CHARLEVOIX, Pierre Francois Xavier de, 1682 Journal of a voyage l;o North- America. London, 1761. 2 v. $100.00 Cf. Tremaine, 190. 1761. ( 20 ) DAVIAULT, Pierre. Mon.r^Vmt aVentUre de Le d'Iberville. $2. 00 (29) JOURNAL O F A VOYAGE NORTH-AMERICA, MAT or THF,mSTEKN OCEA] made fry Jfr. Cuahle AiN r J> Part iz f/tejesuifr in h Dtr&.tfiM h Sea fa’ OX JN vJlx -L Jbi / 7 <20, fro Canada. Infw/ded fro Uh/sfrrafre tfr/e Vo tad JVJi. T/tr M//ute fry Lon// r\ttd 'CABEVERliJ, ZottffUu/r V/hmr Ttirij Urd/w T.Kifaknt Se/tfr/t - JO U R N A L O F A VOYAGE T O N O R T H-A M E R I C A. Undertaken by Order of the FRENCH KING. CONTAINING The Geographical Defcription and Natural Hiftory of that Country, particularly CANADA. TOGETHER WITH An Account of the Customs, Characters, Religion, Manners and Traditions of the original Inhabitants. In a Series of Letters to the Duchels of Lesdiguieres. Tranflated from the French of P. de Charlevoix. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall. | i L ;v MDCCLXI. THE CONTENTS O F T H E FIRST VOLUME. pReliminary difcourfe on the origin of the Anieri- cans Page i letter I. Hiflorical Journal of a voyage to America Co letter ii. Voyage from Rochelle to Quebec ; fame remarks on that paffage, on the great Bank of Newfoundland, and on the River St. Lawrence 67 letter III. Defcription of Quebec ; char abler of its inhabitants and the manner of living in the French colony 99 letter u VI s. CONTENT letter IV”. Of the Huron village of Loretto. The ca “f es ™f tcb have prevented the progrefs of the French colon? of Canada. Of the current money 1 l 5 letter v. Of the beavers of Canada ; in what they differ from thofe of Europe •, of their manner of building ; of the advantage which may accrue to the colony from them ; of the hunting of the beaver and mufk - rat *5* LETTER VI. Voyage from Quebec to the Three Rivers. Of rid- ing pofl on the fnow. Of the lordfhips of New . France. Defcription of Beckancourt. Tradition with refpedl to the origin of the name of the Stink* mg River. Defcription of the Three Rivers. Sequel of the huntings of the Indians 1 7 1 LETTER VII. Defcription of the Country and IJlands of Richelieu and of St. Francis. Of the Abenaquis village . Of the ancient fort of Richelieu, and of fuch as were formerly in each parif/j. Shining aftions of two Canadian Ladies. Of the other huntings of Indians ^9 LETTER VIII. Defcription of the Country between Lake St. Peter and Montreal •, in what it differs from that near Quebec. Defcription of the Jfland and City of 8 Mont- VII CONTENTS. Montreal, and the country adjacent. Of the fea- ccw, fea-wolf porpoife , and whale fjhery 21 * L E T T E R IX. ' Of Fort Chambly, with the fifhes , birds , y^z,v- ra * animals peculiar to Canada. Of trees com- mon to it with France, and of fuch as are pecu- liar to this country 231 letter x. Of the caufes of the exceffwe cold in Canada. Of the refources it affords for the fupport of life The cbaradler of the French Canadians ' 25 j LETTER XL Of the Iroquoife village. Of the Fall of St. Lewis. Of the different nations inhabiting Canada 269 letter XII. Voyage to Catarocoui. Defcription of the counts and of the Rapides or Falls in the River St. Law- rence. Defcription andfituation of the Fort. Cha- rter and genius of the languages and nations of Canada. Origin of the war between the Iroquois and Algonkins \ letter XIII. Defcription of the country to the river of the On- nontagues. ^ Of the flux and reflux in the great Lakes of Canada. Manner in which the Indians fling the war-fong . Of their God of War. Mass- tier of declaring war. Of the collars of Wampum Porcelain, and the Calumer, with their atfiom re.ating to peace and war „ . r LETTER ,0 u viii CONTENTS. letter xiv. Dcfcription of the country from the Anfede la Fa- mine to the Riviere ties Sables. Motives of the ] ndians for going to war. Departure of the war - riors for the campaign, with what precedes their fetting out. Their manner of taking leave of their relations and countrymen. T heir arms offenfive and defenftve. Their care in taking along with them their tutelary gods. Particularities of the country as far as Niagara 3 2 5 LETTER XV. Tranfaflions hetween the Tfonnonthouans ( a tribe of the Iroquois) and the Englifti, on occafion of build- ing a French fort at Niagara. Defcription of the country. Fire-dance ; Jlory on this occafion. De- fcription of the Fall of Niagara 343 LETTER XVI. j Firft reception of the prifoners. Triumph of the war- riors. Difiribution of the captives in what man- ner their fate is decided, with what happens af- terwards. The inhumanity with which tbofe are treated who are condemned to death. The courage they (hew. Negotiations of the Indians 367 Preliminary Preliminary Difcourfe ON THE ORIGIN OF THE Americans. A ft £ R reading almoft every thing that has been writ on the manner in which America ' might have been peopled, we feem to be juft where we were before this great and interefling queftion began to be agitated ; notwithftanding, it would require a moderate volume to relate only the vari- ous opinions of the learned on this fubjed. For moft part of them have given fo much into the marvellous, almoft all of them have built their con- jectures on foundations fo ruinous, or have had re- courfe to certain refemblances of names, manners, euftoms, religion and languages, fo very frivolous’ which it would, in my opinion, be as ufelefs to re- fute, as it is impoflible to reconcile with each other. It is not, perhaps, to be wondered at, that thofe Who have firft treated this matter, fhould wander in ( 2 ) a way which had not as yet been marked out, and in which they mull travel without a guide. But what I am furprized at is, that thofe who have gone deepeft into this affair, and who have had the advantage of helps beyond all thofe who have gone before them, fhould have been guilty of ftill greater miftakes, which at the fame time they might eafily have avoided, had they kept to a fmall number of certain principles, which feme have eftablifhed with fufficient judgment. The Ample and natural con- fequences they ought to have drawn from them, would have been, in my opinion, fufficient to fatisfy and determine the curiofity of the publick, which this unfeafonable and erroneous difplay of erudition throws back into its original uncertainty. This is what I flatter myfelf I fhall be able to make ap- pear, by that fmall portion of thefe conje&ures which 1 am now going to relate. Thofe of our hemifphere were, no doubt, much furprized, when they were told of the difcovery of a new world in the other, where they imagined no- thing was to be feen, but an immenfe and danger- ous ocean. Notwithftanding, fcarce had Chrifto- pher Columbus found out feme iflands, and amongft others tnat of Hifpaniola, in which he difeovered gold mines, but he was prefently of opinion, feme- times that this was the Ophir of Solomon, and at others the Zipangri, or the Cipango of Mark Pol the Venetian. Vatablus and Robert Stephens were hkewile periuaded, that it was to America that So- lomon lent fleets in queft of gold, and Columbus thought he faw the remains of his furnaces in the rmnesof Cibas, by much the fineft and richeft of new world.° Hlfpamoia * and perhaps of all the 2 Alius , i Arius Montanus not only places Ophir and Par- ) tin vaim in new world, but likewife makes Joftan, ladfc the fon of Heber, the founder of Juftan, a chime- est rkal cif y * n f* eru > a °d alfo pretends, that the em- gtffi P* re °f Peru and that of Mexico, which he will have t0 be the lame with Ophir, were founded by nbo a ^ on Jodfan of that name. He adds, that an- si,: 0ther fon of the ^ ame patriarch, called in the fcrip- d a ture J°bab, was the father of the nations on the itk c ° a ft °f Paria, and that the eaftern mountain Se- £ : phar, to which Mofes fays the children of Joftan r; penetrated after departing from Mefla, is the famous uIe t'batn of the Ardes, extending from North to South j’Lj quite thorough Peru and Chili. The authority of this learned interpreter of the fcriptures has drawn tir Nortel, Becan, Poflevin, Genebrard, and many others, into the fame opinion. Laftly, the Spa- niards have alferted, that in the time when the Moors invaded their country, part of the inhabit ; tants took refuge in America. They even pre- tended in the fifteenth century, that they difcovered certain provinces of their empire, which the mif- fortunes of thofe times had robbed them of, and to which, if you believe them, they had an incon- teltable right. Oviedo, one of their moft cele- brated authors, was not afraid to affirm, that the Antilles are the famous Hefperides, lo much vaunt- € an d that God, by caufing them to fall under the dominion of the kings of Spain, has only reftored what belonged to them three thou land one hundred and fifty years ago in the time of king Hefperus, from whom they had this name ; and that St. James and St. Paul preached the golpel there, which he fupports by the autho- rity of St. Gregory in his morals. Jf we add to this what Plato has advanced, that beyond his own lfiand of Atalantis, there were a great number of 2 iflands. ( 4 ) iilands, and behind them a vaft continent, and be- hind this continent the true ocean, we fhall find, that the new world was very far from being new to the ancients. What then muft become of the opi- nion of Paracelfus, who maintains, that each he- mifphere had its own Adam ? Poftel, whom I have already cited, and who has made himfelf famous by his adventurous conjec- tures, believed that all North America was peopled by the Atlantides, inhabitants of Mauritania ; and he is the firft who has made fuch a difference be- tween the two America’s, by means of the Ifthmus of Panama j that according to him, and thole who have adopted his opinions, the inhabitants of thofe two continents have nothing common in their ori- ginal. But in this cafe, I ftiould rather be for placing with Budbecks the Atalantis in the North, as well as the pillars of Hercules, and maintaining, that North America has been peopled from Scandinavia, than by fending thither the Moors from the coaftof Africa. On the other hand, Gomara and John de I.ery make the Americans come from the Canaan- ltes, driven out of the promifed land by Jofhua : Some, on the contrary, make thofe Ifraelites, whom Salmanazus led captive into Media, pafs into Ame- rica by the North of Afia. But Thevet, who be- lieved, like them, that the Ifraelites peopled the new world, concludes, that they muft have fpread themielves over the whole world, from the circum- ltance of the finding a tomb with Hebrew charac- ters on it in one of the Azores or weftern iflands. •I ms author was mifinformed as to the fa ™ftoms, rn,mn;° ?T re lgl0ns > obfervable in the different numhl'r f I r W ? rR But he admits flich a number of thefe, which the authors of other opi- Ct m f, de l,fe of ’ tha£ inftSd i ve r1v h ,n r.’ he / eall 7^ eake ns his own. In the i D °? A u ndr 7 Gonzales de Garcia reprint- derabfo !,? ° f thlS Father at Madrid, with cor.fi- ^any leameTaS V n$ 5 but . thoUgh he has made nothing to rhp f ^ 10 r S lt ’ be h as contributed nothing to the farther fatisfadion of his readers. j e i5: tris tt h e"i^ ph dc Acofta ' a s P ani,h n ' dies ; ( 7 ) 'P 3 '-' dies ; the other in Latin, the title of which is, Be 7 ® promulgando Evangelio apud Barbaros , five de procu- ;i randa lndorum falute. This author, in the firft P J t book of his hiftory, after taking notice of the opi- nion of Parmenides, Ariftotle, and Pliny, who be- 1U ® lieved there were no inhabitants between the Tro- to i» picks, and that there never had been any naviga- tion farther to the weftward of Africa than the Canary Iflands, gives it as his opinion, that the pretended prophecy of Medea in Seneca, could be i*i no more than a bare conjecture of that poet, who, is,! feeing that the art of navigation was beginning to receive confiderable improvements, and not being 4 able to perfuade himfelf that there was no land be- ta yond the Weftern Ocean, imagined that in a fhort ik time fome difcoveries would be made on that fide Off of the globe. At the fame time, this Spanilh hifto- ' if rian looks upon the pafiage I have already cited att from the Timaeus of Plato, as a mere fiction, in k; which, in order to fave his reputation, the difci- e pies of that philofopher, zealous for his glory, it {trained their imagination to find out fome inge<- i nious allegory. f In his fixteenth chapter. Father Acofta begins to examine by what means the firft inhabitants of America might have found a pafiage to that im- menfe Continent, and at the firft view he reje&s the direct and premeditated way of the fea, becaufe no ancient author has made mention of the com- pafs. However, he fees no improbability in faying, that fome veflels might have been thrown upon the coaft of America by ftrefs of weather, and on this occafion he mentions *, as a certain fad, the ftory pf a pilot, driven by a tempeft on the Brazils, who. * Chap. xix. B 4 at ( 8 ) at his death, left his memoirs to Chriftopher Co-- Jumbus. Afterwards, he takes notice of what Pliny relates concerning fome Indians, who being driven by bad weather on the coaft of Germany, were given in a prefent to Quintus Metellus Celes, by the king of the Suevi. In the fame manner, he finds nothing improbable in the report which o-oes under Ariftotle’s name, viz. that a Carthaginian vellel having been driven very far to the weflward by a ftrong eafterly wind, the people on board dif- covered lands, which had, till that time, been un- known ; and from thofe fads he concludes, that according to all appearance, America has, by fuch like means, received one part of its inhabitants; put adds, that we mud of necefiity have recourfe to fome other way to people that quarter of the world were it only to account for the tranfportation of cer^ Sw fOU r 10 ? 0fc partS ’ which vve cannot reafonably fuppofe to have been embarked on board hX? t0 have fo w ■«*** cmly comprehend how Arntrica^ bceo^eopled by could B„d tV4 W I V tS thM P*" Of the world difcovery uninhabited ; that’ the’p “ P °" tl,Clr an extreme furprize at the coafts i dJ lions, which might probably have got thither by land, ' or at moft by traverfing fmall arms of the fea, were l s 7 altogether unknown even ip the beft peopled illands ; of that hemilphere. In chapter twenty.fecond, he returns to the Ata- ;„7 ^ ant ‘ s °f flato, and refutes, with a great deal of . gravity, the notion of fome who believed the rea- lity of this chimera, and who fancied, that there “ was but a very fhort pafiage from this imaginary ;; lfland to America. In the following chapter, he reje&s the opinion of thole who have advanced on the authority of the fourth book of Efdras, that this vaft country was peopled by the Hebrews. To thefe he objefts, Firft, that the Hebrews were ac- * quainted with the ufe of characters, which no na- “ tion of America ever was. Secondly, that thefe '' J l atter held filver in no manner of eftimation, where- as the former have always fought after it with ex- treme avidity. Thirdly, that the defendants of Abraham have conftantly obferved the law of cir- cumcifion, which is praCtifed in no part of Ame- rica. Fourthly, that they have always preferved fi with the greatell care their language, tradition, laws and ceremonies ; that they have always, without * ceafing, looked for the coming of the Mefiiah ; that ever fince their difperfion over all the earth, they have never in the leaft relaxed from all thofe parti- culars ; and that there is no reafon to believe they fhould have renounced them in America, where not the fmalleft veftige of them remains. In the twenty-fourth chapter, he obferves, that in a difcullion of this nature, it is much eafier to refute the fyftem of others than to eftablilh any new one, and that the want of witing and cer- tain C IO ) tain traditions, have rendered the difcovery of the origin of the Americans extremely difficult, fo that nothing could be determined in it without being guilty of great temerity ; and that all that can be allowed to the uncertainty of conjecture is, that this great continent has been peopled by degrees in the way we have juft now mentioned ; that he cannot believe thefe tranfmigrations to be very antient, and that according to all human appearance the firft who attempted this pafiage were hunters, or wan- dering nations, rather than a civilized people ; but even granting the firft inhabitants of the new world to have been fuch, there would be but little caufe to wonder, that their defeendants ffiould degenerate and vary from the religion and manners of their anceftors : that the want of feveral things was enough to make them forget the life of them, and that for want of certain helps for tranfmitting their traditi- ons from age to age, they ffiould come by degrees altogether to forget them, or at leaft to disfigure them in fuch manner as to render it impoffible to diftinguiffi them : That the example of feveral na- tions of Spain and Italy, who feem to have had nothing belonging to the human fpecies befides the figure, gives all thefe reafons a great air of proba- bility : j 1 hat the deluge, of which the Americans have preferred the remembrance, does not appear to him to be that fpoken of in feripture, but fome particular inundation, whereof fome perfons of oreat abihty pretend there ftill remain certain marks in Amenca . Laftly, that it cannot be proved, that the moft ancient monuments in America are older Sal, SLdT nth or [ ourteench centur y> * nd ** fabl« y and d r a l hlS 18 j 10 ? 1 "® but a confufed heap of der it imoofi ht r d / h ° le f ° V€ry childifh as to ren- from them. ° ° ne reafonable conjecture ( II ) The third author John de Laet, whofe opinion I ought to relate, acknowledges that there is a great deal of good fenfe and folid reafoning in that of fa- ther de Acofta. What he does not approve of is what follows. Firft, he pretends that the Jefuit is in the wrong to fuppofe that long pafiages by feg cannot be made, without the help of the needle, fince we may navigate by the help of the ftars only ; and, that he even feems to contradid himfelf, by afierting that the compafs is a late invention, after telling us, that the ufe of it was very antient on the coaft of Mozambique in the fifteenth Century ; that he advances without proof that the Orientals were unacquainted with it, till it had been found out by the people of the weft j laftly, that it was very evi- dent either that we could do without it, or that it muft have been known in the earlieft times, fince feveral ifiands, even of our hemifphere, and thofe at a confiderable diftance from the continent, were peopled very foon after the deluge. Secondly, that he relates as a thing certain, the ftory of the Pilot, from whofe memoirs it is pre- tended Chriftopher Columbus learned the route of the New World, as alfo that of the Indians fent to Metellus Celer by the king of the Suevi * that we know that the Spaniards fpread abroad the firft re- port merely out of jealoufy of that great man to whom they owed the obligation of having put them in pofieffion of fo many rich countries, and whofe only misfortune it was not to have been born in Spain ; and that the occafion of their publilhing the fecond was only to rob the Portuguefe of the glory of having firft opened a way to the Indies by failing round Africa ; that he is deceived if he thinks it poffible to make the pafiage from Terra Auftralis to tfie S freights pf Magellan, without crofting the C 12 ) fea, the difcovery of the Streights of Le Maire having fliewn its utter impracticability. The error of Father de Acolta, if it is one, was, however, excufable, as at the time when he wrote Le Maire had not as yet difcovered the Streights which bear his name. Thirdly, That he makes the peopling of Ame- rica too late ; and that it is contrary to all probabi- lity, that this vaft Continent, and fome of the iflands which furround it, Ihould have fo great a number of inhabitants at the end of the fifteenth century, had they only begun to be inhabited two hundred years fince. John de Laet pretends, that there is no reafon to think, that the Deluge, the tradition of which is (till preferved amongft the A- mericans, is not the univerfal deluge which Moles mentions in the book of Genefis. Befides the Spanifh Jefuit, three other writers, a Frenchman, an Englilhman, and a Dutchman, who have handled the fame topick, have patted under the examination of this learned Fleming Thefe are Lefcarbot, Brerewood, and the famous Grotius. He probably knew nothing of the work of Father Garcia whereof I have already fpoken, no more than or that of John de Solorzano Pereyra, a Spa- nilh lawyer entituled, De Jure Indiarum ; whereof the firk volume, in which the author relates all the opinions of the learned on the origin of the Ame- ricans, was printed in 1629. Mark L <*»bot, advocate in tarsi' T,",' i Was a fenfe and have fpoken of Wm ifftS '„°l ^ marvel ‘°" s - 1 Iii relat no- thrrUff- ev . er . a places of my hiftory. relating the different opinions on the prefent qtief- ( r 3 ) tied, which were in vogue in his time, he rejefls, as frivolous, the applications made of certain pro- phecies on this fubjeft, and efpecially that of Ab- dia.s, which had been applied to the converfion of the Weft-Indies by the miniftry of the French and Spaniards, the only nations who have truly under- taken this great work ; for the Portuguefe, to whom the Brazils owe their converfion, may be compre- hended under the name of Spaniards, and the mif- fionaries of the other nations of Europe who have had a (hare in the publication of the gofpel in the new World, went thither under the banner of the crowns of France*, Spain, and Portugal. In faft, Abdias could poflibly have had the Idumeans only in view, and there is not a fingle word in his pro- phecy that can be applied to America with any de- gree of probability. Lefcarbot leans fomewhat more towards the len- timent of thofe who have tranfported into the new world the Canaanites, who were driven out of the promifed land by Jofhua. He thinks there is at leaft fome probability in this notion, becaufe thefe nations, as well as the Americans, were accuftomed to make their children pafs through the fire, and to feed upon human flefli, whilft they invoked their y idols. He approves what Father Acofta fays of the accidents which might have caufed certain (hips to land in America, and alfo with refpedt to the paflage by the north of Afia and Europe. He believes that all the parts of the Continent are contiguous, or at leaft, that if there be any Streight to pafs, like that of Magellan, which he fuppofes feparates two Con- tinents from each other, the animals which are to be found in the New World might have made their paflage good notwirh (landing, fince Jacques Car- tier faw a bear, 'as large as a cow, lwim over an C *4 ) arm of the fea fourteen leagues in breadth. Laftly, he propofes his own opinion, which he feems to give only by way of fimple conje&ure. Is it, fays he, to be believed, that Noah, who lived three hundred and fifty years after the Delude, fliould be ignorant that a great part of the world* lay beyond the weftern ocean ; and if he did know it, could be deflitute of means to people it ? Was it more difficult to pafs from the Canaries to the Azores, and from thence to Canada, or from the Cape Verd ifiands to Brazil, than from the Conti- nent of Afia to Japan, or to other ifiands (till more remote ? On this occafion he relates, all that the antients, and efpecially vElian and Plato, have faid of thofe veftiges, which according to him ftill re- mained in their time, with refpeft to the knowledge of America. He fees nothing to hinder us from laying, that the Hefperides of the ancients were the fame with the ifiands of the Antilles ; and he ex- plains the fable of the Dragon, which according to the poets guarded the golden apples, to be thedif- ferent freights winding in a ferpent-like manner round thofe ifiands, and which the frequency of the Ihipwrecks might have caufed to be looked upon as r!kf aV1 ^ a e ” T° ^' s ke a dds many geographical obfervations, which are far from being altogether exadl, and which John de Laet very well refutes. f r me .c rit L ck ,> uftly remarks , that if the Ca- naamtes facnficed their children to their idols, we, fc-f- P'»« »f the fcriptttre of Ad being Anthropophag,. He acknowledges the pof- «nt.lTl P A baWlit r f tht !».*» 3f min T„d that it is eafv to™”* t . le ^ ort h t and confeflesr ed into a defan a„d“' VC * tlu,s tr anr P Iant- delart and remote country ftould there become C 1 5 ) Ui; become favage and barbarous ; but he looks upon hr tog? as a real and moft ridiculous paradox to fuppofe that Noah ever entertained any thoughts of peopling that immenfe Continent. The ill-humour he is in, and h, ii( which is no doubt excited by fome of Lefcarbot’s arguments, which to tell truth, are far from being without alloy, hinders him from feeing what is folid db and fenfible in this conjecture. But this proceeding :> I; is common enough to the learned ; as if truth and toi probability ceafed to be fuch from the mixture of >mt real proofs amongft thofe others by which they may Co? happen to be fupported. lot at j Edward Brerewood, a learned Englilhman, after nii having refuted the ill-grounded opinion, which makes lire all the Tartars defcend from the Uraelites, and after «i» Blowing that the ignorance of the true etymology of fro: the name °f Tartar, which comes neither from the t4 Hebrew nor the Syriack, but from the river Tartar, cs will have the New World to have been entirely nr peopled from this numerous nation ; his proofs are :d thefe following. Firft, America has always been jie better peopled on the fide towards Afia, than on fj that towards Europe. Secondly, the genius of the ,, Americans has a very great conformity with that of the Tartars, who never applied themfelves to any jt art •, which is, however, not univerfally true. Third- ly, the colour of both is pretty much alike ; it is certain, the difference is not confiderable, and is, ■ perhaps, the effeft of the climate, and of thofe mixtures with which the Americans rub themfelves. Fourthly, the wild beafts that are fecn in America, and which cannot reafonably be fuppofed to have been tranfported thither by fea, could only have come by the way of Tartary. Laftly, he anfwers an objeftion made to him with refpect to the cir- cumcifion of the Tartars, and maintains, that this rite ( 16 ) rite was never in ufe with that nation, till after they had embraced the Mahometan religion. De Laet is contented with barely narrating the opinion of this learned Englilhman, which confifts in rejecting the notion of thcrfe who make the Tar- tars defendants of the Ifraelites, who were tranf- ported by Salmanafar ; and in making the Tartars anceftors to all the Americans. We fhall fee what he himfelf thinks, when we come to relate his own opinions on this article. But it is neceffary in the firft place, to examine what pafied between him and the famous Grotius upon this fubjeft. The difpute was very hot on both fides, and as is ufual in fuch cafes, only embroiled the queftion. In the year 1642, Grotius publilhed a fmall trea- tife in Quarto, intituled, De Origine Gentium Ameri- canarum, which he begins, with fuppofing that the Ifthmus of Panama had been looked upon, before the difcovery of the new world by the Spaniards $ as an impenetrable barrier between the two conti- nents of America : whence he concludes, that the inhabitants of both could have nothing common in their original. Milius, whom he does not cite, had advanced this paradox before him. Now, if we may credit the learned Dutchman, excepting Yucatan, and fome other neighbouring provinces, whereof he makes a clafs apart, the whole of North America has been peopled by the Norwegians, who paffed thither by way of Iceland, Greenland, Efto- tiland and Narembega. He, notwithftanding, con- iefies, that they were followed fome ages after by the Danes, Swedes, and other German nations. He draws the greateft part of his proofs from th. conformity of their manners, and the refemblana ( r 7 ) of names. But we muff acknowledge, that nothin* can be farther fetched than thefe pretended refem° blances, of which he feems, notwithftandin*, fully perfuaded, though very few will be convinced befides himfelf. What obliges him to place Yu- catan apart by itlelf, is the cuftom of circum- cilion, of which he has taken it into his head to believe, he has found fome traces in this pro- vince, and a pretended ancient tradition amono-ft the inhabitants, ^ which faid, that their anceftors had efcaped being fwallowed up by the waves of the fea ; and this according to him is what gave rife to the opinion of fome that they were delcended from the Hebrews. Notwithftanding he refutes this opi- nion, with much the fame arguments which Brere- wood made ufe of, and believes with Don Peter Martyr d’Anglerie, that the firft who peopled Yu- catan were fome Ethiopians caft away on this coaft by a temped, or by fome other accident. He is evtn of opinion, that thefe E thiopians were Chrifti- ans, a conjecture which he infers from a kind of baptifm in ufe in the country. He could not help allowing that the language of the northern Ameri- cans is quite different from either the Ethiopian or Norwegian, but this difficulty does not flop his ca- reer j he fearches in the belt manner he can for a iolution to it, in the mixture of different nations, wno, in procefs of time, eftablifhed themlelves in this part of the New World, and in their wanderin* way of life, and which according to him reduced them to the neceffity of inventing new jargons. Hence he paffes to the nations in the neighbour- nood of the freights of Magellan, and imagining he has found a ftrong refemblance between thole Kttled on this fide of it in the Continent of South- -Mnerica, and thole who have their abode bevond C ' it. ( 18 ) it, he gives it as his decifion that the former derive their original from the latter, and that thefe as well as the inhabitants of New Guinea have come ^from the Moluccoes and the ifland of Java. Yet ror all that the peculiar genius of the Peruvians, their laws, their cuftoms, their police, the fuperb edifices they had built, and the wrecks of Chinefe velfels, which, he fays, the Spaniards found at the entry of the Pacifick Ocean, after coming through the Straits of Magellan, permit him not to doubt that this na- tion is, originally, a Chinefe colony, which is con- firmed, adds he, by the worfhip of the Sun, which prevails equally in both empires, by the refemblance of their characters and manner of writing, and by the reputation of the ancient Chinefe of excelling in the art of navigation. Laftly, he rejects the Tar- tar or Scythian original of the Americans from the little conformity that is found according to him be- tween the manners and cuftoms of both nations : He infills chiefly on the circumftance of the Ame- ricans having no horfes, which we know, fays he, the Scythians cannot be without. To deftroy this iyftem, it will be fufficient to prove, that it leads conftantly to falle conclufions, a point, which the Flemifh critick has rendered extremely evident. He proves with equal clearnefs, that Grotius is every whit as unhappy in attacking the opinions of others, as he is in ellablilhing his own. In effect, he proves that all the Scythians have not the ufe of horfes, feveral of them inhabiting countries utterly incapa- ble of maintaining them ; to which he adds, that according to the opinion of thole, who pretend that Scythia is not the country whence America has been peopled, it is not necelfary to fay, that all thofe who have penetrated that way 'into the New World were Scythians or Tartars ; that the countries they mull O’ nec cffity traverle, were no way proper for horfes •, that ( I 9 ) fe»: that the cuftom of the Scythians, when they find s * and were this even granted, that worfhip is common to fo many nations, that no arguments could be drawn from hence of any weight in the prefent queftion. It is true, that the incas of Peru, as well as the Chinefe emperors, called themfelves t e c-.fcendants of the Sun ; but how many other princes have either ufurped themfelves, or received that title from their fubjeds : Did not the Mexicans give ( 23 ) , give the fame name to Cortez, either to do him ho- nour, or becaufe Jie came from the eaft. In the third place, Grotius is ftill more grofsly miftakenin, affirming that the Peruvians made ufe of characters like the Chinefe, and which were written like theirs in perpendicular lines, feeing that Father Acofta, who refided a long time in Peru, and GarcilalTo de la Vega, defcended by the mother’s fide from the blood of the incas, inform us that they were nei- ther acquainted with characters, nor had the ufe of any fort of writing. What is added by the learned Dutchman, that Mango Capa, the firft of the incas, was himfelf a Chinefe, is no more than a bare con- jecture, or a fable invented by fome traveller, there not being the leaft notice taken of it in the traditi- ons of Peru. In the lafl place, Laet declares that he has never, in any author, read of any wrecks of Chinefe vef- fels in the Pacifick Ocean. The faCt itfelf appears to him very improbable, becaufe in the paflage from China to Peru, the winds are contrary during the whole year fb that by making the great round of the ocean by the weft, would be a fhorter paf- fage, in point of time, than the direCl courfe. He adds, that fuppofing the Peruvians had defcended from the Chinefe, they muft have preferved at leaft fome veftiges of the art of navigation, or of the ufe of iron, whereas they were acquainted with nei- ther •, fo that it is much more natural to fuppofe the Peruvians and their neighbours, the inhabitants of Chili, came from fome of the Indian nations, iome of which have always been fufficientlv civilized to be capable of giving birth to an empire fuch as was that of Peru. u ( 24 ) To this Grotius makes arvfwer, but with the air of the embafTador, and of a perfcn cf profound learning, and leems perfedliy aftonifhed, that any one Ihould dare to contradidl him. Laet, fomewhat piqued at this behaviour, treats him in his reply with lefs ceremony than before ; and maintains, that in a dilpute purely literary, the charader of an ambaf- fador neither gives one writer any manner of advan- tage over another, nor any additional weight to his reafoning. Grotius triumphed upon his adverfary’s agreeing that Greenland had been peopled by the Norwegi^ : .^ ee here, faid he, one part of America, the inhabitants of which derive their origin from Nor- way. Now what could have hindered thefe Nor- wegian Greenlanders from advancing farther ? The queftion is not, anfwered Laet, to determine, hether or not any of the Northern people pafied to America by the way of Greenland ; but if all the Americans came from Norway, which I maintain to be impoflible. Angnmus Jonas, an Icelander, attirms, that Greenland was not dilcovered tili the Gomara and Herrera inform us, that the Chichimeques were fettled on the lake of Mexi- co’ m 2 2 1 The *f fava S es ca «e from New Mexi- theunif thc nc 'S hbour j' ood of California, fuch is J M “r 7 tradltlon of Mexicans : confident- t co,?M mmCa « si " hab i>'d many ages before Green, id ' ^ N °™ a * b ? & <* ,d ^their'ermV “ min> ,hat j he IcaI Mexicans fount ChiAwS^n.” 9 ° 2 ’ after havi "S ftbdued tt ons, wholiad’taken^tr ir^ ° ther bart) arous nat the lake of Mexico ^anrf f" °u the COUnt, T r0lin Mexico , and Father Acofta tells u ( 2 5 ) *' each of them fpoke a language peculiar to them- :a ^ felves. From other authorities we learn, that the H : Mexicans themfelves came from California, or from New Mexico, and that they performed their journey Vltll < at leaft for the mod part by land ; confequently, they Iat l! could not have come from Norway, amis fain Grotius having thus fet out with an evident ana- 11 K: chronifm, everything he has built on that foun- dation is a confequence of that original error ; and his antagonift, who, with all the liberty of a Fle- ming, imagined he had a right to confider him 'Otte only as a man of letters, whofe fyftem appeared to him erroneous ; and offended at the fame time, mJt becaufe having attacked him with fufficient mode- left ration, he had not met with the polite return he a expected, fails not to purfue him through all his m blunders, and to place them continually before his :pi eyes, fill ilk The learned embafiador imagined he had read in :1a Herrera , that the iflanders of Baccalaos bore a per- tilt feet refemblance to the Laplanders. Laet, after s,£ declaring he could meet with no fuch fadt in the Aia Spanifh hiftorian, repeats what he had already faid. Ml that he does not deny but fome of the Americans id: m jght have had their original from Europe ; then p bringing his adverfary back to Mexico, he afks Jejp him what connedtion there was between the Mexi- IJ j l cans and the inhabitants of the ifland Baccalaos P Fie acknowledges afterwards, that Herrera mentions a fort of baptiim and confeffion, that were pradtifed » » n Yucatan and the neighbouring iflands ; but he [j, maintains, that the worfhip of thofe barbarians was gt mixed with fo many impieties, and thofe fo plainly iiu idolatrous, that it could not reafonably be fuppofed a to be derived from the A byflinian Chriftians. He & adds. u ( 2 6 ) adds, that it is much more natural to attribute all thole equivocal marks of Chriftianity and Judaifm, which have been believed to fubfift in divers pro- vinces of the New World, to the Devil, who has always affeded to counterfeit the worfhip of the true God. This remark is made by all good au- thors, who have fpoken of the religion of nations newly difcovered, and is befides founded on the au- thority of the fathers of the church. Grotius having advanced, without any hefuation, that the Ethiopians might in time have changed their colour in a climate not fo fultry as that which they had quitted, Laet makes anfwer, that though Whites might pofllbly lofe fome of their colour, by removing to a Warmer climate than that where they were born, yet that there is no example of the defcendants of the Blacks becoming white in a cold country ; and that the colour of the Negroes pro- ceeds not lolely from the heat of the fun, fince the Brazilians, and many others inhabiting the ' fame latitudes, have it not. Laftly, he takes notice of another error of Grotius, who fuffercd his preju- dices to carry him fo far, as to be perfuadeJ that the Chinefe were not acquainted with the art of printing before the arrival of the Fortugefe in their country, that he might thereby obviate an obje&ion which might have been ftarted againfl his fyf'tem of making the Peruvians defcend from the Chinefe. There can nothing, in my opinion, be added to the criticifm, which John del.aet has publifhed on the hypothefis of the celebrated Grotius. We are now going to fee whether he has been equally happy in eftablifbing his own. He fets out with relating, on the authority of fome authors quoted by 1 ‘liny, out who oo not appear to have been very able geo- graphers, C 27 ) ^ JK: graphers, that in fome iflands near the coaft of « Africa, amongft which are the Canaries, fome an- vets f cient edifices have been feen, and which are a cer- ^ tain proof that thefe iflands were inhabited before 'P of: they were difcovered by the Europeans : now it is goof: certain, fays he, that fince they were afterwards en- tirely deferted, the inhabitants muft have retired elfewhere ; and there is great reafon to believe that they palled over to America, the palfage being nei- ther long nor difficult. htfe ■ V ; " •• • r;.:, .. celt This migration, according to the calculation of kr thefe authors, muft have happened about two thou- attt: fand years ago : at that time, the Spaniards were ire. much infefted by the Carthaginians, and a fhort in. while afterwards, no lefs fo by the Romans. Now Ml is ‘t not natural to think, that leveral amongft thole in; fliould bethink themfclves of taking refuge in a rrra: country, where they might have nothing to fear (k from the ambition of their enemies ; and what ;; could have hindered them from retiring to the An- m tilles by way of the weftern iflands, which are fitu- jjjtr a ted exactly half way in that voyage ? the velftls of & the Carthaginians were very proper for this naviga- )ui tion, and might very well ferve the Spaniards tor r ; j. i: models, by which to build others of the fame con- $ ftru&ion. They had the ftill recent example of Hanno, the famous Carthaginian, before their eyes, who had failed very far to the weilward. It is no lefs probable, that people might have crofled from # the Cape Verd Iflands to Brazil. The Autololes, ^ whom Pliny has placed in their neighbourhood, ‘,r were Getulians, and not Ethiopians j their colour and manners fufficiently correfpond with thofe of the Brafilians. rtf that amongft thofe, many fent colonieQ 0 ^ 0 ^ A gl ’ tkat them might have rent colonies into America ; and that if it be objed- ( 29 ) cd, that there never were any Anthropophagi, ex- cept in South America, it is becaufe all thofe na- 3rt "- tions, amongft whom this deteftable cuftom pre- tcc:;: vailed, palled thither. He might, no doubt, have Vld ‘ 5 laved himfelf the labour of making fo weak an an- s Iwer to an objedion, which no perfon would proba- bly ever have made, fince feveral of the North reH Americans have ever been, and ltill are, Anthro- pophagi : but let us proceed to follow him in the r P® explication of his. hypothecs. I call it hypothefis, "gw becaufe where memoirs are wanting for eltablilhing rid' the truth, he is reduced, like all thofe who have coe handled this queltion, to the neceffity of having re- lac courfe to probability, and it mull: be efteemed fuf- > wic ficient to keep within fight of it. wffid: tb Pliny indeed, fays, that the Scythians valued lib themfelves lor having many horfes ; but he does rnos not lay, that all the Scythians did fo. Strabo men- us: tions feveral nations of them living north of the d t Cafpian Sea, and part of whom led a wandering fom: life : what he fays of their manners and way of ik livin g> agrees, in a great many circumftances, with what has been remarked in the Indians of America : lift now it is no great miracle, adds Laet, that thefe reiemblances are not abfolutely perfed ; and thofe people, even before they left their own country, iHb already differed from each other, and went not by w; the fame name : their change of abode effeded be w h at remained. We find the lame likenefs between rain feveral American nations and the Samoeides, fettled 0 on the g rea t river Oby, fuch as the Ruffians have 3 reprefented them to us ; and it is much more na- }j rural to fuppofe, that colonies of thefe nations , r palled over to America, by croffing the icy fea on their Hedges, than to caufe the Norwegians to tra- in!! vel a]1 the way that Grotius has