the time predicted, his friends and relatives even hasten his
death by pouring jars of cold water over his stomach. Such is the
piety of these servants of Satan. Thus, no doubt because he is
always deceitful, the soothsayer never appears to deceive himself;
although this lying race of prophets have lost much of their
authority since the coming of the French, and now universally
complain that their Devils have lost much of their power, [16] if
compared with what it is said to have been in the time of their
Ancestors. They so completely bury the very remembrance of the dead
with their bodies that they will not even suffer their names to be
mentioned afterwards. Of the one supreme GOD they have a certain
slender notion, but they are so perverted by false ideas and by
custom, that, as I have said, they really worship the Devil. To
obtain the necessaries of life they endure cold and hunger in an
extraordinary manner. During eight or ten days, if the necessity
is imposed on them, they will follow the chase in fasting, and
they hunt with the greatest ardor when the snow is deepest and
the cold most severe. And yet these same Savages, the offspring,
so to speak, of Boreas and the ice, when once they have returned
with their booty and installed themselves in their tents, become
indolent and unwilling to perform any labor whatever, imposing
this entirely upon the women. The latter, besides the onerous rôle
of bearing and rearing the children, also transport the game from
the place where it has fallen; they are the hewers of wood and
drawers of water; they make and repair the household utensils;
they prepare food; they skin the game and prepare the hides like
fullers; they sew garments; they catch fish and gather shellfish
for food; often [17] they even hunt; they make the canoes, that is,
skiffs of marvelous rapidity, out of bark; they set up the tents
wherever and whenever they stop for the night--in short, the men
concern themselves with nothing but the more laborious hunting and
the waging of war. For this reason almost every one has several
wives, and especially the Sagamores, since they cannot maintain
their power and keep up the number of their dependents unless they
have not only many children to inspire fear or conciliate favor,
but also many slaves to perform patiently the menial tasks of every
sort that are necessary. For their wives are regarded and treated
as slaves. These Savages are extremely liberal toward each other;
no one is willing to enjoy any good fortune by himself, but makes
his friends sharers in the larger part of it; and whoever receives
guests at what they call a Tabagie does not himself sit down with
the others, but waits on them, and does not reserve any portion
of the food for himself but distributes all; so that the host is
constrained to suffer hunger during that day, unless some one of
his guests takes pity on him [18] and gives him back a portion of
what remains over from his own share. And they have often shown
the same liberality toward the French, when they have found them
in distress. For they have learned from us that, toward others
than these, whether here or in the ships, nothing is readily given
away. They hunt after the lice in their heads and regard them as a
dainty. They are most importunate beggars and, after the fashion
of beggars and needy people, they are hypocritical--contradicting,
flattering and lying to achieve their ends. But when once they have
gotten their fill they go off, mocking the French and everybody
else at a distance and secretly laughing at everything, even the
religion which they have received. They set up their tents easily
and quickly in any place with branching stakes, which they cover
either with bark or skins or even with mats. The fire is built in
the middle. But this is enough, and more than enough, regarding the
country and the people, especially as I send an accurate Map of the
region, a single glance at which will make clear whatever I have
said regarding the geography of land and sea.[12]
NVNC ad id venio, quod secundo loco proposui, vt scilicet explicem,
quanam tandem via Societas missionem in hanc prouinciam obtinuerit.
Et quidem nostri [19] Burdigalenses pro suo animarum zelo à multis
retro annis huc respectârant, huc intenderant, vt miseræ nationi opem
ferrent: sed pios eorum & ardentes conatus, quos periculi facies non
terreret, diu subsidiorum ad agendum inopia frustrata est. Restituta
demum in Galliam Societate, agere seriò per P. Cotonum cum Magno
Henrico cœperunt, sibi vt liceret in his quoque regionibus laborare,
& amplexus est Rex Societatis amans tam piam & propensam voluntatem,
sed nihilominus tamen vtilibus consilijs longa adhuc & odiosa mora
interuenit. Nulli adhuc Galli regionem incolebant, commorandi animo, &
qui antè à Rege missus fuerat, explorandi tentandíque caussâ, alienus
à sacris nostris erat, & ijs postmodum rebus, non solùm infectis, sed
etiam prope desperatis domum in Galliam redijt: iussit tamen Princeps
inuictus ne desponderemus animum, mittendi solùm destinarentur,
moniturum se cùm maturum foret; atque adeò vt arrha quædam esset
sponsionis, pecuniam ex eo tēpore in [20] viaticum assignauit. Sed
hæc agentibus, ecce pij Regis funesta mors intercedit. Nō defuit DEVS
sub idem anni tempus: ad nouum regem nuntij rediêrunt ab eo, qui anno
superiore in has sibi terras coloniā depoposcerat.
