Part 11

Le troisiesme du mesme mois, la femme de nostre Sauuage estant malade, il me vint demander mon canif pour la saigner. Les Sauuages se tirent du sang de la teste. Estant vn iour en vne cabane, vne Sauuage regardant vne escritoire que ie tenois, prit dextrement le canif sans qui ie [65] m'en apperceusse, & s'en fit quelques ouuertures au hault du frond, puis elle me le rendit: ie fus estonné la voyant saigner; elle me dit qu'elle auoit mal à la teste, & qu'elle se vouloit guerir. Or comme ils ont veu nostre façon de saigner, & qu'ils la trouuent bonne, La Nasse me vint prier d'aider en cela sa femme. Ie luy respondis que ie n'y entendois rien: & comme il vouloit prendre mon canif, ie luy dis qu'il attendist au iour suiuant, & que ie prierois le Chirurgien de la venir voir; ce qu'il fit. Ce pendant ie l'allay visiter en sa cabane: il faisoit vn grãd froid, elle estoit teste nue à leur accoustumee, mordant dans vn peloton de nege; c'estoit seulement pour guerir vn gros rhume qui l'estouffoit. Voila les delicatesses du païs. Le lendemain estãt saignee elle ne tarda gueres à aller querir du bois à son ordinaire. Voiez [66] si ceux qui font profession de souffrir quelque chose pour Dieu, ne doiuent pas estre confus voyans de tels exemples.

On the third of the same month, the wife of our Savage being sick, he came to ask me for my knife with which to bleed her. The Savages draw blood from the head. One day when I was in a cabin, a Savage Woman, looking at a writing case, I was holding, adroitly took my penknife, without my [65] perceiving it, and made several openings in the upper part of her forehead, then returned it to me. I was astonished when I saw her bleeding. She told me she had a headache, and wanted to cure it. Now that they have seen our way of bleeding, and believe it to be good, La Nasse came and begged me to aid his wife in the same way. I told him that I knew nothing about it; and, as he wanted to take my knife, I told him to wait until the next day, when I would beg the Surgeon to go and see her, which he did. In the meantime I went to see her in her cabin; it was very cold; she was bareheaded, according to their custom, biting a lump of snow, trying to cure a bad cold which almost choked her! Such are the delicate usages of the country. The next day, after having been bled, she went out to gather wood as usual. Think [66] if those who make a profession of suffering something in the cause of God ought not to feel ashamed, when they see such examples.

Nous n'auons point esté solitaires tout l'hiuer, nombre de Sauuages nous sont venus voir, ils sont passez à grosses bandes deuant nostre maison s'en allans à la chasse de l'Orignac.

We have not been lonely all winter, as a number of Savages have been to see us. They pass by our house in large crowds, going Moose hunting.

Le Prince, & sa mere la Princesse, c'est ainsi que les François appellent vn Sauuage de bonne façon: Vous diriez que ceste famille a ie ne sçay quoy de noble; & s'ils estoient couuerts à la Françoise, ils ne cederoient point en bonne mine à nos gentils-hommes François.

[Among them were] the Prince and his mother, the Princess. It is thus that the French call a fine looking Savage. You would say that this family has something inexpressibly noble about it; and, if they were dressed in the French style, they would not yield in good appearance to our French gentlemen.

Ce ieune homme nous estant venu visiter, ie luy demanday s'il auoit vn fils, & s'il ne seroit pas bien content de nous le donner pour l'instruire, il me dit que ouy; sa mere [67] conduisant vne petite fille, moy croyant que ce fut vn garçon, ie l'appelle, disant à sa grand'mere qu'elle nous le donnast, elle se mit à rire: me doutant que c'estoit vne fille, ie luy dis que nous ne les prenions point, mais qu'il y viendroit quelque iour d'honnestes filles de Frãce pour enseigner leurs filles: alors, me dit-elle, ie donneray celle-cy.

When this young man came to see us, I asked him if he had a son, and if he would not like to give him to us to teach. He answered me "yes." His mother [67] had a little girl with her; and I, thinking that it was a boy, called her, asking her grandmother to give him to us. She began to laugh. Thinking that it might be a girl, I said that we did not take them, but that some day some worthy women would come from France, who would teach their daughters. "Then," said she, "I shall give her to them."

