The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents
Travels and Explorations
of the Jesuit Missionaries
in New France
1610—1791
THE ORIGINAL FRENCH, LATIN, AND ITALI-
IAN TEXTS, WITH ENGLISH TRANSLA-
TIONS AND NOTES; ILLUSTRATED BY
PORTRAITS, MAPS, AND FACSIMILES
EDITED BY
Reuben Gold Thwaites
Secretary of the State historical Society of Wisconsin
COMPUTERIZED TRANSCRIPTION BY
Thom Mentrak
Historical Interpreter at
Onondaga county parks
Ste. Marie Among The Iroquois Living History Museum
Liverpool. New York
Vol. X
Hurons
1636
CLEVELAND:
The Burrows BrothersCompany,
PUBLISHERS, M DCCC XCVIII
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor
Reuben Gold Thwaites
Translators.
| Finlow Alexander
[French]| Percy Favor Bicknell
[French]| John Cutler Covert
[French]| William Frederic Giese
[Latin]| Crawford Lindsay
[French]| Mary Sifton Pepper
[French & Italian]| William Price
[French]| Hiram Allen Sober
[French]| John Dorsey Wolcott
[Latin]Assistant Editor
Emma Helen Blair
Bibliographical Adviser
Victor Hugo Paltsits
Electronic Transcription
Thom Mentrak
CONTENTS OF VOL. X
Preface to Volume X
1
Document:—
XXVI.
Relation de ce qui s'est passé en la Novvelle France, en l'année 1636. [Part II., being Brébeuf's Relation of the Hurons for this year, originally published as an appendix to Le Jeune's Relation of 1636, and thus completing the document.] Jean de Brébeuf; Ihonatiria, July 16, 1636
5
Notes
319
[page i]
ILLUSTRATION TO VOL. X
I.
Map showing sites Of Huron Missions, by Andrew F. Hunter, of Barrie, Ont.
Facing
319
[page ii]
PREFACE TO VOL. X
Following is a synopsis of the third and final installment of Document XXVI., contained in the present volume:
XXVI. In the Preface to Vol. VIII., we explained that the Relation of 1636, like many others of the series, is a composite. Part I. is a general report to the provincial of the Jesuits, at Paris, upon the progress and condition of the missions in New France, in 1636, from the pen of the superior, Le Jenne; Part II. consists of a specific Relation, addressed to the latter by Brébeuf, of the mission to the Hurons for this year. In Vols. VIII. and IX. were presented Le Jeune's Relation proper, the present volume being devoted to Brébeuf's Huron Relation, thus completing the document.
As usual, Brébeuf commences his annual letter by describing " the conversion, baptism, and happy death of some Hurons." During the year, the missionaries in that far-away field have baptized eighty-six savages,—an encouraging gain over the fourteen who were " rescued from the service of the devil " during the first year of their labors. Their great hope is in the conversion of the children, who, they report, show surprising aptitude and willingness to learn the doctrines of the Christian faith; and, through them, many parents have been reached.
At a council of the Huron chiefs, Brébeuf produces [page 1] letters from Champlain and Duplessis-Bochart, who exhort the tribesmen to follow the teaching of the missionaries, and embrace Christianity; to emphasize this advice, and in accordance with the custom of the country, he " presents to the assembly a collar of twelve hundred beads of Porcelain, telling them that it was given to smooth the difficulties of the road to Paradise."
The writer describes the unusual and intense drought which prevailed throughout Canada, in the spring and early summer of 1635. The Huron country, being sandy, is especially affected, and is threatened with a total failure of the crops. The "sorcerers," or medicine men, practice all their arts to bring rain, but without success, and attribute their failure to the cross erected by the missionaries. The latter, .as a last resort, appeal to their patron saints; and abundant rains are secured,—in June, by a novena of masses in honor of St. Joseph; and in August, by another novena for St. Ignace. The result is a plentiful harvest, which increases the good will of the savages toward the black gowns.
The Hurons are in constant dread of hostile incursions from the Iroquois; the missionaries promise to assist them in such emergencies, and instruct them how to improve the fortifications around their villages; for this, the Hurons are duly grateful.
In August, Mercier and Pijart arrive from Quebec,—a welcome reinforcement. Many details of missionary work are given,—journeys, instructions, debates with Indians, conversions, baptisms, etc. Louis de Sainte-Foi (Amantacha), who had been educated in France during 1626-28, is praised for his intelligence, fidelity, and Christian character; [page 2] and he greatly aids the labors of the missionaries.
An embassy of Island savages (from the Allumettes) visits the Hurons, attempting, but in vain, to incite them to an attack on the Iroquois. Brébeuf takes this opportunity to win, for himself and his brethren, the friendship of these Islanders,—giving them a canoe and other presents.
For the benefit of those of his brethren in France who desire to undertake missionary work in the Huron country, Brébeuf recounts the many perils of the journey hither, and the annoyances and dangers to which apostles of the faith are continually exposed among the savages; but he offers much encouragement and consolation to those who are willing, nevertheless, to brave all obstacles, and to devote themselves to the conversion of the natives.
The missionaries are compiling a grammar and dictionary of the Huron dialect; and Brébeuf devotes a chapter to the peculiarities of this tongue.
The second part of this Relation, is occupied by a minute account of "the beliefs, manners, and customs of the Hurons,"—their myths of Deity and creation; their notions regarding the nature of man's soul, and its condition after death; their worship of the sky, and of demons; their superstitions, and faith in dreams; their feasts and dances; their games, and the general habit of gambling. Then are described, at length, the tricks of medicine men; the national characteristics of the Huron tribes; their customs, both in peace and war; their councils and oratory; and, finally, their solemn feast of the dead,—at which ghastly ceremony, once in twelve years, the corpses of all who have died during that time receive a public and common burial. [page 3]
Brébeuf closes his account with an expression of much hope for the future success of their labors,—mingled, however, with fear lest these savage neophytes may grow restive when placed under greater restrictions on their moral and social conduct, than have thus far seemed advisable to the cautious missionaries.
The translation of Brébeuf's portion of the Relation of 1636, contained in the present volume, was made by the late James McFie Hunter, M. A., of Barrie,Ont.
R. G. T.
Madison, Wis., October, 1897
XXVI
(concluded)LE JEUNE'S RELATION, 1636
Paris: SEBASTIEN CRAMOISY, 137
Part 1 (Le Jeune's own Relation) appeared in Volumes VIII., IX. The present installment, which closes the document, is Part II., consisting of Brébeuf's annual report on the Huron mission. [page 5]
[1] Relation of what occurred in the Country of the Hurons in the year 1636.
Sent to Kébec to Reverend Father Paul le Jeune, Superior of the Mission of the Society of Jesus, in New France.
Y REVEREND FATHER,
Having learned from your letters, and from the statements of the Fathers who arrived here fortunately last year, how old France is burning with ardent desires for the New; that our Reverend Father General cherishes this Mission as the apple of his eye; that the Father Provincial is inclined to it with his whole heart; that the ardor in our Colleges is so great that it is more difficult to check the [2] tears of those who are turned away, and refused permission to come to our assistance, than to find those who will work; that a very great number of persons, Religious and secular, are continually offering their prayers and their vows to God for the conversion of the poor Barbarians of this whole country; and that in the House of Montmartre, not to speak of others, a Nun is prostrated night and day before the Holy Sacrament, praying for this result; all this makes us hope and believe that God will now open the treasures of his grace and favor upon these poor Peoples, and unseal the eyes of their souls to know the truth. For he would not incite so many devout persons to ask, if he had not the inclination to grant their prayers. Besides, we learn that the colony of Kebec is rapidly increasing, through the efforts [page 7] of Messieurs the Associates of the Company of New France, who spare no pains on their side; and we hope the good example of our Frenchmen will greatly aid not only to bring together and encourage to work the idle and wandering Savages, but to incite them to do for God what they shall find practicable. Moreover, I can say [3] with reason that if divine Goodness continues to scatter his favors and blessings on our Hurons, and on us who labor among them, as freely as he has done since our arrival, we ought, without doubt, to expect here some day an abundant harvest of souls. It is true, there are among these Tribes many errors, superstitions, vices, and utterly evil customs to uproot,—more than we had imagined at first, as will be seen in the course of this Relation; but with God nothing is impossible. It is by his aid that we have already planted the Cross in the midst of this Barbarism, and are beginning and will continue, if it please him, to make known the name and marvelous works of him who by the Cross has redeemed the world. But enough has been said in a general way; it is time to enter into particulars, which I shall willingly and fully do, assuring you that I shall state nothing that I have not seen myself or have not learned from persons worthy of credence. [page 9]
[4] Part First.
CHAPTER FIRST.
OF THE CONVERSION, BAPTISM, AND HAPPY DEATH OF SOME HURONS; AND OF THE CONDITION OF CHRISTIANITY AMID THIS BARBARISM.
URING the present year, eighty-six have been baptized, and, adding to these the fourteen of last year, there are a hundred souls in all who, we believe, have been rescued from the service of the devil in this country since our return. Of this. number God has called ten to Heaven,—six while they were young, and four more advanced in age. One of these, named François Sangwati, was Captain of our village. He had a naturally good disposition, and consented very willingly to be instructed and to receive Holy Baptism, a course he had previously praised and approved in others. I admired the tender Providence of God in the conversion of a woman, who is one of the four deceased. I baptized her [5] this Autumn at the village of Scanonaenrat, when returning from the house of Louys de saincte Foy, where we had gone to instruct his parents. The deafness of this sick woman, and the depths of the mysteries I brought to her notice, prevented her from sufficiently understanding me; and, besides, the accent of that Nation is a little different from that of the Bears, with whom we live. My own imperfect acquaintance with the language rendered me [page 11] still less intelligible, and increased my difficulties. But Our Lord, who willed to save this soul, immediately sent us a young man, who served us as interpreter. He had been with us in the Cabin of Louys, and had heard us talking of our mysteries, so that he already knew a considerable part of them, and understood very well what I said. It is said that this woman, who was named Marie, in the midst of her greatest weakness foretold that she would not die for eight days; and so it happened.
They seek Baptism almost entirely as an aid to health. We try to purify this intention, and to lead them to receive from the hand of Cod alike sickness and health, death and life; and teach them that the life-giving waters of Holy [6] Baptism principally impart life to the soul, and not to the body. However, they have the opinion so deeply rooted that the baptized, especially the children, are no longer sickly, that soon they will have spread it abroad and published it everywhere. The result is that they are now bringing us children to baptize from two, three, yes, even seven leagues away.
Moreover, the divine Goodness which acts in us according to the measure of our Faith, has thus far preserved these little ones in good health; so that the death of those who have passed away has been attributed to incurable and hopeless maladies contracted beforehand; and, if another has occasionally suffered from some trifling ailment, the parents, although still unbelieving, have attributed it to the neglect and irreverence they have shown toward the service of God.
There is in our village a little Christian girl named Louyse, who at six months began to walk alone; the [page 13] parents declare they have seen nothing like it, and ,attribute it to the efficacy of Holy Baptism. Another person told us one day, with great delight, that his little [7] boy, who had always been sick and much emaciated before Baptism, had been very well since then. This will suffice to show how Our Lord is inspiring them with a high opinion of this divine Sacrament, which is strengthened by the perfect health God gives us, and which he has given to all the French who have been in this country; for, they say, it is very strange that, except a single man who died here from natural causes, all the others, during the twenty-five years or thereabout in which the, French have been frequenting this region, have scarcely ever been sick.
