were killed or taken. It was midnight when we
heard the intelligence, and at once every cabin resoun<led
with wailing, sobs, and piteous cries. You could hear
nothing l)ut wives l)ewailing their husbands, mothers
mourning for their sons, and relatives lamenting the
death or captivity of those nearest to them. And now,
an old man, feaiing that the lro([Uois miglit attack the
defenceless town, l)egan running liere and there, crying,
' Hy,' ' fly,' ' let us esca[)e, they are coming to take us
prisoners.' At this cry I ran out and hastened from
cabin to cabin to baptize those preparing for the sac-
rament, confess the adults, and arm all with prayer.
As 1 maile my I'ound, I saw that they were all aban«lon-

CHAl'MONOT AND I.K MOVNE.

259

, Cluill-

^ Xav-
11 by a
\\<r, the
Petiins,
accents

on na-

ntirely

/illages

to rusli

oreater

t'oated.

ir war-

leii \vu

oun<k'(l

(I liear

lothors

n^' tlie

I now,

ick the

cryin^r,

ake us
I from
10 sac-
pra^'^er.
andon-

in^- tlie place to seek refuge among a nation thirty-tliree
miles distant.

" I followed them with the hope of giving them spirit-
ual aid, and, as I did not think of taking any provisions,
I made the whole journey without eating or drinking.
While travelling with the others I thought only of ad-
ministering consolation to them, instructing some, con-
fessing others, baptizing those who had not yet received
that sacrament. As it was still wintei-, I was forced to
administer Baptism with snow water melted in my
hands." He was present when the bones of the martyr-
ed priests Brebeuf and Lalemant were sacretlly wrapped
in silk, awaiting the time when they could be brought to
Quebec. When the scattered Hurons took refuge on
Charity Island, he was with them, and describes in path-
etic and intensely mournful language the awful sufier-
ings of the fugitives that memorable winter. Though
worn to emaciation himself, and famished with hunger,
\\v cheered their drooping spirits when, broken-hearted
and discouraged, they left the island early in spring and
began their perilous journey to Quebec, preferring to
face the scalping-knife and tomahawk of the Irocpiois
rather than the horrors of ])lighting famine.

After the priests and Indians reached that city, Father
('haumonot was appointed to attend to the spiritual
wants of the broken-hearted remnant. He entered upon
his new mission with characteristic zeal. His congre-

2()0

KAKLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

iPiii

<^'<iti(>M Wiis Jill ( 'lii'istian, ;iii<l liis life now [H'oiiiiscd u
future oF sc'cui'ity ;ui»l wt'll-iiirriU'<| i-cposc. Scarci'ly
luid lie task'd tlic IVuIts ol' tlic calm and jx-accFul litV
that promist'(l to open into a ])ei'uiaii(.'iicy loi" him amouy'
his Hui'(jii couNci'ts, when an t'\ent occ-uncd that threat-
ened to distui-1) the calm serenity ol' his holy rest.

^riie lro(|Uois of New \'oi'k State, those war-hawks
ol' the wildei'iiess, dispatclnMl deputies of the ( )iionda^a
trihe to the h'rcnch, askiiii;' that an ambassador he scut
amonn them, and inviting- the priests to take u)» tlieii
abode in the li'(H(Uois comiti-y. This invitation was ji-^
startliiiL;' as it was unexpected, foi- the hands ol' the iin
<|Uois were still I'l'ekiiii;' with the blood ol' the consecrated
victims that they had sa(a'ilice(l a shoi-t time before. Jt
was not so very lonu- ago since th.ey slatightia'ed the
priests on the Huion missions, took ca[)tives Ih'essani
and Poncet and draoj-ed them throueh their villa<fes, the
meanwhile sul)iectine- tlu'iii to atiocious torture, so loni:
contiiuied that i^'ather Ih'essani mai-\-elleil the human
frame could bear so much and li\'e. 'I'hey had ruthlessly
murdered Father Jog-uesan<l hiseom[>anion, Ivene Goupil.
and now they were knocking at the gates of (^Jm^bec,
suing for peace, and, as an eai'uest of their good faith.
olt'ering to throw open their villages to the jnvaching of
the " l)lack (Jowns.'' "Our young bi-aves, ( )nnontio/'*

*OnnoiiLio, yieal muiiiilain, tlio iiauu) given to ihe (iovonior of Ciiii
ada by the Irotjuoia.

Scarcely
coFul life
111 aiiionj^'
it tliruat-

'St.

ii'-liiivvks
)n(»ii<laua

)!• ))(' scut

U|» tlicir
)!! was ;is

tlu- lit I
iisccratfil
■fore. It
U-rcd tlir

IJiH'Ssaiii
la<(cs, tlu'
', so loll^

' hiiiiiaii

ullilcssly
ir (l()iq»il,

)()d I'aitli.
a('liiiii>; of

iiiontit). *
•nor of Ciin

ruArMoxor and i.k mov.nk.

2()1

S|)(»kc tlic lr;|(|cl- ol' tlir | •Jilt V. ' >,\ ill IK'S CI' .•l^^aill li^llt

tlir I'^rciicli, l)nt as tlit'v arc hic'li-siiiritcd aii<l warlike,
they will j^o to tlic country of the Kfie. I hear the
cai'tli there treiiiltliug and (jnakin^', lnit here all is calm."
The Fiviich at <^>ue1»ec, kiiowiiio- the treachci-oiis and
]tei-fidions nature of the Ii'o(|nois, held their thono-hts
in hi'sitation, till at ienii'th the a<''<'d l'\ather Lc Moyne
hi'oke the sns])ense hy ste])))ino- i'oi'ward and fearlessly
ott'erinp" to <r'> back with the Onondaiifas. It was on the
second of 'rnly, 1(554, that all (Quebec l)ade him (lod-
speed, and gazed upon him as a man doomed to death
when, Imrefooted and hatle.ss,* he to(jk his place in one
of the canoes of the Iroquois flotilla. 'I'he Onondaii'a,
chief <lipped his paddle, threw his strenuth upon it and
H'lided into deep water, and the (jthci-s followt'd. The
ajjed and venerable^ priest, when some distance from
the shore, intoned the VcxiUa Rcrpn Prodrn vf : the
French at the water's edfi;e took it up, and to the
strains of the historic hymn the flotilla, homewai-d
hound. disapjK'ared in the vanishi no- distance. Le Moyne,
before Ids friends lost sio-ht of liim, was seen to rise to
his feet, wave a parting farew(^ll to his com])anions on
the kind, till they saw him no more, and thus he went

* The Indians always insisted, owing to the light structure of their
canoes, upon the Frencli removing their l)Oots befort- embarking, and
as the broad-brinmied liat of the Jesuit was an annoyance to the Indian
next to him, the Fathers always when on tl\e voyage removed their
hats, replacing them with a tight-fitting cap.

I.-

t. ' t*

202 ^ EAIM-V MISSION'S IN WESTERN CANADA.

And became as one
Knowing no kindred but a perishing world,
No love bixt of the sin-endangered soul,
No hope but of the winning back to life
Of the dead nations, and no passing thought
Sive of the errand wherewith he was sent,

As to a martyrdom.

j The Iro(|Uois flotilla continued uv the stream, passed

Three Rivers and Montreal, portaged the rapids, and
sailing on entered the Thousand Islands, whei'e the
startled moose gazed in herds upon them. They C()aste<l
along the southern shore of Lake Ontario, passing Sac-
kett's Harbor, and at last reached the mouth of the
Oswego. Here, at a fishing village, he met a number of
Hurons who had known him in their own countrv be-
fore their nation )iad been destroyed. They embraced
him as children would a long-absent father, and vied
with each othei- for the honor of carrying his baggage.
" Here," writes Father Le Moyne, " I had the consolation
to hear many confessions, and among them that of Hos-
tagehtak, our ancient host of the Petun nation. His
sentiments and devotion drew tears to my eyes. He is
the fi'uit of the labors of Father Charles Oarnier, that
holy missionary, wdiose death had been so precious be-
foi-c (Jod." As they sailed up the river they landed at
an occasional village, in one of which was a young man
of some repute in the country, wdio invited him to a
feast because he bore his father's name, Ondessonk. In

ruArMoxoi' ANi) ].}•: movnk,

•2(?.S

1, passed

)i(ls, 5111(1

here tlic
y coa.sted
siiifj^ Sac-
li of thr
umber ol'
lutrv 1)0-
iiibraceil
and vied
bagf]fage.
iisolation
) of Hos-
oii. His
Hois
iiier, that
cious be-
lauded at
)ung man
him to 11
071^'. In

this village hcliMjitizt'd a number of siekly children and,
in a discourse of considerable length, ex}>lain«'(l to the
people tln! mystei'ies of I'eligion. " 'i'hey took me," he
writes, " for a great mediciiie-man, though I had no other
remedy for the sick but a pinch of sugar."

At length they reached the town of Onondaga, which
Le Moyne, an adojjted liui'on, entered in accordance
with Indian custom. A mile before he reached the town
he began a harangue in which he called (nit, as they
walked along, the names of the Onondiiga sachems and
chiefs, recounted their heroic dee(ls, and dwelt upon the
glories of each. On tlu; tenth of Augu.st, dejmties from
the neighlxn'ing towns arriveil, and a solemn reception
was prepared for the i)riest. This took place in a large
wigwam .set aside for his use. At this reception he was
received with all pomj), and w hen he delivered the gifts
of Oiinoiitio, the (Governor, exhorting them to ])eace and,
above all, to accept the faith, of which he was the en-
voy, his words were received with applause. His pres-
ents were accepted, and the Onondaga sachems ottered
in return belts of wampum,* and invited the French to

* Wampum was a sort of beads of several colors, perforated and
formed into belts, collars, and strings for record.s. It served for many
purposes; for money, for ornamentation and as historical lecords of
the tribe. Wrought into belts of various devices, each having its par-
ticular meaning and significance, wanipuni preserved the substance of
treaties, and a belt was delivered to ratify every specific article of
negotiat ion.

204

EARLY MISSIONS I\ WKSTKUX CANADA.

ii*'

coiiK! midI dwell aiii(»ii;4' tlicni. 'I'licy iiK't Ji<;niii tiic iirxi
day, when l^r Moyiir opciUMl tlic ])i'of'(M'( linos with ))ul)-
lic pruy*'!*, kiiccliiipr tlie wliilc, Jind iuv<)kiii<;' the on>ut
Ma.stci' of lioavci) and (.'artli to poni* out Ids hlcssiiio-s
upon tlieiii. " I prayed," said he, " tlic oiumlian aiif^^cls
of the v'holi! country to touch tiif hearts of those who
heard mv when my wor«is would strike their ears.
Walkin<( from end to end of tlu^ wif^wam, according- to
the custom of tlieii" oratois, he enunwrated them l>v ua-
tions, tribes ami families ; calleil out tlie name of each
particular individual of any note, and at state(l intervals,
emphasized his ad<lress by the [)resentation of valuable
^ifts. He was encouraged in his harangue l)y freiiueut
applause, Aft(.'r Le Moyne had fitn'shcd his speech, the
delegates from the difi'erent ti'il)es retii'e<l, and consulted
together for two hours. A messenger was then des-
patched for the priest, wlio, when he entei'ed, was as-
signed the place of honor. An Onondaga orator then
arose and, to the surprise of Le Moyne, repeated almost
word for word the discourse he had deliv^ered a short
time before. The orator asked him if he had correctly
reported his language. Le Moyne said he had : an<l
after they heard his reply, they welcomed him again,
and began singing, after which the Onondaga spokesman
opened Ins harangue. He began by thanking Onnontio
for his goodw^ill towards them, and to show their grati-
tude he placed two large belts of w^ampum at the feet

lie next
ith ])Ul)-
H' oTCilt
iK'Ssill^'H

I aiim'ls

ir carH."

I'llinn" to

1 l»v iiJi-

of cucli

[itorvals.

valuable

IVe(iut'nt

coll, tllr

)nsn]t(Ml

h(Mi (les-

was as-

tor tlirii

I almost
a short

orrectl}'
ul : ami

II a<:;ain.
ke.smaii

)»nontio
Mr arati'
the feet

CM AI'MuN'or ANh LK .M(»V\K.

205

(»!' tiu'prirst; he a;;aiM thanked him on hclialt' of llus
Mohawks for haviii<; s|)an'(l the lives of five of that
trilte, ])reseiitin^ aoaiii two more helts. Once more,
speaking for the Senecas, he thanked the Krench for
having' drawn five of their trihe out of the tire, ami
when he presL'ntt'(l two more belts of wampum, the whole
assemlily sliouted out its a])))roval. He then addresse(l
himself ])articularly to L(i Moyne, "Listen, Ondessonk,"
he said : "five entire nations speak to you tlirou<;h me ;
my hreast contains the sentiment of thi; rnxpiois nation,
and my tongue tells what my hreast contains. Thou
will tell Onnontio these four things: first, we ai"e willing
to acknowledge Him of whom thou hast spoken. Who is
the master of our lives, and Whom we do not yet know ;
second, our council tree is this day ])lanted at Onondaga,
which will he our jilace of meeting: third, we ask you
to select a ]>lace U])on the ))anks of our great lake and
s(;ttl(! among us ; ])lace yourself in the heart of this
great country, he unto us a father, and we will be your
children; fourtli, we are now engaged in new wars; we
ask Onnontio to encourage us, and we will have no other
thought towards th(>. French than one of peace." He
then presented additional gifts, adding, " I have done."
Father Le Moyne, his duties as an airiliassa<lor now
over, l)egan his labors as a prie'st. Among the Inujuois
were a thousand captive; H\n-ons, most of whom were
Christians. He heard their confessions, baptized their

266 EAKLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

children, and revived tlieir faitli. He received from tlu-
hands of the Iro<|Uois the New Testament of Father
Brebeuf, and a book of devotion of Father diarhis Gar-
nier, whom they martyred four years before. As he
was walking one day on the shores of the Onondaga
Lake, he discovered in a half drie(l basin a well of salt
water, which the Indians told liim had a devil in it
which made it unfit to drink. 'I'he priest took a dish of
the water, condensed it, and brouj^ht the salt with him
on his return to Quebec* Fathei- Le Moyne now badr
good-bye to the Hurons and Iixxjuois, find saiiinjr down
the Oswego and St. Lawrence rivers, reached Quebec on
the 11th of Septeml)er, and n'ported the result of Ids
embassy.

* When it was told in New Am.sterdam, now New York, that
Le Moyne had discovered salt water at Onondaga, the Dutch huighod
at the report and pronounced it a ".losuit lie." -New York Histor-
ical Document, Yolunie Fifth, page 185.

'om the

FntliLT

k;s Gar-

As ho

loudaoa

of salt

il ill it

. dish ol'

/itli liiin

ijw bade

ijr down

lebi'C oil

t of liis

ork, that

h liuijihed

i Histor

CHAITEH XXV.

CHAIMONOT.

Le Moyne and flic Huron Chief- Appeal to the Xeopliyte Chaunionot
and Dal.lnn leave for Oiumdaga- At a Fisliin^' N'illage I'he Am-
InisBadorH — Their Heieption- t'liauinonoth Klo<|uence-- Arrive at
Onondaga— 'i'he Irot|Uoi8 Leagvie -Their Form of (Jovernment —
Solemnity of their Assemhlies Torture of an Eiie- Chaumonot's
(Jreat Speech Reply of the Onondaga Chit- f First Catholic Church
in New ^'o|•k Devotion of the Kxiles -Tlireatening Clouds -
Charge of the Onoiidagas Frem-h Colonists leave for the Irocjuois
Country — The Missionaries In the Council House of the Ononda-
gas- Chaunionot's Athlress— Inst rue ing the Huron F.xiles -Con-
spiracy of tlic Iroipiois — ChaumoMots Kefleet ions- Slaughter of
the Huron Kxiles In the Fremh Fort Strategy of the French -
The Fligiit Safe at Home The Last of the Huron V'eerans- His
Death and Jiurial.

