The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents Volume 19

The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents

—————

Travels and Explorations

of the Jesuit Missionaries

in New France

1610—1791

THE ORIGINAL FRENCH, LATIN, AND ITALI-

IAN TEXTS, WITH ENGLISH TRANSLA-

TIONS AND NOTES; ILLUSTRATED BY

PORTRAITS, MAPS, AND FACSIMILES

EDITED BY

Reuben Gold Thwaites

Secretary of the State historical Society of Wisconsin

COMPUTERIZED TRANSCRIPTION BY

Tomasz Mentrak

Vol. XIX.

QUEBEC AND HURONS:

1640

CLEVELAND: The Burrows Brothers

Company, PUBLISHERS, M DCCC XCVIII

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THE JESUIT RELATIONS

AND

ALLIED DOCUMENTS

Vol. XXV

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The Burrows Company

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The Imperial Press, Cleveland

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The edition consists of sev-

en hundred and fifty sets

all numbered.

No.________

The Burrows Brothers Co.

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EDITORIAL STAFF

Editor	Reuben Gold Thwaites

	\| Finlow Alexander
	\| Percy Favor Bicknell
Translators.	\| William Frederic Giese
	\| Crawford Lindsay
	\| William Price
	\| Hiram Allen Sober

Assistant Editor	Emma Helen Blair

Bibliographical Adviser	Victor Hugo Paltsits

Electronic Transcription	Tomasz Mentrak

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CONTENTS OF VOL. XIX.

Preface To Volume		1
Documents:—
XLI.	Relation de ce qvi s’est passé en la Novvelle France, en l’année 1640. [Chaps. xi.-xiii. of Part I., and Chaps. i.-viii. of Part II.] Paul le Jeune; Kébec, September 10, 1640. Jerome Lalemant; Des Hurons, May 27, 1640		7




Bibliographical Data; Volume
Notes

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[INSERT GRAPHIC HERE]

ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. XIX.

I.	Sketch map of Ste. Marie-on-the-Wye, by F. Hunter	270

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PREFACE TO VOL. XIX

The entire volume is devoted to a continuation of the Relation of 1640 (Document XLI.), which is the joint product of Le Jeune and Jerome Lalemant. In Vol. XVIII. we presented the first ten chapters of Part I., which is by Le Jeune (dated at Quebec, September 10); this part is concluded in the present volume, and eight chapters are given of Part II. (by Lalemant, dated in the Huron country, May 27).

Following is a synopsis of the portion of the Relation herewith printed:

Le Jeune continues his report from Quebec, by describing the noble work of the Hospital nuns. From August to May, they have had more than a hundred patients, and have, besides, given aid to over two hundred Indians. Nearly all the sick whom they have nursed had the smallpox, which caused an almost insupportable stench; and the nuns, despite what aid could be given them, are exhausted by their incessant labors and the horrors of the epidemic. They note with surprise the patience and fortitude of the Indians, notwithstanding their pains, sores, and fever. Father Pijart gives religious instruction to all the inmates, many of whom show most edifying devotion; and twenty of the sick have been baptized. Among all these sick Indians, not one dispute has arisen, — much to their praise, as compared with the patients in a hospital in France. On Holy Thursday, [Page 1] the feet of the poor patients are washed, according to French custom; in this ceremony all the leading French people take part, headed by Montmagny and Madame de la Peltrie. Le Jeune describes the virtuous life and pious death of a young Iroquois woman who had been sent (1636) to France and educated in a Paris convent.

The labors of the Ursulines are then recounted. Now eight in number, they are lodged in two small rooms, where also they must teach their pupils and receive visitors. But they are full of enthusiasm and joy in their work, and find in the Indian girls wonderful docility, obedience, and intelligence, — not to mention the piety and love for religion that these children display. The girls delight in attending mass, and are much more attentive and quiet than children in France; “they compose their faces, and regulate their actions by ours, except that in their reverences they imitate Madame de la Pelletrie.” They love and obey the nuns more than their own mothers.

Le Jeune next recounts various events of the past year. On the first journey from Quebec of the new superior, Vimont, his vessel is wrecked, and he is compelled to return home. The missionaries meet serious losses, — two of their workmen are drowned; their house, the chapel, and the church at Quebec, are destroyed by fire, and they thus lose all their supplies for outlying stations and even for the Huron mission. The governor loans them a house, and, for the time, they hold religious services at the hospital. Le Jeune ends his report by describing some aboriginal superstitions. A piece of burned leather is rubbed upon a sick man’s head, to drive away the [Page 2] manitou. The Iroquois sometimes use the calcined bones of a newly born infant, sacrificed by them, for charms, especially to secure success in battle.

Part II. of the general Relation consists of Jerome Lalemant’s report made to Vimont, his superior, upon the concerns of the Huron mission for this year. The harvest of last autumn was unusually abundant, says Lalemant, but the Indians, instead of thanking God for this, devote themselves more than ever to feasts. They have also had numerous fights with the Iroquois, but have lost therein more than they have gained. They depend on the medicine men to predict for them the coming of the enemy, and the outcome of the contest, but in this are sometimes disappointed. There are two classes of these wizards — “magicians,” who are greatly feared and honored; and “sorcerers,” who are held in abomination, and who may, on suspicion alone, be slain with impunity.

Lalemant describes the outbreak of smallpox among the Hurons, and the resulting persecutions against the missionaries. He recounts the sufferings of one of their donnés, who, attacked on the Ottawa River by the disease, was abandoned by the natives; after lying on the rocks for four days, exposed to storms, he was at last rescued by a Huron to whom, a year before, he had shown like kindness and compassion. Even his recovery does not relieve the missionaries from the suspicions and hatred of the ignorant Hurons, who tear down the crosses above the Fathers’ cabins, threaten them, beat one of them with clubs, and even lie in wait to murder them.

During the year, the missionaries, in the Huron country, have baptized over a thousand persons; but [Page 3] most of these were thus received at the point of death, the majority being children. The decision is made by the Fathers, to go from their residences on missions to the various tribes, — a more difficult method, but, as they think, more efficacious in reaching the savages. They have taken a census, not only of the villages, but of the families in each, and even of nearly all the persons in the country; this shows a population, in thirty-two villages, of about 12,000 souls.

After giving a general outline of the hardships and dangers experienced in carrying on these missions, the writer relates in more detail the progress and condition of each. The residence at Ste. Marie has now become their only fixed and permanent station, — those of St. Joseph and Ossosane having been removed thither. One object in building the house at Ste. Marie was to furnish a suitable place for the rest and spiritual refreshment of the missionaries; but the first to make retreat therein was “the Christian,” Joseph Chihwatenhwa. His pious sentiments on this occasion are related at length. A speech of his, defending the missionaries, causes the conversion of another Indian, “who is likely to be one of the pillars of this rising Church.” This new convert, named in baptism Louis, tries to persuade his relatives to embrace the new faith, but, despite his eloquence, with little success; “the words which issued all on fire from the lips of this Christian were received in hearts colder than marble.” Various baptisms, occurring in the villages near Ste. Marie, are recounted. It is but a little time since a general council of all the clans was held, at which the missionaries were denounced — most of those present [Page 4] demanding their death; but an old man, who is friendly to them, finally suggests that his countrymen first seek out and slay their own sorcerers, and then, if their afflictions still continue, they may kill the Frenchmen. This, for the time, quiets their minds. Lalemant then narrates the course of events at St. Joseph, — largely in extracts from the letters of Chastellain and Brébeuf, who have labored at that residence. This village has been especially the theatre of persecutions against the “black robes;” yet they have there baptized, during the year, nearly 300 persons, many of whom are now in heaven. The details of some notable conversions are recounted. One woman, baptized while dying, sees “at her side a company, with unknown faces of rare beauty; these beings offer her very handsome cloth, with which to cover her.” Nevertheless, the missionaries find, in the course of the epidemic, that “their Church militant has been built mostly on sand, — the winds and storms have almost thrown everything to the ground;” many converts have returned to their old superstitions, and even publicly renounced the new faith. Some, however, remain faithful through all persecution, and thus greatly console their teachers. One of these experiences a sort of miracle, while yet a catechumen; not showing sufficient respect toward Cod, in his prayers, he sees one day “a picture of Our Lord move itself, look at him with an eye of anger, and stir its lips in a manner which horrified him. . . . Four of our Fathers, who afterward examined this affair, were led to believe that this thing was real.” Another is no longer subject to vertigoes, after her baptism.

