faut ieusner, si l'on vient à perdre les caches qu'on a faites en
descendant, & quand on les retrouue, on ne laisse pas d'auoir bon
appetit apres s'y estre traicté. Car le manger ordinaire n'est que d'vn
peu de bled d'Inde [124] cassé assez grossierement entre deux pierres,
& quelquefois tout entier dans de l'eau pure. Cela n'est pas de grand
goust. Quelquesfois on a du poisson, mais c'est hazard, excepté quand
on passe quelque Nation où l'on en peut acheter. Adioustez à ces
difficultez, qu'il faut coucher sur la terre nuẽ, ou sur quelque dure
roche, faute de trouuer dix ou douze pieds de terre en quarré pour
placer vne chetiue cabane; qu'il faut sentir incessammẽt la puanteur
des Sauuages recreus, marcher dãs les eaux, dãs les fanges, dans
l'obscurité & l'embaras des forests, où les piqueures d'vne multitude
infinie de mousquilles & cousins vous importunent fort.
The second ordinary difficulty, is in regard to provisions.
Frequently one has to fast, if he misses the caches that were made
when descending; and, even if they are found, one does not fail
to have a good appetite after indulging in them; for the ordinary
food is only a little Indian corn [124] coarsely broken between
two stones, and sometimes taken whole in pure water; it is no great
treat. Occasionally one has fish, but it is only a chance, unless
one is passing some Tribe where they can be bought. Add to these
difficulties that one must sleep on the bare earth, or on a hard
rock, for lack of a space ten or twelve feet square on which to
place a wretched hut; that one must endure continually the stench
of tired-out Savages; and must walk in water, in mud, in the
obscurity and entanglement of the forest, where the stings of an
infinite number of mosquitoes and gnats are a serious annoyance.
Ie laisse à part vn long & ennuyeux silence où l'on est reduit.
I'entends pour les nouueaux qui n'ont par fois en leur compagnie
personne de leur langue, & ne sçauent [125] celle des Sauuages. Or ces
difficultez comme elles sont ordinaires, aussi nous ont elles esté
communes auec tous ceux qui viennent en ces Pays. Mais en nostre voyage
nous en auons eu tous d'extraordinaires. La premiere a esté qu'il nous
a fallu continuellement ramer, ny plus ny moins que les Sauuages: de
sorte que ie n'auois le loisir de reciter mon Breuiaire sinon à la
couchée, lors que i'eusse eu plus de besoin de repos que de trauail.
L'autre a esté qu'il nous falloit porter nos pacquets, és portages,
ce qui nous estoit aussi dur que nouueau, & encore plus aux autres
qu'à moy, qui sçait desia vn peu ce que c'est que de fatigue. A chaque
portage il me falloit faire au moins quatre voyages, les autres n'en
faisoiẽt gueres moins. I'estois desia venu aux Hurõs vne autre fois,
mais ie n'auois point manié [126] l'auiron, ny porté de fardeaux non
plus que les autres Religieux, qui auoient aussi fait le mesme chemin.
Mais en ce voyage il nous a fallu tous commencer par ces experiences
à porter la Croix que Nostre Seigneur nous presente pour son honneur,
& pour le salut de ces pauures Barbares. Certes ie me suis trouué
quelquesfois si las, que le corps n'en pouuoit plus. Mais d'ailleurs
mon ame ressentoit de tres-grands contentemens, considerant que ie
souffrois pour Dieu: nul ne le sçait, s'il ne l'experimente. Tous n'en
ont pas esté quittes à si bon marché.
I say nothing of the long and wearisome silence to which one is
reduced, I mean in the case of newcomers, who have, for the time,
no person in their company who speaks their own tongue, and who do
not understand [125] that of the Savages. Now these difficulties,
since they are the usual ones, were common to us as to all those
who come into this Country. But on our journey we all had to
encounter difficulties which were unusual. The first was that we
were compelled to paddle continually, just as much as the Savages;
so that I had not the leisure to recite my Breviary except when I
lay down to sleep, when I had more need of rest than of work. The
other was that we had to carry our packages at the portages, which
was as laborious for us as it was new, and still more for others
than it was for me, who already knew a little what it is to be
fatigued. At every portage I had to make at least four trips, the
others had scarcely fewer. I had once before made the journey to
the Hurons, but I did not then ply [126] the paddles, nor carry
burdens; nor did the other Religious who made the same journey.
But, in this journey, we all had to begin by these experiences to
bear the Cross that Our Lord presents to us for his honor, and for
the salvation of these poor Barbarians. In truth, I was sometimes
so weary that the body could do no more, but at the same time my
soul experienced very deep peace, considering that I was suffering
for God; no one knows it if he has not experienced it. All did not
get off so cheaply.