Am<iN^J those whom Katlicr l^e Moyiir haptizo*! at Oiion-
<la^a, was a man call'*! .lolin IWiptist, a Htjron cliief, who
was DOW adopted hy the Ir()(|Uois. Jri Huroiiia, Baptist
was a man of coiisid('ra})le re])iite, who knew the Fatliers
well, entertained kindly f(^elin^s towards them, hut dog-
gedly refused to embrace the faith. Fully one thou.sand

Hurons were dwelling- in the Inupiois coinitry. Many
of them had been adopted into th<' tribe to rcpjnec the

Irocjuois warriors killed in battle, and thus maintain the

fighting' strength of the Jx'ague. Others were held in

267

2(>.S

KAKLV MISSIONS IN WKSTLKN <;ANADA.

ca|)tivity, vvliilu those wlu) sought the protection of the
Seiiecas, were settled in their own village and looked
upon as their wards. When Father Le Moyne visited
these Hnrons, the memories ol* other days passed before
them as spirits of their ini<;hty dead. Adversity had
tanuMl their prou<l hearts, and the recollections of the
awful past hroke, in a measure, the fierceness of their
nature, so that when the priest again was with theni,
many among them asked for haptism. Foremost among
these applicants for the sacrament was John Baptist,
who, with an Iro(|Uois war party, was ahout to set out
against the enemy. The cautious missionary, feai'ing
that he was not sufficiently instructed, endeavored to per-
suade him to defer the rece})tion of the sacrament till he
would return from Quehec. " Ah, Ondessonk, I believe,
why not receive me to-day ;' Ai't thou master of death,
that thou canst say to it stay Vtack ? Canst thou make
dull the arrows of the (^nemy ? Must T at every step in
battle be tormented with the fear of hell '. Unless thou
V)aptize me, I will be a coward in the presence of the foe.
Baptize me, for T will obey thee, an<l give thee my word
to live and die a Christian." Thus he spoke. Such an
appeal was irresistibhi, and Le Moyne, instructing him in
the necessary truths, baptized him, giving him the nam»'
of .Tolni Ba])tist. The next day the jtricst set out to meet
the French at Quebec, and John Baptist to meet the
foe in deadly conflict. This whs the man, who, return-

)n of the
I looked
3 visited
id before
sity held
s of the

of their
th tliein,
it aiiioii^

Baptist,
1) set out

feai'in^'
d to per-

t till he

beli(!ve,
)f death,
)U make
' step in
ess thou

the foe.

y word
Such an

l;" him in

le iiaiiH'
to meet

leet the
return-

CHAT^MOXOT.

•2(>9

in^' from a victorious cam])ai<4'n, was .selected l»y the Ii'o-
ijuois to head an emhas.sy sent to inxite the priests and
thr Krench to dwell amonin' them. l»aptist seemed t(j
have no doubt alxjut the sinceiity of the li'o(|Uois' invita-
tion, but Fathei' (Miaumonot shook his head, .sayinn-, that
it was haid to ti'Ust an Tro(|U(a*s. Howevei-, it was a
(jue.stion of sa\ ino- souls, and when did a Jesuit e\er re-
coil from the dano-ers of an exjx'dition th.-.t promised
the ])os.sibility of sahation foi' even one solitai'y j)erish-
ine* ci'eature :* Kathei-s ('haumonot and (Maude J)ablon
volunteered foi' the mis.sion, and on the lOtli of Septem-
ber end)arked with the Amba.ssadors, and, aftei- a Noy-
ao'e of ten davs, arrived at the mouth of the (Jtilm/n in/ue,
known to-<lay as tlie Osweo-o River. They delaye(l for
a short time at the tishin*;' vilhi^e whert\ Fathei- Le
Moyne was .so hospitably entertaine<l. Kathei' C'hau-
monot was at once recooiii/ed by the Hurons dwellino- in
this villa<^"e, and was receiviMl with cries of joy and y'lad-
ness. They knew him in other and happiei* days, and,
while the men ^-azed u])on him as upon a lon«r-lost
brothel', the women ^'ave expi'ession to theii* feelings and
emotions in tears of joy not UTnriin^;led with .sorrow.
They fell U]K)n his neck, they clasped his knees and em-
braced him, pleadino- with hinj to visit their cabins, and, if
possiljle, prolong' his stay in the villai;e. " Kchon," said one
of them, speaking for the rest, "you were alwaj^s our friend,
and when we saw you we thought our lieloved dea<l had

270

EAHLV MISSION'S IX WESTERN' CAXADA.

foiiu' to ns fi'oiii tlicir i^nivcs." As Channionot and l)a-
l»l(m ciitci'cd tlic Ir()(|U()is coiiiitiv in <|nMliiy ol' Anjlias-
sadors, niesscniori-s canic tVoni Oiioixlana askiiio- them to
remain wlieiv tliey wn-c, till tlie tril)al orators ami war-
cliicfs of the nation could assendile at ( )nonda«;a to ^ive
them a |iul)lie reee])tion. While detained here the j)i'iests
collected the Christian Unions tor insti'uction, ))rayed
with them njornino- an<i eveninf^, and spent hours in tlie
confessional, re-ha1»ilitatin^' souls that one would think
were already purified in the waters of tribulation. A
mournful oi'ou]) stood on the outward fi-inoi' of the con-
^i-eoation. Those who composed tliis band were pagans,
wlio, in the days of theii- ])rosj)erity, scorned to ])end the
knee to the God of tlie " lilack robes," but now canu;
bowed down under tlie weight of theii- misfortunes to
listen to the instructions and " make the prayer." In a
few days, runnel's arrived from Onondaga announcing
tliat the chiefs awaite(l them. Three miles from the town
of (Jonaterezon, the tribal orator of the Senecas stoj)ped
them and delivered an oration. After \\v liad concluded,
he escorted the priests on their way. When about a mile
tVom tlie town they wei-e met by a delegation, and Chan-
monot, removing his hat, began an Inxjuois harangue,
the whole crowd moving slowly to the Onondaga village.
Chaumonot, who was a veteran of the Huron campaign,
spoke the Iroijuois with a Huency and ease that amazed
them. His gesticulation, after the Indian fashion, was

CHAUMONOT.

271

111(1 Da-
Am I )as-
tliem to
\u\ war-

to ^ive
2 ])riests

j)ray(Ml
s ill the
<1 think
ion. A
bli(j con-

patrans,
tend tlie
>\v came
lines to

" T

In a
ouneing
he town
stopped
ududed,
t a mile
d Chau-
iranoue,
villaf(e.
iiipai^n,
amazed
on, was

perl'cet : liis intonation ami inth'ction were modelled on
those oi' their hest orators, and as he ])roceeded he' was
re))eate<lly ap])landed with encoura<^in^" " /w.s', hos, — hear,
hrar." As the priests passed thi'oii^h the village tliey
were ohjects oi" intense curiosity to the <(aping crowd,
who, from the roofs of their wigwams, gazed with mingled
awe and curiosity on the black-robed «lelegates. With
much pomp they were coiulucted to a large cabin, where
a sumptuous feast was prepared in their honor, and, while
they are being entertained, let us for a time dwell u)ion
the great Ir(^(|Uois nation. The Inxpiois League made
u]) of five tribes forming the Jlodemmtiuiee confederacy
was, without (piestion, a moxt uni(|ue foi'iii of govern-
ment: one that had stood the test of time, and which,
among the survivors of the nation obtains to this day.
These five tribes were known as the Senecas, Oneidas,
Cayugas, Onondagas and Mohawks.

Each tribe had its allotted number of orators and
chiefs, known as sacliems ; altogether they formed a
parliament of about fifty men, and in the general con-
gress of the tribes their legislative and judicial authority
was supreme. When the general council assembled, the
business before it was conducted with great order and
according to fixed rules. "Their councils," says Clinton^
" were conducted with great decorum, ceremony and
solemn deliberation. In the characteristics of profound
])olicy, they surpassv'd an assembly of Feudal liarons."

272

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTEUX CANADA.

FatluT H(!ne[)in, vvlio, witli La Salle, the explorer, and
his (•oinpanioii Toiiti, was present at one of these nu'et-
inj^s, said that the Senators oi" \'enic(; did not a))pear
with a graver countenance nor speak witli more niajest}'
than the Iro(|Uois sachems, wlu^n assembled in council.
Bancroi't, Colden, Schoolci'ai't, and Morgan aie all of the
opinion that the government of the Iroipiois L«!ague
foreshadowed the American Repuhlie. The })arlian»entary
sachems w^ere never called into the field in time of war.
Each tribe had a legislature of its own, to which was in-
trusted the framing of laws for tliose under its jurisdic-
tion. Any one ti'ibe of the League was free to take the
war-path without the consent of the others, and it was
only when the nation at large was tlu'eatened that the
general congress was empowered to settle upon the plan
of campaign. Onondaga w^as the seat of government
for the whole nation, and here, in what might be called
the Natior.al Library, the wampum records of law,
treaties, councils, and of their liistory, were kept. To the
custody of the Onondagas was committed the care of the
Great Council Fire. The Senecas, who occupied the ex-
treme western point of their teri'itory, had chai'ge of the
" First Fire," and to the Mohawks, who dwelt on the
eastern limit, was instructed the guardianship of the
" Fifth Fire," which burned in the long cabin. The long
eabin w^as an imaginary wigwam having two outlets,
one at the east and the othei* at the west, and these out-

CHArMoxor.

278

lets vvt'i-f t\\o ' Fires," under tiic ])i'ott'f't<)i-,sliij) of tlie
Moli.iwks aii<l St'iu'cas. TIk'sc two triKcs wcit' licM to
j)r()te('t tilt' westcni and castt'ni cntiviuces ul" tln' niytli-
ical wio-wuiii, wlucli covci'imI the wliolc nation. The
Iroiiuois ininduM't'il twenty-fi\«' thousand souls, and wluMi
occasion dtMnaixk'*!, could throw into the field three
thousaml oi' the fiercest and Iti'avest w.'iri'iors oi' Noi'tli
Auierica. Aud, uow, h't us ivtui'ii to (.'haunionot and his
companion. When tlie least was over, tlie priests were
couducted to tlie lod^-e I'eserved for them, and a depu-
tation was alrea<ly waitine- to present helts ol' wam-
pum. Father CMiaumonot replied ou l>ehalf'ol" ( )iuiontio,
tlie Governor-Oeneral, and Achiemlase, the Su})erioi' ol'
missious.* On the eleventli of Novemher, the mission-
aries were shown, on the hanks of the Ononda^^'a, a heau-
tiful and convenient sitt^ upon which they were asked to
huild their chapel. On the twelfth of Novemher, they
were present at the torture of a youno- Erie, whom the3'
had in vain endeavored to purchase in ordei- to save him
from the fire. C'ha'imonot says he was only ten yeai-s
old, and that for the two lumrs in which he was })ein(;'
Imrned alive, with all the tortures that savat^'e ino-cnuity
could devise, he never uttei'ed a ciy, or allowe<l a tii-ojui
of complaint to escape him. The loth of Novemher
was appointed tor another meeting' at which matters (jf

■ This was Father Francis l..e Mercier, and was the name the Iro-
i|Uois and Hurons gave to the .Jesuit Superior at (^liiebec.

274

EAIU.Y MISSIONS IN WKSTKUN CANADA.

iin|t(n-l;iiM't', wliicli wci-cnot lid'oic discusstMl, wcrr <<• 1m'
lii'oii^'lit 11)). ( Miauiiioiiot Mini Dultloii, at'tci- :iii hoiii'
spent ill prayer, t'litci'ed tlie i-ounoil lioiise, iiiid wlieii tlie
tril»al orators had s[)()keii, ( 'lianiiionot arose to rcpl}'.
Klo(|Ueiit as lie was, lie siii'j)aHs«'d liiiiiseli', and the enrap-
tured |)al)lon. can'ied avva,y hy his elo(|nence, said that
he thoneht that the voiee ol" his hrothei' ]»riest could lie
heard throughout the whole nation. 'I'he trihal oratoi's
oazed n])on him with sur])rise. W'alkine JVoiii end
to end of the tent, e'esticulatiiie- JVeely, he emphasised
his elocpieiit utterances with the [a-osentation ot* accept-
ahle eit'ts. lit' di'clai'etl that ()non<lana lia<l never wit-
nessed a council ol' sueh importance. That upon the re-
sult of this council <lepende(l the salvation of the nation,
and now that they had accepted the o-ood-w'ishes of Oiru-
onfio, he was about to deliver to them a message from tli«'
tlie iMastei' of life and death. He then unfolded the
doctrines of C/hristiaiiity, and ended a matchless address
l)y appealing' to them t(j acce})t the faith, 'i'lie air re-
sounded with the chants of the chiefs, and when the}'
had ended their chorus of congratulations, one of them
exclaimed: "I speak to thee, brother, from the heart, I sing
from the heart, my words are true, welcome brotlier,
thy coming l)rings light to our dark places, an<l thy
voice carries happiness to our hearts. Farewell war, fare-
well the hatchet ! " He then embraced tlie missionary on
behalf of the whole nation. '\l\o ])i-iests were now told

CHAUMONor.

•J<.)

re to l»c

III lioiir
licll the
. vv\Ay.

litl tiint
ould Ik-
oratoi's
))ii end
iliasiscd

JlCCCjlt-

vv wit-
thc I'e-
iiatioii,
'1' Onii-
•0111 tlic
led the
id dress
air re-
'11 the}'
r them
:, Isiii^
irotlier,
id tliy
-r, fare-
laiy on
►w toM

tliat tllry were Fl'ec in JtlCMcll t lll« tUj^lmnt the <'(illlltry.
M'lie following' day tliey Ix-^^an tlie ei-rctinii ol' tlicir eliMjtel,
a roiioli Ijaik lmildin<(, l»ut it was the tiist Cathulie
clmrch that was ever raised in the State of New N'ork.
Every caliin was now open to them, and as Father
])alilon lia<l ahvady «'staiilislied a eiioir ol' Indian maid-
ens, the cha])el heeame too small to hold the crowds
tliat came from far an<l neai*. 'I'he Huron exiles assem-
bled twice a day foi* prayer an<l instrnetion, till the
patlis leading- to tlie cliapel were so dei'ply worn that a
deputation of Cayu^as, when they passed the place and
saw the l»ea<^en tracks, and the pi'oj>le [tassinn- and I'e-
passin^', paused and asked wliat it all meant.

Well might the traveller start to see
The tall, dark forma, that taketheii' way
From the birch canoe, on the river shore,
And the forest paths, to that chapel door ;
And marvel to mark the naked knees,
And the dusky foreheads bemlin^ there.

Clouds, however, were forininoon the liorizon. ]luion
apostates began to circulate dangerous calumnies. They
said tliat tlie Fathers were sorcerers, and that the child-
ren, whom tliey were baptizing, would be under the e\ il
iiiHuence of a Manitou. About this time, also, a rumor
was spread throughout the Iroquois cantons, that the
Onondagas, who had gone to Quebec, w ere thrown into
prison, and were, by this time, perhaps, killed. Aftei- a

•270

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

Hepn4 iiHM'tiii«;-, wliicli was licM nt, ( )i)()IuI,iom, flic |)ri«'.st,s
wci'r (Iciinuiicrd as liiii's, aii<l MS iiini oiiilly nf (I'caclK'ry.
CJliaiiiiioiiot I'ailiiitr to coiiNiiicc tlniii tluit tlirir accusu-
ti(»iis WDT false, ivsortiMl to a oliai'Jictci'isticjilly liold cx-
jK'diciit. "^'on say," lie cxclaiiiKMl, "that your (Icjiutics
aiT I't'taiiicd in ]>i-isoii, and, for all you know, arc now
dead. Select fi'oin anioni>' \'ou foui" octixt'of \dur nuui-
l»er, an<l my ('oni))anion will ^<» with them to the l^'icnch,
I will )'emain here, ami if this charm' which \()U hriiii*'
against us he true, 1, with my life, will ])ay the jx-nalty."
CMiaumonot s oifer was acci.'jited, and a few days after-
wai'ds a canoe, heai'iim- ])ahlon and live warriors, sailed
from the mouth of the (.)swep) for (^hiehec, which they
reached on the thirtieth of March.