Lalemant proceeds to describe the work at the [Page 5] mission of La Conception (Ossosane), up to the time of its cessation; it has been in charge of Ragueneau, assisted by Du Peron or Chaumonot. “Thence have come the worst reports and the most pernicious designs against us.” Unfortunately, it is the Christians there who have been most severely afflicted by the epidemic; hence the unbelievers say that the faith profits them nothing, and “it is now in disgrace” among them. The Fathers are therefore threatened, driven away, and even in danger of death at the hands of the infuriated savages. Notwithstanding, they have baptized, “in spite of the demons and hell,” over 250 persons. Various instances are enumerated, of persons who, “inspired by the devil,” refuse baptism. In this mission also, many of the converts have fallen away; but some show most edifying zeal and devotion, even in the midst of afflictions. One of these is for a time, like many of his townsmen, beguiled by the fair promises of a certain “magician” into permitting him to treat the sick; but when these patients die, the deluded neophyte has his eyes opened, and returns to the true faith. The chapter on this mission of La Conception (which also closes the present volume) ends with many details of the piety and devotion of “the pearl of our Christians,” Joseph Chihwatenhwa.

Madison, Wis, March, 1898.

R. G. T.

XLI (continued)

Relation of 1640

Paris: SEBASTIEN CRAMOISY, 1641

Chaps. xi.-xiii. of Part I., and chaps. i.-viii. of Part II. The remainder of this document will appear in Volume XX.

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[146] CHAPTER XI.

OF THE HOSPITAL.

HE hospital Nuns arrived at Kebec on the first day of the month of August of last year. Scarcely had they disembarked [147] before they found themselves overwhelmed with patients. The hall of the Hospital being too small, it was necessary to erect some cabins, fashioned like those of the Savages, in their garden. Not having enough furniture for so many people, they had to cut in two or three pieces part of the blankets and sheets they had brought for these poor sick people. In a word, instead of taking a little rest, and refreshing themselves after the great discomforts they had suffered upon the sea, they found themselves so burdened and occupied that we had fear of losing them and their hospital at its very birth. The sick came from all directions in such numbers, their stench was so insupportable, the heat so great, the fresh food so scarce and so poor, in a country so new and strange, that I do not know how these good sisters, who almost had not even leisure in which to take a little sleep, endured all these hardships. Our Reverend Father Superior took very special care of these poor Savages, and Father de Quen joined him in this work with an incomparable charity. His health was injured by it [148] for some time, for the air was so impure and so tainted that the lungs could scarcely inhale without the heart being thereby affected. All the French [Page 9] born in the country were attacked by this contagion, as well as the Savages. Those who came from your France were exempt from it, except two or three, already naturalized to the air of this region.

In brief, from the month of August until the month of May, more than one hundred patients entered the hospital, and more than two hundred poor Savages found relief there, either in temporary treatment or in sleeping there one or two nights, or more. There have been seen as many as ten, twelve, twenty, or thirty of them at a time. Twenty poor sick people have received holy Baptism there; and about twenty-four, quitting this house of mercy, have entered the regions of glory. All this is due to the charity and liberality of Madame the Duchess d’Aiguillon, who accomplishes this work with a care and affection truly golden. May this great courage, that she has conceived in the blood of the Son of God, receive its increase [149] in this same adorable blood. But let us see in detail what has taken place in the house of this Lady, or rather in that which she has erected to God.

The excellent order observed in the service of the poor patients in the house of mercy at Dieppe is seen here in new France, to the great edification of our French and the Savages. I will not set it down upon this paper, since you can see it with your own eyes in your France. Father Claude Pijard, who has had charge of the instruction of the poor of this house, during the entire winter, has given me a little relation, couched in these terms: “In the morning, we had the Savages say prayers, and, some time after, the holy Mass was celebrated, at which those who had been baptized were present; after dinner, we had [Page 11] them recite the catechism, and then gave them a little explanation of it, usually adding some pious story that one of the Savages repeated. In the evening, they made their examination of conscience; they confessed and received communion every two weeks, and would have done so of tener if [150] we had permitted them. They showed their devotion by often visiting the most holy Sacrament, by saying their rosary several times a day, by singing spiritual canticles, which have succeeded their barbarous songs, — in short, by fasting throughout the sacred forty days, for those who could do so. A poor lame man and two blind women recently baptized, when we told them about Lent, — not to induce them to fast during the whole period, but only a few days, — responded that they wished to do all that the Christians did; in fact, they fasted as we did.

“A good old woman, hearing that persons of her age were exempt from this law, said that she had enough strength to keep it; and her fear that we might not have her fast like the others made her begin Lent two days before Ash Wednesday. In vain the Nuns told her that it was not yet time to fast; if the Father had not assured her of it, she would not have eaten except at noon, although she had not yet regained her strength [151] from a sickness that had greatly weakened her.

“I will say here, by the way, that one of these two blind women, whom I have just mentioned, had a little daughter only two years old. This child led her mother, and warned her in her childish jargon of the rough places where she might stumble.”

What I am about to tell is taken from the letters that the Mother Superior has written me. [Page 13]

“All our sick are very careful to pray to God. They urge us often to pray for them. It is a great consolation to us to see them attentive to prayers evening and morning. They waken one another as soon as the time for prayers draws near. There are some who remain alone a long time in the chapel, before the Blessed Sacrament. The two blind women have become very devout since their baptism. Heleine seemed to me very stupid before she became a Christian; I would never have expected to see her so zealous as she is. She spends a great deal of time praying to God; she maintains a strict silence before Mass, on the day when she [152] wishes to receive communion. I have often asked them, when I saw them very intent and meditative, of what they were thinking. ‘We are thinking of God,’ they would say, ‘and of what the Father has taught us.’

“Pierre Trigatin continues in the devotions of which I have already written you, passing much time in prayer in our chapel.

“The patience of our sick astonishes me. I have seen many whose bodies were entirely covered with smallpox, and in a burning fever, complaining no more than if they were not sick, strictly obeying the physician, and showing gratitude for the slightest service that was rendered them.

