The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents

—————

Travels and Explorations

of the Jesuit Missionaries

in New France

1610—1791

THE ORIGINAL FRENCH, LATIN, AND ITALI-

IAN TEXTS, WITH ENGLISH TRANSLA-

TIONS AND NOTES; ILLUSTRATED BY

PORTRAITS, MAPS, AND FACSIMILES

EDITED BY

Reuben Gold Thwaites

Secretary of the State historical Society of Wisconsin

COMPUTERIZED TRANSCRIPTION BY

Tomasz Mentrak

Vol. XXVIII.

Hurons, Iroquois, Lower Canada

1645—1646

CLEVELAND: The Burrows Brothers

Company, PUBLISHERS, M DCCC XCVIII.

THE JESUIT RELATIONS

AND

ALLIED DOCUMENTS

Vol. XXVIII

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The edition consists of sev-

en hundred and fifty sets

all numbered.

No.________

The Burrows Brothers Co.

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Insert "New Amsterdam" Litho with Text.

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Copyright, 1898

by

The Burrows Company

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all rights reserved

The Imperial Press, Cleveland

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EDITORIAL STAFF

Editor	Reuben Gold Thwaites
	| Finlow Alexander
	| Percy Favor Bicknell
Translators.	| William Frederic Giese
	| Crawford Lindsay
	| William Price
	| Hiram Allen Sober
Assistant Editor	Emma Helen Blair
Bibliographical Adviser	Victor Hugo Paltsits
Electronic Transcription	Tomasz Mentrak

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CONTENTS OF VOL. XXVIII.
Preface To Volume XXVIII		9
Documents:—
LV.	Relation de ce qvi s’est passé en la Novvelle France, és années 1644. & 1645. [Chap. xii. to close of document.] Barthelemy Vimont, Quebec, October 1, 1645; Hierosme Lalemant, Des Hurons, May 15, 1645		21
LVI.	Nouum Belgium. Isaac Jogues; 3 Rivières, August 3, 1646		104
LVII.	Notice sur René Goupil. Isaac Jogues; undated		116
LVIII.	Lettre au R. P. André Castillon. Isaac Jogues; Montreal, September 12, 1646		136
LTX.	Journal des PP. Jésuites. Hierosme Lalemant; Quebek, January-December, 1646		142
LX.	Relation de ce qvi s’est passé en la Novvelle France, és années 1645. & 1646. [Chaps. i., ii., Part I.] Hierosme Lalemant; Quebek, October 28, 1646		253
Bibliographical Data; Volume XXVIII			305
Notes			313

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[INSERT GRAPHIC HERE]

ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. XLVII.
I.	New Amsterdam in 1670; reduced photographic facsimile from Montanus’s De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld	Frontispiece.
II	Photographic facsimile of handwriting of Isaac Jogues, selected from original MS. of his Novum Belgium	Facing 104.
III	Map of New Netherland, etc., in 1630; reduced photographic facsimile from De Laet’s Novus Orbis	Facing 112.
IV	Photographic facsimile of title-page, Relation of 1645-46	256.

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PREFACE TO VOL. XXVIII

Following is a synopsis of the documents contained in the present volume:

LV. The Relation of 1644-45 consisted of one part, dated at Quebec, October 1, 1645, written by Vimont, supplemented by a letter from Jerome Lalemant, dated in the Huron country, May 15 previous. The first eleven chapters of Vimont’s account were contained in Vol. XXVII. of our series; we now present the remainder of the document, by both Vimont and Lalemant.

Chap. xii. is Richard’s account of the Miscou (or rather Gaspésian) mission. During the year, fourteen persons have been baptized — six in illness, and a family of eight. The converts show edifying piety and obedience; and even the unbelievers have great respect for baptism. The savages “themselves say that they would all be Christians by this time, were it not for the liquor that is traded to them; and the lack of restraint on that pernicious traffic ruins everything.” The Indians are fond of singing, and offer their prayers with great delight since these have been set to music. Several war parties, passing that way, are interested in the chapel services; they come back from their forays, with several prisoners and scalps, over which they hold rejoicings. The Frenchmen who winter at the Bay des Chaleurs, and the sailors on the fishing vessels, also receive spiritual, ministrations from the missionaries. But the liquor [Page 9] traffic is “the scourge of this region,” and only Heaven can furnish a remedy therefor.

Lalemant’s supplemental letter is addressed to the provincial, at Paris, and concerns the Huron mission. In accordance with the latter’s orders, he has relegated his duties there, as superior, to Ragueneau, and is about to go down to Quebec. He glances at the history of the mission since his arrival thereat in 1638, mentioning the calamities that have “crowded upon this poor Church” — pestilence, famine, and war. So great are the obstacles to the establishment of the faith here, — most of all, in the self-will and unrestrained freedom which prevails among these savages, — that human judgment alone must consider the task almost hopeless. There is among them but little law, and that obeyed only so far as each pleases; their habits are licentious, and their marriages unstable; and, above all, “superstition has contaminated nearly all the actions of their lives,” and they are the slaves of the devil in everything. For such, the law of God is too heavy a burden. Moreover, the constant raids of the Iroquois threaten to ruin the Huron tribes and to break up their trade with the French; this would compel the abandonment of the missions. But, notwithstanding all these hindrances, the missionaries trust in God’s promises and power, and consider nothing impossible to him. Every year secures them a goodly number of baptisms, and they are comforted by seeing the constancy and devotion displayed by their converts. The progress made during these seven years has, on the whole, been all that could reasonably be expected. Various incidents are related to show the earnestness and sincerity of these new [Page 10] Christians; and the seven Huron churches are enumerated. Lalemant closes with an earnest appeal for more men and funds to maintain and defend this important enterprise.

LVI. In his so-called Novum Belgium, Isaac Jogues gives (August 3, 1646) an account of the Dutch colony at New Amsterdam (later, New York City), for which he obtained material during his stay there in the autumn of 1643. He describes the river, and the fort and other buildings; the character of the population, “men of eighteen different languages” and of almost as many religious sects, — none of which, however, save the Calvinists, exercise religious functions; and the inducements offered to colonists by the West India Company. He mentions the settlements made by various nations, from the Connecticut to the Delaware, — adding that “the English prefer to have lands among the Dutch, who require nothing from them, to depending upon English Milords, who, exact rents and like to put on airs of being absolute.” Jogues describes the land and climate; the dwellings of the Dutch settlers; their culture of the land, and trade with the Indians; the savage tribes adjoining the white settlements; and the recent war between the Dutch and Indians.

LVII. In this document (always published, however, in connection with his Novum Belgium), Jogues gives a biographical sketch of the young physician, René Goupil (a Jesuit donné), who for a time shared Jogues’s captivity, and who met death at the hands of the Iroquois, September 29, 1642. A graphic and pathetic account is given of the painful journey, the cruel torture inflicted on the captives, and the young donné’s murder; still more impressive are the [Page 11] fortitude, patience, and holy resignation exhibited by Goupil amid his sufferings, and the self-forgetful altruism which leads him to aid not only his fellow-captives, but a sick Iroquois. On the journey to the village of their captors, Goupil takes, under Jogues’s direction, the final vows of entrance into the Jesuit order, — which, in France, he had been unable to do,’ on account of his frail health. The Iroquois murder him, — and often threaten to slay Jogues also, — because of his praying aloud, and making the sign of the cross, as they afterward plainly tell the Father. The latter endeavors at the peril of his own life, but &vain, to save his follower’s corpse from desecration.

LVIII. This is a letter from Jogues (September 12, 1646) to André Castillon, a fellow Jesuit, and is apparently the last message penned by the martyred missionary. He gives an account of the journey made by him and Bourdon, a few months ‘earlier, to the Iroquois country, whither he is on the eve of departing for a winter sojourn. He describes the beneficial results of the peace concluded last year with the Iroquois; both population and commerce show a notable increase. He prays for similar blessings in spiritual affairs; and closes with an especial petition that prayers may be offered in his own behalf, since he must spend nearly a year away from the sacraments of the Church. A postscript (dated at Three Rivers, September 21) adds the information that he is soon to embark for the Iroquois country.

LIX. The Journal des Jésuites is continued, giving the record for 1646. The greater part of the Journal is occupied with descriptions of the manner in which the various feast days and other functions [Page 12] of the church are celebrated; but many little incidents are related which throw light on social, economic, and political conditions in the early days of Canada; and on the relations existing between the French and the aborigines. On New Year’s Day, gifts are exchanged between all the French people of the colony; those given and received by the Jesuits are enumerated in detail. The French settlements above Quebec are doing well, on the whole; though a quarrel that arises between the Algonkins at Three Rivers, and some Mohawks sojourning there, causes temporary apprehension. The Sillery Indians go (January I 5) on their usual hunt for game; and those left behind, twenty-five in number, are subsisted by the Jesuits and the Hospital nuns. On one occasion, a zealous lady undertakes to send, in array befitting its holy use, the bread for consecration; she adorns it with “a toilet — a crown of gauze or linen puffs,” and, if she had been allowed, would gladly have added tapers and golden coins. Vimont, however, “before consecrating the bread, had all that removed, and blessed it with the same simplicity that I had observed with the preceding portions, and especially with that of Monsieur the Governor — fearing lest this change might occasion Jealousy and Vanity.” Toward the end of January, a disturbance arises among the petty habitants, headed by Marsolet and Maheu; they claim that “M. des Chastelets, the general agent, is living too high, etc.” One of Montmagny’s household takes part with the malcontents, “whence arose many difficulties, and offensive words, and dissatisfaction; and pasquinades were composed. Monsieur the Governor having punished the guilty, everything became quiet.” [Page 13]

On February 12, tidings arrive of Father de Nouë’s death; separated from his companions, while on the way to Fort Richelieu, he loses his way, and is frozen to death on the ice. On the 15th, two men are punished on the chevalet, or “wooden horse,” — one for blasphemy, the other for assaulting his companion; and, later, another man is thus punished for gluttony. The nuns of both convents send the Jesuits, during the Shrovetide season, and on other festal occasions, various delicacies — “pastries, Spanish Wine, etc.;” many liberal gifts from Montmagny are also mentioned.

News is brought from Three Rivers, March 10, that Coûture had returned from the Iroquois country, with Mohawk envoys, and confirmation of the peace recently negotiated.

April 7, one Master Jaques, “surnamed ‘the hermit,’ began his entrance into our service;” it would appear that he became one of the donné of the Jesuits. Since the first of February, the savages left behind at Sillery have been encamped near Quebec, but they return to their homes after Easter; soon after, their hunting expedition comes back. Lalemant, while on a visit to Sillery, meets there Coûture, “whose savage name had been changed at 3 Rivers, at a feast made for him by father buteux, from Ihandich, which sounds ill in yroquois, to Achirra, — the name of the late Monsieur Nicolet, — to the joy of all the Huron, Algonquin, and Annieronon savages.” At a consultation held on the 26th, the Fathers decide to send Jogues to the Mohawk country, ‘and to retain Druillettes in Canada; and they approve of Couture’s proposed marriage. The opening of the St. Lawrence occurs this year on April [Page 14] 17 or 18, and planting is begun a little before that, — not only by the French, but by the savages whom the missionaries have colonized at Sillery and elsewhere.

During the first part of May, negotiations with the Iroquois are carried on at Three Rivers; and, on the 16th, Jogues sets out thence on his journey to the Iroquois. Father Masse dies at Quebec, on the 11th. Lalemant records various quarrels, occurring among both the savages and the French. Forest fires have made great havoc about Quebec; one colonist is burned out, but receives liberal aid from the others. During this month, brother Ambroise is engaged in brewing beer. A gunner at Richelieu, weary of life, wishes to commit suicide, but is restrained by his fear of hell. He then accuses himself of a scandalous offense, invented for the occasion, — “since, on the one hand, he would die, which was what he sought; and, on the other, they would first have him confess, which would enable him to avoid Hell.” Father Du Peron, however, mingles reproof and comfort in his treatment, and leaves the man “in a good frame of mind.” Good news is brought from Tadoussac, regarding both commercial and religious matters.

On the 4th of June, it is decided to rebuild the mill on the Jesuits’ farm at La Vacherie. A marriage occurs on the 18th, at which five soldiers dance a ballet. Indians from Tadoussac bring furs to Quebec, and make complaints of their treatment by De Launay, a French trader at Tadoussac. June 23, St. John’s day is celebrated with cannon shots and bonfires — lighted by Montmagny himself, while Lalemant chants prayers. The governor and [Page 15] Lalemant view the lands along the St. Charles River, in order to ascertain the boundaries of a grant there to the Ursulines; but the decision is left till the return of Bourdon, the surveyor of the colony, from the Iroquois country. The Jesuits receive an increase in the lands of La Vacherie, to replace a tract ceded by them to Quebec. Lalemant here gives interesting information as to the nature of the various land grants in Canada made to the Jesuits. The grant of meadow lands made to the Hospital nuns by Vimont, in the previous year, is retroceded by the nuns, in consideration of other lands obtained by them. The Ursulines promise to do the same, when they shall have secured the lands which they expect to receive. News comes from Miscou that two Indian families have been rendered sedentary.

Father Jogues and Bourdon arrive from the Iroquois country on July 3. The next day, Abenaki chiefs come to Quebec, to ask that a “black gown” be sent to their tribe, to give them instructions; Lalemant “puts them off till Autumn, in order to take time to consider the matter.” On the 13th, the Jesuit property at La Vacherie is increased by eighteen arpents of land.

This year, the fleet from France does not arrive until August 7; with it comes Father Daran. On the next day Charles de la Tour, noted in the annals of Acadia, comes to Quebec for refuge, his fort at St. John having been captured by his rival D’Aulnay. The Sillery Indians kill a Frenchman’s cow, which has injured their corn, and are obliged to pay a fine of six beaver skins, At a consultation held on the 2 I&, the Fathers decide that they will rent their Beauport estate and have a clergy-house built; send [Page 16] Dreuillettes to the Abenaki tribes, and Jogues to the Iroquois; and ask for additional concessions from the habitants. De la Poterie sends a messenger in haste to Montmagny, to inform him of a fancied discovery of gold and copper mines; but the specimens prove valueless — being probably iron pyrites. Des Groseilliers, the explorer, comes down from the Huron country, and apparently returns thither soon after.

Early in September, disputes arise concerning the Jesuit estates at Three Rivers; but they remain for the time unsettled. The Huron fleet this year numbers 80 canoes; and they carry away “a dozen bundles of skins, for want of merchandise.” Father Quentin brings from France several men for the Jesuit missions. Among these is a young gentleman of good family, who had professed conversion to the Catholic faith, and made a vow to go to the Hurons; but he proves to be a liar and swindler, concerning whom various scandals are reported. He finally leaves the colony, after having cheated the Jesuits out of more than 200 livres.

Lalemant notes the large increase in the habitants’ income from the fur trade, under the new arrangement with the Hundred Associates, — the habitants’ share this year being valued at 320,000 livres. The Jesuits ask the Council for an increased allowance; they obtain 1,200 francs additional for each of the missions, but are compelled to furnish their own fuel. Several prominent persons return to France October 31, — Maisonneuve, Giffard, and Tronquet, — “all firmly resolved that they would strive to obtain some regulation for their affairs, each one seeking his own private Interests.” On another vessel embarked several young men, sons of the leading [Page 17] colonists, — “all rogues, for the most part, who had played a thousand tricks on the other voyage; and they all were given high salaries.” At this time, work is begun on the new clergy-house and church at Quebec, and on a brewery and oven at Sillery.

Mother Marie de St. Ignace, the first superior of the Quebec hospital, dies November 5. On the 12th, Marguerite, widow of the explorer Jean Nicolet, is married to Nicolas Macard. On the 21st, Madame de la Peltrie, her maid, Charlotte Barré, and one Catherine, begin their novitiate with the Ursulines. The same day, comes news of “the greatest disaster which had yet occurred in Canada,” — the wreck of the brigantine which went from Quebec to Three Rivers, and carried most of the necessary supplies for the settlers at the latter post. These were lost, with nine men, — a loss shared by the Jesuits to some extent, in goods and in the death of a donné, Gaspar Goüaut, of Poitiers. Later advices show that much of the cargo was saved. November 29, Vimont says mass at the hospital, — in acquittal of the obligation laid upon the Hospital nuns, by the terms of their land grants, — for the members of the Hundred Associates. The Jesuits owe a like ceremony, “for the deceased associates of the Company;” and Lalemant adds: “I certainly intend to say it, but not to invite Monsieur the governor to it, in order not to prejudice our former rights from Monsieur de Vantadour” (the first Canadian viceroy).

In December, a soldier, named De Champigny, abjures heresy, and becomes a Catholic; as this man understands music, and can sing the treble part, the Jesuits are now able to have in the church a choir of four voices. On the last day of the year, a dramatic [Page 18] performance is given at the warehouse, at which is apparently enacted Corneille’s tragedy of Le Cid. “Our Fathers were present, — in deference to Monsieur the governor, who took pleasure therein, as also did the savages, — that is, fathers de Quen, [Gabriel] Lalemant, and defretat; all went well, and there was nothing which could not edify. I begged Monsieur the governor to excuse me from attendance.” The price of wood is this year placed at 100 sols, and some interested persons secure control of the market; besides, the wood is of poor quality and short measure. Hence arise “great disorder and Jealousy,” which are with difficulty quieted.

LX: The Relation of 1645-46 is, like most of its predecessors, in two parts: the first, by Jerome Lalemant, appointed in 1646 to succeed Vimont as superior of his order in Canada, consists of a preliminary letter to the provincial, in France (dated Quebek, October 28, 1646), and ten chapters giving a general view of the missions, particularly of the lower country; Part II. is the Huron report, by Ragueneau, consisting also of a preliminary note to the provincial (dated Des Hurons, May I, 1646), and eight chapters detailing the particulars of the work in Huronia. We herewith present the first two chapters of Part I., and will, conclude the document in Vols. XXIX. and XXX.

Lalemant briefly mentions the present prosperous condition of the French settlements, and the good work accomplished therein by the religious orders. The savages are gradually being attracted within religious influences, and thus encourage the missionaries with brighter hopes for their conversion; over 300 baptisms have occurred during the year. The [Page 19] superior then reverts to the peace recently concluded with the Mohawks — which, however, unfortunately does not include the other Iroquois tribes, who are still hostile. The Sokokis and Mohicans are not friendly to the French, but, fearing the Mohawks, are quiet. A detailed account is given of the Mohawk council in which peace with the French was arranged, — based on the reports of Coûture, who had formerly been a captive with that tribe.

In February, 1646, Coûture returns to Three Rivers, accompanied by seven Mohawk envoys, who come to ratify the treaty with the French, and extend it to their Indian allies. This is accomplished in May following, when Montmagny meets them for that purpose; the speeches and presents are described at length.

R. G. T.

Madison, Wis., August, 1898.

LV (concluded)

Relation of 1644-45

Paris: SEBASTIEN ET GABRIEL CRAMOISY, 1646

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Chaps. i.-xi. were published in Volume XXVII.; here follows the remainder of the document.

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[124] CHAPTER XII.

OF WHAT OCCURRED AT MISCOU.

“G

OD continues his favors toward our poor Savages, — they now open their eyes; they desire Baptism and ask for Christian instruction. I have never seen them better disposed,” writes Father Richard. “We have baptized 14 since my last letter — a family of eight persons; and six in the extremity of illness, who nearly all died shortly afterward. Among these, a young man, who was very intelligent, showed by his answers and his fervor that his was a soul destined for Heaven. As to the family, it was to have been baptized last year; but its head, whose name is Iariet, had been guilty of intemperance, and this occasioned the delay. His wife, however, feared that she might die in childbirth, — for she said that her time had long passed, and she was exceedingly ill, — and desired Baptism before our departure. She obtained it, not only on account of her dangerous condition but also owing to her own [125] merits, which cause her to pass with every one for the most virtuous, the wisest, and most modest of all the Savage women. The administration of the rites was deferred until the Baptism of her husband. On the 30th of July, this favor was granted to him and to all his family. He was named Denis by Monsieur Prevost, Captain in the King’s navy, commanding the Ship St. Joseph; and his wife was named Marguerite. This good woman was [Page 23] not content to answer all questions with the devotion and sentiments with which the Holy Ghost inspired her, but she also assisted her husband, — she exhorted him and suggested to him the answers. They afterward received the Nuptial benediction, and were admitted to Our Lord’s table. On leaving it, Denis Iariet said to me: ‘Now I. will pray in earnest, and will be a good man. I regret my past life; I hate sin, and wish to lead a better life in future.’ Then, drawing out a quantity of Porcelain beads, he said: ‘I am sorry that I am so poor; I have neither Moose nor Beaver to present to those Gentlemen who so greatly obliged us at our Baptism. I wish that I had something by which I might acknowledge the kindness that we have received, but since I have [126] nothing else, I shall be pleased if they will deign to accept this little present from me.’ We thanked him, and were satisfied with this manifestation of his good will. He therefore withdrew, quite content, and returned to Nepegigouit to continue the hunt for Beaver, and to help as much as he could in completing the building that Monsieur the Abbé of sainte Magdalene,[1] and Messieurs the Associates for Miskou, have caused to be begun near us for him and for Joseph Nepsuget, who was baptized last year. They are on good terms with each other; they are good comrades, and hunt together in Summer and in Winter. They had much to suffer at the beginning of last Winter and God tried their constancy and courage. They had selected their hunting district very far within the forest, hoping there to meet better success. They had intended to lay in a supply of Salmon; but the frost forestalled them, and closed the rivers, which quickly reduced them to want. [Page 25] They subsisted as best they could until Advent, when they found themselves completely destitute Of provisions. They searched and hunted everywhere without finding anything but a few Porcupines, and that very seldom. They were [127] compelled to eat their dogs, their skins, and their shoes, and often passed several days without food. During that time, a strange thing happened to a young Frenchman who wintered with them. One day, when a dog had been killed to save the lives of numerous persons who were stating, this boy, who was not satisfied with the little that they had given to him as to the others, seized the liver of the animal, that had been thrown away, and cooked and ate it. He was warned to leave that meat, — that it would do him harm, and make his skin fall off. He would not believe it, and continued his repast, but to his regret, — for it cost him his skin, which fell off in great flakes without any pain, so that in a short time his skin was entirely changed. The Savages know by experience this result on those who have eaten that meat.

“This affliction however did not inspire our people with any distaste for prayer. On the contrary, they had recourse to it in their greatest weakness; and, as they told me, they arose therefrom less inconvenienced by hunger. They attributed the misfortune to their sins, and acknowledged that God punished them for their offenses. ‘It is true,’ said Joseph Nepsuget, [128] ‘that we have given God cause to be angry with us; but I, principally, have done so by my anger and impatience, and by my former drunkenness. He punishes us justly. Let us therefore have recourse to him; let us ask pardon of him. He will have pity on us; he is our Father. [Page 27] I will never offend him again; I will never allow myself to be overcome by anger or by liquor; I wish for the future to please God, and to be a good man.’ After that, they began their prayers which they continued for a long time, and frequently recommenced. Finally, God had pity on them; and, after allowing them to suffer much through famine from the eighth of December to the sixth of January, he sent them an abundance of food, and three times as much as the other Savages had. In the first place, they killed a Moose with much difficulty, for they were extremely weak and could hardly stand. This food restored their strength and courage to some extent; so they took the field in all directions, and in a short time they filled their cabin with meat. They were not ungrateful, but thanked God for every animal that they killed, and at the end of the Winter [129] they related everywhere the favors that God had conferred on them. Joseph came to us as soon as the ice had left the rivers free, and Denis came shortly afterward. They told us of their good and evil fortunes during the Winter, and of the care they had taken to pray to God, to observe the Sundays, and to remember what they had been taught. ‘For my part,’ said Denis Iariet, who was then a Catechumen, ‘I often found by experience that I derived no benefit and gained nothing by hunting on Sundays but if, after having rested on that day, I went to hunt on the morrow, I never failed to be successful. Therefore I will never do anything to transgress that day.’ It is consoling to see how careful these good people are to observe the Festivals and Sundays. If they had no time to put their few ‘household effects in order, and to prepare their provisions [Page 29] so that they might not be spoiled, still they did not venture to touch them, without previously ascertaining from us whether it was permitted to do so. In the same manner, I often observed that on Fridays and fast days they suffered much, rather than do anything contrary to abstinence on those days.

[130] “But we are human, and the strongest are not always sure to remain upright. This Joseph of whom we speak found means to procure a cask of wine; he gave himself up to intemperance, and afterward to disorder, and committed a scandalous sin. This is the evil that we have for a long time deplored here; and the lack of restraint on that pernicious traffic ruins everything, as we have frequently written to Your Reverence. They themselves say that they would all be Christians by this time, were it not for the liquor that is traded to them. When this poor man came to his senses, he was so ashamed that he did not dare to show himself; but, as his offense had been public, he also had to make public reparation. This he willingly agreed to, on a Sunday morning in the Chapel, — in the presence of all, both French and Savages, — with great manifestations of sorrow. May God continue to grant him grace and to strengthen his courage.