marked out for them. 8 ( 30 ) them. Befides that the Americans have much lefs refemblance to thefe, than to the Samoeides and the Scythian Nomades. From North, Laet paflls to South America, and examines whether that continent could have receiv- ed part of its inhabitants by way of the Pacifick Ocean. The Blands of Solomon are fituated eight hundred leagues from the coafts of Peru, and we now know them to be feparated from Terra Auftra- lis by a fea, the extent of which is not as yet fully afcertained. Father de Acofta believes it to be not very diftant from New Guinea, which he imagines is a continent. But Sir Richard Hawkins, an Eng- lifhman, pretends to have certainly difcovered it to be an illand. We mull therefore, continues the learned Fleming, fay that South America has been peopled by way of this great continent of Terra Aultralis, and the coaft of which, Don Pedro Her- nando Giros, a Portuguefe, and Don Hernando de Quiros, a Spaniard, ranged along for the fpace of eight hundred leagues in the years 1609 and 1610. The latter, who has given his name to part of this continent, obferves in his letter to his Catholick Majefty, that this country, in leveral places where he landed, was extremely well peopled, and that too with men of all complexions. But is it not ftrange, that Laet fliould rather chufe to people South Ame- rica from a country, feparated from it by a much greater extent of ocean than the reft of the world, than from North America, which, on the fuppofi- tion that it was firft peopled, ought naturally to have fupplied all the New World with inhabitants ? In order to fupport his affection, that America could not have been peopled by means of the Paci- fica Ocean, he obferves, that eafterly winds, which conftantly ( 3 * ) conftantly prevail there, prevent all navigation from the Welt to the Eaft ; then he examines feveral American languages, in order to compare them with one another, which is not the belt part of his work, at leaft, if we may form a judgment from the extrad he has given us of a vocabulary of the Haron lan- guage, in order to compare it with that of Mexico ; lor he has taken it from brother Gabriel Saghart, a Recollet, who underftood very little of that tongue. He does not appear to be better acquainted with the religion of the Indians of Canada, in which he endeavours to difcover traces which might have led him to their firft original ; and indeed, all this dif- play of learning does not much conduce to the end he has in view : befides, although no one of his age has made a better connected work, or treated of the Weft Indies with fo much accuracy, yet we no\v meet with feveral things in his periormance, which ftand in need of correction. He concludes, with a fhorc explication of the opi- nion of Emanuel de Moraez, a fortuguefe, extract- ed from the twentieth book of his Hiftory of Rrazil ; a work, which has not as yet been pub- lilhed. According to this author, America* has been wholly peopled by the Carthaginians and Ifra- elites. With regard to the firft, his proof is, that they had made difcoveries at a great diftance from Africa, the progrefs of which being put a flop to by the lcnate of Carthage, hence it came to pais, that thofe who happened to be then in the newly difeovered countries, being cut off from all com- merce wfth their countrymen, and deftitute of many neceflaries of life, fell l'oon into a ftate of barbarity. As to the Ifraelites, Moraez pretends, that nothing but circumcifion is wanting, in order to conftitute a per fed - perfect refemblance between them and the Brazili- ans. Even this would be of great importance, were we to confider the invincible attachment of the former to that ceremony. But there are many other points equally effential, wherein the two na- tions differ. I can fafely affirm, that this pretend- ed refemblance, which appears fo ftriking to the Portuguefe hiftorian, is at belt a falfe fhow, which feizes one at the firft glance, but difappears, when looked into more narrowly and without prejudice. John de Laet having, in a fatisfadtory manner, refuted what opinions had been advanced before his time, but not having been equally fuccefsful in eftablifhing his own, George de Hornn, a learned Dutchman, entered the lifts, which he did with the greater confidence, as he believed he fhould draw great advantages from the new difeoveries his coun- trymen and the Englifh had lately made in the northern parts of Afia, Europe, and America. After relating every thing that has been imagined on the fubjedt he undertakes to handle, that is to fay, all that is found in father Garcia and Solor- zano, he fets in the ftrongeft light the difficulty of determining this queftion ; a difficulty occafioned by the imperfedf knowledge we have of the extre- mities of the globe towards the North and South, and the havock which the Spaniards, the firft dif- coverers of the New World, made amongft its moft: ancient monuments ; as witnefs the great double road between Quito and Cuzeo ; fuch an undertaking, as the Romans have executed nothing that can be compared to it. However, he is not afraid to promife himfelf a happy conclufion to his enquiries, and condemns father Acofta for too haf- ti y determining, that no one can engage to fucceed ; c ; in fuch an enterprize, without great raflinels. Let r us now fee whether he himfelf is not an example of *; what he finds fault with in the Spanifh hittorian. t He fets out wich declaring, that he does not ■ believe it poffible America could have been peopled - before the flood, confidering the fhort fpace of time y which elapfed between the creation of the world and that memorable event. Very able men have, notwithftanding, believed that there were more men on the face of the earth at that early period, than 1J there are at this prelent ; the thing is at leaft poffi- ble, and this is fufficient to prevent the deftroyino - E the abfolute certainty of the opinion. Neverthelef^ i * it muft be owned, tnat de Hornn is not fingle in *" rhis opinion ; but what he adds, gives us no great notion either of his accuracy or of his probity, ifc According to him, Lefcarbot places Noah’s birth h in the New World ; whereas, this French hiftorian eno has faid nothing that bears the fmalleft refemblance to fuch a paradox, i is til In the next place, he lays it down for a principle, ml> diat after the deluge, men and other terreftrial ani- U mals have penetrated into America both by land and >cci by water, and both too out of a formed defign, tte- hy accident •, and that birds have got thither by ids h'ght, which does not appear to be improbable, :&i feeing that they have been obferved to follow vefiels :c without flopping, for, the fpace of three hundred lit: leagues together, and fince there are rocks and fin' inlands, where they might reft themfelves, fcattered t about every where in the ocean. Thus, accordino- C ; to him, John de Laet had reafon to fay, that the ,1 article of birds occafioned no manner of difficulty. 0 the world, however, will not be of their |ju opinion ; for do not we know many of the fea- D thersd ( 3 4 ) thered fpecies, which are neither able to fly nor to fwim fo far ? Father Acofta has likewife very well oblerved, in the opinion of this learned Dutchman, that wild beafts might have found a free paflage by land, and that if we do not meet in the New World with horfes or cattle, to which he might have added, elephants, camels, rhinoceros’s, and many others ; it is becaufe thofe nations who pafied thi- ther, either were not acquainted with their ufe, or had no convenience to tranlport them : yet there are cattle in America, but of a fpecies very different from any of thole known in our hemifphere. As to what relates to the human fpecies, de Hornn excludes from America, i. The Ethiopians, and all the Blacks, both of Africa and Afia ; the few Negroes found in the province of Careta, hav- ing, without doubt, been brought there by accident, a Ihort time before. 2. The Norwegians, Danes, Swedes, Celtes, and in a word, all the northern and middle countries of Europe and Afia. Mean while it may be oblerved, the Celtes and ancient Britons were much addicted to navigation, and as likely as any other people to tranfport themfelves to America. 3. The Samoeides and Laplanders. His reafon for excluding all thefe nations is this, that there are no Americans who have white curled hair and beards, excepting the Alices, in the province of Zapoteta , the Scberies , on the river of Plate , and the Malo- poques in Brazil. The Efquimaux have likewife white hair ; which exceptions embarrafs the queftion not a little. All the Indians of Afia, continues de Hornn, believe the Metemplychofis : therefore that people could not have palFed into America, where this dodlrine is not lo much as known. Yet good au- thors, ( 35 ) U thors, and particularly the learned Koempfer, alledge f' that the dodrine ofthe Metemplychofis was firftcarried c J India by Xaca, who was probably an Egyptian V® prieft, driven from his native country by Cambyfes, . | when he conquered it. Before him, the religion of 'e;‘ fire, and the worfliip of the fun, were fpread all over JJ Perfia and the Eaft Indies, both of which are of f" great antiquity in a good part of North America. Here follows another argument, which, though fup- ported by the authority of Diodorus Siculus, does ■ CJ not appear to me a whit more convincing. The e;t ' Indians, fay they, have never fent colonies°abroad ; confequently they could not have contributed to the KB peopling of the New World. But fuch general ttf propofitions are not fufceptible of demonftration. Alii, efpecially with refpeft to fuch a country as the In- rtli, dies, pofleffed by fo many nations, differing from fim one another in manners, cuftoms, and genius. 5 * & ifo: The Greeks and the Latins are likewife excluded ten from the New World. They could not, according jtl to our author, fail beyond Cadiz, becaufe the Car- slit thaginians, who had the command of the Atlantick As Ocean, would not have fuffered them. This argu- it» ment appears to me very weak, efpecially with re- «* g ar d to the Greeks, who having founded Cadiz, die might very well be able to keep thofe feas in fpite Iq the Carthaginians. I fhould rather imagine, that id Hercules being perfuaded that there was nothin** lit beyond that ocean, his countrymen had never ijd thought of embarking upon it, which, however, is a conjecture, that might eafily be deftroyed. B In the Iaft place, neither Chriftians, Hebrews, ije nor Mahometans, if we believe de Hornn, have 9t ever levied in the New World ; and if this learned tea man do^s not abfolutely rejeCt thofe accounts of i D 2 croffes. ( 36 ) croffes, baptifm, circumcifion, confeflion, falls, and other religious ceremonies, fome veftiges of which have been pretended to have been found in Yucatan and el fe where, we fliall foon fee what regard he pays to them in the arrangement of Jjis own fyftem, of which here follows the plan. In the firfl place, he fuppofes that America be- gan to be peopled by the North ; and regarding the barrier of the Ifthmus of Panama, which Gro- tius imagines was not open before the time of the Spaniards, as a fuppofition void of all foundation, he maintains, that the primitive colonies fpread themfelves far beyond it, fince through the whole extent of that continent, and both in the northern and fouthern parts of it, we meet with undoubted marks of a mixture of the northern nations with thofe who have come from other places. He be- lieves that the firft founders of thofe colonies were the Scythians ; that the Phenicians and Carthagini- ans afterwards got footing in America by way of the Atlantick Ocean, and the Chinefe by way of the Pacifick ; and that other nations might, from time to time, have landed there by one or other of tlitTe ways, or might poflibly have been thrown on the coalt by tempefts ; and laftly, that fome Jews and Chriftians might have been carried there by fome fuch like event, but at a time when all the New W orld was already peopled. He, in my opinion, very well obferves, that thofe giants, who may have been feen in fome parts of America, prove nothing ; that though in the firft ages, they might pofiibly have been more frequent- y met with, yet it cannot be faid, they ever com- p° ed the body of a nation ; that as their pofterity •d not all inherit their gigantic ftature, fo men cf A,' r , of 3 common fize might have probably at firft produ- Yit ced Coloffus’s, as may be feen in the modern dl*. accounts of Virginia and Senegal. Hitherto he "ftcr ,ias advanced nothing new, molt of thele obf-rva- tions having been made before : afterwards he has fomething, which is not only new, but which is alfo Pjjij. peculiar to himfelf ; he pafies from probability to certainty, and from conjectures to pofitive aflertions ; and this method once tried, he carries it to a great ; length •, fo that if we follow him, we {hall find" him fufficiently entertaining, and at times faying very . . good things. IQ If ° ° Omitting the confideration of the, Scythians, • ^ whom he fuppofes to have entered America by the North, and there to have made the firft fettlements, * he eftablifhes a firft migration of the Phenicians, by laying it down for a principle, that from the earliert times they have been great navigators, and have replenilhed all our hemifphere with their colonies : but it is to be obferved, that under the name of Phenicians, he likewife comprehends the Cana- ls anites. From Strabo he learns, that the Phenicians roik *. failed into the Atlantick Ocean, and built cities iir beyond the pillars of Hercules Appian, continues «J he, and Paufanias inform us, that the Carthaginians, tte who were originally Phenicians, covered all the ni ocean with their fleets •, that Hanno made the tour oi Alrick ; and that the Canaries were known to the ancients. We know, from other authorities, 0 that the Phenicians, fettled in Africa, waged long f and bloody wars with the natives of the country” ti;: who deftroyed above three hundred of their cities in f Mauritania. Eratofthenes is his warrant for this, r c and he prefers the authority of that ancient writer ){t to that of Strabo and Artemidorus, who contradict fi him. Whither could the Phenicians, adds he, have D 3 retired, ( ) retired, after fo many and great Ioffes, but to Ame,- rica ? This migration being poflible, he looks upon it of courfe as certain, and to have been very ancient ; but he laughs at Opmeer, who had advanced, that the Africans living in the neighbourhood of Mount Atlas, failed to America before the deluge. He imagines Plato may pofTibly be miftaken in fome things he has faid of Atalantis, but that his defcrip- tion is notwithftanding founded on truth. He ob- ferves, that all thofe iflands to the weftward of Afri- ca, have been called Atlantides, and he reckons it probable, that the Atalantis of Plato lay in Ame- rica, and that it was drowned in a deluge, of which there ftill remain fome (lender traditions among the Americans. Further, he fays, that according to Peter Martyr d’Anglerie, the inhabitants of the Antilles report, that all their iflands were formerly joined to the continent, and had been (eparated from it by earthquakes and great inundations : that the veftiges of a deluge are found in Peru to this day, and that all South America is full of water. He might have added, that the north part of America, or New France, alone contains a greater quantity pf water than all the reft of that vaft continent be- lides. Diodorus Siculus relates, that the Phenicians fail- a far into the Atlantick Ocean, and that being conitrained by tempeftuous weather, they landed upon a large ifland, where they found a fruitful 3oil, navigable rivers, and magnificent edifices. De ornn takes this to be the fecond migration of that Fouefrhp mi menca ‘ , Dlociorus ad ds, that in the smiai- anH h ^ lC1 - n u t '" 8 harraffed by the Cartha- gtnian. and the inhabitants of Mauritania, whe wouk toils ‘S up# f auric iced,: of! ft uge. :n iai lisdtr . ft rdrfj reck me; :oriis tsi cfe ltd: :tk iter. k igiic is as arc ( 39 ) would neither grant them peace nor a truce, fent colonies to that ifland, but kept the affair fecret, in order that they might always have a fecure retreat in cafe of neceflity. Other authors, whom de Hornn does not mention, have alledged, that tliefe voyages were carried on without the knowledge of the government, who, perceiving that the country began to diminilh in the number of its inhabitants, and having found out the caufe of this diforder, prohibited that navigation under very fevere penal- ties. The third and laft migration of the Phenicians to the New World was occafioned, according to this author, by a three year’s voyage, made by a Tyrian fleet in the fervice of Solomon. He aflerts, on the authority of Jofephus, that Efion Geber, where the embarkation was made, is a port in the Mediterranean. This fleet, he adds, went in queft of elephants teeth and peacocks to the weftern coafl: of Africa, which is 'Tarfifn : this is likewife the opinion of Huet : then to Ophir for gold, which is Haiti , or the ifland Hiipaniola : Chriftopher Colum- bus was of the farrte opinion, according to feme, as Vetablus certainly was. De Hornn returning af- terwards to the Atlantick iflands, would fain per- fliade us, that the Phenicians have, at divers times, fent colonies thither, and that the Cerne of the an- cients is Grand Canaria, for which name it is in- debted to the Canaanites, who took refuge there. 'I £ One of the Canary Iflands is called Gcmera : de fe Hornn makes no doubt that it derives its name 3, from the Amorites, who went to fettle there after of: they had been driven out of Paleftine by the He- in brews. Ought we to be furprized, if after this he ]r. finds the Cham of the Phenicians in the Chemez of ,r D 4 the — — ( 40 ) the ifland Haiti, in the Cams of Japan, and in the Chile Cambal of Yucatan ? The detail which he af- terwards enters into, in order to difcover traces of of the Phenician religion and manners in the New World, is pretty nearly in the fame tafte, and car- ries the fame conviction along with it. But what ought not to be ( he obferves in this place) palled over in filence, is that the firft Phenicians, who fet- tled in Africa and the Balearick Iflands, had neither any letters or characters, nor knew the ufe of them ; and that Cadmus, a Phenician, carried into Greece, not the characters which his countrymen afterwards made ufe of, but thofe which in his time were known among the Egyptians. All thofe migrations preceded the Chriltian xn many ages : here follow fueh as are of a later date. Our author diftinguifhes three forts of Scythians, who pafled into the New World, namely, Huns, Tartars of Cathay, and the Chinefe. Undoubtedly the partizans for the antiquity of the Chinefe na- tion, will not excufe his making Scythians the foun- ders of this great empire, neither will thofe, who rejeCt what is doubtful in the pretenfions of certain Chinefe, be of his opinion ; for it is now paft doubt, that the Chinefe empire cannot be much later than Noah’s grand-children. But we fhould never have done, were we to repeat all the falfe and arbitrary conjectures of this Dutch writer. Under the name of Huns, he comprehends num- berleis nations, who pollefied an immenfe country; the occafion of the palTage of many of them to America, was, according to him, their overgrown numbers, and the inteftine wars raging amongft t em. He pretends, that the route they made choice of, was by the extremity of the North, where they met with frozen feas. Then forgetting what ( 4 1 ) what he had juft been faying of the infinite num- bers of thofe barbarians, vvhofe vaft countries could no longer contain them ; as he had already for- gotten what he fiyd at firft, that the firft fettlements in America were compofed of Scythians, he in- forms us, that the reafon why the northern regions of America are fo thinly inhabited, is, becaufe it was very late before the country of the Huns was peopled at all, and that even at this day, they are tar from being populous. But did they all take the fame road ? No; for while the greateft number turned off to the right towards the Eaft, thofe whom he calls Finves , and the Samoeides and Carolians, whom Tacitus places in Finland, went off to the Eaft by the wefbvard, traverfed Nova Zembla, Lapland and Greenland ; whence he reckons that the Norwegians, who had before this time landed in Greenland, and whereof not one was to be found in the year 1348, pene- trated into the northern parts of America in quefi: of more habitable countries. Nothing can reafon- ably hinder us from believing, that the Efhimaux, and fome other nations in the neighbourhood of Hudfon’s Bay, draw their original from the Nor- wegians of Greenland, fuppofing fuch ever to have exilted. What is certain, is, that the Efhimaux have nothing in common either in their language, manners, or way of living, complexion, or"in the colour of their hair with the people of Canada pro- per, who are their neareft neighbours. As to certain animals, fuch as lions and tigers, which, according to all appearance, have paffed from Tartary and Hircania into the New World, their paffage might very well ferve for a proof, that the two hemifpheres join to the northward of Afia ; and 77 C 42 ) this argument is not the only one we have of this circumftance, if what I have often heard related by father G rollon, a French jefuit, as undoubted matter of fa< 5 t may be depended on. This father, fay they, alter having laboured fome time in the mif- fions of New France, palled over to thofe of China. One day as he was travelling in Tartary, he met a Huron woman, whom he had formerly known in Canada : he afked her, by what adventure Ihe had been carried into a country lo diftant from her own ? She made anlwer, that having been taken in war, Hie had been conducted from nation to nation, till Hie arrived at the place where Hie then was. I have been allured, that another jefuit palling by way of Nantz, in his return from China, had there related much fuch another affair of a Spanilh woman of Florida : Ihe had been taken by certain Indians, and given to thofe of a moft diftant country, and by thefe again to another nation, till fhe had thus been fucceflively palfed from country to country, had travelled regions extremely cold, and at laft found herfelf in Tartary, and had there married a Tartar, who had palled with the conquerors into China, and there fettled. It is indeed true, that thole who have failed fartheft to the eaftward of Afia, by purfuing the coafts of Jelfo or Kamtfchat- ka, have pretended to have perceived the extremity of this continent, thence concluding, that between Alia and America, there could pollibly be no com- munication by land ; but belides that, Francis Guella, a Spaniard, if we may believe John Hugh , e Linfchooten, hath confirmed, that this fepara- tion is no more than a ftreight, a hundred miles over 5 tae laft voyages of the Japonele give grounds to thmk that this ftreight is only a bay, above which there is a paflage over land. Let IlDG «.i ki fCfe ki non ikl ;ror inn ion, m jog dii rani idia and ill M ail ini I fiG /aid ifd 1 ret #0 os ’mi ( 43 ) Let us return to George de Hornn. This writer does not exprefs himfelf with accuracy, when he tells us, that North America is full of lions and tigers. It is true, we find in the country of the Iroquoife, a kind of tigers, the hair of which is of a light grey, which are not footted, but which have very long tails, and whole fielh is good eat- ing : but except this, it is not till towards the Tro- pick that you begin to fee true tigers and lions, which is, however, no proof that they could not have come from Tartary and Hircania ; but as by advancing always fouthwards, they met with cli- mates more agreeable to their natures, we may be- lieve they have therefore entirely abandoned the northern countries. What Solinus and Pliny relate, that the' Scythian Anthropophagi depopulated a great extent of coun- try as far as the promontory Tabin ; and what Mark Pol, the Venetian, tells us, that to the north- eaft of China and Tartary, there are vaft uninha- bited countries, might be fufficient to confirm our author’s conjecture concerning the retreat of a great number of Scythians into America. We find in the ancients the names of fome of thefe nations : Pliny fpeaks of the Tabians : Solinus mentions the Apuleans ; who, he fays, had for neighbours the Maffagetes, and whom Pliny allures us to have entirely disappeared. Ammianus Marcellinus ex- prefly fays, that the fear of the Anthropophagi obliged feveral of the inhabitants of thofe countries to take refuge elfewhere. All thefe authorities form, jn my opinion, at lead a ftrong conjecture, that more than one nation of America have a Scythian pr Tartar original. % Hitherto ( 44 ) Hitherto de Hornn keeps pretty clofe to his point, and is lure to return to it from time to time, and we difcover the man of learning even in his greateft flights, but on the whole, one would fay, that by dint of forming conjectures upon the agreement of names he fails prodigioufly in point of judgment. Who' for example, would not laugh to hear him ferioufly advance, that the A pal aches, a nation of Florida, are the Apaleans of Solinus, and that the Fabians of Ptolomy are the anceftors of the Tombas of Peru ? What follows is (till more ridiculous. There is, lays he, a people, who are neighbours to the Mo- guls called Huyrons ; thefe are the Hurons of Ca- nada. Herodotus calls the Turks Yrcas ; thefe are the Jroquoife and Souriquois of Arcadia. Un- happily for fuch rare difcoveries, this conjecture leads to a fa He conclufion ; all, or mod of the names of the Indians of New France being of French ex- traCtion. Nay more, the Hurons and Iroquoife, to whom our author gives fo very different originals, fpeak almod the fame language, the one being a dialed of the other; whereas the Souriquois, to whom Hornn gives the fame anceftors as to the Iroquoife, have abfolutely nothing in common with them ei- ther in their language or genius. The language they fpeak is a dialed* of the Algonquin ; and the Larin^f as d f-nt from the Algonquin as the Latm is from the Hebrew. Muft not one then have his imagination very ftrongly imprefled to be able peiluade himfelf that the Meyro Humona of the Santa ’em *5 P “ ° f the “habitants. of from the L C ° me Thomas > an d are derived pafled over ^ Ua °f ^ ur ^ s ’ w ^o before they Sslp°oftl e ? tQ AmenC3 ’ had knowledge of Our hisp: le,®: wlf :ofsj t. 5 nfc ih rafe ofh IV 1 tit 1 BSflt IS;: a. ’ ure: am: :nd on M ac )«: '(XjS b if d as si 5 ei of: aa 85 i S' ( 45 ) Our author’s ufual confidence deferts him, when he feems to have molt occafion for it, and he dares not decide whether South-America has peopled the Terra Auftralis, or whether that country may have thence received its own inhabitants ; but he very foon recovers it, and by means of it undertakes to unravel the origin of the empires of Peru and Mexico. He agrees with feveral hiftorians, that thefe monarchies were not very ancient when the Spaniards deftroyed them, and that their founders had to fight againft barbarous nations, that had been long fettled in the country they had made choice of, and chiefly Mexico, where the manners were much more rugged in the time of Cortez, than they were among!!: the Peruvians. This difference probably was owing to this, that the conquerors of Mexico were not fo much civilized as thofe of Peru. Both the one and the other, if we may believe Hornn, are, notwithftanding, originally from the lame parts ; thefe are, fays he, the nations of Ca- they ; the Japonefe, who are originally defcended from thence, the Chinefe, whom he always fuppofes to be defcended from the Scythians ; fome Egypti- ans, and fome Phenicians, from the time that thefe two empires attained to perfection, in policy, reli- gion, and arts. Here is certainly a very mifcella- neous and capricious original. But. in fine, the learned Dutchman will have it, that all thefe nati- ons have fent colonies into America, and to prove this, it is fcarce conceivable, where he goes in quell of Cathayan, Corean, Chinefe, and efpecially Japo- nefe names, in all parts of the New World. Be- tween thefe, there is often much the fame relation as the /l If ana, and Equus of Menage •, but he like- wife caufes them to take fo very long a journey, that t 4* ) that we ought not to be furprized if they undergo very confiderable changes by the way. He even goes lo far as to derive the name of the Chiquites of Paraguay, which is purely of Spanifh extraiflion from that of Cathay. The name of Inca, which was that of the imperial family of Peru, has, according to him too great a refemblance with the * fame name of Cathay, to fuffer any doubt that thefe fovereigns derive their original from this great coun- try. In a word, to feek for the Cathayans in Ame- rica, is, according to him, the fame with fearching for the Greeks in Italy, and the Phenicians in Africk T. he Coreans called their country Caoli ; therefore, California has been peopled by a Corean Colony, Chiapa , a province of Mexico, whence can it come but from Giapan , a name which fome give to the ifland of Japan ? Montezuma, emperor of Mexico, had a beard after the Chinefe fafhion j he wants no more to make him come originally from China. It is not, however, without fome fcruple, that our author quits his etymologies for the figure of the beard ; but this beard is very Angular in a Mexi- can. He, moreover, finds that the name of mo- narch has a great affinity with that of Motuzaiuma, which he pretends on I know not what authority, to be a title of honour in Japan : thus this prince might very well derive his original from thefe However, it is neither the Cathayans, nor the Japonefe who have founded the Mexican monarchy : 3e Homn afcribes that honour to Facfur, king of Ch,na wh ° being dethron'd by Cublay, great eham in a tSlr* A td J? 1 * a hundred thoufand Chinefe, cle the ^ AmeHca ’ a ” d came the founder of a new empire. Manco, ano- ther afe mto!: fSp leofj Peru,: wit! reatj sinA fa ■heri Col: itc to Met MIC hit! Jut tot' aH id': W Off *P n: « lie ik ti itj ( 47 ) ther Chinefe prince, originally of Cathay, had two ages before founded that of Peru. Here are many names, of which the Fathers Couplet, Le Compte, and Du Halde were entirely ignorant. Manco had carried the arts to very great perfection, and it was he who reared thofe magnificent edifices which lb much aftonilhed the Spaniards. He brought no horfes into America, becaufe, in his time, fays Mark Pol the Venetian, there were none in China. But it may be afked, why the Chinefe of Peru have not preferved their characters ? It is, anfwers Hornn, becaufe they were too difficult to write ; they found that it was a fhorter and eafier way to fupply the ufe of them by fymbolical figures. s' This is a part of what has been written on the prefent queftion ; and I am much miftaken if the bare fetting down of fo many different opinions is not fufficient to furnifh the attentive reader with all the lights necefiary to lead him to the choice of the proper fide in this great controverfy, which, by en- deavouring to explain they have hitherto rendered only more obfeure. It may be reduced as appears to me to the two following articles, i. How the New World might have been peopled ? 2. By whom and by what means it has been peopled. Nothing it would feem may be more eafily an- fwered than the firft. America might have been peopled, as the three other quarters of the world have been. Many difficulties have been formed upon this fubjeCt which have been deemed infolva- ble, but are far from being fo. The inhabitants of both hemifpheres are certainly the defcendants of the fame father. This common father of mankind re- ceived an exprefs order from heaven to people the whole world, and accordingly it has been peopled. To C 4S ) To bring this about, it was necefiary to overcome all difficulties in the way, and they have alfo been got over. Were thofe difficulties greater with re- ipe& to peopling the extremities of Afia, Africa, and Europe, and the tranfporting men into the ifiands, which lie at a confiderable difiance from thole Continents, than to pafs over into America? Certainly not. Navigation which has arrived at fo great perfection within theft three or four centuries, might poffibly have been ftill more perfect in thofe firft times than at this day. At leaft, we cannot doubt, but it was then arrived at fuch a de°ree of perfedion as was neceffary for the defign°which Cod had formed of peopling the whole earth. Whilft thofe authors whom I have cited, have kept to this poffibility which cannot be denied, they have reafoned very juftly ; for if it has not bcende- monfl rated, that there is a pafiage into America over land, either by the north of Afia and Europe, or by the fouth, the contrary has not been made ap- pear ; befides, from the coaft of Africa to Brazil : from the Canaries to the weftern Iflands, from the weltern Iflands to the Antilles ; from the Britannic ifles, and the coaft of France to Newfoundland, the pafiage is neither long nor difficult : I might fay as mn C and f rl P?r China t0 J a P an > and from Ja- from H , Phll 'P? ,neS t0 the V 1 ** Cannes, and M T There are inands at a confiderable diftance from the Continent of Afia, ^^^ TOt ^ fu,pri2ed t0 find inhabi * in A m rrZ h ? ^ 0uld We WOnder t0 find people orandfon, nf v “ Ca , nn0t be ima gined, that the Srate f and / f J Z'™ they Were obli S ed t0 k ' dSn S of d Gi Pread tbemfe L ,v « in conformity to the gnS ° f God over the whole earth, ffiould be in an aV an abfoIute im P offib 'Jity of peopling aimoft one half ./ of the globe ? witi ° a ’.;" They ought therefore to have kept to this ; but the queftion was too firnple and too ‘ eafy to be an- l Ce '- fwered. 1 he learned muft make difquifitions, and i‘ f they imagined they were able to decide how and by a ‘ whom America has. been peopled ; and as hiftory , ctr: furnifhed no materials for this purpofe, rather than ' 111 flop fhort they have realized the mod frivolous con- re o jedtures. The fimple refemblance of names, and iome flight appearances, feemed, in their eyes, fo • many proofs, and on fuch ruinous foundations they r “' have erected fydems of which they have become enamoured, the weakneis or which the mod igno- f 1 rant are aole to j erceive, and which arc often over- ied, turned by one Angle fad which is inconteflable. bee; Hence it happens, that the manner in which the Ae New World has received its fird inhabitants remain- lEi; mg in very great uncertainty, they have imagined mai difficulties where none really were, and they°have 3 Be carried this extravagance to fuch a height, as to be- fro. litve, that the Americans were not the deicendants Bnb of our fird parents • as if the ignorance of the man- lam! ner in which a thing hath happened, ought to make ti us look upon it as impoffible, or at lead as extreme- ros ly difficult. ,4; But what is mod Angular in this, is, that they it fhoffid have negledted the only means that remain- ifli ed to come at the truth of what they were in fearch f of; 1 mean, the comparing the languages. In ef- £ feet, in the refearch in queftion, it appears to me. Is t bat the knowledge of the principal languages of 'S' -America, and the comparing them with thofe of k our Hemifphere, that are looked upon as primitive, might poffibly fet us upon fome happy difeovery E an ■ w ( 5 ° ) and that way of afcending to the original of nati- ons, which is the leaft equivocal, is far from being fo difficult as might be imagined. We have had, and frill have travellers and millionaries, who have work- ed on the languages that are fpoken in all the pro- vinces of the New World. It would only be ne- ceflary to make a collection of their grammars and vocabularies, and to collate them with the dead and living languages of the Old World that pafs for ori- ginals. kven the different dialeCts, in Ipite of the alterations they have undergone, ftill retain enough of the mother- tongue to furnilh confiderable lights. Inftead of this method, which has been negleft- ed, they have made enquiries into the manners, cuftoms, religion, and traditions of the Americans, in order to dilcover their original. Notwithftand- ing, I am perfuaded, that this difquifition is only capable of producing a falfe light, more likely to dazzle, and to make us wander from the right path, than to lead us with certainty to the point propofed. Ancient traditions are effaced from the minds of fuch as have not, or, who, during feveral ages, have been, without any helps to preferve them; and half the world is exa&ly in this fituation. New (■vents, and a new arrangement of things give rife to new traditions, which efface the former, and are tnemfelves effaced in their turn. After one or two centuries have palled, there no longer remain any marks capable of leading us to find the traces of the firft traditions. The manners very foon degenerate by means of commerce with foreigners, and by the mixture of fevei al nations uniting in ope body, and by a change oi trp P !re always accompanied with a new form of government. How much more reafon is there to . be- believe fuch a fenfible alteration of genius and man- ners amongft wandering nations become favage, yjj, living, without principles, laws, education, or civil ^ ; government, which might ferve to bring them back to the antient manners. Cuftoms are ftill more ea- % deftroyed. A new way of living introduces f new cuftoms, and thofe which have been forfaken , l ; are very foon forgotten. What /hall I fay of the ‘ abfolute want of fuch things as are moil neceflary • to life ? And of which, the neceflity of doino- with- al;; out, caufes their names and ufe to periih together. Laftly, nothing has undergone more fudden,fre- lw & quent, or more furprizing revolutions than religion. me When once men have abandoned the only true one, iot they foon lofe it out of their fight, and find them- . ie !ves entangled and bewildered in fuch a labyrinth of incoherent errors, inconfiftency and contradic- lilc tion being the natural inheritance of fallhood, that gh: there remains not the fmalleft thread to lead us back prop to the truth. We have feen a very fenfible exam- mis pie of this in the laft age. The Buccaneers of St. rail Domingo, who were chriftians, but who had no c tr commerce except amongft themfelves, in lefs than i), thirty years, and through the foie want of religious gw worfhip, inflruflion, and an authority capable of , a retaining them in their duty, had come to fuch a cr P a k> as to have loft all marks of chritlianity, ex- itf ce pt baptifm alone. Had thefe fubfifted only to tra the third generation, their grandchildren would have been as void of chriftianity as the inhabitants of ierra Auftralis, or New-Guinea. They might a poffibly have preferved fome ceremonies, the reafon l» of which they could not have accounted for, and tb I 8 *t not precifely in the fame manner, that fo many fur infidel nations are found to have in their idolatrous -bi z wor- (5 2 ) worfhip ceremonies which appear to have been co- pied after ours. The cafe is not the fame with refpedt to languages. I allow that a living language is fubjedt to continual changes, and as all languages have been fo, we may fay with truth, that none of them have preferved their original purity. But it is no lefs true, that in fpite of the changes, introduced by cuftom, they have not loll every thing by which they are diftin- guilhed from others, which is fufficient for our pre- ient purpofe ; and that from the rivulets, arifing from the principal fprings, 1 mean the dialedts, we may afeend to the mother tongues themfelves ; and that by attending to the oblervation of a learned academician *, that mother-tongues are diftinguilhed by being more nervous than thole derived from them, becaufe they are formed from nature ; that they contain a greater number of words imitating the things whereof they are the figns ; that they are lefs indebted to chance or hazard, and that that mixture which forms the dialedts, always deprives them of fome of that energy, which the natural connection of their found with the things they re- prefent always give them. Hence, I conclude, that if thofe characteriftical marks are found in the Americans languages, we cannot realbnably doubt of their being truly origi- nal ; and, confequently, that the people who Ipeak them have palled over into that hemifphere, a fhort time after the firft difperfion of mankind ; efpeci- aliy, it they are entirely unknown in our Continent. I have already obferved, that it is an arbitrary fup- pohtion that the great grandchildren of Noah were * M. 1* Abbe du Bos, Hifory of Painting and Poetry. 