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. LIV
Iroquois, Ottawas, Lower Canada
1669—1671
CLEVELAND: The Burrows Brothers
Company, PUBLISHERS, M DCCC XCIX
THE JESUIT RELATIONS
AND
ALLIED DOCUMENTS
Vol. LIV
[Page iii]
The edition consists of sev-
en hundred and fifty sets
all numbered.
No.________
The Burrows Brothers Co.
[Page iv]
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor
Reuben Gold Thwaites
| Finlow Alexander
| Percy Favor Bicknell
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| William Price
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Electronic Transcription
Tomasz Mentrak
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Copyright, 1899
by
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all rights reserved
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CONTENTS OF VOL..
Preface To Volume LII
Documents:—
CXXVI.
Relation de ce qvi s’est passé en la Novvelle France, les années 1669. & 1670. [Second and final installment.] Pierre Millet, Onnontagué, June 15, 1670; Estienne de Carheil, [Goiogouen], June, 1670; Jacques Fremin, [Tsonnontouan], n.d.; Claude Dablon, [Ste. Marie du Sault], n.d.; Jacques Marquette, [Ste. Marie du Sault], n.d.; Claude Allouez, [Ste. Marie du Sault, June, 1670]
19
CXXVII
Relation de ce qui s’est passé en la Nouvelle France, les années 1670. & 1671. [Chaps. i.-iv. of Part I., being the first installment of the document.] Claude d’Ablon, [Quebec], n.d.; Joseph Marie Chaumonot, [N. D. de Foye], n.d.
245
Bibliographical Data; Volume LIV.
303
Notes
305
[Page vii]
[INSERT GRAPHIC HERE]
ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. .
I.
Photographic facsimile of title-page, Relation of 1670-71.
248
[Page viii]
PREFACE TO VOL. LIV.
Following is a synopsis of the documents contained in this volume:
CXXVI. Little more than half of the Relation of 1669-70 appeared in Vol. LIII.; the remainder of the document is herewith, presented. Milet’s account of the Onondaga mission is continued, he describes the return to that village of a war-party with several captives, and the tortures inflicted upon the latter. The missionary comforts and instructs them as best he can, and succeeds in baptizing them. He is much tried by the conduct of some elders of the tribe, who not only fail to restrain the dissolute behavior of the Young men, but themselves take part in superstitious rites. For ‘these things he boldly reproves them, but ‘does not obtain much satisfaction; Garakontié is almost the only one who is thoroughly devoted to the faith. The Onondaga church is mainly com-posed of Hurons and other captives. Notwithstanding the corruption and idolatry around them, they still retain their piety, innocence, and love for prayer. Milet has baptized forty persons, most of them infants or dying persons. At his instance, the elders resolve to send deputies to Montreal; to confirm and ratify the peace between the Iroquois and Algonkins. Garakontié is highly praised for his piety, friendship to the French, and ability as the head of his [Page 9] tribe. Milet laments the prevalence and evil results of intemperance among the savages. In their sober moments, they show an interest in the faith; and they bring the children to the missionary for baptism. He concludes by expressing the opinion that “this Mission is the least difficult of all those among the Iroquois. ”
An account of the Cayuga mission is furnished by Carheil. He has secured several conversions, and relates the circumstances attending some of these. The fear of baptism as causing death, and the superstitious dependence upon dreams, greatly hinder his labors. He relates the arguments with which he tries to convince the savages of their folly in obeying these dreams. He concludes, as his brethren among the other tribes have done, that the Iroquois tribes cannot be converted until their insolence is humbled by some hostile army. The Cayugas are at war with the Andastes, whose ambassador they put to death.
A letter from Frémin reviews the year’s work among the Senecas. He is aided by Julien Garnier, for whom he was obliged to send, so large is that field. Here are many of their old-time Huron Christians, who are delighted to meet the missionaries and receive their ministrations. They have lived, during a score of years, with but not of the Iroquois; and, amid vice and superstition, have kept the faith and lived in innocence. The unusual piety and zeal of two men among these Hurons are described at length. Fremin relates an amusing instance of the mistakes made by savages who are only partially instructed. A Seneca woman, who had many slaves, dies immediately after baptism. Her mother pities [Page 10] her for being obliged, as she is “ at present the only one of our family in Paradise,” ” to do her own cooking, and go for wood and water. Is she not to be greatly pitied at not having any one who can serve her in that place? ” She wishes the missionary to send one of her slaves to Heaven, that she may go to help the daughter in her housekeeping. This mother is afterward converted, and is the means of bringing many persons to God. Frémin finds the Senecas even more superstitious than other tribes regarding the importance of dreams, which they obey with the utmost exactness and promptitude. This places the missionaries in constant danger of death at the hands of some savage who may have dreamed of killing them. This excessive credulity and superstition is a great source of profit to the medicine-men, who pretend to explain the dreams of their ignorant dupes. Frémin recounts the pious deaths of some captives and other converts whom he has baptized. He ends his letter with a short journal of the current events in his year’s work. In August, 1669, he goes to the missionary conference at Onondaga, stopping on the way at Cayuga, where he finds Carheil’s work in prosperous condition. While at Onondaga, news comes from Montreal that the French have there slain several Iroquois; this act arouses great anger among their tribes, and the missionaries fear its results. In September all the Seneca warriors and hunters depart, the former against the Shawnees. AS the hunters take with them their families, few besides the old men are left in the villages, which deprives the missionaries of most of their flock. Frémin’s chapel is finished in November, and he at once begins services therein. Garnier is in charge of one [Page 11] village only, that he may have leisure to study the language.
The, remainder, of this year’s Relation is occupied by the report of the Ottawa mission, made by Dablon to his Quebec superior. He mentions its three centers of work at Sault Ste. Marie, Chequamegon, and Green Bay; and gives a separate account of each; of its topography, resources, and inhabitants; and of the state of each mission.
Sault Ste. Marie is a resort for nineteen different tribes, most of whom come hither to fish during the summer. Some of these come from the region of Hudson Bay; and intercourse with them has led the missionaries to plan a journey to that distant land, — partly to open the way for missionary work among those peoples, partly to discover a land route to the great and still mysterious “North Sea,” and perhaps also the Japan Sea. They, have, moreover, heard of the Mississippi River, and of the Illinois tribes who live near it; they are also planning to’ visit these savages.
At the Sault, the Fathers are, cultivating the soil and some of the Indians have even begun to imitate their example. In their Chapel, they regularly give instruction both to adults and. children, and celebrate the rites of. the Church; The greatest obstacle in their way is the devotion paid by the savages to their personal manitous, or “medicine,” a devotion inculcated, from earliest infancy, in. both boys and girls. Notwithstanding, this: and other difficulties, the missionaries at the Sault have baptized more than three hundred persons of all ages.
A detailed description of Lake Superior and its [Page 12] fisheries is given by Dablon. He has ‘obtained, “by artifice, ” considerable information from the Indians regarding the copper mines of the region, and gives the Conclusions which; after sifting their reports and tales, he has reached. To confirm or verify these, the Fathers will soon personally visit the places mentioned.
Chequamegon Bay is a resort for all the tribes of the Northwest; at this point they carry on both fishing and mutual commerce; It thus becomes a highly advantageous location for the Jesuit missionaries; who can here reach savages belonging to all the tribes between Lake Michigan and the Missouri River, and from Hudson Bay to the Ohio. The Illinois tribes desire instruction, and Marquette is already planning to visit them next year. A letter from him to the superior at Québec (Le Mercier) follows Dablon’s report. Marquette recounts his arrival at Chequamegon, where he succeeds Allouez; the latter considered this too hard a field; and Marquette finds it in every way discouraging. The Ottawa tribes here are unusually superstitious and licentious; and the once Christian Hurons are so demoralized by the example of their neighbors that they retain but little of their new faith. The Father struggles against indifference and mockery, immorality and superstition; after a year of this almost useless effort he again replaces Allouez, — This time with the Kiskakons, —another Ottawa tribe, dwelling at La Pointe, — who have at last consented to receive the Christian religion. Here Marquette reaps the harvest of his predecessor’s long toil; he baptizes the children, and induces the families to ‘winter dear the Chapel, where they are regularly instructed “The Pagans hold [Page 13] no feast without Sacrifice;” “I keep a little of their usage, and take from it all that is bad,” — that is, he induces them to address their invocations to God, instead of to their divinities. Under his instruction, too, the women become modest and chaste. Marquette waits only for another Father to take his place, before departing on a mission to the Illinois tribes. These Indians are well disposed to Christianity; some of their number heard Allouez at La Pointe, and have inclined their tribesmen to listen to the preachers of the faith. Marquette looks forward with hope to a mission among these tribes, and is already studying their language. He describes their location, customs, and characteristics, as well as those of the Sioux and Crees, — repeating what he has learned from the savages whom he has met at La Pointe. To the Sioux, “the Iroquois of this country,” the Father sends a present, asking them to let him and other Frenchmen pass freely and unharmed through all those regions, to which they consent.
