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

Thom Mentrak

Historical Interpreter at Ste. Marie Among The Iroquois

Vol. XXXVI

lower canada, abenakis:

1650 - 1651

CLEVELAND: The Burrows Brothers

Company, PUBLISHERS, M DCCC XCVIII

¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯

 

EDITORIAL STAFF

Editor Reuben Gold Thwaites

| Finlow Alexander [French]

| Percy Favor Bicknell [French]

| John Cutler Covert [French]

| William Frederic Giese [Latin]

Translators. | Crawford Lindsay [French]

| Mary Sifton Pepper [French & Italian]

| William Price [French]

| Hiram Allen Sober [French]

| John Dorsey Wolcott [Latin]

Assistant Editor Emma Helen Blair

Bibliographical Adviser Victor Hugo Paltsits

 

CONTENTS OF VOL. XXXVI
Preface To Volume XXXVI				9
Document:—
LXXIV.	Relation de ce qvi s'est . . . . passé en la Nouuelle France, depuis l'Estéde l'année 1649.Jusques a l'Esté de l'année 1650.[Chap. xiii. to close of document.] Paul Ragueneau, Kebec, September 1, 1650; Hierosme Lalemant, n.p., [1651];. Marie de St. Bonaventure, Kebec, September 29, 1650.		19
LXXV.	Lettre au T. R. P. General de la Compagnie de Jesus, a Rome. Messieurs les Associesde la Compagnie de la Nouvelle France, Paris, June, 1651.		68
LXXVI.	Epistola ad Joannem Winthrop, Scutarium. Gabriel Druillettes, n.p.,[1651].		74
LXXVII.	Narré du Voyage et des connaissances tiréz de la Nouvelle Angleterre. Gabriel Dreuillettes, n.p., [1651]		82
LXXVIII.	Journal des PP. Jesuites. . . . . . Paul Ragueneau, Quebec, January - December, 1651		112
LXXIX..	Relation de ce qvi s'est passé en la Novvelle France, es annees 1650. & 1651. [Chaps. i. - iii.] Paul Ragueneau, Quebec, October 28, 1651		151
BlBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA: VOLUME XXXV			233
Notes			237

[page 7]

ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. XXXVI
I.	Photographic facsimile of handwriting of Gabriel Druillettes; selected from a MS.Written after 1653, and preserved in the archives of St. Mary's College, Montreal.	Facing 82
II.	Photographic facsimile of p. 89, Journal des Jésuites (Sept. - Oct., 1651); original in library of Laval University, Quebec.	Facing 138
III.	Photographic facsimile of title-page, Relation of 1650 — 51	154

PREFACE TO VOL. XXXVI

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

LXXIV. The main part of the Relation of 1649 - 50 is by Ragueneau, the new superior, supplemented by a letter from Jerome Lalemant, and, in the second edition, by another from the mother superior of the Hospital nuns. The first twelve chapters of Ragueneau ' s Relation were given in Vol . XXXV.; we now publish the thirteenth, and last, chapter by Ragueneau, and the two supplemental letters, thus concluding the document.

In his final chapter, Ragueneau narrates the experiences of an Iroquois who had been captured, in 1645, by a band of Hurons; they presented him to Montmagnì, who sent him back to his own country. Having again been taken prisoner, he is sent to France, as mentioned in the Journal des Jésuites (October, 1649). His sojourn there is short; unused to the ways of civilization, he is carried away by a fever. But his devout behavior and desire for baptism are most edifying; and those who are present at his pious death " witness the felicity of a Hiroquois who had, perhaps, eaten his share of more than 50 men."

The Paris editor adds, as a postscript, an undated letter written to the provincial by Jerome Lalemant, — late superior in Canada, who goes to France [page 9] to ask aid for their work, — giving a final review of the condition of the Jesuit missions there. He observes that at his coming to Canada, twelve years ago, he found " but one Christian Huron family, with two or three which composed the Algonquin and Montagnais Church ;" and now " I leave in it hardly any family — Huron, Algonquin, or Montagnais — that is not thoroughly Christianized, — not to speak of the surrounding Nations .... who, with time, bid fair to be no less teachable." The enforced curtailment of their labors, and the lack of sufficient support in this newly-settled country, have compelled part of the missionaries to return to France; about twenty remain, employed in the Algonkin missions and on the St. Lawrence. All, whether they stay here or cross the ocean, are devoted to this work, and ready to give their lives for its success. A new opening for missionary labor has appeared, — among the Abenakis, who have come to ask that Druillettes may go to their country. Albanel has gone to spend the winter with the Montagnais Indians; and the Attikamegues will be visited by a missionary in the spring, if not prevented by the Iroquois. Work is also being carried on among the tribes of the Saguenay, — a promising field. The nuns at Quebec, of both convents, are doing a most efficient work for the salvation of the Indians and the preservation of this infant colony. The new governor of Canada, D'Ailleboust, is well disposed toward the missions. All these things afford Lalemant great encouragement and hope.

The letter from Marie de St. Bonaventure, Superioress of the Hospital nuns at Quebec, is written to a citizen of Paris, and dated September 29, 1650. She [page 10] describes to this friend of the Canadian missions the overthrow and wretched condition of the Huron tribes. Four hundred of their refugees are encamped near the hospital, whither they come every day for mass and for food. she writes, " I have never before seen such poverty or such devotion," and closes with an appeal to their friends in France for aid to meet these great responsibilities.

LXXV. This is a letter (dated June, 1651) from the Company of New France to the Jesuit father general, stating their desire to have a bishop appointed for Canada, for which they have secured the approval of the queen. They propose that this bishop be selected from the Jesuit order, their choice being Charles Lalemant, now superior of the Jesuit residence at Paris; they urge the father general to accept their nomination.

LXXVI. This is a Latin letter by Druillettes (doubtless written in 1651) to John Winthrop, governor of Connecticut, imploring the English colonists to aid the Canadian authorities in subduing the hostile Mohawks, since the latter are harassing the Christians — not only French, but Indian — along the St. Lawrence, and even plan a massacre of the Abenakis, among whom Druillettes is engaged in Christian labor. He offers, in the name of the French governor, compensation for the expense of sending New England troops for the defense of the Christian Indians; and requests Winthrop to lay the matter before the colonial general assembly, which is to meet at Hartford in June following.

LXXVII. Druillettes makes a report (apparently written in the early summer of 1651) of the mission [page 11] on which he was sent (September, 1650) by the governor of Canada, to ask aid against the Iroquois from the New England colonies. At the English settlement of Coussinoc, he meets John Winslow, who accompanies the Jesuit and his companion — Noël Negabamat, of Sillery — to Plymouth and Boston, and treats them with great kindness. Druillettes has audience from the authorities of both colonies, who are personally well inclined to aid the French against the Iroquois. The envoy visits several of the English settlements, and is everywhere received with kindly hospitality. In February, 1651, having accomplished his errand, he returns to continue his mission among the Abenakis of the Kennebec. In April, Winslow comes to the Kennebec, and visits Druillettes; he reports favorable action by the Plymouth magistrates on the French proposals. From various sources, Druillettes also learns that the people of Boston look on these with favor, and that many persons will volunteer on an expedition against the Iroquois, if allowed to do so.

On April 24, a Sokoki envoy brings Druillettes an answer to proposals made by the latter to various tribes between Saco River and the lower Hudson. These tribes are willing to fight against the Iroquois, and numerous allies will join them. Druillettes sums up the conclusions he has reached, after this journey, in regard to the attitude of these Indian tribes, and of the New England colonies. He is sanguine in his expectations of aid in both directions, especially on account of the advantage which Boston and Plymouth would derive from a freer and more extensive trade with Canada.

LXXVIII. The Journal des Jésuites for 1651 records [page 12] that the Ursuline nuns move into their own house, January 21. Toward the end of March, Buteux goes on a mission to the Attikamegues. The Huron refugees are finally placed (March -April) on Orleans Island, where each receives an allotment of land; they are under the care of Father Chaumonot. Letters from Montreal report a fight with the Iroquois, March l; also a raid of these marauders upon the Neutral tribes, in the preceding autumn, which latter had defeated the enemy in battle; to avenge their losses, another Iroquois army has been sent to the Neutral country.

Late in April came alarming news of Iroquois raids everywhere, — in the Huron country, against the Neutrals, and along the St. Lawrence. They cut off various Huron bands, and even attack settlers near Quebec and Montreal; and they besiege the fort on Christian Island, where they destroy a hundred men.

Druillettes returns, June 7, from his embassy to New England; on the 22nd, accompanied by Godefroy, he returns thither on a similar errand. Little of interest occurs during the summer, except frequent and often murderous raids by the Iroquois. The first ship from France arrives August 18. In September, tidings are brought that the Iroquois have destroyed the Neutral nation; and that the remnants of two Huron tribes have, according to savage custom, become incorporated with the Senecas, one of the Iroquois tribes who had conquered them. At the end of this same month, a considerable number of Huron refugees arrive.

October 13, there arrives in Quebec the new governor of Canada — Jean de Lauson, long a prominent member of the Hundred Associates. He is [page 13] received with much ceremony, both civil and ecclesiastical. A few days afterward, he dines at the Jesuit residence; the school-boys receive him in the new chapel, " with a Latin oration, French verses, etc., " and the savages dance. In November, the ship Ste. Anne is lost by striking on rocks in the St. Lawrence. December 4, Corneille's Heraclius is represented.

LXXIX. The Relation of 1650-51 is a brief document consisting of three short chapters by Ragueneau, as superior, — in the main, a summary of the annual reports to him, from the several missions, — followed by a journal and letter by Buteux. Ragueneau's introductory letter to his provincial, in Paris, is dated at Quebec, October 28, 1651. We have space in this volume only for the matter by Ragueneau — leaving Buteux's contribution to follow in Vol. XXXVII.

The date of the Relation (October 28) is but a fortnight after the arrival of Jean de Lauson, the new governor of Canada, with assistance for the little colony, which has been anxiously expected since the early summer. In his opening chapter, Ragueneau describes the condition of the French settlements. The wheat crop is excellent everywhere, this year, but especially at Montreal, " which would be an earthly Paradise for both the Savages and the French, were it not for the terror of the Iroquois." It has, on this account, been deserted by the savages, and only fifty French people remain there, who are incessantly harassed by the relentless foe. In one of their raids, they carry away a poor French woman, whom they burn to death, after cruel tortures, in revenge for the loss of some of their warriors. All [page 14] the French settlements have suffered from the Iroquois, but especially that of Three Rivers, which " has existed only through a miracle," and through the care of the Virgin Mary, toward whom the inhabitants have shown extraordinary devotion.

The Hospital nuns are " more than ever necessary to the country," and both their strength and their means are taxed to the utmost. The destruction of the Ursuline convent by fire is described. The good nuns, though no lives are lost, see all their earthly possessions " reduced to ashes, but looked upon it with pleasure, praising God because the fire performed his holy will. " They are now erecting a new building, meanwhile lodging in a small and inconvenient house. The Jesuit church is not yet finished, but it is used for the celebration of mass. Next to this building is a seminary for boys, begun this year, where the children are boarded, and are taught " reading, writing, plain-chant, and the fear of God." Without it, " our French would become savages, and have less instruction than the Savages themselves."

During the past year, the hostilities of the Iroquois have been considerably diverted by their attacks upon the Neutral nation, upon which they have inflicted complete ruin and desolation, mercilessly slaughtering all who could not follow their homeward march. Two villages are thus destroyed, and the rest of the people abandon their homes and flee to remote lakes and forests, as the Hurons had done before them. The Hurons who remained in the southern villages, of their own accord, join one of the Iroquois tribes.

Those who remained on Christian Island narrowly escape being captured by Iroquois treachery, and [page 15] finally retreat to Manitoulin Island. Later, many of these take refuge with their brethren at Quebec. This increases the burdens of the missionaries, but they trust in Divine provision for their needs. The Indian reduction at Sillery is an asylum for the persecuted Christians; and they will not suffer therein any apostates or any scandalous conduct. The Algonkins in the mission at Three Rivers have been under the special care of Providence, in their winter hunt. Various instances of their desire for baptism are related.

The Montreal mission serves as a temporary refuge for many Algonkins who come down the Ottawa for trade. Two Fathers have been in residence there, and have given instruction to various bands of these nomads — some of whom even remain there during most of the winter. The Huron colony have settled on Orleans Island, — called by the Jesuits St. Mary's Island, — where they have built cabins and tilled the land, although they had to be supported by the French during the first year. This has cost the Jesuits 8,000 livres, much of which has been sent them from France for this purpose. Only five of these refugees have died, and those most piously. Various instances of piety and devoutness among these Hurons are related; one of these has never been refused by the Virgin any favors spiritual or temporal, which he has asked from her. When the Ursulines lose their home by fire, these Hurons give them a present of two porcelain collars, which are all their wealth.

In the Tadoussac mission, Albanel has spent the winter with the Montagnais. Returning to Tadoussac, he finds a helper necessary, who is accordingly [page 16] given to him, — there being over eight hundred per sons there this year, and a great increase in the num ber of Christians. De Quen holds a " flying mission " among the Oumamiwek Indians, eighty leagues below Tadoussac. The Abenakis ask for Druillettes, who is sent (September, 1650) partly to minister to their needs, partly to solicit aid against the Iroquois from the English colonies. Returning from this journey (June, 1651) he is again sent to Boston, whence he has not yet returned. Buteux spends three months with the Attikamegues; his journal of that voyage will be given in our next volume. [page 17]

R. G. T.

Madison, Wis., December, 1898.

LXXIV (concluded)

Relation of 1649 - 50

PARIS: SEBASTIEN ET GABRIEL CRAMOISY, 1651

In Volume XXXV. we published chaps. i.-xii.; in the present volume are given chap. xiii. and the two supplementary letters, thus concluding the document. [page 19]

[154] CHAPTER XIII.

OF THE ARRIVAL OF A HIROQUOIS IN FRANCE, AND OF HIS DEATH.

T seems very proper to saya word or two concerning the life of this Hiroquois, before speaking of his death. In the year 1645, a band of Hiroquois, on a foray along the great river Saint Lawrence, was espied by a small squad of our Savages, who were on the way to hunt down their enemies. The Captain of our Algonquins, named Simon Pieskaret, who was the first to perceive these Hiroquois Adventurers, prepared for them so timely an ambuscade that he routed them. The Hiroquois of whom we are speaking, and a comrade of his, were made prisoners in the fight. Pieskaret took them both alive,—contrary to their custom, forbearing to mutilate them,—and presented them to Monsieur the Chevalier de Montmagny, then Governor of all the country. [155] As the Hurons had already given him a prisoner of the same nation, he wished to ascertain if, by means of these prisoners, the Hiroquois were amenable to a lasting treaty of peace,—so as to reunite all these nations, who tear one another in pieces, and prey upon one another after so strange a fashion. The result seemed very auspicious. One of the three prisoners was sent back to his own country with words, or rather presents, which invited that nation to peace. They sent two Ambassadors upon this matter, in that same year; and in,thehyear following, 1646, [page 21] peace was fully concluded, and our prisoners were released and sent back to their own country. The one with whom we are concerned,—a man of intelligence, and of powerful build,—having seen the gifts which Monsieur the Governor had presented for his liberation, brought back with him a friendly feeling toward the French, and the desire to manifest his gratitude, declaring that he owed to them his life, as was true,—for if Monsieur the Chevalier de Montmagnì had not interposed in the matter, the Algonquins would have burned him, and cut him in pieces.

The same year, 1646, which witnessed the birth of peace saw also its death. Father Isaac Jogues, having gone to the country of [156] those Barbarians with a young Frenchman, was murdered there in the month of October. Our Hiroquois, seeing their intention to put him to death, opposed it. He gained nothing by that but a blow from a hatchet upon his arm, while placing it before the Father to protect him. This blow, received through charity, was perhaps the stroke of his predestination, for it may certainly be believed that this good Father obtained from our Lord, in Heaven, the salvation of this man's soul, in return for his attempt to save the Father while in the body. The death of Father Jogues, and the rupture of the peace, were concealed from the French and the Algonquins during the entire Winter; but in the Spring of the following year, 1647, the perfidy of the Hiroquois was exposed through the murder of a large number of our Christians, who were surprised by these traitors.

Our Hiroquois was not one of the party; he did not go with his fellow-countrymen to war, for he [page 23] could not bring himself to fight against those who had spared his own life. But at length, having come in the year 1648, in order to hunt Beavers, quite near to the French settlement named Three rivers, and espying a shallop manned by some Frenchmen, he [157] came forward upon the shore of the great river, shouting, calling, and signaling to them to come to him. The Frenchmen, seeing that he was alone, approached him, and received him into their boat. A Huron, taken in war, who had become as one of the Hiroquois, coming out of the forest, and seeing that they were carrying off his comrade, made signs that he would like to go with him; he was taken on board with the Hiroquois, and both were conducted to the Commandant at Three rivers. They had three other companions, who were seen some time afterward; our men made every effort to surprise them, but their distrust led them to slip away,—except one, of less strength than the rest, who, having been captured by an Algonquin, was put to death upon the spot.

The Huron who had become a Hiroquois, when questioned by our Interpreters, admitted very frankly that he had intended, when his Beaver-hunt was over, to pursue the Algonquins; and that he would have taken or killed any one of these, had he met him at advantage. Our Hiroquois affirmed, for himself, that since the moment when the French had spared his life, he had always carried about in his body a French heart; that he had opposed himself to those who killed Father Isaac Jogues; and that he had received on his own arm the [158] first blow that was dealt at the good Father, of which he showed the scar. " I have always had it in my mind," said [page 25] he, " to inform you of the treason of my fellow countrymen; but I could not do so till now, when I have thrown myself into your arms." His self-vindication was not accepted; his feet were shackled, as a traitor.