4 not ( 53 ) :bet 5 not able to penetrate into the New World, or that they never thought of it. In efted, 1 fee no rea- fon that can juftify fuch a notion-. Who can feri- [a,,^ oufly believe that Noah and his immediate defcend- ants knew lels than we do that the builder and 0) ^ pilot of the greateft fliip that ever was, a fliip which ppijj was formed to traverfe an unbounded ocean, and had fo many fhoals and quickfands to guard againft, } Q ’ m Ihould be ignorant of, or fliould not have commu- nicated to thofe of his defcendants who furvived “," r him, and by whofe means he was to execute the . ' order of the great Creator, to people the univerfe, •V I fay, who can believe he Ihould not have commu- i nicated to them the art of failing upon an ocean, :Ve | ; which was not only more calm and pacifick, but at 3 1 " the fame time confined within its ancient limits ? ingu: Is it even determined on fufficient 'grounds, that Jre ’ America had not inhabitants before the deluge ? Is ira ' ! it probable, that Noah and his fons fliould have been acquainted with only one half ol the world, 1 and does not Moles inform us, that all, even the § remoteft Continents and iflands were once peopled ? ie E How lhall we reconcile this with the luppofition of ^ thofe who maintain, that the firft men were igno- rant of the art of navigation ; and can it ferioufly be faid, contrary to the authority of fo refpedable ctfii a teftimony, as John de Laet has done, that navi- ^ gation is an effe£t of the temerity of mankind ; • lyf that it does not enter into the immediate views of : the Creator, and that God has left the land to the - human fpecies, and the ocean to fifhes ? Befides, are i if not the iflands a part of the earth, and are there 0 not many places on the Continent, to which it is irf ' much more natural to go by fea, than by long cir- ii : cuits- frequently impradticable, or at leaft fo very E 3 diffi- ( 54 ) difficult, as to induce men to undertake almoft any thing in order to avoid them. It is certain, that the art of navigation has ftared the fame fate with many others, of which we have noproofthat our early anceftors were entirely ignorant fome of which are now loft, and others again pre- ferved only among a few nations ; but what does this prove ? We muft always return to this princi- ple, that the arts necefiary to the defigns of God have never been unknown to thofe whole bufinefs it - was to put them in execution. Induftry, has, per- haps, invented fome which were ufeful only and luxury difcovered others which ferved only to gratify thepa (lions. We may alfo believe, that what has caufed many to fall into oblivion, is their having be- come no longer necefiary, and that fuch has been the making long voyages as foon as all the parts of rl VVOrk, r Were 1 fu PP lied with inhabitants. It was fuffiaent for the purpofes of commerce to ran*e along the coafts, and to pafs over to the neareft ifiands Need we then be furprized, if men, for want of practice, loft the fecret of making Ion* voyages on an element fo inconftant, and fo fre- quently tempeftuous. can e ' ,tr a ? i ™ that it was loft fo foon! C a,?. > ad large veffels, and in I, s til of navigation. Pliny complains, that m his time, navigation was not fo perfetf as it had been for feveral ages before . r'u anrl i to Dcrore » the Carthaginians of beinHandv T 8 P ° ffdfed ° f : ^reputation Iws ? P n n ma ? ners - Fath “ Aro » a the comnaf If? de Gama found - *« the of Mozambique 'I h« W fl 1 aaion £ l l |e inhabitants of ,M - i he .llanders of Madagafcar have ( 55 ) a tradition, importing, that the Chinefe had lent a colony into their country. And is it nOt a meer begging of the queftion, to reject that tradition on accoun° of the impoffibility to fail lb far without the help of the compafs. For if the compafs is necelfary for failing from China to Madagascar, I have as much right to fay, on the faith of a tradi- tion, univerfal in that great ifland, that the Chinefe have failed to Madagafcar, therefore they had the ule of the compafs •, as any other perfon has to rea- fon in this manner, the Chinefe were unacquainted with the compafs, therefore they never were at Ma- dagafcar. However, I do not undertake to fupport this as matter of fad, which I might fafely do with very good authors ; I only fay I am as well ground- ed in advancing, as they are in rejecting it. The Chinefe, whofe original reaches up as high as the grandfons of Noah, have anciently had fleets •, this is a fad fufficiently eftablifhed In hiftory : What could have hindered them from palling to Mexico by way of the Philippines ? The Spaniards perform this voyage every year ; from thence by coafting along fhore, they might have peopled all America on the fide of the South-fea. The IJles Mariannes , and many others, of which difcoveries are every day made in that extent of ocean, which feparates China and Japan from America, might have receiv- ed their inhabitants in the fame manner, fome fooner and fome later. The inhabitants of the lflands of Solomon, thofe of New-Guinea, new Holland, and Terra Auftralis, bear too little refemblance to the Americans, to leave room to imagine they could have fprung from the fame original, unlefs we trace it up to the remoteft ages. Such is their ignorance that we can never know from whence they really draw their defcent ; but in fine, all thele countries E 4 are 3T C 3^ ) are peopled ; and it is probable. Tome have been fo by accident. Now if it could have happened in that manner, why might it not have been done at the fame time, and by the fame means with the other parts of the globe ? . If: cannot be denied, that the original of the an- cient Cel tes and Gauls, fo renowned for their ex- pertnefs in navigation, and who have fent fo many colonies to the extremities of Afia and Europe af- cends as high as the children of Japhet ; and might not they have penetrated into America by way of the Azores , Should it be objected that thefe iflands were uninhabited in the fifteenth century, I aniwer that their firft difcoverers, had, undoubtedly, neg’ e ,d them > In order to fettle themfelves in lamer frn m °l- en , lle COUntries ’ in an immenfe Continent, from which they were at no great diftance. The Ef.umaux, and fome other nations of North-Ame- nnrr’l b ?p f ° ftron § 3 refemHfance to thofe of the of rhe°- u'T Pe 3nd / fia ’ and fo litde to the of he inhabitants of the New World, that it is for™? PerC fT th 7 muft have defcended from the in rnmm? nd 'T ? C ! r modern original has nothing for rhei-p ° n Wlt t t 1 f a 5 ter » ^ modern original, dent anH T • the l eaft a PP eara nce of its being an- trS fo l d f 1S r f fonabk - t0 fuppo fc, that' coun- - 1 u- \ ery ( ar Prom bein g tempting, have been inhabited much later than others. ° re/o f Am, e - d °“ "°. t , l ’ old S°° d w!th relpeS to the fidellf, n an T“" that fo con- S&Sg? u°c ' 0 " ^ was unknown to, the ar S Jume„ J t */* ‘ ounders of nations , and *»•*» of the A- firft given of them P lfture which was at ° Of then,. p roves nothing againft thdr an _ quity. r ebf5 will i it 'thtr :fo- ■urop, and; b¥K efts la ce, rtk fee )tk hr fac ;nt Of 'dct. It® re i ■to: la i * if; S C 57 ) quity. It is three thoufand years at moft fince Europe was full of people as favage and as little ci- vilized, as the greateft part of the Americans ; and of thefe there are ftill fome remains. Does not Afia, the firft feat of religion, policy, arts, and fciences, and the centre of the pureft and moil ancient tradi- tions, ftill behold her molt flouri thing empires en- vironed by the grofleft barbarity ? Egypt which has boafted of having been the fource of the fineft im- provements, and which has relapfed into the pro- foundeft ignorance •, the empire of the Abyflinians fo ancient, and heretofore fo flourilhing ; Lybia, which has produced fo many great men j Mauritania which has fent forth fo many men learned in all fciences : have not thefe always had in their neighbourhood people who feerned to pofiefs nothing human but the figure ? Why then fhould we be furprized that the Americans, fo long unknown to the reft of the world, fhould have become barbarians and favages, and that their moft flourilhing empires fhould be found deftitute of fo many articles which we reckon indilpenfably necefiary in our hemifphere. Let us enquire what has rendered the moun- taineers of the Pyrenees fo fierce as many of them are at this day ; what is the original of the Lap- landers and Samoeides, the Cafres, and Hottentots ; why under the fame parallels of latitude there are blacks in Africa, and not elfewhere ; and we fhall then find an anfwer to the fame queftions, refpedting the Efkimaux and Algonquins, the Hurons and Sioux, the Guayranis and Patagonians. If it be afked, why the Americans have no beards, nor hair on their bodies, and why the greateft part of them are of a reddilh colour, I fhall afk in my turn, why the Africans are moftly black ? This queftion ( 5 « ) is of no conlequence in the difpute on the original of the Americans. Primitive nations have been mixed and divided by various caufes, foreign and domeftick wars as ancient as the luft of dominion, or the paffion for domineering, the neceffity of feparating and remov- ing to greater diftances, either becaufe the country was no longer able to contain its inhabitants multi* plied to an infinite degree, or becaufe the weaker were obliged to fly before the ftronger •, that reft- lefsnefs and curiofity, fo natural to mankind, a thou- fand other reafons eafily to be imagined, and which all enter into the defigns of Providence *, the man- ner in which thofe migrations have been made ; the difficulty of preferving arts and traditions amongft fugitives tranfplanted into uncultivated countries, and out of the way of carrying on any correfpond- ence with civilized nations : All this I fay is eafy to conceive. Unforeleen accidents, tempefts, and fhipwrecks, have certainly contributed to people all the habitable part of the world ; and ought we to wonder after this, at perceiving certain refemblances between the remoteft nations, and at finding fuch a difference between nations bordering upon one ano- ther. We may likewife further underftand, that fome part of thefe wanderers, either forced by neceflity to unite for mutual defence, or to withdraw from the domination of fome powerful people, or induced by the eloquence and abilities of a legiflator, mull have formed monarchical governments, fubmitted to laws, and joined together in regular and national focieties. Such have been the beginnings of the moft ancient empires in the Old World ; and fuch nii^ht have been the rife of thole of Peru and ' 7 Mex- lie or; md t ck it p 4 ami it the® tana: tkt ;ik cindi , asii ;4 i mi )DSt Jffi COII! lari rape :ope agk tfc cfe MS tk d m d 0)6 jiff Iff ?! ( 59 ) Mexico in the New ; but we are deditute of hifto- rical monuments to carry us any farther, and there is nothing, I repeat it, but the knowledge of the primitive languages which is capable of throwing any light upon thefe clouds of impenetrable dark- nefs. It is not a little furprifing, that a method fo natural and practicable has been hitherto negleCted of making difcoveries as intereding at lead, as the greated part of thofe which for thefe two ages pad have employed the attention of the learned. We lhould, at lead, be fatisfied amongd that prodigious number of various nations inhabiting America, and differing fo much in language from one another ; which are thofe who fpeak languages totally and entirely different from thofe of the Old World, and who, confequently, mud be reckoned to have pafs- ed over to America in the earlied ages j and thofe, who from the analogy of their language, with thefe ufed in the three other parts of the globe, leave room to judge that their migration has been more recent, and ought to be attributed to Ihipwrecks, or to feme accident fimilar to thofe of which I have fpoken in the courfe of this differtation. HISTORICAL HISTORICAL JOURNAL O F A VOYAGE to AMERICA; Add refled to the DUCHESS of LESGUIERES. LETTER FIRST. Madam, Rochefort, June 30th, 1720.' Y O U were pleafed to exprefs a defire I fhould write you regularly by every opportunity I could find, and 1 have accordingly given you my promife, becaufe I am not capable of refufing you any thing •, but I am greatly afraid you will foon grow weary of receiving my letters : for I can hardly perfuade myfelf you will find them near fo intereft- ing as you may imagine they ought to be. In a word, you have laid your account with a continued journal ; but in the firft place, I forefee that the melTengers, by whofe hands I muft tranfmit my letters to you, will never be over and above exa£t in conveying them, and may pofiibly fometimes fail in delivering them altogether ; in which cafe, you can only have a mutilated and imperfeft journal : befides. C ) beftdes, I am as yet at a lofs where I am to find materials to fill it. For you mull certainly know, that I am lent into a country, where I fhall often be obliged to travel a hundred leagues and upwards, without fo much as meeting with one human crea- ture, or indeed any thing elfe but one continued profped of rivers, lakes, woods, and mountains. And befides, what fort of men fhall I meet with ? With favages, whofe language I do not underftandi and who are equally unacquainted with mine. Be- fides, what can men, who live in the moft barba- rous ignorance, lay to me, that can affed me ; or what can I find to fay to them, who are full as’ in- different and unconcerned as to what paffes in Eu- lope, and as little affected with it, as you and I Madam are, with what relates to their private con- cerns. In the fecond place, fhould I make ufe of the piiviledge of a traveller, I know you too well to venture upon taking that liberty with you, or to - atter myfelf I fhould find any credit’ with you, Ihould I attempt it. You may therefore lay afide all iuch apprehenfions in myfelf, for I feel no man- ner of inclination to forge adventures: I have al- ready had an experimental proof of the truth of what is faid by an ancient author, that men carry their own peculiar genius and manners about with tnem crofs all feas, and through all changes of cli- mate, let them go where they will . and!, for my part, hope to preferve tharfmcerity, for which you know me crofs the vaft regions of America, and through thofe leas, which feparate that New World 2°™/ >UrS ’ , * are , P le afed to exprefs fome con- ZrV rn!?/ hc J £’ which y° u do not think fuffici- ently confirmed fo undertake fo long and fatiguing 3 V °y a S e 1 but God, I gather S ftrength daily! and ( 63 ) ; ? and I wifli I could promife myfelf with the fame v certainty, or at lead probability, every other quali- fy fication neceflary to acquit myfelf, as 1 ought, of the commiflion, with which 1 have been entrufted. But would you believe it, Madam, I thought I :c ° 3 - fhould have loll my life about half way between Paris and Rochefort. Perhaps you dill remember Mi! what you have often heard me lay, that our rivers in llnt France were no more than rivulets, compared with thofe ot America : I can aflure you, the Loire was M:: very near taking a fevere revenge on me for this outrage and affront done to the dignity of that : full river, ifisi yoc: I had taken boat at Orleans with four or five m officers belonging to Conti’s regiment of infantry. On the fixteenth, being over-againd Lcmgets, and being unable to advance any farther, on account of afci a drong wind blowing dire&ly in our teeth, we toot wanted to gain that village, to make fure of good lodgings, in cafe of being obliged to pals 'wM tlle ni ght there. For this purpofe, it was neceflary i If- t0 cr ° rs the river > which we accordingly propofed liioi to our boatmen, who Ihowed great reluctance to 1 hit undertake it j but being young people, and we in- tit: Tiding on it, they durfi not contradict us. We had no; hardl y g ot to ^e middle of the channel, when we at could have wiflied to have been back again ; but it Bif was now too late, and what troubled me mod of j, all, it was I who propofed the advice we fo heartily liict repented of. We were really in great danger, which id. was ev ' dent from the countenances of our conduc- tors ; however, they were not difcouraged, and g; managed fo well, that they extricated us out of this I- difficulty. f lit The ( «4 ) The danger being over, one of 'the company who had frequently been on the point of ftripping, in order to betake himfelf to fwimming, took upon him to cry out with all his force, but with a tone which fhowed there was ftill a palpitation at his heart, that I had been in a great fright. Perhaps he fpoke truer than he thought of ; all this was, however, nothing but guefs-work ; and efpe- cially to ward off the reproaches they were begin- ning to make me, and in order to perfuade others there was no danger, I had always preferved a tole- rable good countenance. We frequently meet with thofe falfe bravos, who, to conceal their own ap- prehenfions, endeavour to make a diverfion by ral- lying thofe who have much better courage than themfelves. In the mean time. Madam, were 1 to believe in omens, here was fufficient to form a bad augury of a voyage I was going to undertake for above three thoufand leagues by fea, and to fail in a canoe of bark on two of the greatefl: rivers in the world, and on lakes almoft as large, and at lead full as tempeftuous as the Pontus Euxinus, or the Cafpian lea. , The Loire continued to be full as untraftable all tne left of the day, fo we flcpt at Largets ; our of- ficers, who had their Lieutenant de Roy at their head, were civil men enough, and extremely agree- able company. They were, moreover, very religi- ous, and they gave one proof of it, which was far from being doubtful. There was a kind of adven- turer that had joined them at Paris, who was half wit, half petit Maitre : as far as Orleans he had kept tolerably within bounds, but the moment we were embarked, he began to break out a little, and J e « rees ; came to talk on religious matters in a ■veiy i ertine manner. I had the fatisfadlion to fee that 'Wpaj: took; widi; tation. it. ft ail tli as wot > fuad;; erved; ly® eirt? rftOB) pj n,R far; rate id d rire aodi iuii. BCE M lelji fljs oU ; rt ik 0 A ten ns C 6 S ) that all our officers were fo much offended at it, that at Langets none of them would lodge in the fame houfe with him. A young lieutenant took it upon him to tell him of it, and obliged him to feek a lodging elfewhere. I arrived here the 19th •, I was expeded as I was charged with packets from the court ; but they looked for fomewhat befides, that is to fay, fome money, which arrived not till to-day. To-morrow 1 embark on board the Camel, a large and fine frigate belonging to the king, now in the road be- low the Ifle of Aix, where 1 fhall find myfelf in the midft of my acquaintances. 1 have already been at fea with M. de Voutron, who is captain of her, and with Chaviteau the firft pilot ; and I have lived with feveral of the officers and paffengers in Canada. We are told, that we are extremely well- manned, and there is not a fea-officer who is better acquaint- ed with the voyage we are going to make than our captain. Thus 1 have nothing to defire, whether with regard to the fafety or agreeablenefs of the paffage. I am> &c. F LETTER ( $7 ) LETTER II. Voyage from Rochelle to Quebec ; fome Remarks on that fajfage , on the great Bank of New- foundland, and on the River St. Lawrence. Quebec, Sept. 24, 1 720. Madam , Y Efterday I arrived in this city, after a tedious and troublefome pafiage of eleven weeks and fix days ; we had, however, only a thoufand leagues to fail ; thus you fee that at fea we do not always travel as M. l’Abbe de Choify ufed to fay per la via delle pojle. 1 have kept no journal of this voyage, as I fullered greatly from the fea-ficknefs which lafted with me for more than a month. I had flattered myfelf with being quit this time, having already paid tribute twice before j but there are con- ftitutions which are abfolutely incapable of enduring that element, of which fort mine is one. Now in the condition, to which we are reduced by this in- difpofition, it is abfolutely impoffible to give any attention to what pafifes in the lliip. And befides, nothing can be more barren than fuch a navigation as this ; for we are generally taken up with en- quiring how the wind blows, at what rate we ad- vance, and whether it be in the right courfe ; and during two thirds of the way you fee nothing but F 2 the ( 68 ) the feas and fkies. I am going, however, to give you what my memory can furnilh moft likely to contribute to your amufement for a quarter of an hour, in order to acquit myfelf as much as is pof. fible of the promife I made you. We continued in the road the firft of July the whole day, and the fecond we fet fail by the favour of a gentle breeze at north-eaft. The three firft days the wind continued favourable, though in very light breezes, which, from the calmnefs of the fea, were fufficiently acceptable. It feemed as if it wanted to lull us afleep before it fhowed itfelf in all its fury, 1 he fourth or fifth, the wind changed, fo that we were obliged to lie clofe haul’d *. The fea grew high, and for near fix weeks we were much tolled. The winds lhifted continually, but were much of tenet againft us than favourable, fo that we were obliged almoft continually to ply to windward. On the ninth of Auguft our pilots believed them- felves on the great bank of Newfoundland, and they were not much miftaken ; they were even in the right in reckoning fo, it being the bufinefsofa good navigator to be always fomewhat a-head of his ihip ; that is to fay, to fuppofe himfelf farther ad- vanced than he really is ; but from the nth to the 1 „ » Y 6 rcarce made .any wa y at all. What is Ca e tue great bank of Newfoundland, is properly a mountain, hid under water, about fix hundred trench leagues from the weftern fide of that king- om. ,e Sieur Denys, who has given the world an excellent work on North-A merla, and a very ES treatlfe ’ 8 Ives rhis mountain an hundred r y eagues in extent, from north to fouth; wTodf S pffibk. ^ aln, ° ft direal/ agaiDil r, to- : If liter.- as i fl tki tlit if in all; for xk iud; E If. In w Us ee f tec ti. rtfc i! f t k f: i ( % ) but, according to the molt exadt fea- charts, the be* ginning of it on the fouth-fide is in 41 deg. north lat. and its northern extremity is in 49 deg. 25 min. It is indeed true, that both its extremities are fo narrow, that it is very difficult to fix its boundaries with any exadtnefs. Its greateft breadth from eaft to weft is about 90 fea leagues of England and France, between 40 and 49 deg. of long, weft from the meridian of Paris. 1 have heard failors fay, that they have anchored upon it in five fathom wa- ter •, which is likewife contrary to what the Sieur Denys advances, who pretends he never found lefs than five and twenty. But it is certain, that in fe- veral places there is upwards of fixty. Towards the middle, on the fide next Europe, it forms a bay called La Fojfe , or the ditch ; and this is the reafon, why of two Ihips under the fame meridian, and within fight of one another, the one lhall find ground, and the other no foundings at all. Before you arrive at the great bank, you find a lelfer one called the Banc Jacquet , fituated oppofite to the middle of the great one. Some mention a third bank before this, to which, they give a coni- cal figure ; but I have feen pilots who make no more than one of all the three, and anfwer fuch ob- jeftions as are made to them, by afferting, that there are cavities in the great bank, and ot fuch a depth as to deceive thofe who are led into the falle fuppofition of three different banks, by not happen- ing to run out a fufficient length of cable when they call anchor. However, let the fize and fhape of this mountain be as they will, fince it is impoffible to afcertain them to any degree of exa&nefs ; you find on it a prodigious quantity of ffiell-fiffi, with ieveral forts of other fifties of ail fizes, moft part F 3 of u C 7 ° ) of which ferve for the common nourifhment of the cod, the number of which feems to equal that of the grains of fand which cover this bank. For more than two centuries fince, there have been load- ed with them from two to three hundred fhips an- nually, notwithstanding the diminution is not per- ceivable. It might not, however, be amifs, to dif- continue this fifhery from time to time, and the more fo, as the gulph of St. Lawrence, and even the river, for more than fixty leagues, the coafts of Acadia, thofe of the IJle Key ale, or Cape Breton and of Newfoundland, are no lefs repleniflied with this fifh, than the great bank. Thefe, Madam, are true mines, which are more valuable, and re- quire much lefs expence than thofe of Peru and Mexico. We buffered a great deal during' the whole time that the contrary winds detained us on the frontiers the ZfZ °* Cod fifh » this bei "§ b y t, mo11 difagreeable and inconvenient place in all the ocean to fail in. The fun fcarce ever fhows himlclf here, and for moft part of the time the air is impregnated with a cold thick fog, which indi- i e5 ;°; approach to the bank, fo as to render it I ^l 1 e 5° e miftaken. Now what can pofiibly r f f °, conftant ar *d remarkable a phe- and Of H ' &T thc nei g hb <>urhood of the land and of thofe forefts with which it is covered ? But S?* I* 306 ’ which » the neareft land h w hann batlk th,rty five lea g u «diftant, the fame and ° n , *7 ° the '' COaft of the ice! tn fo hC lflant ° f Newfou ndland is not fob- bank !?’ CX u Pt ° n , the fide awards the great and a Zll T dfe itS COafts a P”“e air the caufe of thrifts C in’ P robabJe ’ that ’ in which Cape Race is ge- nerally i c p ) heraliy hid, is the proximity of the great bank, and imift be fought for on the bank itfeJf. Now this is my conjecture on this head, which I fubmit td the judgment of the learned. I begin with obferv- ing, that we have another fign by which v/e difco- ver our near approach to the great bank •, and it is this, that on all its extremities commonly called its Erorres , there is always a fliort tumbling fea with Violent winds. May we not look upon this as the caufe of the mifhs which prevail here, and fay, that the agitation of the water on a bottom, which is a mixture of fand and mud, renders the air thick and heavy, and that' the fun can only at- tract thofe grofs vapours which he is never able dif- fidently to rarify ? You will afk the, whence this agitation of the fea on the mod elevated parts of the great bank proceeds, whilft every where elfe and even on the bank itfelf there is a profound calm ? If I am not deceived it is this. \Ve daily find in thefe places currents, which fet fometimes one way and fometimes another, the fea being impreffed with an irregular motion by thofe currents, and beat- ing with impetuofity again ft the fides of the bank, which are almoft every where very deep, is repelled from it with the fame violence, and is the true caufe of the ao-itation remarked on it. O If the fame thing happens not in approaching all |> deep coads, it is owing to their not being of equal j extent with this •, that there are no currents near them, that they are lefis drorig, or that they do not f. run counter to each other, that they do not meet with fo deep a coad, and are not repelled from it with equal violence. It is befides certain, as I have already obfcrved, after thofe who follow the fea- faring fife, that the agitation of the fea, and the mud which it dirs up, contribute much to thicken F 4' the 3 T (, 72 ) the air, and cncreafe the winds : But that thofe winds when they proceed from no other caufe do not extend very far, and that upon the great bank, at any confiderable diftance from the fide of it, you fail with as much tranquillity as in a road, except- ing in the cafe of a violent wind proceeding from fome other quarter. It was on a Friday the i6th of Auguft, we found ourfelves on the great bank in 75° fathom water. To arrive at the great bank is called Banc- quer or Banking ; to depart from it is called Deban- quer or Debunking, two expreflions with which the cod-filhery has enriched our language. It is the cuftom on finding foundings to cry out, Vive le Ray which is generally done with great chearfulnefs! Our crew were longing for frefli cod ; but the fun was fet, and the wind favourable, lb we thought proper to take the advantage of it. Towards ele- ven o clock at night arofe a ftrong wind at fouth- . y w , h ’ w , lth our mizen only, would have car- ried us three leagues an hour. Had we had this inconvenience alone by furhng as we did that in- llant all our other fails, we fhould have had no reafon to complain, but there came on at the fame time fuch a plump of lain that you would have thought all was C ftn f I * 3 * w- S °r the , hea ? nS had been °P ened - § What when ir c ^ C> f 1C tl ] under began at the time when it commonly ends, it fell f 0 near us, that t ie 1 udder was wounded, and all the failors I h nTo e ! th f ** fc,t ** fhock of it. non coi! nor h r ’ a " d a ^dred pieces ofcan- no he rr le ? S Teater *&. We could an t0 fe f ° mUCh Wlth u * In a word, for an hour jf C j and an half, our dedrudtion feemed inevitable •, the hearts of the braved amongft us mifgave them )f j. for the thunder continued always directly over our s heads, and had it ftruck us a fecond time we might j’. have become food for the cod, at whole expence ‘ we had reckoned very foon to make good cheer. Cador or Pollux, for I know not which of the two Br was then upon duty, had forwarned us under the name of Feu de St. Elme *, of all this Fracas, other- wife we might poflibly have been furprized and it °' ,erfet - An hour and a half afterwards the rain ceafed, t the thunder feemed at a di dance, and the flalhes of ;; lightning were only feen faintly on the horizon. ; ; The wind continued dill favourable and without ; hindering, and the fea became fmooth as glafs. C3 Every one was then for going to bed, but the beds K were all wet, the rain having penetrated through the j; mod imperceptible chinks, a circumdance which is inevitable when a Ihip is much tofied. They, how- ; ever did the bed they could, and thought themfelves extremely happy to be fo eafily quit. Every thing * violent is of fliort duration, and above all a fouth- E cad wind at lead in thefe leas. It never continues G but when it grows dronger by degrees, and often ends in a dorm. The calm returned with day- k light, we made no progrefs, but diverted ourfeives is with fidiing. Every thing is good in the cod, whild it isfrelh ; and it lofes nothing of its good relifli, and becomes even firmer after it has been kept two days in fait ; but it is the filhers only who tade the mod delici- * Thefe fires never mifi to be obferved on the yards at the approach of a ftorm. OUS ous parts of this fifh, that is to fay, the head, the tongue, and the liver, which, after having been fteeped in oil and vinegar, with a lictle pepper, make a moft exquifite fauce. Now, in order to prefcrve all thefe parts would require too much fait ; fo that whatever they cannot confume whilft the fifhing fea- fon lafts, is thrown into the fca. 1 he largeft cod I have ever feen was not quite three feet in length) notwithstanding thofe of rhe great bank are the largeft : but, there is, perhaps, no animal which has fo wide a throat in proportion to its fize, or that is more voracious. All forts of things are found in the belly of this fifh, even pieces of broken earthen ware, iron, and glafs. It was at firft be- lieved capable of diverting all this, but the world has become fenlible of this miftake, which was founded on this circumftanee, that feme pieces' of iron half worn away, had been found in the belly of it. It is the received opinion at this day that the Gau, which is the name that the fifliers have given to the ftomach of the cod -fifh, turns infide out, like a pocket, and that by means of this ac- tion, this fifh. chfburdens itfelf of w hatever incom- modes it. \v hat is called in Holland the Cabelao , is a fort of cod which is caught in the channel and fome other places, and which differs from the cod of America only in that it is of a much fmaller fize. That of the great Bank is faked only, and this is what is called White, or more commonly Green Cod. M. Denys tells us on this head, that he has feen fait made in Canada equal to what is carried thither from Brouage m Old France, but that after they had made the experiment, the lalt-pits, which had been dug on purpo e, weie filled up. ^ hole who have the moft exclaimed againft this country, as being utterly % C 75 ) good for nothing, have been the very perfons who have been more than once the caufe why no advan- tage has been reaped from it. Dried cod, or what is called la Merlucbe , can only be taken on the coafts which requires great attendance and much experience. M. Denys, who agrees that all thofe he had ever known to follow this commerce in Aca- dia ruined themlelves by it, fully proves, and makes it extremely plain, that they are in the wrong who conclude from thence that the cod is not in great a- bundance in thofe parts. But he afierts, that m order to carry on this fifhery there to advantage* the iifhers muft be perfons refiding in the country ; and he reafons in this manner. Every feafon is not equally proper for this fifhery ; it can only be carried on from the beginning of the month of May, till the end of Auguft. Now if you bring failors from France, either you mult pay them for the whole year, in which cafe your expences will fwallow up the profits, or you muft pay them for the fifiiir.g feafon only, in which they can never find their ac- count. For to fay that they may be employed for the reft of the year in fawing of boards and felling of timber, is certainly a miftake, as they could not poffibly make the expence of their living out of it ; fo that thus either they muft needs ruin the under- taker or die of hunger. But if they are inhabitants of the place, the un- dertakers will not only be better ferved, but alfo it will be their own faults if they do not prefently get a fortune. By this means they will be abl'e to make choice of the beft hands j they will take their own time to begin the fifhery, they will make choice of proper places, they will make great profits for the lpace of four months * and the reft of the year they may employ in working for themfelves at home. Had ( 7 6 ) Had things been (ettled upon this bottom in thole parts for a hundred and fifty years laft part, Acadia mull have become one of the moll powerful colo- nies in all America. For wliilft it was given out in t rance, and that with a kind of affedation that it was impofiible ever to do any thing in that coun- try, it enriched the people of New-England by the billing trade only, though the Englilh were without feveral advantages for carrying it on, which our ft- tuation offered us. After leaving the great bank, you meet with fe- veral lelfer ones, all of them equally abounding in filh, nor is the cod the only fpecies found in thole feas. And though you do not in fad meet with many Requiems, fcarce any Giltheads and Bonettas, or thofe other fifhes which require warmer feas, yet to make amends they abound with whales, blowers, fword-filh, porpufies, threlhers, with many others of lefs value. We had here more than once the pleafure of viewing the corfibat of the whale and fword-filh, than which nothing can be more enter- taining. The fword-filh is of the thicknefs of a cow, from feven to eight feet long, the body taper- ing towards the tail. It derives its name from its weapon, which is a kind of fword three feet in length and four fingers in breadth. It proceeds from his fnout, and from each fide he has a range of teeth an inch long, and placed at equal dillances from each other. 1 his filh is drefied with any fort of fauce, and is excellent eating. His head is more delicious than a calf’s, and thicker, and of a fquarer form. His eyes are extremely large, lie whale and fword-filh never meet without a battle, and the latter has the fame of being the conftant a §o re ® )r - Sometimes two fword-filhes join againft one whale, in which cafe the parties are by no means 2 ( 77 ' ) lii means equal. The whale, in lieu of arms offenfive U and defenfive, has only his tail ; in order to ufe it etfj againft his enemy he dives with his head, and if the gfe blow takes place finilhes him at a ftroke •, but the other, who is very adroit in Ihunning it, immedi- k ately falls upon the whale, and buries his weapon in aii: his fides. And as he feldom pierces quite to the att bottom of the fat, does him no great damage ; laii when the whale difcovers the other darting upon him he dives, but the fword-filh purfues him under water, and obliges him to rife again to the furface ; £r then the battle begins anew, and lafts till the fword- K fifh lofes fight of the whale, who makes a flying njj fight of it, and is a better fwimmer than he on the K furface of the water. dk The Flettau , or threlher, refembles a large plaice, ' and what is called by the French filhermen flet, ap- g; pears to be the diminutive of this filh. He is grey on the back and white under the belly. His length iJ is generally from four to five feet, his breadthat lead two, and his thicknefs one. His head is very thick, all of it exquifite and extremely tender ; from the bones is extracted a juice which is preferable to ■' the fineft marrow. His eyes which are almcft as large as thofe of the fwordfilh, and the gills are moft delicious morfels. The body is thrown into the fea, to fatten the cod, to whom the threlher is the moft dangerous enemy, and who makes but one meal of three of thofe fifties. 1 lhall not trou- ble your Grace with a defcription of all the fpecies of birds which live on thofe feas, and that only by filhing, all of them being naturally fifhers, as leve- ral travellers have already mentioned them, though fjieir accounts contain nothing worth notice. On V ( 7 8 ) On the 1 8th, the wind favourable-, we believe the winds have carried us a little too far to the fouth- ward, and we are failing weft-north-weft, in order to recover our latitude. For ten or twelve days paft we have never feen the fun, and on that account have not been able to take an obfervation. This happens pretty often, and is what occafions the greated danger of this navigation. Towards eight o’clock in the morning, we perceive a fnall velfel, which feem's to make towards us, we Hand towards her, and when we are come near enough, afked her, in what latitude we are ? This was an Englifhman, the captain of which anfwered in his own language ; we imagined, he laid, we were in 45 deg. We had, however, no reafon to rely too much upon his account, as he might poffibly be in the fame rniftake with ourfelves. We take heart not- withftanding, and as the w;nd continues favourable, we flatter ourfelves if it Hands, with the hopes of palling the gulph in two days. Towards four o’clock in the evening the wind fell, which amazed us all ; this was, notwithftand- ing, what preferved us. At 1 1 o’clock at night, the horizon appeared very black a-head of us, tho’ every where elfe the heavens were extremely ferene. The failors of the watch did not hefitate to fay, that it was the land we law, the officer of the watch laugh- ed at them, but on feeing that they perfifted in their opinion, he began to think they might pofli- bly be in the right. Luckily for us, there was fo little wind, that it was with difficulty the fhip would fleer ; fo that he hoped day-light would appear be- fore we approached too near the land. At midnight the watch was changed ; the failors, who fucceed- ed thofe on the former watch, were immediately of their opinion ; but their officer undertook to prove to ( 79 ) ft t to them that what they faw could not pofilbly. be Atb the land, but was a log v.hich would vanilh as Vt daylight came on. He was notable to perfuade «in them pf it, and they perfifted in maintaining that id the heavens were too ferene for any mift to°be on ofe the oppofite fide, except the land lay that way like- ton wile. T» , : "tiff ;r'»t ; ; ft! At day-break, they all fell a crying out that s, it they faw the land. The officer, without even deign- *e ing to look -hat way, ffirugged up his (houlders, lit and at four o’clock went to deep, afifuring them, era that when he ffiould awake he fhould find this pre- w;; tended land vaniflied. His fucceilo r who was the lytco Count de Vaudreuil, being more cautious, irrtrrie- , k diately ordered fome of the fails to be furl d, and fa Was _ noC long before he faw the necelfty of this pre- jp caution As foon as day appeared, we dilcovered e |, the horizon all fet round with land, and at the fame time a fmail Ivnglifh vefiel at anchor within two cannon ffiot of us. M. de Vcutron being in- , | formed of it caufed the incredulous officer to be cal- L kd up that inftant, whom they had much to do to get out of his cabbin, where he maintained that it : was impoffibie we could have land fo near us. He , came, however, after two or three fummonies, and at fight of the danger to which his obftinacy had expoied us, he was feized with aftoniffiment.. He is, notwithstanding the mod expert man in France io J navi gating on thefe feas, but too great a (hare j of abilities is fometimes of prejudice when we place 1 too much confidence in them f ■ t r Notwithftanding, Madam, if the wind had not fallen at four o’clock in the evening before, we had : certainly gone to the bottom in the night; for we yvere running full fail upon breakers, from whence , it C So ) it was impoffible we could ever be got off. The difficulty was to know where we were. We were, however, certain that we were not in 45 deg. the evening before. The queftion was, were we more to the north or fouth ? And on this there were dif- ferent opinions. One of our officers affured us, that the land which appeared before us was Aca- dia ; that he had formerly made a voyage thither, and that he knew it again ; another maintained that it was the iflands of St. Peter. But what reafon is there to think, faid others to him, we are fo far ad- vanced ? It is not yet twenty-four hours fince we were upon the great bank, and it is more than an hundred leagues from the great bank, to the iflands of St. Peter. 'The pilot Chaviteau pretended, that it was Cape Race. 7 hat there is fome error in our reckoning, faid he, there is not the leaft doubt, and we ought not to wonder at it, it being impoffible to keep an ex aft account in the way of currents which we are not acquainted with, and which art continually changing, and efpecially as we had not the benefit of taking the latitude to let us to rights. But it is paft the bounds of all probability that we fhould either be on the coaft of Acadia, or at the iflands of St. Peter *, His reafoning appeared juft to us, we could, however have wifhed he had been miftaken, for Ae knew how difagreeable a thing it was to be cn- JL ? Z5 ’J he fam f Chav!teau committed a blunder much more fatal He was then likewife king’s pilot on board the tiXin th d haV (I nS e e T feveral da y s without taking the lav- a rock 1, r’ Sh 0, Of u- 2 l' h °/ Au S u,( > tl « s %> ftruck upon on hnl a W ,n r the ifland of Cape. Breton, and every keen ke D t nn a PP e ared by the journals that had they believed th^Vt r‘ ch we e ^ our| d afterwards that y cved themielves ftill feventy l ea g ues f rom that ifland. tangled tangled with the land under Cape Race. In this jk uncertainty we refolved to confult the captain of the re,.'