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 1 2 3 
 
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 ^ r 
 
 ■^^^•^■^■t'3M«'^€<>€*0€>^€'^#e€«'^i^;^v^ 
 
 ^1 
 
 A N 
 
 ACCOUNT 
 
 O F T HE 
 
 iut- 
 
 CUSTOMS and MANNERS 
 
 O F T HE 
 
 MicMAitis and Maricheets 
 
 SAVAGE NATIONS, &c* 
 
 [Price %%, 6d.] 
 
II 
 
 :H 
 
 .*■ 
 
u 
 
 A N 
 
 ACCOUNT 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 CUSTOMS and MANNERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MiCMAKis and Maricheets 
 
 SAVAGE NATIONS, 
 
 Now Dependent on the 
 
 Government of Cape-Breton. 
 
 FK M 
 
 An Original French Manufcript-Letter, 
 
 Never Publifhed, 
 
 Written by aFRENCH|ABBOT, 
 
 Who refided many Years, in quality of Miflionary, amongft them. 
 To which are annexed. 
 
 Several Pieces, relative to the Savages, to Nova, 
 Scotia, and to North-America in general. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 printed for S. Hooper and A. Morley at G/(fs-Uc3^y 
 
 near Beaufort-Buildings in the Strand. i^ccLviii. ' \ 
 
 
 / 
 
r 
 
 if 
 
 1 i 
 
 li 
 
 i I 
 
 ^ %: 
 
 Bib'Jiotheq"ac% 
 
 Le Sen.\y-i:e ■ ■■ Ju6booJ 
 
 3/ rve ■ : '"' ' v. ■ sildj 
 
 ■•* 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 FO R the better underftanding 
 of the letter immediately fol- 
 lowing, it may not be unneceflary 
 to give the reader fome previous 
 idea of the people who are the 
 fubjedt of it, as well of the letter- 
 writer* 
 
 The beft account of the Mick- 
 makis I could find, and certainly 
 the moft authentic, is in a memo* 
 rial furniftied by the French minif* 
 try in April, 1751, from which 
 the following paragraph is a tran* 
 flated extrad : 
 
 " The government of the fa* 
 ^' vages dependent on Cape-Bre- 
 ton exads a particular attention, 
 a All 
 
 (( 
 
 ,/■'»--. 
 
t'i 
 
 
 ^M. 
 
 ^' AH thefe favages go under tlia 
 *' name of Mickmakis, Before 
 " the laft war they could raife 
 " about fix hundred fighting- men, 
 " according to an account given 
 " in to his moft Chriftian majefty, 
 " and were diftributed in feveral 
 *< villages eftabliflied on Cape-Bre- 
 " ton ifland, ifland of St. John, on 
 " both the coafts of Acadia (Nova- 
 " Scotia) and on that of Canada. 
 <' All, or moft of the inhabitant* 
 " of thefe villages have been in- 
 *' ftrudled in the Chriftian religion, 
 " by miifiunaries which the king 
 <* of France conftantly maintains 
 <' amongft them. It is cuftomary 
 " to diftribute every year to them 
 " prefents, in the name of his ma- 
 " jefty, which confift in arms, am- 
 " munition of war, victuals, cloath- 
 " ing, and utenfils of various forts. 
 ** And thefe prefents are regulated 
 
 ••i 
 
 (C 
 
 ac- 
 
 x; 
 
 liSifL-^- 
 
[iil] 
 
 '• according to the circumftanccs 
 " of the time, and to the fatisfac- 
 *' tion that flidl have been given 
 ^* the government by the conduct 
 " of thefe favages. In the laft 
 " war they behaved fo as to de- 
 *' ferve our approbation, and in- 
 •« deed have, on all occafions, 
 " given marks of their attach- 
 " ment and fidelity. Since the 
 *' peace too, they have equally dif- 
 " tinguifhed themfelves in the dif- 
 ^* turbances that are on foot on the 
 « fide of Acadia (NoVa-Scotia).** 
 
 The laft part of this foregoing 
 paragraph needs no comment. 
 Every one knows by what fort of 
 fervice thefe favages merit the en- 
 couragement oi the French go- 
 vernment, and by what sl&s of 
 perfidy and cruelty exercifed on 
 the Englifli, they are to earn their 
 rewafd. 
 
 a 2 The 
 
[ iv ] 
 
 The MaricheetSy mentioned in 
 the faid letter form a diftindt na- 
 tion, chiefly fettled at St. John's, 
 and are often confounded with the 
 Abenaquisy fo as to pafs for one 
 nation with them, though there is 
 certainly fome diftindtion. They 
 11 fed, till lately, to be in a conftant 
 ftate of hoftility with the Mickma- 
 kis. But, however, thefe nations 
 may be at peace or variance with 
 one another, in one point they 
 agree, which is a thorough enmity 
 to the Englifh, cultivated, with 
 great application by the mifTiona- 
 ries, who add to the fcandal of a 
 condudt fo contrary to their pro- 
 feflion, the bafenefs of denying or 
 evading the charge by the moft pi- 
 tiful equivocations. It is with the 
 words peace, charity, and univer- 
 fal benevolence, for ever in their 
 mouths, that thefe incendiaries, by 
 
 inftigations 
 
[v] 
 
 Inftigations diredl and indiredl, in- 
 flame and excite the favages to 
 commit the cruelleft outrages of 
 war, and the blackeft a6ls of treach- 
 ery. Poor Captain How I is well 
 known to have paid with his life, 
 infamoufly taken away by them, at 
 a parley, the influence one of 
 thefe miflionarics (now a prifoner 
 in the ifland of Jerfey,) had over 
 thefe mifguided wretches, whofe 
 native innocence and fimplicity are 
 not proof againft the corruption, 
 and artful fuggeftions of thofe holy 
 feducers. 
 
 It would not, perhaps, be impof- 
 fible for the Englifli, if they were 
 to apply proper means, and efpe- 
 cially lenient ones, to recover the 
 affections of thefe people, which, 
 for many reafbns, cannot be en- 
 tirely rooted in the French intereft. 
 That great ftate-ei^gine of theirs, 
 
 religion, 
 
f 
 
 \ i 
 
 
 C vi] 
 
 religion, by which they have fo 
 ftrong a hold on the weak and ere-* 
 dulous favages, might not, how-^ 
 every be an invincible bfit to our 
 foccefs, if it was duly counter^, 
 worked by the ofi'er of a much 
 more pure and rational one pf our 
 own, joined to fuch temporal ad-* 
 vantages as would fliew them their 
 fituation capable of being much 
 meliorated, in every refpe<St; and 
 efpecially that of freedom, which 
 they cannot but be feniible, is daily 
 decreafing under the infidious en- 
 croachments and blandilhments of 
 the Fferrch, who never carefs but 
 to enflave, nor hug but to ftifle, 
 whc^ pretences, in (hoy t, to fupe-- 
 ritw" humanity and politenefs, are 
 not atmongft their l^aft arts of c6in- 
 queft, 
 
 As to the kttef-wfiter, he is an 
 
 abbot niuch refpedted in thofe parts, 
 
 ' r who 
 
 I 
 
[ vii ] 
 
 who has refided the greateft pirt 
 
 of his life amongft the MIckmakisi 
 
 and is perfedly acquainted with 
 
 their language, in the compofing 
 
 of a DiSionary of which he has 
 
 labored eighteen or twenty years ; 
 
 but I cannot learn that it is yet pub- 
 
 lifhed, and probably for reafons of 
 
 ftate, it never may. The letter, 
 
 of which the tranflation is now 
 
 given, exifts only in a manu- 
 
 fcript, having never been printed, 
 
 being entirely written for the fa- 
 
 tisfadtion of a friend's curiofity, in 
 
 relation to the original manners 
 
 and cuftoms of the people of which 
 
 it treats, and which, being thofe 
 
 of favages in the primitive ftate of 
 
 unpoliflied nature, may perhaps, to 
 
 a philofophical enquirer, afford 
 
 more amufement and inftrudion 
 
 than thofe of the moft refined focie- 
 
 ties. What man really is, appears at 
 
 lead 
 
r 
 
 
 
 lead plainer in the uncultivated la- 
 vage, than in the civilized Euro- 
 pean. 
 
 The account of Acadia (Nova- 
 Scotia) will, it is to be hoped, ap* 
 pear not uncurious ; allowance be- 
 ing made for its being only in form 
 of a letter. 
 
 ! 
 
 I! 
 
 s. ■ 
 t ., 
 
 !■' 
 
[ ' 1 
 
 LETTER, &c. 
 
 Micmaki'Countryi March 27, 1755. 
 SIR, 
 
 I Should long before now have far 
 tisficd you in thofe points of curio- 
 lity you exprefled, concerning the 
 favages amongft whom I have fo long re- 
 fided, if I could have found leifure for it. 
 Literally true it is, that I have no fpare 
 time here, unlefs juft in the evening, and 
 that not always. This was my cafe too 
 in Louilbourg ; and I do not doubt but 
 you will be furprifed at learning, that I 
 enjoy as little reft here as there. 
 
 B Had 
 
I?-* 
 
 «r 
 
 H 
 
 .if 
 
 t f 
 
 •I 
 
 [ 2 1 
 
 Had you done me. Sir, the honor of 
 pafllng with me but three days only, 
 you would foon have feen what fort of a 
 nation it is that I have to deal with. I 
 am obliged to hold frequent and long 
 parleys with them, and, at every occa- 
 lion, to heap upon them the moft fair 
 and flattering promifes. I muft incef- 
 fantly excite them to the practice of ads 
 of religion, and labor to render them 
 tradtable, fociable, and loyal to the king 
 (of France). But efpecially, I apply 
 myfelf to make them live in good un- 
 derftanding with the French. 
 
 With all this, I affect a grave and feri- 
 ous air, that awes and impofes upon them. 
 I even take care of obferving meafure 
 and cadence in the delivery of my words, 
 and to make choice of thofe expreffions 
 the propereft to ftrike their attention, 
 and to hinder what I fay from falling to 
 the ground. If I cannot boaft that my 
 harangues have all the fruit and fuccefs 
 that I could wifli, they are not however 
 wholly without efFe<^. As nothing in- 
 
 chants 
 
 1 
 
t 3 J 
 
 chants thofe people more than a ftyle of 
 metaphors and allegories, in which even 
 their common converfation abounds, I 
 adapt myfelf to their tafte, and never 
 pleafe them better than when I give what 
 I fay this turn, fpeaking to them in their 
 own language. I borrow the moft lively 
 images from thofe objedls of nature, with 
 which they are fb well acquainted j and 
 am rather more regular than even them- 
 felves, in the arrangement of my phrafcs. 
 I afFedt, above all, to rhime as they do, 
 efpecially at each member of a period. 
 This contributes to give them fo great an 
 idea of me, that they Imagine this gift of 
 fpeaking is rather an infpiration, than an 
 acquifition by ftudy and meditation. In 
 truth, I may venture to fay, without pre- 
 fumption, that I talk the Micmaki lan- 
 guage as fluently, and as elegantly, as the 
 beft of their women, who moft excel in 
 this point. 
 
 Another of my occupations is to engage 
 and fpur them on to the making a copi- 
 ous chace, when the hunting-feafon comes 
 
 B 2 in. 
 
 ^v 
 
-"f^ 
 
 1; 
 
 
 I 4 ] 
 
 in, that their debts to the dealers with 
 them may be paid, their wives and chil- 
 dren cloathed, and their credit fup- 
 ported. 
 
 It is neither gaming nor debauchery 
 that difable them from the payment of 
 their debts, but their vanity, which is ex- 
 ceflive, in the prefcnts of peltry they make 
 to other favages, who come either in 
 quality of envoys from one country to 
 another, or as friends or relations upon a 
 vifit to one another. Then it is, that a 
 village is fare to exhauft itfelf in prefents; 
 it being a (landing rule with them, on 
 thearrival of fuch pcrfons, to bring out 
 every thing that they have acquired, 
 during the winter and fpring-feafon, in 
 order to give the bed and moft advantage- 
 ous idea of themfelves. Then it is chief- 
 ly they make feafts, which fometimes 
 laft feveral days ; of the manner of which 
 I fliould perhaps fpare you the defcrip- 
 tion, if the ceremony that attends them 
 did not include the ftrongeft atteftation of 
 the great flrefs they lay on huijting ; the 
 
 excell- 
 
 
 'I 
 
 11 
 
m 
 
 [ 5 ] 
 
 excelling wherein they commonly take 
 for their text in their panegyrics on thcfe 
 occafions, and confequently enters, for a 
 great deal, into the idea you are to con- 
 ceive of the life and manners of the 
 favages in thefe parts. 
 
 The firft thing I am to obferve to you 
 is, that one of the greateft dainties, and 
 with which they crown their entertain- 
 ments, is the flefh of dogs. For it is not 
 till the envoys, friends, or relations, are 
 on the point of departure, that, on the 
 eve of that day, they make a confiderable 
 ilaughter of dogs, which they flea, draw, 
 and, with no other dreffing, put whole 
 into the kettle j from whence they take 
 them half boiled, and carve out into as 
 many pieces as there are guefts to eat of 
 them, in the cabbin of him who gives 
 the treat. But every one, before enter- 
 ing the cabbin, takes care to bring with 
 him his Oorakin, or bowl, made of bark 
 of birch-tree, either polygone flipped, or 
 quite round j and this is pradtifed at all 
 their entertainments. Thefe pieces of 
 2 dogs 
 
J?l — 
 
 I 
 
 l! 
 
 r 
 
 - "t 
 
 1 
 
 I : 
 
 [ 6 ] 
 
 dogs fledi arc accompanied with a fmall 
 Oorakin full of the oil or fat of fcal, 
 or of elk's greafe, if this feaft is given 
 at the melting-tlmc of the fnow. Every 
 one has his own didi before him, In which 
 he fops his flefli before he cats it. If the 
 fat be hard, he cuts a fmall piece of it 
 to every bit of fledi he puts into his 
 mouth, which ferves as bread with us. 
 At the end of this fine regale, they drink 
 as much of the oil as they can, and wipe 
 their hands on their hair. Then come 
 in the wives of the mafter and pcrfons in- 
 vited, who carry off their hulbands plates, 
 and retire together to a feparatc place, 
 where they difpatch the remains. 
 
 After grace being faid by the old- 
 eft of the company, who alfo never 
 fails of pronouncing it before the meal, 
 the mafter of the treat appears as if bu- 
 ried in a profound contemplation, with- 
 out fpeaking a word, for a full quarter of 
 an hour ; after which, waking as it were 
 out of a deep fleep, he orders in the Calu- 
 7netSi or Indian pipes, with tobacco. Firft 
 
 he 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 1! 
 
[ 7 ] 
 
 he fills his own, lights it, and, after fuck- 
 ing in two or three whiffs, he prefents it 
 to the moft confiderable man in the co - 
 pany : after which, every one fills his pipe 
 and fmoaks. 
 
 The calumets lighted, and the tobacco 
 burning with a clear fire, are fcarce half 
 fmoked out, before the man of note 
 before mentioned (for the greateft honors 
 being paid him) gets up, places himfelf 
 in the midft of the cabbin, and pro- 
 nounces a fpcech of thankfgiving. He 
 praifes the mafter of the feaft, who has 
 fo well regaled him and all the company. 
 He compares him to a tree, whofe large 
 and ftrong roots afford nourilhment to a 
 number of fmall flirubs j or to a falutary 
 medicinal herb, found accidentally by 
 fuch as frequent the lakes in their ca- 
 noes. Some I have heard, who, in their 
 winter-feafts, compared him to the tur- 
 pentine-tree, that never fails of yielding 
 its fap and gummy diftillation in all fba- 
 fons : others to thofe temperate and mild 
 days, which are fometimes feen in the 
 
 midft 
 
r 
 
 II: 
 
 fl1 
 
 i-: JMl 
 
 ' 
 
 I 8 ] 
 
 mid ft of the fcvercft winter. They cm- 
 ploy a thoufand fimilies of this fort, which 
 I omit. After this introduftion, they 
 proceed to make honorable mention of 
 the lineage from which the mafter of the 
 feaft is defcended. 
 
 " How great (will the oldcft of them 
 " fay) art thou, through thy great, great, 
 " great grand-father, whofe memory is 
 " ftili recent, by tradition, amongft us, 
 " for the plentiful huntings he ufed to 
 " make! There was fomcthing of mi- 
 " raculous about him, when he affifted 
 " at the beating of the woods for elks, or 
 " other hearts of the fur. His dexterity at 
 " catching this game was not fuperior to 
 
 our's ; but there was fome unaccount- 
 ' able fecret he particularly ppffelfed in 
 
 his manner of feizing thofe creatures, 
 ** by fpringing upon them, laying hold of 
 " their heads, and transfixing them at 
 " the fame time with his hunting-fpear, 
 " though thrice as ftrong and as nimble 
 " again as he was, and much more 
 " capable with their legs only, than we 
 
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 with our rackets *, to make their way 
 over mountains of fnow : he would nc- 
 verthelefs follow them, dart them, 
 without ever miffing his aim, tire them 
 out with his chace, bring them down, 
 and mortally wound them. Then he 
 would regale us with their blood, fkin 
 them, and deliver up the carcafs to us 
 to cut to pieces. But if thy great, great, 
 great grand-father made fuch a figure 
 in the chace, what has not thy great, 
 great grand-father done with refpe(5l to 
 the beavers, thofe animals almoft men ? 
 whofe induftry he furpafTed by his fre- 
 quent watchings round their cabbins, 
 by the repeated alarms he would give 
 them feveral times in one evening, and 
 oblige them thereby to return home, fo 
 that he might be fure of the number of 
 thofe animals he had feen difperfed 
 during the day, having a particular 
 forefight of the fpot to which they 
 would come to load their tails with 
 earth, cut down with their teeth fuch 
 
 * A fort of buftined (hoes made purpofely for the In- 
 dian travels over tl c fnow. 
 
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 ** and fuch trees for the con(lru<5Hoii of 
 *' their huts. He had a particular gift 
 of knowing the favorite places of thofe 
 animals for building them. But now 
 let us rather fpeak of your great grand- 
 ** father, who was fo expert at making 
 *' of fnares for moofe-dcer, martins, and 
 " elks. He had particular fecrets, ab- 
 " folutely unknown to any but himfelf, to 
 ** compel thefc fort of creatures to run 
 " fooner into his fnares than thofe of 
 " others ; and he was accordingly always 
 " fo well provided with furs, that he was 
 " never at a lofs to oblige his friends. 
 " Now let us come to your grand-father, 
 ** who has a thoufand and a thoufand 
 " times regaled the youth of his time 
 " with feals. How often in our young 
 " days have we greafed our hair in his 
 " cabbin ? How often have we been in* 
 *' vitedjandeven compelled by his friendly 
 ** violence, to go home with him, when- 
 •* ever we returned with our canoes empty, 
 " to be treated with feal, to drink the 
 " oil, and anoint ourfelves with it ? He 
 *' even puflied his generofity /b hir, as to 
 
 •'*■ give 
 
[.I] 
 
 give us of the oil to take home with us. 
 But now we are come to your father : 
 there was a man for you ! He ufed to 
 fignalize himldf in every branch of 
 chace; but efpecially in the art of flioot- 
 ing the game whether flying or fitting. 
 He never miffed his aim. He was par- 
 ticularly admirable for decoying of buf- 
 tards by his artificial imitations. We 
 are all of us tolerably expert at counter- 
 feiting the cry of thofe birds ; but as to 
 him, he furpaffed us In certain inflexions 
 of his voice, that made it impofTible to 
 diflinguifh his cry from that of the 
 birds themfelves. He had, befidcs, a 
 particular way of motion with his body, 
 that at a diflance might be taken for 
 the clapping of their wings, infomuch 
 that he has often deceived ourfelves, 
 and put us to confufion, as he flarted 
 out of his hiding-place. 
 "As for thyfelf, I fay nothing, I am 
 too full of the good things thou hafl 
 feafted me with, to treat on that fubjed ; 
 but I thank thee, and take thee by the 
 
 C 2 " hand. 
 
 i 
 
 * ' 
 i' 
 
 \ 
 
 in 
 
 I 
 
 III 
 
 i II 
 
 tl! 
 
p: I' 
 
 (■ 
 
 W ■! 
 
 [ 12 ] 
 
 " hand, leaving to my fellow-guefts the 
 " care of acquitting thenfifelves of that 
 '* duty." 
 
 After this, he fits down, and fome other 
 younger, and in courfe of lefs note> for 
 they pay great refpedt to age, gets up, and 
 makes a fummary recapitulation of what 
 the firft fpeaker has faid;, commending 
 his manner of finging the prnifes of the 
 mafter of the feaft's aneeftors : to which 
 he obferves, there is nothing to be added -, 
 but that he has, however, left him one part 
 of the tafk tobeaccompliJied, which is, not 
 to pafs over in fiknce the feaft to which 
 he and the reft of his brethren are invited j 
 neither to omit the merit and praife« of 
 him who hag given the entertainment. 
 Then quitting his place, and advancing in 
 cadence, he takes the mailer of the treat 
 
 All the praifes 
 
 my- 
 
 by the hand, faying, 
 *' tono^ue is about to utter, have thee for 
 *• their objed. All the fteps I am going 
 *' to take, as I dance lengthv/ife and 
 ^' breadthwife in tihy cabbin, are to prove 
 «' to thee the gaiety of my heart, and 
 
 " my 
 
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 ; i 
 
 li' 
 j 
 
 
 n. 
 
 i ■ 
 
 n 
 
 \ • 
 
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and 
 
 my 
 
 [ 13 ] 
 
 ** my gratitude. Courage ! my friends, 
 •' keep time with your motions and voice, 
 *• to my fong and dance." 
 
 With this he begins, and proceeds in 
 his Netchkawet^ that is, advancing w^ith his 
 body ftrait eredl, in meafured fteps, with 
 his arms a-kimbo. Then he delivers his 
 words, finging and trembling with his 
 whole body, looking before and on each 
 fide of him with a fteady countenance, 
 fometimes moving with a flow grave pace, 
 then again with a quick and briik one. 
 
