The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents

—————

Travels and Explorations

of the Jesuit Missionaries

in New France

1610—1791

THE ORIGINAL FRENCH, LATIN, AND ITALI-

IAN TEXTS, WITH ENGLISH TRANSLA-

TIONS AND NOTES; ILLUSTRATED BY

PORTRAITS,   MAPS,   AND   FACSIMILES

EDITED BY

Reuben Gold Thwaites

Secretary of the State historical Society of Wisconsin

COMPUTERIZED TRANSCRIPTION BY

Tomasz Mentrak

 

Vol. L.

Lower Canada, Iroquois, Ottawas

1664—1667

CLEVELAND:            The Burrows Brothers

Company, PUBLISHERS,    M  DCCC  XCIX.

THE JESUIT RELATIONS

AND

ALLIED DOCUMENTS

Vol. L.

[Page iii]

The edition consists of sev-

en hundred and fifty sets

all numbered.

No.________

The Burrows Brothers Co.

[Page iv]

EDITORIAL STAFF

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

 

[Page v]

 

CONTENTS OF VOL. L.
Preface To Volume L.				9
Documents:—
CXVII.	Relation de ce qvi s’est passé en la Novvelle France, és années 1664. & 1665. [Chap. vi. to end of document.] François le Mercier; Kebec, November 3, 1665.				19
CXVIII.	Relation de ce qvi s’est passé en la Novvelle France, aux années mil fix cent foixante cinq, & mil fix cent foixante fix. François le Mercier; Kebec, November 12, 1666				93
CXIX.	Trois Lettres, 1666-67. Thierry Beschefer; Québec, October 1 and 4, 1666, and August 25, 1667.				166
CXX.	Journal des, PP. Jésuites. François le Mercier; Quebec, January, 1666, to December, 1667.				180
CXXI.	Relation de ce qvi s’est passé en la Novvelle France, les années mil fix tens foixante fix, & mil fix tens foixante fept. [Chaps. i.-vii., first installment of the document.] François le Mercier; Kebec, November 10, 1667.				221
Bibliographical Data; Volume L.					313
Notes					319

 

[Page vii]

 

[INSERT GRAPHIC HERE]

 

ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. L.
I..	Map of Montreal, 1665 ca.; reduced from Faillon’s Colonie Française	Frontispiece
II.	Photographic facsimile of title-page, Relation of 1665 -66.	96
III.	Facsimile of handwriting of Thierry Beschefer, S. J.; selected from baptismal entry in register of Boucherville Parish.	Facing 174
IV.	View of Jesuit College and Church, Quebec; reduced from engraving made in 1761	Facing 188
V.	Photographic facsimile of title-page, Relation of 1666-67.	224

 

[Page viii]

PREFACE TO VOL. L

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

CXVII. In Vol. XLIX. were presented the first five chapters of Le Mercier’s Relation of 1664-65; the remainder of the document is given in this volume. An account of Nouvel’s second journey to Lake Manikouagan is compiled from the diary kept by him. It is an undertaking of great fatigue, hardships, and danger; and Nouvel and his French companions barely escape with their lives, their canoe being capsized in the rapids. The Father finds that most of his disciples have left the lake, thinking that he would not come to them; but he ministers to the few who remain there, and to some others whom he meets upon the way.

Le Mercier recounts the victory and subsequent defeat of an Iroquois band who make a raid upon the savages dwelling near Lake St. John. He also relates several miraculous incidents which have occurred among the French people, — one, a sudden cure of blindness ; another, the household cares of a pious woman relieved, presumably, by the aid of the Virgin Mary.

A letter is here inserted, which describes the captivity and torments of some Frenchmen seized near Montreal by the Iroquois, in August, 1662. Some of them finally escape (1664), making their way to the [Page 9] Dutch at Fort Orange, who aid them to regain their homes.

A chapter is devoted to two comets which were visible at Quebec during the winter of 1664-65, with scientific observations of their places in the sky; and to other unusual natural phenomena-meteors, earthquake shocks, etc. The last chapter notes various interesting circumstances connected with the arrival of this year’s fleet with the troops. Horses, the first in the colony, are brought from France. Many sick soldiers come from the ships ; the hospital nuns care for them nobly, but are thereby so overworked that most of them become seriously ill. More than a score of Calvinists are induced to abjure their heresy; one of these, exceedingly obstinate, becomes as a lamb, after swallowing with his medicine a little piece of one of the martyr Brébeuf’s bones, pulverized.

CXVIII. Le Mercier prefaces the Relation of 1665 -66 with a brief note mentioning the success of Tracy’s expeditions against the Iroquois, and the consequent advantage to the colony and to the missions. The report for this year is brief, being mainly occupied with the public and military affairs of the colony. Imposing funeral services in memory of the late queen, Anne of Austria, are held in the church at Quebec, at which all the officials and influential habitants are present, dressed in mourning garb.

The piety of a little Huron girl, and her saintly death, are related at length. The Hurons captive among the Iroquois still retain their faith, and exercise charity, patience, and devotion in every possible way. One of these captives has even begun a church among his People who are enslaved by the Eries, who are now driven far from their own country. [Page 10] news has been received from Allouez, for more than a year. Nouvel has met with much success among the wandering tribes below Tadoussac. At Sillery, Noel Tekwerimat is dead — a great loss to the missionaries, whom he had always zealously supported. Certain miraculous cures wrought by relics of Brébeuf and Le Jeune are narrated.

The Iroquois have sent numerous embassies to Quebec during the past year, claiming to desire peace. One of these is headed by the noted Garakontie. He is received as a friend, but Courcelles leads an expedition against the Mohawks and Oneidas. This is done in January, 1666, and the troops suffer greatly from cold and other hardships. They find most of the Iroquois absent on a hostile expedition; but the demonstration made by the French alarms all the tribes, and induces them to supplicate for peace. It is still evident, nevertheless, that the Mohawks are not sufficiently humbled, as they delay and embarrass the negotiations; Tracy accordingly organizes another army, which he conducts in person (September-October, 1666) against that tribe. They hear of his approach, and desert their villages; these are destroyed by the French, and the fields and crops laid waste. “As a result, those familiar with these Barbarians’ mode of life have not a doubt that almost as many will die of hunger as would have perished by the weapons of our soldiers, had they dared await the latter’s approach.”

Le Mercier expresses his confidence in the benefits which Canada will receive from the coming of the troops, and from the efforts of the Company of the West Indies, to whom the country has been granted.

At the end of the Relation is a letter from the [Page 11] superior of the Quebec hospital — addressed, like the preceding one, to “Monsieur * * * *, Citizen of Paris.” She thanks him for the supplies sent by him and other friends, and adds another list of articles needed in the hospital, which she requests him to forward. This admirable institution has had, during the past year, more than 12,000 patients. There is, accordingly, imperative need for additions to their staff of nurses. Two Canadian girls wish to enter the sisterhood; but they are poor, and the hospital cannot afford to receive them for nothing. The superior therefore asks for contributions from the charitable to endow these girls. She mentions additional conversions of Huguenots, which have occurred at the hospital; also that of an Iroquois woman, who at first was obstinately averse to any mention of the faith. She praises the ability, the prudence, and especially the generous disposition, of Talon, the new intendant.

CXIX. Father Thierry Beschefer, who came to Canada in 1665, writes three letters to relatives and friends. The first (dated October 1, 1666) mentions the war with the Iroquois, which has prevented Beschefer from going to them as a missionary. He praises the climate and soil of Canada, and is well content to remain there.

A letter written three days later describes the ceremony by which he receives from the Hurons the name of Ondessonk, as successor of Jogues and Le Moyne. He hopes to go next year on a mission to the upper Iroquois tribes. Marquette has come to Canada, and will go to Three Rivers to study the Algonkin tongue. Beschefer gives an interesting description of Quebec. “The upper town is of [Page 12] importance only on account of the Churches and religious houses.” The Jesuits are building a large church. The small chapel which they meanwhile use contains over 1,000 écus’ worth of silverware. Two houses were recently built at Quebec, “one of which was sold for 22 thousand livres, and the other is well worth 15 thousand.”

We have but part of the third letter, which is dated August 25, 1667. “At the present moment, we have peace with the Iroquois,” and a mission has been already begun among them. Allouez comes down to Quebec, and obtains a priest and five other companions to return with him to Lake Superior. But the ungrateful Ottawas refuse to take into their canoes any one except the two Fathers; and, even at that, they have to depart without any of their baggage except a little food. Over 400 colonists come from France this year, and horses and sheep are sent over. “The best of all is, that there are numbers of savages to teach.” The Iroquois ask for six priests and two brethren for next year. Beschefer himself has been prevented, for a year past, from going to them, by a bilious complaint, as is indicated by a memorandum on the MS.

CXX. Le Mercier continues the Journal des Jésuites, during the years 1666 -67. It is occupied, during most of the first three months in 1666, with an account of Courcelles’s expedition against the Mohawks, which is unsuccessful,-mainly through the drunkenness of the Algonkins who were to act as his guides. Not only do the French fail to reach the Mohawk villages, but their provisions give out, and over sixty men die of hunger. Courcelles is angry at his failure, and accuses the Jesuits of purposely [Page 13] detaining the Algonkins, which Talon is at first inclined to believe. The governor soon changes his mind, and resumes friendly relations with the Jesuits.

On May 31, the first stones of the new Jesuit church and chapels are laid by the governor and other high officials. St. John’s fire is lit, this year, with great solemnity, by the bishop and Tracy. The students of the Jesuits are examined in philosophy, July 2; Louis Joliet, among others, takes honors. On the 6th, a large Oneida embassy arrives. They are reprimanded for their past misdeeds, and some of the principal men are detained at Quebec. The rest are sent home, accompanied by Father Beschefer as an envoy from the French; but, news coming soon after of murders committed by the Mohawks, Beschefer and his prisoners are recalled to Quebec. A detachment of soldiers is at once sent to punish the Mohawks; but, on the way, they meet chiefs of that tribe, who return the prisoners they have taken, and offer reparation. Early in August, two new missionaries arrive, Bruyas and Carheil. On the thirteenth, a solemn funeral service is held in memory of the deceased queen-mother, Anne of Austria. At the end of the month a band of Senecas and Cayugas, over one hundred in number, arrive at the French settlements. Restrictions are placed by Tracy upon the mail for France; he desires that all news shall be borne by Chevalier de Chaumont, his aide.

A council with various Iroquois deputies is held August 31, which induces Tracy to resolve upon leading an army in person against the Mohawks; the Cayugas and Senecas however, part with the French on friendly terms. The army, composed of 1,400 [Page 14] men, goes to the Mohawk villages, which are found deserted; they are laid waste, and the corn is destroyed. In December, Father Nicolas has to go into the wilderness with his Algonkin neophytes, “to remove them from the temptation to drunkenness, which is greater than ever.” The Council, at its first session (January 5, 1667), passes “an ordinance against the disorders caused by liquor.” The “first ball in Canada” was given February 4; “may God grant that it do not become a precedent.”

The Mohawk chief known as “the Flemish Bastard” returns to Quebec April 20, without the hostages and captives whom he had been directed to bring. Tracy detains all the band except two men, whom he sends back with the message that if his terms are not promptly complied with, he will destroy the whole tribe.

This year, the ships come early — the first one arriving June 10. In the same month, “a coiner of counterfeit money was hanged.” Envoys from the Mohawks and Oneidas come (July 8) with presents, and the hostages required : they also ask for “black gowns,” which request is granted. A week later, they return home, accompanied by Fremin, Pierron, and Bruyas, and two donnés. An intoxicated man is drowned; his body is found, and “buried like a dog.” August 4, Allouez comes down to Quebec; he has baptized about 340 Ottawas.

In September, three Jesuits arrive; new colonists are also brought over, with additional horses and other supplies. About the commencement of October, the Jesuits begin a residence at Prairie de la Magdelaine, Raffeix going thither to spend the winter. [Page 15]

On December 3, eleven of the Iroquois hostages at Quebec are baptized, the highest officials becoming their sponsors. Letters arrive on the fifteenth from the Oneida and Mohawk missions; “our gentlemen [of the Company] find fault because Father Fremin has not written to them, and because the Journal — at least, that portion which relates to business matters — was not addressed to them.”

CXXI. The first seven chapters of the Relation of 1666-67 are herewith given; the remainder Will appear in Vol. LI. Le Mercier gladly announces that “this year has passed in perfect peace,” owing to the chastisement administered to the Iroquois by the French troops. Jesuit missionaries have resumed their labors among these perfidious savages; they realize the dangers which surround them, but are ready “to lose their lives in God’s service.” More laborers in this great field are desired.

The opening chapter of the Relation reviews the changes wrought in Canada by the new policy of Louis XIV., which is now developing that colony into “a veritable New France.” Now that the Iroquois are humbled, the Canadian habitants are able to till the soil in peace, and agriculture flourishes. Tracy has returned to France; but Courcelles governs the country with vigor and discretion, Talon, the intendant, is using every means for developing all the resources of the country, and extending its commerce. He is promoting the fisheries, and finding a market for their products, especially in the West Indies. He is opening the mines; he orders lands to be cleared, and the timber manufactured into staves, boards, etc.; he has begun ship-building. He encourages agriculture, and introduces the cultivation [Page 16] of hemp. Villages are rapidly arising in the vicinity of Quebec, and the new colonists are making excellent farms around them. The soldiers, both officers and privates, who have come from France, readily become settlers and colonists. Sheep and horses have been brought hither; they increase and flourish finely in Canada.

Allouez has returned from his two years’ mission among the Ottawas; he has traveled nearly 2,000 leagues in the wilderness of the great Northwest, and endured many hardships; “but he has also had the consolation of bearing the torch of the Faith to more than twenty different infidel Nations.” The journal of his wanderings is given; it includes many interesting “descriptions of the places and Lakes that he passed, the customs and superstitions of the peoples visited,” etc. He confers upon Lake Superior the name of Tracy. The savages dwelling on its shores often possess large nuggets of pure copper, which they regard with superstitious reverence, “and cherish as household gods.” The lake is a resort for many tribes, North, South, and West; they obtain there food from the fisheries, and carry on trade with one another. Allouez finds some of Ménard’s disciples — among them, “two Christian women who had always kept the faith, and who shone like two stars amid the darkness of that infidelity.” He finds at Chequamegon Bay a great village of sedentary Algonkins, numbering eight hundred warriors. Most of these people have never seen Europeans, and the missionary finds his labors constantly interrupted.

Soon after Allouez’s arrival, a great council of the Algonkin tribes is held, mainly to plan for defense [Page 17] against their enemies, the Sioux, with whom a new war is imminent. They invite to this assembly the Father, who is, moreover, the bearer of messages and presents to these savages from Tracy. They listen to him attentively, and he then proclaims the gospel to them, afterward going among their cabins and with them on their journeys, to gather the fruits of this sowing. Allouez describes many of the peculiar customs and superstitious rites among these savages, of which he has been an eye-witness. He finds these people unusually licentious, and, like the Eastern tribes, swayed by their dreams and medicine-men. The Father establishes at Chequamegon the residence and mission of St. Esprit, a name already applied to the bay; and there he labors to spread the gospel among the savages, who visit him from curiosity, but show little sympathy with his work’. Still, he sees some good results; he baptizes many little children, and the young people are less shameless in their behavior. After a time, he removes his chapel to the large village; but the medicine-men are so hostile to him that he is compelled to return to his former station.

Allouez finds the remnants of the Tobacco Nation settled not far from this place, and undertakes to restore in their hearts the Christian belief which they once had — now, alas! almost effaced through their long intercourse with the pagans. “As they had been very well taught, it was a matter of no great difficulty for me to restore piety to their hearts.” He describes, in especial, the conversion of three persons in this tribe, “for whose salvation God seems to have sent me hither.”

R. G. T.

Madison, Wis. July, 1899.

CXVII (concluded)

Relation of 1664-65

Paris: SEBASTIEN CRAMOISY ET SEBASTIEN

MABRE - CRAMOISY, 1666

—————

The first five chapters appeared in our Volume XLIX.; the remainder of the document is presented herewith. [Page 19]

[58] CHAPTER VI. .

DIARY OF THE SECOND JOURNEY OF A FATHER OF THE

SOCIETY OF JESUS TO LAKE SAINT BARNABÉ

F

ATHER Henry Nouvel, first Pastor of that infant Church which he planted a year ago, having made ready to go and cultivate it this last Summer, embarked with some Frenchmen, and reached without mishap the mouth of the Manicouagan river in the month of June.

The Papinachois, who were to have awaited them at Tadoussac, being obliged to depart thence sooner than they expected, had already withdrawn to the interior. Hence our Frenchmen were forced to attempt the well-nigh impossible — undertaking, with no guide and [59] without aid from the Savages, to ascend a very dangerous river, passing fearful rapids, chasms, and precipices.

After almost losing their way in those frightful forests, they still persevered-the Father having said Holy Mass on a tree overturned by age-in bravely pursuing their undertaking, even carrying for half a league, by very difficult paths, — laden, as they were, with their baggage, — the canoe which had carried them.

At length they saw certain marks painted on the tree-trunks by some of the Savages whom they were seeking, who had recently passed that way. At this discovery, they hoped soon to gain tidings of them, and fired several musket-shots at different [Page 21] places on the river, in order that the others might answer them and [60] know that they were not far away. They were heard, and soon afterward saw a little canoe filled with Savages coming to meet them. The salute accorded them upon their approach was a thanksgiving to God, on both sides, for guiding them so opportunely. Then they paddled vigorously toward the place of encampment, where the Father and the Frenchmen were received with unusual marks of affection.

The Father desiring to push on, in order to find a larger company on lake Saint Barnabé the men joined him in making this journey. They set out the very next day, leaving the women and children in a place which had tolerable advantages for fishing, where they awaited the others’ return.

On the 23rd of June, the day before that of Saint [61] John the Baptist, the Father and two Frenchmen who were in his canoe were wrecked, and were rescued in a wonderful manner. While crossing the river, they saw themselves being borne by the current into an abyss: and as they were thinking only how to avoid this danger, they fell into another, the canoe being turned completely over. Already the current was carrying them far away, when one of the two Frenchmen gained the overturned canoe, and the other joined him at the same time. They both climbed upon the canoe, one at each end to steady it by the counterpoise; otherwise, if one of them let go, the other would have been thrown into the water. And, as if an Angel from Heaven had guided the Father’s rotations, as the stream bore him away, he also was fortunate enough to catch with one hand the thwart in the middle of the canoe, [62] [Page 23] which he seized in passing. Thus all three men continued to balance themselves, for more than a quarter of an hour, in constant danger of death, until another canoe of Frenchmen, following the first, had had time to approach the latter — not to venture joining it in those rapids, a course which would have exposed them to the same danger, but to render aid from a reasonable distance by throwing out a line, which one of the Father’s Companions seized with his teeth, not daring to disengage his hands from the canoe.

They were thus delivered from this danger, and they attributed their miraculous rescue to the holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, whom they had invoked most heartily, with a trust and presence of mind which could only come from Heaven. The Father has declared to us [63] that during the entire continuance of this disaster, while he was rolling over and over in these rapids, which threatened to engulf him, he made ready for death-with such peace of mind, and with prayers so suited to the occasion, that he would desire no different spiritual preparation, or feelings of greater love toward God, when he actually faced the hour of death, than those with which his whole heart was then filled.

Likewise the Father ascribes it to a very special Providence of God that, a quarter of an hour before this accident, one of his Companions had, without his knowledge, put into another canoe both his chapel and his manuscripts, which comprised his sole treasure. It was God’s will by this means to leave them the consolation of being able to celebrate Mass for the rest of their journey; and it was [64] not his will to deprive the Father of his writings in [Page 25] a savage tongue — writings which, since it is God’s pleasure to employ him in those Peoples’ conversion, he values more highly than all the sciences in the world.

While our Frenchmen were thus contending with the floods, the Savages who had gone ahead, after waiting a long time for them without seeing them appear, feared some disaster. Retracing their course, they found the Father and his Companions drying themselves in the bright sunshine on a little Island. The Savages, learning of the Frenchmen’s wreck, and seeing the spot where their canoe had capsized, assured them that their preservation was manifestly due to God’s protection — canoes of Savages having very often perished there, although the natives are excellent canoemen, and swim [65] like fishes. But, beyond a doubt, God aids those who put their trust in him, and have no other wish than to please him and to promote his glory.

Continuing their journey, they arrived, after some days of weariness, at a bend in the river where God’s Providence had long before prepared for them a repast of fish. The Savages spread their nets there and caught many large pike.

A few days later, they came upon a spot where a Moose had lain the night before. They encamped there, and the Savages followed its trail and killed it about half a league from that place in the woods. In such wise God cares for his servants, and is able to provide them with fish and flesh.

[66] The remaining portion of the journey was the most difficult. After pausing some time at this place, they held a council and decided that a part of the French and Savages should be left there, while [Page 27] the Father, with the remainder, went up as far as lake Saint Barnabé. He was to visit the Neophytes there, instruct them, and confer with them on the subject of passing the winter, as he intended to do, in two villages of which they had spoken to him a year before.

Accordingly, canoes were launched; and at length, after three wearisome days, the Father and his attendants arrived safely at the lake. Scarcely had they entered it when they caught sight of some canoes coming to meet them.

It proved to be a Captain living on the lake, who, upon being notified by a canoe which [67] had gone ahead, came with his entire family to receive the Father, and tell him the condition of things in general.

“Ten days ago,” said he to the Father, “part of the Papinachois and all the Ouchestigouek left this lake, where thou didst Baptize them last year. They waited for thee, until those who came from the great river Saint Lawrence assured them that neither thou nor any of the French would come this year. The Oumamiois Captain, to whom the Frenchman attending thee gave presents to carry to the Savages of the North Sea, has not made his appearance here, and will not, perhaps, until Winter or next Spring. I am sorry, ” continued he to the Father, “ that thou dost not see here all whom thou wouldst like to find, [68] so that thou mightest instruct them; and that the Frenchmen attending thee will not have all the satisfaction they hope for.”

The Father, when more at leisure, questioned this Captain, asking whether they could not push on and find the Ouchestigoueks, in order to go in their [Page 29] company to the two villages where he would like to pass the winter. “Thou canst not find them,” was the Captain’s reply; “ they are far away from here, scattered in different places, hunting Bustards; and, besides, I have no one suited to bear thee company.”

This impossibility of going on compelled the Father to halt; and after instructing and confessing these good Neophytes, to the number of twenty, he returned to the place where the French and Savages were waiting for news from him. It is a sweet consolation [69] to a man who knows what the saving of souls cost Jesus Christ, to find some to lead to Heaven; and, although there be but a single one in the midst of Barbarism to win for Paradise, it is a rich reward for all the fatigues that can be endured therein.

The descent of that great river is much easier and quicker than the ascent. The Father and his attendants arrived in one day at the place where they had left the Frenchmen and Savages, and in two more days they all together reached the camp where they had left the women and children.

There they halted for a day only; and God did not fail to afford the Father the consolation of baptizing a little newborn babe, and of receiving the confessions of [70] such as had not before confessed.

Departing thence, they reached the banks of the great river Saint Lawrence in a day and a half, but not without running great risks- the Father’s canoe and that of some of the Savages nearly perishing in a second wreck, amid some dangerous rapids; but they were delivered by Heaven’s special protection. Every day is one of grace and favor for such as give their lives to God. [Page 31]

Arriving at the river’s mouth, they erected a little Chapel on a small Island, in order there to enjoy better protection from the mosquitoes, or little flies, which are very troublesome, stinging so as to draw blood, and which fill all the woods.

On this spot the French and the [71] Savages attended Mass, which the Father said with heartfelt earnestness, to thank God for his help throughout that journey.

On the following day, the Savages who had borne the Father company performed their devotions; and — after he had given them each a Calendar, with the Sundays and Festivals marked for the better guidance of their devotions — they descended all together, to carry on their salmon-fishing in a river one day’s journey farther down.

At the same time, the Father and the Frenchmen embarked in a Biscayan long-boat, and, in two days, gained the mouth of the Piribisticou river, where a head wind detained them.

There all the Father’s fatigue was entirely dispelled by the consolation he received at [72] sight of a Papinachois family, which God’s Providence caused him to meet. The Chief who was its head, who had been instructed the year before by the Father, had promised him to be on the banks of the great river with his wife and children to receive Baptism, and had kept his promise faithfully.

He rehearsed to the Father the instructions which the latter had given him, assuring him that he had made constant use of the prayer which he had been taught; and that he had not had recourse to his superstitions, except on a single occasion — for which, however, he was truly repentant; that he had a [Page 33] great fear of falling into those fires hidden in the heart of the earth; and that he longed with all his heart for that fair abode where God rewards forever those [73] who have obeyed him in this life.

After sufficient instruction, he, his mother, his wife, and four of his children were solemnly baptized in a little Chapel erected with much zeal by the French. They were glad to coöperate in this good work, and were all conscious that God had rescued them from the mortal perils they had encountered, only out of consideration for these poor Savages, to whom he wished to show mercy through them, having forced them by a violent head wind to tarry awhile at this place.

These good Neophytes attended with much devotion the Mass which was celebrated there every day ; and they afterward, God sending a favorable wind, arrived at [74] Tadoussac in a short time, and then at Quebec on the day of Saint Anne, whom they had chosen as one of the Protectors of their journey. [Page 35]

CHAPTER VII.

WAR OF THE IROQUOIS. THEIR VICTORY AND THEIR

DEFEAT AT LAKE PIAGOUAGAMI.

W

HATEVER disgrace the Iroquois may suffer, he will ever be the same — that is, arrogant and cruel — until he is utterly crushed. The late humiliations that have befallen him in the last few years, have not rid him of his desire to proceed Northward in quest of people to slaughter. Following is what we know with certainty on this subject.