Now I shall enter upon my second topic and explain by what means
the Society finally secured the sending of a mission to this
province. It is true that our adherents at [19] Bordeaux, in their
zeal for the saving of souls, had looked forward to this, and
had aimed at this for many years back, namely, at bringing help
to this wretched race. But their pious and ardent efforts, which
recoiled before no danger, were long frustrated by lack of means
for prosecuting them. When our Society was at last re-admitted
into France, they began to negotiate in earnest with Henry the
Great, through Father Coton, to obtain permission to labor in
these regions also, and the King, so full of good-will toward
our Society, espoused this pious and important project; but,
nevertheless, the taking of active steps was preceded by a long and
vexatious delay. No Frenchmen as yet inhabited this region with the
purpose of settling here, and such as had been sent by the King as
explorers and in a tentative way, being indifferent to our holy
aims, had soon returned to France, leaving these things not only
unaccomplished but even almost hopeless. But our Prince, undeterred
by these considerations, bade us be of good heart, and promised,
if we would but designate those who were to be sent, that he would
let us know when he deemed the time opportune; and, as an earnest
of his promise, from that time forward he assigned to us a sum of
money for the [20] voyage. But at this point, unhappily, occurred
the tragic death of the King. Yet at this very season GOD came to
our help. Some messengers came to the new king from the man who
last year solicited the royal permission to found a colony in this
country.
Is est Ioannes Biencurtius, vulgò Potrincurtius, nobilis & magni animi
vir. Ergo accepta occasione agitur cum Regina Regente Maria Medicæa,
maximæ pietatis heroina, vt quæ maritus tanta virtute destinâsset,
per eam efficerentur, daretur locus duobus è Nostris in eâ naui,
quæ proximè huc esset ventura. Annuit Regina, munificéque respondit
desiderio. Ergo statim ex Aquitania euocatus Sacerdos vnus, alter ex
ipsa Francia desumptus. Sed ecce rursum moras, rursum sese Sathanas
excitat. Dieppâ erat soluendum, & ea nauis, quæ huc vela faciebat ita
erat mercatoribus Hæreticis obnoxia, vt sine ipsis commouere se non
posset. Ergo ij simul ac Nostros vident, negant enimuerò præcisè sese
passuros, vt rudens expediatur, si Iesuitæ nauigaturi sint. Obtenditur
[21] Reginæ imperium, interponitur etiam Gubernatoris auctoritas.
Itur, reditúrque ad Reginam, & ab ea literæ, mandatáque afferuntur,
sed obstinationem hæreticam, vt Ecclesiæ, ita nec Regum frangit
aut permouet auctoritas. Hæc peruicacia benignissimorum Principum
illustriorē pietatam fecit. Namque Antonia Pontia Marchionissa
Guercheuilia matrona clarissima, & vt appellant, filiarum Reginæ
gubernatrix, vbi has tricas audijt, pro suo in DEVM & Societatem
amore, non dubitauit à maximis quibusqʒ totius curiæ eleemosynam
petere eo nomine, vt victâ hæreticorum contumaciâ Iesuitis liceret in
has terras proficisci. Nec difficile ei fuit, in pia caussa suapte
sponte propensam Catholicorum Principum benignitatem allicere: breui
summa confecta est librarum quatuor millium. Ea & hæreticorum repulit
iniquitatem, & Nostros in nauim non iam vt hospites, sed vt magna ex
parte Dominos, potentésqʒ imposuit. Ita nimirum Christus, vt solet, per
hostium impugnationem cōfirmauit suos, [22] per iniquitatem auxilijs
necessarijs instruxit, & per machinationes, atque opprobria è tenebris
atque ignobilitate vindicauit: ipsi gloria in sæcula. Amen.