 The fyUables he articulates the moft 
 diftindtly are, Twhannah, Owanna^ Hay- 
 wannOy yo ! ha ! yo ! ha ! and when he 
 makes a paufe he looks full at the com- 
 pany, as much as to demand their cho- 
 rus to the word Heh I which he pro- 
 nounces with great emphafis. As he is 
 finging and dancing they often repeat the 
 word Heh ! fetched up from the depth 
 of their throat j and when he makes his 
 paufe, they cry aloud in chorus. Hah I 
 
 After this prelude, the perfon who had 
 fung and danced recovers his breath and 
 
 ipirits 
 
 
 I 
 
 ": i' 
 
 
 
 [I 
 
 r ' • 1 
 
 w 
 
 
 
■ ii 
 
 V I 
 
 •I 1 
 
 i 
 
 i H ] 
 
 fpirits a little, and begins his haraiigue irr 
 praife of the maker of the fcall. He flat- 
 ters him greatly, in attributing to him a 
 thoufand good qualities he never had, and 
 appeals to all the company for the truth 
 of what he fays, who are fure not to con- 
 tradidl him, being in the fame circum- 
 ftance as himfelf of being treated, and an- 
 fwer him by the word Heh, which is as 
 much as to fay, Tes^ or Surely. Then he 
 takes them all by the hand, and begins 
 his dance again : and fometimes this lirft 
 dance is carried to a pitch of madnefs. At 
 the end of it he kiffes his hand, by way of 
 falute to all the company i after which he 
 goes quietly to his place again. Then 
 another gets up to acquit himfelf of the 
 fame duty, and fo do fucceffively all the 
 others in the cabbin, to the very laft man 
 inclufively. 
 
 This ceremony of thankfgiving being 
 over by the men, the girls and women 
 come in, with the oldeft at the head of 
 them, who carries in her left hand a great 
 piece of birch-bark of the hardeft, upon 
 
 which 
 
 "1 
 
[ 15] 
 
 which {he ftrikes as it were a drum ; and 
 to that dull found which the bark returns, 
 they all dance, fpinning round on their 
 heels, quivering, with one hand lifted, the 
 other down : other notes they have none, 
 but a guttural loud afpiration of the word 
 Heh ! Heh ! Heh ! as often as the old 
 female favage ftrikes her bark-drum. As 
 foon as fhe ceafes ftriking, they fet up a 
 general cry, exprelTed by Yah ! Then, 
 if their dance is approved, they begin it 
 again j and when wearinefs obliges the 
 old woman to withdraw, (he firft pro- 
 nounces her thankfgiving in the name of 
 all the girls and women there. The in- 
 troduction of which is too curious to omit, 
 as it fo ftrongly charaCterifes the fenti- 
 ments of the favages of that fex, and con- 
 firms the general obfervation, that where 
 their bofom once harbours cruelty, they 
 carry it greater lengths than even the men, 
 whom frequently they inftigate to it. 
 
 " You men ! who look on me as of an 
 " infirm and weak fex, and confequently 
 ^* of all neceflity fubordinate to you, know 
 
 " that 
 
 
 
 
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 that In what I am, the Creator has glvetl 
 to my (hare, talents and properties at leaft 
 of as much worth as your's* I have had 
 the faculty of bringing into the world 
 warriors, great hunters, and admirable 
 managers of canoes. This hand, wi- 
 thered as you fee it now, whofe veins 
 reprefent the root of a tree, has more 
 than once ftruck a knife into the hearts 
 of the prifoners, who were given up to 
 me for my fport. Let the river-fides, I 
 fay, for I call them to witnefs for me, 
 as well as the woods of fuch a country, 
 atteft their having feen me more than 
 once tear out the heart, entrails, and 
 tongue, of thofe delivered up to me, 
 without changing color, roaft pieces of 
 their flefh, yet palpitating and warm 
 with life, and cram them down the 
 throats of others, whom the like fate 
 awaited. With how many fcalps have 
 not I feen my head adorned, as well as 
 thofe of my daughters ! With what 
 pathetic exhortations have not I, upon 
 occafton, rouzed up the fplrit of our 
 
 " young 
 
 ■: t' 
 
\ 
 
 [ 17] 
 
 " young men, to go in queft of tlie like 
 ** trophies, that they might atchieve the 
 *' reward, honor, and renown annexed to 
 " the acqulfition of them : but it is not in 
 ** thefe points alone that 1 have fignalizcd 
 " myfelf. I have often brought about A- 
 *' liances, which there was no room to 
 *' think could ever be made ; and I have 
 ** been fo fortunate, that all the cou- 
 " pies whofe marriages J have procured, 
 *' have been prolific, and furnifhed our 
 *' nation with fupports, defenders, and 
 " fuhjeds, to eternize our race, and to 
 *' protedl us from the infults of our enc- 
 " mies. Thefe old firs, thefe antient 
 *' fpruce-trees, full of knots from the top 
 *' to the root, whofe bark is falling off 
 *' with age, and who yet prefer ve their 
 " gum and powers of hfe, do not amifs 
 " refemble me. I am no longer what I 
 '* was J all my fkin is wrinkled and fur- 
 *' rowed, my bones are almoft everywhere 
 ** ftarting through it. As to my outward 
 •* form, I may well be reckoned amongft 
 " the things, fit for nothing but to be to- 
 
 D " tally 
 
 'ffr 
 
 
 
 u-\ 
 
 5 !' 
 
 'I 
 
 ■;' -f": 
 
 i^ 'i. 
 
 r^ 
 

 • • r 
 
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 11 
 
 [ i8] 
 
 " tally ncglfiifted and thrown afidc ; but 
 *' I have ftill within me wherewithal 
 " to attradt the attention of thofe who 
 " know me." 
 
 After this introdu6tion follow the 
 thankfgiving and encomiums, much in 
 the (ame tafte as the firft harangucr's 
 amongft the guefts. This is what is prac- 
 tifed in all the more folemn entertain- 
 ments, both on the men and women's 
 fide. Nor can you imagine, how great 
 an influence fuch praifes have over them, 
 derived as they are from the merit of hunt- 
 ing, and how greatly they contribute to 
 inflame their paflion for it. Nor is it fur- 
 prifiiig, confidering how much almoft the 
 whole of their livelihood depends upon 
 the game of all forts that is the oh]e6i of 
 their chace. 
 
 Thev have alfo a kind of feafts, which 
 may be termed war-feafts, fince they are 
 never held but in time of war, declared, 
 commenced, or ref«lved. The forms of 
 thefe are far different from thofe of pacific 
 and friendly entertainments. There is a 
 
 mixture 
 
mixture of devotion and ferocity in them, 
 which at the fame time that it furprifes, 
 proves that they confider war in a very fo- 
 lemn light, and as not to be begun with- 
 out the greateft reafon andjuftice; which 
 motives, once eftabliflied, or, which is the 
 fame thing, appearing to them eftablifhed^ 
 there is nothing they do not think them- 
 fclves permitted againft their enemy, from 
 whom they, on the other hand, expert 
 no better quarter than they themfelves 
 give. 
 
 To give yoii an idea of their preparatory 
 ceremony for a declaration of v/ar, I (hall 
 here feledl for you a recent example, in 
 the one that broke out not long ago be- 
 tween the Micmaquis, and Maricheets. 
 Thefe laft had put a cruel affront on the 
 former, the nature of which ycu will fee 
 in the courfe of the following dcfcription i 
 but I fliall call the Micmaquis die aggref- 
 fors, becaufe the iirft ads of hoftility in 
 the field began from them. Thofe who 
 mean to begin the war, detach a cer- 
 tain number of men to make incurfions 
 I> 2 on 
 
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 [ 20 T 
 
 on the territories of their enemies, to ra- 
 vage the country, to deilroy the game on 
 it, and ruin all the heaver-huts they can 
 find on their rivers and lakes, whether en- 
 tirely, or only half-huilt. From this ex- 
 pedition they return laden with game and 
 peltry; upon which the whole nation af- 
 icmbles to fcail on the meat, in a manner 
 that has more oF the carnivorous brute in 
 it than of the human creature. Whilft 
 they are eating, or ratlicr devouring, all of 
 them, young and old, great and little, en- 
 gage themfclvcs by the fun, the moon, and 
 the nameof tlieir uncedois, to do as much 
 by the enemy-nation. 
 
 When they have taken care to bring 
 off with diem a live bead, from the quar- 
 ter in which they have committed their 
 ravage, they cut its throat, drink its blood, 
 and even the boys with their teeth tear 
 the heart and entrails to pieces, which 
 they ravenoully devour, giving thereby to 
 undcrftand, that thofe of the enemies who 
 fliall h\\ into their hands, have no better 
 treatment to expetl: at them. 
 
 After 
 
''W; 
 
 '$ 
 
 en- 
 
 ■,1 
 
 [ 21 ] 
 
 After this they bring out OorakinSt 
 (bowls of bark) full of that coarfc Ver- 
 million which is found along t!ie coaft of 
 Chibudlo, and on the wcll-fide of Acadia 
 (Nova-Scotia) which they moiftcn with 
 the blood of the animal if any remains, 
 and add water to complcat the dilution. 
 Then the old, as well as the young, 
 fmcar their faces, belly and back with tliis 
 curious paint ; after which they trim their 
 hair Hiorter, fomc of one fide of the head, 
 fome of the other ; fome leave only a 
 fmall tuft on the crown of their head ; 
 others cut their hair entirely off on the 
 left or right fide of it; fome again leave 
 nothing on it but a lock, jufi: on the top 
 of their forehead, ai^d of the breadth of 
 it, that falls back on the nape of the neck. 
 Some of them lx)re their ears, and pafs 
 through the holes thus made in them, the 
 fineft fibril -roots of the fir, which they 
 call Toohec, and commonly r.fe for thread; 
 but on this occp.fion ferve to i\vn-\fr certain 
 fmall fliclls. This military malquerade, 
 which tiiey u fe at once for terror and d'ifguife, 
 
 being 
 
 il 
 
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 [ 22] 
 
 being compleatcd, all the peltry of the 
 hearts killed in the enemy's country, is 
 piled in a heap j the oldefl Sagamo, or 
 chieftain of the allembly gets up, and 
 aflcs, " What weather it is ? Is the fky 
 " clear ? Does the fun fhine ?" On be- 
 ing anfwered in the alfinnative, he or- 
 ders the young men to carry the pile of 
 peltry to a rifing-ground, or eminence, at 
 fome little diftance from the cabbin, or 
 place of aflembly. As this is inftantly 
 done, he follows them, and as he walks 
 along begins, and continues his addreis to 
 the fun in the following terms : 
 
 " Be witnefs, thou great and beautiful 
 *' luminary, of what we are this day going 
 ** to do in the face of thy orb ! If thou 
 " didft difapprove us, thou wouldft, this 
 " moment, hide thyfclf, to avoid affording 
 the light of thy rays to all the adions 
 of this affembly. Thou didft exift of 
 " old, and ftill exifteth. Thou remaineft 
 " for ever as beautiful, as radiant, and as 
 " beneficent, as when our firil fore fathers 
 " beheld thee. Thou wilt always be the 
 
 " fame. 
 
 (C 
 
 <c 
 
fame. The father of the day can 
 never fail us, he who makes every 
 thing vegetate, and without whom 
 cold, darknefs, and horror, would every 
 where prevail. Thou knowefl: all the 
 iniquitous procedure of our enemies to- 
 wards us. What perfidy have they not 
 ufed, what deceit have they not em- 
 ployed, whiUl we had no room to dif- 
 truft them ? There are now more than 
 five, fix, feven, eight moons revolved 
 fince we left the principal amongft our 
 daughters with them, in order thereby 
 to form the mod durable alliance with 
 them, (for, in Hiort, we and they are 
 the fame thing as to our being, confti- 
 tution, and blood) j and yet we have 
 feen them look on thefe girls of the moft 
 diftinguifhed rank, KayhecpidetchquCy as 
 mere playthings for them, an amufe- 
 ment, a paftime put by us into their 
 hands, to afford them a quick and eafy 
 confolation, for the fatal blows we had 
 given them in the preceding war. Yet, 
 we had made them fenfible, that this 
 
 " fupply 
 
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 r 24] 
 
 fiipply of our piincipal maidc is wns, in 
 order that they fhould re-people their 
 country more hn-v rably, and to put 
 ** then under a n:;ocfuty of convidion, 
 *' that we were huW hccomc fincerely 
 ** their friends, by delivering to them fo 
 *' facrcd a, pledge of amity, as our princi- 
 *' pal blood. Can wc then, unmoved, bc- 
 " hold them (o bafely iibufing that tho- 
 " rough confidence of ours ? Beautiful, 
 ** all-feeing, all-penetrating luminary ! 
 " without whofe influence the mind of 
 " man has neither eilicacy nor vigor, thou 
 *' haft fecn to what a pitch that nation 
 •" (who are however our brothers) has 
 " carried its infolcncc towards our princi- 
 " pal ma. Jens. Our refentment would 
 " not have been fo extreme with refpedl 
 " to girlj of more common birth, and the 
 *' ranii of whofe fathers had not a right 
 *• to make fuch an imprelfion on us. 
 *' But here we are wounded in a point 
 " there is no pafTing over in filcnce or un- 
 " revenged. Beautiful luminary ! who 
 *' art thyfclf fo regular in thy courfe, and 
 
 C( 
 
 m 
 
 I 
 
[ 25 ] 
 
 " in the wife diftribution thou makeft of 
 " thy light from morning to evening, 
 " vvouKiftthou have us not imitate thee ? 
 " And whom can we better imitate ? The 
 ** earth flands in need of thy governing 
 " thylelf as thou doft towards it. There 
 *' are certain places, where thy influence 
 " does not fuffer itfclf to be felt, be- 
 *' caufe thou doft not judge them worthy 
 " of it. But, as for us, it is plain that we 
 " are thy children j for we can know no 
 ** origin but that which thy rays have 
 " given us, when firft marrying efficaci- 
 " oufly, with the earth we inhabit, they 
 *' impregnated its womb, and caufed us to 
 *' grow out of it like the herbs of the 
 " field, and the trees of the foreft, of 
 " which thou art equally the common 
 " father. To imitate thee then, we can- 
 " not do better than no longer to counte- 
 " nance or cherilh thofe, who have proved 
 " themfelves fo unworthy thereof. They 
 " are no longer, as to us, under a favorable 
 " afpedl. They fliall dearly pay for the 
 ** wrong they have done us. They have 
 
 E " not. 
 
 :> 
 
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 lit V ^ 
 
 
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 11 
 
 'Hi 
 
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 [26 ] 
 
 not, It is true, deprived us of the means of 
 hunting for our maintenance and cloath- 
 ing 5 they have not cut off the free paf- 
 fage of our canoes, on the lakes and 
 rivers of this country ; but they have 
 done worfe j they have fuppofcd in us 
 a tamenefs of fentiments, which does 
 not, nor cannot, exift in us. They have 
 defloured our principal maidens in wan- 
 tonnefs, and lightly fent them back to 
 us. This is the juft motive which cries 
 out for our vengeance. Sun ! be thou 
 favorable to us in this point, as thou art 
 in that of our hunting, when we be- 
 feech thee to guide us in queft of our 
 daily fupport. Be propitious to us, that 
 we may not fail of difcovering the am- 
 buihes that may be laid for us i that we 
 may not be furprized unawares in our 
 cabbins, or elfewliere ; and, finally, that 
 we may not fail into the hands of our 
 enemies. Grant them no chance with 
 us, for they deferve none. Behold the 
 fkins of their beafts now a burnt-offer- 
 ing to thee ! Accept it, as if the fire- 
 
 *' brand 
 
 < 
 
 fi 
 
 i I 
 
[ 2?] 
 
 " brand I hold in my hands, and now fct 
 *' to the pile, was lighted immediately by 
 ** thy rays, inftead of our domeftic fire.** 
 Every one of the affiftants, as well 
 men as women, liften attentively to this 
 invocation, with a kind of religious ter- 
 ror, and in a profound filence. But fcarce 
 is the pile on a blaze, but the fhouts and 
 war-cries begin from all parts. Curfes 
 and imprecations are poured forth with- 
 out mercy or referve, on the enemy-na- 
 tion. Every one, that he may fucceed in 
 deftroying any particular enemy he may 
 have in the nation againft which war is 
 declared, vows fo many fkins or furs to 
 be burnt in the fame place in honor of the 
 fun. Then they bring and throw into 
 the fire, the hardeft ftones they can find 
 of all fizes, which are calcined in it. They 
 take out the propereft pieces for their pur- 
 pofe, to be faftened to the end of a ftick, 
 made much in the form of a hatchet- 
 handle. They flit it at one end, and fix 
 in the cleft any fragment of thofe burnt 
 ftones, that will befl fit it, which they fur- 
 E 2 ther 
 
 i 
 
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 'I 
 
 'I 
 
 i-M\ 
 
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u 
 
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 [ 28 ] 
 
 ther fecure, by binding it tightly round 
 with the flrongeft Tool>eey or fibrils of fir- 
 root above-mentioned j and then make 
 ufe of ii, as of a hatchet, not fo much for 
 cutting of wood, as for fplitting the fkull 
 of the enemy, when they can furprize 
 him. They form alfo other inftruments 
 of war ; fuch as long poles, one of which 
 is armed with bone of elk, made pointed 
 like a fmall-fword, and edge of both 
 fides, in order to reach the enemy at a 
 diftance, when he is obliged to take to the 
 woods. The arrows are made at the 
 fame time, pointed at the end with a fliarp 
 bone. The wood of which thefe arrows 
 are made, as well ns the bows, muft have 
 been dried at the myfterious fire, and even 
 the guts of which the firings are made. 
 But you are here to obferve, I am fpeak- 
 ing of an incident that happened fome 
 years ago ; for, generally fpeaking, they 
 are now better provided with arms, and 
 iron, by the Europeans fupplying them, 
 for their chav':ej in favor of their dealings 
 with them for their peltry. But to return 
 to my nariation. Whilft 
 
 'i;» 
 
[ -9] 
 
 Whilft the fire is ftill burning, the wo- 
 men come like fo many furies, with more 
 than bacchanalian madnefs, making the 
 moft hideous bowlings, and dancing with- 
 out any order, round the fire. Then all 
 their apparent rage turns of a fudden 
 againft the men. They threaten them, 
 that if they do not fupply them with 
 fcalps, they will hold them very cheap, 
 and look on them as greatly inferior to 
 themfelves ; that they will deny them- 
 felves to their moft lawful pleafures j that 
 their daughters fhall be given to none 
 but fuch as have fignalized themfelves by 
 fome military feat; that, in fhort, they 
 will themfelves find means to be revenged 
 of them, which cannot but be eafy to do 
 on cowards. 
 
 The men, at this, begin to parley with 
 one another, and order the women to 
 withdraw, telling them, that they (hall 
 befatisfieci j and that, in a little t'me, they 
 may exped to have prifoners brought to 
 them, to do what they will v^^ith them. 
 
 T"he 
 
 
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 [30] 
 
 The next thing they agree on is to fend 
 a couple of meffengers, in the nature of 
 heralds at arms, with their hatchets, qui- 
 vers, bows, and arrows, to declare war 
 againft the nation by whom they conceive 
 themfelves aggrieved, Thefe go diredly 
 to the village where the bulk of the nation 
 refides, obferving a fuUen filence by rhe 
 way, without fpeaking to any that may 
 meet them. When they draw near the 
 village, they give the earth feveral ftrokes 
 with their hatchets, as a fignal of com- 
 mencing hcflilities in form j and to con- 
 firm it the more, they fhoot two of their 
 beft arrows at the village, and retire with 
 the utmoft expedition. The war is now 
 kindled in good earneft, and it behoves 
 each party to fland well on its guard. The 
 heralds, after this, return to make a re- 
 port of what they have done; and to 
 prove their having been at the place ap- 
 pointed, they do not fail of bringing 
 away with them fome particular marks of 
 that fpot of the country. Then it is, 
 that the inhabitants of each nation begin 
 I to 
 
[ 3' ] 
 
 to think fcrioufly, whether they Ihall main- 
 tain their ground by flaying in their vil- 
 lage, and fortifying it in their manner, or 
 look out for a place of greater fafety, or go 
 diredtly in queft of the enemy. Upon 
 thefe queftions they affemble, deliberate, 
 and hold endlefs confultations, though 
 withal not uncurious ones : for it is on 
 thefe occafions, that thofe of the greateft 
 fagacity and eloquence dilplay all their 
 talents, and make themfelves diftinguifhed. 
 One of their moft common ftratagems, 
 when there were reafons for not attacking 
 one another, or coming to a battle diredt- 
 ly, was for one fide to make as if they had 
 renounced all thoughts of acfting offen* 
 fively. A party of thofe who made this 
 feint of renunciation, would difperfe itfelf 
 in a wood, obferving to keep near the bor- 
 ders of it ; when, if any ftragglers of the 
 enemy's appeared, fome one would coun- 
 terfeit to the life the particular cry of that 
 animal, in the imitation of which he moft 
 excelled j and this childiHi decoy would, 
 however, often fucceed, in drawing in the 
 
 young 
 
 
 Pi 
 
 
 
 
 il 
 
 i<i 
 
 ■■!i 
 
 
 
' I 
 
 '> 
 
 2M 
 
 t.".;i 
 
 [ 32 ] 
 
 young men of the oppofite party Into 
 their ambufhes. 
 