A hundred Iroquois, partly Annieronnons [75] and partly Onnontagueronnons, having determined to go upon a hostile expedition, set out from their country about the middle of Winter. The better to succeed in their purposes, they divided into three bands, each taking a separate direction, Thirty proceeded toward the country of the Mistasiriniens, another thirty came to lake Piagouagami, while the destination of the remainder we have not ascertained. Whatever it may have been, we relate below the fortunes of those who made war around lake Piagouagami.

These thirty, commanded by two Chiefs, after killing in two places five men, and taking one woman prisoner, forced this captive woman, as they were not well acquainted with the country, to give them a description of it. She, after doing so with exceeding simplicity, received for her only recompense nothing [Page 37] [76] but a hatchet-stroke on the head, from which she died on the spot.

These Barbarians, after sacrificing this poor victim to their fury, discovered the trail of the people of the lake, who, entertaining some fear of the Iroquois, had, to the number of forty-five, ensconced themselves with their women and children within a palisaded enclosure. A few, however, persisted in leaving the rest, for the purpose of living by their hunting; and, of two young men remaining in the woods, one fell into the enemy’s hands.

The latter suspected, after capturing this prisoner, that he could not be alone. Indeed, the Iroquois’ trail having been discovered by a young Montagnais who had come out of the fort, he retraced his steps, and gave the alarm to his countrymen.

[77] Thereupon, fourteen of the bravest went out to reconnoiter the enemy, but were soon surrounded and attacked on all sides. The Iroquois, superior in numbers, killed four of them at the outset and took three prisoners, although our men made a gallant defense, killing two of their foes on the spot and wounding others.

The seven Montagnais who were left withdrew into their palisade, and thought only how to strengthen their position; while the Iroquois, astonished at our men’s courage, concluded to return in haste with their four captives.

They plied their paddles vigorously for two whole days; but the nights, which bring rest to all man- kind, were employed in burning our Captives unmercifully. They began by cutting off a thumb of each, [78] to make them unable to unbind themselves, and continued their other cruelties upon them. [Page 39]

But God, doubtless touched by the fervent prayers offered him by our poor unfortunates, broke the bonds of one, who, after his happy escape from captivity, became the liberator of the others and the cause of the victory achieved by the conquered over the conquerors.

This Captive, animated with courage, returned to that palisade which his companions dared not leave, for fear of the enemy, and inspired them with hopes of a glorious victory, encouraging them to follow him whither he should lead them.

Leaping into their canoes with a determination to fight bravely, they arrived in four days at the spot where the Iroquois had landed before them, and whence they had [79] entered the woods. Our men followed their trail, and at length discovered the enemy in a sort of redout where they had intrenched themselves with considerable strength. They resolved to attack them at daybreak.

Then these good Christians — having offered up their prayer, in order thus to begin their battle — charged the Iroquois and forced their palisade, with such success that eighteen men were left dead on the ground, two women were taken prisoners, and their own three companions who had fallen into the enemy’s hands were happily set free.

Our Montagnais Christians lost in this engagement only two men, although the Iroquois fired two volleys of musketry at them.

[80] All the Iroquois were either killed or wounded, except a single one, who, fleeing at the very beginning of the attack, seems to have survived for the sole purpose of bearing the tidings of their defeat to the country of the Iroquois. [Page 41]

God’s protection of those three prisoners, whom the Iroquois were leading away, is indeed worthy of attention. They were three young Christians, fifteen or sixteen years old, and the enemy kept them bound and manacled in a peculiar manner.

When the assault began, the three Iroquois who had special charge of these three prisoners, ran directly to them to brain them; for such is the usual custom. The first one, when about to let his hatchet fall upon his [81] captive’s head, was killed that very instant by a musket-shot, which saved the Christian’s life and brought death to the Infidel.

The second captive saw the hatchet stroke already descending on his head, when an arrow, guided by God’s Providence for his deliverance, pierced through and through the one who was about to despatch him.

Another accident, of similar nature, delivered the third; and it cannot have been without Heaven’s special favor that the bullets and arrows paid respect — as they seemed to — to these three young Christians, who saw on all sides the Iroquois falling stark dead at their feet, without a single shot hitting themselves.

We have every reason to believe that this adorable protection of God, both over these three Christian captives, [82] and over those who delivered them with such good fortune and courage, was a reward of their piety; for never during the whole Winter had they failed to say their prayers, morning and evening, and to keep the Holy days, which they distinguished by means of their little Calendars, wherein these were all marked. On such days they failed not to assemble for the purpose of saying their Rosaries, and singing their Hymns and spiritual Songs, with as much devotion as if some one of our Fathers who had instructed them were present. [Page 43]

[83] CHAPTER VIII.

CONCERNING SOME WONDERS THAT HAVE RECENTLY

OCCURRED.

A

 YOUNG man twenty-two or twenty-three years old, Jean Adam by name, was with his master in the woods on the day of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, when he suddenly felt himself seized with a violent pain in the eyes; and as his sight failed him more and more every day after this, he took the ordinary remedies. But when his ailment grew constantly worse, he had recourse to God, and performed a novena to Saint Anne, promising to go on a pilgrimage to her Church, which is six leagues distant from Quebec, and celebrated for the favors which the divine Majesty has [84] there been pleased to bestow through the intercession of this great Saint.[1]

No relief, however, was experienced by the young man, his blindness, on the contrary, becoming constantly greater. Hence he was obliged to perform a second novena, this time in honor of Our Lady of Laurette,[2] binding himself by a vow to make a pilgrimage of devotion to her church some day. He begged one of our Fathers, his Confessor, to coöperate with him for the purpose of obtaining from God the cure of his blindness.

His master took him in a canoe to fulfill his first vow in the Church of Saint Anne, this good young [Page 45] man being unable to make his way unaided, as his blindness was now complete.

A good Priest, who has charge of that Parish, felt inspired to recite the Gospel over this blind man, [85] wearing the stole the while, according to the custom of the Church. During the short time of his saying this Gospel, the blind man saw at three different times what seemed like three flashes of lightning, by the aid of which he recovered his sight, but for three instants only, during which he saw very clearly the whole Church and everything in it. After this he relapsed into his former blindness; but he apprehended by an inner illumination that these three transient flashes of lightning, by which he had seen everything in the Church, were a sign to him that at the end of three days he should recover his sight entirely and be wholly cured. Indeed, from that moment he conceived a firm hope of this, and declared to those who were with him that there were only three days wanting for the completion of his second novena, which he was performing in honor of Our Lady [86] of Laurette, who would obtain his cure.

The ninth day arriving, while his Confessor was saying Mass for him, at the moment of the consecration of the most Holy Host, he felt himself struck in the eyes as if by two iron points — which made him immediately raise his hands to his eyes; and, on withdrawing them, he saw the Priest elevating the Host for the people’s adoration, so that the unseen miracles which are wrought at the moment of the consecration were accompanied, at this Mass, by this visible and sensible miracle. For, from that instant, this blind man recovered his sight in its [Page 47] perfection; and at the close of the Mass, to which he had only been able to come with the aid of a guide and a staff, he returned without help from any one and without a staff, and has seen since [87] then more clearly than ever before.

In connection with this miracle I cannot omit what occurred, under the special protection of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, at fort Richelieu.

While work was in progress upon this fort, one of the Lieutenants was making the rounds, and had gone to visit a guardhouse posted about two musket shots distant, when he remembered that he had not on that evening attended the usual prayers, at which it was customary to recite in concert a short Office in honor of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. To discharge this little office of devotion toward that Holy Family, he withdrew aside in the woods, eight or ten steps from the sentinel, knelt among some shrubbery which concealed him, [88] and began this little Rosary with the utmost possible devotion. At that point, the soldier who was standing sentinel, seeing something in those bushes and fancying it was an Iroquois, fired at it at close range, and doubted not that he had killed his man. But as if the bullet had respected this servant of God, instead of piercing his head through and through, it did nothing but wound him slightly — it being God’s will that the evident danger in which he had been should become known, in order to convey a realization of the powerful protection he had received from the Holy Family and, at the same time, of the succor which we all may expect on like occasions. [Page 49]

I will add a circumstance very similar to what often befell Saint Isidore the Husbandman, who [89] was wont to see the Angels guiding his plow which he had left in order to pray — those blessed Spirits choosing, without doubt, to perform his duty while he performed theirs.

A very virtuous woman, who saw herself burdened with three children, the eldest of whom was but four years old, and who, moreover, lived at a great distance from the Church, was extremely hindered on Holy days in the discharge of her devotions. Yet she did not cease to come to the Chapel of Saint John and to attend the assembly of the Holy Family, with great punctuality, although always with much disquiet and fear for her children. One day when she had left them asleep in her house, she was greatly surprised, on her return, to see them upon their beds, very carefully dressed, and provided with breakfast, just as she was wont [90] to give it to them. Upon asking her eldest girl who had thus dressed them in her absence, the child, who is very intelligent for her age, could tell her nothing about it except that it was a Lady clothed in white whom she did not know -although she knew very well all the women of the neighborhood; and that, besides, she had but just gone out, and her mother must have met her on entering.

Many have piously believed that the Blessed Virgin herself was pleased to calm this good woman’s anxieties, and let her know that, after taking the usual precautions for her children, she was to leave the rest to the protection of the Holy Family.

What renders such an opinion plausible is that the mother found the door [91] of the house closed, just [Page 51] as she had left it on going out; that she did not see this woman dressed in white, who had but just made her exit when she entered; that everything was performed exactly as she was wont to do it herself; that this cannot be ascribed to any one known in the neighborhood or in the country; that the child is of an age little capable of a fabrication of this nature; and that, after all, God does sometimes perform such marvels on behalf of the poor. Finally, inquiries in the matter were prosecuted with great exactness by a very virtuous Ecclesiastic. That good woman is named Marie Haslé, wife of Joachim Girard,[3] and this occurrence was on the 8th of July, 1665. [Page 83]

[92] CHAPTER IX.

CRUELTIES PRACTICED UPON SOME FRENCHMEN CAP-

TURED BY THE IROQUOIS IN THE YEAR 1662.

I

 GIVE below a letter that has fallen into our hands concerning the cruel treatment which some Frenchmen received from the Iroquois two years ago, and of which we had not before learned.

I make no change either in the wording or in the style of the letter, since its simplicity will, in the reader’s mind, prove its chief claim to trustworthiness.

On the 25th of the month of August, in the year 1662, fourteen Frenchmen were unexpectedly attacked by the Iroquois on a small Island near [93] Montreal, and fled in disorder without offering much resistance.

Only Monsieur Brignac[4] and two other Frenchmen, disregarding their comrades’ flight, assumed an attitude of defense, and Monsieur Brignac killed the Captain of the Iroquois at the outset.

The latter were immediately seized with fear and, seeing their Captain fallen, were already taking flight, when one of them began to harangue the others, saying to them: “Where, then, is our Nation’s courage and renown? What ignominy for thirty-five warriors to flee before four Frenchmen!”

Meanwhile the other Frenchmen, who were in a boat, let themselves drift with the current and were [Page 59] exposed to all the enemy’s shots, so that some were instantly killed, and others wounded.

[94] At length, to return to the Iroquois, having recovered their courage, they came and fell upon the Frenchmen, mortally wounding an Ecclesiastic named Monsieur Vignal.

The two Frenchmen, their firearms being wet, were soon captured, together with Monsieur Brignac. The latter, however, made a stout resistance before letting himself be taken. Having his arm broken by a musket-shot, he still presented his pistol to the enemy; but, lacking strength to fire it, he plunged into the water, followed by the Iroquois, who caught him and dragged him over the rocks, head and face downward, around nearly the whole Island.

The Iroquois embarked with their prisoners, and all proceeded together to encamp at prairie de la Magdeleine, where they erected a fort; and, taking the body of [95] Sieur Vignal, who was dead, the Iroquois stripped it and removed the flesh for eating.

As for the two other Frenchmen, who were uninjured, they were bound each to a tree; and as one of them, named René, was murmuring a prayer to God, a Savage who observed him asked him what he was doing, whereupon the Frenchman made answer that he was praying to God, and the Savage unbound him and said to him, “Kneel down, and pray at thine ease.”

Thus they passed the night in the fort which they had built; and on the next day, after eating the body of that good Priest and removing his scalp, pushed on to the Falls.

After this meal the Barbarians divided their forces, those of the Nation of Anniegue carrying off one [Page 57] Frenchman, whose name was du Fresne,[5] and those of the Nation [96] of Onneiout, who were much superior in numbers, leading away the two others.

They proceeded eight days by land, René always laden like a packhorse, and most of the time entirely naked. Monsieur Brignac went along very quietly, scarcely able to walk because of the wounds on his head, feet, and whole body-which did not prevent him from ceaselessly praying to God.

After journeying for a week, the two bands which had separated reunited, and once more encamped together, loudly rejoicing and indulging in good cheer after their hunt.

Two among them went ahead, and carried the news to the villages.

The Iroquois, perceiving [97] that René had a psalter, and was reading therein, determined to cut off one of his thumbs, and forbade him to keep further company with Sieur Brignac, because they prayed together.

Arriving at length at the village of the Nation of Onneiout, they stripped the two Frenchmen — Sieur Brignac and René — and painted their faces in native fashion. Then, after the enemy had arranged them- selves for giving them the salute, — which consists in making the prisoners pass between two hedge-rows, so to speak, each person giving them a blow with a stick, — one of the elders cried out, “Enough, stop! Make way for them;” and, being conducted to the central space of this village, where a scaffold was prepared, they mounted it. Then an Iroquois took a stick, and struck René seven or [98] eight blows with it, and plucked out his nails. After this, the two captives were made to come down, and were led into [Page 59] a cabin where the Council of the elders was in session.

The whole night was spent in making the two French prisoners sing, while to them was added an Algonquin captured from among the Outaouaks by another band.

One of the cruelties exercised was the forcing of these three prisoners to exchange insults, and torture one another with coals of fire, — the Frenchmen being pitted against the Algonquin, and the Algonquin against the Frenchmen. But the latter would not obey such cruel orders, so that a Captain who saw that the Frenchmen were unwilling to harm the Algonquin, although they were maltreated by him, made them sit down near himself, [99] as if to assure them of protection.

Finally, upon the Council’s decreeing that the two Frenchmen should be burned, the sister of the Captain slain by Sieur Brignac said that she wished to have René to take the place of her dead brother. One of the old men declared this to be only fair, and it was granted, but not without opposition.

Sieur Brignac, however, was burned throughout the whole night, from his feet up to his waist, and on the next day these Barbarians still continued to burn him; but, after they had broken his fingers and had grown weary of burning him, one of their number stabbed him with a knife, tore out his heart, and ate it. They cut off his nose first, then his eyebrows, lips, and cheeks.

Throughout all that bloody and [100] cruel execution, this poor Frenchman never ceased to entreat God for the conversion of these Barbarians, offering on their behalf all the agonies they made him suffer, [Page 61] and constantly saying: “I pray you, O God to convert them; O God, convert them,” — ever repeating these words, and never crying out, however they might torture him.

Finally these Barbarians cut open his body and drank his blood-afterward cutting the body in pieces, putting these into a kettle, and eating them.

René received his freedom, but not without fears on his part; for, a sedition having arisen some time afterward, an Iroquois, holding a cocked pistol in his hand, entered the cabin where our Frenchman was, and asked him a question which greatly frightened him. He [101] addressed him, as if he had said in our language, “Long live who — Father le Moyne or Father Chaumonot?” Then his adopted sister told the Frenchman to say, “Long live Father Chaumonot;” and so his life was saved on that occasion.

At length, after nineteen months of hardship and fatigue, encountered now in hunting, now in fishing, and again in an attack, which he had, of smallpox, — which swept away more than a thousand souls in the country of the Iroquois, — when he was out hunting young pigeons, in company with the Nations of Anniegué and Onneiout, it occurred to him to make his escape. Upon asking his comrade, du Fresne, who was with the people of Anniegué, whether he would run away, the latter told him no. Then, after devising a scheme with two other Frenchmen of the same village, when preparations for breaking up and returning [102] home were in progress, he one evening asked one of the Iroquois in which direction the village lay, and in which one should go to reach the Dutch, and how many leagues distant they were. Being informed, he went and marked a tree, in order [Page 63] to remember the way he must take to reach them.

Indeed, when morning came, he noted the spot which he must pass in order to make his escape; and, while all were preparing to set out, each one loading himself with packages, the three Frenchmen took another route. Very fortunately, owing to a fire that some women had started among the leaves on the ground, causing them all to be reduced to ashes or even to be dissipated, their footprints were not discovered.

They journeyed nine days before coming to New [103] Holland, eating for their entire sustenance nothing but herbs which they found; for they had abandoned their packs in order to be more nimble for running. Nevertheless they were in great danger of recapture, and, as its necessary sequel, of being committed to the flames without hope of mercy.

They traveled only at night, and yet were constantly rushing, so to speak, into the enemy’s hands, passing now inadvertently near the fishers’ cabins, now near the hunters; again by day finding themselves in the immediate neighborhood of a village, and still again by night in the very midst of the cabins.

Four or five times they were pursued by the Iroquois, while on one occasion, among others, nearly all the youth of the second village [104] of Anniegué started in pursuit of them. At other times, they were followed by the warriors; and, still another time, by some men who were returning from trading with the Dutch.

After many dangers, they at last reached the country of the Dutch, but did not make themselves known until they ascertained whether any Iroquois were [Page 65] there. As there were none there at that time, they declared themselves to be Frenchmen, and were received with open arms. They were conducted to the Governor of fort Orange, who received them very cordially, clothed them, and even freighted a shallop to convey them to Manhate, lest they might be discovered by the Iroquois and carried off.

From Manhate they proceeded to Baston [Boston], and following all the coast as far as Quebec, they everywhere met with a kind reception. Thus ended [105] happily their captivity, in which they were every day in danger of a cruel death.

Such are the contents of the Letter, which does not tell the half of the sufferings endured by those poor Frenchmen. Can the King’s arms be better employed than in delivering us from the cruelty of those Barbarians? [Page 67]

CHAPTER X.

OF THE COMETS AND EXTRAORDINARY SIGNS THAT

HAVE APPEARED AT QUÉBEC OR IN ITS

NEIGHBORHOOD.

W

E do not purpose giving here an exact account of all the irregular changes in the Comets that have been seen by us this year. Our design is to report [106] merely some observations, which may perhaps serve as data for the curious in obtaining some further information.

On the 29th of November of the year 1664, the first Comet began to be seen at Quebec. Some have said that they saw it about the 15th of the month, while others assert that it showed itself even before All Saints’ day.

On the 30th of November, early in the morning, it was again seen; but, during the thirteen nights following, the clouds hid it from our sight and careful scrutiny.

On the 14th day of December, about a quarter past three o’clock, we saw the Comet a little better, without being able to take any complete observation. Its distance from Spica Virginis was 22 degrees, 30 minutes.

[107] We will state here — what ought to be known, for regarding the following observations — that the altitude of the Pole at Quebec is 46 degrees, 44 minutes.

On the 15th of December, we took the Comet’s [Page 69] altitude, which was 23 degrees, 30 minutes; and that from Arcturus to the Comet, 54 degrees, 20 minutes. But we did not note exactly the time of that observation; we note here some that are more exact.

On the 21st of December, at half past four in the morning, the altitude of the Comet was 20 degrees, 8 minutes; that of Arcturus, 44 degrees, 45 minutes; the Azimuth from the latter to the Comet, 69 degrees, 20 minutes. The Comet had then 164 degrees, 58 minutes [right ascension], and 23 degrees, 8 minutes southern declination.

On the following day, December 22, at [108] a quarter past four in the morning, the Comet’s altitude was 15 degrees, 15 minutes; that of Spica, 21 degrees, 54 minutes; and the Azimuth between the Comet and Spica, 38 degrees, 22 minutes. The Star was East of the Comet; and consequently the latter’s southern declination was 27 degrees, 31 minutes, and its right ascension, 162 degrees, 51 minutes.

On the twenty-third, at half past one in the morning, the Comet’s altitude was 6 degrees, 36 minutes; that of Keleb alased, or the Lion’s heart, 47 degrees, 15 minutes; and the Azimuth between the two, 20 degrees, 10 minutes. By calculation the right ascension of the Comet is found to be 150 degrees, 15 minutes, and its southern declination, 30 degrees, 27 minutes.

[109] On the twenty-seventh, at the same hour, the distance from the Comet to Procyon was 37 degrees, 25 minutes; from the Lion’s heart, 50 degrees, 30 minutes; and from Sirius, or the great Dog, 27 degrees, 35 minutes. The Comet’s [right] ascension was, on that day, 112 degrees, 20 minutes; and its southern declination, 21 degrees, 21 minutes, [Page 71] 36 seconds. At that time the Comet’s tail extended from the Comet itself as far as the Star of the great Dog, and I do not think it ever appeared much larger than on the morning of that day.

On the last day of the year 1664, about six o’clock in the evening, the distance from the right shoulder of Orion to the Comet was 27 degrees; and from the eye of Taurus, 27 degrees, 35 minutes. The Comet then appeared to us only hairy, with no [110] indication of a tail. According to that observation, the Comet’s right ascension was 64 degrees and nearly 57 minutes; its southern declination, 11 degrees, 46 minutes.

We will frankly confess here that, being unable to observe the Comet on the three preceding days, and remarking, moreover, such a notable change both in its form and in its path, which was altogether extraordinary, we would have had little difficulty in persuading ourselves that it was a second Comet.

On the same night, at half past eight o’clock, the altitude of the eye of Taurus was 5g degrees, 27 minutes, — the Comet’s altitude being 32 degrees, 35 minutes, in the same vertical. The right ascension of the eye of Taurus was 64 degrees, 10 minutes; and that of the Comet, 60 degrees, 48 minutes, 30 [111] seconds, — the southern declination of the latter being 10 degrees, 9 minutes.

On the first day of the year 1665, at a quarter to ten in the evening, the altitude of Sirius was 22 degrees, 27 minutes; and of the Comet, 33 degrees, 52 minutes. The Azimuth from Sirius to the Comet was 44 degrees, 4 minutes; and hence the southern declination of the latter was 8 degrees, 4 minutes, and its right ascension 62 degrees, 50 minutes. [Page 73]

We purposely omit the observations taken on the second, seventh, eleventh, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth of the same month of January, the high wind and excessive cold having disturbed our instruments, which we were unable to readjust with all the exactness necessary on such occasions.

The Sky showed us [112] another Comet, as marvelous in size and brightness as the first, and having a tail at least as long. Its path brought it near the Sun, to which it lent an extraordinary aurora.

We saw it here on the twenty-ninth of March, Palm Sunday; but the Sky was clouded with little intermission until the fourth of April, when we noted that the Comet was between the Star in the head of Cassiopeia and one of the brightest in her shoulder, making very nearly a straight line with these two Stars. Its northern declination was between 13 and 14 degrees; and its right ascension, 335 degrees.

On the eleventh of, April the Comet was in the tropic of Capricorn, [113] and had for right ascension the beginning of Aries.

On the seventeenth, it formed a right-angled, or slightly obtuse-angled, triangle with the head of Andromeda and the star at her girdle, both the latter being of the second magnitude. Dividing the distance between these two Stars into four parts, there would have been nearly three of these parts between the Star at Andromeda’s girdle and the Comet. The first Star of Aries, the Comet, and the last-mentioned Star — which is of the second magnitude, and on the southern edge of Andromeda’s girdle — were nearly in a straight line, and had between 25 and 26 degrees Northern declination. [Page 75]

Those were the few observations we took of the last Comet.

Not merely from the summit of the Heavens did God address us in this language of the Stars, but he also [114] made himself heard from a less distance; for from the Sky, the Moon, and even the Earth, we saw, heard, and felt some unusual manifestations of his Almighty power.

On the twenty-seventh of December of the year 1664, the Moon presented a very strange appearance after midnight, one half of it being blood-red, and the other so bright as to dazzle the beholder’s eyes.

On Monday, the nineteenth of January, 1665, about a quarter to six in the evening, there was heard to come from beneath the ground a report so loud as to be taken for a cannon-shot. This sound was heard by persons distant three and four leagues from one another; while our Savages, knowing that the can- non is not fired toward evening, except to [115] give warning of the appearance of Iroquois, left the woods where they were, and came all through the night to ask us why we had fired such a terrible cannon-shot.

About seven minutes after this report, there appeared over Quebec a ball of fire which merely passed by, coming from the mountains toward the North and emitting so bright a light that houses two leagues from Quebec were seen as in broad day.

In the course of the year there were seen several other similar fire-balls, not only at Quebec, but below Tadoussac, and on the way to Three Rivers.

Besides the moderate earthquakes and frequent rumblings in the neighboring coast districts, there have been shocks of unusual severity [116] seven or eight leagues from here, occurring two or three times [Page 77] in one night with great violence. Some Frenchmen and Savages, who were in the woods, also felt the severe shocks.

On Saint Mathias’s day the shocks were so violent around Tadoussac and at Malbaye, that the Savages, and one of our Fathers who was wintering in that neighborhood with them, declare that they were not less severe than those that were felt here at Quebec in that famous earthquake which occurred in the year 1663. Two highly trustworthy Frenchmen who have traversed that whole coast of Malbaye, made the assertion that the Relation of the year 1663 had only half described the ravages wrought by the earthquake shocks in those regions. Perhaps those of this [117] year have increased that fearful devastation.

On the fifteenth of October, 1665, at nine o’clock in the evening, there was an earthquake which caused a great cracking of the slates on our house. This shock was preceded by a report louder than that of two hundred cannon, which continued for about the space of a Miserere. [Page 79]

 

CHAPTER LAST.

SOME CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH THE ARRIVAL

OF THE KING’S VESSELS BEARING THE REGI-

MENT OF CARIGNAN-SALIERES.

O

N the 17th and 19th of June, 1665, there arrived at Quebec two vessels from la Rochelle with four Companies of the Carignan-Salieres Regiment. All the soldiers debarking, in good health, it was necessary [118] to pass from a large vessel into small boats made of planks, purposely made to be dragged through the rapids and swift currents, and carried by land up past the Richelieu Falls, at the foot of which these four Companies have constructed a fort, as we related in the fourth chapter.