Following this document is another letter, from Allouez to Le Mercier. He recounts his labors during the past season (November, 1669, to May, 1670, inclusive), among the tribes along the west shore of Green Bay, and on the Fox River. He describes his journey from the Sault to Green Bay, on the shores of which he spends the winter, instructing the natives who make there their winter quarters. Some hear him willingly, but most are indifferent or opposed; and all are, at times, on the verge of starvation, so scanty are their supplies of food. Often does the Father suffer from hunger; but he praises God for his crosses. In April, 1670, he goes to visit the [Page 14] Indian villages on the Wolf and Upper Fox Rivers. During this voyage, Allouez observes a solar eclipse. After traveling eight days, he reaches the Outagamie (Fox) settlement on the Wolf River. Even in these remote Wisconsin forests the fierce Iroquois have made one of their sudden raids, killing and taking captive all the people in a considerable Fox encampment, but a few weeks before Allouez’s visit. This disaster has so dispirited his hosts that they cannot give his teachings more than civil attention at this time; but they request him to visit them again.
Allouez proceeds thence to the Mascouten village on the Upper Fox. Here he is welcomed with great hospitality and ceremony, since they regard him as a manitou, or spirit. The Father, horrified at this idea, succeeds in making them understand that he is only God’s servant, and preaches the gospel to them, which they reverently receive. In this same region are some Miami families, whom Allouez visits and instructs. They appear very docile and gentle, and the Father commends the importance of this mission field; but he cannot remain, as obedience calls him to the Sault. Returning down the Fox River (this time, making the voyage in three days), he visits the Menomonees, who have been “ almost exterminated by the wars; ” and the Winnebagoes, at present camping on the east shore of Green Bay. This tribe also had been decimated, a generation before, by the Illinois. In both places, he is welcomed and respectfully heard, and urged to visit them again.
In conclusion, Allouez summarizes the condition of the Green Bay mission. Although he has no Chapel, he instructs the savages as well as he can, and counts as Christians seven adults and forty-eight [Page 15] children. May 20, Allouez returns to the Sault, intending to revisit all his scattered flock the next autumn.
A few Paragraphs are added, in conclusion, by Le Mercier. He states that a reinforcement has been sent to the Ottawa mission — Father Druillettes and André; and adds a description of the eclipse mentioned by Allouez.
CXXVII. We herewith present Chaps i.-iv. of Part I. in the Relation of 1670-71; the remainder will be given in Vol. LV. This document is sent to the provincial of France by Claude Dablon now superior of the Canadian missions. In a prefatory note, he mentions the recent extension of the missionary field which peace between the, Iroquois and Ottawas has now rendered possible; the faith is now preached as far west as the head of Lake Superior, and, in Central Wisconsin, the missionaries have met savages from far Southern tribes, to whom some, knowledge of the true faith will thus be conveyed. Albanel has gone to Hudson Bay, to open the way for the gospel among the Northern savages, The Jesuits are now conducting more than twenty missions in New France, among as many different tribes; and have baptized, during the year, more than seven hundred persons.
To keep the Iroquois in due humility, Courcelles has again led an expedition into the Iroquois country; Talon, meanwhile, “keeps the Outaouacs in a reverent attitude, and inspires them with the respect that they ought to have for his Majesty, in whose name he has taken possession of all their lands.
“The Relation begins by narrating “the despatch of an embassy by the Senecas to Courcelles, [Page 16] and the conversion of the chief at its head. He is baptized at Quebec, “with all possible solemnity;” Talon provides a magnificent feast to celebrate this event, and the convert is permitted to invite thereto all whom he desires — Iroquois, Algonkins, and Hurons. Additional baptisms of Iroquois, and of other savages from distant tribes, are recorded; for several of these, Talon acts as sponsor. Numerous Iroquois converts are making their way to Quebec, from time to time, that they may avoid the persecutions of their pagan tribesmen. A remnant of a certain Huron tribe still exists, who will soon join the Hurons living near Quebec. The latter still practice their religion, and edify the other savages and the French by their piety and devotion. Their chapel is blessed with miraculous favors by the Virgin Mary, and is the resort of pilgrims from all Canada. The virtues of these Huron Christians are eulogized by Dablon, especially their devotion to the Virgin, whose chapel they often visit even before dawn. An account of this devotion, and various instances of their piety, are given in a letter by their spiritual director, Father Chaumonot.
R. G. T.
Madison, Wis., September, 1899. [Page 17]
CXXVI (concluded)
Relation Of 1669-70
Paris: SEBASTIEN MABRE-CRAMOISY, 1671
In Volume LIII. we presented chaps. i.-vi., and part of chap. vii., the remainder of the document follows.[Page 19]
[238] During the entire winter, I have had. Scarcely any other talks with our Savages than on what concerned the truths of Christianity, and on the horror they ought always to entertain for the superstitions and evil [239] customs of the country. I am not yet thoroughly conversant with their language; I often indicated by my gestures what I could not express in words; and when these people reproached me, as it were, for not, making myself sufficiently understood by my hearers, I received these kind admonitions as so many convincing proofs of the little that I was contributing on my part to all the good that God was working in the spread of my Mission, and said to myself: “O my soul, when wilt thou know how to speak of God as he ought to be spoken of; and when wilt thou be so penetrated with the truths of the Faith that thou wilt have no further difficulty in suggesting to me words capable of conveying, at the same time, both the light of the Faith into the mind of our Savages and the fire of charity into their hearts?”
I was watching with unusual care for the execution of the promises that had been made to me, and even ratified by a number of presents, when the news arrived here that the warriors were returning victorious. They had been expected for a long time; [240] and the Diviners, who use pyromancy on these occasions, had published various predictions concerning their return. An elder had reported to me, before a large company, one of their oracles, — namely, that one of their bands was to return; in three days, without fail; that it would be, followed by the others, and that they would come back without having gained, any advantage over the enemy. As, I am the [Page 21] declared opponent of these false Prophets, I noted the details of this prophecy, and added that, in time, it Would be known whether it were true. The three days passed, and nothing of what had been predicted had yet occurred; I caused tremendous perplexity to him who had quoted this Oracle to me, when I demanded of him, in the presence of many persons, an explanation of it. He answered me coldly that the band which was to have returned the third day, according to the oracle, would come back perhaps on the next day. I answered him that the prophecy would be equally false, whether they should not return for a year or should return on the fifth day; but that, [241] in order to convince him fully of the imposture of his Prophet, we would wait one more day for the result of his prediction. Nearly two weeks passed without any one’s coming back; and then the victorious return of the warriors showed, with double force, the falsity of the oracle.
The reëchoing of the shouts of victory was heard from afar; every one was in a state of expectancy and impatience to know whether there were scalps or prisoners of war, and how many of them there were. At length the advance runners entered the Village, bringing news in regard to the expedition; and a long file was drawn up on both sides of the way, from the gate where they halted to the fire where the elders were assembled. They there repeated the cries of victory, — uttering nine of them, to indicate that they had nine captives, six men and three women. Then it was that the joy of the whole people burst forth. They began to play a sort of Comedy, the persons advanced in years dancing a Ballet, which they executed by postures that were very [Page 23] well [242] contrived, and steps performed in admirable measure. Then they went to meet the Young warriors who had brought the good news, and led them in triumph to the fire of the elders. As soon as they reached it, several thousands of porcelain beads were presented to them; and the most important member of the band was made to recount the whole expedition in detail, — the cause of their delay, the taking of the captives, by whom each had been taken, and how many of their own men they had lost. The narrative was interrupted by shouts of joy and acclamations for the victors, that were uttered from time to time; and all ended with manifestations of public rejoicing.