. Englifhman that lay a-head of us, and Chaviteau ret 5 was charged with this commifiion. He reflected at a|, his return, that the Englilh had been as much fur- prized at finding themfelves in this bay as we were, igej but with this difference, that this was the place whi- ntg ther their bufinefs led them ; that Cape Race was iai» before us, and Cape du Brole ten leagues below ; that from the midtl of thofe breakers, on which we is | bad like to have been caft away, there ifliied a ri- B* vcr * at the entry of which there was an Englifh fettlement, whither this ffnall veflel was bound with r provifions. About fifteen years ago, there happened to us a very Angular adventure in this very pafiage, and ufj which expofed us to, perhaps, as great danger as that which 1 have been relating. Phis was a few days after the 1 5 th of Auguft, and till then we had been much incommoded with exceflive heats. One : morning, as we were getting up we were feized with fo intenfe a cold as to be obliged to have re- courfe to our winter garments. We could, by no means imagine the caule of this, as che weather was extremely fine, and as the wind did not blow from the north. At laft, on the third day there- after, at four o clock in the morning, one of the *• f ailors crie d out with all his might. Luff, luff, that is, place the helm fo as to bring the ihip nearer to the wind. He was obeyed, and the moment there- after, we perceived an enormous piece of ice which glanced along the fide of the veflel, and againft which fhe muft infallibly have been ftove to pieces if the failor had not been endued with mariner’s eyes, for we could fcarce fee it, and if the man at the helm had been lels alert in Ihifting the tiller. G •’ I / T7 ( 82 ) I did not, however, fee this piece of ice, as I was not then got up ; but all who were then upon deck, allured us, that it feemed as high as the towers of Notre Dome at Paris, and that it was a great deal higher than the mails of the Ihip. 1 have of- ten heard it maintained that this was impoffible, becaufe, belides its extraordinary height above the fea, it mud aifo reach to a confiderable depth under water, and that it was not pofiible in the nature of things, that fuch a piece of ice could be formed. To this I anfwer, in the firft place, that in order to deny the fadt, we mull give the lie to a number of perfons, for it is not the firft time that fuch float- ing iflands have been feen at fea. The Mother of the Incarnation being upon the fame paffage, run the fame hazard in broad day-light. The piece of ice which for want of wind to carry her out of its way, had like to have lent her to the bottom, was feen by the whole crew, and was reckoned much larger than that which we met with. She adds, that the general abfo'ution was given as is ulual- in cafes of extreme danger. It is moreover certain, that in Hudfon’s bay there are pieces of ice formed by the fall of torrents, which tumble from the top of mountains, and which breaking off in the fummer with a hideous noile, are afterwards carried different ways by the current. I he Sieur Jeremie, who palled feveral years in this bay, tells us, that he had the curiofity to caule found clofe to one of thefe pieces of ice which had been llranded, and that after running out a hundred fathom of line, they found no bottom. 1 return to our adventure. Cape Race, Madam, is the fouth-eaft point of the ifland of Newfound- an ; it is fituated in 46 deg. and about 10 min. north latitude. The coaft runs from hence well- ward, (S3 ) ®ii ward, a little inclining to the north for the fpaee W; of a hundred leagues, and terminates at Cape Ray Kir in 47 deg. Alrnoft half-way, is the great bay of »: Placentia, one of the fineft ports in ail America. 1 ® Weft-fouth-weft from this is a Plummock, which i>j*j is feen from far, and ferves to make it known. This in is called the Red Hat , from its appearing in this ptl. form at a diftance, and from its being of a reddifh E colour. On the 23d at noon, we were abreaft of efr it, and in the evening we failed along the iflands of nr St. Peter, which lay on the ftarboard fide, that is m to fay on our right-hand, iidi Me Thefe are three iflands, the two firffc of which fe are exceeding high, and from the fide on which we ep were, could be leen nothing but mountains covered ® with mofs. It is pretended that this mofs in fome ic places covers very fine porphyry. On the fide to- rn wards Newfoundland, there is fome arable land, ajj with an indifferent good port, where we formerly jij had fome fettlements. The largefl: and moll wef- tern of the three, which is more commonly called Maguelon ifland, is not fo high as the two others, j. and the land of it appears to be very level. It is about three quarters of a league in length. On the 24th, at day-break, we had left it only five or fix leagues behind us, but after midnight we had had no wind. Towards five o’clock in the morning, there arofe a light breeze at fouth-eaft. Whilft we were waiting till it fliould grow ftrong enough to " fill our fails, we diverted ourlelves with fifhing, and ‘ caught a confiderable quantity of cod. We fpenc , two hours more than we ought to have done in this , diverfion, and we had very foon fufficient reafon to . repent it. G 2 0 I f It ( u ) It was eight o’clock when we made fail, and wc run the whole night in hopes of difcovering Cape Ray which lay upon our right, or the little ifland of St. Paul, which we ought to leave on our left, and which is almoft opposite to Cape Ray, but night came on without our having had fight of either. We would then have been very glad that we had made ufe of the time we had loft. What was molt difagreeable in this, was, that towards midnight we were overtaken by a ftorm, much fuch another as that which we had met with on the great bank, and as we had no room to doubt of our being near one or other of the two lands between which our courfe lay, we durft not take the benefit of the wind which would have advanced us a good deal in our courfe. Thus, in fpite of Chaviteau’s advice, who under- took to carry us thorough in fafety, we lay too. At day-break we perceived Cape Ray, on which the currents were driving us, and to compleat our misfortune, we had not wind enough to get clear of the coaft. We were almoft afhore, when about half an hour paft five in the morning, a light breath of wind at north- weft came in the nick of time to our aftiftance ; we loft nothing by it, and we were extricated from the danger in which we were. The north-weft, after doing us this good office, would have obliged us extremely had it made way for fome other wind ; it did not, however, comply with our wifhes, and for two whole days detained us in the mouth of the gulph of St. Laurence. On the third day we pafied between the ifland of St. Paul and Cape St. Laurence, which is the moft northerly point of the IJle Roy ale y or ifland of Cape Breton. This paflage is very narrow, and is never ventured upon in foggy weather, becaufe the ifland of St. Paul is fo fniall as to be eafily hid by the mift* That which lies between this ifland and Cape Ray 5 « ( 85 ) i it is much broader ; but our fails were fet to take the mg( other when the wind fhifted ; accordingly we took itj advantage of it The gulph of St. Laurence is ® fourfcore leagues in length, which a good wind at toll fouth-eaft, with the afliftance of the currents, car- oft ried us through in twenty-four hours. About half- U way you meet the IJles aux Oifeaux , or Bird Iflands, *2 which we failed along at the diftance of a fmall it cannon fhot, and which muft not be confounded itsJ with thofe which were difcovered by James Cartier , \n near the Ifland of Newfoundland. Thefeof which )[E we are now fpeaking, are two rocks which appeared V to me to rife up tapering to a fharp point about fixty (E feet above thefurface of the water, the largeft of which r was between two and three hundred feet in circum- ju ference. They are very near one another, and I do t not believe there is water enough between them for 0 , a large lhallop. It is hard to fay what colour they r are of, the mute, or dung of fea-fowl, covering entirely both the furface and banks. There are to be feen, however, in fome places veins of a reddilh c :, colour. They have been vifited feveral times ; and whole l : fhalops have been loaded with eggs of all forts, and the ftench is affirmed to be utterly infupportable. And fome add, that befides the fea-gulls and the cormorants, which come thither from all the neighbouring lands, there are found a number of other fowl that cannot fly. What is wonderful, is, that in fo prodigious a multitude of nefts every one finds his own. We fired one c nnon-fhot, which * lpread the alarm over all this feathered common- wealth, when there arofe over the two iflands a thick cloud of thofe fowl of at leaft two or three c leagues in circuit. On the morrow, about day- break the wind fell all at once : Two hours after that we doubled Cape Role, and entered the river St. G 3 Lau- C 86 )Hf Laurence, which runs north-eaft and fouth-weft; and the northweft wind, which immediately rofe, would have ferved us well enough, but as we had loft two hours on the twenty-fourth in fifhing, and in confequence thereof, two whole days at the entry of the gulph, we were obliged to wait here till the north-weft fhould fall, that is to fay, five days, in which we did not make five leagues. This delay was not even the greateft mifehief which it occa- fioned us-, it was befides very cold, and there was a great fwell which tofled us exceedingly, and when the gale was about to fall it was very near being the caufe of our deftrudtion in the manner you are pre- fently going to fee. But I muft firft give you a map of the country where we were. Cape Rofe is properly the mouth of the river St. Laurence, and it is here we muft meafure its breadth at its opening, which is about thirty leagues. Somewhat below this, and more to the fouthward, are the bay and point of Gafpey or Gachepe. Thole who pretend that the river St. Laurence is forty leagues over at its mouth, probably meafure it from the eaftern point of Gafpey. Below the bay you perceive a fort of ifland, which is in fa<5t, no more than a Beep rock, of about thirty fathoms in length, ten high, and four broad. One would take it for a fragment of an old wall, and it has been afierted that it for- merly joined Mont Joli , which ftands over-againft it on the Continent. I his rock has in the middle an opening in the form of an arch, through which a Bilcayan fhalop might pafs under fail, and hence n has got the name of IJle P(rcee , or the bored Ifland. Navigators know that they are near it when they ciifcover a flat mountain, rifing above feveral others, called Roland's Table. The ifland Bona- venture is a league from Bored Ifland, and almoft at the lame diftance lies the ifland Mifcon, eight leagues ( *7 ) ■ leagues in circuit, which has an excellent harbour. ;ti : : In the offing, at a frnall diftance from this ifland, is a fpring of frefh water, which boils up and jets to a ^ confiderable height. the; tfi All thefe parts are excellent for the fidiery, and there is every where exceeding good anchoring li ! ground. It would even be eafy to ere and there are, on a fmall ifland which bears their name, and which lies a lit- tle below Green-Ifland, the remain* r>f «<) kj bar; d; I* k kti * ate rat ra at: s n i ,: talti He III! noli rid: XI Ilk rat w iei im if U ( 93 ) we clear the pafiage of JJle Rouge , or Red- If] and, which is no eafy matter. You mull firft fleer right upon this ifiand, as if you had a mind to land on it ; this is done to fhun the point aux Allouettes , which lies at the entrance into the Saguenay on the left, and advances a good way into the river ; this done, you Hand the dired: contrary way. The paf- fage to the fouthward of Red-Ifland is much fafer ; but in order to make this we muft have returned di- redtly back, and the wind might have come to have failed us The Red JJland is.no more than a rock almofl level with the furface of the water which ap- pears of a true red colour, and on which many a fhip has been caft away. Next day with little wind and the help of the tide we come to an anchor above the I fie aux Cou- dres, which lies at fifteen leagues diftance both from Quebec and Tadouffac. You leave this on the left, and this pafiage is dangerous when you have not the wind to your liking-, it is rapid, narrow, and a good quarter of a league in length. In Champlain’s time it was much eafier; but in 1663, an earth- quake plucked up a mountain by the roots, and whirled it upon the JJle aux Coudres , which it en- creafed in dimenfions more than one half, and in the place where this mountain flood appeared a whirl- pool, which it is dangerous to approach. One might pafs to the fouthward of the lfle aux Coudres , and this pafiage would be both eafy and without danger. It bears the name of Monf. D’ Iberville who attempted it with fuccefs ; but the general way is to pafs on the north fide of it, and cuftom you know is a fovereign law for the common run of mankind. Above ( 94 ) Above this whirlpool, which I have juft now been mentioning, is the bay of St. Paul, where be- gins the plantations on the north ffiore, and where there are woods of pine-trees which are much va- lued ; here are found red pines of an extreme beauty, and which are never knowm to break. The fupe- riors of the feminary of Quebec are lords of this bay. A fine lead mine has been lately difcoveredin this place. Six leagues farther up the river is an exceeding high promontory, at which terminates a chain of mountains, stretching more than four hun- dred leagues to the weftward ; this is called Cape tfourmentey probably becaufe he who thus chriften- ed it had met with fome hard gales of wind under it. There is good anchoring here, where you are furrounded with ifiands of all fizes which afford ex- cellent (helter. The molt confiderable of thefe is the Ifie of Orleans, whofe fertile fields appear in form of an amphitheatre, and agreeably terminate the profpedt. This ifiand is about fourteen leagues in circuit, and was eredted into an earldom in 1676, under the name ot St. Lawrence, in favour of Fran- cis Berthelot, fecretary-general of the artillery, who had purchafed it of Francis de Laval, firft bilhop of Quebec. It had then four villages in it, and now has pretty populous parilhes. Of the two channels which this ifiand forms, that to the fouth only is navigable for fhips. Even fhallops cannot pafs through that to the north, ex- cept at high-water. Thus from Cape Tourmente, you mu ft traverfe the river to get to Quebec, and even this is not without its difficulties ; it is incom- moded with fhifcing fands, on which there is not at all times water fuffic ent for the largeft fliips, which obliges thofe who pafs this way not to attempt it, except in the time of flood. This difficulty might ( 95 ) ' be ftiunned by taking the channel of M. d’ Iber- .. ville. Cape Tourmente from whence this traverfe is bell made, is a hundred and ten leagues, from the fea, the water near it ftill continuing brack ifh. It T does not become drinkable till the entrance into the two channels, which are formed by the Ifle of Or- ^ leans. This is a phenomenon pretty difficult to ex- plain, and efpecially, if we confider the great ra- pidity of the river notwithftanding its breadth, ten The tides flow regularly in this place five hours, K and ebb feven. At Tadouflac they flow and ebb fix hours, and the higher you afeend the river the 1 more the flux diminilhes, and the reflux encreafes. At the diftance of twenty leagues above Quebec, the flux is three hours, and the reflux nine. Beyond d: this there is no fenfible tide ; when it is half flood s ? in the port of Tadouflac and at the mouth of the ye Saguenay, it only begins to flow at Checoutimi twenty »• five leagues up this laft river, notwithftanding it is ■» fi'g h water at all thefe three places at the fame time. This is no doubt owing to this circumftance, that §? the rapidity of the Saguenay, which is ftill greater M than that of the St. Lawrence, driving back the ii: tide, occafions for fome time a kind of equilibrium of the tides at Checcut ; mi, and at the entrance of this river into the St. Lawrence. This rapidity has ju befides come to the pitch, in which we now fee it, b, only fince the earthquake in 1 663. This earthquake kc overturned a mountain, and threw it into the river, t which confined its channel, forming a peninfula it called Checoutimi, beyond which is a rapid ftream i ; impafiable even to canoes. The depth of the Sa- 5 guenay from its mouth as high as Checoutimi , is (i e T ,aI t0 its rapidity. Thus it would be impoffible t tu come t0 an anchor in it, were it not for the con- venience 6 ( ) venience of making fall to the trees, with which its banks are covered. It has been moreover obfcrved, that in the gulph of St. Lawrence, at the di (lance of eight or ten leagues from the fhore, the tides vary according to the different politions of the land, or the difference of feafons -, that in fome places they follow the courfes of the winds, and that in others they go quite contrary to the wind ; that at the mouth of the river in certain months of the year the currents bear condantly out to fea, and in other places fet right in fhore ; laflly, that in the great river itfelf, as high up as the Seven I (lands, that is to fay, for the fpace of fixty leagues it never flows on the fouth fide, nor ebbs on the north. It is not eafy to »ive folid reafons for all this, but what is mofl likely° is, that there are certain motions under water which produce thofe irregularities, or that there are cur- rents which fet from the furface to the bottom, and from the bottom to the furface in the manner of a pump. Another obfervation we may make in this place, is, that the variation of the compafs, which in fome ports of France is only two or three degrees north- weft, conftantly drminifhes as you approach the me- ridian of the Azores, or weftern Iflands, where it is no longer fenfible ; but that beyond this it en- creafes after fuch a rate that on the great Bank of Newfoundland, it is twenty-two degrees and up- wards ; that afterwards it begins to diminifh but *owly, fince it is flill lixteen degrees at Quebec, and twelve in the country of the Hurons, where the un lets thirty three minutes later than at that ca- pital. On ( 97 ) On Sunday the 2 2d, we came to an anchor in the traverle of the Me of Orleans, where we went afhore whilft we waited the return of the tide. I found the country here pleafant, the lands good and the planters in tolerable good circumftances. “ c: They have the character of being fomething addift- 7 ed t0 witchcraft, and they are applied to, Tn order to know what is to happen, or what pafles in dif- '®:tant places. As for inftance, when the lhips ex- e tpedled from France are later than ordinary, they tit;, are confulted for intelligence concerning them, and ierut has been afterted that their anfwers have been trcfometimes pretty juft-, that is to fay, that havino- sto guefled once or twice right enough, and having for our. their own diverfion made it be believed that°they ol, fpoke from certain knowledge, it has been imagin- oti. ed Aat they confulted with the devil. 0 au When James Cartier difcovered this ifland he found it entirely covered with vines, from whence , E he called it the Ifle of Bacchus. This navigator was of Brittany ; after him came certain Normans who gjubbed up the vines, and in the place of Bac- 1 i chus fubftituted Pomona and Ceres. In effedf it • d . produces good wheat and excellent fruits. T hey begin alio to cultivate tobacco on it, which is far from being bad. At length on Monday the 23d, . ■ the Camel anchored before Quebec, whither I had i S one two hours before in a canoe of bark. I have tk r V ? ya f e ,° f a T thoufand leagues to make in thefe rad vehicles, I mull therefore accuffom myfelf to * them by de S rees - And now. Madam, thefe are the circumftances of my voyage, which I have been f abl '“ reCol ) ea ,’ the y are ’ as you fee, trifles, which ictho h ftmi§h K e 8 ood enou S h to amufe perfons, who have nothing to do on board ihip. I fhall perhaps, afterwards have fomething more intereft- ing ( 98 ) ing to communicate to you, but fliall add nothing to this letter, as T would not mifs the opportunity of a merchant fhip juft ready to fet fail. I (hail alfo have the honour to write to you by the king’s fhip. / am, &c. LE T TER C 99 ) ■'1 E T T E R HI. Defcription of Quebec ; character of its inha- bitants :, and the manner of living in the French colony. Quebec , Oct 28, 1720. Madam , I A M now going to write you fome particulars concerning Quebec ; all [the deferiptions I have hitherto feen of it are fo faulty, that I imagined I Ihould do you a pleafure in drawing you a true por- trait of this capital of New France. It is truly worthy of being known, were it only for the larity of its fituation ; there being no other city be- fides this in the known world that can boaft of a frelh water harbour a hundred and twenty leagues from the fea, and that capable of containing a hundred fhips of the line. It certainly ftands on the molt navigable river in the univerfe. This great river as high as the ifland of Orleans, that is to lay, at the diftance of a hundred and ten or twelve leagues from the fea, is never lefs than four or five leagues in breadth ; but above this f! ,fland ic fuddenly narrows, and that at fuch a rate as to be no more than a mile broad at Quebec • from which circumftance this place has been called H 2 Que- C 100 ) Quebeio or Quebec, which in the Algonquin Ian- guage fignifies a ftrait or narrowing. The Abena- quis, whole language is a dialeft of the Algonquin, call it Quelibec, that is to fay, fhuc up, becaufe from the entry of the little river de la Cbaudiere , by which thefe Indians ufually came to Quebec, from the neighbourhood of Acadia ; the point of Levi, which projects towards the Ifle of Orleans, entirely hides the fouth channel, as the Ifle of Orleans does that of the north, fo that the port of Quebec ap- pears from thence like a great bay. The firft objedl you perceive on your arrival in the road is a fine Iheet of water, about thirty feet in breadth, and forty high. This is fituated dole by the entry of the lefier channel of the Ifle of Or- leans, and is feen from a long point on the fouth* fide of the river, which as I have already obferved feems to join to the Ifle of Orleans. This cafcade is called the Falls of Montmorency, and the other Point Levi. The reafon of which is, that the ad- miral de Montmorency, and the Due de Ventadour his nephew, were fucceffively viceroys of New France. 1 here is no perlbn, who would not ima- gine, that fo plentiful a fall of water, and which never dries up mufl proceed from fome fine river; it is, however, no more than a puny ftream, in which in fome places there is hardly water up to the ankle j it flows, however conftantly, and derive its fource from a pleafant lake twelve leagues diflam from the falls. ° The city flands a league higher, on the famefidf and at the place where the river is narroweft. Bu between lt and the Ifle of Orleans, is a bafon alarg. feK’ 75 CVery way int0 w hich difeharges it c it e river St. Charles, flowing from tb north ^ ( 101 ) He. north- well. Quebec ftands between the mouth of % this river and Cape Diamond, which projects a lit- tip,; tie into the river. The anchoring place is oppofite 'k to ir, in five and twenty fathoms water good ground, tiebe; Notwithftanding when it blows hard at north eaflr, ffii /hips drag their anchors fometimes but with fcarce ais, any danger. Oik Qe When Samuel Champlain founded this city in 1608, the tide ufually rofe to the foot of the rock. Since that time the river has retired by little jut; and little, and has at laft left dry a large piece of ground, on which the lower town has fince been jiu built, and which is now fufficiently elevated above y: the water’s edge, to fecure its inhabitants againft the nj inundations of the river. The firft thing you meet ad, with on landing is a pretty large fquare, and of an 'ij, irregular form, having in front a row of well built houfes, the back part of which leans againft the V rock, fo that they have no great depth. Thefe : form a ftreet of a confiderable length, occupying the whole breadth of the fquare, and extending on the right and left as far as the two ways which lead to the upper town. The fquare is bounded towards ’f the left by a fmall church, and towards the right ; by two rows of houfes placed in a parallel dire&ion. There is alfo another ftreet on the other fide between r the church and the harbour, and at the turning of £ the river under Cape Diamond, there is like wife f another pretty long flight of houfes on the banks of a creek called the Bay of Mothers. This quar- ter may be reckoned properly enough a fort of fub- -■ urbs to the lower town. Between this fuburb and the great ftreet, you go up to the higher town by fo fteep an afcent, that it ■' has been found neceflary to cut it into fteps. Thus H i it cy C 102 ) it is impofiible to afcend it except on foot. But in going from the fquare towards the right a way has been made, the declivity of which is much more gentle, which is lined with houfes. At the place where thcfe two ways meet begins that part of the upper town which faces the river, there being another lower town on the fide towards the littleri- ver St. Charles, 1 he firft building worthy of no- tice you meet with on your right hand in the for- mer of thofe fides, is the bifhop’s palace; the left being entirely occupied with private houfes. When you are got about twenty paces farther, you find yourfelf between two tolerably large fquares ; that towards the left is the place of arms, fronting which, is the fort or citadel, where the governor general refides ; on the oppofite fide ftands the convent of the Recolleffo the other fides of the fquare being lined with handfome houfes. In the fquare towards your right you come firft of all to the cathedral, which ferves alfo foraparift church to the whole city. Near this, and on the angle formed by the river St. Lawrence, and that of . t Charles ftands the feminary. Oppofite tothe cathedral is the college of the jefuits, and on the fides between them are fome very handfome houfes. rrnSrJu P ? f arms run two Greets which are cro fed by a third, and which form a large ifleen- ^n°^ Upie ^ by tbe church an d convent of the Sr ri C i S * Pr0m t ^ ie Second fquare to the river «, a 'r l arC tW ° defcents ’ one on the fouth to- wards the fern, nary which is very fteep and few houfes on ,t , the other near the endota 7 j - a “‘ s > wh;ch is very winding, has the HS final? hm r ° ^ lt ? ’ an< ^ half-way down is lined with mendant J“" d T eS at P^ce what the mtendant refides. On the other fidf of the JeMt't col- ( 103 5 college, where their church (lands, is a pretty long (Ireet, in which is the convent of the Urfuline nuns. The whole of the upper town is built on a bottom partly of marble and partly of (late. Such, Madam, is the topographical defcription of Quebec, which as you fee is of a confiderable large extent, and in which almoft all the houfes are l! T; : built of (lone, though for all that they do not rec- kon above feven thoufand fouls in it*. But in or- der to give you a compleat idea of this city, I mud *1; give you a particular account of its principal edi- fy-' fices, and (hall afterwards fpeak of its fortifications. * The church of the lower town was built in confe- vc quence of a vow made during the fiege of Quebec, ^ ec in 1690. It is dedicated to our Lady of Vittory, e f and ferves as a chapel of eafe for the conveniency of the inhabitants of the lower town. Its ftrutture is extremely fimple, a modeft neatnefs forming all 'OHO its ornament. Some fitters of the congregation, M whom I (hall have occafion to mention in the fequel, , 2 are eftablifhed to the number of four or five, be- KV tween this church and the port, where they teach a jppt fchool. ■j n fa In the epifcopal palace there is nothing finilhed 3 r but the chapel, and one half of the building pro- jetted by the plan, according to which it is to be an m oblong fquare. If it is ever compleated, it will be to: a magnificent edifice. The garden extends to the iei brow of the rock, and commands the profpett of p: all the road. When the capital of New France, [js (hall have become as fiourifhing as that of Old so France (and we (hould not defpair of any thing, fc .. * One may eafily fee by the plan of this city that it has confiderably encreafed within thel’e twenty years laft paft. H 4 Paris Z7 C 104 ) Paris having been for a long time much inferiors what Quebec is at this day) as far as the fight can reach, nothing will be feen but towns, villas, plea, fure houfes, and all this is already chalked out; when the great river St. Lawrence, who rowls ma- jeftically his waters which he brings from the ex- tremities of the north or weft fhall be covered with fhips; when the ifte of Orleans and both fhoresof 6ach of the rivers which form this port, fhall dif- cover fine meadows, fruitful hills, and fertile fields and in order to accomplifti this, there wants only more inhabitants ; when part of the river St. Charles which agreeably meanders through a charming val’ ley, fhall be joined to the city, the moft beautiful quarter of which it will undoubtedly form ; when the whole road fhall have been faced with ma»nifi- cent quays, and the port furrounded with fuperb edifices; and when we fhall fee three or four hun- ed fhips lying m it loaden with riches, of which we have hitherto been unable to avail ourfeives, and bringing in exchange thofe of both worlds, you mud no |! ^ Madam, that this terras r p\ ° r 3 P^P 6 ^ w hich nothing can equal, and ftrUdng Cn “ ° USht t0 be f ° methin S Angularly rifh T ch,^ edral wo t uIc | make hut an indifferent pa- iudoe then 1 °} ne 0 ^ towns in France; be the feat ° fthe rica w^T m f thG French em P ire Ame- Jhe mU0h ™ re excenflve than that of the pre ?Tl W T 5 ' No architecture, the choir, Wuntrv 'hi K an t C u hapels ’ have a11 rhe air of * very hL h r , r'vi” 1S moft Payable in it, is a tance, has no Sdrffea ^Thef^ WhiCh ’ j?u J 0 « 10 this church is a toje f q |T e ) n 7 e \“ d 4 of c io 5 ) of which are not yet finilhed, what is already com- ■ pleated is well executed, and has all the convenien- cies neceffary in this country. This houfe is now “ rebuilding for the third time, it was burnt down to '' the ground in 1703, and in the month of Odtober, ' in the year 1705, when it was near compleatly rebuilt, it was again almoft entirely confumed by ; ; the flames. From the garden you difcover the : whole of the road and the river St. Charles, as far ; as the eye can reach. The fort or citadel is a fine building, with two : f pavilions by way of wings ; yOu enter it through a fpacious and regular court, but it has no garden ?F belonging to it, the fort being built on the brink of : the rock. This defect is fupplied in lbme meafure f with a beautiful gallery, with a balcony, which )tfe reaches the whole length of the building ; it com- s,oi mands the road, to the middle of which one may I a be eafily heard by means of a fpeaking trumpet ; mi and hence too you fee the whole lower town under tlii your feet. On leaving the fort, and turning to the it? left > y° u enter a pretty large efplanade, and by a ;fc g entle declivity you reach the fummit of Cape Dia- mond, which makes a very fine platform. Befides the beauty-of the profped, you breathe in this place ife the pureft air ; you fee from it a number of por- II f: P od ^ s as white as fnow playing on the furface of % water > and you fometimes find a fort of dia- fl: m0nds on it finer than thofe of Alen^on. I have 1 1 ^ een ^ ome °f them full as well cut as if they had k: come f r °tn the hand of the moft expert workman, i They were formerly found here in great plenty, \i and hence this cape has the name it bears. At pre- L’i ^ enC t ^ey are very fcarce. The defcent towards the id country is ftill more gentle than that towards the l efplanade. The ( io6 ) The Fathers Recolle&s have a large and beautiful diurch, which might do them honour even at Vtr- failles. It is very neatly wainfcotted, and is adorn- ed with a large T ribune or gallery fomewhat heavy but the wainfcotting of which is extremely well carved, which goes quite round, and in which are included the confeffion feats. This is the work of one of their brother converts. In a word, nothing is wanting to render it compleat, except the taking away fome pictures very coarfely daubed ; brother Luke has put up fome of his hand which have no need of thole foils. Their houfe is anfwerable to the church ; it is large, folid, and commodious, and adorned with a Ipacious and well-cultivated garden. The Urfiline nuns have fuffered by two hres as well as the feminary ; and befides, their funds are fo fmall, and the dowries they receive with the girls in this country are fo moderate, that after their houfe was burnt down for the firft time, it was re- lolved to fend them back to France. They have, however, had the good fortune to recover themfelves both times, and their church is now aftually finiM 1 hey are neatly and commodioufly lodged, which is the fruit of the good example they fee the reft of the colony by their oeconomy, their fobriety and mduftry j they gild, embroider, and are all ufefullv employed, and what comes out of their hands is generally of a good tafte. You have no doubt read in fome relations, that the college of thejefuits was a very fine building. is certain, that when this city was no more than an unfeemly heap of French barracks, and huts of onW 5s thlS t°? e ’ - Which with thefort > were the ance • rhp^ J 5111 c with ftone, made fome appear* mrifon renr r trav , e . er *» w h° judged of it by com* panfon, reprefented it as a very fine ftrudure, thofe 4 vbo ( io7 ) r * who followed them, and who, according to cuftom copied from them, exprefied themfelves in the fame a ‘^ ; manner. Notwithftanding the huts having fince difappeared, and the barracks having been changed into houfes molt of them well-built, the college in ln ; fome fort disfigures the city, and threatens falling s ^ to ruin every day. mb 1 ft- Its fituation is far from being advantageous, it W;! being deprived of the greateft beauty it could poffi- bly have had, which is that of the profped. It anfe had at firft a diftant view of the road, and its found- coe ers were fimple enough to imagine they would al- rcll-c: ways be allowed to enjoy it ; but they were deceived, iffc The cathedral and feminary now hide it, leaving eytr them only the profped of the fquare, which is far eivei front being a fufficient compenfation for what they tec loft. The court of this college is little and ill-kept, f an d refembles more than any thing elle a farmer’s Hr y af d. The garden is large and well-kept, being ertit terminated by a fmall wood, the remains of the talk: ancient foreft which formerly covered this whole mountain *. ofc The church has nothing worth notice on the out- jj|. Ude except a handfome fteeple ; it is entirely roofed jri; with (late, and is the only one in all Canada which has this advantage -, all the buildings here beino- ge- nerally covered with fhingles. It is very much or- b fam^nted in the infide ; the gallery is bold, light, ^ n d well- wrought, and is furrounded with an iron jar baluftrade, painted and gilt, and of excellent work- manfhip-, the pulpit is all gilt, and the work both m n°n and wood excellent ; there are three altars * The college has fince been rebuilt from the and is at prefent a noble building. • 1 W foundation. hand- ( io8 ) handfomely defigned, fome good pidures, and jj without any dome or cupola, but a flat deling hand- fomely ornamented ; it has no (tone pavement, in place of which it is floored with ftrong planks, which makes this church fupportable in winter, whilftyou are pierced with cold in the others. I make no mention of four large majfy cylindrical columns , each cf a fingle block of a certain fort of porphyry, black as jet , and without either fpots or veins , with which the baron de la Hontan has thought fit to enrich the great altar; they would certainly do better than thofe adually there, which are hollow and coarfely daubed in imitation of marble. One might, how- ever, have forgiven this author, if he had never dif- figured the truth, except to add luftre to churches. • The Hotel Dieu, or hofpital has two large wards, one for men and the other for women. The beds here are kept exceeding clean, the fick are well at- tended, and every thing is commodious and extreme- ly neat. The church Hands behind the women’s ward, and has nothing worth notice except the great altar. T. he houle is ierved by the nuns Hofpitallersof St. Auguftine, of the congregation of the Mercy of Jefus ; the firft of whom come originally from Dieppe. They have begun to build themfelves a commodious apartment, but will not, in all likeli- hood, foon finilh it for want of funds. As their houfe is fituated on the defcent, half-way down the hill, on a flat place, which extends a little towards the river St. Charles, they enjoy a very pleafant The intendant s houle is called the palace, becaui nl e jT r, °u C ° Uncil affembles ^ This is a larg pavilion the two extremities of which projed fom ItS,; >lai 1 '. tlllK .ii* toe >ta and: mr. ado? toe “V L l ait» sods her pci )f(E eK ini; 'm 4 i -dot it? ( 109 ) feet, and to which you afeend by a double flight of flairs. The garden front which faces the little river, which ftands very near upon a level with it, is much more agreeable than that by which you enter. The king’s magazines face the court on the right fide, and behind that is the prifon. The gate by which you enter is hid by the mountain, on which the upper town ftands, and which on this fide affords no profpedt, except that of a deep rock, extremely difagreeable to the fight. It was ftill worfe before the fire, which reduced fome years ago this whole palace to allies ; it having at that time no outer court, and the buildings then facing the ftreet which was very narrow. As you go along this ftreet, or to fpeak more properly, this road, you come firft of all into the country, and at the diftance of half a quarter of a league you find the Hofpital-General. This is the fineft houfe in all Canada, and would be no difparagement to our largeft cities in France •, the Fathers Recolleds formerly owned the ground on which it ftands. M. de St. Vallier, bifhop of Quebec, removed them into the city, bought their fettlement, and expended a hundred thoufand crowns in buildings, furniture, and in foundations. The only fault of this hofpital is its being built in a marfh ; they hope to be able to remedy it by draining this marfh ; but the river St. Charles makes a windino- in this place, into which the waters do not eafiiy flow, fo that this inconvenience can never be effec- tually removed. ff> The prelate, who is the founder, has his apart- ment in the houfe, which he makes his ordinary re- fidence ; having let his palace, which is alfo his own \'Z building, for the benefit of the poor. He even is si* not above ferving as chaplain to the hofpital, as & well as to the nuns, the fun&ions of which office, he TJ ( no ) lie fills with a zeal and application which would be admired in a fimple prieft who got his bread by it. The artizans, or others, who on account of their great age, are without the means of getting their fubfiftence, are received into this hofpital till all the beds in it are full, and thirty nuns are employed in ferving them. Thefe are a Scion or Colony from the hofpital of Quebec ; but in order to diftinguiih them, the bifliop has given them certain peculiar regulations, and obliges them to wear a filver crofs on their bread. Moft part of them are young wo- men of condition, and as they are not thofe of the eafieft circumftances in the country the bifhop has portioned feveral of them. Quebec is not regularly fortified, but they have been long employed in rendering it a place of ftrength. This city would not be eafily taken even jn the condition in which it now is. The harbour is flanked by two baftions, which in high tides are almoft level with the furface of the water, that is to fay, they are elevated five and twenty feet from the ground, for fo high do the tides flow in the time of the equinox. A little above the baftion on the right has been built a half baftion, which is cut out of the rock, and a little higher, on the fide to- wards the gallery of the fort is a battery of twenty- five pieces of cannon. Higher ftill is a fmall fquare fort, called the citadel, and the ways which com- mumcate from one fortification to another are ex- tremely fteep To the left of the harbour quite along the road, as far as the river St. Charles, are good batteries of cannon with feveral mortars. citv 1?™ the a , ngI ) e of the citadel, which fronts the when e 0reillon of a whence has been drawn a curtain at right angles, which ( III ) b; which communicates with a very elevated cavalier, btk on which Hands a windmill fortified. As you de- nt c fcend from this cavalier, and at the diftance of a pi, mulket fhot from it, you meet firft a tower fortified il|', with a baftion, and at the fame diftance from this a fecond. The defign was to line all this with ftone, which was to have had the fame angles with o| the baftions, and to have terminated at the extre- aj, mity of the rock, oppofite to the palace, where a |jjj there is already a fmall redoubt, as well as on Cape C! ; Diamond. Why this has not been put in execution ^ I have not learned. Such, Madam, was the condi- tion of the place nearly in 1711, when the Eng- lifh fitted out a great armament for the conqueft of Canada, which was caft away through the temerity of the admiral, who, contrary to the advice of his pilot, went too near to the Seven Iflands, where he j loft all his largeft fhips, and three thoufand of his ■ belt troops. $ Quebec is ftill at this day in the fame fituation, ‘ r ’ : : which you may allure yourfelf of by the plan in re- lievo, which M. de Chaufiegros deLeri, chief engi- ; neer, fends into France this year, to be placed with m the other plans of fortified places in the Louvre, lie After having informed you of what relates to the tit exterior of our capital, I muft now fay a word or rtJ two with refpedt to its principal inhabitants •, this is it its beft fide, and if by confidering only its houfes i fquares, ftreets, churches, and publick buildings’ cr. we might reduce it to the rank of our fmalleft ci- * ties in France, yet the quality of thofe who inhabit • will fufficiently vindicate us in bellowing upon ® it the title of a capital. r , 1 ^ ave already Laid, that they reckon no more i- wan feven thouland fouls at Quebec ; yet you find ■ C7 ( 1X2 ) in it a fmall number of the belt company, where nothing is wanting that can poffibly contribute to form an agreeable fociety. A governor- general, with an etat-major, a noblefle, officers, and troops, an intendanr, with a fuperior council, and fubaltern jurifdiCtions, a commiflary of the marine, a grand provoft, and furveyor of the highways, with a grand matter of the waters and foretts, whofe jurifdiction is certainly the moft extenfive in the world ; rich merchants, or fuch as live as if they were fo ; a bifhop and numerous feminary the recollefts and jefuits, three communities of women well educated, aflemblies, full as brilliant as any where, at the lady Governefs’s, and lady Intendants. Enough, in my opinion, to enable all forts of perfons whatever to pafs their time very agreeably. They accordingly do fo, every one contributing all in his power to make life agreeable and chear- ful. They play at cards, or go abroad on parties of pleafure in the fummer-time in calafhes or canoes, in winter, in^fledges upon the fnow, or on fkaits up- on the ice. Hunting is a great exercife amongft them, and there are a number of gentlemen who have no other way of providing handfomely for their fubfiftence. The current news confift of a a very few articles, and thofe of Europe arrive all at once, though they fupply matter of difcourfe for great part of the year. They reafon like politi- cians on what is part, and form conjectures on what is likely to happen-, the fciences and fine arts have alfo their part, fo that the converfation never flags for want of matter. The Canadians, that is to fay, the Creoles of Canada draw in with their native breath an air of freedom, which renders them very agreeable in the commerce of life, and no where in the world is our language Ipoken in greater pu- rity. ( tl 3 ) V Hty. There is not even the fmalleft foreign accent ' n9 - : remarked in their pronunciation. !