When the ()non<lae'a deputation discovered tliMt their
friends had heen kindly treated \)y the Fi'ench, and
nevei' saw even the inside of a prison, they acknowledo-ed
that they had heen listening; to lies, and a^'ain invited
the Fi'cnch to come and settle ainonf»' them, 'i'he invita-
tion was acci'[)te<l, and a inind)er of Kivnch colonists un-
der the connnand of a militaiy captain, made pre])ara-
tions for the voyage. 'I'hey were accompanied hy Kathei's
James Fremin, Francis Le Merciei", Rend Menard an<l
Claude J)ahlon, who sailed luick with the Onondao-a
deputation. While tlie Onondagas delayed at Quebec,
Father Le Moyne left with a party of Mohawks to open
a mission in their villaees. They reached the Ii'o(|Uois

f'HAl'M(»\'(»'l

277

country ill safety and iK'^-aii at oiicr a scttlciiimt. ( ah-
iiis vv(M'(' tlirown up, a I'oi't ituilt, au<l thus, on the lOth
(lay of .Inly, priests ami colonists took U]) their altixle
amon^ the Inxpiois. Soon alter a ^"I't-at couneil was
called, and to it caUK! ('hauuionot, l)eiirin^- valuahie pre-
sents t'o)' the tril)e. The nieetiiii'" asseniMed in the iireat
council house of the Dnon^lno'as. Kive nations were re-
presented iiy their respective councdlors and oratoj's,
and when the jtreliniinaiy liusiness of the council was
over, Chaunionot. holdino- iu his hand a helt of wam-
pum, strode forward to address tliem. I lis reputation
as an orator Iwul already prece(led him, and, since' the
death of Hi-el)euf, lu; was i-ecofjni/ed hy Hurons and
iro(|Uois as the most famous of the " Mack ^owns." " We
do not come here, ' ht; said. " to trade with you ; not
for traffic do we a])))eai' in youi" country ; your heaver
skins could never repay us i'uy the dan^ei's and hard-
ships we have suffereil ; these thin^rs you can keep for
the Dutch, we do not want them. For the faith alone
have we left our land ; foi- the faith we have crossed
the ocean ; for the faith we have left the great ships
©f the French to take passage in your frail canoes; it
is for the faith I hold in my hand this belt of wam|)um,
and open my lips to e;dl u]»on you to keep unV)roken
tlie promine you £,oive to us at (^)ue])ec. Thei-e you sol-
ennily pledged yourselves to give ear to the Word of
the Great God ; they are in my mouth, — listen." Then,

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' ^x

i
I

;,' y

278 EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

with wondrous fluency and eloquence, he enumerated
the ^reat truths of Christianity — dwelt upon man's re-
sponsil)ility to God, the attributes of the human soul, and
its inipei-ishable nature. He called upon them, by their
liope of happiness and fear of eternal torture, to accept
the truth and embrace the faith. They were loud in
their demonstrations of delight, embraced Chaumonot,
and promised to give ear to his words. " If, after this,"
writes Father Fremin, " they murder us, it will, indeed,
be surprising." His discourse produced a profound sen-
sation, and many of the Oiiondagas applied for baptism.
Henceforth the missionaries performed all their duties as
freely as if they were at home with the colonists at Que-
bec. Scattered among the Iroquois villages were large
numbers of Huron captives, who, since the destruction of
their own country, had no opportunity of practising their
religion. Many of these Hurons, when they were a free
and independent people, refused to accept the faith, Vmt
entertained a kindly feeling for the Fathers, and admired
them for their wondrous heroism and self-denial. The
crucible of affliction through which they had passed, and
their position of inferority among the Iroquois, tamed
their proud natures. Their stubborn hearts yielded to
the att'ectionate appeals of the priests, and they now
came asking to be baptized. " The Ffunms of the upper
country," writes Chautnonot, "who had refused instruc-
tion, by reason of their aversion to the faith, are now

CHAUMONUT.

279

merated
lan's re-
oul, and
by their
accept
loud in
umonot,
3r this,"
indeed,
ind sen-
Daptism.
iiities as
at Que-
re large
iction of
ng their
e a free
ith, but
idmired
. The
ied, and
, tamed
3lded to
ey now
e upper
instruc-
ire now

bending to the yoke of the gospel, for affliction tends
very much to a right understanding, Large numbers of
them have already ])een l)aptized, and with our Iro(|uois
converts, we have, since we came here, already received
four hundred and fifty into tlie Churcli, and tliis, notwith-
standing the dirticulties we encounter by reason of the
continual wars in which these tril)es are engaged. If we
can sustain priests in this country, the whole nation
will be brought over to the faith."

In a few months Fatliers Ragueneau and l)u Peijn
joined the mission, and to all outward appearances the
day of conversion was dawning upon the Iro(|Uois triljes.
Scattered through the Irofjuois cantons there were now
seven priests, viz., Fatliers Ragueneau, Le Moyne, Le
Mercier, Fremin, Du Peron, Dablon and ('liMumonot,
and, if it were not for the intriguers of the Dutch, at
New Amsterdam, and the duplicity of some of the lead-
ing chiefs, the whole nation would have Ix^en won to
the faith. But under all this seeming ap])earance of
prosperity and glorious hope, a deep-laid conspiracy was
being hatched. On the Ihd day of August, HioT, the
Huron captives, who had been brought to the country
under protestations of kindness and sworn assuiances
of brotherhood, were ruthl(3ssly slaughtered. Yet their
outward bearing towards the ]>rii'sts ;ind French settlers
was kind, almost to aMectifm, but ( ■liMumonot, who knew
the Iro(jUois character well, began to distrust them.

lit'

'!,: ' '•

280

KAlil.V NFISSIONS IX WKS'I'KKX < ,\N.\I)A.

Tli(3ir foriiior perfidy and cruelty, and tlieir sava<^e I'ero-
city in Hnronia, were still fresh in his memory. He re-
meml)eretl, also, when they were the scourge of the infant
Cluirch, when they tortured, wasted and devoured the
catechumens, buried whole towns in their own ashes, and
♦lestroyed the tribes whom the Fathers had won to the
faith. Di<l they not leave Huronia a wilderness of deso
lation, where the bones of its slaughtered dead lay yet
unlturied? Were not the scattered Nipissin^s and Ot-
tawas yet so paraly/ed with fear, that even tlu; imprint
of an Iro([Uois' moccasin was, to them, a symbol of death?
He remarked to Dablon that they were in the dens of
the tigers, and that at any moment the beasts might
spring n))on them and rend them asunder. Sometime
after the shiugliter of the Hurons, it was whispered to
Chaumonot that, in a secret council held among the Iro-
(juois, the massacre of the French was settled on, and
would take place in a few weeks. This was alarming
news, and messengers were at once dispatched to the
priests in the outlying missions and to the French dwell-
ers in the country, notifying them of the decision of the
council, and warning them to gather as soon as possible
at the fort which the French had erected a short time
before. The Onondagas, not suspecting that their con-
spiracy was known to the Fi'ench, viewed with consider-
able surprise and no little suspicion this gathering of the
whites. An Iroquois band of fifty to sixty warriors

ra iero-
Hc re-
) infant
red the
les, and
1 to the
of deso
hiy yet
ind Ot-
iniprint
P death ?
dens of
s might
nnetinie
pered to
lie Iro-
on, and
arming
to the
1 dwell-
of the
possible
)rt time
eir con-
Dnsider-
cjr of the
varriors

CHAUMONOT.

281

tlirew up their wigwams around tlie French I'ort, where
the French colonists and Fathers were assembled. When
asked their reason for so doing, they replied they came-
to enjoy the society of the French. Their real object
was to await a favorable opportunity to slaughter them
all. The French appeared to accept their explanation in
good faith, and succeeded in convincing the Iroquois that
they were entirely ignorant of their designs. In the
meantime, silently and rapidly, skilful hands were con-
structing two boats large enough to carry fourteen or
fifteen people. They also succeeded in concealing nine
^anoes. Everything had to be done very cautiously, for,
if the Iroquois had the slightest suspicion that they har-
bored a thought of escape, they would attack them at
once. At last the hour for which the French waited
came. From time immemorial a superstition prevailed
among the Neutral, Huron and Iroquois nations, as in-
explicable in its origin as it was gross in its character.
This was a feast, known to the French as Festin a man-
ger tout, in which it was necessary that the invited guests
should consume everything placed before them, however
large the quantity, unless, which was rarely done, an in-
dividual was allowed to retire from the festal cabin by
permission of him who gave the feast. The obligation
of attending, when called to the banquet, was considered
binding under grave consequences. A young Frenchman

sent invitations to the Indian warriors, stating that it
R

;: M

282

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

I I

was revealed to liiiii in a di-eaiii that he would surely
die unless a feast of this nature was given to appease
the o/.i«, who thi-eatened his destruction. The feast
came oft' on the evening of the twentieth of March :
the early part of the evening was spent in various
amusements, till it was announced that the feast was
ready for the guests. Each man's bowl was tilled to the
brim, and the work began. After gorging themselves to
repletion, they begged of the young Frenchman to allow
them to depart. He claimed that the okis were not yet
satisfied, and that he would surely perish unless they
continued to eat. They began anew, and after a sus-
tained effort and superhuman exertions, finally left oft,
contending that they could not positively eat any more.
Those among the French that were any sort of nnisicians
now began to dance and play, while the Indians sat
around with bulging eyes and overloaded stomachs,
watching the performance. Under the combined influ-
ence of music and undigested food, they one by one
dropped off to sleep, while one of the Frenchmen continued
to play soft airs to lull them to a deeper repose. When
the French were satisfied that they were hopelessly-
buried in sleep, they embarked in their boats, and when
morning dawned, were already entering Lake Ontario.
" Thus," adds Gilmary Shea, "ended, after a brief ex-
istence, the mission of St. Mary's of Ganentaa, in the
Onondaga country, with its dependent missions among

CHAUMONOT.

283

I surely

le feast
March .
various
iast ^vas
ed to the
iselves to
1 to allow
L-e not yet
iless they
t'ter a sus-
ly left off,
any more,
musicians
idians sat
stomachs,
ned inllu-
le by one
continued
Ise. When
hopelessly
and when
Ive Ontario,
brief ex-
[,aa, in the
Ions anionii'

the Oneid IS, Cayu^as and Senecas. It had been founded
and conducted with ^reat toil and at <;reat expense ; it
was now cruslied, l»ut its ettect was lujt lost; many had
been biou^ht to the faith and more convinced of the
truth and beauty of Christianity, who, for motives of
policy, still held back." What the feelings of the Iro( juois
were when they recovered from their stupor, wei'e known
but to themselves. Their sui"[)rise was unbounded, and
adepts though they were at strategy, they had to ac-
knowledge they had met their masters. Many among
them believed that the " lilack robes " and their flock
could have only escaped through the aid of spirits —
walked on the water, or took wings and Hew through
the air. On the third of April, Chaumonot and his com-
panions reached Montreal, and on the twenty-third of
the same month landed at the city of Quebec.

In 1663, Father Chaumonot returned to Montreal and
established there the Society of the Holy Family, an
association that, even at the present day, exerts a saving
inrtuence in the family, sanctifying homes, encouraging
domestic purity, and fostering filial devotion. In the
following year he was appointed Chaplain to the garrison
at Fort Richelieu, built at the mouth of the River Sorel.
His simplicity of manner, unostentatious piety, and
manly integrity, won for him not onl}'' the love of the
private soldiers, but the esteem and respect of the
officers. Soon we find him at Quebec in the midst of his

ii * i '■

284

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

ii
f

15 'Ii

K 1 1 i

Hurons, never again to leave them until he is borne to
his final lestinf^'-place. Here at New Lorette, he built a
church, modelled at'tei* the famous holy house of Loretto,
Italy, and here among the remnant of the Hurons, this
servant of God spent almost a (juarter of a century in
the practices of piety and self-denial. He rose very
early in the nitn-niiig, spent hours in prayer and contem-
plation, passed the day in going from house to house
doing good. When night came on it found him in his
chapel offering up prayers to God, with his tawny con
verts, and dismissing them for the evening with his bene-
diction and a prayer for their welfare. In 1689, he was
fifty years a priest, and on that day Montcalm, the Gov-
ernor of Canada, in the presence of a large congregation
in the Cathedral of Quebec, received Holy Communion
from the hands of this heroic priest. He died in Novem-
ber, 1692, calmly as a child, after passing fifty-three
years in the priesthood. His funeral was attended by
every prominent man from Fort Frontenac to Tadousac,
and the unanimity of opinion which proclaimed him a
saint was unbroken by a single dissentient voice.

Father Chaumonot was the last of the Huron veter-
ans. Garnier, Chabanel, Daniel, Jogues, Bressani, Bre-
beuf, Lalemant, all were dead, — and a grander galaxy
of saints and martyrs the world has not produced. The
study of the lives of these wonch'ous men is, in itself, a
sublime sermon, carrying to man a nobler conception of

CHAUMONOT.

285

borne to
e built a

Loretto,
'ons, this
'iitury in
Dse very
[ contem-

to house
m in his
wny con

liis bene-
i9, he was

the Gov-
igregation
miniunion
n Novem-
[it'ty-three
bended by

Tadousac,
ned him a
ce.

iron veter-
sssani, Bre-
ler galaxy
need. The

in itself, a
nception of

his own dignity and of the possil)ilities of liis nature
We may fittingly close this chapter, beseeching these
great souls, now in heaven, to ask Almighty CJod to
grant us the grace to imitate their virtues, if not their
heroism.

I I

I .{

Ill

CHAITER XXVI.

THE HULPICfANS.

Jean Jai'((ue8 Olier - Invited to become a Bisho]) Consults St. Vincent
<le PaulDeclines the honor — At the Church of St. ( !crniain-d('it»r
I'n'S — The mysterious Voice — At the Chateau of Meudoi) — A
strange Meeting — The Mass and Communion — Olier's Appearance
— His intense Piety— La Dauversii're — A Command and Vision — The
Consultation — I'he Result — Arrival of the Sulpicians — Influence of
the Order — Formation of Priestly Character — jNJission of the Bay
of ((>uint('' — Bishop Laval — Fenelon and Trouvo — Among the Cay-
ugas — Fenelon and Laval — At the mouth of the Humber — The Sul-
picians Recalled — RecoUets re-enter tlie Field — End of the Quinto
Missions — Father Picc^uet — His Famous "Reduction" — His Ex-
traordinary Success — Voyage of Piccjuet— Picquet Leaves for
France — End of his famous Mission.

Early in the year of 1686, a yoniif^ priest left the coun-
try parish where he had spent a laborious week in mis-
sionary duty, and set out on his way to the city of Paris.
He was only twenty-eight years old, but his fervent
piet}^ Ids intense religious zeal, and his learning and
ability, liad already introduced him to the notice of a
venerable prelate, who, for eight moTiths, pleaded wdth
him to become his coadjutor, with the right of succession.
This young ecclesiastic was now on his way to consult
his friends, St. Vincent de Paul and Father de Condron,
general of the Oratorians, as to what answer he should
return to the Bishop. After having submitted his case

286

. Viiu.'ont
inain-d(s»(ir
(udon — A
ipcarrtiice
}ion — The
tluence of
' the Bay
; the Cay-
-The Sul-
lie Quinti';
-Hia Ex-
saves for

le coun-

in niis-

)t' Paris.

fervent

ing and

ce of a

ed with

^cession.

consult

)ondron,

3 should

his case

THE Sl'LlMCIANS.

287

for tlu'ir consideration, he entered the nei^hhorinj;'
churcli of St. ( Jeniiain-des-IV^s, to connnune with (Jod
in prayer and ask His lielp in tliis crisis of his life.
It was tlie second of February, tlie Feast of the Puri-
fication ; and while on Ins knees pouring out l\is soul
in fervent prayer, liis frame suddenly trendjk'(l witli
emotion. The lial)itually calm and peaceful (expression
of his face passed away, and there came a look of in-
tense seriousness and wonder. Then he heard a voice
speaking to his heart, " You must become a light to
enlighten the Gentiles." Mass was being celebrated, and,
as if to emphasize tlie message, at tliat moment the
choir took up the 8inieonian prophecy, and the church
was tilled with the anthem, " a light to the revelation of
the Gentiles and the glory of thy people." The young
priest arose to his feet, and, as he passed out into the
world and on tlirough the busy streets of the large city,
the absorbing voice gave him no peace. St. Vincent de
Paul and Fatlier Condron advised him not to accept the
Episcopate, and, as he retired from their presence, it
dawned upon liim that the supernatural voice spoke a
command to bear the message of salvation to the savages
roaming the wilderness of New France. Then he left
the city, and the following morning entering the neigh-
boring Cliateau of Meudon to say his daily mass in the
chapel of that old building, he saw a man approach-
ing him. The two gazed upon each other for a moment.

288

KAlll.V MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

and the next, impelled by they knew not whut nncon-
trolbible impulse, warmly shook hands and embraced
each other, as Um^ separated brothers. They had never
met before — never, in all probal»ility, heard of each
other before, yet they wen^ now in each other's arms,
the one calling the other by his name, with every demon-
stration of tender atiection. "Monsieur," exclaimed the
priest, " I know your project, and I am now goin^- to say
mass to connnend your desi«,ni to God," and he went at
once to the chapel, vested, and began mass. This young
man was John James Olier, afterwards founder of the
Sulpician Order, a providential, a saintly man, whose
memory the priests of the Catholic Church for evermore
will hold in reverence and benediction, and to whom the
Catholics of Europe and America owe a debt of deep and
lasting gratitude. It will take him a full half hour to
say his mass, which will give us ample time to learn
something about him.

As he stands at the foot of the altar and begins the
" Introibo ad altare Dei," we notice that he is of middle
height, with features cleanly chiselled, yet bearing traces
of prolonged fasts, nightly vigils, and severe penances.
His eyes are luminously bright, with a fire and vivacity,
tempered with engaging sv/eetness. He speaks with a
clear resonant voice, and utters every syllable with a
inoticeable distinctness. His brow is broad and ample
ndicating serious thought and much of it. His face is.

li i

T I| 1

THE SUIJ'ICIANS.