This man is Jean Biencourt, commonly called Potrincourt, of noble
birth and a magnanimous man. Accordingly, seizing this opportunity,
we made overtures to the Queen Regent, Marie de Médicis, that most
pious and exalted lady, begging her to execute what her husband
had so piously purposed by giving a place to two of our Fathers
in the ship which was to sail shortly for this place. The Queen
assented, and responded to our request most liberally. Accordingly
one Priest was immediately summoned from Aquitaine, and another was
chosen in France. But lo! Satan rouses himself again, and again
interposes new delay. We were to sail from Dieppe, but the ship
that was to bear us to this country was so completely under the
influence of Heretical merchants that it could not stir without
their consent. Accordingly, as soon as they saw our Priests they
refused outright to let the ship sail if the Jesuits were to embark
in it. The order of the [21] Queen was alleged, and the authority
of the Governor was interposed. Recourse was had to the Queen, and
letters and orders were obtained from her; but even Royal authority
is, like that of the Church, unable to break or bend heretical
obstinacy. This stubborn resistance lent all the more lustre to the
piety of our benignant Rulers. For Antoinette de Pons, Marchioness
de Guercheville, a most illustrious lady, and governess to the
daughters of the Queen, on learning these petty hindrances did
not hesitate, in her love for GOD and for our Society, to ask in
his name for aid from some of the greatest men in the council of
this realm, that the contumacy of the heretics might be subdued
and the Jesuits permitted to sail to this land. Nor did she have
any difficulty in gaining the good-will of the Catholic Princes,
inclined of their own accord to sympathize with this holy cause;
in a word, the sum of four thousand livres was collected. This
not only put an end to the iniquitous resistance of the heretics,
but gave our Priests the influence of Masters rather than of mere
passengers in the ship. Thus, no doubt Christ, as usual, has
strengthened his own followers through the attacks of enemies;[22]
through their iniquity he has furnished aid to his own children and
protected them from the darkness and the baseness of their foes,
even through their intrigues and insult; his be the glory forever
and ever. Amen.
Dieppâ soluimus incommodissimo tempore, vigesimo sexto Ianuarij Anni
huius CIↃ.IↃD.XI. Nauis erat non magna, & haud satis instructa,
nautæ ex magna parte hæretici; & vt hyeme in procelloso mari, multis
grauissimísqʒ tempestatibus perfuncti sumus, tenuítqʒ nauigatio
menses ipsos quatuor. Ex quibus apparet, quàm multa omnis generis
perferenda fuerint. Certè alter nostrûm magnam itineris partem
æger, debilitatúsque iacuit. Conati tamen sumus consueta Societatis
munia exhibere. Manè ac vespere ad orationem vectores conuocabantur
quotidie: festis etiam officia quædam Ecclesiastica decantabantur;
sæpe habebantur cohortationes piæ, interdum nonnullæ cum hæreticis
disputationes: iurandi cōsuetudo & verborū lasciuia reprimebatur. Non
omittebantur multa simul humilitatis, simul charitatis exempla.
We sailed from Dieppe in a most unfavorable season, on the 26th
of January, of this year 1611. The ship was not large and was
insufficiently equipped; the sailors were mostly heretics. As it
was winter and the sea was stormy, we encountered many severe
tempests and the voyage lasted four whole months, from which
it is apparent how many sufferings of every kind we underwent.
Indeed, during the greater portion of the voyage one or the other
of us lay sick and debilitated. Yet we attempted to discharge
the usual duties, of our Society. Morning and evening, every
day, the passengers were called together for prayer; on holidays
certain Ecclesiastical services were held, pious exhortations were
frequently made, and sometimes disputations with the heretics
took place. The habit of swearing and using obscene language was
repressed. Nor were there wanting many examples of humility and of
charity.