*j G You meet with no rich men in this country, and it is really great pity, every one endeavouring to :’M put as good a face on it as pofiible, and nobody “j fcarce thinking of laying up wealth. They make ■ good cheer, provided they are alfo able to be at the ,x:!; expence of fine cloaths-*, if not, they retrench in the w ® article of the table to be able to appear well drefied. oDe And indeed, we muft allow, that drefs becomes ieie our Creolians extremely well. They are all here of attk very advantageous ftature, and both fexes have the ig'n. fineft complexion in the world ; a gay and fprightly hater behaviour, with great fweetnefs and politenefs of manners are common to all of them ; and the lead rufticity, either in language or behaviour, is utter- i\W ly unknown even in the remoteft and mod diftant and: parts, lonf sore The cafe is Very different as I am informed with nfc refpeft to our Englifli neighbours, and to judge of e t the two colonies by the way of life, behaviour°and toe fpeech of the inhabitants, nobody would hefitate Ifc to that ours were the molt flourifhing. In New- onfii England and the other provinces of the continent r of America, fubjeft to the Britifh empire, there jfcor prevails an opulence which they are utterly at a lofs Q]g how to ufe ; and in New France, a poverty hid by be an air being in eafy circumftances, which feems £ s not at ftndied. Trade, and the cultivation of , eK their plantations ftrengthen the fir ft, whereas the t|i ^ econ ^ ' s fnpported by the induftry of its inhabitants, , and the tafte of the nation diffufes over it fome- thing infinitely pteafing. The Ertglifh planter a- ■ mafies wealth, and never makes any fuperfluous ex- ... pence j the French inhabitant again enjoys what he I ha* ( 1 14 ) has acquired, and often makes a parade of what he is not poflefled of. That labours for his poft e . rity ; this again leaves his offspring involved in the fame neceflities he was in himfelf at his firft letting out, and to extricate themfelves as they can. The Engfilh Americans are averfe to war, becaufe they have a great deal to lofe •, they take no care to ma- nage the Indians from a belief that they Hand in no need of them. The French youth, for very diffe- rent reafons, abominate the thoughts of peace, and live well with the natives, whofe efteem they eafily gain in time of war, and their friendfhip at all times. I might carry the parallel a great way farther, but I am obliged to conclude ; the King’s Ihip is juft going to let fail, and the merchantmen are making ready to follow her, fo that, perhaps, in three days time, there will not be fo much as a fin- gle veflfel of any fort in the road. I m » LETTER ( Ir 5 ) iffij , ■ wife '» 6:; fe nocsu , . . L E T T E R IV. ror t; . ' * * oi >- • . •• • • . ' ;'>& ' : ' ■ em Of the Huron 'village of Loretto. The caMy leri which have prevented the progrefs of the French |j,‘, colony of Canada. Of the current money . nr. Jt >F Madam, Qyebec, Feb. i S , x 72 r; Tiurf - * 1 ' ■ I A M juft returned from a little journey or pilgri- mage of devotion, of which I fhall give you an account ; but I muft in the firft place inform you, that I was miftaken when in the concjufion of my laft letter I had told you, that before three days were over, the road of Quebec would be empty A (hip belonging to Marfeilles is ftill there, and has even found the means of being fo under the oro- te&ion of the ice with which the riyer is covered This is a fecret which may have its ufe. It is a 00 d to have refources againft all accidents that can happen. The captain of this veflel had taken up his an* chor* s on the fecond of September towards evening, ?nd after falling down the river about a league, he came to anchor again, in order to wait for iome of his paflcngers, who came on board after it was quite' dark. He gave orders to have every thing ready .. f 5 as it fhould be ebb water, and went early to ■ bed. About midnight, he was wakened with the news that the veljel was filling with water $ h-cau- h ^ fed ( ) fed all the pumps to be fet a going but to no pur- pofe. The water continued to encreafe inftead of llt c ^ e f°lid piety of the inhabitants of iS eeits makes an irnpreffion upon all, which 7 is ( rI 7 ) is fo much the greater, as it is a flirted by thought 7 and reflection. ' ° The inhabitants are favages, or Indians, but who ‘‘ derive nothing from their birth and original but .J"; what is really eftimable, that is to fay, tne dm- plicity and opennefs of the firft ages of the world, together with thole improvements which Grace has ’ : made upon them •, a patriarchal faith, a fincere piety, that reditude and docility of heart which t: conftitute a true faint ; an incredible innocence or ’> manners ; and laftly, pure Chriftianity, on wh ch. the world has not yet breathed that contagious air ^ which corrupts it; and that frequently attended, ieiie with ads of the moft heroick virtue. Nothing can lE be more affeding than to hear them ling in two >fc choirs, the men on one fide, and the wom -n on the other, the prayers and hymns of the church in e,ti- their own language. Nor is there any thing which Infc can be compared to that fervour and modefty which i k they difplay in all their religious exercifes ; and I itk: have never feen any one, who was not touched with frot it to the bottom of his heart. itr. to s This village has been formerly much .better peo- |t pled than at prefent, but diftempers, and I know m not what caufe, which infenfibly reduces to nothin o- idii all the nations of this continent, have greatly df* tfe: minifhed the number of its inhabitants. i he old f r age and infirmities of fome of their ancient pa iors |C had likewife occafioned the falling off of fome from V their primitive zeal, but it has been no difficult jit* matter to bring them back to it again ; and he who ; direds them at prefent has nothing to do biit to keep l things on the fame footing in which he fou d them. It is true, that it is impofiible to carry to a fart her length than has been done the precautions they ufe i 3 to u , . mu ( *18 ) || tb prevent the introducing any new relaxation of manners. Intoxicating liquors, the moll common and almoft the foie (tumbling block, which is able to caufc the favages to fall off, are prohibited by a folemn vow, the breach of which is fubmitted to a publick penance, as well as every other fault which occafions fcandal ; and a relapfe is generally fuffi. cient to banilh the criminal without any hopes of return from a place, which ought to be the impreg- nable fortrefs and the facred afylum of piety and innocence. Peace and fubordination reign here in a perfed manner ; and this village feems to confli- tute but one family, which is regulated by the pur- eft maxims of the gofpel. This muft always oc- cafion matter of furprize to every one, who confiders to what a height thefe people, particularly the Hu- tons, ufually carry their natural fiercenefs and the love of independance. The greateft, and perhaps the only trouble which the iniffionary has, is to find wherewithal to fubfift his flock ; the territory which he pofiefies, not be- ing fufficient for that purpofe, and there are very good reafons againft abandoning it ; however, Pro- vidence iupplies this defed. Monfieur and Ma- dame Begon were of our pilgrimage, and were re- ceived by our good Neophytes as perfons of their rank ought to be, who, at the fame time, never fufFered them to want the neceflaries of life. After a reception, entirely military on the part of the war- riors, and the acclamations of the multitude, they began with exercifes of piety, which contributed to the mutual edification of all prelent. This was fol- lowed with a general feftival at the expence of Ma- dam Begon, who received all the honours of it. The • >en, according to cuftom, eat in one houfe, and 1 ' r ' vv ° men the little children in another. I call ( ii 9 ) jfttu, tall it a houfe and not a cabin, for thefe Indians hidi' have for i'ome time lived after the French man- ihifc ncr. iwmsi [fjn;,. The women on fuch occafions teftify their grati- :Itt K tude only by their filence and modefty ; but becaufe ai) „i this was the firft lady in the colony, who had ever jlluj. regaled the whole village, an orator was granted to ■ the Huron women, by whofe mouth they difplayed rt ;j all the grateful fentiments of their hearts towards =n , : . their illuflrious benefa&refs. As for the men, after ,/l their chief had harangued the Intendant, they danced a , . and fung as much as they thought fit. Nothing, V' Madam, can be lefs entertaining than thole longs ^7 and dances. At firlt, they feat themfelves on the ground, like fo many apes without any order ; from e time to time one man riles, and advances flowly to the middle of the place, always as they fay in ca- dence, turning his head from one fide to the other, ; ‘ and finging an air, containing not the fmalleft melody to any ear but that of a favage or Indian, and pro- : :: nouncing a few words which are of no fignification. ieri ■ Sometimes it is a war-fong, fometimes a death-fong, lows'; fometimes an attack, or a furprize ; for as thefe euf ; ' people drink nothing but water, they have no drink- ing fongs, and they have not as yet thought of rfon'7 making any on their amours. Whilft this perlon W is finging, the' pit or audience never ceafe beating lift time, by drawing from the bottom of their breaft tofu a He, being a note which never varies. The con- liiri noifieurs, to whom I refer the matter, pretend that mofc they are never once out in keeping time. Ik* >0 As foon as one perfon has given over, another jofi takes his place, and this continues till the fpe&ators 1# thank them for their entertainment, which they ad' would not be long of doing were it not convenient 1 4 to \ ( 120 ) (0 ffiew a little complaifance to thofe people. Their mufick is indeed very far from being agreeable, at lead, if I may form a judgment of it from what] have heard of it. It is however quite another thing at church; the women particularly having a furprizing foftnefs of voice, and at the fame time a confiderable fhare of tade as well as genius for mufick. On fuch occafions their harangue or oration is ex- tremely worthy of attention ; they explain, in afew words, and almoft always in a very ingenious man- ner, the occafion of the fedival, which they never fail to aferibe to very generous motives. The prailes of him who is at the expence are not for- gotten, and they fometimes take the opportunity when certain perlonages, particularly when the Go- vernor -general or Intendant are prefent, to afk a fa-? vour, or to reprefent their grievances. The orator or the Huron women faid that day in his harangue lome things fo very extraordinary, that we could not help fufpefting that the interpreter, then Peter Daniel Ricker, the miffionary, had lent him fomeof his wit and politenefs ; but he protefted he had add- ed nothing of his own ; which we believed, becaufe we knew him to be one of the opened and fin- cereft men in the. world. Before this little journey, I had made fome foul excurfions m the neighbourhood of this city, but* t ie grounc. was every where covered with fnow t< the depth of five or fix feet, I have not thereby beer erubicdto jpg* much of the nature of the coun : ithftanding, having before travelled ove vou vl i ? ° f ,he 1 «•» allure you tb J r le y rn.ee any where clle with a moreler {tot ckt "gii toll; to® pink ( 121 ) tile country, or a better foil. I have applied my- felf particularly this winter to learn what advantages may be drawn from this colony, and I fliall now communicate to you the fruit of my enquiries. It is a complaint as old as the colony itfelf, and not without foundation, that Canada does not enrich France. It is likewife true that none of the inha- bitants are rich ; but is this the fault of the country itfelf, or rather of its firft fettlers ? I fhall endea- vour to put you in the way of forming a judgment on this article. n 0 e The original fource of the misfortune of thefe provinces, which they have honoured with the fine * name of Nfw France , is the report which was at e a firft fpread in the kingdom, that there were no mines eof in them, and their not paying fufficient attention to wit a much greater advantage which may be drawn from M this colony, which is the augmentation of trade; , 1; that in order to bring this about fettlements mu ft fc be made ; that this is done by little and little, and k' without being fenfibly felt in fuch a kingdom as 1,4 France; that the two only obje&s which prefent rh themfelves at firft view in Canada and Acadia , ! mean jit! the fi filer y and fur trade, abfolutdy require that cft| thefe two countries fhould be well peopled ; and that tlli t^y had been fo, perhaps, they would have fent greater teturns to France, than Spain has drawn from the richeft provinces of the New World, efpe- cially, if they had added to thefe articles the build- » in g of. fiiips ; but the Iplendor of the gold and fil- ver which came from Peru and Mexico, dazzled ■g the eyes of all Europe in fuch a manner, that any i» country which did not produce thefe precious metals ... was looked upon as abfolutely good for nothino- Let us fee what a fenfible author who has been on the fpoc fays upon this head. The The common queftions they afk us, fays Mark Lefcarhot, are, “ .Are there any treafures to be found in that country ? Any gold and filver ? But nobody enquires whether the people are difpofed to hear and relifh the doftrines of Chrifhanity. It j s however, certain, that there are mines here, but thefe muft be wrought with induftry, labour, and patience. The beft mine I know is corn and wine together with the railing of cattle ; he who poffeffcs thefe things has money ; but we do not live by mines. The mariners who come in queft of fill, from all parts of Europe, above eight or nine hun- dred leagues from their own country, find the beft of mines without blowing up rocks, digging into the entrails of the earth, or living in the obfcurity of the infernal regions. -They find, 1 fay, the beft of mines in the bottom of the waters, and in the money ” ***” ^ ^ inS> by whith the y niake good Not only a bad ch a rafter has been given to New France without knowing it ; but even thofe who imagined they fhould l draw advantages from it, have not pu:. ued the meaiures proper for that purpole. In tne fiift place, they were a very Ion" time in fn^fv If m 1WS S d u y dcared lands without hav- ng wJl exannned them, they fowed them, and ted thSTST’ ? Rd afterwa tds frequently de- fett|e d eS’re h Th- why ’ and went t0 m m r nn , 1 hiS weonftancy has contributed Zvln Z f" y tH, ? g t0 make us Io!e Acadia, and durin" the r fr ° m t,rawms any advan tage from it, pen infula tT ^ T CK P offeffi on of that fine wiS of th^ author > . Steady cited, who was a fcruples nor r- l ' ui wa J ejlll g an d irrefolute conduft, mofTS^^^it who were the t is tnus, lays he, “ that we have ( 123 ) M have rhade levies of armed men, that we have luir- f 8 ried with ardour into new undertakings, that we k have laid down and begun the fineft projb&s, and in the end have deferted them all Indeed to »tt. be fuccefsful in fuch enterprizes we ought to be W, well fupported ; but we ought likewife to have men afcos- of refolution, who will not retratt, but carry this nit point of honour always in their eyes, to conquer or r bojr die , it being a great and & glorious thing to die in lot- the execution of a noble defign, fuch as laying the uel foundations of a new kingdom, or eftablilhing the ire Chriftian faith among a people Unacquainted with iWli the true God.” I could pulh thefe reflections a great deal farther, but am cautious of engaging in iej|, a difpute, into which I neither can nor ought to en- r ter with the knowledge 1 have of it at prefent. art ijjj, I come now to the commerce of Canada. This has turned for a long time folely upon the fifhery and fur- trade. The cod-fifhery had been carried on upon the great bank, and the coafts of New- foundland, long before the difcovery of the river St. Laurence, but we were too late in making a fet- tlement on that ifland, and fuffered the Englilh to ’ get the ftart of us. At laft we got polTeHion of ^ the harbour and bay of Placentia, where our royal ; fquadrons have been at anchor oftener than once ; we have withftood fieges there, and the Canadian militia have performed warlike exploits in that place which are not inferior to thofe of the braveft bil- caneers of St. Domingo. They have frequently * laid wafte the fettlements, and ruined the trade of the Englilh in that iHand but that people, from whom we eafily took their ftrongeft places, were too well acquainted with their enemies to be difcon- Certed in their meafures. Accu domed to behold the Canadian fire kindle in the frozen regions of the 3 north, C 12 4 ) north, and go out of its own accord, when ic ought to have difplayed itfelf with the greateft adivity, they have behaved at the approach of our people,' as an experienced pilot does at the fight of an un- avoidable tempeft. They wifely gave way to the ftorm, and afterwards, without interruption, repair- ed the damages their fettlements had received from it ; and by this,conduft, though continually worded in Newfoundland, whether they a&ed on the offen- five or defenfive, they have always carried on an in- comparably greater trade than their conquerors, and have at laft remained the foie matters and peaceable poffeffors of that iiland. We have behaved ftill worfe in Canada ; this oreat and rich province has been for a long time divided amongft feveral private perfons, none of whom have enriched themfelves, whilft the Englifh have made immenft profits by the filhery on its coafts. The fettlements which thele proprietors have made, want- ing folidity, and they themfelves being deftitute of a regular plan, and the one deftroying the other, t icy have left the country nearly in the fame con- dition in which they found it, and in a ftate of contempt and negleft from which it has not reco- vered till the moment we loft it. Our enemies were the firtt who made us fenfible of its value. I he only trade to which this colony has been long reduced, is that of furs •, and the faults committed in it are paft number. Perhaps, our national cha- rader never fhowed itfelf in a ftronger light than in this affair. When we difcovered this vaft Conti- Was , fllIi of wild beafts. A handful of near inTc” made t bem almoft entirely difap- c j es 0 c a S \ an an a 8 e ’ and there are feme the fpe- cies of which is entirely deftroyed. They killed the < 125 ) »heaj : iteft four? k■_ jk Nevertheless, we fhould be puzzled to name but kik ® ne family at this day which has grown rich by this c, traffick. We have feen fortunes equally immenfe and fudden, rife up, and difappear almoft at the fame juj, time, not unlike to thole moving mountains mention- fd travellers, which the wind railesor throwsdown io S in the fand y defarts of Africa. Nothing has been \\i more comrnon m this country than to lee people If dragging out a languilhing old age in mifery and g, difgrace, after having been in a condition to fettle themfelves on an honourable footing. After all, ; .v -Madam, thofe fortunes which private* perfons, who d never and the vagabonds, who had acquired a tafte for a wandering and independant life, remain- ed among ft the favages or Indians, from whom they were no longer diftinguifhable but by their vices, i hey frequently had recourfe to amnefties to recal thofe fugitives, which were at firft of little confe- quence ; but m the end being managed with pm- fror^them 7 pr ° duCed part of che effe£t proniifed mot^ffi ^ meth0t j. W3 ^ made ufe °f which was ftill fbr D-nnr) CaC ^ US * 3 , Ut: thofe P eo ple who were zealous foutui rhp ° rder , and c ; ie advancement of religion, "S y the difeafe. Thif was 8 P * flion to thofe in whom thoy thought they ( >2 7 ) Oft they could repofe confidence to trade in the Indian the!*' countries, and to prohibit all others from goin* out V; of the colony. The number of thefe licences was' ditiot; limited, and they were diftributed amongd p00 r riches' widows and orphans, who might fell them to 1 the lid if traders for more or Iefs, according as the trade was good or bad, or according to the nature of the places to which the licences granted the liberty of trading ; gof; f°r they ufed the precaution to fpecify thofe places* as, ok t0 prevent too great a number from going the fame is ct C wa y- gtoir Wit )% lint s® fit: 'hok ft, IE Befides thofe licences, the number of which was regulated by the court, and the didribution of which belonged to the governor-general, there were others for the commandants of forts, and for extraordi- nary occafions, which the governor dill grants un- der the name of Ample Permjfms. Thus one part of our youth *s continually rambling and rovi n * about ; and though thofe diforders, which formerly fo much difgraced this profeflion, are no longer committed, at lead not fo openly, yet it infects them with a habit of libertinifm, of which they ne- ver entirely get rid ; at lead, it gives them a dif- tade for labour, it exhauds their drength, they be- come incapable of the lead condrainc, and when they are no longer able to undergo the fatigues of travelling, which foon happens, for thefe btioues are excefiiye, they remain without the leaft° re- source, and are no longer good for any thin* Hence it comes to pafs, that arts have been a Ion* time neg efted, a great quantity of good land re- It has been often propofed to abolifh thofe perni- cious licences, not with a view of hurting the trade, but ( 128 ) but even of rendering it more flourifhirig, arid for that purpofe to make fome French fettlements in proper places, where it would be eafy to affemble the Indians, at lead for certain feafons of the year. By this means, this vaft country would be infenfibly filled with inhabitants, and perhaps, this is the only method by which that project which the court has fo long had at heart of Frenchifying the Indians, that is the term they make ufe of, could be brought about. I believe, I may at lead affirm, that 3 if this method had been followed, Canada would have been at prefent much better peopled than it is ; that the Indians drawn and kept together by the com- forts and conveniencies of life, which they would have found in our fettlements, would not have been fo miferable, nor fo much addifted to a wandering life, and confequently their numbers would have encreafed, whereas they have diminilhed at a fur- prifing rate, and would have attached themfelves to us in fuch a manner that we might now have dif- poled of them as of the fubjedls of the crown ; be- fides,, that the milfionaries would have had fewer obuacles to encounter with in their converfion, Vv hat \ye now lee at Loretto, and amongft a fmall pioportion of the Iroquoile, Algonquins, and Abe- naquis, fettled in the colony, leaves no room to doubt the truth of what I have advanced, and there are none T>f thofe who have had the greateft inter- - courfe with the Indians, who do not agree, that theie people are not to be depended on, when they aic not Chriftians. I want no other example, but that of the Abenaquis, who, though far from be- ing numeious, have been during the two laft ware England b ° lwark ° f New France a S ainft New Befidss ( 145 ) l' Befides this projedt. Madam, which I have been juft now explaining to you, is as old as the colony? it was formed by M. de Champlain its founder, and r ~ has been approved of by almoft all the miftionarie3 : I have known, whofe painful labours in the fitua- ^ tion things have long been in, produce no great ® good effects, at leaft in the diftant millions. It : would be now, indeed, too late to refume this de- fign with refpedt to the Indians, who difappear in a manner as fenfible as it is inconceivable. But what ® hinders its being followed with refpedl to the French, l!! and enlarging the colony by degrees, till it fhould * join to that of Louifiana, and thus ftrengthen the f one by the other ? It has been in this manner, that it the Englilh, in lefs than a century and a half have e peopled above five hundred leagues of the country, and formed a power upon this Continent, which t when we view it nearly we cannot but behold with i terror, n* * N . t Canada is capable of furnifhing many articles it for a trade with the Weft-lndia ifiands, and fome- ;• times adtually lends thither no mean quantity of [i flour, planks, and other timber proper for build- • ing. As there is, perhaps, no country in the whole world, which produces more forts of wood nor of . better kinds, you may judge what immenfe riches may be one day drawn from it. It appears that . very few perlbns are well informed with refpeft to this point. .Nor am I, as yet, fufficiently informed myfelf, to be able to enter into a more minute detail ; ■ I am fomewhat better acquainted with what relates to the oil-trade, and fhall have occafion to fpeak of it very foon : As I am in a hurry to finiih this letter, I have only time to conclude what relates to the commerce of this country in general. Vol. I. K No- ( U6 ) Nothing has in all appearance contributed more to its decay, than the frequent changes which have been made in the coin. 1 will give you the hiftory of it in a few words. In 1670, the company or the Weft-Indies, to whom the king had ceded the right to the property of the French iflands on the Continent of America, had leave given to export to the Weft-India iflands, to the amount of one hundred thoufand livres, in final! pieces, marked with a particular ftamp and infeription. The king's edidt is dated in the month of February, and bore tnat thole pieces fbould only pafs current in the ifles. Biit in fome difficulties which fell out, the counci iliued on the 1 8th of November of the year 1671, an Arret, by which it was ordained, that the above- mentioned, as well as all other coin which fhould pals current in France, fhould alfo pafs current not on y in the French iflands, but alfo in thofe parts or the continent of America, which are fubjeft to the crown, at the rate of thirty-three and one third pu cent, advance ; that is to fay, the pieces of fifteen OiS for twenty, and the others in proportion. I he fame Arret ordained, that all con t rads, bill), accounts, bargains, and payments, between all forts of perfons whatsoever, fhould be made at a certain price in current money, without making ufe ofanv exc ange or reckoning in fugar, or any other com- r ’ cn nullity of the aft. And with t ,° t,an( a6tions by-palf, it was /ordered, that all ltipulauons ofcontrads, bills, debts, quit-rents, fhnnM aT T S °* fu S ar ’ or ot her commodities, be r l lade P a y a ble in money, according to the of rl n V3 ue t ^ ie above coin. In confequence in K,1 S et ’ tbe co ' n cncrea fed one fourth in value difficulties , ( *47 ) lt®» who was appointed intendant of Quebec, in 1684, 'o^and who is now in the fame employ at Havre de l, !(r Grace, found himfelf foon embarrafied as well with -frefpedt to the payment of the troops, as to the other . expences the king muft be at in this colony* ivfti* 1 ... And befides the funds which were fent from . France, arrived almoft always too late, the firft of ' January being the day on which it was abfolutely ^Jnecefiary to pay the officers and foldiers, as well as “' to defray other charges equally indifpenfable. To obviatethe mod preffing demands, M. de Cham- pigny thought proper to ifiue certain bills, which 1 fhould hand in place of coin, taking care, however, u conftantly to obferve the augmentation of the value ' : of the money. A verbal procefs was drawn up of ' this proceeding, and, by virtue of an ordinance of n "the governor- general and intendant, every piece of E this money, which was made of cards, had its va- lue, with the mark of the treafury, and the arms of France, ftamped upon it, as were thofe of the f« governor and intendant in Spaniffi wax. After- wards paper money was ftruck in France, and ftamp- ed with the fame impreffion as the current- money of the realm, and it was ordained, that the bills it ffiould be returned into the treafury of Canada every «: year, before the arrival of the fhips from France, 1 in order to receive an additional mark to prevent the introducing of counterfeits. i " This paper-money was of no long continuance, fo that they returned to the ufe of card- money, on which new impreffions were ftamped. The intendant figned fuch bills as were of four livres and upwards value, only marking the others. In latter times, the governor-general figned alfo fuch as were of fix livres and above. In the beginning of che Autumn, K 2 all ( ) all the bills were carried back to the treafurer, who gave bills of exchange for the value on the treafurer- i „ general of the marine at Rochefort, or his clerk, to be charged to the account of the expences of the following year. Such as were fpoiled were no lon- ger fullered to pafs current, and were burned after having firlt drawn up a verbal procefs of it. Whilft thefe bills of exchange were faithfully paid, thole money-bills were preferred to real fpe- cie ; as foon as they ceaftd to be honoured, they gave over carrying the money-bills to the treafurer, fo that in 1702, M. de Champigny was at a great deal of pains to no purpofe in endeavouring tore- tire all thofe he had made. His fucceffors were un- der the necefiuy of making new ones every year, for paying of falaries, which multiplied them to fuch a degree, that at laft they became of no value at all, and nobody would receive them in payment. 1 he conlequence of this was an entire ftagnation of trade, and the diforder went fo far, that in 1713, the inhabitants propofed to lofe one half, on con- dition that the king fhould take them up and pay the other half. This propofal was agreed to the year following, but the orders given, in confequence thereof, were not fully executed till 1717. A declaration was then publilhed, abolifhing thele money-bills, when they begun paying the falaries of the officers of the colony in filver. 1 he augmentation of one fourth advance, was abrogated at the fame time : Experi- ence having made it appear, that the augmentation ot the fpecies in a colony does not keep the money j" om S°i n g ou t of it as had been pretended, and t at money could never have a free and proper cir- cu -non, but by paying in commodities whatever was : ( 149 ) was imported from France. In effeft, in this cafe, • the colony keeps her money at home, whereas in £ the fuppofition that Ihe has not merchandize fuffi- 5 cient to pay for all that Ihe receives, fhe is obliged a to pay the balance in filver, and how Ihould it be otherwife ? In a word. Madam, you will be furprized when ; I tell you, that in 1 706, the trade of the moft an- . cient of all our colonies was carried on in a bottom, : or capital of no more than 650,000 livres, and ii things have fince been pretty much in the fame fi- .•5 tuation. Now this fum divided amongft thirty ij: thoufand inhabitants is neither capable of enriching ? them, nor of enabling them to purchafe rhe com- i modities of France. For this reafon, moft part of them go ftark naked, efpecially thole that live in remote habitations. They have not even fo much i as the advantage of felling the furplus of their com- modities to the inhabitants of cities, thefe being obliged, in order to fubfift, to have lands in the . country, and to cultivate them themftlves for their own account. After the king had taken Canada back again out ' of the hands of the companies, his majefty expend- ed confiderably more on it for l'everal years than he has done fince ; and the colony in thofe times fent into France to the vahie of near one million livres in beaver yearly, notwithftanding it was not fo po- pulous as at prefent : But fhe has always drawn more from France than fhe has been able to pay, doing juft as a private perfon would, who with a revenue of thirty thoufand livres, fhould fpend at the rate of upwards of forty thoufand. By this means, her credit has funk, and fo has brought on the ruin of her trade, which, fince the year 1 706, K 3 con- C7 ( * 50 ' ) confided of fcarce any thing befides what is called the leffer peltry. Every merchant would be con- cerned in it which has occafioned its ruin, as they often paid more for them to the Indians than they were able to fell them for in France. / aniy &c. L E T TER { * 5 * ) letter V. Of the beavers of Canada ; in what they differ from thofe of Europe ; of their manner of building ; of the advantage which may accrue to the colony from them j of the hunting of the beaver and mufk-rat. Quebec, March z , 1721. Madam, I Ought to have fet out within a day or two after writing my laft letter; but I am ftill detained for want of a carriage. In the mean time, I cannot do better than entertain you with an account of the curiofities of this country. I lhall begin with the moft Angular article of all, that is to fay, the bea- ver. The fpoil of this animal has hitherto been the principal article in the commerce of New France. It is itfelf one of the greateft wonders in nature, and may very well afford many a ftriking lelfon of induftry, forefight, dexterity, and perfeverance in labour. The beaver was not unknown in France before the difcovery of America ; we find in the ancient books of the Hatters of Paris, regulations for the K 4 manu- m ( J 5 2 ) manufacture of beaver-hats •, now the beaver of America and Europe are abfolutely the fame animal; but whether it is, that the European beavers are be come extremely rare ; or that their fur is not equally good in quality with that of the beavers of Ame- rica, there is no longer mention made of any, be- fides this latter, except it is with refpedt to the Caf- toreum, of which 1 fhall fay a word or two in the end of this letter. I do not even know that any author has mentioned this animal, as an objeft of curiofity, perhaps, for want of having obferved it clofely enough ■, perhaps too, becaufe the Euro- pean beavers are of the nature of land beavers, the difference of which from the others I fhall pre- fently fhew you. However this be, the beaver of Canada is an amphibious quadruped, which cannot live for any long time in the water, and which is able to live entirely without it, provided it have the conveniency ot bathing itfelf fonietimes. 1 he largeft beavers are fomewhat lefs than four feet in length and fifteen inches in breadth over the haunches, weighing about fixty pounds. Its colour is different according to the different climates, in which it is found. Jn the moft diilant northern parts they are generally quite black, though there are fonietimes found beavers entirely white. In the moft temperate countries they ate brown, their colour becoming lighter and lighter in proportion as they approach toward the fouth. In the country of the Illinois, they are almoft yel- low, and fome are even feen of a ftraw-colour. It as alfo been obferved, that in proportion as their colour is lighter they yield a lefs quantity of fur, and consequently are lefs valuable. This is plainly - ic wor of I rovidence, which fecures them from .Me cold in proportion as they are expofed to it. The ( *53 ) The fur is of two forts all the body over, excepting at the feet, where it is very fhort. The longeft of it is from eight to ten lines in length, and it even goes fometimes on the back as far as two inches, di- minilhing gradually towards the head and tail. This part of the fur is harlh, courfe, and fhining, and I: is properly that which gives the animal its colour. i; In viewing it through a microfcope, you obferve the middle lefs opake, which proves it to be hollow, * for which caufe no ufe is ever made of it. 1 he other part of the fur is a very thick and fine down, » of an inch in length at' moft, and is what is com- monly manufactured. In Europe, it was formerly h known by the name of Mufcovia wool. This is properly the coat of the beaver, the firfb ferving only for ornament, and perhaps to aftift him in ' i fwimming. it' i It is pretended that the beaver lives fifteen or K twenty years •, that the female carries her young four I: months, and that her ordinary litter is four, though z fome travellers have raifed it to eight, which as I is believe happens but rarely. She has four teats, two on the great pe&oral mufcle between the lecond and third of the true ribs, and two about four fingers higher. The mufcles of this animal are exceeding II ftrong, and thicker in appearance than its fize re- 3 quires. Its inteftines on the contrary are extremely flender, its bones very hard, and its two jaws which are al moft equal, furprizingly ftrong ; each of thefe is furnifhecf with ten teeth, two incifive and eight molar. The fuperior incifives are two inches and a half long, the inferior upwards of three, follow- ing the bending of the jaw, which gives them a prodigious and i'urprifing force for fo fmall an ani- mal. It has been further obferved, that the two jaws do not exactly correfpond, but that the fupe- rior C >54 ) rior advances confiderably over the inferior, fo that they crofs like the two blades of a pair of fciffars: Laftly, that the length of both the one and the other is precifely the third part of their root. The head of the beaver is very near like that of a mountain rat. Its fnout is pretty long, the eyes little, the ears Ihort, round, hairy on the outfide, and fmooth within. Its legs are ihort, particularly the forelegs, which are only four or five inches long, and pretty much like thofe of the badger. The nails are made obliquely and hollow like quills, the hind feet are quite different, being flat and furnifh- ed with membranes between the toes ; thus the bea- ver can walk though flowly, and fwims with the fame eafe as any other aquatick animal. Befides, in refpeft of its tail, it is altogether a fifh, having been juridically declared fuch by the faculty of medicine of Paris, in confequence of which declaration, the faculty of theology have decided that it might be lawfully eaten on meagre days. M. Lemery was miftaken in faying, that this decifion regarded only the hinder part of the beaver. It has been placed all of it in the fame clafs with mackrel. It is true, that hitherto we have not been able to profit much by this toleration •, the beavers are at prefent fo far from our habitations, that it is rar» to meet with any that are eatable. Our Indians who live among us keep it after having dried it in the fmoke, and I give you my word, Madam, it is the worft eating I ever tafted. It is alfo necelfary when you have got frefli beaver, to give it a boiling in order to take away a very difagreeable relifh. With this precaution, it is exceeding good eating, there be- ing no fort of meat either lighter, more wholefome, or more delicious, it is even affirmed to be as nou- rifhing ( *55 ) rilhing as veal *, when boiled it Hands in need of fome feafoning to give it a relifh, but roafted has no need of any thing What is molt remarkable in this amphibious animal is its tail. This is almoft oval, four inches broad at the root, five in the mid- dle, and three at the extremity, I mean, however, in large beavers only. It is an inch thick, and a foot in length. Its fubftance is a firm fat, or ten- der cartilage, much like the flefh of the porpoife, but which grows harder when it is kept for any confiderable time. It is covered with a fcaly fkin, the fcales of which are hexagonal, half a line in thicknefs, from three to four lines long, and refting upon each other like thole of fifhes. An extream fiender pellicle ferves to fupport them, and they are indented fo as to be eafily feparated after the death of the animal. # This is in brief the defcription of this curious creature. If you would have a (till greater detail of it, you may fatisfy yourfelf by looking into the memoirs of the royal academy of fciences for the year 1 704. The anatomical defcription of the bea- ver has been inferted in it, done by M. Sarrafin cor- refpondent of the academy, king’s phyfician in this country, and expert in medicine, anatomy, furgcry, and botany ; and a man of very fine accomplilh- ments, who dirtinguilhes himfelf no lefs in the fu- perior council of which he is member, than by his abilities in every point relating to his profeffion. It is really matter of furprize to find a man of luch univerfal merit in a colony. But to return to the beaver. The true tefticles of this amphibious animal were not known to the antients, probably, becaufe they were very little, and lay concealed in the loins. They ( *5 6 ) They had given this name to the bags in which the caftoreum is contained, which are very different and in number four in the lower belly of the beaver. The two firft, which are called fuperior, from their being more elevated than the reft, are of the form of a pear, and communicate with each other like the two pockets of a knapfack. The other two which are called inferior are round ifh towards the bottom. The former contain a foft, refinous, adhefive mat- ter, mixed with Imall fibres, greyifh without, and yellow within, of a ftrong dil'agreeable and pene- trating fcent, and very inflammable, which is the true caftoreum. It hardens in the air in a month’s time, and becomes brown, brittle, and friable When they have a mind to caufe it harden fooner than cidinary, tis only placing it -in a chimney. It is pretended that the caftoreum which comes from Dantzick is better than that of Canada ; I re- fer it to the Druggifts. It is certain that the bags which contain this latter are fmaller, and that even here the largeft are the mo ft eftetmed. Befides their thickne/s, they muft alfo be heavy, brown, of a ftrong penetrating fcent, full of a hard, bitter, and friable matter, of the fame colour, or yellowilh interwoven with a delicate membrane, and of an acrid tafte The properties of caftoreum are to at- tenuate vifcous matter, fortify the brain, cure the vapours, provoke the menfes in women, prevent corruption, and caufe ill humours to evaporate by perfpiration. It is alfo ufed with fuccefs again!! the aE!KfJfc fa inS ' flcknefs ’ the P aIf y> apoplexy, i;nTr, h r im e u° r bagS Contain an undtuous and fattifh 1 quor like honey. Its colour is of a pale yellow, Its odour fetid, little different from that of the cafto- reum. ( *57 ) reum, but fomewhat weaker and more difagreeable. It thickens as it grows older, and takes the confif- tence of tallow. This liquor is a refolvent, and a fortifier of the nerves, for which purpofe it muft be applied upon the part. It is befides a folly to fay with feme authors on the faith of the antient naturalifis, that when the beaver finds himfelf pur- fued, to fave his life he bites off thefe