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Read before the Maine Historical Society, December 9, 1892. A LITTLE more than a hundred and sixty-eight years ago, August 23, 1724, in the course of urgent hostiU- ties between the New Enghmd colonists and the native population, a Christian village near what is now Nor- ridgewock, was destroyed, and a Christian missionary, together with a considerable number of his small flock, met a violent death. At this day we have no occasion to commiserate either the missionary or his savage disciples. They took their share in the struggle of warring interests and civilizations, in an age of military enterprise, and the sacrifices they were called to make were such as seem to be unavoidable in the evolution of those energies through which new and more peaceful worlds are brought into being. It is the privilege of a later and happier age to appreciate martial virtue and pious devotion on whichever side of any great conflict they may have found a conspicuous illustration. And espe- cially with reference to individual men, as we see them doing their work in the stream of human affairs which they cannot control and by which they are borne on to their destiny, we feel obliged to consider attentively 2 the troubled current, that we may the better appreci- ate the behavior of any frail bark found contending with the waters. A little well-considered chronology is useful for ua, if we are to understand the representations of any Jesuit missionary in North America. The Company of Jesus, so called, has probably been more spoken against than any other of the monastic orders, for the simple reason that its trained ability and free methods made it the most efficient of all such orders. In- deed, it might be called the order ''of all the talents." Martin Luther and Ignatius Loyola were born within less than ten years of each other, and both within less than ten years of 1492, and the discovery of a new world. These names, therefore, with that of Colum- bus, stand for the whole spiritual ferment and worldly enterprise of the sixteenth century. It took, let us say, a hundred years of costly tentative effort to get the forces represented by these names fairly in the field. But when in IGll Father Biard,i ^.j^^. professor of theology, is voyaging with Biancourt, the man of secular enterprise, along our coast from Port Royal to the mouth of the Kennebec, there is an English colony at Jamestown, and the idea of taking possession, both of the continent and of its savage inhabitants, is really shaping the policy both of England and France, as well as of Spain, and awakening a restless zeal in which the motives of adventure, patriotism, and reli- gion, are strangely mingled. 1 see Extracts from the letters of Father P. Blarrt, lfi12-2fi. Triinslatert by Prof, rrederick M. Warren. Introrluction by John Marshall Brown. Collections of the Maine Historical Society. Scries il, Vol. n, p. 411. : 8 us. With the English adventurers at this time the national spirit and commercial advantage were moving considerations; and, if the religious motive entered, it was chiefly in behalf of a reforming and self-defensive Christian liberty. But the French, who shared with their Spanish exemplars the Roman faith and disci- pline, took with them their spiritual guides, and made the conversion of the heathen and the authority of the church a kind of higher rule and argument in all their undertakings in America. Thus in any national or individual enterprises under French auspices, the Jesuits were likely to have a hand ; especially, accord- ing to Father Biard, in those expeditions that promised abundance of suffering and but little honor — expedi- tions heaiicoup penihles et pen honorahles. The Maine Historical Society has in its library three stout and closely printed volumes of Jesuit ''Rela- tions" as to missionary operations in New France. Father Biard is at the beginning both of the ''Re- lations," and of the seventeenth century. He addresses himself to Aquaviva, the fifth general of the Jesuits, and probably the most able and adroit spirit that ever had the interests of that ambitious and astute com- pany in charge. He so composed internal dissensions, and adjusted outward relations, that the order prac- ticed and prospered, even under far weaker men, for more than a hundred years. Through its special func- tion of schooling boys, the order at length mastered the art of ruling men and women. It kept the con- sciences of kings, controlled the intrigues of courtiers, heard the confessions of popes and cardinals, directed . tlie distribution of patronage, stimulated Church and State in the work of religious persecution and propa- gandism, came in for a share in the profits of trade and banking, gained houses, colleges, offices, — resources and prestige in every sort ; in fact, wrought so famously that its vaulting ambition o'erleaped itself. It roused the powers, both of the world and of the Church, to resistance in self-defense. Portugal moved decisively against the Jesuits, both at home and in her colonies, in 1759. Spain and France followed ; and on the twen- ty-first day of July, 1773, Pope Clement xiv issued his brief for the total and final suppression of the order. It is true, that though the Jesuits had treas- ured up wrath against the day of wrath, the judgment of Clement xiv held good only forty-one years. For, in the reactionary proceedings that followed the down- fall of the First Napoleon, Pope Pius vii saw things in a different light, and reestablished the suppressed society, according to its original constitution, August 7, 1814. Father Rasles had been dead for almost half a cen- tury when the papal suppression of the Jesuits took effect. He must have become a member of that order during its golden period, when Jesuit professors and tutors were in their greatest efficiency and most com- manding reputation, when the youth under their direc- tion were candidates, not only for membership in what was distinctly the most learned and influential order in Christendom, but for special service under the direc- tion of that order, according to individual character and abilitv. rch and propa- ade and (sources imouslj . roused urcli, to cisivcly olonies, e twcn- ■ issued of the 1 treas- Jgment ^. For, I down- things pressed August a cen- ts took t order )rs and St com- r direc- n what rder in ! direc- aracter Rasles was, of course, trained in the old faitli, and in opposition to the reforming ideas. He was of the Franche Comte, the same department to wliich our associate, Mr. Allen, traces the Huguenot settlers in what is now Dresden.^ He could not have failed to be deeply impressed with the fact that the papal pro- gramme of his diiy announced two leading aims, name- ly, the extirpation of heresy, even by means of perse- cution, and the conversion of the heathen in America, even at the cost of martyrdom. No doubt father Rasles was heartily in accord with both these aims. He took the bias of his age, and followed the leading of his party. When hi-? master, Louis xiv, plunged France into war and persecution, and incurred the bitter con- sequences of humiliation, bankruptcy and the dragon- nades, instead, as Parkman says, of " prosperity, pro- gress, and the rise of a middle class," Rasles was loyal to his master, and accepted his lot with the church. But Rasles was a " chosen vessel," the choice of an elect order, for a peculiar service. His career was not one of ambition and emolument in the subjugation of heresy at home ; it was one of toil, suffering and dan. ger, for the conversion of savages over the sea. lie was one of the men who embraced a service that promised the greatest amount of suffering and the least possible meed of w^o, Idly distinction ; and this ser- vice he faithfully fulfilled, according to his lights, from the year of his arrival at Quebec, 1689, a young man of thirty-two, to the da}^ of his death, in 1724, at the age of sixty-seven : — thirty-five years of solitary, > Soo Collections of the Maine Historical Society, Series ii, Vol. iii, p .351. 6 imrelievod labor in a wilderness world and amonir Hiivage tribes, for at least thirty of which years he was a j)ioneer of civilization and Christianity in what is now the state of Maine.* But the efforts of our Jesuit missionary did not depend alone upon his diligence and devotion, nor was his influence measured by the docility and obedience of a few savage disciples. He wrought under condi- tions determined for him by conflicts of thought and conflicts of arms, of which he was both the agent and the victim. Catholic and Jesuit, he was also a French- mjin, and took his humble part in the strutJ-fle of France against England for preponderance in Europe and supremacy in North America. It was a war of Titans that welcomed the alliance of pigmies, and gave military instruction to barbarians. The history of French and English colonization in the New World, taken by itself, is not an edifying story of peaceful competition. It is very largely a military history; but merged in the history of Europe, of which it was a subordinate part, it offers the distress- ing spectacle of adventurous and lo^al subjects always exposed, never adequately supported, harassed in their common industries by savage incursions, or turned aside into forlorn, if not futile, military expeditions, while from time to time the petty raiding is exchanged for something approaching the dignity of civilized warfare, when the great protagonists display their colors upon the field. »A8 a connecting link between Father Blard and Father Rasles- see General John Marshall Brown's " Mission of tlio Assumption on the Kennebec, 1646-52." Collections of the Maine Historical Society, Series li, Vol. i, p. 87. i the From the year of Rii.sles' arrival, at the beginning of what is calk'd King William's war, down to the Hur- rcndcr of Caiuuhi to the P^nglish, settled by treaty in 1763, war between France and England is the regular order, though there was one breathing time of con- 8iderable duration, for tlie contestants to recover their strength, after the treaty of Utrecht, 1713, which ended what here was ** Queen Anne's war," in Europe *' the war of the Spanish succession." Cotton Mather calls the period of King William's war decennium luctuosum — a ten years agony, or as Mr. Parkman renders, the "woeful decade," and in spite of his dislike of Mather's pedantry, the distin- guished historian finds the description not inappropri- ate to the subsequent war of Queen Anne. The treaty of Utrecht, however, did not bring a settled peace to the frontier settlers of New England, nor to the solitary missionary and his flock at Nor- ridgewock. But their subsequent contests, ending in tlie destruction of the village at Old Point, and the death of Father Rasles, are matters of familiar local annals. Mr. Parkman's lucid chapter on the subject in "A Half-century of Conflict," adds nothing material to our previous knowledge. Both he and Dr. Converse Francis — in his Monograph on Father Rasles in Spark's American Biography, make special reference to three letters found in an extensive collection entitled Let- tres Edifiantes et Curleuses — two of these letters written by Father Rasles himself, and the third by Father de la Chasse, Superior of the Jesuit missions in Canada. These letters are in the nature of direct tes- timony, and though open to cross-examination, they eainiot be fairly appreciated in the proce.sH of eross- examination, unless the direct testimony has first been fully presented. A few extracts or all-isions in a nar- rative preoccupied with facts regarded from a difTerent point of view can do little more than create a demand for the full original record of an actor in the drama. If we can possess Father Rasles' self-portraiture, the lively drawing out for the satisfaction of relatives in France of how he lived and thought and acted, we are in the way of judging for ourselves how far he speaks with a single-minded reference to the objective truth, and how far he indulges in imaginative constructions of facts according to religious prejudices or party affili- ations. At any rate Father Rasles' letters, one to his brother and the other to his nephew, are evidently written in the expansion and confidence of affectionate familiarity — not under any temptation to conceal his thoughts. Whether we are trying to understand Father Rasles himself or the history of which he was apart, we need to have his drawing, his light and shade, his picture in its connection and completeness, of all the aspect and course of things belonging to a side that was then not ours, but is ours now as much as the other. We desire that this solitary and brave missionary, in spite of his own errors or ours, may stand in his true place and personality with his devoted predecessors and compatriots of the same society — men who not only hazarded their lives, but suffered deaths of un- 9 on, they of crosH- Irst been in a niir- (lilYorent