“Among others, Lazare Petikouchkaouat has left us one of the rarest examples of patience that it is possible to see. You have often seen him in his infirmity. He was seven whole months in our hospital, afflicted with very painful sores in several parts of his body, with a fever that continually preyed upon him and so parched him that he could not quench his thirst. Ke was seized by a ravenous hunger, [Page 15] [153] which he could not satisfy; he ate continually, and the more he ate the more he wasted away. He reached such a state that his bones actually pierced through his skin. Putrefaction took place, both in his bones and in his skin; a large walnut could have been put in some of his bones, uncovered and all hollowed out by putrefaction; his sores were large and deep; he suffered strangely, but with a patience still more strange. He had himself raised once every day; and, after one cry that he uttered through the violence of the pain caused by touching him, he spoke encouragingly to those who held him, and then thanked them with great gentleness. He particularly loved the young man who offered himself to our hospital to assist the poor patients; but then it must be confessed that this good young man succored him with a charity that cannot be sufficiently praised. He called this patient his consolation. You know how offensive to smell he was — I have never known anything so tainted; yet after his death no bad odor arose from his body, which astonished us. He [154] confessed and received communion frequently, doing so even after you gave him extreme unction. In short, he died with these words upon his lips: ‘Jesus chauerimir, Jesus have pity upon me; Jesus, have pity upon me.’” Thus far the Mother.

The secrets of God are unfathomable. This large and powerful Savage had been very proud and dissolute. When he first entered the hospital he was still full of self, — he tried to kill himself, to be freed from the torments that he was suffering; but Father Pijard related, every day of Lent, some story of the Passion in the hall of the poor; this wretched man was touched and piously fell into the line of duty. [Page 17] The Nuns have exercised a most signal charity towards this living skeleton; he is one of those whom God has willed to save through the mercy that is exercised in their hospital.

“I have seen in some of them,” continues the Mother, “a great steadfastness at death, and a joy founded upon their hope of going to heaven. Among others, esperance Itauichpich greatly consoled us. When she first [155] entered our hospital, she had an eager desire to recover her health. She seemed very averse to dying; and yet, as soon as she was told that her sickness was mortal, that it was all over with her, she was not at all shocked; she begged that the Father be sent for, and, having confessed two or three times, in a little while she appeared as resolute and firm as a rock. She saw before her eyes four little children that she was leaving, very poor and very young, and her husband exceedingly disconsolate; and all this did not make her waver. The faith operates strongly in these new Christians. You would say that they are sure that, in leaving this life, they go straight to Paradise.

“I have noticed a very great chastity in all the Savages that we have had in the hospital, especially in the Christian girls and women. When we said one day, to divert our patients, that we were going to the country of the Hurons to succor them, they told us that those peoples were very dissolute, and that we, who so loved purity, could not endure them; [156] in short, they prayed you Fathers to dissuade us from this plan, for the sake of our love of chastity. But when we told them that we had only said this in jest, they replied that we must confess, and that God forbade lying. This made us smile, and greatly [Page 19] edified us, seeing the tenderness of their consciences.

“One of our patients, having committed some vexatious act, asked pardon for it of his own accord with great humility. He confessed, the same day; and, two or three days later, he appeared still very much embarrassed by his fault. He tried to soothe the person whom he had offended; he prayed to God for her, and offered her some little article that he had, to appease her.

“I have often wondered,” says the Mother, “how these persons, so different in country, age, and sex, can agree so well. In France, a Nun has to be on her guard every day in our houses, to prevent disputes among our poor, or to quell them; and all winter we have not observed the least discord [157] among our sick Savages, — not even a slight quarrel has arisen.

“The remedies that we brought from Europe are very good for the Savages, who have no difficulty in taking our medicines, nor in having themselves bled. The love of the mothers toward their children is very great, for they take in their own mouths the medicine intended for their children, and then pass it into the mouths of their little ones.” Thus the good Mother wrote to me.

The Gentlemen of new France, having desired that the hospital Nuns celebrate the sacrifice of the holy Mass, to draw down the blessing of God upon their holy enterprises, this was solemnly done on the thirtieth day of November; and, to honor them more, Monsieur Gand was godfather in their name to a worthy young Savage, who was baptized in the chapel of the hospital, and named François.

On holy Thursday, as it is the custom of [Page 21] well-regulated hospitals to wash the feet of the poor, Monsieur our Governor wished to be present at this [158] holy ceremony. In the morning, Mass was said in the hall of the sick, where the Nuns and the sick Savages received communion. Then all the men were ranged on one side, and the women and girls on the other. Monsieur the Governor began first to wash the feet of the men, Monsieur the Chevalier de l'Isle and the principal men of our French people followed; the Nuns, with Madame de la Pelletrie, Mademoiselle de Repentigny, and several other women, washed the feet of the Savage women, very lovingly and modestly. God knows whether these poor barbarians were touched, at seeing persons of such merit at their feet. We explained to them why we performed these acts of humility; they are very capable of understanding this instruction. The conclusion was very agreeable to them, for a fine collation was afterward offered them. A worthy man, a resident of the country, not being able to be present at this holy act, assembled his domestics in the evening, and did the same thing to them.

The Savages who leave the hospital, [159] and who come to see us again at St. Joseph, or at the three Rivers, say a thousand pleasant things about these good Nuns. They call them “the good,” “the liberal,” “the charitable.” The Mother Superior having fallen sick, these poor Savages were very sorry, the sick blaming themselves for it. “It is we who have made her sick,” they said; “she loves us too much; why does she do so much for us?” When this good Mother, having recovered, entered the hall of the poor, they knew not how to welcome her enough. They have good reason to love these good [Page 23] Mothers; for I do not know that parents have so sweet, so strong, and so constant an affection for their children as these good women have for their patients. I have often seen them so overwhelmed that they were utterly exhausted; yet I have never heard them complain, either of the too great number of their patients, or of the infection, or of the trouble they gave them. They have hearts so loving and so tender towards these poor people that, if occasionally some little present were given them, one could be very [160] certain that they would not taste it, however greatly they might need it, everything being dedicated and consecrated to their sick. This charity had to be moderated, and an order was given them to eat at least a part of the little gifts that were made to them, especially when they were not strong. I am not surprised if the Savages, who recognize very clearly this great charity, love, cherish, and honor them.

Father Buteux wrote, some days ago, to the Reverend Father Superior that a woman who had remained a long time at the hospital did a great deal of good among the Savages of her nation, instructing them with much fervor. This is the common practice of those who have passed the winter in this holy house; they afterwards preach to their compatriots with great zeal.

In conclusion, I do not know which of the two feels more satisfaction, — Madame the Duchess d’Aiguillon in having founded and built a house to our Lord in new France, or her nuns in finding themselves in this new world.

[161] Here are the words of a letter from Mother de St. Ignace, Superior:[1] “My satisfaction is so great [Page 25] at seeing myself in Canada, that I cannot refrain from writing to Your Reverence that I think more of being here than of being Empress of the whole world.”

As for Madame the Duchess d’Aiguillon, her joy appears and shows itself in very loving words and deeds. I have seen here, written by her own hand, several letters with which she has honored various persons. There is not one of them which has not touched my heart, for every sentence strikes home; it seems to me that they will all reach the heart of God, considering only her pure love in this great enterprise, for which God chooses her, and which she continues to carry on from day to day, with success and liberality, by the grace of the same God, the inspirer of hearts.