pretended tef- ticles which he abandons to the hunters. It is his fur he ought then to ftrip himfelf of, in compan- ion of which all the reft is of little value. It is, ljowever, owing to this fable that this animal got the name of Caftor. Its Hein, after being ftript of the fur, is not to be neglected ; of it are made gloves and ftockings, as might feveral other things, but it being difficult to take off all the fur without cutting it they make ufe of the Ikin of the land beaver. You have, perhaps, heard of green and dry beaver, and you may alfo be defirous to know the difference ; which is this. The dry beaver is its fkin before it has been employed in any ufe : the green beaver are fuch as have been worn by the In- dians, who, after having well tawed them on the infide, and rubbed them with the marrow of certain animals, with which I am not acquainted, in order to render them more pliant, few feveral of them to- gether, making a fort of garment, which they call a robe, and in which they wrap themfelves with the fur inwards. They never put it oft' in winter, day nor night ; the long hair foon falls off, the down remaining and becoming more oily, in which con- dition it is much fitter to be worked up by the hat- ters ; who cannot make any ufe of the dry, with- out a mixture of this fat fur along with it. They pretend it ought to have been worn from fifteen to eighteen months to be in its perfection. I leave you to C '5 s > t0 judge whethef our firft traders were fimple enough to let the Indians know what a valuable commodity their old cloaths were. It was, however, impofli- ble to keep a fecret of this nature for any confider- able time, being entrufted to a paflion which imme- diately betrays itfelf. About thirty years ago one Guigues, who had had the farm of the beaver, find- ing a prodigious quantity of this fur upon his hands, bethought himfelf, in order to create a vent for it, of having it fpun and carded with wool, and of this compofition he caufed make cloths, flannels, flock- ing, and other fuch like manufactures, but with fmall fuccefs. This trial fhewed that the fur of the bea- ver was only fit for making hats. It is too fhortto be capable of being fpun alone, and a great deal more than one half muft confilt of wool, fo that there is very little profit to be made by this manu- facture. There is, however, one of this fort (till kept up in Holland, where you meet with cloaths and druggets of it ; but thefe fluffs come dear, and befides do not wear well. The beaver wool very foon leaves it, forming on the furface a fort of nap which deftroys all its luftre. The ftockings which have been made of it in France had the iame de- fect. Thele, Madam, are all the advantages the bea- vers are capable of affording the commerce of this colony : their forefight, their unanimity, and that wonderful fubordination we fo much admire in them, their attention to provide conveniencies, of which we could not before imagine brutes capable of per- ceiving the advantages, afford mankind ftill more important leffons, than the ant to whom the holy fcripture fends the fluggard. They are at leaft a- mongl the quadrupeds, what the bees arc amongft vmgc in lefts. I have not heard peribns well in- formed ( «59 ) ;*■ formed fay, that they have a king or queen, and it is not true, that when they are at work in a body, there is a chief or a leader who gives orders and JH pun iflies the flothful ; but by virtue of that inftindfc £ which this animal has from him, whofe Providence governs them, every one knows his own proper S; office, and every thing is done without confufion, il? and in the moft admirable order. Perhaps, after c all, the reafon why we are fo ftruck with it is for s want of having recourfe to that fovereign intelli- ;; gence, who makes ufe of creatures void of reafon, [ji the better to difplay his wifdom and power, and to fj make us fenfible that our reaion itfelf is almoft al- :j ways, through our prefumption, the caufe of our miftakes. a,, t The firft thing which our ingenious brutes do, when they are about to chufe a habitation, is to call r ah affembly if you pleafe, of the hates of the pro- vince. Plowever this be, there are fometimes three or four hundred of them together in one place, forming a town which might properly enough be called a little Venice. Firft of all they pitch upon a fpot where there are plenty of provifions, with all the materials necefiary for building. Above all things water is abfolutely neceflary, and in cafe they can find neither lake nor pool, they fupply that defeft by (topping the courfe of fome rivulet, or of fome fmall river, by means of a dyke, or to fpeak in the language of this country, of a caufeway. For this purpofe, they fet about felling of trees, but higher than the place where they have refolved to build i three or four beavers place themfelves round fome great tree, and find ways and means to lay it along the ground with their teeth. This is not all ; they take their meafures fo well, that it always falls towards the water, to the end they may have 8 ( 1 60 ) have lefs way to drag it, after cutting it into pro* per lengths. They have afterwards only to roll thofe pieces fo cut towards the water, where, after they have been launched, they navigate them to- wards the place where they are to be employed. Thefe pieces are more or lefs thick or long, ac- cording as the nature and fituation of the place re- quire, for thefe architects forefee every thing. Some- times they make ufe of the trunks of great trees, which they place in a flat direction ; fometimes the caufeway conlifts of piles nearly as thick as one’s thigh, lupported by ftrong flakes, and interwoven with fmall branches ; and every where the vacant fpaces are filled with a fat earth fo well applied, that not a drop of water pafles through. The beavers prepare this earth with their feet •, and their tail not only ferves inftead of a trowel for building ; but alfo ferves them inftead of a wheelbarrow for tranf- porting this mortar, which is performed by trailing themfelves along on their hinder feet. When they have arrived at the water-fide, they take it up with their teeth, and apply it firft with their feet, and then plaifter it with their tail. The foundations of thefe dykes are commonly ten or twelve feet thick, di- minilhing always upward, till at laft they come to two or three ; the ftriCteft proportion is always ex- actly obferved ; the rule and the compafs are in the eye of the great mafter of arts and fciences. Laftly, it has been obkrved, that the fide towards the cur- rent of the water is always made Hoping, and the other fide quite upright. In a word, it would be difficult for our beft workmen to build any thing either more folid or more regular. The conftruCtion of the cabins is no lefs won- derful. Thefe are generally built on piles in the mid- 5 . _ ( t6l ) Ij; huddle of thofe fmall Jakes formed by the dykes : fometimes on the bank of a river, or at the extre- mity of fome point advancing into the water. Their figure is round or oval, and their roofs are arched like the bottom of a bafket. Their partitions are \ two feet thick, the materials of them being the fame, though lefs fubftantial, than thofe in the caufe- 1; ways ♦, and all is fo well plaiftered with clay in the p infide, that not the fmalleft breath of air can enter. ■ c Two thirds of the edifice {lands abo^e water, and ;i in this part each beaver has his place afiigned him, 'i, ^vhich he takes care to floor with leaves or fmall fo branches of pine-trees. There is never any ordure " to be feen here, and to this end, befides the com- Z nion gate of the cabin and another iflue by which Z. thefe animals go out to bathe, there are feveral r openings by which they difcharge t::eir excrements into the water. The common cabins lodge eight or ten beavers, and fome have been known to con- : tain thirty, but this is rarely feen. All of them are near enough to have an eafy communication with each other. The winter never furprizes the beavers. All the works I have been mentioning are finifhed by the end of September, when every one lays in his win- • ter-ftock of provifions. Whilft their bufinefs leads them abroad into the country of woods, they live upon the fruit, bark, and leaves of trees •, they fifn alfo (or crawfifh and fome other kinds •, every thino- is then at the belt. But when the bufinefs is to iay in a (tore, fufficien't to lafl them, whilft the earth is hid under the InOw, they put up with wood of a foft texture, fuch as poplars, afpens, arid 6ther fuch like trees. Thefe they lay up in piles, and drfpofe in fuch wife, as to be always able to come at the pieces which have been foftened in the water. It has . k been’ ( 1^2 ) keen conftantly remarked, that thefe piles are more or lefs large, according as the winter is to be lon- ger or fhorter, which l'erves as an Almanack to the Indians, who are never miftaken with relpeft to the duration of the cold. The beavers before they eat the wood, cut it into fmall (lender pieces, and carry it into their apartment •, each cabin having only one ftore room for the whole family. When the melting of the (how is at its greateft height as it never fails to occafion great inundations, the beavers quit their cabins which are no longer habitable, every one fhifting for himfelf as well & as he can. The females return thither as foon as the waters are fallen, and it is then they bring forth their young. The males keep abroad till towards the month of July, when they re-afiemble, in or- der to repair the breaches which the fwelling of the waters may have made in their cabbins or dykes. In cafe thefe have been deif roved by the hunters, or pro- vided they are not worth the trouble of repairing them, they fet about building of others ; but they are often obliged to change the place of their abode, and that for many reafons. The moft common is ior want of provifions ; they are alio driven out by the hunters, or by carnivorous animals, again!! whom they have no other defence than flight alone. One might reaionably wonder, that the author of nature fhould have given a lefs fhare of ftrength to the inoft part of ufefl.il animals than to fuch as are not fo ; it this very thing did not make a brighter difplay of his power and wifdom, in caufing the former, notwithftanding their weaknefs to multiply much fatter than the latter. , There are places to which the beavers feem to ’ ave ° ftron S a hking that they can never leave them C 163 ) them though they are conftantly difturbed in them. On the way from Montreal to Lake Huron, by way of the great river, is conftantly found every year a neft which thofe animals build or repair every fummer ; for the firft thing which thofe travellers, who arrive firft do, is to break down the cabin and dyke which fupplies it with water. Had not this caufeway dammed up the water, there would not have been fufficient to continue their voyages, fo that of neceffity there muft have been a carrying- place ; fo that it feems thofe officious beavers poll themfelves there entirely for the conveniency of pafiengers. The Indians were formerly of opinion, if we may believe fome accounts, that the beavers were a fpecies of animals endued with reafon, which had a government, laws, and language of their own j that this amphibious commonwealth chofe chiefs or officers, who in the publick works affigned to each his talk, placed fentries to give the alarm at the approach of an enemy, and who punilhed the lazy corporally, or with exile. Thofe pretended exiles are fuch as are probably called land beavers, who adtually live feparate from the others, never work, and live under-ground, where their foie bufinefs is to make themlelves a covered way to the water. They are known by the fmall quantity of fur on their backs, proceeding, without doubt from their rubbing themfelves continually againft the ground. And befides, they are lean, which is the confequence of their lazinels ^ they are found in much greater plenty in warm than in cold countries. I have al- ready taken notice that our E uropean beavers are much liker thefe laft than the others ; and L emery a&ualiy fays, that they retire into holes and caverns on the banks of rivers, and efpecially in Poland. There are L 2 allp ( i6 4 ) alio i'ome of them in Germany, along the fhores of the Ebro in Spain, and on the Rhone, the Ifer, and the Oife in France. What is certain is, that we fee not fo much of the marvellous in the European beavers, for which thofe of Canada are fo highly diftinguifhed. Your lady (hip will certainly agree with me, that it is great pity, none of thefe won- derful creatures were ever found either on the Tiber or on Parnafius ; how many fine things would they have given occafion to the Greek and Roman poets to fay on that fubject. It appears, that the Indians of Canada did not give them much difturbance before our arrival in their country. The fkins of the beaver were not ufed by thole people by way of garments, and the fiefh of bears, elks, and fome other wild beads, feemed, in all probability, preferable to that of the beaver. They were, however, in ufe to hunt them, and this hunting had both its feafon and ceremonial fixed ; but when people hunt only out of necefiity, and when this is confined to pure necefiaries, there is no great havock made ; thus when we arrived in Canada we found a prodigious number of thefe creatures in it. The hunting of the beaver is not difficult; this animal fhewing not near fo much ftrength in defend- ing him felt, or dexterity in fhunning the fnares of his enemies, as he difcovers induflry in providing himfelf good lodgings, and forefight in getting all the necefiaries of life. It is during the winter that war is carried on again ft him in form ; that is to fay, fi pm the beginning of November to the month of April. At that time, like mod other animals, he has the greateft quantity of fur, and his Ikin is tninneft. lhis hunting is performed four ways, with ( 1 65 ) with nets, by lying upon the watch, by opening the ice, and with gins. The firft and third are ge- nerally joined together; the fecond way is ieldom made ufe of ; the little eyes of this animal being fo Jliarp, and its hearing fo acute, that it is difficult to get within ffiot of it, before it gains the water- fide, from which it never goes far at this time of the year, and in which it dives immediately, k would even be loft after being wounded, in cafe " it is able to reach the water, for when mortally wounded it never comes up again. The two la(t manners are therefore moll generally praflifcd. Though the beavers lay up their winter provifion, they notwithftanding from time to time make fome excurfions into the woods in queft of frefher and more tender food, which delicacy of theirs l'ome- times cofts them their lives. The Indians lay traps in their way made nearly in the form of the figure 4, and for a bait place fmall bits of tender wood newly cut. The beaver no fooner touches it, than a large log falls upon his body, which breaks his back, when the hunter, coming up, eafily difpatches him. The method by opening the ice requires more precaution, and is done in this manner. When the ice is yet but half a foot in thicknefs, an open- ing is made with a hatchet ; thither the beavers come for a fupply of frefh air ; the hunters watch for them at the hole, and perceive them coming at a great diftance, their breath occafioning a confi- derable motion in the water ; thus it is eafy for them to take their meafures for knocking them in the head the moment they raife it above water. In or- der to make fure of their game, and to prevent their being perceived by the beavers, they cover the- hole with the leaves of reeds, and of the plant Ty- pba , and after they underhand that the anima) is L 3 within C 166 ) within reach, they feize him by one of his leas throw him upon the ice, and difpatch him before he recovers from his confirmation. When their cabin happens to be near fome rivu- let, the hunting of the beaver is {fill more eafy. They cut the ice crofs-wife, in order to fpreada net under it ; they afterwards break down the ca- bin. The beavers that are within it, never fail to make towards the rivulet, where they are taken in the net. But they mult not be fuffered to remain in it for any time, as they would very foon extricate thcmfelves, by cutting it with their teeth. Thole whole cabins are in lakes, have, at the diftance of three or four hundred paces from the water fide, a kind of country houfe for the benefit of the air /in hunting of thefe the huntfmen divide into two bo- dies, one breaks the houfe in the country, whilft the other falls upon that in the lake j the beavers which are in this laff, and they pitch upon the time when they are all at home, run for fanftuaiy to the other, where they find themielves bewildered in a cloud of duff, which has been raifed on pur- pofe, and which blinds them fo, that they are fub- dued with eafe. Laftly, in fome places, they con- tent thcmfelves with making an opening in their cauieways ; by this means, the beavers find them* felves foon on dry ground ; fo that they remain without defence ; or elfe they run to put fome re- medy to the diforder, the caufe of which is as yet unknown to them ; and as the hunters are ready to receive them, it is rare that they fail, or at leaft that they return empty-handed. . iere are Several other particularities with refpect to t e cavers, which I find in fome memoirs, the rL ' t 1 0 vv llc ^ I n °t take upon me to main- tain. ( i6 7 ) tain. It is pretended, that when thefe animals have difcovered hunters, or any of thofe beafts of prey which make war on them, they dive to the bottom, bearing the water with their tails with fo prodigious a noife, as to be heard at the diftance of half a league. This is probably to warn the reft to be upon their guard. It is faid alfo, that they are ox fo quick a fcent, that when they are in the water they will perceive a canoe at a great diftance. But they add, that they fee only fide-ways like the hares, which defett often delivers them into the hands of the hunters, whom they would endeavour to avoid. Laftly, it is afi'erted, that when the beaver has loft his mate, he never couples with ano- ther, as is related of the turtle. The Indians take great care to hinder their dogs from touching the bones of the beaver, they being fo very hard as to fpoil their teeth. The fame thing is faid of the bones of the porcupine. The common run of thefe barbarians give another rea- fon for this precaution, which is, lay they, for fear of irritating the fpirits of thofe animals, which might render their hunting unprofperous another time. But I am inclined to be of opinion, that this reafon was found out after the practice was eftablifhed; for thus has fuperftition ufurped the place of natural caufes to the Ihame of human un- demanding. I moreover wonder. Madam, that no attempt has hitherto been made to tranfport to France fome of thefe wonderful creatures •, we have many places where they might find every thing proper for building and fubfiftence, and I am of opinion they would multiply greatly in a lhort time. L 4 We C ) Wc have alfo in this country a little animal of much the lame nature with the beaver, and which on many accounts appears to be a diminutive of it called the Mujk-rat. This has aimoft all the pro- perties of the beaver -, the ftrufhure of the body, and efpecially of the head, is fo very like, that we fliould be apt to take the mufk-rat for a fmall bea- ver, were Ids tail only cut off, ip which he differs little from the common European rat ; and were it not for his tcfUcles, which contain a moft exquifite mufk. This animal, which weighs about four pounds, is pretty like that which JRay ipeaksof under the name of the Mus Alpinus. He takes the field in March, at which time his food confifts of bus of wood, which he peels before he eats them After the diffolving of the fnows he lives upon the roots of nettles, and afterwards on the ftalks and eaves of that plant. In fummer he lives on ftraw- bernes and rafbernes, which fucceed the other fruits o the Autumn. During all this time you rarely fee the male and female afunder. At the approach of winter they feparate, when each takes up Ins lodgings apart by himfelf in fome hole, or in the hollow of a tree, without any pro- vifion, and the Indians allure us, that they eat not the lean morfel of any thing whilft the cold conti- nues. They hkewife build cabins nearly in the ,f th ° fe th A e bea ^rs, but far from being fo well executed. As to their place of abode, it is ^ways by the water, fide, fo that they have no need to build caufeways. It is faid, that 'the fur of the wddiVw 'VT u tHe manufa <^re of hats, along Itsflefh i«°r , t ie beaver ’ without any difadvantage. nn § ood eatin g> except in timed' it, which feafon it is impoffible to cure it of a relilh ( l6 9 ) .... relifh of mufk, which is far from being as agree- able to the tafte, as it is to the fcent. I was very much difpofed to give your Grace an account of V the other kinds of hunting p radii fed amongft our ' Indians, and of the animals which are peculiar to ’ this country ; but I am obliged to refer this part to ! feme other opportunity, as I am this moment told . that my carriage is ready. ( I? 1 ) LETTER VI. Voyage from Quebec to the Three Rivers. Of riding poji on the (how. Of the lordfhips of New France. Dcfcription of Beckancourt. ’Tradition with rejpedl to the origin of the name of the Stinking River. Defcription of the Three Rivers. Sequel of the huntings of the Indians. # - - * .* . . Three Rivers , March 6 , 1 72 r. Madam, I Arrived yefterday in this town, after a journey of two days, and though it is twenty- five leagues diftant from Quebec, I could very eafily have tra- velled the whole of it in twelve hours, as I took the way of a Combiature, which the fnow and ice render exceeding eafy in this country in the winter feafon, and as it is full as cheap as the common way of travelling. They make ufe or a edge for this purpofe, or of what the French here call a Ca- riole , which glides fo fmoothly, that one horfe is enough to draw it at full gallop, winch is their or- dinary pace. They frequently change horfes and have them very cheap. In caie of necellity, one might travel this way llxty leagues in twenty four hours % ( * 7 I 2 ) hours, and much more commodioufly than in the beft poft-chaife in the world. I lay the firft night at Pcinte aux Trembles , feven leagues from the capital, from whence I fet out at eleven at night. This is one of the better fort of parilhes in this country. The church is large and well built, and the inhabitants are in very good cir- cumftances. In feveral the ancient planters are richer than the lords of the manors, the reafon of which is this : Canada was only a vaft foreft when the French firft fettled in it. Thofe to whom lord- Ihips were given, were not proper perfons to culti- vate them themfelves. They were officers, gentle- men, or communities, who had not funds fufficient to procure and maintain the neceflary number of workmen upon them. It was therefore neceflary to fettle and plant them with inhabitants, who, before they could raife what was fufficient to maintain them, were obliged to labour hard, and even to lay out all the advances of money. Thus they held of the lords at a very (lender quit-rent, fo that with fines of alienation, which were here very fmall, and what is called the Droit du moulin & Metairie , a lord- fhip of two leagues in front, and of an unlimited depth, yields no great revenue in a country fo thin- ly peopled, and with fo little inland trade. I his was no doubt one reafon, which induced the late King Lewis XIV. to permit all noblemen and gentlemen, fettled in Canada, to exercife com- merce as well by fea as land, without queftion, in- terruption, or derogating from their quality and rights. Thefe are the terms of the arret, paflfed by the council on the 10th of March, 1685. More- over, there are in this country, no lordfhips, even amongft thofe which give titles, who have right of pa- ( i73 ) patronage; for on the pretenfion of fome lords, founded on their having built the parifh church, his majefty in council, pronounced the fame year «; 1685, that this right belonged to the bifhop alone, ■ lit as well becaufe he ought to be better able to judge ifit of the capacity of the candidates, than any other is 3. perfon, as becaufe the falaries of the curates are 'Ki« paid out of the tithes, which belong to the bilhop. pfc The king in the fame arret further declares, that i:? the right of patronage is not deemed honorary, ife , ■ ■■ > tni ■ I fet out from Point e aiix Trembles on the fourth, fe before day-break, with a horfe blind of an eye, 5o which 1 afterwards exchanged for a lame one, and this again for one- that was broken- winded. With jjj thefe three relays, I travelled feventeen leagues in m feven or eight hours, and arrived early at the houie of the baron de Beckancourt, grand-mafter, or in- fpe&or of the highways of Canada, who would not , t fuffer me to go any farther. This gentleman too has F k a village of Abenaquife Indians on his lands, which is governed in fpiritual matters by a Jefuit, to whom I gladly paid my refpedts as I pafled. The baron .‘f lives at the mouth of a little river which comes from the fouth, and whofe whole courfe is within his eftate, which is alfo known by his own name. It is not however this large tract which has been eredted into a barony, but that on the other fide of the river. The life M. de Beckancourt leads in this defart, there being as yet no inhabitant in it befides the lord, recalls naturally enough the way of living of the ancient patriarchs to our memory, who were •; not above putting their hands to work with their r fervants in country- work, and lived almoft in the fame fobriety and temperance with them. The pro- l 6* to be made by trading with the Indians in his neigh- ( '74 ) x neiglibourhood, by buying furs at the firft-hand, is well worth all the quit-rents he could receive from any planters to whom he could have parcelled out his lands. In time it will be in his own option to have vaflals, when he may have much better terms after having firft cleared all his eftate. The river of Beckancourt was formerly called the Stinking- River : I acquainted myfelf with the occafion of this name, as the water of it appeared to be clear and excellent in other refpects, which was alfo con- firmed by others, and that there was no fuch thin* as a difagreeable fcent in the whole country, I was however, told by others, that this name was owin* to the bad quality of the waters ; others again at° tributed it to the great quantity of mulk-rats found on it, the fmell of which is intolerable to an Indi- an ; a third account, and which is related by fucli as have made deeper refearches into the ancient hif- toiy ol the country, and which is therefore pretend- ed to be the true one, is as follows. Some AJgonquins, being at war with the On- nontcharonnons, better known by the name of the nation of the Iroquet, and whole ancient abode was, lay they, in the illand of Montreal. The name they bear proves them to be of the Huron language; notwitalfanding, it is pretended that the Hurons were they who drove them from their ancient refi- t ence, and who have even in part deftroyed them. Be this as it will, they were, at the time I have been dL war witn the AJgonquins, who, to put an end to the war, they began to be weary of, at one blow, bethought themfelves of a ftratagem which fucceeded according to their willies. They ok the held by occupying both fides of the little ?5 river of Beckancourt. They s etached fome canoes, the crews of which feigned 5 <■ > " feigned as if they were fifliing in the river. They ^ knew their enemies were'at no great diltance, and ; !'■' made no doubt they would immediately fall upon the pretended filhers ; in fact, they foon fell upon 1 ' them with a large fleet of canoes, when they again e ' • counterfeiting fear, took to flight and gained the tK: banks of the river. They were followed clofe by * c: - the enemy, who made fure of deftroying an hand- ful of men, who to draw them the deeper into the lt «; fnare, affedted an extraordinary panick. This feint wfs fucceeded ; the purfuers continued to advance, and W. as the cuftom is of thofe barbarians raifing a mod: wn horrible fhouting, they imagined they had now no- w? thing, to do, but to launch forth and feize their An prey. hi . . .. tt; At the fame inftant, a fhower of arrows difcharg- ieae ed from behind the bu flies, which lined the river, it threw them into a confufion, from which they were not fuffered to recover. A lecond difcharge, which followed clofe upon the firft, compleated the rout, lilt They wanted to fly in their turn, but could no lon- m ger make ufe of their canoes, which were bored on all fides. They plunged into the water, in ho;es jj, of efcaping that way, but befides, that moft of jla them were wounded, they found, on reaching the tki lhore, the fate they fought to fhun, fo that not a , ;r foul efcaped the Algonquins, who gave no quarter, nor made any prifoners. The nation of the Iro- jj , quet have never recovered this check, and though . , fome of thefe Indians have been feen fince the ar- " r rival ofthe French in Canada, tliere is now no doubt of their having been entirely deftroyed long fince. However, the number of dead bodies, which re- mained in the water, and on the banks of the river, infected it to fuch a degree, that it has kept the name of the Stinking-River ever fince. The C J ( 176 ) j The Abenaquife town of Beckaricourt is not now fo populous as formerly. They would, certainly for all that, be of great fervice to us in cafe a war foould happen to break out. Thefe Indians are the belt partifans in the whole country, and are always very ready to make inroads into New-England, where the name of them has thrown terror tven into Bofton itfelf. They would be equally ferviceable to us againft the Iroquois, to whom they are nothing inferior in bravery, and whom they much furpafsin pomt of difcipline. They are all Chriftians, and an handfome chapel has been built for them, where they pradtife with much edification, all the duties or Chrmian devotion. It muft, however, be ac- knowledged, that their fervour is not fo confpicuous as formerly when they Jfirft fettled among us. Since that time, they have been made acquainted with the ule of fpirituous liquors, which they have taken a talte to, and of which no Indian ever drinks but on purpofe to intoxicate himfelf } notwithftanding, fatal experience has taught us, that in proportion as men deviate from their duty to God, the lefs re- gard do they entertain for their perfons, and the nearer do they draw to the Englifh. It is much to be feared the Lord foould permit them to become enemies to us, to punifo us for having contributed t leieto, rom motives of fordid intereft, and for having helped to make them vicious as has already happened to fome nations. . embracing the millionary at Beckancouft, vilitmg his canton, and making with him melancholy rehedhons on the inevitable confluences of this aiiorder I have been mentioning, and for which he fore rK?- 1° ^ 1 nece ^ ir y making his moan be- order ro ^ ’ ? , cr °fled the river St. Lawrence, in Set to 1 11S Eown ' Nothing, Madam, can pof- 8 C 1 11 ) foti. poffibly exceed the delightfulnefs of its fitiiation. •uld,' It is built on a fandy declivity, on which there is life juft barren ground lufficient to contain the town, if life ever it come to be a large place-, for at prefent it is atjf far from being confiderable. It is, moreover, fur- fe rounded with every thing that, can contribute to tens- render a place at once rich and pleafant. The river, vfc. which is near half aleagueover, wafhes its foundations, it yg. Beyond this you fee nothing but cultivated lands, nuj; and thofe extremely fertile, and crowned with the ;fe nobleft forefts in the nniverfe. A little below, and on the fame fide with the town, the St. Lawrence all receives a fine river, which juft before it pays the m , tribute of its own waters, receives thofe of two f 0(; . others, one on the right, and the other on the left, from whence this place has the name of the Three ifi. Rivers * ■' f:;r ; g £ Above, and almoft at an equal diftance, lake St. ' Peter begins, which is about three leagues broad '■' t “ and feven long. Thus there is nothing to con- i'-' fine the profpedl on that fide, and the fun feems to fet in the water. This lake, which is no more than ' a widening of the river, receives feveral rivers. It ■ is probable enough that thefe rivers have, in a courfe of years, worn away the low moving earth on which they flowed; this is very fenfible with refpedt to lake St. Francis, in the mouth of which are feveral iflands, which might have formerly been joined to the Continent. Befides, over all the lake, except in the middle of the channel, which is kept at its - J - full depth by the force of the current, there is no ® foiling except in canoes, and there are even fome s places, where large canoes, ever fo little loaded, cannot eafily pafs ; to make amends, it is every 5 where well ftored with fifh, and that too of the c moft excellent forts. i Vol. I. M They ( * 7 * ) They reckon but about feven or eight hundred fouls on the Three Rivers ; but it has in its neigh- bourhood fufficient wherewithal to enrich a great city. There is exceeding plentiful iron mines, which may be made to turn to account whenever it is judg- ed proper *. However, notwithftanding the fmall number of inhabitants in this place, its fituation renders it of vaft importance, and it is alfo one of the moll ancient eftablifhments in the colony. This poll has always, even from the moll early times, had a governor. He has a thoufand crowns falary’ with an Etat Major. Here is a convent of Re- collets j a very fine parifh church, where the fame fathers officiate, and a noble hofpital adjoining to a convent of Urfuline nuns, to the number of forty, who ferve the hofpital. This is alfo a foundation of M. de St. Vallier. As early as the year 1650, the fenefchal or high flevvard of New France, whofe jurifdiction was abforbed in that of the fupreme council of Quebec, and of the intendant, had a lieutenant at the Three Rivers ; at this day this city has an ordinary tribunal for criminal matters, the chief of which is a lieutenant general. I his city owes its origin to the great concourfe of Indians, of different nations, at this place in the beginning of the colony. There relorted to it chiefly feveral from the molt diftant quarters of the north by way of the 1 hree Rivers, which have given this city its name, and which are navigable a great way upwards. T he fituation of the place joined to the great tiade carried on at it, induced fome French to fettle here, and the nearnefs of the river Sorel, then called the Iroquois river, and of which I Jhall oon take notice, obliged the governors general to fome'of ^ e f K/k < V 1 ° VV aau i* n y working them, and they produce tome of the beft lr on in the world. build ft c 79 ) itisbuild a Fort here, where they kept a good gafrifon, sid.and which at firft had a governor of its own. Thus ninth is poft was henceforwards looked upon as one of ftttthe tnoft important places in New France. After at jfome years the Indians, weary of the continual ra- ilages of the Iroquois, and from whom the French Ifthemlelves had enough to do to defend themfelves, oh and the paffes being no longer free in which thole ; ^Indians lay in ambufh, and finding themfelves hardly :rwj [ecure, even under the cannon of our fort, they Deleft off bringing their furs. The jefuits, with all (jgjXhe new converts they could gather, retired to a place . three leagues below, which had been given them by ^..the Abbe de la Madeleine, one of the members of ."’the company of the Hundred Aflbciates, erefted by c .‘cardinal Richelieu, from whence this fpot had the rename of Cap de la Madeleine, which it dill bears *. The million tranfported thither did not however fubfift long. This is partly the effect of the levity ' natural to the Indians, but chiefly to a feries of wars ;and difeafes, which have almoft wholly deftroyed ‘ this infant church. You find, however, in the neighbourhood a company of Algonquins, moft a “of whom have been baptifed in their infancy, but ’rhav« no outward exercife of religion. The mem- \ !l bers of the Weft- India Company, who have at pre- c fent the farm of the beaver- trade, have in vain at- ,f P tempted to draw them to Checontini, where they l f have already re-affembled feveral families of the * fame nation, and of the Montagnez, under the di- ® reftion of a jeluit miflionary. Some others were W- for uniting them with the Abenaquis of St. Francis, t All the anlwer they made to thele invitations was, : * Befides the iron mines which are pretty rich at Cap de la Madeleine, they have alfo fome years iince difeovered feveral fprings of mineral water, of the fame quality with thofe of Forges. M 2 that ( i8o ) that they could not think of abandoning a place where the bones of their forefathers were depofited • but fome believe, and not without grounds, that' this oppofition is lefs owing to them, than to fome perfons who reap advantages from their nearnefs to them, and who, certainly do not refled to what a contemptible confideration they poftpone the falva- tion of thofe Indians. I have been juft told, that fome days hence there will be an opportunity of fending this letter to Que- bec, from whence it may foon reach France byway of the i\oyal Ifland. I will fill up the remaining fpace with what relates to the huntings of the ln° dians ; that of the beaver, as I have already re- mar.'.ed, was not confldered as a principal objed, till t.,ey faw the value we fet upon the fpoiis of this animal Berore this, the bear held the firft rank with them, and here too fuperftition had the great- eft fhare. I he iollowing is what is pradiled at this day, among thole who are not Chriftians, in the hunting of this animal. It is always fome war-chief who fixes the time of it, and who takes care to invite the hunters. This invitation, which is made with great ceremony, is .olio wed by a faft of ten days continuance, during which it is unlawful to tafte fo much as a drop of water ; and I mull tell your Grace, by the way, tiat what the Indians call falling, is wholly abftain- mg from every fort of food or drink -, nay more, in lpiteof the extreme weaknefs to which they are of neceflity reduced by fo fevere a faft, they are always finging the live long day. The reafon of this a ’ IS induce the fpirits to difcover the place where a great number of bears may be found. Se- Veial even S° a great way farther to obtain this 7 grace. Mic^race. Some have been leen to cut their fiefh in fe- gfos’eral parts of the body, in order to render their 'Wnii propitious. But it is proper to know, that sir they never implore their fuccour td enable them to ifthonquer thofe furious animals, but are contented Mc vith knowing where they lie. Thus Ajax did not aray to Jupiter to enable him to overcome his ene- nies, but only day-light enough to compleat the ijs^i&ory. >ta * The Indians addrefs their vows for the fame rea- ti. Ton to the manes of the beads they have killed in . their former huntings, and as their minds are wholly ^..intent on fuch thoughts whilft they are awake, it is ..but natural they lhould often dream of bears in their deep, which can never be very found with . ; fuch empty ftomachs •, but neither is this enough to ' determine them : it is likewife necefiary, that all, “■ or at lead: the greateft part of thole who are to be X of the party, lhould alfo fee bears, and in the fame canton ; now how is it podible fo many dreamers lhould agree in this point ? However, provided fome expert hunter dream twice or thrice an end of feeing bears in a certain fixed place, whether it be the effect of complailance, for nothing can be more * fo than the Indians, or whether it is by dint of hear- •' ing the affair fpoke of, their empty brains at lad: take the imprefiion, every one foon falls a dream- •; ing, or at lead pretends fo to do, when they de- li-: termine to fet out for that place. The fad ended, and the place of hunting fixed, the chief who is appointed to condudt it, gives a grand repad to all who are to be of the party, and no one dares pre- - fume to come to it, till he has fird bathed, that is to fay, walhed himfelf in the river, be the i: weather ever fo ievere, provided it is not frozen. . This fead, is not like many others, where they are M 3 ob- c/ ( 182 ) obliged to eat up every thing ; though they have had a long faft, and perhaps, on this very account they obferve great fobriety in eating. He who does the honours, touches nothing, and his whole em- ployment, whilft the reft are at table, is to rehearfe his ancient feats of hunting. The feaft conclude; with new invocations of the fpirits of the departed bears. They afterwards fet out on their march be- dawbed with black, and equipped as if for war amid ft the acclamations of the whole village. Thui hunting is no lefs noble amongft thefe natTons than war ; and the alliance of a good hunter is even more courted than that of a famous warriour, as hunting furnifhes the whole family with food and raiment, beyond which the Indians never extend their care. But no one is deemed a great hunter, except he has killed twelve large beads in or day. . Thei ’ e P e0 P ! e have two great advantages over ns in refpedi. to this exercilej for in the iirft place, no- thing flops them, neither thickets, nor ditches, nor torrents, nor pools, nor rivers. They go always ftrait forwards in the dire&eft line pofllble. In the fecond place, there are few or perhaps no animals which they will not overtake by fpeed of foot Some have been feen, fay they, arriving in the vil- lage driving a parcel of bears with a fwitch, like a .lock of fheep ; and the nimbleft deer is not more lo than they. Befides the hunter himlelf reaps very little benefit by his fuccefs ; he is obliged to make laige prefents, and even if they prevent him bytak- r n § ' c at t ^ e ' r own h an <-l from him, he muft fee him- ielf robbed without complaining, and remain fadf- bed with the glory of having laboured for the pub- c lt ' s ’ however, allowed him in the diftribu- r * Un 0 w ** has caught, to begin with his own 9 " k ( iS 3 > ' family. But it mud be acknowledged, that thofe “J with whom we have the mod commerce, have al- V ready loft fomewhat of this ancient generofity, and of this admirable difintereftednefs. Nothing is more y} contagious than a felfilh and interefted fpirit, and nothing is more capable of corrupting the morals. . The feafon of hunting the bear is in winter, d* Thefe animals are then concealed in the hollow ^ trunks of trees, in which if they happen to fall they ma ke themfelves a den with their roots, the entry I fc c f which they flop with pine branches, by which lout means they are perfectly well Iheltered from all the i *t inclemencies of the weather. If all this is ftill in- asif fufficient, they make a hole in the ground, taking dap great care to flop the mouth well when once they are ;c fc entered. Some have been feen couched in the bottom of their dens, fo as to be hardly perceivable, even when examined very nearly. But in whatever man- p®: ner the bear is lodged, he never once quits his a- partments all the winter-, this is a circumftance cc paft all manner of doubt. It is no lefs certain. Tip that he lays up no manner of provifion, and con- jo| fequently that he muft of neceffity live all that while without tailing food or drink, and that as fome have advanced his foie nourilhment is the y ;. C ; licking his paws but with refpeft to this particu- lar, every one is at liberty to believe as he pleafes. "What is certain, is, that fome of them have been ^ kept chained for a whole winter, without having the lead morfel of food, or any drink given them, and at the end of fix months, they have been found „ as fat as in the beginning. It is no doubt furprif- ing enough, that an animal, provided of fo warm a fur, and which is far from having a delicate ap- pearance, Ihould take more precautions againft the cold than any other. This may ferve to convince M 4 us, r C 184 ) us, that we ought never to form our judgment of things by appearance, and that every one is the belt judge of his own wants. 