“As for the remainder of our Savages, they are very willing and well disposed. Many of them, although they are infidels, are anxious to procure Baptism for their sick; they promptly inform us as soon as they see any one in danger, [131] and beg us to go and baptize them. The principal men among them glory in calling and bringing the others to prayers, — they assemble, urge, and press them though most of them need no spur. Our Chapel is [Page 31] often too small to hold them all; the prayers have to be repeated at various times: and they show by their fervor and modesty that they relish them. In fact, since we have set their prayers to music they take a remarkable pleasure in attending them, and pride themselves on singing well. Some of them, in truth, have very fine voices; and those who have seen and have lived at Kebec, do not find our Savages less deserving of praise than the Montagnais. Two persons of rank among them came one day, when all the prayers were over, to ask that they be made to pray to God. ‘And where were you,’ they were asked, ‘when the prayers were said? Why were you not there?’ ‘We knew nothing about it,’ they said;’ we were at some distance, and heard nothing of them. Make us pray to God; we are sorry to have failed in that duty.’ They had to be satisfied, and, when they had performed their devotions, they showed by deed and by word that they [132] were pleased. But truly delightful it is to see, when we teach the Catechism to them, the care and the trouble that the parents take to make their children attentive, and to impress on their minds what by this means we teach them and the older ones. They will take before them their children whom they tenderly love, and have them make the Sign of the Cross; they will repeat to them what the Reverend Father says, and then enlarge upon the subject, and explain it in other words; they will exhort them to remember it well, and will not forget to instill into their souls a horror for sin. A band of Savages, of the chief men of Acadia, led by a brave Captain named Herout, passed here last Spring, on their way to war. They attended the prayers and the [Page 33] exhortations that we addressed to them in their language in the Chapel of this settlement, and were all delighted to hear things so beautiful and so new. ‘Alas!’ said they, ‘we have so long frequented the French settlements on our shores, and we have never been taught in that fashion. We know not what it is to pray, at least in our own language; our children are not taught as you teach them here.’ At all events, they went away [133] inclined to right sentiments, and perhaps this Divine seed will bear fruit in its time. On their return from war, a party of them passed by our House of Nepegigouit where they showed themselves as assiduous and as zealous for the prayers, as they had been at Miscou. They came to rejoice with our Savages at the brave exploits of the war that they had performed at Chichedek, in the Country of the Bersiamites, where they had killed seven Savages and taken thirteen or fourteen prisoners, most of whom were children. Those from the Bay here, who had gone before them with the same purpose of war, showed themselves much more reserved and never ventured to attack any Canoes that they met in that quarter, because they imagined, from their speech, that they prayed to God. But these others, who have less love for prayer and are not so well instructed, did not disturb themselves on that account. They threw themselves on the first prey that fell into their hands; they came back victorious, and desired by these massacres to allay the grief and sorrow of all the Country, which is afflicted by the death of many persons who have died during the past few years. They threw on the shore, at landing, the scalps of the poor massacred people, [134] and at the same time [Page 35] spread joy throughout the cabins. The women vied with one another who should first seize these Trophies, and who should sing and dance the best. Neither rain nor wind could stop them, from morning to night. It is strange that this constant and continued dancing and singing for several days did not tire or weary them. But a false alarm, and the rumor that the enemy had appeared, interrupted their rejoicing, threw them into fear and apprehension of falling into the hands of the Hiroquois, and made them think of flight. They all withdrew to Miskou, where for a long time they continued their baleful songs to the cadence of the waving scalps.

“So much for our Savages. As for the French, Your Reverence is aware that we devote ourselves to those who winter in this settlement, and to several fishing ships that come here every year and spend the Summer on these Coasts; and I may say, to the glory of God, that this Mission supplies the spiritual needs not only of the latter but also of the former, and of the Savages of the Country. Sermons, and the teaching of Catechism; the frequent [135] Confessions and Communions; the disputes and quarrels that have been settled and appeased, — even among the principal persons, who had gone so far as to challenge each other, — sufficiently show the importance of these excursions in which the Savages also have a share. For, as they readily remain near the ships, we cannot assist the one without also having the means of assisting the other. But liquor, which is here traded and sold with impunity, is the scourge of this region. When will Heaven furnish a remedy therefor, since we await it in vain from earth? It will be through the prayers of Your Reverence, to which I earnestly commend myself.”[Page 37]

[136] Letter from Father Hierosme Lalemant, writ-

ten from the Huron country to the Rev-

erend Father Provincial of the

Society of JESUS.

M

Y REVEREND FATHER,

I was deprived last year of an especial consolation, because the letters that Your Reverence had written to me had fallen into the hands of the Hiroquois, our enemies. I learned, however, at the end of the Summer, the orders that you had sent, in accordance with which I have left the care of this Huron Mission to Father Paul Ragueneau and have prepared to depart from these upper countries and go down to Kebec.

In my uncertainty as to what might happen to me on the way, I have deemed it advisable to write this letter previous to my departure, and to leave it here to be sent after me, so that in any case Your Reverence might know my latest thoughts and opinions concerning the conversion of these Countries, — after I have dwelt here nearly seven years, witnessed the labors of the Fathers of our Society, [137] and seen the fruits that Heaven has reaped from them, — and the hopes that I leave here for the future, if God continue to pour his blessings on these Peoples as he has begun.

Maladies succeeded one another, until it seemed as if they singled out the Christians more than the Infidels, cruelly decimating their families, and more frequently sparing those who had refused Baptism, — while at the same time, in the same cabin, and in the same bed, death snatched others from us who had embraced the Faith. Although by this means God indeed increased in Heaven the number of his Elect, for whose sake alone he has chosen that his holy Name be announced to these barbarous Peoples, nevertheless it was not, it would seem, a desirable preparation for making our Faith more lovable [Page 41] and for increasing the number of this Church militant; it was more fitted to produce aversion therefor, and to inspire a horror of it as great as of death.

Then Famines had their turn; and the people [139] thought that, because they had changed Masters, and had placed their confidence in God rather than in the Demons of Hell, the Faith had drawn these misfortunes after it; and that he whom it adored was either powerless to do us good, or was wanting in love for those who wished to love him.

Wars have been more pitiless, and, although they have ravaged this Country most cruelly, without sparing any sex, age, or condition of persons, nevertheless we may truly say that it seems as if God had chosen to reap the flower of our Churches with that sharp sword. Into the heart of the Country, and to the doors of the villages where the reign of the Faith most prevailed, the Hiroquois have come from a hundred leagues’ distance, to slay those who supported it and who by the example and holiness of their lives, by the ardor of their zeal, and the efficacy of the impassioned words that the Holy Ghost placed in their mouths, already possessed the qualities of Apostles of their country, wherein they preached more powerfully than we the greatness of him who makes Saints of barbarians.

[140] These were deeply felt losses for a Church newly born; but those that have followed since our last Relations have seemed more disastrous, — not only to the advancement of the Faith, but also to all these Countries, which become weaker day by day, and seem to be drawing near their ruin, if some arm more powerful than ours or some intervention of [Page 43] Heaven do not arrest the insolence and success of their Enemies.

A year ago last Summer, our Christians had mustered a band of about a hundred picked men, who joined some Infidel warriors to go and lay ambushes on the frontiers of the enemy’s Country. They were met by seven or eight hundred Hiroquois; and, after fighting for a whole evening and a whole night, they were all killed on the field of battle or taken prisoners, not one effecting his escape.

One misfortune attracts another. In the same year, two bands of Hurons fell into the hands of other Hiroquois who are nearer Kebec, and who lay in wait for them on the River which they descend to go and see the French, and to trade their Beaver skins and furs with them.

[141] And last year three other fleets, mostly of Christians, also met with death or captivity on the same road, — one, soon after their departure from Three rivers; another, a little above Ville-Marie; the last, about sixty leagues higher up. For the peril continues over a hundred leagues of road. There is no safety for a moment from an enemy hidden in the rushes along the banks of the river, or in the depths of the forest, which screen them from your sight while they can see you coming from a distance of four, five, or six leagues, — thus having time to prepare for a combat, if they see that you are weaker; or to retreat, or remain hidden in their ambush, if they consider you the stronger.

A single band, which had passed through these dangers, reached here safely, and brought to us Father Jean de Brébeuf, whose absence during three years had been greatly felt by us, and Fathers Leonard [Page 45] Garreau and Noel Chabanel, who had newly come to our assistance. Their arrival consoled us exceedingly in our regret for our recent loss of Father Bressany, who had fallen into the hands of the Hiroquois. [142] This band was escorted by the troops which Monsieur de Montmagny, our Governor, sent us most opportunely, not only for the preservation of the poor Hurons, who ran a great risk of also falling into the ambushes of the enemies, but still more for strengthening this Country, which was threatened this Winter with the sight of a Hiroquois army coming to ravage their villages, bringing with it general desolation, and wasting everything with fire and sword. But the arrival of this relief made them alter their plans. And if this same escort of French Soldiers, which is about to return, in order to accompany the Hurons who are going down the river, reach Kebec as safely as they came up last year, Heaven will have fully blessed all the designs of Monsieur our Governor. In any case, I pray God ever to preserve for New France a person who should be so precious to us; for I do not think that, in the nine years during which he has had the Government of it, any one could have acted with more zeal than he has displayed, with more disinterested prudence, with more [143] strength of mind, and with a more truly Christian courage, amid the almost insurmountable difficulties that have been encountered, and that would have discouraged a heart less firm than his.

But to return to our subject, and to tell your Reverence my sentiments respecting the conversion of this country, I may frankly confess that, if we had to judge the establishment of the Faith in these [Page 47] countries from the standpoint of human prudence, I could hardly believe that there is any place in the world more difficult to subject to the Laws of Jesus Christ. Not only because they have no knowledge of letters, no Historical monuments, and no idea of a Divinity who has created the world and who governs it; but, above all, because I do not believe that there is any people on earth freer than they, and less able to allow the subjection of their wills to any power whatever, — so much so that Fathers here have no control over their children, or Captains over their subjects, or the Laws of the country over any of them, except in so far as each is pleased to submit to them. There is no punishment which [144] is inflicted on the guilty, and no criminal who is not sure that his life and property are in no danger, even if he were convicted of three or four murders, of having received a reward from the enemy for betraying his country, or breaking off by his own act a peace, that is decided upon by the general consent of the whole country. These are crimes that I have seen committed, the authors whereof have gloried in them and have boasted that the wars that they had aroused would make their names immortal. It is not because there are no Laws or punishments proportionate to the crimes, but it is not the guilty who suffer the penalty. It is the public that must make amends for the offenses of individuals; so that, if a Huron has killed an Algonquin or another Huron, the whole country assembles; and they come to an agreement respecting the number of presents to be given to the Tribe or to the relatives of him who has been killed, to stay the vengeance that they might take. The Captains urge their subjects to [Page 49] provide what is needed; no one is compelled to it, but those who are willing bring publicly what they wish to contribute; it seems as if they vied [145] with one another according to the amount of their wealth, and as the desire of glory and of appearing solicitous for the public welfare urges them to do on like occasions. Now although this form of justice restrains all these peoples, and seems more effectually to repress disorders than the personal punishment of criminals does in France, it is nevertheless a very mild proceeding, which leaves individuals in such a spirit of liberty that they never submit to any Laws and obey no other impulse than that of their own will. This, without doubt, is a disposition quite contrary to the spirit of the Faith, which requires us to submit not only our wills, but our minds, our judgments, and all the sentiments of man to a power unknown to our senses, to a Law that is not of earth, and that is entirely opposed to the laws and sentiments of corrupt nature.

Add to this that the laws of the Country, which to them seem most just, attack the purity of the Christian life in a thousand ways, especially as regards their marriages — the dissolution of which, with freedom to seek another consort, is [146] more frequent and easy here than it is in France for a master to take another servant, when the one he has does not please him. The result is, truth to tell, that, in the closest of their marriages, and those which they consider most conformable to reason, the faith that they pledge each other is nothing more than a conditional promise to live together so long as each shall continue to render the services that they mutually expect from each other, and shall not in any way wound the [Page 51] affection that they owe each other. If this fail, divorce is considered reasonable on the part of the injured one, although the other party who has given occasion for it is blamed.

But the greatest opposition that we meet in these Countries to the spirit of the Faith consists in the fact that their remedies for diseases; their greatest amusements when in good health; their fishing, their hunting, and their trading; the success of their crops, of their wars, and of their councils, — almost all abound in diabolical ceremonies. So that, as superstition has contaminated nearly all the actions of their lives, it would seem that to be a Christian, one must deprive himself not only of [147] pastimes which elsewhere are wholly innocent, and of the dearest pleasures of life, but even of the most necessary things, and, in a word, die to the world at the very moment that one wishes to assume the life of a Christian.

Not that, after examining their superstitions more closely, we find that the Devil interferes and gives them any help beyond the operation of nature; but nevertheless they have recourse to him; they believe that he speaks to them in dreams; they invoke his aid; they make presents and sacrifices to him, — sometimes to appease him and sometimes to render him favorable to them; they attribute to him their health, their cures, and all the happiness of their lives. In this, they are all the more miserable that they are slaves of the Devil, without gaining anything in his service, — not even in this world, of which he is called the Prince, and wherein he seems to have some power.

If lesser difficulties have caused trouble in [Page 53] converting civilized Nations, and if it has taken entire centuries to implant the Faith in them, though God then assisted those who preached his word, with a multitude of miracles, — with the gift of cures, [148] the gift of tongues, of prophecies, and everything that can astonish nature and make even the most impious acknowledge the power and majesty of him whose greatness they proclaimed, — what can be expected from these barbarous nations when it has not pleased God to bless us with frequent miracles, and to make the Faith more agreeable to them by the pleasant things that it would cause Heaven to shower, even in this life, on those who should submit to his Laws; and when we have not here even such temporal aids as the succor, the benefits, and the gifts which have been employed with the Savages in the other countries of the World to procure their conversion? Finally, we cannot here have force at hand, and the support of that sharp sword which serves the Church in so holy a manner to give authority to her Decrees, to maintain Justice, and curb the insolence of those who trample under foot the holiness of her Mysteries.

As Faith is not natural to these peoples, — as it seems to be in France, where it is imbibed with one’s mother’s milk, — it is not a mere trifle to have made a man a Christian. More contests, more pains, and more labors are needed to retain and [149] keep him in the Church than were required to win him to God. Temptations show them their feebleness; their minds are not always fervent; Heaven does not always fix their gaze; earth has not lost all its attractions for them; it is easy for them in the course of many years to fall back into their frailties; grace is but transitory, while nature ever remains; in a [Page 55] word, I mean to say that perseverance in the exercise of Faith is no less difficult here than it is in France for the majority to retain the innocence of Baptism, and not to lose through sin the grace that makes us agreeable to God.

Add to this the fury of a Hiroquois enemy who closes the way to us; who deprives us of the necessities of life, and of the help that may be sent us in a forsaken country; who kills and massacres those who come to our aid; whose insolence grows from year to year; who depopulates the country, and makes our Hurons think of giving up the trade with the French, because they find that it costs them too dear, and they prefer to do without European goods rather than to expose themselves every year, not [150] to a death that would be endurable, but to fires and flames, for which they have a thousand times greater horror.

Now, therefore, what can we expect in the midst of a barbarous nation where we shall no longer have the necessaries of life; where they will no longer venture to send us the reinforcement of laborers that would be required here to promote the affairs of God; where all who shall remain will be abandoned to the fury of a desperate people, who will no longer be restrained from massacring us all by the fear of losing their trade with the French, — which they will find impossible to them, and which will be completely ruined, as far ‘as they are concerned? In that case, the Christians who compose this nascent Church will then see themselves without Pastors, without Sacraments, without Sacrifice, and without the means of having recourse to those who alone are their refuge in their desolation, their support in their weakness, [Page 57] the sacred tie that binds them to God, and their succor against the powers of Hell.

Beyond a doubt, these are reasonable fears, — difficulties capable of arresting our minds, obstacles insurmountable to our weakness, and misfortunes that seem inevitable, — if France does not make [151] extraordinary efforts to overthrow this enemy, who with one and the same blow destroys these Nations and the Faith that we preach to them. To tell the truth, so many misfortunes that have followed one another, and so powerful opposition to the designs that bring us here, would have caused us to lose courage, did we not raise our eyes higher, and if our confidence were not upheld by Heaven. But when we think that these are the affairs of God more than ours; that the Faith has not been founded anywhere in the World except in the midst of tempests; that God has always been pleased to manifest his power where there is least of human strength; that his arm is not shortened; when we think that the Blood of Jesus Christ has been shed no less for these nations than for the remainder of the earth, and that the fruits of his love are not exhausted for those who have already acknowledged him as their Savior; that he must be adored by all the peoples of the earth, and be praised by as many tongues as there are in the Universe; when we see Nations surrounding us on all sides and almost an entire world where his holy Name has never been adored, [152] and where nevertheless it must be that the Gospel shall have penetrated before the end of the ages, since God has pledged his word to it; when we see with our own eyes what he has already begun there, and that he alone has worked there more than we have, — that [Page 59] he performs every day miracles greater than the creation of a new World would be, changing the hearts of Barbarians into Christian hearts; finally, when we think that God never leaves his work unfinished; that his glory is at stake and not ours: — then we consider nothing impossible; we hope against all hope; our confidence is as great as ever; both on account of the pledges of his love in the past, in favor of these nations, and of what he does there now, we feel assured that he will not fail them in the future.

For notwithstanding all these ravages of plagues, of famines, and of wars; whatever opposition there may be in the nature of these peoples, in their laws, and in their customs, to the holiness of the Faith; whatever Dominion the Demons may have — we have not failed each year to baptize a goodly number, and even this past year more than one hundred and seventy. And though God has disposed [153] of the majority, — several of whom are in Heaven as we have every reason to believer — we have, nevertheless, the consolation of seeing in the midst of this barbarism seven small Churches, wherein the hand of God has worked far more than we; wherein the Spirit of the Faith reigns, and finds nothing barbarous in the hearts of those whom it chooses to subdue to itself; wherein Innocence preserves itself in the midst of impurity. This induces us to say, without the shadow of a doubt, Digitus Dei est hic. Now, as God is for us, can we really feel fear amid our undertakings, without exposing ourselves to the reproaches addressed by the Savior of the world to St. Peter: Modiæ fidei quare dubitasti?

But I am afraid that too much fear is felt for us, and that want of confidence on the part of those who [Page 61] are far from the fight will arrest the course of the victories that the Faith gains here over impiety. I mean to say that the doubts that may exist in France with reference to the conversion of these nations is one of the greatest impediments that can be offered; and that God may withdraw his favors from these pagan countries because, in the midst of tempests, confidence in him has been withdrawn. For, in [154] truth, it is easy to despair of the conversion of these nations, — even in this presumption alone, that, because they are barbarians, some can hardly believe them to be men, and that we can hardly make Christians of them. But it is wrong to judge thus; for I can say in truth that, as regards Intelligence, they are in no wise inferior to Europeans and to those who dwell in France. I would never have believed that, without instruction, nature could have supplied a most ready and vigorous eloquence, which I have admired in many Hurons; or more clear-sightedness in affairs, or a more discreet management in things to which they are accustomed. Why, then, should they be incapable of having a knowledge of a true God?

In truth, their customs are barbarous in a thousand matters; but after all, in those practices which among them are regarded as evil acts and are condemned by the public, we find without comparison much less disorder than there is in France, though here the mere shame of having committed the crime is the offender’s punishment. What, therefore, would their innocence be if the Faith reigned among them?

At present we have a greater [155] knowledge than ever of their language, of their customs, and of the means that must be taken to enter into their minds [Page 63] and hearts, and, by winning them over to ourselves, to gain them for Heaven. We find it very easy to expound to them the truths of our Faith which, at the beginning, seemed to us the most difficult to explain, owing to the poverty of their language in such matters, and the ignorance in which they had always lived of things beyond the reach of sight and of the senses. They can no longer reply to us that indeed the Law of Jesus Christ that we preach to them is holy, but that it is impossible for them; for they have seen their countrymen — born in barbarism as well as they, brought up in their customs, fed on their vices, and engulfed as much as they in the impiety that floods all these countries — save themselves from the wreck, cast off nature, clothe themselves with the holiest Virtues of Christianity, and have nothing but horror for earthly pleasures, and no love but for Heaven. They are compelled to confess that God is the master of all hearts, and that his goodness is greater than our evil deeds; when they see [156] every day that those who had had the greatest aversion for our Mysteries are the first to submit to the truth, that Faith opens the Mind; and that, when God has taken possession of their souls, they are more strongly affected by good than they had been attracted by evil.

The constancy and long-suffering of our Fathers in so laborious a life, in an employment for which nature and all the senses can feel nothing but aversion, in a matter which is not ours, or, at least, from which our Savages see very well that we derive no profit; a courage so invincible in the midst of so strong opposition to the designs that bring us here, — these now serve them as a very powerful reason for [Page 65] rendering the truths of our Faith more credible and more adorable to them. In a word, they admit that it must, beyond a doubt, be true that Heaven’s pleasures surpass all those of earth, since solely the hope of gaining it makes those who live in that Faith despise all that is pleasant in life, and sweetens for them the bitterness both of life and of death.

After this, are we not right in raising our hopes more than ever, and [157] in believing that that all-powerful hand, which out of nothing produced these beginnings, will continue its work; that the Holy Ghost will bless this propitious seed; and that, after having himself inspired dispositions so advantageous to what we most hope for, he will make it fruitful and turn an unfertile soil and an infidel world into a land of holiness and into a Christian world?

If we had but the Hurons to convert, it might even be thought, perhaps, that from ten to twenty thousand souls are not so great a conquest that one should expose himself to so many hazards and encounter so many dangers, to win them to God. But we are only at the entrance of a land which on the side of the West, as far as China, is full of Nations more populous than the Hurons; toward the South, we see other Peoples beyond number, to whom we can have access only by means of this door at which we now stand. Therefore, since God has called us the first to cultivate this vine for him, should we not be faithful to him with that patience that he recommends to his Apostles, — Fructum afferet in patientia, waiting until he himself [158] gathers the fruits thereof at such time and at such moment as will please him? If we have not that consolation in this life, it will be a sufficient reward for us to have devoted our efforts [Page 67] to it; and, whatever happens, at least we will cheerfully die in the thought that these words of Our Lord will be accomplished in us: Alius est qui seminat, et alius qui metit; that others will enter into our work; that they will enjoy the harvest of which we have sown the first seeds; that they will gather the fruits watered with our sweat and with our blood; and, finally, that God will derive his glory and the salvation of his Elect from our willingness to live and to die in that holy employment to which our vocation so happily pledges us, that I may say in truth that God has exceeded our hopes, and that before my departure from this Huron Country, from which obedience recalls me, I see with my own eyes accomplished in seven years what I would have considered myself very happy to have learned from afar, at the end of a long life, and of which perhaps I would have had some trouble in convincing myself, if I myself had not been an eyewitness of it.

Our previous Relations may have [159] conveyed some idea of it, and perhaps they will have sufficiently shown that God makes no distinction of persons; that his Love does not despise Barbarians; that his kindness makes itself felt as much by our poor Savages as by the most civilized nations of the earth: that Heaven’s graces do not fall upon countries in proportion to the riches bestowed by nature; and, in a word, that our Hurons are no less born for Heaven than those who have enjoyed the treasures of the Faith a thousand and two thousand years before they have. Now, since that time God has not withdrawn his favors from those little Churches; he is ever their Father, and ever liberal to those who invoke him. [Page 69]

This is saying in two lines what an entire Relation could have contained, had I chosen to enter more into details, and had not the briefness of a letter compelled me to think of concluding this one. However, — to avoid another extreme, and perhaps blame for having been too brief in matters which show the goodness of God to these peoples, and which oblige us to praise his mercies, — I shall relate some of these, [160] but with no other order than that suggested by the confused recollection that I have of them.

A Christian who had recently escaped from captivity, and who saw himself on his arrival surrounded by his relatives, who came to console him, astonished all present by the words that he used. “My friends,” he said, “God did not abandon me in my captivity. If we should often think of him in prosperity we should also pray to him unceasingly in the height of our troubles. We hear, as it were, a voice within, replying to us that the evils of this life are nothing, that there is a Paradise awaiting us, and that death — which is all the less remote from us, the greater are our sufferings — will soon place us in possession of a happiness of which our cruelest enemies cannot deprive us.

“Such,” said he, “were the thoughts that consoled me in the midst of the most frightful tortures that the Hiroquois made me endure, when they applied fire and glowing flames to me. Then I felt truly that God helped me; that he was within me, and animated my [161] heart. I know not how it could have been, but it is true that my soul felt unspeakable pleasures, at the very time when my body endured the greatest pain. After these first sufferings, they consulted whether I was destined for [Page 71] death, or whether my life should be spared. I knew not which of the two to desire, and I did not dare to ask God, except that he might send me either life or death, as he deemed best for my salvation, since I was but a child, and he was my Father who alone knew what was best for me, and loved me more than I can love myself.”

Almost at the same time, another Christian, who was about to go to war, was questioned how he would behave if he were captured by the enemy. “I cannot,” he replied, “promise anything of myself, knowing the little good that I can do; but for more than six months I have been questioning myself, and sounding the depths of my heart, and it seems to me each time that nothing in the world could make me forget Heaven. God,” said he, “has deprived me of nearly all my relatives; he has stripped me of my goods. I am waiting now [162] until he tries me in my own person; and perhaps he will permit that I be captured by the enemies and burned in their fires. I dread this, it is true; but I nevertheless control myself when I say my prayers to him. I merely say to him that he sees very well what my heart fears the most, but that I do not ask him to deliver me from it so long as he preserves me in the Spirit of Faith and in the hope of Paradise, — promising myself that, after that, neither the fires nor the flames of the Hiroquois can deprive me of the desire that I have to live and die a Christian, in whatever situation I may be.”

Another, who was taken prisoner by the Hiroquois this Summer, broke from his bonds two hours before they were to burn him, escaped quite naked, and fled through briers and thorns, wherein the enemy [Page 73] pursued him almost an entire day. He found that, after escaping one misfortune, he fell into ten others; he wandered in the woods for three days without food; the mosquitoes disturbed his rest night and day, piercing him with their stings from head to foot; the whole of his body was but one sore; and finally he despaired of his [163] life. Finding himself still at a distance of more than sixty leagues from any settlement — in a country where the Hirequois are ever hunting men, and where every step that he took to avoid the enemy would, he feared, lead him into their ambushes, — his strength at last failed him; and, as he could proceed no farther, he resolved to die upon a bare rock that he chose for his tomb, when some Huron canoes fortunately caught sight of him, and drew him from the gates of death. ‘I Alas!” said that good Christian,” I thought not of my misfortunes, or, at least, I could bear them in the thought that I escaped a greater evil. If dread of a fire that would have burned me but for one night made me insensible to so much misery, could I now,” he said, “find the yoke of the Faith a heavy one, and can the troubles that have to be endured in God’s service really seem troubles to us, if we truly believe that there is a Hell, and that we must suffer in this world in order not to suffer forever?”

“When I was in the fires of the Hiroquois,” said another Christian, who had felt their severity, “this [164] thought consoled me, that God had ordered it. My sufferings were excessive, and yet I could not in any way complain of his kindness; and, whatever evil he may allow to happen to me, I hereafter believe that it can be only through love, since he has shown it to me by calling me to the Faith, and [Page 75] opening to me his Paradise. After that, they may burn me, they may torture me, and make me suffer a thousand deaths; but they cannot prevent my loving him.”

Animated by the same sentiment, a good Old Man replied to some Infidels, who reproached him, saying that his Faith was useless, since the God whom he adored did not cure him of a painful disease, which made his life not a blessing for which he should thank him, but an unbearable burden. “My friends,” he said to them, “you would condemn your own words ‘if you would raise your eyes to Heaven, to which I try to keep my heart attached. You count the diseases of the body in the number of misfortunes; and, in truth, they are a misfortune for you, who know no other happiness than in this life. But the Christians look upon them as a blessing, [165] when they think of what the Faith teaches us, — that God will reward us in Heaven according to the measure of our sorrows and of our joys, provided we thank him alike for both, because he orders both of them for our good, the reason being, doubtless, that he loves us even in this life since he will love us forever.”

