Primary Sources

Letter from Father Sébastien Rasles, Missionary of the Society of Jesus in new France, to Monsieur his nephew.

Nanrantsouak,

October 15, 1722.

Monsieur My Dear Nephew,

                                                The peace of Our Lord.

During the more than thirty years that I have spent in the midst of forests with the Savages, I have been so occupied in instructing them and training them in Christian virtues that I have scarcely had leisure to write frequent letters, even to the persons who are dearest to me. Nevertheless, I cannot refuse you the little account that you ask of my occupations. I owe it in gratitude for the friendship which makes you so much interested in what concerns me.

I am in a district of this vast extent of territory which lies between Acadia and new England. Two other Missionaries are, like myself, busy among the Abnakis Savages; but we are far distant from one another. The Abnakis Savages, besides the two Villages which they have in the midst of the French Colony, have also three other important ones, each situated on the bank of a river. These three rivers empty into the sea to the South of Canada, between new England and Acadia.

The Village in which I dwell is called Nanrantsouak; [Page 85] it is situated on the bank of a river, which empties into the sea thirty leagues below. I have built here a Church which is commodious and well adorned. I thought it my duty to spare nothing, either for its decoration or for the beauty of the vestments that are used in our holy Ceremonies; altar-cloths, chasubles, copes, sacred vessels, everything is suitable, and would be esteemed in the Churches of Europe. I have trained a minor Clergy of about forty young Savages, who, in cassocks and surplices, assist at divine Service; each one has his duty, not only in serving at the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, but in chanting the divine Office at the Benediction of the blessed Sacrament, and in the Processions — which are made with a great concourse of Savages, who often come from a great distance in order to be present at them. You would be edified with the good order which they observe, and with the reverence which they show.

Two Chapels have been built, about three hundred steps from the Village: one, which is dedicated to the most blessed Virgin, and in which her statue in relief is seen, stands at the head of the river; the other, which is dedicated to the Guardian Angel, is below, on the same river. As they both are on the path that leads either to the woods or to the fields, the Savages never pass them without offering prayers therein. There is a holy emulation among the women of the Village regarding the best decoration of the Chapel, of which they have care, when the Procession is to enter it; all that they have in the way of trinkets, pieces of silk or chintz, and other things of that sort — all are used for adornment.

The many lights contribute not a little to the [Page 87] decoration of the Church and Chapels; I have no need to economize in wax, for this country furnishes me with abundance. The islands of the sea are bordered with wild laurel, which in autumn bears berries closely resembling those of the juniper-tree. Large kettles are filled with them and they are boiled in water; as the water boils, the green wax rises, and remains on the surface of the water. From a minot of these berries can be obtained nearly four livres of wax; it is very pure and very fine, but is neither soft nor pliable. After a few experiments, I have found that by mixing with it equal quantities of tallow, — either beef, mutton, or elk, — the mixture makes beautiful, solid, and very serviceable candles. From twenty-four livres of wax, and as many of tallow, can be made two hundred tapers more than a royal foot in length. Abundance of these laurels are found on the Islands, and on the shore of the sea; one person alone could easily gather four minots of berries daily. The berries hang in clusters from the branches of the shrub. I sent a branch of them to Quebec, with a cake of wax, and it was pronounced excellent.[19]

None of my Neophytes fail to come twice every day to Church, — in the early morning to hear Mass,  and in the evening to be present at the prayer which I offer at sunset. As it is necessary to fix the thoughts of the Savages, which wander only too easily, I have composed some prayers, suited to make. them enter into the spirit of the august Sacrifice of our Altars; they chant these — or, rather, they recite them aloud — during Mass. Besides the sermons that I preach to them on Sundays and On Feast-days, I seldom pass over a Working-day [Page 89] without making them a short exhortation, in order to inspire them with horror for the vices to which they have most inclination, or to strengthen them in the practice of some virtue.

After Mass, I Catechize the children and the young people; a great number of older persons are present, and answer with docility to the questions which I ask them. The remainder of the morning, until noon, is devoted to all those who have anything to tell me. At that time they come in crowds, to reveal to me their griefs and anxieties, or to tell me the causes of complaint which they have against their tribesmen, or to consult me about their marriages or their other private affairs. I must instruct some, and console others; reëstablish peace in disunited families, and calm troubled consciences; and correct a few others with reprimands, mingled with gentleness and charity, — in fine, send them all away content, as far as I can.

In the afternoon, I visit the sick and go to the cabins of those who have need of special instruction. If they are holding a council, which often happens among the Savages, they send one of the chiefs of the meeting, who begs me to be present at their deliberations. I go immediately to the place where the council is in session. If I think that they are taking a wise course, I approve it; if, on the contrary, I find anything amiss in their decision, I declare my own opinion, which I support with a few sound reasons and they conform to it. My advice always determines their decisions. I am invited even to their feasts. Each guest brings a dish of wood or of bark; I bless the food; then the prepared portion is placed upon each dish. The distribution [Page 91] having been made, I say grace, and each one withdraws, for such is the order and the custom of their feasts.

In the midst of these continual occupations you can hardly believe with what rapidity the days pass away. There has been a time when I scarcely had leisure to recite my Office, or to take a little rest during the night, for discretion is not a virtue of the Savages. But for some years past I have made it a rule not to speak with any one from the hour of evening prayer until after Mass the next day; and I have forbidden them to interrupt me during that time, unless it were for some important reason — as, for instance, to aid a dying person, or for some other matter that could not be delayed. I use that time for attending to prayer, and resting from the labors of the day.

When the Savages go to the sea to spend some months hunting ducks, bustards, and other birds that are found there in great numbers, they build on some island a Church ‘which they cover with bark, near which they set up a little cabin for my dwelling. I take care to transport thither a part of the ornaments; and the service is performed there with the same propriety and the same throng of people as in the Village.

You see, my dear nephew, what my occupations are. As for what concerns me personally, I assure you that I see, that I hear, that I speak, only as a savage. My food is simple and light; I never could relish the meat and smoked fish of the Savages; my only nourishment is pounded Indian corn, of which I make every day a sort of broth; that I cook in water. The only improvement that I can supply [Page 93] for it is, to mix with it a little sugar, to relieve its insipidity. There is no lack of sugar in these forests. In the spring the maple-trees contain a fluid somewhat resembling that which the canes of the islands contain.[20] The women busy themselves in receiving it into vessels of bark, when it trickles from these trees; they boil it, and obtain from it a fairly good sugar. The first which is obtained is always the best.

The whole Abnakis Nation is Christian and is very zealous in preserving its Religion. This attachment to the Catholic Faith has made it thus far prefer an alliance with us to the advantages that it would have obtained from an alliance with its English neighbors. These advantages are very attractive to our Savages; the readiness with which they can engage in trade with the English, from whom they are distant only two or three days’ journey, the convenience of the route, the great bargains they find in the purchase of goods which suit them, — nothing would be more likely to attract them. Whereas in going to Quebec they must travel more than fifteen days to reach it; they must be supplied with provisions for the journey; there are several rivers to cross and frequent portages to make. They feel these inconveniences, and they are not indifferent to their own interests; but their faith is infinitely dearer to them, and they believe that if they were to break off their connection with us they would very soon be without a Missionary, without Sacraments, without the Sacrifice, almost without any service of Religion, and in manifest danger of being plunged back into their former unbelief. This is the bond which unites them to the French. There have been vain endeavors [Page 95] to break this bond — both by snares that have been laid for their simplicity, and by violence, which could not fail to irritate a Tribe so infinitely jealous as is this of its rights and its liberty. These beginnings of misunderstanding continue to alarm me, and make me fear the dispersion of the flock which Providence has confided to my care for so many years, and for which I would willingly sacrifice all that remains to me of life. See the various artifices to which the English have resorted to detach them from the alliance with us.

Some years ago, the Governor-general of new England sent to the foot of our river the most able man among the Ministers of Boston, that he might open a School there, instruct the children of the Savages, and maintain them at the expense of the Government. As the salary of the Minister was to increase in proportion to the number of his pupils, he neglected nothing to attract them; he went to seek the children, he flattered them, he made them little presents, he urged them to come to see him; in short, he worked for two months with much useless activity, without being able to win a single child. The disdain with which his attentions and his invitations were treated did not discourage him. He spoke to the Savages themselves; he put to them various questions touching their faith; and then, from the answers that were made to him, he turned into derision the Sacraments, Purgatory, the invocation of the Saints, the beads, the crosses, the images, the lights of our Churches, and all the pious customs that are so sacredly observed in the catholic Religion.

I thought it my duty to oppose these first attempts to mislead; I wrote a civil letter to the Minister, in [Page 97] which I told him that my Christians knew how to believe the truths which the catholic Faith teaches, but that they did not know how to discuss them; that as they were not sufficiently learned to solve the difficulties which he had proposed he had evidently intended that they should be communicated to me; that I seized with pleasure this opportunity that he had offered me, to confer with him either by word of mouth, or by letter; that I thereupon sent him a Memoir and besought him to read it with serious attention. In this Memoir, which was of about a hundred pages, I proved by scripture, by tradition, and by theological arguments the truths which he had attacked by such stale jests. I added, in closing my letter, that if he were not satisfied with my proofs, I would expect from him a precise refutation, supported by theological proofs, and not by vague arguments which prove nothing, — still less by injurious reflections, which befitted neither our profession nor the importance of the subject in question.

Two days after receiving my letter, he set out to return to Boston; he sent me a short answer, which I was obliged to read several times in order to comprehend its meaning, so obscure was its style and so extraordinary its Latin. However, by dint of reflection, I understood that he complained that I had attacked him without reason; that zeal for the salvation of souls had led him to teach the Savages the way to Heaven; and that, for the rest, my proofs were absurd and childish. Having sent to him in Boston a second letter, in which I pointed out the defects of his own, he answered me at the end of two years, without even entering upon the subject; and said that I had a peevish and fault-finding spirit [Page 99] which was the sign of a temperament inclined to anger. Thus was finished our dispute, which drove away the Minister, and brought to naught the scheme that he had formed to mislead my Neophytes.[21]

This first attempt having had so little success, resort was had to another artifice. An Englishman asked permission of the Savages to build by their river a sort of warehouse, for the purpose of trading with them; and he promised to sell his goods much cheaper than they could buy them even in Boston. The Savages, who found this to their advantage, and who would be saved the trouble of a journey to Boston, gladly consented. Shortly after, another Englishman asked the same permission, offering still more advantageous conditions than the first. To him likewise permission was granted. This accommodating spirit of the Savages emboldened the English to settle all along the river without asking consent; they built houses and erected forts, three of which were of stone.

This proximity of the English at first somewhat pleased the Savages who did not perceive the trap that was set for them, and who were thinking only of the satisfaction they had in finding at the stores of the new settlers all that they could desire. But at last — seeing themselves gradually, as it were, surrounded by English settlements — they began to open their eyes, and to become suspicious. They asked the English by what right they had thus settled in their territory, and had even constructed forts therein. The answer that was given them —  to wit, that the King of France had ceded their country to the King of England — threw them into the greatest alarm; for there is not one savage Tribe [Page 101] that will patiently endure to be regarded as under subjection to any Power whatsoever; it will perhaps call itself an ally, but nothing more. Therefore the Savages immediately sent a few of their number to Monsieur the Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor- general of new France, to inquire if it were true that the King really had thus disposed of a country of which he was not master. It was not difficult to quiet their uneasiness; all that was done was to explain to them those articles in the treaty of Utrecht which concerned the Savages, and they appeared content.[22]

At about that time, a score or so of Savages entered one of the English dwellings, either to trade, or to rest themselves. They had been there only a short time when they saw the house suddenly invested by a force of nearly 200 armed men. We are dead men, cried one of the Savages, let us sell our lives dearly. They were already preparing to rush upon this force when the English, perceiving their intention, and knowing also of what a Savage is capable in his first outbursts of fury, endeavored to appease them. They assured them that they had no evil design, and that they only came to invite a few of them to repair to Boston, for the purpose of conferring with the Governor about methods of maintaining the peace, and the good understanding that ought to exist between the two Nations. The Savages, a little too credulous, appointed four of their tribesmen who went to Boston; but, when they arrived there, the conference with which they had been beguiled ended by their being made prisoners.