demand rania. If Lire, the itivcs in !, we are e speaks fG truth, auctions rty affili- brother ritten in niliarity loughts. r Rasles WQ need picture 5 aspect lat was as the nary, in his true ecessors t'ho not of un- Hpeakal)le atrocity with supernatural f()rtitu(h' and con- stancy, thanking God for the honor of martyrdom as the cr()wninn he offered th or by let - einoire)^ and lis memotan- xre, by tradi- lich he had finishing my )oked to him reasons, not ill less upon our piofes- Tiatters with ^rted on his 'Inch I was 1 the sense, jrdinary. I complained salvation of Jie savages ; 17 that for the rest my proofs were ridiculous and childish. Having dispatched to him at Boston a second letter, wherein I took up the faults of his own, he replied at the end of two years, without entering at all upon the matter in question, that I had a surly and captious spirit, such as was the mark of a temperament prone to anger. Thus ended our dispute, which sent away the minister and rendered abortive the design he had formed of seducing my neophytes. ° ^ This first trial having met with so little success, recourse wns had to another artifice. An Englishman asked permission of the savages to establish on the river a kind of warehouse for the purpose of making trade with them, and he promised to sell them his n.erchandise much cheaper than they could purchase it even m Boston. The savages who were to find this to their ad vantage, and who would spare themselves the trouble of a iournev to Boston, consented willingly. A little while after, another Enghshman asked for the same permission, offering terms yet more advantageous than the first. To him equally the permission was accorded. This easy assent of the savages emboldened the English to establish themselves along the river without askin.. their consent. They built houses and raised forts, three of which are of stone. This proximity of the English was agreeable enougn to the savages so long as they were unaware of the net that was laid for them, and attended only to the convenience they enjoyed in finding whatever they might want with their new neighbors But at length seeing themselves little by little, as it were, sur- rounded by the habitations of the English, they began to open their eyes and to be seized with distrust. They demanded of the English by what right they established themselves, and even constructed forts on their lands. The reply that was made them, namely that the King of France had ceded their country to the King of England, threw them into the greatest alarm: for there IS no savage nation that endures otherwise than impatiently that any one should regard it as in subjection to any power whatever. It will call Itself the ally of a power but nothing more. There fore the savages immediately sent a deputation to M. the Mai-quis •a 18 of Vandreuil, governor-general of New France, to assure thora- selves if it were true that the king had actually so disposed of a country of which he was not the master. It was not difficult to calai their anxieties ; one had only to explain the articles of the treaty of Utrecht that concerned the savages, and they appeared content. About this time a score of savages entered one of the English habitations, either for trade or for rest. They had been there but a little while when of a sudden they saw the bouse sur- rounded by a band of nearly two hundred armed men. •' We are dead men," cried one of them, "let us sell our lives dear." They were already preparing to hurl themselves upon this troop, when the English, apprised of their resolution, and aware from other experiences of what the savage is capable in the first excess of fury, tried to pacify them by assuring them that they had no evil design, and had come simply to invite some of them to visit Boston for the purpose of there conferring with the governor on the means of maintaining the peace and good understanding which ought to prevail between the two nations. The savages, somewhat too easily persuaded, deputed four of their compatri- ots to repair to Boston ; but when they had arrived the confer- ence with which they had been deluded led to the holding of them as prisoners. You will be surprised, no doubt, that such a mere handful of savages should think of standing up against a force so numerous as was that of the English. But our savages do numberless acts of much greater hardihood. I will mention only one which will enable you to jurlge of others. During the late wars a party of thirty savages was returning from a military expedition against the English. As the savages, and especially the Abnakis, do not know what it is to secure themselves against surprises, they fall asleep as soon as they lie down, without thinking even of posting a sentinel for the night. A party of six hundred English, commanded by a colonel, pur- sued them, €ven to their encampment, and finding them sound asleep he surrounded them by his men, assuring himself that not one of them should escape him. One of the savages having assure thorn- disposed of a lot difficult to articles of the they appeared )f the English ad been there he house sur- en. •' We are r lives dear." )ou this troop, d aware from he first excess ,t they had no them to visit e governor on understanding The savages, leir compatri- id the confer- he holding of re handful of 5 so numerous imberless acts )ne which will was returning i the savages, t is to secure on as they lie for the night. , colonel, pur- ; them sound iself that not vages having 19 waked and discovered the English troops, at once gave the alarm to his comrades, crying out according to their wont, « We are dead men, let us sell our lives dearly." Their resolution was instantly taken. They at once formed six platoons of five men each; then, hatchet in one hand and knife in the other, they rushed upon the English with such furious impetuosity, that after having killed sixty men, the colonel in the number, they put the rest to flight. The Abnakis no sooner learned how their compatriots had been treated in Boston, than they bitterly cmplained that the law of nations should be so viohited in the midst of the peace which was enjoyed. The English answered that they held the prisoners only as hostages for the wrong that had been done them in the k.llmg of some cattle of theirs, and that as soon as this loss should be repaired, which amounted to two hundred francs in beaver fur, the prisoners should be released. Although the Ab- nakis d.d not concede the justice of this claim for indemnity, they did not fail to pay it, unwilling to incur the reproach of having abandoned their brothers for so small a consideration. Still not- withstanding the payment of the contested debt, the restoration of their liberty was refused to the prisoners. The governor of Boston, apprehensive that this refusal might force the savages to have recourse to a bold stroke, proposed to treat this affair amicably in a conference. The day and place for holding it were arranged. The savages presented themselves with Father Kasles, their missionary. Father de la Chasse superior-general of these missions, who at that time was making his visit, was present also. But Monsieur, the governor, did not appear. The savages augured ill of his absence. They adopted the plan of giving him to understand their sentiments by a letter written in Savage, in English, and in Latin, and Father de la Chasse, who is master of these three languages, was charged with writing It. It might seem of no use to employ any other than the English language, but the Father was pleased that the savages on their part should make sure that the letter contained nothing but what they had dictated, and that on the other hand the English should be placed beyond the possibility of doubting 20 the faithfulness of the English translation. The purport of this letter was : 1. That the Havagcs could not understand why their oompatriots were kept in their confinement after the promise had been given of setting them at liberty as soon as the two hundred francs in beaver fur should be paid. 'J, That they were not less surprised to see that their country was taken possession of with- out their consent. 8. That the English would have to depart from them as soon as possible and to set the prisoners at liberty ; that they should expect their answer in two months, and that if after that time satisfaction should be denied them they would know how to do justice to themselves. It was in the month of July of the year 1711, that this letter was taken to Boston by certain Englishmen who had been present in the confen^ice. As the two months passed without the coming of any response from Boston, and as moreover the English ceased to sell to the Abnakis powder, lead and means o subsistence, as they had done previously to this dispute, our savages were disposed to resort to reprisals. It required all the influence which Monsieur the Marquis of Vaudreuil could exert upon their minds to induce them to sus[)end for a little while yet their entrance upon active measures of hostility. But their patience was pressed to the last extremity by two acts of hostility wliich the English committed toward the end of December, 1721, and at the beginning of the year 1722. The first was the canying oif of Monsieur de Saint Castine. This officer is a lieutenant of our troops. His mother was an Abnaki, and he has always lived with our savages, whose esteem and con- fidence he has merited to such a degree that they have chosen him for their commanding general. In this character he could not avoid taking part in the conference of which I have just spoken, where he exerted himself to adjust the claims of tlie Abnakis, his brethnn. The English made of this a crime. They sent a small vessel toward the place of his residence. The cap- tain took care to conceal his force with the exception of two or three men whom he left upon the deck. He sent an invitation to Monsieur de Saint Castine, to whom he was known, to come on board his vessel to partake of refresliraents. Monsieur de 91 urport of this and why their 3 promise had two hundred were not less ision of with- ) depart from liberty ; that 1 that if after would know lat this letter lo had been ssed without Moreover the md means o dispute, our uired all the could exert tie while yet nity by two d the end of 172-2. The istine. This 3 an Abnaki, lem and con- have chosen ter he could I have just aims of tiie 'irae. They ). The caj)- n of two or n invitation vn, to come lonsieur de Saint Castine, who had no reason for entertaining siisplcions, re- paired thither alone, and without following. But hardly had he appeared when they set sail and brought him to Boston. There ho was kept on the prisoner's stool and interrogated as a crimi- nal. He was asked among other things for what reason and in what capacity he had been present at the conference which was held with the savages ; what signified the uniform {rhahit d' ordonnnnce) in which he was dressed, and if he had not been de[)uted to this assembly by the governor of Canada. Monsieur de Saint Castine replied that by his mother ho was Abnaki ; that he passed his life among the savages ; that his compatriots hav- ing established him as chief of their nation, he was obliged to enter into their assemblies for the purpose of there upholding their interests ; that in this capacity alone he had been present at the last conference ; that for the rest the dress which he wore was not a uniform as they imagined ; that indeed it was suitable and well enough trimmed {garni), but that it was not above his condition, independently even of the honor which he had of being an officer of our troops Monsieur our governor, having learned the detention of Mon- sieur de Saint Castine, wrote immediately to the governor of Boston to make complaint on his behalf. He received no reply to his letter. But about the time the English governor had reason to expect a second remonstrance, he restored his lib- erty to the prisoner, after having kept him shut up for five months. The enterprise of the English against myself was the second act of hostility which succeeded in irritating to excess the Abnaki nation. A missionary can hardly fail of bei.g an object of ha- tred to these gentlemen. The love of religion which he seeks by all means to plant in the heart of the savages, strongly binds these neophytes to our alliance, and withdraws them from that of the English. Also they regard me as an invincible obstacle to the design which they have of spreading themselves over the lands of the Abnakis, and of appropriating little by little this territory which is between New England and Acadia. They have often tried to carry me away from my flock, and more than I 22 once a price has been net upon my lu'iid. It was toward the end of Jamiiiry of the year 1722 tliat they in.ido a new attempt, ■whioh had no other success than to manifest their ill will in regard to me. I had remained alone in the village with a small number of old and infirm peo})Ie, while