The answer of another Old Man, aged 70 years, was no less inspired by the Spirit of Faith, when the reproach was cast at him that God had no pity on him, because of a stroke of paralysis that had deprived him of the use of an arm. “What!” he replied, “would you wish that there should be no dried trees in the woods and no dead branches on a tree that is growing old? For my part, I take pleasure in seeing my limbs wither; and the approach of death has not frightened me, since I have the Faith [Page 77] that one day I shall rise again in glory, and that this dying body must rot in the ground before it can become immortal.”

When the same man heard that his only son, who remained to him as a support in his old age, had fallen into the hands of the enemies, and when he saw all the people in his [166] Cabin weeping at the news, he said: “For my part, I have no tears for him; he had followed me in the Faith; he has gone before me to that happiness which awaits us after death.” At the same time, he came promptly into the Church at ten o’clock at night, to offer his only son to God, but with a resignation worthy of a truly Christian heart. “My God,” he exclaimed, “what a precious gift is Faith, and how gently it allays the emotions of a heart that confides in your promises! You had given him to me before I had the happiness of acknowledging you as my God and my benefactor. Since I have had Faith, I have offered him to you a thousand times; and you, who penetrate into the depths of our hearts, have known that my offering was not a feigned one. You have taken me at my word, and have received what belonged to you even before I had offered it to you. Can I complain because you have accepted the gift that I made you? Praise be to you, my God; and if after the Child you deign to receive the Father, I offer myself to you as willingly as I offered my son. Have pity on both.” Hardly [167] was his prayer ended, when another Messenger, who had been present at the fight, arrived, quite breathless, and reported that his son whom they thought dead had escaped with him, while the others had remained on the field. It was like that Angel who stayed Abraham’s sword, already raised [Page 79] over the Innocent Isaac. “My God” (exclaimed this good Father, continuing his prayer), if I have received evil tidings from your hand, have I not cause now to bless you for the life of my son whom you give back to me as one risen from the dead, at the moment when I thought that he was killed? It is you who have withdrawn him from the peril; but I beg you that he may never fall into sin; and confer the same grace upon me, so that he and I may praise you in Heaven for this favor and for others, that we can never acknowledge here on earth.”

Faith makes no distinction between the sexes, and all ages are ripe for Heaven. A Christian woman, while speaking one day to some infidels whom she exhorted to embrace the Faith, said to them: “Alas! even if there were no Paradise after death, and if our Faith [168] should deceive us, I would still believe, in order to enjoy even in this life a peace and repose of mind that cannot be conceived by those who remain in infidelity. Before my baptism, I was every day full of anxiety; present ills tormented me; fear of misfortunes that might happen to me, but which perhaps will never occur, failed not to afflict me before their time. The tidings of ills that were past renewed my sorrow, and the tears that I had already dried; and even the recollection of my former pleasures caused me regret, because they existed no longer and because I could look upon them only as lost to me. Now, nothing of all that afflicts me; but, on the contrary, I derive my good from my evil, because whenever fears, sorrows, or misfortunes assail me, I think of the happiness promised to us by the Faith which is free from any bitterness.”

“Not long ago,” she added, “while I wept for [Page 81] the death of one of my brothers and of one of my children, I would never have believed that tears could be so sweet; but, while they [169] flowed from my eyes, my heart was quite consoled by the thought that those for whom I wept were in Heaven, and that an Eternity would unite us so that death could not separate us.” “But,” they said to her, “what wouldst thou say if thy husband were to die, he who refuses to become a Christian?” “I would console myself,” she replied, “with the thought that God must dispose as he wills of what belongs to him; he knows what is best, and perhaps he awaits the hour of his death to grant him a grace of which he renders himself unworthy during the course of his life.”

A young Christian woman in her first confinement betrayed no sign of pain. When she was asked if, in reality, she had not suffered, she replied: “Alas, the pains were excessive; but I thought of God and of the blessing of the Faith, which has delivered me from eternal torment. I offered him at the same time the child that I brought into the world, and begged that he might die after receiving holy Baptism, rather than be permitted to fall into mortal sin.”

Not all our Christians [170] have such sentiments. Some have not that courage; others fall into sin, and have disastrous relapses; some lose heart in the middle of their career; all are not strong in the spirit of holiness. But I know not in what spot on earth we can find every one perfect. If the seed that Jesus Christ himself came to sow on earth fell sometimes among thorns, sometimes on rocks, and sometimes in sterile places; and if a good portion that had fallen on good ground was eaten by the [Page 83] birds before producing the fruits that were expected of it, we must not be astonished if the same thing happen here. Non erit discipulus super Magistrum. It is sufficient that a portion comes to maturity, and it is notable that in some cases this seed brings forth a hundredfold. But I cannot too often repeat that a patience is needed which can withstand every trial, and be discouraged by nothing. He who is now among the weakest will one day be a great Saint.

Apropos of this, I remember an answer given some time ago by a good Christian to one of our Fathers, who, observing in him [171] sentiments of eminent perfection, and being astonished at the graces that God gave him, asked him how long it was since he had attained that degree. “You embarrass me as much,” he replied, “as if you asked me how long it is since I have reached my present stature. As my body has grown since my birth, without my perceiving it, so has my Faith grown since my Baptism. I know not,” he added, “what I should do to respond to these graces, or even how to pray; but what I cannot weary of telling God when I pray to him is that I believe with all my heart, and that he send me death rather than sin.”

A Captain, who is one of the highest in rank in the whole Country, was asked before his Baptism if he really believed the truths of our Faith. “My words,” he said, “may mislead; but I wish my actions and my conduct to reply instead of my tongue. Wait until Winter comes, until the devils are unchained, and I am solicited to sin; then you and I shall be able to see, without being deceived, whether the Faith reign in my [172] heart.” In fact, since then his actions have not belied his words; [Page 85] his life has been beyond reproach and his Faith has always been known by his works. He has been assailed a thousand times by slanders and by calumnies; his relatives have risen against him; his friends have openly made war on him; and in secret the beauties who formerly had vanquished him have endeavored to ruin him by loving him; but he has always been true to himself, and, armed at all points with Faith, he has been victorious.

Shortly after his Baptism, when he saw that, in the performance of the duties of his office of Captain, he was called upon to be present at some superstitious ceremonies forbidden to Christians, he left the Company, and gave orders in his cabin to bear elsewhere the symbols of his authority and the public presents of which he was the custodian. These are not the Regalia nor the immense riches of European Princes; but they are what is here considered the most honored and the most precious treasures of the Country. The Infidels were astonished at this act; his father, his wife, his relatives asked him what he meant to do. “I am a Christian,” he replied; “and if to avoid [173] sin I must abandon even life, my soul is not attached to my body.” The village is in a commotion; the council meets to deliberate on the matter; the leading men are deputed to wait on him, and they beg him not to abandon them. “I am a Christian,” is his only answer; “the Faith is dearer to me than honor and wealth.” They spend the night and day in endeavoring to bend his will; but his only answer is that he is a Christian. “Then,” said the Elders, “we must resign ourselves to seeing our Country ruined, since our chief Captains range themselves on the side of the Faith. [Page 87] How can we prevent this disorder?” “YOU are thinking of it too late,” he replies; “you should have opposed the progress of the Faith before it had entered our hearts. NOW it will reign there in spite of you; and it will be easier to tear our souls from our bodies than to remove from our minds the fear of Hell-fire, and the desire for the happiness that awaits us in Heaven.” At last, to find a way out of this difficulty, which the Elders feared would bring about the dissolution of their village, which is the largest, or at least one of the largest, in the Huron country, the Council decided that it was necessary to divide the office that this Christian Captain [174] so obstinately persisted in resigning; that some one else should thereafter take charge of the matters forbidden by the Faith, who might be called the Devils’ Deputy; that the Christian should continue to administer public affairs, and should always be acknowledged as their real Captain. He was begged to accept, inasmuch as, by thus delivering him from the things of which he had a horror, he had nothing more to complain of. “Yes, I can do so now,” he replied; “but know once for all that a true Christian considers nothing more precious than the Faith, and that he thinks little of earth when he looks at Heaven.”

Such men are, without doubt, powerful supporters of the Faith; but it seems that God intends that we should place our confidence in none other than him. Our Christians on going to war had taken with them two Infidel Captains, who were among the most war-like in the country, and undertook to win them over to our Faith; they instructed them so successfully, during the two months that the campaign lasted, [Page 89] that they were obliged to baptize them because they could not refuse the urgent requests [175] made to them by these good Catechumens, — who, they said could no longer march bravely in the enemies’ country when they thought that each day would be the last of their lives, and that, if they died before being immersed in the waters of Baptism, they would be damned for eternity; and that, consequently, each step that they took led them as much toward Hell as toward death.

So reasonable a request on their part had to be complied with. They knelt on the shore of the lake of the Hiroquois. Two Christians, who had taken charge of instructing them, baptized them publicly, each baptizing him whom he had had for his disciple. I think that the Angels of Heaven took pleasure in watching this holy spectacle in a place where they had never seen God adored; and that doubtless the guardian Angels of these two newly-baptized men had hastened this action, in prevision of their happiness and of their death; for the enemy soon made his appearance. Our Christians at once said their public prayers, to prepare themselves for battle. The two good Neophytes [176] placed themselves at the head of their army, and long withstood the assaults of the enemy; finally, their loss caused the defeat of the Hurons, and left the victory entirely in the hands of the Hiroquois, who were seven to one. But, if our Church has lost by the death of those two Captains and of many Christians who remained on the field with them, for not one fled, it must suffice for us that God has derived his glory from it, and that Heaven has been enriched by our spoils: Novit Dominus qui sunt ejus. God knows his Elect, and [Page 91] chooses the proper moment for opening his Paradise to them. Here is an example which has often made me adore his divine ways.

A young man — a Catechumen, who could not obtain Baptism from us because we did not see clearly enough into his Faith — resolved to go to war with some Christians. They said their public prayers, night and morning; the oldest of the Christians presided at them, and on Sundays he exhorted them to pass that sacred day in a more holy manner, and, since they could not enjoy the blessing of confession, at least to have recourse to God, to detest their sins, and to keep themselves prepared for death. [177] I know not what pressed this young Neophyte so strongly; but, for over seventy days, he kept asking for Baptism from the oldest of our Christians, with such fervor in his requests that finally he was promised that he should be baptized on the Sunday. “No,” said he, “my soul pants but for the sacred waters of Baptism. I detest with all my heart the sins of my past life; I hope that God will have pity on me, because he has witnessed the true desire that I have to live and die a Christian.” He was therefore baptized; and, strange to say, the prayers were not yet ended when the advance guard brought the news that they perceived the enemy. All immediately hasten to arms, and take the field; the enemy flees, and is pursued for six whole hours. The newly-baptized man leaves his comrades behind, and advances so far that he finds himself alone, surrounded by thirty Hiroquois, who pierce him with javelin thrusts, remove his scalp, and continue their flight without one of them being caught.

One of the most right-minded men of this Country, [Page 93] and one of the best informed as regards the Faith, had for six whole years [178] refused Baptism; he admitted to us that he saw the truth very clearly, but that he did not feel within himself enough strength thoroughly to give up sin. Finally, he came one day to one of our Fathers and said to him: “Now I beg thee to baptize me. My heart tells me that I shall bear with me to Heaven the innocence of my Baptism; why therefore should I defer it any longer I” He is baptized at the beginning of the Autumn; and, throughout the Winter, the Christians and Infidels admire the power of Baptism in him. He voluntarily abstains from feasts, lest he find therein some occasion for sin; he keeps away from company; the women who had formerly most possessed his heart now find no entrance there, — he has neither eyes nor tongue for them; the conversations most agreeable to him are those with the Father who instructs him. When Summer comes, he embarks to go down to Kebec, and, for his last Adieu to his wife and children, he says: “I know not whether I am going to death; but, whatever may happen to me, know that I will die a Christian; and if you seek me when I have departed this life, and if you retain any love for [179] me, lift your eyes to Heaven for it is thither that my soul aspires, and whither I believe without any doubt that Faith leads me for an Eternity.” In fact, he met the enemies and defended himself bravely. He had already overturned one of their Canoes in the water, when a shot from an arquebus pierced his head through and through, and placed him in the enjoyment of the happiness that he had hoped for, since so innocent a life could only be followed by a saintly death. [Page 95]

We witness every day a thousand similar events, in which we see the kindness of God toward these peoples, his love for these poor barbarians, and the intentions of his divine Providence, toward his Elect, not one of whom shall be taken from him, whatever opposition hell and the devils may excite against the progress of the Faith.

But this is too long for a mere letter, and the little that I have said is sufficient to lead us reasonably to hope that Heaven does not withdraw its blessings from this nascent Church, since it takes such loving care of it.

Of the seven Churches that we have here, six are stationary; the first is at our [180 i.e., 180] House of sainte Marie, the five others in the principal Huron villages, — la Conception, saint Joseph, saint Michel, saint Ignace, and saint Jean Baptiste. The seventh Church called that “of the Holy Ghost,” consists of Algonquins, several Tribes of whom wintered together this year on the Great Lake of our Hurons, about twenty-five leagues from us. This compelled Father Claude Pijart and Father Leonard Garreau who were appointed for their instruction, to pass the Winter with them, — with inconceivable trouble and labors, but not without consolation, when they see that they prepare Spouses for Jesus Christ within these woods, and amid these lakes and rivers.

This, my Reverend Father, is a portion of what I had undertaken in order to give Your Reverence in this letter a general idea of the state in which I leave this Mission of our Society in the Huron country, and the opinions that I have concerning it before my departure, after having lived there, a useless servant, for seven years. For if God secure his glory in [Page 97] these Countries, and if he has obtained any good in these beginnings of the conversion of these Peoples, it must be admitted that, after [181] God, all is due to the labors of our Fathers, of which Our Lord has chosen that I should be a witness. I have seen the fervor of their zeal, their indomitable courage, their patience in enduring everything, their activity in performing all duties, their humility in a life truly hidden in an unknown world, — persons moreover, for the most part, who are not wanting in qualities that would have rendered them commendable in France. When I see that they embrace the Cross with pleasure, sufferings with joy, and scorn with love; that they each day carry their souls in their hands, being continually exposed to a thousand dangers of death, and that perhaps the majority of them are destined to die in the midst of the fires and flames of a cruel enemy, who ravages these Countries from day to day; when I see that these dangers animate their courage rather than depress it in the least: — the thought frequently comes to my mind that God willed that so strong, so constant, and so vigorous a virtue should supply the absence of miracles, which it seems that his divine Providence does not consent to employ in these latter ages, to further the conversion of these pagan lands.

[182] But the number of these laborers is too small for so many people; we need help in this more than in anything else; we ask assistance, and we hope that Old France will not deny it to New France. It is true that dangers are to be dreaded, and that whoever comes to us must have left behind him in France all love of life, to abandon himself without reserve to whatever can cause most horror to nature. But [Page 99] this I think is what should excite in a good heart the desire to come to these lost lands; to lose himself here in a holy manner, and to find in this world nothing lovable but God. If persons of merit, whose life is precious to an entire Kingdom, expose themselves willingly in the assault of a breach, which frequently is not reasonable; and if the death of those who have stood in the van does not daunt a brave Nobility, most of whom are often incited but by interests of a temporal honor or benefit, — doubtless the conquest of so many souls, each of whom is a Kingdom for Jesus Christ, the prospect of an eternal reward, and the desire [183] of living and dying in the service of a God who was the first to die for us, will have a thousand times more force to sustain the courage of those whom Our Lord may send us, through the perils that must be encountered at any cost, if we wish to advance his glory in these Countries, where we see that it is his will to be adored.

This is the only request that I make to Your Reverence on leaving these Countries, begging you to procure that assistance for us, and to send us those whom God may select through you; and in this hope I shall conclude the present letter, begging you to commend this Mission to the prayers of all our Fathers and Brethren, and to remember it particularly in your own holy Sacrifices. This, my Reverend Father, from

Your Reverence’s

From the Huron country, this 15th of May, 1645.

Very humble and greatly obliged

servant in Our Lord,

Hierosme Lalemant.

LVI — LIX

MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS, 1646

LVL. — Novum Belgium (1643)) par le P. Isaac Jogues; 3 Rivières, 3 Augusti, 1646

LVIL. — Notice sur René Goupil (donné), par le P. Isaac Jogues; undated

LVIII. — Lettre du R. P. Jogues au R. P. André Castillon; Montreal, ce 12 septembre, 1646

LIX. — Journal des PP. Jésuites, en l’année 1646

————

Sources: Docs. LVI. and LVII. are from the original MSS. thereof, in the archives of St. Mary’s College, Montreal. Doc. LVIII. we obtain from Rochemonteix’s Jésuites et la Nouvelle-France, ii., pp. 450-452. In republishing Doc. LIX., we follow the original MS. in the library of Lava1 University, Quebec.

[Page 103]

Novum Belgium (1643), by Father Isaac Jogues.

N

EW Holland — which the Dutch call, in Latin, Novum Belgium; in their own language, Nieuw Nederland; that is to say, New netherlands — is situated between Virginia and New England. The entrance to the River, which some call the River Nassau, or the great River of the North, to distinguish it from another which they call South River, — and some charts, I believe, that I have recently seen, the River Maurice, — is in the latitude of 40 degrees, 30 minutes.[2] Its channel is deep, and navigable by the largest ships, which go up to Manhattes Island, which is 7 leagues in circumference; thereon is a fort intended to serve as nucleus for a town to be built, and to be called New Amsterdam.

This fort, which is at the point of the island, about 5 or 6 leagues from the river’s mouth, is called fort Amsterdam; it has 4 regular bastions, provided with several pieces of artillery. All these bastions and the curtains were, in the year 1643, merely earthworks, most of which had quite given way, and through them the fort could be entered from all sides; there were no trenches. For the defense of this fort, — and of another which they had built, farther on, against the incursions of the savages, their enemies, — there were 60 soldiers. They were beginning to case the gates and the bastions with stone. In this [Page 105] fort there was a house of worship, built of stone, which was quite spacious; the house of the Governor, — whom they call the director General, — built quite neatly of brick; and the storehouses and soldiers’ quarters.

There may be, on the Island of Manhate and in its environs, about 4 or five hundred men of various sects and nations, — the Director General told me that there were men of eighteen different languages; they are scattered here and there, up and down the stream, according as the beauty or convenience of the sites invited each one to settle. Some artisans, however, who work at their trades, are located under cover of the fort; while all the others are exposed to the incursions of the Savages, who, in the year 1643, when I was there, had actually killed about forty Hollanders, and burned many houses, and barns full of wheat.

The River, which is very straight, and flows directly from North to South, is at least a league wide before the Fort. The ships are at anchor in a bay which forms the other side of the island, and they can be defended by the Fort.

Shortly before I arrived there, 3 large ships of 300 tons had come to load wheat; two had received their lading, but the 3rd could not be laden, because the savages had burned a part of the grain. These ships had sailed from the West Indies, where the West India Company usually maintains seventeen war vessels.[3]

There is no exercise of Religion except the Calvinist, and the orders declare that none but Calvinists be admitted; nevertheless, that point is not observed, — for besides the Calvinists, there are in this [Page 107] settlement Catholics, English Puritans, Lutherans, Anabaptists, whom they call Mnistes,[4] etc.

When any one comes for the first time to dwell in the country, they furnish him horses, cows, etc., and give him provisions, — all which he repays when he is well settled; and, as for lands, at the end of ten years he gives the Company of the West Indies a tenth of the produce that he harvests.[5]

This country has for limits on the New England side a River which they call the Fresh River, which serves as boundary between them and the English;[6] nevertheless, the English approach them very closely, — preferring to have lands among the Dutch, who require nothing from them, to depending upon English Milords, who exact rents and like to put on airs of being absolute. On the other side, — the Southern, toward Virginia, — it has for limits the River which they call South River, on which there is also a Dutch settlement; but at its entrance the Swedes have another, extremely well equipped with cannon and people. It is believed that these Swedes are maintained by Amsterdam merchants, incensed because the Company of the west Indies monopolizes all the trade of these regions. It is toward this River that they have found, as is said, a gold mine.[7]

See in the book of sieur De Laet, of Antwerp, the table, and the account of new Belgium,[8] as he sometimes calls it; or the great map of “Nova Anglia, Novum Belgium, et Virginia.”

During fully 50 years the Dutch have frequented these regions. In the year 1615, the fort was begun; about 20 years ago, they began to make a settlement; and now there is already some little trade with Virginia and New England. [Page 109]

The first comers found lands quite suitable for use, cleared in former times by the savages, who tilled their fields there. Those who have come since have made clearings in the woods, which are commonly of oak; the lands are good. Deer hunting is abundant toward autumn. There are some dwellings built of stone: they make the lime with oyster shells, of which there are great heaps made in former times by the savages, who partly live by that fishery.

The climate there is very mild; as that region is situated at 40 and two-thirds degrees, there are plenty of European fruits, as apples, pears, Cherries. I arrived there in October, and even then I found many Peaches.

Ascending the River as far as the 43rd degree, you find the 2nd settlement, which the flow and Ebb of the tide reaches, but extends no further; ships of 100 and a hundred and twenty tons can land there.

There are two items in this settlement, which is called Renselaerswick, — as if one should say, “the settlement of Renselaers,” who is a wealthy merchant of Amsterdam: first, a wretched little fort, named Fort orange, — built of logs, with 4 or 5 pieces of Breteuil cannon, and as many swivel guns, — which the Company of the West Indies has reserved for itself, and which it maintains. This fort was formerly on an Island formed by the River; it is now on the mainland on the side of the Hiroquois, a little above the said Island.[9] There is, secondly, a Colony sent thither by that Renselaers, who is its Patron. This colony is composed of about a hundred persons, who live in 25 or 30 houses built along the River, as each has found convenient. In the principal house is lodged the Patron’s representative; [Page 111] the Minister has his own house apart, in which Preaching is held. There is also a sort of Bailiff, whom they call Seneschal, who has charge of Justice. All their houses are merely of boards, and are covered with thatch. There is as yet no masonry, except in the chimneys.

As the forests supply many stout pines, the people make boards by means of their mills, which they have for this purpose.

They have found some very suitable lands, which the savages had formerly prepared, on which they plant corn and oats, for their beer, and for the horses, of which they have a great many. There are few lands fit to be tilled, as they are narrowed by hills, which are poor soil; that obliges them to separate from one another, and they already hold two or 3 leagues of territory.

Trade is free to every one, which enables the savages to obtain all things very cheaply: each of the Dutch outbidding his companion, and being satisfied, provided he can gain some little profit.

This settlement is not more than 20 leagues from the Agniehronons; there is access to them either by land or by water, — the River on which the Iroquois dwell falling into that which passes by the Dutch; but there are many shallow rapids, and a fall of a short half-league, past which the canoe must be carried.

There are several nations between the two Dutch settlements, which are 30 German leagues apart, — that is to say, 50 or 60 French leagues. The Wolves, whom the Iroquois call Agotsaganens, are the nearest to the settlement of Renselaerswick or to the fort of orange.[10] Several years ago, there being a war [Page 113] between the Iroquois and the Wolves, the Dutch Joined these latter against the others; but, 4 having been taken and burned, peace was made. Later, some nations near the sea having slain some Dutch of the most remote settlement, the Dutch killed 150 savages, — not only men and women, but little children. The savages having, in various reprisals, killed 40 Dutch, burned many houses, and wrought damage reckoned, at the time when I was there, at 200,000ll, — two hundred thousand livres, — troops were levied in New England. Accordingly, at the beginning of winter, the grass being short, and some snow on the ground, they gave the savages chase with six hundred men, two hundred being always on the march and one set continually relieving another. The result was, that, being shut up on a great Island, and unable to flee easily, because of the women and children, there were as many as sixteen hundred killed, including women and children. This compelled the remainder of the savages to make peace, which still continues. That occurred in 1643 and 1644.

From 3 Rivers, in

New France,

August 3, 1646.

[Page 115]

Account of René Goupil (donné), by Father Isaac

Jogues.

R

ENÉ Goupil was a native of Anjou, who, in the bloom of his youth, urgently requested to be received into our Novitiate at Paris, where he remained some months with much edification. His bodily indispositions having taken from him the happiness of consecrating himself to God in holy Religion, — for which he had a strong desire, — he journeyed, when his health improved, to New France, in order to serve the society there, since he had not had the blessing of giving himself to it in old France. And, in order to do nothing in his own right, — although he was fully master of his own actions, — he totally submitted himself to the guidance of the superior of the Mission, who employed him two whole years in the meanest offices about the house, in which he acquitted himself with great humility and Charity. He was also given the care of nursing the sick and the wounded at the hospital, which he did with as much skill — for he understood surgery well — as with affection and love, continually seeing Our Lord in their persons. He left so sweet an odor of his goodness and his other virtues in that place, that his memory is still blessed there.

When we came down from the Hurons in July, 1642, we asked Reverend Father Vimont to let us take him with us, because the Hurons had great need of a Surgeon; he granted our request. [Page 117]

I cannot express the joy which this good young man felt when the superior told him that he might make ready for the journey. Nevertheless, he well knew the great dangers that await one upon the river; he knew how the Iroquois were enraged against the French. Yet that could not prevent him — at the least sign of the will of him to whom he had voluntarily committed all his concerns — from setting forth for 3 Rivers.

We departed thence on the 1st of August, — the day after the feast of Our Blessed Father. On the 2nd, we encountered the enemies, who, separated into two bands, were awaiting us with the advantage which a great number of chosen men, fighting on land, can have over a small and promiscuous band, who are upon the water in scattered canoes of bark.

Nearly all the Hurons had fled into the woods, and, as they had left us, we were seized. On this occasion his virtue was very manifest; for, as soon as he saw himself captured, he said to me: “0 my father, God be blessed; he has permitted it, he has willed it, — his holy will be done. I love it, I desire it, I cherish it, I embrace it with all the strength of my heart.” Meantime, while the enemies pursued the fugitives, I heard his confession, and gave him absolution, — not knowing what might befall us after our capture. The enemies having returned from their hunt, fell upon us like mad dogs, with sharp teeth, — tearing out our nails, and crushing our fingers, which he endured with much patience and courage.