I thought I had finished this chapter; but I must say a few words about a young Hiroquois woman who was sent to France some years ago.[2]

Madame the Duchess d’Aiguillon [162] having had her received into the number of the children of God through holy baptism, had her lodged in the great Convent of the Carmelite Mothers, in the fauxbourg St. Jacques, at Paris. Those good Mothers, wishing to have me taste some of the fruits that a wild plant of these countries, transplanted into the Church of God, had borne in your France, have sent me a paper, unsigned, which speaks of her virtues and her death. Mother Magdelaine de Jesus, very zealous for the conversion of these peoples, has also written me fully about her. I will give two or three extracts from these letters, to show that there is no heart so barbarous that it cannot receive Jesus Christ. [Page 27]

“I noticed,” said Mother Magdelaine de Jesus, “that Anne Therese” — the name of this good Hirequois woman — “had a most extraordinary desire to be instructed. She never wearied of hearing about God, nor of praying on Feast days and Sundays. She sometimes asked leave to go for a walk, but her recreation was to go to hear Vespers in one Church, and Compline in another. She had a purity and a tenderness [163] of conscience that were admirable. She liked exceedingly to frequent the Sacraments; when she saw the Church decorated, she asked the reason for it, and gave us no peace until we explained to her the mystery of the feast that was about to be celebrated, to which she listened with great eagerness; her heart knew well how to commune with God. One day, having noticed that a sister who was going away from Communion suddenly began to pray aloud while reciting her rosary, she said to her, as they were leaving the Church, ‘My sister, when you have received communion, you must look at Jesus Christ in your heart, without speaking; he must be adored in silence, and you must say to him, from the depths of your soul, “My Lord, I give myself to you; take my heart, possess your poor creature;” and, when you have spoken to him for some time in your heart, then you can move your lips.’

“She had a good disposition, very charitable and very grateful. Once when she was with Mother Magdelaine, some one came and told her that a person who came to teach her to read was dead. She [164] was touched at this, and entreated me and all the sisters to commend her soul to our Lord.”

If some poor person presented himself, she was [Page 29] unwilling that he should be kept waiting; she herself gave him her dinner if he came at that time, contenting herself with bread alone. The night on which she died, she testified that she was under great obligations to the Jesuit Fathers, mentioning three or four of them by their names; she declared herself also greatly indebted to Mother Magdelaine, and to the Mother Prioress, for having received her in their house.

“Some people being at our house, she made them laugh by incorrectly pronouncing some French words. This touched her a little, and caused her to go out abruptly, to escape embarrassment; but, being immediately seized with remorse, she reëntered the room, fell upon her knees, kissed the ground, and asked for pardon for her hastiness and lack of humility.

“Seeing a man lose his temper because he had hurt himself, she exclaimed, ‘Is it possible that a Christian should feel pain with impatience, [165] when he has the promise of Paradise, where it is so beautiful, as a reward for his patience? We people,’ said she, ‘have not the hope nor the promise of these blessings; and yet we do not become angry in the horrible pains that we are made to suffer when we are captured in war by our enemies.’

“She was not impatient in her sickness, although it was rather long. She said that she was very glad to suffer, thinking very often of what our Lord Jesus Christ had suffered for her. As soon as she was baptized, she wished to fast all the following Lent, bravely overcoming the difficulty that those of her nation have in abstaining from food when they are hungry. Having gone to some house at this holy [Page 31] time, she was offered something to eat, perhaps fruit, but she would not taste it.

“She was possessed of wonderful modesty and purity. A man of rank, whom she respected, and whom she had often seen at the house of Madame the Duchess d’ Aiguillon, [166] coming from the country, approached to salute her. She drew back very quickly, saying,’ Jesus! it is a man; I cannot salute him! ‘ She never spoke to any man alone; if any Monk or layman came into the house, she went straightway in quest of an attendant to keep her company.

“When I spoke to her,” Mother Magdelaine writes me, “of your intention to recall her to new France, to have her marry some Christian Savage, she told me that she desired no other spouse than Jesus Christ. Speaking to her of this at another time, she became so vexed that she immediately went away; and we could not have induced her to come back if we had not promised that we would never speak to her again of marriage.

“In her sickness, she asked pardon of all the sisters, with great devoutness. She had some repugnance to death; but, having asked if the Virgin had died, and being told that this Princess had paid the debt common to all men, she declared [167] that she was well satisfied to die. A little while before rendering up her soul, she called an attendant, and said to her, ‘If you knew, my sister, how glad I am in here’ — pointing to her heart; ‘I am happier than I can tell you.’ She entreated that the Litanies of the blessed Virgin be recited; when she responded to them very attentively, she was told that she would make herself worse. But it was necessary to grant [Page 33] to the devotion of her soul what might slightly injure the health of her body.

“She was asked if she was truly glad to die a Christian. ‘Yes,’ said she, ‘with all my heart.’ She appeared very joyful and very contented. While a good sister was having her perform an act of contrition, this poor Neophyte said to her, ‘Begin again, my sister, — again, again.’ She did it as many as three times, desiring to be continually told of God. At last this soul, which had its birth in the midst of Barbarism, went to see him whom it knew only very late, but with great ardor and love. May he be forever blessed, [168] in time and in eternity.” [Page 35]

CHAPTER XII.

OF THE SEMINARY OF THE URSULINE MOTHERS.

HAVE never seen Mothers so solicitous for their children as are Madame de la Pelletrie and the Ursulines for their little seminarists, The love that finds its source in God is more generous and more constant than the tenderness of nature. These good sisters seem to have neither arms nor hearts except to cultivate these young plants, and to render them worthy of the garden of the Church, that they may be some day transplanted into the holy gardens of Paradise.

This good lady’s intention was to begin a small seminary of six poor little orphan Savages, the difficulty of getting possession of her property not permitting her [169] to do more. Her heart is much less limited than her means. Instead of six, eighteen have entered this little house. It is true that they have not dwelt there all at the same time; but usually there were six or seven lodged with Madame de la Pelletrie, — three Nuns, and two French girls; and all these in two little rooms, where recently, two more Nuns have entered,[3] — without counting the little French girls who go to this small Monastery to be instructed; without counting, also, the Savage girls and women who at all hours enter the room where their little compatriots are being taught, and who often pass the night there, when overtaken by bad weather, or detained on some other account. I leave [Page 37] you to imagine how great must be the discomforts arising from so narrow quarters. But, notwithstanding all this, I can say that the joy they experience in seeing the fruit of their little labors so mitigates their trials and gives their hearts so much pleasure, that even if their bodies are lodged in narrow space, [170] their minds are not at all sensible of this prison. Let us hear them speak of their treasure, — that is to say, of their children. If I were to copy here all the joyful letters they have written me upon this subject, I would almost make a book instead of a chapter. Those who cross over here from your France are almost all mistaken on one point, — they have a very low opinion of our Savages, thinking them dull and slow-witted; but, as soon as they have associated with them, they confess that only education, and not intelligence, is lacking in these peoples.

Mother Cecile de la Croix and Mother Marie de saint Joseph have sometimes entertained me with the good qualities of their children. See how the latter speaks of them: “There is nothing so docile as these children. One can bend them as he will; they have no reply to anything one may desire from them. If they are to pray to God, recite their catechism, or perform some little piece of work or task, they are ready at once, without murmurs and without excuses.

“They have a special inclination to pray to God outside the hours specified [171] for doing so and for their instruction. They urge us a hundred times a day to have them pray, and to teach them how it should be done, never wearying of this act. You will see them clasping their little hands, and giving their hearts to our Lord. They attend holy Mass every day, and are so attentive — not playing and talking, [Page 39] like the little children in France — that we are delighted. They compose their faces, and regulate their actions by ours, except that in their reverences they imitate Madame de la Pelletrie. They are so afraid of not being present at this divine sacrifice, that one day, when Madame wished to take them to the settlement of St. Joseph, where their relatives are, they asked if they would not be allowed to hear Mass before departing.