On the 30th of the same month, there appeared in the distance two sails, which filled us with joy when we learned that they were bringing Monsieur de Tracy. It is impossible to express the gratification of all the people at his landing.

On the sixteenth of July, the ship from Havre arrived, bringing some horses,[6] with which the King intends to supply this country. Our Savages, who had never seen any, viewed them with admiration, and were astonished that the Moose of France (for so they styled them) [119] were so tractable and so obedient to man’s every wish.

On the 18th and 19th of August there arrived at [Page 81] our roadstead two more vessels, laden each with four Companies, — Monsieur de Salieres, Colonel of the Regiment, at their head.

The soldiers, being in good health, after a short period of recuperation on land, started out under the lead of the said Sieur de Salieres, to go with the utmost expedition and build two additional forts, — one at the mouth of the Richelieu river, the other above the Falls, below which the first fort had already been built.

On the twelfth of September appeared two other vessels, one named the Saint Sebastien, and the other the Jardin de Hollande; and two days later a third, called the [120] Justice, bearing eight Companies.

Our period of waiting was thus happily brought to an end, since these vessels brought Monsieur de Courcelles, Lieutenant-general for the King in this country, and Monsieur Talon, Intendant for his Majesty.

Monsieur de Courcelles, breathing nothing but war, immediately set about serving his Majesty therein under Monsieur de Tracy’s orders, — proceeding by water, in rather inclement weather, to visit the works in progress at a distance of forty, fifty, and sixty leagues from Quebec, in order to prepare for the Campaign of next Spring and Summer.

Monsieur Talon made it evident to us at the outset that the King loves this country, and has great plans for its upbuilding — convincing us by [121] his verbal assurances to that effect, and also, much more, by his personal merits, which cause us already to taste the sweets of a superintendence so guided by reason, and of a policy in all respects Christian. [Page 84]

As to other matters, the soldiers enjoyed constant good health as far as Tadoussac; but, by some unknown mishap, sickness broke out in one of the vessels and more than a hundred patients debarked, who were received by the Hospital Nuns with all conceivable kindness. Furthermore, as the ward for the sick, large as it is, could not hold them all, the nuns found themselves obliged to turn their Church into a second Hospital, Jesus Christ willingly yielding his place to his members.

These good Nuns, with so many patients on their hands, — [122] really in numbers beyond their strength, although not beyond their courage, — have, in the services rendered to those poor soldiers, manifested all the joy of hearts filled with God; their zeal and charity take no rest, day or night, in providing for all the needs of body and soul in their patients. Hence they nearly all fell ill themselves, some of them even to the point of death; but God mightily upheld them in a steadfastness and zeal which are the causes and the effects of true sanctity.

A number of Heretics being among these troops, efforts were exerted, and successfully, for their conversion. More than a score made abjuration of their heresy, with a deep sense of their indebtedness [123] to God, who caused them to find the road to Paradise by way of Canada.

One of them had begun to receive instruction while he was still on board ship; and as he had been sentenced to the hold for some offense, he was told that he would be set free if he would become converted. He made answer that such a motive to conversion was too base and selfish, and that he preferred to receive his punishment, since he had deserved it; [Page 85] after which he would announce his decision, according to his inspiration from God, concerning his Religion. Accordingly he submitted to that chastisement, and some time afterward asked to be fully instructed. He made his abjuration, and, being one of the sick who were carried to the Hospital, died there with very rare sentiments of devotion — kissing and embracing the Crucifix, [124] and holding very loving intercourse with it, up to the time of his death.

I cannot omit to mention also a very marvelous granting of grace to another Heretic and one of the most obstinate we have seen here. We pleaded with him again and again, and with all possible urgency, striving to touch his heart and make him see his unhappy condition; but always in vain. And not only would he not listen to the holy and charitable urgency which was brought to bear on him, and which he repulsed with indignation: but he even bound himself by fresh protestations to die rather than renounce the Religion professed by all his relatives, Meanwhile, having fallen very grievously ill and having been carried to the Hospital with the [125] others, those good Nuns — who are filled with no less zeal for saving their patients’ souls than with loving desire to restore their bodily health — did in their turn everything in their power to win him.

One of them, who had often tried the efficacy of the Relics of the late Father de Brébeuf, — who was burned with great cruelty some years ago by the Iroquois, in the country of the Hurons, when he was engaged in the conversion of those Barbarians, — decided to mix, without his knowledge, a bit of these Relics, reduced to powder, with a drink which she [Page 87] made him take. Wonderful to relate, the man became a lamb, asked to be instructed, received into his mind and heart the influences of our Faith, and made public abjuration of heresy with such fervor that [126] he himself was astonished; and, to crown God’s mercies toward him, he received health of body together with that of soul.

After the disease which had broken out among these last troops had ceased, they were sent into their winter quarters until Spring, when they are to march against the Iroquois.

We are led by the foregoing events to hope that the doors of the Gospel are about to be opened to all these poor barbarous Nations; and that, instead of our being obliged, as we have been in the past, to seek a passage through the fires and hatchets of the Iroquois, and to choose the most difficult routes, in order to avoid the most dangerous, we shall go with head erect into those vast regions of the North and of the South. For our great Monarch is about to smooth the [127] roads for us, in order that, while with his victorious arms he converts this land of Barbarism into a French Kingdom, we may strive to make it a Christian Kingdom, which shall extend more than six hundred leagues in all directions. This is a country which shall be no whit inferior, in fertility of soil and mildness of climate, to the mildest and pleasantest portions of Europe; a country in which there are more than twenty different languages, which will be employed in making these vast forests reëcho with the praises of our invincible Monarch, at the same time that they proclaim those of God. “ Forever blessed be the God of our great King,” these Savage Nations will say, “who delivers [Page 89] us not only from captivity to the Iroquois, but also from bondage to the Demons, rescuing us from the [128] fires of both, that we may become the Subjects of the greatest of all earthly Monarchs, and the children of the God of all the Monarchs in the World.”

END.

[Page 91]

CXVIII

Relation of 1666

Paris: SEBASTIEN CRAMOISY ET SEBASTIEN

MABRE - CRAMOISY, 1667

—————

Source: We follow a copy of the original Cramoisy, in Lenox Library.

RELATION

OF WHAT OCCURRED

MOST REMARKABLE

IN THE MISSIONS OF THE FATHERS

of the Society of Jesus,

IN

NEW FRANCE

in the years one thousand six hundred

Sixty-five and one thousand six

Hundred sixty-six.

Sent to the Rev. Father Jacques Bordier,

Provincial of the Province of France.

P A R I S.

Sebastien Cramoisy And Sebastien

Mabre-Cramoisy, Printer in ordi-

nary to the King, ruë st. Jacques,

at the Sign of the Storks.

———————

M. DC. XLIII.

By Royal License.

[Page 97]

To the Reverend Father Jacques Bordier, Pro-

vincial of the Society of Jesus in

the Province of France.

M

Y REVEREND FATHER,

Tidings concerning our Missions and the establishment of Jesus Christ’s Kingdom in this country are so intimately connected with those which have regard to the King’s service and our Nation’s glory, that, in sending you these Annals of war, I render you an account of the state of Christianity, and of all the hopes which our pains and exertions lead us to cherish. His Majesty’s arms, in demonstrating that nothing is impossible to those who fight for so great a Prince, have removed the chief obstacle to the Gospel in these vast Regions, by humbling the pride of the Nations that opposed it. There is no one acquainted with the nature of this country who does not, in reviewing the expeditions of our troops, and especially the Latest one of Monsieur de Tracy, recognize with awe the very signal protection which Heaven extends over New France, and admire the courage and excellent management of those who undertook these expeditions. The pride and insolence of the enemies of the Savior’s Cross arose merely from the obstacles that prevented our attacking them, — obstacles which had always been considered insurmountable. These Barbarians, after finding themselves driven out of the heart of their country, at last became conscious that they were not invincible; and it was God’s will, in sparing their blood, that we should have all the advantages accruing from those victories, without fear [Page 99] of any unpleasant results. The desire for revenge, which they cherish to an extreme degree after such losses as have cost them much blood, would have made them opposed to peace in a much greater degree than their own interest would have urged them to seek it. They would, too, have been less injured by the death of a very large number of their bravest warriors than they will be by the loss of all their provisions, — a loss which will compel them to retire forty leagues farther into the country, spreading fear and famine everywhere as they go. Hence we may assert that the God of peace is the Author of this marvel, and he has made us conquer in a way that is of most service to the Faith and to our great Monarch’s purposes, and at the same time not less glorious to our troops; for not less wisdom and generalship were required in the Commanders, and far more courage and constancy in the soldiers. These successes, too, have diffused throughout this country a universal joy which will be still greater hereafter, when we reap the fruits of victory. To hasten this consummation I pray you to bestow your blessing constantly upon our labors, and to secure Heaven’s benediction for us by your prayers. I am,

MY REVEREND FATHER,

Your very humble and obe-

dient servant, Francois

le    Mercier,    of    the

Society of Jesus.

Kebec, November 12, 1666.                                                                   [Page 101]

 

Table of Chapters.
Chap. I. Chap. II.	O	F what occurred more remarkable at Québec. Of the Huron, Algonquin, and Papinahiois Missions.	page 1 10
Chap. III. Of the war and the treaties of peace between the French and the Iroquois.			22
Also, Letter, dated October 3, 1666, from the Reverend Mother Superior of the Hospital Nuns of Kebec in New France. [Page 103]

[Page 103]

Extract from the Royal License.

B

Y the Grace and License of the King, permission is granted to Sebastien Cramoisy, Printer in ordinary to the King, Director of the Royal Printing-house of the Louvre, former Alderman of Paris, to print or cause to be printed, sold and retailed, a Book entitled: Relation de ce qui s’est passé en la Mission des Peres de la Compagnie de Jesus au païs de la Nouvelle France és de années 1665. et 1666. And that during the period of twenty years, forbidding all Booksellers, Printers and others, under penalties provided by the said License, to print or cause to be printed the said Book, under pretext of any disguise or change. Given at Paris in January, 1667. Signed, by the King in his Council,

Maboul.

[Page 105]

[1] Relation of what occurred in New France in

the years 1665 and 1666.

CHAPTER I.

OF WHAT OCCURRED MORE REMARKABLE AT

QUEBEC.

A

S the late Queen-Mother always gave most signal proofs of her kindness toward this country, and of her zeal for the establishment of the Faith within its borders, it was thought that no observance whatever [2] should be omitted here that might help to show the gratitude in which her memory is held after her death. As soon as the news of her decease[7] was received, we made it a point to give expression to the heartfelt grief of the entire people by draping the Churches in mourning. They were all hung with black, and the customary services and prayers were held in them for several consecutive days.

Monsieur Tallon, Intendant for the King in this country, especially signalized the affection he feels for his Majesty’s service, and his respect for that great Princess’s memory, by causing a Service to be chanted with music in the principal Church of Quebec, on the 3rd of August of the year 1666. This Service would have seemed magnificent [3] anywhere, but its effect in a country where nothing like it had ever been seen exceeded all description.

Monsieur de Tracy, Lieutenant-general for his [Page 107] Majesty in all America, Monsieur de Courcelles, Governor of New France, Monsieur the Intendant, and every one of more considerable importance, were present in mourning ; while Monsieur the Bishop of Petræa officiated, assisted by a number of Ecclesiastics arrayed in their copes.

This entire assembly was the better pleased with the funeral Oration pronounced before it, since especial praise was bestowed upon the admirable zeal which that great Queen always cherished for the preservation of this country and for the salvation of the infidels — a zeal of which one [4] sees signal proofs here on every side.

That is the most important event we could report from Quebec, and the one in which we have thought that more interest would be felt in France, since we in Canada could have done nothing with greater justice or warmer affection.

All other duties usually discharged here, whether for the saving of souls or for the glory and profit of our Nation, are executed with more order, more attention and more vigor than ever, owing to the desire felt by those who are here to please the King of Heaven and obey the greatest King on earth, — who is seen to extend the effects of his vigilance and goodness over these people whom God is calling to the Faith by his [5] means, as well as over those whose government was left him by his ancestors.

Among many Savages who, in their saintly deaths, have been the blessed fruits of the Missions, there Was especially admired a little Huron girl whom this Church lost at the age of thirteen years. Nothing could be more surprising than to see that child, after the loss of her parents at ten years of age, not only [Page 109] doing without their guidance, by aid of the extraordinary light and succor which she received from the Divine Spirit, but also filling the place of father and mother to two brothers of hers, much younger than herself.

She lived in a continual retreat and retirement, [6] and God inspired her with a regard for our religion so greatly in advance of her age that every one was astonished. Her two little brothers, whom she supported by her toil, also received from her all the instruction and every example of virtue suited to their age, so that the most skillful Missionaries, had they given careful attention to the children, could not have attained better results. Left free by the death of these two little boys, she earnestly asked to be admitted among the Ursuline Mothers, and was on the point of obtaining her request when it pleased God to give her a place in Heaven among the Virgins who follow the Lamb. All the people of her Nation and the French, of every [7] age, emulously went to bestow their admiration on the courage of this brave girl, and to receive instruction from the example of her resignation and patience. Her tender devotion to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar made her ardently desire not to let a single day pass without receiving this daily Bread. It was granted her only three times during her illness, and her extreme weakness could not prevent her from going to receive it on her knees the first two times; but on the last occasion, being too utterly prostrated by her ailment, she was forced to remain in bed. She received her Savior at that time with such tender sentiments, and such ardent desires and transports of love, that those who had hastened to her side, in great numbers, [Page 111] burst into tears [8] at the sight, and all seemed to feel the same devotion that was in the sick girl’s heart. Ah, my Savior, she often exclaimed, when shall I see you? As it cannot be in this life, grant me a speedy death.

Nothing afflicted her so much as being told that her last hour was not yet so near at hand; and it may be said that this holy impatience to be united with God was incomparably more trying to her than all the sufferings of her disease.

So confident did she feel of enjoying this happiness that she unhesitatingly promised those to whom she was under obligations that she would earnestly pray to the Savior and his holy Mother, in order to secure for them [9] the virtues that they most needed. Finally, the moment so ardently desired by her having arrived, she gently expired, commending her soul, until she breathed her last, to her heavenly Spouse. Her face, always extremely beautiful, appeared after her death fresher, livelier, more strikingly beautiful than usual; so that all glorified God therefor, as being a manifestation of his almighty power, whose will it was to bestow this visible sign of the blessed state to which he had called that admirable girl, The people, persuaded of her sanctity, decked that virgin form, and accompanied its interment with all the magnificence that can possibly be employed in this country, as if they were rather [10] celebrating her nuptials with her heavenly Spouse than performing a mournful ceremony. [Page 113]

CHAPTER II.

OF THE HURON, ALGONQUIN, AND PAPINAKIOIS MIS-

SIONS.

T

HE wisdom of God, who ever derives good from evil, turns to the profit of a very large number of savage tribes the overthrow and dispersion of the Huron Church, whose scattered members serve to bear throughout all Canada the torch of the Faith whereby they themselves have been enlightened.

However great the apparent aversion of the Iroquois to the Gospel, it is preached and its maxims are preserved among [11] them. The Huron captives, whom they hold in very large numbers, know how to find the liberty of the children of God in the midst of those barbarians, not only making open profession of our holy Religion, but even forming little flocks of Jesus Christ in outlying cabins, where they assemble to offer their prayers, and engage in all the other Christian observances that can be executed without Priest or Pastor.

A French Gentleman who was captured this last Summer by the Iroquois and taken to Agnie, and who has since then been set free, renders signal testimony to the virtue of these blessed captives. They exhorted him by signs to join his sufferings to those endured by the Savior [12] on the Cross; they rendered him all imaginable good offices, fearlessly exposing themselves to the most cruel death for the sake of aiding him; and, in short, they constantly [Page 115] showed him admirable examples of their charity, patience, piety, and unswerving attachment to the true Religion.

But the effects of these poor Hurons’ zeal are felt even beyond the territories of the Iroquois. We have learned that in the country of the Rigueronnons, more than 500 leagues distant from Quebec, a Huron Preacher has spread the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and begun the founding of a Church which already appears to be flourishing — so well disposed do the people there seem toward the Gospel. This fervent [13] Christian, who is 60 years old, assembles the faithful of his nation every Sunday, and exhorts them to virtue, instructs them in our mysteries, and makes them recite all their prayers, in the same manner he formerly saw observed by the Jesuits at the time of his conversion. He even induces them also to offer frequent acts of contrition; and in this way, as far as he can, he enables them to supply the want of Confession.

From Father Claude Allouëz, who has been for almost two years among the upper Algonquins, — ranging with them vast forests, nearly 500 leagues distant from Quebec, — no tidings have been received for more than a year — either because that [14] Father, succumbing to the extreme fatigues of that occupation, has followed his predecessor, Father René Ménard, to Heaven; or because the roaming bands of Iroquois have prevented those remote people from coming to Quebec to do their customary trading.

God has abundantly blessed Father Henri Nouvel’s labors among the Papinachiois and other tribes below Tadoussac, that Mission having united many neophytes with the Church, besides forty-six children [Page 117] who have been baptized. Those poor people — who seem to have issued from the depths of their forests and come as far as our great river, only by an instinctive prompting of the Holy Ghost, whose will it is that they shall there find their [15] salvation — have such wonderful affection for the mysteries of our holy Religion that they were heard to make the air ring with expressions of very unusual delight, by singing devout Canticles in their own tongue, as soon as they saw the Cross being planted in those regions for the purpose of taking possession of them in the name of Jesus Christ; and they prolonged their singing and acclamations beyond the time occupied by the ceremony they were honoring.

We hope that the Mission at Sillery will have as protector in Heaven Noel Tecoubrimat, who was in his lifetime its principal support on earth. He was a Captain who, by his intelligence, his leadership, and his native eloquence, had acquired [16] unbounded authority over the people of his nation, and the foremost place in their councils. This influence he always used, during the forty years in which he was attached to the French, in enlisting all his countrymen in their interests; and, still further, in urging them all to acknowledge the true Religion which he had embraced. None of the severest trials where- with it pleased God to purify his faith ever shook his constancy; and, far from being tempted to infidelity, as is the case with many others, by the various misfortunes that befell him after his conversion, he ever thanked him who sent them, as if they had been so many proofs of his especial goodness. He was not content with prevailing on all his kinsfolk to follow the Cross of Jesus Christ [17] as he did, but [Page 119] was even bent on exhorting them to make other tribes honor it; and some of them followed the ex- ample he set them by visiting strange lands for the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel, and filling the functions of zealous Preachers. At length, on the 19th day of March, in the year 1666, this noble- hearted Algonquin died, with the same sentiments of piety that he had cherished during his life, leaving to all a very high opinion of the virtues he had been seen to practice.

We cannot omit here the sudden cure of some sick Algonquins, which seemed miraculous to those who witnessed it, but will not appear incredible to those who have associated with the two Apostolic men [18] to whose merits God apparently granted this grace. One of these Savages, called Apicanis, had been brought to death’s door by one of those diseases whereof people most commonly die in that country. The Father who attended him, believing, as did all the others, that he was about to expire, had given him the Viaticum and Extreme Unction, when the patient, knowing what hardships the late Father Paul le Jeune had undergone for the sake of converting the people of his Nation, to whom he had been the first to preach the Gospel, and with what a reputation for virtue he had since died at Paris, began to invoke him. His Confessor, admiring his trust, begged all who were present to join in prayer with this Savage, and made him touch [19] some papers written in the Montagnais language by that servant of God, and a Book which he had formerly used, Thereupon the sick man was seen to be suddenly delivered from the violence of his malady, and overtaken by a soft sleep; this continued until the [Page 121] following morning, when he found himself, on awaking, full of health and with a good appetite. Consequently, he repaired at once to the Chapel, to every one’s profound astonishment, to return thanks to God, and to him whom, next to God, he believed to be the author of so great a miracle. Some time afterward, one of this same man’s children employed the same remedy in a like extremity, and, as he appeared to feel an equal confidence, experienced a like effect.

[20] A young man among these same people had been reduced to so critical a condition by illness, that his mother went in great haste to ask the Father in charge of that Mission to attend him at his death and close his eyes for him. But this Father, knowing what confidence both the mother and the son had in the late Father de Brébeuf, whose memory those people hold in extreme veneration, believed he could employ with God the influence of that zealous Religious, who had, for God’s glory, shed his blood in those Missions. He did so with such happy results that, leaving the sick man after making him touch some of this Father’s Relics, and after enjoining the mother to say some prayers if her son recovered, he found, on returning the next morning, [21] the son full of health, and the mother full of joy and of gratitude toward their benefactor.

God daily performs still greater miracles on the souls of these poor Savages, whom he sometimes preserves by his grace in a sanctity more marvelous than any possible cure of the sick, or even than the resurrection of the dead. In the number of these extraordinary marvels of grace may be included the most holy life of an old woman named Charlotte. [Page 123] Nestaouip, who died — after an illness and constant sufferings extending over seven months-in a state of sanctity and innocence well-nigh Unexampled even among civilized communities, where [22] corruption is far less prevalent than among these barbarians. This virtuous Christian preserved until death the innocence she had received at Baptism; and carried from this world the merit of a heroic patience, which she had always practiced from the time of her conversion. [Page 125]

CHAPTER III.

OF THE WAR AND THE TREATIES OF PEACE BETWEEN

THE FRENCH AND THE IROQUOIS.

T

HE great variety of Nations in these countries, the fickle and perfidious disposition of the Iroquois, and the barbarism of all these tribes making it impossible for us to hope for any lasting peace with them, except so far as [23] it shall be maintained by the fear of the King’s arms, we must not wonder that peace gives place so easily to war, and war is so soon terminated by peace.

Within one year there have been seen at Quebec the Ambassadors of five different Nations, who came to ask for peace, but whose coming did not prevent the chastisement, by a vigorous war, of those who in their actions failed to fulfill the promises of their deputies.

The first of these Embassies, from the upper Iroquois, was presented to Monsieur de Tracy in the month of December of the year 1665, the most important man in it being a famous Captain called [24] Garacontie, who has ever signalized his zeal for the French, and used the influence he enjoys among all these Nations to rescue our prisoners from their custody. For example, it was only recently that he set at liberty sieur le Moine, a settler of Montreal, who had been captured three months previously by those Barbarians.

Monsieur de Tracy having testified to him by the usual presents that he would give him a favorable [Page 127] hearing, Garacontie made him a speech, full of good sense and of an eloquence that had no savor of barbarism. It contained only civilities and offers of friendship and service from his whole nation, prayers for a new Jesuit Mission, and polite expressions of condolence upon [25] the death of the late Father le Maine, the news of which he had just learned. Ondessonk, said he in a loud voice, addressing that Father, whom the Barbarians called by this name, hearest thou me from the country of the dead, whither thou hast so quickly passed? Thou it was who didst so many times expose thy life on the scaffolds of the Agniehronnons; who didst go bravely into their very fires, to snatch so many Frenchmen from the flames; who didst carry peace and tranquillity whithersoever thou didst go, and who madest converts wherever thou didst dwell. We have seen thee on our council-mats deciding questions of peace and war; our cabins were found to be too small when thou didst enter them, and our villages themselves were too cramped when thou wast present, — so great was the crowd of people attracted thither by thy words. [26] But I disturb thy rest with this importunate address. So often didst thou teach us that this life of afflictions is followed by one of eternal happiness; since, then, thou dost now possess that life, what reason have we to mourn thee? But we weep for thee because, in losing thee, we have lost our Father and Protector. Nevertheless we will console ourselves with the thought that thou Still holdest that relation to us in Heaven, and that thou hast found in that abode the infinite joy whereof thou hast so often told us.

He finally concluded this speech by rehearsing, with modesty, all that he had done for the French, and asking of them, for sole reward, their good graces and the freedom of three prisoners of his nation. [Page 129] His harangue was interrupted by the usual ceremony of offering presents, [27] of which, at each of the heads of his speech, he laid one at the feet of Monsieur de Tracy, who replied to his petitions with all the kindness the other could desire. Not only did he grant him the three prisoners and promise him peace and the King’s protection for his nation, but he even led him to hope for the same grace toward the other Iroquois nations, if they preferred voluntarily to assume a respectful attitude, rather than suffer themselves to be constrained thereto by force of arms.

Still, as we must not expect to enjoy any advantage over those nations, except so far as we seem able to harm them, preparations were made for a military expedition against such as had not concluded peace with us. Monsieur de Courcelles, who [28] was the Leader of the party, used all possible diligence, so that he found himself ready to start on the 9th of January of the year 1666. He was accompanied by Monsieur du Gas, whom he took for his Lieutenant; Monsieur de Salampar, a Gentleman volunteer; Father Pierre Raffeix, a Jesuit; 300 men from the Regiment of Carignan-Salieres; and 200 habitans of the French Colonies as volunteers. This march could only be slow, as every man wore snowshoes, with the use of which they were unfamiliar; while all, without excepting the Officers, or Monsieur de Courcelles himself, were burdened each with 25 or 30 livres of biscuit, blankets, and other necessary supplies.

In all history there can scarcely be found [29] a march of more difficulty or greater length than that of this little army; and it needed French courage and Monsieur de Courcelles’s firmness to undertake it. [Page 131] Besides the encumbrance of snowshoes, which are a very inconvenient kind of fetters, and that of the packs which all were forced to carry, it was necessary to march three hundred leagues on snow; to cross repeatedly lakes and rivers on the ice, with the danger of falling at every step; to make one’s bed on nothing but snow, in the heart of the woods; and to endure cold far exceeding the severity of the harshest winters in Europe.

Nevertheless, our Troops proceeded on the first day to Sillery, to commend the fortunes of [30] their undertaking to the Archangel saint Michael, Patron of that place. On the third day, many had noses, ears, knees, and fingers, or other parts of the body, entirely frozen, and the rest of their persons covered with scars; while some others, being utterly overcome and benumbed with the cold, would have died in the snow had they not been carried, with great difficulty, to the spot where the troops were to pass the night.