From all this may be easily gathered the present state of the young Christianity of this country, and the hope for the future. Two or three things besides will help to the same end. The first is the method we pursue in the instruction of the Savages. We gather together the men as often as we can; for their councils, their feasts, their games, and their dances do not permit us to have them here at any 'hour, nor every day. We pay especial attention to the Old Men, inasmuch as they are the ones who determine and decide all matters, and everything is ordered by their advice. [8] All come willingly to hear us; all, without exception, say they have a desire to go to Heaven and fear the fiery torments of hell. They have hardly anything to answer us with; we could wish sometimes that they would bring forward more objections, which would always afford us better opportunity to explain our holy Mysteries in detail. Of a truth, the Commandments of God [page 15] are very just and reasonable, and they must be less than men who find therein anything to censure. Our Hurons, who have as yet only the light of nature, have found them so noble, so agreeable to reason, that after having heard the explanation of them they would say, in admiration, ca chia attwain aa arrihwaa, "Certainly these are important matters, and worthy of being discussed in our councils; they speak the truth, they say nothing but what is to the purpose; we have never heard such discourse." Among other things which made them acknowledge the truth of one God, Creator, Governor, and Preserver of all things, was the illustration I employed of the child conceived in its mother's womb. " Who," said I, but God forms the body of. this child; who out of one and the same material [9] forms the heart, the liver, the lungs,—in short, an infinite variety of members, all necessary, all well-proportioned, and joined one to another? Not the father, for these wonders take place in his absence, and sometimes after his death. Nor is it the mother, for she does not know what takes place in her womb. If it be the father or the mother that forms this body at discretion, why is not a son or a daughter begotten at will? Why do they not produce children, handsome, tall, strong, and active? And, if parents give the soul to their children, why do they not impart to all of them great minds, a retentive memory, and all sorts of noble and praiseworthy qualities, seeing that there is no one who would not desire to have such children if this were in his power?" To all this the Hurons, full of wonder, make no reply. They confess that we speak the truth, and that indeed there is a God; they declare that henceforth they will recognize, [page 17] serve, and honor him; and, desiring to be promptly instructed, they ask us to teach them the Catechism every day; but, as I have said, their occupations and amusements do not permit that.
[10] Moreover, the harmony of all points of Christian Doctrine pleases them wonderfully; "For," they say, " you always speak connectedly, and consistently with what you have said; you never wander off, you never speak save to the purpose; we, on the contrary, speak heedlessly, not knowing what we say." It is a characteristic of falsehood to embarrass itself in a multitude of contradictions.
The evil is, they are so attached to their old customs that, knowing the beauty of truth, they are content to approve it without embracing it. Their usual reply is, oniondechouten, "Such is the custom of our country." We have fought this excuse and have taken it from their mouths, but not yet from their hearts; our Lord will do that when it shall please him.
Thus, then, we deal with the Old Men. As the women and children caused us much trouble, we have hit upon this plan, which succeeds fairly well. Father Antoine Daniel and the other Fathers go every day through the Cabins, teaching the children, whether baptized or not, Christian doctrine,—namely, the sign of the Cross, [11] the Pater, the Ave, the Credo, the Commandments of God, the Prayer to the Guardian Angel, and other brief prayers, all in their own tongue, because these Peoples have a natural inaptitude for learning any other.
On Sundays, we assemble all these young people twice in our Cabin, which serves as a Chapel. In the morning we get them to assist at Mass, even [page 19] to the offertory, before which we solemnly bless the holy water; then I make them say all together, after me, the Pater, the Ave, and other prayers they know. In the afternoon I propose to them some little question from the Catechism, and make them give account of what they have learned during the week, giving to each some little prize according to his merit.
This method, along with the little rewards, has wonderful results. For, in the first place, it has kindled among all the children so great a desire to learn that there is not even one who, if it can stammer out words at all, does not desire to be instructed; and, as they are almost all fairly intelligent, they make rapid progress, for they even [12] teach one another.
I cannot tell you the satisfaction and consolation these little children give us. When we consider their Fathers, still plunged in their superstitions, although recognizing sufficiently the truth, we are afraid that God, provoked by their sins, has rejected them for a time; but, as for the children, without doubt he holds out his arms to them and draws them to himself. The eagerness they show to learn the duties of a Christian keeps us from doubting it. The smallest ones throw themselves into our arms, as we pass through the Cabins, and do not require to be urged to talk and to learn. Father Daniel hit upon the plan of quieting a little child, crying in its mother's arms, by having it make the sign of the Cross. And indeed, one day when I had just been teaching the Catechism to them in our Cabin, this child made us laugh; its mother was carrying it in her arms, and was going out; but, as soon as she reached the door, it began to cry so that she was [page 21] compelled to turn back. She asked it what was the matter. "Let me begin again," [13] it said, " let me begin again, I want to say more." I then got it to make again the sign of the Cross, and it immediately began to laugh and to jump for joy. I saw the same child, another time, crying hard because it had had its finger frozen; but it quieted down and laughed, as soon as they had it make the sign of the Cross. I dwell willingly upon this matter, as I am sure pious souls take pleasure in hearing all these particulars. In the beginnings of this infant Church, what can we speak about if not the stammerings of our spiritual children? We have one little girl, among others, named Marie Aoesiwa, who has not her equal. Her whole satisfaction seems to be in making the sign of the Cross and in saying her Pater and Ave. Scarcely have we set foot in her Cabin, when she leaves everything to pray to God. When we assemble the children for prayers or for Catechism, she is always among the first, and hastens there more cheerfully than many would to play. She does not stir from our Cabin, and does not omit making the sign of the Cross, and saying over and over fifty times a day the Pater and Ave. She gets others to do the same; and, one of our [14] Frenchman having newly come, her only greeting was to take his hand, and have him make the sign of the Cross. Often she is in the field when our Fathers recite their Office there; she stands in the road, and, almost every time they return, she begins to make the sign of the Cross, and to pray to God in a loud voice.
Another little girl named Catherine had often been wayward about receiving instruction, and so had not been rewarded like the others. Some days afterward, [page 23] one of her companions brought her to one of our Fathers, giving him to understand that she was quite disposed to learn; but, when it came to the point, she acted as usual. The little girl who had brought her became annoyed, and used all her little natural rhetoric to make her open her lips and to get her to speak,—sometimes using threats, sometimes holding out a reward from me if she spoke properly; she was so earnest that she succeeded, to the great satisfaction of those of our Fathers who were listening to her.
Another benefit that results from this practice—which is in conformity with our Institute—is, that even the adults become instructed by this means; [15] for the desire of the fathers and mothers that their children should be praised and rewarded leads them to be instructed themselves, in order to teach their children; particularly many older girls take pleasure in imitating the younger ones. When they are returning from the forest, they often stop the first of our Fathers whom they meet, and say to him, ta arrihwaienstan sen, "Teach me, I pray thee;" and although they may be well laden, they are not satisfied unless he has them say the Pater and the Ave. Sometimes they anticipate us, and, from as far as they can see one of our Fathers, they begin to recite what they know. What a consolation to hear these districts resound with the name of Jesus, where the devil has been, so to speak, adored and recognized as God during so many ages.
This exercise also enables us to improve greatly in the use and knowledge of the language, which is no small gain. Generally speaking they praise an approve the Christian Religion, and blame their wicked customs; but when will they leave them off entirely? [page 25] Some say to us: "Do you think [16] you are going to succeed in overturning the Country?" Thus do they style the change from their Pagan and Barbarous life to one that is civilized and Christian. We reply that we are not so presumptuous, but that what is impossible to man is not only possible but easy to God. Here is another indication of their good will toward the Faith. Monsieur de Champlain and Monsieur the General du Plessis Bochart rendered us great service last year, by exhorting the Hurons in full council to embrace the Christian Religion, and by telling them that it was the only means not only of being some day truly happy in Heaven, but also of cementing in the future a very close alliance with the French,—who, if this were done, would readily come into their Country, marry their daughters, teach them different arts and trades, and assist them against their enemies; and that, if they would bring some of their children next year, to be instructed at Kébec, our Fathers would take good care of them. And, inasmuch as the Captains of the country were not there, they asked them to hold a general council on their [17] return, concerning the points mentioned; also to give me the letters with which they were pleased to honor me, in which these Gentlemen informed us of what had been said, in order that we might be present at the Huron Council, and be able to avail ourselves of what they had done. In accordance with this, in the month of April last, having been invited to an Assembly or Council, where all the Old Men and Chiefs of the Nation of the Bear met to deliberate on their great feast of the dead, I took occasion to show them the letters of these Gentlemen, and asked them to decide, after careful [page 27] deliberation, what they wished to answer thereto. I told them that every man, as possessing an immortal soul, would at last, after this life, go to one or the other of two places, Paradise or Hell, and that forever; but that these places were widely different, since Paradise is a place abounding in blessings of all kinds, and free from all manner of ills; Hell, a place where no blessing comes, and where ills of all kinds abound; that it is a fiery furnace, in the midst of which the damned would be forever tormented, and burned without ever being consumed; [18] that they must now consider to which of these two places they preferred to go some day, forever, and to do this while they were still in this life, because the matter was decided so far as it concerned all the dead for whom they had made or were going to make feasts; that all those who had slighted God and broken his commandments had followed the path to Hell, where they now were tormented by punishments that could not be imagined, and for which there was no remedy. I told them that, if they wished to go to Heaven, we would teach them the way; and, inasmuch as all affairs of importance are managed here by presents, and as the Porcelain that takes the place of gold and silver in this Country is all-powerful, I presented in this Assembly a collar of twelve hundred beads of Porcelain, telling them that it was given to smooth the difficulties of the road to Paradise. It is customary to employ such terms, when they make presents to succeed in some difficult enterprise. Then all, in turn expressing their opinions, said that they dreaded these glowing fires of Hell, and that they preferred the road to Heaven. There was, nevertheless, one who—either seriously, or more probably [19] in [page 29] jest—said it was very fine that all should wish to go to Heaven, and be happy; but that, as far as he was concerned, it did not matter even if he should be burned in Hell. I replied that God gave us all the choice of the one or the other; that he did not know what Hell fire was, and that I hoped he would change his mind when he was better informed.
You see the inclination of the Hurons, and especially of the Nation of the Bear, to receive Christianity; and this will be greatly increased by the fact that we have already baptized many of their children. For they say, " We do not wish to be separated from our children, we desire to go to Heaven with them. You can judge," they say, " how much we approve your talk, seeing we willingly listen to it, without contradiction, and permit you to baptize our children." I must not forget to express on this occasion the satisfaction which Louys de saincte Foy gives us; he certainly performs his duties as a Christian as much to our edification and pleasure as formerly he failed therein. In this month of September he had a desire to return to our house at Kébec for the winter, in order to resume quietly [20] the good instructions he had had formerly from our Fathers in France, and to devote himself again to the practice of virtue and Christian piety. We strongly approved this design, the more so as he could have taken with him some young relative who might have been instructed and baptized there; but as some difficulty came in the way of his resolution, he concluded that he would pass a good part of the Winter with us. This he has done with much satisfaction and profit, both to himself and to us; for he has resumed attendance upon the Sacraments, and the habit of [page 31] prayer. At Christmas he made a very good general Confession for the period since his Baptism. Besides, in our Catechizing and teaching of the Savages, he served as Interpreter, and has translated several things into the Huron language for us, wherein we admired the facility with which he understood our language, and comprehended and explained the most difficult mysteries. In short, he gives evidence that truly he has the fear of God before his eyes.