“They do not fail to recite their rosary every day. If they notice some Nun going aside to say hers, they present themselves to say it with her. A Nun, having granted them this favor one day, told them that it was a suitable act of devotion [172] to offer these words after each Ave Maria: “Sancte Joseph, ora pro nobis.” They promised that they would say them, and that they would pray to this great Saint. Indeed, as soon as they left the Mass they came and rendered this good Mother an account of their little devotion. They sometimes slip into our choir, and, placing themselves on opposite sides, each holding a book in her hand, they act as we do during our service. They sing the Ave Maris stella and the Gloria Patri, making the same inclinations that they see us make; and as this is the only Hymn they know by heart, they sing it twenty and thirty times without tiring of it, thinking that they are offering a prayer very acceptable to God. This innocence is enchanting.

“On Good Friday, when they saw that the Nuns took off their shoes and prostrated themselves low to adore the holy Cross, these poor children laid aside their shoes, and observed the same ceremonies which they had noticed in their Mothers. [Page 41]

[173] “They are frequently found alone, praying to God and reciting their beads. They take great pleasure in gathering flowers in the woods, and in making little garlands of these, which they go and present to the image of the blessed Virgin which is in our choir. They surround her with bouquets and offer her all possible endearments. These little devotions proceed from themselves, or rather from the spirit of God, for no one urges them to undertake these; it is enough for them to see a praiseworthy action, to imitate it according to their childish ability.

“They are very fond of the images, making little oratories for them, where they sleep. They have the meaning of these explained to them, and never weary of hearing about the mysteries of our belief.

“Their favorite recreation is to dance, after the fashion of their country; they do not do this, however, without permission. Having come one Friday to ask this, they were told that Jesus had died on Friday, and that it was a day of sadness. Nothing more was needed to stop them. [174] ‘We will dance no more on that day,’ they said; ‘we will be sad, since Jesus died on such a day.’

“When three of the larger girls had been encouraged to hope that they could receive communion at Easter, I never saw more joy,” says the Mother who instructs them. “They take unspeakable pleasure in receiving instruction upon this adorable mystery, becoming unusually attentive. It seems that they have a conception of this lovable truth beyond their years, for they are no more than twelve years old. They decided to fast upon the eve of their communion, a custom they have observed ever since, whenever they approach the holy table.” [Page 43]

When Father Pijard was instructing these three seminarists, one of the smallest children, about six years old, presented herself and asked for the holy communion with the others. The Father told her that she was too young. “Ah, my Father,” said she, “do not refuse me because I am little; I shall become large, as well as my companions.” She was allowed to listen, and remembered so well all [175] that was explained of this adorable mystery, and afterward gave so good an account of it, that she delighted those who questioned her. However, she was not granted this food for the strong. Her mother coming to see her during those days, this child began to instruct her upon the mysteries of the faith, which she explained by images. She had her pray to God, and then showed her the letters of the alphabet in a book, to prove to her the desire she had to learn to read. This good woman was so pleased that she acted the child with her child, saying the letters after her little girl as if she were reciting her lesson. “My daughter wishes,” said she to the Nuns, “that I should know God as soon as I know you. I am very glad to see her with you; when we go away, she will instruct us, her Father and me. We both have a great desire to be baptized; she will teach us to pray to God.”

But let us see what mother Marie de l’Incarnation wrote me, concerning the [176] first communion of these children. “I was greatly consoled when I learned that the Reverend Father Superior was inclined to have three of our seminarists make their first communion, if they were considered fitted for it. Father Claude Pijard instructed them with great care; he is much comforted at seeing them so well [Page 45] inclined. Verily, my good Father, they manifest so much desire to possess so great a blessing that you would say they are about to enter heaven, so much joy appears on their faces. Agnes committed some childish fault yesterday; she was told that she was off ending God. She began to cry, and, when asked the reason, she replied, ‘They will not let me receive communion, because I have offended God.’ She could not have been comforted, had we not assured her that that should not keep her from communion. They are so attentive to what is taught them that, besides the instruction the Father gives them, if I wished to have them repeat what has been told them, and what is contained in the catechism, from morning until night, they would willingly submit to this. [177] I am carried away with astonishment at them; I have never seen girls in France so eager to be instructed, or to pray to God, as are our seminarists. I believe that the blessings of heaven are fully bestowed upon these innocent souls, for such they .certainly are.” See what Madame de la Peltrie wrote me upon the same subject.

“I cannot let this opportunity pass, without describing to you the joy our children showed at being granted the holy communion on holy Thursday. You would experience a touching consolation if you could see with what attention they listen to the instructions that Father Pijard gives them once every day, and our Mother two or three times, to prepare them well for the reception of such a guest. These are incredible fervors. When they are asked why they have so great a desire to receive communion, they reply that Jesus will come to kiss them in heart, and that he will make their souls beautiful. One [Page 47] often perceives the face of my goddaughter, Marie Negabamat, wonderfully lighted up with joy; [178] if you ask her the reason for this, ‘It is because I shall soon receive communion,’ she answers. I confess to you, my Reverend Father, that my heart is full of delight at seeing them so well disposed, — so much so, that when it shall please divine providence to take me away from this world, I shall be satisfied, since his divine mercy begins to shine upon our little seminarists, and seems to be pleased with our insignificant labors.”

Father Claude Pijard, who had charge of the instruction of these children during this last winter, has confessed to me that tears fell from his eyes when he saw the modesty of these children at their first communion.

Let us come back to the observations that Mother Marie de St. Joseph has placed in my hands. “They are,” says she, “very grateful for the love we bear them, and for the blessings we procure for them. Seeing one day that we had difficulty in learning their language, ‘Oh, how willingly we would give you our tongues,’ they said. If Madame de la Peltrie takes them to any place, they follow her more lovingly than children follow [179] their real mother. I have wondered at what I am about to tell. When this worthy Lady takes them to the settlement of saint Joseph, these children go to see their relatives, some here and some there. Let Madame be ready to depart, — you see them leave their relatives, and take their places at her side, embracing her with more affection than they do their own parents.

“Three new girls entering the seminary some time ago, the older girls brought various articles — one [Page 49] bringing one of her dresses, another a hat — for their new companions to wear, until clothes could be made for them.

“They are so modest that, if one of them has her throat even a little uncovered, the others tell her that she will drive away her good Angel. This is now so accepted among them that, to warn a girl to keep within the bounds of decorum, they say to her, ‘Be careful that your good Angel does not leave you;’ and the girl to whom this remark is made looks herself over, to see that there is nothing unseemly. [180] Magdelaine Amiskoueian, about seventeen or eighteen years old, is singularly modest. She has never been seen to do anything in the least culpable, in this respect. It is she who recommends modesty to the others, correcting them when they do something childish, but with so much tact that no one gets angry with her. Agnes, having used some improper word through inadvertence, wished to confess it immediately, and did so at the coming of the Father.

“I will add that these children are very well formed, are very ready in politeness, and are wonderfully clever in performing all their little tasks and the small household duties that we teach them.” Let us see another letter or two upon the same subject.