 Sometimes the fcheme was to examine 
 what particular fpot lay fo, that the ene- 
 mies muft, in all neceflity, pafs through 
 it, to hunt, or provide bark for making 
 their canoes. It was commonly in thefe 
 pafles, or defiles, that the bloodieft 
 encounters or engagements happened, 
 when whole nations have been known to 
 deftroy one another, witii fuch an exter- 
 minating rage on both fides, that few have 
 been left alive on either j and to fay the 
 truth, they were, generally fpeaking, mere 
 cannibals. It was rarely the cafe that 
 they did not devour fome limbs, at leaft, 
 of the prifoners they made upon one ano- 
 ther, after torturing them to death in the 
 moft cruel and fhocking manner: but 
 they never failed of drinking their blood 
 like water; it is now, fome time, that 
 our Micmakis efpecially are no longer 
 in the tafte of exercifing fuch ads of bar- 
 barity. I have, yet, lately myfelf (gch 
 amongft them fome remains of that fpirit 
 
 of 
 
 liH'W 
 
[ 33 1 
 
 of ferocity j fome tendencies and ap- 
 proaches to thofc inhumanities ; but they 
 are nothing in comparifon to what they 
 uled to be, and feem every day wearing 
 out. The religion to which we have 
 brought them over, and our remonftrances 
 have greatly contributed to foften that fa- 
 vage temper, and atrocious vindidivenefs 
 that heretofore reigned amongft them. 
 But remember, Sir, that as to this point 
 I am now only fpcaking, upon my own 
 knowlege, of the Micmakis and Mari- 
 quedls, who, though different in lar- 
 guaf^5, have the fame cuftoms and man- 
 ners, and are of the fame way of thinking 
 and ading. 
 
 But to arrive at any tolerable degree of 
 conjedure, whence thefe people derive 
 their origin', I own myfelf at a lofs : pof- 
 fibly fome light might be got Into it, by 
 difcovering whether there was any affinity 
 or not between their language, and that 
 of the Orientalifts, as the Chincfe or Tar- 
 tars^. In the mean time, the abundance 
 of words in this language furprized, and 
 
 F con- 
 
 mi 
 
 M 
 
 ■ ■MA 
 
 m 
 
 '.{IVK,' I 
 
 
 It' 
 
 m 
 
 M 
 
 ■I- 
 
»:■ 
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
 continues to furprize nvj every clay the 
 deeper I get into it. Every thing is pro- 
 per in it J nothing borrowed, as amongft 
 us. Here are no auxihary verbs. The 
 prcpofuions are in great number. This 
 it is that gives £!;reat cafe, flueiicy, and 
 rldinefs to the exprcflion of whatever you 
 require, when you arc once inaflcr enough 
 to join them to the verbs. In nil their 
 abfolutc verbs they have a dual number. 
 Wliat we call the imperi'eft, perfedl, 
 and prcter-perfcdt tenfes of the indicative 
 mood, admits, as with us, of varied in- 
 flexions of the terminations to diftinguifh 
 the perfcn j but the difference of the 
 three tenles is exprefs, for the preter- 
 perfetft by the prcpofition Kcetch ; for the 
 preter-pluperfedt by Kectch Kceweeh : the 
 imperfedis again diftinguiHied from them 
 by having no prepofition at all. 
 
 They have no feminine termination, 
 cither for the verbs or nouns. This greatly 
 facilitates to me my compofition of fongs 
 and hymns for them, efpccially as their 
 profe itfelf naturally runs into poetry, from 
 ' ■ the 
 
 ■i i 
 
[ 35] 
 
 the frequency of their tropes and meta- 
 phors J and into rh.ine, from their nouns 
 being fufceptible of the fime termination, 
 as that of the words in the verbs which 
 exprefs the different perfonc. In fpeaking 
 of perfons abfent, the words change their 
 termination, as well in the nouns as in 
 the verbs. 
 
 They have two didincftions of ftyle ; 
 the one noble, or elevated, for grave and 
 important fubjedls, the otlier ignoble, or 
 trivial, for famiUar or vulgar ones. But 
 this diflin6tion is not fo much with them, 
 as with us, marked by a difference of 
 words, but of terminations. Thus, when 
 they are treating of folemn, or weighty 
 matters, they terminate the verb and the 
 noun by another inflexion, than what is 
 ufed for trivial or common converfation. 
 
 I do not know, whether I explain clearly 
 enough to you this fo material a point of 
 their elocution j but it makes itfelf clearly 
 diftinguifhed, when once one comes to 
 underfland the language, in which it fup- 
 plies the place of the moft pathetic em- 
 F 2 phafis, 
 
 I- 
 
 M 
 
 t III] 
 
 4 
 
 I.. 
 
 I 'I 
 
 I 
 
 k 
 
 f 
 
 
 '■I: 
 
[ 36 ] 
 
 Ml 
 
 >'■ I ' ! 
 
 h i.ip 
 
 phafis, though even that they do not want, 
 nor great expreflion in their geftures and 
 looks. All their conjugations are regular 
 und diftindt. 
 
 Yet, with all thefe advantages of lan- 
 guage, the nation itfelf is extreamly igno- 
 rant as to what concerns itfelf, or its origin, 
 and their traditions are very confufed and 
 defedtive. They know nothing of the 
 iirft peopling of their country, of which 
 they imagine themfelves the Aborigines. 
 They often talk of their anceftors, but have 
 nothing to fay of them that is not va^ue 
 or general. According to them, they 
 were all great hunters, great wood-ran- 
 gers, expert managers of canoes, intrepid 
 warriors, that took to wives as many as 
 they could maintain by hunting. They 
 had too a cuftom amongft them, that if a 
 woman grew pregnant whilft flie was 
 fucking a child, they obliged her to ufe 
 means for procuring an abortion, in favor 
 of the firft-come, who they fuppofed 
 would otherwife be defrauded of his due 
 nourifhment. Moft of them alfo value them- 
 felves 
 
 (I 
 
 M 1 
 
[ 37 ] 
 
 felves on being defcended from their Jug- 
 glers, who are a fort of men that pretend 
 to foretel futurity by a thoufand ridicu- 
 lous contorlions and grimaces, and by 
 frightful and long-winded bowlings. 
 
 The great fecret of thefc Jugglers con- 
 fifts in having a great Oorakin full of wa- 
 ter, from any river in which it was known 
 there were beaver-huts. Then he takes 
 a certain number of circular turns round 
 this Oorakin, as it Hands on the ground, 
 pronouncing all the time with a low 
 voice, a kind of gibberifh of broken words, 
 unintelligible to the afTiftants, and moft 
 probably io to himfelf, but which thofc, 
 en whom he means to impofe^ believe 
 very efficacious. After this he draws 
 near to the bowl, and bending very low, 
 or rather lying over it, looks at himfelf in 
 it as in a glafs. If he fees the water in 
 the leaft muddy, or unfettled, he recovers 
 his eredl pofture, and begins his rounds 
 again, till he fmds the water as clear as 
 he could wifli it for his purpofe, and 
 then he pronounces over it his magic 
 
 words. 
 
 tl* 
 
 
 I' 
 
 V 
 
 \:'. 
 
 ■ t, 
 
 ' ■•*ti 
 
 . I- 
 
 
 :i 
 
 
 
 6!l. 
 
 ?■-■ i I 
 
[ 3S ] 
 
 words. If after having repeated tlicm 
 twice or thrice, he does not find the quef- 
 tion propofed to him refolvcd by this in- 
 fpedlion of the water, nor the wonders 
 he wants operated by it, he fays with a 
 loud voice and a grave tone, that the Ma^ 
 nitoo, or Mieivndoo^ (the great fpirit) or 
 genius, which, according to them, has all 
 knowledge of future events, would not 
 declare himfelf till every one of the af- 
 fiftants fliould have told him (the Juggler) 
 in the ear what were his adtual thoughts, 
 or greateft fecret *. To this purpofe he 
 
 * A Romifli miffionary mud, with a very bad 
 grace, blame the Jugglers, for what himfelf makes 
 fuch a point of religion in his auricular confejftort. 
 Even the appellation of JuSZ^er is not amifs applica- 
 ble to thofe of theii :raft, confidering all their tricks 
 and mummery not a whit fuperior to thofe of thcfc poor 
 favages, in the eyes of commoji-fcnfe. Who does 
 not know, that the low-burlefquc word oi Hocus-pocus t 
 ',s an humorous corruption of their Hoc eft corpus meumt 
 by virtue of which, they make a GWout of a vile wa- 
 fer, and think it finely folved, by calling it a myjier)\ 
 which, by the way is but another name for notifenj'e. 
 Is there any thing amongd the favages half fo abfurd 
 or fo impious ? 
 
 gets 
 
 
 ! ; I 
 
[ 39 ] 
 
 gets up, laments, and bitterly inveighs 
 againft the bad difpofitions of thofc of 
 the afliflants, whole fault it was, that the 
 cffcds of his art were obftruded. Then 
 going round the company, he obliges 
 them towhifperhim in the ear, whatever 
 held the firft place in their minds j and the 
 fimplicity of the greater number is fuch, 
 as to make them reveal to him what it 
 would be more prudent to conceal. By 
 thefe means it is, that thefe artful Jug- 
 glers renders themfelves formidable to the 
 common people, and by getting into the 
 fecrets of moft of the families of the na- 
 tion, acquire a hank over them. Some, 
 indeed, of the moft fenfible fee through 
 this pitiful artifice, and look on the Jug- 
 glers in their proper light of cheats, 
 quacks, and tyrants j but out of fear of 
 their eftablifhed influence over the bulk 
 of the nation, they dare not oppofe its 
 fwallowing their impoftures, or its regard- 
 ing all their miferable anfwers as fo many 
 oracles. When the Juggler in exercife, 
 has colleded all that he can draw from 
 
 the 
 
 
 
 ;n 
 
 %v\ 
 
 'A 
 
 '"■).■■■ 
 
 
 m 
 
 ■ ,/■' 
 
'1 = 
 
 M 
 
 [40] 
 
 the inmofl recefles of the minds of the 
 affiftants, he replaces himfelf, as before, 
 over the myfterious bowl of water, and 
 now knows what he has to fay. Then, 
 ^fter twice or thrice laying his face clofe 
 tothefurface of the water, and having as 
 often made his evocations in uncouth, un- 
 intelligible words, he turns his face to 
 his audience, fometimes he will fay, " t 
 " can only give a half-anfwer upon fuch 
 " an article j there is an obftacle yet un- 
 " removed in the way^. before I can ob- 
 " tain an entire folution, and that is> 
 *' there are fome prefent here who are in 
 *' fuch and fuch a cafe. That I may fuc- 
 " ceed in what is afked 6f me, and that 
 " interclls the whole nation, I appoint that 
 " perfbn, without rny knowing, as yet, 
 " who it is, to meet me at fuch an hour 
 " of the night. I name no place of afllg- 
 " nation, but will let him know by a 
 ** fignal of lighted fire, where he may 
 " come to me, and fuifer himfelf to be 
 ** condudled wherever I fhall carry him-. 
 " The MamtoQ orders me to fpare his re- 
 2 " putation. 
 
t 
 
 
 [ 41 ] 
 
 " putation, and not expofe him j for if 
 " there is any harm in it to him, there is 
 *' alfo harm to me." 
 
 Thus it is the Juggler has the art of 
 impofing on thefe fimple credulous crea- 
 tures, and even often fucceeds by it in his 
 divinations. Sometimes he does not need 
 all this ceremonial. He pretends to fore- 
 tell off-hand, and actually does fo, when 
 he is already prepared by his knowledge, 
 cunning, or natural penetration. His di- 
 vinations chiefly turn on the expedience 
 of peace with one^ nation, or of war 
 with another ; upon matches between fa- 
 milies, upon the long life of fon^e, or the 
 fhort life of others j how fuch and fuch 
 perfons came by their deaths, violently or 
 naturally j whether the wife of fome 
 great Sagamo has been true to his bed or 
 not J who it could be that killed any 
 particular perfons found dead of their 
 wounds in the woods, or on the coaft. 
 Sometimes they pretend it's the deed of 
 the ManitoOy for reafons to them un- 
 known : this laft incident ftrikes the pco- 
 
 G pie 
 
 :!' 
 
 m 
 
 ?i 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 1 f. 
 
 
 tT 
 
 L 
 
 11! 
 
 ):■ 
 
 ¥ 
 r^ 
 
 i'.' .• 
 
 ■.V<1 
 
 'r 
 
 'V.iv 
 
 
 K 
 
 
fli' 
 
 [42 ] 
 
 dIc with a religious awe. But what the 
 Jugglers are chiefly confulted upon, and 
 what gives them the greateft credit, is to 
 know whether the chace of fuch a particu- 
 lar fpecies of beafts (hould be undertaken 5 
 at what feafon, or on which fide of the 
 country j how befl may be difcovered the 
 eligns of any nation with which they are 
 at war j or at what time fuch or fuch per- 
 fons fhall return from their journey. 1 he 
 Juggler pretends to fee all this, and more, 
 in his bowl of water : divination by coflfee- 
 grounds is a trifle to it. He is alfo applied 
 to, to know whether a fick perfon ll)all 
 recover or die of his illnefs. But what I 
 have here told you of the procedure of 
 thefe Jugglers, you are to underftand 
 only of the times that preceded the intro- 
 dudtion of Chriftianity amongft thefe peo- 
 ple, or of thofe parts wh'^re it is not yet 
 received : for thefe pradices are no longer 
 fuflfered where we have any influence, 
 
 Amongfl: the old favages lately bap- 
 tized, I could never, from the accounts 
 they gave me of the belief of their an- 
 j ceflors, 
 
m 
 
 1 
 
 yet 
 nger 
 
 t 43 ] 
 
 Ceftors, find any ti ue knowledge of the Ta* 
 preme Being y no idea, 1 mean, approach- 
 ing to that we have, or rather nothing but 
 a vague imagination. They have, it is 
 true, a confufed notion of a Being, ading 
 they know not how *> in the univerfe, 
 but they do not make of him a great foul 
 difFufed through all its parts. They have 
 no conception or knowledge of all the at* 
 tributes we beftow on the Deity* When- 
 ever they happen to philofophize upon 
 this ManitoOy or great fpirit, they utter 
 nothing but reveries and abfurdities -f-. 
 
 G 2 Amongft 
 
 * Who does ? 
 
 t Arc not there innumerable volumes on this fub- 
 ie£t, to which the fame obje«5tion might as juftly be 
 made ? Poflibly the favages, and the deepeft divines, 
 with iiifpecl to the manner of the Deity's exiftence, 
 may have, in point of ignorance, nothing to reproach 
 one another. It matters very little, whether one fees 
 the fun from the loweft valley, or the higheft moun- 
 tain, when the immenfity of its diftance contracts the 
 higheft advantage of the eminence to little lefs than 
 nothing. Surely the infinite fuperiority of the Deity, 
 muft ftill more efte£lually mock the diftindion of the 
 mental eye, at the fame time that his exifcence itfelf is 
 
 as 
 
 m 
 
 Hm 
 
 ^J- 
 
 It 
 
 If 
 ■fe 
 
 H',^ 
 
 I 
 
 
 ■I 
 
 m 
 
 .- m 
 
 : f I 
 
 
 I 
 
 r," 
 
 m 
 
\, r 
 
 ii'''i' 
 
 r 44 ] 
 
 Amongfl: other fuperftltioiis notions, 
 riot the leaft prevalent is that of the Ma- 
 nitoos exercife of his power over the dead, 
 whom he orders to appear to them, and 
 acquaint them with what pafles at a dif- 
 tance, in refpedl to their moft important 
 concerns ; to advife them what they had 
 beft do, or not do ; to forewarn them of 
 dangers, or to infpire them with revenge 
 againft any nation that may have infulted 
 them, and fo forth. 
 
 They have no idea of his fpirituality, 
 or even of the fpirituaHty of that princi- 
 ple, which conftitntes their own vital prin- 
 ciple. They have even no word in their 
 language that anfwers to that of foul in 
 ours. The term approaching neareft 
 thereto that we can find, is Mcheejacmih, 
 which fignifies Shade^ and may be con- 
 ftrued fomething in the nature of the 
 Manei of the Romans. 
 
 ( ■ I 
 
 as plain as that of the fun, and like that too, dazzling 
 thofe moft, who contemplate it moft fixedly ; reduces 
 them to clofe the eye, not to exclude the light, but as 
 overpowered by it. 
 
«■■*! 
 
 I 
 
 The general belief amongfl: them Is, 
 that, after death, they go to a place of joy 
 and plenty, in which fenfuality is no more 
 omitted than in M?homet's paradife. 
 There they are to find women in abun- 
 dance, a country thick of all manner of 
 game to humor their paflion for hunting, 
 and bows and arrows of the beft fort, ready 
 made. But thefe regions are fuppofed at 
 a great diftance from their's, to which the;^- 
 will have to travel j and therefore it's 
 requilite to be well-provided, before they 
 quit their own country, with arrows, long 
 pcles fit for hunting, or for covering cab- 
 bins, with bear-fkins, or elk-hides, with 
 women, and with fome of their children, 
 to make their journey to that place more 
 commodious, more pleafant, and appear 
 more expeditious. It was efpecially in 
 charader for a warrior, not to leave tliis 
 world without taking with him fome 
 marks of his bravery, as particularly fcalps. 
 Therefore it was, that Vv'hen any of them 
 died, he was always followed by, at leaft, 
 one of his children, fome women, and 
 
 above 
 
 I 
 
 ■i * 
 
 ■■ '■■■«*• 
 
 
 'm 
 
 V-'i' 
 
 '■1 ' 
 
 • I 
 
 I ■ 1 
 
 ■i 
 
 i^iii 
 
 
 'J 
 
 
lirl! 
 
 fill 
 
 [46] 
 
 above all, by her whom in his life he had 
 moft loved, who threw themfelves into 
 the grave, and were interred with hin. 
 They alfo put intc it great flrips, or rolls 
 of the bark of birch, arrows, and fcalps. 
 Nor do they unfrequently, at this day, 
 ight upon fome of thefe old burying- 
 places in the woods, with all thefe funeral 
 accompanyments j but of late, the inter- 
 ment of live perfons has been almoft en- 
 tirely difufed. 
 
 I never could learn whether they had 
 any fet formulary of prayer, or invoca- 
 tion to the greaf Manitoo ; or whether 
 they made any facrifices of beafts or pel- 
 try, to any other Manitoo, in contradic- 
 tion to him, or to any being whom they 
 dreaded as an evil genius. I could difco- 
 ver no more than what I have above re- 
 lated of the ceremonies in honor of the 
 fun. I know, indeed, they have a great 
 veneration for the moon, which they in- 
 voke, whenever, under favor of its light, 
 they undertake any journeys, either by 
 land or water, or tend the fnares thy have 
 
 fet 
 
 1 it 
 
I 47] 
 
 fet for their game. This is the prayer 
 they occafionally addrefs to it : 
 
 " How great, O moon ! is thy good- 
 " nefs, in adlually, for our benefit, fupply- 
 " ing the place of the father of the day, 
 " as, next to him, thou haft concurred to 
 " make us fpring out of that earth wc 
 " have inhabited from the firft ages of 
 " the world, and takeft particular care of 
 ** us, that the malignant air of the night, 
 *' fliould not kill the principle and bud of 
 '* life within us. Thou regardeft us, in 
 " truth, as thy children. Thou haft not, 
 *' from the firft time, difcontinued to treat 
 ** us like a true mother. Thou guideft us 
 " in our nodurnal journies. By the fa- 
 " vor of thy light it is, that we have often 
 " ftruck great ftrokes in war j and more 
 " than once have our enemies had cr.ufe 
 •* to repent their being off their guard in 
 '* thy clear winter-nights. Thy pale rays 
 " have often fufficiently lighted us, for 
 *' our marching in a body without mif- 
 " taking our way j and have enabled us 
 *[ not only to difcover the ambufhes of 
 
 *' the 
 
 i\' 
 
 
 V: 
 
 1'r^ 
 
 f 
 
 .1 
 
 V' ' It- 
 
 ■f* " ■ 
 
 m 
 
 'a ' ' I 
 
 ■i . , j. 
 
 is i 
 
 I 'i 
 
 ' I I 
 
 
 ®^ 
 
m 
 
 m 
 
 ,1 
 
 
 ' 
 
 f?l 
 
 
 I 
 
 1 1 ^ 'J 
 
 n 
 
 in 
 
 ■■ I, ' 
 
 
 l4 
 
 [ 48 ] 
 
 " the enemy, but often to Airprize him 
 " aflcep. However wc might be want- 
 *• ing to ourfclves, thy regular courfe was 
 " never wanting to us. licautiful Ipoufe 
 " of the fun ! give us to difcover the 
 *' tiacks of elks, moufe-dccr, martins, 
 " lynxes, and bears, when urged by our 
 " wants, wc jMjrfuc by night the hunt 
 " after thefc bealls, CJive to our women 
 " the ftrength to fupport the pains of 
 " child-birth"*, render their wombs proli- 
 " fie, and their brealls incxhauftible foun- 
 *' tains." 
 