To conclude this chapter, we hope to send you Fathers Antoine Daniel and Ambroise Davot with a band of honest little Hurons, to make [21] a beginning for the Seminary, from which we can reasonably expect much fruit in the conversion of these Peoples. If there were Nuns at Kébec, I believe we might be able to send also girls for a Seminary. There are here a number of fine little girls, who, if they were well brought up, would not yield in any respect to our young French girls. It makes our hearts ache to see these innocent young girls so soon defile their purity of body and beauty of soul, for lack of a good example and good instruction. I doubt not at all that the divine Goodness will crown with great blessings those in particular whom he inspires to contribute to the foundation of these Seminaries, and to the education of these young plants of this infant Church. [page 33]
CHAPTER II.
CONTAINING IN THE ORDER OF TIME THE OTHER REMARKABLE THINGS THAT HAPPENED DURING THIS YEAR.
IRST, I notice the dryness of the past Summer, which has been very general [22] throughout these Regions, so far as I can learn from Kébec letters, and from Savages returning from distant trading expeditions; everything was so dry and so and that at the least spark of fire the forests and fields were at once in a blaze. Thus it happened that many Savages, going about the country and not being on their guard, had their Cabins and provisions burned, as did also two of our men. But to speak only of the Huron Country,—the drought was very great, for from Easter until the middle of June there was no rain at all, or very little. Nothing was growing, everything was dying, so that we apprehended a serious famine, and rightly; for, the soil of the Huron country and adjacent regions being sandy, if three days pass without its being watered with rain from Heaven, everything begins to fade and hang its head. Filled with these apprehensions, the whole Country was dreading a famine, especially as last Spring three villages had been burned which, but for this accident, might have served in case of necessity as granaries to the whole Country. All were crying for help, and imploring, according to their custom, the help of the Sorcerers, or Arendiowane, [page 35] who are here held in reverence, [23] because they. promise, to turn aside the misfortunes with which Heaven threatens them. These deceivers played all the tricks that dreams and their own empty heads could suggest to them, in order to bring rain, but in vain, the. Heavens were as brass to their foolishness. There was one of these Sorcerers named Tehorenhaegnon, more famous than the others, who promised marvels, provided the whole Country made him a present of the value of ten hatchets, not to speak of a multitude of feasts; but these efforts were in vain,—dreaming, feasting, dancing, were all to no purpose, there fell not a drop of water; so that he had to confess that he could not succeed, and he declared that the crops would not ripen; but unfortunately, or rather fortunately for us, he said that he was hindered from making it rain by a Cross which is before our door, and that the house of the French was a house of demons, or of ill-disposed people who had come into their Country in order to make them die. Some thereupon, trying to outdo him, said perhaps we cherished resentment for the death of Estienne Bruslé and that we wished to draw down vengeance upon the whole Country for the death of a single person. [24] Others added that the Algonquins had told them that the French came here only to compass their death, and that from them had come the contagion of last year. In consequence of these statements we were told that we must take down our Cross; and that, if the crops should not mature, they might beat us to death as they do the Sorcerers and other pernicious people here, Some, to our great regret and sorrow, said that they would pull down the Cross; and it even went so far that some young [page 37] people, having made another and having placed it on the ridge of a Cabin, began to shoot at it as at a target with their bows and arrows, but our Lord did not permit them to hit it even once. Others were much more wicked, since they were more fully acquainted with the knowledge of the one God, Creator and Governor of all things, for they accused his Goodness and Providence with horrid blasphemies. One would have to be of bronze not to be irritated by such insolence. What touched us most keenly was the misery of these poor People, their blindness, and above all the offense they committed [25] against God by forsaking him for the Sorcerers. As to death, I believe that all of us would have been very glad to submit to it for the defense of the Cross. We therefore assembled in our Cabin the men and women of our village, especially because they alone had not resorted to the Sorcerers, but had always asked us to make it rain. They believe that nothing is impossible for us. I told them that neither we nor any man could bring rain or fine weather; that he who made Heaven and earth alone was master of them, and distributed them according to his good pleasure; that recourse must be had only to him; that the Cross we had planted had not hindered the rain, as it had often rained and thundered since we had erected it; but that perhaps God was angry because they had spoken ill of him and had had recourse to wicked Arendiowane, who either had no power, or, indeed, perhaps had themselves caused the drought by their intercourse and pacts with the devil; that, besides, everything they did was only to get presents, and that, if they could do [26] anything, they should make rain. Consequently, if they would obtain what [page 39] they desired, I urged them to address him who made everything, and who alone is the Author of all blessings, of whom we had so often spoken to them, and to whom we would teach them to pray. This Nation is very docile, and when influenced by temporal considerations it can be bent as one pleases. They all replied that they put no faith in their soothsayers, and that they were deceivers; that they wished no other God than him whom we taught to them, and that they would do what we told them. I then told them that they must hate their sins, and resolve in earnest to serve that God whom we announced to them; that henceforth we would every day make a Procession to implore his help, that all Christians did this; that they should be constant and persevering, not losing courage if they were not immediately heard. We added to this a vow of nine Masses in honor of the glorious Spouse of our Lady, the Protector of the Hurons. We exposed also the Blessed Sacrament on the occasion of its Feast, which happened at that time.
[27] Now it happened that, exactly as the novena was completed, which was on the thirteenth of June, we could not finish the Procession on account of the rain, which followed very abundantly and lasted, with several intervals, the space of a month, with a great improvement and growth of the fruits of the earth; and because, as I have said, these sandy soils need rain almost every other day, another drought having occurred from the middle of July until the last of the month, we undertook another novena in honor of our Blessed Father St. Ignatius, through whose prayers we had, from the day after this novena began and since, such an abundance of rain that [page 41] it caused the corn, to form perfect ears, and ripened them; so that there was this year as much corn as there has been for a long time.
Now these rains have produced two good results one in that they have increased the fruits of the earth; the other that they stifled those false opinions and notions conceived against God, against the Cross, and against ourselves. For all the Savages that knew us, and especially those of our village, came expressly to see us, [28] to tell us that God was in truth good, and that we also were good; and that in the future they would serve God, adding a thousand abusive words in reference to all their Arendiowane, or soothsayers. To God be forever the glory of the whole; he permits the drought of the soil, to bedew all hearts with his blessings.
In the year 1628, when the English defeated the fleet of the Company of New France, whose loss was the damnation of many Canadians and the postponement of the conversion of many others, as. may be believed,—there happened to me in this country an incident almost the same as the preceding, which, by reason of its likeness to it, seems to me worth relating here. The drought was very great everywhere, but particularly so in our village and its neighborhood. I was indeed astonished, sometimes, to see the air heavily laden with clouds elsewhere, and to hear the thunders roaring; while in our neighborhood, on the contrary, the Sky was clear, very bright and very hot. It seemed even that the clouds separated as they approached our region. That same tool of the devil that I have mentioned before, Tehorenhaegnon, having been entreated to make rain, replied that he could not [29] make it; and that the [page 43] thunder, which they pretend is a bird, was afraid of the Cross that was in front of the Frenchmen's house, and that the red color with which it was painted was like a fire burning and flaming, which divided the clouds in two when they passed above it.
The Captains of the village, having heard these stories, sent for me and said, "My nephew, here is what so-and-so says; what dost thou answer to it? We are ruined, for the corn will not ripen. If at least we should die by the hands and arms of our enemies who are ready to burst upon us, well and good,—we should not at any rate pine away; but if, having escaped from their fury, we are exposed to famine, that would be to go from bad to worse. What dost thou think of it? Thou dost not wish to be the cause of our death? besides, it is of as much importance to thee as to us. We are of the opinion that thou shouldst take down that Cross, and hide it awhile in thy Cabin, or even in the lake, so that the thunder and the clouds may not see it, and no longer fear it; and then after the harvest thou mayest set it up again." To this I answered, " As for me, I shall never take down nor hide the Cross [30] where died he who is the cause of all our blessings. For yourselves, if you wish to take it down, consider the matter well; I shall not be able to hinder you, but take care that, in taking it down, you do not make God angry and increase your own misery. Do you believe in this deceiver? He does not know what he says. This Cross has been set up for more than a. year, and you know how many times there has been rain here since. Only an ignorant person would say that the thunder is afraid; it is not an animal, it is a dry and burning exhalation which, being shut in, [page 45] seeks to get out this way and that. And then what does the thunder fear? This red color of the Cross? Take away then, yourselves, all those red figures and paintings that are on your Cabins." To this they did not know what to reply; they looked at each other and said, " It is true, we must not touch this Cross; and yet," added they, " Tehore~nhaegnon says so." A thought came to me. "Since," said I, " Tehorenhaegnon says that the thunder is afraid of this color of the Cross, if you like we will paint it another color, white, or black, or any other; and if, immediately after, it begins to rain, you will be sure Tehorenhaegnon has [31] told the truth; but if not, that he is an impostor. " " Well said, " they replied, "we will do that." The Cross was therefore painted white, but one, two, three, four days passed without any more rain than before; and meanwhile all who saw the Cross became angry at the Sorcerer who had been the cause of disfiguring it thus. Thereupon I went to see the Old Men. " Well, has it rained any more than before? Are you satisfied?" "Yes," said they, " we see clearly enough that Tehorenhaegnon is only a deceiver; but now, do thou tell us what to do, and we will obey thee. " Then our Lord inspired me to instruct them in the mystery of the Cross, and speak to them of the honor that was everywhere rendered to it; and to tell them that it was my opinion that they should all come in a body, men and women, to adore the Cross in order to restore its honor; and, inasmuch as it was a matter of causing the crops to grow, they should each bring a dish of corn to make an offering to our Lord, and that what they gave should afterwards be distributed to the poor of the village. The hour is appointed for the morrow; [page 47] they do not wait for it, they anticipate it. We surround the Cross, painted anew in its first colors, [32] upon which I had placed the body of our Lord crucified; we recite some prayers; and then I adored and kissed the Cross, to show them how they ought to do it. They imitated me one after the other, apostrophizing our crucified Savior in prayers which natural Rhetoric and the exigency of the time suggested to them. In truth, their fervent simplicity inspired me with devotion; briefly, they did so well that on the same day God gave them rain, and in the end a plentiful harvest, as well as a profound admiration for the divine Power.
In concluding these two accounts, I shall say that these Peoples admire and esteem highly those persons who have anything that elevates them above the crowd. Such persons they call oki, the same name as they give to demons; consequently, if there were any one here endowed with the gift of miracles, as were those who first announced the Gospel to the world, he would, in my opinion, convert all these Barbarians without difficulty. But God dispenses such favors when, how, and to whom he pleases; and perhaps he wishes us to wait for the harvest of souls with patience and perseverance. Besides, certainly, they are inclined [33] as yet to their duty only by temporal considerations, so that we may well apply to them the reproach of the Gospel: Amen, amen dico vobis, quœritis me, non quia vidistis signa, sed quia manducastis ex panibus, et saturati estis.