Some time after, two canoes, filled with Hyroquois, were discovered in the middle of the night on the great river. The sentinel having reported this to the Corporal, our Hyroquois was made to mount upon a bastion. Shouting at the top of his voice, his people replied, and they conversed together in the Hiroquois language; and, in the end, a shallop was sent off to the two canoes which brought back to the fort another Hiroquois. There were now two in the hands of the French, who gave the name of berger to him who had first come, to distinguish him from the others. He was sent, next day, to a band of his People who were under arms on the other side of the great river; thence he returned, accompanied by two others, who were placed in irons as well as their [159] comrades. It is true that berger was freed from these fetters, as it was scarcely credible that, having enticed over the others, he would dare to make good his escape without them. During the following days, ever and anon, other bands of Hiroquois appeared. Berger played his part so well that two more of his fellow-countrymen came in, but only to be thrown into fetters. This proceeding caused astonishment; some attributed it to the love he bore toward the French; others regarded it as some secret treachery, which he purposed to make successful in due time. However that might be, these birds weary of being so long caged, found means to fly away, despite their fetters and their guards. Berger, [page 27] of whom we are speaking, alone remained among the French, the others having very adroitly escaped

It was difficult to decide what should be done with the poor man. Some wished that he should be executed as a traitor; others said that, having surrendered himself to us in good faith, he should not be condemned to death on a mere suspicion of treachery. At length, it was decided that it would be best to send him to France,—for fear that, if he should come to make his escape, he might take away with him [160] a too thorough knowledge of the country, and of the condition of the French and the Algonquins. Accordingly, he was placed in the care of a Father of our Society, who was going across on business connected with these new Churches.

They embarked at Kebek, on the last day of October in the past year, 1649, They entered the port of Havre de Grace on the 7th of December. During that passage, the Father, from time to time, called to him this poor Hiroquois, making him recite his prayers, which he knew very well, having been instructed during his sojourn among the French. He had often asked for Baptism, but the uncertainty of the future had hindered him from receiving so great a benefit,—seeing, moreover, that we preferred to give him more thorough instruction and greater knowledge of our mysteries, and to gather from him some more certain proof of his good-will.

When he was sent from the settlement at Three rivers to the port of Kebek, where he was to embark, a very remarkable thing happened to him. The soldiers and Sailors who were in the ship, fearing lest he should leap into the water [161] during the night,—to make his escape by swimming, and then [page 29] by running to the woods,—bound him, at evening, very closely; but on the morning of the next day, they found him at liberty, and all unfettered. The, tied him still more tightly, redoubling, on other nights, his bonds in such a manner that they did not believe he could in any way liberate himself; nevertheless they found him entirely free and unbound the next morning. This made those who were in the ship, and who did not understand it, believe that he was a sorcerer. Now, I who write this, having learned what took place, requested a young man, a great friend of the Hiroquois, to go and see him, and to ask him, in confidence, what ingenuity he employed to free himself from bonds by which he was so closely and carefully tied down. The Hiroquois answered him—with much gentleness, and with a presence of mind quite undisturbed—that, finding himself so maltreated by the French, from whom he had gathered some knowledge of him who made all things, he addressed to him, in the pains and sufferings which his bonds occasioned him, these words: " Thou, who hast made all things, thou knowest well that it is wrong for the French to treat me so roughly, taking me for a [1622 traitor; I am not that, as thou well knowest; have pity on me.'' " Having made this prayer, my bonds," said he, " fell off of themselves, without my making any effort. " God is good enough to work a miracle in order to save a soul. However that may be, the French soldiers, a surgeon who was in the ship, and the sailors, employed their ropes, their bands, and their wits to tie down this man; and they found him always unbound, without the cords being in any way damaged. But let us proceed. [page 31]

The poor Barbarian, on his arrival at Havre de Grace,—seeing, on the one side, the port so full of ships that they touched one another; and, on the other, so many houses crowded together in one place,—comparing in his own mind those grand vessels with their little bark canoes, and those houses with their cabins, remained for two hours without speaking, so overcome was he with astonishment.

On leaving Havre, the Father took him to Dieppe. He had provided him with shoes after the French fashion; but—as those which are used in his own country are supple, like tennis slippers, or Buckskin gloves—he could not become used [163] to our mode of shoeing, and threw off both shoes and stockings; and, although the season was cold and damp, and the roads all broken up, for it was about the 6th of December, he walked barefooted, and bareheaded, as briskly as in the middle of Spring or Summer.

But what he encountered on the way increased his first astonishment. He went out of Havre, one market-day, and passed by various places on Festival days, the roads being crowded with people. " Why,'' said he, " the French are everywhere; the country, as well as the towns, is full of them." That made him believe what some say in jest to the Savages, that there are as many men in France as trees in their vast forests.

The roads being very slippery, the poor Hiroquois sprained his foot, and injured the tendon in such a way that, when he arrived at Dieppe, the Father lodged him at the Hospital, to have it cared for. The Nuns, who manage that house with a delightful neatness and charity, received him, and had him carefully attended to; but, as the injury was quite [page 33] serious, the Father, desiring to go directly to Paris, told him to remain quiet in that house, where [1643 he was loved; and that he would have him brought, as soon as he was well, to the city in which usually resided the great Captain of the French. The Savage, on witnessing the departure of the Father, who was his one and only acquaintance, wished to follow him, exclaiming that his foot no longer gave him any pain. He set out, then, on the way; but he had not gone a quarter of a league before his foot and leg began to swell to such a degree that he admitted his inability to walk. " Go back," the Father said to him, " to the house whence thou camest; thou wilt be received with charity, and I will make arrangements for bringing thee to the place whither I am going, so soon as thou canst walk." The worthy man, afraid of mistaking one house for another, and perceiving, in the distance, a Frenchman going toward the city, begged the Father to ask him to take the trouble of conducting him to the Hospital; " for," said he, " for my part, I am deaf and dumb in France; I have left my tongue and my ears in my own country." The Father placed him in the care of this Frenchman, who escorted him to the house of mercy, where he was nursed and cared for until he was completely cured.

He remained more than a month in that Hospital, where he so edified the good Nuns who had charge of it [165] that they wrote about him in these terms: " My Reverend Father, the following is a true statement of what we have observed in the behavior of the Hiroquois Savage whom you left with us, and whom we have sent back to you.

"He has given us evidences of great piety. As [page 35] he was but a catechumen, he only heard Mass as far as the Gospel; but, on leaving the Chapel, he was in the habit of kneeling down in some obscure corner, and continuing his prayers until the completion of the entire sacrifice, and this every day.

" He was wont to pray often during the day; but he never failed, every morning when he rose, to present himself to God before the altar, and to offer there his prayers. His Rosary was so often in his hands that we believe he repeated it many times during the day.

" When the Blessed Sacrament was carried to the sick of the Hospital, you would see him immediately fall upon his knees,—but in a posture so devout, that he touched the hearts of all who beheld him.

" In short, any one who wished to gladden his heart would speak to him of Baptism. At the least allusion to it, his features would light up, betraying a [166] mind that yearned only for this happiness.

" He reverenced us," the mothers go on to say, " with a modesty that revealed nothing of the Savage. He was prompt to obey, and very ready to oblige and assist such as seemed to require any service at his hands. A house near the Hospital having taken fire, he showed his courage, endurances and agility. Finding himself impeded by his French clothes, he stripped to his drawers, and in a moment was clambering over the most dangerous places,—accomplishing more, by himself alone, than many others would together.

" He took his repast, not as a Barbarian, but as a temperate man; for, although he was tall and powerful, he ate rather sparingly; and he received what was brought to him with so much gratitude that he [page 37] might have been taken for a person reared in French civilization .

" He would entertain himself sometimes among the sick or the poor of the Hospital, but always with so much discretion as to displease no one; and never was there perceived in him the least indelicacy, not even the shadow of any familiarity unbecoming a Christian, although he was not that yet. Being inconvenienced by an affection of the throat and stomach, [167] he was made to see a physician,—who, however, did not deem it necessary to prescribe any remedy, as the disease was disappearing, little by little. But as soon as he had learned that the Reverend Father who had brought him to France required him at Paris, he spoke no more of his ailment; his joy was so great that he troubled him self about neither remedies nor physicians. He took leave of us and our sick people, leaving, with us all, regret at his departure, so unassuming and good-natured was he. "

He arrived at Paris about the 20th of January; the Father who had brought him across the sea received him gladly, inquiring if he had quite recovered. I do not know whether the fear of being again separated from him impaired the sincerity manifested by Savages in their words, or whether his joy at seeing him took away the feeling of his illness; however that may be, he declared that he was in the best of health, while he was nevertheless suffering from a fever which caused his death. He asked incessantly for something to drink; the Father, supposing him weakened by the fatigue of travel, gave it to him, recommending that nothing but water should be given him; but the stewards of the houses [page 39] to which he took him, intending to do him a pleasure, gave him [168] wine, casting oil upon the fire which consumed him.

Through the kindness of madame the Marquise d'Ost, he was lodged in the house for recent converts, in which he found both life and death, almost at the same time. The following is what those who are in charge of that house of charity noticed about him:

"On the 22nd of January of this year, 1650, there was brought to us by the Jesuit Fathers a Hiroquois, aged, perhaps, about 35 years. Although indisposed, he never failed to be present at all the exercises of the house, and especially the prayers,—in which, it was evident, he had been instructed; because, from the first time at which he entered the Chapel, he took off his hat, and knelt down, drawing from his pocket a rosary, with which he made upon himself the sign of the Cross without any instruction. His modesty of demeanor betokened strongly the good feelings of his heart. It is a great misfortune when persons cannot understand each other; we could not ask him what it was that ailed him. At length, on the fourth day after he entered the house, it was plainly seen that he could no longer stand up. They placed him on a bed, felt his pulse, and detected a high fever which he had till then concealed. Those [169] who visited him, being unable to talk with him except by gestures, signed themselves with the Holy Cross, afterward uplifting their hands toward Heaven, so as to lead him to raise thither his heart; he understood this language very well, imitating their gestures with so much feeling that he seemed relieved in his suffering.

" This good man always addressed the Chaplain [page 41] of the house by the name of ' Monsieur;' this he had learned in his intercourse with the French. If any one else came to render him any service, he would turn away his face, repeating the word ' Monsieur ;' but, when the Priest drew near, he could neither express his wishes nor formulate his thoughts. All felt compassion for him. It has been thought since, and with reason, that he wished to ask for Baptism; but that, as he was not understood, he sent repeatedly for the Priest, thinking that, seeing him so low, he would baptize him. The Father who had brought him came to visit him from time to time, and assured him that he should be baptized; but the fear that he had of dying without this blessing made him ask the Chaplain. At last, the disease increasing, the inmates of the house assembled themselves round his bed to see if this boon should be conferred upon him. Some asserted that it was time; others said that the strength which he still manifested was an indication that he was not [170] near to his death. They finished the dispute by a Veni Creator, to ask from the Holy Ghost light as to what should be done. Hardly was the prayer ended, when he was seized with a convulsion so violent that they resolved to baptize him at once. It was thought that he had lost consciousness, but he showed plainly that it was not so; for, the violence of the convulsion having thrown him out of the bed, it was seen that he made efforts, notwithstanding his weakness, and despite his great sufferings, to cover his nakedness. And when he saw the Priest robed in Surplice and Stole, and with water in his hand, taking for granted that he was about to receive the accomplishment of his desires, he remained quiet, [page 43] holding in check the violence of his complaint, while his countenance beamed with joy. The Father who had charge of him had set down on paper a few acts of contrition, in the Hiroquois tongue, which might be suggested to him from time to time, especially if there were necessity for baptizing him in his absence. These words were pronounced to him with the purpose of moving him to ask pardon of God; he repeated them with devotion and feeling,—also, of his own accord, reciting other prayers, which carried away all the bystanders; he strove to raise his hands to Heaven, and kissed the Crucifix. In short, he was baptized, toward 8 o'clock in the evening; and half an hour after, his soul, [171] purified in the Blood of the Lamb, took its flight to Heaven, constraining those who were present to recite, not a Libera, but the Psalm, Laudate Dominum omnes Gentes, as a thanksgiving for so signal a favor." Such is the report, both written and verbal, of those whose eyes witnessed the felicity of a Hiroquois who had, perhaps, eaten his share of more than 50 men.

I thought that this Chapter would conclude the Relation for this year; but—Father Hierôme Lallemant having returned from new France by the last vessel, and not having met at Paris our Reverend Father Provincial—we will insert here the letter which he sent to the latter in order to render an account of the missions which he has for so long a time directed at this end of the world. [page 45]

[172] Letter of Father Hierosme Lallemant to

Reverend Father Claude de Lingendes,

Provincial of the Society of Jesus

in the Province of France.

Y REVEREND FATHER,

PAX CHRISTI.

Your Reverence will have already learned, by the return of the first vessels, the sequel of the disasters to, and the utter wreck of, the Huron Mission, which the fury of the Hiroquois has at last accomplished. The Relation of this, which Father Paul Ragueneau has sent, enlarged by some Chapters on the Missions nearer Kebec, gives us the circumstantial account of these misfortunes. Our eyes and hearts, seeing and feeling these blows from the hand of God, have but this reply to make: "He is the sovereign Lord of his works, and the Ruler of our insignificant projects conceived for his glory. It is for us to accept his decrees, and never to disapprove what he performs."

I do not know how it has come into the minds of our Fathers that it was expedient for me to cross the ocean in order to contribute to the retrieval of our misfortunes, since there are in France so many persons capable of carrying on that work without me. [173] If there had been no other reason, I would have left new France very reluctantly: but their wishes—conjoined, as I presumed, with the intentions of Your Reverence—at last decided me to do so. I have left [page 47] the helm in the hands of him who has so courageously guided the Huron Church through its struggles, and so opportunely saved the relics or remains of that poor Mission.

I left Kebec, then, on the 2nd day of November of the present year, 1650, and arrived at Havre de grace on the 3rd of December, in the company of Father François Bressany, and our Brother Jean Ligeois. It is for God to prescribe the remedies we are seeking for our miseries, and for us to pray his divine Majesty that our faults and shortcomings may not turn away from us the blessing of which we stand in so great need.

Awaiting whatsoever it shall please him to decree, I think that Your Reverence will permit me to make known to you the grounds of consolation which have, in some degree, comforted my soul on leaving the country; and to inform you of the condition in which I have left it.

On arriving in the country, twelve years ago, I met with only a single Christian Huron family, with two or three which composed the Algonquin and Montagnais Church; [174] and behold, at the end of that time, going out of the country, I leave in it hardly any family—Huron, Algonquin, or Montagnais—that is not thoroughly Christianized,—not to speak of the surrounding Nations, who come to these countries from every quarter, or of those whom we go to seek in their own abodes, and who, with time, bid fair to be no less teachable.

Indeed, I cannot drive from my mind the feeling that the time is not far off when the door will be again opened for the upper Nations whom we have left; and my trust is all the more settled because it [page 49] seems to me to be supported by thy Gospel,—which assures us that, before the day of Judgment, it must be that all Nations of the earth have a knowledge of their Redeemer: and that his Laws be adequately proclaimed to them, and, in the opinion of many Doctors, approved and accepted by them. Moreover, as God does not ordinarily work miracles without necessity, it is credible that he will make use of persons who already have acquaintance and familiarity with these peoples, and ability to understand and speak their language, as so many instruments adapted to his work. This alone should be to us a great consolation, and greatly strengthen our patience to await the times and moments ordained by the divine [175] wisdom and goodness.

A great Saint once remarked that the hope of an immortal life was the life of the life that is mortal; and methinks I have some ground for saying also, in imitation of him, that the hope of conferring an immortal life is the life of the mortal life of poor Missionaries, who have tasted how sweet it is to see souls depart this life who owe to them, in a certain sense, their eternal happiness.

It seems to me that what has taken place among the Hurons has been but a small commission on the part of Heaven for the conversion and Baptism of ten or twelve thousand souls; that achieved, there is given us a slight respite while tranquilly awaiting fresh commands.

The second thing that has been to me a source of extreme consolation is the admirable state of mind in which I have left our Fathers and Brethren, and even our domestics; they have asked from me no favor for all the labors and dangers they have [page 51] undergone, other than a permission and assurance of returning to the same employment, and the same opportunities, as soon as God shall have made the way open to them. I confess that the manner and the generous spirit in which they made this request touched my heart, and led me to think [176] that God had some purpose which had given rise to these edifying dispositions, which they have signed and sealed with their own blood. May he be forever praised for this, and may it please him to hasten the blessed moments that shall create fresh Martyrs and Confessors in the Church of God. The Fathers whom I left behind, to be employed in the Missions, and in duties at Kebec and its dependencies, are in number 19 or 20; the remainder crossed over to France by the first vessels, and by this last one, to the number of eight. All are firmly bent on returning to the battle at the first blast of the trumpet,—there not being, for the present, either sufficient means of livelihood, or employment for them, in the country.