Le Pere Dauost, entre autres, a esté tres-mal mené; on luy a dérobé
beaucoup de son petit equipage; on l'a contraint de ietter vn petit
moulin d'acier, & quasi tous nos liures, quelques linges, & vne bonne
partie [127] du papier que nous portions, dont nous auons grand besoin.
On l'abandonna à l'Isle parmy les Algonquains, où il a eu dequoy
souffrir à bonnes enseignes. Quand il arriua aux Hurons, il estoit si
défait & abbatu, que de long-temps il ne pût se remettre.
Father Davost, among others, was very badly treated. They stole
from him much of his little outfit. They compelled him to throw
away a little steel mill, and almost all our books, some linen, and
a good part [127] of the paper that we were taking, and of which
we have great need. They deserted him at the Island, among the
Algonquains, where he suffered in good earnest. When he reached the
Hurons, he was so worn-out and dejected that for a long time he
could not get over it.
Le Pere Daniel fut delaissé & contraint de changer de canot, comme
aussi pareillemẽt Pierre l'vn de nos hommes; le petit Martin fut bien
rudement traitté, & en fin abandonné aux Bissiriniens, où il demeura
si long-temps, qu'il fut quelques deux mois en chemin, & n'arriua aux
Hurons que le dix-neufiéme de Septembre. Baron fut volé par les siens
la mesme iournée qu'il arriua en ces contrées, & eust encore bien plus
perdu, s'il ne les eust contraints par la peur de ses armes luy en
rendre quelque partie. Bref [128] tous les François y ont souffert de
grandes peines, fait de grosses dépenses, eu égard à leurs petites
commoditez, & couru de notables dangers. Et quiconque montera icy haut,
se doit resoudre à tout cela, & à quelque chose de plus; mesme à la
mort, dont on voit à chaque moment l'Image deuant les yeux. Pour moy
qui ne sçais point nager ie m'en suis veu vne fois fort proche: car au
partir des Bissiriniens en descendant vn saut, nous-nous en allions
tomber dedans vn precipice, si mes Sauuages n'eussent promptement &
habilement sauté en l'eau, pour destourner le canot que le courant
emportoit. Il est croyable que les autres en pourroient bien dire
autant & plus, veu le nombre qu'il y a de semblables rencontres. Trois
autres difficultez m'ont donné de la peine en mon particulier. La
premiere, [129] l'importunité que mes gens me firent du commencement,
pour cacher en quelque part vne quaisse qu'vn de nos François auoit
mise dãs nostre canot. La seconde, le soing de ceux de nos gens, que
nous auions laissé derriere. La troisiesme, que les Algonquains par où
nous passions taschoient de nous intimider, disans que les Hurons nous
tueroiẽt, comme ils auoient fait en la personne de Brulé, desirans de
nous retenir chez eux, auec beaucoup de demonstration de bienueillance.
Depuis nostre arriuée, i'ay appris que le Maistre de mon canot auoit
ietté en auant de me degrader en quelque part, auec mon petit bagage;
mais que sa proposition auoit esté aussi-tost rebuttée; aussi ne m'en
fit-on iamais aucun semblant. Tout cela, Dieu mercy, ne me tourmenta
pas beaucoup. Car leur ayant declaré [130] que ie porterois moy-mesme
la quaisse dont il estoit question, quoy qu'ils en eussent receu le
port; ie me resigné, quant au reste, à la volonté de Dieu, prest à
mourir pour l'honneur de son Fils nostre bon Seigneur, & pour le salut
de ces pauures Peuples.
Father Daniel was abandoned, and compelled to seek another canoe,
as also was Pierre, one of our men. Little Martin was very roughly
treated, and at last was left behind with the Bissiriniens, where
he remained so long that he was about two months on the road, and
only arrived among the Hurons on the nineteenth of September.
Baron[26] was robbed by his savages on the very day he arrived
in these regions; and he would have lost much more if he had not
compelled them, through fear of his arms, to give him back a part
of what they had taken. In short, [128] all the Frenchmen suffered
great hardships, incurred great expense, considering the few goods
they had, and ran remarkable risks. And whosoever will come up
here must make up his mind to all this, and to something more,
even to death itself, whose Image we see every moment before our
eyes. For myself, not knowing how to swim, I once had a very narrow
escape from drowning. As we were leaving the Bissiriniens, while
descending a rapid we would have gone over a precipice, had not
my Savages promptly and skillfully leaped into the water, to turn
aside the canoe which the current was sweeping on. It is probable
that the others might say as much, and more, considering the number
of such incidents there are. Three other difficulties gave trouble
to me in particular. The first [129] was the importunity of my men,
at the start, to hide somewhere a box that one of our Frenchmen had
put into our canoe. The second was anxiety for those of our men we
had left behind. The third, that the Algonquains, through whose
territory we were passing, tried to intimidate us, saying that the
Hurons would kill us as they had Brulé, and desiring to keep us
among them, with abundant demonstrations of good will. Since our
arrival, I have learned that the Master of my canoe had proposed
to land me somewhere with my little baggage, but that his proposal
had been at once repelled, and so I saw no sign of anything of the
kind. All that, thank God, did not trouble me much; for having
declared to them [130] that I would myself carry the box about
which the trouble arose, although they had received pay to carry
it, I resigned myself as far, as everything else was concerned, to
the will of God, ready to die for the honor of his Son, our good
Lord, and for the salvation of these poor Peoples.
Ie ne sçay pas quand on parla de me quitter; mais mes Saunages me
témoignoient tãt d'affection, & disoiẽt tãt de bien de nous aux
autres, qu'ils faisoiẽt enuie à tous les Hurõs que nous rencõtrions,
d'embarquer quelqu'vn des nostres. Cela me fait douter, si ce qu'on m'a
dit du Maistre de mon canot est vray. Car ceux qui auoiẽt embarqué le
Pere Daniel & Baron, voulurent les quitter à l'Isle; mais le Maistre du
canot où estoit le Pere Daniel, le voyant mescontent de cela, le fit
aussi-tost embarquer, & le porta iusques à ce qu'ils eussent rencontré
[131] le Capitaine de la Rochelle, lequel estant de la cognoissance du
Pere, pour l'auoir voulu conduire l'an passé, le mit volontiers dans
son canot, auec ses deux pacquets. Il luy fit plaisir, & aux Sauuages
aussi; car le Pere eust eu encore bien de la peine dans vn canot fort
chetif, qui n'auoit que trois hommes languissans, & dont la demeure
estoit à douze lieuës loing de la nostre: là où ce Capitaine demeuroit
au village, où nous auiõs quelque dessein de nous habituer, & assez
proche du lieu où nous sommes; & d'ailleurs son canot estoit fort,
& equippé de six puissans Sauuages tous sains & gaillards. Ce bon
eschange luy arriua la veille de sainct Ignace au matin, ayant fait
le iour precedent naufrage par deux fois. Pour Baron, n'eust esté le
Capitaine de l'Isle qui fit remettre ses pacquets dans les canots,
[132] il y fust demeuré. Encore ses gens ne luy furent pas si barbares,
comme furent autresfois à vn de nos François, ceux qui le ramenoient
des Hurons à Kebec. Ce ieune homme surnommé la Marche fust mort dans
les bois, si nous n'eussions eu le soin & le credit de le renuoyer
chercher plus d'vne lieuë loing du lieu où nous-nous en apperceusmes.
I do not know when they spoke of leaving me; but my Savages
exhibited so much affection for me, and said so much that is kind
about us to others, that they excited the desire in all the Hurons
we met to embark some one of our people. This makes me doubt the
truth of what has been said about the Master of my canoe. For those
who had embarked Father Daniel and Baron wished to leave them at
the Island; but the Master of the canoe in which Father Daniel was,
seeing him dissatisfied at that, caused him to embark at once, and
carried him until they met [131] the Captain of la Rochelle,[27]
who, knowing the Father from having wished to take him last year,
willingly received him with his two packages into his canoe. It
pleased him, and the Savages also; for the Father would have
still had much trouble in a wretched canoe which had only three
sick men in it, whose home was twelve leagues distant from ours;
this Captain lived at a village where we had some intention of
settling, and quite near the place where we are. Besides, his canoe
was strong, and manned by six powerful Savages, quite healthy and
good-natured. This happy exchange happened to him the morning
of the day before the festival of saint Ignace, he having been
shipwrecked twice the previous day. As to Baron, had it not been
for the Captain of the Island, who caused his baggage to be put
back into the canoes, [132] he would have remained there. Still,
his people were not so barbarous as formerly were those who brought
back one of our Frenchmen from the Hurons to Kebec. This young man,
surnamed la Marche, would have died in the woods, if we had not had
the care and the interest to send back in search of him more than a
league from the place where we missed him.
Il ne faut quelquefois qu'vn mot, quelquefois qu'vn songe, quelque
fantaisie, ou la moindre pensée d'incommodité, pour faire dégrader ou
mettre à terre, i'ose dire, pour faire massacrer vn hõme, ainsi qu'il
arriua l'an passé à vn pauure Algõquain, qui fut abandonné en vn saut
par son propre neueu: & il n'y a pas vn mois qu'vn pauure ieune homme
aussi Algonquain, estant tombé dans le feu, fut tué auprés de nostre
village par ceux de sa Nation, de peur qu'ils auoient [133] d'en estre
incommodez dans le canot. Ce qui me persuade qu'ils l'assommerent,
c'est la coustume qu'ils en ont; que les Hurons le disoient; & que
le soir auparauant il mangeoit bien, & en bonne quantité de ce que
nous luy donnions; outre que deux Algonquains nous asseurerent, qu'on
estoit dans la pensée de le trépaner d'vn coup ou deux de hache. Vostre
Reuerence a veu ou sceu de semblables cas en son hyuernement auec les
Sauuages. En vn mot, il faut se resoudre à beaucoup de dangers euidens,
& de grandes fatigues, qui veut venir icy. I'attribue neantmoins toutes
ces difficultez extraordinaires à la maladie de nos Sauuages. Car
nous sçauons assez combien les maladies alterent les humeurs, & les
complexions mesmes des plus sociables. Ie ne sçay pas à quel prix nos
François, & les Montagnais [134] en aurõt esté quittes. Biẽ sçay je
que la pluspart des Mõtagnais qui estoient aux trois Riuieres quand
nous-nous embarquasmes, estoient malades, & que plusieurs en mouroient;
comme aussi, qu'il n'est quasi point reuenu de canot de la traitte,
qui n'aye esté affligé de ceste contagiõ. Elle a esté si vniuerselle
parmy les Sauuages de nostre cognoissance, que ie ne sçay si aucun
en a euité les atteintes. Tous ces pauures gents en ont esté fort
incommodez, notamment pendant l'Automne, tant en leurs pesches qu'en
leurs moissons. Plusieurs bleds sont demeurez sous les neiges, grand
nombre de personnes sont mortes; il y en a encore à present qui ne
sont pas gueris. Cette maladie commençoit par des ardeurs violentes,
qui estoient suiuies d'vne espece de rougeolle, ou petite verolle,
differente [135] toutesfois de celle de Frãce, accompagnée en plusieurs
d'aueuglement pour quelques iours, ou obscurcissement de veuë, & en fin
se terminoit en vn flux de ventre, qui en a conduit plusieurs, & en
conduit encore quelques-vns au tombeau.
Sometimes a word, or a dream, or a fancy, or even the smallest
sense of inconvenience, is enough to cause them to illtreat, or
set ashore, and I dare say to murder one,--as happened last year
to a poor Algonquain, who was abandoned in a rapid by his own
nephew; and, not a month ago, a poor young man, also an Algonquain,
having fallen into the fire, was killed near our village by his
own Tribesmen, for fear he might [133] be an inconvenience in the
canoe. What makes me believe they killed him is that it is the
custom among them; that the Hurons said so; and that, the evening
before, he ate heartily a good quantity of what we gave him;
besides, two Algonquains assured us that they had a mind to brain
him with one or two blows of an axe. Your Reverence has seen or
known of similar cases in your winter's stay among the Savages. In
a word, he who thinks of coming here must make up his mind to many
obvious dangers and to great fatigues. I attribute, nevertheless,
all these extraordinary difficulties to the sickness among our
Savages. For we know very well how sickness alters the disposition
and the inclinations even of the most sociable. I know not at what
price our French and the Montagnais [134] will have become rid of
it. I know, indeed, that the greater part of the Montagnais who
were at the three Rivers when we embarked were sick, and that many
of them died; and also that almost no one who returned by canoe
from trading, was not afflicted with this contagion. It has been
so universal among the Savages of our acquaintance that I do not
know if one has escaped its attacks. All these poor people have
been much inconvenienced by it, particularly during the Autumn,
as much in their fishing as in their harvesting. Many crops are
lying beneath the snow; a large number of persons are dead; there
are still some who have not recovered. This sickness began with
violent fever, which was followed by a sort of measles or smallpox,
different, [135] however, from that common in France, accompanied
in several cases by blindness for some days, or by dimness of
sight, and terminated at length by diarrhœa which has carried off
many and is still bringing some to the grave.
Parmy ces peines & dangers, nous auons de grandes obligations à la
prouidence & bonté paternelle de nostre Seigneur: car ny par les
chemins, ny dedans le Pays, pas vn de nous n'a esté pris de ce mal,
ny cedé à la faim, ou perdu l'appétit. Quelques-vns ont eu du depuis
quelque legere atteinte de maladie, mais cela s'est passé en peu de
iours. Nostre Seigneur soit loüé à iamais, & la tres-immaculée Vierge,
auec son tres-chaste Espoux, de cette singuliere faueur, qui nous a
beaucoup aidé pour authoriser nostre Foy parmy ces Peuples.
Among these troubles and dangers, we owe much to the care and
fatherly goodness of our Lord; for neither on the journey hither,
nor while in this Country, has one of us been taken with this
sickness, nor yielded to hunger, nor lost appetite. Some have had
since then light attacks of sickness, but they have passed away in
a few days. Our Lord be forever praised, and the most immaculate
Virgin with her most chaste Spouse, for this singular favor, which
has aided us much in giving authority to our Faith among these
Peoples.