[23] Denique illud DEI beneficio obtentum est, vt Hæretici, qui nos
antè velut monstra è suorū videlicet ore Ministrorum reputabant, non
solùm agnouerint suorum in hac re impostorum malitiam, sed etiam
multis postea locis laudum nostrarum prædicatores extiterint; hic ergo
summatim fuit noster in has terras ingressus.
[23] Finally, with GOD'S blessing, we brought the Heretics, who,
evidently through the preaching of their own Pastors, regarded us
as monsters, to recognize the malice of these impostors in this
matter, so that they afterwards on many occasions stood up to
proclaim our praises. Such, in brief, was our voyage to this land.
SEQVITVR iam ex initio propositis tertium, nimirum vt exponatur, quonam
tandē loco rem Christianam his in locis offenderimus. Certé ante hoc
tempus vix vnquam à Gallis vacatum fuit conuertēdis incolarum ad
Christum animis. Obstabant multa. Nam & peregrinabantur huc tantùm, non
cōmorabantur: & qui commorari voluerunt, tam aduersis conflictati sunt
casibus, vt ei rei dare operam sanè multam non potuerint. Deuehebantur
duntaxat interdum nonnulli in Galliam, ibíq; baptizabantur, sed ijdem
vt nec satis instituti, & à pastoribus destituti, simul ac in has oras
remigrauerant, ad solita prorsus & vsitata reuoluebantur. Appulimus
huc nos [24] vigesimâ secundâ Maij, ipso sacro Pentecostes die, anni
huius CIↃ.IↃC.XI. Quo duntaxat anno is, quem sæpius appellare necesse
est, D. Potrincurtius ad sedes hîc domiciliúmqʒ figendum peruenerat,
secúmqʒ Sacerdotem sæcularem aduexerat. Is Sacerdos per eum annum
dicitur capita ferè centum baptimo initiauisse; in his celebrem inter
Sagamos, & de quo nos infra plura dicemus, Henricum Membertou cum
familia vniuersa, hoc est cum tribus liberis iam cōiugibus. Sed, vt
fit, cùm nec Sacerdos ipse, nec alius quisquam linguam nôsset, nisi
quātum attinet ad vitæ & mercimoniorum necessitatem, erudiri videlicet
neophyti non potuerunt.
NOW FOLLOWS the third of the topics proposed in the beginning--the
setting forth, namely, of the condition in which we found the
Christian religion in this country. Certainly before this time
scarcely any attention has ever been given by the French to
converting the souls of the natives to Christ. There have been many
obstacles. For the French only wandered through these regions, but
did not remain here, and those who wished to remain were harassed
by so many calamities that they assuredly could not give much
thought to this matter. Some natives, it is true, were occasionally
brought to France and baptized there, but these not being
sufficiently instructed, and finding themselves without shepherds
as soon as they returned to these shores, immediately resumed their
former habits and traditions. We landed here [24] on the 22nd of
May, on the holyday of Pentecost of this year 1611. In this very
same year Sieur Potrincourt, whom I shall have occasion to mention
several times, had come here to establish himself permanently, and
had brought a secular Priest with him. This Priest, it is said,
baptized nearly a hundred persons during the year, among them one
of the most celebrated of the Chiefs, of whom we shall have to
speak again later, Henry Membertou, with his whole family, that is,
three children already married. But, since neither this Priest nor
any one else knew their language, save so far as pertains to the
merest necessities of intercourse and trade, the neophytes could of
course not be instructed in our doctrines.
Baptismum accipiebant velut sacrum aliquod signum similitudinis &
confœderationis cum Gallis. De Christo, de Ecclesia, de Fide ac
Symbolo, mandatis DEI, oratione ac Sacramentis vix quidquam nouerant,
ignari & crucis efformandæ, & ipsius nominis Christiani. Itaque nunc
vulgò sciscitantibus nobis, Christianus es? negat optimus quisque, [25]
scire se quid rogetur. Mutata interrogatione quærentibus, baptizatus
es? Annuit vero ac propemodum sese iam Nortmannum pronuntiat; nam
Gallos ferè omnes Nortmannos appellitant. De cætero nulla omnino in
Christianis à Gentilium ritu mutatio. Iidem mores, consuetudo & vita,
idem chorearum, rituum, cantuum, atque adeò veneficiorum vsus, prorsus
antiqua omnia. De vno DEO & bonorum retributione docti sunt aliqua, sed
quæ se ipsi semper ita audiuisse & credidisse profiteantur. Sacellum
reperimus vnum valde angustum & miserum, sed nec profectò reliqua
habitatio, vt in principijs, aut valde laxa aut commoda est.