The Mother Superior thus writes me about them: “It would be impossible for me to tell you the consolation my mind has experienced in having had the good fortune to see, this week, so many souls who have received holy Baptism; and in knowing that our Lord has done us this favor, that they have been [181] instructed in our little Chapel. Today our joy [Page 51] began anew when we saw at our house the Christian girls and women who must go away to follow their relatives to the hunt. We have entertained them three times this week, but with willing hearts. My Reverend Father, it seems as if these good people carry Paradise with them; but then, they are souls freshly washed in the blood of the lamb. But what shall I say to you about our seminarists? Magdelaine Amiskoueian is, in her manners, like one who has been brought up among us; you could not find a disposition sweeter or more pliable. She keeps all her companions to their duty and greatly enjoys whatever pertains to God. Marie Negabamat becomes more accomplished every day. This girl is so fearful of the judgments of God, that one day, when I was instructing, the two who are not yet baptized, there were tears in her eyes. She understands very well the mysteries of our faith; the greatest pleasure one can give her [182] is to explain these truths to her by images. She feels such devotion towards the blessed Virgin, that she trembles with joy at the sight of her picture. She calls her her mother, kisses her, and loves her dearly. She cannot tolerate any immodesty in her companions. When we have her pray to God in her own language, with her companions, she goes also and prays with the little French girls. One would not take little Magdelaine for a Savage; a more obedient or more affectionate child could not be found, — we can make her do whatever we like. She is a little Angel in innocence, and so is little Ursule.

“The last three children whom you gave us have left their Savage nature at the door; they have brought no part of it with them. It seems as if they [Page 53] had always been reared here. They are not moved at seeing the Savage girls or women come and go, — they show no desire to follow them, they salute them in the French way, and leave them smilingly; it seems as if we were their natural mothers. They come and throw themselves [183] into our arms, — their refuge, as it were, — when they have any little grievance. One day, when I had a pain in my head, they were told that I was sick, that I might die if they made a noise. At this word ‘die,’ they began to weep, and kept perfect silence. What more could you wish? Does it not seem that the treasures of heaven are being poured down upon this poor people?”

Let us say a few words more of Madame de la Pelletrie’s love for them, and then we will conclude this Chapter. She speaks to me of her children in these terms:

“I would not be satisfied if I did not tell you of the comfort that I daily experience in our little girls. I have all the pleasure that a mother can wish from her good children, — both in the obedience they render me, and in the tender and filial love they bear me. It was my duty during the retreat of our mothers to hear them pray to God, recite their catechism, and say their lessons. I felt, [184] in doing this, a joy in my heart which I cannot express. I do not fail to have them practice daily all the acts that you last gave me, and the seminary prayer that you have arranged very conformably to my desires. Having made them understand that our mothers were with God, I had them observe a week’s silence, which astonished me, for I succeeded in it much more easily than with the French children. Having kept my [Page 55] bed one morning, on account of some indisposition, when I chanced to pass into their room after dinner there were incredible welcomes and caresses; they cried out, Ninque, Ninque, ‘My mother, my mother!’ They threw their arms around my neck so that I had difficulty in disengaging myself. I confess to you, my dear Father, that it delighted my heart to see such strong feeling in barbarous children; and, indeed, if they were my own children I could not love them more. When I last went to the settlement of saint Joseph to see you, I left two of my [185] children at home. They did nothing but lament in my absence. One of them was found bathed in tears in a little corner, crying, daiar Ninque daiar, ‘Come, my mother, come;’ daiar, Madame, ‘Come, Madame.’ She called me now in one way, now in another, thinking I would respond sooner. I will say nothing about the caresses they showered upon me at my return; as far away as they could see me through the palisade of stakes that encloses us, they would have willingly leaped over them to come and meet me. I have begun to show them how to use the needle; but my principal occupation is to make their clothes, comb their hair, and dress them; I am not capable of anything greater. Ah, my dear Father! I am only too happy to be able to render them this little service.”

See how far this Lady’s affection carries her, who increased the number of her children, or little seminarists, when she saw the help that was given her in France. Her heart is so good and so great, that if she had as much strength as she has good will, she would have [186] little lodgings constructed for the Savages, to render them stationary; and her happiness [Page 57] would consist in going to instruct the new Christians, in teaching them how to arrange their little homes and keep them clean, and in offering them food with her own hands. Charity has the virtue possessed by the hands of the fabulous Midas, — it changes everything that it touches into gold, or rather into a beauty of Paradise; it dignifies the smallest actions, and exalts them. [Page 59]

CHAPTER XIII.

VARIOUS THINGS WHICH COULD NOT BE REPORTED

IN THE PRECEDING CHAPTERS.

LTHOUGH we live here in an age of peace, affliction sometimes penetrates, nevertheless, into our great forests as well as into your great cities. The Reverend Father Vimont, our Superior, [187] having taken Father Raimbault and me with him to go up to the three Rivers, the bark which carried us was almost wrecked in the harbor. The next night, while we were making a prosperous voyage, we ran against some rocks, and, the tide receding, our bark lay upon its side; the tide returning, it righted itself, but it was so damaged that every part of it leaked. We turned to the other bank of this great river, in order to repair it; if we had delayed a quarter of an hour in reaching land, it would have been irretrievably engulfed. We proceeded to beach it behind the plateau of sainte Croix.[4] The tide, rising, overturned it in such a way that it was no longer visible; but having finally righted, contrary to our expectations, it was promptly repaired again. The wind and tempest then arising hurled it against a rock and split it again, so that we thought it entirely shattered. Once more we repaired it, and put it in the roadstead, but with great loss, — for all that could perish in water was spoiled, and the relief we were bearing to the [188] poor Savages was all lost. As soon as the bark touched bottom [Page 61] we were put ashore, where we took lodging at the sign of the cold and rainy Moon. Such was the first voyage that our Reverend Father Superior undertook, and this he could not finish then, for he was obliged to return to Kebec.

He who has only one affliction in a year could hardly tell what is the taste of the fruits of the Cross. We had only four workingmen in our house of nostre Dame des Anges; two were drowned on the first day of May, and Father Claude Pijard almost perished with them. He thus relates the event, in a paper which he has placed in my hands. “I was returning from nostre Dame des Anges, where I usually went to say holy Mass on Feast days and Sundays. Crossing the river saint Charles, — very rapid on account of the great flood of water in Spring, the Northeast wind blowing with violence, — the canoe in which two of our men were passing me upset; one of the men sank immediately, and [189] did not appear again. The other was carried some distance away by the current of the tide, and, after struggling for some time against death, was drowned. I found myself indeed in danger, as well as these two young men; for I knew no more than a stone about swimming. God kept my judgment clear and sound. I had recourse to the mother of mercy, the blessed Virgin; I made a vow to fast three Saturdays in her honor, and added the intercession of her most pure spouse, saint Joseph. I immediately felt myself aided; I went into the water, standing upright, submerged to my head, and very far from the bottom; finally I felt myself gently borne towards the shore, where I began to touch the ground with my feet. I emerged as quickly as I could; I [Page 63] thanked the divine goodness, the blessed Virgin, and her dear spouse, with tears in my eyes, and regret in my heart at the loss of those two poor men, who had just perished before my eyes.”

A few days after this, two soldiers were similarly wrecked in the great river. Their canoe turning round, they found themselves carried away at the will of the tide, grasping [190] with their hands their little boat of bark. The one who did not know how to swim, remembering the favor that Father Pijard had received through the mediation of the blessed Virgin, promised her by a vow to fast three Saturdays on bread and water, and to go barefooted on a pilgrimage to nostre Dame des Anges. That kind Mother saved his life for him; and this good young man fulfilled his vow, confessing and receiving communion, barefooted, in thanksgiving for so signal a favor.