His presence of mind in so grievous a mishap appeared especially in this, that he aided me, notwithstanding the pain of his wounds, as well as he could, in the instruction of the captive Hurons who [Page 119] were not Christians. While I was instructing them separately, and as they came, he called my attention to the fact that a poor old man, named Ondouterraon, was among those whom they would probably kill on the spot, — their custom being always to sacrifice some one in the heat of their fury. I instructed this man at leisure, while the enemies were attending to the distribution of the plunder from 12 canoes, some of which were laden with necessaries for our Fathers among the Hurons. The booty being divided, they killed this poor old man, — almost at the same moment in which I had just given him a new birth through the salutary waters of holy Baptism. We still had this consolation, during the journey that we made in going to the enemy’s country, that we were together; on this journey, I was witness to many virtues.

Upon the road, he was always occupied with God. His words and the discourses that he held were all expressive of submission to the commands of the Divine providence, and showed a willing acceptance of the death which God was sending him. He gave himself to him as a sacrifice, to be reduced to ashes by the fires of the Iroquois, which that good Father’s hand would kindle. He sought the means to please him in all things, and everywhere. One day he said to me, — it was soon after our capture, while we were still on the way, — “My Father, God has always given me a great desire to consecrate myself to his holy service by the vows of Religion in his holy society; my sins have rendered me unworthy of this grace until this hour. I nevertheless hope that Our Lord will be pleased with the offering which I wish now to make him, by taking, in the best manner that [Page 121] I can, the vows of the society in the presence of my God and before you.” This being granted to him, he uttered the vows with much devotion.

Covered with wounds as he was, he dressed those of other persons, — the enemies who had received some blow in the fight, as well as the prisoners themselves. He opened a vein for a sick Iroquois; and all that with as much charity as if he had done it to persons very friendly.

His humility, and the obedience which he rendered to those who had captured him, confounded me. The Iroquois who conveyed us both in their canoe told me that I must take a paddle, and use it; I would do nothing of the kind, being proud even in death. They addressed him in the same way, some time afterward, and immediately he began to paddle; and when those barbarians tried to drive me, by his example, to do the like, he, having perceived it, asked my pardon. I sometimes suggested to him, along the way, the idea of escaping, since the liberty which they gave us furnished him sufficient opportunities for this; but as for myself, I could not leave the french and 24 or 25 huron captives. He would never do so, — committing himself in everything to the will of Our Lord, who inspired him with no thought of doing what I proposed.

On the lake we met 200 Iroquois, who came to Richelieu while the French were beginning to build the fort; these loaded us with blows, covered us with blood, and made us experience the rage of those who are possessed by the demon. All these outrages and these cruelties he endured with great patience and charity toward those who ill-treated him.

On approaching the first village, where we were [Page 123] treated so cruelly, he showed a most uncommon patience and gentleness. Having fallen under the shower of blows from clubs and iron rods with which they attacked us, and being unable to rise again, he was brought — as it were, half dead — upon the scaffold where we already were, in the middle of the village; but he was in so pitiful a condition that he would have inspired compassion in cruelty itself. He was all bruised with blows, and in his face one distinguished nothing but the whites of his eyes; but he was so much the more beautiful in the sight of the Angels as he was disfigured, and similar to him of whom it is said: Vidimus cum quasi Ieposzm, etc.; non erat ei species neque decor.

Hardly had he taken a little breath, as well as we, when they came to give him 3 blows on his shoulders with a heavy club, as they had done to us before. When they had cut off my thumb, — as I was the most conspicuous, — they turned to him and cut his right thumb at the 1st joint, — while he continually uttered, during this torment: “Jesus, Mary, Joseph." During six days, in which we were exposed to all those who wished to do us some harm, he showed an admirable gentleness; he had his whole breast burned by the coals and hot cinders which the young lads threw upon our bodies at night, when we were bound flat on the earth. Nature furnished more skill to me than to him for avoiding a part of these pains.

After they had given us life, — at the very time when, a little before, they had warned us to prepare for being burned, — he fell sick, suffering great inconveniences in every respect, and especially in regard to the food, to which he was not accustomed. [Page 125] In that, one might say most truly, Nun cibus utilis ægro. I could not relieve him, — for I was also very sick, and had none of my fingers sound or entire.

But this urges me to come to his death, at which nothing was wanting to make him a Martyr.

After we had been in the country six weeks, — as confusion arose in the councils of the Iroquois, some of whom were quite willing that we should be taken back, — we lost the hope, which I did not consider very great, of again seeing 3 Rivers that year. We accordingly consoled each other in the divine arrangement of things; and we were preparing for everything that it might ordain for us. He did not quite realize the danger in which we were, — I saw it better than he; and this often led me to tell him that we should hold ourselves in readiness. One day, then, as in the grief of our souls we had gone forth from the Village, in order to pray more suitably and with less disturbance, two young men came after us to tell us that we must return home. I had some presentiment of what was to happen, and said to him: “My dearest brother, let us commend ourselves to Our Lord and to our good mother the blessed Virgin; these people have some evil design, as I think.” We had offered ourselves to Our Lord, shortly before, with much devotion, — beseeching him to receive our lives and our blood, and to unite them with his life and his blood for the salvation of these poor peoples. We accordingly return toward the Village, reciting our rosary, of which we had already said 4 decades. Having stopped near the gate of the Village, to see what they might say to us, one of those two Iroquois draws a hatchet, which he held concealed under his blanket, and deals a blow [Page 127] with it on the head of René, who was before him. He falls motionless, his face to the ground, pronouncing the holy name of Jesus (often we admonished each other that this holy name should end both our voices and our lives). At the blow, I turn round and see a hatchet all bloody; I kneel down, to receive the blow which was to unite me with my dear companion; but, as they hesitate, I rise again, and run to the dying man, who was quite near. They dealt him two other blows with the hatchet, on the head, and despatched him, — but not until I had first given him absolution, which I had been wont to give him every two days, since our captivity; and this was a day on which he had already confessed.

It was the [29th] of September, the feast of st. Michael, when this Angel in innocence, and this Martyr of Jesus Christ, gave his life for him who had given him his. They ordered me to return to my cabin, where I awaited, the rest of the day and the next day, the same treatment; and it was indeed the purpose of all that I should not long delay, since that one had begun. Indeed, I passed several days on which they came to kill me; but Our Lord did not permit this, in ways which it would be tedious to explain. The next morning, I nevertheless went out to inquire where they had thrown that Blessed body, for I wished to bury it, at whatever cost. Certain Iroquois, who had some desire to preserve me, said to me: “Thou hast no sense! Thou seest that they seek thee everywhere to kill thee, and thou still goest out. Thou wishest to go and seek a body already half destroyed, which they have dragged far from here. Dost thou not see those young men [Page 129] going out, who will kill thee when thou shalt be outside the stockade?” That did not stop me, and Our Lord gave me courage enough to wish to die in this act of charity. I go, I seek; and, with the aid of an Algonquin, — formerly captured, and now a true Iroquois, — I find him. The children, after he had been killed, had stripped him, and had dragged him, with a rope about his neck, into a torrent which passes at the foot of their Village. The dogs had already eaten a part of his loins. I could not keep back my tears at this sight; I took the body, and, by the aid of that Algonquin, I put it beneath the water, weighted with large stones, to the end that it might not be seen. It was my intention to come the next day with a mattock, when no one should be there, in order to make a grave and place the body therein. I thought that the corpse was well concealed; but perhaps some who saw us, — especially of the youths, — withdrew it.

The next day, as they were seeking me to kill me, my aunt sent me to her field, — to escape, as I think; this caused me to delay until the morrow, a day on which it rained all night, so that the torrent swelled uncommonly. I borrowed a mattock from another cabin, the better to conceal my design; but, when I draw near the place, I no longer find that Blessed deposit. I go into the water, which was already very cold; I go and come, — I sound with my foot, to see whether the water has not raised and carried away the body; I find nothing. How many tears did I shed, which fell into the torrent, while I sang, as well as I could, the psalms which the church is accustomed to recite for the dead. After all, I find nothing; and a woman of my acquaintance, who passed [Page 131] there and saw me in pain, told me, when I asked her whether she knew what they had done with him, that they had dragged him to the river, which was a quarter of a league from there, and which I was not acquainted with. That was false: the young men had taken away the body, and dragged it into a little wood near by, — where, during the autumn and winter, the Dogs, Ravens, and Foxes fed upon it. In the Spring, when they told me that it was there that they had dragged him, I went thither several times without finding anything. At last, the 4th time, I found the head and some half-gnawed bones, which I buried with the design of carrying them away, if I should be taken back to 3 Rivers, as they spoke of doing. I kissed them very devoutly, several times, as the bones of a martyr of Jesus Christ.

I give him this title not only because he was killed by the enemies of God and of his Church, and in the exercise of an ardent charity toward his neighbor, — placing himself in evident peril for the love of God, — but especially because he was killed on account of prayer, and notably for the sake of the holy Cross. He was in a Cabin where he nearly always said the prayers, — which little pleased a superstitious old man who was there. One day, seeing a little child of 3 or 4 years in the cabin, — with an excess of devotion and of love for the Cross, and with a simplicity which we who are more prudent than he, according to the flesh, would not have shown, — he took off his cap, put it on this child’s head, and made a great sign of the cross upon its body. The old man, seeing that, commanded a young man of his cabin, who was about to leave for the war, to kill him, — which order he executed, as we have said. [Page 133]

Even the child’s mother, on a journey in which I happened to be with her, told me that it was because of this sign of the Cross that he had been killed; and the old man who had given the command that he should be slain, — one day when they called me to his cabin to eat, when I previously made the sign of the Cross, — said to me: “That is what we hate; that is why they have killed thy companion, and why they will kill thee. Our neighbors the Europeans do not do so.” Sometimes, also, when I was praying on my knees during the hunt, they told me that they hated this way of doing, and on account of it they had killed the other Frenchman; and that, for this reason, they would kill me when I came back to the Village.

I ask Your Reverence’s pardon for the haste with which I write this, and for the want of respect of which I am thus guilty. You will excuse me, if you please; I feared lest I should fail at this opportunity, to discharge a duty which I ought to have performed long ago. [Page 135]

[450] Letter from the Rev. Father Jogues to the

Rev. Father André Castillon, of

the Society of Jesus.

Montreal, this 12th of September, 1646.

M

Y REVEREND FATHER,

Pax Christi.

I have received what it has pleased your Reverence to write me. It obliges us to give you some information of our new France, and especially of what concerns me in particular.

I passed the winter at Montreal with Father Le Jeune. In the middle of May, I departed from three Rivers in company with Monsieur Bourdon, engineer of New France,[11] to make a journey to the Iroquois, from which we returned in good health at the beginning of July. Monsieur our Governor was very glad to have him accompany me, that he might become acquainted with the country. We made a tolerably accurate map of these regions,[*] and were well received both by the Dutch, through whose territory we passed, and by the savages. The principal Europeans were not there, having gone to the other settlement, which is toward the sea, and is the chief one for business. We did not lack exercise in this journey, either on water or on land; we made at least 100 leagues on foot, and were usually well laden. I baptized, in the village where we remained a few days, some sick children who, as I believe, are now [Page 137] with God. I confessed some Huron Christians who were there, to whom we made presents and received some in return. I am about to go back there to pass the winter, and not to return, unless I [451] die there, until the month of June next year. The matter is now being discussed at 3 rivers; they think that, if I am not sent there now, I shall be, God helping, in the spring. But I see considerable preparations made for an early departure, and our Reverend Father Superior is favorably inclined to it. It is only my own cowardice and bodily weakness which form powerful obstacles to the designs God has for me and for this country. Pray him, my Reverend Father, that he will make of me what he desires, and that I may be a man after his own heart, det mihi Dominus latitudinem cordis sicut arenam quæ est in littore maris. Would that he would somewhat enlarge my poor heart, which is so narrow; and that by the experience of the past, and by the abundance of his goodness and mercy toward me, I may learn to trust myself entirely to him, being very sure that he will not draw back and let me fall, when I shall cast myself lovingly into the arms of his divine and paternal providence. Our Lord has made us a noble gift in giving us peace; pray his divine goodness, which has given it to us, that it may continue, for it is from this goodness that we shall hope for the fulfillment of this prayer. This peace, together with the trade which the country now has, causes a notable change in its appearance, an increase in the number of inhabitants, and greater comfort in all respects. The country no longer seems as rough as before; and we know through experience that it can produce good wheat and other necessaries of life, — especially this locality [Page 139] of Montreal, where we are, which is much milder and more temperate than Quebec; besides it is in a middle latitude, namely, 45 degrees. More than 80 huron canoes have just come down bearing a quantity of skins, which gives hopes of a still better year than the preceding one, which was very good. I do not know whether this will catch the eyes of the Gentlemen of the Company, who could scarcely furnish shipping when they had the trade. It is a fortunate occurrence that God has bestowed the peace with this change, which is very advantageous to the country. May God make it grow in spiritual blessings even more than in temporal, and if Magnificat quietem, magnificat et lætitiam; but principally may he bestow an abundance of his Holy Spirit upon those who labor for the spiritual interests of these countries. It is this for which I beg Your Reverence to entreat Our Lord, and especially to remember at the altar a poor priest, who is about to remain 8 or g months without mass. It will be to me an increase of obligation to be, more than [452] ever, my Reverend Father, your very humble and obedient servant in God,

Isaac Jogues.

Montreal, this 12th of September, 1646.

I shall depart in 2 or 3 days for the Iroquois journey.

Still, for life, all in Our Lord.

September 21, at 3 Rivers.

[Page 141]

Journal of the Jesuit Fathers, in the year

1646.

JANUARY, 1646.

T

HEY saluted Monsieur the Governor, — to wit, the soldiery with their arquebuses; Item, the Habitans in a body. He forestalled us, and was here at 7 o’clock to greet all our fathers, for whom he inquired, one after another; I went to greet him after high mass; (another time we must anticipate him). Monsieur giffar also came to see us, and the nuns sent letters early in the morning, to offer their Compliments. The Ursulines also sent many beautiful New-year’s gifts, with tapers, rosaries, crucifix, etc.; and, toward the dinner, two handsome pieces of pastry. I sent them two Images of St. Ignace and St. françois Xavier in enamel. We gave Monsieur Giffar a book of father bonnet’s about the life of our Lord; to Monsieur des Chastelets one of the little volumes of Drexellius de Æternitate;[12] to Monsieur bourdon a galilean telescope,[13] in which there was a compass; and to others, reliquaries, Rosaries, Medals, Images, etc. We gave a Crucifix to the woman who washes the Church linen; 4 handkerchiefs to the wife of Abraham,[14] and to him a bottle of brandy; and to others some little books of devotion: two handkerchiefs to [Page 143] robert hache and then two more that he asked for. I went to see Monsieur giffar, Monsieur Couillar, and Madamoyselle de repentigny. The Ursulines sent to beg that I would go to see them before the end of the Day; I went thither and also greeted Madame de la pelleterie, who sent New-year’s gifts: I came near omitting that, and it is not proper to omit it. I gave nothing the evening beforehand, at the Litany; but on the Day itself I gave to our fathers and brethren what I could, and what I thought might be agreeable to them. I had previously given father de Quen for Sillery everything that he judged suitable, from what I had in my private room, for father massé.

To maintain devotion during the remainder of the winter, it was declared that the benedictions of the Blessed

Sacrament should be on Thursday at the parish church, and on feasts and Sundays at the religious houses, between four and five, — besides the ordinary Saturday devotion at the parish church. From Christmas until the purification, the Ursulines made the benediction before the Manger.

On the 3rd or fourth of January, Monsieur the Governor sent 3 capons and 6 pigeons.

At evening on the 5th, Monsieur Giffar gave a bottle of hippocras; the hospital Mothers, a cake and 6 Wax Candles; and the next day they sent a fine dinner.

On the 6th, — the Day of the kings, — there was no bread consecrated, and not until the Sunday following. The two churchwardens [Page 145] prepared it together, — to wit, Monsieur des Chastelets and Monsieur Giffar; and then they gave it to Monsieur Maheu, the nearest house on the Costeau de St. genevieve,[15] to proceed with it thence.

On the 8th, a Huron named Tandihetsi arrived from 3 rivers; he brought letters from Montreal, from richelieu and from 3 rivers, which contained, in substance, that all was well at Montreal, and that four Cabins of savages were there; that at 3 rivers there were 12 of these, but that the mingling of the faithful with Infidels and Apostates there was always injurious. They informed us that the Anniehronons who were there had gone away, to return home; that they had been pursued by An Algonquain, drunken with brandy for which those who had supplied it to him had been heavily fined; that they had not been able to prevent the drunken man from dealing a blow with a club to an Annieronon, who still complained of it on going away. The Algonquains wished to detain him forcibly until Cousture’s return, but our Fathers prevented this, saying that these were not captives, but free; and that the treaty of peace was apparently not yet broken. One of them stayed behind, and became like one possessed, according to what they said.

This huron Tandihetsi did not come expressly to bring letters, but to invite Atironta, who was wintering here, and was lodged at the hospital, to come to the Council at 3 rivers, — on the part of Annerahwy and of [Page 147] those of his nation who were kinsmen of Atironta or of the Arendaeronons. The reason for the Council was published by all the Algonquains, and was as follows: the Annieronons, to

the number of 3 or 4, while returning, spoke in confidence to Tandihetsi, who was accompanying them, and told him the secret of their country, — to wit, that no peace was desired with the Atichawata, but it was desired with the Hurons and the french; that the french had consented thereto, and that consequently nothing but the opportunity was now awaited for exterminating the Atichawata, and that 300 Annieronons could certainly come by the middle of february for the execution of this plan.

Tandihetsi, having left the Annieronons at richelieu, continued his way as far as Montreal, and gave notice of this to Annerahwy, who came to 3 rivers, and commissioned this man to come in quest of Atironta.

The same Tandihetsi added that Monsieur de la poterie, having heard a Confirmation of that through the Annieronon who remained at 3 rivers, had assembled the Council of the Algonquains who are there, and had declared to them the whole matter, to the end that they should look to their affairs. What was surprising therein was that our Fathers sent us no word of all that.

But the most important was that, — erat fundamentum in re: Ubi enim ista a nobis suat relata, a me scilicet et Patre de Quen, Domino Guburnatori, ipse nobis totum negotium aperuit, [Page 149] scilicet: superiori æstate, dum venere legati Annieronenses cum Cousture tractœturi de pace, cum palam multa dixissent et fecissent, petierunt, dux scilicet eorum cognominatus “le crochet,” ut singulari congressu sibi liceret Dominum gubernatorem alloqui; habebat insigne munus faciendum Domino Gubernatori, ut pro se tantum et pro Huronibus pacem vellet, Algonquinos in medio relinqueret. Hœc ubi rescivit Onontio, ne videre quidem voluit tale munus, nec passus est extrahi, et dixit rem non esse possibilem. Graviter tulit hanc repulsam le crochet, et pax ex inde visa est nutare. Hœc ubi vidit Dominus gubernator, et Pater Vimont, superior, et pater le Jeune, censuerunt rem mitigandam; et zdo privato congressu, in quo sicut et in priori erant tantum dominus gubernator, le Crochet, et Cousture, dixit dominus gubernator duo esse Algonquinorum genera, — Unum simile nobis, Christiani intelligebantur; alterum dissimile. Sine prioribus nobis certum esse pacem non facere; de posterioribus ipsos esse dominos suarum actionurn, nec nobis ita esse conjunctos sicut et priores. Ut dictum a domino

Gubernatore Ita et forte pejori ratione relatum suis a legato; quod ab omnibus Annieronensibus in sua patria rescitum ab his exeuntibus propalatum est, sed merito a gallis negatum est.[16]

Atironta left here on the 12th of January, and went away with Acharo and Tandihetsi; he left his wife and his son at the hospital. He was equipped with every requisite; he and Jaques each had a Storm-cap, snowshoes, victuals, etc., — partly from the warehouse, partly from the hospital, etc. [Page 151]

At this same time, the Annierohron who stayed behind asked for his dismissal; it had been granted him, in order to return to his own country with his companion of 3 rivers, who also asked leave to go, that they might return in Company. But — father de Quen having given notice that the Algonquains of Sillery were intending to play him an evil trick, while passing through their district — Monsieur the Governor found it desirable to stop him, and he was sent back to the warehouse to remain there, as the company of Atironta’s wife at the hospital could only be dangerous.

In the night of the 10th or 11th of January, a little child of 4 months was smothered in bed, — a son of Mathurin gangnon’s niece.[17]

From the 15th to the 21st, the savages departed to go to the chase; there remained at Sillery about 22 savages, whom the hospital and our Fathers undertook to assist. They lived partly near the hospital, partly at Sillery, and were assisted from several quarters, but especially from Sillery and from the hospital.

On the Sunday before Septuagesima, Madame Marsolet, having to prepare bread for consecration, desired to present it with the greatest possible display; she had it furnished with a toilet, — a crown of gauze or linen puffs around it. She wished to add candles, and quarter-écus at the Tapers, instead of the gold écus pieces which she would indeed have desired to place thereon; but seeing that we were not willing to allow her this, she nevertheless had it carried with the toilet and [Page 153] the Crown of puffs. However, before consecrating it, I had all that removed, and blessed it with the same simplicity that I had observed with the preceding portions, especially with that of Monsieur the Governor, —

fearing lest this change might occasion Jealousy and Vanity.

On the 23rd, Pierre boucher[18] arrived, and Toupin his brother-in-law, — also an Annieronon from 3 rivers, who came to see his companion and take him away. They brought letters and Confirmed the idea that everything which the Huron Tandihetsi had said was false, — at least, in the main.

On the 25th, Father de Quen set out to go to Monsieur de Chavigny’s, on account of his sick servant, — and, besides, to have them gain the Jubilee, and to be of spiritual assistance to the family; robert hache accompanied the father, and a Surgeon and two others, soldiers, also went thither in their Company.

On the 27th, Atironta and Acharo returned; the Council, for the sake of which he had gone, ended in nothing; each one denied having been the author of the rumors, and cast back the blame upon his Companion.

On the last of January, father de Quen returned; he reported, by way of news, that Monsieur de Chavigny, as well as his servant, had come near dying upon his return from here, for want of having enough people to draw his sledge.

Toward the end of this month, the petty habitans seemed disposed to rebel against those who had the public duties and offices; [Page 155] Monsieur Marsolet, and especially his wife, and Monsieur Maheu were accounted the authors of that; but the whole trouble was quieted by Monsieur the Governor. These paltry habitans were in the wrong, having no reasonable foundation for their complaint; they said that Monsieur des Chastelets, general agent, was living too high, etc. A Young man from Monsieur the Governor’s house, named Monsieur robineau, was on the side of the malcontents, — thence arose many difficulties, and offensive words, and dissatisfactions; and pasquinades were composed. Monsieur the Governor having punished the guilty, everything became quiet.

FEBRUARY, 1646.

At the purification, we arranged three cakes of candle-wax in 115 pieces, which were consecrated with 6 Wax candles and two tapers. Of the two Tapers, one served for the priest who

was saying mass; the other was borne by one of our brethren in surplice, in the priest’s place, to Monsieur the Governor. After this brother and another of our brethren, who also served in surplice with him, had taken two of the wax candles according to the ceremonies of the rubrics, and had presented the Taper to Monsieur the Governor, we gave to the one who distributes the consecrated bread a little basket, in which were the 115 pieces, which were distributed among all who were there. There were not enough of these pieces, but the proceeding was much [Page 157] approved and went well. They were notified, after the benediction had been sung, to put out their lights, and to light them again for the Gospel and for the Elevation, until after the Communion of the priest, — which was done. It is necessary to do thus, for fear of falling into the Complications of precedences and preferences.

On the 3rd, the two Annieronons returned homeward, — the one, named soentiakonk, who had been here for a long time, as was noted above; the other, ho,ou‘sta, recently come from 3 rivers, who had come to seek his Companion. They were professing to return to 3 rivers, but it was suspected that they would pass beyond. For a long time they had been urging that they might return; it was very difficult to detain them until this Day when they finally started, well furnished with everything; they nevertheless complained that no Blankets had been given them. Both acted as if possessed, in order to procure their dismissal, — the one at 3 rivers, the other here.

On the 6th, Atironta left with his wife and his little mathieu, and Jaques Acharo, for the chase: they were fully equipped; they came back on the 16th.

On the 11th, which was the Sunday before Lent, three things were published at the sermon: 1st, that there would be benediction on the 3 Days of Shrovetide. On Sunday, then, at the parish church the Blessed Sacrament was exposed at the beginning of [Page 159] Vespers; and at the end was sung the Tantum ergo, etc.; and, after the prayer of the Blessed Sacrament, some penitential prayers, and then the usual prayers to the Holy Ghost, In gratiarum actionem, and pro devotis amicis. On the next day, between three and four, the benediction was held at the hospital: the nuns began the pange lingua and the magnificat, and the parish

said the other verse. The magnificat was sung in faux-bourdon, — that succeeded very well; the parish sang the Anthem o sacrum, etc. On Tuesday, the same was done at the Ursulines’, except that they sang before the magnificat, the Anthem o sacrum, and we after it. For signal to leave one’s house, the 1st stroke of the benediction was rung at the parish church, and the 2nd at the religious houses. On tuesday, our fathers at Sillery came to dine with us; the Day was very appropriate for Inviting them.

The 2nd thing of which they were informed was, that on ash Wednesday there was no obligation to cease from work, to hear mass, and to take ashes, under penalty of peccatum mortale, sed tantum sub veniali: and that such Days — as also that of all souls, and Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in holy week — were feasts of devotion until after the office, Ubi Consuetudo aliud non Induxit, nihil autem aliud hic induxit.

The 3rd was to satisfy all difficulties about Fasting in Lent, which was done by reading what the small manual of bertaut gives on this subject. [Page 161]

On the 12th, while returning from the benediction at the hospital, I met two Hurons coming from three rivers, who reported the news of the death of father Anne de nouë. He started from 3 rivers to go to richelieu, to console and spiritually assist the garrison, on the 30th of January, in company with two soldiers and a Huron. They lay down for the night, 6 leagues above 3 rivers; but the Father, — seeing that his companions were rather slow, and with difficulty making their way on snowshoes, and that, consequently, they could not reach their destination in time, — left them after midnight, in order to send people to meet them and relieve them of their sledge; and he set forth by the light of the moon. But, as he proceeded, the sky became overcast, and it began to snow; this shutting out from his sight the Islands and all other objects, he went astray, without being able to recover his bearings. His companions whom he had left, having arrived at richelieu on the 1st of the month of february, were much astonished not to see the Father there. They follow him by the trail of his snowshoes, and at last they find him, four leagues above richelieu, — kneeling in a hollow of the snow, with his arms crossed and his eyes raised to Heaven, his hat and his snowshoes near him. He was brought back on a sledge by one Caron, — master-valet

at richelieu just then, who had gone to seek him on Saturday, the 3rd of february, with two Hurons, who conducted themselves worthily on that occasion, — and [Page 163] on the 5th was taken to 3 rivers, where he arrived on the 7th, and was buried the same Day in the Cemetery.