Ie preuois qu'il est tout à fait necessaire d'instruire les filles aussi bien que les garçons, & que nous ne ferons rien ou fort peu, si quelque bõne famille n'a soin de ce sexe; car les garçons que nous aurons éleuez en la cognoissance de Dieu venans à se marier à des filles ou femmes Sauuages accoustumées à courre dans les bois, leurs maris seront obligez de les suiure, & ainsi retomber dans la barbarie, ou bien de les quitter, qui seroit vn autre mal fort dangereux.

I see that it is absolutely necessary to teach the girls as well as the boys, and that we shall do nothing or very little, unless some good household has the care of this sex; for the boys that we shall have reared in the knowledge of God, when they marry Savage girls or women accustomed to wandering in the woods, will, as their husbands, be compelled to follow them and thus fall back into barbarism, or to leave them, another evil full of danger.

[68] N'y a-il point quelque Dame en France, qui ait assez de cœur pour fonder icy vn Seminaire de filles, dõt la conduitte seroit premierement donnée à quelque bõne veufue courageuse, accompagnée de deux braues filles, qui demeureroient en vne maison qu'on pourroit dresser proche de ceste honneste famille qui est icy? Il y a des Dames dans Paris qui emploient tous les ans plus de dix mille francs en leurs menus plaisirs: si elles en appliquoient vne partie pour recueillir les gouttes du sang du Fils de Dieu respandu pour tant d'ames qui se vont perdans tous les iours faute de secours, elles ne rougiroient pas de honte au iour qu'elles paroistront deuant Dieu, pour rendre compte des biens dont il les a faits œconomes: cela est bien plus aisé à dire, qu'à exécuter.

[68] Is there not some Lady in France who has enough courage to found here a Seminary for girls, to be under the care of some good courageous widow, assisted by two brave young women, who would live in a house which might be built near the home of that estimable family that is here? There are Ladies in Paris who yearly spend over ten thousand francs in pocket-money; if they would apply a part of this to gather in the drops of blood that the son of God shed for so many souls that are going astray daily for want of help, then they would not be put to shame when they appear before God, and must give an account of the goods of which he has made them stewards. That is a great deal easier to say than to do.

Le 10. de Ianuier le froid estoit [66 i.e., 69] fort violẽt, Ie ne voy le iour la plus part de l'hyuer qu'au trauers des glaces: il se fait vne crouste de glace sur les chassis de ma cellule ou chambrette, laquelle tombe comme vne losange ou carreau de verre quand le froid se vient à relascher: C'est au travers de ce crystal que le Soleil nous communique sa lumiere. I'ay souuent trouué de gros glaçons attachez le matin à ma couuerture, formez du souffle de l'haleine; & m'oubliant de les oster le matin, ie les trouuois encore le soir: I'en ay quelquefois veu en France, mais peu souuent & bien petits, à comparaison de ceux-cy.

On the 10th of January the cold was [66 i.e., 69] very severe. I see daylight a great part of the winter only through ice. The crusts of ice gather upon the windows of my cell or little room, and fall like a lozenge, or a piece of glass, when the cold relaxes. It is through this crystal that the Sun sends us his light. Several times I have found large pieces of ice, formed by my breath, attached to my blanket in the morning; and, forgetting to shake them off, I found them there still in the evening. I have sometimes seen them in France, but rarely, and they were very small compared with these.

Comme nous n'auons ny fontaine, ny puy, il nous faut aller tous les iours puiser de l'eau à la riuiere, de laquelle nous sommes esloignez enuiron 200 pas: mais pour en auoir, il faut fendre la glace à grands coups [70] de hache, & encor faut-il attendre que la mer monte, car le marée estãt basse, on ne peut auoir d'eau pour l'espaisseur des glaces. Nous iettons ceste eau dans vn poinçon qui n'est pas loing d'vn bon feu; & cependãt il faut auoir vn grand soin tous les matins de rompre la crouste de glace qui se forme dans ce vaisseau, autrement en deux nuicts tout ne seroit qu'vn glaçon, le poinçon fut-il plein.

As we have neither a spring nor a well, we are obliged to go for water every day to the river, from which we are distant about 200 steps. But to get it, we must first break the ice with heavy blows [70] from an axe; and after that we must wait until the sea comes up, for when the tide is low you cannot get water because of the thickness of the ice. We throw this water into a barrel, which is not far from a good fire; and yet we must be careful to break the layer of ice every morning, otherwise, in two nights, it would be one mass of ice, even if the barrel were full.