the rest of the savages were at the chaMe. This time appeared favorable for surprising me, and with this purpose they sent a detachment of two hundred men. Two young Abnakis who were hunting along the seashore learned that the English hiid entered the river. Immediately they turned their 8te[)s in that direction to observe their march. Ilaviiig dis- covered them at ten leagues from the village, they came on before, traversing the land, to give me warning, and to hasten the retire- ment of the old men, the women and children. I had only time to swallow the consecrated wafers {consumer lea hostiea), and to pack in a little box the sacred vessels, and to make my escape to the woods. The English reached the village at evening, and not having found me, they came the next day to seek me, even to the place of our retreat. They came within gunshot when we discovered them. All that I could do was to bury myself with precipitation in the forest. But as I had not time to take my snowshoes, and as moreover there remained to me much weak- ness from a fall, in which some years before I had the thigh and the leg broken, it was not possible for me to fly very far. The only resource that remained to me was to hide myself behind a tree. They at once ran through the various footpaths made by the savages when they went in search of wood, and they came within eight paces of the tree which covered me, and where naturally they ought to have perceived me, for the trees were despoiled of their leaves ; nevertheless, as if they had been held back by an invisible hand, they all at onr^ retired upon their steps, and took again the route tc tlie village. Thus by a special protection of God I escaped their hands. They pillaged my church and my little house. By that means they almost forced me to die of hunger in the woods. It is true that when my adventure was known in Quebec provisions were ioimediately sent me. But they could not arrive otherwise than n •ward tho onund, and to ver with the hole. Their ast gross of Lceship. My !. It is very Iters than the ey utter only the lips ; ou, ;ing we mark n other ele- to hear them le what they rror, because 3rs, I uttered Lpplication, I lot suffice for 11 a long way age, which is languages in r in a condi- savages who ated to them ndered me in n upon paper '• long time a rinciples and ages has real ly defined in elves. I will give you an example. Were I to ask you why God had created you, you would answer me, that it is to know him, love liirn and serve him, and by this means merit eternal glory. Let me put the same question to a savage, and in the turn of his language he will answer me thus : The great Spirit has had thoughts of us ; would that they might know me, tliat they might love me, that they might honor me, for then I would make them enter into my illus- trious felicity. So if I were to say to you in their style that you would have much difficulty in learning the savage language, this is how I should have to express it : I think of you, my dear brother, that there will be a deal of trouble in learning the sav- age language. The language of the Hurons is the master speech of the savages; and when one possesses that, in less than three months he can make himself understood by any of the five nations of the Iroquois. It is the most majestic and at the same time the most difficult of all the savage languages. This difficulty arises not only from their gutteral letters, but still more from the diveisity of accents ; for often two words composed of the same characters have significations totally different. Father Chaumont, who has dwelt fifty years among the Hurons, has composed a grammar of their language, which is very useful to those newly arrived at this mission. Nevertheless, a missionary is happy when, even with this aid, he can after ten years of constant labor express himself elegantly in this language. Each savage nation has its peculiar language : thus the Abnakis, the Hurons, the Iroquois, the Algonquins, the Illinois, the Miamis, etc., have each their language. One has no book for learning these languages, and even if one had, it would be suffi- ciently useless. Usage is the only master that can instruct us. As I have labored in four different missions amoTJg savages, namely, among the Abnakis, the Algonquins, the Hurons, and the Illinois, and have been obliged to learn these different languages, I will give you a sample, that you may perceive the slight relation that exists between them. I have chosen a stanza of a hymn on the Holy Sacrament, which is commonly chanted during the mass at the elevation of the Holy Host, and which begins with these •%. I 'i 30 words : Salutaris JTostia. Here is the translation in verse of this stanza in the four languages of as many different nations. Ix THE AbnAKI LaNGUAGB. Kighist 8i-nuanur8inn9 Spem kik papili go ii danaek Nemiani 8i kSidan ghabenk Taha saii grihine. In the Algonquin Language. KSerais Jesus tegSsenam Nera 8eul ka Stisian Ka rio vllighe miang Vas mama vik umong. In the Huron Language. Jes8s 8to etti xichie 8to etti skuaalichi-axe I chierche axeraSensta D'aotierti xeata-8ien. In the Illinois Language. Pekiziane manet 8e Piaro nile hi Nanghi Keninaraa 8i 8 Kangha Mero 8inang Ssiang hi. Wliich means in English : — O saving Sacrifice, who art continually offered up, and who givest life, thou by whom man enters into Heaven, we are all as- saulted, now strengthen us. It was about two years that I staid with the Abnakis, when I was recalled by my 8U}^eriors. They appointed me to the mission of the Illinois, who had just lost their missionary. I went there- fore to Quebec, where, after having employed three months in the study of the Algonquin language, I embarked the thirteenth of August in a canoe on my journey to the Illinois. Their country is at a distance of more than eight hundred leagues from Quebec. You judge well that so long a journey in these barbarous lands could not be made without running great risks and suffering many ai 1 in verse of t nations. ap, and who ve are all as- akis, when I the mission [ went there- nonths in the thirteenth of ^heir country rom Quebec, barous lands ffering many hardships. I had to traverse lakes of an immense extent, and where tempests are as frequent as upon the sea. True, one has the advantage of setting foot upon the earth every evening ; but one is fortunate when one finds some flat rock where one can pass the night. When showers fall the only means of protection is to turn the canoe over and get under it. Still greater dangers are met upon the rivers, chiefly in those parts where the current is extremely rapid. Then the canoe flies like an arrow, and if it happens to strike one of the rocks that are found in abundance, it is broken into a thousand pieces. This mishap befel some of those who accompanied me in other canoes, and it is by a singular protection of the divine goodness that I did not meet the same fate, for many times my canoe grazed the rocks without taking the least injury. Besides, one is liable to suffer the most cruel hunger. The length and the difficulty of such voyages permits .one to take along only a sack of Indian corn. It is taken for granted that the chase will furnish subsistence by the way ; but if game fails one finds one's self exposed to days of fasting. Then all the resource that one has is to search for a kind of leaves which the savages name Kengmssanach, and the French call rock tripe {tripes de roches). One might take these leaves for chervil, whose shape they have, if they were not much larger. They are served either boiled or roasted. The latter, of which I have eaten, are the less disgusting. .i% I had not to suffer much with hunger before reaching the lake of the Hurons; but it was otherwise with my fellow voyagers. Tlie bad weather having scattered their canoes they were unable to rejoin me. 1 was the first to arrive at Missilimakinak, whence I sent them provisions without which tliey would have died of hunger. They had passed seven days without other nourishment than that of a crow, which they had killed more by accident than address, for they had not the strength to hold themselves upright. The season was too far advanced for continuing my journey to the Illinois, from whom 1 was still distant by about four hundred leagues. Thus I was obliged to remain at Missilimakinak, where tJdere were two of our missionaries, one among the Hurons, the other with the Outaouacks. These last are very superstitious, 32 and much attached to the juggleries of their medicine-men {char- latans). They attribute to themselves an origin equally absurd and ridiculous. They pretend to come from three families and each family is made up of five hundred persons. Some are of the family of 3Iichabou, that is to say, of the Great Hare. They ma'ntain that this Great Hare was a man of prodi- gious height; that he stretched nets in water eighteen fathoms deep, and thnt the water hardly came up to his armpits ; that one day during the deluge he sent the beaver to discover the earth, but that this animal not having returned, he dispatched the otter, who brought back a little earth covered with foam; tliat he re- paired to that part of the lake where this earth was found, which formed a Httle island, that he walked in the water all around it, and that this island became extraordinarily large. On this ground they attribute to him the creation of the earth. They add tliat after having achieved this work he flew away into heaven, which is his ordinary residence, but that before quitting the earth he gave direction that, when his descendants should come to die, their bodies should be burned, and that their ashes should be thrown into the air, in order that they might be able to raise themselves more easily towards heaven ; since if they should fail in this, the snow would not cease to cover the earth, their Likes and rivers would remain frozen, and so, not being able to catch fish, which is their ordinary food, they would all die in the spring time. In fact, it is only a few years since, that the winter having been much harder than usual, there was general consternation among the savages of the Great Hare family. They had recourse to their accustomed juggleries, they came together many times to advise about the means of dissipating this snow enemy, which persist- ently remained upon the earth, when an old woman approached them. " iMy children," said she, " you are without understanding, you know the orders that the Great Hare left to burn the bodies of the dead and to throw their ashes to the wind, in order that they may return more readily to heaven their native land, and you have neglected these orders in leaving at some days' journey from here a dead man without burning him, as if he were not of 33 the family of the Great Hare. Repair your fault without flolay, take care of biirninjj; liim, if you mean that the snow nhall disap- pear." "Thou art right, mother," they answered, "thou liast more wit than we, and the counsel thou givest us restores us to life." They immediately deputed twenty-iive men to go and burn this body ; they took about fifteen days in the journey ; and meanwhile the thaw came, and the snow departed. The old woman who had given the advice was loaded with praises and presents, and the event, altogether natural though it was, served very much to confirm theiu in their foolish and superstitious credulity. The second family of the Outaouacks claim to have come from Namepich, that is to say, from the Carp. They say that a carp having deposited eggs upon the river bank, and the sun having darted his rays into them, there was formed of them a woman from whom they are descended. Thus they call themselves of the family of the Carp. The third family of the Outaouac/cs attributes its origin to the paw of a Machova, that is to say, of a bear, and they say that they are of the family of the bear, but without explaining the manner of their coming forth. When they kill any one of these animals, they make him a feast of his own flesh, they speak to him, they harangue him : " Do not have a thought against us," they say to him, " because we have killed thee ; thou hast understanding, thou seest that our chiMren suffer hunger, they love thee, they will make thee enter into their bodies, is it not glorious to be eaten by a chief- tain's children?" It is only the family of the Great Hare that burn the dead, the two other families inter them. When some chieftain is dead, a vast cofKn is prepared, where after having laid the body to rest clothed in its most beautiful garments, they inclose with it its blanket, its gun, its provision of powder and lead, its bow, its arrows, its boiler, its plate, some food, its war-club, its box of vermilion, some collars of porcelain, and all the presents made according to custom at his death. They imagine that with this outfit he will make his journey more prosperously in the other world, and that he will be better received by the great chieftains 3 84 of the