Part 6

Their whole religion consists of certain incantations, dances and sorcery, which they have recourse to, it seems, either to procure the necessaries of life or to get rid of their enemies; they have Autmoinos, that is, medicine-men, who consult the evil Spirit regarding life and death and future events; and the evil spirit [great beast] often presents himself before them, as they themselves assert, approves or disapproves their schemes of vengeance, promises them the death of their enemies or friends, or prosperity in the chase, and other mockeries of the same sort. To make these complete they [15] even have faith in dreams; if they happen to awake from a pleasing and auspicious dream, they rise even in the middle of the night and hail the omen with songs and dances. They have no temples, sacred edifices, rites, ceremonies or religious teaching, just as they have no laws, arts or government, save certain customs and traditions of which they are very tenacious. If the Medicine-man predicts that a certain person will die before a fixed date, this man is deserted by all; and, in his misery, feeling certain of impending death, he voluntarily condemns himself to suffer hunger and complete neglect, apparently that he may not seem to contend against fate.

Quin etiam si fortè ad præstitutam diem, vt sæpe fit, moribundus non videatur, pro se quisqʒ proximi vrceis frigidæ in ventrem miseri inuergendis celerant mortem. Hæc pietas est Sathanæ mancipijs: ita quoque nimirùm, quia semper fallax est, diuinus nunquam fallit; quāquam natio ista deceptrix aruspicum multum iam de auctoritate suá ab aduētu Gallorum amisit; passimque nunc quiritantur suos iam Diabolos viribus exidisse, [16] præut quidam ferūt Patrum suorum fuisse temporibus. Mortuorum ita cum corpore sepeliunt memoriam, vt ne nomen quidem deinceps audire sustineant. DEI quidem vnius supremi tenuem quandam habent cognitionem, verumtamen affectibus & vsu deprauati nihilo seciùs, vt dixi, Cacodæmonem etiam colunt; ob vitæ commoda, algoris & inediæ patientes sunt supra modum. Octo, decem dies, si fors ita exigat, feram ieiuni persequūtur, summis niuibus frigoribúsqʒ tum maximè ardet venatio. Et tamen hi ipsi Boreâ, vt sic dicam, & crystallo nati, vbi semel sub suis tugurijs cum præda consederunt, inertes illico, & cuiusuis laboris impatientes fiunt: feminis mandant omnia: hæ præter onerosam liberorum educationē, gestationémque, insuper feram ex eo loco vbi ceciderit, aduehunt: hæ lignatum & aquatum eunt hæ supellectilem conficiunt, curántque: cibos apparant, feras excoriant, pelles fullonis arte conficiunt, vestimenta consuunt, piscantur & conchas maximè ad cibum legunt, sæpe [17] etiam venantur: hæ canoas, hoc est cymbulas miræ celeritatis è cortice compingunt, tuguriola, vbi & quando pernoctandum est, ædificant: denique præter laboriosiorem venationem & bella nihil aliud quidquam viris est pensi. Hac de caussa plures ferè vxores quisque habet, Sagami maximè, vt qui potentiam suam & concursum pluriū tanquam clientium tueri nequeant, non solùm sine pluribus liberis, qui valeant ad terrorem & gratiam, sed etiam sine pluribus mancipijs, quæ necessaria vitæ officia & exequantur & tolerent. Nam feminas mancipiorum loco habent, tractántqʒ. Inter se mirificè liberales sūt, nihil quisquam aut fortunarum, aut sibi habere sustineat, quin partem maximā astantibus eroget, quin etiam qui Tabagiam agit, vt loquūtur, hoc est qui conuiuio alios excipit, non accumbit ipse cum reliquis, sed ministrat, neqʒ partem aliquam dapis residuam sibi facit, sed distribuit omnia, ita vt famem cogatur eo die conuiuator pati, nisi quis inuitatorū, ex eo quod sibi superfuerit, miseratus ei [18] retribuat. Et similis apparuit sæpe liberalitas in Gallos aliquo casu oppressos. Nam erga reliquos, aut hîc aut in nauibus agentes didicerunt à nobis non facilè quicquā gratis dare. Pedunculos capitis quæsitant, & in delicijs habent. In mendicando & postulando importunissimi sunt, & qui esse solent mendicorū & inopū mores, falsi, obloquutores, assētatores, vani. Gallos quidē atqʒ omnes gentes cùm semel saturi sunt, longè despiciunt, irridéntqʒ clanculum omnia; etiam religionē, quam susceperint. Tuguriola sua vbiuis facilè ac raptim sudibus ramificè ædificant, & aut cortice aut pellibus aut etiā tegete cōtegunt. Ignis in medio extruitur. Sed hæc iam satis supérque de regione & hominibus, maximè cùm accuratam regionis Chorographiam mittam; ex quo vno intuitu, quidquid de terrarum & maris situ dixi, liquidò apparebit.

If, however, he does not appear to be in a dying condition by 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.