Vn de nos François ayant soif dãs les bois, & voulant lescher vn peu de neige qui estoit sur vne hache qu'il tenoit, venãt à toucher le fer, sa langue se cola & gela si promptement & si fortement, que venant à retirer soudainement la hache pour le froid qu'il sentoit, il enleua quant & quãt toute la peau de sa langue.

One of our countrymen was thirsty, when in the woods, and so thought to lap a little snow from the axe which he held; when he touched the iron his tongue stuck fast, and froze so quickly and so solidly, that in suddenly withdrawing the axe, on account of the cold that he felt, he at the same time tore almost all the skin from his tongue.

Tout cecy m'auroit quasi fait croire en France que ce pays est insupportable: [71] i'aduouë qu'il y a quelques iours bien serrans & pressans, mais ils sont peu en nombre, le reste est plus que tolerable. On se roule icy sur la neige, comme en France sur l'herbe de nos prairies, pour ainsi dire, ce n'est pas qu'elle ne soit aussi froide comme elle est blanche, mais les iours sont beaux, le Soleil plus chaud qu'en plusieurs endroicts de France; nous sommes, dit-on dans le mesme parallelle que la Rochelle; la moindre action qu'on fait la pluspart du temps bannit la rigueur du froid.

All of this would have almost made me believe in France that this country is unbearable. [71] I admit that some days are very cold and penetrating, but they are few, and the rest are more than tolerable. Here they roll on the snow as they do in France upon the grass of our meadows, so to speak; I do not mean to say that it is less cold than it is white, but the days are fine, and the Sun is warmer than in many parts of France. We are, they say, on the same parallel with la Rochelle. The least exercise we take generally dispels the rigor of the cold.

Combien de fois trouuant quelque colline ou montagne à descendre, me suis-je laissé rouler à bas sur la neige, sans en receuoir autre incommodité, sinon de changer pour vn peu de temps mon habit noir en vn habit blanc, & encore cela se fait-il en riant; car si on ne se soustient bien assis sur ses raquettes, on se blãchit [72] aussi bien la teste, que les pieds.

How often, when coming to a hill or a mountain which I must descend, I have rolled down to the bottom on the snow, experiencing no other discomfort than to change for a little while my black habit for a white one, and all this is done with much laughter. For if you do not stand firmly upon your raquettes, you will whiten [72] your head as well as your feet.

Combien de fois ay-ie fait le mesme sur des glaces fort hautes, qui bordoient la riuiere sur laquelle ie voulois aller? Ce fut vn Sauuage qui m'apprit ce secret cognu de tout le monde: il passoit deuant moy, & voyant que sa teste estoit en danger d'arriuer à la riuiere plustost que ses pieds, il se laissa rouler tout du long des glaces, & moy apres luy: le bon est qu'il ne faut que faire cela vne seule fois, pour sçauoir le mestier. I'auois peur au commencement, car la marée montant, & sousleuant ces grands corps de glaces, les ouure en plusieurs endroits: & quelques boüillons rejallissans sur les bords de la riuiere, font vne glace assez mince sur la plus épaisse: quand vous venez à marcher sur cette premiere glace, elle rompt sous vous: si bien qu'au commencement ie pẽsois que [73] tout alloit fondre, mais ie ne croy pas que des canons fissent bransler la plus grosse glace. Quand on vient sur le printemps, c'est alors qu'il y a du danger de rencontrer quelque ouuerture qui vous fasse couler là dessous.

How many times have I done this also upon the icy heights of the river banks along which I was going. It was a Savage who taught me this trick, known to everybody here; he went ahead of me, and, seeing that his head was in danger of reaching the river before his feet, he let himself roll the whole length of the ice, and I after him. The best of it is that you have only to do it once, in order to understand the trick. I was afraid, at first; for the rising tide, lifting up those great blocks of ice, cracks them in many places, and the water, splashing up on the banks of the river, makes a thin layer of ice over the thicker one. When you try walking upon the thin ice, it breaks under you. The first time I tried it, I thought it [73] was all going to sink under me. But I do not believe that a cannon could crack the thickest ice. When you walk upon it in the spring, it is then that there is danger of stepping into a hole and going under.