'I here is therefore but little courfing neceflary to catch the bear •, the point is only to find his burrow and tire places which they haunt. When the huntf- men imagine they have come near fuch a place' they form themfelves into a large circle, a quarter of a league in circumference, more or lefs, accord- ing to the number of fportfmen ; they then move onwards, drawing nearer and nearer, every one trying as he advances todifcover the retreat of fome bear. By this means, if there are any at all in this lpace, they are certain of difcovering them, for our Indians are excellent ferrets. Next day they 00 to work in the fame manner, and continue lb to do all the time the hunting lafts. As foon ns a bear is killed, the huntfman places his lighted pipe in his mouth, and blows the beads throat and windpipe full of the fmoke, at the fame time conjuring his fpirit to hold no rcfentment for the infult clone his body, and to be propitious to him in his future huntings. But as the fpirit makes no amwer, the huntfmen to know whether his pray, ers have been heard, cuts olf the membrane under nis tongue, which he keeps till his return to the vil- lage, when every one throws his own membranes into the fire, after many invocations, and abundance of ceremony. If thfcfe happen to crackle and fhri- vel up, and it can hardly be otherwife, it is looked Upon as a certain fig n , that the manes of the bears are^ppeafed ; if otherwife, they imagine the de- A ‘ V , ' eai ? are wroth with them, and that next v hunting will be unprofpercus, at leaft till fome means ( 185 ) means are found of reconciling them, for they have K a remedy for every thing. The hunters make good cheer whilft the hunting ^ lafts, and, if it is ever fo little fuccefsful, bring home fufficient to regale their friends, and to maintain . their families a long time. To fee the reception gi- : ven them, the praifes with which they are loaded, ‘ .- and their own air of felf-fatisfadfion and applaufe, ’■ you would imagine them returning from fbme im- ’ portant expedition, loaden with the fpoils of a con- cr i f quered enemy. One mull be a man indeed, fay ettK they to them, and they even lpeak fo of themfelves, Pi thus to combat and overcome bears. Another par- fc ticular, which occafions them no lefs eulogiums, iy t: and which adds equally to their vanity, is the cir- uek.cumftance of devouring all, without leaving a mor- fel uneaten, at a grand repaft given them at their return by the perfon who commanded the hunting- ntfmi party. The firft difh ferved up is the largeft bear )KS that has been killed, an‘d that too whole, and with ; at: all his entrails. He is not even fo much as Head, fen: they being jfatisfied with having finged off the hair p [( ,i as is done to a hog. This feaft is facred to I know j'4 not what genius, whofe indignation they apprehend, At fliould they leave a morfel uneaten. They muft not m fo much as leave any of the broth in which the j #:: meat has been boiled, which is nothing but a quan- 1 , tity of oil, or of liquid fat. Nothing can be more execrable food, and there never happens a feaft of , . this fort, but fome one eats himfelf to death, and feveral fuffer feverely. The bear is never dangerous in this country, but 4 when he is hungry, or after being wounded. They, however, ufe abundance . of precautions in approach- ing him. They feldom attack the men, on the con- u ( I8« ) contrary, they take to flight at the firfl fight of one and a dog will drive them a great way before him' if therefore they are every where fuch as they are in Canada, one might eafily anfwer the queftionof M. Defpreaux, that the bear dreads the traveller and not the traveller the bear. The bear is in rut in the month of July ; he then grows fo lean, and his flelh of fo fickly and difagreeable a relifh, that even the Indians, who have not the moft delicate (lo- machs, and who often eat fuch things as would make an European fliudder, will hardly touch it Who could imagine that an animal of this nature] and of fo unlovely an appearance, Ihould grow leaner in one month by the belle paffion, than after an abftmence of fix ! It is not fo furprifing he Jhould be at this feafon fo fierce, and in fo ill an humour, that it Ihould be dangerous to meet him, J his is the effedl of jealoufy. *T his feafon once over, he recovers his former embonpoint, and to which nothing more contributes, than the fruits he finds every where in the woods, and of which he is extreme greedy. He is parti- cularly fond of grapes, and as all the forefts are full of vines which rife to the tops of the higheft trees, he makes no difficulty of climbing up in quell of em. But Ihould an hunter difeover him, his toothlomnefs would coll him dear. After having thus fed a good while on fruits, his flelh becomes exceedingly delicious, and continues fo till the pnng. It is, however, conftantly attended with one very great fault, that of being too oily, lb that except great moderation is ufed in eating it, it cer- nn^rYi°- CCa ^ 10nS , 3 d y fenter y- is, moreover, very ferior^fam^ * bear ’ s cub is at leaft nothing in- I for- C 1*7 ) I forgot to inform your Grace, that the Indians always carry a great number of dogs with them in their huntings ; thefe are the only domeltick ani- mals they breed, and that too only for hunting : they appear to be all of one fpecies, with upright ears, and a long fnout like that of a wolf ; they are remarkable for their fidelity to their mailers, who feed them however but very ill, and never make much of them. They are very early bred to that kind of hunting for which they are intended, and excellent hunters they make. I have no more time to write you, being this moment called on to go on board. I am, See, LETTER LETTER VII. Defcription of the Country and Ifands of Riche- lieu and of St. Francis. Of the Abena- quis ’village. Of the ancient fort of Riche- lieu, and of fuch as were formerly in each parijh. Shining aid ions of two Canadian Ladies. Of the other huntings of the Indians. St. Francis, March u, 1721. Madam, I Set out on the 9th from the Three Rivers. I did no more than crofs lake St. Peter, inclining towards the fouth. I performed this journey in a (ledge, or as it is called here a cariole, the ice be- ing dill ftrong enough for all forts of carriages, and I arrived towards noon at St. Francis. I em- ployed the afternoon, and yefterday the whole day, in vifiting this canton, and am now going to give you an account of what I faw. At the extremity of Lake St. Peter is a prodigi- ous number of iflands of all fizes, called les IJles de Richelieu, or Richelieu Iflands, and turning to- wards the left coming from Quebec, you find fix more, which lie towards the fhore of a creek of a toler- u m ( I 9° ) tolerable depth, into which a pretty large river dif- charges itfelf, which takes its rife in the neighbour- hood of New- York. The iflands, river, and whole country bear the name of St. Francis. Each of the iflands is above a quarter of a league long • their breadth is unequal mod of thofe of Richelieu are fmaller. All were formerly full of deer, does, roe- bucks, and elks ; game lwarmed in a furprifmg manner, as it is ftill far from fcarce ; but the large beafts have difappeared. There are alfo caught excellent fifh in the river St. Francis, and at its mouth. In winter they make holes in the ice, through which they let down nets five or fix fa- thoms long, which are never drawn up empty. The fifhes moft commonly taken here are bars, achi- gans, and efpecially mafquinongez, a fort of pikes, which have the head larger than ours, and the mouth placed under a fort of crooked fnout, which gives them a Angular figure. The lands of St. Francis, to judge of them by the trees they produce, and by the little which has yet been cultivated of them are very good. T. he planters are, however, poor enough, and feveral of them would be reduced to a ftate of indigence, did not the trade they carry on with the Indians, their neighbours, help to fupport them. But may not this trade, likewife, be a means of hindering them from growing rich, by render- ing them lazy ? The Indians I am now fpeaking of, are, Abe- naquies, amongft whom are fbme Algonquins, So- kokies, and Mahingans, better known by the name of Wolfs. This nation was formerly fettled on the banks of the river Mantat, in New-York, of which country they feem to be natives. The Abe- naquies came to St. Francis, from the fouthern fhoies of New France, in the neighbourhood of New- — C 191 > Ncw-England. Their firft fettlement, after leav- er- ing their own country to live amongft 11s, was on a , is| little river which difeharges itfelf into the St. Law- Ec rence, almoft oppofite to Sillery, that is to fay, I®: about a league and a half above Quebec, on the Jj^-fouth fhore. They fettled here near a fall of water, called le Sauli de la Gaudier e, or the fall of the ket- aj- tie. They now live ort the banks of the St. Fran- jjf- cis, two leagues from its difeharge into lake St. a | Peter. This fpot is very delightful, which is pity, ) jj thefe people having no relilh for the beauties of a jj- fine fituation, and the huts of Indians contributing M : but little to the embellifhment of a profpefb. This village is extremely populous, all the inhabitants of ^ which are Chriftians. The nation is docile, and i 0 „; always much attached to the French. But the mif- 'j':. fionary has the fame inquietudes on their account “r with him at Beckancourt, and for the fame rea- ... fons. Sit •7 J was regaled here with the juice of the maple j this is the feafon of its flowing. It is extremely ' : : delicious, has a mod pleafing coolnefs, and is ex- r; ceeding wholfome ; the manner of extracting it is ^ very fimple. When the fap begins to afeend, they P P ierce the trunk of the tree, and by means of a bit . - of wood, which is inferted in it, and along which |t flows, as through a pipe, the liquor is conveyed into a veil'd placed under it. In order to produce an abundant flow, there mult be much fnow on *' the ground, with frofty nights, a ferene Iky, and P the wind not too cool. Our maples might poflibly ’ have the fame virtue, had we as much fnow in lie France as there is in Canada, and were they to laft k as long. In proportion as the fap thickens the flow Ik- abates, and in a little time after, wholly ceafes. It fc is eafy to guefs, that after fuch a difeharge of what & may O' C 192 ) may be called its blood, the tree lhould be far from being bettered: we are told, however, they will endure it for feveral years running. They would, perhaps, do better to let them reft for two or three years, to give them time to recover their ftrength. But at length, after it has been entirely drained, it is fentenced to be cut down, and is extremely pro- per for many ufes, as well the wood as the roots and boughs. This tree muft needs be very common, as oxeat numbers of them are burnt. D x The liquor of the maple is tolerably clear, tho’ fomewhat whitifh. It is exceeding cooling and re- frefhing, and leaves on the palate a certain flavour of fugar, which is very agreeable. It is a great friend to the breaft, and let the quantity drank be ever fo great, or the party ever fo much heated, it is perfectly harmlefs. The reafon is, that it is en- tirely free from that crudity which occafions pleuri- fies, but has on the contrary a balfamick quality which fweetens the blood, and a certain fait which preferves its warmth. They add, that it never chryftallizes, but that if it is kept for a certain fpace of time, it becomes an excellent vinegar. I do not pretend to vouch this for fadl, and I know a travel- ler ought not (lightly to adopt every thing that is told him. It is very probable the Indians, who are perfectly well-acquainted with all the virtues of their plants, have at all times, as well as at this day, made con- ftant ufe of this liquor. But it is certain, they were ignorant of the art of making a fugar from it, which we have fince learnt them. They were fatisfied with giving it two or three boilings, in or- der to thicken it a little, and to make a kind of fyrup from it, which is pleal’ant enough. They fur- vd7 ■ !E tiier method they ufe to make fugar of is to let it boil, till it takes a fufficient confiftence, when it *® purifies of its own accord, without the mixture of :t, “' any foreign ingredient. Only they muft be very careful that the fugar be not over-boiled, and to ikim it well. The greateft fault in this procefs is me to let the fyrup harden too much, which renders it sfa too fat, fo that it never lofes a relifii of honey, rycas which renders it not fo agreeable to the tafte, at leaft till luch time as it is clarified. blyt; This fugar when made with care, which it cer- oofc tainly requires, is a natural pectoral, and does not burn the ftomach. Befides the manufadturing, it | t is done at a trifling expencei It has been com- monly believed, that it is impoflible to refine it in ufi the fame manner with the fugar extracted from tfc canes. I own, I fee no reafon to think fo, and it is very certain that when it comes out of the hands l~. of the Indians, it is purer and much better than 2 ;‘" that of the ifl&nds, which has had no more done “u to it. In fine, I gave fome of it to a, refiner of Orleans, who found no other fault to it, than that a . I have mentioned, and who attributed this defedt •' wholly to its not having been left to drip long enough. He even judged it of a quality prefer- able to the other fort, and of this it was, he made thofe tablets, with which f had the honour to pre- fent your Grace, and which you were pleafcd to $ [ efleem fo much. It may be objected, that were s this of of a good quality, it would have been made i e a branch of trade ; but there is not a fufficient quan- J® tity made for this, and perhaps, they are therefore If . in the wrong : but there are many things befides r* this which are negleded in this country, if VOL. I. - N The KJ ( J 94 ) The plane-tree, the cherry tree, the afh, and walnut-trees of feveral kinds, alio yield a liquor from which fugar is made ; but there is a lefs quan- tity of it, and the fugar made from it, is not fo good. Some, however, prefer that made from the afh, but there is very little of it made. Would your Grace have thought that there fhould be found in Canada what Virgil mentions, whilft he is pre- dicting the golden age, Et dura quercus fudabunl rofcida Mella , I'll at honey fhould diftil from the oak ? This whole country has long been the fceneof many a bloody battle, as, during the war with the Iroquois, it was moft expo fed to the incurfions of thole barbarians. They ufually cam" down by way of a river, which falls into the St. Lawrence, a lit- tle above lake St. Peter, and on the fame fide with St. Francis, and which for this real'on bore their name ; it has fince gone by the name of la Riviirt de Sored, . The ifiands of Richelieu which theyM met with, ferved both for a retreat and place of ambufh ; but after this pafs was fhut up to them by a fort, built at the mouth of the river, they came down by land both above and below, and efpecially made their inroads on the fide of St. Francis, where they found the fame conveniencies for pillaging, and where they committed cruelties horrible to relate. , Thence they fpread themfelves over all the colo- ny, fo that in order to defend the inhabitants from their fury, there was a necefiity of building in every parifh a kind of fort, where the planters and other perlons might take fanCluary on the firft alarm. In thefe there were two centinels kept night and day, and in every one of them iome field-pieces, or at 8 1 leaf! 4; C 195 ) jitli: feaft p^te reroes, as well to keep the enemy at a dif- Bjitance, as to advertife the inhabitants to be on their Hi- guard, or to give the fignal for fuccour. Thefe mg, forts were no more than lb many large enclofures ^ fenced with palifadoes with fome redoubts. The church and manor houfe of the lord were alio with- ,|i;in thefe places, in which there was alfo a fpace for wl : women, children, and cattle, in cafe of necefiity. di|;Thefe were fufficient to protett the people from any infult, none of them having ever, as 1 know, been taken by the Iroquois. They have even feldom taken the trouble to p f block them up, .and flill more rarely to attack them open force. The one is too dangerous an enterprize for Indians, who have no defenlive arms, ' . and who are not fond of victories bought with blood- " flied. 1 he other is altogether remote from their way of making war. There are, however, two • attacks of the fort de Vercheres. which are famous - in the Canadian annals, and it feems the Iroquois ■- let their hearts here upon reducing them contrary to int r their cuftom, only to Ihew the valour and intrepi- - dity of two Amazons. !e 1 In >690, thefe barbarians having learnt that Ma- cs dam de Vercheres was almoft left alone in thefort, ap- id proached it without being difcovered, and putthem- felves in a pofture for fcaling the paliiado. Some mu fleet fhot which were fired at them very leafon- i; ably, drove them to a diftance ; but they inftantly is returned : they were again repulfed, and what oc- fe cafioned their utter afionifhment, they could only (fit dilcover a woman, whom they met wherever they Si' went, i his was Madam de Vercheres, who ap- il 5 peared as undifmayed as if fhe had had a numer- , ous garrifon. The hopes of the beliegers in the N 2 begin- ( * 9 6 ) beginning of reducing with eafe a place unprovided with men to defend it, made them return feveral times to the charge ; but the lady always repulled them. She continued to defend herfelf for two days, with a valour and preience of mind which would have done honour ro an old warriour ; and fhe at laft compelled the enemy to retire, for fear of hav- ing their retreat cut off, full of lhame of having been repulled. by a woman. Two years afterwards, another party of the fame nation, but much more numerous than the tirft, ap- peared in fight of the fort, whilft all the inhabitants were abroad, and generally at work in the field. The Iroquois finding them fcattered in this manner and void of all diftruft, feized them all one after another, and then marched towards the fort. The daughter of the lord of the land, fourteen years old, was at the difiance of two hundred paces from it. At the firft cry fhe heard, file run to get into it) the Indians purfued her, and one of them came up with her jufi as fhe had her foot upon the threfhold; but having laid hold of her by the handkerchief fhe wore about her neck, Ihe Joofed it, and lhut the gate on herfelf. There was not a foul in the fort, befides a young foldier and a number of women, who, at the fight of their hufbands, who were faft bound, and led prifoners, railed moft lamentable cries ; the young • lady loft neither her courage nor prefence of mind. She begun with taking of her head -drefs, bound up her hair, put on a hat and coat, locked up all the women, whofe groans and weeping could not fail of giving new courage to the enemy. Afterwards fhe iiXed a piece of cannon, and leveral mufket-fhot, and (hewing herfelf with her foldier, fometime in one KSf' one redoubt, fometimes. in another, and changing fe her drefs from time to time, and always firing very ifj' feafonablv, on feeing the Iraquoife approach the ( ; r breaft-work, thefe Indians thought there were many tit. men in the garrilbn, and when the chevalier de Cri- fafy, informed by the firing of the cannon, appenr- ujgj. ed to-fuccour the place, the men were already de- camped. Let us now return to our hunting •, that of the elk would be no lefs advantagious to us at this day than that of the beaver, had our predecefibrs in the * colony paid due attention to the profits which might * ^ have been made by it, and had they not almoft en- "y tirely deftroyed the whole fpecies, at lealk in luch u . places as are within our reach. thck t What they call here the orignal, is the fame with the animal, which in Germany, koland, and. t0 £ Ruffia, is called the elk, or the great bead. This ^ animal in this country is ot the fize of a horfe, or »tM mule of the country of Auvergne •, this has a broad ■fe crupper, the tail but a finger’s length, the hough i a extremely high, with the feet and legs of a (lag ; the neck, withers, and upper part ot the hough are covered with long hair ; the head is above two :fe feet long, which he ftretches forward, and which it gives the animal a very aukward appearance; his IK muzzle is thick, and bending on the upper- part, s; 3 like that of a camel -, and his noftrils are fo wide, aotj that one may with eafe thruft half his arm into li,5 them ; laftly, his antlers are full as long as thofeof j|i a dag, and are much more fpreading; they are branch- jjt ing and flat like thole ot a doe, and are renewed jgf every year ; but I do not know whether they re- jjtj: ceive an increale which denotes the age of the ani- k mal. N 3 It ( '98 ) It has been pretended that the orignal, or elk js fubjedt to the epiJepfy, and when he is feizedwith any fit, he cures himlelf by rubbing his ear with his left hind loot till the blood comes ; a circutn- fiance which has made his hoof be taken for a fpe- cific againft the falling ficknefs. This is applied over the heart of the patient, which is alfo done for a palpitation of the heart ; they place in the left hand, and rub the ear with it. But why do not they make the blood come as the elk does ? This horny fubftance is alfo believed to be good in tie pleurily, in cholic pains, in fluxes, venigoes, and purples, when pulverifed and taken in tater. 1 nave heard fay, that the AJgonquins, who formerly , on L “ e °f this animal, were very fubjeflto the epilepfy , and yet made no ufe of this remedy, i hey were, perhaps, acquainted with a better. 1 he colour of the elk’s hair is a mixture of light grey, and or a dark red. It grows hollow as the beaft grows older, never lies flat, nor quits its elaftic force ; thus it is m vain to beat it, it conftantly rifes again. They make matraffes and hair bottoms of it. Its fiefh is of an agreeable reliih, light and nourfiW and it would be great pity if\ gave the fallmg-ficknefs ; but our hunters, who have lived on it for feveral winters running, never per- ceived the leaft ill qualitity in it. The lkin is fining, roft and o, y, is made into Chamois leather, an makes excellent buff-coats, which are alfo very fight. 1 .2 heIndianS h k , U P° nthe dk as a " animal of, ^ en> and believe tha t thofe who dream of Sarv wkT K Xped 3 bng iife ’ k is ^>ite the the feifon f< if e ? f ’ exce P c on the approach ol the feafon for hunting thole creatures. There is alfp ( i99 ) a |f 0 a very diverting tradition among the Indian s of a areat elk, of fuch a monftrous lize, that th e ;lis« re ft are like pifmires in companion of him ; his leas, fay they, are fo long, that eight feet of i now 4ti:= are not the leaft incumbrance to him ; his hide is proof againft all manner ol weapons, and lie has ij|. a f ort ; of arm proceeding from his fhoulders, which ftt; he ules as we do ours. He is always attended by a uk vaft number of elks which form his court, and kk which render him all the fervices he requires, e p Thus the a'ntients had their Phenix and Pegafus, and vtnia the Chinefe and Japonefe their Kirim, their Foke, ii? their Water-dragon, and their bird of Paradife. Tutto 7 mondo e Paefe. The elk is a lover of cold countries ; he feeds on i, t grafs in fummer, and in winter gnaws the bark of trees. When the fnow is very deep, thefe animals ■ m afiemble in fome pine-wood, to flieher themfelves from the feverity of the weather, where they remain whilft there is any thing to live upon. This is the beft feafon for hunting them, except when the fun has ftrength enough to melt the fnow. For the f r oft forming a kind of cruft on the furface in the ■ night, the elk, who is a heavy animal, breaks it with his forked hoof, and with great difficulty ex- tricates himlelf except at this time, and above all, when the fnow is not deep, it is very difficult to get near him, at leaft, without danger, for when he is wounded he is furious, and will return boldly on the huntfman and tread him under his feet. The way to ffiun him is to throw him your coat, on which he will difeharge ail his vengeance, whilft the 2 huntfman concealed behind fome tree, is at liberty & to take proper measures for difpatching him. The f elk aoes always at a hard trot, but liicli as equals the iwifteft fueed of the buffalo, and will hold out 9 •• N 4 a ( 200 ) a great while. But the Indians are dill better eour- fers than he. It is affirmed rfiat he falls down upon his knees to drink, eat and deep, and that he has a bone in his heart, which being reduced to pow- der, and taken in broth, facilitates delivery, and foftens the pains of child bearing. The mod northern nations of Canada have a way of hunting this animal, very Ample and free from danger. The hunters divide into two bands, one embarks on board canoes, which canoes keep at a fmall diftance from each other, forming a pretty large fem. circle, the two ends of which reach the fliore. The other body, which remains afhore, p^iform pretty much the fame thing, and at firft lur round a large track of ground. Then the huntf- men let loofe their dogs, and raife all the elks with- in the bounds of this femicircle, and drive them into the river or lake, which they no fooner enter than they are fired upon from all the canoes, and not a (hot mifies, fo that rarely any one elcapes. Champlain mentions another way of hunting not only the elk, but alfo the deer and caribou, which has fome refemblance to this. They fur- round a fp^ce Gf ground with pods, interwoven with branches of trees, leaving a pretty narrow opening, where they place nets made of thongs of raw hides. J his fpace is of a triangular form, and from the angle in which the entry is, they form ano- ther, but much larger triangle. Thus the two en- codes communicate with each other at the two an- PnS'r , f ie , tW ° ? deS of the fec °nd triangle are alfo 0,1 with pods, interwoven in the lame man- fhe’h!r d r ie hunt ? rs drawn "P in' one line form line endre 1 hey then advance > keeping the - - ent.re, raifing prodigious cries, and linking againli: Ilr* 14 , Ilk ktii Uplti' not*.' h ca ’ nnii|. lid: ( 201 ) againft fomething which refounds greatly. The game thus roufed, and being able to efcape by none of the fides, can only fly into the other enclofure, where feveral are taken at their firft entering by the neck or horns. They make great efforts to difen- tangle themfelves, and fometimes carry away or break the thongs. They alfo fometimes ftrangle themfelves, or at lead give the huntfmen time to difpatch them at leifure. Even thofe that efcape are not a whit advanced, but find themfelves en- clofed in a fpace too narrow to be able to Hum the arrows which are fhot at them from all hands. *' The elk has other enemies befides the Indians, and who carry on full as cruel a war againft him. £ The mod terrible of all thefe is the Carcajou or ® Quincajou , a kind of cat, with a tail fo long that idi” 1 he twifts it feveral times round his body, and with lira a Ikin of a brownilh red. As foon as this hunter us comes up with the elk, he leaps upon him, and faf- ike tens upon his neck, about which he twifts his long tail, and then cuts his jugular. The elk has no of: means of fhunning this difafter, but by flying to aii the water the moment he is feized by this danger- . 1 ous enemy. The carcajou, who cannot endure the ,k water, quits his hold immediately ; but, if the wa- ter f er happen to be at too great a diftance, he will fi deftroy the elk before he reaches it. This hunter ite too as he does not poflefs the faculty of fmelling with the greateft acutenefs, carries three foxes a lien hunting with him, which he lends on the dilcovery. K; The moment they have got fcent of an elk, two p of them place themfelves by his fide, and the third ■ B takes poll behind him ; and ail three manage mat- ters lo well, by harafling the prey, that they com- pel him to go to the place where they have left the carcajou, with whom they afterwards fettle about t the ( 202 ) the dividing the prey. Another wile of the carca- jou, in order to ieize his prey is to climb upon a tree, where couched along fome projecting branch, he waits till an elk pafles, and leaps upon hint, the moment he fees him within his reach. There are, many perfons. Madam, who have taken it into their heads to imagine, that the accounts of Cana- da, make the Indians more terrible people than they really are. They are, however, men. But under what climate can we find brute animals, indued with fo ftrong an inftindt, and lb forcibly inclined to induftry, as the fox, the beaver, and the car- cajou. The flag in Canada is abfolutely the fame with ours in France, though, perhaps, generally fome- what bigger. It does not appear that the Indians give them much dillurbance ; at lead, I do not find they make war upon him in form and with much preparation. It is quite different with refped to the caribou, an animal differing in nothing from the raindeer, except in the colour of its hair, which is brown a little inclining to red. This crea- ture is not quite fo tall as the elk, and has more of the afs or mule in its fhape, and is at leal! equal in fpeed with the deer. Some years fmce, one of them was feen on Cape Diamond, above Quebec ; he probably was flying before fome hun- ters, but immediately perceived he was in no place of fafety, and made fcarce any more than one leap from thence into the river. A wild goat on die alps could hardly have done more. He afterwards fwam crofs the river with the fame c'elerity, but was very little the better for having fo done. Some Canadians who were going out againft an enemy, and lay encamped at point Levi, having perceived him, watched his landing, and Ihot him. The tongue c! - tongue of this animal is highly efte£med, and his true country feems to be near Hudfon’s-Bay. The C? Sieur Jeremie, who paired feveral years in thefe northern parts, tells us, that between Danifh river and Port Nelfon, prodigious numbers of them were r to be feen, which being driven by the gnats, and a ' " fort of vermine called Tons , come to coo! and re- . frefh themfelves by the fea-fhore, and that for the fpace of forty or fifty leagues you are continually “ IIE meeting herds of ten thoufand in number at the “ leaft. ,ai; It appears that the Caribou has not multiplied , . greatly in the mo ft frequented parts of Canada ; l -* r but the elk was every where found in great num- 5® bers, on our firft dilcovery of this country. And thefe animals were not only capable of becoming a ■ confiderable article in commerce, but alfo a wreat fora, conveniency of life, had there been more care taken &x to preferve them. This is what has not been done, urn and whether it fs that the numbers of them have ir(f been thinned, and the fpecies in fome fort diminifh- d i ed, or that by frighting them, they have grown mil! wilder, and fo have been obliged to retire to other nd* parts, nothing can be more rare than to meet with if any of them at prefent. mad r; t In the fouthern and weftern parts of New France, on both Tides of the Miffifiippi, the kind of hunt- fe ! n g moft in vogue, is, that of the buffalo, which ras is performed in this manner. 1 he huntfmen draw It l, P > n four lines, forming a very large fquare, and tt 2 be gi n wit h fetting the grafs on fire, that being dry $ and v ery rank at this feafon •, they afterwards ad- . vance in proportion as the fire gets ground, doling their ranks as they go. The buffaloes, which are extremely timorous of fire, always fly, till at laft ( 204 >j they find thenffelves fo hemmed in, and fo clofeto one another, that generally not a fingle bead efcapes. It is affirmed, that no party ever returns from hunt- ing without having killed fifteen hundred or two thou- fand beafts. But left two different companies Ihould hurt one another, they take care befor£ they fet out, to fettle the time and place they intend to hunt. There are even penalties for fuch as tranfgrefs this regulation, as well as for thofe who quit their polls, and fo give the buffaloes an opportunity of efcap- ing. _ fhefe pains and penalties are, that the perfons tranlgreffing may be ftrippcd by any private perfon at will of every thing, and which is the greateft poffible affront to an Indian, their arms not except- ed, they may alfo throw down their cabbins. '1 he chief is fubjeft to this law as well as the reft, and any one who Ihould go to rebel againft it, would endanger the kindling a war, which fay they would not be fo eafily extinguilhed. The buffalo of Canada is larger than ours ; his horns are fhort, black, and low ; there is a great rough beard under the muzzle, and another tuft on the crown of thejiead, which falling over the eyes, give him a hideous afpeft. He has on the back, a hunch or fwelling, which begins over his haunches, encreafing always as it approaches his fhoulders. I he firft rib forwards is a whole cubit higher than thole towards the back, and is three fingers broad, and the whole riling is covered with a long reddifli hair. The reft of the body is covered with a black wool, in great efteem. It is affirmed, that the fleece of a buffalo weighs eight pounds. This ani- mal has a very broad chefl, the crupper pretty thin, the tail extremely fhort, and fcarce any neck at all; tit the head is larger than that of ours. He com- mon,)' nies as foon as he perceives any one, and Vd 7 ml is nsfe aot> Dpt} Ctifi; iltS; twj mi iOJtJ inter pre si| msK' ate sic lays? :to£ feffiS flak OtB! oat bisfe hist? lift if hf! ffi. 45 It f; ■&■ ft ■%. ( 205 ) one dog will make a whole herd of them take to the gallop. He has a very delicate and quick fcent, and in order to approach him without being per- ceived, near enough to {hoot him, you mutt take care not to have the wind of him. But when he is wounded he grows furious and will turn upon the hunters. He is equally dangerous when the cow buf- falo has young newly brought forth. His flefh is good, but that of the female only is eaten, that of the male being too hard and tough. As to the hide, there is none better in the known world ; it is eafily drefied, and though exceeding ftrong, be- comes as fupple and foft as the beft fhamois leather. The Indians make bucklers of it, which are very light, and which a mufket-ball will hardly pierce. There is another fort of buffalo found in the neighbourhood of Hudfon’s-Bay, the hide and wool of which are equally valuable with thofe of the fort now mentioned. The following is what the Sieur Jeremie fays of it. “ Fifteen leagues from Danes-River, you find the Sea-wolf-River, there being in fadt great numbers of thofe animals in it. Between thofe two rivers, are a kind of buffaloes, called by us Boeufs nwjques, or mufk-buffiloes-, from their having fo ftrong a fcent of mufk, that, at a certain feafon, it is impoffible to eat them. Thefe animals have a very fine wool, it is longer than that of the Barbary fhecp. I had fome of it brought over to France in 1708, of which I caufed {lock- ings to be made for me, which were finer than filk ftockings.” Thefe buffaloes, though fmaller than ours, have, however, much longer and thicker horns ; their roots join on the crown of their heads, and reach down by their eyes almoft as low as the throat ; the end afterwards bends upwards, form- ing a fort of crefcent. Some of thefe are fo thick, that ( 206 5 that I have feen fome, which after being feparated from the fkull weighed fixty pounds a pair. Their legs are very fhorr, fb that this wool continually trails along the ground as they walk ; which ren- ders them lb deformed, that at a fmall diftance you can hardly diftinguifh on which fide the head Hands. There is no great number of thefe animals, fo that had the Indians been fent out to hunt them, the fpecies had before now been entirely de'ftroyed. Add to this, that as their legs are very fiaort, they are killed when the fnow lies deep, with lances, and are utter ly incapable of efcaping. . 1 ^ ie *9°$ common animal in Canada at this day is the roe-buck, which differs in nothing from ours. He is faid to Ihed tears when he finds him- Jeif hard piefted by the huntfmen. When young his fkin is ffriped with different colours ; afterwards this hair falls off, and other hair of the fame colour with tnat of the reft of thefe animals grows up in ns ftead. 1 his creature is far from being fierce, and is eafily tamed j he appears to be naturally a lover of mankind. . T he tame female retires to the wooes when Ihe is in rut, and after Hie has had the male, returns to her mafter’s houle. When the time ol bringing forth is come, fhe retires once more to the woods, where fhe remains fome days with her young, and after that fire returns to fhew herfelf to her mafter; fhe conftantly vifits her young; they follow her when they think it is time, and take the fawns, which fhe continues to nourilh in the houfe It is furprifmg enough any of our ha- bitations fhould be without whole herds of them; the Indians hunt them only occafionally. „ 1 • f re f are all ° many wolves in Canada, or rather -co cats, for they have nothing of the wolf but ( 20 7 ) its but a kind of howling j in evpry other circumftance they are, fays M. Sarrafin, ex genere felino , of the cat kind. Thefe are natural hunters, living only ; on the animals they catch, and which they purfue' i® to the top of the tailed: trees. 1 heir flelb is white 5 and very good eating -, their fur and fkin are both well ill,! known in France ; this is one of the fined: furs in tie the whole country, and one of the mod: confider- «* able articles in its commerce. That of a certain fpe- i» a ties of black foxes, which live in the northern I® mountains, is ftill more efteemed. I have, however heard, that the black fox of Mufcovy, and of the northern parts of Europe is ftill more highly va- lued. They are, moreover, exceeding rare here, tjg probably on account of the difficulty of catching g them. ill! There is a more common fort, the hair of which j£ is black or grey, mixed with white ; others of them ^ are quite grey, and others again of a tawlny red. r They are found in the Upper Miffiffippi, of infi- nite beauty, and with a fur of an argentine or di- ver grey. We find here likewife tygers and wolves of a fmaller fort than ours. The foxes hunt the ^ water-fowl after a very ingenious manner : they ad- vance a little into the w'ater, and afterwards retire, , playing a thoufand antick tricks on the banks. The ducks, buftards, and other fuch birds, tickled with the fport, approach the fox ; when he fees 1 them within reach, he keeps very quiet for a while at firft, that he may not frighten them, moving F only his tail, as if on purpole to draw them ftill 4 nearer, and the foolifh creatures are fuch dupes to his crafti.nefs, as to come and peck at his tail \ the fox immediately fprings upon them, and fel- dom mifles his aim. Dogs have been bred to the rj ( 208 ) fame fport with tolerable fuccefs, and the fame . clogs carry on a fierce war againft the foxes. There is a kind of polecat, which goes by the name of Enfant du Diabk , or the Child of the Devil ; or Bite puante ; a title derived from his ill fcent, becaufe his urine, which he lets go, when he finds himfelf purfued, infedts the air for half a quar- ter of a league round ; this is in other refpedts a very beautiful creature. He is of the fize of afmall car, but thicker, the fkin or fur fhining, and of a greyifh colour, with white lines, forming a fort of oval on the back from the neck quite to the tail. This tail is bulhy like that of a fox, and turned up like a fquirrel. Its fur, like that of the animal called Pekan , another fort of wild-cat, much of the fame fize with ours, and of the otter, the ordi- nary polecat, the pitois, wood-rat, ermine, and mar- tin, are what is called la rnenue pellet erie^ orleffer peltry. I he ermine is of the fize of our fquir- rel, but not quite fo long ; his fur is of a mod beautiful white, and his tail is long, and the tip of it black as jet 5 our martins are not fo red as thofe of France, and have a much finer fur. They com- monly keep in the middle of woods, whence they never ftir but once in two or three years, but always in large flocks. The Indians have a notion, that the year, in which they leave the woods, will be good for hunting, that is, that there will be a great fall of fhovv. Martins fkins fell actually here at a crown a piece, I mean the ordinary fort, for fuch as are brown go as high as four livres and up- wards. The pitoi differs from the polecat only in that its ur is longer, blacker, and thicker. Thefe two animals make war on the birds, even of the largeft forts, — H ( 20 9 ) * forts, and make great ravages amongfl: dove-coats and henroofts. The wood- rat is twice the fize of i » ours ; he has a bufhy tail, and is of a beautiful fil- L: ver grey : there are even fome entirely of a moft beauciful white •, the female has a bag under her belly, which Hie opens and fhuts at plealure ; in this flie places her young when fhe is purl'ued, and fo laves them with herfelf from their common enemy. iaj # With regard to the fquirrel, this animal enjoys a J.' tolerable degree of tranquillity, fo that there are a prodigious number of them in this country. They are diftinguilhed into three different forts ; the red, which are exactly the fame with ours ; thofe called Swifts of a fmaller fize, and fo called, becaufe they j have long ftripes of red, white and black, much like the liveries of the pope’s Swifs guards •, and the flying fquirrel, of much the fame iize with the G Swifies, and with a dark grey fur ; they are called flying fquirrels, not that they really can fly, but ’ from their leaping from tree to tree, to the diftance :: of forty paces and more. From a higher place, E they will fly or leap double the diftance. What gives them this facility of leaping, is two mem* r ~ branes, one on each fide, reaching between their 5-' fore and hind legs, and which when ttretched are ® two inches broad ; they are very thin, and covered over with a fort of cats hair or down. This little a animal is eafily tamed, and is very lively except when afleep, which is often the cafe, and he puts ? up wherever he can find a place, in one’s fleeves, \t pockets, and muffs. He firft pitches upon his mafter, whom he will diftinguifh amongfl: twenty perfons. The Canadian porcupine is of the fize of a middling dog, but fhorter and not fo tall ; his hair is about Vol. I. O four ( 210 ) four inches long, of the thicknefs of a fmall folk of corn, is white, hollow, and very ftrong, efpe- cially upon the back •, thefe are his weapons, offen- five and defenfive. He darts them at once againft any enemy who attempts his life, and if it pierce the flelh ever fo little, it mult be inftantly drawn out, otherwife it finks quite into it j for this reafon people are very cautious of letting their dogs come near him. His flelh is extreme good eating. A porcupine roafted is full as good as a fucking pig. Hares and rabbits are like thofe of Europe, ex- cept that their hind legs are longer. Their (kins are in no great requeft, as the hair is continually falling off; it is pity, for their hair is exceedingfine and might be ufed without detriment in the hat- manufadture. They grow grey in winter, and ne- ver ftir from their warrens or holes, where they live on the tendereft branches of the birch-trees. In fummer they are of a carrotty red ; the fox makes a continual and a moft cruel war upon them fum- mer and winter, and the Indians take them in win- ter on the fnow, with gins, when they go out in fcarch of provifions. 