The 3rd is the opening which God has made for us at this very time, for new Missions here below. Father Gabriel Druillettes, after having passed four Winters in various missions among the Savages, has gone to pass the fifth with the Abnaquiois, who came for him with many tokens of affection for their Patriarch (as they call him), and for his teaching. God, perhaps, will cause more good to result from that journey than we think. We are in receipt of letters from the Father, since he arrived, which afford us ground for much hope.

Father Charles Albanel seems to wish to follow [177] in his steps and footprints,—having set out, [page 53] before my departure, for his first wintering with the Montagnais Savages.

The Attikamegues, or " white Fish," a Northern nation of considerable importance, do not cease to urge us to visit them in their own country,—a favor which, for lack of men, could not be granted them in the past. Now that we have enough of these, we shall not fail to go thither in the early Spring, if the Hiroquois do not bar the way.

Those of the Saguené, another nation of the North, manifest the same friendliness; we have already made three voyages thither. I expect much from them, in time; and in this way we shall be kept busy, awaiting the times and moments of the divine Majesty for new conquests.

The fourth matter for consolation that I see in this poor devastated country is the courage and devotion of our Religious women, both Hospital and Ursuline,—who, having come into the enjoyment of what remains to us through the establishment of the Huron Colony close to their Monasteries,—which serve the Indians for Parish church, and for an asylum for both the sick and the well,—are happy in the discharge of the highest duties and most precious exercises of their vocation. This is one of the hopes [187 i.e., 178] which I have of the preservation of the country, since I cannot believe that God will abandon souls of a character so saintly and so charitable; it seems to me that all the Angels in Paradise would come to their assistance, if dwellers on earth should prove remiss in securing their preservation in this new world.

The fifth ground for consolation is the kind inclination in which I left Monsieur d'Ailleboust, our [page 55] Governor, to do all in his power to avert the evils which surround us, and to contribute to the furthering of all these fair hopes. I pray God to bless all, and so to order things that France may be in a condition to make a response which shall multiply our prayers and hopes beyond all our expectations.

This, my Reverend Father, is what I had to tell your Reverence, for the present. It remains for me to beseech that, having assisted us thus far by your holy sacrifices and prayers, and by those of the entire Province, it may please you to continue this boon to us, and also that countenance which is our chief resource, and our greatest hope.

Your Reverence's

Most humble and obedient servant

in our Lord,

Hierosme lalemant.

[page 57]

[From second edition of the Relation:]

[178] Letter of the Reverend Mother Superior

of the Hospital of Mercy at Kebec, in

New France, to Monsieur N.,

a Citizen of Paris.

ONSIEUR,

The peace of Our Lord.

We have not had, this year, the pleasure hearing from you. I do not think that, for all that you have lost consideration or affection for our little Hospital, and our poor, ever-afflicted Savages. Each year has its own cross; and this last has the heaviest, in the ruin of the country of the Hurons by the Hiroquois, who have laid it waste by fire, massacred most of its people, and compelled the remainder to take to flight, and to disperse themselves in all directions. Almost all were Christians. These are they whom our Lord afflicts, and makes of them so many victims for Paradise. All our Fathers—except two, recently martyred—have come down here to Kebec; part of them have crossed over to France. Here are four hundred of these poor Christian Hurons taking refuge in Kebec, and cabined near the gate of our Hospital, to which they come every day for holy Mass. I have never before seen such poverty or such devotion. A little sagamité—that is to say, a soup of peas, or Indian corn—suffices them for a day; and yet they are fortunate to have it, and we fortunate [179] to possess the means to give it to [page 59] them. our little ward for sick people is full of poor French soldiers, wounded in battle with the Hiroquois. One, in particular, has eleven dangerous wounds from arquebus shots; and I think that, with all these, he will recover, by God's aid. See, if this be not a miracle, to accomplish this with so scanty a supply of medicines and linen; and with all that, we have taken in but a half of what we are accustomed to receive, and I know not, as yet, what will accrue to us in the future. I pour out to you my heart, and our petty misery, since I know who touches you. At the least, you will say a good word for us, as opportunity offers, since you have already done so much for this work in the past. I commend to you, then, this little House. All my very dear Sisters salute you, and subscribe themselves heartily, with me,

MONSIEUR,

Your very humble and obedient servant in Jesus Christ,

Marie de St. Bonaventure.

From our Monastery of the Sisters of Mercy at Kebec, in New France, this 29th day of September, 1650.

 

 

 

[page 61]

Extract from the Royal License.

BY Royal favor and license, permission is granted to Sebastien Cramoisy, Merchant Bookseller, and Printer in ordinary to his Majesty, late Alderman and Consul of the city of Paris, to print, or. cause to be printed, La Relation de ce qui s'est passé aux Hurons, pays de la Nouvelle France depuis le primier de Janvier 1649. jusques en l'année 1650, etc., and this during the time and space of ten consecutive years. Prohibiting all Booksellers, Printers, and other persons of whatsoever quality or condition they may be, from printing, or causing to be printed, the said Relation, etc., under pretext of any disguise or alteration which might be made in it, under pain of confiscation and fine, conveyed in the said License. Given at Paris, the 19th day of December, 1650.

Signed by the King in Council.

CRAMOISY.

[page 63]

Permission of the Reverend Father Provincial.

WE, Claude Delingendes, Provincial of the Society of Jesus in the Province of France, have accorded to sieur Sebastien Cramoisy. Merchant Bookseller, Printer in ordinary to the King and the Queen Regent, late Alderman and Consul of this city, the printing of the Relations of New France.

Done at Blois, this eighth day of December, 1650

Claude Delingendes.

[page 65]

LXXV—LXXVIII

MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS, 1651
LXXV.	—Lettre des Messieurs . les Associés de la Compagnie . de la Nouvelle France au T. R. P. Général de la Compagnie de Jésus, a Rome; Paris, Juin, 1651
LXXVI.	—Epistola Patris Gabrielis Druillettes ad Joannem Winthrop, Scutarium; n.p., [1651]
LXXVII.	—Narré du Voyage .. faict pour la Mission des Abnaquiois et des connaissances tiréz de la Nouvelle Angleterre, par le R. P. Gabriel Dreuillette; n.p., [1651
LXXVIII.	.—Journal des PP. Jésuites, en l'année 1651
SOURCES: Doc. LXXV. we reproduce from Carayon's Premiere Mission, PP. 254- 256. Doc. LXXVI. is from Shea's Cramoisy series, no. 24, first edition. Doc. LXXVII. is from the Lenox publication thereof. In publishing Doc. LXXVIII., we follow the original MS., in Laval University library, Quebec.[

page 67]

[254] Letter addressed by Messieurs the Asso-

ciates of the Company of New France

to the Very Reverend Father

General of the Society

of Jesus at Rome.

(Copied from the autograph preserved in MSS. Soc. Jesu.)

PARIS, June, 1651.

y Very Reverend Father,

As God has chosen to make use of us for the establishment of the Company of New, France, called Canada, whose only object has been the glory of God through the conversion of the nations of that country,—to which we have contributed our efforts and more than twelve hundred thousand livres of our money during the twenty-two or twenty-three years that have elapsed since that establishment began, and that, although the Fathers of your Society have devoted not only their persons but their lives, which they have freely sacrificed for that holy work; and as, at present, that colony is being formed and is becoming numerous: we have considered that it is necessary for the consolation of the French inhabitants and of the converted Savages to have a Bishop there, and we have [255] very earnestly begged the Queen to grant us that favor. This she has done, and has even promised to write to his Holiness. And, as our Company and those nations are indebted chiefly to your Fathers, we [page 69] thought that it would be advisable to have one of them as the Bishop of that country. This matter having been submitted to the council on ecclesiastical affairs, established by His most Christian Majesty,—in the presence of Father Paulin, the King's confessor, who has a seat in the council,—three names were proposed, those of Fathers Lallemant, Ragueneau, and le Jeune, and were referred to the Fathers of your Society, that they might select one of the three. A letter will, no doubt, be written to you about this, although our Company mentioned to His Majesty only the name of Father Charles Lallemant, the superior of the house in Paris,—who was one of the first to expose himself to the usual perils for the conversion of the Savages, even to three shipwrecks which he suffered on those voyages,—for whom Monsieur de Lauzon, the governor of the country, and our Company have very great esteem. Wherefore we earnestly beg Your Paternity to do us the favor of accepting the choice of his person; for his birth, his employment in responsible positions, and his merits, render him worthy to be thus recommended. Your Paternity may object that he at present occupies the office of superior in the said house in [256] Paris; but—when you consider that it takes time to complete that work before it can be perfectly established, and that thereby he may finish his term as superior—if this should succeed in accordance with our wishes, the country and our Company will be under very great obligations to you for all the good that he may do while in that high office; and we beg the divine goodness to shower its [page 71] abundant blessings on the happy guidance of Your Paternity, of whom we are,

My Very Reverend Father,

Your very humble and very obedient servants

The Directors of the Company of New France,—

De La Ferté, abbé of the Magdelaine, Margonne,

Robineau, Fleuriau, Desportes, J.

Beruyer. Cheffault, secretary of the said Company.

From Paris, in the month of June, 1651.

[page 73]

Letter of Father Gabriel Druillettes to John

Winthrop, Esquire.

[5] To the Most Illustrious Seigneur John Wintrop,

Esquire. At Pequott River.

istinguished and most honorable Sir,

As in consequence of the deep snows of winter I was debarred from the pleasure of seeing you, and from communicating to you orally and at length the great hopes reposed in your singular kindness by the Most Illustrious Governor of new France in Canada, at Kebec,—who appointed me his Envoy to all [6] the magistrates of your new England,—I now approach you by letter in order to beseech and implore you—by that Spirit of exceeding benevolence toward all, but especially toward our new France, which Sieur Wintrop, whose memory is both happy and grateful to all, bequeathed to you, the heir to all that he possessed—not to refuse your Protection to the cause that has brought me to these shores. That cause is the same as that which your Father of most grateful memory—by the letters which he sent, in the name of your (:Commonwealth, to Monsieur our Governor in new France, at Kebec—took up as far back as the year 1647, and which he would long since have brought to a happy conclusion had not death prevented him, as I have learned from many responsible persons. This, [7] I believe, was wrought by God most good and great, with the design of making us indebted to you for the happy [page 75] issue of that cause, the beginning and origin whereof we owed to your most honorable Father. After having orally explained the whole matter to the Governors of Boston and Pleymouth, I desired with all my heart to travel to the country wherein you now reside; and it was not so much the troublesome snows that prevented me, as the authority of several persons of importances—to whom I owe deference, and who dissuaded me therefrom,—which recalled me from Pleymouth to Boston. So great was the hope held forth to me by your kindness toward Strangers, however Barbarian they may be, that to me—who have lived for the past nine years among Barbarians, whom it has been my duty to instruct in their forests, far from the sight of Europeans—[8] it seemed that you would have nothing to dread from my barbarism. Nay, more, I saw nothing that I might not hope for from your well-known kindness and your unusually Compassionate and Conscientious feelings toward the Savages who are Catechumens of the Christian Faith and Profession. These are, in truth, beyond all other mortals, that Hundredth Sheep Straying and forsaken in the Desert, which alone the Lord Jesus Christ,—Luke, 15th,—after having left the ninety and nine others, anxiously seeks and, having found it, joyfully places on his shoulders. That is to say, he who burns with the most ardent zeal toward the same Lord Jesus Christ must likewise embrace, with the most tender affection of his heart, that hundredth sheep in which alone that best of Shepherds, the Lord Jesus, seems to place his whole delight. Now this most tender [9] affection of your heart toward your delight, because it is that of Christ our Lord,—I mean toward the Barbarian Catechumens,—easily leads me to believe that the testimony shown by this [page 77] letter of my gratitude and of my confidence in you, however small it may be, will not be displeasing in your sight. Wherefore suffer that I implore by letter your Protection—in which, after God, I consider that nearly all my hopes rest—in favor of the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ,—in other words, of the defense of the Christians against the Moaghs. These not only have long harassed the Christian Canadians near Kebec, and most cruelly torture them by slow fire, out of hatred of the Christian Faith, but they even intend by a general massacre to destroy my Akenebek Catechumens dwelling on the banks of the Kennebec River, [10] because they have been for many years allied to the Canadian Christians. It is chiefly for this reason that our Most Illustrious Governor of Kebec commanded me to offer you in his name the most ample Commercial advantages, and considerable compensation for the expenses of the war, in order to obtain from new England some Auxiliary troops for the defense of the Christian Canadians (which he has already begun against the Moaghs), and which through his affection for the Christian Savages he wishes to promote, at the same time and by the same undertaking, in favor of the Akenebek Catechumens, their allies, who are Inhabitants of New England and the special clients of Pleymouth Colony.

He therefore hopes that, in the same manner as your Colony of Kenetigouk [11] subdued the ferocity of the naraganses, in favor of its dependents who live on the Pecot River,—that is to say, the Mohighens,—so likewise the Colony of Pleymouth will undertake to wage war, with the consent of the Assembly called that of the Commissioners, against the Moaghs,—the most cruel enemies of their [page 79] Akenebek dependents, as well as of their alliesnamely, the Canadian Christians near Kebec.

This twofold Commission of mine,—to wit, in the name of Monsieur the Governor of New France, at Kebec; and separately in the name of the Savages, both the Christians and the Akenebek Catechumens,—after having been summarized, and translated into the English Tongue from my barbarous Latinity, [12] will be joined to my present letter, I think, by a man who is an excellent friend of mine, and to whom, with that object, I gave a copy to be sent to you. For this reason, I add nothing further; but I implore you to display your kindness toward the Barbarians, and your signal Compassion toward the Poor of the Lord Jesus; not to disdain, in your General Assembly,—which, I hear, is usually held in the month of June in Hartford,—to expose the whole matter at length; to urge it upon your Magistrates; and, finally, to recommend a favorable settlement of the whole affair to the two personages who are called the commissioners of your Colony, when they go to the place where the Assembly of the Commissioners is to be held. Meanwhile,—wheresoever on earth T may be detained by the Lord Jesus, who has called me to devote my life and death [13] to labors among the barbarians, who need instruction,—I shall live and die the most devoted servant, in the Lord Jesus, of your entire Family, and, above all,

Distinguished Sir,

Of yourself,—in the Lord Jesus,

for whom, because it is for his brethren,

the Christian Barbarians,

I execute this Commission.

Gabriel Druillettes, S.J.

Priest and Instructor at Kenebek.[page 81]

[1] Narrative of the Journey made in behalf of the

Mission of the Abnaquiois, and of information

obtained in New England, and of the dis-

position of the Magistrates of that Com-

monwealth in regard to aid against

the Iroquois. The whole by me,

Gabriel Dreuillette of

the Society of Jesus.

LEFT Quebec for this Mission on the first day of September, by order of my Superior,—and with a passport [2] and leave of absence from Monsieur d'Ailleboust, lieutenant-general of the King, and governor on all the river Saint Lawrence,—accompanied by Noel Negabamat, Captain of Sillery; also charged with credentials enabling me to speak on behalf of the said Sieur to the governors and magistrates of that country.

I arrived at Narantsouat, which is the settlement of the Abnaquiois Savages farthest up the river of Kennebec,—fifteen or sixteen leagues from the highest settlement of the English on that river, which is sixteen leagues distant from its mouth.

I arrived on Michaelmas eve at this highest settlement of the English—which, alike by the English and Savages, is called Coussinoc; and on the following day, the festival of him whom [3] we took for patron and guide on our journey, Noel and I conversed with the Agent of that settlement, accompanied [page 83] by the Abnaquiois, to whom we had spoken on the way. Noel, speaking with his present of a bundle of Beaver skins, said to him: " Monsieur the Governor of the river Saint Lawrence, through the father who is here, speaks to those of your nation; and I, as an ally, join my word to his, not to speak to thee alone, but rather to tell thee to embark my word,"—that is to say, " my present,"—" in order to convey it to the governor of Plimout." The Agent informed them that he would do with reference to the governor and the magistrates all that could be expected from a good friend; whereupon Noel and the Abnaquiois [4] requested that I go with him, in order to present in person the Sieur governor's letters,—to explain his intentions, according to the letter of credentials that he had; and to convey the message of the Christians of Scillery, and of the Catechumens of the Kenebec river. The Agent, named John Winslau, a merchant and a citizen of the Plimouth colony, who has a very kindly disposition, as we shall relate hereinafter, answered: love and respect the patriarch," this is the name they use on this river, and on all the coast of Acadia, in speaking of me; "I will lodge him at my house, and will treat him as my own brother; for I know very well the good that he does among you, and the life which he there leads." This he said because he has a special zeal [5] for the Conversion of the Savages, as also has his brother Edward Winslow,—agent for this New England before the parliament of old England,—who is trying to institute a brotherhood to train and instruct the Savages, just as is practiced with the poor b) the charity of London. Other details are in the letters which I wrote both to [page 85] the Sieur governor at Quebecq, and to my Superior, on the fifteenth of November.

I left Coussinoc by land, with that agent, since the frigate which was to convey us had had some occasion to delay, in order to await the Savages, and not be surprised by the ice; we were therefore obliged to go ten leagues, to embark by [6] sea at Maremiten, which the Savages call Natsouac. That road was difficult, especially to the Agent, who is already growing old, and who assured me that he would never have undertaken it if he had not given his word to Noel.

On the twenty-fifth, we set sail; and on the way we found at Temeriscau some English fishermen, some of whom complained to the Agent because he was conducting a Frenchman along that coast, who was a spy to serve the French, who were likely to ravage their settlements.