You will, without doubt, be surprised that such a little handful of Savages should have presumed to [Page 103] cope with so numerous a force as that of the English. But our Savages have performed numberless acts that are much more daring. I will relate to you only a single one, which will enable you to judge of the others.

During the late wars, a party of thirty Savages were returning from a military expedition against the English. As the Savages, and especially the Abnakis, know not how to guard themselves against surprises, they had gone to sleep in their first resting- place without even a thought of posting a sentinel for the night. A body of 600 English, commanded by a Colonel, pursued them as far as their cabbage; and, finding them plunged in sleep, he ordered his troops to surround them, fully expecting that not one of them would escape. One of the Savages, having awakened and perceiving the English troops, immediately informed his tribesmen — crying out, according to their custom: We are dead men, let us sell our lives dearly. Their decision was very soon made; they instantly formed six platoons of five men each; then, with a hatchet in one hand, and a knife in the other, they rushed upon the English with so much impetuosity and fury that, after having killed more than sixty men, among which number was the Colonel, they put the remainder to flight.

The Abnakis had no sooner learned in what manner their tribesmen were treated in Boston, than they bitterly complained that, in the midst of the peace which was then reigning, the rights of men should be thus violated. The English answered that they were holding the prisoners only as hostages for the injury that had been done them in killing some [Page 105] cattle that belonged to them; that, as soon as the Savages should have made reparation for this loss —  which amounted to .two hundred livres of beaver —  the prisoners should be released. Although the Abnakis did not acknowledge this pretended injury, they nevertheless paid the two hundred livres of beaver — being unwilling that for such a trifling thing any one could reproach them with having abandoned their brothers. Notwithstanding the payment of the contested debt, liberty was, however, refused to the prisoners.

The Governor of Boston, fearing that this refusal might force the Savages to take violent measures, proposed to treat this affair amicably in a conference, and the day and place for holding it were agreed upon. The Savages went to the place with Father Rasles, their Missionary; Father de la Chasse, Superior-general of these Missions, who was at that time making his visitation, was also there; but Monsieur the Governor did not appear. The Savages foreboded evil from his absence. They resolved to let him know their opinions by a letter written in the savage tongue, in English, and in Latin; and Father de la Chasse, who was master of these three languages, was charged with writing it. It seemed needless to use any other language than the English tongue; but the Father was very glad that, on the one hand, the Savages should know for themselves that the letter contained only what they had dictated; and that, on the other, the Englishmen could not doubt that the English translation was faithful. The purport of this letter was: 1st, that the Savages could not understand why their tribesmen had been retained in captivity, after the promise [Page 107] that had been made to surrender them as soon as the two hundred livres of beaver should be paid; and, that they were not less surprised to see how their Country had been seized without their consent; 3rd, that the English were to quit the country as soon as possible, and set the prisoners at liberty; that they would expect an answer within two months, and that if, after that time, satisfaction were refused them they would know how to obtain justice.

It was in the month of July of the year 1721 that this letter was carried to Boston, by some Englishmen who had been present at the conference. As two months passed by without receiving an answer from Boston, and as, besides, the English had ceased to sell the Abnakis powder, lead, and provisions as they had been doing before this contention, our Savages were disposed to retaliate; all the influence which Monsieur the Marquis de Vaudreuil had over their minds was needed to make them put off for some time longer violent proceedings.

But their patience was exhausted by two acts of hostility committed by the English, about the end of December in the year 1721, and the beginning of the year 1722. The first was the abduction of Monsieur de Saint Casteins. This Officer is a Lieutenant in our army; his mother was an Abnakis, and he has always lived with our Savages, whose esteem and confidence he has deserved to such a degree that they have chosen him for their Commandant- General. In this capacity he could not be exempt from attending the conference of which I have just spoken, in which the question was to settle the interests of the Abnakis, his brothers. The English blamed him for this; they sent a little vessel to the [Page 109] place of his abode. The Captain took care to have his men concealed, with the exception of two or three whom he left upon the deck. He sent to invite Monsieur de Saint Casteins, with whom he was acquainted, to come on board and take some refreshment. Monsieur de Saint Casteins, who had no reason to be suspicious, went there alone and unattended; but hardly had he appeared before they set sail, and carried him to Boston. There he was placed in the prisoner’s dock, and was questioned as if a criminal. He was asked among other things, wherefore and in what capacity he had been present at the conference that was held with the Savages; what the regimental coat with which he was clothed signified; and if he had not been sent to that assembly by the Governor of Canada. Monsieur de Saint Casteins answered that he was an Abnakis on the side of his mother, and had spent his life among the Savages; that, his tribesmen having established him as Chief of their Tribe, he was obliged to participate in their meetings, in order to sustain their interests; that it was in this capacity alone that he had been present at the late conference; as for the rest, the coat that he wore was not a regimental coat, as they imagined; that it was, in truth, handsome and very well decorated, but it was not above his condition — even independently of the honor that he had in being an Officer in our army.

When Monsieur our Governor learned of the detention of Monsieur de Saint Casteins, he immediately wrote to the Governor of Boston to make complaint. He received no answer to his letter. But about the time that the English Governor was expecting to receive a second one, he restored [Page 111] liberty to the prisoner, after having kept him confined for five months.[23]

The attempt of the English against myself was the second act of hostility which brought to a climax the excessive irritation of the Abnakis tribe. A Missionary can scarcely fail to be an object of hate to these Gentlemen. Love for the Religion which he endeavors to impress upon the hearts of these Savages holds these Neophytes firmly in union with us, and separates them from the English. The latter therefore regard me as an invincible obstacle to their plan of spreading themselves over the territory of the Abnakis, and of gradually seizing this mainland which is between new England and Acadia. They have often attempted to remove me from my flock and more than once a price has been set on my head.[24] It was about the end of January in the year 1722 when they made a new attempt, which had no other success than to manifest their ill will toward me.

I had remained alone in the village with a small number of old men and feeble folk, while the rest of the Savages were at the hunt. That time appeared favorable to the enemy for surprising me; and, with this in view, they sent out a detachment of two hundred men. Two Young Abnakis, who were hunting on the Seashore, heard that the English had entered the river; they immediately turned their steps to that quarter, so as to observe the movements of the English. Having perceived them about ten leagues from the Village, these Savages outran them by crossing the country, that they might inform me, and help the old men, women, and children to retire in haste. I had only [Page 113] time to consume the hosts, to enclose in a small box the sacred vessels, and to escape into the woods. Toward evening, the English reached the Village; and, not having found me there, they came the next day to look for me in the very place of our retreat. They were within only a gunshot when we descried them; all that I could do was to plunge with haste into the forest. But as I had no time to take my snowshoes, and as, besides, I still experienced great weakness caused by a fall, — in which, some years ago, my thigh and my leg were broken, —  it was not possible for me to run very far. The only resource that remained to me was to hide behind a tree. They immediately searched the various paths worn by the Savages when they go for wood, and came within eight steps of the tree that was sheltering me, where naturally they must have perceived me, for the trees had shed their leaves; nevertheless, as if they had been driven away by an invisible hand, they suddenly retraced their steps, and again took the way to the Village.

Thus it was by a special protection of God that I escaped from their pursuit. They pillaged my Church and my little house, thereby almost reducing me to a death from starvation in the midst of the woods. It is true that, when my adventure was known in Quebec, provisions were sent to me immediately; but they could not arrive for some time, and during that period I was deprived of all aid, and in extreme need.

These reiterated insults made the Savages feel that there was no answer to be expected, and that it was time to resent violence, and let open force succeed to pacific negotiations. On their return [Page 115] from hunting, after having planted their fields they resolved to destroy the newly-constructed English houses, and drive from among them those restless and formidable settlers who were gradually encroaching on their territory, and were planning to conquer them. They sent to the several Villages of the Savages to interest them in their Muse, and to urge them to lend a hand in this their necessity of righteous defense. The deputation was successful. War was sung among the Hurons of Lorette, and in all the Villages of the Abnakis tribe. Nanrantsouak was the place appointed for the meeting of the warriors, that they might there together deliberate upon their plan.

In the meantime the Nanrantsouakians descended the river; when they reached its mouth, they seized three or four little English vessels. Then ascending the same river, they pillaged and burned the new houses that the English had built. However, they abstained from all violence toward the inhabitants; they even permitted them to retire to their quarters, —  except five, whom they retained as hostages until their tribesmen, who were detained in the prisons of Boston, should be restored. This moderation of the. Savages did not have the effect that they hoped; on the contrary, a party of English, having found sixteen Abnakis asleep on an island, fired a volley at them; and five Savages were killed and three wounded.

This is a further indication that war is about to break out between the English and the Savages. The latter expect no aid from the French, on account of the peace which exists between the two Nations; but they have a resource in all the other [Page 117] Savage tribes, who will not fail to enter into their quarrel and to undertake their defense.

My Neophytes moved by the danger to which I am exposed in their Village, often urge me to retire for a little time to Quebec. But what will become of the flock, if it be deprived of its Shepherd? Death alone can separate me from them. They tell me, but to no purpose, that in case I fall into the power of their enemy, the least that can happen to me will be to linger out the rest of my days in wretched imprisonment; I shut their mouths with the words of the Apostle, which divine goodness has deeply impressed upon my heart. I say to them: “Do not be anxious about that which concerns me. I do not fear the threats of those who hate me when I have not deserved their hatred; and I do not consider my life more precious than myself, so that I may finish my course, and the ministry of the word which has been entrusted to me by the Lord Jesus.” Pray to him, my dear nephew, that he may strengthen in me this feeling, which comes only from his mercy, in order that I may live and die working unceasingly for the salvation of these neglected souls, who were bought with his blood and whom he has deigned to commit to my care.

I am, etc. [Page 119]

Letter from Father Sebastien Rasles, Missionary of the Society of Jesus in New France, to Monsieur his Brother.

Narantsouak,

this 12th of October, 1723.

Monsieur and Very Dear Brother,

                                              The peace of Our Lord.

I can no longer refuse the affectionate entreaties which you have made, in all your letters, that I would inform you somewhat in detail of my occupations, and of the character of the Savage Tribes in the midst of which Providence has placed me for so many years. I do it the more gladly because, in complying with such earnest desires on your part, I satisfy even more your affection than your curiosity.

It was the 23rd of July in the year 1689, when I set sail from la Rochelle; and, after a fairly prosperous voyage of three months, I arrived at Quebec on the 13th of October in the same year. I devoted myself at first to learning the language of our Savages. This language is very difficult; for it is not sufficient to study its terms and their signification, and to acquire a supply of words and phrases, —  it is further necessary to know the turn and arrangement that the Savages give them, which can hardly ever be caught except by familiar and frequent intercourse with these tribes.

I then went to dwell in a Village of the Abnakis [Page 133] Tribe which is situated in a forest, and only three leagues from Quebec. This village was inhabited by two hundred Savages, nearly all of whom were Christians. Their cabins were ranged almost like houses in cities; an enclosure of high and closely — set stakes formed a sort of wall, which protected them from the incursions of their enemies.

Their cabins are very quickly set up; they plant their poles, which are joined at the top, and cover them with large sheets of bark. The fire is made in the middle of the cabin; they spread all around it mats of rushes, upon which they sit during the day and take their rest during the night.