nation, who will conduct him with them into a place of delighta. While all this is sot to rights in the ooHin, the relatives of the dead assist at the ceremony by weeping after their manner, that is to say, by clianting in a mournful tone, and moving in cadence a stuff to which they have attached a number of little bells. Where the superstition of these peoples seems the most ex- travagant is in the worship they render to that which they call their Manitou. As they know hardly anything but the beasts that they live with in the forests, they imagine that in these beasts, or rather in their skins or in their plumage is a kind of spirit {genie) which governs all things, and which is the master of life and of death. According to them there are Manitous common to the whole nation, and there are particular Manitous for each person. Oussa/cita, say they, is the great Manitou of all the beasts which walk upon the earth, or which fly in the air. It is he who gov- erns them; so when they go to the chase they offer him tobacco, powder, lead and skins well dressed, which they attach to the end of a pole, and ruise into the air ; " Oussakita," they say to him, " we give thee to smoke, we offer thee wherewith to kill beasts, deign to accept these presents and permit not the beasts to escape our darts; let us kill a great number of them, and the fattest, that our children may not lack either for clothing or food." They name Michibicki the Manitou oi waters and the fishes, and they make to him a sacrifice very similar, when they go to the fishing, or when they undertake a voyage. This sacrifice consists in throwing into the water tobacco, food an if it is a l)ird, in the jylacc f honor in his cabin, he gets ready a festival in its honor, in the course of which ho makes to it a h irangue in terms of the utmost respect, after which it is recogniyxnl as his Manitou. As soon as 1 saw the spring arrive, I left ^fissilimaHnak to make my way to the Illinois. I found on my route various sav- age nations, among others the Jfiskoictinf/H, the Jdkis, the Oini- koiies, the Iripef/ouans, tho Oufcif/amis, etc. All these nations have their own language, but in any other respect they do not differ from tho Outaouacks. A missionary who resides at the bay of the Puants makes excursions from time to time among these savages to instruct thom in the truths of religion. After forty days travel I entered the river of the Illinois, and having advanced fifty leagues I arrived at their first village, which was of three hundred cabins, all of four or six fires. A fire is always for two families. Th^y have eleven villages in their nation. The day after my arrival I was invited by the principal chief to a grand banquet given by him to the most considerable men of the nation. He had caused several dogs to be killed for the occasion ; a feast of this sort passes among the savages for something magnificent, and for this reason it is called the feast of the Chieftains. The ceremonies observed are the same as among all these nations. It is customary in these feasts for the savases to deliberate upon their most important affairs, as for example, when it is a question either of undertaking a war against their neighbors or of bringing one to an end by overtures of peace. When all those bidden had arrived they ranged themselves all around the cabin, sitting either on the bare earth or on mats. Then the chief rose and began his address. 1 assure you that 1 admired his flow of words, the justice and force of the reasons which he set forth, and the eloquent turn which he gave them, the choiceness and delicacy of the expressions with which he adorned his discourse. I am convinced 'that if I could have put into writing what this savage said to us on the spur of the moment and without preparation, you would readily 86 il: m U I agree with mo tli.at the cleverest Europeans, after a good deal of iiUMlitation anil stmly, could hardly coniposo a discourse more solid or better turned. The speech emled, two s;iva<;es, who performed the function of gentlemen in wiiitini,', distributed plates to all the assend)ly, and each plate was for two guests. They ate conversing together of indifferent matters, and when the banquet was finislied they re- tired, carrying away, according to their custom, what had been left in their plates. The Illinois do not give those feasta,.which are common among various other savage nations, in which one is obliged to e.it alj that has been served to him, even though he should burst for it. When any one who has not the capacity to observe this ridiculous law finds himself at such a feast, ho appeals to one whom he knows to be of better appetite : « My brother," he says to him, "have pity upon me, I am dead if you do not give me life. Eat this which is left, I will make you a present of such a thing," It is the only way they have of coming out of their difKculty. The Illinois clothe themselves only uj> to the waist; and as to the rest they go quite naked. Various sections (compdrtiments), occui)ied with all sorts of figures which they imprint inelfaceably upon the body, take the place of garments. It is oidy in visits which they make or when they are present in the church that ,^,hey wrap themselves in a covering of dressed skin during the summer, and in the winter with a dressed skin, with the hair left on it, for the sake of warmth. They adorn the head with feathers of various colors, of which they make garlands and crowns, which they adjust with cons'derable taste (assez proprement). They take care above all to paint the face in different colors, es|)ecially ver- milion. They wear collars and pendants from the ears made of little stones, which they cut in the form of jewels. Of these there are blue, and red, and white as of alabaster ; a plate of porcelain must be added as a boundary of the collar. The Illinois believe that these fantastic ornaments impart grace and draw to them respect. When the Illinois are not engaged in war or the chase, they pass the time in games, or in feasts, or in dancing. They have if 37 ^d deal of irHc more motion of inbly, and •f^other of they re- liud been •n among o eit al[ rst for it. iiliciilous tvliom he i to him, ife. Eat ing." It ty. The ) the rest occui)ied upon the lich they ley wrap raer, and t, for the ■ various ich they ley take ally ver- made of L'se there )orcelain ^ believe to them se, they iy have two sorts of dances — some in sign of rejoicing, to which they invito the women and girls that are most distinj^uished, others for marking their sadness at the death of the most highly considerod members of their nation. It is by these dances that they seek to honor the dead man ajid to wipe away the tears of his relatives. AH have the right to procure wet'ping of this sort for the death of those near to them, provided they make |)resents according to this intention. The dances hold out a longer or sliorter time according to the price and worth of the presents, and afterwards these are distributed to the dancers. Tlieir ciistom is not to bury the dead. They wrap them in skins and attach them by the head and the feet to the tops of trees. Outside the seasons of gamts, feasts and dances, the men remain quietly upon tlu'ir mats, and pass the time either in .slee|)ing or in making bows, arrows, calu- mets and other articles of this nature. As for the women they work like slaves from morning till night. It is for them to culti- vate the earth, and to plant the Indian corn during the summer; and after the winter sets in they are busy at making mats, dress- ing skins, and at many other kinds of work, since their tirst care is to provide the cabin with all that is necessary. Of all the nations of Canada none live in so great abundance of everything as the Illinois. Their rivers are covered with swans, bustards, geese and teal. Almost anywhere one may find a pro- digious multitude of turkeys, that go in flocks, sometimes to the number of two hundred. They are larger than those seen in France. I liad the curiosity to weigh some, that were of the weight of thirty-six pounds. They have at the neck a kind of beard of hair half a foot long. Bears and stags are in the great- est abundance. One sees there also an infinite number of buffa- loes iboeufs) and roebucks. Hardly a year passes when they do not kill more than a thousand roebucks and more than two thousand buffaloes. One sees on the prairies, as far as the eye can reach, four or five thousand buffaloes feeding. They have a hump on the back and the head extremely large. Their skin, except at the head is covered with curly h lir soft like wool ; the flesh is naturally salt, and it is so tender {leg^re) that though it be eaten entirely raw it causes no indigestion. When they have killed a buffalo which If f M' . iX: m k ■f 38 seems to them too lean, they content themselves with taking the tongue out of it, and go on to seek for a fatter one. Arrows are the principal arms which they use in war and in the chase. These arrows are pointed at the end with a stone cut and iiled in the form of a serpent's tongue. In default of a knife they use them also for dressing the animals which they kill. They are so expert in the use of the bow, that they almost never miss their aim, and they shoot with such rapidity that they will let fly a hundred arrows before another will have loaded his gun. They put themselves to but little trouble in working at nets suitable for fishing in the rivers, because the abundance of game of all soits which they find for their subsistence, renders them comparatively indifferent as regards fish. Still, when the fancy takes them to have some, they embark in a canoe with bows and arrows ; they hold themselves erect the better to discover the fish, and as soon as they have caught siglit of one they pierce it with an arrow. The unique method among the Illinois of winning public es- teem and veneration, as among the other savages, is to make for one's self the reputation of a clever hunter, and, better still, of a good warrior; it is in this chiefly that they make their merit to consist, and it is this which they call being really a man. They are so full of passion tor this glory, that they are seen to under- take voyages of four hundred leagues in the midst of forests, to make a slave, or to carry away the scalp of a man whom they shall have killed. They make no account of the fatigues and long fasting which they have to endure, especially when they near the lands of their enemies; for then they dare not indulge in the chase, for fear that the beasts having been merely wounded, may escape with an arrow in the body, and so give notice to their en- emies to put themselves in a state of defense. For their manner of making war, the same as among all the savages, is to surprise their enemies. Hence it is that they send scouts to observe their number and their march, or to ascertain if they are on their guard. According to the report made to them, Jither they put themselves in ambuscade, or else they make an irruption into their cabms, war-club in hand {le casse-m en main), and they do not 39 aking the ar and in stone cut of a knife dll. They ever miss 'ill let fly m. ig at nets of game lers them the fancy 30WS and cover the pierce it )ublic es- nake for Jtill, of a merit to 1. They ) under- )rests, to hey shall nd long lear the i in the ed, may ;heir en- manner surprise 've their on their hey put iito their y do not fail of killing some before they have been able to dream of de- fending themselves. The war-club is made of stag-horn or cf wood in form of a cutlass with a great knob at the end. They hoi d the war-club in one hand and a knife in the other. As soon as they have struck a hard blow on the head of their enemy they cut around it with the knife and take aw.iy the scalp with a surprising swiftness. When a savage comes back to his country loaded with a num- ber of scalps, he is received with great honors ; but it is the height of glory for him, when he makes prisoners, and brings them home alive. On their arrival all the village is out and ranged in hedge- rows to make a lane through which the prisoners are to pass. This reception is extremely cruel. Some tear out their nails ; others cut off their fingers or ears ; still others heap blows upon them with sticks. After this first reception the elders meet together to deliberate whether they will accord life to their prisoners, or have them put to death. When there is some dead person to be raised up, that is to say, when some one of their warriors has been killed, and they deem it desirable to replace him in his cabin, they grant to this c;ibin one of the prisoners, who holds the place of the dead, and this is what they call raising the dead. When the prisoner is condemned to death, they at once plant in the earth a great stake to which they attach him by the two nands ; they make him chant the death-song, and all the savages having seated themselves around the siake, they light a few paces off a great fire, in which