Contrary winds prevented us from reaching Kepane, which forms the Cape of the great bay of Boston, until the fifth of December; for the same reason. we were compelled to go partly by land and [7] partly by boat, in order to cross over the great bay to Charleston; we there crossed the river which separates it from Boston, where we arrived on the eighth. The principal men of Charleston, knowing that I came on behalf of the Sieur governor, went ahead to give notice to Major-General Gebin, so that he might be present at my entrance into his abodes

His agent, John Winslow,—whom I shall henceforth call my pereira, on account of the friendliness which he ever showed me, —having made his report to Sieur Gebin regarding the occasion of my journey, he received me as a veritable ambassador on the part [page 87] of the Sieur governor. He also gave me a key to an apartment in his house, where I could with complete liberty offer my prayer, and perform [8] my religious exercises; and begged me to take no other lodgings while I should sojourn at Boston.

The next day, the eighth, Sieur Gebin, accompanied by [blank space] conducted me [blank space] from Boston to a village named Rogsbray, where at that time was Sieur Dudley? Governor of Boston, to whom I presented my credentials on the part of the Sieur governor,—which, having opened, he commanded an interpreter to translate from French into English.

He was told that this man came to speak on behalf of Noël and the Christians of Scillery, as also of the Abnaquiois Catechumens, who had made me their ambassador to him. He then appointed a day to hear me,—on the following Tuesday, [92] the thirteenth of December,—giving orders that the magistrates should be notified to betake themselves to Boston on that day.

On the thirteenth, the Sieur Governor of Boston and the Magistrates invited me to dine, and, at the close, gave me audience. Besides the Magistrates and the Secretary, there was present a man deputed by the people, whom they call a '; representative."

I made a special entreaty on behalf of the Abnaquiois who had been killed by the Iroquois,—this is in the letter written to father Lejeune, in the eighth clause,—after which I was told to withdraw. Later, I was invited to supper, after which they gave me the answer which is in the other letter, in the clause before mentioned.

In regard to the character which I assumed of ambassador for my Catechumens [10] of the Kenebec, [page 89] they told me that Boston took no interest therein, and that I must address myself to Plimouth.

I left Boston on the twenty-first of that month, December, for Plimouth, where I arrived on the morrow, with my [blank space] who lodged me with one of the five farmers of Koussinoc, named padis. The governor of the place, named John Brentford, received me with courtesy, and appointed me an audience for the next day; and he invited me to a dinner of fish, which he prepared on my account, knowing that it was Friday. I found considerable favor in this settlement, for the farmers—and among others the captain, Thomas Willets—spoke to the governor in advocacy of my negotiation; and afterward we had discussions, [11] which are contained in the letter, in the [blank space] clause.

24th. I left on the twenty-fourth, and returned to Boston by land, in company with the son and the nephew of my [blank space], who paid for me during the journey. I arrived at Rosqbray, where the minister, named Master heliot, who was teaching some savages, received me at his house, because night was overtaking me; he treated me with respect and kindness, and begged me to spend the winter with him.

The next day, the twenty-ninth, I arrived at Boston, and proceeded to the Sieur major-general guebin's.

On the thirtieth of the said month, I spoke to Sieur Ebens, one of the magistrates, who assured me that he was very glad that the governor of Plimout was willing to grant aid against [12] the Iroquois. He said that it was very reasonable to succor one's Christian brethren, even if of another religion,—and especially against a pagan persecutor of the [page 91] Chris tians. He presented to me the answer of the Sieur governor of Boston and of the magistrates, to those of monsieur the governor.

On the last of the said month, I returned to Rosquebray to ask permission from Sieur Dudley, the Governor, that safe-conduct might be inserted in the letter for the passage of the French who might wish to go through Boston against the Iroquois; and, grasping my hand, he said to me: " Assure Monsieur your governor that we wish to be his good friends and servants, whatever war there may be between the crowns. I am very glad that the governor of [l3] Plimout is willing to further the assistance that you desire against the Iroquois: I will aid him with all my power."

On the first of January, I wrote a franked letter to father Le Jeune,—by an English ship which was to sail on the eighth day of the same month,—concerning the whole state of affairs; monsieur Guebins wrote to Monsieur de Latour, and addressed the whole to [blank space] to Sieur Rosee. I begged father Lejeune to send an answer, both to Boston and to Monsieur our governor, by the fishermen of Gaspey,—the tenor of which is in the letter, in the [blank space] article.

I wrote also to Sieur Edward Winslow, at the request of Monsieur his brother, begging him to write in favor of our business to the Magistrates of New England.

[14] Some time after, I wrote to Sieur Wintrop,—son of the late Sieur Wintrop, the former governor of Boston,—who is one of the principal Magistrates of the colony of Renetigout, a very good friend, as is said, of the French and Savages. [page 93]

On the third of the same month, I spoke to Sieur Gebin, who told me that he would do what he could in favor of aid against the Iroquois, but that he believed that the people of Boston would not take any part therein; that, nevertheless, he believed that there would be means to humble the Iroquois. Perhaps he directs his purpose to a new discovery which he has begun, toward new Sweden.

On the fifth, Sieur Guebin conducted me to the harbor, and very particularly commended me to Thomas Yau, [15] master of a bark which was sailing for Kenebec.

On the ninth of the same month, the bad weather detained us at Morbletz, where there are many persons; the minister, named William Walter, received me with great kindness. In his company I went to Salem, to converse with Sieur Indicott, who speaks and understands French well; he is a good friend to our nation, and desirous that his children should continue in this friendship. Seeing that I had no money, he paid my expenses, and had me eat with the Magistrates, who during eight days gave audience to every one. I left with him, in the form of a letter, a power of attorney which he asked front me, in order to act efficiently during the general Court of Boston, which was to) be held on the [16] thirteenth of May. He assured me that he would do his utmost to obtain consent from the colony of Boston, which served as a standard for the others,—telling me that the governor of Plimout had good reason for seeking to obtain that from the colonies. At my departure, he told me that he had carefully read what I had left in writing on behalf of Monsieur our governor, and of my Catechumens, and that he perfectly understood [page 95] it; that he would despatch a man to carry me a letter at Kennebec; and that he would tell me, as soon as he could, what he should have done in this matter, and obtained from the Magistrates.

On the twenty-fourth of January, I arrive at Peskatigwet, which is twenty leagues from Boston. There I thoroughly learned the story of Captain Ki[ervum—Ferland MS.), [17] who captured in the vicinity of cap breton, about the month of July, a French fisherman named Eslie Cousturier, from la tremblade. The prize was valued as high as seven hundred pistoles. Monsieur Chapellier, Vice-Governor of Agamenticos, which is two leagues from Peskatigwet, assured me that every one was indignant at this captain; that Boston had sentenced him to a hundred pistoles, and each sailor to forty; and, in a word, that heaven itself had visibly declared against him. For a severe northeast wind had shattered his frigate,—which he had used in order to surprise that poor Huguenot Frenchman, by virtue of a commission which the archduke Leopole gave him in the year forty-seven,—to the extent of fourteen thousand pistoles.

Pierre Tibaud, a good Catholic, [18] confirms this whole story to me, as an eye-witness,—who, seeing that that frigate, on which he was a sailor, was ruined, obtains from master Thomas Yau an engagement for coming to Canada about the month of May. He is a young sailor from Saint Nazaire, on the river of Nante; is a good interpreter of English, Flemish, Dutch, and Spanish; and can serve as pilot for the coast of New England, as far as Virginia.

I gave him a promise that he should be received in the capacity of a sailor at Kebec, for sixteen livres a month, as he was with the English. [page 97]

On the twenty-fifth, at Peskatigwet, Thomas Yau, master of the bark which conveyed me back to Kenebec, of his own free impulse asks me for a simple certificate of [19] the peace and friendly understanding between New France and New England,—that he might proceed to isle percee, about the month of April or May, with thirty tons of Indian corn, besides other commodities.

On the seventh of February, at Tameriskau, where the fishermen show me much friendliness; they were the very ones who had accounted one a spy, on my way to Boston.

On the eighth of February, I depart for the river of Kenebec, where I continue my interrupted mission. All the English who are on this river received me with many demonstrations of friendship.

On the thirteenth of April, Monsieur John Winslau my true [blank space], arrived from [20] Plimout and Boston at Koussinoc. He assures me that all the Magistrates and the two Commissioners of Plimout have given their word, and resolved that the other colonies should be urged to join them against the Iroquois in favor of the Abnaquiois, who are under the protection of this colony of Pleymout,—which has the proprietorship of Koussinoc, and for its rights of lordship takes the sixth part of what accrues from the trade. He said, moreover, that Monsieur Brentford, the governor,—who is one of the five merchants, or farmers, who furnish everything necessary for the trade,—had already despatched, by the twentieth of March, Captain Master Thomas Wilhet,—who is greatly attached to the Abnaquiois, with whom he has been acquainted at Koussinoc for [21] several years,—with letters presented in behalf of [page 99] aid against the Iroquois. He carries these to the governors of Harfort, or Kenetigout, which is on the river of the Sokouckiois, fifty leagues from Pleymout; and of Nieufhaven, or Kwinopiers, which is ten leagues from Harfort; and even to the governor of Manate, in order to prevent him from further trading arms to the Iroquois, and to urge upon him that he shall not only not oppose those who would attack the Iroquois, but even aid the English in this project, by virtue of the union upon which, some years ago, he entered with New England.

This Captain has orders to be present at Nieufhaven or Kwinopeia, in order to solicit the Commissioners, or deputies, of the four colonies, who [22] are to assemble there.

He also told me that the common rumor in Boston, where he had been ten or fifteen days, was, that Monsieur Indicott would be governor of that colony at the first general court, which was to be held about the seventeenth of May.

The same, and the letters of some private citizens of Boston, affirm that the general sentiment of the citizens of Boston is, that, if the republic will not resolve upon this aid against the Iroquois by public authority, private volunteers are ready for that expedition, upon the mere permission of that request,—just as, by favor of Monsieur Guebins in behalf of Monsieur Latour, some troops went against the late Monsieur daunay.

On the twenty-fourth of April, the [23] Sokouckiois arrives, bringing a message on the part of four villages,—to wit, of the Sokouckiois, of the Pagamptagwe, of the Penagouc, and of the Mahingans, situated on the river of manate; he answers the [page 101] propositions that I had made to him by word of mouth, last autumn, the eighteenth of November. (The Abnaquiois, joining me, had made a present to the Sokouckiois, of fifteen collars, and ten or twelve porcelain bracelets, which might be valued at seven or eight bundles of Beaver skins,—in order to say to them: " Do what Onontio and tekwirimaeth tell you.") He said that those four villages, having held a Council during three months of the past winter, had resolved to take the risks against the Iroquois with Onontio and Noel, whether the English [24] did or did not undertake the war against the Iroquois; and, when the Iroquois shall be exterminated, they will oppose every other nation whatsoever that may wish to make war toward Quebecq. 2nd. He adds that several other nations, which are allied to these, will accompany them to war,—especially, one called Noutchihuict, very numerous and dreaded by the Iroquois. It is situated between the Mahingans and Manathe.

He offers to Noël Takwirimath either now to wipe away the blood of the Algonquins and of the Sokouckiois who have killed one another inadvertently, or for lack of recognizing one another; or, else, to wait until after the death of the Iroquois, in order to give each other the satisfaction which they are accustomed to render mutually in such a case.

[25] REFLECTION UPON THE HOPE INSPIRED BY THE SAVAGES.

T is certain that all the Nations of Savages which are in New England hate the Iroquois, and fear lest, after the Hurons and the Algonquains, he will exterminate them. Indeed, he has broken the [page 103] heads of many of their men, finding them hunting Beaver, without making any satisfaction.

Moreover, it is certain that the Sokouckiois have been closely allied to the Algonquains, and are very glad to deliver themselves from the annual tribute of porcelain which the Iroquois exact,—nay, even, to revenge themselves for the death of many of their fellow-countrymen, killed by the Iroquois. Besides that, they hope for the beaver hunt [26] about Quebecq, after the destruction of the Iroquois.

Finally, it is certain that the single nation of Noutchihout, which has arms, is enough, at the very least, to divert the Iroquois so well that they

shall not have leisure to do us any notable harm.

REFLECTIONS TOUCHING WHAT MAY BE HOPED FROM NEW ENGLAND AGAINST THE IROQUOIS.

ST. I suppose it a thing perfectly assured that the English of the four united colonies—to wit, Boston, Pleymeouth, Kenetigout, and Kwinopeia—are very well equipped for exterminating the savage nations; [27] they have exterminated two of them, usque ad mingentem ad parietem. They are so strong in point of numbers that, in the single colony of Boston, four thousand men can be put in the field. They number, in these four colonies, at least forty thousand souls; and besides, the route by which they can reach the Iroquois is very short and very easy.

2nd. I suppose that the special article of their union, which reads that, without the consent of the Commissioners or of the deputies of these four colonies, no one of these colonies can undertake any offensive war, would therefore require that those deputies assemble to deliberate in that matter; and [page 105] that three colonies consent to this aid, so that the majority of votes may carry the question.

[28] Now that supposes, I think, that we have fairly good prospects of this aid by means of the English, because we have a moral certainty that, of four colonies, three are for consenting.

2nd. The governor of Pleymout, with all his magistrates, not only consents, but urges this affair in favor of the Abnaquiois, who are under the protection of the Pleymoutch Colony.

The whole Colony has a very considerable interest therein, because by the right of Proprietorship it takes, each year, the sixth part of all that accrues from the trade on this river of Quinebec.

And, in particular, the governor himself, with four others of the most important citizens,—who are, as it were, farmers of this trade,—would lose [29] much, by losing all prospect of the trade of Kennebec and of Kebec, by means of the Abnaquiois,—which will soon inevitably happen if the Iroquois continues to kill it, and to hunt to death those Abnaquiois, as he has been doing for some years.

The governor has a strong precedent for obtaining this aid, all the colonies having waged war in favor of a savage nation which is on the river of Pecot, named Morchigander; because the Colony of Kenetigwet, having the said nation under its protection, asked the three other colonies to undertake this warn.

See the matter more at length in the copy of the letter written to the Reverend Father le Jeune in the [blank space] article.

[30] As to what this governor has answered and has done, add that every one affirms that this governor's authority is all-powerful. [page 107]

2nd. The vice-governor of Boston, Monsieur Indicott, who very probably is now governor, has given his word that he would do his utmost in order to have all the Magistrates of Boston consent thereto, and unite with the governor of Pleymout. All the magistrates of Boston write that they will strongly recommend the matter to the deputies.

The interest which Boston has therein is the hope of a good trade with Quebecq,—especially as that which it has with Virginia, and with the islands of barbade and Saint Christhopf, is on the point of being broken off by the war which the parliamentarians are agitating, in order to destroy the authority of the [31] governors who still hold for the king of England.

This interest has caused the merchants of Boston to say, in advance, that, if the commonwealth should hesitate to send troops thither, the volunteers would be satisfied with a simple permission for such an expedition .

3rd. The principal magistrate of the colony of Kenetigout, named Monsieur Wintrop,—son of the late Monsieur Wintrop, who first wrote to Quebecq in behalf of trade,—is very friendly to the French, and will probably do what he can in behalf of this aid, in consequence of the letter which I have written to him, begging him to complete what his father began.

As for the governor of Kwinopeia, since every one declares that he is exceedingly reasonable, there are [32] indications that, if he does not promote this affair, at the very least he will not hinder it,—especially since Boston and Pleymout, which are the two most important colonies, and a sort of standard for the others, urge him on. Besides all that, I have [page 109] written, with Monsieur John Winslau, to Monsieur Edward Winslau,—the agent in England for the affair of these four Colonies,—in order that he write a word in favor of the Christians and the Savage Catechumens, whom he tenderly loves. A word from him is all-powerful upon the mind of the deputies of these four Colonies. Finally, what I have represented on the part of Monsieur the governor of Quebecq, and in behalf of the Savage Christians, seems to be so urgent that they will hardly be able to excuse themselves unless they decide upon this aid.

[33] I have placed before you the whole matter at length. At least, this favorable disposition of these three Colonies is enough to make us hope for a permission in behalf of the volunteers who shall be willing to deal the blow; or, at the very least, favorable letters for the province of Mariland, wholly composed of English Catholics, who are quite near the Iroquois.[page 111]

 

END.

 

Journal of the Jesuit Fathers, in the year

1651.

JANUARY, 1651.

ANUARY 1st, I went to greet Monsieur the Governor in the morning; and I gave Madame a reliquary. I wrote to the Ursulines and Hospital nuns. I sent to Monsieur Couillar a stone calumet; to Monsieur Menoil, a large medal of St. Ignatius, anni sœcularis, to Madamoiselle de Repentigny a reliquary. I gave to Monsieur de St. Sauveur, Aurifodinœ Drexelii, and gifts to Monsieur and Madame Giffar, to Monsieur and Madame de La ferté, to Monsieur and Madame de St. Denys, to Monsieur and Madame De More, to Madamoiselle de Tilly, to Madamoiselle Godefroy and her sister Caterine, to Madame Bourdon and her daughters, to Monsieur Marsolet, etc.

Monsieur Giffar sent me two capons; Master Jean Guyon, a capon and a partridge; Madame Couillar, 2 live hens.

On the 15th, Martin Provost's house was burned at one o'clock in the afternoon, die Dominico.

16. Léspiné, Simon Guyon, and Courville return from seal-hunting, as they claim,—extrema omnia passi. . . . Narrative.

21. The Ursuline Mothers go to lodge in [page 113] their own house, after having visited our house, the church, and the fort.