The clothing of the men consists of a loose coat of skin, or perhaps a piece of red or blue cloth. That of the women is a covering which extends from the neck to the middle of the leg, and which they adjust very decently. They put on the head another covering which descends as far as the feet, and serves them as a cloak. Their leggings reach from the knee only to the ankle. Socks made of elk-skin, and lined inside with hair or with wool, take the place of shoes. This foot-gear is absolutely necessary for the purpose of adjusting their snowshoes, by means of which they easily walk on the snow. These snowshoes, made in lozenge shape, are more than two feet long and a foot and a half broad. I did not believe that I could ever walk with such appliances; but when I made a trial of them, I suddenly found myself so skillful that the Savages could not believe that that was the first time when I had used them.

The invention of these snowshoes has been of great use to the Savages, not only for traveling over [Page 135] the snow, — with which the ground is covered during a great part of the year, — but also for hunting wild beasts, and especially the elk. These animals, larger than the largest oxen of France, walk only with difficulty on the snow; therefore it is easy for the Savages to overtake them, and often with an ordinary knife fastened to the end of a stick they kill them, and live upon their flesh. After having dressed the skins, in which the Savages are skillful, they sell them to the French and the English, — who give them in exchange loose coats, blankets, large kettles, guns, hatchets, and knives.

To have an idea of a Savage, picture to yourself a tall, strong man, agile, of a swarthy complexion, without a beard, with black hair, and with teeth whiter than ivory. If you wish to see him in fine array, you will find his only ornaments to be what are called “rassades;” these are a sort of shell-work, or sometimes of stone, fashioned in the form of small beads, some white, some black, — which are strung in such a way that they represent different and very exact figures, which have their own charm. It is with these strings of beads that our Savages tie and braid their hair, above the ears and behind; they make of them earrings, necklaces, garters, and belts, five or six inches broad; and with this sort of finery they value themselves much more than does a European with all his gold and precious stones.

The occupation of the men is hunting or war. That of the women is to remain in the village, and with bark fashion baskets, pouches, boxes, bowls, dishes, etc. They sew the bark with roots, and with it make various articles, very neatly wrought. [Page 137]  The canoes are also made of a single sheet of bark, but the largest can scarcely hold more than six or seven persons.

It is in these canoes made of bark — which has scarcely the thickness of an écu — that they cross the arms of the sea, and sail on the most dangerous rivers, and on lakes from four to five hundred leagues in circumference. In this manner I have made many voyages, without having run any risk. .Only it once happened to me, in crossing the river saint Lawrence, that I suddenly found myself surrounded by masses of ice of an enormous size; the canoe was cracked by them. The two Savages who were piloting me immediately cried out: “We are dead men; all is over; we must perish!” Notwithstanding, they made an effort, and jumped upon one of those floating cakes of ice. I did likewise; and, after having drawn the canoe out of the water,. we carried it to the very edge of the ice. There we were obliged again to enter the canoe, in order to reach another cake of ice; and thus by jumping from cake to cake we at last came to the bank of the river, without other inconvenience than being very wet and benumbed with cold.

There is nothing equal to the affection of the Savages for their children. As soon as they are born, they put them on a little piece of board covered with cloth and with a small bearskin, in which they are wrapped, and this is their cradle. The mothers carry them on their backs in a manner easy for the children and for themselves.

No sooner do the boys begin to walk than they practice drawing the bow; they become so adroit in this that at the age of ten or twelve years they do [Page 139]  not fail to kill the bird at which they shoot. I have been surprised at it, and I would scarcely believe it if I had not witnessed it.

The thing which most shocked me when I began to live among the Savages, was being obliged to take my meals with them; for nothing could be more revolting. When they have filled their kettle with meat, they boil it, at most, three-quarters of an hour, — after which they take it off the fire, serve it in basins of bark, and distribute it among all the people who are in their cabin. Each one bites into this meat as one would into a piece of bread. This spectacle did not give me much appetite, and they very soon perceived my repugnance. Why doss thou not eat? said they. I answered that I was not accustomed to eat meat in this manner, without adding to it a little bread. Thou must conquer thyself, they replied; is that a very difficult thing for a Patriarch who thoroughly understands how to pray? We ourselves overcome much, in order to believe that which we do not see. Then it was no longer a time to deliberate; we must indeed conform to their manners and customs, so as to deserve their confidence and win them to Jesus Christ.

There meals are not regular, as in Europe; they live from day to day. While they have any good food they use it, without being troubled as to whether they will have any at all for following days.

They are devoted to tobacco; men, women, and girls, all smoke the greater part of the time. To give them a piece of tobacco pleases them more than to give them their weight in gold.

In the beginning of June, or when the snow is [Page 141]  almost wholly melted, they plant skamounar; this is what we call “Turkey wheat” or “Indian corn.” Their manner of planting it is to make with the finger, or with a little stick, separate holes in the ground, and to drop into each one eight or nine grains which they cover with the same soil that had been taken out to make the hole. Their harvest is made at the end of August.

It was in the midst of these Tribes, which are considered the least rude of all our Savages, that I served my Missionary apprenticeship. My chief occupation was the study of their language; it is very difficult to learn, especially when one has no other masters than Savages. They have several sounds which are uttered only by the throat, without making any motion of the lips; ou, for instance, is of this number, and that is why in writing we indicate it by the figure ŏ, in order to distinguish it from other letters. I spent part of the day in their cabins, hearing them talk. I was obliged to give the utmost attention, in order to connect what they said, and to conjecture its meaning; sometimes I caught it exactly, but more often I was deceived, — because, not being accustomed to the trick of their guttural sounds, I repeated only half the word, and thereby gave them cause for laughter.

At last, after five months of continual application, I succeeded in understanding all their terms; but that did not enable me to express myself to their satisfaction. I had still much progress to make before catching the form of expression and the spirit of the language, which are entirely different from the spirit and form of our European languages. In order to shorten the time, and thus enable me [Page 143]  sooner to perform my duties, I selected a few Savages who had most intelligence, and who used the best language. I repeated to them in a clumsy manner some passages from the catechism, and they gave them to me again, with all the nicety of their language; I immediately wrote these down; and, by this means, in a reasonably short time I had made a dictionary, and also a Catechism which contained the precepts and Mysteries of Religion.[27]

It cannot be denied that the language of the Savages has real beauties; and there is an indescribable force in their style and manner of expression. I am going to quote you an example. If I should ask you why God created you, you would answer me that it was for the purpose of knowing him, loving him, and serving him, and by this means to merit eternal glory. If I should put the same question to a Savage, he would answer thus, in the style of his own language: “The great Spirit has thought of us: ‘Let them know me, let them love me, let them honor me, and let them obey me; for then I will make them enter my glorious happiness.’” If I desired to tell you in their style that you would have much difficulty in learning the Savage language, I would express myself in this way: “I think of you, my dear brother, that he will have difficulty in learning the Savage language.”

The Huron language is the chief language of the Savages, and, when a person is master of that, he can in less than three months make himself understood by the five Iroquois tribes. It is the most majestic, and at the same time the most difficult, of all the Savage tongues. This difficulty does not come alone from the guttural sounds, but still more [Page 145]  from the diversity of accents; for often two words composed of the same letters have totally different significations. Father Chaumont, who lived fifty years among the Hurons, composed a Grammar of that language which is very helpful to those who come without experience to that Mission. Nevertheless a Missionary is fortunate if he can, even with this aid, express himself elegantly in that language after ten years of constant study.

Each Savage Tribe has its own special tongue; thus the Abnakis, the Hurons, the Iroquois, the Algonkins, the Illinois, the Miamis, and others, have each their own language. There are no books to. teach these languages, and even though we had them, they would be quite useless; practice is the only master that is able to teach us. As I have labored in four different Missions of the Savages, — to wit, among the Abnakis, the Algonkins, the Hurons, and the Illinois, — and as I have been obliged to learn these different languages, I will give you a specimen of each, so that you may perceive how little resemblance there is between them. I choose a stanza from a hymn to the blessed Sacrament, which is usually sung during Mass at the elevation of the blessed Host, and which begins with these words: O salutaris Hostia. The following is the translation, in verse, of this stanza into the four languages of these different Tribes.

In the Abnakis Tongue.

Kighist wi-nuanurwinns

Spem kik papili go ii damek

Nemiani wi kwidan ghabenk

Taha saii grihine. [Page 147]

In the Algonkin tongue.

Kwerais Jesus tegousenam

Nera weul ka stisian

Ka rio vllighe miang

Vas mama vik umong.

In the Huron Tongue.

Jesous outo etti x’ichie

Outo etti skuaalichi-axe

J chierche axerawensta

D’aotierti xeata-wien.

In the Illinois Tongue.

Pekiziane manet we

Piaro nile hi Nanghi

Keninama wi ou Kangha

Mero winang ousiang hi.

This signifies in French: “O saving Victim, who art continually sacrificed, and who givest life, thou by whom we enter into Heaven, we are all tempted; do thou strengthen us.”

When I had remained nearly two years among the Abnakis, I was recalled by my Superiors; they had assigned me to the Mission of the Illinois, who had just lost their Missionary. I then went to Quebec, whence, after I had devoted three months to studying the Algonkin language, I set out on the 13th of August in a canoe for the land of the Illinois; their Country is more than eight hundred leagues distant from Quebec. You may well believe that so long a journey in these uncivilized regions cannot be made without running great risks, and without suffering many inconveniences. I had to cross lakes of an immense extent, on which storms are as frequent [Page 149]  as on the Sea. It is true that we had the advantage of landing every night; but we were happy if we found some flat rock on which we could pass the night. When it rained, the only way of protecting ourselves was to keep under the overturned canoe.

We ran still greater hazards on the rivers, especially in the places where they flow with extreme rapidity. Then the canoe flies like an arrow; and, if it happen to touch any of the rocks, which are very numerous there, it is broken into a thousand pieces. That misfortune befell some of the people who were accompanying me in other canoes; and it was by a special protection of divine goodness that I did not meet the same fate, for my canoe several times went up on those rocks, but without receiving the least injury.

Finally one risks suffering the most cruel torture from hunger, for the length and difficulty of this sort of journey permits him to carry only a bag of Indian corn. It is supposed that hunting will supply food on the way; but, if there be a lack of game, one runs the risk of fasting many days. Then the only resource is to seek a sort of leaf which the Savages call Kenghessanach, and the French Tripes de roches. You would take them for chervil, of which they have the shape, except that they are much larger. They are served either boiled or roasted; in this latter manner I have eaten them, and they are less distasteful than in the former.

I had not suffered much from hunger when I reached Lake Huron; but the case was different with my fellow-travelers, the bad weather having scattered their canoes, they were not able to join [Page 151] me. I arrived first at Missilimakinak, whence I sent them provisions without which they would have died from hunger. They had passed seven days without any other food than the flesh of a crow, which they had killed rather by chance than by skill, for they had not strength to stand upright.

The season was too far advanced for continuing my journey to the Illinois, from whom I was still distant about four hundred leagues. Thus I was obliged to remain at Missilimakinak,, where there were two of our Missionaries — one among the Hurons, and the other with the Outaouacks. These latter are very superstitious, and much attached to the juggleries of their charlatans. They assume for themselves an origin as senseless as it is ridiculous.’ They declare that they have come from three families, and each family is composed of five hundred persons.

Some are of the family of Michabou, — that is to say, of “the Great Hare.” They affirm that this Great Hare was a man of prodigious height; that he spread nets in water eighteen brasses deep, and that the water scarcely came to his armpits. They say that one day, during the deluge, he sent out the Beaver to discover land; then, as that animal did not return, he despatched the Otter, which brought back a little soil covered with foam. He then proceeded to the place in the Lake where this soil was found, which made a little island; he walked all around it in the water, and this island became extraordinarily large. Therefore, they attribute to him the creation of the world. They add that, after having finished this work, he flew away to the Sky, which is his usual dwelling-place; but before quitting the earth [Page 153]  he directed that, when his descendants should die, their bodies should be burned, and their ashes scattered to the winds, so that they might be able to rise more easily to the Sky. But he warned them that, should they fail to do this, snow would not cease to cover the earth, and their Lakes and Rivers would remain frozen; and, as thus they could not catch fish, which is their ordinary food, they would all die in the spring-time.