One can check a torrent sooner than the course of an affliction when it pleases God to send it. After these losses, our house at Kebec took fire and was reduced to ashes, as was also the Chapel of Monsieur the Governor, and the public Church, — all was consumed. It took place so suddenly, that in less than two or three hours nothing was to be seen of all these buildings and the greater part of all our furniture, but a few cinders, and some large pieces of the walls which remained, to proclaim this desolation. As there are no shops here where one can supply his needs, [191] we bring from France all we need for subsistence in this new world; and as Kebec is the port whence everything that the ships unload there is transported to the other settlements, we had collected in this building, as in a small storehouse, all [Page 65] supplies and assistance for our other residences and for our missions; God reduced it all to nothing. The linen, clothing, and other articles necessary for the twenty-seven persons whom we have among the Hurons, were all ready to be conveyed by water to those so distant countries, and our Lord made them pass through the fire. What was needed to maintain, according to our limited resources, the residence of St. Joseph, where the Savages are assembling; the residence of three Rivers, where likewise the Algonquins are settling; the house of Nostre Dame des Anges, and this same house of Kebec, was all consumed in the flames. A rather violent wind, the extreme drouth, the oily wood of the fir, of which these buildings were constructed, kindled a fire so quick and violent that hardly anything could be saved. All the vessels and the bells [192] and chalices were melted; the stuffs some virtuous persons had sent to us to clothe a few seminarists or poor Savages, were consumed in this same sacrifice. Those truly Royal garments that his Majesty had sent to our Savages, to be used in public functions, to honor the liberality of so great a King, were engulfed in this fiery wreck, which reduced us to the hospital; for we had to go and take lodgings in the hall of the poor, until Monsieur our Governor loaned us a house, and, after being lodged therein, this hall of the sick had to be changed into a Church. This was a loss that we shall feel for a long time.

Some time after this great fire, Monsieur the Chevalier de Montmagny, our Governor, assembling the principal Savages of the three Rivers and of the residence of saint Joseph, — to praise the former for the courage they show for the faith, and to encourage [Page 67] the others to embrace it, — one of them who participated most in these rich gifts, seeing that Monsieur [193] the Governor was upon the point of dismissing the assembly, addressed these words to him: “Our Captain, you know very well in what esteem we held the presents of your great King, — we placed them very high, in order that the world might see them; we carefully kept them, expressly to preserve the memory of his liberalities and of his love towards us. Now that fire has snatched them away from us, write to the King, if you please, that it is not our fault. We had placed them for safe-keeping in the house of our Fathers, and, as this took fire, we are not to blame in the matter.” These good people, who only laugh at their own losses, felt compassion for us in ours; but then it is true that they had some interest therein. May God be forever blessed, Would it were thus that this fire had consumed all my sins!

Since I am only gathering here various desultory matters, I will touch upon one or two customs of these peoples which I have recently learned.

Young men who marry sometimes live two or three months with [194] their wives, without approaching them. We have learned this custom in regard to some young Christians lately married; for, as we were instructing them upon modesty and conjugal chastity, some said to us, “Do not trouble yourselves; our custom is to respect the women whom we love, and to regard them a long time as our relatives, not approaching them.”

A Savage being very sick, we were called to see him. His wife waited upon him with great kindness; when she saw that he was struggling and [Page 69] becoming frantic, she took a piece of skin and set fire to it, then rubbed it upon his head, that she might by this foul odor disgust the Manitou, — that is to say, the devil, — so that he should not approach her husband.

Here is an occurrence which many have considered remarkable. There was a woman who had had nine children, the last of whom was married, and had children; I mean to say, in a word, that this woman was very old, — I believe that her age was more than 60 years; yet, one of her daughters happening to die, and leaving a child in arms, [195] this good old woman took the child, and offered it her withered breast. The child, by dint of pulling at it, caused the milk to return, so that the grandmother nourished it for more than a year. We saw this with our own eyes. Nature uses strange devices to preserve itself; or, rather, he who guides it is a great Master.

Here is a strange Hiroquois custom: We have been told that they sometimes take a newborn child, stick arrows into it, and throw it into the fire; when the flesh is consumed, they take the bones and crumble them to powder; and when they intend to go to war they swallow a little of this powder, believing that this beverage increases their courage. They also use these ashes for their charms and superstitions. The mother who gives her child for this abominable sacrifice is rewarded with some valuable present. Is not this horrible?

It is time to sound the retreat. I have a thousand thanksgivings to offer to all the persons who cooperate in the salvation [196] of these poor peoples, either through the affection of their hearts or through the good deeds of their hands. We are obliged even to [Page 71] those who send rosaries for our new Christians, and to those also who send a little piece of stuff to make clothes for the poorest ones. May God be the recompense of all!

Our Neophytes pray to God for all. We do not baptize or grant communion to any one whom we do not cause to pray for those who lend us their hands in these great enterprises. But as one never acquits himself of the obligation that we all have contracted in the blood of Jesus Christ, — that of loving one another, — we have a right to seek a reciprocal kindness, conjuring Your Reverence, all our Fathers and our Brethren of your Province, and all the persons with whom we are associated and allied in Our Lord, to remember us before God, our French Colony, all our poor Savages, especially the young plants lately [197] placed in the garden of the Church, — and, in a word, a poor sinner, who with your permission, will call himself what he is from his heart,

Your Reverence’s

Most humble and greatly obliged

servant in Our Lord,

Paul Le Jeune.

At Kebec, in new France,

this 10th of September, 1640. [Page 73]

Relation of what occurred in the

country of the Hurons, a

country of new

France.

[Page 75]

Relation of what occurred in the Mission of

the Hurons, from the month of June in

the year 1639, until the month

of June in the year 1640.

Sent to Kébec, to the Reverend Father Barthelemy Vimont, Su

perior of the missions of the society of Jesus in new France.

Y REVEREND FATHER,

Pax Christi.

Here is the rent which I owe to Your Reverence, — the narrative of what has occurred of most moment since the last Relation, with reference to the occupation of the Fathers of our Society who are here.

[2] We found ourselves in the midst of this barbarism at the beginning of the month of October in the year 1639, — twenty-seven Frenchmen, and among others, thirteen of our Fathers. The good will, the zeal, and the courage which I remark in all alike, cause me to hope much this year for the service of God, and for the consolation of your Reverence, — you will see below how this is.

But if beforehand you desire to know in few words the result for this year, here follows what I can say of it: The sound of the Gospel has been caused to resound in the ears of more than ten thousand barbarians, — not only in public and in common, but also in private, within the cabins and by the fires of each family. We have baptized more than a thousand, — most of them during the malady of the smallpox, [Page 77] which fastened itself indifferently upon all sorts of persons, — a goodly number of whom went out of this world with clear marks of predestination; and, among them more than three hundred and sixty children under seven years, — without counting more than a hundred other little children, who, having been baptized in the preceding years, have been harvested by this same disease, [3] and gathered by the Angels like flowers of Paradise.