Then the stage or scaffold was erected on which, it was said, all the captives were to be burned; and I noted that some carried their vengeance even to such an excess of brutality as to beg me not to instruct or baptize these captives, — in order that, after being burned in this life, they might again be burned forever in the other. Such inhumanity filled me with horror, and I made them [243] see that there was nothing so unreasonable as to push one’s resentment beyond the limits of this life. In this God gave me such success that I persuaded them not only not to put any obstacle in the way of these wretched people’s eternal happiness, but even themselves to exhort the latter to receive instruction, and to render themselves worthy of Paradise.
The captives were received, according to custom, between a double file composed of all the inhabitants, who showered blows upon them with sticks as they passed. Then, all bleeding and covered with wounds, they were made to mount the scaffold that had been [Page 25] prepared for them, to serve as a spectacle for these Barbarians and as subjects for their cruelty.
These captives were all comely persons. They were clothed in the richest garments of the country, and the poor victims were crowned, according to custom, with the rarest feathers and the most beautiful strings of porcelain that could be found. They were even compelled to paint their faces with the finest and brightest colors, in order that nothing might be wanting [244] to the adornment of this triumph. Being thus arrayed, they were made to march upon the stage where they were to be burned, to serve first as a spectacle for all the people. These wretches, to give proofs of their fearlessness and to show that they did not dread death, sang and danced on the scaffold to the cadence of some martial airs, wherein they made boast of their exploits, and proudly made known to their enemies that all their proceedings would be unable to wrest from them the least sigh. I confess to you that a brutality carried to this excess horrified me. But the utterly barbarous act which two Iroquois, without waiting longer, executed upon one of these captives, touched me with pity beyond my power to express in words.
These two Savages who wished to make a cruel test of that warrior’s bravery, passing a little cord around his arm, began to draw it tight, each one on his side, — with such violence that, as it soon cut into the flesh and penetrated even to the [245] sinews, the pain that it caused this wretched captive, by cutting them, was so excessive that it made him fall upon the spot, swooning and half dead. I had repaired to the place to try to instruct all those captives and prepare them for Baptism; but I judged it more [Page 27] fitting to defer this purpose until a more convenient time, and after our Barbarians should have exhausted the first heat of their revenge.
After this first exhibition, the captives were led into the cabins that were prepared for them, there to await the Sentence either of life or of death. I visited them all, one after the other, with all the tenderness and compassion inspired in me by the wretched condition in which I saw them; and, trying to sow in their minds some holy seeds for their salvation, I left there, for that first time, some favorable inclination for the grace of Baptism.
On the next day, I began my visits again, with so happy a measure of success that I baptized all those who, I thought, were to be burned; in fact, they were burned soon afterward.
[246] Father Bruyas baptized at his Mission one of those to whom I had spoken, and who was sent to Onneiout with one of the three captive women, the two others having been taken to Goiogouen.
Of the five captives who were left here, two were given their lives; but, some days afterward, one of them was killed with a knife, without my knowledge. He was one of those who listened to me with most attention, and gave me the strongest hope for his conversion. But the secrets of Providence are impenetrable, and we must be content to adore them with a humble awe.
Life had been granted to one of the two others who remained; but this unhappy man was so grieved because the same favor had not been shown to his companion, that he could not conceal his sorrow; so that, by his complaints and his threats, he obliged those who had adopted him to abandon him some [Page 29] days afterward, — a rare example of friendship, inasmuch as this Barbarian preferred to expose himself to the danger of perishing in torments, than to endure the death of his friend. Having learned [247] this news, I hastened to the spot as soon as possible, mounted the scaffold, and, after offering some short prayer, addressed myself to our Onnontagués, to beg them not to take it ill that I showed this wretched man the road to Heaven. I told them that, since he was ready to depart from this life, it was a part of my duty to procure him one that should be eternally happy; and that this happiness was so great that I would, in order to procure it for them, very willingly suffer the same torments as those in which this captive was ending his life.
I approached the captive without delay, and urgently exhorted him, while our elders themselves encouraged me in this good work. The poor man, who was half-dead, listened attentively, begging me to remain with him and not forsake him. The tortures were renewed, and he was burned in all parts of his body by the application of red-hot irons. As soon as these were removed for putting into the fire again, I would approach him, and have him perform the necessary acts to prepare him for Baptism. [248] The cold was then very severe, and one of the Savages who was present at this cruel spectacle, after first lending him his blanket for a covering, took it away from him to protect himself from the severity of the season; so that the prisoner was left entirely naked and all shivering with cold, although there were, tolerably near him, many fires where the hatchets and irons were being heated to redness for application to all parts of his body. I must confess, I was keenly [Page 31] touched by so pitiable an abject, and covered him with a cassock that I am accustomed to wear here, being unable to afford him any greater relief. I was obliged to remove it when the hot irons were applied, and I wrapped him in it as soon as they were withdrawn. Our Savages expressed themselves differently in regard to the kindness I showed this poor mari, — some approving it, others finding something to say against it, and several making fun of it.
After the captive had been burned in a number of places, he was unbound, and led, covered with my cassock, into the same cabin with that one of his companions [249] whom they had begun to burn the day before, and who had been so fortunate as to receive baptism, I followed him, and took my place near him, to suggest to him, from time to time, some thought of Heaven and of eternity, and to baptize the man whom I had begun to instruct. There was a crowd gathered in the cabin to witness the services that I rendered these poor victims.
And as I was then asked several questions, I took occasion, in answering them, to instruct, at the same time, the captives and all who were gathered around them. I was asked, among other things, what was the happiness of those who are in Heaven; and I explained it to them in as clear and intelligible a manner as I could. And when the captives interrupted my teachings with the songs that they were forced to utter, I was entreated to sing also. I did so, and sang the Psalm which begins with the words, Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes. Although our Savages understood nothing of the meaning of these words, I noticed that the tune had not been displeasing to them; and it has [250] often happened since [Page 33] then that they have begged me to give my death- song. I wished to gratify them once, and to show them that the thing which I desired with the most passion in the world was to die, even in the flames, while working for their salvation.
Finally I baptized, on the evening of that same day, this captive, whom I deem infinitely blessed in his misfortune, since he finds Heaven in the irons of the Iroquois. They both showed all the signs of a holy disposition to die a truly Christian death. I assisted them again on the next morning, when they expired, after having passed the whole night in torments.
Some days later, in a great council where the elders and the warriors were assembled, I made them a present of two brasses of porcelain, as a token of my rejoicing with them over the fortunate result of their late war. For it is fitting that, having to live among these Barbarians, I should show them the interest I take in their joy and in their sorrow, — in order that, having secured their friendship, I may be able [251] more easily to induce them to feel as I do, and to convert them.
I then exhorted the Young people to follow the example of the elders, who had already renounced dreams and all that was forbidden by God’s law. The elders renewed their promises to me, and gave me assurances that they would urge the Young men, who had returned from the war a few days before, to conform to all that I had decided upon with them in their councils.
But, since that time, the success in those wars, however inconsiderable it may have been, has so filled them with courage that they have, in [Page 35] consequence, appeared less docile and less tractable in all that has to do with the Faith; and, beyond any doubt, the greatest obstacle that it has in these countries is the corruption of these Young warriors. As they constitute all the strength and all the support of their Nation, they easily give laws to the others, and their bad example always has very injurious consequences. Even the elders, who ought to use all the authority that their age and experience give them, [252] for keeping these dissolute Young men in order, often encourage these disorderly habits in them, by either flattering the evil or conniving at it; and, what is still more deplorable. Some have not this year maintained, when the occasions arose, all the fidelity that they had solemnly promised me. There have even been some who, seeing that the duty of a Christian held them to many things that were very hard for them, and that they must either cease to be addicted to drunkenness, debauchery, and superstitions, or not embrace Christianity, have been so mean-spirited as to become disgusted with a law that proscribes all their pleasures.