Le 12. du mesme mois, vn Sauuage me vint dire que le Pere de Nouë estoit cause d'vn vent qui souffloit: ie luy en demanday la raison; il me dit qu'encore bien que le ciel fut fort rouge au matin, le Pere n'auoit point laissé d'aller trauailler au bois de bõne heure, & que cela estoit cause du vent: Que les Montagnaits voyans le ciel enflammé, se tiennent en repos dans leurs cabanes, & par ce moyen arrestent le vent. I'aduertiray, dit-il, vne autrefois le Pere de Nouë qu'il ne parte point si matin quand le temps sera rouge, & il verra par experience qu'il ne ventera [74] point. Ie me mis à rire, & tachay le mieux que ie peu d'effacer de sa pensée ceste superstition: en fin il s'en mocqua aussi bien que moy; ce n'est pas pourtant qu'il la quitte si aisément, car les Sauuages vous accordent facilement ce que vous leur dites, mais ils ne laissent pas d'agir tousiours à leur façon.

On the 12th of the same month, a Savage came to me, and said that Father de Nouë was the cause of a heavy wind which was blowing; I asked him why. He told me that, although the sky had been very red in the morning, the Father had not failed to go and work in the woods at an early hour, and that that was the cause of the wind; that, when the Montaignaits saw a flaming sky, they remained at rest in their cabins, and so arrested the wind. "I shall warn Father de Nouë," said he, "that another time he should not leave his cabin when the sky is so red; and he will see, by trying it, that the wind will not [74] blow." I began to laugh, and tried by every means in my power to drive this superstition from his mind, and at last he laughed at it just as much as I did. It was not so easy for him to give it up; for the Savages agree very readily with what you say, but they do not, for all that, cease to act upon their own ideas.

Passans de discours en discours, ie luy parlay de Dieu qui a tout fait; car c'est là où ie vise de leur dõner quelque cognoissance de celuy qui leur a donné la vie, afin qu'ils s'en entretiennent les vns les autres, & que les enfans en oyent parler dés leur ieunesse. Luy discourant donc en mon barragoin,& plus souuent par gestes & par signes qu'autrement (car ie parle plus de la main que de la langue) ie luy fis conceuoir quelque chose de la puissance de Dieu: alors il me dit que le Dieu de France estoit [75] bien plus puissant & plus grand Capitaine ou Seigneur que le Dieu de son pays: Car, dit-il, vostre Dieu est grand, & le nostre, ou bien ses enfans viennent d'vn rat d'eau que les Frãçois appellent rat musqué.

Passing on from one subject to another, I talked to him of God, who has made everything; because it is thus I aim to give them some knowledge of him who gave them life, in order that they may talk with each other thereupon, and that the children may hear it spoken of from their youth. Talking to him thus in my jargon, and more frequently by signs and gestures than otherwise (for I talk more with my hands than with my tongue), I made him comprehend something of the power of God. Then he told me that the God of France was [75] a great deal more powerful and a greater Captain or Lord than the God of his country. "For," said he, "your God is great; and ours, or his children at least, come from a water rat which the French call the muskrat."

Mais à propos de musc, les Sauuages n'en peuuent supporter l'odeur: Quelqu'vn m'a dit qu'aiant sur soy quelque chose semblable, ils luy disoient qu'il sentoit mal; aussi tiennent ils cét animal puant, & quelque vieux morceau de graisse leur semblera de bonne odeur. Or iugez maintenant s'il y a des obiects plus conformes à l'odorat les vns que les autres, & si nos fantaisies auec l'accoustumance n'ont pas vn grand pouuoir sur nous.

But, speaking of musk, the Savages cannot bear the odor of it. Some one said to me that once, when he had something about him like musk, they told him he smelled bad. So they hold that this animal has a bad smell, while an old piece of fat would seem to them to have a pleasant odor. Now you may judge if certain things are not more acceptable to the smell of some people than others, and whether our fancies and customs have not great power over us.

Puis que ce Sauuage m'a donné occasion de parler de leur Dieu, ie diray que c'est vn grand erreur de croire que les Sauuages n'ont cognoissance [76] d'aucune diuinité: ie m'étonnois de cela en France, voyant que la nature auoit donné ce sentiment à toutes les autres nations de la terre. Ie confesse que les Sauuages n'ont point de prieres publiques & communes, ny aucun culte qu'ils rendent ordinairemẽt à celuy qu'ils tiennent pour Dieu, & que leur cognoissance n'est que tenebres: mais on ne peut nier qu'ils ne recognoissent quelque nature superieure à la nature de l'homme: comme ils n'ont ny loix, ny police, aussi n'ont-ils aucune ordonnance qui concerne le seruice de ceste nature superieure, chacun fait comme il l'entend: ie ne sçay pas leurs secrets, mais de ce peu que ie vay dire, on verra qu'ils cognoissent quelque diuinité.