They accepted baptism as a sort of sacred pledge of friendship and
alliance with the French. As regards Christ, the Church, the Faith
and the Symbol, the commandments of GOD, prayer and the Sacraments,
they knew almost nothing; nor did they know the sign of the cross
or the very name of Christian. So, even now, whenever we ask any
one, "Are you a Christian?" every one of them answers that he does
not understand what [25] we are asking him. But when we change
the form of our question and ask, "Are you baptized?" he assents
and declares himself to be already almost a Norman, for they call
the French in general Normans. In other respects there is almost
no change from the religion of the Gentiles to Christianity. They
keep up the same manners and traditions and mode of life, the same
dances and rites and songs and sorcery; in fact, all their previous
customs. Concerning the one GOD and the reward of the just, they
have learned some things, but they declare that they had always
heard and believed thus. We found one little chapel here, a very
small and poor one, but the other dwellings also, as is to be
expected among new settlers, are by no means large or commodious.
Vnica hîc adest D. Potrincurtij familia, sine feminis capita sumus
viginti. Nos duo é Societate tuguriolum habemus ligneum, in quo vix
positâ mensâ commouere nos possumus. Et reliqua sunt huic certè
habitationi ac nostræ professioni, hoc est, paupertati cōsentanea.
Vtinam ab humilibus principijs exurgat aliquādo, & efflorescat salus
animorum; [26] huc incumbimus, sed vt languidi cultores non magno
successu, qualis tamen, quantúsque is fuerit, hoc mihi iam narrandum
est, quoniam id iam explicui, quod tertium erat ex propositis,
videlicet quonam in statu vineam hanc seu potiùs virgultum offenderimus.
Sieur Potrincourt's family is the only one here; without the women
we number twenty. We two of the Society have a wooden cabin in
which we can scarcely turn around when we have a table in it.
And everything else is certainly in keeping with our dwelling
and our vocation in life, that is, poverty. God grant that from
these humble beginnings may rise and greatly flourish the work of
salvation; [26] to this we bend all our efforts, though, as we are
but feeble workers, with no great success. What the nature and
extent of this success has been I must now relate, since I have
already treated my third topic, namely, the description of the
state in which we found this vineyard, or rather this wildwood.
PERVENIMVS huc (sicut antè numeratum est) vigesimâ secundâ Maij. Itaque
non multo plus hodie, quàm septem menses hic commorati sumus. Per hoc
igitur tempus, & domi aliqua gesta sunt, & foris. Domi primùm dedimus
operam, vt pro nostris viribus officium Ecclesiasticum ne deesset. Nam
Sacerdos ille, qui huc ante nos aduenerat, à nostro statim aduētu in
Galliam sua ipse sponte & pro veteri desiderio remigrauit. Dominicis
festísque diebus solemnem missam & vesperas decantamus, cohortamur,
& nonnunquam procedimus, ipsis etiam nostrorum siluicolarum pueris
cereos, vrceos, aut aliud quid pium, quando hîc adsunt, præferentibus.
Ita enim paulatim nostris ceremonijs assuescunt. Solemnior ea processio
fuit, qua [27] sanctissimum Sacramentum festo ipsi die cumtulimus. Ipse
enim D. Potrincurtius sedulitatem in eo nostram collaudauit, sicut &
in sacello, quantum potest, in tanta paupertate coornando. Et quoniam
animaduertimus eos, qui antè baptizati essent, vix aliud quidquam cum
baptismate, nisi periculum maius suscepisse, prolectationem illam
proiectionémqʒ ad baptisma quomodocumqʒ offerendum reiecimus, in eóque
perstamus, ne quis adultus ante necessariam suæ fidei professionísque
cognitionem initietur. Ita cùm adhuc ignari linguæ simus, neque
per vllum interpretem enuntiare sacra nostra, aut scriptis mandare
potuerimus, quantacumque in eo sit opera, vti sanè posita est plurima
cursus nimirum Euangelij in his hactenus hæret vadis ac syrtibus.