I learned that one elder had held a feast of debauchery, although he afterward protested to me that I had been misinformed in the matter; that another had raised the customary cry for a public act of superstition; and that afterward two had said, in full council, that it must no longer be permitted me to speak about the Faith and about forsaking their ancient customs. All this made me resolve to lay my complaints before them. Garakontié approved my project heartily, [253] and told me not to spare even himself; and, after reproaching them publicly for their inconstancy, to make them a [Page 37] present of a porcelain necklace, — in order to induce them to render themselves worthy by their actions of the name of Christian, for which they manifested so much inclination; and even to persuade the tribes to whom they were sent as ambassadors, to acknowledge and worship the true God.
I accordingly had the Bell rung, to notify the elders to come to me; and when they had all assembled in my cabin, I told them that I spoke to them in the name of God, of our great King, and of Monsieur our Governor, who all exhorted them to embrace the Christian Faith. I told them that it was for their good, and not for my own interests, that I urged them to do right and eschew evil; that so long as God should give me a voice, they must expect to be not only reminded of their duty, but also reprimanded for their faults; and that, besides, they must not take it ill, as it was a part of our duty to act thus, since we were the Preachers [254] of the truth and the dispensers of the word of God. I began, accordingly, by reprimanding Garakontié for some weakness that he had shown in the previous year; for he deserved only praises for this year, having shown himself as firm for the interests of God and those of the French as I could have wished. Then I openly blamed the impiety of him who was said to have held a feast of debauchery; and I finished with the other who had raised the cry customary for a public superstitious observance.
My reproaches were followed by a present that I gave to the Ambassadors, to exhort them to relax in nothing from the resolution they had taken to renounce every superstition; and even to urge the tribes to whom they were sent, to declare themselves [Page 39] openly for the Faith, and proscribe all the disorders which prevent them from gaining this blessing for themselves.
At first, the elders appeared a little surprised at the liberty that I had allowed myself of quarreling with them, although they did not show me that they were offended by it. Still, they [255] did not give me all the satisfaction for which I had hoped from them; for after they had been some time divided on the subject of the Festival that they call Onnonhouaroia, — which I wished to put a stop to, because it is the source of countless disorders, — at last those who obstinately favored its celebration, joining all the Young people, carried the day over those who were well-intentioned.
I was answered, besides, to the effect that I might speak whenever I deemed it fitting; and, as for the porcelain collar that I had presented, that they might invite the other Nations to embrace the Faith, I was told that I should have a reply when those whom they sent as Ambassadors should have returned. But I have learned that some of those Ambassadors did nothing of what I had asked of them, and that Garakontié was almost the only one who supported, in Onneiout and in Agnié, the interests of the Christian Faith with all imaginable firmness and zeal.
If I trusted to their replies, I would have reason to hope that they would soon be Christians; but they must first be [256] subdued and thoroughly humbled; otherwise, there is scarcely any hope for Christianity or surety for peace.
Our little Church is composed of a tolerably large number of Christians, who are almost all either Hurons or of some other Nation that the Iroquois have [Page 41] destroyed. We have in it also some natives of the country, who received Baptism from those of our Fathers who were settled here before the disturbances. I admire, in respect to some, the remote and secret ways by which God’s providence has led them, in order to make them gain a knowledge of the sovereign good; in others, the marvelous efficacy of the grace of Baptism in preserving them in the purity of the Faith and in the innocence of their morals, in the midst of such general corruption. There appears in them a certain character of piety, and a conduct so holy that it is clearly seen that God animates them with his spirit and forms them with his hand. Their assiduity in attending Chapel, to pray there in public, when they can repair thither, and their faithfulness in performing their devotions in the [257] Cabins or in the fields, when necessity, work, or old age makes it impossible for them to come to Church, exceed all that can be told of them.
We have one Cabin, among others, wholly Christian, and occupied exclusively by Huron women, who had formerly come to settle in this country when our Fathers were dwelling here; these may be called sad remains of the treason and cruelty of our Iroquois. They have always kept themselves, amid all the disorders of this country, in a regular life and innocence that charm our Barbarians; and God, — who watches, without ceasing, over those who serve him with fidelity, — in order to crown, even in this life, the virtue of these good Christian women, so protected them against the attacks of contagious maladies that, at the time when these were making unusual ravages in the neighborhood of their Cabins, they never did the women any injury. It may be [Page 43] said that, as these Huron women formerly belonged to the Church at Quebec, and as they have dwelt in the bosom of piety, they have taken tare to become formed and so firmly established [258] in the practice of all the virtues, that neither the pains of extreme poverty, which they often suffer, nor the bad example of the Idolaters, nor all the efforts of the Demon, have ever been able to make them waver, or to prompt them to make a single request contrary to what they owed to God.
I have baptized forty persons, of whom the greater part are little children or dying people. Fourteen of them have died, together with two other children baptized by Father Garnier when he was here, and some adults baptized by our Fathers.
I forgot to relate a very holy action on the part of a little girl only seven or eight years of age. She brought to me, a few days before Christmas, a little jar full of oil, telling me that she wished to make a present of it to Our Lord, and begging me to use it in the lamp which burns before the Altar. I asked her if that oil were hers; and she assured me that it belonged to her, and formed her entire treasure. I accepted her offering, and presented it [259] to the little Jesus on Christmas day; and I doubt not that this present was much more agreeable to him than all the gold of the rich people of the age. She had earnestly desired me to baptize her with the other little children on whom I conferred this Sacrament on that same day; but I told her I could not yet bestow on her that grace, because her mother did not come to Prayers. “ I urge her enough,” said the Child to me, bemoaning her mother’s obduracy; “ I tell her that the elders pray, but she always [Page 45] persists in her unwillingness to do so.” Nevertheless she has, for some time, brought her quite often as far as the Chapel, and there is ground to hope that mother and daughter Will one day be wholly God’s.
Our elders have several times held their council here, to deliberate on what I had said to them about sending some envoys to Montreal, to take part in the council which, inasmuch as some rupture was apprehended, was to be held for the purpose of ratifying and firmly establishing the peace between them and the Algonquins. It was resolved to do it, and even to send some of their [260] people to Tsonnontouen, to oblige the elders of that Village to join with our envoys. They also received orders to beg them, on the part of all the Nation, to commit no further acts of hostility in the country of the Outaouaks, and to give the same admonitions in calling at Goiogouen. I was assured at the same time that, at the earliest date, others would set out to carry the same intelligence to the Onneiouts and the Agnies. Garakontié told me that he was making preparations to depart in six days; and that he would wait for the other Iroquois Nations on the way, that they might all go in company.
Our Onnontaguez have begged me to Write in their favor to Onnontio, which I have done with joy, because this year I have had every reason to be satisfied with their conduct, and with the kindness with which they have treated me. But if they deserve some praises, Garakontié can be said to be entitled, alone, to more esteem and consideration than all the others. It must be acknowledged that he is an incomparable man, and the soul of every good work accomplished here: he upholds the Faith by his [261] [Page 47] personal repute; he maintains the Peace by his authority; he controls the spirits of these Barbarians with a skill and prudence which equals that of the wisest men of Europe. He declares himself so boldly for the glory and the interest of France that he can justly be called the Protector of that Crown in this country; he has a zeal for the Faith comparable to that of the first Christians; in short, he knows how to conduct himself in such a way that he always maintains the fame and authority conferred upon him by his Office of Captain-general of this Nation, and uses it only to do good to all the people. I hope for a favorable result to this journey; and, if it were as easy for us to drive out drunkenness from all this country as it Will be for Monsieur our Governor to strengthen the Peace between the Iroquois and the Algonquin, we would soon see our Barbarians turn Christians.
It is impossible to conceive by how many disorders and evils these debauches are accompanied. There is nothing more usual here than to see, on the streets and in the cabins, [262] men overcome with wine; and what is still more deplorable is, that they are no longer ashamed of so infamous a vice, and that, being brutalized by these excesses, almost all are rendered incapable of being instructed in the Faith.