Sieurs de la Fouille, Maximin, and Lobiac, Captains in the Regiment of Carignan, having joined this little army at three Rivers on the 24th of January, — each with 20 soldiers from his Company, and some of the habitans of the place, — the cold treated them more harshly on the very next day than it had on the (31] preceding days. It was necessary to carry back many soldiers, some of whom had their legs cut by the ice, and the others their hands, arms, or other parts of the body completely frozen. These losses were made good by sieurs de Chambly, Petit,[8] and Rogemont, Captains in the same Regiment, and by sieur Mignarde, Lieutenant of the Colonel’s company, who were drawn from forts St. Louïs and sainte [Page 133] Therese, where the Troops held their rendezvous on the 30th of the same month. The army, still having, therefore, an effective strength of 500 men, arrived at length, on the 14th of February, under the same hardships and exposed to the same dangers as before, in the enemy’s country, 20 leagues from the latter’s villages. This remaining march [32] occupied a long time, because of the prodigious depth of the snow and the delay of the Algonquin guides, — in default of whom it became necessary to try unknown routes, and run the risk of constantly going astray.

Finally it was ascertained — from the prisoners captured in some frontier cabins which were seized, and from the Commander of a hamlet inhabited by the Dutch of new Holland — that most of the Agnieronnons and Onneiouthronnons had pushed on still farther, to make war on some other peoples, called “porcelain-makers,” and had left only the children and infirm old men in their villages: And so it was seen to be useless to proceed farther on an expedition [33] which had produced all the effect that had been expected, owing to the alarm it had spread throughout all those Nations, who were haughty and perfidious only because they believed themselves inaccessible to our troops. The latter did not return, however, until they had killed a number of Savages who appeared from time to time on the edge of the woods to skirmish with our forces. Sieur d’Aiguemorte and some of our soldiers were also killed in pursuing them.

In the following May, we saw at Quebec what effect the fear of his Majesty’s arms had produced in the breasts of those Barbarians, from the arrival of [Page 135] Sonnontouaeronnon Ambassadors with a request, on behalf of their Nation, for the [34] King’s protection, and a continuance of the peace, which they alleged they had never violated by a single hostile act. Monsieur de Tracy had at first refused 34 presents which they offered him; but seeing that they felt this refusal keenly, and that they considered it the greatest affront that could be offered them, he finally accepted their porcelain. He again assured them that it was not their presents or their goods that the King desired, but their real happiness and their salvation: that they would receive every kind of advantage from the trust which they reposed in his goodness: and that it rested only with the other Nations to experience also all the most favorable results from the same source, if they took like care to make supplication to him by sending [35] their Ambassadors at the earliest possible moment.

These envoys were closely followed by those from the remaining tribes, and among others, by those from Onnëiout and even from Agnié; so that the Deputies from five Iroquois Nations were present at Quebec almost at the same time, as if to ratify by common consent a lasting peace with France.

In order the better to attain this end, it was deemed advisable to send back some Frenchmen, as deputies, with the Ambassadors from Onneyout, who answered also for the Agnieheronnons’ conduct, and even gave hostages for them. The Dutch of new Holland had likewise written on their behalf, and guaranteed the good faith of all those Barbarians in [36] observing exactly the terms of peace that should be made with them. These French Deputies had orders to inquire into everything carefully on the spot, and to see if [Page 137] it was at all safe to trust the Savages once more, in order that his Majesty’s arms might not be checked by a false hope of peace.

But hardly were the Ambassadors two or three days’ journey from Quebec, when word was received that some Frenchmen from Fort sainte Anne, who had gone out hunting, had been surprised by the Agniehronnons; and that sieur de Traversy, a Captain in the Regiment of Carignan, and sieur de Chusy had been killed by them, and some volunteers taken prisoners. This intelligence caused the immediate recall of the [37] French Deputies, and the detention of the Savages from Onneiout who had remained as hostages, — whose heads, according to the laws of war in this country, ought to have been split with a hatchet. But, without following these barbarous laws, we considered how we might best obtain satisfaction for this perfidy; and Monsieur Sorel, a Captain in the Regiment of Carignan, immediately organized an expedition of three hundred men, whom he led by forced marches into the enemy’s country, resolved to use vigorous measures there without stint. But when he was still twenty leagues from their villages, he met a fresh Embassy bringing back the Frenchmen captured near Fort sainte Anne, and coming to offer all possible satisfaction for the murder of those [38] who had been slain, and fresh guaranties of peace. Consequently, this Captain returned with his troops; and there was no further talk of anything but peace, which it was proposed to conclude by a common council of all the Nations having Deputies at that time in Quebec.

These Negotiations did not yet meet with all the success hoped for, and Monsieur de Tracy concluded [Page 139] that, to assure their satisfactory issue, it was necessary by force of arms to render the Agniehronnons still more tractable, as they were always the occasion of new obstacles to the public tranquillity. Despite his advanced age, he determined to conduct, in person, against those Barbarians an army, composed of six hundred soldiers drawn from all the Companies, [39] six hundred settlers of the country, and a hundred Huron and Algonquin Savages. All the preparations for this war were completed, through the assiduous efforts of Monsieur Talon, on the 14th of September, which was the date assigned for the departure, as being the day of the Exaltation and triumph of the Cross, for the glory of which the expedition was undertaken. The rendezvous was set for the 28th of September at Fort sainte Anne, which had been recently built on an Island in lake Champlain by sieur de la Mothe, a Captain in the Regiment of Carignan.[9] Some troops having been unable to reach this place soon enough, Monsieur de Tracy could not leave it with the main body until the 3rd of October. But Monsieur de Courcelles, [40] yielding to his customary impatience to gain the scene of action, set out some days in advance with four hundred men; while sieurs de Chambly and Berthier,[10] commanders of Forts saint Louis and l’Assomption, were left behind, to start with the rear-guard four days after Monsieur de Tracy. As it was necessary to push forward six-score leagues into the country to find the enemy’s villages, and as there were many large lakes and rivers to cross in order to reach them, it was also necessary to provide conveniences for water and land travel. The necessary boats had been provided for this expedition, [Page 141] there being three hundred in readiness, a part of which were very light boats, [41] and the rest canoes of bark, each of which carried, at the most, five or six persons. After crossing a lake or river, all were forced to bear a hand at carrying the boats, which were transported by main strength; but this caused less difficulty than two small cannon which were taken to the very last villages of the Iroquois, in order the more easily to reduce all their fortifications.

However great the care taken to conduct this march with little noise, our men could not prevent some Iroquois, who had been sent as far as thirty or forty leagues to reconnoiter our forces, from gaining a view, from the mountain-tops, of this little naval army, and hastening to the first village to give warning of its approach. [42] Consequently, the alarm having then spread from hamlet to hamlet, our troops found them abandoned; while in the distance could be seen the Barbarians, loudly hooting on the mountains and discharging many wasted shots at our soldiers.

Our Troops, halting at each of these villages, which they found empty of men but full of corn and provisions, only long enough to take necessary refreshment, were hopeful of meeting with a stout resistance in the last one, which they prepared to attack in regular form, since the Barbarians showed clearly enough by the great fire they were making there and by the fortifications they [43] had constructed, their determination to offer there a vigorous defense. But our men were again disappointed in their hope; for scarcely had the enemy seen the advance-guard approaching, when they promptly took flight into the woods, whither the night prevented our forces [Page 143] from pursuing them. It was evident enough —from the triple palisade, twenty feet high, with which their place was surrounded; from the four bastions flanking it; from their prodigious hoard of provisions; and from the abundant supply of water they had provided, in bark receptacles, for extinguishing the fire when it should be necessary — that their first resolve had been quite different from that which the fear of our arms had made them suddenly adopt. There were found [44] only some persons who had been prevented by their great age from leaving the village, two days before, with all the women and children; and also the mutilated bodies of two or three Savages of another nation, whom these people had, with their wonted rage, half burned over a slow fire. So our people were forced to content themselves, after erecting the Cross, saying Mass, and chanting the Te Deum on that spot, with setting fire to the palisades and cabins, and consuming the entire supply of Indian corn, beans, and other produce of the country, which was found there. Then they turned back to the other villages and wrought the same havoc there, as well as in all the outlying fields. As a result, those familiar with these [45] Barbarians’ mode of life have not a doubt that almost as many will die of hunger as would have perished by the weapons of our soldiers, had they dared await the latter’s approach; and that all who remain will be forced by fear to accept such conditions of peace, and observe such a demeanor, as would have been secured from them with greater difficulty by more sanguinary victories.

The return march of our Troops was more fatiguing than the outward journey had been, because the [Page 145] rivers, having been swollen seven or eight feet by the rains, were found much harder to cross; and a storm which arose on lake Champlain caused the loss of two canoes and eight persons, — among whom we especially regretted the death of sieur du Luques, who was Lieutenant in a [46] Company, and had often signalized his valor in France as well as in Canada.

The courage of our Troops always received a wonderful spur in the labors of this enterprise, and while they were expecting danger, from the examples of Monsieur de Tracy, Monsieur de Courcelles, Monsieur de Saliere, Commander of the Regiment, and the Chevalier de Chaumont — the latter of whom always, upon approaching the villages, sought a place in the forlorn hope. Their bravery was also animated by the zeal and the sentiments of piety with which Messieurs du Bois and Cosson,[11] secular Priests, and Fathers Albanel and Rafeix, Jesuits, constantly strove to inspire them.

Our excellent Prelate, who had [47] ceased not to raise his hands to Heaven, and had set every one to praying, during the absence of our Troops, ordered thanksgivings to God, and the chanting of the Te Deum, upon their return. All the people here have conceived new hopes from the favors lavished on this country by the King, and from the attachment manifested toward it by the Company of the West Indies, to whose care it has been entrusted by his Majesty. Hence there is no doubt entertained that soon we shall see well-peopled Cities in place of these great forests, and Jesus Christ worshipped throughout all these vast domains.

END.

[Page 147]

 

Letter from the Reverend Mother

Superior of the Hospital Nuns

of Kebec, in New France.

October 3, 1666.

[Page 149]

[3] Letter from the Reverend Mother Superior

of the Hospital Nuns of Kebec, in

New France. October 3, 1666.

To Monsieur * * * * , Citizen of Paris.

MONSIEUR,

May our Lord be our eternal reward! We received your Letters with the deepest joy at learning that you were in good health. It can only be that so good a bodily state at such a great age is a fulfillment of the promises made by our Lord to those who serve him, as you do, so faithfully in the persons of his members, We most heartily pray him [4] to continue crowning you with his favors during this life: and to make you taste through all eternity the happiness resulting from laboring here below for the advancement of his glory and the relief of the poor and forsaken. We have received all your bales, without which our poor patients would have lacked everything most needful in their infirmities, since nothing has come to us for their assistance except what you have sent us. This adds more and more to our obligations toward you and toward the pious persons who join you in the contributing of their alms — for which I return you very humble thanks, in the name of our little Community and of our poor patients. But our thanks are closely followed by a fresh petition. I send you a little [5] memorandum of what we most need, doubting not that you will do your utmost to procure us the things therein asked for, as we have too many [Page 151] proofs of your goodness. Meanwhile, for my part, I confess to you, Monsieur, I cannot cease to admire the perseverance of your charity through so long a course of years, during which you have practiced it in favor of our Hospital. Ah, what blessings await YOU in Heaven, and how many persons have found the door thereto through the means which you have given us to procure them that happiness! We have continued the practice of our calling throughout the entire year with scarcely any respite, our halls having been always full of patients — to such an extent that we have had more than twelve thousand. To these we have rendered every service in our power, [6] their number increasing our zeal; and the example set us by the labors of Monseigneur the Bishop of Petræa, our most worthy Prelate, and of Monsieur de Charny, our highly honored Superior, serving as a gentle and powerful stimulus which urges us to forget nothing on occasions so precious in God’s sight. But, although we all have exerted our utmost energies in the work, we have still been unable to do everything, and have been obliged to hire women by the day to help us, although they are very hard to find. We certainly need some girls who shall become Nuns, and there are here two of very good families who offer themselves, and are very well suited to our needs; but they are very poor, and our Superiors do not think best, in our present condition, to permit us [7] to receive them for nothing. I beg you, Monsieur, to exert your efforts, when any offer of charity occurs, to make us the beneficiaries. Dowries here are not so large as in France, and there are charitable persons who are sometimes glad to provide a girl with the requisite means either for marriage or for [Page 153] taking the veil. If you should meet with such, you would confer a great favor on those girls who are already thoroughly accustomed to this country, — and, among others, on one who, for the past twelve years, has had a desire to become a nun. She is twenty years old, and only told us her purpose last year, thinking to be received because of our need of girls; and we would very willingly take her if our superiors would permit us. See, Monsieur, if anything can be done; for I have promised this good girl to write you about her — which [8] I do with all my heart, knowing your great charity and love for the poor, of whom Canada is very full, there never having been so many here before. Since the vessels sailed, we have had four huguenots who were very sick, and very obstinate in their false belief. We took all conceivable pains to set them in the right way to Paradise; but in vain, and with no apparent result, until our Lord (to whom alone it belongs to bless the moments and sanctify the labors of his elect), by increasing the ailment of these poor blinded ones, wrought the salvation of their souls. This was done in such wise that we were all filled with joy and wonder at beholding so sudden a change, and such Christian sentiments in persons who, during all their previous lives, had not had the least conception of [9] piety. To crown our consolation, they died in this excellent frame of mind, one of them even expiring a moment after receiving the holy Viaticum, and spending his last breath in uttering a prayer of love toward God. You will learn from the Relation how the great courage of Monsieur our Governor prompted him to conduct a campaign against the Iroquois during last winter’s severe cold. Without [Page 155] pausing to give you the particulars at great length, I will merely relate to you that, upon his bringing back some prisoners of both sexes, there was found among them an Iroquois woman who could not endure that any one should speak to her concerning our mysteries, and who, with the utmost scorn, turned a deaf ear to everything that the Reverend Father Chaumonnot, in his zeal and charity, could say to her. Having fallen ill meanwhile, she was brought to [10] our Hospital, where, by the mercy of our Savior, her feelings underwent such an utter change that, of her own accord, she asked to be instructed, and received all the sacraments in a state of extraordinary peace and sweetness, in which she died. There is still in our Hospital an Iroquois who is being instructed in the catholic faith. We have also a little girl of the same nation, six years of age, who fled from her cabin because of the great bloodshed which she there witnessed. She was taken by one of our habitans, who, upon returning hither, presented her to Monsieur Talon, Intendant for his Majesty in all Canada; and the latter placed her in our charge. This child experiences no savage tendencies, having a very gentle disposition, and a mind of much refinement, well qualified for feelings of devotion. She never fails to be present with us in all our [11] Choir services, where she maintains an admirably modest bearing. I must acknowledge to you that it is a great blessing to us that we have such an able Intendant: he is an excellent man for his charity to the poor, his capacity for business, his gentleness, and his skill in pleasing every one. His prudent management makes us taste, with much content, the fruits of peace and of harmony [Page 157] among the Soldiers; while day and night he visits, with a care for each individual, the wounded and the sick in our Hospital. Monsieur de Tracy and Monsieur our Governor have set out with fifteen hundred men for the purpose of reducing the Iroquois to subjection to our mighty Monarch’s rule; and we shall to-morrow begin the forty-hours’ Devotion for their success. If God grant a favorable issue to that undertaking, as is hoped, the door of the Gospel [12] will be thrown open to numerous nations. Our sole desire is to win many souls to God; for, as to the gifts of fortune, we must not expect them. Be assured, Monsieur, that in our devotions we shall not forget you, or any of those who contribute to your charities; and although we every day remember you and our benefactors, yet in the special devotional services our thoughts are more particularly directed thereto. We supplicate the Divine goodness to preserve you for many years to come. Your age makes us apprehensive of losing you; and, for myself, could I prolong your life by giving mine, I would do it with all my heart, and with the same affection with which I am,

MONSIEUR,

Your very humble and obedient servant in

Our Lord, Sister Marie de Saint Bona-

vanture de Jesus, unworthy Superior.

The Hostel Dieu of Kebec, October 3, 1666.

[13] Gentlemen and Ladies who are willing to give, in the cause of charity, any of the Drugs or other articles specified in the following Memorandum, are requested to send them to the house of Monsieur Cramoisy, Printer in [Page 159] ordinary to the King, and Citizen of Paris, residing in ruë St. Jacques, — or to notify him of their offerings, and he will not fail to send for them.

[14] MEMORANDUM OF ARTICLES NECESSARY FOR

THE RELIEF OF THE POOR PATIENTS IN THE

HOSPITAL AT KEBEC, IN NEW FRANCE;

TO BE SENT TO THEM IN THE

MONTHS OF FEBRUARY AND MARCH,

1667, AT THE LATEST.

S

IX livres of Senna,

Three Livres of fine Rhubarb,

Two Livres of fine Scammony,

One livre of Opium,

Two Livres of fine Myrrh,

Two Livres of Aloes,

Ten Livres of Diapalma,

Twenty Livres of golden Litharge,

Twenty Livres of silver Litharge,

Two Livres of corrosive Sublimate,

Two Livres of Florentine Iris,

Four Livres of green Anise,

Six Livres of Pepper,

Ten Livres of English Alum, [15]

Six Livres of good Licorice,

Sugar, White and Brown, as much as possible,

Twelve Livres of Rue,

Twenty Livres of yellow and white Wax for ointments,

Sheets, or Linen for making some,

Men’s and women’s Shirts,

Men’s and women’s woolen Caps,

Napkins, old Linen. Chilblains, sores, and hemorrhages, the usual ailments of this country, cause us a scarcity [Page 161] of linen, of which we use a great quantity every year in our Hospital.

Six green Blankets,

Twelve pewter Mugs,

Pewter Spoons and Forks,

Twenty-four pewter Bowls,

Twenty-four pewter Sauce-dishes,

Twelve pewter Plates, [16]

Six pewter Dishes with wide rims,

Twelve pewter Chamber Vessels,

Four pewter Chamber Basins,

Two good horn Lanterns,

Some Plates of yellow copper,

Two copper Boilers,

One Ream of blotting-Paper,

Two Reams of good writing-Paper,

Cotton for the Lamps,

Candle-Wicking,

Combs for the patients,

Ten livres of white Candles,

A Roman Missal of the latest imprint, containing the particular Prayers of the Saints of the Order of saint Augustine,

Some copies of the lesser Hours, and other little Books of devotion,

Rosaries. [Page 163]

CXIX-CXX

Miscellaneous Documents, 1666-67

CXIX. — Trois Lettres du P. Thierry Beschefer. Quebec, 1 et 4 octobre, 1666; 25 aoust, 1667

CXX. — Journal des PP. Jésuites, és années 1666 et 1667

—————

Sources: For Doc. CXIX., we have recourse to the apograph thereof, in the archives of St. Mary’s College, Montreal, the originals being in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. In publishing Doc. CXX., we follow the original MS, in the library of Lava1 University, Quebec. [Page 165]

Three Letters of Father Thierey Beschefer,

1666—67.

Québec, 1st of October, 1666.

F

OR about 3 months I have been on the point of starting on an embassy to the Iroquois and to New Holland, which has been occupied by the English for 2 years.[12] This journey was somewhat perilous, according to report; and the issue gave ample proof Of it: 1st, because it was found, a few Days after our departure from Kebec, that the Iroquois of a nation other than that to which we were going, who had remained as hostages for our safety, were secretly making a canoe ready, in order to escape. 2nd, as we were about to leave three rivers, 30 leagues from here, we received news that bands belonging to the very nation who had asked us for peace through the Ambassadors of the Oneiout nation, had quite recently killed or taken prisoners seven persons, both officers and volunteers, who were out hunting, among whom was a relative of Monsieur de Tracy. He wrote me that I was not to go farther, and directed me to conduct in safety to Kebec the Iroquois whom we had caused to be arrested. I was sincerely affected when I saw the journey interrupted. Although I considered it somewhat perilous, nevertheless the hope of there baptizing some children, or succoring the Huron captives, made me feel a special attraction for it.

Since then, we have waged war against them. In [Page 167] truth, those barbarians are good soldiers; and the french, who despised them when they first came here, have changed their minds since they saw them last winter in a hot skirmish; the winter, too, was more severe and protracted than it had been for 30 years. The snow lay 4 feet deep. The earth begins to be covered with it in november, and is uncovered only in april; but what is surprising is, that the melting of the snows causes neither inundation nor overflow of the rivers beyond their banks. And, after all, we enjoy better health here in winter than in summer. Inflammations, colds, and catarrhs are unknown then, so pure is the air. I do not think that the severe cold keeps the people within doors; more work is done in that season than in summer. That is the time when the trees are felled for the purpose of clearing the fields, when wood is cut for fuel and for building purposes; and the whole is hauled over the snow by oxen, with greater facility than on wheels in summer.

The heat is much greater than in France. We experienced some in June this year, that made people swoon. But it is very fortunate that this extraordinary heat does not last long. Wheat is sown here only at the end of april or beginning of may, and is cut about the 2nd of September. It grows as well here as in france. Truly, if the many poor people who drag on a wretched existence in France only knew the advantages that are here for those who wish to work, and who have strong arms, I think that many of them would come over here. A man can in 2 years harvest upon his land more wheat than he will need to feed himself and a small family; and we know nothing of taxes, of imposts, of [blank space] [Page 169]

I live here the most contented man in the world; and I would be very sorry to be in France. 1 hope that next summer we shall go to the Iroquois, if Monsieur de Tracy’s expedition be successful. We shall have news in a few Days, and I will let you know by the last ships.

[Endorsed: “Letter of Father Thiery Beschefer to his family and to Father Antoine Chesne, S. J.”]

[Endorsed: “Ondesonk — his savage name,”

Kébec, 4th of october.

I HAVE changed my language and my name, and at present I am called Ondessonk — which means “a bird of prey.” Such is the name that the Hurons have given me, and which was borne by Father Isaac Jogues, who was killed by the Iroquois, after having been cruelly tortured by them. Pray God that he may make me inherit his virtues, as I have his name. My baptism took place on the feast of St. Francis Xavier, after I had myself baptized 2 savages. And as all names among the savages are drawn from the bottom of the kettle, it was necessary, before getting mine, to have a great feast — that is to give a dinner to nearly 80 persons. This dinner consists in providing a dish of excellent sagamité for all who are present. They sang, they danced; in a word, they observed all the ceremonies of the savages. From that time I studied the language of the Hurons, in order to go next year, as I hope, on a mission to the upper Iroquois, if those below, against whom we have gone to war, are defeated. Moreover, you must know that Canada is not as savage as has been imagined; and that, in the french settlements, we find almost the same [Page 171] comforts as in Europe, while the tables of persons who have money to spend on them are as good as in France. Time only is needed to make New France similar to old France.

The rosaries that you sent me are small. The savages like them as large and as black as possible. They prefer above all others those made of black horn.

Father Marquette[13] and Master Elie have arrived safely, after a somewhat protracted voyage —which, however, has been prosperous for them and for all the 8 ships that have come to us from France. Not a single one of these fell into the hands of the English or of the Turks, although several were pursued.

Father Marquette will leave in 8 days for Three Rivers where he will study algonquin. Master Elye will teach 3 or 4 classes. We have philosophy, and 7 Students who have sustained theses.[14] From that you may judge that Kébec is a place of some importance. I would not have much trouble in giving you a description of Kébec, for there is but little to say. 1st, Kébec is situated on a point of land watered on one side by the great river saint Lawrence, — which at that spot is ¾ of a league in width, — and on the other by the river St. Charles. Ships of 600 tons can anchor within gunshot of the port, where they are sheltered from every adverse wind. The fort is a very small affair. There are an upper and a lower town; the lower town is built on the water’s edge, above high-water mark. The great barks are grounded quite close to the warehouses, to discharge their cargoes. Some houses are of considerable dimensions. Two were built last year, one of which was sold for 22 thousand livres, and the other is well worth 15 thousand. [Page 173]

The upper town is of importance only on account of the Churches and religious houses. The parish church, which is the cathedral, is very well provided with ornaments — eight silver candlesticks, crosses, ewers, lamps, etc. Monseigneur the bishop has 6 or 7 priests in his seminary, who are on very good terms with us. This year, we have begun a church, which will be finished next year; it is 100 feet long, and 30 wide.

The small chapel that we use at present is very well supplied with fine ornaments — large silver candlesticks, lamps, and so on. We have silverware to the value of over 1,000 écus. Our house consists of two main buildings, all built of stone and roofed with slate, with a fine cupola for the clock.

The ursuline and hospital nuns have fine buildings. In a word, the churches here are like those in good-sized towns in France. On Sundays there are as many people at high mass, and they are as well accommodated as on holy Days in the church of St. Sauveur at Pont-a-mousson. We preach only for 3 short quarters of an hour, and we do not exceed this.

The relation will inform you of the success of our war. We will know it only in 3 weeks. I was on my way to the Iroquois, but the murder of some Frenchmen compelled us to return.

[Endorsed: “The same.”]

Kébec, the 25th of august, 1667.

A

T the present moment, we are at peace with the Iroquois. Father Pierron is already among them, with Fathers Frémin and Bruyas.[15] Three others are to follow them, as soon as the upper [Page 175] nations will come to get them; these are expected every day. The number would be greater, if we had more workmen fit for service. One of our Fathers, who had been with the Outawats for 2 years (Your Reverence will find his journey in the relation), arrived a short time ago to ask for assistance. He was given a Father and a brother, with 4 men, to establish a home, so that they can subsist among those tribes, who lead a miserable existence, for they have no game in their country. They live entirely on fish, and sometimes pass 4 or 5 months without other food than a species of moss that grows on the rocks, and the bark of trees that has been pounded. He will derive no benefit from the assistance that has been given him. The Outawats, to whom every kindness had been shown, would not take any of his packages or any of his people in their canoes. The brother, who had embarked in a canoe belonging to some savages of another tribe, was compelled to return after 2 Days’ absence. We are very anxious about the Fathers, for one of them was compelled to embark without any provisions, even without altar-bread and without wine wherewith to say mass; while the other had only enough provisions for 8 days, although the journey is one of 500 leagues. Truly may they be called the children of Providence.