FEBRUARY .

13. The Ursulines seclude themselves.

MARCH.

2. We receive news by three Hurons—Ateaskwentiondi, Andaskwaent, and Andaono'ti—that a Frenchman was lying dead, toward the River of Jaques Cartier. They reported having found him frozen, without any wound,—save in one hand, which the foxes or other animals had eaten. These Hurons offered to return thither with some soldiers of the flying camp. They had covered the body with branches of fir; they found it with one cheek injured, and the skin torn off, also wounded in the nose. The soldiers circulated the report that he had been killed by the Hurons; but without reason.—for there appeared no mortal blow, or any stroke of a hatchet or knife, or any wound by firearms, etc.

12. Mathieu Chourel's house burned, while he and his wife were at Mass at Beauport.

18. On St. Joseph s eve they have a bonfire, the same as last year, which Monsieur the Governor begged me to light; I did so with much repugnance. I had taken with me Father Le Mercier and Father Gareau.

The preachers for Lent were Father Poncet, at the parish church; Father Le Mercier, at the Ursulines'; Father Gareau at the [page 115] Hospital nuns'. There w as no preaching during the week at the Religious houses; nec enim judicatun est esse operœ pretium.

16. Father Bailloquet sets out to go and follow the Algonquins into the woods, as they go to their hunt. He returns on the 22nd .

19. Contract settled Keith Mademoiselle de Grandmaisons for her lands, in favor of the Hurons, who are to dwell in the isle of orleans.

27. Father Buteux, with Daniel Carteron, Sieur Normanville and a Compagnais [i.e., donné leave Three Rivers for the Atikamegues.

29. Father Chaumonot, Eustache, and La Pierre, go to live on the isle of orleans.

APRIL.

13. Charles Panie leaves in a canoe with 2 Hurons to go and look after Father Albanel at Tadoussac, qui ægrotare dicebatur,—having wintered with the Montagnais. They return on the 22nd, the Father being in good health.

18. The distribution was made of the cleared lands of Madamoiselle de Grandmaisons,—allotted into 30 portions, the largest of which is only half an arpent; the others are only 20, 30, or 40 perches. All were satisfied; and sowing was immediately begun.

22. The large boat from Three Rivers arrives, with the sailors who had wintered there. We receive letters from Montreal, which say [page 117] that 40 Iroquois had appeared there on the 1st day of March, but had been discovered; that, after a number of shots fired on both sides, they had said that last autumn an army of 1,500 Iroquois, who had gone to the neutral Nation, had swept away a village there; that the people of the Neutral Nation having fallen upon them, under the guidance of the Tahona¸enrat, 200 of the enemies had been captured or killed; and that, this winter, another army of 1,200 had returned thither, to avenge that loss.

26. A shallop arrived from Three Rivers, which had started thence the day before, with six soldiers of the flying camp, who bring news:

1. that on the previous day a Huron, named Onda¸aiondïont,—escaped from a band of eleven Iroquois, whom he had left toward la Poterie,—had given warning that this band of Iroquois was coming to deal its blow here at Quebec;
2. that 4 ondassa¸anens, led by a Huron named N. Aontenawi, were prowling about somewhere to make their attack.
3. that above Montreal there were 300 Iroquois, in various bands
4. that Atendera and 7 other Hurons had been captured, toward the end of the summer, in the little island opposite Ahwendose,—of whom the said Onda¸aiondïont was one
5. that the band of Andotitak, Thawenda, and others, who had gone up with Father Bressany, had all been defeated and [page 119] taken captive, 12 leagues from Ahwendo¸e.
6. that 7 Iroquois had killed three Hurons of the band of ohenhen, who went back to the Hurons last autumn; but that, this ohenhen having withstood the enemy, the latter had taken flight.
7. that only 600 Iroquois had dealt their blow to the neutral nation; de quo supra.
8. that Tehañdoutasen had returned thither,—he the hundredth,—this summer, to require an account of the affront which had been offered them, etc.

27. About seven o'clock in the evening, Nicolas Pinel and his son Gilles were attacked in their clearing by two Iroquois, who thought to take them alive. Boisverdon fired on them, without wounding them; Master Nicolas and his son, were struck with fear, and rushed away down the mountain, to escape. These Iroquois having gone to join others,—toward the house of Nopce,—they fired an arquebus shot into the door of the house. The dogs on the hill of Ste. Geneviefve barked all that night.

MAY.

1. Courville arrested as a prisoner, propter raptum imminentem of Madamoiselle Dauteuil.
2. The bark sails for Tadoussac and Gaspé. Master Charles Quen commands it, with Father Albanel.
3. Monsieur d'Ailleboust arrives in a shallop from Montreal, whence he had started [page 121] on the 1st day of May, after supper, with 12 soldiers.

Sister St. Michel, Françoise Capel, leaves the Ursulines, and goes to dwell at Madamoiselle de Grandmaisons. We have learned by letters from both Montreal and Three Rivers:

1. that Jaques ondhwarak and his uncle, Charles Aontrati, were captured by the Iroquois, this winter, while hunting.
2. that, about the end of April, Susane Aia'ris was mortally wounded by three enemies, and her little son Denys, aged 6 years, carried away.
3. that the onnonta'eronnons this winter besieged our fort at Ahwen'do,e, and had destroyed a hundred men.

7. Madamoiselle Dauteuil is sent to Beauport to Monsieur Giffar's.
8. Mother de St. Joseph is elected superioress of the hospital; omnia pacifice transacta. I had as assistants Father Vimont and Father De Quen.

11. Two Iroquois, being ready to deal their blow in the house of Nicolas Peltier, are perceived; item, two others,—or the same two,—near the house of Thomas Hayot.

14. monsieur the Governor and I leave Quebec for Three Rivers, where we arrive the next days in the St. Joseph,—Monsieur Godefroy in the Ste. Anne . . . . We learn the news of an Annie'ronnon who was killed, and of another who was capture by six Algonquins who had been to war. This [page 123] Captive Annie'ronnon was put to death at Montreal.

18. We leave Three Rivers for Montreal, where we arrive the next day at 8 o'clock in the morning. . . . we learn there:

1. that on the sixth day of the month, about 50 Iroquois had killed Big Jean and had cut off his head; and that they had taken captive his wife Caterine, whom they had left for dead, having removed the entire scalp from; her head. A young man of 21 years, named Jean chicot, who [blank space]. These Iroquois robbed the miller's house, and partly the house of the aforesaid Big Jean, within sight and hearing of the fort. . . .
2. On the tenth of May, at two o'clock after midnight, about 40 Iroquois attacked and tried to set fire to the brewery; but 4 Frenchmen who slept there repelled the enemy. The house of Ste. Susane and the house of la vigne were burned at the same time.

24. We depart from Montreal, and arrive the next day at Three Rivers about 4 o'clock in the evening. There we find that quite recently ten Iroquois had made their attack, six of them having fired upon a canoe with two Frenchmen, who had gone to take up a line,—within sight of the fort, and within a musket's range. These Iroquois had lain in wait at the edge of the wood, and fired two shots, by which the two Frenchmen were felled in their canoe,—Noel Godin receiving a number of mortal wounds, from which he [page 125] died on the ninth day after his injury; the other, named La Jeunesse, having an arm broken, and a shoulder pierced through and through, by a ball. That very evening they were sent in a shallop to Quebec, in order to be cared for at the hospital. The Four others, of those ten Iroquois, had gone into the clearings, where they killed a Huron named Honditsoa,oritehoiachon'nen. In the morning, the Ste. Anne had started for Quebec.

29. The shallop returns from Quebec and brings letters from Father Druillettes, from New England.

JUNE.

4. I appointed Father Menar to be superior at Three Rivers. Omnia peculia Huronum, et Algonquinorum, sublata.

6. We leave Three Rivers to return to Quebec, where we arrive the next day, about 4 o'clock. On the way, we visited the settlement of the River faverel, below the Cape of Three Rivers.
7. We learn of the arrival of Father Druillettes, three days ago; item, of the departure of the Ste. Anne, which had sailed only that morning, commanded by Monsieur Marsolet,—Father De Quen being of the party, to go to the Oumamiwek. . . . . The Sainte Anne returned to Quebec on the 10th day of August, and brought news of the ship St. Jean.[page 127]
8. day of the Blessed Sacrament. The procession took place after vespers. I bore the Blessed Sacrament; Monsieur de More, Monsieur Menoil, Monsieur Sevestre, and an Algonquin, bore the canopy.
9. A shallop arrived from Three Rivers, which brought us Poisson, sick. A cannon, having burst when he was firing it at the procession of the Blessed Sacrament, had broken his arm, etc.
10. Two shallops leave again for Three Rivers, in which Guillaume Boivin and Charles Panie embarked, in order to go and build a house for our Fathers,—as theirs was to be demolished .

12. Mother Marie de l'Incarnation is elected Superioress of the Ursulines. I had for assistants Father Le Mercier and Monsieur Vignal. . . . After dinner, Mother Marie de St. Joseph was retained as assistant, and Mother de Ste. Claire was elected Procurator; omnia primo scrutinio

22. Father Druillettes, Monsieur Godefroy, and Jean Guerin leave with the Abnaquinois and a Sokoquinois for New England; 7 or 8 canoes. Noel Tekwerimat is of the party.

26. Father Buteux arrives in a shallop at Quebec; he had arrived at Three Rivers, returning from the Atikamegues,—on the 18th of the month, with Monsieur Normanville.

26. Father Chaumonot, with Eustache, leaves for Tadoussac with some Huron canoes, [page 129] for the fishery. He returns on the 16th of July.

29. A shallop arrives from Gaspé, which brings us the first letters from France, and also the News of our frigate, captured at Gaspé by a bark of Madame Daunay. Monsieur Barreau was in command of this shallow

29. Algonquins were taken at the fall of la Chaudiere, opposite Sillery, by five Iroquois.... Our brother Pierre feauté had been there the day before, and went there the same day to visit his nets.

30. Another Algonquin is taken by the same Iroquois, toward la Poterie; his companion, Mathieu, escaped. They were going to 3 Rivers.

JULY.

3. Father Buteux goes to Tadoussac in the shallop of monsieur Barreau.
4. News arrives from 3 Rivers concerning 3 Algonquin women, who escaped from the Iroquois; and of 2 Algonquin men,—one captured at the Chaudiere fall, the other, who was thought to have been captured on the 30th of the preceding month. Vide supra. News of the condition of the Hurons, and of the defeat of the Tangwaonronnons, on the lake of the Nipissiriniens, by 50 Iroquois.
5. Our brother Pierre feauté and Our brother Nicolas go to 3 Rivers.

Father Buteux, having arrived at Tadoussac on the 6th day of July, started thence on the 7th to go to Gaspé and to isle percee. [page 131]

On the 17th, I start for Isle aux oyes; I return thence on the 22nd.

On the 21st, at ten o'clock in the morning, Racine's house burned.

On the 30th, the bark from Three Rivers arrives, which brings as news:

1. that, on the 27th of May, 4 Hurons who had come from the Neutral Nation had said, when they arrived at Montreal, that the two collars given by Monsieur the Governor to Ohenhen, as bearer thereof, had been received, etc.
2. that Jaques Ondhwara'k, captured in the spring while hunting, with his uncle Aontrati, had returned from Anniene,—arriving at Montreal on the 8th day of June, the day of the Blessed Sacrament,—and had brought for news that, etc.
3. that on the 18th day of June,—a Sunday,—at the conclusion of the two Masses, they had fought at Montreal against 50 or 60 Iroquois, in which combat the French had behaved valiantly,—an Iroquois Captain being left there on the spot, and several having been wounded. Four Frenchmen were wounded there, and among these, Leonard Barbau, who survived only two days.
4. that many Iroquois bands were continually appearing, without having dealt any blow. Item at Three Rivers.

On the 15th of July, a band of Iroquois had seized a Huron named Tearachia'kwa, and had killed another, named Sohonetsi,—four others having escaped; these six Hurons had been on the other side of the River, in the [page 133] morning, in three canoes, to get hay. The Iroquois, having dealt their blow on the other side of the River, noticed that our French, to the number of about 50, were going by land to bring back the cattle, which were more than a league distant from Three Rivers. They jumped into their canoes; and, having crossed the River, they came to land at a place still farther away, where some oxen and cows were,—our French not yet having arrived there. They killed five beasts there on the spot, the best of which they carried off; but, besides that, there were found missing twelve or thirteen others, both oxen and cows; sive ab Iroquœis occisi sint boves, or else they may have become dispersed and lost.

On the 26th, five Iroquois canoes appeared at Three Rivers, without accomplishing anything, except to kill a heifer there. This they left on the spot, having been constrained to re-cross the River hastily,—seeing that they were discovered, and that the French were moving toward them, partly by water, partly by land.

AUGUST.

On the 7th, Maturin, Antoine des Rosiers' man, was killed at Three Rivers by the Iroquois; he had started as early as four o'clock in the morning, to go and shoot crows in his field. He was found dead on the road, with two arquebus shots in the breast, and a hatchet in his head. Some men had started that morning in a Shallop, in order to go and get [page 135] some pine logs, at a place named la Piniere; they found everything burned—by the enemies, as is believed.

On the 12th, Father De Quen and Father Buteux arrive from Tadoussac.

13. The bark commanded by Martin Grouvel arrives, having made a prosperous voyage. The Sieur Baron, of the house of Monsieur the Count dognon.

On the 14th, a shallop arrives from Three Rivers, which brings us the news of the death of Monsieur Hertel, who died on St. Lawrence's day. Otsie'ka moritur.

15. We receive letters from Father Druillettes, dated July 12th, at Kousinok on Kenebeki,—where he had arrived on the 3rd day of July, and whence he was to start for Boston on the 13th.

On the 18th, at 8 o'clock in the evening, arrives the first Ship from France, called the St. Jean, commanded by Captain Boutin.

On the 25th, we receive letters from Montreal, by which we learn:

1. that Denys Archambaut had been instantly killed by a cannon which burst while he was firing it, for the third time, against 60 Iroquois. This was on the 26th of July.
2. that Athohonchiwane and Toratati had arrived from the Hurons on the 1st of August .
3. that on the 16th of August the Iroquois, having appeared toward the middle of the clearings, were put to flight by our french. [page 137]

1

27. Torata'ti arrives at Quebec, and informs us of the condition of the Hurons.

31. Noel Tekwerimat returns from Boston, with letters from Father Druillettes.

SEPTEMBER.

On the 1st day of September the St. Joseph returns from Tadoussac, and with it Martin Grouvel's bark, which had gone to assist her.

3. La fleur de Paris, Tandoutaionk, and an Algonquinized Abnaquinois, start to go and bring Father Druillettes.

16. The petit St. Jean sails, commanded by Captain Boutin.

On the 18th, there arrives from Bonaventure the Shallop of Jean Langlois, which brought us some bacon, wines, etc.

The same day, an hour before sunset, Louyse, wife of Chagniau, was killed in her house by the Iroquois. Only 3 Iroquois were seen.

On the 20th of the same month, Madame de Monceaux and Monsieur Dauteuil arrived in a shallop. They had left their Dutch Ship at Tadoussac, where they had arrived on the 16th of the month, having reached Gaspe on the 8th. They had sailed from la Rochelle on the 16th day of July.

On the 22nd, the Ste. Anne arrived,—returning from Montreal and 3 Rivers.

On the evening of the same day, there arrived at Sillery a canoe of three Sokoquinois, about 7 o'clock in the evening; one of whom [page 139] was he who had come here in the spring as Ambassador. These sokoquinois told Noel Tekwerimat that they had come in Company with a hundred other Sokoquinois, whom they had left engaged in hunting, toward Richelieu; but they contradicted themselves in their story, so that there was every reason to suspect that there might be some trickery in the behavior of these sokoquinois, and that they came animo potius hostili, quàm amico. Noel having given warning to some canoes of Hurons, who were fishing for eels near Sillery, those Hurons came by night to spread the alarm here at Quebec,—saying that there were 200 Iroquois quite near Sillery, who were coming to attack it. To aid both Sillery and Cap rouge, a troop of French were despatched at once, who arrived there before day. The three sokoquinois became terrified thereby and two of them took flight, escaping over the walls. The third one remained,—is scilicet fui Legatus huc venerat.

In the bark Ste. Anne was a Huron named Tsawenhohi, from Arhetsi, who had arrived in the month of August at Montreal, with a nephew of his, named A¸arenhon¸ok, who came from Atra'kwae. They told as news: 1st, the capture of Teoto'ndiaton, and the desolation of the Neutral Nation: quàm alio modo narrabant from what we had been given to understand before. 2nd, they told us that those of St. Michel Atahonta,enrat, and the Arendae'ronnons, had given themselves freely to the sonnontw'eronnons. 3rd, that [page 141] those Gentlemen of St. Michel had already held many councils with their new kinsmen, the Sonnontwe'ronnons, de feriendo fœdere cum Gallis, Contra the Iroquois Annie'sronnons; and that for this purpose they were about to man a canoe for this place, with 4 Tahontasenrat and 2 Sonnontwe'ronnons, in order to know the purpose and opinion of onnontio.

On the 23rd, a shallop arrives from 3 Rivers, to give us warning that an Iroquois canoe had been perceived passing by 3 Rivers, coming down here; and that the Iroquois were in the field.