And although, as regards adult persons in good health, there is very little apparent fruit — on the contrary, there have been only storms and whirl-winds in that quarter — yet we do not reckon to the account of lost pains what we have done in their behalf, having distributed our Evangelistic laborers in five missions over all the extent of the country whither we could go; since the more they have resisted the plans that we had for their salvation, and have appeared to plot our destruction, the more have they heightened the sound and the resonance of the tone of the Gospel; and will serve, at least some day, to justify the merciful providence of God with respect to them.

Such, my Reverend Father, in a few words, is the situation; and this is enough to show Your Reverence the need and the necessity that we are in, more than ever, of your charity, — and especially of your Holy Sacrifices and prayers; whereto we all heartily and affectionately commend ourselves.

Your Reverence’s

Very humble and very obedient servant

in God, HIEROSME LALEMANT.

From the Hurons, this 27th of May, 1640. [Page 79]

[4] CHAPTER I.

OF THE CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY.

N a long time, our Hurons have not had a more fertile and more plenteous year than the last, 1639. We then saw there, all at once, everything beautiful and excellent which nature has left them: I say left, because in comparison with our France and with the other quarters of the world, all their riches being only poverty, it seems that nature has carried elsewhere the most precious of her good things, and has left here scarcely anything but the refuse. But what is deplorable is that, instead of acknowledging the principal hand which gives them these goods, the greatest part and the best of the people, have gone away, according to their former customs, into ordinary and extraordinary banquets: or to speak more properly, into veritable sacrifices to the devil.

As for the war, their losses have been greater than their advantages; for, the whole matter consisting of a few broken heads along the highways, or of some captives brought [5] into the country to be burned and eaten there, —without other purpose than to ruin and exterminate their enemies by killing them, and to frighten them from coming to war against them, by treating them cruelly in their tortures, — in all that, they have lost more than they have gained.

We note here the fulfillment of the word of the [Page 81] Prophet, that the wicked flee, though no man pursue, — these poor wretches being in almost continual terrors and alarms, lest their enemies be at their gates, and come to carry off their villages.

What the principal ministers of Satan, or the Magicians of the country work for, is to predict the results of war, to discover by their spells the hostile bands which take the field, and the number of the same, with the places where they are concealed, — intimidating by their threats those who have not recourse to their art, and on the contrary giving assurances of powerfully protecting those who acknowledge by some gift the demon that they adore. These impostors hold up their heads, and are acknowledged [6] in public as Angels of light, and the country’s defenders; they are loved and honored in this capacity; they are obeyed in all that they command, when they have once obtained credit. But there are others of them who conceal themselves like Angels of darkness, and dare not appear, — being accounted the country’s misfortune, and the instruments of the demon for procuring the death of those whom they are supposed to bewitch. These are in abomination, and, even when they are only suspected, they are slain with impunity. It is quite assured that the one set is not whiter than the other, all being imps of satan; but yet, in order not to confound them, we will call the first set, by a name more honorable among the powers of hell, Magicians; and the second, Sorcerers, who are merely the valets of the devil.

In this connection, something remarkable happened at the Village of la Conception, about the end of the month of July. A Magician — being consulted about the fears which prevailed, lest some enemies [Page 83] were in the field, — after having enacted many ceremonies, said that he saw [7] so many, of such and such guise, and that in so many days they would arrive in the country. I know not what took place, but he acted in such a way that they had no faith in .him. This wretched man, finding no better means for utilizing his trade and for maintaining his credit, bethought himself one evening to follow his wife, who was going to the woods, and taking her aside, he split her head. Then, to inspire terror in the village, he hastens thither all out of breath, uttering the cry of one who had discovered the enemy; the young men rush to arms, everybody is in awe and in the dread lest some one has been killed. There is visiting through the cabins, and, in fact, they soon ascertain the missing one; but the fright and the darkness of the night prevent them from pursuing the enemy, and from seeking this poor woman. The next morning they found her corpse bathed in her blood; but, having perceived no trail of an enemy, they soon suspected the assault, and so many circumstances so greatly increased the suspicion that they no longer doubted it. Nevertheless, those of the village <dared not reveal the secret of the matter, [8] in their fear lest, if it came to light, they would be obliged, according to the laws, to make satisfaction for this murder to the relatives of the deceased, who was from another village. But that adorable eye which sees everything, and whose justice sometimes makes itself felt even in this life, did not permit this wretched man to proceed further; twenty days later, while going through the villages to raise the cry of another massacre, committed in fact by the enemies, he was assailed by a man of the country, — who, accusing [Page 85] him of being a sorcerer, split his head, without any complaint or investigation having been made.

Since I am discussing these ministers of hell, I will still add here the following story. A new magician, desiring to have himself recognized, published throughout the country that the villages which would make him certain little presents, — and which at the beginning of their fishery, and from time to time while it lasted, should assemble in a body, and should make a public fire for casting into it, by way of sacrifice, some cakes of tobacco in his honor and his demon’s, invoking him aloud, — would return prosperously, with many fish; but that those who should despise [10 i.e., 9] this advice, would be badly off. Several villages accepted his offer, and sent him the gifts which he had desired, with promise of making good the other conditions, — which, in fact, succeeded well with them: a single village refused to obey him, with some contempt. “Is it true that they are mocking me?” he said; “let them be assured that all those among them who embark to go fishing will not return.” It must indeed be that the devil was in league with him; for, at the end of two or three months, the two principal Captains of this village, returning from their fishery, in company with two others of their relatives, were surprised by the tempest in the midst of the lake, — a thunderstorm burst upon them, and almost in a moment they were all swallowed up in the waters.

Let us come to the disease which, having put everything in desolation, gave us much exercise, but was also an occasion of much consolation to us, — God having given us hardly any other harvest than from that quarter. [Page 87]

It was upon the return from the journey which the Hurons had made to Kebec, that it [10] started in the country, — our Hurons, while again on their way up here, having thoughtlessly mingled with the Algonquins, whom they met on the route, most of whom were infected with smallpox. The first Huron who introduced it came ashore at the foot of our house, newly built on the bank of a lake, — whence being carried to his own village, about a league distant from us, he died straightway after. Without being a great prophet, one could assure one’s self that the evil would soon be spread abroad through all these regions: for the Hurons — no matter what plague or contagion they may have live in the midst of their sick, in the same indifference, and community of all things, as if they were in perfect health. In fact, in a few days, almost all those in the cabin of the deceased found themselves infected; then the evil spread from house to house, from village to village, and finally became scattered throughout the country. [Page 89]

[11] CHAP. II.

OF THE PERSECUTIONS EXCITED AGAINST US.

HE villages nearer to our new house having been the first ones attacked, and most afflicted, the devil did not fail to seize his opportunity for reawakening all the old imaginations, and causing, the former complaints of us, and of our sojourn in these quarters, to be renewed; as if it were the sole cause of all their misfortunes, and especially of the sick. They no longer speak of aught else, they cry aloud that the French must be massacred. These barbarians animate one another to that effect; the death of their nearest relatives takes away their reason, and increases their rage against us so strongly in each village that the best informed can hardly believe that we can survive so horrible a storm. They observed, with some sort of reason, that, since our arrival in these lands, those who [12] had been the nearest to us, had happened to be the most ruined by the diseases, and that the whole villages of those who had received us now appeared utterly exterminated; and certainly, they said, the same would be the fate of all the others if the course of this misfortune were not stopped by the massacre of those who were the cause of it. This was a common opinion, not only in private conversation but in the general councils held on this account, where the plurality of the votes went for our death, — there being only a few elders, [Page 91] who thought they greatly