Indeed, when, a few years ago, the winter had lasted much longer than usual, there was general consternation among the Savages of the Great Hare family. They resorted to their customary juggleries; they held several assemblies in order to deliberate upon means of dissipating this unfriendly snow, which was persistently remaining on the ground; when an old woman, approaching them, said: “My children, you have no sense. You know the commands that the Great Hare left with us, to burn dead bodies, and scatter their ashes to the winds, so that they might more quickly return to the Sky, their own country; but you have neglected those commands by leaving, at a few days’ journey from here, a dead man without burning him, as if he did not belong to the family of the Great Hare. Repair your fault at once; be careful to burn him, if you wish that the snow should disappear.” “Thou art right, our Mother,” they answered, “thou hast more sense than we; and the counsel thou hast given us restores us to life.” Immediately they sent twenty- five men to go to burn this body; about fifteen days were consumed in this journey, during which time the thaw came, and the snow disappeared. Praises and presents were heaped upon the old woman who [Page 155]  had given the advice; and this occurrence, wholly natural as it was, greatly served to uphold them in their foolish and superstitious belief.[28]

The second family of the Outaouacks maintain that they have sprung from Namepich, — that is to say, from the Carp. They say that the carp having deposited its eggs upon the bank of a river, and the sun having shed its rays upon them, there was formed a woman from whom they are descended; thus they are called “the family of the Carp.” The third family of the Outaouacks attributes its origin to the paw of a Machoua, — that is to say, of a Bear; and they are called “the family of the Bear,” but without explaining in what way they issued from it. When they kill one of these animals, they make it a feast of its own Flesh; they talk to it, they harangue it, they say: “Do not have an evil thought against us, because we have killed thee. Thou hast intelligence, thou seest that our children are suffering from hunger. They love thee, and wish thee to enter into their bodies; is it not a glorious thing for thee to be eaten by the children of Captains?[29]

It is only the family of the Great Hare that burns dead bodies; the two other families bury them. When a great Captain has died, an immense coffin is prepared; after having laid therein the body, clothed in the man’s handsomest garments, they put in it with him his blanket, his gun, his store of powder and lead, his bow, his arrows, his kettle, his dish, his provisions, his war-club, his calumet, his box of vermilion, his looking-glass, his porcelain collars, and all the presents which were made at his death, according to custom. They fancy that with this [Page 157]  equipment he will make his journey to the other world more successfully, and will be better received by the great Captains of the Tribe, who will lead him with them into a place of delights.

While they are arranging everything in the coffin, the relatives of the dead man are present at the ceremony, weeping after their manner, — that is to say, chanting in a mournful tone, and swinging in harmony a rod to which they have attached several little bells.

Where the superstition of these tribes appears the most extravagant is in the worship that they pay to what they call their Manitou; as they know hardly anything but the animals with which they live in the forests, they imagine that there is in these animals, — or, rather, in their skins, or in their plumage, — a sort of spirit who rules all things, and who is the master of life and of death. According to them, there are Manitous common to the whole Tribe, and there are special ones for each person. Oussakita, they say, is the great Manitou of all the animals that move on the earth or fly in the air. He it is who rules them; therefore, when they go to the hunt, they offer to him tobacco, powder, and lead, and also well-prepared skins. These articles they fasten to the end of a pole, and, raising it on high, they say to him: “Oussakita, we give thee something to smoke, we offer thee something for killing animals. Deign to accept these presents, and do not permit the animals to escape our arrows; grant that we may kill the fattest ones, and in great number, so that our children may not lack clothing or food.”

They call the Manitou of waters and fishes Michibichi; [Page 159] and they offer him a somewhat similar sacrifice when they go to fish, or undertake a voyage. This sacrifice consists of throwing into the water tobacco, provisions, and kettles; and in asking him that the water of the river may flow more slowly, that the rocks may not break their canoes, and that he will grant them an abundant catch.

Besides these common Manitous, each person has his own special one, which is a bear, a beaver, a bustard, or some similar animal. They carry the skin of this animal to war, to the hunt, and on their journeys, — fully persuaded that it will preserve them from every danger, and that it will cause them to succeed in all their undertakings.

When a Savage wishes to take to himself a Manitou the first animal that appears to his imagination during sleep is generally the one upon which his choice falls. He kills an animal of this kind, and puts its skin — or its feathers, if it be a bird — in the most conspicuous part of his cabin; he makes a feast in its honor, during which he addresses it in the most respectful terms; and thereafter this is recognized as his Manitou.

As soon as I saw the coming of spring I left Missilimakinak, that I might go the country of the Illinois. I found on my way many Savage Tribes, among them the Maskoutings, the Sakis, the Omikoues, the Ouinipegouans, the Outagamis, and others. All these Tribes have their own peculiar language; but, in all other respects, they do not differ in the least from the Outaouacks. A Missionary who lives at the bay des Puants, makes excursions, from time to time, ’ to the homes of these Savages, in order to instruct them in the truths of Religion. [Page 161]

After forty days of travel I entered the .river of the Illinois, and, after voyaging fifty leagues, I came to their first Village, which had three hundred cabins, all of them with four or five fires, One fire is always for two families. They have eleven Villages belonging to their Tribe. On the day after my arrival, I was invited by the principal Chief to a grand repast, which he was giving to the most important men of the Tribe. He had ordered several dogs to be killed; such a feast is considered among the Savages a magnificent feast; therefore, it is called “the feast of the Captains.” The ceremonies that are observed are the same among all these Tribes. It is usual at this sort of feast for the Savages to deliberate upon their most important affairs, — as, for instance, when there is question either of undertaking war against their neighbors, or of terminating it by propositions of peace.

When all the guests had arrived they took their places all about the cabin, seating themselves either on the bare ground or on the mats. Then the Chief arose and began his address. I confess to you that I admired his flow of language, the justness and force of the arguments that he presented, the eloquent turn he gave to them, and the choice and nicety of the expressions with which he adorned his speech. I fully believe that, if I had written down what this Savage said to us, offhand and without preparation, you would readily acknowledge that the most able Europeans could scarcely, after much thought and study, compose an address that would be more forcible and better arranged.

When the speech was finished, two Savages, who performed the duty of stewards, distributed dishes. [Page 163]  to the whole company, and each dish served for two guests; while eating, they conversed together on indifferent matters; and when they had finished their repast they withdrew, — carrying away according to their custom, what remained on their dishes.

The Illinois do not give those feasts that are customary among many other Savage Tribes, at which a person is obliged to eat all that has been given him, even should he burst. When any one is present at such a feast and is unable to observe this ridiculous rule, he applies to one of the guests whom he knows to have a better appetite, and says to him: “My brother, take pity on me; I am a dead man if thou do not give me life. Eat what I have left, and I will make thee a present of something.” This is their only way out of their perplexity.

The Illinois are covered only around the waist, otherwise they go entirely nude; many panels with all sorts of figures, which they mark upon the body in an ineffaceable manner, take with them the place of garments. It is only when they make visits, or when they are present at Church, that they wrap themselves in a cloak of dressed skin in the summer-time, and in the winter season in a dressed skin with the hair left on, that they may keep warm. They adorn the head with feathers of many colors, of which they make garlands and crowns which they arrange very becomingly; above all things, they are careful to paint the face with different colors, but especially with vermilion. They wear collars and earrings made of little stones, which they cut like precious stones; some are blue, some red, and Some white as alabaster; to these must be added a flat piece of porcelain which finishes the collar., The Illinois are [Page 165] persuaded that these grotesque Ornaments add grace to their appearance, and win for them respect.

When the Illinois are not engaged in war or in hunting, their time is spent either in games, or at feasts, or in dancing. They have two kinds of dances; some are a sign of rejoicing, and to these they invite the most distinguished women and young girls; others are a token of their sadness at the death of the most important men of their Tribe. It is by these dances that they profess to honor the deceased, and to wipe away the tears of his relatives. All of them are entitled to have the death of their near relatives bewailed in this manner, provided that they make presents for, this purpose. The dances last a longer or shorter time according to the price and value of the presents, — which, at the end of the dance, are distributed to the dancers. It is not their custom to bury the dead; they wrap them in skins, and hang them by the feet and head to the tops of trees.

When the men are not at games, feasts, or dances, they remain quiet on their mats, and spend their time either in sleeping or in making bows, arrows, calumets, and other articles of that sort. As for the women, they work from morning until evening like slaves. It is they who cultivate the land and plant the Indian corn, in summer; and, as soon as winter begins, they are employed in making mats, dressing skins, and in many other kinds of work, — for their first care is to supply the cabin with everything that is necessary.

Among all the Tribes of Canada, there is not one that lives in so great abundance of everything as do the Illinois. Their rivers are covered with swans [Page 167] bustards, ducks, and teal. We can hardly travel a league without meeting a prodigious multitude of Turkeys, which go in troops, sometimes to the number of 200, They are larger than those that are seen in France. I had the curiosity to weigh one of them, and it weighed thirty-six livres. They have a sort of hairy beard at the neck, which is half a foot long.

Bears and deer are found there in great numbers; there are also found countless numbers of oxen and of roebucks; there is no year when they do not kill more than a thousand roebucks, and more than two thousand oxen; as far as the eye can reach, are seen from four to five thousand oxen grazing on the prairies. They have a hump on the back, and the head is extremely large. Their hair, except that on the head, is curly and soft, like wool; their flesh is strong in its natural state, and is so light that, even if it be eaten wholly raw, it causes no indigestion. When they have killed an ox that seems to them too lean, they are satisfied to take its tongue and go in search of one that is more fat.

Arrows are the principal weapons that they use in war and in hunting, These arrows are barbed at the tip with a stone, sharpened and cut in the shape of a serpent’s tongue; if knives are lacking, they use arrows also fur flaying the animals which they kill. They are so adroit in bending the bow that they scarcely ever miss their aim; and they do this with such quickness that they will have discharged a hundred arrows sooner than another person can reload his gun.

They take little trouble to make nets suitable for catching fish in the rivers, bemuse the abundance [Page 169] of all kinds of animals which they find for their subsistence renders them somewhat indifferent to fish. However, when they take a fancy to have some, they enter a canoe with their bows and arrows; they stand up that they may better discover the fish, and as soon as they see one they pierce it with an arrow,

Among the Illinois the only way of acquiring public esteem and regard is, as among other Savages, to gain the reputation of a skillful hunter, and, still further, of a good warrior; it is chiefly in this latter that they make their merit consist, and it is this which they call being truly a man. They are so eager for this glory that we see them undertake journeys of four hundred leagues through the midst of forests in order to capture a slave, or to take off the scalp of a man whom they have killed. They count as nothing the hardships and the long fasting that they must undergo, especially when they are drawing near the country of the enemy; for then they no longer dare to hunt, for fear that the animals, being only wounded, may escape with the arrow in the body, and warn their enemy to put himself in a posture of defense. For their manner of making war, as among all the Savages, is to surprise their enemies; therefore they send out scouts to observe the number and movements of the enemy, and to see if they are on their guard. According to the report that is brought to them, they either lie in ambush, or make a foray on the cabins, war-club in hand; and they are sure to kill some of their foes before the latter can even think of defending themselves.

The war-club is made of a deer’s horn or of wood, [Page 171] shaped like a cutlass, with a large ball at the end. They hold the war-club in one hand, and a knife in the other. As soon as they have dealt a blow at the head of their enemy, they make on it a circular cut with a knife, and take off the scalp with surprising quickness.

