happened several times. The Northeastern is violent here; one day
it tore away a part of the roof of a house at the fort. Father de
Nouë, returning that day from celebrating holy Mass, said that he
and the young man accompanying him were compelled to hold on to
each other, for fear that the wind would carry them away.
Passant vers ce mesme temps dans le bois où estoient cabanez quantité
de Sauuages, ie trouuay vn corps mort, enseueli par les Sauuages:
il estoit esleué fort haut sur des fourches de bois, accompagné de
ses robes & autres richesses, couuert d'vne escorce (c'est leur drap
mortuaire.) Ie demanday quand on l'enterreroit, ils me respondirent,
quand il ne neigeroit plus; la neige tomboit pour lors en abondance.
About this time, in going into the woods where there were a number
of Savages encamped, I found a dead body which the Savages had
enshrouded; it was raised high upon wooden scaffolds, and near it
were its clothes and other belongings, covered with bark (that
is their mourning cloth). I asked when they would bury it. They
answered me: "When it stops snowing." The snow was then falling
very fast.
[51] A l'occasion de ce rencontre quelqu'vn me dit qu'vn Sauuage estant
mort, les autres frappent sur la cabane crians oué, oué, oué, &c. &
comme i'en demãdois la raison à vn Sauuage, il me dict que c'estoit
pour faire sortir l'esprit de la cabane.
[51] At the time of this occurrence some one told me that, when a
Savage dies, the others strike on his cabin, crying: "oué, oué,
oué," etc. And when I asked a Savage the reason for this, he told
me that it was to make the spirit come out of the cabin.
Le corps du mort ne sort point par la porte ordinaire de la cabane, ils
leuent l'escorce voisine du lieu où il est mort, & le tirent par là. Ie
demanday pourquoy: ce Sauuage me repartit que la porte ordinaire estoit
la porte des viuãs, & non des morts: & par consequent que les morts
n'y deuoient point passer. Or comme il croioit m'auoir bien satisfait,
& qu'il se mocquoit, ie luy demanday, si quãd il auoit tué vn Castor,
il le faisoit entrer & sortir par la porte cõmune? ouy, dit-il: elle
est donc, luy dis-ie, la porte des morts aussi bien que des viuans:
il repart qu'vn Castor estoit [52] vne beste: alors ie repliquay en
riant, vostre porte est donc la porte des bestes, aussi bien que vous
l'appellez la porte des viuans; il s'écria, asseurément cela est vray,
& se mit a rire.
The body of the dead man is not taken out of the common door of the
cabin. They raise the bark from the spot where he died, and take
it out through that. I asked why; the Savage answered me that the
common door was the door of the living, and not of the dead, and
consequently the dead ought not to pass there. Now, as he believed
that he had perfectly satisfied me, and as he was laughing at me, I
asked him if, when he had killed a Beaver, he made it enter and go
out by the common door. "Yes," said he. "It is then," said I, "the
door for the dead as well as for the living." He replied that a
Beaver is [52] an animal. Then I answered him, laughing, "Your door
then is a door for animals, and you call it a door for the living."
He cried out, "Certainly, that is true," and began to laugh.
Ie luy demanday encor pourquoy ils enterroient les robes des morts auec
eux: Elles leur appartiennent, respondit-il, pourquoy leur osteroit-on?
I asked him also why they buried the clothes of the dead with them.
"They belong to them," said he, "why should we take them away from
them?"
Si vous les pressez, ils ne s'opiniastrent point, ils suiuent vne
certaine routine dans leurs superstitions, dõt ils ne peuuent rendre
aucune raison. Voila pourquoy ils sõt les premiers à s'en mocquer,
quand vous leur faites voir qu'elles sont ridicules. Il est vray que
i'en ay veu quelques-vns extrémement attachez à leurs songes.
If you press them, they are not very obstinate. They follow a
certain routine in their superstitions, for which they can give no
reason. This is why they are the first to laugh when you make them
understand that their customs are ridiculous. True, I have seen
some who are very much attached to their dreams.
Ils font diuerses sortes de festins: i'en sçay quelques particularitez,
mais i'attendray vne autre année [53] pour en parler auec plus
d'asseurance. Aux festins des morts ils iettent le reste dans le feu:
aux autres festins, c'est à manger tout, & faut creuer plustost que de
rien laisser.
They have different kinds of feasts. I know some special features
of them, but shall wait until another year, [53] that I may speak
of them with more certainty. At the feasts for the dead, they
always throw what is left into the fire. At other feasts the rule
is to eat all, and it is better to burst than to leave anything.