 I have often tried to find out, whether 
 there was any tradition or knowledge 
 amongft them of the deluge, but always 
 met with fuch unfatisfadory anfwers, as 
 entirely difcouraged my curiofity on that 
 head. 
 
 This nation counts its years by the win- 
 ters. When they alk a man how old 
 he is, they fay, " How many winters have 
 " gone over thy head ?" 
 
 * Lucina fer opem^ was alfo the cry amongft the 
 ancient he.gthens. 
 
 Their 
 
 \ : r 
 
[49] 
 
 Their months are kinar, and they cal- 
 culate their time by them. When wc 
 would fay, *' I iliall be lix weeks on my 
 " journey j" they exprefs it by, " I fliall 
 *' be a moon and a half on it." 
 
 Before we knew them, it was comm-^n 
 to fee amongll: them, perfons of both fcxes 
 of a hundred and forty, or a hundred and 
 fifty years of age. But thefe examples of 
 longevity are grown much more rare. 
 
 By all accounts too, their populoufnefs 
 is greatly decreafed. Some imagine this 
 is owing to that inveterate animofity, with 
 which thefe fo many petty nations were 
 continually laboring one another's de- 
 ftrudion and extirpation. Others impute 
 it to the introdudion by the Europeans, 
 of the vice of drunkennefs, and to the 
 known effedt of fpirituous liquors in the 
 exceffes of their ufe, to which they are 
 but too prone, in ftriking at the powers of 
 generation, as well as at the principles of 
 health and life. Not improbably too, 
 numbers impatient of the encroachments 
 of the Europeans on their country, and 
 
 H dread- 
 
 l/'« 
 
 .,;. 
 
 IV, 
 
 
 l<.'r 
 
 {• 
 
 llil 
 
 » .f- V I 
 
 u 
 
 I 
 
 a. 
 
 ■: 
 
 ■M- 
 
. '* i 
 
 I 
 
 H 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 [ 5° ] 
 
 dreading the confcqucnces of them to 
 their liberty, for which they have a paf- 
 fionatc attachment, and incapable of re- 
 conciHnp- or aflimilatino; their cuftoms and 
 manners to ours, have choftn, to with- 
 draw further into the weftern reccfles of 
 the'contincnt, at a diftance impenetrable 
 to our approach. 
 
 But which ever of thefe conjedures is 
 the trueft, or whether or not all of thefe 
 caufes have refpeftively concurred, in a 
 IclTcr or greater degree, the fadt is certain, 
 that all thefe northern countries are con- 
 fidcrably thinned of their natives, fince 
 the nrft diicovery of them by the Euro- 
 peans. Nor have I reafon to think, but 
 that this is true of America in general, 
 wherever they have carried their power, 
 or extended their influence. 
 
 It is alfo true, that the women of this 
 country are naturally not fo prolific as 
 thofe of fome other parts of the world in 
 the fame latitude. One reafon for this 
 may be, their not having their menftrual 
 flux fo copioufly, or for io long a time as 
 
 thofe 
 
[ 51 1 
 
 thofc of Europe. Yet one would think, 
 the phirality of wives permitted amongft 
 them, might in fomc meafure compensate 
 for this defedt, which, however, it evi- 
 dently does not. * 
 
 Their women have always obferved, 
 not to prefent thcmfelves at any public 
 ceremony, or folemnity, whilft under 
 their monthly terms, nor to admit the 
 embraces of their hufbands. 
 
 At ftated times they repair to particular 
 places in the woods, where they recite 
 certain formularies of invocation to the 
 ManitoOy didtated to them by fome of 
 their oldeft Sagamees, or principal women, 
 and more frequently by fome celebrated 
 Juggler of the village, that they may ob- 
 tain the blefling of fruitfulnefs. For it is 
 with them, as amongft the Jews, that 
 barrennefs is accounted opprobrious. A 
 woman is not looked upon as a woman, 
 till (he has proved it, by her fulfilling what 
 they confider as one of the great ends of 
 her creation. Failing in that, fhe is di- 
 vorced from her hufband, and may then 
 
 H 2 pro- 
 
 IP' 
 
 u 
 
 r 
 
 I 
 
 '(•! 
 
 r. .1 
 
 :m 
 
 V 
 
 . I 
 
 
 'J 
 
 ■','" 
 
it 
 
 m 
 
 1 ! 
 
 [ 5* ] 
 
 proftitiitchcrfclf without any fcandal. If 
 llie has no iiichnation or iclilh for this way 
 of life, they compel her to it, in regard 
 to their young men, who do not care to 
 marry, till they are arrived at full-ripe years, 
 and for whom, on their return from their 
 warlike or hunting expeditions, they think 
 it neceil'ary to provide fuchobjedls of amufe* 
 ment. They pretend withal, that they 
 are fubjed to infupportr.ble pains in their 
 loins, if fuch a remedy is not at hand to 
 relieve them-. But once more you are to 
 remember, that I am only fpeaking of 
 thofe people not yet converted to Chri- 
 flianity, by which this licentioufnefs is 
 not allowed. And yet, notwithftanding 
 the maxims we inculcate to them, the na- 
 tives continue no other than what they 
 were before, that is to fay, as inuch ad- 
 dicted to venery as ever, and rarely mifs 
 an occafion of gratifying their appetite to 
 it. The only way we can think of to 
 prevent their offending religion, is to have 
 them married as foon as they begin to feel 
 themf^lves men. The reftraint however 
 
 in 
 
[ 53 ] 
 
 in this point is, what they can Icaft en- 
 dure. 
 
 ]\\ their unconverted flate, their man- 
 ner of courtfliip and marriage is as fol- 
 lows : When a youth has an inclination 
 to enter into the connubial ftate, his fa- 
 ther, or next relation, looks out for a girl, 
 to whofc father the propofal is made : this 
 being always tranfaded between the pa- 
 rents of the parties to be married. The 
 young man, who is commonly about 
 thirty years of age, or twenty at the ?eaft, 
 rarely confults his own fancy in this point. 
 The girl, who is always extreamly young, 
 is never fuppo.jd to trouble her head 
 about the meafures that are taking to 
 marry her. When the parents on each 
 fide have fetded the matter, the youth 
 is applied to, that he may prepare his 
 calumet as foon as he pleafes. 
 
 The calumet ufed on thefe occafions, 
 is a fort of fpungeous reed, which may 
 furnifli, according to its length a number 
 of calumets, each of which it: about a 
 foot long, to be lighted at one end, the 
 
 other 
 
 ,1 ^ • 
 
 ,Sy 
 
 i I 
 
 11' 
 
 >.'< 
 
 ( ■ 
 
 1 
 
 H 
 
 I, 
 
 ' 1, 
 

 ■ ;«Pi, i 
 
 
 •■■i5; 
 
 ■■[iJ 
 
 
 
 $ 
 
 
 
 ' Hi 
 
 I 
 
 'i^ 
 
 il 
 
 - i 
 
 •■^Hi 
 
 'I'f 
 
 ■• 'K ..,4 I 
 
 [ 54] 
 
 Other ferving to fuck in the fmoak at the 
 
 mouth, and is fuffered to burn within an 
 
 inch of the lips. 
 
 The fpcech made to the youth on this 
 
 occafioa is as follows : *' Thou may 'ft go 
 ' when thou wilt, by day or by night, to 
 ' light th) calumet in fuch a cabbin. 
 ' Thou muft obferve to direct the fmoak 
 ' of it towards the perfon who is defigned 
 ' for thee, and carry it fo, that fhe may 
 ' take fuch a tafte to this vapor, as to 
 ' defire of thee that fhe may fmoak of 
 
 * thy calumet. Show thyfelf worthy of 
 ' thy nation, and do honor to thy fex 
 
 * and youth. Suffer none in the cabbin 
 ' to which thou art admitted, to want 
 
 * any thing thy induftry, thy art, or thy 
 
 * arrows can procure them, as well for 
 
 * food, as for peltry, or oil, for the good 
 ' of their bodies, infide and outfide. 
 ' Thou haft four winters given thee, for 
 ' a trial of thy patience and conftancy." 
 
 At this the youth never fails of going 
 to the place appointed. If the girl, (who 
 knows the meaning of this) has no parti- 
 cular 
 
to 
 
 [ 55] 
 
 cular averlion to him, flie Is foon difpofcd 
 to afk his calumet of him. In fome parts, 
 but not in this where I am, flie llgnifies 
 her acceptance by blowing it out. Here 
 fhe takes it from him, and fucking it, 
 blows the fmoak towards his noftrils, evea 
 fometimes fo violently, as to make him 
 qualm-iick, at which fhe is highly de- 
 lighted. Nothing, however, palTes farther 
 againft the laws of modefty, though flie 
 will trefs his hair, paint his face, and im- 
 print on various parts of his body curious 
 devices and flouriflies, all relative to their 
 love ; which (lie pricks in, and rubs over 
 with a compolition that renders the im- 
 preflion uncancellable. 
 
 If the parents of the girl are pleafed 
 with the procedure of the fuitor, they com- 
 monly, at the end of the fecond year, dif- 
 penfe, in his favor, with the reft of the 
 probation-time j and, indeed, they could 
 not well before, the girl almoft always 
 wanting, from the time ine is firft courted, 
 at leaft two years to bring on the age of 
 confummation. They tell him, " Thou 
 
 *' may 'ft 
 
 IP -■• JHfi 
 
 im 
 
 m 
 
 '"ii! 
 
 
 f ' 
 
 't 
 
 ■•i 
 
 
 • ■V! 
 
 1, 
 
 l-i 
 
■>■ I 
 
 " may 'ft now take a fmall part of tho 
 " covering of thy beloved whilft fhe 
 " fleeps." No fooner is this compliment 
 made him, than, without faying any 
 thing, he goes out of the cabbin, armed 
 with his bow and arrows, and hurrying 
 home acquaints his friends, that he is go- 
 ing to the woods, whence he fliall not 
 return till it pleafes his beloved to recall 
 him. 
 
 Accordingly he repairs forthwith to the 
 woods, and ftays there for two or three 
 days, diverting himfelf with hunting ; at 
 the end of which it has been agreed on, 
 to fend all the youths of the village to 
 fetch him : and they come back loaded 
 with game of all forts, though the bride- 
 groom is not fuffered to carry any thing, 
 There is alfo great provifion made of feal 
 and fea-cows for the wedding-feaft. 
 
 The head Juggler of the village, meets 
 the bridegroom who is at the head of the 
 proceflion, takes him by the hand, and 
 conduds him to the cabbin of the bride, 
 where he is to take part of her bedj upon 
 
 which 
 
feal 
 
 ride, 
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
 which he lies Sown by her fide, and both 
 continue unmoveable and filent like two 
 ftatues, whilft they are obliged to hear the 
 long tedious harangues of the Juggler, of 
 the parents of both, and of their oldefl: 
 relations. After that, they both get up, 
 and are led, the one by the young men, 
 the other by the girls, to the place of en- 
 tertainment, all fmging, (hooting, and 
 dancing. 
 
 The bridegroom is feated amongft the 
 young men on one fide, and the bride 
 amongft the girls on another. Qne of his 
 friends takes an Oorakm^ loads it with 
 roaft-me^t, and fets it down by him, 
 whilft one of her's does the fame thing, 
 with an Oorakin of the fame lize, and 
 nearly alike, which is placed by the bride's 
 fide. After this ceremony of placing the 
 Oorakin^ the Juggler pronounces certain 
 magical words over the meat : he fore- 
 tels, efpccially to the bride, the dreadful 
 confequences flie muft exped: from the 
 vidluals (he is about to eat, if fhe has in 
 her heart any perfidioufnefs towards her 
 
 I huiband : 
 
 
 
 
 m. 
 
 \^ 
 
 I- I 
 
 
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 k 
 
 \ ■ 
 
 ■n 
 
 4 
 
 •■, 
 
 
 -1-1 
 
 3 
 
f 58 ] 
 
 hulband: thatflie maybe afTured of finding 
 in the Oorakin that contains them, a certain 
 prognoftic of her future happinefs, or un- 
 happinefs : of happinefs, if fhe is dif- 
 pofed never in her hfe to betray her na- 
 tion, nor efpecially her huiband, upon 
 anyoccahor, or whatever may befal her : 
 of unhappinefs, if through the carefTes 
 of flrangers, or by any means whatever 
 flie fhould be induced to break her faith 
 to him, or to reveal to the enemy the fe- 
 crets of the country. 
 
 At the end of every period, all the af- 
 fiftants fignify their alTent to the Juggler's 
 words, by a loud exclamation of Hah ! 
 Whilft he is talking, the particular friend 
 of the bridegroom, and that of the bride, 
 keep their eyes fixed on the two Oorakins ; 
 and as foon as he has done, the bride's 
 friend making as if fhc did not think of 
 what (lie was about, takes the Oorakin 
 allotted for the bridegroom, and carries 
 it to the bride, whilft the bridegroom's 
 friend, (the thing being pre-concerted) 
 ads the like mummery of inadvertence, 
 
 and 
 
[59] 
 
 and fets before the bridegroom the Oora^ 
 kin belonging to the bride ; after which 
 the diflies are ferved in to the reft of the 
 company. When they are all ferved, 
 the two friends of the parties mufing a 
 little, pretend to have juft then difcovered 
 their exchange of the bride and bride- 
 groom's Oorakins. They declare it openly 
 to each other, at which the Juggler takes 
 up his cue, and with a folemn face fays, 
 " The Mafiitoo has had his defigns in 
 " this miftake : he has vouchfafed to 
 give an indubitable lign of his appro- 
 bation of the ftrait alliance this day 
 " contradled. What is the one's, is the 
 " fame as the other's. They are hence- 
 " forward united, and are as one and 
 the fame perfon. It is done. May 
 they multiply without end !" At this 
 the affiftants all ftart up, and with cries of 
 joy, and congratulation, rufh to embrace 
 the bride and bridegroom, and overwhelm 
 them with cai-fles. After which they 
 fit very gravely down again to the en- 
 tertainm^mt before them, and difpatch 
 
 I 2 it 
 
 cc 
 
 C( 
 
 (C 
 
 <c 
 
 w 
 
 i .■>. 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
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 ^W 
 
 'X'm 
 
^V--^ 
 
 IWP 
 
 [ 60] 
 
 it in great iilence. This is followed by 
 dances of all kinds, with which the feaft 
 for the day concludes, as muft this letter, 
 in which I have certainly had lei's atten- 
 tion to the obferving the limits of or>e, 
 than to the gratifying your curiofiiy, with 
 refpedl to thefe people, amongil whom 
 my lot has fo long been caft. 
 
 I am. Sir, 
 
 Your moft obedient 
 
 Humble (ervant. 
 
 MM 
 
 To 
 
To 
 
 To underfland the following piece^ it is ne- 
 ceffary to knoWy that after the infidious 
 peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the favage nu" 
 tionSi efpecially the Mickmakis and Ma- 
 richeets continued hofiilities againfl the 
 Engliflj, at the underhaizd inftigation of 
 the French y who meant thereby to pre- 
 'vent, or at leaft difirefs, as much as oh" 
 flrudfy our new fettlements in Nova-Sco- 
 tia. For this purpofe, the French 
 mijionaries had their cue from their 
 government to a£l the incendiaries^ ana 
 to inflame matters to the highefi pitch. 
 *Thefe beingy however, fenfibky that the 
 part afjigned them was a very odious one, 
 and inconfiftent with the fpirit of that 
 religion for which they profejs fuch zeal, 
 one of themy by way of palliation y and 
 in order to throw the blame on theEngli/h 
 themfelves, drew up the following fiate 
 
 < of the cafey between onr nation and the 
 favagesy viz. 
 
 'f 1 
 
 ME- 
 
 ■f h 
 
 r^-fS^A 
 
 
 (9I 
 
 ^ f 
 
 . n 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 OF T H i: 
 
 Motives of the Savages, called Mick- 
 makis and MarichectSt for continu- 
 ing the War with Enghmd fincc the lafl 
 Peace. 
 
 Dated IJIe-Royal, 175 — . 
 
 THESE nations have never been 
 able to forget all that the Englirti 
 fettled in North-America have done fince 
 the very firft of their eftablifhment, to- 
 wards deftroying them root and branch. 
 They have efpecially, at every moment, 
 before their eyes the following tranfac- 
 tions : 
 
 In 1744, towards the end of Odober, 
 Mr. Gorrhon, (perhaps Goreham) de- 
 ceafed, commanding a detachment of the 
 Englifli troops, fent to obfcrvc the retreat 
 the French and favages were making from 
 before Port-Royal (Annapolis) in A:adia, 
 (Nova-Scotia) : this detachment having 
 found two huts of the Mickmaki-favages, 
 in a remote corner, in which there were 
 2 five 
 
res, 
 lere 
 
 ive 
 
 [63] 
 
 five women and three children, (two of 
 the women were big with child) ran- 
 facked, pillaged, and burnt the two huts, 
 and maflacred the five women and three 
 children. It is to be obferved, that the 
 two pregnant women were found with 
 their bellies ripped open. An aftion 
 which thefe favages cannot forget, efpe- 
 cially as at that time they made fair war 
 with the Englifh. They have always 
 looked on this deed as a Angular mark of 
 the moft unheard-of cruelty *. 
 
 Five months before this adtion, one 
 named DanaSy or Davids an Englifh pri- 
 vateer, having treacheroufly hoifted French 
 colors in the Streights of Fronfac, by 
 means of a French deferter he had with 
 
 * Who would not look on it in the fame light ? 
 But as no nation on earth is known to have more 
 than ours conftitutionally, a horror for fuch barbari- 
 rities, efpecially in cold blood j it may be very eafily 
 prefumed, that this facSl was, if true, committed by 
 fome of the favages themfelves, without the know- 
 ledge of the commander, or of any of the Englifti 
 troops. 
 
 him, 
 
 '1 wy 
 
 il^^. 
 
 w 
 
 i 
 
 f.. 
 I. 
 
 n 
 
 m 
 
 fv, ' •; i 
 
 li 
 
Mtd 
 
 ;v*, 
 
 li 
 
 
 •^r:' 
 
 
 [ 64] 
 
 him, decoyed on board his vefTcl the 
 chief of the lavages of Cape-Breton, 
 called James Padanuque, with his whole 
 family, whom he carried to Bofton, where 
 he was clapped into a dungeon the in- 
 ftant he was landed j from which he was 
 only taken out to ftifle him on board of a 
 • veflel, in which they pretended to return 
 him fafe to Cape-Breton. His fon, at 
 that time a boy of eight years of age, 
 they will abfolutely not releafe -, though, 
 fincc their detention of that young favage, 
 they have frequently had prifoners fent 
 back to them, without ranfom, on condi- 
 tiou of refloring the young man to his 
 country : but though they accepted the 
 condition, they never complied with it. 
 
 In the month of July, 1745, the fame 
 Danas, with the fame fuccefs, employed 
 
 the fame decoy '^n a favage-family, which 
 could not get out of their hands, but by 
 
 cfcaping one night from their prifons. 
 
 About the faiiie time one named Bar- 
 tholomew Petitpas, an appointed favage- 
 linguift, w^.s carried away prifoner to 
 
 Bofton. 
 
[6] 
 
 l3o{lon. The favagc:^ have fevera! times 
 demanded him in exchange for Englifli 
 prilbncrs they then had in their hands, of 
 whom two were officers, to whom they 
 gave their liberty, on condition of the 
 Boftoners returning of Petitpas -, whom, 
 however, they not only kept prifoner, but 
 afterwards put to death. 
 
 In the fame year, 1745, a miflionary 
 of the favages of Cape Breton, Natki- 
 koucfch, Picktook, and of the ifland of 
 St. John, having been invited by fcvcral 
 letters, on the part of the commodore of 
 the Englijh fquadron, and of the general 
 of the land-forces, to a parley, thofe gen- 
 tlemen defired with him, concerning the 
 favages, repaired to Louifbourg, at that 
 time in poffeflion of the Englifli, on the 
 aiTurances they had given him in writing, 
 and on the formal promifes they had 
 bound with an oath, of full liberty to re- 
 turn from whence he came, after having 
 fatisfied them in all they wanted of him. 
 They detained him at Louifbourg, where 
 
 K thev 
 
 'v. 
 
 
 r.. 
 
 
 
 '■'1 Cb 
 
 MM 
 
', 
 
 l<( 
 
 [ 66 ] 
 
 they gave him a great deal of ill uCa^c, ?nd 
 obliged him to embark, all fick as he was, 
 and deftitute of neceflaries, on board of 
 one of the rtiips of the fquadron, in which 
 he was conveyed to England, from whence 
 he at length got to France *. 
 
 The fame year, 1745, feveral bodies 
 of the favages, deceafcd, and buried at 
 Port Iholouzc, were dug up again by the 
 Bolloners, and thrown into the fire. The 
 burying -place of the favages was demo- 
 liflied, and all the croffes, planted on the 
 graves, broke into a thoufand pieces. 
 
 In 1746, fome fluffs that the favages 
 had bought of the Englifli, who then 
 traded in the bay of Megagouetch at 
 Bcau-bajjin^ there being at that time a 
 great fcarcity of goods over all the coun- 
 try, were found to be pcifoned -f-, fo that 
 
 more 
 
 * Moft probably he had not given the fatisfaition 
 required by thofe gentlemen, which had been confeflf- 
 edly by himfelf made the condition of his return. 
 
 f Is it poffible a miffionary of the truths of theGof- 
 pel could gravely commit to paper fuch an infernal 
 
 tie? 
 