This news, then, having arrived on Monday Evening, on tuesday we said our Masses, and at the close a De profundis, — also a De profundis during the Benediction at the Ursulines’.

On the 14th, Ash Wednesday, three strokes were rung for high Mass, — the 1st at 6 o’clock, which was also the signal for the 1st low Mass, at which the blessing of the ashes took place, more solito societatis; the last, at 7 o’clock; at the end of high mass, after the Communion, we gave Ashes. The people had been notified that these would be placed neither on the men’s Caps nor on the women’s Headdresses, but that it was necessary to present the hair; this was neglected, but it is easy for the priest to accomplish it by putting the ashes under the Headdress.

On the same Ash Wednesday, notice was given that on Wednesdays there would be preaching in Lent at the Ursulines’, and on Friday at the hospital, and this about ½ past 7, with mass following; that for this Day the preaching would take place at the Ursulines’, about 3 o’clock, and that afterward the nuns, according to their devotion, would solemnly say the vespers of the dead, and the next day a requiem high mass for father de noüe. They desired to do more, and, among other things, to sing the Vigils; but I would not allow it, except to say these in a low tone. The same decision was made for the Hospital nuns. On [Page 165] the following Days, toward the end of the sermon, there was some little passage of funeral prayer for father de noüe. I preached, this Lent, to the Ursulines on Wednesdays and Sundays; and, at the hospital, father Vimont preached on Fridays, and father Dendemare on Sundays.

This same Day, the Hurons who had brought the letters concerning the death of Father de noüe departed in company with Pierre boucher and Toupin, and Gabriel du Clos.[19] Tandihetsi had a brand new stormcap; Awenhas, a Catechumen, the materials for making a pair of breeches; all was given by the Ursulines. Each one had, besides, a Pewter

calumet; and Monsieur des chastelets, general Agent at the Warehouse, furnished them their provisions.

On the night of shrove Tuesday to Ash Wednesday, some men from the hospital having come to visit those at monsieur Couillar’s, one of monsieur Couillar’s, named Jean le blanc, began to quarrel with one of those from the hospital, named Jaques pairieu. When they had been separated, after some grappling and struggling, Jean le blanc ran after the other, and came near beating him to death on the spot, with a club. Pairieu had several gashes on his head, but recovered from them; and Jean le blanc was sentenced to make reparation, by the Civil authority, and to mount the Chevalet.

On the 15th, a Domestic of Monsieur couillar’s, a public blasphemer, was put on the [Page 167] Chevalet. He acknowledged his fault, saying that he had well deserved punishment, and came of his own accord to confess, that evening or the next day.

During the shrove Days, the Ursulines, and especially the hospital nuns, often sent us pastries, Spanish Wine, etc.

On the 1st Sunday in Lent was published the Indulgence of the stations of Rome, which one might gain at the Church; and the copy of the Indulgences of this nature was read and posted.

Simeon and la neigerie, our men at Sillery, came here to work for us during three weeks; they returned on the 10th of March.

Monsieur the Governor sent fresh fish about twice a week during Lent; we twice sent him an earthen jar full of olives.

The savages of Sillery abandoned their houses and the whole residence, at the beginning of the month, and came to dwell quite near to Quebek.

About this time, Chrestiennot, Cook at 3 rivers, left our service, and was put in the fort; and in his place father buteux, Superior at 3 rivers, chose one to his liking from those of the fort. This Chrestiennot acted at the fort as such a glutton, that he was put on the Chevalet, on which he was ruptured.

1646, MARCH.

On the 10th, a frenchman and a Huron, oatentak, arrived from three rivers, bringing letters and news of the return of Cousture, [Page 169] with 7 Annieronons and the Hurons who had gone hence. They brought many gifts for the Confirmation of the peace, etc., and, among others, an explicit disavowal of the murders in the Autumn, perpetrated by the Soriquois or the sokokiois.

The next day, which was Sunday, we exposed the Blessed Sacrament at the Beginning of vespers and said the Tanturn ergo at the close, for the benediction in gratiartim actionem.

On the 13th, Atironta and his family went away, to return to 3 rivers. They went away laden with goods; they received and gave satisfaction even to the end. Provisions for the journey were given them at the warehouse, and, everywhere else, abundance of good things.

On the 16th, the chapel of the hospital was blessed, in honor of the blood of the son of God, by father Vimont; on Saturday the marble slab was put in position above the door, containing the inscription; and passion Sunday was chosen for the feast of the dedication or Titulary patron. We went thither after Vespers to say a benediction of the passion, — the vexilla, Antiphona festi Exaltationis, magnificat, Ave regina, etc.

This same day, oatentak and the frenchman who had brought the aforesaid news went away; oatentak left the frenchman at Sillery.

On the 14th, piously died Vincent, the savage, who in the Autumn had been surprised by the Souriquois and left for dead at the [Page 171] same time with one robert, an excellent Christian; his nephew and a son were killed. The wife of this same Vincent had her scalp torn off; she bore it well, and steadfastly assisted her husband, even to the end. Vincent was buried in the Cemetery of Quebek, where his late Father, who had also died holily, — to wit, françois boulé, one of the first and excellent Christians, — had been buried 5 or 6 years before.[20]

On the 18th, eve of St. Joseph (which eve fell on passion Sunday, as above), between seven and eight in the evening,

St. Joseph's Bonfire was made. Monsieur the Governor came to get us; we were at supper; father Vimont went thither, and made my excuses, because of some Inconvenience that hindered me. Monsieur the Governor lit the fire; the soldiers gave 3 salvos, and four Cannon shots were fired; there were also some rockets.

On the 19th, when the Angelus was rung, they fired one Cannon shot, and at the mass, — at the Elevation, — three or four, with some salvos of musketry. High mass began about 10 o’clock, and vespers followed; but Monsieur the Governor was Inconvenienced by this, and thought that it would have been more suitable to separate mass from Vespers, — to say mass as usual, and vespers about 11 o’clock. Compline was said between two and three; the sermon followed; and then we went to the Ursulines’ to have the benediction in honor of St. Joseph: Iste Confessor, hic vir despiciens, the magnificat, — alternis [Page 173] vocibus, by the nuns and the parish; then the Tantum ergo, during which the Blessed Sacrament was taken down; and the rest, as usual.

On palm Sunday, which was the 25th of march (and consequently coincided with the Annunciation), there was no sermon at high mass; but at the end of the asperges we gave a word of advice concerning the blessing of the palms, and the distribution of them which was about to be made, and how they must be kept in the hand during the passion, in order to testify one’s faith that this death and passion was not a victory for death over the savior of the world, but rather for the savior of the world over death. Then the choristers sang what there was to be sung, during which the blessing of the bread occurred. After that, the whole blessing of the palms was sung; the distribution of them took place as with the candles at Candlemas; and then we sang the Veni creator. During the passion I held my palm in the left hand, which is not the rule when that is sung.

At evening, after vespers, we said the litany of our Lady, in consideration of the Day, which was dedicated to her; her Image was placed at the middle of the Altar, utroque chore idem simul respondente.

The Ursulines and Hospital nuns said the Tenebræ about 3 o’clock, — the Hospital nuns, a nocturn and lauds; the Ursulines, the full office.

On Holy Thursday, the paradises were made, — with us, at the Corner of the Altar, [Page 175] on the Epistle side; that was a success. There was some lack with the Hospital nuns, as their paradise was in black.

On that Day, we began mass here at ½ past 7. This is too soon; it ought not to be begun till half-past ten, — both so that the parish church may ring last, and also because this is more conformable to the common usage. It was sung; there were only our brethren to serve it.

There was no benediction with us: it was enough that there were tenebræ at that time at the two religious houses. Few received communion: it would have been desirable that there had been more.

The washing of feet took place at the hospital, at which father Vimont was present. Monsieur des chastelets and others washed the feet of 18 savages there, who were afterward regaled with food.

On Good Friday, father Vimont began to preach a little after 7 o’clock; he finished after 9 o’clock. Then the service took place at which the passion was sung by three voices, — to wit, by Monsieur de St. Sauveur, Gospeller; by Monsieur the prior, who represented the synagogue; and by me. I thought at the time that father de Quen would have done better than Monsieur de St. Sauveur, in this part, but not for the rest of the service. After the Adoration of the Cross, Monsieur de St. Sauveur and Monsieur the prior went to the lectern; I finished the service with our two brethren at the Altar; the [Page 177] Cross was removed and carried back after the service; all this occurred at 11 o’clock.

On Holy Saturday the fire was made and its blessing took place at the vestry, and the rest with the same ministers as on the preceding Day; it seemed to me again that, as for the Exultet, father de Quen would have sung it better. There was no mention of the Emperor, either on Friday or Saturday. I went to find Monsieur the Governor in his place, in order to begin with him in giving holy water from the baptismal fonts, I omitted to say a brief word before the procession to the fonts, to invite them to pray God for the blessing. We began an hour too soon; it is enough to begin at g o’clock, and we began at 8. At the gloria several Cannon shots were fired; the hospital nuns rang at 9 o’clock, et hoc male.

1646, APRIL.

The 1st Day was easter, which was very beautiful: I prepared, or rather gave, at mass the holy water of the Day before.

I Announced the benediction for the 3 feasts, — on easter Day with us, on monday at the hospital, and on tuesday at the Ursulines’. The 1st Bell rang at the parish church at 5 o’clock; there we sang the litany of the name of Jesus, abridged by half, the o filii and the regina cœli. After the litany, I said the prayer for the Day; and, at the end of the regina cœli, the prayer which belongs to it.

On the 8th, we made at evening the benediction in the honor of our Lady of the [Page 179] Annunciation, whose office was on the morrow; this benediction consisted of the Litany of our Lady, and of the regina cœli.

On the 7th, Master Jaques, surnamed “the hermit,” began his entrance into our service. He was at the hospital, but desired Urgently to leave it; he repeatedly besought us to receive him with us on such terms as we chose. He was referred to father buteux, who had need of some one, and who received him; he was then withdrawn to our house, with the consent of the hospital, until the departure of some bark bound for 3 rivers; but beforehand we several times set forth to him all that we desired of him, — to wit, father de Quen and our brother liegeois. He accepted everything, and would make no bargain, — professing to desire only his living and his maintenance on a very small footing.

Father Vimont went to stop over night at beauport, on Easter Day, and visited the whole coast, and came back on Thursday; father buteux was at richelieu on palm sunday.

The Ursuline mothers of the Incarnation employed nearly the whole of Lent in painting two pieces of Architecture to match the Tabernacle of the parish church; Monsieur bourdon painted some steps.

Monsieur the Governor, who had sent fresh fish more than once a week, having received two geese on the octave of easter, sent one of them to us. During Lent, we sent him two jars of olives, etc. [Page 181]

The Savages return to lodge at Sillery savages after easter.

After easter we Announced the Continuation of the benedictions of the Blessed Sacrament on Thursdays even till Corpus Christi, — changing in them the prayer of the Holy Ghost, which was said 2nd, to the one pro navigantibus: for the 3rd, In gratiarum actionem; and for the 4th, pro devotis amicis.

On the 15th, I went to Sillery to perform the Exercises and the visitation of the house; I returned thence on the 25th, in the evening. Father pijart and Cousture arrived there on the 24th; Cousture’s savage name had been changed at 3 rivers, at a feast made for him by father le buteux, when instead of his former name, Ihandich, which sounds ill in yroquois, they gave him the name of Achirra, — that of the late Monsieur Nicolet, — to the Joy of all the huron, Algonquain, and Annieronon savages. I gave a feast, at Sillery, to the Christians who were there. Father pijart and his company went away again on the 28th following.

The savages returned from the chase toward the middle of April and came back quite rich and burdened.

On the 26th, I held a Consultation with reference to father Jogues’s journey to the Annieronons; the Advisers were father Vimont, father de quen, father Dendemare, father p. pijart; omnium consensu approbata profectio.

Item, concerning Cousture’s marriage; approbatum item omnium consensu. Item, respecting [Page 183] robert's voyage to France, and as to father Druilletes's continuation on this side; omnium etiam consensu approbata illa omnia.

On the 25th, St. Mark’s Day, we made no procession, because there was not, as yet, enough road suitable for forming it. We had announced the litany, which, through an error, was not sung, but recited in a low tone: father p. pijart was officiating then, and he could not attend to that. Violet was used on that Day, which was not proper; it would have been proper, in case the rogation mass had been said.

On the 17th or 18th of April, the river was free, and planting began a little before that.

Toward the end of this month, after the visitation of Sillery, regulations were made concerning temporal affairs. The matter passed by the advice of father Vimont and of Father Dendemare, and by the consent of father de Quen.[21]

The savages vigorously began everywhere to till the soil. At Sillery they freshly prepared more than 15 arpents of land; at 3 rivers, more than 30 savage families began cultivation; Item, at Montreal. The french on their side did no less.

1646, MAY.

On the last of April, about 5 o’clock, we started with the brigantine and two shallops for 3 rivers, where we did not arrive till the 5th of the month of may; we had to leave the brigantine, and proceed with the shallops. [Page 185]

On Monday, the 7th, the Councils began, the records of which will be seen in the factum which is in the Archives, titulo yroquois; we left that place on the 17th, and arrived here on the 18th. Caron, who was taking some calves to the Hurons, left 3 rivers on the 11th of May; father Jogues for the yroquois, on the 16th.

I found here that Father Enemond Massé had died on the night of the 11th and 12th, about midnight, and was buried in the new Chapel, not yet finished; compendium vitæ et mortis ejus sicut et aliortim will be found in the Archives.[22]

Item, I found that a Christian named Ignace, — an yroquois by nation, but long settled here, having picked a quarrel while Gambling with an Abnaquiois, had gone to the outside of the latter’s cabin, to the place at which he supposed that this man was, in order to run him through with his javelin; but, instead of reaching the man, it encountered a woman, who was wounded, but not dangerously. That made much commotion among the savages, and greatly complicated matters on all sides. Nevertheless, the man who had dealt the stroke, coming to excuse himself before the woman’s relatives, offered his own head; they gave him to understand that they pardoned him, but the affair seemed to depend on the result of the wound.

Item, I found that two of the Ursulines’ men had challenged and provoked each other, and had proceeded to fight with their swords. [Page 187] Two soldiers at 3 rivers had also done the same, — la groye and la fontaine, while we were there; la groye was wounded in two places, for having behaved discreetly, like a Christian; this having been verified by the savages, la fontaine was put in a trench.

Item, I found that the fire, driven by a furious wind, had everywhere made great havoc, and that a certain Guillaume bance had thus lost everything, his house and all in it having been burned; he was aided on all sides, and soon found himself on his feet.

Item, I found that some one had stolen and broken open a Chest, from which had been taken all the man’s poor spoil, amounting to more than 25 écus; we vigorously denounced that in the pulpit, as a beginning in a vice which had not yet been characteristic of this side, where all went about without distrust.

The benediction of the Blessed Sacrament was held on the Day of Pentecost and on the two following feasts, as at Easter, — in order to give thanks for the success of the journey to 3 rivers; to recommend the journey of father Jogues and of monsieur bourdon; to ask for rain, etc., — at the Hospital nuns’ on monday, and at the Ursulines’ on tuesday. On Wednesday it began to rain.

Father de Quen left Quebek for Tadoussak on the 21st of may; Monsieur de launay, Agent, had started in a bark, as early as the 7th. Father de Quen left in a Canoe, with a french blacksmith named Charles, and a savage; his provisions were furnished by the [Page 189] warehouse, on the premises; and for the journey he was offered, from the warehouse, till the necessary fresh food; our brother liegeois had also supplied him.

On the same 21st, one Thomas [blank space], a native of la rochelle, — who till that time had been only in appearance a Catholic, and in reality was a Huguenot, — abjured heresy and privately made profession of the faith, under my direction, after which he made his general Confession.

On the 23rd, one Arenhouton, a Huron, was baptized at the Ursulines’, and named René. Monsieur the prior[23] was his godfather.

Our brother Ambroise was employed, from the 1st of May till the 20th, in preparing barley at notre dame des Anges, and the beer.

About the 15th of May, the fishing began; our brother feauté and robert hache were engaged therein, at first, — then robert alone, with Jaques Junier. The 1st salmon was taken on the 11th of June.

On the 24th, our brother Ambroise and Master Jaques started for 3 rivers in a Shallop, in which was Monsieur de Chavigny, who carried with him the beauport Oratory, which was granted him Until All Saints. Father Vimont at the same time went as far as Monsieur de Chavigny’s, to confer the Ceremonies of baptism on his daughter.

Toward the end of May, occurred the feast of the Blessed Sacrament; the Blessed Sacrament was exposed on the Day of the feast, and on Sunday till after vespers; and there [Page 191] was a benediction every Day in the octave.

As for the Procession, it was decided that Monsieur the Governor should name, on his part, whomsoever he pleased to bear the Canopy; that the two churchwardens should also bear it, and one Savage: that, in subsequent years, the churchwardens, with the Curé, should settle who might properly be invited to bear it, — the disposition of three staves being left free to them, and the disposition of the 1st to Monsieur the governor. Those who carried it this year were Monsieur Tronquet, on behalf of Monsieur the Governor; Monsieur des Chastelets and Monsieur giffar, churchwardens; and Noël Negabamat.

The Hospital nuns having represented their right of seniority in the country over the Ursulines, by virtue of having built in it two years before the latter, — Item, because the Hospitals are always privileged and have the first rank, — the course of the procession was past the temporary altar at the fort, near the flagstaff; then to the hospital; then to the temporary altar at Monsieur Couillart’s; then to the Ursulines; and thence we came back to the parish church.

Two Bell-ringers marched in front, then the banner: the one who carried it had a hat of flowers. The Cross followed, borne by a Youth of 20 years, in Alb and silk sash, — on either side of him, two Boys in surplices and sashes. The torches followed, 6 in number; for the 1st time we appointed the local crafts to bear them, — to wit, Carpenters, masons, [Page 193] sailors, Toolmakers, brewers, and bakers; to whom this time we sent, on the day before, some Torches made by our Skill and of our Wax. These they hung with festoons; and Jean guion, a mason, put an escutcheon on his, on which were the arms of his trade, hammer, compasses, and rule. After the torches followed four lay choristers; then Monsieur de St. Sauveur and Monsieur

Nicolet, in surplice and stole; then father Vimont and father Dendemare; then 6 french angels, and two little savages in their costume: all carried candlesticks or tapers, except the last two, who bore corporal-cases. After these came two of our brethren in surplices, with smoking censers; then beneath the Canopy, on either side of the Blessed Sacrament, father Druilletes serving as Deacon in Dalmatic, and Monsieur the prior as subdeacon in alb and stole: our brother liegeois, in surplice, marched last, behind the Blessed Sacrament, and officiated as master of Ceremonies.

The bell was rung at the parish church at the end, and everywhere on arriving and leaving; at the temporary altar of the fort, 3 Cannon shots were fired; on passing behind Monsieur Couillart’s there was a salute of muskets and guns. Item, at the hospital; and again, at monsieur Couillart’s temporary altar, they fired and gave another salute; Item, on passing before the fort again, another salute of three Cannon shots. The bell at the parish church was rung as they passed under an Arch of the bridge, which [Page 195] was carpeted; a salute was also given at the Ursulines’; and finally, on returning to the Church, another salute of 3 Cannon shots.

Monsieur de St. Sauveur excellently sustained the music. At the temporary altars we tried to have two Boys sing some clauses of the litany of the name of Jesus, — 5 or 6; but Monsieur the prior had to aid them. Then they sang Tantum ergo, or Ecce panis, etc., followed by the prayer Laudate, incense, and benediction: at the religious houses the same. All went well in that way; the nuns sang there instead of the Children.

High mass was said as usual, at ½ past 7, The and the procession which was afterward made was finished only about 11 o’clock; the Blessed Sacrament was exposed on that Day, and on Sunday, till after vespers; for the remainder of the octave, benediction at ½ past 7 in the evening only. At the religious houses the Blessed Sacrament was exposed throughout the octave from their mass until 5 o’clock in the evening; and on the Day of the octave solemn benedictions were held there.

On the eve of the feast, which was the 31st or last of May, the news was brought of an unfortunate affair which happened at richelieu. One Dumkerke, a Norman, — a

Gunner and sailor at richelieu, aged between 40 and 45 years, married in france, and living for the 3rd year at richelieu, — toward the end of this month appeared for the space of two or three Days to be in despair, — trying to destroy and cast himself headlong, and saying [Page 197] that he was lost and damned. On being asked why he said that, he answered that since the departure of the vessels he had ten or twelve times had intercourse with a bitch of the fort, called plate; and that that was the cause of his despair. The Captain, named la Crapaudiere, arrested him in person, and seized the Bitch, and had them shut up; he wrote of the matter to father buteux at 3 rivers, and to Monsieur the governor at Quebek. Father buteux sent father duperon thither, and Monsieur the Governor answered nothing, — waiting to obtain more Light on the matter. They thought, at first, that it would be their duty to kill the bitch rather than to lock her up; and, finally, that the best plan was to declare and account as crazy the one who had said that about himself. Father duperon on his return reported that, at his arrival, this man told him that what he had said was only a feint, to the end that he be made to die, — having been hindered from destroying himself only by the dread of Hell, which he might hope to avoid by procuring death in this way; since, on the one hand, he would die, which was what he sought; and, on the other, they would first have him Confess, which would enable him to avoid Hell. Father duperon obliged him to declare everything publicly, then heard his Confession, composed his mind again, and left him in a good frame of mind.

On the very Day of the Blessed Sacrament, the last of May, came the news from Tadoussak [Page 199] that ten large cabins of savages were there, — among others, some bersaimites, — and 15 shallops; that there had already been traded more than five casks of Beaver, and 151 moose skins; and that fervor and devotion to Christianity were never greater at that place.

A savage of Gaspé calling himself a Catechumen, arrived here about the end of the month with plenty of meat, of which he made a present to the savages of Sillery, who, among other things, gave him some corn. He returns with letters for Tadoussak and Miskou, to our Fathers, and to Monsieur des dasmes from monsieur the Governor: he set out again in his shallop on the 11th of June.

At this time it was necessary to give 30 and 35 sols to a man for his Day’s work and his expenses.

1646, JUNE.

On the 4th, there entered our service one Estienne bougoust, as Carpenter and to help at the mill. We first proceeded to fell what wood remained on the lands of la Vacherie;[24] then we deliberated about the site on which the mill should be placed. Father Vimont, father dendemare, and I betook ourselves thither, and we decided that it might be put in a place in which there was still some Disadvantage, — which, however, we believed would be removed in course of time; that the only question was, that it be well built. The chief reason why it was rebuilt anew was, [Page 201] that the other mill, having been ill constructed, threatened to fall at any moment.

Master maturin — who had come for this purpose from france the year before, and had been placed meanwhile in the service of the Ursulines — was employed in our service, and began to live with us on the 11th of June. La neigerie began to serve here on the 18th; he was at Sillery. We repeatedly asked Monsieur the Governor that he consent either to grant us the neighboring place, or to decree that it should remain as Commons; he would do neither one nor the other.

On the 10th of June, which was a Sunday, it was published at the parish church that whoever would go on the morrow, the Day of St. barnabas, and help to rebuild the burned house of Guillaume bance, was given permission thereto, and that we urged them to do this; 15 workmen went there.

On the 11th occurred the separation of our farmers at beauport, — boucher went away, and Thomas hayot[25] remained in sole charge; this was by an agreement between them, without our having done aught else than consent to it.

On the 18th occurred the marriage of Montpellier, a soldier and a Shoemaker, to the daughter of sevestre;[26] they danced there a kind of ballet, — to wit, 5 soldiers.

On the 22nd, 3 Canoes of Abnaquiois arrived, who said that a malady which caused vomiting of blood had destroyed a good part of their nation; that there had been a great [Page 203]

war between the Etechemins and the savages of gaspé; that the yroquois did not lie in what they had maintained, — that it was not they who had made the attack of last Autumn, but the Soquoquiois; they were waiting to know the rest. They brought back the son of otsatonkwi, a Huron.

On the 23rd, Etwet and Iabmets — Captains of Tadousak, and Christians — arrived, with a Shallop full of their people; they made two presents of Beavers to Monsieur the governor; and in the Council they uttered many complaints about the high prices and methods of trading of Monsieur de launay. They were, Estwet especially, dressed for the most part in french style, a shirt of white Holland linen, a neckband of lace, and a Scarlet Cloak. Etwet was trying to be on an equal footing with Monsieur the governor, and in every way acted the Sovereign. I gave him a Luncheon, a bag of Indian corn, and a pound of powder, by recommendation of father de Quen.

On the 22nd, there came, to constitute themselves voluntary prisoners, a husband and a Christian wife, who could not agree, — the one to the Dungeon in the fort, the other to the Ursulines, — and this after their sentence, which was pronounced on them at Sillery, upon the complaints of the Captains. The factun will be found in the Archives, titulo Sillery.

On the 23rd, the fire for St. John’s day was made about ½ past 8 in the evening. Monsieur the governor sent Monsieur Tronquet [Page 205] to know whether we would go; we went to find him, father Vimont and I, in the fort, and we went together to the fire. Monsieur the governor set it, and while he lighted it, I sang the Ut queant laxis and then the prayer. Monsieur de St. Sauveur was not there; he must be Invited thither, another time. 5 Cannon shots were fired, and two or 3 times occurred the discharge of muskets; we returned thence between 9 and 10.

On the 22nd, I went with Monsieur the governor to see the land of bance above the Sault, and inspected all that lies between them. It seemed to me that the Ursulines should confine themselves to the brook that I call Ste. Ursule, and, descending toward Jaques Caulmont, endeavor to arrange that the small meadow between the brook and Caulmont’s land be comprised in their concession. Monsieur the

governor would not grant me for them more than 12 Arpents on the river, and whatever depth might be necessary to complete their 200 Arpents. If there be more than 12 Arpents between the Ste. Ursule brook and Caulmont’s land, an effort should be made to obtain that surplus, so that at least the meadow may be included. If there are fewer, the remainder will be taken beyond the brook. Monsieur the governor would decide nothing, — referring it all to the return of Monsieur bourdon, who had gone to the yroquois.