Quasi tous les Sauuages ont vn petit Castipitagan, ou sac à petum; les
vns sont faits d'vne peau de rat musqué, en telle sorte que l'animal
semble tout entier: il n'a qu'vne petite ouuerture par la teste par où
ils l'ont écorché: les autres sont faits d'autres animaux; il y en a
qui ont vne partie du bras & la main de quelque Hiroquois qu'ils ont
tué: cela est si biens vuidé que les ongles restẽt toutes entieres:
vous diriez vraiemẽt vne main solide, quand ils l'ont remply de petum,
ou autre chose ie n'en ay point veu, mais on m'a asseuré que cela
estoit ainsi.
Nearly all the Savages have a little Castipitagan or tobacco pouch.
Some are made from the skin of the muskrat, in such a way that the
animal seems quite entire, there being only a little opening at the
head made in skinning it. Others are made of other animals. Some
of them carry a part of an arm or a hand of a Hiroquois whom they
have slain, which is so skillfully prepared that the nails remain
entire. You would really think it was a solid hand, when they fill
it with tobacco or something else. I have not seen any of these,
but I have been assured that it is so.
Quelquefois pour monstrer qu'ils [54] ont du courage, vn Sauuage se
liera le bras nud auec vn autre, puis mettant entre leurs deux bras
sur la chair vn morceau de tondre allumé, ils le laissent consommer
iusques au bout, se bruslans iusques aux os: celuy qui retire le bras,
& secouë le feu, est tenu pour moins courageux: ie n'ay point veu cette
barbarie; on m'a dit qu'vn François estant aux Hurons pensa perdre le
bras, voulant ioüer à ce beau ieu contre vn Sauuage.
Sometimes, in order to show that they [54] have courage, a Savage
will bind his bare arm to that of another; then putting between the
two arms, upon the flesh, a piece of lighted tinder, they leave it
until it is entirely consumed, burning themselves to the bone. The
man who withdraws his arm and shakes off the fire is considered
lacking in courage. I have not seen this act of barbarism. I am
told that a Frenchman who was among the Hurons, came very near
losing his arm in trying to play at this fine game with a Savage.
Il est vray que les Sauuages sont fort patiens, mais l'ordre qu'ils
gardent en leurs exercices les ayde à cõseruer la paix dans leurs
mesnages: les femmes sçauent ce qu'elles doiuent faire, & les hommes
aussi: & iamais l'vn ne se mesle du mestier de l'autre: les hommes font
le corps de leurs canots, les femmes cousent l'écorce auec de l'osier,
ou vn petit bois semblable: Les hommes font le [55] bois des raquettes,
les femmes la tissure: Les hommes vont à la chasse & tuënt les animaux,
les femmes les võt querir, les écorchent & passent les peaux: ce sont
elles qui vont querir le bois qu'ils bruslẽt, bref ils se mocqueroient
d'vn homme qui hors d'vne grande necessité feroit quelque chose qui
deust estre fait par vne femme. Nostre Sauuage voyant le Pere de Nouë
apporter du bois, se mit à rire, disant, En vérité c'est vne femme;
voulant donner à entendre qu'il faisoit l'office d'vne femme: mais
quelque temps après la sienne tombant malade, & n'ayant personne en
sa cabane qui le pût soulager, il fût contraint d'en aller querir luy
mesme, vray est qu'il n'y alla que sur la nuict pour n'estre veu.
It is true that the Savages are very patient, but the order which
they maintain in their occupations aids them in preserving peace
in their households. The women know what they are to do, and the
men also; and one never meddles with the work of the other. The men
make the frames of their canoes, and the women sew the bark with
willow withes or similar small wood. The men shape the [55] wood of
the raquettes, and the women do the sewing on them. Men go hunting,
and kill the animals; and the women go after them, skin them, and
clean the hides. It is they who go in search of the wood that is
burned. In fact, they would make fun of a man who, except in some
great necessity, would do anything that should be done by a woman.
Our Savage, seeing Father de Nouë carrying wood, began to laugh,
saying: "He's really a woman;" meaning that he was doing a woman's
work. But a short time afterward, his wife falling sick, and having
no one in his cabin who could assist him, he was compelled to go
out himself in search of supplies; but in truth he went only at
night, when no one could see him.[40]
Vn vieillard auoit songé, ou plustost veu, à ce qu'il disoit, vne
quantité d'Hiroquois, qui se dispersans çà [56] & là cherchoient les
Montagnaits: les autres Sauuages consultent là dessus ce qu'il falloit
faire, quelques-vns dirent qu'il falloit prendre aduis de ces gens qui
parlẽt à Dieu, entendant parler de nous autres. Ce songe s'en alla en
fumée.