Next spring another attempt will be made to reach the North sea notwithstanding the great difficulties that have already been experienced.

Monsieur de Tracy sails in 3 days to return to France. . . . The troops remain, and the King again sends us, this year, 350 laboring men, and 60 girls, to populate the country. This is an expense [Page 177] of 50,000 livres, besides 1,000 which he gives to send out horses and sheep, as he has already done, 2 years before. If he should continue to grant such assistance to Canada during several years, as he has promised, the aspect of the country will soon change. The people multiply here at least twice as fast as in France. The best of all is, that there are numbers of savages to teach. If peace with the Iroquois should last, not less than 20 missionaries will be needed among them. They ask for 6 for next year, and two of our brethren.

Three of ours have started for the country of the Agnieronerons, with inexplicable joy; 3 are going to the upper Algonquins; 3 others are assigned to the upper Iroquois. But four of us remain who can be sent there.

[Endorsed: “Extract from a letter of Father Thiery Beschefer, who for a year has been troubled with a flow of bile, which has prevented him from going to the Iroquois country.] [Page 179]

 

Journal of the Jesuit Fathers, in the years
1666 and 1667.
JANUARY, 1666.
T	HE 9th. Monsieur the governor leaves for the war, with about one hundred of the frenchmen of the Country.	The governor goes to war.
The 10th. He started from Sillery.
The 15th. He arrived at the cape, where he gave orders to the troops who are to accompany him.
The 16th. He arrived at three Rivers, where he found that Monsieur Boucher had given orders about everything.
The 18th. He departed thence with 80 soldiers, 4 officers, and 45 habitans who are natives of the country and volunteers.
The 29th. He left fort St. Louys with 500 or 600 men in all.
The 30th. He left fort ste. Terese.
FEBRUARY, MARCH.
The 17th [of March]. Monsieur the governor returned to Québec in good health.  Through want of a guide, as he had not a single Algonquin with him, he took the road to new holland instead of to Anniée. Two Iroquois cabins were captured, near a dutch town 6 leagues from orange. In addition, 4 Iroquois were killed while skirmishing over [Page 181] the country; 6 frenchmen fell there. The above happened on the 20th of february, a Saturday. It rained during the whole night that they passed at that spot, and throughout sunday, when Monsieur the governor had various interviews with the dutch commandant. At his request, the French gave up an old woman, and a young half-breed boy who was claimed by his uncle, a dutchman. On the sunday evening they hastily raised camp, and marched during the whole night and a portion of monday. In the evening they met the Algonquins, about 30 in number, whose drunkenness had detained them on the road. They brought some relief to the troops by supplying game.		Return from annier without success.                                 Algonquins cause the failure of the expedition.
Monsieur the governor found his provisions almost exhausted, when he was near the middle of lake Champlain; he sent men to look for a cache of provisions, where Father Rafeix and Boquet had left some food, to the value of about 80 livres in all. Everything was found to have been stolen.		Provisions stolen.       Father Raffeix in war.
On the 8th of March, Monsieur the governor arrived at fort st. Louys. Many died of hunger; the number is not yet known, but it was over 60. Onnontio had a dispute with Father Albanel, who is at fort st. Louys, where he officiates as curé. He accused the Father of having purposely delayed the Algonquins, which proved to be untrue. But, as he was not satisfied, he tried to cast the blame upon the Jesuits. When he passed by three Rivers, he said to Father Fremin, [Page 183] while embracing him: “My father, I am the most unfortunate gentleman in the world, and you are the cause of my misfortune.”		60 die of hunger.           Blame cast upon the Jesuits.
The 17th. He reached Quebeck safely. At first he attributed the entire ill success of the expedition to the fathers who, he said, had stopped the savages, etc. He spoke privately to Monsieur de Tracy and to Monsieur The Intendant. What he said on the subject (as we have learned from Monsieur d’Auteil) produced a great impression on the mind of the latter. On the feast of st. Joseph, he performed his devotions, and confessed to his usual confessor, Father Chastellain; he was for some time in doubt whether he would not confess to another.		The 19th.   Father chatellain his confessor.
Monseigneur de Tracy having expressed some satisfaction respecting his expedition, he seems to have changed his mind. In fact, there is no foundation for the belief that Father Albanel stopped the savages for a moment, as Monsieur de Normanville, who was with them, has protested		Jesuits justified by etc.
On the same day, Monseigneur de Tracy made a general confession of his whole life, and received communion at the ursulines’. He presented 3 fine loaves of blessed bread, and two louis d’or, both at the offering of the taper[16] and at the collection — in all, 20 écus for the ursuline mothers. Father Bardy had written about it to Monseigneur the Bishop, to induce him to approve it; sed nihil omnino responsi tulit. [Page 185]		General confession of Monsieur De Tracy; communion.
The 20th. We received word from the forts that most of the soldiers who were considered lost are coming in daily.
The 24th. 3 hurons who had gone to three Rivers, to take nails there for the boats, returned with the information that a frenchman from Mon-real had arrived at three Rivers, who said that 16 savages of oiogwen had arrived there on an embassy. Monseigneur de Tracy assured me that Monsieur the governor had completely altered his opinion respecting us and that he remembered very well the advice that he himself had given him last summer in our avenue, not to quarrel with the black gowns.		Monsieur de Courcelles changes his opinion Respecting us.
The 30th. Monseigneur de Tracy and Monsieur the Governor, with Father Bardy, went on a pilgrimage to ste. Anne, where on the following day they all performed their devotions, to the number of 30 persons or thereabout. The collection during mass amounted to 68 livres. They returned the same day.		Famous Pilgrimage to Sainte anne.
APRIL.
The 12th. Father Julien garnier said his first mass, at six o’clock in the morning on passion sunday.[17] He was assisted by Reverend Father Lalemant.		Father garnier, a priest.
On the same day, and on that occasion, we gave a dinner in our reception-room, as on the feast of St. Ignatius, to all the authorities, and to the six captains who were at Quebec. Father Bardy and I were present at it. The company consisted of sixteen persons. [Page 187]
MAY.
The 19th. I returned from my visit to Cap de la Magdelaine, 10 days after my departure from Quebec. I found everything in good order, as regards both spiritual and temporal matters.
The 31st. Monseigneur de Tracy laid the first stone of our Church; and, by his advice, Monsieur the governor laid the first stone of the first chapel; Monsieur The Intendant that of the and Chapel; Monsieur le Baroys,[18] on behalf of the Gentlemen of the Company, the first stone of the portal. Monsieur de Charny officiated at this ceremony, in the absence of Monseigneur the Bishop.		1st stones of the Church and chapel.
JUNE.
The 4th. Monsieur le Ber came down from Mon-real, bringing the news of two murders committed by the Iroquois within 3 weeks, both at Mon-real and at fort Chambly.		Two murders.
The 12th. Monseigneur the Bishop returned from his visit to Mon-real.
The 20th. The hurons gave us five presents, in order to contribute toward the building of our Church — among other things, for a picture showing how they have embraced the faith.		Presents from hurons.
The 23rd. The solemnity of the bonfire of st. John was celebrated with every possible magnificence. Monseigneur The Bishop, robed in pontifical vestments, was there with all the clergy, and our fathers in surplices, etc. He presented the torch, made of white wax, to Monsieur de Tracy, who handed it back [Page 189] to him, and insisted upon his being the first to light the fire, etc.
JULY.
The 2nd. The first disputations in Philosophy took place in the congregation, with success. All the authorities were present, Monsieur The Intendant, among others, made a strong argument. Monsieur Joliet[19] and Pierre Francheville replied very well, upon the whole subject of logic.		1st philosophical thesis; Joliet and francheville.     Monsieur Talon argues.
The 6th. Monsieur le ber’s bark arrived, with 24 Ambassadors from Onneiout, bearing letters from orange. They lodge with us.
The 7th. They were heard; they did not say much.
The 8th. We answered them. Father Chaumonot, on behalf of Monsieur de Tracy, told them the whole truth about themselves, in proper terms and in a proper manner. Some of the chief men were detained, and the others were sent back with Father Bechefer, who to holland, goes with them to Orange, accompanied by Monsieur de la Tesserie[20] as Interpreter, and Boquet to attend him.		Father Bechefer and sieur La Tesserie go to holland, or to Orange.
The 11th. The ceremony of the dedication of the parish church was performed with all possible solemnity.		Dedication of The parish church.
The 14th. In consequence of the 40 hours’ devotion for rain, after more than a month of excessive drouth, rain began to fall on the last day, and fell for 3 whole days; this restored everything.		Prayers Heard.
The 17th. I received letters, dated the [Page 191] 13th from Father Nouvel, who writes that all goes well; he has baptized, both among the Papinachiois and the Oumamiwek, 45 little children, and 9 or 10 adults.		Oumamiwas.
The 19th. A bark left for Isles percées.
The 20th. News has come from the forts of the building of fort ste. Anne in Lake champellain, on an Island 4 leagues from its outlet; and at the same time of the death of monsieur de chasy, who, with two others, was killed by the Anniés; 4 were made prisoners — Among others, Monsieur de Leroles, a cousin of Monsieur de Tracy. In consequence of this, the embassy of Father Bechefer is stopped, and all the onneiout are coming back to Quebec.		Fort ste. Anne, Lake champlain.           Embassy stopped.
The 22nd. It was resolved to send an onneiout back to that country with the sieur cousture, straight to new holland, to complain of the attack made in spite of the assurances of a Truce that they had given us.		Treachery of the dutch.
The 24th. Monsieur sorel’s detachment will consist of about two hundred french, and 80 or go savages. They are to march 4 or 5 days behind Cousture. News has come that Monsieur de lerole and 3 others of his party have been taken alive.		Monsieur de sorel.
The 26th. News has arrived of a ship, called the paon, that lies 5 leagues on this side of Tadousac.
The 28th. Father Bechefer Arrived from three Rivers with the onneiout Ambassadors, who were again shut up in the fort.
The 31st. Father Bardy preached the [Page 193] sermon on the feast of st. Ignatius, to the satisfaction of his audience.
AUGUST.
The 3rd. News has come of 3 ships in the River, of sieur la motte’s Bark, of the st. Joseph, — on which are Father Bruyas and Master Elie, — and of the ste. Catherine, on which is Father Estienne de Carheil.[21]		Father Bruyas.
The 4th. This is the 3rd day that our Chapel is draped in black on account of the death of the Queen-Mother. For her we have chanted, in accordance with the custom of our Society, the most solemn service in our power. All the authorities were present.		The Queen-mother dead.
The 6th. At ten o’clock in the evening, Father de Careil arrived; we had sent a boat to bring him hither.		Father Etienne de carhiel.
We received four hundred and 80 livres from Monsieur de Tracy to begin one of the chapels of our Church, as we did not deem it advisable to receive the said amount under the title of Father B. Bardy’s pension.		500 livres given by Monsieur de Tracy for one of the chapels.
The 11th. The st. Jean arrived, with Father André Richard.		Father André Richard.
The 13th. A solemn service, with chapelle ardente and a great number of hatchments, etc., for the deceased Queen. Father dablon pronounced the funeral oration, which gave great satisfaction.		Funeral oration.
The 15th. Monsieur de Tracy was admitted as a member of the congregation, and he himself waited upon the Sick in the hospital. [Page 195]		Monsieur De Tracy a member of the Congregation.
The 17th. Monsieur de Tracy and Monseigneur the Bishop went with Father Bardy to ste. Anne, where the former presented a very fine painting for the altar.[22]		Picture at Ste. Anne, given to Monsieur de Tracy.
The 19th. Monsieur du Bois, Chaplain of the regiment, commenced his spiritual exercises in our house.
The 22nd. Father de Careil gave a feast; he himself made the speech and took the name of Aonde‘chete.		Father de Carheil's name.
The 28th. François Peltier arrived; had gone with Monsieur sorel. He reported that, at a distance of two days’ journey from Annié, they met the flemish Bastard and 3 others, who were bringing back sieur de Lerole, and others. They all returned with them, without going farther. The savages are offended because, after taking the bastard and others, we did not leave them at their disposal.
Here at the same time is a band from sonnontwan and oiogwen, consisting of over one hundred persons — 70 men, the remainder women and children. There are also two or 3 onnontager‘onons.
The 29th. On this day the translation of the bodies of st. Flavianus and st. Felicitas took place with great solemnity. All the priests were in chasubles or copes. The authorities carried the first canopy. The floor of the ursulines’ Church gave way, under the weight of the crowd of people, as the procession came out. Many fell into the vault, which is rather deep; but no one was injured.		Translation of the relics.     Accident at the Ursuline's.
The 30th. Sieur de la Motte’s bark [Page 197] weighed anchor for france. We wrote but a word, which I had to show to Monsieur de Tracy, who desires that the chevalier de Chaumont, who goes by another vessel, shall be the bearer of all the news. Quod hactenus inauditum. A council was held in our enclosure, at which representatives from all the five Iroquois nations were present. The two nations who dwell above gave a present of 52 porcelain collars.		Difficulty about sending letters.       The 31st.
SEPTEMBER.
The 6th. Monsieur de Tracy resolved to go in person to Annie, with a thousand or 12 hundred men. Thus the mission of Father Fremin and Father Rafeix, who were to go to goiogwen, is stopped.		Fathers fremin And Raffeix assigned to goiogwen.
Onnonkenritewi, the chief of the sonnontwan, who is here in person, with 3 others, took Father Chaumonot and myself aside in our house, and presented to us a collar to stay Onnontio’s arm raised against Annie. We replied: 1st, that we did not interfere in affairs of war; and, that the Annie is hot-headed; 3rd, that onnontio will not brook his insolence; 4th, that whatever onnontio may do at Annié, the Sonnontwan are always welcome etc.		Request made to us by The Iroquois.
Sieur Couture arrived with two Anniés escorting him; one of them belongs to the neutral nation, and is the chief of the band that killed Monsieur de Chasy.
The sonnontwan and the Goiogwen reëmbarked, fairly satisfied. [Page 199]
The 7th. The ship Moulin d’or arrived, with 4 Ecclesiastics of st. sulpice.		4 Ecclesiastics of Saint Sulpice.
The 8th. We gave a dinner to those gentlemen, the recently-arrived Ecclesiastics.
The 14th. Monsieur de Tracy and Monsieur the governor embarked to go to war with over 400 habitants, natives of the country, volunteers, and others. He asked me for Fathers Albanel and Raffeix. Of our own accord we gave six men — among others, Guillaume Boyvin and Charles Boquet.		Six men for the war.
The 20th. Father Jacques Marquette arrived, in good health, on the 7th ship.		Father Jacques marquette.
The 30th. Father Bardy and Father Nouvel embarked on a voyage to three Rivers.
OCTOBER.
The 5th. Finally, the last ship, called the fortune blanche, arrived, after having encountered many dangers, — having lost her anchors, run aground 4 leagues from here, etc., — and, above all, after losing 5 men, who went ashore near Tadoussac, and are thought to have been captured by the Iroquois.		5 men lost.
On the same day, we received good news of the army, which numbers fully 14 hundred men. All the Gentlemen were in very good health. They entered lake Champlain on the 28th or 29th of last month. The weather was very fine.		Army of 1400 men.
In accordance with the opinion of Monsieur de Tracy, Antecedenter, and with the Advice of Monsieur The Intendant, We notified [Page 201] Monsieur le Baroys that there was a pew in our new Church at the disposal of the Gentlemen of the Company. This, however, is not to be a precedent; as it might happen that another company would not have the same privileges as this one.		Pew in our Church for The Company
The 9th. We received good news from the army, which will have started on the 3rd or 4th from fort ste. Anne which is situated four leagues up lake champellain. Monsieur de Tracy is in good health, etc.
The 10th. Father Jacques Marquette goes up to three Rivers, to be a pupil of Father Driüllettes in the Montagnais language.		Father Marquette.
The 17th. Three ships weighed Anchor for france — the st. Jean, on board of which is Monsieur de Charny, with all our letters; the st. Joseph, by which I also write briefly to Father Ragueneau; and the Paon.		Monsieur de Charny sails For france.
The 18th. The Moulin d’or sailed, which is to take Monsieur de la Poterie to Acadia, and thence to france. The captain has charge of a letter for Father Ragueneau.
NOVEMBER.
The 5th. In the evening, Monsieur de Tracy returned from Annié with his troops, — to the number of about 13 hundred men, including the savages, — with the exception of 9 or 10, who were drowned in lake Champlain. The Anniengueronons took to flight on hearing the noise of the drums. He caused the 4 villages to be burned, with all the corn; there were fully 100 large cabins in all. [Page 203]		10 men drowned in Lake champlain. The army returns.
They learned from some old men, who remained behind, that quite recently news had come that the army of onnonta,é had been defeated by the Andasto,e‘ronons.
The 8th. The flemish bastard was sent back with an elder of Annie; Item, two from onneiout — among others, a captain named Soenres; they were commissioned to tell their people that within the space of four moons they were to give satisfaction to onnontio on the propositions made by him for the good of the people, — and, among others, to bring some of their families.
The 14th. The Te Deum was sung in the cathedral church when the first news came of the happy success of Monsieur de Tracy’s Expedition, and mass was chanted with a procession in gratiarum actionem.		Te Deum pro victoria.
On the same day the last two ships weighed anchor.
The 16th. The vessels were delayed by the Northeast wind, and are only four leagues from here.
The 17th. It is freezing very hard, but the wind is favorable.
The 26th. A Store-ship, with 45 men on board, which had been caught in the ice and drifted about with the Tide for 6 days from the outlet of lake st. Pierre, arrived near quebec. The men got out on the ice-floes, and were rescued by canoes and boats that put out to their assistance. The store-ship, being unable to reach the land, was lost with the guns, blankets, etc., on board; [Page 205] the loss amounted to over fifteen hundred francs.		Store-ship lost.
DECEMBER.
At the beginning of this month, Monsieur Fremont, a priest of Mon-réal, reached three Rivers with great difficulty in a biscayan long-boat, to take charge of the Cure. He took up his lodging with Monsieur Boucher, the governor.		Curé at Three Rivers.
The 6th. The Council was Established. The councilors are Monsieur de Villeray, Monsieur Corribon, the sieurs de Tilly, de la Tesserie, and d’Amours. Monsieur bourdon continues as the King’s procurator, and Monsieur de Mesnu as secretary and clerk of the council.		Council Established.
1667, JANUARY.
The 4th. They write us from Cap de la Magdelaine that Father Louys Nicolas has gone for two or 3 months into the interior with the Algonquins, to remove them from the temptation to drunkenness, which is greater than ever.		Father nicolas with The algonquins.
The 5th. An ordinance was passed at the first opening of the council against the disorders caused by liquor.		Against liquor.
The sols marquez were reduced to 20 deniers.[23]
FEBRUARY.
The 4th. The first ball in Canada was given at sieur Chartier’s. May God grant that it do not become a precedent. [Page 207]		1st Ball in Canada.
APRIL.
The 2nd. News came from Mon-real that the five nations manifest favorable inclinations for peace.
The 20th. The flemish bastard, with two Onneiout, arrived, without bringing either the hurons or the Algonquins, or the families that we had asked from them.
The 27th. It was resolved in council to keep all the women here, and to send all the men, with the exception of two, back to their country, with a declaration on the part of Monsieur de Tracy that if within two moons they did not obey and fulfill the proposed conditions, our army would go and destroy them in their own country.
I left in the evening with boquet for cap de la Magdelaine.
MAY.
The 4th. Monsieur de Tracy embarked to go to Mon-real.
The 6th. Monsieur The Intendant also went up to Mon-real.
The 29th. News of the arrival at gaspé of Ships from france.
JUNE.
The 7th. Father Albanel returned from the forts, where he had passed the winter, and where he gave great satisfaction.
The 10th. Captain Pacquinet’s ship arrived in our harbor.
The 27th. Father Jean Pierron arrived, [Page 209] with Monsieur Fennelon an Ecclesiastic of st. Sulpice.[24]		Father Jean Pieron; Monsieur de fenelon.
On the same day a striking miracle was performed at Ste. Anne.		Miracle at ste. Anne.
The 28th. A coiner of counterfeit money was hanged.
JULY.
The 1st. Arrival of the Ship called The oranger.
The 2nd. Arrival of Father Pierron’s ship, called the nouvelle france.
Father Henry Nouvel returned from his mission among the Papinachioec, where he found 300 souls. He baptized 27 children, and 4 or 5 adults. No liquor was traded. The fur trade was good.		Papinachois mission.
The 4th. Sieur goribon went up to three Rivers to hold further inquiry respecting the disorders caused by liquor, which are very great.
The 5th. The Anniené arrived, with the onneiout. Father fremin came down in company with them.
The 8th. The Annienge‘ronon and the Onneiout gave their presents — among other things, the former asked for two black gowns, and the onneiout for one.
The 10th. An answer was given to them, and they were granted what they asked; they left their families as hostages.
The 13th. Father Dablon, our brother louys le boesme, Caron, and Charles Panie left with Taondechoren, and with the approval [Page 211] of all the authorities, to go and visit our concession of Riviere de l'Assomption.		Our concession Of riviere de L'assomption.
The 14th. Fathers Fremin, Pierron, and Bruyas, with Charles Boquet and François Poisson, left with the Iroquois for Annie and onneiout.		This was on the 17th. Mission to onneiout.
The 15th. Amador Martin and Pierre Francheville sustained an argument on the whole of Philosophy, with honor, and in presence of a considerable audience.		Theses in Physics.
The 19th. Sieur Bondy, while intoxicated, was drowned near the Island of Orleans.		Bondy drowned.
The 22nd. The body of Bondy was found; it was buried like a dog, near our mill.
The 25th. Return of Father dablon from River des prairies, with great satisfaction.
The 29th. Two ships arrived the oranger and the st. Philippe.
The 31st. Father Bardy preached the sermon on St. Ignatius’s day.
AUGUST.
The 3rd. The ship called the Nouvelle France weighed anchor.
The 4th. Father Claude Allouez arrived, in good health, from the mission of st. Esprit among the Outawaks; he has baptized about 340 of them.		Mission of st. Espirt among the Outawats.
The 5th. The st. sebastien, which came to get Monsieur de Tracy, arrived.
The 6th. Father Allouez reëmbarked, with our brother le Boesme, three worthy men, and a young lad; he will take Father Nicolas at Mon-real. [Page 213]
The 9th. We learned that Father Fremin and the others were detained at the forts, on account of a band of 60 loups, who are lying in wait for the ambassadors as they pass. It is not considered advisable to give them an escort, for fear of causing war to break out against the loups, our near and powerful allies.		We treat The nation of the Loups with consideration.
The 28th. Departure of Monsieur de Tracy in the st. sebastien, with Father Bardy.		Monsieur de Tracy departs, Father Bardy goes with him.
SEPTEMBER.
The first. We received letters from Father Fremin, in which he wrote that they were to leave fort ste. Anne for Annié on the 22nd of last month.
The 22nd. The ste. Catherine arrived.
The 13th. The vessel called the prophete Elie also anchored in our Harbor.
The 20th. The flemish vessel sailed.
The 25th. The St. Louys arrived, with Father Louys de Beaulieu, Master Philippe Pierson,[25] and our brother Pierre Maigneret; a number of girls, over 80; and more than 100 workmen, 14 or 15 horses, and others.		Arrival of 3 Jesuits
The 29th. Monsieur The Intendant granted us a full pension of five thousand livres.		Pension of 5,000 livres.
OCTOBER.
The 4th. Monsieur The Intendant gave a favorable answer to our petition to be allowed to go and establish ourselves at la prairie de la Magdelaine.		Prairie la madeleine.
The 5th. Father Rafeix embarked to go [Page 215] and winter at the Isles percées,[26] and to examine la prairie de la Magdelaine at all seasons; Caron, who was the fourth, went up with him to examine it.		Father Raffeix goes to La prairie De la madeleine.
The 14th. Jean François Elie left the Society, being dismissed. He embarked in secular garb, under the name of sieur de Bennecour, being conducted by two of our brethren, after he had hastily changed his attire — the whole secretly.		Brother Jean françois Elie leaves The Society.
The 22nd. Caron returned from above, with a high opinion of the land, which he examined; he found there everything that can be desired in connection with the settlement that we propose to establish there, except The approach to it, which is difficult — especially in the months of September and October.
NOVEMBER.
The eleventh. Departure of the small Norman vessel.
On the last day of the month, a man was hanged for having ravished a little girl eleven years of age.
DECEMBER.
The 3rd. Eleven persons, both from annié and onneiout, were solemnly baptized by Monseigneur the Bishop in our Church; the sponsors were Monsieur the governor, Monsieur the Intendant, and some of the officers.		Eleven savages baptized.
Father de Beaulieu preached on the Feast of st. Francis Xavier. [Page 217]
On the first sunday of Advent, a decree was published from the pulpit, by which it was declared that in future the feasts of st. Xavier and st. Anne would be celebrated; the feasts of st. Mark and others were stricken from the list.		Feasts of st. anne and of saint francis xavier.
The 8th. Master Philippe Pierson preached in the Refectory, and gave satisfaction.
The 15th. Arrival of Andatiakonhons, a heron, with letters from Father Bruyas and Father Fremin, from onneiout and Annié. Our gentlemen find fault because Father Fremin has not written to them; and because the Journal — at least, that portion which relates to business matters — was not addressed to them.

 

CXXI

Relation Of 1666-67

Paris: SEBASTIEN CRAMOISY ET SEBASTIEN

MABRE-CRAMOISY, 1668

—————

Source: We follow a copy of the original Cramoisy in Lenox Library, New York.

In this Volume, we present chaps. i.-vii. The remainder will appear in Volume LI.