2.S9

uncon-

1 never
)[' each
> arins,
deiiHHi-
iie<l the
;; to say
went at
i young

of the
I, whose
^ermore
lom the
eep and

hour to
o learn

fins the
middle
g traces
enances.
dvacity,
3 with a
with a
d ample
face is,

not at all handsome, Imt tlie outlines are reguhir, an<l
on his ph'asing and attractive countenance tliere re))oses
an air of grace, difi^nity and modesty. Hiswlioh' ap])ear-
ance is that of a refined, intellectual and well-hred man.
John (^lier was the son of wealthy parents who had out-
lined for him a brilliant career in the world ; Imt, to
their regret and disappointment, he entere<l the })riest-
hood, and gave himself u\) to the poor of the city an«l
country parishes. From his childhood, he seenied des-
tined to sanctity and greatness. His spirit of prayer, of
self-mortitication, of complete abandonment to God's
holy will, raised him to the plane of holiness, and he be-
came all to all, that he might gain all for Christ. " A
holy priest," say the annals of the Congregation, " whose
memory is in benediction among al 1 good men : a pastor
who was animated with a zeal e(|ual to his virtue, to
maintain the honor and worship of God in all the churches
which Providence had placed under his control."

The other, whom he had so strangely met in the hall
of the chateau, assisted at his mass, and, when the com-
munion-bell rang, he left his place and knelt before the
priest. After he received Holy Connnunion, he returned
to the body of the chapel, and, Ijuried in his thanksgiving,
became dead to his surroundings. This man was Jdrome
le Royer de la Dauversiere, receiver of taxes under the
King, who had come from his home at La Fleche, in An-
jou, to Paris on governmental and other business. He

:i'H

290

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

was a layman, intensely pious, conscientious, and of an
honesty and uprightness heyond suspicion. He was
married, and was the father of ei^ht children.

One <lay while at his devotions, he and his wife,
Jeanne de Beauge, consecrated themselves and their
children to the Holy Family : that is, they placed them-
selves in a special manner under the protection of Jesus,
Mary and Joseph, pledging themselves to do what they
could to make these sacred names honored and respected
among men. After he had registered this resolution,
Dauversiere heard an inward voice, ordering him to be-
come the founder of a new order of hospital nuns, and
to establish on the island of Montreal, in Canada, a hos-
pital, to be attended by these sisters. Furthermore, it
was told to him that his devotion to the Holy Family
would become a special feature of the religious life of
this colony. He rose from his knees, greatly perplexed,
for while at his devotions there passe<l before him in
panoramic view, the island, the rivers, the surrounding
land and forests, and as it was a wilderness it first had
to be colonized before anything could be done. More-
over, he was a man absorljed in business, having a wife
and family depending upon him. Though he had no
doubt of the supernatural nature of the command, yet
when he consulted his confessor, the Jesuit Father Chau-
veau, his recital was received with incredulity, and his
project branded as chimerical. Still Dauversiere pon-

THE SUr.PIClANS.

291

dered the revelation, and the more thought he gave to it
the more was lie convinced that it came from God. He
therefore set out for Fai"is, to supplement the means at
his own disposal and to solicit assistance in carrying out
the task assigned him. From Paris he went to Meudon,
and, moved by an unaccountable impulse, entered the
chateau, where the extraordinary interview between
himself and Olier took place. Impelled l)y inspiration,
they knew each other at once even to the depths of
their hearts ; saluted one the other by name, as we read
of St. Paid the hermit and St. Anthony, of St. Dominic
and St. Francis, an<l i"an to embrace each other like two
friends, although they had never met before.* After
mass these two men walked top'ether in the efrounds
aliout the chateau, discussing for three hours the par-
ticulars of their messages and the plans they would
adopt. They were thoroughly in harmony one with the
other, and the result of their long conference was to
found at Montreal three religious conniiunities; one of
priests, for the conversion of the savages and direction
of the colonists ; one to be composed of a nundier of
sisters, whose duty it would be to care for the sick, the
old and the intirm ; and the third, a connnunity of nuns
to teach the children. When they were separating,
Olier, who was of a wealthy family, handed five huiidri'd
dollars to the other, remarking that he wished to assume

*La Colonie Francaise I., page 390.

292

EARLY MISSLONS IN WESTEKN CANADA.

^1:

half of the responsibility of the work. They parted,
Dauversiere to carry (Jut his part of the contract, and
Olier to found the ^rcat Seminary of 8t. Sulpice, in
Paris, and irather around him ordained auxiliaries for
the foreign missions.

Joining to themselves four others, among whom was
the wealthy Baron de Fancamp, they formed the nucleus
of an association known as the " Society of Notre Dame,
of Montreal," and between them they subscribed seventy
live thousand dollars. The next move was to get pos-
session of the island, which belonged to M. de Lauzon,
former president of the great company of the Hundred
Associates, and which was ceded to him on condition
that he would establish there a colony. Lauzon at first
declined to part with his seignory, but when Father
Lalemant, who was then in Paris, added his entreaties to
those of M. Olier, he finally yielded, and for a consider-
ation deeded the island to the Society. A confirmation
of the grant was obtained from the king, and the Soci-
ety was now empowered to appoint a Governor and es-
tablish courts.

Their title assured, they now began to mature their
plans for the settlement of the island. In the selection
of the colonists they were very careful, choosing only
those of good morals and acknowledged respectability.
They invited Paul de Chomedey, Lord of Maisonneuve,
a man of undisputed courage, who had served in the

! f:

THE SULPICIANS.

293

parted,
ict, and
pice, in
.ries for

om was
nucleus
e Dame,
seventy
2fet pos-
Lauzon,
[undred
)ndition
at first
Father
}aties to
Dnsider-
nnation
le Soci-
and es-

re their
election
\g only
bability.
nneuve,
in the

army in Holland, and whose character for probity and
honor was untainted, to take charge of the expedition.
Maisonneuve, contrary to the wishes of his parents, em-
braced the enterprise To the objections of his father
he replied, " Everj^ one that hath left house, or brethren,
or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or
lands for my name's sake, shall receive a hundred-fold,
and' shall possess life everlasting." Forty families were
now got together, under the leadership of Maisonneuve,
with instructions to hold themselves in readiness to em-
bark for New France on short notice. While these pre-
parations were going on, a young woman called one day
upon Father Olier. This was Mademoiselle Jeanne
Mance, a lady well-educated, of a good familj^, and
unimpeachable piety and virtue. In her interview with
the distinguished priest she claimed to have received a
a Divine intimation that her future life was indissolubly
associated with the colony to be settled at Montreal.
Father Olier, after searching enquiry, approved of her
design, and gave her letters of introduction to Maison-
neuve and his companions. All was now ready, the
ships set sail, and after a stormy voyage, arrived at Que-
bec, August 24th, 1641.

Olier, Dauversiere, and Fancamp remained in France
to do what they could to procure assistance for the in-
fant colony. At home the Society, to the number of
about forty-five, met in the Church of Notre Dame,

294

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

Paris, and witli solemn ceremony consecrated the island
oi* Montreal to the Holy Family. Henceforth it was to
be known as Ville Marie de Montreal, under the special
protection of our blessed Lord, St. Joseph, and the
mother of Jesus. Maisoimeuve and his party wintered
at Quebec, and the following May, 1642, re-embarked,
and, sailing up the St. Lawrence, safely reached tiieir
<lestination, and took possession of the island in the
name of the Associates of Montreal. Thus was laid the
foundation of the largest city in the Dominion of Cana-
da. Li the meantime Father Olier had established the
Seminary of St. Sulpice in I'aris, and was now educat-
ing young ecclesiastics for the foi'eign mission. At his
recjuest the Jesuit Fathers at Quebec consented to attend
to the spiritual wants of the colonists till such time as
he would be able to send them priests from St. Sulpice.
" On the 17th of May, 1657, a vessel sailed from the
harbor of Saint-Nazaire, carrjdng to the shores of Can-
ada, Gabi'iel de Queylus,* Gabriel Souart,f Dominic
Galinier, and M. d' Allet, a deacon soon to be raised to the
priesthood, and, on the 29th of July, cast anchor before

!' I':

'ii

* (labriel de (Jueylus, according to the historian P^ither Le Clerccj, was
a priest distinguished for his piety, learning and great zeal. He was
the descendant of an aristocratic family of Rouergue. Though from
his childhood he was in receipt of a large annuity, he spent it in charity.
He was appointed vicar-general when leaving France to assume the
Superiorship of the Sulpicians at Montreal, and was nominated for the
see of Quebec, which he declined.

t Gabriel 8ouart was nephew of Father Le Caron, the first mission-
to the Hurons.

ary

~ !'

THE SUl.PICIANS.

295

le island
b was to
3 special
xiid the
wintered
1 barked,
id theii"

ill the

laid the

)1" Cana-

shed the

educat-

At his
,0 attend

time as
Sulpice.
roin the
of Can-
3ominic

1 to the
r before

lerc(i, was
He was
3Ugh from
11 charity,
isume the
ed for the

b mission-

the now prosperous and lii;:<toric city of (^hiebec. Aftei-
a most courteous and friendly reception from the Jesuit
Fatliers, by whom they wei'e hospitably entertained,
they proceede<l on their way, and safely arrived at Ville
Marie, their journey's end. For hfteen years, the Jesuit
Fathers ministered to the spiritual wants (jf this iVontier
village, am(.)ng whose names we find those of our old
friends Fathei's Foncet, J)u Peron, Druillette, Le Jeune,
Le Moyne, and Fijart. On the 12th of August, 1657,
Father Fijart, after his morning mass, surrendered the
cai'e of the parish to M. de Queylus, who appointed
Gabriel Souart to succeed Father Fijart, as pastor of
the parish of Ville Marie, and thus, after fifteen years of
honorable and faithful service, the Jesuit Fathers retired
and the Fathers of the Foreign Mission, now known as
the Sulpicians, entered upon their labors. These four,
just mentioned, were the pioneers of the Sulpician order,
which in Canada and the LTnited States has exerted such
a beneficent and enormous influence in the formation of
the character of the priestliood of America. " The light to
enlighten the Gentiles," that was ringing in the ears and
buzzing in the brain of the great and saintly Olier, was
in the Frovidence of God, destined to illuminate the
minds and hearts of millions. Not, indeed, as thought
the mortified man, the red hordes that swarmed in the
forests of Canada, and were already doomed to annihila-
tion, but the sons of Japeth, that were now entering up-

1' i

296

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA

•

III

■■:t

on tlio possession of the promised land, and wlio were to
increase till they would outnumber the stars in the
Heavens. From the halls of the Sulpician seminaries, in
Baltimore and Montreal, there have stepped into the
world priests, fashioned, moulded, and formed, by the
Sulpician Fathers, who, by their lives and preaching,
have excited the curiosity, and then the admiration of
the gentile. In the populous cities, in the scattered vil-
lages, and the remote districts of this great continent,
priests of the Catholic church, trained by the Sulpicians,
have saved the faith where it w^as in danger of perish-
ing, and brought into the Church thousands w^ho were
born outside of it. Eleven years after the landing of
de Queylus and his party, Rend Brdhant de Galinee and
Francis Lascaris d' Ursd, Dollier de Casson, Michel Bar-
tholemy, and M. Trouve arrived. In 1665, a truce was
patched up between the French and Iroquois, permitting
the Jesuit Fathers to re-open the missions established
some years before by Chaumonot, Dablon, and others.
Three years after the Fathers had renewed their mis-
sions with the confederated tribes, a large number of
Cayugas, with many adopted Hurons, left Western New
York, crossed Lake Ontario, and settled on the shores of
the Bay of Quintd*

* Compelled by fear of their enemies, some of our Indians have left
this place and settled on the northern shores of Lake Ontario. They
are of the Cayuga tribe or rather a new people. — Rel. LeMercier, 1668,
p. 20.

THE SULPICIANS.

297

A^ere to
in the
ries, in
ito the
by the
(aching,
ition of
red vil-
Qtinent,
[picians,
perish-
ho were
iding of
nee and
hel Bar-
uce was
mitting
blished
others,
eir mis-
iber of
rn New
lores of

have left
10. They
jier, 1668,

Early in the autumn of 16()<S, this tribe sent a depu-
tation to Montreal, asking that priests be sent to them,
as the Fathers with the Irocpiois were too few in num-
bers to attend to their spiritual wants. Bishop Laval
had already relaxed his rule which confined the Indian
missions under his jurisdiction solely to the Jesuit
Fathers: and, in 1()()7, we learn that two Sulpician
priests were already for some time laboring among the
Ottawa's and other Algon(|uin hordes The Bishop now
invited the Sulpicians of Montreal to assume charge of
the Quintd missions, and, in obedience to his wish Fathers
Fenelon* and Trouvd left Lachine for the Bay of Quin-
ts, arriving there the 28th day of October, having been
twenty-six days on the voyage. They were received
with hospitable welcome, began tlieir labors without de-
lay, and were tilled with hopes of encouragement for the
future. That a spirit of aifectionate cordiality between
the Jesuits and Sulpicians existed even at this early
day is evident from what we read in the Relatitm of
Father Le Mercier, written in 1()()8: "Two fervent mis-
sionaries of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, Fathers Fenelon

* Father Fenelon was brother of the ^reat Archbishop of Cambraie,
and was the son of a noble family. He devoted himself to the early
missitfns much against the will of his relatives, who, by their influence
and the prestige of his family, anticipated a mitre for him. He was
scliolarly and accomplished, of a friendly and generous nature, which
assured him the friendship of all those with whom he came into as-
sociation.

29(S EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

and Trouve, were dispatched this year to the family of
the Iro(iuois called Oiogouens, who for some time had
been camping on the northern shore of Lake Ontario.
These people re(|uired pastors to confirm in them the
spirit of Faith, which for two years we fanned and kept
alive."

The priests met with comparatively little success in
the conversion of the adult population. '^^I'hey were
consoled, however, in being permitted to baptize the
daughter of the chief, the children, and many of the
grown people on their death-beds. The Cayugas at this
period occupied four villages. Keint-he and Canagora
were situated thirty miles north of Lake Ontario, some
distance north of the Bay of Quints.* The villages of
Tiot-natton and Canohenda were five miles southward
of these, necessitating the priests to le continually
moving amid incredible hardships and fatigues. In 1669
Father Fenelon, worn out with labor, but still full of
zeal, went to Quebec, making his first call upon Bishop
Laval, that he might pay the tribute of respect and rev-

* Mr. Kingsford, the historian, is of the opinion that the missions of
Quints were situated somewhere in the Townships of Fredericksburg
and Marysburg ; but Wentworth Greenhalgh says, in his Report, that
in 1677 he visited all the Cayuga villages on the north shore of Lake
Frontenac (Ontario). He places the first two, thirty miles north of
the Lake, and the others five miles southward of these. These In-
dians were continually changing from place to place, for in addition to
the towns just mentioned, there were six others, stretching from the
Bay of Quinte to Burlington Bay.

tamily of
time had
Ontario.
:hem the
ami kept

ucee8H in
lev were
ptize the
ly of the
a8 at this
Can agora
irio, some
/illages of
oiithward
)ntinually
In 1669
ill full of
Dn Bishop
b and rev-

i missions of
idericksburg
tleport, that
lore of Lake
lies north of
, These In-
1 addition to
ing from the

PAYS DES CINQ

NATIONS IROQUOISES

KENTE

Vfpdl df laMiuiiis

fro"

^i. .'•«« rf

Cmm* ^«r JI»rU*r

Tnm Ml Ai)f ifs"

PJften tm%f r Hmitl>gfi'utt4t .'*t.Atru

THE SULl'iCIANS.

290

orence due to the great prelute anrl his exaltecl oHice ;
after a most att'cctionate and t'rat«'inal greeting, his lonl-
slii]) (Hit'stiontMl him eonet'rning his a])ostolie laliors, in-
timating that lie wislit'tl to preserve the details oF his
work among the Kpiseopal archives. " My Loi'd," replied
the saintly priest, " the greatest kindness you can show
us is to say nothing at all about our work." He was ac-
companied on his return to the Bay of Quintd hy Father
Lascaris d' Ursd,* who, in i)n;paration for the life of a
missionary, wished to learn the Iroijuois language and
become familiar with the habits and methods of life essen-
tial for one who was to devote liimself to the Christian-
izing of the savages. As soon as Father Fenelon arrived
at Quintc a deputation of the Cayugas, representing the
Indians of Oandaseteiagon,f waited upon him, asking
that he would open a mission at their foown. Leaving
Fathers d' Ursd and Trouve at Quintd, lie accompanied the

* Lascaris (I'Ursi- was the son of the Marquis d' Urs(^, and on his
father's side was a descendant of a noble family. His mother ^vas de-
scended from one of the mrst ancient and illustrious families of fJreece,
one member of which sat upon the Imperial throne. He was also re-
lated to the Brehants, a princely house whose motto was, *' The pledge
of a Brehant is better than gold." The great Colheit was his uncle.
The Bay ^'Uroc above Montreal is named after him.

t This village was at the mouth of the Humber which empties into
Lake Ontario about a mile west of the City of Toronto. Dollier de
('asson, in his sketch of the Quints missions says that Father d'Crst';
spent the winter of 1670 at this place. He also mentions that the vil-
lage was peopled with Senecas, but Father Fremin in his Relation of
lf^68, distinctly states that the Indians who crossed over to the south-
ern shore of Lake Ontario were a mixture of Cayugas and Hurona.