We have had this year two alarms, which resulted, thank God, in nothing worse than the fear aroused by the apprehension of enemies. The first, for which there were some grounds, occurred last Summer [page 49] and lasted the whole month of June, It is one of the most fitting times for such fear, inasmuch, as then the Country is stripped of the men, who have gone trading, some one way, some another. The other was this Winter, and turned out to be false; in both cases the alarm was quite often given very unexpectedly, sometimes by day, sometimes by night; the women and children began packing up their baggage on the report of the criers, who are our spies here. Flight is to some extent tolerable in Summer, for one can escape to an Island or hide in the obscurity of some dense forest; but in Winter, when ice serves as a bridge to enable the enemy to search the Islands, and when the fall of the leaves has laid bare the forest recesses, you do not know [34] where to hide; besides, the tracks on the snow are immediately discovered; and it is, moreover, extremely cold in Winter to sleep long at the sign of the Moon. There are some villages tolerably well fortified, where one might remain and await siege and assault; those who can, withdraw there; the others take to flight, which is most commonly done; for the small number of men, the lack of arms, the multitude of enemies, cause them to dread the weakness of their forts. Only a few old people, who are not able to go away, quietly await death in their Cabins. That is our usual condition. This Winter, we were on the point of fleeing; but where could we conceal our few belongings? for the Hurons are as fond of them as are the Iroquois. In other ways, however, these fears have not been useless, for besides the prayers and vows we made to turn aside the scourge, the pains each one took to prepare himself for death or slavery, and the opportunity we had to impress upon the [page 51] Savages the help they might expect from God,—we were able to win for ourselves the regard and esteem of the People, and to make ourselves useful to them, [35] as well by giving them iron arrow-heads as by arranging to assist them in their forts, according to our power. In fact, we had four of our Frenchmen furnished with good arquebuses, who were ready to hasten to the first village where an attack should be made; and I had resolved to accompany them, to assist them in spiritual matters.. and to take advantage of any other occasions which might present themselves to advance the glory of God. From this I leave you to imagine whether or not we need help from on high; and may those who live in comfort and safety obtain it for us by their prayers, which we humbly ask from them.
The Hurons have remained very friendly to us, on account of the promptitude we showed in assisting them. We have told them also that henceforth they should make their forts square, and arrange their stakes in straight lines; and that, by means of four little towers at the four corners, four Frenchmen might easily with their arquebuses or muskets defend a whole village. They are greatly delighted with this advice, and have already begun to practice it at la Rochelle, where they eagerly desire [36] to have some of our Fathers. God employs all means to give an entrance to those who bear the Gospel.
Summer here is a very inconvenient season for instructing the Savages. Their trading expeditions and the farms take every one away, men, women, and children—almost no one remains in the villages. I will tell you how we spent last Summer.
In the first place, we all came together for the [page 53] spiritual exercises, as is the custom of our Society. We had the more need of these exercises, as the high duties we are called upon to perform need more union with God, and because we are compelled to live in a continual bustle. For this reason we often acknowledge that those who come here should bring a good reserve fund of virtue, if they wish here to gather the fruits thereof. After our exercises we made a confused memorandum of the words we had learned since our arrival, and then we outlined a Dictionary of the Huron language which will be very profitable. In it will be seen the various meanings; one will easily recognize in it, when the words are grouped, their differences, which consist sometimes in only a single letter, or even [37] in an accent. Finally we busied ourselves in revising, or rather in arranging, a Grammar. I fear we shall often have to make similar revisions; for every day we discover new secrets in this science, which for the present hinders us from sending anything to be printed. We know now, thank God, sufficient to understand and to be understood, but not yet to publish. It is indeed an exceedingly laborious task to endeavor to understand in all points a foreign tongue, very abundant, and as different from our European languages as Heaven is from earth,—and that without master or books. I say no more about it here, as I shall write a Chapter about it, further on. We all work at it diligently; it is one of our most common occupations. There is not one of us who does not already talk a jargon, and make himself understood, the newly-arrived Fathers as well as the others. I trust that Father Mercier, in particular, will soon be master of it. [page 55]
On the ninth of August, one of our men arrived from Kébec two months and twelve days after departing hence. God [38] knows how glad we were to hear of the state of all the French at Kébec and the three Rivers, who report had declared were all dead of the plague. We were also very glad to hear of the happy arrival of five ships of the Gentlemen of the Company, commanded by Monsieur the General du Plessis Bochart, which we had been informed were lost in the ice. Our joy was somewhat lessened by the fear they had that some accident had befallen Captain Bontan; but we have been relieved of this apprehension.
On the thirteenth of the month of August, Father Mercier arrived, and Father Pijart on the seventeenth. Father Mercier, who had had good health all the way from France, was seized with a slight fever a day or two before his arrival among the Hurons; but the day after his arrival he was free from it, except for a slight disturbance, which was followed by perfect health. It is a blessing from Heaven, it seems, that as soon as we are in the Huron country we should have good health. For the rest, all the Fathers have been well treated on the way. They have neither paddled, nor carried burdens, except their little supply of clothing: but, on the contrary, have been honored and have been themselves carried [39] over troublesome and difficult places. Consequently let no one fear difficulties in coming up here, from having read my Relation of last year. Beginnings are always hard, and then the causes of our troubles were extraordinary; and, moreover, I believe that my sins, which required that I should suffer these things, fell also upon the others; but, [page 57] please God, we have drunk the cup of bitterness to its dregs. Yet no one should lose courage, even if our labors were always equally hard; for truly our Lord has endured more for the salvation of souls. Our scanty baggage was also faithfully brought, and in fairly good condition. You would scarcely believe the good done last year by the distribution you made to our Hurons of peas, bread, and sagamité, and by the kindly attentions you showed them. That good treatment has won their hearts for you and for us also. We do not go anywhere without hearing that our Brothers at Kébec are very courteous and liberal. Everything is leading these Peoples to receive the seed of the Gospel, for the affection they have for us renders them disposed to believe what we tell them.
[40] On the Eclipse of the Moon, of August twenty-seventh, our Barbarians expected a great defeat of their men, because it appeared over their enemies' Country, which is on their Southeast; for if it appears in the East, it is on their account that the Moon is sick, or has experienced some displeasure; they even invited us, perhaps in jest, to shoot at the Sky, to deliver it from danger, assuring us that it was their custom to discharge several arrows for this purpose. Indeed, they all cry out as loudly as they can on such occasions, and make imprecations against their enemies, saying, " May such and such a Nation perish." I was at that time in another village, where was living the famous Sorcerer of whom I have already spoken, Tehorenhaegnon; he made a feast, I was told, to turn aside the unluckiness of this Eclipse.
On the twentieth of October, an old man of our [page 59] died in his unbelief; his end frightened some, and awakened in them good resolutions to become converted. It seems that our Lord had communicated to him, a year ago, several good impulses. He was willingly present at all our Assemblies, listening to our instructions; he was the first to make the sign of the Cross; [41] but afterwards he tried to blend our creed with their superstitions and nonsense, and said that he wished to go with his Ancestors. Some dream seemed to have inclined him to good; but as he liked to live well, and to have his say, God punished him. Being sick for the last time, he made his Athataion or farewell feast, in a large Assembly, where he partook of the best, after their fashion, renewing his indulgences after each syncope which came upon him. We went to see him, and he again sought our good offices,—threatening that, if we did not satisfy him by singing in our way, he would overturn everything in our Cabin after his death, and even carry it away. One day he asked us for Baptism; but, as he seemed to be recovering, we distrusted his mood. When we returned in the evening, he was sleeping. Scarcely were we outside his Cabin, when he expired; and God did not permit that what he had scorned during life should be granted him at death. Judicia Dei abyssus multa.
On the twentieth of September, the father of Louys de saincte Foy came to visit us in our Cabin, and told us of his desire that he and all his family should be baptized,—[42] urged, he said, among other motives, by the fact that, in their defeat by the Iroquois, God had extraordinarily preserved his life.
On the fourth of November, we set out to instruct this household, and to consider more exactly their [page 61] disposition towards the Faith. On the way we baptized two sick persons whom. we believe to be now in Heaven. We remained away seven days, during which we instructed the whole family in all the important points of the Christian Religion. Louys served us in this as interpreter, as he is well acquainted with our mysteries, and explains them with enthusiasm. They all approved and enjoyed greatly the Christian truths; and, far from judging any of the commandments of God difficult, they even found them easy. Conjugal continence, and the indissolubility of marriage, seemed to them the most serious obstacles in the progress of the Gospel; and indeed this will be, among other things, a stumbling-block. However, they said that, in view of a life of eternal happiness or of eternal misery, nothing [43] ought to seem difficult. " And then," said ~Louys's father, " if you said that we must pass two, three, or more days without eating, we might find that a hardship; but there is none in all the rest." He said that the French who had been here had never spoken to them of God, but had been as much addicted as they to run after and dally with the women. Moreover he urged Father Pijart, who was with me, to learn the language quickly, that he might settle in their village, and be there the Superior of a house.
On this visit I noticed two or three things. Louys's father, hearing that it was necessary to learn the sign of the Cross, the Pater, the Ave, and the Apostles' Creed, said that all that was a small matter, and that he would have little intelligence if he could not learn it; that, having gone to various Nations, he had sometimes been entrusted with more than twenty different kinds of business, and that on his return he [page 63] had reported them all faithfully; and consequently he could very soon learn and remember the little we asked. Yet this intelligent man had to work hard to learn the sign of the Cross. It is wonderful how prompt [44] and wide awake men are in worldly affairs, and how dull they are in Spiritual things.
I took pleasure in hearing Louys explain our Mysteries to his relatives; he did it with grace, and showed that he had understood them and made them his own. Ah! how I wish I could speak Huron as well as he does, for indeed in comparison with him I only stutter; and yet the way of saying a thing gives it an entirely different meaning. When I brought forward the burning of the five wicked cities, and the preservation of Lot and his family, to show how God chastises severely even in this life the wicked and vile, and how he saves the good, Louys drew the conclusion from it for his relatives that, if they served God faithfully, their Cabin would not be burned even if all the village were afire.
Perhaps some one will think these things too trifling to be written; but why? Cùm eram Parvulus, loquebar ut Parvulus, sapiebam ut parvulus; cùm autem factus ero vir, evacuabo quœ, erant Parvuli. When this Church shall attain its growth, it will produce other fruits. Some day, perhaps, will be told the great alms, the fasts, the mortifications, the admirable patience, even the martyrdoms of the Huron [45] Christians. Now that they are yet in their cradle, we ought to expect only the stammerings of children; and so I shall continue the recital of these little things which shall be, with God's aid, the seed of greater.
In explaining to Louys's relatives the commandment not to steal, and mentioning that in France thieves [page 65] were put to death, his father asked him if, when he became Captain, he would also put them to death. Louys replied that in that case the Country would very soon be depopulated, as it would be necessary to kill every one,—a Huron and a thief being almost the same. While we were here, we made them keep the first Friday and the first Saturday that had ever been observed by the Hurons. From Thursday they laid aside the remainder of their sagamité and their meat; and on Friday and Saturday, having been invited to a feast, they said that if meat were given to them they would keep it until Sunday; and, indeed, once in our village we saw Louys's father refuse, at a feast given on Friday, a piece of meat that was offered him,. but not scrupling to eat some of the sagamité with which it had been cooked. This new [46] proselyte knew no better. We left them kindly disposed and well-intentioned, and that was all; the fruit is not yet ripe.