they bring to a red heat hatchets, gun- barrels, and other articles of iron. Then they come one after another and apply them all red to different parts of his body. Some make gashes upon the body with their knives ; others carve a morsel of the flesh already roasted, and eat it in his presence. Some are seen, who fill his wounds with powder, and rub it all over his body, after which they set fire to it. In fine each one torments him according to his own caprice, and that during four or five hours, sometimes even during two or three days. The more sharp and piercing the cries which these torments force him to utter, the more agreeable and amusing the spectacle to these 40 m r; I i^^ I i i t barbarians. It is the Iroquois who are the inventors of this ter- rific kind of death, and it is only by right of ret;iliation that the Illinois in their turn treat their Iroquois prisoners with an equal cruelty. That which we understand by the word Christianity is known among all the savages only under the name of prayer. Thus when I shall say to you in what is to come in this letter that such a savage nation his embraced prayer (la prih-e), that is to say that it has become Christi;ui, or that it is preparing to be Christian. There would be much less difficulty in converting the Illinois, if prayer allowed them polygamy. They admit that prayer is good, and are delighted that it should be t.mght to their women and children; but when one talks about it to themselves, one finds how hard it is to control their natural inconstancy and bring tliem to the resolution of having only one wife and having her always. At the hour of assembling for prayer, morning and evening, all repair to the chapel. Th.re are not wanting those even among the greatest jugglers, that is the greatest enemies of religion, who send their children to be instructed and baptized. This is the greatest success gained at first among these savages, and the result respectmg which one feels the most assured. For in the great number of children baptized, not a year is passed in which many do not die before coming to the use of reason ; and among the adults the greater part are so fervent and affectionate in prayer that they would suffer the most cruel death rather than abandon It. It is a happiness for the Illinois their being at so great a dis- tance from Quebec, because brandy eannot be brought to the.n as to others. This drink is among the savages the greatest ob- stacle to Christianity and the source of a vast number of the most monstrous crimes. It is known that they never buy it but to plunge themselves into the most furious drunkenness The dis- orders and horrible deaths witnessed every day ought, indeed, to overcome the motive of gain to be realized by traffic in a liquor so fatal. ^ I had been with the Illinois for two years when I was recalled ii I )f this ter- n that the 1 an equal ' is known er. Thus that such ;o say that Christian. Illinois, if !r is good, 3men and one finds md bring iving her evening, en among ?ion, who lis is the the result ;he great ich many long the in prayer abandon at a dis- to them itest ob- Lhe most t but to rhe dis- Jeed, to a liquor recalled 41 to consecrate the remainder of my days with the Ahnaki nation. It was the first mission to which I had been destined on my ar- rival in Canada, and to all appearance it is in tiiis mission that I shall end my life. It was necessary, therefore, to repair to (Quebec in order to proceed from there to rejoin my dear savages. T have already told you of the tediousness and difficulties of this voyage. So I will only speak of one adventure, very comforting, which hapj)ened to me at forty leagues from Que\)ec. I found myself in a kind of a village, where were twenty-five French houses, and a curate who had them in charge. Near the village one could see a cabin of savages, where was found a girl aged sixteen years, whom a sickness of several years had at last brought to the extremity of weakness. The curate, who did not understand the language of these savnges, begged me to go and confess the sick girl, and conducted me himself to the cabin. In the interview which I had with this young person upon the truths of religion, I learned that she had been very well instruct- ed by one of our missionaries, but had not yet received bap- tism. After having passed two days in making of her all the in- quiries suited to assure myself of her prepartion : — " Do not re- fuse me, I beg of you," she said to me, " the grace of baptism, for which I ask you. You know what oppression of the chest I suffer, and that there remains to me a very short time to live ; what a misfortune it would be to me, and what reproaches Avould you not have to make to yourself, if 1 should come to my death with- out receiving this grace !" I answered that she should prepare to receive it on the morrow, and took my leave. The joy which my reply gave her wrought in her so sudden a change, thut she was in condition to come in the early morning to the chapel. I was greatly surprised at her arrival, and immediately I administered baptism to her with becoming solemnity ; after which she returned to her cabin, where slie ceased not to thank the divine mercy for so great a benefit, and to sigh for the happy moment which was to unite her with God for all eternity. Her prayers were heard and I had the happiness of being present at her death. What an interposition of Providence for this poor girl, and what consolation for me to have been the instrument which God was pleased to make use of for giving her a place in heaven. h 42 i{ ' You do not requi-e of me, my dear brother, to go into the de- tail of all that has happened to me for the many years that I have been in this mission. My occupations are always the same, and I should expose myself to tiresome repetitions. I will con-' tent myself with telling you of certain facts which seem to me to be most deserving of your attention. I can assure you, in gen- era], that you would be at some trouble to restrain your tears should you Ind yourself in my church with our savages assembled and should you be witnes. of the piety with which they recite' their prayers, and chant the divine offices, and participate in the sacraments of penance and the eucharist. When they have been Illuminated by the lights of the faith, and have sincerely em- braced It, they are no longer the same men, and most of them preserve the innocence which they have received at baptism. It IS this which fills me with the sweetest joy when I hear their con- fessions, which are frequent ; whatever the interrogations I make to them, often I am scarcely able to find matter for absolvina them. ^ My occupations with them are continual. As they do not look ^or help but from their missionary, as they have entire confidence in him, ,t IS not enough for me to discharge the spiritual func lions of my ministry for the sanctification of their souls ; I must also enter into their temporal affairs, that I may be always ready o comfort them when they come to consult me, to decide their little differences, to take care of them when they are sick _ bleed them, give them medicines, etc. My days are sometimes so filled that I am obliged to shut myself up in order to find the time of leisure for prayer and reciting my office The zeal with which God has filled my heart for my savages was forcibly alarmed in the year 1697, on my learning that a nation ot the savage Amalingans was coming to establish itself a days journey from my village. J had ground to fear that the jugg lenes of their medicine-mon, that is to say, the sacrifices which they make to their deraon, and the disorders which are the ordinary sequel, might hav3 an influence upon some of my young dis'si r;- ^ f""''' '' ^'^ '^^^"^ -^^^^' -^ f-rs were soon dissipated after the manner which I will set forth to you. 43 the de- rs that I the same, will con- me to be . in gen- )ur tears sscmbled, ey recite ;e in the lave been rely em- of them tism. It heir con- 1 I make ibsolving not look 'nfidence al func- ; I must ys ready ide their I sick — times so find the savages f that a itself a hat the icrifices are the r young re soon One of our chieftains, celebrated in this region for his valor having been killed by the English, from whom we are not very far removed, the Amalingans, deputed several of their nation to our' village, to wipe away the tears of this illustrious man's relatives that is to say, as I have already explained to you, to visit them make tliera presents, and to testify by their dances the part they took in their affliction. They arrived on the eve of Corpus- Christi day, I was then occupied in hearing the confessions of my savages, which lasted all thai, day, the night following and the morrow till niidday, when the procession of the most holy sacra- ment besjan. It was conducted with a great deal of order and piety, and althoiigh in the mitlst of these forests, with more pomp and mao;nificance than you can well imagine. This spectacle which was new to the Amalingans, touched their hearts and struck them with admiration. I believed it my duty to profit by these favorable dispositions in which they were, and after having called them together I delivered to them in the style of savage oratory the following discourse : — "It is a long time, my cliildren, that I have desired to see you : now that I have this happiness my heart is almost ready to break. Think on the joy which a father has, who tenderly loves his children, when he sees them again after a long absence, in the course of which they have run the greatest risks, and you will conceive a part of my joy ; for although you do not yet pray, I do not cease to regard you as my children, and to have a father's ten- derness for you, because you are the children of the Great Spirit, who has given being to you as well as to those who pray, who has made heaven for you as well as for them, who thinks of you just as he thinks of them and of me, that all mny come to the en- joyment of eternal happiness. What gives me pain, and lessens the joy which I have at seeing you, is the reflection which even now I cannot avoid, that one day I shall be separated from a part of ray children, whose lot will be eternally unhappy, because they do not pray ; while others who do pray will be in the joy which shall never end. " When I think of this terrible separation, can I have a heart at rest? The happiness of some does not give me so much joy as the I' i 44 unhappinoss of otliers gives me frripf Tf , i able „i„„™.ee, .„ p.^, ..n,^™ ,, / j) 'ZIZTT'; you are, I couM make an entrance for yoT, t„ 1 ' "'""'' .pare „„ pain, .„ p,.„„,, .„, happin"/ ^ „ T"'' 7°'"'' you int., it, I ,.„„„, ,nake yon alienterJlfrdo I io" '""' mucli do r desire tliat von m-iv 1,p i ^ ""* ^""' "° «.od to ,e a..,e to enter into\„. ^.aT: ^fln SI "^^^ " "" "'"^• p4:u::i^on;:e^^^"'i';^ "All the™* .hie,;, , /Me'rr ,"•^- people, ,W,e„ t, ^ „"» tTl^J' "•'""' ™''°" »' ">«- '-ge girdle, upon wT cb thevLl '• " '° ""' ^ ™""^' "■■ » porcehnn „f dffferen o,or, ' Zt' ^T' \''-°^ """ «'» "^ collar by saying to him Zl , """ ""^ ^'"•■■«- "' ^o -ch a „'ati/„ .^. : ! :k7 ! z:'„ 1" '''", '"^ "°"'^- ^-^^ '° aavages would be at m„„h ^C^'et 7 " '" "'^P"''' O" t-on. and would pay but mri'n;::":::'^:*' ^^ -" - accommodate one's self to t h«;.. / ? ' '® ^^''^ "^^ *« .:":r;oTo:br:;^^^^^ Tr--' ''""-^ ^-'-^^ you y so great,' hatl haT; „ hi^irr""' "" .''