300 EAHI.V MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

deputation and passed the winter ministering to the spir-
itual wants of the people at this place.* Fathers d'Cied
and Mariot now joined the mission, and Hying churches
were opened all along the northern Khore of Lake Ontario
and beyond, even to the Grand River. Dollier de Casson
passed on to the Ottawas at Lake Nipissing, and Michel
Barthelemy followed a wandering detachment into the
forests around Rice Lake. But the restless nature of
the tribes was continually compelling them to change
their (]uarters. After years of indescribable labor and
fatigue, joined to an apostolic zeal, they had made com-
pai-atively few converts. It is true they baptized a great
nund^er of children and many dying adults, and in doing
so they considered themselves well rewarded for all their
labors. They found, however, that it was impossible to
follow and minister to the detached bands and parties,
that were continually roving from place to place. They
consulted together and resolved to construct central mis-
sion buildings similar to those built by the Jesuits years
before at St. Mary's-on-the-Wye, and, if possible, to settle
the Cayugas permanently in their neighborhood. A
large quantity of material for this purpose was ordered
from Montreal and was already on its way, when they
all received instructions to return to Montreal,

Here they were informed that the Recollet Fathers
had come back to Canada, and, at the re(juest of the king,

* Abr6g6 De la Mission De Kente, p. 214.

THE SULPICIANS.

301

;he spir-
'S d'Cicd
iluirches
Ontario
3 Casson
I Michel
into the
ature of
I change
bor and
bde coni-
1 a groat
in doing
all their
issible to
I parties,
!. They
tral mis-
its years
to settle
Lood. A
ordered
nen they

Fathers
the king,

Lonis XIV., were appointed to the (Canadian missions.
Fathers Louis Henepin, Luke Buisset, and BVaneis Was-
son, now entered upon the Quints missions and labored
for some time witli the heroism of martyrs, but appar-
ently reaped only a harvest of tares. Most of the Cay-
ugas returned to the sijuthern shore of thr lake, a hand-
ful that remained, scattered themselves among the inland
lakes, and in 1687, all traces of the missionaries, and, it
may be said of the Cayugas of the Quints district, disap-
peared from the pages of history. Many years after-
wards Father Francis Piccjuet, a Sulpician priest, laiilt
his famous " Reduction " at Ogdensburgh, from which
place he hoped to be able to send missionaries to the Iro-
quois lying to the south, and to the Mississagues settled
around the shores of Rice and Mud lakes. This extraor-
dinary priest in four years succeeded in settliiiLf in his
neighliorhood over three thousand Indians, and opened
missions at La Presentation, La Galette, Suegatzi, L'Isle
au Galope, and L'Isle Picquet in the River St. Lawrence.
Such was his great success that the Bishop of Quebec
made an official visit in 1749 to the central mission ac-
companied by his retinue, and spent ten days examining
into the details and working of the large establishment.
In the month of June, 1751, Father Pic(]uet made a voy-
age around Lake Ontario, and instructed whatever In-
dians still lingered in the Bay of Quintd district. He
then crossed to Niagai-a, and in the chapcd of the foit

802 EARLY MISSIONS IX WESTERN CANADA.

preaclu^d to the Seiiecas, and, retuniiiig homti by the

soutli sliore ol' the lake, reache<l La Presentation, wliere

lie was received with affectionate tenderness l)y Al^on-

quins and Iro(jUois. When Quebec was captured by the

English in 1759, Father Pic(|uet had already converted

large numbers of the Pagan Indians, but the unsettled

state of the country precluded, for a time, the hope of

continued success. He was compelled to abandon his

; mission, and on the eighth of May, 17G0, he left Ogdens-

;| burgh for New Orleans, from which place he sailed for

I France.*

* The Indians now on the Quints reservation around Deseronto
and Adolplmstown are chiefly Mohavks, and were settled here by the
English government after the war of 1812. They brought with them,
when they moved from Schoaharie Creek, the silver Communion Ser-
vice of five pieces, which were presented to them in 1712, by Queen
Anne, when she built a chapel for " her children, the Mohawks."
They number about one thousand souls. Father Jogues was killed in
their \illagc about a mile or so east of the mouth of Schoaharie Creek,
IMie present village of Auriesville occupies the site of the old Mohawk
town. " The praying Indians," principally Senecas, settled at Caugh-
nawaga and St. Regis on the St. Lawrence, are the descendants of the
converts of Father Chaumonot and other Jesuit missionaries. They
number nearly three thousand. The Six Nations on the (irand
River are descendants chiefly of Mohawks and Tuscaroras, who were
driven out of North Carolina in 1712, and joined the Iroquois league
the same year. They number three thousand four hundred. The
other Indians in Quebec and Ontario are principally of Algonquin des-
cent. The Indian population of this Province, according to the Dom-
inion Report for 1892, number, all told, seventeen thousand eight hun-
dred. In the Province of Ontario there are 9.077 of these Indians
Protestant, and 6,474 Catholics. In the Province of Quebec there
are 437 Protestants in a total population of 13,600. — See Cetisus Report,
1S90.

by the
I, where
'■ Algon-
1 by the
m verted
nsettled
hope of
don his
Ogdens-
dled for

Deseronto
ere by the
/^ith them,
union Ser-
by Queen
lohawks."
,s killed in
rie Creek,
i Mohawk

at Caugh-
nts of the
ies. They
ihe (4 rand

who were
ois league
Ired. The
nquin des-

the Dom-
eight hun-
se Indians
ebec theie
ms Report,

ilii'iii:

Celt I,.

Jr nr mm

Tom. I II Oil/, u.f

iirav^ fvir .V./i»w

^V^^'^-

.III/./

ff.i- ,!,•

"^'^^'--.^

ttrn.'\t-hf *a <f(_i

('omf*fnu'nl (if .^'' h-rot
Irt J ptiiNiretU Irs

UipulAf _

di* t itflltSf '^'

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DU PAYS QUE MMDOLLil-R DR CASSON P.T l)E| C ALINRE.iVUSSlONN.VlRES DE S^SIJLPICE.

ONT PARC'.OIKU
DreBstf par If rarm'.? MV de Galinee

(Voir U Ifttrr t'c- MT Tnl.m du ta Nor, mhre ih-',,)

In,- r /)i«. I- U^nl\-/„.UIf .1.

CHAPTER XX Vn.

VOVACE OF DOLLIER DE CASSOX AND ,.A .MXEK.
On the Shores of the Nipi.ssing-The Illinois Slave-Preparing for the

Their Reception-father Fremin-l>erils of their Stay-Sickne.s
Sho^e O ~"r r" f^^t "' '""^ ^-Hara-Coasting tlfe Souther.

Muth~o^"th;"'1'^- '''''' ~'^^"^~'" ^^^"^ Returns- At the
Mouth of the Grand R.ver-The Long Winter-The Inscription -

Mane Dablon and Manjuette-Homeward Round- Safe in Mon-

"In the Winter Of 1668, Fathers Dollier de Casson and
Michel Barthelniy joined the Fathers ah-eady at Quints.
Missions were now opened at Ganerns/,e near the pres-
ent town of Port Hope, at Gandaseteiayon, a little west
oM^oroi^^ of the Humber,* and in a few

script o^JL'nTbv D^t '""" '" "'"^ "^P^' P^^^^^^^^^^^
script one sent by Duchesneau to France WliPn Tn Voii 4. ^ ,

his exploring expedition with Fathe, He, p^ ii' IR-S H " T

tario, up the Humber to Lake Simcoe, and thence by the Severn River
to Georgian Bay. After the destruction of the Hurons t^e wlo

303

304 EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

other scattered villages. De Casson, after a short stay at
Quiiitd, left for Lake Nipissing, and passed the winter
with a roving horde of Ottawas, who had come together
after their dispersion by the lro([aois, and settled for a
time on the shores of the lake. During his stay with
this tribe, he shared the wigwam of Nitavikyk, in whose
j^ervice was a young slave captured b}' tlie Iro((Uois dur-
ing their war with the Illinois. This young man was
sent down to Montreal by his master for annnunition,
and while there on the advice of <le Casson, he visited
Father de Queylus, the Superior of the Sulpicians, and
from the graphic description the Indian gave him of his
own country, the populous tribes that dwelt there, their
kindly dispositions, and generous (jualities, de Queylus
resolved to make an effort to open a mission among them.
He now sent for de Casson, who, with Galin^e,* gener-
otisly volunteered to enter upon the great undertaking.
They next consulted Bishop Laval at Quebec, who high-
ly approved of the work they were about to enter upon,
and in a letter written by his own hand, authorized them
to proceed to the distant tribes, at the same time wish-
ing them every success. In this letter, dated the fifteenth

* Rene Galin^e attained eminei>ce in the studies of mathematics
and astronomy. He wrote the sketch of the voyage of himself and de
Casson. One of his contemporaries says of him, " that he was a man
of very amiable character, notwithstanding his great theological know-
ledge, and his aristocratic lineage. " He had a singular talent for me-
chanical arts. ,

voya(;e of doi.liek de casson and (MIJNEE

805

(lay of Mfiy, 1 <)(»!), the illustrious IVisliop i>Mys m liinh
conipliiin'iit to the .Je?suit Fatiu'i'H, when he rtMHicsts the
two Siil|)iciuii,s to confonii as iiiucJi as possible to tlu'ir
})ra(;tict' in (l('alin<^' with the ti'iln's, aiyl when convf-nicnt,
consult th«'Mi ill tlit'if dithculties. He thm (Jisniisscd
tlieni with his lilt'ssino-. \]y a sinnulur coincidmcc, thf
git-at t'Xjiloi'ci' La Salle, who was )iow on his seif^iiiory
at Montreal, was pi'eparino- to start on an ex})e(lition ol"
(hscovery to the same renions tixecj upon hy the Katlieis.
In the antunin of KiOS, a deputation ol" the Seneca trihe
visited Mon^^real, and incidentally spoke to La Salle ol' a
^n-eat I'iver which entered into the sea. They calle(l this
river the Ohio, and stated that a joui-ney to its mouth
would occupy eight or nine nnjuths. They evidently
meant the Mississippi, into which the Ohio i!nn)ties itself.*
La Salle, tired with enthusiasm, now hegan to make
preparations for liis voyage; to this distant river, and
when de Courcelles, the Governor, heaivl of the contem-
plated mission (jf the Sulpicians, he asked them to unite
with La Salle and form one party. Father de Queylus
who was intimately accjuainted with La Salle, had his
own niisoiving.s touching the probabilities of continued
harmony for the expedition. He believed La Salle to be

* De Casson says tliaL the Iroquois always called the river which
was known to the Algonquitia as the Mississippi, the Ohio ; and the
Abbt' Faillon, in his admirable history, tells us that the two words re-
ferred to the one river; Ohio in Irocjuois means beautiful river, and
Mississippi in Algoncjuin is the grand or great river.

;i06

EAHLV MISSIONS IN WKSTEKN CANADA.

oF a cliun^rahlt' iiatui'c, of l'<!arlt'ss couraj^c and (h'tiTiniii-
atioii, l)nt poHHeHHed at times of a <lisp()sition moody and
irritalilf. He therefore adviHe<l liis })r()ther ])ri<!st and
(lalinA;* to make .traeinos of tlieir route, so that thoy
could find tlieir way l»aek in the event ol" any misun<ler-
standin^' hetwetai La Salle and themselves, 'i'he party,
consisting- of twenty-four men in all, set out in .seven
canoes on the seventh of July, KKJl). The time, apart
from the season of the yt^ar, could hardly be said
to lie auspicious, for it was only a tV'W weeks liefore
that a Seneca cliief was foully murdered by some
soldiers stationed at Montreal, and, as if to add to
the seriousness of this murder, two members of the
Oneichi tribe were robbed of tlieir furs and killed
by three Frenchmen, who escaped into the northern
forests. The soldiers were tried at Montreal, con-
demned to death, and in the presence of a number
of the Iro(|uois, were shot, the Indians accepting theii'
death as a satisfactory atonement for their own lo.ss.
Accompanying the expedition wei-e the Senecas, who
told La Salle of the existence of the Ohio. They
.sailed by the Thousand Islands, skirted the southern
shore of Lake Ontario, and, after thirty-five days on
the watei-, reached the mouth of a small river, but a

* At this time Galint^e was not a priest, he had advanced as far as
the deaconate, and had not yet reached the canonical age for the priest-
hood. He was ordained on his return to Montreal.

V()VA(iE OF DOl.LIKR DK CASSON AM) (iAI.INKK.

:i()7

short <liHt!iii(M' from u iifiuliliorinj'' Sciwcm Nilluiif.
On tlu* iiivitntioii of tlh' Sfuccas, (Jjiliii^f jukI Lu Sulh*
hrin^^ino- with tlinn clj^lit of thfir men, .staj'tod n!i the
moniinj; of tlie twfll'tli ol' Auoiist, and arrived at Sou-
tionfoitav, th<' j)rin(nj)al Seneca town, l)ot'oi'e the settint;
oi' the Kun. They expected to he al)le to jnu'chuHe one
or two slaves oi' tlie IMinois trilx', held captixc \>y the
li'0(|iiois, to acconi})any them as (guides on their way to
the Mississi|)])i. 'I'hey were greeted on their ari'ival at
the Seneca village with demonstrations of friendship,
and were harangued hy an old chief, on hehalf of the
tribe, in lan<iuat;e the warmth of which sur))i'ise(l the
Frenchmen. Neither La Salle noi' (}alin<!^e knew the
lan^'ua^'e of the people sufficiently to make themselves
understood. The Jesuit Fatheis had, some years hefore,
opened missions amont*- the Iroijuois, and in this villajije
Father Fremin had already Imilt his chapel and made
many converts. When La Salle's party arrived, they
found, to theii" great chagrin and disappointment, that
Fremin had gone to Onondaga. They learnt'd, however,
that a Frencli laj'^-brother, who was the companion of
the Father, was in the neighborhood and might easily be
found. Tliis man, on his return, explained to the Sen-
ecas tlie object of La Salle's visit. The}' weie detained
here a month, aw-aiting the fulfilment of a proniise made
to them, that they would be furnished with a slave to
conduct them to the Ohio. During their stay in the

808

EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

N'illaoc, a war pai'ty rctui-ned, drat^-oin^- with thnn a
young prisoner, and, U>r tlic first time in liis life, Galin^e
beheld a spectacle that filled him with horror. The
prisoner was tied to a stake and tortured for six hours,
and when he was dead the body was cut up and de-
voured, (ialin^' pleaded in vain foi- li is life, ottered to
buy him at any price, but the Senecas laughed at his
humanity and generosit^^ La Salle noticed that the
Iroijuois were begiiniing to change towards himself
and his party. The nun-der of the Seneca Cliief at Mon-
treal was thrown into his face, and the relatives of the
dead man thi-eatened to kill the Frenchmen in reprisal.
These threats were accompanied with insulting epithets,
till at length matters became so serious that Galin^e and
La Salle reconmiended their men to hold themselves in
readiness for an attack, and, as a measure of jirecaution,
sentinels were appointed for night duty. To add to the
seriousness of their position, the Seneca wai-riors fre-
(piently got drunk on whiskey purchased from the
])utch, and, under the influence of the licjuoi-, were sub-
ject to frightful outbursts of passion. Father Dollier,
unaccustomed to " the hardships and privations of life
among the Senecas, became seriously ill. Galinde did
what he could for him undei- the ciicumstances, reeret-
ting he wasn't a priest, so that he might administer the
sacraments to him, if there should be danger of death.
" I am satisfied," i-eplied Father Dollier, " to abide the

VOYAGE OF DOLLIEll I)E CASSON AM) (iALINEE.