On the fifteenth of October, we went to the village of Wenrio, to visit some sick people, in which our Lord helped us by means of a young girl of our village who was there, and who so opportunely dispelled the fear of a poor sick woman that Baptism would shorten her life, that she at last gave way, and another with her.
On the first of November, seeing a woman with child at the point of death, we made a vow to saint Joseph that, in case she recovered, the child should be baptized. Immediately she began to improve, and some time afterward gave birth to a daughter, who by Baptism has been brought within the ranks of the children of God.
One the eighth of December, we celebrated with all [page 67] possible solemnity the Festival of the immaculate Conception of the Virgin, and each of us vowed to say a Mass every month in the year in honor of this same holy Mystery, with the other details your Reverence [47] had laid down for our guidance. We believe that the Blessed Virgin has accepted our humble devotions; for that very day we baptized three little girls,—one of whom, named Marie of the Conception, is that little girl so eager to learn, of whom we have spoken above,—and before the end of the month we had baptized twenty-eight; since then, we see a notable change, so much so that every month we have gained a goodly number, in consequence of that offering.
On the day of the Purification, having assembled all the Christian children, adorned as best they could, along with their parents, we performed in their presence the benediction of the tapers; then we explained to the adults how on such a day our Lady had offered her Son in the Temple to the Eternal Father, and how, in imitation of her, they ought also to present their children to the service of God, and if they did so God would take a more particular care of them; they were very well pleased with these statements. Hence, taking a Crucifix in my hand, I pronounced in their language this Prayer:
[48] Come listen you who have made the earth, and you who Father call yourself, and you his Son who call yourself,
Io sakhrihote de Sondechichiai, dinde esa d'Oistan ichiatsi, dinde de hoen ichiatsi,
and you Spirit Holy who call yourself; come listen, for it is not a thing of small importance that we do;
dinde de Esken d'oatatoecti ichiatsi; Io sakhrihote onekindé oeron d'icwakerha, [page 69]
look upon these assembled children, already these are thy creatures all; Because that
they have been baptized.atisacagnren cha ondikhucwaté Atichiahà, onne atisatawan áweti; aerhonu onatindecwaesti.
But lo! again we to thee present them all, all we give them up to thee, this is what these think,
Caati onne wáto esátaancwas echa áweti, áweti esátonkhiens, ondayee echa wenderhay
these assembled women, they think master that he is of all the children. Come, then, now
cha wendikhucwaté otindekhien, wenderhay awandio awaton ewa tichiaha. Io ichien nonhwa
take courage, keep them; defend them. That they may not become sick, that they may sin
etsaon hatsacaratai, atsatanonstat. Enonche watinonhwaké, enonché watirihwanderâké,
never, turn away all that which is evil; and if the plague attack us again,
aonhwentsannenhan, serrewa ewa d'otechienti, din de ongnratarríé etsesonachien,
turn away that also; and if famine [49] attack us, turn away that also; and if war assail us,
serrewa itondi; din de onrendich esonachien, serrewa itondi; din de ouskenraetac esonachien,
turn away that also; and if the demon provoke us, that is, the bad demon,
serrewa itondi; din de Oki esoniatoata ondayee d'okiasti.
and the wicked ones who through poison cause death, turn them away also.
chia daononcwaiessa d'oki asaoio, serrewa itondi.
Finally, turn away all that which is evil. Jesus our Lord of God the Son, for this thou wilt exhort thy Father,
ocwetacwi serrewa ewe d'otechienti. Jesus onandaerari Dieu hoen ondayee achiehetsaron de hiaistan,
[page 71]
for he does not refuse thee anything. And you also Mary, of Jesus the Mother who art Virgin, that also say.
oneké tehianonstas. chia desa Warie Jesus ondwe de chikhoncwan, ondayee itondi chihon.
So be it.
to hayawan.
This Prayer, among others, pleased them, inasmuch as we asked God to preserve them from pestilence, famine, and war. They desired nothing more than these two prayers, that they might not be shipwrecked, and might not suffer by fire: enonche watiwareha, enonche watidtaté; these being added, they thought it complete. God and the Blessed Virgin be praised for ever; for we can say that, from that day, we took possession of these little ones, who [50] have continued since then to gather every Sunday in our Cabin, to worship God. It was very fitting that, since they had become children of God on the day of the immaculate Conception of the holy Virgin, they should also begin on the day of her Purification to practice Christian duty, to continue it the rest of their lives. This we hope through the mediation of the Mother of mercy, who has shown us plainly that she will be the Mother of this rising Church.
On the twenty-first of March, a woman, who had been about twenty-four hours in travail, brought forth a child happily, as soon as we had applied to her a Relic of Our Blessed Father St. Ignatius. Her child lived only long enough to enable us to send it to Heaven by Baptism.
On the twenty-eighth of March, François Marguerie, who had gone to winter with the Savages of the [page 73] Island, brought four of them to us. It was a great consolation to receive visits from Frenchmen at such a season and to hear news of Kébec and the three Rivers. We were also deeply astonished to see that a young [51] man like him, only twenty to twentytwo years old, had the courage to follow the Savages. over ice and snow, and through forests, forty successive days, and for the space of some three hundred leagues,—carrying, dragging, and working as much as, and more than any of his band, for these Barbarians, having arrived at their halting place, made him get ready their meal, while they warmed themselves and rested. Furthermore, he taught us a good lesson; for if, to satisfy a wish to see, he took so much pains, and endured such hardships in a season so, rude and over roads so strange,—surely Religious persons, urged on by a holy desire to win souls to, God, ought in no way to dread the roughness of the roads which the convenience of Canoes, the pleasantness of the Summer season, and the company of generally helpful Savages, render not only much less. annoying, but even to some extent agreeable. Besides, while God has admirable consolations for those who fear him, he has much greater ones for those who love him.
The occasion of the coming of these Island Savages to the country of the Hurons was the death [52] of twenty-three persons whom the Iroquois had massacred, notwithstanding the peace. This perfidy had excited a strong desire for vengeance. They had collected some twenty-three collars of Porcelain, to rouse the Hurons and the Algonquins to take up arms and lend them assistance, promising that our French would be of the party, as against the common [page 75] enemy; but neither the Hurons nor the Algonquins have been willing to listen to them, and have refused their presents. The Bissiriniens likewise have refused to listen to them, on account of the extortion practiced on them by the Island Savages in going down for trade. As to the Hurons, they have covered their refusal with the apprehension they have of an army with which they were lately threatened. But the real cause was in fact that the Nation of the Bear, which constitutes the half of the Hurons, was piqued because the Island Savages not invite them as well as the others,—offering them no presents, and on the contrary forbidding that they should be told of the matter.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, we are afraid that these are all stratagems of Satan to hinder the conversion of these Peoples; for the men of the Isle, seeing themselves [53] refused, have returned very much discontented at the Hurons as well as at the Bissiriniens, and have threatened that they would let neither of them pass down to the French.
Le Borgne [the One-eyed] of the Isle said to the Hurons, in our presence, in order to recommend the subject of his Embassy, that his body was hatchets; he meant that the preservation of his person and of his Nation was the preservation of the hatchets, the kettles, and all the trade of the French, for the Hurons. They even say, whether true or false, that he has boasted that he is master of the French, and that he would lead us back to K~6bec and make us all ~recross the sea. I am telling what is said, and the boasts attributed to him, for we did not hear them; on the contrary, they went away, so far as we are [page 77] concerned, with every appearance of satisfaction an contentment.
They had, in fact, a long and friendly talk wit us, with the object in view of making us entirey leave the Country of the Hurons or at least the Nation of the Bear, as the most wicked of all the tribes since it had murdered Estienne Bruslé and good Father Nicolas, the Recolet, with his companion; [54] and had some time before, for a blow, slain eight of their men. To me in particular, in the way of flattery and praise, they said that, rather than risk my life among a Nation so perfidious, they would advise me to go down to Kébec, at least after having passe another year here to learn the language perfectly; and that I would be a great Captain, and the only one who could speak in their councils. Thus these brave counsellors gave us advice, with many and long speeches, to show the friendship they had always had for the French above all Nations. We replied that we had not come into this Country to act as interpreters, nor in the hope of getting riches, nor yet in the hope of becoming one day great Captains; but that we had left behind our parents, on means, and all our possessions, and had crossed the sea in order to come to teach them the way of salvation, at the peril of our lives; that, for the rest, we were trying and would try so to comport ourselves that other Nations would have more reason to love us than to do us harm. In short, we told them that one day [55] some of our Fathers might stay in their Country, to instruct them; and that they would have had them before this, had it not been for their wandering life. They declared that they were well [page 79] content, and acquiesced in our reasons; to confirm which, we gave them a Canoe with some other little presents, with which they were very well satisfied, saying that they were already on their return to their own Country, and uttering a thousand thanks and many promises to treat our Fathers well when they should pass through their territory. We endeavor to gain for ourselves the friendship of all these Peoples, in order to obtain them for God.
During Holy Week, Louys de saincte Foy came to visit us, and spent Easter with us in order to prepare himself to go to war with his uncle against the Iroquois. He has not yet returned; they try to make us believe that he has gone down to Kébec; but I have confidence in him.
On the fourteenth of April, the son of Chief Aenons, after having lost at the game of straws a Beaver robe and a collar of four hundred Porcelain beads, had such a fear of meeting his relatives that, not daring to enter the Cabin, he became desperate, and hanged himself to a tree. He had a [56] very melancholy disposition. The first of the Winter he was on the point of putting an end to himself, but a little girl caught him in the act. When asked what had led him to this wicked resolution, " I do not know," said he, " but some one within me seems always to be saying, 'Hang thyself, hang thyself."' Gambling never leads to anything good; in fact, the Savages themselves remark that it is almost the sole cause of assaults and murders.
On the eighth of May, having gone to la Rochelle, a woman who had just given birth to a child presented it to me for baptism. As it was well, and as [page 81] our custom is, except in case of necessity, to baptize only in our Cabin with the ceremonies of the Church, in order to cause the Sacrament to be more highly respected, I was about to say that she might bring it at her first convenience, when I felt inspired to depart from our custom; and no doubt it was a special Providence, for, a few days after, its parents brought us news of its death.
On the eighth of June, the Captain of the Naiz percez, or Nation of the Beaver, [57] which is three days journey from us, came to request one of our Frenchmen to spend the Summer with them, in a fort they had made from fear of the Aweatsiwaenrrhonon, or stinking tribe, who have broken the treaty of peace, and have killed two of their men, of whom they made a feast.
On the ninth, a Savage who lay dead under the ice was cast ashore here. The whole village hastened out and paid to his relations the accustomed devoirs, with so good a grace that the management of the ceremonies was given over to the villagers on this occasion, among mutual presents, although the dead man had been found to be not one of their people.
On the thirteenth of the same month, we had news of a troop of Hurons who had gone to war, and who were encamped at the distance of a musket-shot from the last village, a day's journey from us; after having passed two nights in singing and eating, they were overtaken with so profound a sleep, that the enemy, coming suddenly upon them, cleft open the heads of a dozen without resistance, the rest escaping by flight.