[ ^7 1 
 
 more than two hundred favagcs of both 
 fexcs periflied thereby. 
 
 In 1749, towards the end of the month 
 of May, at a time that the fufpenfion of 
 arms between the two crowns was not 
 yet known in New France, the favages, 
 having made prifoners two Englifh- 
 men of Newfoundland, had from thefe 
 fame prifoners the firft news of the ceiTa- 
 tion of hoftilities. They believed them 
 on their bare words, exprefled their fatif- 
 fadion to them, treated them like bro- 
 thers, unbound them, and carried them 
 to their huts. The faid prifoners rofe in 
 the night, and maflacred twenty-five of 
 thefe favages, men, women, and children. 
 There were but two of the favages efcaped 
 this carnage, by being accidentally not 
 
 ^ 
 
 'a. 
 
 < 1 
 
 
 lie ? If even the favages had been ftupid enough of 
 themfelves to imbibe fuch a notion, was it not the duty 
 of a Chriftian to have (hewn them the folly of it, or 
 even but in juftice to the Europeans ? But what muft 
 be their guilt, if they fuggefted it ? Surely, fcarce lefs 
 than that of the adion itfelf. 
 
 K 2 
 
 prefent. 
 
 
 '. '^ ,' * 
 
 ft 
 
 vX , \ 
 
^1 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 ;'^!i 
 
 i 
 
 11 
 
 
 ;: I 
 
 f 
 
 h 
 
 I 'I 
 
 a 
 
 
 ni 
 
 fc 
 
 
 [ 68 ] 
 
 prefent. [How improbable is the whole of 
 this /lory?] 
 
 Towards the end of the fame year, the 
 Englifh being come to Chibuckto, made 
 the report be every where fpread *, that 
 ♦hey were going to deftroy all the favages. 
 They feemed to a-ft in confequence there- 
 to, fince they fent detachments of their 
 troops, on all fides, in purfuit of the fa- 
 vages. 
 
 Thefe people were fo alarmed with 
 this procedure of the Englifh, that from 
 that time thev determined, as weak as 
 they were, to declare open war againft 
 them. Knowing that France had con- 
 cluded a peace with England, they never- 
 thelefs refolved not to ceafe from falling 
 on the Englifli, wherever they could find 
 them; faying, they were indifpenfably 
 
 * The miflionaries in thofe parts might indecci raifc 
 fuch reports ; the which giving the favagcs an averfioii 
 to the Englifli, forced them to take hoftile meafures 
 againft them in their own def- nee: but who would 
 fufpeft the Englifli themfelvcs of raifing them, in direct 
 oppofition to their own intercft ? 
 
 obliged 
 
 
ii'i-. 
 
 pd raife 
 /erfioii 
 : a fu res 
 I would 
 direil 
 
 lliged 
 
 [ 69 ] 
 
 obliged to it, fince, againft all jiiftice, they 
 wanted to expel them out of their coun- 
 try. They then fent a declaration of war 
 in forai to the Englifh, in the name of 
 their nation, and of the favages in alliance 
 with it. 
 
 As to what concerns the miflionaries 
 to the favages, they cannot be fufpecfted 
 of ufing any connivence in all this, if 
 juftice iS done to the condud they have 
 always obferved amongfl: them, and efpc- 
 cially in the time of the laft war. How 
 many adls of inhumanity would have 
 been committed by this nation, naturally 
 vindidlive, if the million aries had not 
 taken pains, in good earned, to put fuch 
 ideas out of their heads? It is notorious, 
 that the favages believe that there are no 
 extremities of barbarity, but what arc 
 within the rules of war agninft thofe 
 whom they confider as their enemies. 
 Inexprefliblc are the efforts which thefc 
 fame miflionaries have employed to re- 
 ftrain, on fuch occafions, this criminal 
 ferocity, efpccially as the lavages deemed 
 
 thcm- 
 
 
 ■^w 
 
 
 I- 
 
 i. 1 
 
 ■\^ii!-' 
 
 M 
 
 '<■% 
 
 •i:* 
 
i 
 
 ;'« -1 
 
 ■i 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 m 
 
 H 
 
 1 imi [ 
 
 ! ^' >:,;:;. 
 
 11 
 
 1, 
 
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 w 
 
 ■ 
 
 
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 [ 70] 
 
 themfelves authorized by right of repri- 
 fals. How many unfortunate perfons of 
 the Englifli nation would have been de- 
 tained for ever captives, or undergone 
 the moft cruel deaths, if, by the interven- 
 tion of the miffionaries, the favages had 
 not been prevailed on to releafe them ? 
 
 They arc even ready to prove, by their 
 written inftrudlions, the lelTons they in- 
 culcate to the favages, of the humanity 
 and gentlenefs they ought to pradife, even 
 in time of war. It is efpecially ever fmce 
 about feventeen years ago, that they do 
 not ceafe declaiming againft thofe bar- 
 barous and fanguinary methods of pro- 
 ceeding that feem innate to them. On 
 this principle it is, that in the written 
 maxims of condudl for them, care has 
 been taken to infert a chapter, which, 
 from the beginning to the end, places 
 before their eyes the extreme horror they 
 ought to have of fuch enormities. Their 
 children particularly are feduloufly taught 
 this whole chapter, whence it comes, 
 that one may daily perceive them grow- 
 
 ing 
 
[7' ] 
 
 Ing more humane, and more difpofed to 
 liften, on this head, to the remonftrances 
 of the m,iffionaries *. 
 
 ' !!■ 
 
 m 
 
 Hi 
 
 I 
 
 O. Si' 
 
 * To this pica of innocence in the French mijjionariety 
 as to any injiigation of th-'fivages to hojlilities again/} the 
 Englijhy we Jlmll oppofe the tefiimony of their own courts 
 in the following words of the French minijiryy in the very 
 fame year ^ I75i- 
 
 " His Majefty (the French king) has already ob- 
 " ferved, that the favages have hitherto been in the 
 " tno{{ favorable difpoftions', and it even appears, that 
 " the conducSt of the general C — n — U—s, with re- 
 *' fpe£l to them, has only ferved to exafperate them 
 ** more and more. It is of iht greateji importance^ 
 " both for the prefent and future, to keep them up to 
 ** that fpirit. The mijfionaries amongft them, are 
 " more than any one at hand to contribute thereto^ and 
 " his majefty has rcafon to befatisfed with the pains 
 " they take in it. Our governor muft; excite thefc 
 *' mijfionaries not to flacken their endeavours on this 
 " head. But he fhould advife them to contain their 
 " %eal within due bounds, fo as not to render them- 
 *' fclves obnoxious to the Englift, unlcfs for v^ry good 
 " purpofe, and fo as to avoid giving harJlt: for juft 
 " complaints." 
 
 In this his moji Chriftian Majefty has been faithfdly 
 frved by thefe mijftonaricsy in all point:, except that po- 
 litical injunSlion of not giving a handle for jujl com- 
 plaint Sy which they overjlmt in the ardor of their zeali 
 
 fmtt 
 
 <■ '1 
 
 i 
 
 \^ 
 
 1i 
 
 
ill 
 
 [ -2 ] 
 
 fmce it is tmdstdtad viattcr of fa£I, that the ntijjiotianei 
 openl'j employed all their arts^ and cdl the influence of reli- 
 gion, to invcnom the favngei again ft us. Thence^ hefides a 
 number of horrid cruelties, the mo/l treacherous and hafe 
 murder of captain Hon; at a anference^ byfomefavages 
 thtjfet on, tvho perpetrated it within fight of the French 
 forces. The pu!dij}:ing, however^ of the foregoing me- 
 morial may have this good effeSI, that it ivill apprife the 
 Englijh of the matter of accifalion agaivji them, and en- 
 able them to counter -work thofe holy engines offiate, and 
 emiffarie: of ambition. It is afo certain, that this very 
 memorial was drawn up by a Punch priefl, purely to fur - 
 nijh th.: French miniflry afpecious document to oppofe to the 
 viojijufl rcprefcntations cf the Britijh government. Befides 
 the fii'l ions with ivhich it abounds, he has taken care to fup- 
 prcfs the aiTts cf cruelty committed, and the atrocious pro- 
 voMtions given by the Javages, at the irf ligation of his 
 fellow-laborers in fediti:n and cah:rnny. 
 
 . '1. 
 
 L E T- 
 
 !i 
 
\-M 
 
 ■if >, 
 
 : I"!" 
 
 L E T T E R 
 
 FROM 
 
 Monf. DE LA VARENNE, 
 
 TO HIS 
 
 Friend at Rochelle. 
 
 Louijbourgy the 8th oi May^ ij$(i. 
 
 THOUGH I had, in my laft, ex- 
 haufted all that was needful to fay 
 on our private bulinefs, I could not fee 
 this fliip preparing for France, efpecially 
 with our friend Moreau on board, with- 
 out giving you this further mark of how 
 ardently I wifli the continuance of our 
 correfpondence. It will alfo ferve to fup- 
 plement any former deficiencies of fatis- 
 fadlion to certain points of curiofity you 
 have .dated to me j this will give to my 
 letter a length beyond the ordinary limits 
 of one : and I have before-hand to ex- 
 cufe to you, the loofe defultory way in 
 which you will find I write, as things pre- 
 fent themfelves to my mind, without fuch 
 L method 
 
 n. 
 
 
 
:>i :il 
 
 I' jfilii 
 
 I !■! 
 
 ■#i 
 
 i 
 
 "if 
 
 \\4 ri? 
 
 i -'1 ' 
 
 In 1^ 
 
 hi 
 
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 I 
 
 [ 74 ] 
 
 method or arrangement, as a formal dc- 
 fign of treating the fubjed: would exad. 
 But who looks for that in a letter ? 
 
 I need not tell you how feverely our 
 government has felt the difmemberment 
 of that important trad: of country already 
 in the pofTeflion of the Englifli, under the 
 name of Acadia j to fay nothing of their 
 furtbcrpretentions, which would form fuch 
 terrible encroachments on Canada. And 
 no wonder it (hould feel it, confidering the 
 exUnt of lb fruitful, and valuable a coun- 
 try as conflitutcs that peninfula. It might 
 of itfelf form a very confiderable and 
 compact body of dominion, being, as you 
 know, almoft everywhere furrounded by 
 the fea, and abounding with admirable 
 and well-fituated ports. It is near one 
 hundred leagues in length, and about fixty 
 in breadth. Judge what advantages fuch 
 an area o." country, well-peopled, and 
 well-cultivated, and aboundin2: in mines, 
 might produce. It is full of hills, though 
 I could not obferve any of an extraordinary 
 heigh th, except that of Cape Doree, at 
 
 the 
 
at 
 
 [7S ] 
 
 the mouth of the river dfs MineSy the moft 
 fertile part of it in corn and grain, and 
 once the heft peopled. There are a num- 
 ber of rivers very rapid, but not large, 
 except that of St. John's, which is the 
 fineft river of all Acadia, where good 
 water is raiher fcarce. 
 
 The foil in the vallies is rich, and even in 
 the uplands, commonly fpeaking, good. 
 The grains it yields are wheat, peafe, 
 barley, oats, rye, and Indian corn, and 
 efpecially that of the vallies, for the higher 
 ground is not yet cultivated. The paf- 
 tures are excellent and very common, and 
 more than fufficient to fupply Cape-Bre- 
 ton, with the cattle that may be raifed. 
 There is fine hunting, and a plentiful iilh- 
 ing for cod, falmon, and other fi(h, par- 
 ticularly on the eaft-fide, which is full of 
 fine harbours at the diftance of one, two, 
 three, four, or of fix or kvcn leagues at 
 farthefl from one another, within the ex- 
 tent of ninety leagues of coaft. It is 
 thought, in fhort, this fishery is better 
 than any on the coafts belonging to France. 
 L2 The 
 
 
 ,!■ '.: 
 
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 '.fgi 
 
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it 
 
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 [ 76 1 
 
 The air is cxtrcamly wholefome, which 
 is proved by the longevity of its inhabi- 
 tants. I myfelf know fome of above an 
 hundred years of age, defccndants from 
 the French eftabliflicd in Acadia. Dif- 
 tempers are very rare. I fancy the cli- 
 mate is pretty near the fame as in the 
 north of China, or Chincfe-Tartary. This 
 country too, being rather to the fouthward 
 of Canada, is not fo cold as that j the 
 fnow not falling till towards St. Andrew's 
 day : nor does it lie on the ground above 
 two or three days at moll, after which it 
 begins to foftenj and though the ihaw 
 does not take place, the weather turns 
 mild enough to allow of working, and 
 undertaking journeys. In iliort, what 
 may be abfolutely called cold weather, 
 may be reduced to about twenty-five or 
 thirty days in a winter, and ceafes en- 
 tirely towards the end of March, or at 
 lateil, the middle of April. Then comes 
 the feed-time. Then are made the fugar 
 and fyrups of maple, procured from the 
 (uice or fap of that tree, by means of in- 
 
 cifions 
 
[77] 
 
 cifions in the bark ; which fap is carefuliy 
 received in proper veffels. 
 
 I could never find any ginfeng-root i yet 
 I have reafon to believe there may be 
 fome in or near the hills, as the climate 
 and fituation have Co much affinity to the 
 northern provinces of China, or North- 
 weft Tartary, as defcribed to us by our 
 miffionaries. 
 
 We have very little knowledge of the 
 medicinal herbs in this country, though 
 fome of them have certainly great virtue. 
 There are the maiden-hair, the faxi-frage, 
 and the farfaparilla. There is alfo a par- 
 ticular root in this country of an herb 
 called Jean Heberty about the ordinary 
 lize of the SalJiJiXi or Goat(bread, with 
 knots at about an inch, or an inch and an 
 half diftance from one another, of a yel- 
 lowifh colour, white in the infide, with a 
 fugarifh juice, which is excellent for the 
 ftomach, 
 
 There has been lately difcovered in 
 thefe parts a poifonous root, much refem- 
 bling, in color and fubftance, a common 
 
 carrot. 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
!•> 
 
 r 78 ] 
 
 carrot. When broke it has a pleafing 
 fmell J but between the flakes may be 
 obferved a ycUowini juice, which is fup- 
 pofed to be the poifon. Of fou! foldiers 
 that had eaten of it in their fe.ap lately, 
 two were dillicultly preferved by dint of 
 antidotes i the other two died in the ut- 
 moll agonies of pain, and convulfion f 
 frenzy. One of them was found in le 
 woods flicking by the head in a foftifh 
 ground, into which he had driven it, pro- 
 bably in the excefs of his torture. Such 
 a vcsetable mull afford matter of curious 
 examination to a naturalifl j for as it does 
 fo much harm, it may alfo be capable of 
 great good, if fought into by proper ex- 
 periments. 
 The fpirit of turpentine is much ufed by 
 
 t!ie mhabitants. The gum itfelf is efteemed 
 a preat vulnerary ; and purges moderately 
 thofe w^ho are full of bilious, or grofs hu- 
 mors. 
 
 For the refl there is, I believe, hardly 
 any fort of grain, tree, or vegetable, efpe- 
 cially in the north of France that might 
 
 not 
 
ut- 
 
 rdly 
 
 ;fpe- 
 
 ight 
 
 not 
 
 [ 79] 
 
 not be fucccfsfully railed in Acadia. The 
 rains are frequent in every leafon of the 
 year. There arc indeed often violent 
 fqualls of wind, efpecially from the South, 
 and from the Weft, but nothing like the 
 hurricanes in the Weft-Indies. It is a 
 great rarity if thunder docs any mifchief. 
 Some years ago there was a \n killed in 
 his hut by it j but the olrl rn of the 
 
 country never remembcR" ''nown 
 
 or heard of any thing i n before. 
 There have been earthquakes felt but 
 rarely, and not very violent. This coun- 
 try produces no venomous beafts, at leaft, 
 that I could hear of. In the warmer fea- 
 fon there are fomctimes found fnakes, not, 
 however, thicker than one's finger, but 
 thtir bite is not known to be attended 
 with any fatal confequences, There are 
 no tygers, nor lions, nor other beafts of 
 prey to be afraid of unlefs bears, and that 
 only in their rutting-time, and even then 
 it is very rare that they attack. As there 
 are then no carnivorous animals except the 
 lynxes, who have a beautiful fkin, and 
 
 thefe 
 
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IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 
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 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 
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 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 145S0 
 
 (716)872-4503 
 

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 [80] 
 
 thefe rarely fall upon any living creatures ; 
 the fheep, oxen, and cows, are turned out 
 into the woods or commons, without any 
 fear for them. Partridges are very com- 
 mon, and are large-fized, with flcfh very 
 white. The hares are fcarce, and have a 
 white fur. There are a great many bea- 
 vers, elks, cariboux, (moofe-deer) and 
 other beafts of the cold northern coun- 
 tries. 
 
 The original inhabitants of this country 
 are the favages, who may be divided into 
 three nations, the Mickmakis, the Mari- 
 cbeets, or Abenaquisy (being fcarcely dif- 
 ferent nations) and the Canibats. 
 
 The Mickmakis are the moft numerous, 
 but not accounted fo good warriors as the 
 others : but they are all much addicted 
 to hunting, and to vencry ; in which laft, 
 however, they obferve great privacy. They 
 are fond of ftrong liquors, and efpecially 
 of brandy : that is there greateft vice. 
 They are alfo very uncurious of paying 
 the debts they con trad, not from natural 
 diflionefty, but from their having no no- 
 tion 
 
 • % 
 
[8i J 
 
 tion of property, or of meum or tanm. 
 They will fooner part with all they have, 
 in the fhape of a gift, than with any 
 thing in that of payment. Honors and 
 goods being all in common amongft them, 
 all the numerous vices, which are founded 
 Upon thofe two motives, are not to be 
 found in them. Yet it is true, that they 
 have chiefs to whom they give the title of 
 Sagamo -, but all of them almoft, at feme 
 time or other, affume to themfelves th"s 
 quality, which is never granted by univer- 
 falconfentjbut to the perfonal confideration 
 of diftinguifhed merit in councils, or in 
 arms. Their troops have this particularitv, 
 that they are, for the moft part, compoted 
 of nothing but officers; infomuch that it 
 is rare to hnd a favage in the fervice that 
 will own himfelf a private man. This 
 want of fubordination does not, however, 
 hinder them from concurring together in 
 adion, when their native ferocity and 
 emulation ftand them, in fome fort, in- 
 ftead of difcipline. 
 
 WW. 
 
 '■ 'l 
 
 ( ■! 
 
 II 
 
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 M 
 
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 [ 82 ] 
 
 They are extreamly vindidlive, of which 
 I /hall give you one example. Monf. 
 Daunay, a French captain, with a fer- 
 vant, being overfet in a canoe, within 
 fight of fome favages, they threw them- 
 fclves into the water to fave them, and 
 the fervant was adtually faved. But the 
 favage, who had pitched upon Monf. 
 Daunay, feeing who it was, and remem- 
 bering fome blows with a cane he had a 
 few days before received from him, took 
 care to foufe him fo often in the wa- 
 ter, that he drowned him before he got 
 afhore. 
 
 It is remarked, that in proportion as the 
 Europeans have fctded in this country, the 
 number of the favages confiderably dimi- 
 fhes. As they live chiefly upon their 
 hunting, the woods that are deftroyed to 
 cultivate the country, muft in courf« con- 
 trad: the diftrift of their chace, a* lufe 
 a famine amongft them, that muft be fa- 
 tal to tht;m, or compel thcrn to retire to 
 other countries. The Engliih, fenfible of 
 this effect, and who fecmcd to place their 
 
 policy 
 
 H-^ 
 
■k.1 
 
 [83] 
 
 policy in exterminating thefe favage na« 
 tions, have fet fire to the woods, and burnt 
 a confiderable extent of them. I have 
 myfelf croffed above thirty leagues toge- 
 ther, in which fpace the forefls were fo 
 totally confumed by fire, that one could 
 hardly at night find a fpot wooded enough 
 to afford wherewithal to make an extem- 
 pore cabbin, which, in this country, is 
 commonly made in the following man- 
 ner : Towards night the travellers com- 
 monly pitch upon a fpot as near a rivulet 
 or river as they can; and as no one forgets 
 to carry his hatchet with him, any more 
 than a Spanifh don his toledo, fome cut 
 down wood for firing for the night j others 
 branches of trees, which are ftuck in the 
 ground with the crotch uppermoft, over 
 which a thatching is laid of fir-boughs, with 
 a fence of the fame on the weather-fide 
 only. The reft is all open, and fervcs 
 for door and window. A great fire is then 
 lighted, and then every body's lodged. 
 They fup on the ground, or upon fome 
 leaved branches, when the feafon admits 
 
 M2 oi 
 
 
 
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 [8+] 
 
 of it ; and afterwards the table ferves for 
 a bed. The favages themfelves rarely 
 have any fixed hut, or village, that may be 
 called a permanent refidcnce. If there 
 are any parts they moft frequently Inha- 
 bit, it is only thofe which abound moft in 
 game, or near fome fifhing-place. Such 
 were formerly for them, before the En- 
 glifli had driven them away, Artigoneefcbf 
 Bcaubajfin^ Cbipood)\ Chipnakadfy Toodayck, 
 Mirt/'guee/kt La Hc've Cape Sable, Mira- 
 meek)\ FijHgoifchy La Baye des Chaleurs 
 Pcntagony, Medochtek, Hokepack, and Kibi-' 
 bcki. 
 