RELATION

OF WHAT OCCURRED

MOST REMARKABLE

IN THE MISSIONS OF THE FATHERS

of the Society of Jesus,

IN

NEW FRANCE

in the years one thousand six hundred

Sixty-six and one thousand six

Hundred sixty-seven.

Sent to the Rev. Father Jacques Bordier,

Provincial of the Province of France.

P A R I S.

Sebastien Cramoisy And Sebastien

Mabre-Cramoisy, Printer in ordi-

nary to the King, ruë st. Jacques,

at the Sign of the Storks.

———————

M. DC. XLIII.

By Royal License.

[Page 225]

 

To the Reverend Father Jacques Bordier, Pro-

vincial of the Society of Jesus in the

Province of France.

M

Y REVEREND FATHER,

                                           Pax Christi.

I send your Reverence the Relation of what has occurred in this country during the past year. The year before there was nothing but war; this year has passed in perfect peace, the Iroquois having come to sue for it, and having their petition granted, even to the extent that we felt obliged to send them some Missionaries — the door being there opened to us for the Gospel. I do not mean that we have not much to fear from the perfidy of those barbarous nations, who, having no faith in God, will ever be faithless toward men; but, if the Apostles had held aloof from Infidels except when they were sure of personal safety, they would have been untrue to that worthy name of Apostle. In a word, the peace with the Iroquois is on a sufficiently firm foundation to enable us to send them, without imprudence, some Preachers of the Gospel; but the danger to which they expose themselves is so great that they may expect there blessed martyrdom, after severe labors and grievous hardships. Others of our Fathers have proceeded in other directions — to the East, West, and North — to bear the faith; one alone of these has journeyed more than fifteen hundred leagues, and baptized three hundred and forty persons — mostly children who were sick, and at death’s door, and hence an assured gain for Heaven, If this peace be lasting, there will be [Page 227] much work to do for God and much suffering to bear. Therefore we expect additional aid from those brave hearts who are stirred at the prospect of peril, and who fear nothing where there is everything to fear, — in their confident belief that to lose one’s life in God’s service, for the saving of souls, is a blessed way to find it. For selecting such as these we look to your Reverence. Meanwhile I ask your blessing for all our Fathers and Brethren, and for myself, who am the least of all.

My Reverend Father,

Your very humble and obedient

servant in Our Lord, François

Le Mercier, of the Society

of Jesus.

Kebec, November 10, 1667.

 

Table of Chapters.
Chap. I. Chap. II.	O	F the Condition of Canada for the past two years. Journal of Father Claude Allouez's Voyage into the Outaouac Country.	page 1.   page 15.
Chap. III.     Of the Missionary’s arrival and sojourn at the Bay of Saint Esprit, called Chagouamigong			page 41.
Chap. IV.     General Council of the nations of the Outaouac country.			page 46.
Chap. V.     Of the false gods and some superstitious customs of the Savages of that country.			page 51.
Chap. VI.     Relation of the Mission of Saint Esprit on Lake Tracy.			page 63.
Chap. VII.     Of the Mission to the Tionnontateheronnons.			page 74.
Chap. VIII.     Of the Mission to the Outaouacs, Kiskakoumac, and Outaouasinagouc.			page 80.
Chap. IX.     Of the Mission to the Pouteouatamiouec.			page 85.
Chap. X.     Of the Mission to the Ousakiouck and Outaga-miouck.			page 101.
Chap. XI.     Of the mission to the Ilimouec, or Alimouec.			page 105.
Chap. XII.     Of the Mission to the Nadouesiouek.			page 111.
Chap. XIII.     Of the Mission to the Kilistinouc. [Page 231]			page 115.
Chap. XIIII.     Of the Mission to the Outchibouec.			page 119.
Chap. XV.     Of the Mission to the Nipissiriniens, and Father Alloués journey to Lake Alimibegong.			page 120.
Chap. XVI.     Father Claude Alloués comes back to Quebec, and sets out on his return to the Outaouacs.			page 128.
Chap. XVII.     Of the Mission to the Papinachiois, and that at Lake St. John.			page 131.
Chap. XVIII.     Of the Reëstablishment of the Missions to the Iroquois.			page 138.
Chapter last.			page 144.
Account of Wonders, etc. [Page 233]			page 145.

 

Extract from the Royal License.

B

Y the Grace and License of the King, Sebastien Cramoisy, Printer in ordinary to the King, Director of the Royal Press of the Louvre, sometime Alderman of Paris, is authorized to print or cause to be printed, sold and retailed, a Book entitled: Relation de ce qui s’est passé en la Mission des Peres de la Compagnie de Jesus au païs de la Nouvelle France és de années 1665. et 1666. And that during the period of twenty years, forbidding all Booksellers, Printers and others, under penalties provided by the said License, to print or cause to be printed the said Book, under pretext of any disguise or change. Given at Paris in January, 1667. Signed, by the King in his Council,

Maboul.

[Page 235]

[I] Relation of what occurred in New France in

the years 1666 and 1667.

CHAPTER I.

OF THE CONDITION OF CANADA FOR THE PAST TWO

YEARS.

S

INCE the King has had the kindness to extend his protection over this country, by sending hither the Regiment of Carignan-Salieres, we have witnessed a notable change in the appearance of Canada. [2] We can assert that it is no longer that forbidding and frost-bound land which was formerly painted in so unfavorable colors, but a veritable New France — not only in the salubrity of its climate and fertility of its soil, but in the other conveniences of life, which are being revealed more and more every day.

The Iroquois used to keep us so closely confined that we did not even dare till the lands that were under the cannon of the forts, much less go to a distance to ascertain the points of excellence of a Soil which hardly differs at all from that of France.

But now, since the fear of his Majesty’s arms has filled these barbarians with alarm, and compelled them to seek our friendship instead [3] of constantly molesting us with bloody wars, as they used to, we are, during the calm, bringing to light the possibilities of this country’s wealth, and the extent of its probable resources in the future. [Page 237]

Monsieur de Tracy has gone to carry the King these good tidings, after having made at the same time both peace and war, and opened to the Iroquois Nations the door of the Gospel. He went away from us bearing the universal regret of all these peoples, leaving the country in charge of Monsieur de Courcelles, who, as he contributed greatly by his courage to the happiness we now enjoy, so continues with the same zeal to secure us in its possession. Having made himself feared by the Iroquois, through the expeditions [4] which he led into their country, he will hold those barbarians- whether with their consent, or by force -to the terms of the treaty which they came hither to obtain. He is, moreover, making us taste already the resultant blessings, which we had never before experienced.

Indeed, peace being concluded with all the Iroquois Nations, — having been granted on the part of the King at the pressing instance of their Ambassadors, with whom three Jesuits went back to preach the holy Gospel, and maintain this peace among the lower Nations, — thereupon the Settlers of the Colonies saw that they could spread abroad, and could till their lands in perfect quiet and great safety. They can do so, not only on account of this peace, but because of the [5] continued care that is taken to guard and increase the frontier forts, and to provide them with everything needful for their maintenance, and for that of the Soldiers who defend them.

In view of these facts, the first thoughts of Monsieur Tallon, Intendant for the King in this country, were to exert himself with tireless activity to seek out the means for rendering this country prosperous. He does this both by making trial of all that it can [Page 239] produce, and by establishing commerce and forming business relations -which we can open not only with France, but also with the Antilles, Madeira, and other countries, in Europe as well as in America.

[6] He was so successful in this that fisheries of all kinds are in operation, the rivers being very rich in fish, such as salmon, brill, perch, sturgeon, and — without leaving the stream, even — herring and cod, which are prepared both fresh and dried, and the sale of which in France is very profitable. This year, trial has been made of these fisheries by Shallops that have been sent out, and have yielded large returns.

Of similar nature is the Seal-fishery, which furnishes the whole country with oil, and yields a great surplus that is sent to France and to the Antilles. This fishery was tried during the past year, and in three weeks’ time it netted sieur l’Espine, over and above all expenses, nearly eight hundred livres for his share alone.

[7] The white-Whale fishery, which they hope to make successful with little expense, will yield oils of higher grade for manufacturing purposes, and in even greater quantity.

The commerce which Monsieur Tallon proposes to carry on with the Islands of the Antilles will be one of this country’s chief resources; and already, to ascertain its profitableness, he is this year shipping to those Islands fresh and dried codfish, salted salmon, eels, peas, both green and white, fish-oil, staves, and boards, — all produced in the country.

But as permanent fisheries are the soul, and form the entire maintenance of commerce, he intends to establish them as soon as possible; and, to attain this end, he purposes forming some sort of [8] company [Page 241] to plant the first of these and bear their initial expense. In a year or two they will yield marvelous profits.

These cares which cause him to investigate, with such assiduous devotion, all possible sources of profit in the St. Lawrence and other rivers of this country, do not prevent him from giving a share of his attention to the gain that may be derived from land so rich in every kind of product as is that of Canada.

Therefore, he is directing a careful search for Mines, which appear to be numerous and rich; he is causing the felling of all kinds of timber, which is found everywhere in Canada, and makes it easy for the French, and others who come [9] here to live, to provide themselves with shelter upon their first arrival; he has started the manufacture of Staves, for export to France and to the Antilles, and of Masts, samples of which he is sending this year to la Rochelle for use in the Navy: and he is also giving his attention to wood suitable for ship-building, trial of which has been made in this country by the building of a bark which is found very serviceable, and of a large vessel which is all ready to be launched.

Besides the ordinary grains that have been hitherto harvested, he has started the culture of hemp; this will go on increasing so that all the country will abound with it, and will be able not only to Supply its own needs, but also to furnish large quantities to France.[27]

As for flax, we can [10] see from our experience with it during the past year, that its Yield is excellent and it thrives finely.

Even the French Ewes commonly bear two Lambs, after their first year's growth in this country. [Page 243]

I do not speak here of what may be hoped for from the more southern districts of Canada, where we have noted that the soil produces naturally the same kinds of trees and crops as does Provence. It also has a climate of nearly the same atmospheric temperature, while the altitude of the Pole is not very different.

We mention at present only the changes that have been wrought in this country since the arrival of the [11] Troops, which have of themselves contributed greatly to its development, and helped to open it up in many places - especially on the Richelieu River, where the forts that have recently been erected are surrounded by fields cleared of woods, and covered with very fine grain.

But two things, among others, materially aid the plans that have been formed for the good of New France, namely, — in the first place, the Villages built in the neighborhood of Quebec, as much to fortify it by peopling its vicinity, as to receive families which have come from France. To these are assigned lands already brought under cultivation, some of which were this year covered with grain, to serve as a first store for the settlers’ [12] sustenance. This practice will be followed in the future, with all the care given to it at the beginning.

And, secondly, the settling in the country both of Officers — Captains, Lieutenants, and Ensigns, who unite themselves with the country by Marriage, and secure fine grants, which they cultivate — and of Soldiers, who find good matches, and become scattered in all directions. Both the former and the latter recognize the advantages mentioned above.

We cannot omit, without extreme ingratitude, the acknowledgment due not only to his Majesty’s [Page 245] Minister, but to the Gentlemen of the General Company of the West Indies. By their care and liberality, they have contributed greatly [13] to this country’s present flourishing condition, and to the planting of the Missions, which, throughout this Relation, will be seen extending to the distance of more than 500 leagues from here, and for whose maintenance these Gentlemen spare no expense. We have this year seen eleven vessels, laden with all sorts of wares, anchored in the roadstead of Quebec. We have seen land taken up by many workmen, and also girls, who people our colony and add to the number of our fields. Flocks of sheep meet our eyes, and many horses, which thrive finely in this country and render it great service. And the accomplishment of all this at his Majesty’s expense obliges us to acknowledge all the results of his Royal kindness, by vows and prayers which we [14] constantly address to Heaven, and with which our Churches reëcho, for the welfare of his sacred person. To him alone is due the whole glory of having put this country in such a condition that, if the course of events in the future correspond to that of the past two years, we shall fail to recognize Canada, and shall see our forests, which have already greatly receded, changing into Towns and Provinces which may some day be not unlike those of France. [Page 247]

[15] CHAPTER II.

RELATION OF THE MISSION OF SAINT ESPRIT, AMONG

THE OUTAOUACS, ON LAKE TRACY, FOR-

MERLY CALLED LAKE SUPERIOR.

JOURNAL OF FATHER CLAUDE ALLOUEZ’S VOYAGE

INTO THE OUTAOUAC COUNTRY.

T

WO years ago, and more, Father Claude Allouez set out for that great and arduous Mission, in behalf of which he has journeyed, in all his travels, nearly two thousand leagues through these vast forests ,-enduring hunger, nakedness, shipwreck, weariness by day and night, and the persecutions of the Idolaters ; but he has also had the consolation of bearing the torch of the Faith to more than twenty different infidel Nations.

[16] We cannot gain a better knowledge of the fruits of his labors than from the Journal which he was called upon to prepare.

The narrative will be diversified by the description of the places and Lakes that he passed, the customs and superstitions of the peoples visited, and by various incidents of an unusual nature and worthy of relation. He begins as follows:

“On the eighth of August, in the year 1665, I embarked at three Rivers with six Frenchmen, in company with more than four hundred Savages of various nations, who, after transacting the little trading for which they had come, were returning to their own country. [Page 249]

“The Devil offered all conceivable opposition to our journey, making use of the false prejudice [17] held by these Savages, that Baptism causes their children to die. One of their chief men declared to me, in arrogant and menacing terms, his intention, and that of his people, to abandon me on some desert Island if I ventured to follow them farther. We had then proceeded as far as the rapids of the river des prairies, where the breaking of the Canoe that bore me made me apprehensive of the threatened disaster. We promptly set about repairing our little Vessel; and, although the Savages did not trouble themselves either to aid us or to wait for us, we were so expeditious as to join them near the long Sault, two or three days after we started.

“But our Canoe, having been [18] once broken, could not long be of service, and our Frenchmen, already greatly fatigued, despaired of being able to follow the Savages, who were thoroughly accustomed to such severe exertions. Therefore, I resolved to call them all together, in order to persuade them to receive us separately into their Canoes, — showing them that our own was in so bad a condition as to be thenceforth useless to us. They agreed to this; and the Hurons promised, although with much reluctance, to provide for me.

“On the morrow, accordingly, when I came down to the water’s edge, they at first received me well, and begged me to wait a very little while, until they were ready to embark. After I had waited, and when I was stepping down into the water [19] to enter their Canoe, they repulsed me with the assertion that there was no room for me, and straightway began to paddle vigorously, leaving me all alone with [Page 251] no prospect of human succor. I prayed God to forgive them, but my prayer was unanswered; for they were subsequently wrecked, and the divine Majesty turned my abandonment on the part of men to the saving of my life.

“Finding myself, then, entirely alone, forsaken in a strange land, — for the whole fleet was already a good distance away, — I had recourse to the blessed Virgin, in whose honor we had performed a novena which gained for us from that Mother of Mercy a very manifest daily protection. While I was praying to her I saw, quite [20] contrary to my hopes, some Canoes in which were three of our Frenchmen. I hailed them, and resuming our old Canoe, we proceeded to paddle with all our strength, in order to overtake the fleet. But we had long since lost sight of it, and knew not whither to go, it being very difficult to find a narrow detour which must be taken in order to gain the portage of Cat Rapids (as that part is called). We would have been lost had we missed this narrow channel; but it pleased God, owing to the blessed Virgin’s intercessions, to guide us directly, and almost without our realizing it, to this portage. Here, as I saw two more Canoes, belonging to the Savages, I leaped into the water, and hastened to intercept them by land on the other side of the portage, where [21] I found six Canoes. ‘How is this?’ said I to them; ‘do you thus forsake the French? Know you not that I hold Onnontio’s voice in my hands, and that I am to speak for him, through the presents he entrusted to me, to all your nations?’ These words forced them to give us aid, so that we joined the bulk of the fleet toward Noon.

“Upon landing, I felt that I must, in that critical [Page 253] state of affairs, use every possible and most effective means for the glory of God. I spoke to them all, and threatened them with the displeasure of Monsieur de Tracy, whose spokesman I was. Fear of disobliging that great Onnontio impelled one of the chief men among them to take the word, and harangue [22] long and forcibly to persuade us to turn back. The weakness of this discontented man was turned to account by the evil spirit for closing the way against the Gospel. None of the others were better disposed; so that, although our Frenchmen found places for themselves without much difficulty, no one would be burdened with me — all declaring that I had neither skill at the paddle, nor strength to carry loads on my shoulders.

“In this abandoned state I withdrew into the woods, and, after thanking God for making me so acutely sensible of my slight worth, confessed before his divine Majesty that I was only a useless burden on the earth. My prayer ended, I returned to the water’s edge, where I found [23] the disposition of that Savage who had repulsed me with such contempt entirely changed; for, unsolicited, he invited me to enter his Canoe, which I did with much alacrity, fearing he would change his mind.

“No sooner had I embarked than he put a paddle in my hand, urging me to use it, and assuring me it was an honorable employment, and one worthy of a great Captain. I willingly took the paddle and, offering up to God this labor in atonement for my sins, and to hasten those poor Savages’ conversion, I imagined myself a malefactor sentenced to the Galleys; and, although I became entirely exhausted, yet God gave me sufficient strength to paddle all day [Page 255] long, and often a good part of the night. But this application [24] did not prevent my being commonly the object of their contempt and the butt of their jokes; for, however much I exerted myself, I accomplished nothing in comparison with them, their bodies being large and strong, and perfectly adapted to such labors. The slight esteem in which they held me caused them to steal from me every article of my wardrobe that they could; and I had much difficulty in retaining my hat, the wide rim of which seemed to them peculiarly fitted for defense against the excessive heat of the Sun. And when evening came, as my Pilot took away a bit of blanket that I had, to serve him as a pillow, he forced me to pass the night without any covering but the foliage of some tree.

“When hunger is added to these [25] discomforts, it is a severe hardship, but one that soon teaches a man to find a relish in the bitterest roots and the most putrid meat. God was pleased to make me suffer from hunger, on Fridays especially, for which I heartily thank him.

“We were forced to accustom ourselves to eat a certain moss growing upon the rocks. It is a sort of shell-shaped leaf which is always covered with caterpillars and spiders ; and which, on being boiled, furnishes an insipid soup, black and viscous, that rather serves to ward off death than to impart life.

“One morning, we found a stag that had been dead four or five days. It was a lucky accident for poor starvelings. I was [26) given a piece of it, and although its offensive odor deterred some from eating any, hunger made me take my share; but my mouth had a putrid taste, in consequence, until the next day. [Page 257]

“Amid all these hardships, whenever we came to any Rapids I carried as heavy burdens as I could; but I often succumbed under them, and that made our Savages laugh and mock me, saying they must call a child to carry me and my burden. Our good God did not forsake me utterly on these occasions, but often wrought on some of the men so that, touched with compassion, they would, without saying anything, relieve me of my Chapel or of some other burden, and would help me to journey a little more at my ease.

[27] “It sometimes happened that, after we had carried our loads and plied our paddles all day long, and even two or three hours into the night, we went supperless to bed on the ground, or on some rock, to begin over again the next day with the same labors. But everywhere the Divine providence mingled some little sweetness and relief with our fatigue.

“We endured these hardships for nearly two weeks; and after passing the Nipissirinien Lake, as we were descending a little River, we heard cries of lamentation and death-songs. Approaching the spot whence came these outcries, we saw eight young Savages of the Outaouacs, frightfully burned by a direful accident, a spark [28] having by inadvertence fallen into a keg of powder. Four among them were completely scorched, and in danger of dying. I comforted them and prepared them for Baptism, which I would have conferred had I had time to see them sufficiently fitted for it; for, despite this disaster, we had to keep on our way, in order to reach the entrance to the Lake of the Hurons, which was the rendezvous of all these travelers. [Page 259]

“They arrived there on the twenty-fourth of this month, to the number of a hundred Canoes; and then they applied themselves to the healing of these poor burned men, using on them all their superstitious remedies.

“I was made well aware of this on the following night by the singing of certain Jugglers, which filled the air, and by a thousand other ridiculous ceremonies [29] employed by them. Others offered a sort of sacrifice to the Sun, to effect the cure of these patients; for, sitting in a circle, ten or twelve in number, as if to hold a council, on the point of a rocky Islet, they lighted a little fire, with the smoke of which they sent up into the air confused cries, which ended with a speech addressed to the Sun by the oldest and most influential man among them.

“I could not endure the invocation of any of their imaginary divinities in my presence; and yet I saw myself quite alone, and at the mercy of all these people. I wavered for some time, in doubt whether it would be more fitting for me to withdraw quietly, or to offer opposition to their superstitious practices. The completion of my journey depended upon them; if I [30] incensed them, the Devil would make use of their anger in closing against me the door to their country, and in preventing their conversion. Besides, I had already perceived how little weight my words had with them, and knew that I would turn them still more against me by opposing them. Despite all these reasons, I believed that God demanded this little service from me; and accordingly I went forward, leaving the result to his Divine providence, I accosted the chief Jugglers, and, after a long talk, sustained by each side, God was pleased [Page 261] to touch the sick man’s heart so that he promised me to permit no superstitious ceremonies for his cure; and, addressing God in a short prayer, he invoked him as the author of life and of death.

[31] “This victory is not to be regarded as slight, being gained over the Evil One in the heart of his empire, and on ground where, for so many ages, he had been obeyed and worshipped by all those tribes. Hence he resented it soon after, and sent us the Juggler, who howled about our cabin like a desperate man, and seemed bent on venting his rage upon our Frenchmen. I prayed our Lord that his vengeance might not fall on any one but me, and my prayer was not in vain: we lost only our Canoe, which that wretch broke in pieces.

“I had at the same time the grief to learn of the death of one of those poor burned men, without being able to attend him, Still I hope that God may have shown him mercy in consequence [32] of the acts of faith and contrition and the few prayers which I made him recite, the first time I saw him, which was also the last.

“Toward the beginning of September, after coasting along the shores of the Lake of the Hurons, we reached the Sault; for such is the name given to a half-league of rapids that are encountered in a beautiful river which unites two great Lakes — that of the Hurons, and Lake Superior.

“This River is pleasing, not only on account of the Islands intercepting its course and the great bays bordering it, but because of the fishing and hunting, which are excellent there. We sought a resting place for the night on one of these Islands, where our Savages thought they would find provision for [Page 263] supper upon their arrival; for, as soon as they landed, [33] they put the kettle on the fire, expecting to see the Canoe laden with fish the moment the net was cast into the water. But God chose to punish their presumption, and deferred giving any food to the starving men until the following day.

“On the second of September, then, after clearing this Sault, — which is not a waterfall, but merely a very swift current impeded by numerous rocks, — we entered Lake Superior, which will henceforth bear Monsieur de Tracy’s name, in recognition of indebtedness to him on the part of the people of those regions.

“The form of this Lake is nearly that of a bow, the Southern shore being much curved, [34] and the Northern nearly straight. Fish are abundant there, and of excellent quality; while the water is so clear and pure that objects at the bottom can be seen to the depth of six brasses.

“The Savages revere this Lake as a Divinity, and offer it sacrifices, whether on account of its size, — for its length is two hundred leagues, and its greatest width eighty, — or because of its goodness in furnishing fish for the sustenance of all these tribes, in default of game, which is scarce in the neighborhood.

“One often finds at the bottom of the water pieces of pure copper, of ten and twenty livres’ weight. I have several times seen such pieces in the Savages’ hands; and, since they are superstitious, they keep them as so many divinities, or as presents which the gods [35] dwelling beneath the water have given them, and on which their welfare is to depend. For this reason they preserve these pieces of copper, [Page 265] wrapped up, among their most precious possessions. Some have kept them for more than fifty years; others have had them in their families from time immemorial, and cherish them as household gods.

“For some time, there had been seen a sort of great rock, all of copper, the point of which projected from the water; this gave passers-by the opportunity to go and cut off pieces from it. When, however, I passed that spot, nothing more was seen of it; and I think that the storms — which here are very frequent, and like those at Sea — have covered the rock with sand. Our Savages [36] tried to persuade me that it was a divinity, who had disappeared for some reason which they do not state.[28]

“This Lake is, furthermore, the resort of twelve or fifteen distinct nations — coming, some from the North, others from the South, and still others from the West; and they all betake themselves either to the best parts of the shore for fishing, or to the Islands, which are scattered in great numbers all over the Lake. These peoples’ motive in repairing hither is partly to obtain food by fishing, and partly to transact their petty trading with one another, when they meet. But God’s purpose was to facilitate the proclaiming of the Gospel to wandering and vagrant tribes — as will appear [37] in the course of this Journal.

“Having, then, entered Lake Tracy, we spent the whole month of September in coasting along its Southern shore — where, finding myself alone with our Frenchmen, I had the consolation of saying holy Mass, which I had been unable to do since my departure from three Rivers.

“After I had consecrated these forests by this [Page 267] holy ceremony, God led me to the water-side, and, to crown my joy, made me chance upon two sick children, who were being placed in canoes for a journey into the interior. I felt strongly inspired to baptize them, and, after all necessary precautions, did so in view of the danger to which I saw them exposed, of dying during the Winter. All my past fatigues were as nothing to me thenceforth; and [38] I was thoroughly inured to hunger, which ever followed us in close pursuit, our provision consisting only of what our fishermen’s skill, which not always met with success, could furnish us from day to day.

“We then crossed the Bay named for saint Theresa by the late Father Ménard. There this brave Missionary spent a winter, laboring with the same zeal which afterward made him sacrifice his life in the quest of souls. I found, at no great distance thence, some remnants of his labors, in the persons of two Christian women who had always kept the faith, and who shone like two stars amid the darkness of that infidelity. I made them pray to God, after I had refreshed their memory concerning our mysteries.

[39] “The Devil, doubtless filled with jealousy at this glory which, in the heart of his Estates, is paid to God, did what he could to prevent my coming up hither; and, having failed in his object, he vented his spite on some Writings I had brought with me, designed for the instruction of these infidels. I had enclosed them, with some medicines for the sick, in a little chest, which the evil spirit, seeing that it would be of great service to me in the Savages’ salvation, tried to make me lose. Once it was wrecked in the eddies of some rapids; again it was [Page 269] left behind at the foot of a portage; it changed hands seven or eight times; and, finally, it fell into those of that sorcerer whom I had censured at the entrance to the Lake of the Hurons, and who, after [40] removing the lock, took what he chose, and then left it all open to the rain and exposed to passers-by. God was pleased to confound the evil spirit and to make use of the greatest Juggler of these regions — a man with six wives, and of a dissolute life — for its preservation. This man put it into my hands when I had given it up as lost, assuring me that the theriac[29] and some other medicines, together with the Images that were in the chest, were so many Manitous or demons, who would make him die if he dared touch them. I learned, by subsequent experience, how serviceable these Writings in the languages of the country were to me in converting the people.” [Page 271]

[41] CHAPTER III.

OF THE MISSIONARY’S ARRIVAL AND SOJOURN AT

THE BAY OF SAINT ESPRIT, CALLED

CHAGOUAMIGONG.

“A

FTER coasting a hundred and eighty leagues along the Southern shore of Lake Tracy, — where it was our Lord’s will often to test our patience by storms, famine, and weariness by day and night, — finally, on the first day of October, we arrived at Chagouamigong, whither our ardent desires had been so long directed.

“It is a beautiful Bay, at the head of which is situated the great Village of the Savages, who there cultivate fields of Indian corn and lead [42] a settled life. They number eight hundred men bearing arms, but are gathered together from seven different nations, living in peace, mingled one with another.

“This large population made us prefer this place to all others for our usual abode, that we might apply ourselves most advantageously to the instruction of these infidels, build a chapel, and enter upon the functions of the Christian religion.

“At first, we could find shelter only under a bark roof, where we were so frequently visited by these people, most of whom had never seen any Europeans, that we were overwhelmed; and my efforts to instruct them were constantly interrupted by persons going and coming. Therefore [43] I decided to go in person to visit them, each in his cabin, where [Page 273] I told them about God more at my ease, and instructed them more at leisure in all the Mysteries of our faith.

“While I was occupied in these holy pursuits, a young Savage — one Of those who had been burned during our journey — came to seek me, and asked for my prayers, assuring me of his earnest desire to become a Christian. He told me something that had happened to him, of which the reader may think what he chooses. ‘I had no sooner obeyed thee,’ said he to me, ‘by sending away that sorcerer who was bent on curing me with his Jugglery, than I saw the creator of all things, of whom thou hast so often told me. He said to me in a voice which I heard distinctly: “Thou shalt not die, for [44] thou didst listen to the black gown.” He had no sooner spoken than I felt singularly strengthened, and found myself filled with a great confidence that I should regain my health, — as, indeed, here I am, perfectly cured.’ I have strong hopes that he who has wrought for the saving of the body, will not neglect that of the soul; and I feel all the more confidence that he will not, since this Savage has come of his own free will to seek me, in order to learn the prayers and receive the necessary instruction.

“Soon afterward, I learned that we had sent to Heaven an infant in swaddling-clothes, its death having occurred two days after I gave it holy Baptism. St. Francis, whose name it bore, has doubtless presented that innocent soul to God, as the first-fruits of this Mission.

[45] “I know not what will happen to another child, which I baptized immediately after its birth. Its father, an Outaouac by nation, summoned me as [Page 275] soon as it was born, — even coming to meet me, to tell me that I must baptize it at once, in order to insure it a long life. This was an admirable course of action for one of these Savages, who formerly believed that baptism caused their children to die, and now are persuaded of its necessity for insuring them long lives. That belief gives me easier access to these children, who often come to me in troops to satisfy their curiosity by looking at a stranger, but much more to receive, without thinking about it, the first seeds of the Gospel, which will in time bear fruit in those young plants.” [Page 277]

[46] CHAPTER IV.

GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE NATIONS OF THE OUTA-

OUAC COUNTRY.

U

PON the Father’s arrival in the country of the Outaouacs, he found their minds filled with alarm at a fresh war in which they were about to engage with the Nadouessi — a warlike nation, using no other arms in its wars than the bow and the club.

A detachment of young warriors was already forming under the lead of a chief who, having suffered an injury, did not consider whether the vengeance which he was bent on exacting would cause the ruin of all the villages of his country.

[47] To forestall such a disaster, the elders called a general council of ten or twelve circumjacent nations, all interested in this war, — in order to stay the hatchets of these rash ones by the presents which they should give them in so important an assembly.

To promote this end, the Father was invited to attend, and did so, that he might at the same time address all these people in the name of Monsieur de Tracy, — from whom he bore a speech in three clauses, with three presents to serve as their interpreters.

All this great Assembly having given him audience, “My brothers,” said he to them, “the motive that brings me to your country is very important, and makes it fitting that you should listen to my [Page 279] words with more than usual attention. Nothing less is concerned [48] than the preservation of your entire land, and the destruction of all your enemies.” As the Father found them all, at these words, well disposed to listen to him attentively, he told them about the war that Monsieur de Tracy was undertaking against the Iroquois, — how, by means of the King’s arms, he was about to compel them to assume a respectful demeanor, and was going to make commerce safe between us and the Algonquin peoples, cleansing all the highways from those River pirates, and forcing them to observe a general peace or see themselves totally destroyed, And here the Father took occasion to expatiate upon the piety of his Majesty, who wished God to be acknowledged throughout all his domains, and who received into his allegiance no peoples who did not submit to the creator of all the universe. He next explained to them [49] the chief articles of our faith, and spoke to them earnestly concerning all the mysteries of our Religion. In short, he preached Jesus Christ to all those nations.

It is assuredly a very great consolation to a poor Missionary, after a journey of five hundred leagues amid weariness, dangers, famines, and hardships of all sorts, to find himself listened to by so many different peoples, while he proclaims the Gospel and gives out to them the words of salvation, whereof they have never heard mention.

Those are seeds that remain for a time in the ground, and do not at once bear fruit. One must go and gather it in the cabins, in the forests, and [50] on the Lakes; and that is what the Father did, being present everywhere, — in their cabins, at their [Page 281] embarkations, on their journeys, — and everywhere finding children to baptize, sick persons to prepare for the Sacraments, Christians of long standing to hear in confession, and infidels to instruct.

One day, it is true, — while he was reviewing in his mind the obstacles encountered by the faith, in consequence of the depraved customs of all those peoples, — he felt inwardly impelled, during the holy sacrifice of the Mass, to ask of God, by the intercession of St. Andrew the Apostle, whose festival the Church was that day celebrating, that it might please his divine Majesty to show him some light for the establishment of Jesus Christ’s Kingdom in those regions in the place of Paganism. [51] From that very day God made him recognize the formidable obstacles he should there encounter, in order that he might more and more brace himself against those difficulties — of which the following Chapter will give a tolerable conception. [Page 283]

CHAPTER V.

OF THE FALSE GODS AND SOME SUPERSTITIOUS CUS-

TOMS OF THE SAVAGES OF THAT COUNTRY.

F

OLLOWING is what Father Allouez relates concerning the customs of the Outaouacs and other peoples, which he has studied very carefully, — not trusting the accounts given him by others, but having been himself an eye-witness and observer of everything described in this manuscript,

“There is here,” he says, “a false and [52] abominable religion, resembling in many respects the beliefs of some of the ancient Pagans. The Savages of these regions recognize no sovereign master of Heaven and Earth, but believe there are many spirits — some of whom are beneficent, as the Sun, the Moon, the Lake, Rivers, and Woods; others malevolent, as the adder, the dragon, cold, and storms. And, in general, whatever seems to them either helpful or hurtful they call a Manitou, and pay it the worship and veneration which we render only to the true God.

“These divinities they invoke whenever they go out hunting, fishing, to war, or on a journey — offering them sacrifices, with ceremonies appropriate only for Sacrificial priests.

[53] “One of the leading old men of the Village discharges the function of Priest, beginning with a carefully-prepared harangue addressed to the Sun — if the eat-all feast, which bears a certain resemblance [Page 285] to a holocaust, is held in its honor. He declares in a loud voice that he pays his thanks to that Luminary for having lighted him so that he could successfully kill some animal or other, — praying and exhorting it by this feast to continue its kind care of his family. During this invocation, all the Guests eat, even to the last morsel; after which a man appointed for the purpose takes a cake of tobacco, breaks it in two, and throws it into the fire. Every one cries aloud while the tobacco burns and the smoke rises aloft; and with these outcries the whole sacrifice ends.

[54] “I have seen,” continues the Father, “an Idol set up in the middle of a Village; and to it, among other presents, ten dogs were offered in sacrifice, in order to prevail on this false god to send elsewhere the disease that was depopulating the Village. Every one went daily to make his offerings to this Idol, according to his needs.

“Besides these public sacrifices, they have some that are private and domestic ; for often in their cabins they throw tobacco into the fire, with a kind of outward offering which they make to their false gods.

“During storms and tempests, they sacrifice a dog, throwing it into the Lake. ‘That is to appease thee,’ they say to the latter; ‘keep quiet.’ At perilous places in the Rivers, they propitiate the eddies and rapids by [55] offering them presents; and so persuaded are they that they honor their pretended divinities by this external worship, that those among them who are converted and baptized observe the same ceremonies toward the true God, until they are disabused. [Page 287]

“As, moreover, these people are of gross nature, they recognize no purely spiritual divinity, believing that the Sun is a man, and the Moon his wife; that snow and ice are also a man, who goes away in the spring and comes back in the winter; that the evil spirit is in adders, dragons, and other monsters; that the crow, the kite, and some other birds are genii, and speak just as we do; and that there are even people among them who [56] understand the language of birds, as some understand a little that of the French.

“They believe, moreover, that the souls of the Departed govern the fishes in the Lake; and thus, from the earliest times, they have held the immortality, and even the metempsychosis, of the souls of dead fishes, believing that they pass into other fishes’ bodies. Therefore they never throw their bones into the fire, for fear that they may offend these souls, so that they will cease to come into their nets.[30]

“They hold in very special veneration a certain fabulous animal which they have never seen except in dreams, and which they call Missibizi, acknowledging it to be a great genius, and offering it sacrifices in order to obtain good sturgeon fishing.[31]

[57] “They say also that the little nuggets of copper which they find at the bottom of the water in the Lake, or in the Rivers emptying into it, are the riches of the gods who dwell in the depths of the earth.

“I have learned,” says the Father who has brought to light all these follies, “that the Iliniouek, the Outagami, and other Savages toward the South, hold that there is a ‘great and excellent genius, master of all the rest, who made Heaven and Earth; and who [Page 289] dwells, they say, in the East, toward the country of the French.

“The fountain-head of their Religion is libertinism; and all these various sacrifices end ordinarily in debauches, indecent dances, and shameful acts of concubinage. All the devotion of the men is directed [58] toward securing many wives, and changing them whenever they choose; that of the women, toward leaving their husbands; and that of the girls, toward a life of profligacy.

“They endure a great deal on account of these ridiculous deities; for they fast in their honor, for the purpose of learning the issue of some affair. I have,” says the Father, “seen with compassion men who had some scheme of war or hunting pass a whole week, taking scarcely anything. They show such fixity of purpose that they will not desist until they have seen in a dream what they desire, — either a herd of moose, or a band of Iroquois put to flight, or something similar, — no very difficult thing for an empty brain, utterly exhausted with hunger, and thinking all day of nothing else.

[59] “Let us say something about the art of Medicine in vogue in this country. Their science consists in ascertaining the cause of the ailments, and applying the remedies.

“They deem the most common cause of illness to come from failure to give a feast after some successful fishing or hunting excursion; for then the Sun, who takes pleasure in feasts, is angry with the one who has been delinquent in his duty, and makes him ill.

“Besides this general cause of sickness, there are special ones, in the shape of certain little spirits, [Page 291] malevolent in their nature, who thrust themselves of their own accord, or are sent by some enemy, into the parts of the body that are most diseased. Thus, when any one has an aching head, or arm, or stomach, [60] they say that a Manitou has entered this part of the body, and will not cease its torments until it has been drawn or driven out.

“The most common remedy, accordingly, is to summon the Juggler, who comes attended by some old men, with whom he holds a sort of consultation on the patient’s ailment. After this, he falls upon the diseased part, applies his mouth to it, and, by sucking, pretends to extract something from it, as a little stone, or a bit of string, or something else, which he has concealed in his mouth beforehand, and which he displays, saying: ‘There is the Manitou; now thou art cured, and it only remains to give a feast.’

“The Devil, bent on tormenting those poor blinded creatures even in this world, has suggested to them another remedy, [61] in which they place great confidence. It consists in grasping the patient under the arms, and making him walk barefoot over the live embers in the cabin; or, if he is so ill that he cannot walk, he is carried by four or five persons, and made to pass slowly over all the fires, a treatment which often enough results in this, that the greater suffering thereby produced cures, or induces unconsciousness of, the lesser pain which they strive to cure.

“After all, the commonest remedy, as it is the most profitable for the Physician, is the holding of a feast to the Sun, which is done in the belief that this luminary, which takes pleasure in liberal actions, [Page 293] being appeased by a magnificent repast, will regard the patient with favor, and restore him to health.”

All this shows that those poor people are very far [62] from God’s Kingdom; but he who is able to touch hearts as hard as stone, in order to make of them children of Abraham and vessels of election, will also be abundantly able to make Christianity spring up in the bosom of Idolatry, and to illumine with the lights of the Faith those Barbarians, plunged although they are in the darkness of error, and in an Ocean of debauchery. This will be recognized in the account of the Missions undertaken by the Father in that extremity of the world, during the first two years of his sojourn there. [Page 295]

[63] CHAPTER VI.

RELATION OF THE MISSION OF SAINT ESPRIT ON LAKE

TRACY.

A

FTER a hard and fatiguing journey of five hundred leagues, during which all kinds of hardships were encountered, the Father, after pushing on to the head of the great Lake, there found opportunity, in founding the Missions of which we are about to speak, to exercise the zeal which had made him eagerly undergo so many fatigues. Let us begin with the Mission of Saint Esprit, which is the place of his abode. He speaks as follows:

“This part of the Lake where we have halted is between two large Villages, and forms a sort of center for all the nations of these [64] regions, because of its abundance of fish, which constitutes the chief part of these peoples’ sustenance.

“Here we have erected a little Chapel of bark, where my entire occupation is to receive the Algonkin and Huron Christians, and instruct them; baptize and catechize the children; admit the Infidels, who hasten hither from all directions, attracted by curiosity; speak to them in public and in private; disabuse them of their superstitions, combat their idolatry, make them see the truths of our Faith; and suffer no one to leave my presence without implanting in his soul some seeds of the Gospel.

“God has graciously permitted me to be heard by more than ten different Nations; but I confess that [Page 297] it is [65] necessary, even before daybreak, to entreat him to grant patience for the cheerful endurance of contempt, mockery, importunity, and insolence from these Barbarians.

“Another occupation that I have in my little Chapel is the baptism of the sick children, whom the Infidels themselves bring hither, in order to obtain from me some medicine ; and as I see that God restores these little innocents to health after their baptism, I am led to hope that it is his will to make them the foundation, as it were, of his Church in these regions.

“I have hung up in the Chapel various Pictures, as of Hell and of the universal Judgment, which furnish me themes for instruction well adapted to my Hearers; nor do I find it difficult [66] then to engage their attention, to make them chant the Pater and Ave in their own tongue, and to induce them to join in the prayers which I dictate to them after each lesson. All this attracts so many Savages that, from morning till evening, I find myself happily constrained to give them my whole attention.

“God blesses these beginnings; for the young people’s debauches are no longer so frequent; and the girls, who formerly did not blush at the most shameless acts, hold themselves in restraint, and maintain the modesty so becoming to their sex.

“I know many who boldly meet the overtures made to them, with the reply that they have learned to pray, and that the black Gown forbids them such acts of licentiousness.

[67] “A little girl, ten or twelve years old, coming one day to request my prayers, I said to her: ‘My little sister, you do not deserve them; you well know [Page 299] what was said about you some months ago.’ ‘It is true,’ she replied, ‘that I was not a good girl then, and that I did not know such actions were naughty; but since I have begun to pray, and you have told us that such things were wicked, I have stopped doing them.’

“The first days of the year 1666 were spent in presenting a very acceptable new-year’s gift to the little Jesus — consisting of a number of children brought to me by their mothers, through a Divine inspiration altogether extraordinary, to be baptized. Thus, little by little, this Church was growing; and as I saw it already imbued with our mysteries, I deemed the [68] time had come to transfer our little Chapel to the midst of the great Village, which lay three-quarters of a league from our abode, and which embraces forty-five or fifty large cabins of all nations, containing fully two thousand souls.

“It was just at the time of their great revels; and I can say, in general, that I saw in that Babylon a perfect picture of libertinism. I did not fail to carry on there the same pursuits as in our first abode, and with the same success; but the Evil spirit, envying the good there wrought by the grace of God, caused some diabolical Jugglery to be carried on daily, very near our Chapel, for the cure of a sick woman. It was nothing but superstitious dances, hideous masquerades, [69] horrible yells, and apish tricks of a thousand kinds. Yet I did not fail to visit her daily; and, in order to win her with kindness, I made her a present of some raisins. At length, — the sorcerers having declared that her soul had departed, and that they gave up hope, — I went to see her on the morrow, and assured her that this was false; and that I [Page 301] even hoped for her recovery, if she would ‘believe in Jesus Christ. But I could produce no effect on her mind, and that made me determine to appeal to the very sorcerer who was attending her. He was so surprised to see me at his house that he seemed quite overcome. I showed him the folly of his art, and that he was hastening the death of his patients rather than their recovery. In reply, he threatened to make me feel its effects by a death that should be beyond dispute; [70] and beginning his operations soon after, he continued them for three hours, calling out from time to time, in the midst of his ceremonies, that the black gown would die through them. But it was all in vain, thanks to God, who was able even to make good come out of evil; for, this very man having sent me two of his children, who were ill, to be baptized, they received, through these sacred waters, the cure of soul and body at the same time.

“On the following day, I visited another famous sorcerer—a man with six wives and living the disorderly life that can be imagined from such a company. Finding in his cabin a little army of children, I wished to fulfill my ministry, but in vain; and that was the first time in those regions that [71] I saw Christianity scoffed at, especially in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead and the fires of hell. I came out with this thought: Ibant Apostoli gaudentes à conspectu concilii, quoniam digni habiti sunt pro nomine Jesu contumeliam pati.

“The insults offered me in this cabin soon became known outside, and caused the others to treat me with the same insolence. Already a part of the bark — that is, of the walls — of our Church had been broken; already a beginning had been made in stealing [Page 303] from me all my possessions; the young people were becoming more and more numerous and insolent; and the word of God was listened to only with scorn and mockery. I was therefore compelled to abandon this post, and withdraw again to our customary abode, having [72] this consolation upon leaving them, that Jesus Christ had been preached and the Faith proclaimed — not only publicly, but to each Savage in private; for, besides those who filled our Chapel from morn till eve, the others, who remained in their Cabins, were taught by those who had heard me.

“I have myself overheard them in the evening, after all had retired, repeating audibly and in the tone of a Captain, all the instruction which I had given them during the day. They freely acknowledge that what I teach them is very reasonable; but license prevails over reason, and, unless grace is very strong, all our teachings are of slight effect.

[73] “Upon the occasion of a visit from one of them for the purpose of being instructed, at the first words I spoke to him, about his having two wives, ‘My brother,’ he rejoined, ‘thou speakest to me on a very delicate subject; it is enough for my children to pray; teach them.’

“After I had left that village of abomination, God led me two leagues from our dwelling, where I found three adult sick persons; these I baptized, after adequate instruction, and two of them died after their Baptism. God’s mysterious ways excite our admiration, and I could cite many very similar illustrations of them which show the loving care of providence for its Elect.” [Page 305]

[74] CHAPTER VII.

OF THE MISSION TO THE TIONNONTATEHEKONNONS.

“T

HE Tionnontateheronnons of the present day are the same people who were formerly called the Hurons of the tobacco nation. They, like the rest, mere forced to leave their country to escape from the Hyroquois, and to retire to the head of this great Lake, where distance and scarcity of game furnish them an asylum against their foes. “They formerly constituted a part of the flourishing Church of the Hurons, and had as Pastor the late Father Garnier, who gave his life so courageously for his dear flock; [75] therefore they cherish his memory with very marked veneration.

“Since their country’s downfall, they have received no Christian nurture; whence it results that they are Christians rather by calling than by profession. They boast of that fair name, but the intercourse which they have so long had with infidels has nearly effaced from their minds all vestiges of Religion, and has made them resume many of their former customs. Their village is at no great distance from our abode, which has enabled me to apply myself to this Mission with greater assiduity than to the other more distant ones.

“I have, accordingly, tried to restore this Church to its pristine state by [76] Preaching the word of God, and administering the Sacraments. I conferred Baptism upon a hundred children during the first winter [Page 307] I spent with them; and upon others subsequently, during my two years of intercourse with them. The adults partook of the Sacrament of penance, attended the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, prayed in public and in private; in short, as they had been very well taught, it was a matter of no great difficulty for me to restore piety to their hearts, and make them put forth once more the pious sentiments they formerly had for the Faith.

“Of all these baptized children, God chose to take but two, who winged their way to Heaven after their Baptism. As for the adults, there were three of them for [77] whose salvation God seems to have sent me hither.

“The first was an old man, Ousaki by birth, formerly of importance among his own people, and ever held in esteem by the Hurons, by whom he had been taken captive in war. A few days after my arrival in this country, I learned that he was lying ill four leagues from here. I went to see him, and instructed and baptized him; and three hours later he died, leaving me every possible proof that God had shown him mercy.

“Even although my journey from Quebec should bear no further fruits than the saving of this poor old man, I would deem all the steps that I had taken only too well rewarded, inasmuch as the Son of God did not begrudge him even his last drop of blood.

[78] “The second person I have to mention was a woman, far advanced in years, who was confined, two leagues from our abode, by a dangerous illness, occasioned by the unexpected ignition of a bag of powder in her cabin. Father Garnier had promised her baptism more than fifteen years before, and was on the [Page 309] point of conferring it, when he was killed by the Iroquois. That good Father was unwilling to break his promise, and like a good Pastor he brought it about, by his intercession, that I should arrive here before she died. I visited her on all Saints’ day, and, after refreshing her memory concerning all our Mysteries, found that the seeds of God’s word, implanted in her soul so many years before, had there borne fruits [79] which awaited only the Baptismal waters in order to attain their perfection. Accordingly I conferred this sacrament upon her, after I had thoroughly prepared her; and on the very night of her receiving this grace she rendered up her soul to her Creator.

“The third person was a girl, fourteen years of age, who applied herself very assiduously to all the catechisms and prayers which I caused to be recited, and of which she had learned a great portion by heart, She fell ill; her mother, who was not a Christian, called in the sorcerers, and made them go through all the fooleries of their infamous calling. I heard about it and went to see the girl, broaching to her the subject of Baptism. She was overjoyed to receive it; and after that, mere child although she was, she made opposition to all the jugglers’ practices, [80] which they were bent on executing in her presence. She declared that by her Baptism she had renounced all superstitions; and in this courageous contest she died, praying to God until her very last breath.”

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA: VOL. L

CXVII

Bibliographical particulars of the Relation of 1664-65 were given in Vol. XLIX.

CXVIII

In reprinting the Relation of 1665 -66 (Paris, 1667), we follow a copy of the original Cramoisy edition in the Lenox Library. The prefatory epistle from François le Mercier to the provincial in France is dated “A Kebec le 12. de Novembre 1666;” and the “Privilege” was “Donné à Paris en Ianvier 1667.” No printed “Permission” appears in this annual. The regular text of the Relation is followed by a “LETTRE | de la | reverende mere | svperievre | Des Religieufes Hofpitalieres de | Kebec en la Nouuelle- | France. | Du 3. Octobre 1666.” This is addressed, like the “Lettre” of the previous year, “A Monfieur * * * * Bourgeois de Paris;” and is dated “De l’Hoftel Dieu de Kebec le 3. Octobre 1666.” The Relation is not perfect without the “Lettre,” because it is called for in the table of contents. But, apparently, the “Lettre” was also circulated separately, where it would do the most good. Its own pagination, and the fact that it is an independent sheet in eight, point to such probability. It is possible, too, that the “Bourgeois de Paris,” through whom the Mother Superior addressed her [Page 313] appeal for charity, was none other than Sebastien Cramoisy himself. Singularly enough, the Quebec reprint of 1858, which professes to follow the copy in the Bibliothèque Nationale (then Imperiale), of Paris, omits the “Privilege,” the prefatory epistle of Le Mercier, and the “Lettre” of the Mother Superior, — though that copy is, in fact, perfect. This annual forms no. 126 of Harrisse’s Notes, but his title is somewhat faulty.

Collation: Title, with verso blank, I leaf; Le Mercier’s prefatory epistle, pp. (5); “Table des Chapitres,” followed by the “Privilege,” p. (1); text of Relation (3 chaps.), pp. 1-47, with verso of p. 47 blank. “Lettre de la Reverende Mere Svperievre,” consisting of: Special title, with verso blank, I leaf; text of letter, pp. 3-12; address to “Messievrs et Dames,” p. 13 (not numbered); “Memoire des Choses neceffaires,” pp. 14-16. Signatures: 5 in four; A-C, plus A in eights. No mispaging.