Id suademus, vt infantes ad nos lustrandi afferantur, quod etiam
DEI beneficio iam cœpit fieri. Duos baptizauimus, & tertiam puellam
circiter nouennem. Hæc puella non magis morbo, quàm esurie neglectúque
contabescebat; solet enim hæc natio facilè desperare medicinam, [28]
& desperatos prorsum abijcere, vt antè dictum est. Ergo hanc ita
depositam à cognatis deposcimus ad baptismum, illi verò perlibenter
eam nobis concedere, non ad baptismum solùm, sed etiam ad voluntatem,
vt quæ, inquiebant, instar iam esset canis mortui. At nos, vt specimen
daremus Christianæ pietatis, in separatum eam transtulimus tuguriolum,
ibíqʒ eam aluimus & curauimus ipsi sedulò, institutámque quantum
extremo periculo conflictanti necesse esset, abluimus aquâ salutari.
Nono demum pòst die abeuntem ad superos læta spe sumus prosecuti, cùm
gauderemus cœlo iam nonnihil nostri laboris placere. Lætior exitus in
alio fuit, sed exemplum non dissimile charitatis: hic est, secundò
genitus celebris illius Sagami Membertou, quem antè diximus primū
omnium Soricorum nostra sacra suscepisse.
WE ARRIVED here, as already noted, on the 22nd of May. Accordingly,
we have now sojourned here a little more than seven months. During
this period we have accomplished some work both at home and
abroad. Our first efforts we expended at home, so that, as far as
it lay in our power, there might be no interruption of Religious
services. For the secular Priest who had preceded us here,
immediately on our arrival, of his own free will and in accordance
with a long-cherished desire, had returned to France. On Sundays
and holydays we celebrate solemn mass and vespers; we preach and
sometimes have processions, the boys of our children of the forest
carrying before us, when they are present here, tapers and censers
and other sacred utensils. For thus, little by little, they become
accustomed to our ceremonies. Our procession was, however, a more
solemn one on the day of Corpus Christi when we carried about the
[27] blessed Sacrament. Sieur Potrincourt himself praised highly
our efforts in this, as well as in adorning our chapel as much as
we could, in spite of our great poverty. Since we have observed
that those who had been previously baptized had gotten scarcely
anything else through their baptism than increased peril, we have
restrained this eager inclination to administer this sacrament
without discrimination, and we insist that no adult person shall
receive it until he has the necessary understanding of his faith
and his profession. So, as we have thus far been ignorant of the
language and have been unable to explain our doctrines through any
interpreter, or to commit them to writing, howsoever great a labor
that may prove--and it will certainly prove a great one--the course
of the Gospel is, up to this point, embarrassed by these shoals and
quicksands. We try to persuade the savages to bring their babes to
us for baptism; and this, with GOD'S blessing, they are beginning
to do. We have baptized two boys, and a girl about nine years
old. This girl was wasting away as much from hunger and neglect
as from sickness; for this people very readily despair [28] of
relief in sickness, and, as previously stated, soon abandon those
whose recovery is deemed hopeless. Thus, when this girl was given
up by her relatives, we asked that she be given us for baptism.
They very willingly gave her to us, not only for baptism but to
dispose of at our pleasure as being, they said, no longer of more
value than a dead dog. But we, to show them an example of Christian
piety, carried her to a separate cabin and there fed her and cared
for her; and, after teaching her as much as was necessary for one
struggling with death, we cleansed her with the saving waters. On
her death, nine days later, we entertained the glad hope that our
labor had found some favor in heaven. We soon found opportunity for
another deed of charity not dissimilar to this, though its result
was more auspicious. This was in the case of the second son of that
famous Chief Membertou, whom I have already mentioned as having
received our doctrines first of all the Soriquois.