 At prefent thefe favage nations bear an 
 inveterate antipathy to the Englifli, who 
 might have eafily prevented or cured it, if 
 inftead of rigorous meafures, they had at firft 
 ufed conciliative ones : but this it feems 
 they thought beneath them. This it is, 
 that lias given our miflionaries fuch a fair 
 field for keeping them fixed to the French 
 party, by the affiftance of the difl^erence 
 of religion, of which they do not fail to 
 make the moft. But left you may ima- 
 gine 
 
 1 'IT' ' 
 
 Avs^i;;- 
 
gine I am giving you only my own con- 
 jectures, take the following extract from 
 a letter of f^ither Noel dc Joinville, of a 
 pretty antient date. 
 
 " I have remarked in this country fo 
 " great an averfion in the convert-favages 
 «* to the Engli(h, caufed by difference of 
 " religion, that thefe fcarce dare inhabit 
 ** any part of Acadia but what is under 
 " their ov/n guns. Thefe favages are fo 
 ** zealous fo: the Roman Catholick 
 ** church, that they always look with 
 " horror upon, and confider as enemies 
 «* thofe who are not within the pale of it 
 " This may ferve to prove, that if there 
 ** had been priejls provided in time, to 
 *' work at the converfion of the favages 
 of New-England, before the Engli^ 
 had penetrated into the interior of the 
 county as far as they have done, it 
 would not have been pofTible for them 
 to appropriate to themfelves fuch an 
 *' extent of country as, at this day, 
 ** makes of New-England alone the moft* 
 
 C( 
 
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 C( 
 
 cc 
 
 
 
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 • .■!■! 
 
 
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 [ 86] 
 
 " * magnificent colony on the face of the 
 « earth." 
 
 But with this good father's leave, he at- 
 tributes more influence to religion, though 
 as the priefts manage it, it certainly has a 
 very confiderable one, than in faft belongs 
 to it. Were it not for other concurring 
 circumftances that indifpofe the favages 
 againft the Englifh, religion alone vi^ould 
 not operate, at leaft fo violently, that efl^edt. 
 Every one knows, that the favages are at 
 bcft but (lightly tinftured with it, and 
 
 * This pompous epithet might have yet been more 
 juft, if the improvement of that colony had been 
 enough the care of the ftate, to have been pufhed all 
 the lengths of which it was fo fufceptible. Few Eng- 
 lifhmcn will, probably, on reflexion deny, that if but 
 a third of thofe fums ingulphed by the ungrateful or flip- 
 pery powers on the continent, upon interefts certainly 
 more foreign to England than thofe of her own colo- 
 nies, or laviflied in a yet more defiru£live way, that of 
 corrupting its fubje£ts in elections : if the third, I fay, 
 of thofe immenfe fums, had been applied to the benefit 
 of the plantations, to the fortifying, encouraging, and 
 extending them, there would, by this time, have hardly 
 been a Frenchman's name to be heard of in North- 
 America efpecially. 
 
 have 
 
I 87 1 
 
 have little or no attachment to it, hut as 
 they find their advantage in the benefits of 
 prefents and protedlion, it procures to them 
 from the French government. In fhort, 
 it is chiefly to the condudl of the Englifli 
 themfelves, we are beholden for this fa- 
 vorable aid of the favages. If the Eng- 
 lifh at firil) inflead of feeking to exter- 
 minate or opprefs them by dint of povirer, 
 the fenfe of which drove them for refuge 
 into our party, had behaved with more 
 tendernefs to them, and conciliated their 
 aiFedtion by humoring them properly, and 
 diftributing a few prefents, they might 
 eafily have made ufeful and valuable fub- 
 jedls of them. Whereas, difgufted with 
 their haughtinefs, and feared at the me- 
 naces and arbitrary encroachments of the 
 Englifti, they are now their moft virulent 
 and fcarce reconcileable enemies. This 
 is even true of more parts in America, 
 where, though the EngliQi have liberally 
 given prefents to ten times the value of 
 what our government docs, they have 
 not however had the fame cifed:. The 
 
 re^fon 
 
 ■i : 
 
 
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 'ji a i 
 
 
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 im 
 
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 t88] 
 
 rearon of which is clear: they make 
 them with fo ill a grace, and generally 
 time their prefents fo unjudiciouily, as 
 fcarce ever to diftribute them, but juft 
 when they want to carry fome temporary 
 point with the favagcs, fuch, efpecially, 
 as the taking up the hatchet againA the 
 French. This does not efcape the natu- 
 ral fagacity of the favages, who are fcn- 
 
 fible of the deHgn lurking at bottom of 
 this liberality, and give them the Icfs 
 thanks for it. They do not eafily forget 
 the length of time they had been neg- 
 ledted, flighted, or unapplied to, unlcfs by 
 their itinerant traders, who cheat them in 
 their dealings, or poifon them with exe- 
 crable fpirits, under the names of brandy 
 and rum. Whereas, on the contrary, the 
 French are afliduoufly carefling and court- 
 ing them. Their miflionaries are dif- 
 perfed up and down their icveral canton- 
 ments, where they excrcifc every talent ot* 
 infinuatlon, ftudy their manners, nature, 
 and weakneiles, to which they flexibly ac- 
 -commodatc theniillvc?,"i and carry their 
 
 poiiMs 
 
' r, 
 
 [89] 
 
 points by thefe arts. But what has, at 
 lead, an equal /hare in attaching the fa-> 
 vages to our party, is the connivence, or 
 rather encouragement the French go- 
 vernment has given to the natives of 
 France, to fall into the favage-way of 
 life, to fpread themfelves through the 
 favage nations, where they adopt their 
 manners, range the woods with them, 
 and become as keen hunters as themfelves. 
 This conformity endears our nation to 
 them, being much better pleafed with fee- 
 ing us imitate them, than ready to imitate 
 us, though fome of them begin to fall 
 into our notions, as to trafficking and bar- 
 tering, and knowing the ufe of moncy> 
 of which they were before totally igno- 
 rant. We employ befides a much more 
 efFedlual method of uniting them to us, 
 and that is, by the intermarriages of our 
 people .with the favage- women, which is 
 a circumftance that draws the ties of alli- 
 ance clofer. The children produced by 
 thefe are generally hardy, inured to the 
 
 N fa- 
 
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 '■4 
 
 m 
 
 hi 
 
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 ■pi 
 
 [90] 
 
 fatigues of the chacc and war, and turrt ' 
 out very ferviccable lubjedts in their way. 
 But what is moft amazing is, that 
 though the fnvage-life has all the appear- 
 ance of being far from eligible, confider- 
 ing the fatigues, the expofure to all wea- 
 thers, the dearth of thofe articles which 
 cuftom has made a kind of ncceflaries of 
 life to Europeans, and many other incon- 
 veniences to be met with in their vaga- 
 bond courfe J yet it has fuch charms for 
 fome of our native French, and even for 
 fome of them who have been delicately 
 bred, that, when once they have betaken 
 themfelves to it young, there is hardly any 
 reclaiming them from it, or inducing them 
 to return to a more civilized life. They 
 prefer roving in the woods, trufting to the 
 chapter of accidents for their game which 
 is their chief fupport, and lying all night 
 in a little temporary hut, patched up of a 
 few branches ; to all the commodioufnefs 
 they might find in towns, or habitations, 
 amongft their own countrymen. By de- 
 grees 
 
 '^^H. 
 
 U: 
 
[9« 1 
 
 grees they lofe all rclidi for the European 
 luxuries of life, and would not exchange 
 for them the enjoyments of that liberty, 
 and faculty of wandering about, for which, 
 in the forefts, they contrad an invincible 
 taftc. A gun with powder and ball, of 
 which they purchafe a continuation of 
 fupplies with the fkins of the bcails they 
 kill, fet them up. With thefe they mix 
 amongft the favages, where t^ey get as 
 many women as they pleafe: fome of thcni 
 are farfr()munhandrome,and fall into their 
 way of life, with as much paflion and at- 
 tachment, as if they had never known any 
 other. 
 
 Monf. Delormcy whom you poffibly may 
 have feen in Rochelle, where he had a fmall 
 employ in the marine-department, brought 
 over his fon here, a very hopeful youth, 
 who had even fome tindture of polite edu- 
 cation, and was not above thirteen years old, 
 and partly from indulgence, partly from 
 a view of making him ufeful ,to the go- 
 vernment, by his learning, at that age, 
 perfectly the lavage language, he fuffcrcd 
 
 N 2 him 
 
 $ 
 
 
 
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 U,>: 
 
 • i: 
 
 [92] 
 
 him to go amongft the favages. The 
 young Delorme would, indeed, fometimes 
 return home jufl on a viflt to his fa- 
 mily } but always exprelTed fuch an im- 
 patience, or rather pining to get back 
 again to them, that, though reludlantly, 
 the father was obliged to yield to it. No 
 reprefentations in (hort, after fome years, 
 could ever prevail on him to renounce his 
 connexions, and refidence amongft the 
 Abenaquisy where he is almoft adored. 
 He has learned to excel ihem all, even in 
 their own points of competition. He out- 
 does them all in their feats of activity, in 
 running, leaping, climbing mountains, 
 fwimming, (hooting with the bow and 
 arrow, managing of canoes, fnaring and 
 killing birds and beafts, in patience of 
 fatigue, and even of hunger; in fhort, 
 in all they moft value themfelves upon, or 
 to which they affix the idea of perfonal 
 merit, the only merit that commands con- 
 fideration amongft them. They are not 
 yet polifhed enough to admire any other. 
 By this means, however, he perfectly 
 
 reigns 
 
(■if 
 
 i'Ji 
 
 t93l 
 
 reigns amongft them, with a power the 
 greater, for the fubmiflion to it not only 
 being voluntary, but the cffeO: of his ac- 
 knowledged fuperiority, in thofe points 
 that with them alone conftitute it. His per- 
 fonal advantages likewife may not a little 
 contribute thereto, being perfedly well- 
 made, finely featured, with a great deal 
 of natural wit, as well as courage. He 
 drefles, whilft with the favages, exadlly in 
 their manner, ties his hair up like them, 
 wears a tomby-awk, or hatchet, travels 
 with rackets, (or Indian fhoes) and, in 
 fhort, reprefents to the life the character of 
 a compleat favage-warrior. When he 
 comes to ^ebec, or Louifbourg, he re- 
 fumes his European drefs, without the 
 leaft mark appearing in his behaviour, of 
 that wildnefs or rudenefs one would na- 
 turally fuppofe him to have contra(!ted by 
 fo long a habit of them with the fa- 
 vages. No body fpeaks purer French, or 
 acquits himfelf better in converfation. 
 He takes up or lays down the favage cha- 
 radler with equal grace and eafe. His 
 
 friends 
 
 i: 
 
 
 
 
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 [94] 
 
 friends have,, at length, given over teazing 
 him to come and refide for good amongft 
 them ; they find it is to fo little purpofe. 
 The pri^fts indeed complain bitterly, that 
 he is not overloaded with religion, from 
 his entering fo thoroughly into the fpirit 
 of the favage-life j and his fetting an ex- 
 ample, by no means edifying, of a hcen- 
 tious commerce with their women ; be- 
 fides, his giving no figns of his over-ref- 
 peding either their dodrine or fpiritual 
 authority. This they pretend hurts them 
 with their adtual converts, as well as with 
 thofe they labor to make^ though, in this 
 condu<5t, he is not Angular, for the French 
 wood- rangers, in general, follow the like 
 courfe in a greater or lelTer degree. Thefe 
 reprefcntations of the priefts would, 
 however. Have greater influence with our 
 «yovernment, if the temporal advantage 
 they derive from thefe rovers, undifci- 
 plined as they are, did not oblige them to 
 wink at their relaxation in fpirituals. 
 
 But it is not only men that have taken 
 this paffion for a favage life ; there have 
 
 been, 
 
r 95 ] 
 
 been, though muc arcr, examples of our 
 women going into it. It is not many' 
 years fince a very pretty French girl ran' 
 away into the woods with a handfome 
 young favage, who married her after his 
 country fafhion. Her friends found out 
 the village, or rather ambulatory tribe into 
 which (he had got ; but no perfualions, or 
 inftances, could prevail on her to return 
 and leave her favage, nor on him to con- 
 fent to it ; fo that the gevernment not 
 caring to employ force, for fear of dif- 
 obliging the nation of them, even acqui- 
 efced in her continuance amongft them, 
 where (he remains to this day, but worfhip- 
 ped like a little divinity, or, at leaft, as a 
 being fuperior to the reft of their women. 
 Poffibly too (lie is not, in fad, fo unhap- 
 py, as her choice would make one think 
 (he muft be ; and if opinion conftitutes 
 happinefs, (he certainly is not fo. 
 
 There arc not wanting here, who de- 
 fend this ftrange attachment of fome of 
 their countrymen to this favage life, on 
 principles independent of the reafon of 
 
 (late, 
 
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i^i^iii^f^y^iifiWit^; 
 
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 [9« ] 
 
 fiate, for encouraging its fubjedts to fpread 
 and gain footing amongft the favage na- 
 tions, by reforting to their country, of 
 which they, at the fame time, gain a 
 knowledge ufeful to future enterprizes, by 
 a winning conformity to their actions, and 
 by intermarriages with them* They pre- 
 tend, that even this favage life itfelf is not 
 without its peculiar fweets and pleafures i 
 that it is the moft adapted, and the mod 
 natural to man. Liberty, they fay, is no 
 where more perfectly enjoyed, than where 
 no fubordination is known, but what is 
 recommended by natural reaibn, the ve- 
 neration of old age, or the refpeft of per- 
 fonal merit. 
 
 The chace is at once their chief em- 
 ployment and diveriion j it furnishes them 
 with means to procure thofe articles, which 
 enter into the fmall number of natural 
 wants. The demands of luxury, they 
 think too dearly bought with the lofs of 
 that liberty and independence they find in 
 the woods. They defpife the magnifi- 
 cence of courts and palaces^ in comparifon 
 
 with 
 
 ai 
 
n 
 
 [97] 
 
 Vvith the free range and fcope of the hillo 
 and vales, with the ftarry fky for theii ca- 
 nopy : they fay, we enjoy the Univcrfe 
 only in miniature, whilft the favage- 
 rovers enjoy it in the great. Thus reafon 
 fome of our admirers here of the favage- 
 fyftem of life, and yet I do not find that 
 thefe refining advocates for it, are them- 
 felves tempted to embrace it. They arc 
 content to commend what thcmfelves do 
 not care to pradife. Thofe who adually 
 do embrace it, reafon very little about it, 
 though no doubt, the motives above af- 
 figned for their preference, are gene- 
 rally, one may fay inftincSively, at the 
 bottom of it. Their greateft want is of 
 wine, efpecially at firfl to thofe who are 
 ufed to it } but they are foon weaned fronn 
 it by the example of others, and content 
 themfelves with the fubftitution of rum, 
 or brandy, of which they obtain fupplies 
 by their barter of skins and furs. In (liort, 
 their hunting procures them all that, they 
 want or defire, and their liberty or inde- 
 pendence fupplies to them the place of 
 
 O thofe 
 
 •ill 
 
 
 
 . . J 
 
 1^' 
 
[ 98 3 
 
 thofc luxuries of life, that are not well to be 
 had without the facrlfice in fome fort of 
 it. 
 
 It IS nlore difficult to find an excufe for 
 the fhocking cruelties and barbarities, ex- 
 ercifed by the favages on their unhappy 
 captives in war. The inftances, however, 
 of their inhumanity, are certainly not ex- 
 agerated, nor poflible to be cxagerated, 
 but they are multiplied beyond the limits 
 of truth. That they put then their pri- 
 foners to death by exquifite tortures, is 
 ilridly true ; but it is as true too, that 
 they do not ferVe fo many in that manner 
 as has been faid. Numbers they fave, 
 and even incorporate with their own na- 
 tion, who become as free as, and on a foot- 
 ing with, the conquerors themfelves. And 
 even in that cruelty of theirs, there is at 
 the bottom a mixture of piety with their 
 vindi<5livenefs. They imagine themfelves 
 bound to revenge the deaths of their an- 
 ceftors, their parents, or relations, fallen 
 in war, upon their enemies, efpecially of 
 that nation by whom they have fallen. It 
 
 i» 
 
 I i 
 
 '• s\- 
 
; !' 
 
 len 
 of 
 It 
 is 
 
 [ 99] 
 
 is in that apprchenfion too, they extend 
 their barbarity to young children, and to 
 women ; to the firft, becaufe they fear 
 they may grow up to an age, when they 
 will be fure to purfue that revenge of 
 which the fpirit is early inftilled into 
 them i to the fecond, left they Ihould 
 produce children, to whom they would, 
 from the fame fpirit, be fure to inculcate 
 it. Thus, in a round natural enough, 
 their fear begets their cruelty, and their 
 cruelty their fear, and fo on, ad infinitum* 
 They condder too thefe tortures as mat- 
 ter of glory to them in the conftancy with 
 which they are taught to fufFer them 5 
 they familiarize to themfelves the idea of 
 them, in a manner that redoubles their 
 natural courage and ferocity, and efpe- 
 cially infpires them to fight defperately in 
 battle, fo as to prefer death to a captivity, 
 of which the confequences are, and may 
 be, fo much more cruel to them. Another 
 reafon is alfo affignable for their carrying 
 things to thefe extremities : War is confi- 
 dered by thefe people as fomething very fa- 
 
 O z cred. 
 
 ■Ji' 
 
 $ 
 
 rt: 
 
 ;' 
 
 t 
 
 •I 
 
 m 
 
 U\ 
 
'U: \.:_ 
 
 ! l 
 
 , m^^ 
 
 i,^k] • 
 
 i,'-^;'!i 
 
 f'?ii 
 
 a : 
 
 hE 
 
 ''' 
 
 H! 
 
 . 
 
 i 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 i ■', ■■ ■ 
 
 liii 
 
 ! 
 
 [ lOO ] 
 
 cred, and not lightly to be undertaken j but 
 when once fo, to be pulhcd with the ut- 
 moft tigor by way of terror, joining its aid 
 towards the putting the fpeedieft end to it. 
 The favage nations imagine fuch examples 
 neceffary for deterring one another from 
 coming to ruptures, or invading one ano- 
 ther upon flight motives, efpecially as their 
 habitations or villages ufed to be fo flightly 
 fortified, that they might cafily be fur- 
 prifed. They have lately indeed learned 
 to make ftronger inclofures, or pallifadoes, 
 but ftill not fufficient entirely to invalidate 
 this argument for their guarding againft 
 fudden hoftilities, by the idea of the moft 
 cruel revenge they annex to the «ommif- 
 fion of them. It is not then, till after the 
 matureft deliberation, and the deepeft de- 
 bates, that they commonly come to a re- 
 folution of taking uf the hatchet^ as they 
 call declaring of war ; after which, there 
 are no exceflcs to which their rage and fe- 
 rocity do not incite them. Even their 
 feafting upon the dead bodies of their ene- 
 pies, after putting them to death with the 
 
 moft 
 
' 1^ 
 
 [ lOI ] 
 
 moft excruciating tortures they can devife, 
 is rather a point of revenge, than of relilh 
 for fuch a banquet. 
 
 That midft all their favagenefs they 
 have, however, fome glimmering percep-? 
 tion of the lams of nations^ is evident from 
 the ufe to w^hich they put the calumet^ the 
 rights of which are kept inviolate, thro' 
 efpecially the whole northern continent 
 of America. It anfwcrs neareft the idcj^ 
 of the olive-branch amongft the antients. 
 
 As to your queftion, Sir, about the Eng- 
 li{h being in the right or wrong, in their 
 treatment of the dcadianSi or defcendant;* 
 of the Europeans firft fettled in Acadia, 
 and in their fchcme of difpcrfing them, 
 the point is fo nice, that I own I dare not 
 pronounce either way : but I will candidly 
 ftate to vou certain fafts and circumftances. 
 which may enable yourfelf to form a to- 
 lerably clear idea thereon. 
 
 But previoully I fliall give you a fuc- 
 cindt defcription of thefe people : They 
 were a mixed breed, that is to fay, moft 
 pf them proceeded from marriages, or 
 
 con~ 
 
 'J 
 
 J'; 
 
 :!i! 
 
 
h'' 
 
 \. :. §<S. 
 
 
 m • 
 
 I'li 
 
 - i 
 
 r 
 
 
 rf 
 
 yz ■ 
 
 j 
 
 % 
 
 1 
 
 1 •■ ' 
 
 i ■ 
 
 in 
 
 
 [ »02 ] 
 
 concubinage of the favage women with 
 the firft fcttlers, who were of various na- 
 tions, but chiefly French, the others were 
 Englifh, Scotch, Swifs, Dutch, 6cc. the 
 Proteftants amongft whom, and efpccially 
 their children were, in procefs of time, 
 brought over to a conformity of faith with 
 ours. They found they could not eafily 
 keep their footing in the country, or live 
 fociably with the great majority of the 
 French, but by this means of coming over 
 to our religion. 
 
 Certain Normans, of which number 
 was Champlcin, were the^^y? French that 
 difcovered Port-Royal, now Annapolis, 
 where they found fome Scotch fettled, 
 who had built a fort of turf, and planted 
 in the area before it fome plumb-trees, 
 and walnut-trees, which was all the works 
 of agriculture, and fortification the Britifli 
 nation had made in this country before 
 the year 17 lo. This is the chief rcafon* 
 too, why they fo much infift oi> calling 
 
 * And a very good one furely. 
 