When a Savage returns to his own country laden with many scalps, he is received with great honor; but he is at the height of his glory when he takes prisoners and brings them home alive. As soon as he arrives, all the people of the village meet together, and range themselves on both sides of the way where the prisoners must pass. This reception is very cruel; some tear out the prisoners’ nails, others cut off their fingers or ears; still others load them with blows from clubs.

After this first welcome, the old men assemble in order to consider whether they shall grant life to their prisoners, or give orders for their death. When there is any dead man to be resuscitated, that is to say, if any one of their warriors has been killed, and they think it a duty to replace him in his cabin, — they give to this cabin one of their prisoners, who takes the place of the deceased; and this is what they call “resuscitating the dead.”

When the prisoner has been condemned to death, they immediately set up in the ground a large stake, to which they fasten him by both hands; they cause the death song to be chanted, and — all the Savages being seated around the stake, at the distance of a few steps — there is kindled a large fire, in which they make their hatchets, gun-barrels, and other iron tools red hot, Then they come, one after another, and apply these red-hot irons to the different parts [Page 173] of his body; some of them burn him with live brands; some mangle the body with their knives; others cut off a piece of the flesh already roasted, and eat it in his presence; some are seen filling his wounds with powder and rubbing it over his whole body, after which they set it on fire. In fine, each one torments him according to his own caprice; and this continues for four or five hours, and sometimes even during two or three days. The more sharp and piercing are the cries which the violence of these torments make him utter, so much the more is the spectacle pleasing and diverting to these barbarians. It was the Iroquois who invented this frightful manner of death, and it is only by the law of retaliation that the Illinois, in their turn, treat these Iroquois prisoners with an equal cruelty.

What we understand by the word Christianity is known among the Savages only by the name of Prayer. Thus, when I tell you in the continuation of this letter that such a savage Tribe has embraced Prayer, you must understand that it has become Christian, or that it is about to become so. There would be much less difficulty in converting the Illinois, if Prayer permitted them to practice Polygamy; they acknowledge that prayer is good, and they are delighted to have it taught to their wives and children; but, when we speak of it .to them for themselves, we realize how difficult it is to fix their natural inconstancy, and to persuade them to have only one wife and to have her always.

At the hour when we assemble, morning and evening, to pray, all persons repair to the Chapel, Even the greatest Jugglers — that is to say, the greatest enemies to Religion — send their children [Page 175] to be instructed and baptized. This is the greatest advantage that we have at first among the Savages, and of which we are most certain, — for, of the great number of children whom we baptize, no year passes that many do not die before they have attained the use of reason; and, as for the adults, the greater part are so devoted and attached to Prayer that they would suffer the most cruel death rather than abandon it.

It is fortunate for the Illinois that they are very far distant from Quebec; for brandy cannot be taken to them, as is done elsewhere. Among the Savages this liquor is the greatest obstacle to Christianity, and is the source of countless numbers of the most enormous crimes. It is known that they buy it only in order to Plunge themselves into the most furious intoxication; the disturbances and the melancholy deaths which are witnessed every day ought indeed to outweigh the profit that is made in the trade of so fatal a liquor.

I had remained two years with the Illinois, when I was recalled, that I might devote the remainder of my days to the Abnakis Tribe. This was the first Mission to which I had been appointed on my arrival in Canada, and apparently it is the one in which I shall finish my life. I was then obliged to return to Quebec, in order to set out from there to rejoin my dear Savages. I have already told you of the length and hardships of that journey; therefore I shall speak to you only of a very cheering incident which befell me about 40 leagues from Quebec.

I was in a sort of Village where there were twenty- five French households, and a Curé. who was in charge. Near this Village was seen a cabin of [Page 177] Savages, in which was a girl sixteen years old, whom a disease of several years' duration had brought to the point of death, Monsieur the curé, who did not understand the language of these Savage begged me to go to hear the confession of the patient, and he himself guided me to the cabin. In the conversation that I had with this young girl on the truths of Religion, I learned that she had been very well instructed by one of our Missionaries, but that she had not yet received baptism. After having spent two days in putting to her all the questions suited to assure me of her preparation, she said to me:” I implore thee, do not refuse me the grace of baptism which I ask from thee. Thou seest how my lungs are oppressed, and that I have a very short time to live; what a calamity it will be for me, and what reproaches must thou not cast upon thyself, should I die without receiving this grace!” I answered her that she should be prepared for it the next day, and I withdrew. The joy that my answer caused her produced in her such a sudden change that she was able to go early in the morning to the Chapel. I was extraordinarily surprised at her entrance, and at once, in a solemn manner, administered baptism to her; she then returned to her cabin, where she did not cease to thank divine mercy for so great a blessing, and to long for the happy moment which should unite her to God for all eternity. Her wishes were granted, and I had the happiness to be present at her death. What an ordering of providence for this poor girl, and what a consolation for me to have been the instrument that God chose to use in order to place her in Heaven!.

Do not demand of me, my dear brother, that I [Page 179] should enter into a minute account of all that has happened to me during the many years that I have spent in this Mission; my occupations are always the same, and, should I enlarge upon them, I would run the danger of tiresome repetitions; I shall content myself with relating to you certain facts which seem to me the most worthy of your attention. I can say to you that generally you would have difficulty in restraining your tears were you in my Church, with our Savages gathered there; and were you witness of the piety with which they repeat their prayers, chant the divine Office, and participate. in the Sacraments of Penance and of the Eucharist. When they have been illuminated by the light of Faith, and have sincerely embraced it, they are no longer the same men; and the greater part of them preserve the innocence that they received at baptism. It is this that fills me with the sweetest joy when I hear their confessions, which are frequent; whatever questions I may put to them, it is often with difficulty that I can find anything that requires. absolution.

My occupations with them are continual. As they expect assistance only from their Missionary and have entire confidence in him, it is not enough for me to perform the spiritual duties of my ministry for the sanctification of their souls; I must also enter into their temporal affairs, must always be ready to console them when they come to consult me, and must decide their little differences; I must take care of them when they are sick, bleed them, give them medicines, etc. My days are sometimes so full that I am obliged to shut myself up, that I may find time to attend to prayer and recite my Office. [Page 181]

The zeal with which God has filled me for my Savages caused me to be much alarmed in the year 1697, when I heard that a Tribe of Amalingan Savages were coming to settle at a day’s journey from my Village. I had reason to fear that the juggleries of their charlatans, — that is to say, the sacrifices that they make to the demon, — and the disorders which are the usual consequence of those rites, might make an impression on some of my young Neophytes; but, thanks to divine Mercy, my fears were very soon dissipated, in the manner which I am about to describe to you.

One of our Captains, celebrated in this country for his valor, having been killed by the English, from whom we are not distant, the Amalingans sent several men of their Tribe as envoys to our Village, to dry the tears of the relatives of this illustrious dead man, — that is to say, as I have already explained to yea, to visit them, to make them presents, and to declare by the usual dances the interest that they were taking in their affliction. They arrived on the eve of Corpus Christi Day. I was then employed in hearing the confessions of my Savages, which continued all that day, the following night, and the next day until noon, — when the Procession of the Most Blessed Sacrament began. It was made with great order and piety, and although in the midst of these forests, yet with more pomp and magnificence than you would suppose. This spectacle, which was new to the amalingans, touched them, and struck them with admiration, I believed it my duty to profit by the favorable mood in which they were; and, after having brought them together, I made them the following address in savage style. [Page 183]

“My children, for a long time I have desired to see you; now that I have this happiness, my heart is almost bursting. Think of the joy that a father has who tenderly loves his children, when he sees them again after a long absence in which they have run great dangers, and you will conceive a part of mine. For, although you do not yet pray, I nevertheless look upon you as my children, and have for you a father’s tenderness, — because you are the children of the Great Spirit, who has given life to you, as well as to those who pray; who has made Heaven for you as well as for them; who thinks of you as he thinks of them and of me; and who desires that all should enjoy eternal happiness. What causes my sorrow and diminishes my joy in seeing you is the thought, which I have at this moment, that some day I shall be separated from a part of my children, whose destiny will be eternally unfortunate because they do not pray; while the others, who pray, will be in joy which shall never end. When I think of this sad separation, can I have a contented heart? The happiness of those who pray does not give me so much joy as the unhappiness of those who do not pray grieves me. If you have insurmountable obstacles to prayer, and if, remaining in the condition in which you are, I were able to make you enter into Heaven, I would spare nothing in order to procure for you this happiness. I would urge you on, I would make you all enter there, so much do I love you, and so much do I desire that you should be happy; but that is not possible. You must pray, and you must be baptized, that you may be able to enter that place of delight.”

After this preamble, I explained to them at great [Page 185] length the principal articles of the Faith, and continued thus:

“All these words that I have just explained to you are not human words; they are the words of the Great Spirit. They are not written like the words of men, upon a collar, on which a person can say everything that he wishes; but they are written in the book of the Great Spirit, to which falsehood cannot have access.”

In order to make you understand this savage expression, my dear brother, I must mention that the custom of these Tribes, when they write to another Tribe, is to send a collar or a broad belt, upon which they make many figures with porcelain beads of different colors. They instruct him who bears the collar, by saying to him: “This is what the collar says to such a Tribe, to such a person,” and they send him away. Our Savages would have difficulty in understanding what we say to them, and would not be very attentive, if we did not conform to their manner of thought and expression. I continued in this way:

“Take courage, my children; listen to the voice of the Great Spirit, who speaks to you by my mouth; he loves you, and his love for you is so great that he has given his life, that he may procure for you an eternal life. Alas! perhaps he permitted the death of one of your Captains only that he might draw you to the place of prayer, and cause you to hear his voice. Consider that you are not immortal. The day will come when, in like manner, tears Will be wiped away because of your death; what will it advantage you to have been in this life great Captains, if after your death you are cast into eternal [Page 187]  flames? He whom you come to bewail with us rejoiced a thousand times that he had heard the voice of the Great Spirit, and that he had been faithful to prayer, pray as he did, and you will live eternally. Be of good cheer, my children; do not let us separate, — do not let some go in one direction, and some in another. Let us all go to Heaven, it is our own Country; the one and only master of life — of whom I am but the interpreter — exhorts you to this. Think upon it seriously.”

As soon as I had finished speaking, they conversed together for some time; and afterward their Orator made me this answer in their name: “My father, I am overjoyed to hear thee. Thy voice has penetrated even to my heart, but my heart is still closed, and I am not able to open it at this moment, to make known to thee what is in it, or to which side it will turn. I must await many Captains and other important men of our Tribe, who will come with me next autumn; then I will open to thee my heart. Thou hast heard, my dear father, all that I have to say to thee at this time.”

“My heart is satisfied,” I replied to them; “I am very glad that my words have given you pleasure, and that you ask for time to think them over; you will, for that reason, be only the firmer in your attachment to prayer when you have once embraced it. In the meantime, I shall not cease to address myself to the Great Spirit, and ask him to look upon you with eyes of mercy, and to strengthen your thoughts so that they may turn toward Prayer,” After that, I left their assembly, and they returned to their own Village.

When the autumn had come, I heard that one of [Page 189] Our Savages Was intending to go to the Amalingans in search of grain for planting his fields. I sent for him and charged him to tell them for me that I was impatient to see my children again, that they were always present in my mind, and that I begged them to remember the promise which they had given me. The Savage delivered his message faithfully. The following is the answer that the Amalingans made to him:

“We are obliged to our father for constantly thinking of us. For our part, we have thought much about what he said to us. We cannot forget his words while we have a heart; for they are so deeply impressed upon it that nothing can efface them. We are persuaded that he loves us; we wish to listen to him, and to obey him in what he desires of us. We approve the prayer that he proposes to us, and we see in it nothing but what is good and praiseworthy; we are all resolved to embrace it, and we would already have gone to our father in his own Village, if there had been sufficient provisions for our subsistence during the time that he would devote to our instructions. But how could we find provisions there? We know that there is hunger in the cabin of our father, and that is what doubly afflicts US — that our father should be hungry, and that we should not be able to go to him for the purpose of receiving instruction. If our father could come here, and spend some time with US, he could have food, and could instruct us. Thou hast heard what thou shalt say to our father.”