However great my sorrow at seeing an evil so universal, and so dangerous to the salvation of these poor souls, I try to console myself with this thought, that the more obstacles there shall be found here to Christianity, the more work also Will there be to do; and God crowns a Missionary’s hardships and cares rather than his successes. [Page 49]
Nevertheless, I hope much from the resolution which they have adopted to forsake their superstitions, and from the inclination which they manifest for the Christian Faith. They take tare to have the little sick children brought to me in the Chapel, and they have me pray to God over the new-born babes, to consecrate them to the Lord of Heaven and earth. They are very glad to be stirred up and awakened from the drowsiness and insensibility which drunkenness [263] causes them. They are delighted when they hear the Bell calling them to Prayers; and if I omit to ring it, they reproach me for that.
In a Word, every one here seems strongly moved to embrace the Gospel; and the only thing these poor Barbarians lack to render them worthy of holy Baptism is, to renounce the vices to which many Christians abandon themselves after Baptism. I can say that this Mission is the least difficult of all those among the Iroquois, and the only regret that I have in regard to it is, that I do not find here those opportunities to suffer for God which I had persuaded myself I was to encounter.
My Reverend Father,
Your very humble and obedient
Onnontagué, this 15th of
servant in Our Lord,
June, 1670.
Pierre Millet.[Page 51]
[264] CHAPTER VIII.
OF THE MISSION OF SAINT JOSEPH AT GOIOGOUEN.
T
HIS Mission is in a fourth Iroquois Nation, of which Father de Carrheil has charge, We shall learn the condition of it from an extract of the most important matters that we have drawn from one of his letters, dated in the month of June, 1670.
This Nation has only three Villages, — Goiogouen, to which we have given the name of Saint Joseph, Patron of the whole Mission; Kiohero, which we call Saint Estienne; and Onnontare, which is called the Village of Saint René.[i] Following is what the Father says of it:
“Since last Autumn I have baptized twenty-five children and twelve adults. Heaven has taken a large part of them, — and, among others, nine children, whose salvation is assured. The most lovable Providence of [265] God, over some from whom I was expecting scarcely anything, has appeared with such clearness to me that I have learned, by my own experience, that a Missionary ought never to despair of the conversion of any person, whatever resistance to Grace he may find in his mind.
“ I had, as it seemed to me, employed my time, my pains, and my endeavors very uselessly, in order to win over to God a man and a woman who were already far advanced in years, and could not live much longer. These hearts had only hardness for [Page 53] the things of Heaven. The Faith and Baptism inspired them with abhorrence, since they believed that both these served only to hasten the time of their death. For there is an opinion, which is received by the majority of these tribes, — and which appears to them founded on the experience that they say they have had, — to the effect that, for more than thirty years during which our Fathers have been laboring for the conversion of the Savages of Canada, it has been noted that families and whole Nations which have embraced the Faith have found themselves laid waste and destroyed, almost as soon as they [266] have become Christians; while the greater part of those upon whom holy Baptism has been conferred have died a short time after receiving it. These poor people allow themselves to be prejudiced to such an extent in this matter, through fear and the artifices of the Evil One, that they do not consider that the extremity of the illness, and the danger of speedy death, with which we see a person menaced, are what prompts us to baptize him; and that therefore Baptism cannot be the cause of their disease or of their death. This common error so alarmed these two poor Savages that not only would they not hear any mention of Baptism for themselves, but they also did not even permit us to approach their friends when they were ill. Nevertheless, when they saw themselves both stricken with a mortal illness, they sought our instructions, and asked for Baptism with so great ardor and earnestness, that it was impossible to refuse it to them. God well knows how to order, in favor of his Predestined ones, the favorable moments in which his grace [267] must infallibly take effect. [Page 55]
“The person who, of all the country, gave me the most difficulty in respect to her Baptism, and afterward the most consolation, was a woman of Tsonnontouen who had been ill for nine or ten months. The unusual number of persons — men, as well as women and children — that she had seen die since Father Fremin had arrived there, and the report, which circulated everywhere, that he was the sole author of a general devastation, and that, by his sorcery, his magic, and his poisoning, he carried death wherever he went, had given this woman such an abhorrence of our persons and of our remedies, of our teachings and of Baptism, that I could gain no access to her, nor find any opportunity to speak to her concerning ‘her salvation. She had even communicated this aversion to all those who were in the same Cabin, telling them they were dead if they let me come near them. She had intimidated them to such an extent that, as soon as I entered the Cabin, every one remained [268] in a profound silence, and looked at me only with the eye of fear, without being willing to listen to me, or make me any other reply than that I must go out as soon as I could. Even when she had changed her Cabin, and, by good luck, had gone to live with people who were very fond of me, she still preserved in her heart a furious aversion for me, up to the critical moment of her illness; and she always regarded me as a man who was infected and who carried a deadly poison about with me, which P breathed into people through their eyes and ears. But the stronger this poor woman’s aversion for me, the more charity Our Lord gave me for her, and I hoped for her salvation even against all hope, and although I saw no prospect of it. Night and day I [Page 57] thought of her, commending her to God, to her guardian Angel and my own, and to those who watched for the salvation of the persons that were near her. On the night before her death, I felt myself strongly inspired to say Mass solely for her. I did it with protestations to Our Lord [269] that there was nothing in the world I would not sacrifice, provided he would grant me this soul, for the salvation of which he had given a thousand times more than I could offer him, since he had redeemed it with his blood and his life. After my Mass, I went to visit her five or six times; but the Demon was always keeping her in her former melancholy state of blindness. She constantly regarded me with an eye of anger and indignation, and drove me as soon as possible from her presence. On one occasion, even, her resentment giving her strength in her extreme weakness, she took one of her shoes and threw it at my head. I left her and went out of her Cabin. But God, whose Will it was to save this soul, urged me to go back again immediately, and inspired me to manage matters in such a way that, by my speaking, aloud to some persons of that house, and telling them all the things in which I wished to instruct the sick woman, as if my words had been for them, she should receive a vivid conception and apprehension of the eternal misery of the damned in hell, with which she was threatened, and should be touched [270] by the infinite blessedness of Paradise, which she could win with so much ease. I availed myself of this device, and spoke before her, to other persons, about all these matters, to which I added some considerations on the mercies of Jesus Christ, who was the Son of God and was made Man for our [Page 59] salvation, — making her understand that he would have an eternal love for her if she had recourse to him with confidence. I passed the day thus, without being able to make any impression on her soul, Finally I returned in the evening, as if for the last time; but it was also the first time that I gained access to her heart. I spoke to her no more, except with my eyes, looking at her with gentleness, showing that I was deeply touched by her affliction, and trying to render her some little services for her relief. I perceived that she no longer had such aversion for me, and that she was beginning to tolerate me. But God made use of a good woman who nursed her, to finish winning her to himself. ‘ It is time,’ she said to her, ‘ for thee to listen to what this Father wishes to teach thee, in order that thou mayst be blessed through all eternity. ’ [271] ‘I am willing that he should instruct me,’ replied the sick woman; ‘I Will listen to him willingly. ’ Indeed, she listened to me with admirable attention and docility, giving credence to all the truths that I taught her; and, when I wished to have her say some prayers, she said to me: ‘Thou seest well, my brother, that I can scarcely speak any more; my ailment weighs down my chest, and stifles my voice; but, I pray thee, believe that my heart says all that thou sayest, and all that my tongue cannot say. Baptize me as soon as possible; I wish to die a Christian, in order that Jesus may take pity upon me.’ I baptized her without delay, and on the same night God called her to Heaven. Oh, how well we are repaid for all our exertions by this sort of wonderful conversions! And how fortunate a Missionary is when, awaiting from God that which seems impossible [Page 61] to his weakness, he learns by experience how true are these words of the Gospel: ‘God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham, ‘ — that is to say, to make Predestined souls from these hearts that are hard and impenetrable to his grace.
“I confess that it is a very heartfelt consolation [272] to me that we are at present surrounded by so many sepulchers of saints, in a place where, on my arrival I had seen only graves of reprobates; and whereas this spectacle of the dead was the first sight that afflicted me when I arrived here, so it is now the thought that gives me most joy.