I might have added here many things that have [page 83] taken place this year, and of which we have been eyewitnesses, but [58] I have thought it best to reserve them for a second part of this Relation. I hope in this way more easily to avoid confusion, and to satisfy more fully those who are curious to know the manners and customs of these Tribes. [page 85]
CHAPTER III.
IMPORTANT ADVICE FOR THOSE WHOM IT SHALL PLEASE GOD TO CALL TO NEW FRANCE, AND ESPECIALLY TO THE COUNTRY OF THE HURONS.
E have learned that the salvation of so many innocent souls, washed and made white in the Blood of the Son of God, is stirring very deeply the hearts of many, and is exciting new desires in them to leave old France that they may come to the New. God be forever blessed that he, as this shows us, has at last opened to these Tribes the bowels of his infinite pity. I wish not to chill the ardor of this generous resolution. Alas! it is those [59] hearts after God's own heart whom we are expecting; but I only wish to give one word of advice.
It is true that fortis ut mors dilectio, the love of God has power to do what death does,—that is to say, to detach us entirely from creatures and from ourselves; nevertheless, these desires that we feel of working for the safety of Infidels are not always sure signs of that pure love. There may be sometimes a little self-love and regard for ourselves, if we look only at the blessing and satisfaction of putting souls in Heaven without considering fully the pains, the labors and the difficulties which are inseparable from these Evangelical functions.
On this account, in order that no one may be [page 87] deceived in regard to this, ostendam illi quanta hîc oporteat pro nomine jesu pati. True, the two who came last, Fathers Mercier and Pijart, had no such trouble in their journey as those of us who came here the year before. They did not paddle, their men were not sick, as ours were; they had not to bear the heavy loads. Yet notwithstanding [60] this, easy as may be a trip with the Savages, there is always enough to greatly cast down a heart not well under subjection. The readiness of the Savages does not shorten the road, does not smooth down the rocks, does not remove the dangers. Be with whom you like, you must expect to be, at least, three or four weeks on the way, to have as companions persons you have never seen before; to be cramped in a bark Canoe in an uncomfortable position, not being free to turn yourself to one side or the other; in danger fifty times a day of being upset or of being dashed upon the rocks. During the day, the Sun burns you; during the night, you run the risk of being a prey to Mosquitoes. You sometimes ascend five or six rapids in a day; and, in the evening, the only refreshment is a little corn crushed between two stones and cooked in fine clear water; the only bed is the earth, sometimes only the rough, uneven rocks, and usually no roof but the stars; and all this in perpetual silence. If you are accidentally hurt, if you fall sick, do not expect from these Barbarians any assistance, [61] for whence could they obtain it? And if the sickness is dangerous, and if you are remote from the villages, which are here very scattered, I would not like to guarantee that they would not abandon you, if you could not make shift to follow them.
When you reach the Hurons, you will indeed find [page 89] hearts full of charity; we will receive you with open arms as an Angel of Paradise, we shall have all the inclination in the world to do you good; but we are so situated that we can do very little. We shall receive you in a Hut, so mean that I have scarcely found in France one wretched enough to compare it with; that is how you will be lodged. Harassed and fatigued as you will be, we shall be able to give you nothing but a poor mat, or at most a skin, to serve you as a bed; and, besides, you will arrive at a season when miserable little insects that we call here Taouhac, and, in good French, pulces [fleas], will keep you awake almost all night, for in these countries they are incomparably more troublesome than in France; the dust of the Cabin nourishes them, the Savages bring them to us, [62] We get them in their houses; and this petty martyrdom, not to speak of Mosquitoes, Sandflies, and other like vermin, lasts usually not less than three or four months of the Summer.
Instead of being a great master and great Theologian as in France, you must reckon on being here a humble Scholar, and then, good God! with what masters!—women, little children, and all the Savages,—and exposed to their laughter. The Huron language will be your saint Thomas and your Aristotle; and clever man as you are, and speaking glibly among learned and capable persons, you must make up your mind to be for a long time mute among the Barbarians. You will have accomplished much, if, at the end of a considerable time, you begin to stammer a little.
And then how do you think you would pass the Winter with us? After having heard all that must [page 91] be endured in wintering among the Montagnets Savages, I may say that that is almost the life we lead here among the Hurons. I say it without exaggeration, the five and six months of Winter are spent in almost continual discomforts,—excessive cold, smoke, and the annoyance of the Savages; we have a Cabin built [63] of simple bark, but so we'll jointed that we have to send some one outside to learn what kind of weather it is; the smoke is very often so thick, so annoying, and so obstinate that, for five or six days at a time, if you are not entirely proof against it, it is all you can do to make out a few lines in your Breviary. Besides, from morning until evening our fireplace is almost always surrounded by Savages, above all, they seldom fail to be there at mealtimes. If you happen to have anything more than usual, let it be ever so little, you must reckon on most of these Gentlemen as your guests; if you do not share with them, you will be considered mean. As regards the food, it is not so bad, although we usually content ourselves with a little corn, or a morsel of dry smoked fish, or some fruits, of which I shall speak further on.
For the rest, thus far we have had only roses; henceforth, as we have Christians in almost every village, we must count upon making rounds through them at all seasons of the year, and of remaining there, according to necessity, [64] for two or three whole weeks, amid annoyances that cannot be described. Add to all this, that our lives depend upon a single thread; and if, wherever we are in the world, we are to expect death every hour, and to be prepared for it, this is particularly the case here. For not to mention that your Cabin is only, as it were, chaff, and that it might be burned at any [page 93] moment, despite all your care to prevent accidents, the malice of the Savages gives especial cause for almost perpetual fear; a malcontent may burn you down, or cleave your head open in some lonely spot. And then you are responsible for the sterility or fecundity of the earth, under penalty of your life; you are the cause of droughts; if you cannot make rain, they speak of nothing less than making away with you. I have only to mention, in addition, the danger there is from our enemies; it is enough to say that, on the thirteenth of this month of June, they killed twelve of our Hurons near the village of Contarrea, which is only a day's journey from us; that a short time before, at four leagues from our village, some Iroquois were discovered in the fields [65] in ambuscade, only waiting to strike a blow at the expense of the life of some passer-by. This Nation is very timid, they take no precautions against surprise, they are not careful to prepare arms or to inclose their villages with palisades; their usual recourse, especially when the enemy is powerful, is flight. Amid these alarms, which affect the whole Country, I leave you to imagine if we have any grounds for a feeling of safety.
After all, if we had here the exterior attractions of piety, as they exist in France, all this might pass. In France the great multitude and the good example of Christians, the solemnity of the Feasts, the majesty of the Churches so magnificently adorned, preach piety to you; and in the Houses of our order the fervor of our brethren, their modesty, and all the noble virtues which shine fort~h in all their actions, are so many powerful voices which cry to you without ceasing, respice, et facsimiliter. You have the consolation of celebrating every day the holy Mass; in a [page 95] word, you are almost beyond the danger of falling, at least, the falls are insignificant, and you have help immediately at hand. Here we have nothing, it seems, which [66] incites towards good; we are among Peoples who are astonished when you speak to them of God, and who often have only horrible blasphemies in their mouths. Often you are compelled to deprive yourself of the holy Sacrifice of the Mass; and, when you have the opportunity to say it, a little corner of your Cabin will serve you for a Chapel, which the smoke, the snow, or the rain hinders you from ~ornamenting and embellishing, even if you had the means. I pass over the small chance of seclusion there is among Barbarians, who scarcely ever leave you, who hardly know what it is to speak in a low tone. Especially I would not dare to speak of the danger there is of ruining oneself among their impurities, in the case of any one whose heart is not sufficiently full of God to firmly resist this poison. But enough of this; the rest can only be known by experience.
"But is that all?" some one will exclaim. " Do you think by your arguments to throw water on the fire that consumes me, and lessen ever so little the zeal I have for the conversion of these Peoples? I declare that these things have served only to confirm me the more in my vocation; that I feel myself more carried away than ever by my affection for New France, and that I bear a holy jealousy [67] towards those who are already enduring all these sufferings; all these labors seem to me nothing, in comparison with what I am willing to endure for God; if I knew a place under Heaven where there was yet more to be suffered, I would go there." Ah! whoever you [page 97] are to whom God gives these sentiments and this light, come, come, my dear Brother, it is workmen such as you that we ask for here; it is to souls like ,yours that God has appointed the conquest of so many other souls whom the Devil holds yet in his power; apprehend no difficulties,—there will be none for you, since it is your whole consolation to see yourself crucified with the Son of God; silence will be sweet to you, since you have learned to commune with God, and to converse in the Heavens with Saints and Angels; the victuals would be very insipid if the gall endured by our Lord did not render them sweeter and more savory to you than the most delicious viands of the world. What a satisfaction to pass these rapids, and to climb these rocks, to him who has before his eyes that loving Savior, harassed by his tormentors and ascending Calvary laden with his Cross; [68] the discomfort of the Canoe is very easy to bear, to him who considers the crucified one. What a consolation!—for I must use such terms, as otherwise I could not give you pleasure—what a consolation, then, to see oneself even abandoned on the road by the Savages, languishing with sickness, or even dying with hunger in the woods, and of being able to say to God, " My God, it is to do your holy will that I am reduced to the state in which you see me, "—considering above all that God-man who expires upon the Cross and cries to his Father, Deus meus, Deus meus, ut quid dereliquisti me. If God among all these hardships preserve you in health, no doubt you will arrive pleasantly in the Huron country with these holy thoughts. Suaviter navigat quem gratia Dei Portat.
And now, as regards a place of abode, food, and [page 99] beds,—shall I dare to say to a heart so generous, and that mocks at all that of which I have already spoken, that truly, even though we have hardly more of those necessities than the Savages have, still, I know not how, the divine Goodness renders every difficult thing easy; and all and every one of us find everything almost as comfortable [69] as life is in France. The sleep we get lying on our mats seems to us as sweet as if we were in a good bed; the food of the Country does not disgust us, although there is scarcely any other seasoning than that which God has put into it; and, notwithstanding the cold of a winter six months long, passed in the shelter of a bark Cabin open to the daylight, we have still to experience its evil effects; no one complains of his head or his stomach; we do not know what diarrhœa, colds, or catarrh are. This leads me to say that delicate persons do not know, in France, how to protect themselves from the cold; those rooms so well carpeted, those doors so well fitted, and those windows closed with so much care, serve only to make its effects more keenly felt; it is an enemy from whom one wins almost more by holding out one's hands to him than by waging a cruel war upon him. As to our food, I shall say this further, that God has shown his Providence very clearly to our eyes; we have obtained in eight days our provision of corn for a whole year, without making a single step beyond our Cabin. They have brought us dried fish in such quantities that we are constrained to refuse some of it, and to say [70] that we have sufficient; you might say that God, seeing we are here only for his service, in order that all our work may be for him, wishes to act himself as our provider. This same Goodness takes care [page 101] to give us from time to time a change of provisions in the shape of fresh fish. We live on the shore of a great Lake, which affords as good fish as I have ever seen or eaten in France; true, as I have said, we do not ordinarily procure them, and still less do we get meat, which is even more rarely seen here. Fruits even, according to the season, provided the year be somewhat favorable, are not lacking to us; strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries are to be found in almost incredible quantities. We gather plenty of grapes, which are fairly good; the squashes last sometimes four and five months, and are so abundant that they are to be had almost for nothing, and so good that, on being cooked in the ashes, they are eaten as apples are in France. Consequently, to tell the truth, as regards provisions, the change from France is not very great; the only grain of the Country is a sufficient nourishment, when one is somewhat accustomed to it. [71] The Savages prepare it in more than twenty ways and yet employ only fire and water; it is true that the best sauce is that which it carries with it.