As this Savage gave me an occasion to speak of their God, let me say that it is a great mistake to think they have no knowledge [76] of any divinity. When in France I was astonished at that, knowing that Nature has given this sentiment to all other nations of the earth. I confess that the Savages have no public or common prayer, nor any form of worship usually rendered to one whom they hold as God, and their knowledge is only as darkness. But it cannot be denied that they recognize some nature superior to the nature of man. As they have neither laws nor government, therefore there is no ordinance which concerns the service of this superior nature; each one acts according to his own understanding. I do not know their secrets; but, from the little that I am about to say, it will be seen that they recognize some divinity.

Ils disent qu'il y a vn certain qu'ils nomment _Atahocan_, qui a tout fait: parlant vn iour de Dieu dans vne cabane, [77] ils me demanderent que c'étoit que Dieu, ie leur dis que c'estoit celuy qui pouuoit tout, & qui auoit fait le Ciel & la terre: ils commencerent à se dire les vns aux autres _Atahocan, Atahocan_, c'est _Atahocan_.

They say that there is a certain one whom they call _Atahocan_, who made all things. Talking one day of God, in a cabin, [77] they asked me what this God was. I told them that it was he who could do everything, and who had made the Sky and earth. They began to say one to the other, "_Atahocan, Atahocan_, it is _Atahocan_."

Ils disent qu'vn nommé Messou repara le monde perdu dãs les eaux; Vous voyez qu'ils ont quelque tradition du deluge, quoy que meslée de fables, car voicy comme le monde se perdit, à ce qu'ils disent.

They say there is one named Messou, who restored the world when it was lost in the waters. You see that they have some traditions of the deluge, although mingled with fables. This is the way, as they say, that the world was lost.

Ce Messou allant à la chasse auec des loups ceruiers, au lieu de chiens, on l'aduertit qu'il faisoit dangereux pour ses loups (qu'il appelloit ses freres) dans vn certain lac aupres duquel il estoit. Vn iour qu'il poursuiuoit un eslan, ses loups luy donnerẽt la chasse iusques dedans ce lac; arriuez qu'ils furent au milieu, ils furẽt abysmez en vn instant. Luy suruenãt là dessus, & cherchant ses freres de [78] tous costez, vn oiseau luy dit qu'il les voyoit au fond du lac, & que certaines bestes ou monstres les tenoient là dedans: il entre dans l'eau pour les secourir, mais aussi-tost ce lac se desborde, & s'aggrandit si furieusemẽt, qu'il inonda & noya toute la terre.

This Messou, going hunting with lynxes, instead of dogs, was warned that it would be dangerous for his lynxes (which he called his brothers) in a certain lake near the place where he was. One day as he was hunting an elk, his lynxes gave it chase even into the lake; and, when they reached the middle of it, they were submerged in an instant. When he arrived there and sought his brothers [78] everywhere, a bird told him that it had seen them at the bottom of the lake, and that certain animals or monsters held them there. He leaped into the water to rescue them; but immediately the lake overflowed, and increased so prodigiously that it inundated and drowned the whole earth.

Le Messou bien estonné, quitte la pensée de ses loups, pour songer à restablir le monde. Il enuoye vn corbeau chercher vn peu de terre, pour auec ce morceau en restablir vn autre. Le corbeau n'en peut trouuer, tout estant couuert d'eau. Il fait plonger vne loutre, mais la profondeur des eaux l'empescha de venir iusques à terre. En fin vn rat musqué descendit, & en rapporta: Auec ce morceau de terre il remit tout en estat: il refit des troncs d'arbres, & tirant des fléches à l'encontre, elles se changeoient en branches. Ce seroit vne longue fable de raconter [79] comme il repara tout: comme il se vangea des mõstres qui auoient pris ses chasseurs, se transformant en mille sortes d'animaux pour les surprendre: bref ce beau Reparateur estant marié à vne soury musquée, eut des enfans qui ont repeuplé le monde.