“The first Winter I spent in this Village, God by his grace permitted me to Baptize two good women, one of whom had summoned me on purpose to baptize her, on the day of the Purification. They lived a whole year after their Baptism; and, as they were faithful to their promises and frequented Prayers and the Sacraments with fervor, I doubt not they have been added to the number of the Predestined in Heaven.
“A Christian man and woman of the old Church of the Hurons also filled me with consolation, witnessing as I did the purity of their faith and of their morals up to the time of their deaths, for which they made pious preparation by employing the Sacraments of the Church.
“When I began to hold [273] my Catechisms here, fearing that I could not find any one who would be willing to answer me in public, I instructed some children in private, beforehand, in order to make use of them in teaching the others, by their example, the way in which answers must be given; but I was much surprised when I saw three or four of the [Page 63] oldest women rise first, and anticipate the children, in order to answer me. On the very first day, we counted eighty-eight persons there, besides those who listened at the door in large numbers. One day, when I had explained the creation of the world, and the number of years that we reckon from its beginning to our own times; and had, in order to give them a more ready comprehension of this number, designated it by means of some little stones that served me as counters, — while I was fearing that this exercise would confuse them, and that they would be unable to repeat the computation very well, a warrior suddenly arose from his place and repeated faithfully what I had said to them. But he failed not to ask from me, as if in payment, [274] the prize that. I give to the children when they answer well.
“I have strenuously opposed their superstitions, and especially the Divinity of Dreams, which is the source of all their errors, and the soul, as it were, of their Religion; and, while contending against it, I have in the mean time learned two things.
“The first is, that it is not, properly speaking, the Dream that they worship as the Master of their lives, but a certain one of the Spirits called by them Agatkonchoria, — who, as they think, sometimes speak to them in sleep, and command them to obey their dreams exactly. The principal of these Spirits is Taronhiaouagon, whom they acknowledge as a Divinity, and obey as the great Master of their lives; and, when they speak of dreams as of a God, they mean nothing else than that it is by this means that they gain knowledge of the Will of God, and of what is needful for the preservation of their lives, and [Page 65] that the doing of what they have seen in dreams is a means which contributes to the establishment [275] of their health and of their good fortune. Sometimes, too, they give this same name of ‘Master of their lives’ to the subject of their dream, — for example, to a bearskin or deerskin, and to other like abjects that they have seen in their sleep, because they regard them as remedies to which God has attached the good fortune of a long life. And, in fact, they take marvelous pains to preserve these things, with this in view; and, when they are ill, they cover themselves with these, or put them near at hand, as a defense against the attacks of the disease.
“The second thing that I have discovered, while contending against the obedience that they render to their dreams, is that, as they are unable to conceive the manner in which the soul works during sleep, when it represents distant and absent objects to them, they become persuaded that it leaves the body when the latter is asleep, and itself goes in quest of these abjects, during the dream, to the places where they see them, — returning into its body toward the end of the night, when all the dreams are dissipated.
[276] “To refute errors so gross, I was accustomed to put to them three kinds of questions. 1. I asked them whether the body of one who was dreaming was dead or alive. ‘It is alive,’ they would tell me. ‘Is it then its soul that makes it live,’ I would reply to them; ‘for, if it had left the body, the latter would be dead; and so it is not true that the soul quits the body during sleep.’
“2. ‘Tell me,’ I would say to them, ‘ is it with the eyes that we see the things which are represented to us in our dreams, — as, for example, an [Page 67] enemy who Will come and attack me, a friend whom I shall meet on my way, or a stag that I shall pursue in hunting? ’ ‘ It cannot be with the eyes that we see then,’ they would say to me; ‘ for during sleep our eyes are closed and covered with darkness, and see nothing.’ ‘ Then it is our soul, ’ I returned, ‘ which makes us see at such times what we see in our dreams; and consequently it must be present with us and must be in our body when we are sleeping, just as our eyes [277] are in our heads and in their ordinary places when, by their means, we see the abjects that present themselves to us during the day.’
“ 3. My third question was this: ‘ If the soul leave the body during sleep, whither does it go? Does it go to war in the enemy’s country? Does it go out hunting in the forests? What does it do during its absence? Have you ever found, at waking, either a scalp of one of your enemies which your soul has put in your hands, after bringing it to you from that war; or a bear on your mat, which it has killed for you in that hunting expedition, during your sleep? I often see myself at the same time in France, beyond the sea, and here among you. Is my soul at the same time both here and in France? ’
“ They had no answer to these questions and were left convicted of their errors.
“ It is not so easy to make them understand the way in which Dreams are formed, and how the images of what we perceive through the senses are impressed [278] upon our imaginations, and are represented to our minds during sleep. I have, however, tried to explain these things to them in a manner that should be fairly intelligible, by comparing [Page 69] the soul, when it recalls past and distant events out of sleep, with itself when it represents these things to itself in sleep. ‘ You well know, ’ I said to them, ‘ that our souls remember, during the day, what has happened for a long time previously, and in places far distant from us. Is it not true that at this moment they represent the country of the Andastogués and that of the Outaouaks, or Quebec 2nd Montréal, to those of YOU who have been there, as if you were there now 7 Your souls have not left your bodies to go to those places, for you are still alive; nor have they crossed the great River for this purpose, or made any journey whatever. The same thing occurs during the dreams of night. But still, ’ I said to them, ‘ why should the representation of abjects which takes place in our souls during sleep be the Master of our lives, rather than the image of the [279] same abjects which is depicted in the same soul out of sleep? For what is called a remembrance during the day, is named a dream during the night.’
“ I used to ask them then whether the children that are still in their mothers’ wombs had not some one who was the Master of their lives. ‘ Yes,’ they would say. ‘ Now it is not possible that that should be Dreams, ’ said I to them; ‘ for they cannot yet have any. In fact, of what should they dream? Of knives, hatchets, javelins, and like abjects? They have never seen any. Dreams, then, are not the Masters of their lives before their birth, nor even for a long time after they are come into the world, since they pass several years before having any. They must, therefore, have another Master of their lives, and some other God than Dreams, during all that time. But when they begin to dream for the first [Page 71] time, their dreaming cannot so order matters that he who was previously the Master of their lives ceases to be so; they would not know how to degrade him or take from him that quality, [280] and that power which he had over them before they had any dreams. He continues, then, to be what he was before; and thus he is their Master before their birth, and when they do not yet dream; he is their Master after their birth, and when they dream; he is so equally in the time of their youth and in that of their old age; and, finally, until their deaths, and even after death. Know also that this Master, whose power is immovable and eternal, is the God whom we worship, who rewards us or punishes us according to our deserts. He is not the dream, — which often, as you learn by experience every day, demands from you naught but impious and unreasonable things, and has deceived you a hundred times in your lives.’ These Barbarians show that they are capable of listening to reason, and of entering its light in all its purity; for some of the more enlightened ones acknowledge that they were convinced by what I said to them, and that they were recovering from the vain worship of their dreams.
“ The ideas of all these tribes prompt them to the pursuit of nothing but hunting and warfare. [281] Among them are seen only parties of twenty, thirty, or fifty men, — of a hundred, and sometimes of two hundred; rarely do they go to the number of a thousand in a single band. These bands are divided, to go some in quest of men, and others of beasts; they make war more like highwaymen than like soldiers; and their expeditions are made rather by means of surprises than by regular battles. They [Page 73] rest all their glory in coming home accompanied by captives, — men, women, and children, — or loaded with the scalps of those whom they have killed in combat.
“ It may further be said that there is nothing more inimical to our Missions than the victories that these peoples gain over their enemies, because by these victories they are made insolent; while there is nothing more desirable for the advancement of Christianity in this country than the humiliation of these spirits, — breathing, as they do, only blood and carnage; making it their glory to kill and burn people; and their brutal and passionate hearts offering such positive opposition to the gentle and humble spirit of Jesus Christ.