;^09

will of God, and, if necessary, to l)e deprived of all help
for body and soul, if, in His pi'inidence. He so wills it.
H'it l»e nioi-e pleasing to Him, I would rather die in the
forest than in the midst of my friends in the Seminary
of Ville Marie."* Fortunately, Father Dollier recovered,
and the party, despairing of obtaining a gui<le, enlisttMl
the assistance of an Iro(jnois, whose village was at the
head of Burlington Bay, and who promised to show
them a way to the Ohio. 'I'hey left the Seneeas, and
in a few days arrived at the nioutli of the Niagara
River. " A short distance from here," writes Galin^e,
" there is one of the most l)eautiful cataracts or fall of
water tliat exists in the world. FA'en from where we
are now, we can hear the noise of the falls, though they
are twenty miles away." They coasted along the south-
ern shore of the lake, and at length reached the foot of
Burlington Bay. Here they landed, unpacked their bag-
gage and started to visit the iidand town of Onin<iova-
toua, some eight or ten miles away. They remained
there a few days, and leaving the village on the 22nd of
September, Hi()9. arrived on the 24th at the town of
Tenaout()ua.t Here they met the explorer. Joliet, who

*Voyagft de M. M. DoUier et de Galinc^e.

tMr. Kingsford, in his History, Vol I., page 3<So, is of the opinion
that Tenaoutoiia cannot be located. He writes, " Kvidontly this vil-
lage must have been east of the height which trends northward from
Hamilton, in order for it to be distant twenty-five miles from the
Grand River. It cannot be identified, and it is idle to speculate on its %

810 LAllLY MISSIONS IN WESTERN CANADA.

was returning to Montreal, after failing to locate a
copper mine on Lake Superior, which he went in (|Ui'st
of in obedience to the order of Courcelles, the Governor.
The meeting was of a very friendly nature. Joliet, in
his youth, had studied for the priesthood, but, seduced
by the fascinations of a forest life, he changed his mind,
and became an indefatigable explorer and venturous fur
trader. He drew for Cialinde a tracing of those places
in the Upper Lakes which he had visited, telling him, at
the same time, that the Pottawattamies of the upper re-
gion were a friendly people, and that if they visited them
they would receive a hospitable welcome. La Salle now
declared that the state of his health would not permit
him to continue the journey, and, fearing that a winter's
voyage would result disastrously, resolved to return to
Montreal. On the 18th of September, 1669, Father Dol-
lier ottered up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, at which
the greater part of the expedition received Holy Com-
munion. La Salle now endeavored to persuade Dollier
and Galin(^e, with their j)arty, to return with him, but

locality." Mr. James H. Coyne, of St. Thomas, who has devoted much
time and research to the study of early Canadian history, writes me,
'* All the old maps I have seen show the portage in a nearly straight
line, beginning at the head of Burlington Bay, and apparently running
to a bend in the C!rand River, corresponding, perhaps, with that at
Cainsville.'' The reader is referred to a copy of (ialint'-e's famous map,
inserted in this vork, and also to the map of the Bay of Quint6 mis-
sions, drawn, in all probability, by a military engineer, from tracings
* left by Father Trouv6.

VOYAGE OF DOLUER DE CASSON AND GALINEE.

311

they declined to do so. La Salle, accompanied by his
own men, returned to Montreal, DoUier and his paity
left the village, sailed down the Grand River, and, reach-
ing Lake Erie, found it too rough to embark.
. They now encamped on the site occupied by the pre-
sent village of Port Maitland, but at the end of fifteen
days deemed it prudent to change their quarters. Tliey
retired about a mile and a half into the woods, and
here, on the margin of a small stream, threw up a large
hut, which they loop-holed, as a precautionary measure
against attacks. One end of this building was reserved
for a chapel, where Father Dollier celebrated Mass three
times a week, and was consoled with the reflection tliat
he was the first priest who ever offereil up the Holy
Sacrifice on the shorea of Lake Erie. He tells us that
the members of his party regularly assisted at Mass, often
went to confession and Holy Communion. On Sundays
and festivals, High Mass was chanf:ed and a sermon de-
livered. Every night and morning they had prayei's in
common, and sometimes during the day joined in pious
exercises. Fortunately for them, the winter was com-
paratively mild. " If our winter was as severe," they
write, " as it was at Montreal, especially in the month of
February, 1670*, we would all have perished with the

*The winter of UiTO was the most severe ever exjierieuced in Caniulii
In the letters of Marie de l" Incarnation, we read that in the month of
June ice still was found on the pond of the convent garden, and that
their trees aad berry hughes w§r^ kiUed with the cold.

312 EARLY MISSIONS IN WESTP:HN CANADA.

cold. Our axes were almost useless, so that if the wood,
wliich we collected for our fires, was frozen as hard as it
ordinarily is at Montreal, we would not be able to split it."
They remained here five months and eleven days, and
before their departure planted on Passion Sunday a huge
cross, and, after the example of Jac({Ues Cartier, took
possession of tlu' country in the name of Louis the
Fourteenth, whose arms they attached to the religious
emblem. They also fastened to it the following inscrip-
tion : " We, the undersigned, certify to having affixed on
the shores of Lake Erie, the arms of the King of France,
with this inscription: — 'In the year of Grace, 1069,
Clement the IX., occupying the chair of St. Peter, and
Louis the XIW, King of France, M. de Courcelles, being
(loveruor of New France, and M. Talon, Intendant foi-
th«; King: there arrived in this place two missionaries
of tlie Seminary of Montreal, accompanied by seven
other Frenchmen, who were the first of all Europeans to
winter on this coast, which they have taken })os.session
of, as of a land unoccupied, in the name of their King,
by the affixing of his arms which they have attached to
the foot of this cross. As a guarantee of good faith, we

I have put our names to this certificate.

i " 'FRANgiS DOLLIER,

" ' Pretrc dii dioci'se de Nantes, en Brelagne.
' ■ '"DK (iALINEE,

j " ' Diacre dii dioci'se de Rennes, en Krelague. *

VOYAGE OF DOLLIER DE CASSOX AND GAM NEE.

81.S

.agne.

Tilt! next (lay, the Feast of tlie Annunciation, they le-
sumed their voyage, and after a stormy time hmded on
Pele^ Island, worn out with exhaustion.* As they were
greatly fatigued, they left their canoes at the e<lge of the
water, and retired to rest. A storm swept the lake dur-
ing the night, and carried off some of their canoes.
Fortunately, one of the pai'ty awoke and aroused the
others. When they had saved what they could, tliey
found that the canoe containing their sounding lead,
trinkets for the Indians, and their portahle chapel, was
lost. This was, for them, a serious disaster, for without
the gifts they -were carrying, they could do nothing
among the tribes ; moreover, Fatlier de Casson could no
longer say Mass, so they determined to go back to Mont-
real and from there begin anew their journey. As the
route by the Ottawa seemed to them as short as any
other, they came to the conclusion to pass on to Sault
Ste. Marie, where tliey hoped to join some of the Algon-
quin flotillas, that from time to time went down to Mont-
real. They sailed away, made the first recorded ascent of
the Detroit River, and entering Lake St. Clair,f passed
up the river and floated out on to Lake Huron. They
paddled on till they reached the Georgian Bay, sailed

* The place of their landing is marked on Galin^e's map, and was
probably on or near Point Pele^.

tin Sanson's map, this lake is called " le Lac des eaux Salves," or
Salt Water Lake.

314

EARLY MISSIONS IX WESTERN CANADA.

between the Great Maiiitoulin and the nortlieni shore,
and, on the 25tli <lay of May, reached 8te. Marie, where
they were hospitably welcomed by the Jesuit priests,
Fathers Dablon and Marquette. * For the tirst time in
a month and a half. Father de Casson said Mass, and
from his hands Galinde receive<l Holy Connnunion. To
theii" surprise they found here a chapel, a house and a
(juadrangular fort, loop-holed and picketed ; f(uite an ex-
tensive farm was under cultivation, and already sown in
corn, wheat, peas and (jther crops. They were now nine
hundred miles from Montreal, and as their intentions were
to continue their mission to the Mississippi tribes, they
resolved to return hon)e immediately. Enf^aging a guide,
they took an affectionate farewell of Fathers Dablon and
Marquette, and left on the homeward vo^-age, May 2(Sth.
They entered French River, crossed the Nipissing
into the Matawan, and sailing down the Ottawa, reached
Montreal on the eighteenth of June, lia\'ing made the
journey in twenty-two days, up to that time the short-

* Francis Parkman, in his graphic description of this voyage, in "La
Salle and the discovery of the Great West," page 20, most ungraciously
charges the Sulpicians with "ignoring or slighting the labors of the
rival missionaries," because they held their way northward without
landing on the shores of the (Jeorgian Bay, where the Jesuits, thirty
years before, had established their missioi.s. At this time the place
was a desert, and for twenty years no priest or Huron visited the coun-
try. It is the frequently of these illiberal and ungenerous insinuations,
scattered all through Mr. Parkman's writings, that make his works
so objectionable to the Catholic reader.

VOVAf;E OF DOLLIER DE CASSON AND (iALINEE. 315

est o„ reconl. Soon after their arrival, Galiu^e drew
l.is ta,„ou.s „m,> of th„ up,,er lake.s an,l the first that «-a.s
ever traee.l. Father ,le Cassou also wrote the history
of the voyage, but unfortunately no copy is extant.
Ihis famous voyage of Father ,le Casson an,J Galinee
though barren of conversions, stinmlate,! to an extraor-
dinary degree enthusiasn, fo,- .liscovery, and in the fol-
lowing year Talon sent out expeditions to the Hudson
Bay, the Southern Sea, and into the Algon,,uin country
of the north. When we add that many of the French
and English exploring expeditions dated from this voy-
age, we are not claiming too much for the effects pro-
duced by the heroisn, and writings of these Sulpician
priests.

APPENDIX.

We append for tliu conveiiieiicc of our roadei\s a list of
the discoveries of tlio early missionaries :

Fatiieii ,Iosei'H Le Caron, in Kilo, discovered Lake
Nipissing, and was the first European that stood on the
shores of Lake Huron. In !().%, Father John ])oIl)eau
left with a roving hand of Montac^nais and met the Es-
(|uimaux. in the same year Father Joseph Le Caron
built the first church in Canada at Tadousac. Li 1(J40,
Fathers Brel)euf and Chaumonot discovered Lake Erie.
In 1641, Fathers Jogues and Raynd)ault discovered Lake
Superior. Father J ogues, on the . 10th of August, 1(542,
was the first white man that ever saw Lake Georj/e. In
1646, Father Du (^)uen discovered Lake St. John, and
passed two months on its north-western shore preaching
to a Montagnais hand known as the "Tribe of the Por-
cupine." Father Le Moyne, in 1649, discovered the salt
wells at Onondaga. In 1()58, Father Poncet was the
first white man that sailcl down the St. Lawrence
River from Lake Ontario. In 1654, on August Kith,
Father Le Moyne discovered the salt wells at Salina,and
in the same year he was the first white man to ascend

317

818 APPENDIX.

the St. Lawrence River from Montreal. In 1660, the
Jesuits traced on a map the highway of waters from
Lake Erie to Lake Superior, showing Lake Superior. In
1661, Fatlier ])al)lon penetrated ninety miles north of
Lake St. John, preceding Chouart and Pierre D'Esprit
eighteen years. In 1665, Father Allouez confirmed the
report of the existence of copper on the islands of Lake
Superior, and in 1667 discovered Lake Nepigon. Father
de Casson and Galinde made the tirst recorded ascent of
the Detroit River. In this year, Galinee drew the first
map of the country from Montreal to Detroit, including
Lake Ontario and the south shore of Lake Erie. In
1()71, Father Charles Albanel was the first man that
ever made the overland journey by the Sauguenay to
Hudson's Bay. He left Quebec on August 6th, 1671,
reached Lake St. John and wintered there. On June 25th,
1672, he discovered Lake Nemiskan, and on July 5th,
from the mouth of the Rupert River, looked out upon
the Waters of Hudson Bay. In 1671, the Jesuits drew
the first map of the upper lakes, and gave to the world
the first authentic information of the Wisconsin and
Minnesota regions. On June 17th, 1673, Father Mar-
(juette, in company with Louis Joliet, discovered the
Mississippi. Father Louis Henepin was the first Euro-
pean that saw the Niagara Falls. In the same year,
1678, he discovered the Falls of St. Anthony. Father
Joseph Lafitau, in 1716, discovered the plant, ginseng.

aim'p:ndix.

310

(Tranddllox.)
LETTER OF JOHN de BREBEUF,

AND THK

•fKSUIT FATHKRS IN THK HURON COUNTR^^

TO
FATHKIi I'All; r-K .IKINK, sri'KHKtK OF TIIK OUDKI! AT <,>l KUWJ.

" Wo uro, perh.ips, on tlie i)oint of shoddinj,' our blood jind siicri
ticing our lives in the service of our Lord and Saviour, Josus Christ.
It seems that in His goodness He wishes to accept the sacriHce
from me in expiation <.f my great and innumeral)le sins, and to
crown from this hour my i)ast services and the great and glorious
deeds of all our Fathers who are hero. What makes me think
that this wdl not take place is <m account of my innumerable sins,
which render mo altogether unworthy of so wonderful a favor,
and, moreover, I do not believe that God will permit His laborers
to be killed, since, by His grace, there are here some good souls
who ardently accept the seed of the gospel, notwithstanding the
slanders and persecutions of those around us But, also, f f ear
that Divine justice, seeing the obstinacy with which these savages
adhere to their follies, will not permit them to murder us who, with
all our hearts, wish to secure for them the life of their souls. Be
that as it may. I will say that all our Fathers await the result with
great peace and cahnness of mind. Thus with all sincerity, I can
say to your Reverence, that not one among us has any fear of
death. Nevertheless, we all feel keenly for these unfortunate
sav..ges, who have deliberately closed against themselves the door
of grace and instruction. No matter how they may deal with us,
we wdl try, with God's grace, to accept our sufferings patiently for
His sake. It is, indeed, a singular favor to be permitted to suffer
anything or endure pain for love of Him We now, indeed, ap-
preciate the honor He has conferred upon us, in choosing us for

320 AFTENDIX.

His disciples. When, from among hundreds of others, He selected
us to come N> this country and hear with Him His cross, He con-
ferred a great hlessiiig upon us. May His holy will in all things
be done. If it be His will that we should die, the hour of our
death will be a blessed one for us. But, if He should preserve us
to labor in His service, we are satisfied, since we kn(»w that it is
His will. If you should hear that God has crowned our labors, or
rather our desires with martyrdom, return thanks to Him, for it is
for Him we wish to live and die, for from Him comes all urace. I
have given instructions what to do in case any of us should survive.
I have advised our Fathers and our assistants to return home if
they believe it t(j be for the best. I have ordered that the things
which belong to the altar be left in the care of Peter, our first con-
vert, and that particular care be taken to preserve the dictionary
and whatever writings remain on the Huron Language. As for
me, if God will grant me the grace to enter heaven, T will pray to
Him for those poor Hurons, and will not forget your Reverence.
Finally, we beg of you and of the other Fathers to remember us in
your prayers, and, particularly, when ottering the holy sacrifice, so
that, in life and death, (iod will have mercy upon us.
" We remain, in time and in eternity,

•' Your very humble and affectionate servants in J. C,

''Jean de Bre be uk,

*' Francis Joseph Le Mercieh,

"Pierre Chastelain,

*' Charles Garnier,

"Paul Ragueneau.

" From the Residence de Conception, at Ossossane, this 28th day
of October, 1637.

' ' Fathers Peter Pijart and Isaac Jogues, who are now at the
Mission of St. Joseph, feel as we do in this matter."

Al'l'ENDIX.

321

THE VOW

FATHER JOHN \n: HREBEU?\
Made in I6^i!), when in the, Huron Country.

" My Lord Jesus Christ, what return shall I make Tlioe f.)r all
Thou hast done f.jr me ? I will take Thy chalice and call ui)on Thy
name. In the presence of Your Eternal Father and the Holy
CJhost, in the presence of Your Most Holy Mother and of Saint
Joseph, before the Angels, the Apostles and the Martyrs, and in
the presence of my .Saintly Spiritual Fathers, Ignatius and Francis
Xavier, I record a scdemu vow : Never to shrink from martyrdom
if, in Your mercy. You deem me worthy of so great a privilege.
Henceforth, I will never avoid any opportunity that presents itself
of dying for You, but will accept martyrdom with delight, provided
that, by so doing, I can add to Thy glory. From this day. nay
Lord Jesus Christ, I cheerfully yield unto You n.y life, with the
hope that You will grant me the grace to die for You. since You
have deigned to die for me. Grant me, Oh Lord, to so live, that
You may deem me worthy to die a martyr's death. Thus, my
Lord, I take Your Chalice, and call upon Your name. Jesu, Jesu
Jesu." ,, '

John uk Bkebkif.
(Trandatioiifrom Martin's " Vie de P. Brebeuf.")

822

APPENDIX.

SCALING,

TuK cruel practice of scalping was in use among the Scythians
and other semi-civilized people of Asia and Europe. In llawlinson's
Herodotus (H. IV., ch. 04), Scythian scalping is thus described : —
' In order to strip the skull of its covering, he niakes a cut around
the head about the ears, and, laying hold of the scalp, shakes the
skull out. Then, with the rib of an ox, he scrapes the .scalp clean
of flesh, and softening it by rubbing between the hands, u.ses it
thenceforth as a naplvin. The Scythian is proud of these scalps,
and hangs them from his bridle-rein ; the greater the number of
such napkins that a man can show, the more highly is he esteemed
amcmg them. Many make themselves cloaks, like the cajjes of our
peasants, by sowing a ([uantity of these scalps together." It w(mld
be very ditticult to trace it back to its source among the tribes of
North America. In all probability, scalping originated when small
parties left their own country to attack the enemy at home ; the sur-
viving warriors brought back with them the scalp-locks of those
whom they h-id killed, to certify to the truth of their statements.
The custoni was not universal, for, according to Father Lalemant, in
his Relation of 102*), p. 3, the Algoncjuins of the lower St. Liwrence
cut ort' the heads of their enemie^. In Father Peter Biard's Rela-
tion (bound up with the Canadian edition) there is no mention made
of scalping, though he dwelt for almost two years among the Mic-
macs and Etchemins. In the English ver8i(;n(p. 287) of Lescarbot,
I tind that among the Maritime tribes th(?custom of sc>tli)ing did
not obtain, l)ut that of beheading did and on page '29'S. he remarks
that they, on returning from war, gave the heads of the enemy to
the chiefs, but, th;vt before doing so, they removed the .scaljjs, tan-
ned them, and hung them as trophies in their lodges. The Indi.in
warrior treasured his scalj)-locks as valuable trophies, and even to-
day, the Indians of the Plains and the North-west prize the scalps
they have taken as great treasm-es After describing his battle
with the lro(|U()is, Champlain (Edition 1()1.'J, p. 23.'{) tells of the
scalping of prisoners by the Hunms, but he says (p. 286) the Algon-
• luinscut ott' the heads of the slain, which they carried back on

APPENDIX.