On the same Day, father Vimont went to and to the Isle of Orleans, in order to choose some meadows there for the two religious houses; [Page 207] we had previously been at the long point on the other shore, for the same purpose; it will all be found in the Agreement drawn up to that effect.

On the 25th, father Dendemare left here for Montreal.

On the 26th, Monsieur the governor gave me assurance of an increase in the lands of la Vacherie, in order to replace 6 Arpents which we had ceded to Quebek; he went on horseback to mention this on the same Day to our brother liegeois, who was working in that quarter at the mill.

He told me at the same time that neither this addition nor la Vacherie should be taken otherwise than en roture; that he would never suffer it otherwise, and that everything in the banlieue should be deemed of the same nature.

This gave me occasion to examine more closely the letters patent of our Concessions, and I found that those of our six hundred Arpents of land at 3 rivers, granted in 1634, conferred a perfect title upon us without any charge, giving us full ownership and all Seigniorial Rights, ut rex concesserat concedentibus. As regards the letters patent for the lands of nostre Dame des Anges, beauport, and la vacherie, dated 1637, I found no charge upon such concessions beyond the saying of a mass every year — with no other dues — and the avowal of concession every 20 years; but there is no mention of any seigniorial right. As for the titles to those of Isle aux ruaux, they are also very good, and similar to that of 3 [Page 209] rivers. As for the Isle de Jesus, there is no deed on parchment; there is merely an extract from the proceedings of the general assembly, and a certificate of taking possession by monsieur the governor, which mentions a mandate that he received, in virtue

whereof he so put us in possession, without any mention being made of any condition.

Those which were conceded to Monsieur Giffar, des Chastelets, etc., confer more seigniorial rights, but are also subject to many more charges.

The most disadvantageous are those of Sillery — which, being ours only by a transfer made by monsieur gan, are also subject to all the charges borne by him, and among others a rent of a denier an arpent.[27]

About this time, the Hospital nuns having — in consequence of what had been procured for them at the long point and at the Isle of Orleans — returned the written agreement of father Vimont, by which they had been granted some meadows on our lands for 6 years, — father Vimont notified the Ursulines that they should do the same. They found it hard to do this, and requested that, in case that were done, — to wit, taking our meadows from them, in order to let them out, — they should be preferred to others. The Conclusion was that, until they had been assured of what had been assigned to them at the long point and at the Isle of orleans, we should reserve for them 15 or 16 Arpents of land, — which we should dispose of, when they should [Page 211] have received the above assurance, — and should dispose of the others, there being still 15 or 16 arpents more to be granted. In all, from the [river] cabanne-aux-topiers even to Monsieur giffar’s river, there are 47 Arpents; 17 must be reserved for the farm at beauport, and the remainder be granted as above.

On the 28th, the bark returning from Tadousak brought us news from miskou; father laplace was at the french settlement with father lyonne; father richar, with our brother Jaques ratel, at the new residence of Nepegigwit, where a settlement of savages has been formed, consisting at that time of two families, of 15 persons. Ours were in good health, and were filled with hope; they requested, from france, two or three Fathers, as a reinforcement.

On the 30th, news arrived that 2 Algonquains, traveling Companions of father Jogues among the yroquois, were back at 3 rivers; and that father Jogues was not far away, with Monsieur bourdon; they brought letters from father Jogues. Indeed, father Jogues had arrived on the 27th at richelieu;

on the 29th, at 3 rivers; and he reached Quebek, with Monsieur bourdon, on the 3rd of July; all that concerns his journey will be found in the Archives, titulo yroquois.

JULY, 1646.

On the 1st of July, benediction at the hospital, and the next day at the Ursulines’, in honor of the visitation. The eve of this feast [Page 213] came on Sunday, for which reason at the hospital they sang, for the benediction, the litany about 5 o’clock; and on the Day of the feast, at the Ursulines’, they sang vespers after the hymn, at 7 o’clock in the evening.

On the 4th, two Abnaquiois Captains, — the principal one of whom, who was a Christian, was named Claude, — together with Noel and Jean baptiste, came to find Monsieur the governor, in order to beg him to make arrangements for a black gown to go to the Abnaquiois, to Instruct them. They said that, if that were once done, they would no longer come here, and would give no offense to Monsieur the governor regarding the trade. Monsieur the governor sent them back to me, and I put them off till Autumn, in order to take time to consider the matter. They were given a bag of Indian corn for a Parting Gift, some tobacco, some fish, etc.; and we gave them a feast, and also one to the principal persons of Sillery. Jean baptiste and noel at the same time begged Monsieur the governor to give them a present for covering the dead of the Autumn, — to stop their Young men from going to war; Monsieur the governor did so.

On the 8th, a little savage girl named Charité, aged 5½, died at the Ursulines’; she was interred at the french Cemetery, where her Father was buried. She was borne thither by 4 domestics of the Ursulines, with 4 others bearing torches, and 2 french girls and two savage girls holding the corners of the pall. Monsieur the prior went first, bearing a cross [Page 215] without staff and his ritual, and I after him; then the body, etc.

On this same day, father le Jeune arrived from montreal, with our. brother Ambroise, who was returning from 3 rivers.

On the 9th, I held a Consultation about father Jogues’s return to the yroquois; father le Jeune, father Vimont, and Father Jogues were present. It was Resolved that, if nothing else happened, he should not go to winter there, but should

stay at Montreal or at 3 rivers; but that, if some excellent opportunity occurred for going thither, it must not be refused.

On the 14th, father Jogues and father Drouillet started, with two Christian savages, for Montreal.

On the 13th, the bark left which carried some cattle, etc., to father buteux at 3 rivers.

This same Day, there were granted us by Monsieur the governor 18 Arpents of land, as an addition to the lands of la Vacherie, — and this upon our representation of the necessity that we should have some addition for the mill; and especially upon our statement that, for the cession of 6 arpents of land that we had made formerly at Quebek, — where, instead of 12, which had been granted us, they gave us only 6, — nothing had been given us, the Ursuline and Hospital Mothers having been compensated by 30 Arpents in the suburbs.

We entered into possession of that, and of all our lands of nostre dame des Anges and of [Page 217] la Vacherie, by right of the letters given by Messieurs of the Company, on the 24th of July; and on this Day the Deeds therefor were drawn up.

On the 15th, a procession was made to the hospital and to the Ursulines’, at the end of vespers, after the benedicamus Domino. There were bells, banner, Cross, two candlesticks, two chanters; then came our brother Ambroise and Pierre Gontier (qui duo se ipsis hunc acceperunt locum, Immo et cum oppositum Insinuassem, quo Spiritu nescio, toleravi et dissimulavi); then Monsieur de St. Sauveur and Monsieur the prior in surplices, who sang the litany; and father Vimont and I, with a small reliquary. At the religious houses we sang some couplets of the litany of our lady; and afterward the Appropriate prayers.

On this same Day came the news from Tadousak of a Basque who was trading in the river near them. It was necessary to use patience, for we had no forces, and, even if we had some, it would only be a waste of time, since he would have reached his fleet before we had set out from Quebek.

On the 21st, the first letters and news from the Hurons were delivered to me, — dated the 10th of June, — by

Persons from the yroquet nation.

On the 19th, we began a novena of benedictions of the Blessed Sacrament for the good condition and outcome of affairs, — especially for the fruits of the earth and the return of the vessels. [Page 219]

On the 29th father de Quen arrived from Tadousak for the 1st time: what he is doing there will be found in the relation. He was very well supported and treated there, at the charge of the Association, There were sent us thence two kegs of salmon, besides four from our own fishery; and one from Monsieur the governor, from the Isle aux Oyes. This year, more than 200 Salmon were caught, up to the end of this month.

On St. Ignace’s day, benediction the day before at the parish church; high mass on the Day itself, at 7 o’clock; solemn Vespers at the Ursulines’, and the sermon at the end; benediction in the evening, at the hospital, — with the resolution to hold solemn Vespers and deliver the sermon, alternis annis, at these two religious houses. On the preceding Sunday, this feast was declared a feast of Devotion, and not of obligation. Monsieur the governor spoke to me of having the Cannon fired as usual; I showed him that I had no Inclination for this. He left me, however, with the resolve to have it done, yet he did not do so; perhaps the argument which I adduced to him — that, as the vessels had not come, such an act might cause a disturbance — stopped him. The Ursulines that Day treated us magnificently. There was a failure in this respect, that all those of Sillery, having come here, attended only the dinner, and neither at vespers nor at sermon, were there other than the Fathers. I was restrained from calling attention to it, because I was the one who [Page 221] preached the sermon (which, however, should not have hindered them); another time, it will be necessary to make attendance obligatory.

AUGUST, 1646.

A novena having a very timely beginning, on the Day of St. Mary of the Snows,[28] beatus venter; and this in order to prepare for the feast, and to obtain the return of the ships. On the next day, the news arrived; father Daran[29] came in a Canoe, and Monsieur de launay in a bark.

Having learned by these advices the tidings of the death of Monsieur de Montmagny, the Counselor, brother of Monsieur the Governor, we said a requiem high mass the next day. The nuns paid him a compliment, — that evening, they said vespers for the dead, and mass the next day; notice thereof was given at the benediction.

On the 8th, about evening, appeared the ship of Captain Poullet and the flyboat of Monsieur de la Tour, who was coming to take refuge here;[30] they arrived here the next morning. A salute was fired at the Sieur de le Tour’s arrival and at his landing; he was lodged at the fort, and monsieur the governor on the 1st Day gave him the precedence; he accepted this for the 1st Day, and then refused it, as was becoming.

On the 15th occurred the procession; the savage men marched after the Cross, the women at the rear; I carried an image of our lady, painted in Silver by the Ursulines. [Page 223] There was a temporary altar at the Cross of mount Carmel, where the savages sang the Ave Maria in their own language. The savage women were there before the arrival of the procession.

About this time came the news of the defeat of le borgne by the oneiochronons; they captured a woman and killed a man, then came to excuse themselves, saying that they thought that those were Hurons. It is said that there were two or 3 Annieronons in their Company. That took place above the long Sault; the victors, returning, were defeated by the yroquet people; one prisoner was brought in, and the captive woman was set free.

The savages of Sillery kill a cow of monsieur Nicolas, which had been in their corn; she was valued at 75 livres. The savages were summoned by Monsieur the governor, to do Justice in this matter, and he ordered that they should pay 6 Beavers, which was done, — with the assurance that when they should complain, Justice would be done them for the damage which the cows might have wrought in their corn.

On the 21st, I held a Consultation, at which were present fathers le Jeune, Vimont, and dequen; it was there decided:

1st, that the lands at beauport should be offered for rent, omnium consensu.

2nd, that, non obsantibus quibuscumque, they should build for us; unus, pater le Jeune, hœsitavit in hoc articulo; non negavit neque affirmavit. Later, father le Jeune was in favor of building; [Page 225] father buteux, father Dendemare.[31]

3rd, Item, the wintering of father Druilletes among the Abnaquiois, and that of father Jogues among the yroquois.

4th, that we should ask an increase from the Habitans.

5th, as to the perpetual observance of the benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, hœsitatio fuit, Judicatio tamen in perpetuitatem; Conclusio mea, to continue without binding ourselves until God and time should enable us to see more clearly.

On the 26th of August, Pierrot Cochon arrived from the Hurons, where he had served us 5 years; he was clothed and had 50 livres. He brought tidings of some Huron Canoes, and of the whole fleet, which was following.

On the 28th, I started alone in a Canoe to go to 3 rivers; I took with me, in a Shallop, 2 men and a Boy. One of the men was the son of the tippler named Guillaume Pelletier, — a deserter, sawyer, Carpenter, Charcoal-burner, etc. He gave himself up entirely; we nevertheless promised his parents a hundred francs for his 1st year, and we did not fail to clothe him quite anew.

The other was Pierre bouencha, a Mason, at 100 livres in wages; his contract in writing will be found in the Archives.

The Boy was one leger, who was scullion at the fort; aged 15 years.

Arriving at 3 rivers, I found Gilles bacon, who Straightway came to find Monsieur the governor at Quebek, by order of Monsieur de [Page 227] la poterie, so as to give information of the Mines of gold and Copper that he had found, of which he brought some ores. He was sent back, and they found that it was nothing of value.

Having despatched all my letters for the Hurons, I came back to Quebek on the eve of the Nativity of our Lady; I went away again with Monsieur the governor, on the 11th.

On the 29th father gabriel Druilletes started for the

mission of the Assumption among the Abnaquiois — the only frenchman with two Canoes of savages, whose chief was Claude, a good Christian.

Those who returned this year from the Hurons were Pierrot Cochon, Gilles bacon; Daniel Carteron, Jean leMercier, desgrosillers,[32] racine, and Eustache lambert. This last man had given himself in service and was to go up again; and he did indeed go up again with the above-named persons, — and, moreover, he took charge of two calves.

SEPTEMBER, 1646.

On the 9th, benoist ponfar made a contract with us for one year, at 100 livres.

On the 11th, I started with Monsieur the governor for 3 rivers: what came to pass with the savages will be seen in the Archives.

Father buteux requested the moving of boundaries, and was refused by Monsieur the governor; in turn, he refused Monsieur de la poterie in the matter of other lineations.

Monsieur de la Poterie vigorously disputed [Page 229] the Cape at 3 rivers, — set apart for the Savages, since we had the Grant of it for this year, from Monsieur de la magdelaine: the matter was Undecided.

There were 80 Canoes; they carried away a dozen bundles of skins, for want of Merchandise, and left in order to return the same Day as we, — to wit, the sand. Ondiwaharea parted from the main band, and chose to go by the great lake; he was caught by the enemies, of whom there were two Canoes; two men escaped.

Father Jogues was to start on the 29th, for his wintering among the yroquois, with lalande, otrihoure, — a huron-yroquise, — and two or three other Hurons, who were going to see their captive relatives.

With the Hurons Eustache went up, and the three of whom I have spoken above; Item, two calves, and more than 50 bundles.

On returning to Quebek, we encountered at the Cap a l’Arbre a Shallop, which carried father Daran, who brought us the news of the arrival of Monsieur de Maisonneuve and

of Monsieur de repentigny and others, who were near. It was the 20th, when Monsieur de maisonneuve arrived; and on the 23rd arrived Monsieur de repentigny, — and we, too, some hours previously.

With Monsieur de repentigny were father Quentin and some men both for the Hurons and for work down here: Item, a Young gentleman from the house of Courtené, who had been converted at la rochelle and had [Page 231] subsequently made a vow to go to the Hurons. But it proved that he was only a Swindler, who had appeared in England as grandson to the house of Sancerre, and nephew to Monsieur desnoyers, — who made a pretense of intending to become a heretic. But, learning that news from france was on the way, in consequence of information that had been given about him, he fled; they had warning, at the same time, of several other knaves. He played a thousand tricks here, and finally avowed, or lied, that he was a benedictine religious, — a professed, for several years, — and that he was a subdeacon; and it was affirmed here that he had entered, at Alençon, a monastery of benedictine nuns, where he had heard the confession of a dying nun. He affected to wish to remain, and was enraged because they had written about him that he was a bastard; but those who had seen him in England whispered to him to keep quiet; and he then went away. He cheated us by more than 200 livres, which we advanced for him.

Those, then, who arrived this year, besides father Quentin, were Father Daran, father gabriel lalemant, father Amable de fretat,[33] and our brother Pierre masson. For the Hurons, came desforges; Pierre tourmente, a mason; Jean guiet, a joiner; brother Gouaut, an Apothecary; and the said Sieur de laubiniere. For work down here, came Pierre deschamps, a laborer; Simon gabory, a laborer; Charles Drouillar, and gilles Henar. Our brother masson and desforges were [Page 233] sent to the Hurons, and started on Michaelmas, — availing themselves of two canoes which fortunately happened to be at Quebek.

1646, OCTOBER.

On the 14th, the bark arrived which was the last of all the vessels that were expected from france; and this same vessel

brought the news of the arrival at Tadoussac of Monsieur le Tardif, detained in france by Monsieur de repentigny. This Monsieur le Tardif was only 44 Days on the way, and arrived at Quebek on the 17th.

On the 28th, bastien entered our service for 100 livres in wages and a pair of shoes.

In the year 1645, — which was the year of the change in trade, and that in which Messieurs of the general Company shared the trade with the Habitans, — the habitans alone had for their part 98 casks of Beaver, and, in 1646, they had more than 160; in a cask there are 200 pounds of Beaver, and the pound is sold at 10 livres. That does not include the skins of elk, etc.

On the 22nd of this month occurred the marriage of the daughter of monsieur de repentigny to monsieur godefroy, quietly; and the nuptial feast 10 days later.

And all this month, business was carried on; Monsieur de repentigny was continued Admiral, and the other captains in their posts; but Monsieur des chastelets was appointed general agent on board the vessels for all the purchases. [Page 235]

It seemed, at all the assemblies which were held, that those who had not favored the transfer of the trade, wished to bring to light the disorders while it lay in the hands of the Habitans. Thus, instead of preventing these, they seemed to foment them, — either by doing nothing, taking no action, and letting everything go, or in some other manner. It is this that gave occasion to draw up memorials for a suitable regulation.

We presented a petition for an increase in what was allowed us: they gave twelve hundred francs to each of the three houses, — Quebek, 3 rivers, and Hurons, — but they also exempted themselves from supplying fuel, and we remained obliged to furnish ourselves with it; see the paper in the Archives.

But then, too, all those of the Council make strenuous efforts to augment their own pay and to requite their own services; which resulted in such confusion as was disgraceful. But, as Monsieur de maisonneuve had not consented thereto, none of these gratuities were subscribed to.

At one of the first assemblies, it was requested that the benediction of the Blessed Sacrament should be instituted forever, every Thursday, — by way of thanksgiving for peace without, and on behalf of its continuation; and furthermore, to obtain Internal peace, and full union and Harmony between all the corporations and persons interested in the country’s affairs.

On the last Day of October, the vessels [Page 237] sailed; father Quentin was the only one of Ours on board. With him returned robert hache; Item, Monsieur de maisonneuve, Monsieur giffar, Monsieur Tronquet, — and all firmly resolved that they would strive to obtain some regulation for their affairs, each one seeking his own private Interests, It seemed that a crisis was likely to occur, on account of monsieur le Tariff's delay.

At the same time, also, the vessel went back which had brought Monsieur le Tardif, and one Lavalée went over again, who had come with Monsieur le Tardif.

With them returned the sons of Monsieur de repentigny, Monsieur Couillar, and monsieur giffar, and the nephews of Monsieur deschastelets, — all rogues, for the most part, who had played a thousand tricks on the other voyage: and they all were given high salaries.

They are making a new oven and a brewery at Sillery.

We begin with 6 men to quarry stone, and to prepare ‘the site for the clergy-house and the Church.

They caught, this year, forty thousand eels, most of which were sold at half an écu the hundred. They began to fish for them in August, and they finished about the 9th or 10th of november.

In October, father le Jeune exhibited a picture to the Savages at Sillery, which had come from the queen, — containing her portrait, that of the king, etc. At the same time, they were given three Blankets and three [Page 239] arquebuses, at the expense of the warehouse; and we made a feast for them.

1646, NOVEMBER.

On the eve of All Saints there was benediction, at which was sung the litany of the saints, with the salve.

On the Day of All Saints, which was on Thursday, the institution of the benediction of the Blessed Sacrament was announced, and on that Day it was held at Vespers. The remainder of the two days was spent as in the preceding year, except that the soldiers did not come to ring the bell, because we did not Judge it proper. Our men rang for the solemnity of the dead, and the soldiers rang at the fort; but I see no reason for this.

On the 4th, since the vessels were as yet no more than 4 or 5 leagues from here, we still had news of them; they had a favorable wind on that Day.

On the 5th, mother Marie de St. Ignace, first Superior of the hospital at Quebek, died about 5 o’clock in the morning; she was not buried until the next day. I said high mass in their Church, at which monsieur de St. Sauveur and other choristers made the responses. After the Gospel I spoke, for the space of two or three misereres, upon death, on the occasion of that of this good mother; we entered their Choir, — 5 priests and a lay chorister, St. Martin, — to perform the Burial office.

On the 6th, René Oheraenti, a Huron, wished to go to 3 rivers by land, for want of a Canoe; [Page 241] he went to stay over night at Sillery: he was stopped here with Armand in the month of September, by Monsieur the governor and the Habitans, to winter here. He was employed at 1st, to go and reconnoitre the alleged mines; then, returning to Quebek, he remained here some time, and then grew tired of the place. He arrived safely at 3 rivers.

On the 7th, it began to freeze hard, though there had as yet been no snow worth mentioning, except a very light and transient fall.

On the next day the snow began.

On the 12th, the marriage of Champagne and of Madame Nicolet at 5 o’clock in the morning;[34] father Vimont escaped from the Annoyance of attending the nuptials, and so contrived that something for the wedding should be sent to the house.

On the 14th, Madame de la pelleterie sent a present here. It was a package, in which there was an Altar-stone and a small missal; two cloths, of which one was Damask; two dozen napkins, and two sheets, — which were given to our

brother liegeois; six quires of paper; and a handsome Rosary.

A few days later, Sister Charlote sent four brasses, and more, of blue cloth, and a brasse and a half of red cloth; and several thousand porcelain beads, — all for the savages, as something which had been given her for this purpose.

About this time one Joachim, a Christian savage, and the son of Jean Guion, while passing the long point were surprised by a gust [Page 243] from the Northeast, and came near upsetting. They jumped into the water, but being covered with ice, and the savage clothed more lightly than the frenchman, the savage died on reaching shore, and the frenchman had a narrow escape.

On the 21st, Madame de la Pelterie, Charlotte, and Sister Caterine Began their novitiate with the Ursulines.

This same Day, the certain news arrived of the greatest disaster which had yet happened in Canada, — to wit, the loss or wreck of the brigantine which went, from Quebek to 3 rivers; in this vessel was a great part of what was necessary for the warehouse and habitans of 3 rivers. We lost much therein; but the main loss was of 9 men, one of whom was ours, named gaspar gouaut, of Poitiers, — an Apothecary who had come for the Hurons, and a very good fellow.

We held for them a benediction for the dead, on Thursday, after that of the Blessed Sacrament.

On the next day, we said high mass; and on Sunday, vespers for the dead, after those of the Day.

As 3 rivers lacked Candles more than anything else, we availed ourselves of a Canoe which was leaving, to send thither two dozen Yellow Tapers taken from the parish church of Quebek, and two dozen white wax Candles taken from my cupboard.

On the 29th, the mass of the Holy Ghost was said by father Vimont at the hospital, for [Page 245] Messieurs of the general Company in acquittal of the hospital’s obligation to this. I know of the general not whether monsieur the governor will not Company. suppose that this is also to fulfill the obligation of saying the Mass which we owe in consequence of the grant of Messieurs of the Company, by virtue of which we have this year taken possession of our lands. But the mass which we are to say is for the deceased

associates of the Company, and is to be said on the first tuesday of December; and I certainly intend to say it, but not to invite Monsieur the governor to it, — in order not to prejudice our former rights from Monsieur de Vantadour, etc., and the declaration made, at the same time with that act of possession, at the record office.

At Sillery, a brewery has been built this year, and a new oven. The savages were there as usual at the beginning of winter, among them 120 Christians.

Monsieur Nicolet, to whom Monsieur governor gave a hundred écus to say masses, went regularly to beauport to say mass on Sundays and ordinary feasts.

We had news that the loss had not been so great, and that they had recovered at least 2 thirds of what was in the brigantine.

1646, DECEMBER.

The Day of St. françois Xavier having occurred this year, 1646, on the 1st Sunday in Advent, we did nothing on his account except at Vespers: the next day, high mass and the [Page 247] rest as last year. I gave notice, on the Sunday before, of the Indulgences, but rather coldly, — because I was not quite certain about these Indulgences, and because those for the feast of the Conception were near; at the vigil, the vow of the Conception was renewed.

On the eve of the Conception, at noon, a Cannon was fired at the fort, with balls; at evening, we held a benediction, — the litany of the virgin, with the Alma. On the Day itself, at Daybreak, another Cannon was fired; and in the evening, at vespers, we said the litany, after the benedicamus Domino.

The octave of St. françois Xavier having fallen on the 2nd Sunday in Advent, nothing but the commemorations were made at the Sunday office.

This month we received news of the death of a wretched Apostate at three rivers, named Abdon, or la grenouille, [“the frog”].

On the Day of the Conception, a soldier named de Champigny, a native of fontainebleau, abjured his heresy before high mass.

This same soldier, understanding music and being able to sing the treble part, we began on the Day of St. Thomas to sing in four voices.

We rang on Christmas eve, at 11 o’clock; we recited the air, Mortels, and then the litany of the name of Jesus; a Gun was fired at midnight, and immediately we began the Te deum, and then mass. I said two masses, as last year, — one high, and one low; father Vimont afterward said two, and the 3rd at Dawn, at the hospital. Between 6 and 7 [Page 249] o’clock, father gabriel lalement said two, and the 3rd at the Ursulines’. I said high mass at 8 o’clock, and father defretat, afterward, his 3 masses. The weather was so mild that we had no need of a warmer on the Altar during all the masses. 5 cannon shots were fired at the Elevation, at the midnight mass.

Father Vimont started, this same Christmas Day, for the visitation at beauport; he came back the day before the last of the year, about 10 o’clock.

On Christmas Day, we went to give benediction at the hospital; and, on the next day, at the Ursulines’.

On the last Day of the year, they gave a performance at the warehouse, Enacting the sit.[35] Our Fathers were present, — in deference to Monsieur the governor, who took pleasure therein, as also did the savages, — that is, fathers de Quen, Lalement, and defretat: all went well, and there was nothing which could not edify. I begged Monsieur the governor to excuse me from attendance.

This year, the cord of wood was placed at a hundred sols; it was those who were interested therein who sold and bought for themselves. There was great disorder on this score, which caused Jealousy. What quieted matters was, that that went to the profit of the country and of some habitans.

But the principal evil was, that, whereas the half-cords should have been 4 feet on each side, they were not so much as three; and it was very poor wood at that. [Page 251]

LX

Relation of 1645-46

Paris: SEBASTIEN ET GABRIEL CRAMOISY, 1647

—————

Source: For the text of this Relation we follow a copy of the original Cramoisy, in Lenox Library; the facsimile of the title-page we obtain from a like copy in possession of the Wisconsin State Historical Society.