[282] ” We spent last winter in tolerable peace, and without the fear into which we are usually thrown by the enterprises of Gandastogué, who, being hostile to this Nation, had sent an Ambassador in the autumn, with three porcelain collars, to treat for peace. He waited until the month of March for an answer, in order that he might go back; but the men of Onnontagué had gone out on the war-path, last winter, toward Andastogué; they brought home eight or nine prisoners, of whom they presented two to the Inhabitants of Oiogouen, with forty collars, to induce them to continue the war against Andastogué. Consequently they broke this unlucky Ambassador’s head, after they had detained him five or six months, when he thought that he was on the eve of his departure. His body was burned after his death; and one of his nephews, who had accompanied him, received the same treatment from these Barbarians, — who trouble themselves but little with international [Page 75] law, and do net’ keep faith except so far as it is to their interest to do so. We can say that in their midst we are like perpetual [283] victims, since there is not a day on which we are not in danger of being murdered; but it is that, too, which constitutes our crowning joy, and is the cause of our purest consolations.” [Page 77]
CHAPTER IX.
OF THE MISSION OF SAINT MICHEL AT TSONNONTOUEN.
F
ATHER Fremin, superior of the Iroquois Missions, has taken for his share the especial charge of this Mission of saint Michel, which has four Villages, one of which he has entrusted to Father Garnier, his companion, reserving for himself the management of the three others. We shall learn the condition of this Mission from the letters which he has written about them to the Reverend Father le Mercier, superior of the Missions of New France.
LETTER FROM FATHER FREMIN.
OUR Iroquois Missions made, during the past year, 1669, very considerable progress. [284] We began the preaching of the Gospel there at Tsonnontouen, where there are more people than in the four other Lower Iroquois Nations.
When I arrived here, toward the end of the year 1668, I was very well received; but a kind of contagion, supervening at the same time, ravaged the whole country to such an extent that my entire occupation was to visit the cabins constantly, for the purpose of instructing and baptizing the sick who were at the point of death. It pleased God to bless my little labors, so that in a few months I baptized more than six-score persons, nearly all adults, of whom more than ninety died immediately after Baptism. [Page 79] But as I was alone, and as I could not be in several places at the same time, more than a hundred and fifty died in places very far distant from here, where they were engaged, some in fishing and others in hunting.
So pressing a necessity obliged me to ask for aid, and to beg Father Garnier, who was at Onnontague, to come and help me as soon as possible; but, when he arrived, [285] the distemper had already ceased. Accordingly, having no further occupation with the sick, we began to proclaim the Gospel to these people, who had never heard of Jesus Christ; and, in order to do it with the greater success in different places, Father Garnier took charge of the Village named Gandachiragou. There, in a short time, he built a Chapel, which is very convenient, and to which people come from all directions for instruction.
As for me, on the twenty-seventh of September, 1669, I entered the Village named Gandougaraé, where I was received with all the marks of public joy. For a long time I had been expected there with impatience.
This Village is composed of the remnants of three different Nations which were formerly overthrown by the Iroquois, obliged to surrender at the discretion of the conqueror, and to come and settle in his country. The first Nation is called Onnontioga, the second the Neutrals, and the third the Hurons.[ii] The first two have seen scarcely any Europeans, nor have they ever heard of the true God. As for [286] the third, it is a sort of conglomerate of several Villages of the Hurons, all of whom were instructed in the Faith, and a number baptized by our Fathers, [Page 81] before that flourishing Nation was overthrown by the arms of the Iroquois.
While my Chapel was being built, I began to visit the cabins, for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the people, — and, especially, that I might seek out the sheep that had strayed from the ancient Church of the Hurons, and try to lead them back again into the fold of Jesus Christ. These good people were delighted to see me, and to hear about the Faith; and it was impossible to satisfy fully their ardent desire in this direction. Some of them told me that it was not enough to have them pray to God once a day; others complained that I spent too little time in speaking to them about Our Lord and Paradise; and some even reproached me, as it were, with preferring others to them, and with only visiting them the last. In short, these poor souls did so hunger and thirst after righteousness and [287] their salvation, that I had difficulty in contenting them with the hope that, the moment the Chapel was completed, they would all find there the means to satisfy their pious desires.
When I had made my round of visits, I found that about forty adult Christians had preserved both the observance of prayer and the Faith, took no part in the immorality of the country, and lived in all the purity of Christianity. ’ All the rest, too, of the Huron Nation showed me so great an eagerness for holy Baptism, and I observed in them so exact and constant assiduity in prayer, both public and private, that I hope that they all Will be very good Christians. Will not so invincible a constancy in the Faith as that of the Hurons of this country serve, on the day of Judgment, to bring condemnation on the [Page 83] laxity and corruption of the Christians of Europe? These Barbarians — who were only being born in Christianity when the Iroquois compelled them, by force of arms, to espouse their interests — [288] have nevertheless preserved the purity of their Faith all this time, in the midst of the corruption of a people abandoned to all sorts of vices and superstitions. Scarcely were they imbued with the first principles of the Christian Religion, when they saw themselves transported into the very abode as it were of disorderly habits and abominations. And yet, — although wholly deprived of the assistance of their Pastors, having neither Preachers to strengthen them in the Faith, nor Confessors to reconcile them with God, nor any of the external aids whereby Europe is so mightily succored, — that they should have lived in a fidelity to their prayers, an innocence in their morals, and an ardor for their salvation, equal to that of the first Christians — is not that enough to put to confusion, some day, the weakness and infidelity of so many Catholics, who are corrupted and ruined even at the very fountain-heads of purity and salvation?
As for the Onnontioga, Tsonnontouens, and Neutrals, as they have scarcely seen any Europeans, and have never heard of the Faith, there is work to engage [289] all the zeal of a Missionary, who Will have no little difficulty in clearing and tilling a field that the Demon has occupied for so many centuries.
The Chapel being finished, the Hurons came to pray to God there with great fervor; and on Sundays it was quite filled by them. I said holy Mass for them, and they assisted with a respect and devotion that charmed me and delighted all Heaven. The eldest of these Christians served me as Catechist; [Page 85] and, as he knew the prayers well, he pronounced them in a loud, clear voice, so as to be heard and followed by all the rest. This fervor of the Hurons passed even to their children, and these little Savages were seen persuading the children of the other Nations to accompany them into the Chapel, in order to pray with them there, — a proceeding which obliged their fathers and mothers to come and see what they were doing, and sometimes to follow their example, in order not to be put to confusion by being outdone.
What I have most admired in those Hurons who have been Christians for several years is the public profession [290] which they often made of their Faith, without blushing for the Gospel, or fearing the insults and mockery of the Pagans — a course which, among an entirely infidel and Barbarous people, is more difficult than can be believed. The other Nations were so well convinced of the firmness which they manifested in their Faith that they no longer called them by any other name than “ the Believers ” and “ the Faithful;” and, among them all, two men had gained for themselves so high a reputation for virtue throughout the country, that every one felt a veneration for them.
The name of one is Jacques Atondo, and of the other François Teoronhiongo. The former lives in almost continual prayer, and ordinarily speaks only of God, to both Christians and Infidels. He is very exact in observing all of God’s Commandments. “ If you knew,” he says to them, “ what Prayer is, and how powerful it is in making you happy, you would all choose to pray to God without ceasing. You are so punctual in doing all that your dreams [Page 87] order you to do; you spare neither feasts [291] nor presents, nor any expense, to make them favorable to you, and obtain from them good success in fishing, hunting, and war, and long lives for yourselves; and yet you see clearly that you are in poverty and misery, and that diseases and the enemy sweep off so many of your people every day. As for me, I pray to the Master of Heaven and earth, the sovereign Lord of our lives, and he gives me strong and vigorous health at a very advanced age. I usually catch more fish than you do; I am, by his grace, more favored than you are; and what fills me with joy is that when I come to die, I hope to be happy throughout all eternity, — while you people, you Will simply exchange the woes of a wretched life for the torments and fires of eternity.”
The second, called François Tehoronhiongo, who was formerly the host of the late Father le Moyne, is an old man of tried Faith, and has never passed a single day during twenty-seven [292] years without saying his prayers. He has instructed his wife and children in the Faith, and has made his whole family pious. New, as he is well versed in our doctrines, and knows many stories from the New Testament, his greatest pleasure is to talk about them on all occasions with Christians and with Pagans; so that if the Gospel had never been proclaimed in this country by the Missionaries, he alone would have said enough about it to justify God’s conduct on the day of Judgment, concerning the salvation of all men.