82:i

Icythians
rt'linaoii's
ribod : —
it around
ijikes the
!alp clean
3, uses it
ise scalps,
unibev of
esteemed
pes of our

It would
J tribes of
,'hen small
a ; the sur-
;s of those
tatements.
,lemant, in

Lawrence
ird's Rela-
itioii made
gthe Mic-
Lescarbc >t,
3<tlping did
le remarks
e enemy to
icalps, tan-

he ludi.iu
nd even to-
3 the seal 1)3
r his battle

tells of the

the Algon-
ed back on

poles attached to the bows of tlieir canoes. But, in anotlier battle,
in which only the Algonijuins t(jok part against the enemy, the
heads of the foe were cut off and then the scal])s removed. This
was the practice of the Scythian.s. The Iro(|uois and Hurons, as
we read in the letter of Father Jogues .scalped tlieir prisoners
while yet alive. Gookin also states that the Mohawk.s often scalped
their enemies before they were dead. Father Le Jenne, in his Re-
laticm, 1<5 2, p. 5, says he was ]»resentwhen the Montagnais tortur-
ed three Iroquois prisoners, and while they were yet living the
Montagnais tore the scalps from their heads and then covered the
exposed skulls with hot ashes. In a note to Herodotus, Rawlinson
refers to the use in Athenseu and Euripedes of the word Aposcijfliizo,
in the sense of "1 Scalp." (Jookin (Mass. Hist. Col., Vol. I , page
IC)-') speaks of the Mohawks scalpiig Massachusetts Indians, and
says it was a custom unknown to the New England Tribe. When
the M(»hawks martyred Father Jogiuis and Lahiude, they did not
scalp them, but cut otl" their heads and fastened them on the i)icket.s
of the town. Jtoger Williams, in his " Key into the Language of
America," published in 1643, says that the Narragansetts always cut
oil' the heads of their enemies.

" 7'(«)»M'7if'».sse*/— to cut off' or behead — which ilu^y are mo.st skilful
to do in tight ; for, whenever they wound and their arrows stick
fast in the bodies of their enemies, they follow their arrows and,
falling u])on the person wounded and jerking his head a little aside
they, in a twinkling of an eye fetch oil' his head, thougl\ with but
a sorry knife " (R I. Hist , Call., Vol. 1., pp. 59-152). In Fatlier
de la Roche d'Allion's letter, it will be noticed that he speaks of the
Neuti'als cutting oft" heads. It would, therefore, seem that in his
time (1<)2 >), the Neutral-Hurons had not adopte<l the habit of
scalping. '

324 APPENDIX.

TRANSLATION

REGNAUT'8 LETTER

f;lVIN(; THE HISTOKY OF THE MARTYRDOM OF

FATHERS BREBEUF AND LALEMANT.

Veritable account of the; martyrdom and most happy
death of Father Jean de Bueijeuf and of Father
Gabriel Lalemant, in New France, in the Country
of the Hurons, by the Irocjuois, enemies of the Faith.

" Father Jean de Brebeuf and Father Gabriel Lalemant had set
out from our cabin to go to a small bourg, called St. Ignace,
distant from our cabin about a short quarter of a league, to instruct
the savages and the new Christians of that bourg. It was on the
16th day of Marcli, in the nKjrning. that we perceived a great tire
at the place to which these two good Fathers had gone. This tire
made us very uneasy. We did not know whether it was enemies,
or if the tire had taken in some of the huts of the village. The
Rev. Father Paul Ragueneau, our Superior, immediately resolved
to send some one r.o learn what might be the cause. But no sooner
had we formed the design of going there to see, than we perceived
several savages on the road coming straight towards us. We all
thought it was the Iroquois who were coming to attack us, but
having considered them more closely, we perceived that it was
Hurons, who were flying from the fight, and who had escaped from
the combat. These poor savages caused a great pity in us. They
were all covered with wounds. One had his head fractured, another
his arm broken ; another had an arrow in his eye ; another had his
hand cut off by a blow from an axe. In fine, the day was passed

APPENDIX.

325

NT.

)iii happy
)t' Father
e Country
tlie Faith.

lant had set
St. lajnace,
1, to instruct
was on the
a great tire
This tire
v&s enemies,
iUage. The
;ely resolved
ut no sooner
ve perceived
us. We all
ack us, but
that it was
scaped from
1 us. They
ired, another
jther had his
y was passed

receiving into our huts all these poor wounded people, and in look-
ing with compassion towards the tire and the place where were these
two good Fathers. We saw the tire and the barbarians, but we
could not see anything of the two Fathers. Here is what these
savages told us of the taking of the Bourg St. Ignace, and oi Fathers
Jean de Bi'ebeuf and (Jabriel Lalemant : — The Iro(|Uf)is came to
the number <»f twelve hundred men ; took our village ; took Father
de Bi'ebeuf and his companion ; .set fire to all the huts. They pro-
ceeded to discharge their rage on these two Fathers, for they took
them both and stripped them entirely naked, and fastened each to
a i)ost. They tied both of their hands together. They U)re the
nails from their fingers. They beat them with a shower of
blows from cudgels, on the shoulders, the loins, the legs, and
the face, there being no part of their body which did not endure
this torment They told us further : Although Father Brebeuf
was overwhelmed under the weight of these bloAvs, he did not cease
continually to speak of God, and to encourage all the new Christians
who were ca^jtives like himself, to sufier well, that they might die
well, in order to go in company with him to Paradise. Whilst the
good Father was thus encouraging these good people, a wretched
Huron renegade, who had remained a captive with the Iiuxjuois,
and whom Father Brebeuf had formerly instructed and baptized,
hearing him speak of Paradise and Holy Baptism, was irritated
and said to him " Ech(m," that is Father Brebeuf's name in Huron,
" Thou sayst that Baptism and the sufferings of this life lead straight
to Paradise. Thou will go soon, for T am going to baptize thee and
make thee suffer well, in order to go the sooner to thy Paradise."
The barbarian having said that, took a kettle full of boiling water,
which he poured over his body three different times, in derision of
the Holy Baptism. And each time that he baptized him in this
manner, he said to him in bitter sarcasm, "Go to Heaven, for
thou art well baptized." After that they made him suffer several
other torments. The first was to make axes rod hot and apply
them to the loins and under the arm-pits. They made a collar of
these red hot axes and put it on the neck of the good Father. This
is the fashion in which I have seen the collar made for other
prisoners : They make six axes red hot, take a large withe of green

326 APPENDIX.

wood, pass the six axes thmut^h the lar<^e end of the withe, take
the two ends t( (pother, and then put it nvoi the neck of tlie suti'erer.
1 liave seen no torment whicli more moved me to compassion than
that. For you see a man bound naked to a post who, having this
collar on his neck, cannot tell what posture t<i take.

" l\>r, if he lean forward, those above his shouldei's weigh the
more on him ; if he lean back, those on his breast make him
suil'er the same torment ; if he keep erect, with(»ut leaning to one
side or the other, the burnii g axes, api)lied eipially on both sides,
give him ii. double torture. After that, they j)ut on him a belt full
of pitch and resin and set lire to it, which roasted his whole body-
All these torments, Father Brebeuf endured like a rock, in-
sensible to Hre and Hames, which astonished all the blood-thirsty
wretches who tormented him. His zeal was so great that he
preached continually to these infidels to try to convert them. His
executioners were enraged again.st him for constantly speaking to
them of God and of their conversion. To prevent him speaking
more, they cut oft" both his upper and lower li})s. After that, they
set themselves to strip the Hesh from his legs, thighs and arms, to
the very bone, and put it to roast before his eyes, in order to eat
it. Whilst they tormented him in this manner, these wretches
derided him, saying, "Thou seest well that we treat thee as a
friend, since we shall be the cause of thy eternal happiness ; thank
us, then, for these good othces wu render thee, for the more thou
shalt suffer, the more will thy God reward thee." These villains,
seeing that the good Father began to grow weak, made him sit
down on the ground, and one of them, taking a knife, cut off the
skin covering his skull. Another one of these barbarians, seeing
that the good Father would soon die, ntade an opening on the upper
part of his chest, and toi-e out his heart, which he roasted and ate.
Others came to drink his blood, still warm, which they drank with
both hands, saying that Father Brebeuf had been very courageous
to^ndure so nmcii pain as they had given him, and that, in drink-
ing his blood, they would become courageous like him. This is
what we learned of the martyrdom and most happy death of Father
Jean de Brebeuf, by several Christian savages worthy of belief, who
had been constantly present from the time the good Father was
taken till his death.

le, take
jutterer.
on thiin
■ing this

iigh the
ike him
g to one
th sides,
belt full
le body-
jck, iu-
l-thirsty
thiit he
111. His
jvking to
speaking
lat, they
irms, to
er to eat
vretches
lee as a
; thank
jre thou
villains,
him sit
off the
seeing
le upper
imd ate.
,nk with
.rageous
I drink-
This is
Father
ef, who
ler was

APPENDIX.

327

"These good Christians were prisoners to the Iroquois, who were
taking them into their country to be put to death. But our (j!od
was gracious enough to enable them to escape by the way, and they
came to us to recount all that I have taken down in writing.
Father Brebeuf was taken on the 10th day of March, in the morn-
ing, with Father Lalemant in the year 1(>49. Father Brebeuf
died the same day of his caj)ture about four o'clock in the iifter-
noon. These barbarians threw the remains of his body into tlie
tire, but the fat which still remained in his body extinguished the
tire, and he was not consumed. I do n<jt doubt that all that wliich
I have just related is true, and 1 would .seal it with my Idood, for
I have seen the same treatment given to the Inxiuois j^risoners
whom the Huron savages had taken in war, with the excejttiou of
the boiling water, which I have not seen poured on anyone. I am
about to describe truly what I saw of the martyrdom and most
ha)>py death of Father Jean de Brebeuf and of Father Gabriel
Lalemant. On the next morning, when we had as.surance of the
departure of the enemy, we went to the spot to seek for the remains
of their bodies, to the ])lace where their lives had been taKen.
We found them both Vjut a little apart horn one anothei'. They
were bi'ought to our hut and laid, uncovered, upon the Itark of
trees, where I examined them at leisure, for more than tuo hours
time, to see if what the savages told us of their martyrdom and
death were true. I examined first the body of Father de Hrtlumf,
which was pitiful to see, as well as that of Father 1 alemant.
The body of Father de Brebeuf had his legs, thighs and arms
stripped of flesh to the very bone. I saw and touched a large imm-
ber ((piantite) of great blisters which he had on sevcu-al jtlacos on
his body, from the boiling water which these babrarians had pour-
ed over him in mockery of holy haj)tism. I saw and touched the
wound from a belt of bark, full of pitch and resin, which roasted
hi& whole Kody. T saw and touched the marks of burns from the
collar of axes placed on his shoulders and stomach. T saw and
touched his two lips, which they had cut olf because he c nstautly
spoke of God whilst they made him sutt'er. I saw and touched all
parts of his body, which had received more than twcj hundred
blows from a stick, I saw and touched the top of his scalped

328

APPENDIX.

(escorchee) head, T saw and touched the t»pening which these bar-
barians had made to tear out his lieart. In fine, I touched and saw-
all the wounds of his body, such as the savages had told and as-
sured us of. We buried these precious relics on Smiday, the 21st
March, 1649, with much consolation. I had the happiness of
carrying them to the grave and inhuming them with those of Father
Gabriel Lalemant. When we left the country of the Hurona, we
lifted both bodies from the ground and set them to boil in strong
lye. All the b<mes were well scraped, and the care of having them
dried was given to me. I put them every day into a little oven made
of clay, which we had, after having heated it slightly, and when in a
state to be packed they were enveloped separately in silk stuff. Then
they were put into two small chests, and we brought them to Que-
bec, where they are held in great veneration. It is not a doctor of
the Sorbonne who has composed this, as you may easily see. It is
a remnant from the Irociuois, and a person who has lived more
than thought, who is and ever shall be, sir,

Your humble and very obedient servant,

Christopher Rbgnaut,

Coadjutor Brother with the Jesuits of Caen, 1678, Companion of
Fathers Brebeuf and Lalemant above mentioned.

APJ'EXDIX.

329

TRANSLATION

— OF —

FATHER DABLON'8 RELATION,

Recording the dmth of Fatlwr Marquette.

Whex the Illin..i3 had taken leave of the Father, he continued his
voyage and socm after reached the Illinois Lake (Lake Michigan),
on which he had nearly a hundred leagues to n.ake by an unknown

Zl ;^>. Tl '" ''^' '''' '''''''' '^^'^ '^f '''- ^-^^' having
gone thither by the western. His strength, however, failed so

much that his men despaired of being able to bring him alive to
heir journey's end ; for, in fact, he became so weak and exhausted
that he could no longer help himself, nor even stir, and had to be
handled and carried like a child. He nevertheless maintained
in this state an admirable equanimity, joy and gentleness, consolin..
his beloved companions, and exhorting them to sufier courageous^
all the hardships of the way, assuring them, moreover, that our
Lord would not forsake them when he would be gone. During the
voyage, he began preparing more particularly for death, passing
his time m communing with our Lord, His Holy Mother, his angel
guardian and the saints. He was often heard to pronounce these
7n ' ,^ '' ^^^^ "'-^ Redeemer liveth," or, - Mary, Mother
of Grace, Mother of God, remember me." Besides a spiritual
chapter read for him every day, he, towards the close, asked them
to read him a meditation on the preparation for death from a book
which he always carried with him ; he recited the office of the bre
viary every day ,• and, although he was so low that both sight and
strength had greatly failed, he did not omit this duty till the last
day of his life, when his companions induced him to cease, as it
was shortening his days. A week before his death he took the
precaution to bless some holy water, to serve him during illness, in
his agony, and at his burial, at the same time instructing his com-
panions how to use it. The eve of his death, which was on a Fri-
U

330 APPENDIX.

day, hu told them, all radiant with joy, that it would take place
on the morrow. During the whole day he conversed with them
about the manner of his burial, the way in which he should be
laid out, the place to be selected for his interment ; he told them
how to arrange his hands, feet and face, and directed them to raise
a cross over his grave. He even went so far as to ask them, only
three hours before he expired, to take his chapel-bell as soon as he
would be dead, and ring it Avhile they carried his l)ody to the
grave. Of all this he conversed so calmly and collectedly, one would
have thought that he spoke of the death and burial of another, and not
of his own. T'aus did he speak to them as they sailed on till, pass-
ing the uK^uth of a river, he saw a mound on its bank, he thought
suitable for his grave, he told them it was the place of his last re-
pose. They wished, however, to ])asson, as the weather permitted
it, and the day was not far advanced ; but God raised a contrary
wind, which obliged them to return and enter the river* pointed
out by Father Mar({uette. They then carried him ashore, kindled
a little fire, and raised a wretched bark cabin for hini, where they
laid him as comfortably as they could ; but they were so overc<jme
by sadness that, as they after wards said, they did not know what
they were dt)ing. The Father being thus stretched on the shore,
like St. Francis Xavier, as he had always so ardently desired, and
left alone amid those forests — for his companions were engaged in
unloading — he had leisure to repeat all the acts with which he had
employed himself during the preceding days. When his compan-
ions afterwards came up, quite dejected, he consoled them and
gave them hopes that God would take care of them after his
death, in those new and unknown countries. He gave them his last
instructions, thanking them for all the charity they had shown him
during the voyage, begged their pardon for the trouble he had
given them, and directed them to ask pardon, in his name, of all
our Fathers and Brothers in the Ottawa country, and then dis-
posed them to receive the sacrament of penance, which he admin-
istered to them for the last time. He also gave them a paper on

Chiulux oix says that this river in his time was a sniall stream known as Marquette
creels.

:e plivce
h them
ould be
Id them
to raise
m, only
jii as he
J to the
le would
, and not
ill, pass-
thought
3 last re-
ermitted
contrary
' pointed
, kindled
lere they
iverc(jme
LOW what
lie shore,
ired, and
igaged in
;h he had
compan-
;hem and
after his
m his last
lown him
e he had
me, of all
then dis-
le admin-
paper on

ib Alarqviette

APPENDIX.