Owing to the length of the Relation, we herewith publish only the first two chapters of Part I.; the remainder of the document will appear in Volumes XXIX. and XXX.

[Page 253]

RELATION

OF WHAT OCCURRED

MOST NOTEWORTHY

in the Missions of the Fathers

of the Society of Jesus,

IN

NEW FRANCE

IN THE YEARS 1645 AND 1646

Sent to the Reverend Father Provincial of

the Province of France.

By the Superior of the Missions of the same

Society.

P A R I S.

———————

M. DC. XLVII.

WITH ROYAL LICENSE.

Extract from the Royal License.

B

Y the grace and privilege of the King, Sebastien Cramoisy, Sworn Merchant Bookseller in the University of Paris, Printer in ordinary to the King and to the Queen Regent, and Citizen of Paris, is permitted to print, or cause to be printed, a Book entitled: Relation de ce qui s’est passé de plus remarquable és Missions des Peres de la Compagnie de Jesus, en la Nouvelle France, és années 1645. et 1646. envoyée au R. P. Provincial de la Province de France, par le Superieur des Missions de la mesme Compagnie. And this, during the time and space of ten consecutive years, with prohibition to all Booksellers and Printers of printing, or causing to be printed, the said Book, under pretext of disguise or change that they might make therein: under penalty of confiscation and the fine imposed by the said License. Given at Paris, the 6th of December, 1646.

By the King in Council,

CRAMOISY.

[Page 259]

Permission of the Father Provincial.

W

E, Estienne Charlet, Provincial of the Society, of Jesus in the Province of France, have granted for the future to sieur Sebastien Cramoisy, Merchant Bookseller, Printer in ordinary to the King, the right to print the Relations of New France. Done at Paris, this 8th of January, 1647.

ESTIENNE CHARLET.

[Page 261]

Table of the Chapters contained in this Book.
R	ELATION of what occurred in New France, on the great river St. Lawrence, in the year 1646.		Page 1
CHAP. I.		Of what occurred between the French, the Hurons, and the Algonquins, for the conclusion of the peace with the Iroquois.	7
II.		Of the coming of seven Iroquois Ambassadors to the French, and of their negotiations.	18
III.		Of the Messed deaths of Father Anne de Noüie and Father Enemond Massé.	27
IV.		Of the Mission of the Martyrs, begun in the country of the Iroquois.	47
V.		Of the residence of St. Joseph at Sillery.	60
VI.		Of the residence of la Conception at three Rivers.	81
VII.		Of the holy Cross Mission at Tadoussac.	102
VIII.		Of the settlement of Ville-Marie, in the Island of Montreal.	118
IX.		Of some good deeds and some good sentiments of the Christian Savages.	146
X.		Of some peculiarities of the country, and other things which could not be related under the preceding Chapters.	166

[Page 263]

R	ELATION of what occurred most noteworthy in the Mission of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus among the Hurons, a country of New France, from the month of May in the year 1645, to the month of May in the year 1646.		Page 1
CHAP. I.		Of the state of the country	5
II.		Of the state of Christianity	11
III.		Remarkable instances of the zeal of some Christians	15
IV.		Trial of the constancy and courage of this Church amid the opposition of the Infidels	37
V.		Good Sentiments of some Christians	54
VI.		Providence of God over certain individuals	85
VII.		Of the Mission of the Holy Ghost	102
VIII.		Of what occurred at Miskou	116
End of the Table of Chapters.
[Page 265]

[1] Relation of what occurred in New France,

on the great River St. Lawrence, in

the year one thousand six

hundred and forty-six.

To the Reverend Father Estienne Chavlet, Provincial of the

Society of Jesus in the Province of France.

M

Y REVEREND FATHER,

Finding myself obliged to render hereafter a more detailed account to Your Reverence of matters which occur in the Missions down here, I will say to you that — after having compared what I have seen in these within one year, with what I observed up yonder in the [2] Huron Missions during the space of several years — I can only confirm myself in the belief that digitus Dei est hîc, — that it is the work of a very special providence, and of a goodness truly infinite.

I would have much difficulty in explaining the reasons which cause in me this feeling; there are hidden secrets in the works of providence, as well as in the wonders of nature: one understands them less than one admires them. Perhaps the aspect of the country, — which appeared to me wholly frightful in war, when I saw it for the first time, — having changed and become very beautiful in the quiet of peace, forms in me this thought and gives me this feeling; but that work — though excellent, and surpassing all our hopes — would not be sufficient to [Page 267] give me so much satisfaction, if I could not view it in connection with its principal, design, the establishment and advancement of the Kingdom of God.

As a result, then, the Savages of the other nations, attracted by the reputation of the first Christians at the reduction of St. Joseph at Sillery, approach from every direction, [3] in order to become instructed; and, while some seek the Faith, others increase and expand in charity. In a word, those who shunned Jesus Christ and who regarded him as the cause of their death on the earth, now come to seek him in their diseases, as the source of their life in Heaven; and those who have found him, are filled with emotion and gratitude for the happiness which they have encountered.

Now, having seen the same blessings upon the upper and more distant nations, this makes me think that the time has at last come for the conversion of this new world; that the Spirit of God will guide these poor peoples to the end for which he has created them; and that, after a night of so many centuries, the light has appeared upon these countries. The Faith is in its Dawn here: it will have its ascendant, and those who shall come after us will see it in its Noon.

Several things, as nearly as I can ascertain, have contributed to this blessing: the good condition in which Messieurs of the Company of new [4] France have placed the country and the Colony; the succor and assistance given by Messieurs of Montreal; the piety and the good example of the habitans; and especially the courage, zeal, and charity of the Religious families, the Hospital nuns and Ursulines, — who, after having surpassed the average of their [Page 269] station, by crossing the sea, seem every day to outdo themselves in all the exercises of charity toward God and their neighbor that can be expected from them.

I have sometimes taken pleasure in comparing the charity of those who assist, day and night, poor Barbarians all full of sores, and dying, — finding therein their whole pleasure and satisfaction, — and the zeal of the others, in learning languages and gathering from all directions into their Seminary Savage girls and women, in order to set forth and sell to them the merchandise of Heaven. But I avow that I could form no other conclusion therefrom, save that these sights were worthy to attract the eyes of Paradise upon this poor country, and to render it favorable to it. May God forever bless the persons who foster and who support such holy enterprises.

[5] Monsieur the Chevalier de Montmagny, our Governor, has also been one of the principal instruments which the Divine Providence has used for putting affairs at the point and in the, light in which they appear; the labor of ten years has not shaken his constancy, or diminished his cares for all which regards the advancement of Religion and of the public good.

I do not speak of the first and main wheel which moves this new world as well as the old, nor of the other wheels which are conjoined with it, and which, giving to it and receiving from it a blessed motion, impart that to this great work. Only God can be the reward and the recompense of those beautiful and lofty souls, who will be very glad to learn that we have this year augmented our little Churches by three hundred Neophytes, newly baptized.

For the rest, my Reverend Father, here follows [Page 271] the Relation of the principal things which have occurred within a year; you will see in it the death of two of the most veteran workers whom our Society has had in these countries — Father Anne de Noüe and Father Enemond Massé. I see no one here, [6] of those who have known them, who does not say with good heart: vivat et moriatur anima mea vitâ et morte justorum istorum, Now, though their death must occasion more envy than compassion, I nevertheless commend them, as also all our Missions, to the suffrages and the holy prayers of your Reverence and of the whole Province.

The arrival of the three Fathers whom you have been pleased to send us as a reinforcement, has much consoled us; but, this number being even below that which I had requested for the Huron Missions, you can see the need that we have of others; and you will see it still more in the Relation, on encountering therein mention of the new Missions of which God has granted the beginnings. This is what we hope from your charity, and from the zeal of our Fathers for these little infant Churches, which I cannot sufficiently commend to the holy Sacrifices and to the blessed prayers of all in general, and of each in particular.

Your Reverence’s
From Quebek, this	Very humble and most obe-
28th of October, 1646.	dient servant in God,
Hierosme Lalemant.
[Page 273]

[7] CHAPTER I.

OF WHAT OCCURRED BETWEEN THE FRENCH, THE

HURONS, AND THE ALGONQUINS, FOR THE CON-

CLUSION OF THE PEACE WITH THE IROQUOIS.

I

T is fitting to make some remarks at the beginning of this Chapter, to give a more distinct idea and a more definite knowledge of the affairs which have been transacted with these peoples.

I say then, in the first place, that under the name of “Iroquois” we have hitherto included several confederated Nations, all enemies of the Savages who are Allied to us. These Nations have their separate names — the Annierronnons, the Oniontcheronons, the Onontagueronons, the SonontwaGronons, and others. We have as yet no peace, in a proper sense, except with the Annierronnons, who are nearest our settlements, and who were giving us most trouble. Henceforth we will distinguish these tribes by [8] their proper and special names, so as to avoid confusion.

In the second place, besides these Iroquois there are other Nations, more to the North, who seem disposed to undertake war with our Savages, — as the Sokoquiois, whom our Savages call Assokwekik; and the Mahingans, or Mahinganak, with whom the Algonquins formerly had extensive alliances, — but, the Annierronnon Iroquois having subdued them, they have ranged themselves upon their side. There [Page 275] are others, as the Abnaquiois, who are friends to us.

I will remark, in the third place, that last year, at the departure of the fleet, when we were tasting the sweetness of the incipient peace, news was brought to us that three Savages of the village of St. Joseph, or Sillery, had been killed, and some others severely wounded. This report tempered our joy with worm-wood, in the doubt lest the Annierronnons had acted in bad faith with us. Finally, after all possible investigation, we found that one of the most fervent Christians of Sillery, or of saint Joseph, had been treacherously slain, with two baptized young lads; [9] that the son of François Xavier Nenaskoumat — one of the two chief pillars of the Savage reduction — had been mortally wounded. Indeed, this man came to give up the ghost very piously in our arms, after having received in the Hospital at Kebec all the charitable attentions with which a poor sick man can be assisted. In that treacherous attack, his wife was left for dead; they removed a part of the skin and the hair from her head, but Our Lord restored her health. It was a consolation to us that these last two did not die on the spot; for they assured us that the language of the murderers was altogether different from the language of the Iroquois; that stayed the hatchets of the Algonquins, who would not have failed to beat to death some Annierronnons who at that time happened to be among them and among us. At last, it was discovered that this murder had been committed by the Sokoquiois, two of whose tribe — having chanced to be, some years before, on the borders of the Iroquois — had been killed by some montagnais warriors; and another had been very badly treated by the Algonquins, but ransomed [Page 277] [10] and sent back to his own country by Monsieur our Governor.

The Devil, foreseeing that the peace would trouble — his kingdom, had striven to break it; but the Angel of the Church of God has kept it fast locked; he has brought to a happy conclusion that which has been desired for so many years with a confident humility, and a Christian patience.

The Annierronnon Iroquois have hunted with every liberty in the borders of the Algonquins, and. the latter have seen and received them with friendliness, and have conducted them to our settlements; there is no place in all these quarters where from time to time some Annierronnons have not been seen. Those who know the antipathy between these peoples and their frightful proneness to vengeance, regard it as a miracle whenever they see a friendly understanding between an Algonquin and an Iroquois.

It was written last year, how the Annierronnon Ambassadors, having negotiated with the French for a universal peace, had withdrawn to their own country in order to report the word and the voice of’ Onontio, — that is to say, the opinions of Monsieur, our Governor. The Frenchman who had long been a [11] captive in their country, accompanied them, with orders to be present in all their assemblies; here follows what he has observed therein.

Having left the French, they were eighteen days on the way; and, three days after their arrival in the country, the principal persons having assembled from various places, behaved in this manner:

Before those Ambassadors spoke, they were given a present, in order to soften the tones of their voices, [Page 279] so that the words of Onontio, which they had received by their ears, might issue without difficulty and without roughness from their lips. This gift made, the Frenchman, who has knowledge of their language, and those Ambassadors, displayed the presents with which they were charged, and then harangued to the satisfaction of all the people. Their speeches finished, the Captains also made other presents, to be conveyed to Onontio and to his confederates.

The first served as a bath in which those Ambassadors, fatigued from the journey, might refresh themselves; or as an ointment which would cure the wounds that the stones, the briars, and the thickets, encountered in so long a journey, might [12] have caused to their feet.

The second proclaimed that their war hatchet — according to the desire of Onontio, suspended in the air without finishing its blow until the answer of the Hurons and of the Algonquins — had lost its use; and that it had been thrown so far that not a man in the world could ever find it again, — that is, that, the Hurons and the Algonquins having entered into peace, the Annierronnons had no more arms except for the chase.

The fourth was a public token of the gratitude of all the villages of the Annierronnons, that Onontio had leveled the earth and united the hearts.

The fifth was an act of thanks to the same Onontio, whom they recognized as the common father of all those Nations, — giving him a thousand praises for having restored sense to the Algonquins, which no other had been able to do before him.

The sixth was a request which they submitted to him, that he should cause fires to be kindled in all the settlements of his government, so that all the Nations coming thither to warm themselves in safety, may listen to his voice and enjoy his friendship; and, in case there occurs some difference, that he be the umpire of the Iroquois, the Hurons, and the Algonquins.

These presents made, there was mention only of feasts, of dances, and of public rejoicings. They spent ten days in these balls and feasts, and then [14] they sent away the Frenchman with seven Ambassadors to convey those gifts, and to rejoice with the French and with their allies over the conclusion of peace.

These Ambassadors having reached, by land, the lake where they must embark, did not find their canoes or their boats of bark; some disaffected person or some thief had broken these, or carried them away; insomuch that they were constrained to retrace [Page 283] their steps, to provide for their journey. This return was an act of Heaven, which willed to give us proofs of the sincerity of the Annierronnon Iroquois; for, at the same time when the Frenchman entered their principal village, some Sokoquiois Ambassadors arrived, delegated by their nation, in order to break the peace between the Annierronnons and the Algonquins. Audience being given them, he who was spokesman harangued in these terms: “For a long time I have heard you say that the Algonquins were your irreconcilable enemies, and that you hated them even beyond the grave, — so that, if you could meet them in the other life, your war would be eternal. As we are [15] your allies, we enter into your passions and into your interests. Behold the heads of some whom we have massacred, and a cord which we present to you for the sake of binding with us as many of them as we possibly can.” Thereupon they present the scalps of the Christians of St. Joseph, — killed last Autumn, as I have said at the beginning of this Chapter, — and a great necklace of porcelain, which was to serve as irons to put them in chains.

The Iroquois answered, with indignation: “We are astonished at your boldness, or rather at your temerity; you cast shame on our faces; you make us pass for knaves. Onontio, with whom we have treated peace, is not a child; if we looked at you with favor, he would have reason to say, ‘The Annierronnons have not killed my allies, but it was done by their hatchets. I thought to deal with true men, and I have treated with deceivers and with knaves.’

“This is not all; the Algonquins, learning that the heads of their brothers are in our cabins, will cut off those of our [16] fellow countrymen who are in [Page 285] their country, — such would be the evil results of your temerity. Begone; hide these heads, take away these bonds; as we have but one heart, we desire but one tongue.”

If there is deceit in this act, it is more than very subtle; and it seems that reason invites these peoples to embrace the peace. God has given them a feeling that the demon of war, which had always favored them, was about to leave them; the resolution of some Algonquins and Hurons — who, having bravely fought toward the last, had taken some Iroquois captive — confirmed this idea. In the second place, as they are hunters, and as most of the animals are on the marches of the Algonquins, they have a great desire to shoot these at their ease and without fear. Indeed, they have not stinted themselves in this; for it is said that they have killed more than two thousand deer this winter.

Thirdly, the Annierronnon prisoner whom the Hurons had taken near Richelieu, and whom they had led away to their own country, having returned to his native land, has spoken highly of the French; he has given his countrymen to understand that if [17] Onontio lends a hand to the Hurons, the misfortune will fall on their own heads.

After all, the great God of hosts is the one and only author of this peace; I entreat him that he will be the preserver thereof. Our arguments were too limited in so great a barbarism; fury was too much kindled to be quelled or extinguished by human effort; and we candidly confess that if he who has made the peace does not preserve it, we have not enough skill to restrain the inconstancy of these Barbarians within firm bounds. [Page 287]

Jesus Christ wills to save certain ones of these peoples, and already sends his precursors or his forerunners, — pestilential diseases, afflictions, and death itself; these are scourges which humiliate souls, and which make them have recourse to him who has the power in hand. The Iroquois will credit us soon, and believe that the Magicians cause these misfortunes; but it would be a folly to seek another way than that of the Cross, to make known the grandeurs of the Crucified. [Page 289]

[18] CHAPTER II.

OF THE COMING OF SEVEN IROQUOIS AMBASSADORS TO

THE FRENCH, AND OF THEIR NEGOTIATIONS.

O

N the 22nd of February in this current year, 1646, seven Annierronnon Iroquois and two Hurons, accompanied by the Frenchman whom I have mentioned above, appeared at Montreal; after having rejoiced that settlement, they come down to the three Rivers, whence advice is sent to Monsieur our Governor of their coming. Now, as this journey had been made over the snows, and as the cold was still causing the ice to accumulate upon our great river, the Annierronnons went away to the chase, — some on this side, some beyond, — while waiting for the month of May, when Monsieur the Governor went up to that settlement.

On the seventh of that month, he gave them audience; here follows what occurred in that assembly.

The most considerable person, raising his voice, chanted [19] a song of thanksgiving. “We were dead,” said he, “and behold us alive; we were bringing our own heads to be sacrificed to the shades of the Algonquins or of the montagnais who were massacred last Autumn, — surely anticipating that we should be held guilty of that murder; but Onontio, staying the wrath of the Algonquins, has made our innocence manifest.” Thereupon they draw forth a gift, and cast it at the feet of the relatives and allies of the departed, — saying that it was to cleanse the [Page 291] place, all bloody, from a murder committed by treachery; and. protesting that they had had no knowledge of it until after the act was done, and that all the Captains of the country had condemned this, outrage.

It is the custom of the peoples of these countries, when some person of consideration among them is, dead, to dry the tears of his relatives by some present. This Captain having learned, on his arrival, of the death — no less glorious than sad — of Father Anne de Noüe of our Society, wished to observe the law of his country. He lifted his eyes to Heaven, as if complaining of its severity; then, turning [20] toward the black robes, he, threw down some Porcelain bracelets. “That,” said he, “is to warm again the place where, the cold has caused this good Father to die; put this little gift in your bosom, to divert yourself from the thoughts which might sadden you.”

They next offered the presents which had been confided to them in their own country, — which I have mentioned in the preceding Chapter, — betokening their joy to see themselves united and allied to the French, the Hurons, and the Algonquins, who are the three most considerable Nations with which they have negotiated peace, — all the others being comprised under these three most important. They made some other presents to the Hurons, in order to give them warning to be on their guard in the roads, until the upper Iroquois — the Onontagueronons, the Sonontweronons, and some others — should have their ears pierced, — that is to say, open to the benignity of peace.

In short, they offered a brasse of Porcelain to [Page 293] kindle a council fire at three Rivers, and a great necklace of three thousand beads to serve as Wood, or fuel for this fire. The Savages hold scarcely any assembly without the calumet filled with tobacco [21] in their mouths; and, as fire is necessary to the use of tobacco, they nearly always kindle fires at all their assemblies, — insomuch that it is the same thing with them to light a council fire, or to keep a place suitable for assembling, or a house for visiting one another, as do relatives and friends.

Two days after this assembly, Monsieur our Governor, very prudently adapting himself to the usages among these peoples, sent for those deputies; he dealt with them according to their customs; the Hurons who were there, and the Algonquins, did not fail to be present.

The Frenchman who understands the Iroquois language offered a gift on behalf of Onontio, to congratulate the Annierronnon Iroquois, and in token of the esteem in which he held their nation for having kept its word.

He made another, to signify the satisfaction that ~ he received on seeing the earth leveled, and the hatchet lifted and removed from the heads of the Hurons and the Algonquins; for, as regards the French, their peace was made from the time of the first interview.

In the third place, he offered a necklace of [22] a thousand Porcelain beads, for assurance that he would keep lighted that council fire which they had requested at three Rivers, and that the fuel should not fail for it, — that is to say, that they would always be welcome, and that hearing would be. given to the Captains who should come to treat of affairs. [Page 295]

A fourth present was made, to give them to understand that Onontio desired to see the little Frenchman who alone had remained a prisoner in their country.

And a fifth, for causing the return of his daughter, named Therese, so that she might prepare Indian corn in their fashion, to feast them when they should wish to visit us.

Mention has often been made, in the Relations, of this girl: she is a Huron, who, having been instructed at the Seminary of the Ursulines, was captured by the Iroquois, with her relatives, when the latter were taking her back to her own country. The Ursuline Mothers — not being able to endure that this poor little creature should remain in that captivity, remote from all the helps which could open for her the gates of salvation — have spared no pains, and have moved Heaven and earth to procure her liberty.

[23] Monsieur our Governor, approving this great zeal and this great charity, has lost no opportunity for releasing her from that slavery, and of coöperating in the matter with all his power.

Tesouëhat, — called by the Hurons and the Iroquois, Ondesson; and by the French, le Borgne of the Isle, — seeing that our Interpreter spoke no more, chanted a rather lugubrious song; then, lifting his eyes to Heaven, prayed the Sun to be a spectator and to serve as witness of all that occurred in this action, and with his light to make evident the sincerity of his heart and of his intentions. Again he chanted another song; and then, raising his voice, he harangued in the name of all the Algonquins, whose words he conveyed. The first was a protestation [Page 297] that a breach of the peace would not proceed from his side; and, in token of this truth, he presented two robes of Elk skins, — adding, that he had some distrust of the Annierronnons, which he wished to banish by this gift.

The second gift was also of two robes, on which those Ambassadors were to repose themselves, in order to be refreshed from the toil of their journey. [24] The third conveyed a humble prayer to Onontio, that he should not walk all alone in safety within the roads which he had leveled and broken; but that this happiness should also be common to the Algonquins and to the Hurons. In a word, this man, utterly distrustful and suspicious, was afraid that the French might make their peace in private, without troubling themselves about the Savages, their allies.

The fourth gift gave assurance that the Algonquins had also laid down their arms, and thrown their hatchets into a land unknown to all men. The fifth requested that no false alarms be given; that the chase be everywhere free; that the landmarks and the boundaries of all those great countries be raised; and that each one should find himself everywhere in his own country.

The sixth assured the Annierronnons that they could freely come to warm themselves at the fire which Onontio had kindled for them at three Rivers; that the Algonquins and the Iroquois would smoke there with pleasure, and that their pipes or their calumets would not burn, — that is to say, that fear would cause no one to tremble there. All these [25] gifts were each composed of two Elk robes, handsomely painted and well trimmed in their fashion.

The last included twelve of these beautiful robes, [Page 299] four for each of the three villages of the Annierronnons, entreating those tribes to give liberty to the ‘children of the Algonquins, or even to the adult persons who should still be in their country; with assurances that the fat would not be spared for the stomachs of those who should lead them back, and that they would find ointments with which to anoint their heads, — in a word, he meant that they would be given good cheer, and that their trouble would be amply rewarded.

These gifts accepted, Kioutsaeton, principal Ambassador of the Annierronnons, addressing the Hurons, made them a present of thanksgiving because they had done no harm to the Annierronnon prisoners whom they had taken the year before. He told them, parenthetically, that they would have done well to distribute those prisoners among the other Iroquois nations, their allies; that they would have obliged them, by this deference, to engage in a universal peace; that, in course of time, they might [26] obtain this good fortune, but that they should still beware of them upon their journeys.

He made them a second present, to invite them to prepare a feast for the Annierronnons, who would go to visit them in their country as their true friends; saying that if these delayed for some time, the Hurons should eat what they might have prepared, on condition of immediately setting the pot back on the fire, for fear of being surprised, since his people were making ready for this journey.

On the thirteenth of the same month of May, Monsieur our Governor entertained these Deputies in the cabin of an Algonquin Captain. Two speeches were conveyed to them by two gifts; the first was only an [Page 301] expression of thanks because they had not been willing to accept the heads or the scalps of his allies from the Sokoquiois.

The second indicated to them that he had resolved to send two Frenchmen into their country, and that they would probably start in three days. This made the Algonquins resolve to give them two of their nation, to be of the party.

The conclusion of these assemblies was always marked by public rejoicings; [27] but those who penetrated deeper than the bark admired the conduct of God, and gave him a thousand blessings for his kindnesses; for it must be acknowledged that to him alone it belongs to give force to the winds, to change poison into medicine, sickness into health, death into life, and the fury of war into the mildness of peace. May his goodness grant this blessing to our France. [Page 303]

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA: VOL. XXVIII

LV

For particulars of this document, see Vol. XXVII.

LVI

In presenting the text of Father Isaac Jogues’s description of New Netherland, called NOUUM BELGIUM from the form of its endorsement, we follow the original manuscript preserved in the archives of St. Mary’s College, Montreal. The history of this document’s preservation is most interesting. John Gilmary Shea gave a partial account of its pedigree in Collections of the New York Historical Society (2nd ser., vol. iii., part i.), which we are enabled to elaborate through the kindness of Rev. Arthur E. Jones, S.J., archivist of St. Mary’s.

Father Jean Joseph Casot, the last of the old race of the Jesuits of the French colony, who died March 16, 1800, seeing that his order was about “to expire by the enactments of the English conquerors, which prevented their receiving new members, wished to save for Catholicity at least a few of the most valuable of the papers in the archives.” He, therefore, having made a selection, placed them in the custody of the Augustine nuns of the Hotel Dieu, at Quebec. There they remained until 1843, when they were restored to the Society, being entrusted to the Rev. Felix Martin, then superior of the Jesuits [Page 305] in Canada, and founder of St. Mary’s College, Montreal.

Father Martin presented the regents of the University of the State of New York with a transcript of the original French manuscript of the NOUUM BELGIUM, accompanying it with an English translation; and this translation was used in the Documentary History of the State of New-York, vol. iv. (Albany, 1851) — see the octave edition, pp. 21-24; and the quarto edition, pp. 15-17. This was the document’s first appearance in print, in any form.

In 1852, Father Martin printed the French text for the first time in the appendix (pp. 306-309) to his translation of Bressani’s Italian Relation of 1653.

In 1857, a new translation appeared in the Collections of the New York Historical Society, 2nd ser., vol. iii., part i., pp. 215-219, among the “Jogues Papers. Translated and arranged, with a memoir by John Gilmary Shea.” In 1856, while the above volume was in press, a separate edition of the “Jogues Papers” (pp. 69) was struck off, apparently for Dr. Shea’s use.