He has told me several times that, during the twenty years that he was separated from our Fathers, he passed hardly a single day without [Page 89] earnestly beseeching Our Lord to grant that he might not die without having first confessed and prayed to God with some one of the Missionaries. “ Ah, my God, ” he would say to him, “ you have so much indulgence for me; you have already granted me so many favors! Will you refuse me that which I now ask of you? Shall I be so unfortunate as to die without confession? Have you called me to Christianity [293] to let me end my life without participating in its holy mysteries? So great is the frailty of man, and so natural a tendency has he to sin, that I have great cause to fear being criminal in your sight, and worthy of an eternal death; and then what Will it avail me to have been baptized and to have prayed to you, if I am so unfortunate as one day to be damned? No, no, my God, I hope for this grace from your goodness. You are all-powerful; when it shall be your Will, our Fathers Will come here to instruct us; and I hope from your mercy that I shall Pot end my life until I have had the good fortune to receive the Sacraments. ’ ’ I doubt not that such holy prayers contributed much to the establishment <of this Mission. When he had learned of my arrival, the first thing he said to me was, “ At last God has heard my prayer; hear my Confession.”
At another time, when I was talking with him about his deceased relatives, he said to me: “ Why should I mourn them? My mother died immediately after receiving Baptism, Almost all my [294] nearest of kin expired in the arms of the Fathers who had made them Christians; they are all happy in Paradise, and I hope soon to go and find them. The greatest grief I have had in my life, ” he continued with a sigh, “ is that one of my children [Page 91] died some years ago without being able to make his confession. He was thirty years old and had lived a rather bad life; however hard I tried to make him a good man, he despised equally the law of God and the admonitions of his father; and what cruelly afflicts me is, that he died in so bad a condition without being able to make his peace with God by Confession. I have now only one Child left in the world, and he is at present gone to war. If God take him from me, I shall console myself for the loss without very great difficulty, since thou didst hear his confession before his departure.”
What I am going to relate will show what idea our Savages have of Paradise, when they are not yet thoroughly instructed in our mysteries.
Last year, I baptized a Young woman [295] of the more influential class of Tsonnontouen, who died a day after her baptism. The mother could not be comforted for this loss, our Barbarians being extraordinarily fond of their children; and when I tried to soothe her sorrow by representing to her the infinite happiness which her daughter was enjoying in Heaven, she said to me with considerable naïveté: “ Thou didst not know her. She was Mistress here and commanded more than twenty slaves, who are still with me; she knew not what it was to go to the forest to get wood, or to the River to draw water; she could not take upon herself the tare of all that has to do with domestic duties. Now I have no doubt that, being at present the only one of our family in Paradise, she has great difficulty in getting used to it; for she Will be obliged to do her own cooking, to go for wood and water, and to do everything with her own hands in the preparation of her [Page 93] food and drink. Indeed, is she not to be greatly pitied at not having any one who can serve her in that place? Thou seest here one of my slaves, who is ill; I pray thee instruct her well [296] and put her on the road to Heaven, that she may not stray from it, and that she may go and live with my daughter, to help her in all her domestic affairs. ” I availed myself of this opportunity, and of that woman’s simplicity, to instruct the sick slave. I spoke to her and found her quite inclined to listen to me. I exhorted and instructed her, and she opened her eyes to the truth, asking me for Baptism, — which I could, not refuse her, as I believed that she was in danger of dying. But God ordered otherwise; for her health was restored some time afterward, and at present she fulfills the duties of a good Christian. I applied myself then to the instruction of the mistress, and, after I had gradually freed her of the low, material conception that she entertained of Paradise, in order to form in her a more correct and worthy image of that supreme happiness, she assured me that there was nothing in the world she would not do to attain it; and that she was resolved to go and join her daughter, in order to dwell forever with her in that blessed abode. Since then, she has always shown great fidelity [297] in prayer and assiduity in receiving instruction; she even takes tare to have all her slaves instructed, and to make them pray to God; and through her alone, it can be said, more than twenty persons have been brought to God.
During the six months that I have spent here, f have baptized twenty or twenty-five Savages, and there are ten or twelve more Adults who are preparing themselves for this Sacrament. [Page 95]
As for a long time there has not been here a more abundant trop of nuts than that of the present year, the joy of this whole people is so great that one sees everywhere only games, dances, and feasts which often reach the point of debauchery, although for seasoning they have nothing but oil. But what has afforded me extreme consolation is that, amid all these disorders, there have been only two Christians who were so lax as to allow themselves to yield to the solicitations of the Jugglers, who urged them to have a certain superstitious feast held, in which all those who dance throw warm ashes on the sick person, believing this to be a sovereign remedy for his ailment.
The Iroquois have, properly speaking, [298] only a single Divinity — the dream. To it they render their submission, and follow all its orders with the utmost exactness. The Tsonnontouens are more attached to this superstition than any of the others; their Religion in this respect becomes even a matter of scruple: whatever it be that they think they have done in their dreams, they believe themselves absolutely obliged to execute at the earliest moment. The other nations content themselves with observing those of their dreams which are the most important; but this people, which ‘has the reputation of living more religiously than its neighbors, would think itself guilty of a great crime if it failed in its observance of a single dream. The people think only of that, they talk about nothing else, and all their cabins are filled with their dreams. They spare no pains, no industry, to show their attachment thereto, and their folly in this particular goes to such an excess as would be hard to imagine. [Page 97] He who has dreamed during the night that he was bathing, runs immediately, as soon as he rises, all naked, to several cabins, in each of which he has a, kettleful of water thrown over his body, [299] however cold the weather may be. Another who has dreamed that he was taken prisoner and burned alive, has himself bound and burned like a captive on the next day, being persuaded that by thus satisfying his dream, this fidelity Will avert from him the pain and infamy of captivity and death, — which, according to what he has learned from his Divinity, he is otherwise bound to suffer among his enemies. Some have been known to go as far as Quebec, traveling a hundred and fifty leagues, for the sake of getting a dog, that they had dreamed of buying there. From this it is easy to judge in what peril we are every day, among people who Will murder us in cold blood if they have dreamed of doing so; and how slight needs to be an offense that a Barbarian has received from some one, to enable his heated imagination to represent to him in a dream that he takes revenge on the offender. We have to regard ourselves here as victims who are every moment being led to torture, and are made to die a hundred times by the ever-present image of death — wherein, in truth, we deem ourselves happy, [300] since we are so near to martyrdom.
By an inclination natural to their sex, the infidel women are the most Religious in observing their dreams, and in following that Idol’s orders. It is true the worship paid to it by this people might pass rather for a superstition than for a full-fledged Idolatry, because they do not worship their dream or offer it any sacrifice. They believe, from a sure and [Page 99] infallible experience, that, when they have dreamed something and have failed to perform it, there always befalls them a misfortune which was mysteriously expressed in the dream. I have even noted that the majority of these Barbarians put themselves to very little trouble to obey their dreams when they are in health; but, the moment they have the least ailment, they are convinced there is no more sovereign cure for it and for the saving of their lives, than to perform all that they have dreamed. The Jugglers — who are, as it were, the Priests of their Divinity — contribute not a little toward keeping them [301] in this superstition; for as they are always summoned to explain the Dreams, and as they know admirably how to turn them to their own profit, they live and grow rich on the credulity of these poor people, who spare nothing — above ail, when they are sick — to carry out what the Juggler has told them the dream orders them to do.
This is the greatest obstacle that these peoples have to the faith, and it may be said to be the stumbling-block of Christianity; for, as to drunkenness, although they are madly addicted to it, yet the women and the old men are not given to this intemperance. It may be hoped that their example and the zeal of the Missionaries will temper the hot-headedness of a warlike youth who breathe only blood and brandy.
To overthrow the dream-superstition, I see no remedy more efficacious than to make them see clearly and by induction how the fidelity practiced in the observance of their Dreams by a great number of people whom they know has not been able to save them from either death or [302] captivity, or even [Page 101] from the entire destruction of their Nation. This consideration, which I have turned to account in this country for undeceiving them, has opened the eyes of many, and has caused them to de