An old man had dreamed, or rather seen, as he said, a large number
of Hiroquois who were dispersing here [56] and there, and searching
for the Montagnaits. The other Savages consulted thereupon as to
what they should do, some saying that it would be well to take the
advice of those people who spoke to God, meaning us. This dream
passed away in smoke.
Comme ie demandois à Pierre Pastedechouan comment on disoit en sa
langue où sont tes freres, vne femme Sauuage suruenant là dessus, il
ne me vouloit pas respondre, me donnant pour raison qu'il attristeroit
ceste femme, & qu'il la feroit pleurer, à cause que ses freres estoient
morts; On ne parle plus des morts parmy nous, me dit-il, voire mesme
les parents du defunct ne se seruent iamais des choses dont le mort se
seruoit pendant sa vie.
When I asked Pierre Pastedechouan how to say in his language:
"Where are thy brothers?" as a woman Savage was passing by, he was
loath to answer; giving me as a reason that it would make her sad,
and make her cry because her brothers were dead. "We do not speak
any more of the dead among us," said he, "indeed, the relatives of
the dead never use anything that was used by the dead man during
his lifetime."
Le 15. du mesme mois de Decembre, quantité d'Alguonquains nous estans
venus voir, l'vn d'eux me [57] voyãt escrire, print vne plume, & voulu
faire le mesme: mais voyant qu'il ne faisoit rien qui vaille, & que ie
sousriois, il se mit a souffler sur ce qu'il auoit escrit, pensant le
faire en aller comme de la poudre. Ie leur fis dire à tous que nous
estiõs venus pour les instruire, ils respondirent que ie faisois bien
d'apprendre la langue, & quand ie la sçaurois, q̃ tout seroit facile de
part & d'autre.
On the 15th of the same month of December, a large number of
Alguonquains having come to see us, one of them seeing [57] me
writing, took a pen and wanted to do the same; but seeing that
he did not accomplish much, and that I was smiling, he began to
blow upon what he had written, thinking that he could blow it away
like powder. I had them all told, that we came to teach them. They
answered that I was doing well to learn their language; and that,
when I should know it, everything would be easy on both sides.
Le 19. la neige estant desia fort haute, les Sauuages prirent huict
élans, ou orignaux. Vers ce temps-là l'vn d'eux nommé Nassitamirineou,
& surnommé des François Brehault, leur dit qu'il auoit songé qu'il
falloit manger tous ces Orignaux, & qu'il sçauoit bien prier Dieu, &
qu'il luy auoit parlé, que telle estoit sa volonté, qu'on mangeast
tout, & qu'on n'en donnast rien, si on en vouloit prendre d'autres:
les Sauuages le creurent, & n'en donnerent pas vn [58] morceau aux
François. On me raconta cecy en la presence du songeur, il n'aduoüoit
pas tout, neantmoins la chose semble bien probable, car ayãt cabané
auprés de nous, & nous ayant ouy parler de Dieu, il estoit homme pour
en parler par aprés, & faire de l'entendu parmy ses gens.
On the 19th, the snow being already very deep, the Savages
captured eight elks or moose. About that time one of them, named
Nassitamirineou, and surnamed by the French Brehault, told them
that he had dreamed that they must eat all of those Moose; and that
he knew very well how to pray to God, who had told him that it
was his will that they should eat all, and that they should give
none of them away, if they wanted to capture others. The Savages
believed him, and did not give a [58] piece to the Frenchmen. This
was related to me in the presence of the dreamer. He did not admit
all, yet it seemed very probable; for having settled near us, and
having heard us speaking of God, he was just the man to talk about
it afterward, and to play the learned among his people.
Le 21. de Decembre, le bon Dieu nous dõna deux petits pensionnaires,
Manitougache nous en ayant presenté vn petit à qui il auoit sauué la
vie, nous l'acceptasmes; & comme nous estions en crainte qu'il ne
s'ennuyast tout seul, nous pensions à en trouuer encor vn autre pour
luy tenir compagnie. Au mesme temps voila vne fẽme qui entre chez nous
auec son petit fils aagé d'enuiron sept ans, nous le regardions, disans
l'vn à l'autre, voila iustement ce qu'il nous faudroit. Ie prends la
parole & [59] m'addresse à sa mere, luy demandant si elle ne voudroit
pas bien nous dõner son enfant, que nous le nourririons le mieux qu'il
nous seroit possible. Helas, dit-elle, i'estois venuë icy pour prier
Manitougache de voꝰ le presenter, & vous supplier de l'accepter. Dieu
sçait si nous fusmes cõtens. ô que sa prouidence est admirable!