As for the dangers of the soul, to speak frankly, there are none for him who brings to the Country of the Hurons the fear and love of God; on the contrary, I find unparalleled advantages for acquiring perfection. Is it not a great deal to have, in one's food, clothing, and sleep, no other attraction than bare necessity? Is it not a glorious opportunity to unite oneself with God, when there is no creature whatsoever that gives you reason to spend your affection upon it? when the exercises you practice constrain you without force to inward meditation ? Besides your spiritual exercises, you have no other employment [page 103] than the study of the language, and conversation with the Savages. Ah! how much pleasure there is for a heart devoted to God to make itself the little Scholar of a Savage and of a little child, thereby to gain them for God, and to render them Disciples of our Lord! How willingly and liberally God communicates himself to a soul which practices from love to him these heroic acts [72] of humility! The words he learns are so many treasures he amasses, so many spoils he carries off from the common enemy of the human race; so that he has reason to say a hundred times a day, Lætabor super eloquia tua tanquam qui invenit spolia multa. Viewed in this light, the visits of the Savages, however frequent, cannot be annoying to him. God teaches him the beautiful lesson he taught formerly to Saint Catherine of Sienna, to make of his heart a room or temple for him, where he will never fail to find him, as often as he withdraws into it; that, if he encounters Savages there, they do not interfere with his prayers, they serve only to make them more fervent; from this he takes occasion to present these poor wretches to this sovereign Goodness, and to entreat him warmly for their conversion.
Certainly we have not here that exterior solemnity which awakens and sustains devotion. Only what is essential in our Religion is visible, the holy Sacrament of the Altar, to the marvels of which we must open the eyes of our Faith without being aided by any sensible mark of its grandeur, any more than the [73] Magi were in the stable. But it seems that God, supplying what we lack,—and as a recompense of grace that he has given us in transporting it, so to speak, beyond so many seas, and in finding a place [page 105] for it in these poor Cabins,—wishes to crown us with the same blessings, in the midst of these infidel Peoples, with which he is accustomed to favor persecuted Catholics in the Countries of heretics. These good people scarcely ever see either Church or Altar;. but the little they see is worth double what they would see in full liberty. What consolation would there be, in your opinion, in prostrating ourselves at times before a Cross in the midst of this Barbarism! to turn our eyes toward, and to enter, in the midst of our petty domestic duties, even into the room which the Son of God has been pleased to take in our little dwelling. Is it not to be in Paradise day and night, that we are not separated from this Well-beloved of the Nations except by some bark or the branch of a tree? En ipse stat post parietem nostrum. Sub umbra illius quem desideraveram, sedi. See what we have within. If we go outside our cabin, Heaven is open to us; and those great buildings which lift their heads to the [74] clouds, in large cities, do not conceal it from our view; so that we can say our prayers in full liberty before the noble Oratory that saint Francois Xavier loved better than any other. If the question is of the fundamental virtues, I will glory not in myself, but in the share which has fallen to me; or, if I must, acknowledge it humbly beside the Cross which our Lord in his grace gives us to bear after him. Certain it is that this Country, or our work here, is much more fitted to feed the soul with the fruits of Heaven than with the fruits of earth. I may be deceiving myself, but I imagine that here is a grand means of increasing the soul in Faith, in Hope, and in Charity. Should we scatter the seeds of the Faith without ourselves profiting by them? [page 107] Could we put our confidence anywhere but in God in a Region where, as far as man is concerned, everything is lacking to us? Could we wish a nobler opportunity to exercise Charity than amid the roughness and discomfort of a new world, where no human art or industry has yet provided any conveniences? and to live here that we may bring back to God men who are so [75] unlike men that we must live in daily expectation of dying by their hand, should the fancy take them, should a dream suggest it to them, or should we fail to open or close the Heavens to them at discretion, giving them rain or fine weather at command. Do they not make us responsible for the state of the weather? And if God does not inspire us, or if we cannot work miracles by faith, are we not continually in danger, as they have threatened us, of seeing them fall upon those who have done no wrong? Indeed, if he who is the Truth itself had not declared that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life, verily and once for all, for one's friends, I should conceive it a thing equally noble, or even more so, to do what the Apostle said to the Corinthians, Quotidie morior Per vestram gloriam, fratres, quam habeo in Christo Jesu Domino nostro, than to drag out a life full of misery, amid the frequent and ordinary dangers of an unforeseen death, which those whom you hope to save will procure for you. I call to mind occasionally what Saint François Xavier once wrote to Father Simon, and wish that it may please God to so act that at least the same thing may be said or written one [76] day even of us, although we may not be worthy of it. Here are the words: Optimi Moluco perferuntur nuntii, quippe in maximis ærumnis perpetuísque vitæ, discriminibus, Joannes Beira eusque socii [page 109] versantur, magno cum Christianæ Religionis incremento.
There seems to be one thing here which might give apprehension to a Son of the Society, to see himself in the midst of a brutal and sensual People, whose example might tarnish the luster of the most and the least delicate of all the virtues, unless especial care be taken—I mean Chastity.
In order to obviate this difficulty, I make bold to say that if there is any place in the world where this so precious virtue is safe, for a man among us who wishes to be on his guard, it is here. Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem, frustrà vigilat qui custodit eam. Scivi quoniam aliter non possem esse continens, nisi Deus det. Et hoc ipsum erat sapientia, scire cujus esset hoc donum.
It is said that the victories which this Daughter of Heaven gains over her enemies, are gained by flight; but I believe it is God and no one else who puts to flight this very enemy in the most severe encounters, before those who, fearing nothing so much as his approaches, go with bowed heads, and [77] hearts full of confidence in his Goodness, where his glory calls them. And where should we seek this glory? I should say, where find it more fully purified and disentangled from our own interests, than in a place where there is nothing more to be hoped for than the reward of having left all for the love of him of whom St. Paul said, Scio cui credidi. You remember that plant, named "the fear of God," with which it is said our Fathers at the beginning of our Society charmed away the spirit of impurity; it does not grow in the land of the Hurons, but it falls there abundantly from Heaven, if one has but a little care to cultivate that which he brings here. Barbarism, ignorance, poverty, and misery, which render the life [page 111] of these Savages more deplorable than death, are a continual reminder to us to mourn Adam's fall, and to submit ourselves entirely to him who still chastises disobedience in his children, in so remarkable a way, after so many centuries. Saint Theresa said once that she never found her meditations more profitable than in the mysteries in which she found our Lord apart and alone, as if she had been in the garden of Olives; and [78] she called this a part of her simplicity. You may reckon this among my follies, if you like; but it seems to me that we have here so much the more leisure to caress, so to speak, and to entertain our Lord with open heart, in the midst of these uninhabited lands, because there are so few people who trouble themselves about him. And, on account of this favor, we can boldly say, Non timebo mala, quoniam tu mecum es. In short, I imagine that all the Guardian Angels of these neglected and abandoned Nations are continually endeavoring and laboring to save us from these dangers. They know well that if there were anything in the world that ought to give us wings, to fly back whence we came both by obedience and by our own inclination, it would be this misfortune, if we were not shielded from it by the protection of Heaven. This is what excites them to procure for us the means to guard against it, that they may not lose the brightest hope they have ever had, by the grace of God, of the conversion of these Peoples.
I finish this discourse and this Chapter with this sentence: If, at the sight of the difficulties and Crosses that are here prepared for us, some one feels himself so fortified from above that he [79] can say it is too little, or like St. François Xavier, Ampliùs, [page 113] ampliùs, I hope that our Lord will also draw from his lips this other confession, in the midst of the consolations he will give him, that it will be too much for him, that he cannot endure more. Satis est, Domine, satis est. [page 115]
CHAPTER IV.
OF THE LANGUAGE OF THE HURONS.
HIS is only to give some little foretaste of the language, and notice some of its peculiarities, in anticipation of a Grammar and a complete Dictionary.
They have a letter to which we have nothing to correspond—we express it by Khi; the use of it is common to the Montagnés and to the Algonquins. They are not acquainted with B. F. L. M. P. X. Z; and I. E. V. are never consonants to them. The greater part of their words are composed of vowels. They lack all the labial letters. This is probably the reason why they all open their lips so awkwardly, and why we can scarcely understand them [80] when they whistle or when they speak low. As they have hardly any virtue or Religion, or any learning or government, they have consequently no simple words suitable to express what is connected with these. Hence it is that we are at a loss in explaining to them many important matters, depending upon a knowledge of these things. Compound words are most in use with them, and have the same force as the adjective and substantive joined together, among us. Andatarasé, fresh bread; Achitetsi, a foot long. The variety of these compound nouns is very great, and that is the key to the secret of their Language. They have, like us, a diversity of genders; and, like the Greeks, of number; besides a certain [page 117] relative declension which always includes in itself the possessive pronoun, meus, tuus, suus,—for example, Iatacan, my brother, aiatacan, my brothers; satacan, thy brother; tsátacan, thy brothers; atocan, his brother, atotacan, his brothers.
As to cases, they have them all, or supply them by very appropriate particles.
The astonishing thing is that all their words are universally conjugated, for example, Assé, it is fresh, assé, chen, it was fresh; gaon, old, agaon, he is old, agaonc, he was old, agaonha, he is growing old; and so [81] with the rest. It is the same with that word iatacan, which means, my brother; oniatacan, we are brothers, oniatacan chen, we were brothers; that is copious. Here is one which is not so. A relative noun with them includes always the meaning of one of the three persons of the possessive pronoun, so that they can not say simply, Father, Son, Master, Valet, but are obliged to say one of the three, my father, thy father, his father. However, I have translated above in a Prayer one of their nouns by the word Father, for greater clearness. On this account, we find ourselves hindered from getting them to say properly in their Language, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost. Would you judge it fitting, while waiting a better expression, to substitute instead, In the name of our Father, and of his Son, and of their holy Ghost? Certainly it seems that the three Persons of the most holy Trinity would be sufficiently expressed in this way, the third being in truth the holy Spirit of the first and of the second; the second being Son of the first; and the first, our Father, in the terms of the Apostle, who applies to him those fitting words in Ephesians 3. It may [page 119] be added that our Lord has given example of this way [82] Of speaking, not only in the Lord's Prayer, as we call it from respect to him, but by way of commandment to Mary Magdalaine in saint John 20. to bear from him these beautiful words to his Brethren or Disciples, I ascend to my Father and to yours. Would we venture to employ it thus until the Huron language shall be enriched, or the mind of the Hurons opened to other languages? We will do nothing without advice.
Now in connection with this name Father I must not forget the difficulty there is in teaching to say Our Father who art in Heaven, to those who have none on earth; to speak to them of the dead whom they have loved, is to insult them. A woman, whose mother had died a short time before, almost lost her desire to be baptized because the command, Thou shalt honor thy Father and thy Mother, had been inadvertently quoted to her.