On the 24th of the same month, the Sokoquinois who had stayed behind withdrew incognito, with an Abnaquinois, having stolen a canoe from Thomas Hayot.

On the 25th, Jean Langlois' shallop sails again.

On the 26th, the news arrives at Quebec of 36 Huron canoes, who are coming to swell our Colony. Aenhio, ondhatetaionk, Hoek, Handotonk.

OCTOBER.

On the 12th, the Shallop arrives from the Ships which brought Monsieur de Lauson, etc.; item, the frigate sent back by the Governor of Acadia, which had been taken from us in spring by the people of Madame Daunay. Messieurs Denys, who had been taken prisoners by Madame Daunay, were also sent back in the same frigate. [page 145]

An Italian Cordelier Father, named Father Bernardino Seyllon, who was with Monsieur Denys, was received with us in hospitium, until the 5th of November, when he embarked again for France in the Dutch ship.

On the 13th arrived the fleet of 3 Ships,—the St. Joseph, La Vierge, and a third, a Dutch Ship. At evening on the preceding day, the Reverend Father Hierosme Lallemant had come to take the orders, and to know what should be done. The Ships, having remained at anchor behind point de Lauzon, appeared The next morning under sail, and came to port about 7 o'clock in the morning. I went to greet Monsieur de Lauson on his deck; about 8 o'clock he landed. He went straight to the fort, where, having presented his Commission, the keys were given to him, and he entered within the fort. Thence he came to the church, where I received him more ecclesiastico, aspergendo eum aquâ benedictâ at the entrance to the door, and saying to him some 8 or 10 lines for his reception. Then the Reverend Father Lallemant said the Mass.

On the 18th, Father Chaumonot took his final vows in the Parish church, at a low Mass which I said after High Mass. At the conclusion, Monsieur the Governor came to dine in our refectory Monsieur Du Plessis, Monsieur the Seneschal and Monsieur de la Sitiere, Monsieur de Hautville, Monsieur de Tilly, Monsieur De Repentigny, Monsieur Robineau, Monsieur Dauteuil.

An hour after noon the pupils received Monsieur the Governor in our new chapel—Latinâ oratione, et versibus Gallicis, etc. The savages danced, etc.

25. We receive news from 3 Rivers that the Iroquois had been in the country of the Atikamegues, and that they had there captured 20 persons, at the place of the second assembly.

On the 23rd, the marriage of Monsieur the seneschal occurred,—faciente sacrum Patre Vimont, quia parochi locum tenebat. I was at the nuptial dinner. Father Alimont was there the next day, and Father Hierosme Lallemant on the third day.

30. Monsieur Godefroy returns from his New England journey, and brings us letters from Father Gabriel Druillettes.

NOVEMBER .

5. The Dutch Ship sails, in which was Monsieur de Maisonneufve, item, Courville.

11. Three Frenchmen are drowned,—servants of Monsieur Giffard,—who by night had gone to trade in Beaver skins on the isle of orleans.

On the same day arrived the News about the Ste. Anne, which had grounded on the rocks and sunk in the water, a league this side the Cap a l'arbre. Monsieur Du Plessis was on board.

17. The Ships St. Joseph, Commanded by Captain Boucher, and la Vierge, commanded by Captain Boileau, sail for France. Father [page 147] Lyonne and Our brother Pierre feauté cross to France in the St. Joseph.

23. The frigate coming from Montreal arrives, and brings back the Beaver skins. It had sailed from Montreal on the 8th of the month.

DECEMBER.

1. The bark Esperance arrives from 3 Sets Rivers. People began to settle at the cape, from the day of the Presentation.

4. There was a performance of the Tragedy of Heraclius, by Corneille.

On the same day, news came of some Iroquois who had pursued Poisson's canoe, which was going up to 3 Rivers.

8. A canoe arrives from 3 Rivers, by which we learn of the capture by the Iroquois, at Montreal, of a Huron named Tentenhawita; which occurred on the 15th of November.
9. A shallop sails for 3 Rivers, which returned on the 15th, at least the sailors, who were constrained to leave the shallop above cap rouge, on account of the ice. [page 149]

LXXIX

RELATION OF 1650 - 51

PARIS: SEBASTIEN ET GABRIEL CRAMOISY, 1652

Source: We follow a copy of the original Cramoisy, in possession of The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland.

In the present volume, we have space only for chaps. i.-iii.; the document will be concluded in Volume XXXVII.

[page 153]

RELATION

OF WHAT OCCURRED

MOST REMARKABLE

in the Missions of the Fathers

of the Society of Jesus,

IN

NEW FRANCE,

IN THE YEARS 1650 AND 1650.

Sent to the Reverend Father Provincial of

the Province of France.

 

By Father Paul Ragueneau, superior

of the Missions of the same Society.

 

 

 

PARIS

	Sebastien cramoisy,
Print- ed by	Printer in ordinary to the King; and to the Queen Regent,	ruë St. Jac-ques, at the
	AND Gabriel Cramoisy.	sign of the Storks.

M. DC. LI.

BY ROYAL LICENSE.

 

 

[page 155]

 

Table of the Chapters contained in this Book.
RELATION of what occurred in New France, in the years 1650 and 1651.		1.
Chap. I.	Condition of the French settlements .	4
Chap. II	Condition of the former country of the Hurons, and of the Neutral nation.	15
Chap. III	Condition of the Missions for the conversion of the Savages.
	Of the Residence of Sillery	31
	Of the Residence of three Rivers	33
	Of the Resielence of Montreal	40
	Of the Huron Colony	42
	Of the Tadoussac Mission	62
	Of the Oumamiouek Mission	65
	Of the Abnaquiois Mission	67
	Of the Attikamegues Mission	70
Journal of Father Jaques Buteux etc.		73
Letter of Father Jaques Buteux etc.		126

[page 157]

Extract from the Royal License.

BY grace and privilege of the King, given at Poictiers and signed "by the King in Council, Cramoisy," permission is granted to SEBASTIEN CRAMOISY, Sworn Bookseller in the University of Paris, and Printer in ordinary to the King and Queen, Citizen and former Alderman of this city of Paris, to print or to have 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 1650. et 1651. 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. Prohibiting all Booksellers and Printers to print or to have printed the said book, under pretext of disguise or change that they might make therein, on penalty of confiscation, and of the fine provided by the said License.

[page 159]

[1] Relation of what occurred in the Mission

of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus in

the country of New France, from the

Summer of the year 1650 to the

Summer of the year 1651.

To Reverend Father Claude de Lingendes, Provincial of the

Society of JESUS in the Province of France.

Y REVEREND FATHER,

Pax Christi.

The assistance that we expected to receive from France in the Spring arrived only on the thirteenth of this month of October, after having wearied our expectations and our hopes. But at last [2] the fleet brought us Monsieur de Lauzon as our new Governor, and in his person the desires, the hopes, and the joy of New France; in an instant the whole country assumed a new aspect; and it seems that, in losing the recollection of our former fears and of the misfortunes that assailed us, we have no other thought than to praise God for a blessing which we cherish as much as life and which promises us the advent of all other blessings. This alone would suffice, and might take the place of an entire Relation. However, I cannot dispense from again writing to you this year about our losses and our gains, our sorrows and our joys our hopes and our fears, and, finally, our obscurities rather than our lights. For, to tell the truth, we walk more than ever in [3] [page 161] darkness; but we walk with God who will lead us therein. Dies diei eructabit verbum, et nox nocti indicabit scientiam. We ever commend this Mission to the prayers of your Reverence, and of all those who take an interest in the conversion of the Savages; for, after all, our hopes rest in God alone, and it is true that heaven rather than earth will fulfill the expectations of our desires.

My Reverend Father,

From Quebec, this 28th of October, 1651.

 

Your very humble and very obedient

servant in Our Lord,

Paul Ragueneau.

[page 165]

[4] CHAPTER I.

CONDITION OF THE FRENCH SETTLEMENTS.

HE wheat crop has been very good everywhere, this year, but especially at Montreal, where the land is most excellent. That spot would be an earthly Paradise for both the Savages and the French, were it not for the terror of the Iroquois who make their appearance there almost continually and nearly render the place uninhabitable. On this account, the Savages have withdrawn from it; and only about fifty French remain there. It is a wonder that they have not been exterminated by the frequent surprises of the Iroquois bands, which have many times been stoutly resisted and repelled. Monsieur de Maisonneufve has maintained [5] that settlement by his good management. Peace has reigned among the French, and so has the fear of God. The greatest misfortune that has happened to them was in the person of a poor French woman who was seized in the month of May by about fifty Iroquois, in the very sight of the fort, and was carried away a captive. Afterward, she was cruelly burned by those barbarians, after they had torn off her breasts, cut off her nose and ears, and vented their fury on that poor innocent lamb, in revenge for the death of eight of their men, who had fallen in a battle this Summer. God gave that poor woman courage and piety in the midst of the tortures; she ceased not to implore his aid; her eyes were [6] fixed on heaven, and her heart [page 165] was faithful to God unto death; on expiring, the name of Jesus still lingered on her lips, and she invoked him as long as her sufferings lasted.

At three Rivers, some French and some Hurons were killed this Summer by Iroquois bands. The assistance that has come to us from France this year is absolutely needed in this place; for, to tell the truth, it has existed only through a miracle. The inhabitants attribute their preservation to the extraordinary recourse that they had to the blessed Virgin, in whose honor a small oratory was established in each house. One was dedicated to Nostre Dame de Lorette, another to Nostre Dame de Liesse, others to Nostre Dame des Vertus, de bon Secours, de bonne Nouvelle, de la Victoire, and many other titles under which [7] the blessed Virgin is honored in various parts of Christendom. The usual devotion of these poor inhabitants was to visit these small oratories on different days in the week, principally on Saturdays when the attendance was more numerous; and in every house, morning and evening, all assembled to say their prayers in common, to examine their consciences, and to recite the Litanies of the most blessed Virgin. The head of the family usually said the prayers, and all the others—women, children, and servants—gave the responses.

At Quebec and in the settlements that are its dependencies, this custom of saying the prayers morning and evening has been a common devotion. Each household took a Saint for its Patron, and made a public vow that each person [8] would confess and receive communion at least once a month. Our Fathers, everywhere, did all in their power to obtain that peace and union of hearts should prevail more [page 167] than it had ever done. The frequent visits that were made, even to places situated at a distance of eight and ten leagues, were not without fruit. Most of those who are in this country admit that nowhere else in the world have they found more instruction, more assistance for their salvation, or a more tender and more ready care for their consciences.

The Hospital Mothers are more than ever necessary for this country because their house is always an assured asylum for the poor, both French and Savages. Throughout the year, they have extended to one and all every possible charity,—beyond their strength, although [9] not equal to their courage; for, in truth, they trust in God, and perform more than they are able. They do with very little, preferring to suffer everything rather than to complain, or to cause any privation to the poor, whom they regard more than their own needs.

God visited the Ursuline Mothers with the destruction of their house by fire, which occurred on the thirtieth of December, two hours after midnight. The fire, which broke out in their bakery, had almost reached the upper part of the house before they noticed it. They were very fortunate in being able to escape from the midst of the flames, and to throw themselves into the snow; and it was almost a miracle that their little Savage and French boarders were not burned to death. The charity [10] of some of these Mothers, who are indeed all love, was more active than the fire. It was a pleasure worthy of the sight of the Angels to see them pass through the flames, carrying those little innocents on their bosoms to deposit them in a safe place, and at once returning into danger, without fear of remaining there[page 169] themselves, or of being burned to death in the performance of this charitable duty. The whole of their Monastery was destroyed by the fire, in less than an hour; and nothing could be saved, except a few articles of furniture in their Sacristy. This means that the good Mothers then truly practiced their vow of Poverty,—but in a manner that delighted the heart of God. The fire had made a complete holocaust of their clothing, their house, all their furniture, and the alms with which, for over ten years, [11] efforts had been made to relieve, in part, their necessities. They saw everything reduced to ashes, but looked upon it with pleasure, praising God because the fire performed his holy will. They knelt in the midst of the snow, and made an offering to our Lord with eyes so beaming With joy, with hearts so filled with peace, and in voices so firm, that the French and the Savages, who hastened there from all sides, could not restrain their tears,—either through compassion, weeping for those who wept not for their own misfortune; or through joy at seeing that God had servants so holy and so detached from self that they desired only what he willed, and adored him as lovingly, in so sudden a loss of all that they owned, as if he had at the same time heaped upon them all his [12] favors. The loss was great, but the good Mothers did not lose confidence in God. The fear that they felt that thoughts might be entertained of sending them back to France, and of tearing them away from a country which they cherish more than their lives, although they have much to suffer and everything to dread in it; the desire that urges them to put themselves in condition to do in this country what their zeal has come here to seek, for the[page 171] salvation of souls; the hope that leads them to believe that, as they wish to suffer and to do everything for God, he will do everything for them,—these reasons, I say, compelled them to adopt the holy resolution to erect new buildings; to incur fresh expenses and fresh debts, and to spare nothing that is considered necessary for the performance of the functions of their institute. We hope that as early as next Winter they will be able [13] to take possession of the new building, which is already well advanced. we have assisted them to the best of our ability. Meanwhile, they are lodged in a small house that has but two rooms, which serve as dormitory, refectory, kitchen, hall, infirmary, and everything, for their community of thirteen persons. Besides these, they have some boarders, whom their charity would not allow them to send away, in spite of the almost unbearable inconveniences that they had to undergo, especially during the stifling heat of Summer and in a state of poverty which reduced them to being in need of everything. The whole country is interested in their re-establishment, chiefly on account of their Seminary; for experience teaches us that the girls who have been with the Ursulines feel the benefit of their stay there throughout their lives, and that in their [14] households the fear of God reigns more than elsewhere, and they bring up their children much better therein. The great Church of Quebec, the building whereof was commenced three years ago, is not yet quite finished. Nevertheless, they began on Christmas to celebrate the Sacrifice there, with an order and pomp that increase devotion. There are eight choir-boys, besides Chanters and Officials. [page 173]

This year, we have begun a Seminary, where the children are boarded under the care of an honest man who has assumed charge of them; where they learn to read and write, and are taught plain-chant, with the fear of God. This Seminary is close to the Church and to the College, where their classes are held, and where they are trained to virtue. Without this, our French would become Savages, and have less instruction than the Savages themselves. [page 177]

[15] CHAPTER II.

CONDITION OF THE FORMER COUNTRY OF THE HURONS, AND OF THE NEUTRAL NATION.

HE Iroquois have not waged so pitiless a war against us for a year as we had feared. They turned their arms against the Neutral nation whither they sent the bulk of their forces. They met with success, and captured two villages on the frontier, in one of which there were over sixteen hundred men. The first was taken toward the end of Autumn; the second, at the beginning of Spring. Great was the carnage, especially among the old people and the children, who would not have been able to follow the Iroquois to their country. The number of captives [I6] was exceedingly large,ñespecially of young women, whom they reserve, in order to keep up the population of their own villages. This loss was very great, and entailed the complete ruir and desolation of the Neutral nation; the inhabitants of their other villages, which were more distant froQ the enemy, took fright; abandoned their houses, their property, and their country; and condemned them selves to voluntary exile, to escape still further frorr the fury and cruelty of the conquerors. Famine pur sues these poor fugitives everywhere, and compel them to scatter through the woods and over the mores remote lakes and rivers, to find some relief from th misery that keeps pace with them and causes then to die. [page 177]

Those of the Hurons who, when their country wae ruined, had turned their steps toward the Neutras nation were [17] assailed by the same misfortune some were killed on the spot, while others were dragged into captivity. I pray God that their faith may not be made captive, and that all the tortures may not tear it from their hearts, as I learn of some who have manifested their piety even until death. Some others who were more fortunate, and escaped from these ruins, have gone toward New Sweden, to the South: others have gone toward the West, and others are on the way hither, to join our Huron Colony. A canoe that was sent on ahead came and gave us notice of this.

The former inhabitants who remained in the villages of saint Michel and saint Jean Baptiste,—which, before our misfortunes, were two of our Huron Missions—when they saw that [18] there was no end to their evils, and that one misfortune was followed by another, went of their own accord to a Tribe of our enemies, the Iroquois, and now live as peacefully with them as if they had never been at war. We know not what the designs of God are respecting these peoples; but an excellent Christian told me, some time ago, that perhaps it was for the furtherance of the faith that so many good Christians were thus scattered, in order that the name of God might be made known and adored everywhere, even in the midst of our cruelest enemies.

Last year, after we had left the island of sainte Marie, the Hurons who had not followed us in our retreat, but who had given their word that they would come down after us at the end of the Summer, were prevented [19] from carrying out their [page 179] design, through a crowd of misfortunes which overtook them, one after another. The frost killed a portion of the corn, and this caused the famine to continue. A party of Hurons whom we met, and who were going back to their own country after wintering at Quebec, were defeated on the great lake by a band of about three hundred Iroquois, who lay in wait for them as they passed,—and who doubtless would have surprised us, had not God enabled us to avoid their ambushes. A band of about fifty men of the Tobacco Nation, who came after us, and followed our trail, were defeated by the same enemy. A great many Christian families who had scattered here and there, to live by fishing, met with captivity or death. Thirty Iroquois had [20] the boldness to land on the island of sainte Marie, where they erected a fortress, from which they sallied out to massacre and take captives at the very gate of the fort which we had left, and in which the Hurons had taken refuge. An attempt was made to besiege these thirty Iroquois, but they defended themselves stoutly; they killed the bravest of our Hurons when they approached, and had the address and good fortune to escape without any loss.

Toward the end of the Autumn, another band of Iroquois proceeded to that island, to carry away the remainder of the Hurons who dwelt on it. They erected a fort on the mainland opposite the island, with the object of capturing all who might go away from it. In fact, some Hurons fell into these ambushes,—among others, one named Estienne Annaotaha, a man of note [21] and courage, who, just as he was about to defend himself, was arrested by the cries of the enemy, who told him that they had not [page 181] come to do any harm, but that their thoughts were all of peace; and that they brought rich presents to invite the remnants of the Hurons, who were dying of hunger, to take refuge among them, so that in future they might be but one people. This man,—whose life is but one series of combats and adventures, and who has always been accompanied by blessings, even in the midst of his misfortunes,—without changing countenance, feigned that he believed them; then, without manifesting any distrust, he walked, with head erect, into their fort, with the object of deceiving them themselves; for he knew very well that all they did meant nothing but treachery. They spread out their presents before him. " It is not to me," he said, " that [22] these presents should be given, but to more hoary heads than mine, which are the counsel and the soul of our country. What they will say shall be done. Keep me here as a hostage, and send to them those of your number whom you consider the most prudent and the most courageous." " Not at all," they said; " we depute thee on that errand, and thy comrades shall remain as hostages." Three Iroquois went with him as Ambassadors. At the entrance of the village he uttered a joyous cry which is, as it were, a signal for calling the people together; they all hastened thither. " My brothers, " he said; " Heaven is propitious to us to-day, because to day I have found life in death, not only for myself, but for all those who will not refuse the happiness that comes [23] to our doors from the side whence we feared our greatest misfortune. The Iroquois have changed countenance, for their hearts have altered; their thoughts are no longer of blood or of fires, except to [page 183] change them into bonfires. They are our brothers; they are our fathers; they are the deliverers of our country, who now give us life, after having almost led us to the grave. Let us not refuse it. " He explains to them the designs of the Iroquois, without in any way betraying his suspicions, or the thoughts that he keeps hidden in his heart. The old Captains manifest in their eyes and in their speech the joy that they feel in receiving this news. There is nothing but public acclamations from all the people, from the women and the children who redouble their joyful cries and commence to breathe [24] liberty. The three Iroquois who were present could not hope for anything more favorable to the design that brought them there. They were taken into a cabin, and while they were treated to everything that was most delicious in the village, three or four of the wisest heads held a secret council with Estienne Annaotaha, who told them his suspicions. They all came to the same conclusion,—that they should in no wise trust this enemy, who had so often been treacherous; that their design was no doubt to deceive them, but that they themselves should be deceived, and that means should be taken to turn this opportunity to advantage. The execution of the plan was left to him who had so happily commenced it. On leaving the secret council, the Captains went through the streets, urging [25] the women to begin pounding their Indian corn, and collecting their provisions,—to be ready to start in three days, and go in company with the Iroquois to a country which they should no longer look upon as hostile, but as a land of promise; and as a new country, wherein they would forget their past evils in undisturbed feelings of joy, which would [page 185] lead them gently to the grave. This was said so boldly that no one could doubt it. The women set to work to do what they were commanded; on their side, the men prepared what was necessary for the journey; all, both great and small, were busily occupied at this. The news of this was carried to the fort where the Iroquois awaited the result; [26] and, to remove all suspicion of deceit, Estienne was the first to return thither. There were many embassies on both sides, with as much confidence as if there never had been war between them, until our Hurons had attracted into their fort over thirty Iroquois,—when they seized and killed the treacherous enemies, who were biding their time to carry out the same plan, but were forestalled. One of them candidly admitted it, and said that on this occasion the Demon of war had not been propitious to them. These thirty Iroquois were the choicest and the bravest of their band. Three of them succeeded in effecting their escapes as they had been warned of what was to be done; Estienne wished, in doing so, to return the kindness that he had received from them when he was taken [27] captive, and they spared his life, at the same time that Father Jean de Brebeuf and Father Gabriel Lallemant, of blessed memory, were put to death by those barbarians. When the Iroquois who remained in the fort heard of the massacre of their people, they were seized with fear, and at once took to flight.

In the Spring, our Hurons, who were sure that a powerful army would swoop down upon them to avenge this injury, hastened their retreat,—some over the ice; others in canoes, as soon as it was possible to embark in them. They fled, and retreated [page 187] to another island called Ekaentoton, sixty leagues from there. Indeed, it was time to leave. The enemy vented their fury on some families of Christians, and on some old people and children who [28] were unable to embark, because there were not enough canoes. Fire never loses its heat or its activity; and the hearts of the Iroquois will never cease to be cruel, as long as they remain pagans.

At the same time, a number of Algonquins, who had gathered together on the lake of the Nipissiriniens,—where they were fishing for sturgeon, intending to go down to three Rivers,—were surprised and massacred by a band of Iroquois. The poor women and children were, as usual, dragged away into captivity. Some, however, fortunately succeeded in escaping; they journeyed over the hundred and two hundred leagues of road, to come and join us. God's guidance of his elect is ever as adorable as it is loving; the infidels who blaspheme his name [29] and oppose his glory prosper in their ways, while the Christians, as soon as they begin to adore him and to become his people, find everywhere only crosses, and misfortunes are their lot. Praise be to him forever for this.

A fleet of about forty Huron canoes, all Christians, which left Ekaentoton arrived safely to increase our Huron colony down here. God guided their steps, and protected them from the ambushes of the Iroquois. Hunger was another enemy that tormented them and kept them company,—for they brought no provisions with them from a country which, as it was no longer an abode of the living, but of the dead, was sterile this year,—and compelled the poor wanderers to throw themselves in our arms, to receive [page 189] at the same time the [30] life of the body and that of the soul. These are so many fresh cares and entirely new expenses, which are agreeable to us. God will extend his most loving providence to them and to us, since he is the Father of us all. Ubi fuerit corpus, illuc congregabuntur et aquilæ. I mean to say that these poor Christians will flock to us from all sides, and that they will find no rest anywhere in the world except near those who have called them to the faith. May God be pleased to send us what is needed to support them until such time as they have rendered the fields capable of feeding them.

All the Algonquin Tribes that dwell toward the west of the former country of the Hurons, where the faith has not yet penetrated, are people for whom we cannot have sufficient compassion. [31] Nevertheless, the name of God must be adored and the Cross must be planted there, in spite of all the fury of Hell and the cruelty of the Iroquois, who are worse than the Devils of Hell. [page 191]

CHAPTER III.

CONDITION OF THE MISSIONS FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE SAVAGES.

OF THE RESIDENCE OF SILLERY.

HE Residence of saint Joseph at Sillery can now serve, more than ever, as a refuge for the Christian Savages in their necessities, and as an asylum in their fear of the enemy, as it served in the beginning for matrix in which to mould them to the faith of the Gospel. They go there all the more willingly, because they find themselves protected this year by a good and strong wall, [32] which is flanked at the four corners and can withstand the assaults of the Iroquois. The Savages know very well that it is not a place that is open to Apostates from the Faith, or to those who live scandalously in sin. Noel Tekouerimat, their Captain, gave them clearly to understand that the walls which had been built there were not for the purpose of sheltering vice, but of preventing it from entering. A young Algonquin woman, who had been baptized some months before at three Rivers, and who had not led there a life in conformity with the promises of her baptism, came down to Sillery with that bad reputation. " My daughter," the Captain said to her on her arrival, " you must either alter your mode of living, or you must change your residence." Some days after- ward, as she had been a cause of gossip, he spoke more plainly to her: [33] "Go away from here," he [page 193] said. " The fort of Sillery is not for dogs, but for those who manifest their faith by the purity of their lives." She had to obey at once. Thanks be to God, vice finds no support among the Christians. This year, there were four of our Fathers in this residence, but as a rule only one or two were on the spot. The others were in the field, both Winter and Summer, attending to the flying Missions of which I will speak later on.

OF THE RESIDENCE OF THREE RIVERS.

HE residence of la Conception, at three Rivers, is nearest the enemy's frontier, and most exposed to the incursions of the Iroquois; but I may truly say that never has greater peace been remarked, or more [341 calm and piety amid the noise of battle and the terrors of war. lost of the Neophytes, of whom there are many, have taken up their residence there through a motive which would not be expected from barbarians but recently converted to the faith. " It is," they said, " to fight the enemies of the prayer that we willingly expose our lives; if we die fighting, we consider that we die in defense of the faith. " They were animated by the same spirit when they went out hunting. After having made their confession, they said: " Charity compels us to provide for the necessities of the women and children, who are oppressed by hunger. We cannot do so without exposing ourselves to the danger of being taken and burned by the Iroquois; but God, who sees what is in our hearts, will be our reward. It is to [35] obey him, rather than for ourselves, that we put ourselves in peril." The God of love, for whose sake they so cheerfully exposed themselves to the danger of [page 195] death and fire, seems to have taken special care of them,—not one had been taken or pursued by the enemy; and, as for food, although the snow was not favorable in that quarter during the Winter, nevertheless they never lacked game, either Moose or Beaver. They were not ungrateful to him who had assisted them; for, whenever they returned from hunting, they entered the Chapel,—generally with one of the best parts of the animal, which they offered to God, and left near the Altar.

A young woman, a Catechumen, feeling ill during her pregnancy, feared that she might [362 die without baptism, as well as her child. She left her company in the woods, at the time when the hunt was most successful; and, notwithstanding the great danger of falling alive into the hands of the enemy and of being burned by them, she came to be near the Fathers, to ask them to instruct and baptize her. " It is," said she, " the greatest blessing that I desire in the world; the life of the body will be nothing more to me if I can be baptized." She was questioned on the prayers, and on the mysteries of our faith; she was fully prepared; she received holy Baptism, and so did her new-born child some days afterward, when it came into the world almost in a dying condition.

Another woman, burdened with six children, lost her husband, who died of sickness in the woods; she came back quite disconsolate, and could not [37] restrain her tears. One of our Fathers observed her affliction, and, as he thought that the number of her children—who were a burden on a poor widow—was what caused her sorrow, he endeavored to give her some consolation. " That is not my trouble," [page 197] she said; " my misfortunes and those of my Children do not affect me. I know well and I firmly believes that God will reward us for them in Heaven; why should that overcome my courage? But what thou knowest not, and what makes me inconsolable, is that my husband is damned. Before his death, he belied the promises of his baptism; he had too much love for life; he allowed himself to be persuaded by some infidels to have recourse to the Jugglers, who promised to restore his health through their superstitions, which are forbidden to us. It is for his sin that I shed these tears, [38] and because of the thought that he will be miserable throughout eternity, for a moment of life for which he too vainly hoped, and which he might have offered to God, obtaining thereby great merit." " But didst thou not see him pray after his sin? " 4' Yes indeed," she said, " he prayed up to his last breath." " Hope then," the Father said to her, " that God had mercy on him, and inspired his heart with sincere regret for his sin; for he is a God who is all goodness." " Thou consolest my heart, " replied the poor afflicted woman; " I will not cease to pray to God for him. I commend him to thy prayers, which are better than mine; pray to God also for me, that he may have mercy upon me." This poor woman shortly afterward fell ill of a violent fever. The Father hastened to her as soon as he heard of it; he found her praying and reciting her rosary. The [39] Father forbade her doing so, and told her to content herself with lifting her heart to God, from time to time, by ejaculatory prayers. " That is what I do with pleasure," she replied, " and that is my consolation." " Ask God to cure thee for the sake of thy children, if he [page 199] deem it to his glory," the Father said to her. she did so, and in two days she was completely restored to health.

A Catechumen, who came to be instructed, left her children at home, because she feared that they might distract her attention. One of her poor children went near the fire, and a kettle of boiling water fell on it and scalded the whole of its body. They hastened to summon the mother, who, without showing agitation, asked the Father's leave to go and succor her child. The Father followed her, shortly afterward; and [4o] finding the poor child in a very bad state, he asked the mother what she had felt on that occasion. " I thought that the Devils were trying to make me hate instruction and prayer; but they will never gain anything. The death of all my children, one after another, will not prevent me from praying or from being baptized. I love and will always love prayer, and thou do not weary of instructing me." That woman is now an excellent Christian, and her fervor has continued to increase since her baptism.

OF THE RESIDENCE OF MONTREAL.

HE Residence of Montreal will, so long as the war with the Iroquois shall last, serve rather as a temporary shelter for the Savages [41] than as a permanent abode. It is a very advantageous place for all the upper Nations who wish to trade with us; for, as they find there what they seek, they are not obliged to come further down and to expose themselves to new dangers from the Iroquois, who are more to be dreaded below than above Montreal. Two of our Fathers, one of whom speaks the Algonquin and [page 201] the other the Huron language, have instructed, at various times, a number of Savages who came to them. During a great part of the Winter, some of them took up their abode there. They were gathered together at the Hospital for the purpose of being instructed,—on one day the women, on another the children, and on another the men. The person in charge of the Hospital feasted them. On Easter Sunday they received Communion, [42] all together, with sentiments of piety that inspired devotion, and compel one to acknowledge that God is as much the God of the Savages as of the French, of the Greeks, or of the Romans.

OF THE HURON COLONY.

HE colony of Huron Christians has its settlement on the island of Orleans, which they call by a sacred name, " the island of saint Mary." They have cleared fields, have erected cabins, and claim to have found there their second country. Two of our Fathers are employed there, with labors and a fervor which deserve that God have pity on these poor people, and make them an entirely Christian people forever. We have had to feed them at our own expense, this first year. [43] This alone has cost us eight thousand livres. We give with pleasure what is sent to us from France; but it is well directed charity, since it has no other object than the salvation of souls. I have already written that this colony is destined to increase in numbers, and that the Hurons scattered here and there intend to join it. It will grow every year, if God continue to pour his blessings upon us as he has done in the past. All together, only three men and two women [page 203] have died there, but with such tender affection for God that this alone would deserve that we wear out our lives in such holy employment.

The Hospital Mothers were enraptured during the illness and at the death of a young man, twenty-two years of age, named Michel Ekouaendaé, whom we have already mentioned [44] in some of the Relations as a case of miraculous conversion, and as being of tried virtue. During his illness he never complained of the violent pains that he felt; he did not even take a drop of water to rinse his mouth, without invoking God and making the sign of the Cross. When the Surgeon performed painful operations on him, as he frequently had to do, he offered them to God. "If the Demons," he said to us, " or the pagan Iroquois were to harass my body by torture, I would console myself with the thought that God took pleasure in seeing my patience, although he would have a horror of their cruelties and of their sins. Now he who performs this operation on me does so only through love of God, who takes pleasure in seeing him do so; and I have every reason to be patient, 045] so that God may take pleasure in seeing me suffer, without being offended either by me or by any one." one of our Fathers asked him if he did not fear death. " Not at all, " he replied with a joyful countenance; " I desire it with love, for I am anxious to be in Heaven where my heart assures me that God will reward me for my faith, and for the confidence that I have in him. What I dread is sin; but I would rather be burned by the Iroquois, than offend so good a God."

Another named Quentin who had not led a similar life, died almost a similar death. He had been a [page 205] debauched man, all corrupt with vices, which causea his entire body to rot with intense pain. The Hospital Mothers took care of him [46] as if he had beer an Angel come down from Heaven; their charity worked a miracle, for it so deeply touched the heart of this poor man that he said to us: " Yes, I begin to understand the infinite goodness of God, when T see the kindness of these Mothers. It is God who has inspired them with this tenderness for me, so as to compel me to love them, and to love him also, since he alone is the source of that goodness." He continued, until his last breath, to repeat, " JESUS, have pity on me."

Some highly virtuous and devout French Ladies informed me that a Christian Huron woman inspired them with devotion, for she prayed to God every day before the blessed Sacrament, with a tenderness that showed itself on her countenance, and inspired them with higher sentiments toward God than they [47] usually had. I asked that Huron woman what passed in her heart while she was at prayer. " I know not what to answer," she said. " When I have said what I know of my prayers, I think of God's kindness to me; I beg him to preserve me from sin; and my heart says to him, without any words, that he sees very well that I truly believe and hope in him, and that I wish to love him. My mind feels sweet repose in that thought, or, rather, in the pleasure that my soul experiences while remaining in speechless enjoyment of a blessing that I cannot express. When I have done that, I find it as difficult to abandon prayer as a starving man would to give up excellent meat before he has eaten his fill of it, and even more so." [page 207]

I can truly say that [48] I know some of these good Savages who have God as present in their minds, from morning to night, as if they saw him with their eyes; and whose hearts live in constant desire of belonging wholly to him, because he has made them feel that he wishes to give himself entirely to them Others have a devotion for the most blessed Virgin; and a good Christian told me, not long ago, that although he had been asking, for over ten years, for many favors and many things difficult to obtain, he did not remember having ever been refused " She it is," he added, " who delivered me from the hands of the Iroquois when they held me captive with Father Isaac Jogues, who finally died there; she it is who has given back to me as many children as death had ravished from me; she it is who, ever since misfortunes [4g] have assailed us, has preserved all the members of my family, as regards both the health of their bodies and that of their souls She it is who gives me patience in the sufferings that I constantly endure; she it is who obtains for me grace to pay little heed to the good things of this life, and to fear not its evils; she has cured all those on whose behalf I have invoked her aid; and she does all that I wish, as I desire to do nothing and to wish for nothing except what she wishes "

During the fire at the Ursuline Mothers', a little Huron girl who was a boarder there could not be found; and we thought, for a time, that she was burned The Father and mother of the child, all the relatives, a number of the French, and myself, sought her everywhere; and we had not [50] the slightest doubt that she was consumed with the [page 209] house. Resignation to the will of God was on this occasion a very heroic act for a father and a mother who loved their daughter as the apple of their eye; they shed many tears, but with a peacefulness and calmness of mind that showed very well that their hearts found rest in God. They knelt down and offered him their child, and offered themselves to be burned in the same fire, if he would permit it; they never uttered an impatient word, or murmured against any one, during the space of two hours, while they thought that their child was burned. The harshest word that the father said, on the first outburst of his grief, was this: " God sends us a severe trial, but it is [51] enough for us that he has had mercy on us and has called us to the faith. My daughter is now in Heaven, since she has been baptized; and we will follow her, because we wish to die good Christians." Their family is the first among the Hurons that received the gift of faith. Their little girl, named Genevieve, was fortunately found. One of our Fathers went to take the news to the parents; and, knowing well the depth of their faith, he questioned them as to their sentiments, in order to try them still further. " What touched me most,' said the mother, " was the horror that I felt for the fright and pain that my poor daughter must have experienced in dying amid the flames. I could not restrain my tears, through the tenderness of my heart; but the hope that remains to us of her salvation does not allow us [52] to complain, or to pity her any longer." " She is found," said the Father; " she is full of life." Thereupon all in the cabin, and all the relatives who had gathered together there, could not restrain their tears; but they were [page 211] tears of joy, which made them praise God both for the life of the child,—whom they looked upon as one risen from the dead,—and for her death, which they had offered to him with truly Christian hearts. This girl is now in the house of the Hospital mothers; it seems as if God has chosen her for Religion.

A young Christian widow, named Cecile Arenhatsi, aged 23 years, had engaged herself as a servant with the Ursuline Mothers in order to enjoy the complete happiness of Religion as soon as she could. She had brought with her a daughter, six or seven years old, named [53] Marie, who was her only child; but they saw each other as seldom as if nature had no share in their love,—the daughter being at the Seminary, and the mother with the Nuns. She has an excellent mind, a very gentle disposition, and a much better will; and from infancy she has always been a devout believer. While she was in the Huron country, she heard of " the holy virgins" (thus the Hurons call the Nuns), and her whole heart and her purest love turned toward them. she had been married only four months, and always preserved her innocence in the midst of corruption,—remaining ever fervent, and in humble simplicity. The Mothers were delighted to see her among them; she gave satisfaction to all, and lived there content because she wished to satisfy God. She ran the [54] greatest danger of being burned, when the house was destroyed by fire. she found herself surrounded by flames on all sides, for she was on the highest story; despairing of escape in any other way, she threw herself out of the window, and fell without injury. I afterward asked her what her thoughts were while she was amid the flames. " I had offered my life to [page 213] God," she replied; " I would have been content to die, but I thought that God obliged me to save myself, if I could. I thought of him alone; and I feared also that my sins had caused this misfortune to happen to virgins so holy, of whose company I am so unworthy." She waits, patiently and lovingly, until the good Mothers have rebuilt their house; and hopes that she will not die elsewhere than with them. beyond that, she [55] takes pleasure in nothing; that thought consoles her, and ever increases the fervor of her devotion.

That fire reminds me of the sentiments manifested by the Hurons, and of the compassion that they felt for the Ursuline Mothers, on that occasion. It is a custom among the Savages to carry public presents to console persons of higher position in the misfortunes that assail them. our Christian Hurons me. together for that purpose; and, as they had no other riches than two porcelain collars, each consisting of twelve hundred beads (these are the pearls of the country), they went to the Mothers, who were then. living at the Hospital and carried these two collars to them as two presents. A Captain, named [56' Louys Taiaeronk, spoke as follows, in the name of all his countrymen:

"Holy virgins, you see before you miserable carcasses, the remnant of a country that once was flourishing and that is no more, the country of the Hurons. We have been devoured and gnawed to the very bones, by war and famine. These carcasses are able to stand only because you support them. You have learned from letters, and now you see with your own eyes, to what extreme misery we are reduced. Look at us on all sides, and consider [page 215] whether there is anything in us that does not compel us to weep for ourselves, and to shed unceasing torrents of tears. Alas! this sad accident that has happened to you increases our woes and renews our tears, which had commenced to dry. The sight [57] of that beautiful house of JESUS. that house of charity, reduced to ashes in an instant; the sight of the flames raging there without respecting your holy persons who dwelt there,—all this has brought back to our minds the universal destruction by fire of all our houses, of all our villages, and of the whole of our country. Must fire follow us everywhere? Let us weep, let us weep, my beloved countrymen; yes, let us weep for our misfortunes which were solely ours before, but which we now share in common with these innocent maids. Holy virgins, you are now reduced to the same state of misery as your poor Hurons, for whom you have had such tender compassion. You are now without a country, without a house, without provisions, and without succor except from Heaven, of which you never lose sight. We have come here for the purpose of consoling you; and, [58] before coming here, we have entered into your hearts, to see what might afRict you still more since your fire, so as to apply some remedy to it. If we had to deal with persons like ourselves, the cus. tom of our country would have been to make you a present to dry your tears, and another to strengthen your courage; but we have observed that your courage has never been cast down under the ruins of that house, and not one of us has seen even half a tear in your eyes in lamentation over yourselves at the sight of that misfortune. Your hearts do not sorrow for the loss of earthly goods; we see that they are raised [page 217] too high in the desire of heavenly blessings; and therefore we seek for no remedy in that respect. We [59] fear but one thing which would be a misfortune for us; we fear that, when the news of the accident that has happened to you reaches France, it will affect your relatives more than it does yourselves; we fear that they will recall you and that you will be moved by their tears. How can a mother read, without weeping, letters telling her that her daughter is without clothes, without food, without a bed, and without the comforts of life in which you have been brought up from youth ? The first thought that nature will inspire in those disconsolate mothers will be to recall you to them, and to procure for themselves the greatest consolation that they can have in the world, thereby procuring also your good. A brother would do the same for his sister; [60] an uncle and an aunt for their niece; and afterward we would be in danger of losing you, and of losing in your persons the assistance for which we had hoped in the instruction of our daughters in the faith, the fruits whereof we have begun to taste with such enjoyment. Courage, holy virgins ! do not allow yourselves to be persuaded by love of kindred; and show now that the charity that you have for us is stronger than the ties of nature. To strengthen you in these resolutions, here is a present of twelve hundred porcelain beads which will root your feet so deeply in the soil of this country that no love for your kindred or for your own country can withdraw them from it. The second present, which we beg you to accept, is a similar collar of twelve hundred porcelain beads, to lay [61] the foundation of an entirely new building wherein shall be the house of [page 219] JESUS, the house of prayer; wherein your classes will be held, in which you may teach our little Huron girls. Such are our desires; they are likewise yours, for doubtless you could not die happy if, when dying, this reproach could be cast at you that, through too tender a love for your relatives, you had not contributed to the salvation of so many souls which you have loved for the sake of God, and which will be your crown in Heaven."

Such was the harangue delivered by that Huron Captain. I have added nothing to it; and, in fact, I cannot add the charm imparted to it by the tone of his voice and the expression of his countenance. Nature has its own eloquence; and, though they be Barbarians, they have not been stripped either of man's being or [62] of reason, or of a soul of the same origin as ours.

OF THE TADOUSSAC MISSION.

ATHER Charles Albanel passed the entire Winter—that is, six whole months—with the Christian Montagnais, who during the whole of that time have no fixed abode. They wander through the woods, and climb the summits of mountains of prodigious height, hunting for Moose, Caribou, and other wild animals. In these fatiguing journeys, one suffers much from hunger, from thirst, from excessive cold, from weariness and loathing, and from the smoke, which blinds one and causes intense pain; and this without consolation, without comforts, and without any support for nature. One must [63] be sustained by grace alone; it is true that God's presence often brings much delight in the midst of this abandonment and this renouncement of [page 221] creatures, which is almost as complete as possible; but frequently also he hides himself, and leaves a soul in the midst of trials. In any case it is an employment that is always agreeable to those whom Our Lord calls to it; and a necessary one for our poor Savages, who at all times and in all places need our help, because temptations can follow them everywhere, and God is ever ready to pour forth his graces on them.

In the very beginning of the Summer, the same Father, who had hardly taken ten days of rest, returned to the Tadoussac Mission for the whole Summer. As he could not attend to it alone, another became his companion. There [64] were over eight hundred persons there this year, for the number of Christians has increased to a remarkable degree, and so have their fervor and their innocence. Most of them were attacked by very bad colds, which prevailed throughout the month of July in that quarter, and were accompanied in some cases by a malignant and continuous fever. It was a joy for our Fathers, who were not exempt from it themselves, when they entered the wretched cabins, frequently to find these good Neophytes, in the midst of their keenest sufferings, with their Rosaries in their hands, their eyes turned toward Heaven, or toward a picture of Our Lady attached to a piece of bark beside their beds. It was a consolation, on surprising them, to hear their prayers. " Yes, oh my God ! Is one would say, " my sins have deserved this [65] punishment. Let my pains increase provided my sin be forgiven. Have mercy, my God, on me." " oh, my God," an. other would say, " how much more ardent is the fire of Hell than that of my fever ! Strengthen my heart, [page 223] my good JESUS, that I may endure this one patiently, and permit not that I fall into the other."

OF THE OUMAMIOUEK MISSION.

AVING learned that some of the more remote Savages were to meet at a place about eighty leagues below Tadoussac, Father Jean Dequen embarked in a small bark canoe, to preach the Gospel and to hold a flying Mission. In spite of the waves and tempests, he reached that place in his little gondola; but was somewhat late, [66] for many had already retired into the woods, and only a small number remained on the bank of the great river saint Lawrence. During his short stay there, the Father baptized the children, whom the parents brought to him very willingly. He heard the confessions of several Christians who had received holy Baptism, six or seven years previously, at Tadoussac, but had not been able to return there since that time. He instructed the others in the principles of our faith, promising to visit them again in the following Spring. These are people of most innocent simplicity who listen very willingly to the word of God, and who are easily won over to the faith; but it is also difficult for us to seek them, or for them to come to us.

[67] OF THE ABNAQUIOIS MISSION.

bout the end of August of last year, 1650, two Abnaquiois canoes came expressly, on the part of that entire Nation, to get Father Gabriel Drueillettes, who had already instructed them, in order that he might continue to render them that charitable service. The Father returned to them with one of [page 225] our donnés. To tell the truth, this district was not within our jurisdiction, except in so far as zeal compelled us not to abandon people of good will, who were inclined toward the faith, but who at that time had no one but us to instruct them. A letter from a Reverend Capuchin Father, named Father Cosme de Mante, Superior of the Acadian Missions of the Reverend Capuchin Fathers, dated in the year 1648, greatly encouraged us thereto. [68] The words of the letter were: " we entreat your Reverences, through the holy love of Jesus and Mary, for the salvation of those poor souls, who beg for you toward the South, etc., to give them every assistance that your courageous and indefatigable charity can give them; and even if, in crossing the river Kinibequi, you should meet any of ours, you will please us by mentioning your needs to them; and, if you meet none, you will please continue your holy instructions to these poor abandoned Barbarians, as much as your charity will permit," etc.

Father Gabriel Drueilletes started, therefore, from Quebec for that Mission on the first of September, 1650, accompanied by Noel Tekouerimat, [69] the chief of the Sillery Christians. This last undertook the journey for the purpose of maintaining peace with these tribes who live inland, and with others, still more distant, who are in new England, with the view of soliciting them to join in war against the Iroquois. The Father did not return from that journey until the beginning of June; and, about a fortnight afterward, he was sent back on the same errand, from which he has not yet returned. Thus I can tell neither what has been the success of his journey, nor what God has done by his means; but [page 227] what I know well is, that he has had much to suffer. In itineribus sæme, periculis fluminum, periculis latronum, periculis ex geners, periculis ex gentibus, periculis in civitate, periculis in solitudine, periculis in mari, periculis in falsis fratribus, in labore et ærumna, in vigiliis multis, in [70] fame et siti, in jejuniis multis, in frigore et nuditate. The best of it is that, whatever may happen, God will forever be his too great recompense.

OF THE ATTIKAMEGUES MISSION.

HE most laborious but also, as I believe, one of the most agreeable of our Missions, has been that among the Attikamegues, which we have named "the Mission of saint Peter." It is now some years ago since those people began to have themselves instructed; and since then they have embraced the faith with a fervor, a gentleness, a simplicity, and a firmness so great that it seems as if it were natural to them, and that their hearts had no inclination for anything but Christianity. However, since that time, only those who [71] have come to us at three Rivers, at Sillery, or at Tadoussac, have received baptism and become Christians, because our Fathers could not go to their country to carry the light of the Gospel thither. That is what they asked this year,—with such holy importunities and such lovable impatience, that finally their desires have been fulfilled. Father Jaques Buteux, who had hitherto instructed them and taught them the true spirit of Christianity, was sent there. His health which has always been delicate,—or, rather, his great weakness when he came to these countries, seventeen years ago, and which continual fatigues and age have greatly increased,—caused us to doubt whether it would not be [page 229] imprudent to expose him on so laborious a journey, [72] and at the most disagreeable season of the entire year. But, in the end, we placed our trust in God; and grace supported him beyond what could reasonably be expected, as this was a matter in which grace can do everything, and nature can do nothing. The Father was therefore given notice for that expedition, which lasted three whole months,—wherein crosses did not fail him, but wherein he has also gathered the fruits of the Cross, as will be seen by his journal, which I begged him to write for me, which he has done, with the simplicity that I desired. Having read it with satisfaction, I thought that I could not do better than insert it here, just as he has given it to me. [page 231]

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA: VOL. XXXVI

LXXIV

For bibliographical particulars of the Relation of 1649 - 50, see Vol. XXXV.

LXXV

The original MS. of this letter of the Associates of the Company of New France to the father general (under date of June, I651), rests in the archives of the Society, where it was copied by Father Martin. His copy was used in the publication of Carayon's Première Mission, where it appears on pp. 254-256. We follow Carayon.

LXXVI

The original of Druillettes' brief letter in Latin, to Governor John Winthrop (without place or date, but written early in 1651, as we see from a reference thereto in the Narré), was, in 1864, found in the family archives of the Winthrop family, of Boston. It was published in September of that year, by John Gilmary Shea, in his so-called Cramoisy series; in the Lenox catalogue, it is, for convenience, styled No. 24 of that series, therefore is known to bibliographers by that number. Shea acknowledges aid from Charles Deane in procuring the letter, and says that Charles Folsom transcribed it from the original and corrected the proofs. A second edition was [page 233] issued in 1869. We follow the first Shea publication (1864), having been unable to locate the original which seems to have been either lost or mislaid in the Winthrop archives. Our translation is by l'Abbé Lionel Lindsay, chaplain of the Ursuline convent, Quebec.

LXXVII

Druillettes' Narré du Voyage was first published by James Lenox, at the Albany press of Weed, Parsons & Co., 1855. He stated that this publication was pour la première fois from the original manuscript deposited in the Bureau of the Jesuits' Estates, in Quebec. In pursuance of our policy of resorting to the originals whenever these are obtainable, our representative applied at the bureau, in September 1897, for permission to copy the Narré. He was informed that all the documents of the bureau has been transferred to the Crown Lands Department, in the Parliament Buildings; but application to the custodian of the latter revealed the fact that nothing was there known of the Narré—it had disappeared This obliges us to reprint from the Lenox issue.

LXXVIII

For bibliographical particulars of the Journal des Jésuites, see Vol. XXVII.

LXXIX

In reprinting Ragueneau's Relation of 1650-51 (Paris, 1652), we follow the original Cramoisy edition from a copy in the possession of The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland; it is identical with the Lamoignon copy in the Lenox library. The "Permission" from Charles Lalemant, as vice-provincial [page 234] was " Faict à Paris ce 3. iour de Fevrier l652. ''This annual is generally referred to as "H. 97," because described in Harrisse's Notes, no. 97.

Collation: Title, with verso blank, 1 leaf; "Table des Chapitres," with "Priuilege" on the verso, 1 leaf; prefatory letter from Ragueneau to the provincial, Claude de Lingendes, pp. 1 - 3; text, pp. 4 - 146; "Permiƒsion," with verso blank, 1 leaf. The "Journal du Pere Iacques Buteux" covers pp. 73 - 126; his "Lettre," etc. from Three Rivers covers pp. 126 - 138; and the epistle of Martin Lyonne, dated "A la Rochelle ce 27. de Decembre 1651," covers pp. 139 - 146. The volume has two preliminary leaves, not marked with signatures, consisting of title, and leaf with contents and privilege; sig. A-H in eights, I and K in fours, and L in two. The pagination of p. 32 has been omitted by the printer. There is no mispaging.

This Relation may be found in the following libraries: Lenox, Harvard, New York State Library, Brown (private), Ayer (private), Laval University (Quebec), Library of Parliament (Ottawa), Public Library of Toronto, British Museum, and Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris). Copies have been sold or priced as follows: Harrassowitz (1882), priced at 120 marks; O'Callaghan (1882), no. 1229, sold for $25; Barlow (1890), nos. 1300 and 1301, sold for $32.50 and $5, respectively; Dufossé (1891-1896), priced at 225, 175, and 300 francs, at various times.

[page 235]

NOTES TO VOL. XXXVI

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