On the 21st of December, God sent us two little pensioners,
Manitougache having presented to us a little one whose life he
had saved, and whom we accepted; and, as we were afraid that he
would be lonesome, we thought to try and find another to keep him
company. At the same time, a woman came bringing her little son,
about seven years old. When we saw him, we said to each other,
"This is just what we wanted." I at once asked [59] the mother, if
she would not like to give us her child, saying that we would care
for it as best we possibly could. "Ah," said she, "I came here to
beg Manitougache to give him to you and to beg you to take him."
God knows how happy we were! Oh, how admirable is his providence!
Le plus âgé que nous a donné Manitougache n'a ny pere ny mere, celuy-là
nous est bien asseuré, nous luy auons donné nom Fortuné, en attendant
qu'il soit capable d'estre baptisé. ô qu'il a rencontré vne bõne
fortune! Estant à Tadoussac, cõme il estoit delaissé de tout le monde,
vn Sauuage presenta vne harquebuse à nostre Pierre, luy disant, tuë ce
miserable enfant, aussi bien n'aiãt point de parents, il sera toute sa
vie abandonné d'vn chacun: Nostre [60] Sauuage entendant cela en eut
compassion, il le retira, & l'a nourry iusques à present qu'il nous
l'a donné. Nous auons appelle le plus ieune Bienuenu, celuy-cy a de
l'esprit, il est d'vn naturel complaisant, & flatteur: Nous ne sommes
pas si asseurez qu'il nous demeure, car les Sauuages sont extrémement
changeãs & volages. Vn sien parent entendant qu'il nous estoit donné,
s'y voulut opposer, disant que leur Capitaine auoit defendu qu'on
ne donnast aucun enfant aux François: la mère de l'enfant suruient
là dessus, & dit que le Capitaine n'a point nourry son fils, & par
conseqẽt ce n'est pas à luy d'en disposer, si bien à elle qui en estoit
la mère, & qui l'auoit tousiours éleué dés sa ieunesse. Le pere de
l'enfant ayant sceu que son ancienne femme qu'il a quittée nous l'auoit
donné, en a esté bien aise, disant qu'il seroit [61] très-bien auec
nous. Celuy qu'on nous auoit promis l'an passé voudroit bien estre
maintenant auec les deux autres: mais il n'est pas encore temps de
s'ẽ charger, il ne faut point embrasser par dessus ses forces. C'est
vn plaisir de voir ces deux enfans, ce sont mes petits escoliers, ils
commẽcent à lire, ils sçauent prier Dieu en Latin, & en leur langue.
Ils nous fõt quelquefois rire par leurs petits discours: deuant qu'ils
mangent nous leur saisons dire le _Benedicite_. Voila pourquoy quand
ils veulent mãger; ils s'en viennent nous dire, Mon Père, _Benedicite_:
c'est à dire, donnez moy à disner. Comme ils voyoient donner à
manger à vn petit chien, ils nous disoient qu'il n'auoit pas dit son
_Benedicite_. Ie m'en vay, dit l'vn d'eux, le dire pour luy; comme
nous rions, son compagnõ luy dit, _nama irinisionakhi attimoukhi_, les
chiens n'ont point [62] d'esprit, ils ne disent pas leur _Benedicite_,
c'est à faire aux hommes seulement; vous les entendriez allans & venans
ruminer le _Pater noster_, en prononcer tantost vne partie, tantost
l'autre; en quoy il arriua vn iour vn rencontre agreable. Le sieur
Emery de Caën disnant en nostre maison, comme on seruoit sur table le
peu que nous auions, l'vn de ces enfans regardant ce qu'on presentoit,
& voyant bien que ce n'estoit pas pour luy, commence à dire par
rencontre; _& ne nos inducas in tentationem_, cela fit rire toute la
compagnie.