This answer of the Amalingans was brought to me at a favorable time; the greater Part of my savages had gone away for a few days, to seek means of. [Page 191] subsistence to last them until they should harvest their Indian corn. Their absence gave me leisure to visit the Amalingans, and, on the very next day, I embarked in a canoe to go to their Village, I had Only a league more to make in order to reach it, when they perceived me; and immediately they saluted me with a continual discharge of guns, which did not cease until I left the canoe. This honor which they were paying me assured me, at the outset, of their present inclinations. I lost no time; as soon as I landed I had a Cross set up, and those who had accompanied me raised, as soon as possible, a Chapel, which they made of sheets of bark in the same way that they make their cabins, and they erected in it an altar. While they were employed in that work, I visited all the cabins of the Amalingans, so as to prepare them for the instructions that I was to give them. As soon as I began the instructions they came most assiduously to hear them. I summoned them three times a day to the Chapel, — to wit, in the morning after Mass, at noon, and in the evening after prayer. During the remainder of the day I went around among the cabins, in which I also gave private instructions.

When, after several days of continuous work, I believed them to be sufficiently instructed, I set the day on which they should come to be regenerated in the waters of holy Baptism. The first who came to the Chapel were the Captain, the Orator, three of the most important men of the Tribe and two women. Immediately after their Baptism, two other companies, each of twenty Savages, followed them and received the same grace. Finally, all the others [Page 193]  continued to come for this purpose, on that day and the next.

You may well believe, my dear brother, that, whatever hardships a Missionary may undergo, he is well repaid for his trials by the sweet consolation he experiences at having admitted an entire Tribe of Savages into the way of salvation. I was preparing to leave them and return to my own Village, when a messenger came to tell me for them that they were all collected in one place, and begged me to come to their assembly. As soon as I appeared in their midst, the Orator spoke to me in the name of all the others, saying: “Our father, we have no words to declare to thee the inexpressible joy that we all experience at having received Baptism. It seems to us now that we have another heart; all that gave us anxiety has entirely disappeared; our thoughts are no longer wavering; Baptism strengthens us internally, and we are truly resolved to honor it all the days of our life. Thou hast heard what we say to thee before thou leavest us.” I answered by a short address, in which I exhorted them to persevere in the peculiar grace which they had received, and to do nothing unworthy of the name of children of God, with which they had been honored by holy Baptism. As they were preparing to set out for the sea, I added that on their return me would decide whether it would be better that we should go to live with them, or that they should come to form with us one and the same Village.

The Village in which I live is called Nanrantaouack, and is situated in the continental region between Acadia and new England. This Mission is about eighty leagues from Pentagouet, and it is a hundred [Page 195] leagues from Pentagouet to Port Royal. The river of my Mission is the largest of all those that water the territories of the Savages. It ought to be marked on the map under the name of Kinibeki; this has led the Frenchmen to give these Savages the name of Kanibals. This river empties into the sea at Sankderank,[30] which is only 5 or 6 leagues from Pemquit. After having ascended the river 40 leagues from Sankderank you reach my Village, which is on the height of a promontory. We are, at most, only two days’ journey from the English settlements; it takes us more than a fortnight to go to Quebec; and that journey is very difficult and arduous. It was natural that our Savages should trade with the English, and there are no advantages that these latter have not offered to them, for the purpose of winning them and gaining their friendship; but all their efforts have been useless; and nothing has been able to detach them from their alliance with the French. The only band which has united them to us so closely is their firm attachment to the catholic Faith. They are convinced that if they submitted to the English they would soon be without any Missionary, without any Sacrifice, without any Sacrament, and almost without any exercise of Religion; and that gradually they would be plunged back into their former unbelief. This firmness of our Savages has been put to every sort of test by these formidable neighbors, who have never yet been able to obtain any influence over them.

At the time when war was on the point of breaking out between the European Powers, the English Governor, who had recently arrived at Boston, asked our Savages to give him an interview on an island [Page 197] in the sea, which he designated.[31] They consented, and begged me to accompany them, that they might consult me about the crafty propositions that would be made to them — so as to be sure that their answers should contain nothing contrary to Religion, or to the interests of the Royal service. I followed them, and my intention was to keep wholly within their quarters, in order to aid them by my counsel without appearing before the Governor. As we —  numbering more than two hundred canoes — were approaching the island, the English saluted us by a discharge of all the guns of their vessels; and the Savages responded to this salute by a like discharge of all their guns. Then, the Governor appearing on the island, the Savages landed in haste; thus I found myself where I did not wish to be, and where the Governor did not wish that I should be. As soon as he perceived me, he came forward a few steps to meet me; and, after the usual compliments, he returned to the midst of his people, and I to the Savages.

“It is by command of our Queen,” he said to them,” that I come to see you: she desires that we should live in peace. If any Englishman should be imprudent enough to do you wrong, do not think of avenging yourselves upon him, but immediately address your complaint to me, and I will render you prompt justice. If we should happen to have war with the French, remain neutral, and do not take part in our differences; the French are as strong as we, therefore leave us to settle our quarrels with each other. We will supply all your wants, we will take your peltries, and we will give you our goods at a reasonable price.” My presence prevented his [Page 199] saying all that he intended; for it was not without a design that he had brought a Minister with him.

When he had finished speaking, the Savages withdrew for the purpose of deliberating together upon. the answer that they should make. During that time, the Governor, taking me aside, said to me: “Monsieur, I beg you, do not influence your Indians to make war upon us.” I answered him that my Religion and my Office of Priest were a security that I would give them only exhortations to peace. I was still speaking, when I suddenly found myself surrounded by about twenty young warriors, who were fearing that the Governor intended to carry me off. In the meantime the Savages advanced, and one of them made the following reply to the Governor:

“Great Captain, thou tellest us not to join ourselves with the Frenchman, in case thou declare war upon him; know thou that the Frenchman is my brother. We have the same prayer, he and I; and we are in the same cabin with two fires; he has one fire, and I have the other. If I see thee enter the cabin on the side of the fire where my brother the Frenchman is seated, I watch thee from my mat, where I am seated by the other fire. If, in watching thee, I perceive that thou carriest a hatchet, I shall think, ‘What does the Englishman intend to do with that hatchet ?’ Then I stand up on my mat, to behold what he will do. If he raise the hatchet to strike my brother the Frenchman, I take my own, and I run toward the Englishman to strike him. Could I see my brother struck in my cabin, and I remain quiet on my mat? No, no, I love my brother too well not to defend him. Therefore, I say to thee, Great Captain, do nothing to my brother, and I shall [Page 201] do nothing to thee; remain quiet on thy mat, and I shall remain at rest on mine.”

Thus ended our conference. A short time afterward some of our Savages came from Quebec, and announced that a French vessel had brought news that war was raging between France and England. Immediately our Savages, after having deliberated according to their custom, ordered the young men to kill dogs for the purpose of making the war-feast, and to find out those men who were inclined to enlist. The feast took place, the kettle was put on, they danced, and 250 Warriors were present. After the feast they set a day for coming to confess. I exhorted them to be as devoted to prayer as they were in their own Village; to observe strictly the Laws of war, to practice no cruelty, to kill no person except in the heat of combat, to treat humanely those who should surrender themselves prisoners, etc.

The manner in which these tribes make war renders a handful of their warriors more formidable than a body of 2 or 3,000 European soldiers would be. As soon as they have entered the enemy’s country, they divide into separate companies, — one of thirty warriors, another of forty, and so on. They say to some: “To you is given this hamlet to eat” (that is their expression), to others: “To you is given this village,” etc. Afterward the signal is given to strike all together, and at the same time in the different places. Our two hundred and fifty warriors spread themselves over more than twenty leagues of country, where there were villages, hamlets, and houses: and, on the appointed day they made simultaneous attacks, very early in the morning. [Page 203] In one Single day they ruined all the English; they killed more than two hundred, and took a hundred and fifty prisoners, while on their side only a few Warriors were wounded, and these but slightly. They returned from this expedition to the Village, each of them having two canoes laden with booty that he had taken.

During the whole time while the war continued, they carried desolation into all the country that belonged to the English; they ravaged their Villages, their Forts, and their Farms; they took away great numbers of cattle, and seized more than six hundred prisoners. Moreover, these Gentlemen — rightly persuaded that I, by upholding my Savages in their attachment to the catholic Faith, was drawing more and more closely the bond which unites them to the French — have employed all sorts of, wiles and artifices to separate them from me. There are no offers or promises which the English have not made to them, if they would but deliver me into their hands, — or at least send me away to Quebec, and take in my place one of their Ministers. They have made several attempts to surprise me and to have me taken away; they have even gone so far as to promise a thousand pounds sterling to the man who should bring them my head. You may well believe, my dear Brother, that these menaces are not enough to intimidate me or to slacken my zeal; I shall be only too happy if I become their victim, and if God deem me worthy to be loaded with irons, and to shed my blood for the salvation of my dear Savages.

When the first news came of the peace that had been made in Europe, the Governor of Boston sent word to our Savages that, if they were inclined to [Page 205] assemble in a place which he named for them, he would confer with them upon the present juncture of affairs. All the Savages repaired to the appointed place, and the Governor spoke to them thus:

“O thou, Naranhous man! I inform thee that peace has been declared between the King of France and our Queen; and that, by the treaty of peace, the king of France cedes to our Queen Plaisance and Portrail [Port Royal], with all the adjacent country. Therefore, if thou wilt, we shall live in peace, thou and I: formerly we were at peace, but the suggestions of the Frenchman made thee break it, and it was to please him that thou earnest to kill us. Let us forget all those wretched affairs, and let us cast them into the Sea, so that they may no longer be seen, and that we may be good friends.”

The Orator responded in the name of the Savages: “It is well that the Kings should be at peace; I am very glad, and I no longer have any difficulty in making peace with thee. It is not I who have been striking thee for twelve years; it is the Frenchman who has used my arm to strike thee. It is true, we were at peace, I had even hurled away my hatchet, whither I know not; and while I was in repose upon my mat, thinking of nothing, some young men brought me a message that the Governor of Canada sent me, and which said to me: ‘My son, the Englishman has struck me, help me to avenge myself; take thy hatchet and strike the Englishman.’ I who have always listened to the word of the French Governor — I sought my hatchet, but I found it all rusty; I put it in order, and hung it to my belt, that I might come to strike thee. Now, when the Frenchman tells me to lay it down, I [Page 207] throw it far away, that we may no longer see the blood with which it is reddened. Therefore, let us live in peace, I am agreed.

“But thou sayest that the Frenchman has given Plaisance and Portrail, which are in my neighborhood, with all the adjacent country; he may give thee all that he will. As for me, I have my own land, that the Great Spirit has given me on which to live; as long as there shall be a child of my tribe, he will tight to retain it.” Thus everything was settled amicably; the Governor made a great feast for the Savages after which each one retired.

The happy event of the peace and the tranquillity which we were beginning to enjoy, suggested to our Savages the thought of rebuilding our Church, which had been ruined in a sudden foray that the English made while our people were absent from the Village. As we are very far distant from Quebec, and much nearer to Boston, the Savages sent there a few of the chief men of the Tribe to ask for laborers, promising to pay them liberally for their work. The Governor received them with great demonstrations of friendship, and showed them every kind of attention. “I myself wish to rebuild your Church,” he said to them, “and I will treat you better than your French Governor has done, — he whom you call your father. It is his duty to rebuild it, since it was he who in a certain way destroyed it, by inducing you to strike me, — for, on my part, I defend myself as I am able; whereas he, after having used you for his defense, abandons you. I shall deal better with you; for not only do I give you workmen, but I also will pay them myself and bear all the expense of the edifice that you are intending to construct. But, as [Page 209] it is not reasonable that I, who am English, should build a Church without putting in it an English Minister to take care of it, and to teach you prayer, I will give you one with whom you will be content, and you shall send back to Quebec the French Minister who is in your Village.”