In 1862, Dr. Shea issued in a privately-printed volume another translation, which varies somewhat from all predecessors. It collates as follows: Novum Belgium: | an | Account of New Netherland | in 1643-4. | By Rev. Father Isaac Jogues, | of the Society of Jefus. | With a Facfimile of his Original Manufcript | his Portrait a Map and Notes by John | Gilmary Shea. | [Cut with storks] | New York: | Privately Printed, | 1862.

Quarto; title, with verso blank, I leaf; “Preface,” with verso blank, I leaf; “Sketch of the Life of Father Isaac Jogues,” pp. 5-16; facsimile of the Jogues [Page 306] manuscript, four unnumbered leaves; printed text, pp. 9-21; p, 22 blank; translation, pp. 23-35; p. 36 blank; notes, pp. 37-53, with the verso of p. 53 blank; coat-of-arms, etc., with verso blank, I leaf. The plates, etc., are: (I) Portrait frontispiece of Jogues; (2) Autograph of Jogues, bet. sig. Aij and Aiij; (3) Facsimile of De Laet’s map; (4) View of New Amsterdam, from Montanus. The impression of the printed text (pp. 9-21) is the same as that of the following. It will be noticed, in the facsimile of the original MS., given in the edition just described, that the endorsement — apparently in Jogues’s own handwriting — reads: “Nouum Belgium | 1644 | a p Is Jogues.” The MS. takes its name in bibliography from this endorsement; the date, however, is misleading, for Jogues’s experience in New Amsterdam was only in 1643, although at the close of his account (written in 1646) he, cursorily, alludes to events occurring in 1644.

Dr. Shea’s Cramoisy series of Relations (1857-1868), though not having a series numbering, is, nevertheless, usually treated so for the sake of convenience. According to the form usually adopted, the Novum Belgium is numbered 16 in the series. It was printed on both large and small paper, and limited to one hundred copies. A collation follows: Novum Belgium, | description de | Nieuw Netherland | et | Notice sur René Goupil. | Par le R. P. Isaac Jogues, | de la Compagnie de Jéfus. | [Cut with storks] | A New York, dans l’Ancien New [sic] Netherland, | Prefer Cramoisy de J. M. Shea. | 1862.

Title, with certification (of copies printed) on the verso, I leaf; contents, with verso blank, I leaf; text of Novum Belgium, pp. 9-21; p. 22 blank;. [Page 307] notice of René Goupil, pp. 23-44. Facsimile of DeLaet’s map of “Nova Anglia, Novvm Belgivm et Virginia.”

The French text of Novum Belgium, annotated, is also to be found in Martin’s life of Jogues, where it forms appendix H, and covers pp. 344-350. There are two issues of this biography, one with the imprint: “Paris | Joseph Albanel, Libraire | 7, Rue Honoré-Chevalier, | 1873;” and the other: “Quebec | Ovide Frechette, Libraire | 43, Côte de la Montagne, 43 | 1874.” The Paris edition has a portrait of Jogues and five plates, which are not in the Quebec edition. Both issues are exactly alike, from the “Avant-propos” (pp. v-xi) to the end of the volume (p. 352), and are from the same type. They vary in that the Quebec copy has a new half-title and a new title-page, and the verso of the half-title shows that these were printed at “Paris. — Imprimerie Jules Le Clere et C^ie, Rue Cassette, 29.” Other editions of Novum Belgium have, of course, since appeared in print.

LVII

In the Collections of the New York Historical Society (and ser., vol. iii., part i., p. 221), Dr. Shea gives a letter of Father Jogues to his superior, dated “Montreal, April, 1646,” in which the missionary says: “I owe your Reverence the account of the ‘Capture and death of good René Goupil,’ which I should have sent already. If the bearer of this give [sic] me time, I will send it along.” The Notice SW René Goupil here reproduced, is the account thus promised.

The history of the original MS. of this interesting document is identical with that of the Novum Belgium, [Page 308] already given (see LVI., above) — having been entrusted to the nuns of Quebec by Father Casot, and restored to the Jesuit order by the nuns in 1843. An English translation of the Notice, by Shea, was given in the volume of New York Historical Society Collections, above cited, pp. 221-257.

It was also given in the separate edition of the Jogues Papers (see data under LVI.) with this title: “Narrative of a Captivity among the Mohawk Indians, a description of New Netherland in 1642-3, and other Papers By Father Isaac Jogues, of the Society of Jesus, With a Memoir of the Author, by John Gilmary Shea. New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother. 1856;” also with the imprint: “New York: Press of the Historical Society. 1856.”

The French edition bears the following title: “Novum Belgium, | description de | Nieuw Netherland | et | Notice sur René Goupil. | Par le R. P. Isaac Jogues, | de la Compagnie de Jefus. | [Cut with storks] | A New York, dans l’Ancien Niew [sic] Netherland, | Preffe Cramoify de J. M. Shea; | 1862.” The account of Goupil covers pp. 23-44. For more complete details, see LVI. above.

LVIII

The original of this letter from Jogues to Father André Castillon (dated Montreal, September 12, 1646), rests in the archives of the Jesuit Province of Lyons, France, having first been published in Rochemonteix’s Jésuites et la Nouvelle-France, ii., pp. 450-452. We follow Rochemonteix.

LIX

For bibliographical particulars of the Journal des Jésuites, see Vol. XXVII. [Page 309]

LX

In reprinting the Relation of 1645-46 (Paris, 1647), we follow the text of the original Cramoisy edition, from a copy in Lenox Library. This copy is interesting from association — for it bears on the title-page the autograph of “Robert Southey 20 May 1817. Paris.” Our title-page is a facsimile of the copy in the possession of the Wisconsin State Historical Society.

The “Priuilege” is dated “Paris le 6. Decembre 1646,” and the “Permiffion” “Paris ce 8. Ianuier 1647.” This Relation consists of two parts, both of which are addressed to the provincial, Estienne Charlet. Part I. is Jerome Lalemant’s regular New France Relation; and part II. is the Huron Relation from May, 1645 to May, 1646, signed “Paul Ragneav,” and dated “Des Hurons ce I. May 1646.” The volume is generally referred to as “H. 86,” because described in Harrisse’s Notes, no. 86. His description, however, is not precise.

Collation: Sig. ã in four (consisting of one blank leaf; title, with verso blank, I leaf; “Table des Chapitres,” pp. (2); and “Priuilege,” with “Permifion” on the verso, I leaf; prefatory epistle by Lalemant to Part I., pp. 1-6; text of Part I., pp. 7-184; title to Part II., with verso blank, I leaf; epistle by Ragueneau, and text to Part II., pp. 3-128.

Peculiarities: All copies examined have but one case of mispagination; namely, in Part II., where p. 25 is numbered 33. In the Lenox copy from which we reprint, the sentence in Montagnais commencing on line 10 of p. 176, in Part I., begins: “Tapoué Nama Nitirinifin;” but in another copy in that [Page 310] Library, formerly George Bancroft’s, this sentence begins: “Tap de Nama.” Evidently the latter is the earlier impression, in which “oué” of “Tapoué” was thought to be “de.” Otherwise, typographically and textually, the two volumes are identical.

Copies of H. 86 have been sold or priced as follows: Harrassowitz (1882), priced at 160 marks; O’Callaghan (1882), no. 1224, sold to the Library of Parliament, Canada, for $24, and had cost him $32.50 in gold; Barlow (1890), no. 1291, sold for $10; Dufossé, of Paris, priced (1891 and 1892) at 225 and 175 francs, respectively; Lenox duplicate, sold April 29, 1895, by Bangs & Co., New York City, to Dodd, Mead & Co., for $35, and was priced by them in their list of April, 1896, no. 42, at $50. Copies in collections: Lenox (two variations), Harvard, Wisconsin State Historical Society, New York State Library, Lava1 University (Quebec), Brown (private), Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris), and British Museum.

[Page 311]

NOTES TO VOL.

(Figures in parentheses, following the number of note, refer to pages of English text.)

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[*] We have not been able to find this map. [Rochemonteix.]

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[1] (p. 25). — This ecclesiastic (vol. xxv., note 9) was a member of the commercial company that controlled the trade of Miscou.

[2] (p. 105). — Both these names, Maurice and Nassau, were given to the Hudson River, at that early day, in honor of Prince Maurice of Nassau (1567-1625), the celebrated Dutch general.

[3] (p. 107). — For information regarding the West India Company, see vol. xxi., note 20. Shea, in his privately-printed edition of Novum Belgium (see Bibliographical Data in this volume), states (1862) that “the papers of the West India Company were but a few years since sold as waste paper.”

[4] (p. 109). — Mnistes: apparently an abbreviation of Mennonistes, modernized as Mennonites, — the followers of Simon Menno, who organized them in 1535 as an independent body, though really one of the branches of the great Protestant reformation of that time, They believed in the personal coming and reign of Christ upon earth for a thousand years; opposed infant baptism; and regarded war, capital punishment, and the taking of oaths as unlawful. Persecuted in Germany and Switzerland in the 16th century, many of this sect fled to Holland, where their co-religionists were already numerous; and not a few found new homes in the Dutch foreign colonies. The Mennonites are, at the present day, a large body; many of them have formed flourishing colonies in the Western States of America, — largely driven hither by persecution in their native lands, especially in Russia.

[5] (p. 109). — In regard to the conditions of settlement in New Netherlands, cf. N. Y. Colon. Docs., vol. i., p. 114; and O’Callaghan’s New Netherland, vol. i., p. 206.

[6] (p. 109). — Fresh River: thus named by the Dutch explorer, Adrien Block (1614). Connecticut is a corruption of the aboriginal name, Quinnehtukgut, meaning “land on the long tidal river.” (Trumbull, Ind. Names, p. 60). [Page 313]

[7] (p. 109). — This “South River” was, even then, also known as the Delaware, — a name applied to the bay by Argall, in 1610, in compliment to the first governor of Virginia, although these waters were discovered by Hendrik Hudson in the preceding year. The river was first explored in 1616, by Hendrickson, a Dutch captain. The first settlement was made by the Dutch. in 1623, at Fort Nassau near the site of the present Gloucester, N. J. Three years later, Gustavus Adolphus granted to a Swedish company (organized mainly by William Usselinex) a charter for lands in this region; but it was not until 1638 that they sent colonists thither. In that year, a Swedish settlement was made at Fort Christina, on the site of the present Wilmington, Del.

[8] (p. 109). — Jogues here refers to the French edition of De Laet (Leyden, 1640), and, therein, to chapters treating of New Belgium, — vii., x,, and xi., of book iii. At the beginning of De Laet’s volume is an extensive “Table des Chapitres qui sont contenus en chaque Livre;” this, no doubt, is “la table” mentioned by Jogues. — V. H. Paltsits.

[9] (p. 111). — Concerning this settlement and fort, see vol. xxiv., note 22.

[10] (p. 113). — Wolves: see vol. xxvi., note 4.

[11] (p. 137). — For sketch of Bourdon, see vol. xi., note 11.

[12] (p. 143). — Jean Bonnet — a member of the Jesuit order. 1599-1654. and rector at Saintes — wrote Image Sacrée de la vie et de la doctrine de Jésus-Christ (Poitiers, 1634).

Jeremias Drexel was born at Augsburg, Aug. 15, 1581. When barely seventeen, he became a Jesuit novice, and studied at Augsburg and Dillingen. During twenty-three years he was court preacher for the Elector of Bavaria, and died at Munich, Apr. 19, 1638. He was a prolific writer of religious works; among these, was De Æternitate Considerationes (Munich, 1620). which went through numerous editions, and was translated into eight languages.

[13] (p. 143). — The telescope was invented about 1609, by Jakob Metzu, of Alkmaer, Holland, whence it was called lunette de Holland. The appellation given in our text, lunette de Galilée, arose from its use by Galileo, who mentions the instrument in his Nuncius sydereus (1610); he made one for himself, after the model of Metzu’s, in order to examine the motions of Jupiter’s satellites. — Felice’s Encyclopédie (Yverdon, 1773), t. xxvi., pp. 727, 728.

[14] (p. 143). — This was Marguerite Langlois, wife of the pilot Abraham Martin, from whom the “Plains of Abraham” derive their name. Marguerite was probably a relative of the Norman pilot Noël Langlois, one of the early settlers in Canada. Martin had ten [Page 314] children — all, save one, girls. One of these, Helene, was the first wife of the explorer Chouart des Groseilliers (note 32, post).

[15] (p. 147). — This was Jacques Maheu, a native of Perche, who came to Quebec before 1639. The Journal mentions him, in this same month as aiding Marsolet in arousing discontent among the habitants; and, in 1659-61, as engaged in the cod-fishery on the Gaspé coast.

[16] (p. 151). — Following is the translation of the Latin passage in the text:

“When these things were reported by us — that is, by me and Father de Quen — to Monsieur the Governor, he himself disclosed to us the whole matter, thus: Last summer, when the Annieronon envoys came with Cousture to treat for peace, after they had discussed and transacted many things in public, they demanded — their leader being a man named le crochet [‘the hook’] — that Monsieur the Governor would consent to talk with them in a private conference. This man thought that a considerable present should be made to Monsieur the Governor, that, if he desired peace for both himself and the Hurons, he should abandon the Algonquins without shelter. When Onontio was informed of this, he would not even look at any such present, nor would he suffer it to be delivered; and he said that the thing was impossible. Le crochet was chagrined at this repulse, and from that time the peace seemed to be endangered. Monsieur the Governor saw this; and both Father Vimont, the superior, and Father le Jeune thought that the difficulty might be smoothed over. In a 2nd private conference, — at which, as at the former, were present Monsieur the Governor, le Crochet, and Cousture, — Monsieur the Governor said that there were two kinds of Algonquins, — one like ourselves, recognized as Christians; the other, unlike us. Without the former, it is certain, we do not make a peace; as for the latter, they themselves are the masters of their own actions, nor are they united with us like the others. This, as uttered by Monsieur the Governor, was, and perhaps for a worse reason, thus repeated by the envoy to his own people, — which, being understood by all the Annieronons in his country, was made public by such of them as left it, sed merito, denied by the french.”

[17] (p. 153). — Mathurin Gagnon, with his brothers Jean and Pierre, settled at Chateau-Richer, probably by 1640. From them, according to Sulte, “have sprung innumerable families, who have spread into all regions where Canadians are found.” Among these are, in the present generation, several men of prominence in Canadian literature and public affairs.

[18] (p. 155). — Pierre Boucher, a native of Perche (1622), came [Page 315] with his father’s family to Canada in 1634. He spent the years 1639-41 in the service of the Jesuits, in their Huron missions, and four years more as a soldier of the Quebec garrison; and, in 1645, became an interpreter at Three Rivers. From that time, he secured rapid promotion, occupying many important positions in business and in public affairs, — notably that of governor of Three Rivers (1653-58, and 1662-67). In 1661, Boucher was ennobled; and, in the same year, he went to France, in order to represent there the enfeebled condition of the Canadian colonies, and their urgent need of aid. He was partially successful, returning the next year with 200 colonists and 100 soldiers, and having awakened in France renewed interest in the Canadian enterprise. It was for this purpose, and at the king’s request, that Boucher undertook to write his Histoire véritable (vol. viii., of this series, note 3), a sketch of the natural resources of Canada. In 1667, retiring from the governorship of Three Rivers, he settled upon his estate at Boucherville, and devoted his energies to the improvement and colonization of this and other lands in which he had an interest. He died in 1717, aged 95, leaving a numerous family. Boucher’s first wife was an Indian girl, educated at the Ursuline convent; her death soon left him a childless widower. He then married (1652) Jeanne Crevier, by whom he had sixteen children. Most of the particulars here given are obtained from Sulte’s excellent paper, “Pierre Boucher et son livre,” Canad. Roy. Soc. Proc., 1897, vol. ii., sect. i., pp. 99-168. This is a reprint of the Hist vérit., accompanied by a biographical sketch of Boucher, and bibliographical notice of his book.

Toussaint Toupin, here mentioned, was husband of Boucher’s sister Marguerite, and “an influential citizen of Quebec” (Sulte): he was an ancestor of the noted Charles de Langlade.

[19] (p. 167). — Gabriel Duclos de Celles. sieur de Sailly, spent the winter of 1645-46 at Quebec, but apparently removed thence to Montreal, where he married (1652) Barbe Poisson. He was a judge, in both civil and criminal affairs, and was granted lands in 1654.

[20] (p. 173). — Reference is evidently here made to the Indian François Xavier Nenaskoumat, one of the original two settlers at the Sillery reduction, who died in 1639; but it is difficult to explain why he should also be named Boulé, — unless, possibly, on account of some special circumstance connecting him with a Frenchman of that name. Tanguay (Dict. Généal.) mentions one François Boulé, “located at Sillery,” whose infant child was buried at Three Rivers, Jan. 31, 1639. In a document dated Feb. 8, 1652, one of this name is mentioned among the landholders near Cap Rouge; he was slain there by the Iroquois in June, 1653. Both references may be to the same person. Nenaskoumat’s surname may, with more probability, [Page 316] be connected with François Boulle, mentioned as “one of our domestics,” in the Sillery baptismal register (vol. xx,, note 10), which states that he was (June 24, 1639) godfather to an Indian boy baptized there.

[21] (p. 185). — “This paragraph ends with the following sentence, which has been crossed off, probably by Father Jerome himself: ‘But, this rule having proved difficult of observance to our Brother Claude, we were obliged to set it aside, and to continue in these matters the practice customary in our Company.’” — Queb. ed. of Journ. p. 43, note.

[22] (p. 187). — For sketch of Massé see vol. i., note 39. The monument to his memory, there mentioned, was unveiled June 25, 1870. In a private note to the Editor, Crawford Lindsay, of Quebec, thus describes it: “The monument, plain but elegant, is about twenty feet in height, and stands within an enclosure. It is of cut stone, with four marble tablets, surmounted by a marble crown. One of the tablets bears the following inscription (in French): ‘The inhabitants of Sillery have erected this monument to the Memory of Pierre Enemond Massé, S. J., first missionary in Canada, — buried in 1646, in the church of Saint Michel, on the Domain of Saint Joseph of Sillery.’ On another tablet is inscribed: ‘The Church of Saint Michel, which formerly stood on this spot, was built by the Commander of Sillery, founder (in 1637) of the Saint Joseph Domain.’ Facing the monument, and on the opposite side of the road, stands the building occupied by the Jesuit missionaries. It is a two-story house, with very thick walls, and is still in very good condition; it is occupied by a family.”

[23] (p. 191). — M. le prieur: René Chartier, chaplain of the Ursulines (vol. xxiii., note 17).

[24] (p. 201). — “The Jesuit Fathers had their cattle-pen at Point aux Lievres, at the place where now stands the Marine Hospital, opposite Notre Dame des Anges.” — Queb. ed. of Journ., p. 51, note 2.

[25] (p. 203). — Thomas Hayot, a native of Perche, connected by marriage with the family of Pierre Boucher (note 18, ante), was farmer of the Jesuit lands at Beauport; he came to Canada probably about 1637. The Journal mentions him (August, 1653) as deputy from Cap Rouge for the election of a syndic. Numerous families trace their origin to him.

[26] (p. 203). — The bridegroom in this marriage was Antoine Martin, nicknamed “Montpeliier” from his birthplace, the city of that name in France. He married Denise, daughter of Charles Sevestre — a native of Paris, who had come to Quebec about 1635; [Page 317] he died there in 1657, Martin died two years later, leaving six children; his widow, in less than three months, married Philip Nepveu, by whom she had eleven children.

[27] (p. 211). — For information concerning lands belonging to Jesuits, see: Three Rivers, vol. iv., note 24; Notre Dame des Anges, vi., note 7; St. Gabriel, vi., note 8; Sillery, vii., note 22, and ix., note 32; Caughnawaga, xii., note 11; Isle of Orleans, xviii., note 1; Batiscan and Cap de la Madeleine, xxv., note 9.

[28] (p. 223). — Our Lady of the Snows: an ancient feast in the Roman Catholic Church, celebrated on the fifth day of August. It originated thus: A wealthy Roman patrician, named John, prayed for Divine enlightenment on the best way to spend his money. The Virgin appeared to him in a dream, telling him to build in her honor a church on Mount Esquiline, at a spot where he would next day find the ground covered with snow. This sign being given, although the heat of summer prevailed, John erected at this place the church of St. Mary Major, which, several times rebuilt, is now one of the great basilicas of Rome. This miraculous event took place under Pope Liberius, in the fourth century A. D.; and August 5, the day of its occurrence, is commemorated as “the day of Our Lady of the Snows.” — T. E. Hamel.

The church of St. Mary Major is thus named because it is, both in antiquity and dignity, the first church in Rome among those that are dedicated to God in honor of the Virgin Mary. It was consecrated under the title of the Virgin Mary by Sixtus III., about the year 435. It is also called St. Mary ad Nives (“at the Snows”). — Butler’s Lives of the Saints, vol. iii., p. 322.

[29] (p. 223). — Adrien Daran, a spiritual coadjutor of the Jesuit order, was born at Rouen, Sept. 9, 1615, and became a novice at the age of twenty, at Paris. His studies were pursued at Clermont and Rouen, his term as instructor being spent at Nevers and Alenpon. Coming to Canada in 1646, he spent two years in the French settlements on the St. Lawrence, and, in August, 1648, was sent to the Huron country. Upon the ruin of that mission, in the following year, it would appear that Daran went with the fugitive Huron Christians to their new residence on Christian Island, and accompanied them on their subsequent flight to Quebec (June-July, 1650). Daran returned to France in the following September; he spent a year at Alençon, and the rest of his life at Vannes, where he died in 1670.

[30] (p. 223). — Charles Amador de la Tour, at the age of fourteen, was brought from Paris by his father, Claude, who settled in Acadia, near Poutrincourt (vols. i.-ii., of this series). Upon the [Page 318] destruction of the French establishments by Argall (1613), Charles took refuge, with his friend Biencourt, among the Souriquois Indians; and the latter, when dying (1623), appointed Charles his successor in command of the few Acadian posts they had established after the departure of the English, and in his rights at Port Royal. These were not disturbed until 1627, when Kirk seized Port Royal in the name of Sir William Alexander (vol. iv., note 46). La Tour, however, retained an estate and a fort near Cape Sable; and in 1632, when Acadia was restored to France, Razilly appointed him one of his lieutenants, the other being Charles d’ Aulnay (vol. viii., note. 2). After Razilly’s death (1635), quarrels arose between these officers, owing to conflicting interests and authority; D’ Aulnay had the greater influence at the French court, and obtained (1641) a royal order revoking La Tour’s commission, and commanding him to return to France. This he refused to do; and, as he was of Huguenot birth, he endeavored to secure aid from the Protestant English of Boston. This, however, they declined to give, further than to allow him (1643) to hire soldiers and purchase supplies at his own expense. With these, La Tour returned to his fort at the mouth of St. John River (N. B.), and drove away D’Aulnay, who was besieging the place. The latter again attacked the fort (apparently in the spring of 1646), which, though valiantly defended by Madame de la Tour in her husband’s absence, was captured, — D’Aulnay treacherously putting to death the entire garrison, notwithstanding his promise to spare their lives; and the lady is said to have died soon afterward from grief. This disaster compelled La Tour to take refuge in Canada, where he seems to have remained till about 1651.

[31] (p. 227). — This refers to the statement in the Journal, in October preceding (vol. xxvii., p. 89), that a sum of money had been set apart by the habitants for the erection of a church and clergyhouse for the Jesuits.

[32] (p. 229). — Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers, from Brie, in France, was born in 1621 (according to Tanguay; but 1625, Sulte). He came to Three Rivers in 1641, and, later, spent some time in the Huron country. (Sulte claims that, in 1645, Chouart was sent to the Lake Superior region by the Jesuits, in whose service he was.) Returning thence (August, 1646, as mentioned in our text), he became, at first, a soldier in the Quebec garrison, and then a pilot on the St. Lawrence; and, a year later, he married Helene, daughter of Abraham Martin. She died in 1651, leaving a son; and, in 1653, he took for his second wife Marguerite, sister of his friend Radisson. These two adventurous men made various important explorations together, to the west and north, and were the original promoters of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Regarding the first of [Page 319] these voyages, there has been much uncertainty and discussion; the subject is exhaustively considered in Campbell’s “Radisson and Groseilliers,” Parkman Club Pubs., no. 2 (Milw., 1896). He adduces much evidence to show that these two Frenchmen were the nameless explorers mentioned in the Jesuit Relation of 1656, who spent the two preceding years in the regions about Lakes Michigan and Superior, bringing back much information about the Indian tribes therein. They again journeyed westward, in the summer of 1639, and spent the winter near Lake Pepin, among the Sioux tribes then located southwest of Lake Superior. On this voyage, they gained information which led them to plan further explorations northward; and, after several unsuccessful attempts to secure aid for this enterprise, they finally obtained ships and men from Charles II of England, in the spring of 1668. Radisson’s ship was driven back by a storm, but that of Groseilliers succeeded in reaching Hudson’s Bay, the objective point of this expedition. In consequence, an English fort was established that year, at the mouth of Rupert’s River; and, in the following year, Radisson took possession of Port Nelson in the name of the English king. Another result of these explorations was the formation (1670) of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Radisson and Groseilliers remained at Hudson’s Bay till 1673, in the employ of the English; and would seem then to have gone to France. Five years later, they returned to Canada, and Groseilliers remained for a time with his family at Three Rivers. In 1681, the two friends commanded another expedition to Hudson’s Bay, this time to establish a French post there; but, two years later, they returned to Europe, and were induced by the English to reenter the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Radisson went back to the Bay, and spent several years there; but Groseilliers apparently remained and died in England. By his second wife, he had five children.

[33] (p. 233). — Amable Defretat came to Canada in September, 1646: he remained but one year, probably at Quebec and Sillery; and in September, 1647, he was sent back to France.

[34] (p. 243). — This was the widow of Jean Nicolet (vol. viii., note 29), and daughter of Guillaume Couillard (vol. xii., note 27). She married Nicolas Macart (Macard), nicknamed “Champagne,” from his native province. He came to Canada before 1640, and lived at Quebec, where at one time he was agent for the habitants. His daughters made excellent marriages, and his youngest son became a member of the Sovereign Council. Macart died in October, 1659.

[35] (p. 251). — Le sit: probably Le Cid of Corneille, which had been first represented in Paris about ten years before.

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FACSIMILE OF HANDWRITING OF ISAAC JOGUES, S.J..NOVUM BELGIVM BY KOORD

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