 Aca- 
 
t 1^3 ] 
 Acadia, Nova-Scotia, and pretend to be 
 the firft inhabitants and true proprietors. 
 Thefe Scotch were driven from Port- 
 Royal by the Normans. It is true, they 
 had difcovered the river of Port-Royal 
 before the Normans, and had built a turf- 
 fort J but it is by no means true, that 
 they were therefore the true fettlers on 
 this river, and lefs yet in the whole of 
 Acadia -f*. The true inhabitants are 
 thofe who cultivate a country, and thereby 
 acquire a real permanent fituation. The 
 property of ground is to them who clear, 
 plant, and improve it. The Englifh had 
 done nothing in this way to it till the year 
 1 7 1 o. They never came there, but on 
 fchemes of incurfion or trade ; and in all 
 the wars they had with the French, on 
 
 t Nothing can be more falfe and pitiful, than what 
 follows of this Frenchman's reafoning. If a fort is 
 not a fettlement, what can be called one ? Is it not 
 one of the moft valid, and generally received marks 
 of taking pofleffion ? It fuppofes always a defign to 
 cultivate and improve j and no doubt but thefe fii^ 
 fettlers would have done both, if they had not been 
 untimely driven away. 
 
 f- being 
 
 H 
 
 
 hi 
 
 .■>'i 
 . :■>•: 
 
 #' . 
 
 fi: 
 
h 
 
 ' (' 
 
 [ 104 ] 
 
 being fuperior to them, they contented 
 themfelves with putting them to ranfom ; 
 and though they fometimes took their for- 
 tified places, they did not fettle in them. 
 As all their pretcnfion in Acadia was trade, 
 they fometimes indeed detained fuch 
 French as they could take prifoners j but 
 that was only for ihe greater fccurity of 
 their trafiic in the mean while with the 
 favages; Traders, continually obliged to 
 follow the favages in their vagabond 
 journeys, could not be fuppofed to have 
 time or inclination for agriculture. This 
 title then the French fettlers had ; and in 
 fiiort, the whole body of the inhabitants 
 of Acadiij from time immemorial, may 
 be averred to have been French, fince i 
 few families of Engli/li, and other Euro- 
 peans, cannot be faid to form an excep- 
 tion, and thofe, as I have before obferved, 
 foon became frenchified. Except a few 
 families from Bofton or New-England, I 
 could never learn there were above three 
 of purely Britifli fubjedls, who alfo, ulti- 
 mately conforming both in the religious 
 
 and 
 
 iil 
 
t i°5] 
 
 ami civil inftitutions to the Ficncli, be- 
 came incorporated with them. I'hclt fa- 
 milies were the Petcr/is, tlic Gr\ingcrSi 
 the Ctirfys. Thefe lall indeed dcfcended 
 from one Roger John-Baptin: Carty, an 
 Irifli Roman-Catholic. He had been an 
 indented icrvant in Nev^-Fnid.md, ar.d 
 had or)tu'i'.ed at length his difchargc h-MU 
 his mafter, with permiflion to remain with 
 the French Acadians for the freer excr- 
 cifc of his religion. Peters was an iron- 
 fmith in England, and togetlier with 
 Granger, married in Acadia, and was 
 there naturalized a Frenchman. Gran- 
 ger made his abjuration before M. Petit, 
 fecular-prieft of the feminary of Paris, 
 then miflionary at Port-Royal (Annapolis). 
 Thefe and other European families then 
 foon became united with the French Aca- 
 dians, and were no longer diftinguifhed 
 from them. Moft of thefe laft were ori- 
 ginally from Rochelky Xaintonge^ and 
 Foitou } but all went under the common 
 name of Acadians^ and were once very 
 numerous. The Parifh of Annapolh- 
 
 P Ro^al 
 
 ; 
 
 ;■} 
 
 !r,l 
 
 5^ 
 
f i • 
 
 111 
 
 rU 
 
 
 [ io6 ] 
 
 Royal :i.\onQ'm 1754, according to the acf-* 
 count of father Datiditiy contained three 
 hundred habitations, or about two thou- 
 sand comnnunicants. The Mines, which 
 are about five-and-thirty leagues from 
 Port-Royal, and the beft corn country in 
 Acadia, were alfo very populous ; nor 
 were there wanting inhabitants in many 
 commodious parts of this pcninfula. 
 
 The character of the French Acadians 
 was good at tiie bottom : their morals far 
 from vitiouGj their conftitution hardy, and 
 yet ftrongly turned to indolence and inac- 
 tion, not caring for work, unlefs a point 
 of prefent nccefiity prefTed them ; much 
 attached to the cuftoms of the country^ 
 which have not a litde of the favage in 
 them, and to the opinions of their fore- 
 fathers, which they cheriihed as a kind of 
 patrimony j it was hard to inculcate any 
 novelty to them. They had many parts of 
 character in common with the Canada 
 French. A litde matter furprifes, and 
 fets them a ftaring, without ftirring their 
 curiofity to examine, or exciting their in- 
 clination 
 
 •i-. 
 
[ 107 1 
 
 dination to adopt or embrace it. The/ 
 are remarkably fond of rofaries, crucifixes, 
 agnus deis, and all the little trinkets con- 
 fccrated by religion, with which they love 
 to adorn their perfons, and of which the 
 priefts make no litde advantage in dif- 
 pofmg of amongfi: them : and in truth, it 
 is aimoft incredible what a power and in- 
 fluence thefe have over them, and with 
 which they defpotically govern them. 
 .One inftance I am fure cannot but make 
 you laugh. In September, 1754, the 
 priefl: at Pigigeejhy had appointed his pa- 
 rifliioncrs to perform the religious cere- 
 mony of a Recefsj and lo make them ex- 
 piate fome difguft they had given him, 
 obliged them, men, women, and children, 
 to attend the adoration of the holy-facra- 
 ment with a rope about their necks ; and 
 what is more, he not only made them all 
 buy the rope of him, in which you may 
 be fure he took care to find his account, 
 but exacted their coming to fetch it bare- 
 footed, from his parfonage houfc ; and 
 this they cjuictly fubmitted to. In Hiort, 
 
 P 2 con- 
 
 
 h 
 
 m 
 
 If, 
 
 li 
 
 *• 
 
\l \ ', 
 
 i 
 
 ^.i,r. 
 
 [ igS] 
 
 conlldering the fweets of power on whom- 
 fcever exercifed, our good fathers the mif- 
 fionaries are not fo much to be pitied, as 
 they would have us believe, for their great 
 apcflolical labors, and cxpofure to fatigue; 
 iirice it is certain, they live like little 
 kings in their refpedive parishes, and enr 
 joy in all fenfes the beft the land affords ; 
 and even our government itfelf, for its 
 own ends, is obliged to pay a fort of court 
 to them, and to keep them in good hu- 
 mour. 
 
 The Acadian men were commonly dreft 
 in a fort of coarfe black fluff made in the 
 country j and many of the poorer fort go 
 bare-footed in all weathers. The women 
 are covered with a cloak, and all their 
 head-drefs is generally a handkerchief, 
 which would ferve for a veil too, in the 
 manner they tied it, if it defcended low 
 eno^igh. 
 
 Their dwellino-s were almoft all built 
 
 o 
 
 in an uniform manner j the inhabitants 
 tbrmfclvcs it was who built tliem, each 
 for hiaifclfj there being but few or no me- 
 
 phanicsi 
 
:i|l 
 
 [ 109 ] 
 
 ehanlcs in the country. The hatchet was 
 their capital and univerfal inftrument. 
 They had faw-mills for their timber, and 
 with a plane and a knife, an Acadian 
 would build his houfe and his barn, and 
 even make all his wooden domeftic furni- 
 ture. Happy nation ! that could thus be 
 fufficient to itfelf, which would always be 
 the cafe, were the luxury and the vanity 
 of other nations to remain unenvied. 
 
 Such in (hort w^re the French Acadi- 
 ans, who fell under the dominion of the 
 king of Great Britain, when the Englifh 
 experienced, from both the Acadians and 
 favages, a moft thorough reludtance to 
 the recognition of their new fovereign, 
 which has continued to this day. 
 
 As to the favages it is certain, that the 
 governors for the Englidi adled entirely 
 againft the intereft of their nation, in 
 their procedure with them. They had 
 been long under the French government, 
 fo far as their nature allows them to be 
 under any government at all j and be- 
 |ides, almoft all the Micmakis, and great 
 
 nam- 
 
 
 m 
 
«?' V 
 
 [ no] 
 
 numbers of the Maricheets, or Abena- 
 quis, were converted to our faith, and 
 were confequently under the influence of 
 the priefts. It could not then be expelled, 
 naturally fpeaking, that thefe people could 
 all of a fudden fhake off their attach- 
 ment to, and connexions with our nation ; 
 fo that, even after the ceflion of Acadia, 
 they continued, with a favage fullenefs, 
 to give marks of their preference of our 
 government. This could not fail of giv- 
 ing the Englifh umbrage j and their im- 
 patience not brooking cither delays, or 
 foothing them into a temper and opinion 
 more favorable to them : they let it very 
 early be feen, and penetrated by the fa- 
 vages, that they intended to clear the 
 country of them. Nor would this ex- 
 terminating plan, however not over-hu- 
 mane, have been perhaps wholly an im- 
 political one, if they had not had the 
 French for neighbors, who, ever watch- 
 ful and alert in concerning themfelves 
 with what paft in thofc parts, took care 
 underhand, by their priefts and emiffarics, 
 
 to 
 
,1 
 
 to inflame them, and to offer them not 
 only the kindeft refuge, but to provide 
 them with all neceflaries of life, furc of 
 being doubly repaid by the fervice they 
 would do them, if but in the mifchicf 
 they would do^j^he Englifli, to whom it 
 was a great point with our government to 
 make Acadia as uncomfortable, and as 
 untenable as poflible. It was no wonder 
 then, that the favages, ill-ufed by the Eng- 
 liih, and ftill dreading worfe from them, 
 being conftantly plied by our careflbs, 
 prcfents, and promifes, (hould prefer our 
 nation to that. I have before faid, that 
 religion has no great hold of theff; favages, 
 but it could not be but of fome weight in 
 the fcale, where their minds were already 
 fo exulcerated againft thofe of a different 
 one, whom they now confidered as their 
 Capital enemies. You may be fure like- 
 wife, our priefts did not negle<ft making 
 the moft of this advantage, which the 
 Englifh themfelves furnifhed them by their 
 indifcreet management : for certain it Is, 
 that a few prefents well placed, proper 
 
 me- 
 
'iu 
 
 [ H2 ] 
 
 hicthods of conciliation, and a very little 
 time, would have entirely detached the 
 ikvages from our intereft, and have turned 
 the fyftem of annoyance of the Englifli 
 againft the French themfelves. Some 
 Englifh governors indeed ^rew feniible of 
 this, and applied themfelves to retrieve 
 matters by a gentler treatment, but the 
 mirdiief was already done and irretrieve- 
 able J and cur miflionaries took care to 
 widen the breach, and to keep up their 
 fpirit of hatred and revenge, by inflilling 
 into them the notions of jealoufy, that 
 fuch overtures of friendfliip, on the part 
 of the Engli(h, were no better than fo 
 m^ny fnares laid to make them perifhj by 
 a falfe fecurity, fmce they could not hope 
 to do it by open violence. One inftance 
 may fcrve to fhew you the temper of thefe 
 people ; Some years ago the Englifli offi- 
 cers being aflembled at the Mines, in or- 
 der to take a folemn recognition from 
 them of the king of Great Britain, when 
 a favage, a new convert, called Simon, in 
 
 fpite of all difTuafion, went himfelf alone 
 
 to 
 
rM 
 
 Lon« 
 to 
 
 r "3 ] 
 
 to the Englifli commander, and told him, 
 that all his endeavours to get the king of 
 England acknowledged, would be to no 
 purpofc i that, for his part, he fliould ne- 
 ver pay any allegiance but to the king of 
 France, and drawing a knife, laid, "This 
 " indeed is all the arms I have, and with 
 " this weapon alone, I will ftand by the 
 " king of France till death." 
 
 Yet, with all this obftinacy of fenti- 
 ments, once more I dare aver, the favages 
 would have been ealily won over and at- 
 tached to the Englifh party, had thefe 
 gone the right way about it : and I well 
 know that the French, who knew beft the 
 nature of the favages, much dreaded it ; 
 and were not a little pleafcd to fee the 
 EngliOi take meafures fo contrary to their 
 own intercft, and play the game fo effec- 
 tually into our hands. In fliort, we took, 
 as was natural, all the advantage of their 
 indifcretion and ovcr-fight. 
 
 I come now to the Acadian?, or what 
 may more properly be called the French 
 Acadians. Tiiefc would undoubtedly 
 
 Q have 
 
 :■: 
 
 IK 
 
I 
 
 if:'i ■ 
 
 [ 114] 
 
 have proved very valuable fubjedls to the 
 Englifli, and cxtreamly ufcful to them in 
 improving a dominion fo fufceptible of all 
 manner of improvement as Acadia^ 
 (Nova-Scotia) if they could have been 
 prevailed on to break their former ties of 
 lUegiance to the king of France, and to 
 have remained quietly under the ne\v go- 
 vernment to which they were now trans- 
 ferred. But from this they were con- 
 fiantly diffuaded, and withheld by the in- 
 fluence of our French priefts, captone4 
 amungft them *, who kept them fleady 
 
 * The letter-writer might have here added the in- 
 famous arts and fairities,by whiph thefe emlfTaries of the 
 |<'rcnch impofed on thole t)Jgotted deluded people, and 
 to that end made religion a vile tool of ftate. They 
 reprefented to thefe Acadians, that it was an inexpiable 
 crime againft their faith, to hold any commerce with 
 heretics, and much more fo to enter into their in- 
 
 terells ; that there would be no pardon for them, 
 
 either in the other world, or even in this, when the 
 French fhould regain, as they certainly would, poflef- 
 fion of a country ceded fo much againft the grain. In 
 ihort, they fiicceeded but too well in keeping up the 
 fpiiit of rebellion amongft thofe infatuated devotees of 
 theirs, v/ho remained fullen and rcfraftory to all th? 
 advances the Englifli made to gain them. 
 
to 
 
 " [ "5 3 
 
 b our party. You may be Cure our go- 
 vernment did not fail of conftantly incul- 
 cating the expediency of this conduct to 
 our priefts, who not only very pundually 
 and fuccefsfully conformed to their in- 
 ftrudtions on this head, but very often in 
 the heat of the?" zeal fo much exceeded 
 them, as to draw on thcmfclves the ani- 
 madverfion of the Englifli government. 
 This anfwcred a double end, of hinder- 
 ing that nation from finding thofe advan- 
 tages in this country, by the profpe(£t of 
 which it had been tempted to fettle in it, 
 and of engaging it to confider Acadia it- 
 felf, as fomething not material enough to 
 think worth its keeping, at the expence 
 which it mud occafion, and confequently 
 induce the Engliih to be the readier to 
 part with it again, on any future treaty of 
 peace. This too is certain, that the French 
 themfelves knew neither the extent, nor 
 the value of this country, till they were 
 fenfible of the improvements the Englifh 
 were projecting j and the ufe now fo eafy 
 to difcover might be made of fo fine an 
 
 0^3 efta- 
 
 'J. 
 
 If 
 
 
ft 
 
 i iH' 
 
 
 t "6 ] 
 
 cflablidimcnt. But to return to the Ata* 
 diaiis: It mufl; be confcfl: the EnglUh had, 
 with relpcd to them, a difficult game to 
 play. To force fuch a number of families, 
 of which too fuch great ufe might have 
 been made, to evacuate the country, 
 ft- ems at firft both impolitic and inhuman. 
 But then it muft be confidcred, that thefc 
 people were abfolutely untradlable as to 
 the EngliHi, and thoroughly under the di- 
 recStion of priefts in an intercfl quite op- 
 pofite to theirs. To have taken thofc 
 prie/ls entirely from them, would have 
 exaiperated them yet more, and was, in 
 fact, a meafure repugnant to that fpirit of 
 toleration in religious matters, of which 
 they boaft, and to which it muft be ov.ned 
 they conftantly adhered, as to thefc peo- 
 ple, both in fpeculation and pradbice*. 
 
 * Might not this dilemma have been removed, by 
 procuring for them priefts, fince priefts they muft have, 
 from neutral nations, fuch as the Flemings, the Roman 
 Swifs Cantons, &c. whom a very fniall matter of re- 
 ward and encouragement would, it is probable, have 
 iixed intheEnglifhintereft? At leaft, they cbuld not 
 have the fame motives for fomenting rebellious princi- 
 ples, as the French {iiicfts, who vyrcrc let on by that 
 government. 
 
 5 None 
 
[ "7l 
 
 None of the Acadians were ever molcdcd 
 purely for their religion; and even the 
 priefts of our nation were always civilly 
 treated by them, whenever they had not 
 reafon to think they meddled in temporal 
 matters, or ftirred up their parifhioncrs to 
 rebellion. I have fecn many of their own 
 letters that acknowledge as much j fo that 
 upon the whole, I do not fee that the 
 EngUfli could do other wife than they dfd, 
 in expelling their bounds a people, who 
 were conftitiUionally, and invincibly, a 
 perpetual thorn in their fide, whom they 
 could at beft look on as fecret domeftic 
 enemies, who wanted nothing but an oc- 
 cafion to do them all the mifchief in their 
 power, and of whom, confequcntly, there 
 could not, for their intercft and fafety, 
 remain too few in the land. 
 
 In the mean time the French took fpe- 
 cial care to appear at leaft to receive with 
 open arms thofe refugees, whom their 
 fear or hatred of the Englifh drove out of 
 that country; they gave them tempo- 
 rary places of habitation, both for them 
 
 and 
 
 •. it' 
 
f 
 
 w 
 
 V i 
 
 I 
 
 t i«8 J 
 AnA their cattle, befides provifions, artnSi 
 tools, 6cc. till they (houid fix a fettlement 
 in fome part of the French dominions 
 here, which they recommended efpecially 
 in the ifland of, or on the banks of the 
 river of St. J jhn ; but they were at firft 
 very loth to come to a determination 4 
 And furely, thefe unfortunate victims of 
 their attachment to the French govern- 
 ment deferved all the reparation in its 
 power to give them, for what they had 
 quitted for the fake of preferving alle- 
 giance to 3t, even after their country had 
 been transferred to another fovereign. 1 
 cannot, however, confidently with truth 
 fay, they were received as kindly as they 
 deferved, which probably bred that unde- 
 termination of their's to fix a new fettle- 
 ment, as they were preffed to do by the 
 French government. They retained ftill a 
 hankering after their old habitations: the 
 temporary new ones were far from being 
 equally agreeable or convenient; and even 
 the antient fettlers in thofe places where 
 thefe refugees were provifionally cantoned, 
 
 began 
 
[ "9l 
 
 began to make complaints of their en-> 
 croaching upon them, and to reprefent 
 their apprehenfions of their becoming 
 burthenfome to uiem. Some of our peo- 
 ple in power, more follicitous for their own 
 private intcreft, than for the public good, 
 were but too remifs in relieving and com- 
 forting thefc poor people. This, at length, 
 indifpofed them fo, that after very pa- 
 thetic remondrances on the hardship of 
 their cafe, and the motives upon which 
 they thus fuftered, great numbers of them 
 began to liilen (erioufly to the propofals 
 ynade them by the Englifh, to return 
 Vipon very inviting terms to the fettlc- 
 ments they had quitted. In (hort, it re- 
 quired the utmoft art of the miflionaries, 
 and even a kind of coercion from the mi- 
 litary power, to keep them from accept- 
 ing the Englilh offers. For when they 
 prefented a petition to Monf. de Vergor^ 
 for leave to return to the Englifh diftrid, 
 this commander, aft ^r having remonftrated 
 to them that he could not grant their re- 
 queft^ nor decide any thing of himfelf in 
 
 a 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 
r ,— j^' 
 
 h vl 
 
 ff 
 
 [ »2o ] 
 a matter of tliat importance, was forced, 
 at length, to declare to them, that he 
 would Jhoot any man who fliould attempt 
 to go over to the Englifli *. Thus thefc 
 poor people remained under this deplora- 
 
 * It ftiould here be remarked, that thefe very peo- 
 ple had taken the oath of allegiance to the crown of 
 England, agreeable to the tenor of the treaty of 
 Utrecht. But the French, not content with harbour- 
 ing thefe caufelefs malecontents, that were aflually de- 
 ferters over to them, kept continually, by means of the 
 priefts, plying fuch as ftaid behind with exhortations, 
 promifes, menaces, in fliort, with every art of reduc- 
 tion, to engage them to withdraw their fworn alle- 
 giance to their now lawful fovereign. In ihort, if 2II 
 the tranfadions of the French in thofe parts were 
 thrown into a hiftory, it would lay open to the world 
 fuch a fcene of complicated villainy, rebellion, perju- 
 ry, fubornation of perjury, perfidioufnefs, and cru- 
 elty, as would for ever take from that nation the power 
 of pluming itfelf, as it now fo impudently does, on its 
 fjncerity, fairnefs, and moderation. TheEnglifh, on 
 the other hand, too confcious of the juflice of their 
 caufe at bottom, have been too remifs in their confuta- 
 tion of the French falfities : content with being in the 
 right, they cared too little for having the appearanc? 
 of being fo, as if the world was not governed by ap- 
 pearances, 
 
 ble 
 
 I 
 
t 
 
 [ 221 ] 
 
 ble dilemma. Some of them too, had not 
 even habitatiotts to go back if they would : 
 they had been forced into the mca- 
 llire of dcferting their country, and paf- 
 fing over to the French fide, by the vio- 
 lence of the Abbot de Loutre, who had 
 hot only preached them into this fpirit, 
 but ordered the favages, whom he had at 
 his difpofal, to fet fire to their habitations, 
 barnsi &c. Tp^nicuhrly at Mirtigueefi*. 
 