“Thy words astonish me,” responded the Deputy of the Savages, *‘ and I wonder at the proposition that thou makest me. When thou earnest here thou sawest me a long time before the French Governors did; neither those who preceded thee, nor thy Ministers, ever spoke to me of prayer or of the Great Spirit. They saw my furs, my beaver and elk-skins, and of those alone did they think; it was those that they sought with eagerness; I was not able to furnish them enough, and, when I brought many, then I was their great friend, and that was all. On the contrary, my canoe having one day been misguided, I lost my way and wandered at random for a long time, until at last I landed near Quebec, at a large village of the Algonkins, where the black Robes were teaching. I had hardly landed when a black Robe came to see me. I was loaded with furs, but the French black Robe did not deign even to look at them; he spoke to me first of the Great Spirit, of Paradise, of Hell, and of Prayer, which is the only way of reaching Heaven. I listened to him with pleasure, and I enjoyed his talks so much that I remained a long time in that Village for the sake of hearing him. In short, the Prayer pleased me, and I besought him to instruct me; I asked for Baptism, and received it. Afterward I returned to my own Country and I recounted what had happened to me; my people envied my happiness, and wished [Page 211] to participate in it; accordingly they set out to go to the black Robe, to ask him for Baptism. It was thus that the Frenchman treated me. If, when thou didst first see me, thou hadst spoken to me of Prayer, I would have had the misfortune to pray as thou dost; for I was not capable of distinguishing whether or not thy prayer were right. Therefore I tell thee that I hold to the prayer of the Frenchman; I accept it, and I shall keep it until the world shall burn and come to an end. Accordingly keep thy Workmen, thy money, and thy Minister; I shall speak of them no more, but I shall ask the French Governor, my father, to send me some.”

Indeed, Monsieur the Governor had no sooner heard about the ruin of our Church than he sent us Workmen to rebuild it. It has a beauty that would make it favorably regarded in Europe, and I have spared nothing in its decoration. You could see by the details which I gave you in the letter to my nephew that, in the depths of these forests and among these Savage Tribes, divine Service is performed with much propriety and ceremony, I am very attentive to this, not only when the Savages remain in the Village, but also when they are obliged to live at the Seashore, — where they go twice every year, for the purpose of finding provisions. Our Savages have so destroyed the game of their Country that for ten years they have no longer either elks or deer. Bears and Beavers have become very scarce. They seldom have any food but Indian corn, beans, and squashes. They crush the corn between two stones, reducing it to meal; afterward they make of it a porridge, which they sometimes season with fat or with dried fish. When they are without corn, [Page 213] they search the cultivated fields for potatoes, or even for acorns, which they value as highly as corn; after having dried these, they roast them in a kettle with ashes, in order to take away their bitterness. As for me, I eat them dry, and they take the place of bread.

At a certain season, our people go to a river not very far distant, where during one month the fish ascend the river in so great numbers that a man could fill fifty thousand barrels with them in a day, if he could be equal to that work. These fish are a sort of large herring, very agreeable to the taste when they are fresh; they crowd upon each other to the depth of a foot, and are drawn up as you would draw water. The Savages put them to dry for eight or ten days, and they live upon them during the whole time while they are planting their fields.

They plant corn only in the spring, and do their last tilling about Corpus Christi day; after that, they consider to which place by the Sea they shall go to seek food until the time of harvest, which generally takes place shortly after the Assumption. After having conferred together, they send to beg me to come to their Assembly. As soon as I arrive, one of the number speaks thus, in the name of all the others: “Our father, what I say to thee is what all those whom thou seest here say to thee; thou knowest us, and thou knowest that we are in need of provisions. We have scarcely been able to give the last work to our fields, and we have no other resource, until harvest, but to go to the shore of the Sea in search of food. It would be hard for us to give up our Prayer; therefore we hope that. [Page 215] thou wilt be disposed to accompany us, so that, while seeking for food, we shall not interrupt our Prayer. Such and such men are going to take thee in their canoe, and what thou hast to carry shall be distributed among the other canoes. Thou hast heard what I have to say to thee.” I have no sooner responded kekikberba this is a savage expression which means, “I hear you, my children; I grant what you ask”), than all cry out at the same time ouriounie, which is an expression of thanks. Immediately after this, they set out from the Village.

As soon as we have reached the place where we are to spend the night, they set up poles at certain intervals, in the form of a Chapel, they surround it with a large tent-cloth, and it is open only in front. The whole is set up in a quarter of an hour. I always have them take for me a smooth cedar board, four feet long, with something to support it: this serves for an Altar, above which is placed a very appropriate canopy. I adorn the interior of the Chapel with most beautiful silk fabric; a mat of rushes colored and well wrought, or perhaps a large bearskin, serves as a carpet. These are carried all ready for use, and, as soon as the Chapel is set up, we need only to arrange them. At night I sleep upon a rug; the Savages sleep uncovered in the open fields, if it do not rain; if it rain or snow, they cover themselves with sheets of bark, which they carry with them, and which are rolled up like cloth, If the journey be made in winter, they remove the snow from the place where the Chapel is to be placed, and then it is set up as usual. Every day we have evening and morning Prayers, and I offer the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. [Page 217]

When the Savages have come to the end of their journey, they busy themselves on the very next day in erecting a Church, which they cover with their sheets of hark. I carry with me my Chapel and everything that is necessary to adorn the chancel, which I cause to be hung with silks and handsome calicoes. Divine Service is performed as it is in the Village; and in truth they, with all their bark cabins, which they erect in less than an hour, constitute a sort of Village. After the Assumption they leave the Sea, and return to the village to gather their harvest. They have from it something to live upon, although in a very wretched way, until after All Saints’ day, when they return a second time to the Sea. At that season they have very good food. Besides large fish, shell-fish, and fruit, they find bustards, ducks, and all sorts of game, with which the Sea is covered at the place where they encamp —  which is divided into a large number of small islands. The hunters who go out in the morning to hunt ducks and other kinds of game sometimes kill a score at a single shot. At the Purification, — or, at the latest, on Ash Wednesday, — they return to the Village; it is only the Hunters who separate from the people and go to hunt bears, elks, deer, and beavers.

These good Savages have often given proofs of the most sincere attachment to me, — especially on two occasions when, being with them at the Seashore, they became greatly alarmed on my account. One day, when they were engaged in hunting, the report suddenly went forth that a party of English had burst into my quarters and carried me away. They instantly assembled, and the result of their [Page 219]  deliberation was that they should Pursue this company until they overtook them, and should snatch me from their hands, even should it cost them their lives. They forthwith sent two young Savages to my quarters, although it was late in the night. When they entered my cabin, I was occupied in writing the life of a Saint in the Savage tongue. “Ah! our father,” they exclaimed, “how glad we are to see thee !” “I am likewise very glad to see you,” I responded; “but what brought you here in such frightful weather?” “We have come to no purpose, “they said; “we were assured that the English had carried thee away, and we came to look for their tracks. Our Warriors will not long delay coming to pursue them, and to attack the Fort, —  where, if the news had been true, the English would doubtless have imprisoned thee.”” You see, my children,” I replied to them, “that your fears are unfounded; but the friendship that my children show me fills my heart with joy; for it is a proof of their attachment to Prayer. To-morrow you shall depart immediately after Mass, in order to undeceive our brave Warriors, as soon as possible, and free them from all uneasiness.”

Another alarm, equally false, threw me into great perplexity, and exposed me to danger from hunger and distress. Two Savages came in haste to my quarters to inform me that they had seen the English at the distance of half a day’s journey. “our father,” said they, “there is no time to lose; thou must go away, thou wouldst risk too much in remaining here; as for us, we shall wait for the enemy and perhaps we shall go to meet them. The runners are setting out at this very moment to watch. [Page 221] for them; but, as for thee, thou must go to the Village with these people whom we have brought to conduct thee thither, When we have learned that thou art in a place of safety, we shall be at ease.”

I departed at daybreak with ten Savages who served me as guides; but, after a few days’ journey, we came to the end of our small stock of provisions. My guides killed a dog which was following them, and ate it; afterward they were reduced to their sealskin pouches, which they also ate. It was not possible for me to touch them. Sometimes I lived upon a kind of wood which they boiled, and which when cooked is as tender as half-cooked radishes —  excepting the heart, which is very hard and is thrown away; this wood has not a bad favor, but I had extreme difficulty in swallowing it. Sometimes they found attached to trees certain excrescences of wood, which are as white as large mushrooms; these are cooked and reduced to a sort of porridge, but it is very far from having the flavor of porridge. At other times they dried by a fire the bark of green oak, then they pounded it and made it into porridge; or perhaps they dried those leaves that grow in the clefts of rocks and are called “rock-tripe;” when these are cooked they make of them a very black and disagreeable porridge. I ate of all these, for there is nothing which hunger will not devour.

With such food, we could make but short stages each day. In the meantime, we came to a Lake which was beginning to thaw, and where there were already four inches of water on the ice. We were obliged to cross it with our snowshoes on; but as these snowshoes are made of strips of skin, as soon as they were wet they became very heavy and [Page 223] rendered our walking much more difficult. Although one of our men went in advance of us to sound the way, I suddenly sank knee-deep; another man, who was walking by my side, suddenly sank waist-deep, crying out: “My father, I am a dead man!” As I was approaching him to give him my hand, I myself sank still deeper. Finally, it was not without much difficulty that we extricated ourselves from this danger, on account of the impediment caused us by our snowshoes, of which we could not rid ourselves. Nevertheless, I ran much less risk of drowning than of dying from cold in the middle of this half-frozen Lake.

New dangers awaited us the next day at the crossing of a river, which we were compelled to pass on floating cakes of ice. We went over safely, and at last reached our Village. At once I had them dig out some Indian corn that I had left at my house; and I ate of it, wholly uncooked as it was, to appease my pressing hunger, while those poor Savages were making every effort to entertain me well. And, in truth, the repast which they were making ready for me, however frugal and little appetizing it may appear to you, was, in their opinion, a veritable feast. They served me at first a dish of porridge made of Indian corn. For the second course, they gave me a small piece of bear- meat, with acorns, and a cake of Indian corn baked in the ashes. Finally, the third course, which made the dessert, consisted of an ear of Indian corn roasted before the fire, with a few grains of the same roasted in the ashes. When I asked them why they had made me such a fine feast, they answered: “What, our Father! for two days thou hast eaten nothing. [Page 225]  could we do less? Alas! would to God that we could very Often regale thee in this manner!”

While I was endeavoring to recover from my fatigue, one of the Savages who had camped on the Seashore, and who was ignorant of my return to the Village, caused a new alarm. Having come to my quarters, and not finding me, or any of those who had camped with me, he did not doubt that we had been carried away by a party of Englishmen; and, going on his way in order to inform the people of his own neighborhood, he came to the shore of a river. There he stripped the bark from a tree on which he drew with charcoal the English surrounding me, and one of the number cutting off my head. (This is the only writing of the Savages, and they understand each other by figures of that kind as well as we understand each other by our letters.) He immediately put this sort of letter around a pole, which he set up on the shore of the river, so that passers-by might be informed of what had happened to me. A short time after, some Savages who were paddling by the place in six canoes, for the purpose of coming to the Village, perceived this sheet of bark: “Here is some writing,” said they, “let us see what it says. Alas!” exclaimed they on reading it, “the English have killed the people in our Father’s neighborhood; as for him, they have cut off his head.” They immediately loosened the braids of their hair, which they left to hang carelessly over their shoulders; and seated themselves around the pole, until the next day, without speaking a single word. This ceremony is among them a mark of the greatest affliction. The next day, they continued their way to within half a league of the [Page 227]  Village, where they stopped; then they sent one of their number through the woods to the Village, in order to ascertain whether the English had come to burn the fort and the cabins. I was reciting my breviary while walking beside the fort and the river, when this Savage came opposite to me on the other shore. As soon as he saw me he exclaimed: “Ah, my Father, how glad I am to see thee! My heart was dead, but it lives again on seeing thee. We saw a writing which said that the English had cut off thy head. How glad I am that it told a lie!” When I proposed sending him a canoe that he might cross the river, he responded: “No, it is enough that I have seen thee; I shall retrace my steps and carry this pleasant news to those who are waiting for me, and we shall very soon come to join thee.” Indeed, they came that very day.