The oldest, the one given to us by Manitougache, has neither father
nor mother, and hence we are sure of keeping him. We have named
him Fortuné, until he can be baptized. Oh, what good fortune he
has met with! Being at Tadoussac, forsaken by every one, a Savage
gave an arquebus to our Pierre, telling him to kill this miserable
child, because, having no parents, he would be abandoned by every
one during his lifetime. Our [60] Savage, on hearing that, had pity
on the little one, took him, and fed him up to the time when he
gave him to us. We have called the younger one Bienvenu. He seems
intelligent, and of a pleasant and endearing nature. We are not so
sure that he will remain with us, because the Savages are extremely
fickle and capricious. One of his relatives, hearing that he had
been given to us, objected, saying that their Captain had forbidden
them to give any of their children to the French. Thereupon the
mother of the child interposed, declaring that the Captain had not
taken care of her child; and that, consequently, it did not belong
to him to dispose of it, but to her who was the mother, and who
had reared him since his infancy. The father of the child, having
learned that his former wife, who had left him, had given the child
to us, was greatly pleased, saying that it would fare [61] very
well with us. The one who was promised to us last year would like
very much now to be with these two others. But we cannot charge
ourselves with him now, we must not undertake more than we can
perform. It is a pleasure to see these two children; they are my
little pupils. They are beginning to read, and know how to pray to
God, in Latin and in their own language. Sometimes they make us
laugh by their childish prattle. Before eating we make them say the
_Benedicite_. Hence, when they want to eat, they come to us and
say, "My Father, _Benedicite_;" that is to say, "Give me something
to eat." When they saw a little dog given something to eat, they
told us that it had not said its _Benedicite_. "I am going," said
one of them, "to say it for him." As we laughed at this, his
companion said to him: _nama irinisionakhi attimoukhi_; that is,
"The dogs have no [62] mind, they do not say their _Benedicite_, it
is only for men to say that." You can hear them, going and coming,
humming the _Pater noster_, pronouncing first one part and then
another, in the course of which there happened the other day a very
amusing incident. Sieur Emery de Caën was dining at our house.
As we served upon the table the little that we had, one of the
children, looking at what was set forth and seeing very well that
it was not for him, began to say as it happened to occur to him:
_Et ne nos inducas in tentationem_, causing the whole company to
laugh.
Le second iour de Ianuier, ie vey quelques Sauuages qui s'efforçoient
de passer dans leurs canots la grande riuiere de S. Laurens: ce fleuue
ordinairement ne gele point au milieu: il charie ou porte d'horribles
glaces, selon le cours & mouuement de la marée. Ces pauures gens
abordoient [63] de grandes glaces flottantes, les sondoient auec leurs
auirons montoiēt dessus, tiroient leurs canots aprés eux pour s'en
aller prendre l'eau à l'autre costé de ces glaces; quoy qu'ils soient
tres-habiles, il ne laisse pas de s'en noyer quelques-vns.
On the second day of January, I saw a number of Savages trying to
cross the great river St. Lawrence in their canoes. Usually this
river does not freeze in the middle; it drifts or floats immense
pieces of ice, according to the course and movement of the current.
These poor fellows approached [63] large pieces of the floating
ice, sounded them with their paddles, then mounted them, and drew
their canoes up after them, crossing over to reach the water on the
other side of the ice. Nimble as they are, not infrequently some of
them are drowned.
Voyant vn Sauuage qui traisnoit sa mere apres soy sur la neige. Les
chariots & carrosses de ce pays-cy font des traisnes faictes d'escorce
ou de bois, les cheuaux sont les hommes qui les tirent apres eux:
voyant donc ceste pauure vieille liée sur vne d'icelles, son fils ne
la pouuant commodement faire descendre par le sentier ordinaire d'vne
montagne qui borde la riuiere où il alloit, la laissa rouler à bas par
l'endroict le plus roide, & s'en alla la requerir par vn autre chemin.
Ne pouuant supporter cette impieté, ie le dy à quelques Sauuages qui
estoient auprés de [64] moy: ils me respondirent, Que veux-tu qu'il en
fasse, aussi bien s'en va elle mourir, prens la & la tuë, puis que tu
en as compassion, tu luy feras du biẽ, car elle ne souffrira pas tãt,
peutestre que son fils la laissera au milieu des bois, ne la pouuãt ny
guerir ny traisner apres soy, s'il ne trouue point dequoy manger. Voila
comme ils soulagent les malades qu'ils croyent deuoir mourir, ils leur
aduancent la mort par quelque coup de baston ou de hache, quand ils ont
beaucoup de chemin à faire, & cela par compassion.
I saw a Savage dragging his mother behind him over the snow. The
coaches and wagons of this country are sledges made of bark or
wood, the horses are the men who draw them. Now this poor old woman
was tied upon one of these sleighs; and her son, being unable,
conveniently, to take her down by the common path of a mountain
which borders the river along which he was going, let her roll down
the steepest place to the bottom, and then went by another route
to find her. As I could not bear this act of impiety, I said so to
some of the Savages who were near [64] me. They answered: "What
wouldst thou have him do with her? She is going to die any way;
take her and kill her, since thou hast pity for her; thou wilt do
her a service, because she will not suffer so much; perhaps her son
will leave her in the midst of the woods, as he is unable either to
cure her or to drag her after him, if he does not find something
to eat." This is the way they take care of the sick that they think
are going to die. They hasten death by a blow from a club or an
axe, when they have a long journey to make, and do this through
compassion.