 In the mean time the French did not 
 fparc, at Icaft^ the confolation of words 
 and promifes to thefe diftrcft Rcfugce-aca- 
 dianS. They were afllired, that they 
 would infallibly be relieved on the regu- 
 lation of the limits taking place, which 
 was then on the point of being fettled, by 
 
 * T^he reader is defirfid to obferve, that in the me* 
 Mortals delivered into the Englifli court by the French 
 hxinlfters, this burning of villages was fpecifically 
 jmade an article of complaint, at the fame time that 
 It was their own incendiary agent, at their own infli- 
 gallon, who had actually caufed fire to be fet to them 
 by his favages. Could then impudence b* puflied 
 farther than it was on this occafion I 
 
 fi 
 
 GOirf* 
 
 'f! 
 
f: 
 
 i' I i 
 
 ■ ',*?' 
 
 -1 !■ J 
 
 [ 122 ] 
 
 commifTaries, between the two Crowns f**; 
 This hope, in fome fort, pacified them> 
 and they lived as well as they could inthc; 
 expedtation of a final decifion,. which wa^ 
 not fo foon to come. '. • 
 
 Yet even this example of the fufferings 
 of thefe people^ purely on account of 
 their attachment to the French govern* 
 ment, could not out-balance with thd 
 French Acadians, who remained in did 
 EngliOi diAri£t, the afiiduous- applications 
 of our prieils to keep them firm in thi^ 
 
 ^M 
 
 f The truth. is, that in thefe afluraticcs the French 
 government, whichncver intended a coQclufion, hqc 
 gnly an amufern«nt^. ^id not fcruplQ equftlly deceiving 
 theEnglifh, ^nd thefe infatuated Acadian fubjects of 
 ours, who, to the French interieft hiad faerificed their 
 own, their pofiefHons in their country, their fworn faUhy 
 In ihort, their all. Whoever ha? t^e patience tg^^ 
 through the French memorials, in^ tbeis procedur^ 
 with our commiflaries, may fee fuch.infiances of th^ijr 
 |)itiful prevarications, petty-fogging chicanery, quirk?, 
 ftnd evafions, as would naufeate one. The whole 
 ftrefs of their argumeut, in fliprt, turns merely upoi^ 
 names, where the things thcmfelves were abfolufelv 
 out of the queftign, from the mamfeft notoriety oT 
 them. , ^ ,. 
 
 French 
 
I 
 
 ^ 
 
 [ml 
 
 French Intereft. Thoy never ceafcd giv- 
 ing every mark in their power of their 
 preference of our government to that, 
 under which the treaty of Utrecht had 
 J)ut them. The Engli(h, however, at 
 length finding that, neither by fair nor 
 foul means, could they reclaim or win 
 them over to their purpofe, fo as that they 
 might in future depend upon them, came 
 at once to a violent refolution. They fur- 
 prized and feized every French Acadian- 
 man they could lay their hands on, (the 
 women they knew would follow of courfe) 
 and, to clear the country efFedually of 
 them, difperfed them into the remoteft 
 parts of their other fettlements in North- 
 America, where they thought they could 
 do the lead mifchief to them. Some 
 were fliipped off for England : the priefts 
 ftiared the fame fate, and were conveyed 
 to Europe. With this evacuation, the 
 very evidence of the French Acadian s may 
 be fald to have ended ; for in Acadia 
 there are fcarce any traces of them left, 
 few or none having efcaped this general 
 R 2 fcizure 
 
 \v 
 
 '■i-, 
 
hS-i 
 
 [ 124 I 
 
 felzure and tranfportation, for the ncccfw 
 fity of which, the Englifli were perhaps 
 niore to be pitied than blamed. 
 
 In the n;iean time our government ha4 
 fo far fucceeded, as to force the Engliljii 
 thus to deprive themfelves of fuch a ivum- 
 |>er of fubjeds, who, but for thp reafon^ 
 above deduced, might have been very va- 
 luable ones, and a great flrengthening of 
 their new colony. Hitherto then ou^p 
 neighborhopd has made it almofl as irk- 
 fome, and uncomfortable to them, as wc 
 could wifh ; and this fins fppt of domir 
 nion does not nig^l produce to them th^ 
 advantages that mjght ptherwife naturally 
 be expedted froip it. Numbers of them? 
 felves begin to exclaim a^ainfl it, as if its 
 value and importance had been over- 
 rated J not conlidering, that it is on the 
 circumftances of their pofTeflion, and not 
 on the nature of the pofTeffion itfelf, that 
 their cqmplaiqts and murmurings (hould 
 fall. It is very likely, that whenever wp 
 get it back again, we fhall know very 
 well what to do v/ith it. They have be- 
 
 m 
 
 ' 
 
[ 125 1 
 
 gim to teach us the value of what vr9 
 thus inadvertently parted with to them | 
 and it will be hard, indeed, on recovering 
 it, if we do not improve upon their lef- 
 fbns. 
 
 In the mean time you in Europe ar« 
 cruelly miftaken, if you do not annex an 
 idea of the higheft confequence and va- 
 lue, to the matters of dominion now in 
 difpute, between the crowns of France 
 and Great Britain, between whom the 
 war is in a manner begun, by the cap- 
 ture of the Alcides and Lys, and which, 
 even without that circumftance, was inc-? 
 
 vitable. i know that our (French) go- 
 vernment, is indeed fully fenfible of the 
 capital importance to it of its intercft in 
 thefe parts, and has proceeded in confe- 
 quence. But it is not fo, I find by your 
 letters, and the reports of others, with 
 numbers in Europe, who do not conceive, 
 that the prefent objedt of the war is fo 
 ^onfiderable as it really is. 
 
 To fay nothing of the vaft extent of 
 
 j(:ountrv that falls under the claim of the 
 
 ^ Englifli 
 
 ji4 
 
m 
 
 m: 
 
 hi'H: 
 
 [ iz6 J 
 
 Englilb to Acadia (Nova-Scotia) which 
 alone would form an immenfe mafs of 
 dominion, greatly improveable in a num- 
 ber of points, its fituation is yet of greater 
 weight. By the Englifh poflefllng it, Ca-» 
 nada itfelf would be fo ftreightened, fo 
 liable to harrafsment, and efpecially to the 
 comptrol of its navigation, that it would 
 fcarce be tenable, and furely not worth 
 the expence of keeping. The country 
 pretended to have been ceded is far pre^ 
 &rable to it -, and the maflers of it would 
 be equally mafters of the fea all over 
 North-America, Hallifax, for example, 
 according to which of the nation's hand 
 it ihould be in, may be equi*lly an effec- 
 tual check on Qijebec, or Bofton. 
 
 You will then allow, that was ther^ 
 even nothing more in dispute than the li- 
 mits of the ceffion of Acadia, or Nova- 
 Scotia, together with its n^ceifary depen- 
 dence, that alone would form fuch a con- 
 fiderable objedt, as not eafily to he given 
 pp on either fide. The commiflaries ap-? 
 pointed by both crowns, then failing of 
 
 coming 
 
 a. 
 
C 127 J 
 
 Coming to any agreement or reguktxon, it 
 is no wonder to fee the appeal lodged with 
 the <word j cfpecially when thei-e is ano- 
 ther point yet remains, of perhaps equals 
 if not fuperior, importance, depending 
 on the iiTue of the war : and that is, the 
 weftern inland frontiers of the £ngli(h co-' 
 lonies. Should we ever command the na-« 
 vigation of the lakes and rivers, behind 
 theit fettlerhents, you can cafily figure to» 
 yourfclf, not only the vaft advantages o^ 
 prefcrving that commutiicatiori 6f Canada, 
 with New Orleans and tha MiiHiflippf, fo' 
 ftbfolutely cfTcdai tcv both theft our colo- 
 nies, bu^ the facility it will give us on all 
 occafions of diftreffing the Englilli, where 
 neither their marine-force can fuccor 
 them, nor can they be aWe to refift the 
 attack, iince we may make it wherever' 
 efver we pleaft, and effeftually dodge any 
 land^-force they might aflcmble in any one 
 or two parts te oppofe us. We may the» 
 carry the war into the quarter moft con^ 
 venicnt, and moftfafe forus, if we fliould' 
 
 ^er have l^c trfidc navigation of th^ 
 ' Jakes 
 
% 
 
 ¥: 
 
 m 'n> 
 
 m-^ 
 
 [128] 
 
 lakes fo far at our difpofal, as to prevent 
 thei: conftrudting any material number 
 veffels to difpute it with us. Thus we can 
 penetrate into the heart of any of their co- 
 lonies, that may beft fuit us, efpecially with 
 t]:ie concurrent aid of the favages, whom 
 "we have found means to attach fo flrongly, 
 to us, and on whom we can greatly de- 
 pend for the efFedtual harrafsment ofj ef- 
 pecially, the back-plantations of the Bag* 
 lifh. 
 
 You ,/ce then, Sir, by this fummary 
 fketch of the points in conteft, that the 
 war being once engaged, it will not be fo 
 eafy a mattci'/ as many in Europe imagine, 
 to adjufl the pretenfions, ib various and 
 fo important, of the refpedtive nations, fo 
 as to be able to procure a peace. Some 
 of the points appear to me abfolutely uu- 
 treatable. You may obferve too, that I, 
 do not fo much as touch upon the difpute. 
 ^bout Tabag9, Santa-Lucia, or any of the 
 I^eewardillands, which are not, however, 
 of imall Gonfequence^ Inihort, the war, 
 xnuft, in all human probability, be a 
 
 much 
 
 5; 
 
 i' 
 
 '^t 
 
e 
 
 ucti 
 
 r 129 1 
 
 much longer one, than is coriimonly be- 
 lieved. Neither nation can materially re- 
 lax of its claims, without luch a thorough 
 facrifice of its intereft in America, as 
 nothing but the laft extremities of wcak- 
 nefs can compel. 
 
 Long as this letter is, I cannot yet clofe 
 it without mentioning to you a Angular 
 phenomenon of nature, in the illand of 
 St. John. You know it is a flat, level 
 ifland, chiefly formed out of the congef- 
 tlon of fand and foil from the fea. Tradi- 
 tion, experience, and authentic public 
 a6ts {Proces verbaux) concu" to atteft 
 that every feven years, it is vifited by 
 fwarms either of locufts, or of field- 
 mice, alternately, never together j with- 
 out its being pofllble to difcover hitherto 
 either the reafon, or the origin of thefe 
 two fpecies, which thus in their turns, 
 at the end of every feventh year, pour 
 out all of a fudden in amazing num- 
 bers, and having committed their ravages 
 on all the fruits of the earth, precipitate 
 themfelves into the fea. Neither has any 
 
 S pre- 
 
 '■|. 
 
 i.ast^ 
 
M: 
 
 [ 130 3 
 preventive remedy for this evil been yet dif- 
 covcred. It is well known how they peri(h» 
 but, once more, how they are produced no 
 one, that I could lefarn,has as yet been able 
 to trace. The field-mice are undoubtedly 
 fomething in the nature of thofe fwarma 
 of the fable-mice, that fometimes over- 
 run Lapland and Norway, though I do not 
 know that thefe return fo regularly, and at 
 fuch ftated periods, as thofe of this illand. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your moft obedient, 
 
 Humble fervant. 
 
 CHA- 
 
 ?fW' 
 
CHARACTER 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 SAVAGES of North-America. 
 
 EXTRACTED FROM 
 
 A Letter of the Father Charlevoix, 
 
 T O 
 
 A L A D Y of Diftindion. 
 
 A- 
 
 TO give you, Madam, a fummary 
 fketch of the character of the fa- 
 vages in this country, I am to obferve to 
 you, that under a favage appearance, with 
 manners and cuftoms, that favor entirely 
 of barbarifm, may be found a fociety ex- 
 empt from almoft all the faults that fo 
 often vitiate the happinefs of ours. 
 
 They c^jpeartobe without paffion, but 
 they are in cold blood, and fometimes 
 even from principle, all that the moft 
 violent and moft unbridled paffion can 
 infpire into thofe, who no longer liften 
 to reafon. 
 
 S 2 
 
 They 
 
 I 
 

 
 C 132 ] 
 
 They {eem to lead the mofl mlfcrable 
 of lives, and they are, perhaps, the only 
 happy of the earth. At lead thofe of 
 them are Aill fo, amopgfl whom the 
 knowledge of thofe objeiSls that difturb 
 and fcduce us, has not yet penetrated, or 
 awakened in them, thofe pernicious de- 
 fircs whicli their ignorance kept happily 
 dormant: it has not, however, hitherto 
 made great ravages amongft them. 
 
 There may be perceived a mixture in 
 them of the moft ferocious and the moft 
 gentle manners j of the faults reproach- 
 able to the carnivorous beafts, with thofe 
 virtues and qualities of the head and heart, 
 lliat do the moft honor to human-kind. 
 
 One would, at firft, imagine, that they 
 had no for', of form of government, that 
 they knew no laws norfubordination,and 
 that living in an entire independence, they 
 fufFered themfelves to be entirely guided 
 by chance, or by the moft wild, untamed 
 caprice : yet they enjoy almoft all the ad- 
 vantages, which a well-regulated autho- 
 rity can procure to the moft civilized na- 
 tions. 
 
 I 
 
x 
 
 10- 
 
 la- 
 
 ms. 
 
 [ '33 ] 
 tions. Born free and independent, they 
 hold in horror the very (hadow of defpo- 
 tic power j but they rarely fwervc from 
 certain principles and cufloms, founded 
 upon good-fenfc, which ftand them in the 
 ftead of laws, and fupplement in fome 
 fort to their want of legal authority. All 
 conftraint fhocks them j but reafon alone 
 hold them in a kind of fubordination, 
 which, for its being voluntary, docs not 
 the Icfs anfwer the pro; Ted end. 
 
 A man, whom they fliould greatly ef- 
 teem, would find them traceable and duc- 
 tile enough, and might very nearly make 
 them do any thing he had a mind they 
 (liould } but it is not eafy to gain their ef- 
 tcem to fuch a point. They grant it only 
 to merit, and that merit a very fuperior one, 
 of which they are as good judges as thofe, 
 who, amongft us, value themfelvcs the 
 moft upon being fo. They are, efpecially, 
 apt to be taken with phyfiognomy ; and 
 there are not in the world, perhaps, men 
 who are greater connoiffeurs in it : and that 
 
 X is. 
 
 I . 
 
 I 
 
m 
 
 / 
 
 
 f? 
 
 
 7 
 
 f «34] 
 
 IS, becaufe they have for no initi what- 
 ever, any of thofe refpedts that prejudice 
 or impofe on us, and that ftudying only 
 nature, they underftand it well. As 
 they are not flaves to ambition or 
 intereft, thofe two paffions that have 
 chiefly cancelled in us that fentiment of 
 humanity, which the author of nature 
 had engraved in our hearts -, the inequa- 
 lity of conditions is not necefTary to them 
 for the fupport of fociety. 
 
 There are not therefore. Madam, to be 
 feen amongft them, or at leaft, are rarely 
 to be met with, thofe arrogant haughty 
 characters, who, full of themfelves of 
 their greatnefs, or their merit, look on 
 themfelves almoft as a fpecies a-part, and 
 difdain the reft of mankind, of whom 
 confequently they can never have the 
 confidence or love. Their equals thefe 
 rarely know any thing of, becaufe the 
 jealoufy that reigns amongft the great, 
 hinders them from being intimate enough 
 with one another. Neither do they know 
 themfelves, from their never ftudying 
 
 themfelves. 
 
 
 
'^. 
 
 [ 135] 
 
 themfelves, and from their conftant felf- 
 flattery. They never refle(5l, that to gain 
 admiflion into the hearts of men, they 
 muft make themfelves their equals; fo 
 that with this pretended fuperiority of 
 enlightened underftanding, which they 
 look on as an eflential property of the 
 rank they hold, the mofc part of them live 
 groveling in a proud and incurable igno- 
 rance of all that it would be the moft 
 important for them to know, and never 
 enjoy the true fweets of life. 
 
 In all this how wretchedly different 
 from the favages ! In this country, all the 
 men efteem themfelves equally menj and 
 in man, what they moft efteem is, the 
 man. No diftindtion of birth; no pre- 
 rogative attributed to rank, to the preju- 
 dice of the other free members of fociety; 
 no pre-eminence annexed to merit that 
 can infpire pride, or make others feel too 
 much their inferiority. There is, per- 
 haps, lefs delicacy in their fentiinents than 
 aniongft us, but furely more uprightnefs j 
 
 lefs 
 
 ! 
 
 ^ 
 
// 
 
 
 If' 
 
 [vp: 
 
 I' H 
 
 fllH 
 
 I 
 
 II 
 
 r '36] 
 
 leis ceremony j lefs of all that can form 
 a dubious charadter ; lefs of the tempta- 
 tions or illufions or felf-love. 
 
 Religion only can perfect thefe people 
 in what is good in them, and corredt what 
 bad. This indeed is not peculiar to them, 
 but what is io^ is, that they bri-^g with 
 thern fewc obftacles to religious devotion> 
 when once they have begun to believe, 
 which can only be the efFsd: of a fpecial' 
 grace. It is alfo true, that to eftablilh 
 firmly the empire of religion over them, 
 
 it would be ncccflary that they fhould fee 
 it pradifed in all its purity by thofe who 
 profefs it. They are extremely fufcepti- 
 ble of the fcandal given by bad Chrif»- 
 tians, as are all thofe who are, for the firft 
 time, inftrudcd in the principles of the 
 Gofpel-morality. 
 
 You will perhaps afk me, Madam, if 
 they have a religion? To this I anfwer, that 
 it cannot be faid they have not one, though 
 it is difficult to give a definition of what it 
 is^ I (hall fometime or other, take occa- 
 
 fion 
 
 W.i 
 
 '*^ 
 
^x 
 
 ^ 
 
 [ 137 J 
 
 fion to enter into more particulars on this 
 head. This letter, like moft of the others 
 thac have preceded it, prove fufficiently 
 that I do not pretend to write to you me- 
 thodically. 
 
 I fhall then now only content my- 
 felf with adding, by way of finishing, 
 to this picture of the favages, that even 
 in their moft indifferent adtions, may be 
 perceived the traces of the primitive 
 natural religion, but which efcape thofe 
 who d( ?ot ftudy them enough, be- 
 caufe ^ ^^^^ are yet more defaced by the 
 want of inftrudlion*, than adulterated 
 
 :Jt 
 :a- 
 
 )n 
 
 * This want ot inftructlon is wretchedly fupple- 
 mented amongft the favage-converts to the Popifh re- 
 ligion, by that fuperftitious worfhip, and thofe fabu- 
 lous traditions, its mifHonaries have introduced amongft 
 them, and which muft be only the more execrable, 
 for their being a fuperftructure on fo fair a foundation 
 as that of the truths of ihe Gofpel. At leaft, the fa- 
 vages, in their genuine unfophifticated ftate, have no 
 fuch bafe, abfurd, derogatory ideas of the Deity, as 
 are implied by the doctrines of tranfubftantiation, pur- 
 
 T by 
 
 # ' 
 
Ri ■ /■•■- 
 
 1! I y 
 
 I 
 
 ■ •'? 
 
 ■i\H 
 
 ^^ 
 
 i^^ 
 
 [ 138 ] 
 
 by the mixture of a fuperftitious worfhip, 
 and by fabulous traditions. 
 
 gatory, .' ' 'ution, and the like fictions in the Romifli 
 church, ch have been the more than mines of 
 Mexico .d Peru, of its clergy. 
 
 i 
 
 
 K^ 
 
 
 F J N I S. 
 
 lil 
 
BOORS printed forS. HoopfiR, and A. Morley. 
 
 I. MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS 
 
 Made on the Spot, in a late 
 
 SEVEN YEARS TOUR 
 
 THROUGH 
 
 France, Italy, Germany, and Holland, 
 
 Containing 
 
 A great Variety of New, Curious, and Uncommon Ob- 
 fervations on every Thing remarkable in thofe C'oim. 
 tries, 'Viz. The Difpofition of the Inhabitants ; their Re- 
 ligion, Annual Proceflions, Policy, Publick Edifices! 
 Water- Works, Paintings, Sculptures, and Antient Ruin* j, 
 many of which have not hitherto been taken Notice of by 
 former Writers : With an authentic Account of the Coro- 
 nation of the prefent Pope, and the Ceremonies obfewed 
 at the late Jubilee. 
 
 Interfperfed with 
 
 Several particular and pleafing Incidents, which occurred tQ 
 the Author, during the above Period. 
 
 WITH 
 
 Remarks on feveral Miftakes made by former Travellers, 
 
 This Book of Travels has been recommended to all thof« 
 who make the Tour of Europe, in order to their trav«Uil»i£ 
 with Pleafure, Safety and Advantage. 
 
 By S. STEVENS, Gent. 
 
 2. A VOYAGE to the EAST-INDIES. 
 
 With Observations on various Parts there. 
 By JOHN HENRY GROSE. 
 
 f rice 5 s, bound in Ca/f, 
 
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 3. The T E S T. A New Political 
 
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