I believe, my dearest Brother, that I have satisfied your desires by the details that I have just given you of the nature of this Country, of the character of our Savages, of my occupations, of my labors, and of the dangers to which I am exposed. Doubtless you will judge that I have the most to fear from the English Gentlemen of our neighborhood. It is true that they long ago resolved upon my death; but neither their ill will toward me, nor the death with which they threaten me, can ever separate me from my old flock; I commend them to your devout prayers, and I am with the tenderest affection, etc. [Page 229]

Letter from Father de la Chasse, Superior-

General of the Missions in New France,

to Father * * *, of the same Society.

Quebec, October 29, 1724.

My Reverend Father,

                                           The peace of Our Lord.

In the deep grief that we are experiencing from the loss of one of our oldest Missionaries, it is a grateful consolation to us that he should have been the victim of his own love, and of his zeal to maintain the Faith in the hearts of his Neophytes. From other letters you have already learned the origin of the war which broke out between the English and the Savages: with the former, a desire to extend their rule; with the latter, a horror of all subjection, and an attachment to their Religion — these caused, in the beginning, the misunderstandings which in the end were followed by an open rupture.

Father Rasles, the Missionary of the Abnakis, had become very odious to the English. As they were convinced that his endeavors to confirm the Savages in the Faith constituted the greatest obstacle to their plan of usurping the territory of the Savages, they put a price on his head; and more than once they had attempted to abduct him, or to take his life. At last they have succeeded in gratifying their passion of hatred, and in ridding themselves of the apostolic man; but, at the same time, they have procured for him a glorious death, which was ever the [Page 231] object of his desire, — for we know that long ago he aspired to the happiness of sacrificing his life for his flock. I will describe to you in few words the circumstances of that event. After many acts of hostility had been committed on both sides by the two Nations, a little army of Englishmen and their Savage allies, numbering eleven hundred men, unexpectedly came to attack the Village of Nanrantsouak. The dense thickets with which that Village is surrounded helped them to conceal their movements; and as, besides, it was not enclosed with palisades, the Savages were taken by surprise, and became aware of the enemy’s approach only by a volley from their muskets, which riddled all the cabins. At that time there were only fifty warriors in the Village. At the first noise of the muskets, they tumultuously seized their weapons, and went out of their cabins to oppose the enemy. Their design was not rashly to meet the onset of so many combatants, but to further the flight of the women and the children, and give them time to gain the other side of the river, which was not yet occupied by the English.

Father Rasles, warned by the clamor and the tumult of the danger which was menacing his Neophytes, promptly left his house and fearlessly appeared before the enemy. He expected by his presence either to stop their first efforts, or, at least, to draw their attention to himself alone, and at the expense of his life to procure the safety of his flock.

As soon as they perceived the Missionary, a general shout was raised which was followed by a storm of musket-shots that was poured upon him. He dropped dead at the foot of a large cross that he had [Page 233] erected in the midst of the Village, in order to announce the public profession that was made therein of adoring a crucified God. Seven Savages who were around him, and were exposing their lives to guard that of their father, were killed by his side.

The death of the Shepherd dismayed the flock; the Savages took to flight and crossed the river, part of them by fording, and part by swimming. They were exposed to all the fury of their enemies, until the moment when they retreated into the woods which are on the other side of the river. There they were gathered, to the number of a hundred and fifty. From more than two thousand gunshots that had been fired at them only thirty persons were killed, including the women and children; and fourteen were wounded. The English did not attempt to pursue the fugitives; they were content with pillaging and burning the Village: they set fire to the Church, after a base profanation of the sacred vessels and of the adorable Body of Jesus Christ.

The precipitate retreat of the enemy permitted the return of the Nanrantsouakians to the Village. The very next day they visited the wreck of their cabins, while the women, on their part, sought for roots and plants suitable for treating the wounded. Their first care was to weep over the body of their holy Missionary; they found it pierced by hundreds of bullets, the scalp torn off, the skull broken by blows from a hatchet, the mouth and the eyes filled with mud, the bones of the legs broken, and all the members mutilated. This sort of inhumanity, practiced on a body deprived of feeling and of life, can scarcely be attributed to any one but to the Savage allies of the English. [Page 235]

After these devout Christians had washed and kissed many times the honored remains of their father, they buried him in the very place where, the night before, he had celebrated the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, — that is, in the place where the altar had stood before the burning of the Church.[32]

By such a precious death did the apostolic man finish, on the 23rd of August in this year, a course of thirty-seven years spent in the arduous labors of this Mission. He was in the sixty-seventh year of his life. His fastings and his continual hard work had, at the last, weakened his constitution; he had walked with some difficulty for about nineteen years, owing to the effects of a fall by which he broke, at the same time, the right hip and the left leg. Then it happened, since the callus was growing wrong at the place of fracture, that it became necessary to break the left leg again. At the time when it was most violently struck, he bore that painful operation with an extraordinary firmness and an admirable tranquillity. Our Physician,[33] who was present, appeared so astonished at this that he could not refrain from saying: Ah! my Father, let at Least a few groans escape; you have so much cause for them!

Father Rasles joined to the talents which make an excellent Missionary, the virtues which the evangelical Ministry demands in order that it be exercised to any profit among our Savages. He had robust health; and I do not know that, excepting the accident of which I have just spoken, he had ever had the least indisposition. We were surprised at his facility and his perseverance in learning the different Savage tongues; there was not one upon this continent of which he had not some smattering. Besides [Page 237] the Abnakis language which he had spoken longest, he also knew the Huron, the Outaouais, and the Illinois; and he had used them to advantage in the different Missions where they were spoken. From the time of his arrival in Canada his character had ever been consistent; he was always firm and resolute, severe with himself, but tender and compassionate toward others.

Three years ago, by order of Monsieur our Governor, I made a tour of Acadia. In conversing with Father Rasles, I represented to him that in case war should be declared against the Savages, he would run a risk of his life; that, as his Village was only fifteen leagues from the English forts, he would be exposed to their first forays; that his preservation was necessary to his flock; and that he must take measures for the safety of his life. My measures are taken, he replied in a firm voice: God has confided to me this flock, and I shall follow its fate, only too happy to be sacrificed for it. He often repeated the same thing to his Neophytes, that he might strengthen their constancy in the Faith. We have realized But too well, they themselves said to me, that that dear Father spoke to us out of the abundance of his heart; we saw him face death with a tranquil and serene countenance, and expose himself unassisted to the fury of the enemy, — hindering their first attempts, so that we might have time to escape from the danger and preserve our lives.

As a price had been set on his head, and various attempts had been made to abduct him, the Savages last spring proposed to take him farther into the interior, toward Quebec, where he would be secure from the dangers with which his life was menaced. [Page 139] What idea, then, have you of me? he replied with an air of indignation, do you take me for a base deserter? Alas! what would become of your Faith if I should abandon you? Your salvation is dearer to me than my life.

He was indefatigable in the exercises of his devotion; unceasingly occupied in exhorting the Savages to virtue, his only thought was to make them fervent Christians. His impassioned and pathetic manner of preaching made a deep impression upon their hearts. Some Loup families, who have very recently come from Orange, told me with tears in their eyes that they were indebted to him for their conversion to Christianity; and that the instructions which he had given them when they received Baptism from him, about 30 years ago, could not be effaced from their minds, — his words were so efficacious, and left so deep traces in the hearts of those who heard him.

He was not content with instructing the Savages almost every day in the Church; he often visited them in their cabins. His familiar conversations charmed them; he knew how to blend with them a holy cheerfulness which is much more pleasing to the Savages than a serious and melancholy manner. He had also the art of winning them to do whatever he wished; he was among them like a master in the midst of his pupils.

Notwithstanding the continual occupations of his ministry, he never omitted the sacred exercises which are observed in our houses. He rose and made his Prayer at the prescribed hour. He never neglected the eight days of annual retreat; he enjoined upon himself to make it in the first days of Lent, which is the time when the Savior entered [Page 241] the desert. If a person do not fix a time in the year for these sacred exercises, said he to me one day, occupations succeed each other, and, after many delays, he runs the risk of not finding leisure to perform them.

Religious poverty appeared in his whole person, in his furniture, in his living, in his garments. In a spirit of mortification he forbade himself the use of wine, even when he was among Frenchmen; his ordinary food was porridge made of Indian corn- meal. During certain winters in which sometimes the Savages lacked everything, he was reduced to living on acorns; far from complaining at that time, he never seemed more content. For the last three years of his life, the war having prevented the Savages from free scope in hunting and from sowing their lands, their want became extreme; and the Missionary was in frightful need. Care was taken to send him from Quebec the necessary provisions for his subsistence. I am ashamed, he wrote to me, of the care that you take of me; a Missionary born to suffer ought not to be so well treated.

He did not permit any one to lend him a helping hand in his most ordinary needs; he always waited upon himself. He cultivated his own garden, he made ready his own firewood, his cabin, and his sagamité; he mended his torn garments, seeking in a spirit of poverty to make them last as long a time as was possible. The cassock which he had on when he was killed seemed so worn out and in such poor condition to those who had seized it, that they did not deign to take it for their own use as they had at first designed. They threw it again upon his body, and it was sent to us at Quebec.

In the same degree that he treated himself [Page 243] Harshly, was he compassionate and charitable toward others. He had nothing of his own, and all that he received he immediately distributed to his poor Neophytes — Consequently, the greater part of them showed at his death signs of deeper grief than if they had lost their nearest relatives.

He took extraordinary pains in decorating and beautifying his Church, believing that this outward Pomp which strikes the senses quickens the devotion of the barbarians, and inspires them with a most profound veneration for our holy Mysteries. As he knew a little of painting, and as he was quite skillful in the me of the lathe, the Church was decorated with many works which he himself had wrought.

You may well believe, my Reverend Father, that his virtues, of which new France has been for so many years witness, had won for him the respect and affection of Frenchmen and Savages.

He is, in consequence, universally regretted. No one doubts that he was sacrificed through hatred to his ministry and to his zeal in establishing the true . Faith in the hearts of the Savages. This is the opinion of Monsieur de Bellemont, Superior of the Seminary of saint Sulpice at Montreal.[34] When I asked from him the customary suffrages for the deceased, because of our interchange of prayers, he replied to me, using the well-known words of saint Augustine, that it was doing injustice to a Martyr to pray for him, — Injuriam facit Martyri qui orat pro eo.

May it please the Lord that his blood, shed for such a righteous cause, may fertilize these unbelieving lands which have been so often watered with the blood of the Gospel workers who have preceded us; that it may render them fruitful in devout Christians, [Page 245] and that the zeal of Apostolic men yet to come may be stimulated to gather the abundant harvest that is being presented to them by so many peoples still buried in the shadow of death!

In the meantime, as it belongs only to the Church to declare the saints, I commend him to your holy Sacrifices and to those of all our Fathers. I hope that you will not forget in them him who is, with much respect, etc. [Page 247]

Taken from Vol. 67 of the Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents