_TOBACCO OFFERINGS._
1808.
It was a beautiful moonlight evening in August. A shadowy haze
lingered over the river, which glistened and sparkled in the
moonlight. The Chief and several members of his family were seated
on the beach in front of the Wigwam listening to the Honorable Joseph
Papineau, who, with his son, Louis Joseph, had come up in a canoe to
see the falls. The former had recently purchased from Bishop Laval
the unsettled seigniory of Petit Nation, and had erected an
unpretentious cottage, which he occupied during the summer months.
[Illustration: HON. LOUIS JOSEPH PAPINEAU AND MADAME PAPINEAU. From
Morgan's "Types of Canadian Women" (copyright, 1903), by permission.]
"It was a lovely vision," said Mr. Papineau, who had just performed
the feat of canoeing to the foot of the Chaudiere Falls for the first
time. "On our return we climbed the rugged cliff on the south side,
and never shall I forget the panorama that spread out before us. The
sun, sinking slowly behind the Laurentian hills, had clothed himself
with a robe of splendor. The long reflections lay soft on the waters
of the river below. The clouds of ascending mist from the Chaudiere
took a thousand shades of color as the western sky faded slowly from
crimson into gold and from gold to green and gray, and finally
displayed dark shapes, out of which imagination might well have
formed a thousand monsters.*
* Louis Joseph, afterwards known as the Demosthenes of Canada, and
who almost succeeded in making Canada a Republic, with himself as
President, was evidently much impressed with the scene, which he
described as follows: "Le soleil etait pret decendre sous l'horison,
la mureille tout limpide etait d'une transparence vivre, tout
penetree de lumiere vaguement prismatiseé."
"As we watched the gathering shadows my thoughts went back two
hundred years, to the time when Champlain went on his first trip up
the 'Riviere des Algoumequins,' as he called it. About two years
before he took the trip he sent Nicholas de Vignan, a young
Frenchman, up the river with some friendly Indians, and Nicholas had
returned with the marvellous story that he had reached the North Sea.
He said that the journey could be made in a few days. He also gave
an account of having seen the wreck of an English ship.
"Champlain was completely taken in, and lost no time in starting off
to verify the discovery for which the world had been looking for some
time. His fleet consisted of two canoes with two Indians and three
Frenchmen, one of whom was De Vignan. It was in May, when the river
was at its height. When they reached the Gatineau the Indians told
him that their tribe were often compelled to conceal themselves amid
the hills of the Upper Gatineau from their dreaded enemies, the
Iroquois. When Champlain beheld the twin curtain falls yonder, 'like
a slow dropping veil of the thinnest lawn,' he exclaimed, 'Le Rideau!
Le Rideau!' The Indians told him that the waters formed an arcade
under which they delighted to walk, and where they were only wet by
the spray. As they rounded the lofty headland opposite he saw the
cloud of mist rising from the falls, which the Indians called the
'Asticou,' which means 'Chaudiere' in French, or 'kettle' in English,
for the water has worn out a deep basin into which it rushes with a
whirling motion which boils up in the midst like a kettle.
"You have probably been close enough to have seen it, Madame?" he
said, addressing Mrs. Wright.
"No," she replied, "I have always been too timid to venture so near
to it in a canoe."
"Champlain said," continued Mr. Papineau, "that he paddled as near as
possible to the falls, when the Indians took the canoes and the
Frenchmen and himself carried their arms and provisions. He
described with great feeling the sharp and rugged rocks of the
portages to pass the falls and rapids until at last, in the
afternoon, they embarked upon the peaceful waters of a lake where, he
said, there were very beautiful islands filled with vines and with
walnut and other agreeable trees."
"There are no walnuts on the islands of Lake Chaudiere," interrupted
Bearie, "I am quite sure."
"He probably saw a butternut tree," said young Louis Joseph, "and
thought it produced walnuts."
"Champlain's journey came to an abrupt close a few days afterwards,"
said Mr. Papineau, "when he reached Allumette Island, about seventy
miles farther up the river. There was a large settlement of friendly
Algonquins, called 'Les Sauvages de l'Isle,' and Champlain tried to
obtain several canoes and guides to proceed farther. They, however,
had their own commercial reasons for keeping the French from the
upper country, and they warned him of the danger of meeting the
terrible tribe of the Sorcerers. Champlain said that De Vignan had
passed through all these dangers. The head Chief then said to the
impostor:
"'Is it true that you have said that you have been among the
Sorcerers?'
"After a long pause he said: 'Yes, I've been there.'
"The Indians at once threw themselves upon him with fierce cries as
if they would have torn him to pieces, and the Chief said:
"'You are a bold liar. You know that every night you slept by my
side with my children. How have you the impudence to tell your chief
such lies?'
"The upshot was that Champlain returned down the Ottawa, followed by
an escort of fifty canoes.
"When the party reached the Chaudiere the savages, he said, performed
their mystic rites. After having carried their canoes to the foot of
the Falls, they gathered in a certain spot where one of them,
provided with a wooden dish, passed it round, and each one placed in
the dish a piece of tobacco.
"The collection finished, the dish was placed in the midst of the
band and all danced around it, chanting after their fashion. Then
one of the chiefs delivered a harangue, explaining that from olden
times they had always made such an offering, and that by this means
they are protected from their enemies and saved from misfortune, for
so the devil persuades them. Then the same chief took the dish and
proceeded to throw the tobacco into the Chaudiere, amid the loud
shoutings of the band. 'They are so superstitious,' said Champlain,
'that they do not believe that they can make a safe journey if they
have not performed this ceremony in this particular place.'
[Illustration: "The Chief proceeded to throw the tobacco into the
Chaudiere."]
"Ah, Monsieur," Mr. Papineau continued, "it stirred my soul as I
stood on that rocky cliff and thought of how many canoes of heroic
missionaries, Indian braves and cheery voyageurs have paddled these
waters and torn their feet on the rocky shores, going, some of them
to death and some to tortures worse than death. As we drifted down
with the current in the moonlight the gentle breeze in the pines
along the shore seemed to be whispering sad tales of other days."
Mr. Papineau, who had spoken with such animation and fluency,
relapsed into silence for several minutes, then, rousing himself,
said, with even greater enthusiasm and vigor:
"Providence has crowned our lives with great blessing since the
heroic Daulac struck the death-blow to the power of the Iroquois in
this country, and since the English undertook the responsibility of
its government. Though I am proud of the fact that every bone and
muscle, nerve and sinew within me is French, though I dearly love my
Mother Country and my fellow countrymen, I have no hesitation in
making the solemn assertion that our country has enjoyed a greater
degree of prosperity under the new regime than it ever did under the
old. But it must ever be remembered that much of the foundation of
that prosperity was laid in the blood of the early French martyrs and
in the heroic achievements of the early French settlers."
It seemed incredible to the visitors that in a settlement of so
recent date their host should have been able to show them a
grist-mill, a saw-mill, a vegetable alkali factory, a tannery, a
small foundry, a tailor shop, a bakery, a general store, and a
hemp-mill, giving employment to over one hundred men.
Fortunately for the pioneers of the Ottawa, they were not dependent
upon the small revenue derived from the cultivation of the land, but
had other resources which afforded them much greater remuneration.
The British Navy, which hitherto had been dependent upon Russia for
its cordage and lumber, had to look elsewhere for its supply of hemp
and timber, owing to the ports of the Baltic having been closed to
British ships.
The price of hemp having risen from £25 to £118 per ton, they
undertook the cultivation of it, and raised over three-fourths of the
amount raised in Lower Canada at that time. The exportation of
lumber and vegetable alkali, or potash, were also great sources of
revenue. In the new clearances were tons of wood ashes from which
the lye was extracted and boiled till it looked like molten iron, a
barrel of which sold at that time for thirty dollars.
Prosperity and success crowned every commercial enterprise upon which
they ventured until fire swept every mill, factory and dwelling in
the thriving little village out of existence, including thousands of
dollars in cash in a small safe in the office, quantities of wheat,
hemp, sawn lumber, laths and general merchandise.
As there was no compensation in the way of insurance, the loss was
much felt.
Philemon Wright was not the man to be deterred from climbing the
ladder of success, even though he had to mount it by the rungs of
adverse circumstances. Though the loss sustained was great, almost
overwhelming, he rose above it with a courage which yielded not to
disappointment or failure.
The cause of the fire long remained a mystery. That it was the work
of an incendiary was beyond question. Various theories were
advocated by the settlers, but suspicion rested upon Machecawa, who,
it was alleged, had been seen by the bookkeeper at a late hour
lingering about the mills, a suspicion which gained no credence with
the Chief and his family.