This annual is very rare, and is lacking in most of the special collections of which we have knowledge; neither O’Callaghan nor Murphy had a copy. Copies have been sold or priced as follows: Harrassowitz (1882), no. 44 (a fine large copy with the “Lettre”), priced at 150 marks; Lenox copy, purchased from the estate of Dr. George H. Moore in 1893, for $100; and Dufossé (with the “Lettre”), priced in 1893 at 400 francs. In our opinion, these prices are quite moderate. Copies are to be found in the following libraries: Lenox, perfect; Brown (private), without the “Lettre;” Kalbfleisch (private), the Harrassowitz copy; Lava1 University (Quebec), perfect; Bibliothèque Ste. Genevieve (Paris), perfect; and Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris), perfect. [Page 315]

CXIX

The first of these three letters by Father Thierry Beschefer (October 1, 1666), was written to his family, in France; the second (October 4) to his brother Jesuit, Antoine Chesne; the third (August 25, 1667), bears no address. The original MSS. are in the Bibliothèque Nationale, at Paris, their press-mark being “Fond Fontette 842.” We follow apographs by Father Felix Martin, now in the archives of St. Mary’s College, Montreal.

CXX

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

CXXI

In reprinting the Relation of 1666-67 (Paris, 1668), we follow a copy of the original Cramoisy edition in the Lenox Library. The prefatory epistle from François le Mercier to the provincial in France is dated “A Kebec le 10. Novembre 1667;” and the “Privilege” was “Donné a Paris en Ianvier 1667;” but the year should, of course, be 1668. There is no printed “Permission” to this annual. The title-page presents a different appearance than its predecessors; for, instead of the regular printer’s mark, — a cut with storks, — we find substituted in its place a vignette, consisting of a pot of flowers. The volume is no. 127 of Harrisse’s Notes.

There has been some speculation about two issues of this Relation; because some copies have the letter of the mother superior bound in at the end. It is not called for in the table of contents, and, furthermore, it has a separate pagination and its own signature-marks. [Page 315] The Relation ends on p. 160 with “FIN.” Hence we infer that the volume is not necessarily imperfect without the “Lettre,” although it certainly was included by the printers in some copies. We are of the opinion, too, that the “Lettre” was also circulated separately, like the one often found with the annual for 1664-65 (H. 124); and what we have stated of the latter (q.v.) might as well be applied to the volume under consideration, Nevertheless, the Relation with the “Lettre” is to be preferred. The additional tract is entitled “LETTRE | de la | reverende mere | svperievre | Des Religieufes Hofpitalieres | de Kebec en la Nouuelle | France. | Du 20. Octobre 1667.” It was addressed like the two preceding ones, “A Monfieur * * * Bourgeois de Paris,” and is dated on p. 11 as follows: “De l’Hoftel-Dieu de Kebec, le 20. Octobre 1667.” It is not included in the Quebec reprint of 1858.

Collation: Title, with verso blank, I leaf; Le Mercier’s prefatory epistle, pp. (4); “Table des Chapitres” and “Privilege,” pp. (2); text (19 chaps.), pp. 1-160. Appended the “Lettre de la Reverende Mere Svperievre,” consisting of: Title, with verso blank, I leaf; text of “Lettre,” pp. 3-11; notice to “Messievrs et Dames” on p. 12, not numbered. Signatures: ã in four, A-K in eights, plus A in eight. Pp. 120 and 132 are mispaged 20 and 32 respectively.

Copies have been sold or priced as follows: Squier (1876), no. 1962, without the “Lettre,” sold for $10.75; Harrassowitz (1882), no. 45, without the “Lettre,” priced at 100 marks; and Barlow (1890), no. 1318, with the “Lettre,” sold for $27.50. There [Page 316] was a copy in the Murphy sale, but none in O’Callaghan’s; and it is also lacking among a lot of twenty-five of the annuals, offered in April, 1899, by Dodd, Mead & Co.

Copies can be found in the following libraries: Lenox, both; Harvard, with “Lettre;” New York State Library, without “Lettre;” Brown (private), with “Lettre;” Ayer (private), with “Lettre;” State Historical Society of Wisconsin, without “Lettre;” Lava1 University (Quebec), both; Library of Parliament (Ottawa), without “Lettre;” Georgetown College, D. C. (Riggs Library), two copies — one without “Lettre,” the other with the title-page only thereof; British Museum, without “Lettre;” and Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris), both,

 

.PHOTOGRAPHIC FACSMILE OF BAPTISMAL RECORD (DATED MAY 13, 1686) IN HANDWRITING OF THIERRY BE~CHEFER, S.J.

[On p. 57, Parish Register of Roucherville, Que.].JESUIT COLLEGE AND CHURCH, AT QUEBEC.

[Facsimile of a*~ engraving made in 1761.]

 

NOTES TO VOL.

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

---

[1] (p. 45). — Reference is here made to the church of Ste. Anne du Petit-Cap, at Côte de Beaupré — celebrated, even to the present time, for miraculous cures of sick persons. The Relation of 1667 gives (chap. xix.) details of some of these: cf. Faillon’s Col. Fran., t. ii., p. 562. See also vol. xiv., note 15. Parkman states (Old Régime, p. 364, note 1) that in 1873 the old chapel was yet standing, and a new one in process of erection.

[2] (p. 45). — Laurette: a variant of Lorette, or Loreto (vol. xviii., note 4).

[3] (p. 53). — Joachim Girard — born 1642, at Evreux, France — married, at the age of eighteen, Marie Halay (Haslé), by whom he had seven children. In 1676, he married a second wife, Jeanne Chalut; they had nine children. The date of his death is not recorded.

[4] (p. 55). — Brignac is probably a misprint for Brigeac, the form used by him in signing the letter given in Relations of 1662 (vol. xlvii. of this series, p. 179). Claude de Brigeac, a young French gentleman, then aged thirty years, had come to Montreal as a soldier, and was private secretary to the governor Maisonneuve. See Faillon’s Col. Fran., t. ii., p. 505.

[5] (p. 59). — Jacques Dufresne was a member of the Montreal militia organized by Maisonneuve (vol. xlviii., note ii.).

[6] (p. 81). — Except the horse sent to Montmagny in 1647, these were the first horses seen in Canada.

[7] (p. 107). — Anne of Austria was regent of France from the death of her husband, Louis XIII. (May 14, 1643), until their son, Louis XIV., attained his majority (1651). She died Jan. 20, 1666, aged sixty-four years.

[8] (p. 133). — “Louis le Petit, captain in the regiment of Carignan, was ordained a priest in 1670, and labored successfully in the Abenaqui missions; he died in 1709.” — Sulte’s Canad.-Fran., t. iv., p. 49.

[9] (p. 141), — The La Mothe here mentioned was, according to [Page 319] Sulte Canad.-Fran., t. iv., p. 48), Pierre de St. Paul, sieur de la Motte-Lussière (Lucière). He was commandant of Fort Ste. Anne for a time; and, in 1669-70, held the same post at Montreal. It is not known how long he remained in the country; but, in 1678, La Salle met him in Paris, and brought him to Canada as a sharer in his Western enterprise. La Motte was for some time commandant of La Salle’s fort at Cataracoui; and he built for his patron (late in 1678) a small-fortified house at Niagara. We find no further mention of him in connection with La Salle; and it is probable that their association terminated before 1682. In 1683, La Motte obtained the seigniory of Lussaudière, where he apparently resided, although he was connected with the military affairs of the colony, until his death. This occurred Sept. 22, 1699; he was slain while repelling an attack of the Iroquois, near St. François du Lac.

Tanguay (Dict. Généal., t. i., p. 169) records the marriage (at Montreal, in 1680) of Dominique de Lamotte, “sieur de Lutier, de Lucieres, de St. Paul;” but his death is placed in September, 1700. This man may have been a brother of Pierre; the latter is not mentioned by Tanguay.

[10] (p. 141). — Alexandre Berthier, born in 1638, a native of Périgueux, married (1672) Marie le Gardeur; they had three children. In 1672, he was granted the seigniory of Berthier, in Bellechasse county, Que. The time of his death is not known.

[11] (p. 147). — François Dollier de Casson was born about 1620. In early life, he was a cavalry captain under Turenne, in which service he won a reputation for great bravery. Later, he became a Sulpitian priest, and belonged to the diocese of Names. In September, 1666, he arrived in Canada, with three of his brethren, sent hither from the Paris seminary; he was immediately assigned by Tracy to attendance upon the expedition which the latter was then about to conduct against the Mohawks. After the return of this army to Montreal, it was found that Ft. Ste. Anne, at the mouth of Lake Champlain, had no chaplain: and Dollier was appointed to that office. He found many of the garrison prostrated with an infectious disease; but his bravery, resolution, and good judgment enabled him to save the lives of most of these men. The winter of 1668-69 he spent with the Nipissing Indians. In the following year, Queylus, the Sulpitian superior at Montreal, conceived the idea of establishing missions among the Western tribes. He accordingly sent Dollier and another Sulpitian, — René de Bréhant de Galinée, who had come with Queylus to Canada in the year preceding, — to travel with the explorer La Salle, to seek the Mississippi river, and to open the way, among hitherto unknown tribes, for Sulpitian missions. In pursuance of this commission, the two priests spent the [Page 320] winter of 1669-70 on the north shore of Lake Erie, — alone, since La Salle, on account of illness, returned to Montreal in the preceding October, — where they took possession of the country in the name of Louis XIV.; and made earnest but unavailing efforts to reach the Mississippi. But they met with disasters, which obliged them to give up the attempt. They proceeded to Sault Ste. Marie, and returned to the St. Lawrence in the spring of 1670. Galinée then made a map of the region which they had explored, — Lake Ontario, Niagara, the north shore of Lake Erie, Detroit, and the east and north shores of Lake Huron, — the first chart thereof which is known to exist. In the autumn of 1671, Queylus returned to France; his office of superior then fell to Dollier, who held it during many years. He died Sept. 25. 1701, leaving a MS. Histore du Montreal, covering the years 1640-72; this was first published in 1871, by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, in their third series of Historical Documents.

Jean Baptiste du Bois d’Esgriselles was the chaplain of the regiment of Carignan; he was still in Canada in 1671.

[12] (p. 167). — After the Restoration (1659), various jealousies and differences, mainly commercial, arose between England and Holland. One of the first measures adopted by Parliament after that event, was a navigation act (1660), restricting to English bottoms the trade with English colonies throughout the world. Complaints had long been made, that much of the trade with Virginia, Maryland, and New England was diverted from the mother-country by the Dutch of New Netherland; and, on the west coast of Africa, the commerce of the Dutch West India Company was thought to menace that of English trading companies. Besides all these elements of discord, there was in New England a strong and increasing dislike of the Dutch, caused partly by commercial rivalry, partly by the desire to secure the lands held by them, — Long Island, and the valley of the Hudson, — in order to accommodate the extension westward of the English colonies, especially of Connecticut. Various aggressions against the Dutch were committed by the English, although the two nations were nominally at peace; finally, Charles II. granted to his brother James, duke of York and Albany, all the lands between the Connecticut River and Delaware Bay (March, 1664). James Promptly sent an armed expedition, under Colonel Richard Nicolls, to reduce the Dutch colonies to obedience; and New Amsterdam was surrendered to him on Sept. 8 following. Nicolls became governor of the city, which, with the entire province, in compliment to his patron, he named New York. The Dutch frontier settlements were soon seized; and Fort Orange was renamed Fort Albany, after James’s second title. [Page 321]

[13] (p. 173). — Jacques Marquette was born at Laon, France, June 10, 1637, becoming a novice in the Jesuit order at Nancy, Oct. 8, 1654. His studies were pursued at Pont-a-Mousson, and he spent the usual term as instructor at Rheims, Charleville, and Langres. He had long desired to enter the foreign missions of the order; this wish was granted him in 1666, whereupon he came to Canada. The first two years there were spent in the study of the Algonkin language; he then departed for the Ottawa mission, where (1669) he replaced Allouez at Chequamegon. Driven thence by the Sioux, he founded among the Hurons at the Straits of Mackinac (1671) the mission of St. Ignace. He remained there until May, 1673, when, with Louis Joliet, he set out upon the famous voyage in which they discovered the Mississippi River, and traced its course as far as the Arkansas. At the end of the following September, they returned to Green Bay, via the Chicago portage. In the spring of 1674, Joliet went down to Quebec, and made a verbal report of the voyage. Marquette did not long survive the hardships of that expedition. In October, 1674, he left Green Ray, although he was in poor health, to found a mission among the Kaskaskia Indians in Illinois. Illness prostrating him while engaged in this task, he was compelled to abandon it, and set out on the return to Mackinac; but death overtook him on the journey, May 18, 1675. This event occurred at the mouth of Marquette river, near the site of the present town of Ludington, Mich. Besides this river, a county and city in Michigan, and a county and village in Wisconsin, are named for the missionary. Wisconsin is represented in the capitol at Washington, D. C., by a marble statue of Marquette, designed by the Florentine sculptor Gaciano Trentanove.

While at Green Bay in 1674, Marquette wrote an account of the Mississippi voyage, which was sent to his superior at Quebec. This paper fortunately reached its destination; but as Joliet, when almost in sight of Montreal, lost by the wreck of his canoe all his papers, including his written report to the governor of Canada, the credit of discovering the Mississippi, which properly belongs in common to the two explorers, has generally been attributed to Marquette alone, he being the only reporter of the voyage. His journal and letters will be published in this series, in due course.

Regarding the life and labors of this noted missionary, see Rochemonteix’s Jésuites, t. iii., pp. 4-33, where are given copious bibliographical references. Cf. Brucker’s “Jacques Marquette,” in Révue de Montreal, vol. iii., pp. 808-819, and vol. iv., pp. 49-63, 114-117: also “Mémoire sur le Père Marquette,” in Révue Canadienne, 3^rd series, vol. i., p. 283, and vol. ii., p. 25. At St. .Mary’s College, [Page 322] Montreal, is an apograph by Martin, of Dablon’s circular letter (dated Oct. 13, 1675) on the death of Marquette.

[14] (p. 173). — Rochemonteix says (Jésuites, t. i., pp. 209-211) that a course in philosophy, and, later, one in theology, were opened by the Jesuits in their college at Quebec, in conformity with the wishes of Laval, that he might educate and train a native clergy in Canada.

Master Elie (Elye) remained at Quebec but a year; his sudden departure is recorded by the Journ. des Jésuites, Oct. 14, 1667.

[15] (p. 175). — Jean Pierron was born at Dun-sur-Meuse, France, Sept. 28, 1631, and entered the Jesuit novitiate at Nancy, Nov. 21, 1650. A student at Pont-a-Mousson, and an instructor at Rheims and Verdun, he completed the usual curriculum in 1665; and, after spending two years more as an instructor at Metz, he came to Canada (June, 1667). He was immediately sent to the Iroquois mission, where he remained until 1677, returning to France in the following year. Dablon, in a letter to the French provincial (dated Oct. 24, 1674). describes a journey made by Pierron in that year through the English colonies, in disguise.

Jacques Bruyas, born July 13, 1635, at Lyons, became a Jesuit novice at the age of sixteen. In August, 1666, he joined the Canada mission, and in the following year began his labors among the Iroquois tribes, with whom he remained until 1679; he then took charge of the Iroquois mission at Sault St. Louis, where the greater part of his remaining life was spent. From August, 1693, to August, 1698, he was superior of the Canadian missions; and, in 1700-01, took active part in the negotiations which secured for the French a general peace with the Iroquois tribes. He died at Sault St. Louis, June 15, 1712. Bruyas was noted for his inguistic abilities, and left a MS. grammar of the Mohawk language, the oldest known to exist. It was published (from the original MS.) by the regents of the University of New York, in their Sixteenth Annual Report of State Cabinet (Albany, 1863), pp. 3-123.

[16] (p. 185). — This relates to the pain bénit (vol. xxxvii., note 1). The person who gave it, or made the offrande, knelt at the altar railing, holding a taper which also he offered; and he deposited an alms in the plate. After he had done this, the officiating priest made him kiss the Pax. This custom has fallen into disuse in Quebec, but I understand that it still exists in some parts Of France. — Crawford Lindsay.

[17] (p. 187). — Julien Gamier, a brother of the noted Benedictine, Dom Julien Garnier, was born at St. Brieux, a town in Brittany, Jan. 6, 1643. He entered the Jesuit order at Paris, Sept. 25, 1660: and, [Page 323] at the close of his novitiate, came to Quebec; in the college there he completed his studies, and was ordained in 1668, — the first ordination of a Jesuit in Canada. He was at once sent to Oneida, as Bruyas’s assistant, and remained among the Iroquois tribes until 1685; being transferred to the mission at Sault St. Louis, he labored there until 1715 (excepting from the end of 1691 until some time in 1694, during which period he was in charge of the Huron mission at Lorette). In 1715, Garnier became superior of the Canadian missions, which office he held three years. Returning then to Sault St. Louis, he continued his labors there until 1728; he died at Quebec, Jan. 13, 1730. Lafitau (Mœurs, pp. 2,3) acknowledges his indebtedness to this veteran missionary for most of the material for his work.

[18] (p. 189). — Mille Claude le Barroys, “royal councilor, and the king’s chief interpreter in the Portuguese language,” was general agent for the Company of the West Indies. At his demand (July 15, 1666), he was allowed to subject to his inspection all merchant ships coming to Quebec to ascertain whether they contained any smuggled furs: and, for the same reason, all persons were forbidden to go on board these ships between 9 P.M. and 4 A.M., on penalty of confiscation and fine. For copy of the agent’s letter, and of his demands regarding the rights and privileges of the company, with official memoranda on both papers, see Édits et Ordonnances, pp. 51-60. It is not known how long Le Barroys remained in Canada.

[19] (p. 191). — Louis Joliet was a son of Jean Joliet (vol. xxx., note 18), and was baptized in September, 1645, at Quebec. A student at the Jesuit college there until 1666. he had taken minor orders, and was preparing for the priesthood. In 1666 and 1667, he is mentioned as “clerk of the church” at the seminary of Quebec; and, apparently in the latter year, he abandoned the ecclesiastical life. In October, 1667 (according to Sulte). he went to France, where he spent a year; and in 1669 he was sent, with Jean Péré, by Talon in search of copper-mines at Lake Superior. Returning from this expedition, he met, in September of that year, La Salle and his Sulpitian companions (note 11, ante), near the western end of Lake Ontario. Joliet was present at Sault Ste. Marie when St. Lusson took possession of that region for France (June 4, 1671); and he was sent by Frontenac to explore the Mississippi region, in company with the Jesuit Marquette (note 13, ante), whose mission at Pt. St. Ignace he reached in December, 1672. In the following May, they began their voyage, which lasted five months. As mentioned in the note above cited, Joliet’s papers were lost on the return voyage; but a letter from Frontenac to Colbert, dated Nov. 14, 1674. says of the [Page 324] explorer: “He left with the Fathers at the Sault Ste. Marie, in Lake Superior, copies of his journals; these we cannot get before next year” N.Y. Colon. Docs., Vol. ix., p. 121). Unfortunately, these copies also appear to have been lost.

In October 9 1675, Joliet married Claire Françoise Bissot, by whom he had seven children. In 1679, he made a voyage to Hudson Bay, at the demand of the farmers of revenue in Canada. With Jacques de Lalande, he obtained, in the same year, the grant of Isles Mingan, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, where valuable fisheries were located; and in 1680 was granted, to Joliet alone, the island of Anticosti, also noted for its extensive fisheries. This latter concession was specifically made as a reward for his discoveries in the above voyages. For many years, he lived at Anticosti with his family. In April, 1697, he also obtained the seigniory of Jolliet, in Beauce county, Que. In 1680, he was appointed hydrographer for the king. The English invasion of Canada in 1690 caused him great losses: and it is claimed that, at his death (about 1700), he was actually suffering from poverty.

Regarding Joliet’s maps, see Winsor’s Curtier to Frontenac, pp. 224-249; and Gravier’s “Étude sur une carte inconnue . . .par L. Joliet.” in Révue de Geographie (Paris), February, 1880.

[20] (p. 191). — Jacques Descailhaut, sieur de la Tesserie, was born in 1629, near Nantes, France. In 1663, he was a member of the Tadoussac trading company; and, in the following year, of the Sovereign Council of Quebec. In 1663, he married Eleonore de Grandmaison (vol. xxvii,, note 6); he died in June, 1673.

[21] (p. 195). — Étienne de Carheil was born at Carentoir, France, in November, 1633, and began his novitiate in the Jesuit college at Paris, Aug. 30, 1653. His studies were pursued at Amiens, La Flêche, and Bourges; and he instructed classes at Rouen and Tours. He was ordained in 1666, and immediately set out for Canada. After two years at Quebec, spent in preparation for mission-work, he was sent to Cayuga, where he labored until 1683; he was then, like other missionaries to the Iroquois, compelled to leave that field, through the growing hostility of the savages. The next three years he spent as professor of grammar in the college of Quebec; and in 1686 was assigned to the mission among the Hurons and Ottawas at Mackinac. The establishment of Detroit (1701) by La Mothe Cadillac, the French commander at Mackinac, drew away the Hurons from the latter post, and Carheil could no longer remain there. He had, moreover, provoked the enmity of Cadillac, and also of the fur-traders, by his opposition to the brandy traffic, so prevalent at all the trading-posts, and so demoralizing to both French and Indians. This and the practical abandonment of Mackinac, obliged [Page 325] Carheil to return to Quebec in 1703 ; from that time until probably 1718, he ministered to the French at Montreal and other towns. His death occurred July 27, 1726, at Quebec.

Carheil’s letter to Callières, the governor (dated at Michillimackinac, Aug. 30. 1702), complaining of the disorders there, will be given in this series. He left two MS. volumes, Racines Hurronnes; his biographer, Orhand, suggests that this work may be the basis of Potier’s Grammaire Heronne. Carheil’s life and character are described at length by Orhand in Un admirable inconnu (Paris, 1890); the work contains numerous letters by Carheil.

[22] (p. 197). — This picture given by Tracy still hangs in the church of Ste. Anne de Beaupré — Crawford Lindsay.

[23] (p. 207). — Sol Marquée; in old French currency, a copper coin worth 15 deniers (Littré). The statement in the text, that this piece was reduced to 20 deniers, points out an earlier and greater value than that mentioned in the above definition; but it simply indicates one of many successive reductions in the value of a coin that was originally (under Charlemagne) worth the twentieth part of a livre’s weight of silver. The ordinance referred to in the text is published in Arrets du Conseil Supérieur (Quebec, 1855), pp. 349 35.

[24] (p. 211). — François de Salignac, abbé de Fénelon, a half-brother of the noted Archbishop Fénelon, was born in 1641. He entered the seminary of St. Sulpice at Paris, Oct. 23, 1665. When, a year later, a call came for more missionaries to go to Canada, Fénelon at once responded; and, despite his family’s opposition, he came to Montreal in the summer of 1667. In the following year, he was ordained, and at once began, with Trouvé, a mission among the Cayugas at Quinté (Kenté) Bay, — the first Sulpitian mission among Iroquois savages. It was maintained until 1673, when the Recollets replaced the Sulpitians. Fénelon now founded at Gentilly a school for Indian children, in which he was aided by Frontenac. Early in 1674, Fénelon incurred the governor’s displeasure by his opposition to Frontenac’s proceedings against certain unlicensed fur-traders; and, in the following November. he was sent back to France. He died there five years later.

Hennepin and some later writers confounded the abbé de Fénelon with his brother the archbishop,-saying that the latter had been a missionary in Canada; but this error has been satisfactorily corrected by modern writers. See Verreau’s Deux abbés de Fénelon (Lévis, 1898).

[25] (p. 215). — Louis de Beaulieu was born at Bourges, in 1635. He became a Jesuit novice at Lyons, Sept. 13, 1651, pursuing his [Page 326] studies at Chambery and Lyous, and acting as instructor at Aix, Avignon, Mâcon, and Lyons. Coming to Canada in 1667, he soon made such Progress in the Montagnais language that Nouvel placed him in charge of the Tadoussac mission. But the hardships of missionary life shattered his health, and he was sent back to France in 1671.

Philippe Pierson, a native of Hainault, was born Jan. 4, 1642; and, at the age of eighteen, entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tournay. A student at Louvain, Lille, and Douay, and an instructor at Armentières and Bethune, he came to Canada in 1666. After teaching grammar in the college of Quebec for a year, and spending two years more in the study of theology, he received his ordination in 1669. He ministered to the Christian savages at Prairie de la Madeleine and Sillery, Successively; in 1673, he was sent to the Hurons of the Mackinac mission, with whom he labored for ten years. From 1683 to 1638, Pierson was a missionary among the Sioux west of Lake Superior. His death occurred at Quebec, probably in 1688.

[26] (p. 217). — Regarding Isles Percées, see vol. xlvii., note 28.

[27] (p. 243). — Talon’s activities in the development of the country’s resources, were in pursuance of the policy adopted by Louis XIV. and Colbert toward Canada. See instructions given to Talon, and his report to Colbert, in N.Y. Colon. Docs., vol. ix., pp. 24-36, 39-44, 55. Cf., Parkman’s Old Régime, pp. 206-214.

[28] (p. 267). — The copper of Lake Superior was well known among the Algonkin tribes when the French began to settle in Canada, and early writers frequently mention the mines of that region. In 1768, the English government was petitioned for the grant of “all the copper mines circumjacent to Lake Superior,” for sixty miles inland. Sir William Johnson, instructed to inquire whether it would be practicable to work these mines, reported that such an enterprise would encounter many difficulties — especially in transporting the ore, which would have to be carried by way of the lakes. — See N.Y. Colon. Docs., vol. viii., pp. 92, 140, 141; also Marshall’s “Early Notices of the Copper Regions,” in his Hist. Writings (Albany, 1837), pp. 332-342.

In 1843, the so-called “copper rock of Lake Superior ” was transported from its original locality on Ontonagon River. Its weight was estimated at 6,000 to 7,000 pounds, and its purity at 95 per cent. It was placed in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D. C.

[29] (p. 271). — Theriacs were held in great estimation during the middle ages. They were composed of opium, flavored with nutmeg, [Page 327] cardamom, cinnamon, and mace, — or merely with saffron and ambergris.

[30] (p. 289). — Regarding this superstition as to the bones of animals, see vol. xx., note 11.

[31] (p. 289). — Missibizi; a variant of Michabou, the Algonkin deity (vol. v.. note 41).