331

which he had written all his faults since his last confession, to be
given to his Superior to induce him to pray more fervently f(jr him.
In fine, he promised not to forget them in heaven, and, as he was
very kind-hearted and knew them to be worn out with the toil of
the preceding days, he bade them go and take a little rest, assuring
them that his hour was not so near, but that he would wake them
when it was time, as, in fact, he did two or three hours after, call-
ing them when about to enter his agony. When they came near,
he embraced them for the last time, while they melted into tears
at his feet. He then asked for the holy water and his reli<juary,
and, taking oft' his crucifix, which he wore around his neck, he
placed it in the hands of one, asking him to hold it constantly
raised before his eyes. Then, feeling that he had but little time
to live, he made a last effort, clasped his hands, and, with his eyes
fixed sweetly on his crucifix, he pronounced aloud his profession
of faith, and thanked the Divine Majesty for the singular grace
He bestowed upon him in allowing him to die in tlie Society of
Jesus ; to die in it as a missionary of Jesus Christ, and, al)<»ve all,
to die in it, as he had always asked, in a wretched cabin amid the
forests, deprived of all human aid. Then he became silont, con-
versing inwardly with God ; yet, from time to time, words escaped
him, " Sustinuit anima mea in verbo ejus — My soul hath relied
on his word," or *' Mater Dei, memento mei — Mother of God, re-
member me," which were the last words he uttered before entering
on his agony, which was very calm and gentle. He had prayed
his companions to remind him, when they saw him about to expire,
to pronounce frequently the names of Jesus and Mary. When he
could not do it himself, they did it for him ; and when they
thought him about to die, one cried aloud, " Jesu, Maria," which
he several times repeated distinctly, and then, as if at those sacred
names something had appeared to him, he suddenly raised his eyes
above his crucifix, fixing them apparently on some object which he
seemed to regard with pleasure, and thus, with a countenance all
radiant with smiles, he expired without a struggle, as gently as if
he had sunk into a quiet sleep (May 18, 1 075).

INDEX.

CHAPTER I.

THE NATIVE TKIBKS.

oT;h??rrs ^t '"^:^^^'^«'^"«-T'-^«^— ^'oral Conditio :
Bnl/ T^ i;V ' ^^''^'^^^' ^"^ Cruelty-Their Thirst for
Blood-lheu- Rehgious Conceptions-Their Redeeming Feaue
-Rousseau's "Ideal Man." .... '"*>^^*^"'es

!»

CHAPTER II.

THE FItAN'CISCAN.SOK nKTOLI.ET.S.

The Missionaries-Francis of Assium-His Conver.sion-His Lov.
for he Poor His Visit to Pope Innocent the a-i.ir.l-Found W

Joseph Le Caron-His Journey to the Hurons-LeCaron with

Hard^r'V^?""^^""-'^^ ^^^^^" ^'"-g ^^- Tinnontate _
Hardships of Missionary Life-Sagard and Vi.l-The Reeollets
m the Maritime Provinces-End of the Recollet Missio

CHAPTER III.

THE JEsriTS.

Diffusion of Their Order-Ignatius Loyola-His Conversion-His

o thT T ^P^«^^^«,«^ Jesuitism-Opinions of Historians-Arrival
Alln. V" ^^"^^--J-- d« Biebeuf-His Mission to the

Algoniums-Leaves for the Huron Couniry-The Voyage -
Arrives la Huronia. ... "^^

CHAPTER IV.

THE HUUOXP.

_ ini^ illKUXS.

t'!5 m""';"^ Grou„ds-The Hu™, League-Thoir Lodgc-Oki.
..!„?"« """." «°P''"«"»»»-Sooial and Political Organ.

HuZ W "T*^""""™ "' Woman Among the Hurof.-

?riZ«:r:~'r" ^:lr„^"'""'^ '- War-Tre.tment ot

Prisoners-Torture of Iroquois Prisoner.

333

834

INDEX.

CHAPTER V.

DK LA ROCHE DALLION. PAGE

The Missionaries— Dallion Leaves for the Neutrals— His Journey-
Arrival at the Neutral Villages— Wonder of the Indians— Their
Habits of Life— Souharissen— His Authority— Evil Reports—
Dallion in Danger— Is Roughly Treated— Report of His Death-
Description of the Country— Return to the Hurons. - - 49

CHAPTER VI.

r.REBEUF WITH THE HURONS.

Alone with the Tribe— Reflections— Instructing the Indian— Their
Affection for Him— Returns to Quebec— Sails with Champlain
for France.

CHAPTER VII.

AGAIN WITH THE HURON'S.

Quebec Delivered to the French— The Priests Leave for Huronia—
The Voyage— Brebeuf Abandoned— Arrives at the Village of the
Hurons— Daniel and Davost— Devotion of the Fathers— The
Medicine Men— Opposition to the Priests— Their Home Life-
Curiosity of the Indiana— The Magnet and the Clock.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE JESUITS AND THE HURONS.

Father Jogues— His Arrival in the Country— Leaves for Huronia
—Difficulties of the Voyage -Brebeuf 's Letter— Jogues' Arrival
in Huionia— The Drought— The Medicine Men and the Red
Cross— The Epidemic— The Priests Charged with Conspiracy—
The Chiefs in Council— Boldness of Brebeuf— The Council Dis-
solved—Priest and Assassin— Doomed to Deith— Waiting For
the "Clear Call," - •

CHAPTER IX.

FEAST OF THE DEAD.

The Eclipse— Brebeuf Adopted by the Tribe— Narrow Escapes—
The Census— Feast of the Dead— Manner of Private Interment
—Communal Burial— Gathering of the Tribes— Burial Ceremon-
ies—Last Scene.

INDEX.

885

PAr;E

CHAl'TKR X.

-3 , "•••HOIS.M OF TIIK I'UIK.STS. ,.,,,.

Resu once Saiute Marie-Thc Tobacco Xati.,n-.ioguo.s and (;a.. '
mei-Their Journey to the I'etuns-The •' lilack Sorcerers"-
On the Margin of Death-Return to the Hurons-.logue« and
Raymbault-Their V^oyage to hake Superior-Smallpox Anlg
he Hurons-Heroie Devotion of the Priests-ThreltB of Z"
lenco-Council of the Chiefs-Brebeufs Harangue. - - 89

CHAPTER XI.

THE NKL-TRALS.

Iheir Country-Wealth of Forest and Stream-Luxuriant (irowth
o ^ me and Trmber-Variety of Animal Life-Uirds of ^'arie.

. Plumage-Neutral Origin-Their Habits of Life-Physical De
veopment-rattooing- Vapor Baths-Respect for Parents-De-

Womer' '.' ''"" ^'^"^^^-^^^--^ «f Endurance-Neutral

■ • • • • 100

CHAPTER XIL

NKUTRALS CONTINUED.

lh«rThcogony--Sacnfioe,_Sorcerer»-LawsofHospi.alitj-S„c.
ml Qualme»-Love for their Dead-Organidng a War Party-
On he Uar Path-Return of the Braves-Mourning for Their

T rTort V ' '1 '17 """ '"° '^'"'°° ■" I'-e-PrLne
tie Wat ^'l'-^' '''' "'"■ "■' Iro,uoi.-De.tructio„ of

■ 108

CHAPTER XIII.

MISSIOX TO THE NEUTRAL.S.

Brebil ^h--onot Their Journey to the Neutral Country-
Tlken for l"""-^"^ '' Kandoucho-Their Reteption-
the rli!f ^'''I'Z'Z^^''"'''^''''' '^ Witchcraft-Assembly of
Br!h^' r '"^ «peaks-Condemned to Death-Dream of
Brebeuf-Suspension of the Sentence. - . . .

118

CHAPTER XIV.

THE JESUITS AND THE NEUTRALS.

red°'F""',?'"lT'" " ''''"''" «''8«">-T''e Jesuits Threat-

NeutTaW '^ '' t'^T -^"™="^ <" '"" Neutrals-Life in a
Iseutral Lodge-More Trials and Sufferings-Woeful Plight of

Itin Thr'Tir'''. """^ Borne-Eve.7 Door Closed
Ap-amst Them-Subhme Resignation of the Priests.

I2e

^'^^ IMDEX.

CHAPTER XV.

THE JESTJTTS AND THE NEUTRALS-CONTINrED pv.E

Failing Hopes-The Priests Lose Heart-Begin the Homeward
Journey-Sufferings on the W'ay-Brebeuf's Famous Vision-
Ihe Floating Cross-Visions of Other I)ays-On the March to
fit. ^\ ilham-A Friend at Last-Kindness of a Neutral Woman
-Entering Again on the Homeward Trail-Tiie Via Dolorosa-
Accident to Brebeuf-Home Again-Christian Hurons Among
the Neutrals- Night Falls on the Day of (irace. - - 137

CHAPTER XVL

THE AMJOXQUIXS.

Algon(iuin Tribes-Extent of Territory Claimed by Them-No
Military Unity-Their Theogony-Schoolcraft's Opinion-" Kit-
chi-Manitou " and - Mitchi-Manitou "-Algonquin Sacrifices- '
The "Medicine Men "-Offerings to the Manitous-Dreams-
rhe Nipissings-Their Hunting Grounds-A Nation of Sorcerers
-Sagard— Father Pijart and the Nipissings. - . . .148

CHAPTER XVIL

THE XIPISSIXOS.

The Bedouins of the Forest -Mission of the Holy Ghost-Feast of
the Dead-Dance of the Nipissings-Pijart and Garreau-With
the Roving Horde-Heroism of the Priests-Dispersion of the
Nipissings-Father Claude Allouez-His Story. - . . igg

CHAPTER XVIIL

THE MARTYR OK THE MOHAWK.

St^Mary's-On-the- Wye-Father Jogues-Before the Altar of the
Blessed Sa^rament-On the Way to Quebec-The Return-Cap-
ture of the Huron Flotilla-Jogues a Prisoner-His Indifference
to Danger-Couture-His Heroic Devotion-On to the Mohawk
^il ages-Atrocious Torture-The Fishing Party-At a Mohawk
^ illage-Plight of an Algonquin Woman-Excruciating Suffer-
ings of Jogues-Suspended in the Air-Death of Een^ Goupil—
Jogues Attachment to His Friend-Searching for the Dead-
Ransomed by the Dutch-In France Again-Jogues and the Sup-
erior General-Jogues Sails for Canada-Sent as Ambassador to
the Mohawks-Returns to Quebec-Ler.ves to Open the Mohawk
Mission-His Prophetic Utterance- Tortured Again-In a Mo-
hawk Lodge-Reflections-Death of the Great Priest. - - 189

INDEX.

PA(JE

eward
sion —
■ch to
'oman
'osa —
Linong

137

—No

'Kit-
ces —
kms —
erers

148

st of
^Vith
f the

156

the
Cap-
ence
awk
awk
fFer-

id—
5up-
[• to
iwk
Mo-

337

CHAPTER XIX.

, A\ ITALIAX PRIEST.

Father Joseph Bressani-His Arrival in On«K t '''^'''"

onia-Taken by the Iroc.uois T«fL ^"«^«<^-Leave8 for Hur-

Fingerless Hand-Atroit^^To! :^r '^^^^^^^ ^' ^'^^^

Humanitv of the Dutch T„ h • .""'<• Roman's Ward-
Quebec JpUad^fo^ta^rT Y"-^" "" ^^"^ '->
>ion-On the Ottawa-The Zhl^ " TT "'' '" "" »"«•
Italy Again-Father B Jj^iX,^"'""-^"' Meetiag-m

- 187
CHAPTER XX.

Village-Death of Father DanMSltrlr"""* "' * ^"""'"^

St Joeeph Mohawkea:dltt-C ^t'u*:: t^ f: ft" "'
Brebeuf and Lalemant Taken Mar+ ^»Pt"re of St. Ignatms-

mant-Heroism of the Priest ^^''^^^^^ ^''^^^^ -°d Lale

CHAPTER XXI.

I>««TRUCTION OF THE HUROXS.

Alarm at St. Mary's-FIieht of fi.. t
Mary's-0n-the-Wye-Le7ve For r. ^^"°''-^"^"^"« «' «t-
News-Storming of a PetunT- i"''"'" I«land-AIarming

nier-His Hero^ Death DeaT"^^'''-^'^'"' '^ ^'''''' '^"^
0«.Ion and Oarreau-^ Ch'^.t^^^^^^^^

of the Hurons-Devotion nf n JWand-fhe Famine-Plight
Christian leland-^rfe t° and Z" '^"'^'^-^'""''onmenfof
-Jesuits with the Cthera Tr!^ n ""u""""" ^^ '<> «»»'>«-=
Claude Alloue^ and tniron^^tr'*'''': "' F'*- Menard-

200

169

CHAPTER XXII.

On Manitoulin Island-CapTurT „T?C p
Annaetaha-Strateg, and D^ILnl . ■ f."« P'^y-Stephen

216

338 INDEX.

PAGH

Piety— The Eries and the Hurons— War between the Eriea and
Iroquois— Storming of Erie Towns— Slaughter and Destruction
of the Eries. 23.S

CHAPTER XXIII.

FLKiHT OF TJIE TINNONTATES.

The Tobacco Nation— The Missions— Departure of the Tribe-
Pursued by Ihe Iroquois— Appeal to the Andastes— Driven Back
by the Dacotah— Attacked tlie Sioux— Their Retreat— Devoured
by Famine— Rene Menard— His Visit to the Tribe— Marquette
and the Tinnontates— The Tribe at Detroit— Their Extinction. 243

CHAPTER XXIV.

CIIAUMONOT AND LE MOYNE

From the Old France to the New— Safe with Friends— Chaumonot
At Loretto— Northward Bound— Life with the Tribes— A Close
Call— At the Mission of St. Francis Xavier— Flight of the Xav-
ierites— Following His Flock— Peace at Last -Tlie Onondaga
Deputies— Father Le Moyne— The Deputies and the Priest— On
the Way to the Irociuois— The Fishing Village — Le Moyne with
the Onondagas— Speech of Le Moyne— Harangue of the Onon-
daga Orator — Propositions — Discovery of the Onondaga Salt
Wells.— Return of Le Moyne, 253

CHAPTER XXV.

CHAUMONOT.

Le Moyne and the Huron Chief— Appeal of the Neophyte— Chau-
monot and Dablon Leave for Onondaga — At a Fishing Village —
The Ambassadors— Their Reception— Chaumonot's Eloquence-
Arrive at Onondaga— The Iroquois League— Their Form of Gov-
ernment—Solemnity of Their Assemblies— Torture of An Erie — -
Chaumonot's Great Speech— Reply of the Onondaga Chief —First
Catholic Church in New York— Devotion of the Exiles— Threat-
ening Clouds— Charge of the Onondagas— French Colonists Leave
for the Iroquois Country — The Missionaries — In the Council
House of the Onondagas — Chaumonot's Address —Instructing the
Huron Exiles — Conspiracy of the Iroquois— Chaumonot's Reflec-
tions—Slaughter of the Huron Exiles — In the French Fort —
i Strategy of the French— The Flight— Safe at Home— The Last
4^" -o|Jthe Hu^ on Veterans— Hu Death and Burial. - • - 267

PAGH

233

243

253

INDEX.

CHAPTER XXVI.

33l>

THE SrM'ICIAXS. ,.^,,j,

Jean Jacques Olier-Invited to Become a Bishop-Consults St. Vin- ' '
cent de Paul-Declines the Honor-At the Church of St. Ger-
main-(les-Pn'.s-The Mysterious Voice-At the Cliateau of Meu-
don-A Strange Meeting-The Mass and Communion-01ier'«
Appearance-His Intense Piety-La Dauversi^.e-A Command
and \ ision-lhe Consultation-The Result- Arrival of the Sul-
picians-Influence of the Order-Formation of Priestly Charac-
ter-Mission of the Bay of Quint.'^-Bishop Laval-Fenelon and
Irouvt— Among the Cayugas-Fenelon and Laval-At the
Mouth of the Humber-The Sulpicians Recalled-Recollets Re-
enter the Field-End of the Quinte Missions-Father Picnuet-
His Famous -Reductions "-His Extraordinary Success-Voy-
age of Picquet-Picquet Leaves for France-End of His Famous
Mission.

- 286

CHAPTER XXVIL

VOYAGE OF DOLLIER DE OASSON AM) (JALIXEK.

On the Sliores of the Xipissing-The Illinois Slave -Preparing for
the Voyage- La Salle-The Expedition Sails- With the Senecan
-Iheir Reception-Father Fremin-Perils of Their Stay-Sick-
ness of Dollier-At the Mouth of the Niagara-Coasting the
Southern Shore-On Burlington Beach-Joliet-La Salle Re-
turns-At the Mouth of the Grand River-The Long Winter-
The Inscription-First Ascent of the Detroit River-On Lake
Huron-At Sault Ste. Marie-Dablon and Maniuette-Home-
ward Bound- Safe in Montreal. - ..,|.^

>ve