^ '"^'^ '"^ 'or you. Alas! It may be he h ,'"'"'""'' "^'"^'""•■•' our ehieft„i„s only th« he ' „ """"""' "" ''^■"" "' °"« of -d .nako you hea'r ht ™ ^ 'c^T'''"'" ">^ "'«■ "^ I'-yo. tal. A day will eom,. when • r *^"' ^™ "'■" ""' ^^or- the tears fl youTIattVa 'im "r; t'' ^"' ^'"^ ^^^ great chieftains in this life if a ?"'' ^™ '» ''"° been eternal flames? IJe Chom ™ ^°"'' ''""* ^°'' "■•" --' '"^ whom you come to mourn with us has fclici- nnsnrmount- tate in which von, I would would push love you, ho this which is y to be bap- : length the are not the 'int. They >y means of It they are >thing false •f the Sav- ra of these collar, or a ith bits of I'er of the lar says to )art. Our ; is said to ere not to xpressing at Spirit, 8 love for e eternal of one of f p layer, i irarnor- pe away ive been cast into as folici- 45 tate shortest notice a ch.rpel which they made of baTk b ■ »ake their cabins, and there they a^r^ang^L a Itar,^ Wl die t'heT were about th,s work, I visited all the cabins of the Ama i ,1 „T tendance t Lar thTm T ,T '"' ™""'"' "' "'^''- "'" in the chapei: „ metin the m„ 'T""" ""^ '™"' " ""^ and in ^Llr,:!::^^^ t' 7 T'at T'" abont through the cabins, where I stil Iv. ! ? ""' special appropriateness. ^'™ .nstrnefons of a When, after several days of inoeaaant labor, I judged that they g can efface illing to lis- We accept ig but what ••ace it, aufl is vill.ige, if fig the time we find it her's cabin, iuffers liun- ty put our- le and pasi- is what you e at a fav- •een abseni in life till leisure to n a canoe league to 2; and at ms, which nor wliich It disposi- val, I had id at the as they *^liile they lalingins, : to give their at- es a day rnid-day, I went )ns of a hat they 47 were enfficiently instructed. I appointed the day on which they should come and receive their regeneration i^efaire r^.jenerer) m the waters of holy baptism. The first who came to the chapel were the chieftain, the orator, three of the most considerable men o the nation, with two women. Directly after their baptism two other bands, each of twenty savages, succeeded them, who re- ceived the same grace. In line, all the others continued to come that day and the morrow. You may be sure, my dear brother, that whatever toils a mis- sionary undergoes, he is abundantly compensated for his fati^mes by the sweet consolation which he feels at having led a whole nation of savages to enter into the way of salvation. I made my arrangements to leave them and return to ray own village when a messenger came to say to me on their part, that they were' all together in one place and begged me to be preseut in their assembly. As soon as I appeared in the midst of them, the orator addressing his speech to me in the name of all the others "Our father," said he, "we have not words to testify to you the' unspeakable joy which we all feel at having received baptism. It seems to us now that we have another heart; all the trouble we experienced is entirely gone, our thoughts are no more waver- ing, the baptism has given us inward strength, and we are firmly resolved to honor it as long as we live. This is what we say to you before you leave us." I replied in a short address, in which I exhorted them to persevere in the singular grace which they had received, and to do nothing unworthy of the quality of chil- dren of God with which they had been honored in holy baptism. As they were getting ready to depart for the sea, I added that on their return we would settle which would be the best plan, whether that we should go and live with them or that they should come and form oup and the same village with us. The village where I live is called JSTanrantsouack, and is located in a region which is between Acadia and New England. This mission is about eighty leagues from Pentagouet, and a hundred leagues is reckoned as the distance from Pentagouet to Port Royal. The river of my mission is the largest of all those which water the lands of the savages. It should be marked upon the 48 ■■* li Xi W'-t map under the name of lunibekt, which is what has led some P'renchmen to give to these savages the name of Jutuibals. This river reaches the sea at Sankderank^ which is but five or six leagues from Pemquit. After having ascended forty leagues from Sankdemiik, one arrives at my village, which is upon the height of a point of land. We are not at the distance of more than two days' journey at most from the habitations of the English. It requires more than fifteen days to reach Quebec, and the jour- ney is very painful and very difiicult. It would be natural that our ravages should conduct their trade with the English, and there are no advantages that the English have not pressed upon them to attract and gain their friendship. But all these efforts have been fruitless, and nothing has availed to detach them from the alliance of the Frenc. The sole bond which lias so closely united them to us is their firm attachment to the Catholic faith. They are convinced that if they should give themselves over to the English, they would soon find themselves without a mission- ary, without sacrifice, without sacrament, and almost without any exercise of religion, and that little by little they would be plunged again into their original unbelief. This firmness of our savages has been put to all sorts of trial on the part of these formidable neighbors without their ever having been able to obtiin any concession. At the time that war was on the point of being kindled between the powers of Europe, the English governor recently arrived in Boston, asked of our savages an interview by the sea, on au island which he designated. They consented, and begge 1 me to accompany them, that they might consult me respeliting the crafty propositions which might be made, in order to make sure that their answers should involve nothing contrary either to religion or to the claims of the king's service. I accompanied them, and it was my intention simply to confine myself to their quarters, for the purpose of aiding them with my counsels, with- out appearing before the governor. As we were nearing the is- land, to the number of more than two hundred canoes, the En- glish saluted us by a discharge of all the cannon of their vessels, and the savages replied to this salute by a corresponding dis- i led some lis. This ive or six y leagues upon the fiiore than ! English. the jour- e natural ;;lish, and ised upon 36 efforts lem from to closely 'lie faith. 8 over to mission- hout any ! plunged ' savages rmidable t lin any between •rived in , on au ! 1 me to Mg the ike sure ither to mpanied to their Is, with- the is- the En- vessels* ing dis- 49 charge of all their guns. Then the governor appearing upon the island the savages landed there with precipitation, and thus I found myself where I did not wish to bo, and where the Governor did not wish that 1 should be. When he perceived me, he came several steps towards me, and after the ordinary compliments he returned to the midst of his peo[)!e, and I to my savages. "It is by order of our queen," he said to them, "that I come to see you. She desires that we live in peace. If any English- man should be imprudent enough to do you wrong, do not think of avenging yourselves, but address your complaint immediately to me, and I will render you prompt justice. If it should happen that we should be at war with the French, remain neutral, and do not involve yourselves in our (l very sli^'htly. They returned from this expedition to the village, hiuiiig each two canoes loaded with the booty they had taken. So h)iig as the war lasted they cariicd desolation into all the lands pertaining tu the I^jiglish, tliey ravaged their vlihiges, thi-ir forts, their farms, iln^y drove away an immense number of cattle and made nmre than wix hundred [>ritoners. Hence these gentle- men, persuaded with reason that in keeping my savages in their attachment to tho Catholic faith I was drawing elo«or and closer the bonds which united them to tho French, have had recourse to all sorts of shifts and artiiices for detaching them from me. There are no offers or i)romises that they have not held out, if they would deliver mo into their hands or at least send mo back to Quebec and take in my place one of their ministers. They have made several attempts to surprise aud capture mo ; they have gone so far even as to promise a thousand pounds sterling to the one who should bring them my head. You arc well as- sured, my dear brother, that those menaces have no power to in- timidate me or to abate my zeal ; — too happy if I should become the victim of them, and if God shall count me worthy to be loaded with chains and to shed my blood for the salvation of my dear savages. At the iirst news which anio of the pence made in Europe, the governor of Boston sent word to our savages that if they would come together in a place which he pointed out to them, he would confer with them on the present posture of affairs. All the sav- ages repaired to the place indicated, and the governor spoke to them thus : — " Men of Naranhous, I inform you that peace is made between the king of Franco and our queen, and that by the treaty of peace the king of France codes to our queen Plaisance and Por- trail, with all the lands adjacent. So, if you are willing, we shall live in peace, yon and I ; we wore in peace formerly, but tho sug- gestions of the French have caused you to break it, :ind it is to please them that you have come to kill us. Let us forgot all these wretched affairs, and cast them into the sea, that they may ap- pear no more, and tliat we may be good friends." 52 " It is well," replied the orator in the name of the savages, " that the kings should be in peace, I am very glad of it, and I do not find it painful either to make peace with you. It is not I that am striking you these twelve years past, it is the Frenchman who has availed himself of my arm to strike you. We were in jteace, it is true, I had even thrown my hatchet I know not where, and as I was at rest upon my mat thinking of nothing, tlie young men brought me a word which the governor of Canada sent me, by which he said to me : ' My son, the Englishman has struck me, help me to get revenge for it ; take the hatchet, and strike the En- glislmian.' I who have always listened to the word of the French governor, I search for my hatchet, I find it at last all rusty, I put it i;i order, I hang it in my girdle to come and strike you. Now the Frenchman tells me to l;iy it down ; I throw it very far, that no one may see any more the blood with which it is reddened. So, Ut us live in peace, I agree to it. " But you say that the Frencliman has given you Plaisance and Portrail which are in my neighborhood, with all the lands adja- cent : he shall give you all that he will ; for me I have my land which the Great Spirit has given me for living, as long as there shall be a child of my people, he will fight for its preservation." Thus all ended amicably ; the governor made a great banquet for the savages, after which each one retired. The happy accompaniments of peace and tranquility which they were beginning to enjoy, caused the thought to spring up in the minds of the savages of rebuilding our church, that had been ruined in a sudden irruption which the English ma^le while they w<-re absent from the village. As we are far away from Quebec, and much nearer Boston, they sent thither certain of the princi- pal men of the nation to ask for some laborers, with promise of liberal pay for their work. The governor received them with special demonstrations of friendship, and made them all sorts of caresses. " I will myself reestablish your church," said he, " and I will deal with you more favorab'y than did the French gov- ernor that you call your father. Jt should bi- for him to rebuild it, since it was he in a sort that occasioned its ruin in leading you to strike at me ; for on my part I defend myself as 1 can, while as for 53 him, after serving himself of you for his own defense, he abandons you. I will do better by you; for I will not only accord you laborers, I will also pay them myself, and bear all the expense of the edifice you desire to construct. But, as it is not reasonable that I, who am English, should secure the building of a church without also placing there an English minister to take care of it and to teach religion in it, I will send you one with whom you will be content, and you shall send back to Quebec the French minister who is in your village." " Your speech astonishes me," rephed the deputy of the sav- ages, "and I wonder at the proposition which you make to me. When you came here you had seen me a long time before the French governors; neither those who preceded you nor your ministers have ever 8i)oken tome of religion {lapriere) or of the Great Spirit. They saw my furs, my skins of beaver and elk, and this alone is what they thought about. This is what they looked after with eagerness. 1 could not furnish them enough, and when I brought them a great quantity, I was their great friend and that was all. On the contrary, my canoe having gone astray one day, I lost my way. I wandered a long time in uncertainty, until at last I came to a landing near to Quebec, in a great village of the Algon(]uins, where the black-robes teach. Hardly had I arrived when a black-robe came to see me. I was loaded with furs, the French black-robe did not even condescend to look at them. He spoke to me at first of the Great Spirit, of paradise, of hell, of prayer, which is the only way of reaching he.iven. I lis- tened to him with pleasure, and I had so strong a relish of his talk that I stayed a long time in this village for the purpose of hearing him. In fine, religion pleased me, and I engaged him to instruct me further. I asked for b.iptism and I received it. Then I return to VL\y country and I tell what has happened to me. They envy my happiness ;ind desire to shiire it, they go to find the black-robe and to ask of him b;i|itism. It is thus that the French have conducted themselves towards me. If after that you had seen me you had spoken to me of religion, I should have had the misfortune of praying as you do ; for I was not capable of finding out if your prayer Avas good. Thus I tell you that I 54 hold to the prayer of the French. It suits me, and I will keep it even till the earth burns and comes to an end. Keep, there- fore, your laborers, your money, and your minister — I say no more about them. I will speak to the French governor, my father, to send them to me." In effect. Monsieur, the governor, had no sooner learned the ruin of our church, tlnn he sent us laborers for rebuilding it. It is of a beauty which would make it esteemed in Europe, and I have spared no effort for its decoration. You have been able to see by the details which I have given in my letter to my nephew, that in the depths of these forests and among these savage peo- ples divine service is performed with a great deal of propriety and dignity. It is to this that I give very great attention, not only while the savages remain in the village, but even all the time they are obliged to abide by the sea-shore, Avhither they go twice every year to find there something to live upon. Our sav- ages have so far depopulated their country of beasts, that for the last ten yi-ars neither elks nor roebucks are found. Bears and beavers have become very scarce. They have hardly anything to live upon but Indian corn, beans and pumpkins. They crush the corn between two stones to reduce it to meal; then they make a porridge of it, which they sometimes season with fat or with dry fish. When the corn fails they search in their tilled fields for potatoes, or else for acorns, Avhich they value as much as corn. After having dried them they bake them in a kettle with ashes, to take away their bitterness. For myself I eat them dry, and they take the place of bread for me. At a certain time they betake themselves to a river not far dis- tant, where for a month the fish come up the stream in so great a (piantity that fifty thousand barrels could be filled in a day, if there were enough hands to do the work. There is a kind of large herrings very agreeable to the taste, when they ai'e fresh. They are pressed togetlier against each other to the thickness of a foot, and they are drawn uj) like the water itself. The savages dry them for eight or ten days, and they live on them during all the time that they are putting seed into their lauds. It h not till s])ringliuie that they plant the corn, and they do 55 not give it the last dressing till towards Corpus Christi day. After this they deliberate as to what part of the sea they shall resort to for seeking their sustenance till the harvest, which as a rule does not come till a little after the Assumption. After deliberation had they send to invite me to come to their assembly. As soon as I ap])ear one of them addresses me in this manner in the name of all the others. *'Our father, what I say to you is what all whom you see here say to you ; you know us, you know that we are destitute of food. Hardly have we been able to give the last tillage to our fields, and we have no other resource to the time of harvest but to go and seek food at the sea-shore. It would be hard for us to leave our worship behind, therefore we hope that you will be pleased to accompany us in order that while seek- ing for our living we may not break off our prayers. Such and such individuals will embark you, and what you will have to carry shall be distributed among the other canoes. This is what I have to say to you." No sooner have I replied keJcikherha (this is a savage term which means, I hear you, my children, I accord that which yon request), than all cry out together SriSrie, which is a term of thanks. Very soon after they leave the village. On arriving at the place where we are to pass the night, poles are planted at suitable distances from each other in the form of a chapel ; they encompass it in a grand tent of ticking, and it is open only in front. I always have to bring along with me a beautiful plank of cedar four feet in length with what is needed to hold it up, and it is this which serves as an altar, above which there is placed a canopy quite appropriate. I adorn the interior of the chapel with silk stuffs very beautiful ; one nish mat tinted and well wrought, or else a grand bear-skin, serves as a carpet. This is brought all ready, and it only needs to lay it down as soon as the chapel is in order. At night I take my rest upon a car- pet ; the savages sleep in the air in the open country, if it does not rain ; but if there falls a shower or snow, they cover them- selves with pieces of bark which they bring with them, and which are rolled up like li»en cloth. If the journey is made in winter, the snow is cleared away from the space which the chapel is to oc- cupy, and it is set up as at other times. In it each day there is 56 made morning and evening prayer, and there I offer the holy sac- rifice of the mass. When the savages have come to their final halting-place, they employ the next day in raising a church, which they make secure and shapely with their pieces of bark. I bring with me my plate, and all that is needful for adorning the choir, which I have draped with beautiful Indian and silk stuffs. Divine service takes place in this church as in the village, and in effect they form a kind of village with all their cabins made of bark, which they set up in less than an hour. After the Assumption they quit the sea, and return to the village for their harvest. Thev have then wliat they can live upon very poorly till after All Saints, when they return a second time to the sea. It is at this season that they make good cheer. Besides the great fishes, the shell fish and the fruits, they find bustards, geese and all sorts of game, with which the sea is all covered in the region where they encamj), which is parted into a great number of little islands. The hunters, who leave in the morning for the chase of geese and other kinds of game, kill sometimes a score at a single dis- charge of a gun. Towards the Purification, or at the latest, towards Ash Wednesday, there is a return to the village, it is only the hunters, who disperse themselves for the chase of bears, elks, roebucks and beaveis. These good savages have often given me proofs of the most sincere regard for me, especially on two occasions when I found myself with them at the sea-shore, they took a lively alarm on my acc(>unt. One day while they were busy in their chase, the ru- mor got abroad of a sudden, that a party of English had made an irruption into my quarters and had carried me off. At the very hour they assembled, and the result of their deliberation was, that they would pursue this party till they had overtaken it, and that they would take me out of its hands, though at the cost of their lives. At the same instant they sent two young savages to my quarters at a sufiiciently advanced hour of the night. When they entered my cabin, I was occupied with composing the life of a saint in the savage tongue. " Ah, our father," they cried out, " how glad we are to see you ! " "I likewise have much joy 57 at seoing you," I replierl, "but what is it that brings you here at a time so startling?" "It is to no purpose that we have come," they sai.l to me, « we were told that the English had carried you off; we came to take note of their tracks, and our warriors will not be slow in coming to pursue them, and to attack the fort, where, if the news had been true, tlie English would no doubt have had you sliut up." "You see, my children," I answered, "that your fears were not well founded ; but the friendship which my children testify toward me fills my heart with joy, for it is a proof of their attachment to religion. To-morrow, immediately after mass, you shall go as quickly as possible to undeceive our brave warriors, and save them from all anxiety." Anotfier alarm equally false tlirew me into great embarrass- ment, and brought me into danger of perishing by hunger and misery. Two savages came in haste to my quarters, to warn me that they had seen the English at half a day's distance. " Our father," they said, " there is no time to lose, it is necessary for you to retire, you risk too much by remaining here ; for our part ■we will await them, and perhaps we will make our way in ad- vance of them. The scouts leave at this moment to watch them. But for you, you must go to the village with these men whom we bring to conduct you thither. When we know that you are in a place of safety, we sh ill be at ease." I departed at the dawn of day with ten savages, who served me as guides. But after some days of travel, we found ourselves at the end of our scanty provisions. My guides killed a dog which followed them, and ate it; they were soon reduced to some sacks of sea- wolf skin (c), des sacs de loups marins), which they likewise ate. This was something I could not taste. Sometimes I lived upon a kind of wood which was boiled, and which, when it is cooked, is as tender as radishes half cooked, excepting the heart, which is very hard and is thrown away. This wood had not a bad taste, but I found extreme difliiculty in swallowing it. Some- times also they found attached to trees some of those excres- cences of wood which are wliite like great mushrooms; these were cooked and reduced to a kind of broth, but they were a long way from having the taste of broth. Sometimes the bark of 58 the green oak was dried at the fire, and tlien peeled, and porridge was made of it, or again they dried those leaves that grow in the clefts of rocks, and which are called rock-tripe ; when these are cooked they make a porridge very black and disagreeable. Ot all these I ate, for there is nothing which hunger will not devour. With such nourishment we could only make small progress in a day. We arrived, nevertheless, at a lake which had begim to thaw, and where there was already four inches of water upon the ice. It was necessary to cross it with our snowshoes, but as these snowshoes are made with strings of hide, when they were wet, they became very heavy, and made our march much more diffi- cult. Although one of our people went forward to examine the way, I sank suddenly to the knees, another who was walking at my side presently went down to the waist, crying out, " My father, I am a dead man." As I approached to lend him a hand, I sank down still deeper myself. In fine, it was not without much trouble that we got out of this danger, owing to the embarrass- ment which our sno\\'shoes occasioned us, of which we could not deprive ourselves. Still I ran less risk of drowning than of dying of cold in the midst of this half-frozen lake. New dangers awaited us the next day at the passage of a river, which we had to cross on floating masses of ice. Happily Ave succeeded in this, and at last arrived at the villasje. The first thing was to unearth a little Indian corn which I had left in my house, and of which I ate, hard as it was, to appease the first cravings of hunger, while those poor savages gave themselves to every sort of movements to make good cheer for me. And really the repast which they proceeded to get ready for me, although frugal, and as it might seem to you not very appetizing, was according to their ideas a veritable banquet. First, they served me a plate of soup made of Indian corn. For the second service they gave me a morsel of bear-mi-at with some acorns, and a cake of Indian corn cooked under embers. Finally, the third service, which formed the dessert, was an ear of Indian corn roasted before the fire, with some kernels of the same corn parched under embers. When I asked tliem why they had made me such good cheer, — " Ah, what, our father," they answered. 