As for the verbs, what is most remarkable in their language is: 1. That they have some to signify animate things, and others to signify things without life. 2. That they vary their tenses in as many ways as did the Greeks; their numbers also,—besides that the first person, of both the dual number and the plural, is, moreover, double; thus [83] to say " we set out, thou and I, "we must say kiarascwa, and to say " we set out, he and I," aiarascwa. Likewise in the plural, "we, several of us, set out," awarascwa, "we, together, set out," cwarascwa.
Besides all this, there is to be noticed a double conjugation, and I believe that this is common to the American languages. The one is simple and absolute, like our Latin and French conjugations. For example, the verb ahiaton, meaning "to write," is [page 121] conjugated absolutely in this way: iehiaton, I write; chiehiatonc, thou writest, ihakiatonc, he writes, awahiatonc, we write, scwahiatonc, you write, attihiatonc, they write.
The other method of conjugation may be called the reciprocal, inasmuch as the action signified by the verb terminates always on some person or thing; so that, instead of saying, as we do, in three words, "I love myself," the Hurons say only iatenonhwé; "I love thee," onnonhwé; "I love you both," inonhwé; "I love you" (several), wanonhwé, and so for the rest.
What I find most extraordinary is that there is a feminine conjugation, at least in the third person both of the singular and [84] of the plural; for we have not discovered more of it, or very little. Here is an example of it: ihaton, he says; iwaton, she says; ihonton, they say [masculine]; ionton, they say [feminine]. The principal distinction of this feminine conjugation from the masculine is the lack of the letter H, in which the masculine abounds,—perhaps to give the women to understand that there ought to be nothing rough or coarse in their words or in their manners, but that the grace and law of gentleness ought to be upon their tongues, following that rule of the Sage, lex clementiæ, in lingua ejus. This is enough of this subject for the present, unless it be that some one may wish to hear something about their style. They use comparisons, time-words, and proverbs very often. Here is one of the most remarkable, Tichiout etoátendi, "Behold," they say, " the fallen star," when they see some one who is fat and corpulent; for they hold that once upon a time a star fell from Heaven in the form of a fat Goose. Amantes sibi somnia fingunt. [page 123]
[85] Part Second.
On the belief, manners, and customs of the Hurons.
CHAPTER FIRST.
WHAT THE HURONS THINK OF THEIR ORIGIN.
NE is astonished to see so much blindness in regard to the things of Heaven, in a People who do not lack judgment and knowledge in reference to those of earth. This is what their vices and brutality have merited from God. There are some indications that they ha~d formerly some more than natural knowledge of the true God, as may be remarked in some particulars of their fables; and even if they had had only that which Nature can furnish to them, still they ought to have been more reasonable on this subject, if it had not [86] happened to them according to the word of the Apostle, Cùm cognovissent Deum, non sicut Deum glorificaverunt, aut gratias egerunt, sed evanuerunt in cogitationibus suis, et obscuratum est insipiens cor eorum. For not having been willing to acknowledge God in their habits and actions, they have lost the thought of him and have become worse than beasts in his sight, and as regards the respect they have for him.
Now, to begin with the foundation of their belief, [page 125]—the greater part boast of deriving their origin from Heaven, which they found on the following fable, which passes among them for a truth.
They recognize as head of their Nation a certain woman whom they call Ataentsic, who fell among them, they say, from Heaven. For they think the Heavens existed a long time before this wonder; but they cannot tell you when or how its great bodies were drawn from the abysses of nothing. They suppose, even, that above the arches of the Sky there was and still is a land like ours, with woods, lakes, rivers and fields, and Peoples who inhabit them. They do not agree as to the manner in which this so fortunate descent occurred. [87] Some say that one day, as she was working in her field, she perceived a Bear; her dog began to pursue it and she herself afterwards. The Bear, seeing himself closely pressed, and seeking only to escape the teeth of the dog, fell by accident into a hole; the dog followed him. Aataentsic, having approached this precipice, finding that neither the Bear nor the dog were any longer to be seen, moved by despair, threw herself into it also. Nevertheless, her fall happened to be more favorable than she had supposed; for she fell down into the waters without being hurt, although she was with child,—after which, the Waters having dried up little by little, the earth appeared and became habitable.
Others attribute this fall to another cause, which seems to have some relation to the case of Adam, but falsehood makes up the greater part of it. They say that the husband of Aataentsic, being very sick, dreamed that it was necessary to cut down a certain tree from which those who abode in Heaven obtained their food; and that, as soon as he ate of the fruit, [page 127] he would be immediately healed. Aataentsic, knowing the desire of her husband, takes his axe and goes away with the resolution not to make two trips of it; but she had no sooner dealt the first [88] blow than the tree at once split, almost under her feet, and fell to this earth; whereupon she was so astonished that, after having carried the news to her husband, she returned and threw herself after it. Now, as she fell, the Turtle, happening to raise her head above water, perceived her; and, not knowing what to decide upon, astonished as she was at this wonder, she called together the other aquatic animals to get their opinion. They immediately assembled; she points out to them what she saw, and asks them what they think it fitting to do. The greater part refer the matter to the Beaver, who, through courtesy, hands over the whole to the judgment of the Turtle, whose final opinion was that they should all promptly set to work, dive to the bottom of the water, bring up soil to her, and put. it on her back. No sooner said than done, and the woman fell very gently on this Island. Some time after, as she was with child when she fell, she was delivered of a daughter, who almost immediately became pregnant. If you ask them how, you puzzle them very much. At all events, they tell you, she was pregnant. Some throw the blame upon some strangers, [89] who landed on this Island. I pray you make this agree with what they say, that, before Aataentsic fell from the Sky, there were no men on earth. However that may be, she brought forth two boys, Tawiscaron and Iouskeha, who, when they grew up, had some quarrel with each other; judge if this does not relate in some way to the murder of Abel. They came to blows, but with very different [page 129] weapons. Iouskeha had the horns of a Stag; Tawiscaron, who contented himself with some fruits of the wild rosebush, was persuaded that, as soon as he had struck his brother, he would fall dead at his feet. But it happened quite differently from what he had expected; and Iouskeha, on the contrary, struck him so rude a blow in the side, that the blood came forth abundantly. This poor wretch immediately fled; and from his blood, with which the land was sprinkled, certain stones sprang up, like those we employ in France to fire a gun,—which the Savages call even to-day Tawiscara, from the name of this unfortunate. His brother pursued him, and finished him. This is what the greater part believe concerning the origin of these Nations.
[90] There are some who do not soar so high, and are not so ambitious as to believe that they derive their origin from Heaven. They say that, in the beginning of the world, the land was quite covered with water, with the exception of a little Island on which was the sole hope of the human race,- to wit, a single man, whose sole companions were a Fox and a little animal like a Marten, which they call Tsouhendaia. The man, not knowing what to do, seeing himself cut off in so narrow a range of country, asked the Fox to plunge into the water, to see if there were any bottom to it; but he had no sooner wet his paws than he drew back, fearing that this experience would cost him his life. Whereupon the man became indignant; "Tessandion, thou hast no sense," he said to him, and kicked him into the water, where he drank a little more than his fill. However he did not desist from his design, and so encouraged the little animal that was now his sole companion, that it finally [page 131] resolved to plunge in; and as it did not imagine that the water was so shallow, it did this so violently as to dash itself against the bottom, and came back with its snout all covered with slime. The man, very glad [91] at this happy discovery, exhorts it to continue, and to bring up soil to increase the size of the Islet; which it did with so much assiduity, that the Islet lost its identity, and was changed into these vast fields that we see. If you again press them here, and ask them what they think of this man,—who gave him life, who put him upon this little Island, how he could become the father of all these Nations, since he was alone and had no companion; you will gain nothing by asking all these questions, except that you will get this solution, which would not be bad, if their Religion were good, We do not know; we were told so; our Fathers never taught us any more about it. What would you say to that? All that we do is to bear witness to them that we feel compassion for their so gross ignorance; we take thence occasion, when we judge them capable of appreciating it, for explaining some of our Mysteries, and of showing them how fully they conform to reason. They listen very willingly, and are well satisfied therewith.
But to return to Aataentsic and Iouskeha; they hold that Iouskeha is the Sun and [92] Aataentsic the Moon, and yet that their Home is situated at the ends of the earth, namely, toward our Ocean sea; for beyond that it is a lost country to them, and before they had any commerce with the French they had never dreamed that there was under Heaven a different land from their own,—and, now that they are disabused of this idea, many still believe that their [page 133] country and ours are two pieces quite separate, and made by the hands of different workmen. They say, therefore, that four young men once undertook a journey to find out the truth about it; that they found Iouskeha quite alone in his Cabin, and that he received them very kindly. After some compliments on both sides, in the fashion of the Country, he advised them to conceal themselves in some corner, otherwise he would not answer for their lives; that Aataentsic was sure to play them a bad trick, if they did not keep on their guard. This Fury arrives toward evening, and, as she assumes any form she sees fit, perceiving that there were new guests in the house she took the form of a beautiful young girl, handsomely adorned, with a beautiful necklace and bracelets of [93] Porcelain, and asked her son where his guests were. He replied that he did not know what she meant. Thereupon she went out of the Cabin, and Iouskeha took the opportunity to warn his guests, and thus saved their lives. Now, although their Cabin is so very distant, they are nevertheless both present at the feasts and dances which take place in the villages. Aataentsic is often badly abused there. Iouskeha throws the blame on a certain horned oki named Tehonrressandeen; but it is found at the end of the tale that it is he himself who, under that disguise, thus insults his mother.
Moreover, they esteem themselves greatly obliged to this personage; for, in the first place, according to the opinion of some,—who hold a belief quite contrary to that of those whom we have mentioned thus far,—without him we would not have so many fine rivers and so many beautiful lakes. In the beginning of the world, they say, the earth was dry and [page 135] arid; all the waters were collected under the armpit of a large frog, so that Iouskeha could not have a drop except through its agency. One day, he resolved to deliver himself and all his Posterity from this servitude; and, in order to attain this, he made [94] an incision under the armpit, whence the waters came forth in such abundance that they spread throughout the whole earth, and hence the origin of rivers, lakes, and seas. Behold here a subtle solution of the question of our Schools upon this point. They hold also that without Iouskeha their kettles would not boil, as he learned from the Turtle the process of making fire. Were it not for him, they would not have such good hunting, and would not have so much ease in capturing animals in the chase, as they now have. For they believe that animals were not at liberty from the beginning of the world, but that they were shut up in a great cavern, where Iouskeha guarded them. Perhaps there may be in that some allusion to the fact that God brought all the animals to Adam. However, one day he determined to give them liberty in order that they might multiply and fill the forests,—in such a way, nevertheless, that he might easily dispose of them when it should seem good to him. This is what he did to accomplish his end. In the order in which they came from the cave, he wounded them all in the foot with an arrow. However, the Wolf escaped the shot; hence, they say, they have great difficulty in catching him in the chase.
[95] They pass yet beyond this, and regard him as profane Antiquity once did Ceres. According to their story, it is Iouskeha who gives them the wheat they eat, it is he who makes it grow and brings it to [page 137] maturity. If they see their fields verdant in