59 " there are two days that you have had nothing to eat ; could we do anything less ? may it please God that we shall often be able to entertain you in the same manner." While I was dreaming of recovering myself from my fatigues, one of the savages who were encamped upon the sea-shoro, and who did not know of my return to the village, caused a new alarm. Having come to my encampment, and not iinding me or those who were encamped with me, he had no doubt that we had been carried off by a party of English ; going on his way to carry the news to those of his quarter, he arrived at a river bank. There he took the bark of a tree, upon which with coal he drew the English around me, and one of them cutting off my head. (This is all the writing the savages have, and they communicate among themselves by these sorts of drawings as understandingly as we do by our letters). He then put this kind of letter around a stick which he planted on the bank of the river, to give news to those passing by of what had happened to me. A little while after some savages who were passing by in six canoes on their way to the village, took notice of this bark ; « See there a writing," they said, « let us find out what it says." « Alas ! " they cried out, as they examined it, " the English have killed those of our father's encampment (guarHer), and as for him thoy have cut off his head." They instantly took out the braidings of their hair so as to leave it negligently tossed about over their shoulders, a'ld sat down before the stick till the next day without saying a word. This ceremony with them is the mark of the greatest affliction. The next day they continued their journey to within half a league of the village, where they halted, when they sent one into the wood near by in order to see if the English had not come to burn the fort and the cabins. I was reciting my breviary as I walked along the fort and the river, when the savage arrived op- posite me on the other bank. As soon as he perceived rae, he cried out, " Ah, my father, how glad I am to see you. My heart was dead, and it is alive again at beholding you. We saw a writing which said that the English had cut off your head. How glad I am that it was a lie." When I proposed to send him a canoe for crossing the river, he replied, " No, it is enough that I 60 have seen yon. I turn back now to carry the agreeable tidings to those who are waiting for me, and soon we will come and rejoin you." They came, in fact, that very day. 1 trust, my very dear brother, that I have done justice to what you desired of me by the sketch {precis) I have now given you of the nature of this country, of the character of our savages^ of my occupations, my labors, and the dangers to which I am ex- posed. You will judge, without doubt, that it is on the part of the English that I have most to fear. It is true that for a long time they have conspired for my destruction. But neither their ill will nor the death with which they threaten* me can ever cause mo to separate myself from my long-tried flock. I com- mend it to your devout prayers, and am with the most tender attachment, etc. ' He was killed the year following. MISSION OF FATHER RASLES. [Coiicludod.] LETTER OF THE FATHER DE LA CHASSE, SUPERIOR GENERAL OF THE MISSIONS OF NEW FRANCE TO THE FATHER .... OF THE SAME COMPANY. Translated from " Lettres Hdifiantos ct Curicuses," Paris, 1781 J!V K. C. CUMJIINGS. Bead before the Maine IIMorlcal Society, at Watervillc, September 9, 1892. At QuEiiEc, THE 29 Octouee, 1724. My Reverend Father: — The peace of our Lord: — In the extreme sorrow whicli wo feel ut the loss of one of our oldest missionaries, it is a sweet consolation for us that he has been the victim of his charity and of his zeal to maintain the faith in the liearts of his converts. You have already learned from their letti-rs what has been the source of the war that has been kindled between the English and the savages : on the part of the former the desire to extend their domination ;— on the part of the latter the dread of total subjugation and attachment to their religion have at first caused misunderstandings, and these at last have been followed by an open rui)ture. Father llasles, missionary to the Abnakis, had become very odious to tlie English. Convijiced that his endeavors to fortify the savages in the faith formed the greatest obstacle to the design they cherished of seizing upon their lands, they had set a price upon his head, and more than once they had attempted to carry him off or to compass his death. At last they are come to the end of satisfying th(} transports of their hate and of delivering themselves from the ai)ostolic man ; but at the same time they have procured for him a glorious death, which was always the object of his desires ; for we know that long since he was aspir- ing to sucrifice his life for his flock. I will describe in a few words the circumstances of this event. 62 After numerous hostile acts on one side and on tlu^ otiior be- tween the two nations, a little iirniy of English and savages, tiieir allies, to the number of 1,1UU men made an attack witlioiit warn- ing upon the village of Nanrantsouak. The dense brushwood by which the village is surrounded aided them to conceal their march ; and as, moreover, it was not shut in by pabsadcs, the savages, taken by surprise, had no notice of the enemy's approaeli but by the general discharge of their muskets, by which all the cabins were riddled. TIumc were then but fifty wariiors in the village. At the first noise of musketry they seized their arms in a panic-stricken way and rushed from their cabins to make head against the enemy. Their intention was not so much the rash one of sustaining the onset of so many combatants, but to favor the tligiit of the women and (5hildren by giving them time to gain the other side of the river not as yet occupied by the English. Father Rasles apprised by the clamors and the tumult of the peril which menaced his disciples, went forth immediately from his house and presented himself without fear to the enemies. It ivas his hope either to suspend by his ])resence their first efforts, or at least to draw their attention upon himself and at the cost of his own life to gain the safety of his flock. As soon as the missionary was recognized there rose a general cry, which was followed by a hail of musketry which they dis- charged in a shower upon him. He fell dead at the foot of a grand cross which he had planted in the midst of the village, to signify the public confession which was there made of adoring a crucified God. Seven savages who gathered around him, and who exposed their lives to preserve the life of their father, were killed at his side. The pastor's death sent consternation into the flock. The savages took lo flight and crossed the river, part at the ford and part by swimming. They had to experience all the fury of the enemy up to the moment when they escaped into the woods on the other side of the river. Tliey found themselves there assem- bled to the number of a hundred and fifty. From moi-e than two thousand shots fired upon them there were but thirty killed, Th( G3 and iocluditiij women and clilldron forty wounded. The Englinh wcro not pcrsi.stent in the pursuit of the fugitives. They con- tented theniHelvos witli pillnging and burning the village. The firing of the einirch was -.receded by the base profanation of tlio sacred vessels and of the adorable body of Jesus Christ. The sudden retreat of the enemy allowed the Nanrantsouakiaiis to return to their village. The next day after they visited the ruins of their cabins; while for their part the women sought for herbs and plants proper for dressing the hurts of the wounded. Their first care wasi to weep over the body of their holy mission- ary. They fdund liiin pierced with a thousand woun<1s, his scalp taken away, the 4u]l broken in by blows of a hatchel, the mouth and eyes lilled with mud, the bones of the legs shattered and all the members mutilated. These kinds of itdiumanity, wreaked upon a body deprived of feeling anrable remains of their father, they interred them in the very place where the day before he had celebrated the holy sacrifice of the mass, that is to say, at the place where was the altar before the burning of the church. It is by a death so j.recious that the apostolic man finished, the twenty-third of August of this year, a career of thirty-seven years passed in the painful toils of this mission. lie was in the sixty-seventh year of his life. His fastings and continual fatigues had at last impaired his temperament ; he dragged himself about with no little difficulty since he met with a fall about nineteen years ago, when he broke at the same instant the riuht thi(»-h and the left leg. Jt happened that the callus having been badly foi-med at the place of the fracture, it was necessary to break the left leg again. During the time when it was most violently treated he bore the agonizing ojieration with extraordinary firm- ness and an admirable tranquility. Our physician [iVl. Sarrazin], who was present, was so astonished that he could not forbear exclaiming to him : "I say, my father, let at least a few groans escape you, you have so much occasion for them." Father Kasles joined to the talents which make an excellent Gl missionary the virtnos whirh the |?ospel ministry demands in order to its Huccossfiil oxcrcist' anioni; our Havagerf. lie wan of robust health, and, with the exception of tlie accident jtist men- tioned, I know not that lie ever liad the least indispoHitioi). Wo were Hurpriwed at his facility and at Ins application to learning the different savage tongues. There was no one of them on this continent of which he did not have some tincture. Hesides the Abnaki language whicli lie had spoken longest, he knew also the Huron, the Otaouaiso and the Illinois, and he employed tliem with success in the different missions where tliey arc in use. From the moment of his arrival in Canada he has never been seen to deny his character ; he was alwa3's firm and courageous, hard to himself, tender and compassionate with regard to others. Three years ago by or hearts of those who hoard him. He did not content himself with instructing the savages almost every day in his ehurch, lie visited them often in tlieir cabins. His familiar talks charmed them, as he knew how to season them with a holy gaiety, which jjleascd the savages more than a grave and somber air. Also he had the art of persuading them to whatever was his will. He was among them as a master in the midst of his pujjils. Notwithstanding the continual occupations of his ministry he never omitted those sacred practices, which are observed in our houses, lie rose and engaged in his devotions at the hour which is there assigned. lie never dispensed himself from the eigh^ days of annual retreat. He set ai)art to himself for this service the first days of Lent, which is the time when the Saviour entered into the desert. " If no time is fixed in the year," he said to me one day, " for these holy exercises, occupations succeed one an- other, and after many delays one runs the risk of never finding the leisure to acquit himself of them." Religious jtoverty was strikingly aj»parent in his whole person, in his furniture, in his manner of living, in his dress. He forbade himself the use of wine in the spirit of mortification, even when he found himself with tlie French. A porridge made of Indian corn meal was his ordinary nourishment. During certain Avinters, when at times the savages suffered a destitution of everything, he saw himself reduced to living upon acorns. Far from complain- 66 ing at such times, he never appeared more content. The ti."ee last years of his life when war hindered the savages from freely following the chase as well as from putting seed into their gi-ounds, the destitution became extreme and the missionary found him- self in a frightful scarcity. Care was taken to send him from Quebec the provisions necessary to his subsistence. "I am ashamed," he wrote to me, " of the care you take of me ; a mis- sionary born for suffering ought not to be so well treated." He would not suffer anyone to lend a hand for his assistance in the most common needs and always served himself. It was he who cultivated his garden, who prepared his wood for heating his cabin and his porridge, who repaired his torn garments, seek- ing by the spirit of poverty to make them last the longest time possible. The cassock which he wore when he was killed ap- peared to those who despoiled him so worn out and in so poor a condition that they disdained to ai)proj)riate it as they had at first intended. They threw it back over his body and it was sent to us at Quebec. As much as he was given to a hard treatment of himself, so much was he compassionate toward others. He had nothing merely to himself and all that he received he distributed as soon as the need arose to his poor disciples. On their part also they gave at his death demonstrations of sorrow more lively than if they had lost their nearest relatives. He took an extraordinary care to embellish his church, con- vinced that this outward attire, which strikes the senses, animates the devotion of barbarous people and inspires them with a deeper veneration for our holy mysteries. As he knew a little of paint- ing and used it with a good degree of correctness, the church was decorated with a number of works at which he himself had labored. You judge well, my Reverend Father, that those virtues of which New France has been, a witness for many years, have gained for him the respect and affection of the French and of the savages. iMoreover he is universally regretted. No one doubts that he has been sacrificed through hate of his ministry and of his ,?eal 67 to establish the true faith in the heart of the savages. This is the idea of him which M. de Bcllemont, Superior of the Semi- nary of Saint Sulpice in Montreal had. Having asked for him the customary prayers for the dead, on the ground of the com- munion in prayers which is among us, he replied to me, availing himself of the words so well known of St. Augustine, that it was doing scanty honor to a martyr to pray for him, Injuriam facit martj/ri qui orut pro eo. Let it please the Lord that his blood shed for a cause so just may fertilize these lands of unbelief so often sprinkled with the blood of laborers in the gospel who have preceded us; may it make them fruitful in fervent Christians, and animate the zeal of apostolic men to come out and gather here an abundant harvest, which so many people still wrapped in the shadow of death shall present to them. Still as it pertains only to the Church to declare the saints, I recommend him to your holy sacrifices and to those of all our fathers. I hope you will not foiget him who is with much re- spect, etc.