1 have the honour to be y &c. Di t ( I is foj LETTER VIII. Defcription of the country between lake St. Peter and Montreal ; in what it differs from that near Quebec. Defcription oj the if and and city of Montreal, and the country adjacerit . Of the J'ea-cow , fea-wolf, porpoife , and whale - fijhery. Montreal , March 20, 1721; Madam , I Set out on the 13th from St. Francis, and next day arrived in this city. In this pafiage, which is about twenty leagues, I had not the fame plea- fure as formerly of performing the fame journey by water in a canoe, in the fineft weather imaginable, and in viewing, as I advanced, channels and pieces of water without end, formed by a multitude of iflands, which feemed at a diftance part of the Con- tinent, and to ftop the river in his courfe, thofe de- lightful feenes which were perpetually varying like the feenes of a theatre, and which one would think had been contrived on purpofe for the pleafure of travellers ; I had, however, fome amends made me by the fingular fight of an Archipelago, become, in fome fort, a Continent, and by the conveniency of taking the air in my cariole, on channels lying O 2 be- C ) between two iflands, which Teemed to have been planted by the hand like To many orangeries. With refpedt to the profpedt, it cannot be called beautiful at this ieafon. Nothing can be more oil', mal than that univerfal whitenefs, which takes place in the room of that vail variety of colours, the greateft charm of the country, than the trees which prefent nothing to the view,* but naked tops, and whofe branches are covered with icicles. Further, Madam, the lake of St. Francis is in this country, what the Loire is in France. Towards Quebec the lands are good, though generally without anything capable of affording pleafure to the fight; in other refpetts, this climate is very rude ; as the further you go down the river, the nearer you approach to the north, and confequently the colder it becomes. Quebec lies in 47 deg. 56 min. The Three Riven in 46 deg. and a lew minutes ; and Montreal be- tween 44 and 45 ; the river above lake St. Peter making and winding towards the fouth. One would think therefore, after palling Richelieu iflands, that one were tranlported into another climate. The air becomes fofter and more temperate, the coun- try more level, the river more pleafant, and the banks infinitely more agreeable and delightful. You meet with iflands from time to time, fomeof which are inhabited, and others in their natural irate, which afford the fight the fineft landfkips in the world ; in a Word, this is the Touraine and the Li mo.gr, e of Auvergne , compared with the countries of Maine and Normandy. The ifland of Montreal, which is, as it were the centie of this fine country, is ten leagues in length 10m caff to weft, and near four leagues in its great- er rcai 1 1 ; the mountain whence it derives it name, and ( 213 ) In* and which has two fummits 'of unequal height, lit!, is fituated almoft in the middle between its two ex- tremities, and only at the diftance of near half a itk league from the fouth-lhore of it, on which Mont- ies real is built. This city was firfl called Fills Marts i tit by its founders, but this name has never obtained coif the fanction of cuftom in converfation, and holds place :tis only in the public adts, and among!! the lords (.ro- il a prietaries, who are exceeding jealous of it. T heie s, j lords, who are not only lords of the city, but alio tlisj of the whole ifland, are the governors of the femi- sQj. nary of St. Sulpicius ; and as almofl all the lands ijjjr. on it are excellent, and well cultivated, and the city as populous as Quebec, we may venture to fay, this lordfhip is well worth half a fcore the beft in all jt Canada. This is the fruit of the induftry and wif- dom of the lords proprietors of this ifland, and it p.; is certain, that had it been parcelled out amongft p a fcore of proprietors, it would neither have been ' in the flourifhing ftate in which we now fee it, nor • would the inhabitants have been near fo happy. The city of Montreal has a very pleafing afpect, and is befides conveniently fituated, the ftreets well ’■ laid out, and the houfes well built. The beauty of the country round it, and of its profpecls, infpire 1 a certain chearfulnefs of which every body is per- K fedtly fenfible. It is not fortified, only a Ample palifado with baftions, and in a very indifferent con- 1 dition, with a forry redoubt on a fmall fpot, which : ferves as a fort of outwork, and terminates in a gentle declivity, at the end of which is a fmall fquare, which is all the defence it has. This is the place you firfl: find on your entering the city on the fide of Que- bec. It is not yet quite forty years fince it was entirely without any fortifications, and confequently was every day expofed to the incurfions of the Englifh O 3 and ( 2*4 ) and Indians, who could eafily have burnt it. The Chevalier de Callieres, brother to him who was pie- nipotentiary at Ryfwick, was he who firft inclofed' it, whilft he was governor of it. There has been fome years fince a project for walling it round*: but it will be no eafy matter to bring the inhabitants to contribute to it. They are brave, but far from rich ; they have been already found very hard to be perlwaded to the neceffity of this expence, and are fully perfuaded that their own courage is more than fufficient to defend their city again!? all invaders. Our Canadians in general have a good opinion of themfelves in this particular, and we muft acknow- lege, not without good grounds. But by a natural confequence of this felf-fufficiency it is much eafier to furprife than to defeat them. Montreal is of a quadrangular form, fituated on the bank of the river, which rifing gently, divides the city lengthwife into the upper and lower towns, though you can fcarce perceive the afcent from the one to the other; the hofpital, royal magazines, and place of arms, are in the lower town, which is alio the quarter in which the merchants for the moll part have their houfes. '1 he ieminary and parilh- church, the convent of the Kecollets, thejefuits, the daughters of the congregation, the governor, and moft of the officers dwell in the high town. Beyond a fmall ftream coming from the north-weft, and which terminates the city on this fide, you come to a few houfes and the hofpital general ; and turn- ing towards the right beyond the kecollets, whole convent is at the extremity of the citv, on the fame fide, there is a kind of fuburb beginning to be built, which will in time be a very fine quarter. This project has been fince put in execution. 4 The ( 215 ) The jefuits have only a fmall houfe here, 'but 1 their church, the roof of which is juft upon the point of being finilhed is large and well built. The convent of the Recollets is more fpacious, and their community more numerous. The feminary ^ is in the centre of the town ; they feem to have V thought more of rendering it foiid and commodi- ous than magnificent; you may, however, ftill dif- cover it to be the manor- houte ; it communicates “ B with the parilh -church, which has much more the 1 air of a cathedral than that of Quebec. Divine 7 worlhip is celebrated here with a modefty and dig- 1K: nity which infpire the fpe&ators with an awful notion ^ of that God who is worlhipped in it. E The houfe of the daughters of the Congregation, though one of the largeft in the city, is ftill too ,fe fmall to lodge fo numerous a community. This is if, the head of an order and the noviciate of an infti- lott tute, which ought to be fo much the dearer to a; New France, and to this city in particular, on ac- ■E count of its taking its rife in it ; and as the whole co- il , 1 lony has felt the advantage of fo noble an endow- te: ipent. The Hotel- Dieu, or Hofpital is ferved by ax thefe nuns, the firft of whom came from la Fleche in Anjou. They are poor, which, however, nei- ;£ . ther appears in their hall, or yards, which are fpaci- ous, well-furniflied, and extremely well provided with beds ; nor in their church, which is handfome, and exceeding richly ornamented ; nor in their houfe, jf which is well built, neat and commodious •, but - they are at the fame time ill fed, though all of them , are indefatigable either in the inftruiftion of the youth or in taking care of the fick. The hofpital -general owes its foundation to a pri- vate perfon called Charron, who alfociated with fe- O 4 veral C7 C 216 ) veral pious perfons, not only for this good work, but alio to provide fchool-mafters for the country- parifhes, who fliould perform the fame funftions with refped to the boys, which the fitters of the congregation did with regard to the fair I'eX; but this fociety foon diflolved ; fome being called off by their private concerns, and others by their natural i'-con ancy, fo that the SieurCharron was foon left alone. He was not however difcouraged, he open- ed his purfe, and found the fecret to caufe fcveral perfons in power open theirs ; he built a houfe, af- fembled matters and hofpitallers, and men took a pleafure in aiding and impovvering one who fpared neither his money nor his labour, and whom no difficulties were capable of deterring. Laftly, be- fore his death, which happened in the year 1719, lie had the confolation to fee his project beyond all fear of mifearrying, at leaft with refped to the hofpital- general. i he houfe is a fine edifice and the church a very handfome one. The fchool- mafters are ff ill on no folid foundations in the pa- rities, and the prohibition made them by the court or wearing an uniform drefs, and of taking fimple vows, may poffibly occafion this projed to be dif- continued. Between the ifiand of Montreal and the Conti- nent on the north fide, is another ifiand of about eight leagues in length, and full two in breadth where broadeft. This was at firft called 1’IJleie Montwafny , arter a governor-general of Canada of this name; it was afterwards granted to thejefuits, who gave it the name of I'JJle Jefus, which it (till retains, though it has pafied from them to the ki- p' ! ' ors of the feminary of Quebec, who have be- gun to plant it with inhabitants, and as the foil is ( 217 ) excellent, there is ground to hope it will very foon be cleared. k The channel which feparates the two i (lands, bears the name of the river of Meadows , as it runs be- 1 tween very fine ones. Its courfe is interrupted in the middle by a rapid current, called the Fall of the ? Recollet, in memory of a monk of that order k drowned in it. The religious of the feminary of Montreal had, for a great while, an Indian million 3:: in this place, which they have lately tranfported K fomewhere elfe. it I The third arm of the river is interfperfed with fo li prodigious a multitude of iflands, that there is al- ls mod as much land as water. This channel bears 1? the name of Milles JJles, or the 7 houfand Iflands , K or St. John’s River. At the extremity of the Ifle :e Jefus, is the fmall ifland HJle Bizard , from the "t name of a Swifs officer, whofe property it was, and i who died a major of Montreal. A little higher to- ij: wards the fouth, you find the ifland Perrot, thus Is termed from M. Perrot, who was the firft governor of Montreal, and the father of the countefs de la Roche Allard, and of thelady of the prefident Luberr. This ifland is almoft two leagues every way, and \i the foil is excellent •, they are beginning to clear it. c The illand Bizard terminates the lake of the two mountains, as the ifland Perrot feparates it from that j of St. Louis. is The lake of the two mountains is properly the opening of the great river, otherwife called la Ri- viere des Outaowais , into the St. Lawrence. It is two leagues long, and almoft as many broad. That of St. Louis is fomething larger, but is only a widening of the river St. Laurence. Hitherto the French u ( 2'S ) French colony reached no further to the weftward; but they begin to make new plantations higher up the river, and the foil is every where excellent. What has been the prefervation, or at lead: the fafety of Montreal, and all the country round it dur- ing the laft wars, is two villages of Iroquois Chrifl- ians, and the fort of Chambly. The firit of thefe villages is that of Sault St. Lewis , fituated on the Continent, on the fouth-fide of the river, and three leagues above Montreal. It is very populous, and has ever been looked upon as one of our llron^eft barriers againft the idolatrous Iroquois, and theEng- lifh of New- York, it has already changed its fitua- tion twice within the fpace of two leagues. Its fe- cond ftation, when I faw it in 170S, was near a rapid ftream, called Sault St Lewis, which name it ftill retains though at a confiderable diftance from it. It appears to have entirely fixed at laft ; for the church which they are juft about to finilh, and the miffionaries houle a:e each in their own kind two of the finell edifices in all Canada ; the litua- tion of them is charming, l'he river which is very broad in this place is etnbellilhed with feveral iflands, which have a very pleafant afped. The ifland of Montreal is well flocked with inhabitants, forms the view on one hand, and the fight has no bounds on the other fide, except lake bt. Louis, which begins a little above this. The fecond village bears the name of la Montaigne , having been for a long time iituated on the double- headed mountain, which has given its name to the ifland. It has fince been tranflated to the fall of the Recoilet, as I have already told you ; it now {lands on the 1 erra birma oppofite to the weftern extre- muy of the ifland. The ecclefiafticks of the femi- nary J ( 219 ) nary of Montreal govern in it. There have many brave warriors come from thefe two towns, and the terror which prevailed here was admirable till the avarice of our dealers introduced drunkenneis r $ amongft them, which has made Hill greater favages ** here than in the millions of St. Francis and Eecan- 7* kourt. it The miffionaries have in vain employed all their “i induftry and vigilance to put a Hop to the torrent opt of this diforder •, in vain have they made ufe of the 0 . aid of the fecular arm, threatned them with the it; wrath of heaven, made life of the mod perfuafive i|i arguments, all has been to no purpofe, and even gi where it was impoflible not to diicover the hand of dm God ftretched out againft the authors of this evil, all have been found infufficient to bring thofe Chrift- fc ians back to a fenfe of their duty, who had been j once blindfolded by the fordid and moft contempti- j ; ble pafTion of lucre. Even in the very ftreets of s Montreal, are feen the moft {hocking fpedacles, |j. the never-failing effeds of the drunkennefs of thefe vc barbarians ; hulbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children, brothers and lifters, feizing one another ,/jj by the throats, rearing of one another by the ears, and worrying one another with their teeth like fo ... many inraged wolves. The air refounded during the night with their cries and howlings much more horrible than thofe with which wild beafts affright the woods. I Thofe, who perhaps have greateft reafon to re- proach themfelves with thefe horrors, are the firft to afk whether they are Chriftians One might an- fwer them, yes, they are Chriftians, and New Con- verts who know not what they do ; but thofe who in cold blood, and with a perfed knowledge of what C7 ( 220 ) what they are about, reduce, from fordid motives of avarice, thofe fimple people to this condition, can they be imagined to have any religion at all ? We certainly know that an Indian will give all he is worth for one glafs of brandy, this is drong temp- tation to our dealers, againft which, neither the ex- clamations of their padors, nor the zeal and autho- rity of the magidrate, nor refpeft for the laws, nor the feverity of the divine ju dice, nor the dread of the judgments of the Almighty, nor the thoughts of a Hell hereafter, of which thefe barbarians ex- hibit a very ftriking picture, have been able to avail. But it is time to turn away our eyes fromfodif- agreeable a fpeculation. The chief part of the peltry or fur-trade, after the northern and weftern nations left off frequent- ing the city of the ‘Three Rivers, was for fome time carried on at Montreal, whither the Indians reforted at certain feafons from all parts of Canada. This was a kind of fair, which drew great numbers of French to this city. The governor- general and intendant came hither likewife, and made life of thole occa- fions to lectle any differences which might have hap- pened amongft cur allies. But fhould your Grace happen by chance to light on laHontan’s book, where he treats of this fair, 1 muff caution you to be on your guard left you take every thing he fays of it for matter of fad. He has even forgot to give it fo much as an air of probability. The women of Montreal never gave any ground for what this au- thor lays to their charge, and there is no reafon to fear for their honour with refpett to the Indians. It is without example that any of them have ever ta- ken the lead liberty with any French woman, even when they have been their prifoners. They have never been Subject to the lead temptation by them. ! fit a* k n n K: b r. '*22 it ifc- b I 5’ ii- o’ t F $ e:- ‘‘V". ( 221 ) and it were to be wilhed, that Frenchmen had the fame diftafte of the Indian women. La Hon- tan could not be ignorant of what is notorious to the whole country •, but he had a mind to render his account entertaining •, on which account every thing true or falfe was the lame to him. One is al- ways fure of pleafing fome people of a certain call, by obferving no meafure in the liberty one aflfumes of inventing, calumniating, and in our way of ex- prefling ourfelves on certain topicks. There are ftill now and then companies or rather flotillas of Indians arriving at Montreal, but no- thing in comparifon of what ufed to refort hither in time part. The war of the Iroquois is what has interrupted the great concourfe of Indians in the colony. In order to provide againft this evil, ftore- houfes have been eredted in the countries of molt Indian nations, together with forts, in which there • is always a govern r and a garrifon, ftrong enough to fecure the merchandize in them. The Indians are above all things defirous there fhould be a gun- fmith amongft them, and in feveral there are mif- fionaries, who would generally do more good there, were there no other Frenchmen with them befides themfelves It would one would think have been pro- per to have reflored things upon the old footing, ef- pecially as there is an univerfal peace and tranquillity all over the colony. This would have been a good means of reftraining the Couriers de Bois , whole avi- dity, without mentioning all the diforders introduc- ed by libertinifm, which occafions a thoufand mean- nefles, which render us contemptible to the barba- rians, has lowered the price of our commodities, and raifed that of their peltry. Befides that, the Indi- ans, who are by nature haughty, have grown info- lent ( 222 ) lent fmce they have feen themfelves courted by us. The filhery is much more likely and proper to - enrich Canada than the fur-trade j which is allb en- tirely independent of the Indians. There are two reafons for applying to this, which, however, have not been able fo induce our planters to make it the principal objeft of their commerce. I have nothing to add, to what I have already had the honour to tell you with refpedt to the cod-filhery, which is alone worth more than a Peru, had the founders of New France taken proper meafures to fecure the pofleflion of it to us. i begin with that of the lea- wolf, fea-cow, and porpoife, which may be carried on over all the gulf of St. Lawrence, and even a great way up that river. T. he fea-wolf owes its name to its cry, which is a lore ot howling, for as to its figure it has nothing of the wolf, nor of any known land animal. Lef- carbot affirms, that he has heard fome of them, whofe cry refembled that of a fcreech owl ; but this might poffibly have been the cry of young ones, whole voice was not as yet arrived at its full tone. Moreover, Madam, they never hefitate in this coun- try to place the fea-wolf in the rank of filhes, tho’ it is far from being dumb, is brought forth on Ihore, on which it lives at leaft as much as in the water, is covered with hair, in a word, though no- thing is wanting to it, which conftitutes an animal truly amphibious. But we are now in a new world, and it mult not be expected we Ihould always fpeak the language of the old, and as cuftom, the'authority of which is never difputed, has put it in pofleflion of all its own rights. Thus the war which is ear- ned on againft the fea-wolf, though often on fhore, and • ~ ( 223 ) ^ and with mulkets, is called a filhery ; and that carried on againft the beaver, though in the water, and with nets, is called hunting. ini* cm, The head of the fea-wolf refembles pretty much that of a dog ; he has four very fhort legs, efpe- dally the hind legs ; in every other circumftance on he is entirely a fifh : he rather crawls than walks on is?: his legs ; thofe before are armed with nails, the fell hind being lhaped like fins ; his Ikin is hard, and is ibj.t covered with a lhort hair of various colours. There lea are fome entirely white, as they are all when firft IDE brought forth ; fome grow black, and others red, h : as they grow older, and others again of both co- fe lours together. The filhermen diftinguifh feveral forts of lea- wolves ; the largeft weigh two thoufand weight, p and it is pretended have lharper fnouts than the jjj: reft. There are fome of them which flounce only in water ; our failors call them brajfeurs , as they g call another fort mu, of which I neither know the „ origin nor meaning. Another fort are called Grojfes tetes. Thick-heads. Some of their young are very alert, and dextrous in breaking the nets Ipread for them ; thefe are of a greyilh colour, are very game- fome, full of mettle, and as handfome as an ani- mal of this figure can be ; the Indians accuftom them to follow them like little dogs, and eat them ' neverthelefs. M. Denis mentions two forts of fea-wolves, which he found on the coafts of Acadia ; one of them, fays he, are fo very large, that their young ones are bigger than our largeft hogs. He adds, that a little while after they are brought forth, the parents lead them to the water, and from time to time conduft ( 224 ) conduct them back on fhore to fuckle them ; that this filhery is carried on in the month of February, when the young ones, which they are not defirous of catching, fcarce ever go to the water thus on the firft alarm the old ones take to flight, making a prodigious noile to advertife their young, that they ought to follow them, which fummons they never fail to obey, provided the filhermen do not quickly flop them by a knock on the fnout with a flick, which is fufficient to kill them. The number of thefe animals upon that coaft mull needs be pro- digious •, if it is true, what the fame author affures us, that eight hundred of thefe young ones have been taken in one day. The fecond fort mentioned by M. Denys are very fmall, one of them yielding only a quantity of oil fufficient to fill its own bladder. Thefe hit never go to any diftance from the fea-lhore, and have always one of their number upon duty by way of fentry. At the firft fignal he gives, they all plunge into the lea ; fome time after they ap- proach the land, and raife themfelves on their hind legs, to fee whether there is 'any danger ; but in lpite of all their precautions great numbers of them are furprized on Ihore, it being fcarce poflible to catch them any other way. It is by all agreed, that the flelh of the fea-wolf is good eating, but it turns much better to account to make oil of it, which is no very difficult opera- tion. They melt the blubber fat of it over the fire which diflblves into an oil. Oftentimes they content themfelves with erefting what they call char- niers, a name given to large fquares of boards or plank, on which is fpread the flelh of a number of fea-wolves j here it melts of itfelf, and the oil runs through C 22^ ) through a hole contrived for the purpofe. This oil when frefh is good for the ufe of the kitchen, ** but that of the young ones foon grows rank ; and [ i‘ that of the others if kept for any confiderable time* !t >- becomes too dry. In this cafe it is made ufe of to burn, or in currying of leather. It keeps long ® clear, has no fmell, fediment, or impurity what- not foever at the bottom of the calk* K. ~ . In the infancy of the colony great numbers of te: the hides of fea-wolves were made ufe of for muffs, ink This fafhion has long been laid afide, fo that the js general ufe they are now put to, is the covering of trunks and chefts. When tanned, they have almoft the fame grain with Morocco leather ; they are not LI quite fo fine, but are leis liable to crack, and keep , ' longer quite frefh, and look as if new. Very good j Ihoes and boots have been made of them, which a! let in no water. They alfo cover feats with them, on: and the wood wears out before the leather ; they : r tan thefe hides here with the bark of the oak, a and in the dye fluff with which they ufe black, is ,• mixed a powder made from a certain (tone found * °n the banks of rivers. This is called thundcr- : f ftone, or marcafite of the mines. jg. The fea-wolves couple and bring forth their young on roc s, and fometimes on the ice ; their common litter is two, which they often fuckle in the water, but oftener.on fhore ; when they would teach them to fwim they carry them, fay they, on their backs, then throw them off in the water, af- terwards taking them up again, and continue this fort of inftrudtion till the young ones are able to ‘ fwim alone. If this is true, it is an odd fort of fifh, and which nature feems not to have inftructed in what moft fort of land animals do the moment Vol, I. P they ( 22 6 ) they are brought forth. The fea-wolf has very acute fenfes, which are his foie means of defence • he is, however, often furprized in fpite of all his vigilance, as I have already taken notice ; but the molt common way of catching them is the fol- lowing. ! fl 2i e © n It is the cuftom of this animal to enter the creeks with the tide ; when the fifhermen have found out fuch creeks to which great numbers of fea-wolves refort, they enclofe them with ftakes and nets, leav- ing only a fmall opening for the fea- wolves to en- ter ; as foon as it is high-water they fhut this open- ing, fo that when the tide goes out the fifhes remain a dry, and are eafily difpatched. They alfo follow them in canoes to the places to which many of them refort, and fire upon them when they raife their heads above water to breathe. If they hap- pen to be no more than wounded they are eafily ta- ken ; but if killed outright, they immediately fink to the bottom, like the beavers ; but they have large dogs bred to this exerciie, which fetch them from the bottom in leven or eight fathom water. Laftly, I have been told, that a failor having one day furprifed a vaft herd of them afhore, drove them before him to his lodgings with a fwitch, as he would have done a flock of ftiefep, and that he with his comrades killed to the number of nine hundred of them. Sit fides 'penes autorem. Our filhermen now take very few fea-cows, on the coafts of the gulf of St. Lawrence ; and I do' not certainly know whether any of them have ever been catched any where elfe. The Englifh formerly let up a fifhery of this fort on the ifland de Sable, but without any degree of fuccefs. The figure of this animal is not very different from that of the fea- ka ini I L al fin k w tb F d A tr T *l k k & F tr P ti 1 t ( 227 } ea-wolf, but it is larger. What is peculiar to it is' two teeth of the thicknefs and length of a man’s arm, bending fomewhat upwards, which one might eafily millake for horns, and from which thefe ani- mals probably had the name of fea-cows. The fiilors have a Ampler name for them, which is, the beaft with the great tooth. This tooth is a very fine iyory, as well as all the reft in the jaws of this hfh, and which are four fingers long. There are two forts of porpoifes in the river St. Lawrence ; thofe found in fait- water, that is, from a little below the Ifie of Orleans, are exactly the fame with thofe found in the ocean. Thofe in frefh water are perfectly white, and of the fize of a cow ; the ftrft fort commonly go in herds ; I have not obferved this circumftance in the other fort, though I have feen many of them playing in the port of Quebec. They never go higher than this city ; but there are many of them on the coafts of Acadia, as well as of the firft fort, fo that the dif- ference of colour cannot proceed from the different qualities of freftr and fait -water. |j. The white porpoife yields a hogfhead of oil, lit which is of much the fame quality with that drawn from the fea-wolf. I have never found any perfori that had tafted the flefh of this animal, but as for thofe called dorcelles, a name given the grey por- poife, their flefh is faid to be no bad eating •, they make puddings and faulages of their guts •, the . pluck is excellent fricafied, and the head preferable f to that of a flieep, though' inferior to a calf’s. The fkins of both are tanned and drefied' like Morocco leather ; at firft it is as tender as lard or fat, and is an inch thick ; they fhave it down chin- P a ner (' 228 ) ner for a confiderable while, till it becomes a tranf- parent fkin •, and let it be made ever fo thin, even fo as to be fit for making into waiftecoats and breeches, it is always exceffive flrong and mulket- proof. There are of them eighteen feet long and nine broad ; it is affirmed that there is nothing ex- ceeds it for covering coaches. There have been two porpoife fiffieries lately let up below Quebec, one in the bay of St. Paul, and the other feven or eight leagues lower down, oppo- fite to a habitation called Camourafca, from certain rocks, rifing to a confiderable height above water. The expence is no great affair, and the profits would be confiderable, were the porpoifes animals haunt- ing particular parts •, but whether from inffinfl or caprice, they always find means to break all the meafures of the fiffiermen, and to take a different rout from that where they are expefted. Befides tliefe fiffieries, which only enrich particular perfons, occafion a general outcry among the people, which is owing to their having caufed a confiderable di- minution in the fiffiery for eels, an article of great benefit to the poor. For the porpoifes finding them- felves difturbed below Quebec, have retired elfe- where, and the eels no longer finding thofe large fiffies in their way, fwim down the river without any hindrance ; from whence it is, that between Quebec and the I hree Rivers, where prodigious quantities of them were caught formerly, there are now none caught at all. I he way of fiffiing for the porpoife is little dif- ferent from that I lafl mentioned with refpedt to the iea-wolf: when the tide is out, they plant pretty near each other in the mud or land flakes to which t.v } tie ntts in the form of a pouch the opening Si it :k sir ik on ro- te m OSi ai i id’ u i k m ft i i t i z 21 ! P fc f- 5 *. ( 229 ) of which is tolerably large ; but that in fuch man- ner, that when the fifh has once palTed through it, he cannot find his way out again ; there are green branches placed at top of the (takes. When the flood comes, thefe fifties which give chace to the herrings, which always make towards the fhore, and are allured by the verdure which they are ex- tremely fond of, and intangled in the nets, where they are kept prifoners. In proportion as the tide ebbs, you have the pleafure of feeing their confu- fion and fruitlefs Itruggles to efcape. In a word, they remain a dry, and fometimes heaped upon one another in fuch numbers, that with one ftroke of a (tick you may knock down two or three of them. It is affirmed, that amongft the white fort fome; have been found to weigh three thoufand weight. No body is ignorant of the manner of carrying on the whale-fiihery, for which reafon I (hall take no notice of it it is here faid, that the Bafques or people of Bayonne in France, have left it over, only that they might give thepifelves up entirely to the fur-trade, which requires neither fo large an ex- pence, nor fo much fatigue, and whereof the pro- fits were then more confiderable as well as fooner returned. But they wanted many conveniencies for carrying it on, which are to be had now, there be- ing fo many fettlements a great way towards the golf. There has fome years fince been an attempt to re-eftablifli it, but without fuccefs •, the underta- kers either wanted the neceflary funds for making the advances, or elfe wanted to reimburfe the fums they had laid out too loon, or wanted conftancy. It appears, however, that this commerce might be- come highly ufeful to the colony, and that it might be carried on with much inferior expence and dan- ger than on the coaft of Greenland. What (hould P 3 hin- C7 C 230 ) hinder it even from being fixed and carried on frotp, ftiore, as M. Denys propofed to carry on the cod fifhery in Acadia. 1 his is, Madam, what I have to fay with regard to the filheries of Canada: I will inform you of fome others, after I lhall have .taken notice of their manner of living j n this country. ] have the honour to be, &c n LETTER IX. Of fort Chambly, with the fifes, birds , and federal animals peculiar to Canada. Of trees common to it with France, and of fuck as are peculiar to this country. Chambly , April 1 1 , 1721. Madam, O N E of the principal fecurities and bulwarks of Montreal againft the Iroquois and New- York, is the fort of Chambly, from which I now have the honour to write you. I came here to pay a vifit to the commandant, who is M. de Sabrevois , one of the bed families of Beauce, and my friend, fellow-pafienger, and a good officer. I am going in two words to give you the fituation and defcription of this important place. In the firft years of our fettling in this country, the Iroquois, that they might make incurfions even as far as the center of our plantations, came down a river which empties itfelf into the St. Lawrence, a little above St. Peter, and which had for this rea- . fon given it the name of the River of the Iroquois. It has been fmce called Richelieu River , on account 1 P 4 of ( 232 ) I of a fort of this name, that had been built at its mouth. I his fort having been demolilhed, M. de ‘'Orel, captain in the regiment of Carignan Salieres caufed build another, to which his name was criven- this name has been fince extended to the river* which Hill retains it though the fort has Jong ceafed to exift. After failing up this river about ieventeen leagues, always lTretching towards the louth, and a little towards to the fouth-weft, you come to a rapide, and oppofite to it, a little lake formed by the lame river. On the banks of this raptde, and oppofite to the lake, the fort is placed This was at firft built of wood by M.de Chambly captain in the above-mentioned regiment, and at the time when M. de Sorel built the other. But it has fince been built of done, and flanked with four bad ions, and has always a ftrong garrifon. The lands round it excellent, they begin to make plantations and many are of opinion that in time ft city will be built here. .. ] fff 1 Chamb, y to la ke Champlain there are only eight leagues , the river Sorel croffes this lake, and whS, 1S v n0t E| rh . 8ps a canCon in all New France, fuch it would be more proper to people. The climate here ,s milder than in any part of the co- and the ^habitants will have for neighbours, Snnl, 9qy0,S 1 Wh °u are ’ atb0 «°^, a good" fort of comm T 8 , who will, probably, never think of , f f a ru P ture wi th us, after they ihall fee us in filch a condition as not to fear them, and who, m y opinion would like us much better for neigh- manv the P eo P ,e of New York. There are S ? tb ; reafo ‘ ls T to induce ns to make this fet- mvfelf nml ' \ t0 ment * on I Hiould leave to fee vo,/' Un T 8 t0 te 1 ^ 0u vvben i bave r h e honour - >ou. I am going to make ufe of the leifure VI7 ( 233 ) I have here to continue my account of fuch things as are peculiar to this country. 1 left off at the ar- ticle of the benefit which the gulph and river of St. Lawrence are capable of furnifhing with refpedl to the commerce of New France. It remains to treat of the refources the inhabitants may find for the fupport of life in thefe parts. In all parts where the water of the river is fait, that is from cape 'Tourmente to the gulf, may be caught fuch fifhes as are found in the ocean v fuch as the falmon, tunny, fhad fifh, fmelt, fea-eels, mackerel, trout, lamprey, foie, herring, anchovy, pilchard, turbot, and many others, unknown in Europe. They are all caught with nets of different forms. In the gulph are caught thrafhers, three forts of Rayes •, the common, that called Bouclee , and which is by fome preferred to ours in France ; and the fort termed le Pofteau , not efteemed len- cornets, a kind of cuttle-fifh •, Gobergues , or St. Peter- fifh ; plaife, requiems, fea dogs, another fort of requiem not fo mifchievous when alive, and bet- ter beyond comparifon when dead. Oifters are ex- tremely plenty in winter, on all the coafts of Aca- dia, and their way of fifhing them is very fingular. They make a hole in the ice, through which they put two poles tied together, fo as to play like pin- cers, and rarely draw them up without an oifter. I faid the lencornet was a find of cuttle-fifh, its figure is, however, very different from the com- mon fort of them. It is quite round, or rather oval •, it has above the tail, a fort of border, which ferves it inftead of a target, and its head is fur- rounded with prickles half a foot long, which he ufes to catch other fifhes ; there are two forts of them which differ only in fize ; fome are as large as 3 a r U ( 234 ) a hogfhead, and others but a foot long ; they catch only thefe laft, and that with a torch j they are very fond of light, they hold it out/to them from the fliore at high-water, and they come to it, and fo are left a-ground. The lencornet roafted, boiled, or lricafied, is excellent eating ; but it makes the fauce quite black. The gobergue refembles a fmall cod. It has the fame talce, and is dried like it. It has two black ipots on each fide the head, and the failors tell you that this is the fifh in which St. Peter found money to pay the Roman emperor’s tribute for our Lord and himfelf, and that thefe two Ipots are the two places by which he held it 5 this is the reafon it has got the name of St Peter’s fifh. The fea-plaife has firmer flefh and is of a better relilh than the frefh water fort ; this is taken as well as the lobfier or lea-crab, with long poles armed with a pointed iron, ending in a fork or hook which hinders the fiih from getting loofe. Lafily, in feveral places, efpecially in Acadia, the pools are full of faJmon ti outs a foot long, and of turtles two foot diameter, t le iie In of which is excellent, and the upper (hell, uriped with white, red, and blue. Amongft the fifhes which lake Champlain, and the rivers falling into it, abound, M. Champlain remarks one Angular enough, called Cbaourafou ; probabiy from the name given it bv the Indians. 1 h J s ,s _ a , f Pccies of the armed fifh, which is found in level al other places ; this is in figure pretty much n-ve a pike, only, it is covered with fcales which are proof againft a dagger ; its colour is a filver ^7’ an: l * r0111 Un der its throat proceeds a bone A C ls ? a ' t ’ ' nt -h j nted, hollow, and pierced or open -cenc, from which it is probable the animal breathes ( 235 ) breathes through this. The fkin which covers this bone is tender, and its length is in proportion to that of the fifh, of which it is one third part. It? breadth is two fingers in thole of the lfnalleft fize. The Indians aftured M Champlain they had found forne of thofe fifties from eight to ten feet broad ; but the largeft of thole he faw were not above five, and were as thick as a man’s thigh. We may well imagine this to be a real pirate amongtl the inhabitants of the waters ; but no body could ever dream that he is full as dangerous an enemy to the citizens of the air ; this is, however, one of his trades, in which he ads like an able huntf- man •, the way he does it is as follows. He con- ceals himfelf amongft the canes or reeds, in fuch manner, that nothing is to be feen, befides his weapon, which he holds raifed perpendicularly above the furface of the water. The fowl which come to take reft imagining this weapon to be only a wither- ed reed, make no fcruple of perching upon it. They are no fooner alighted than the fifh opens his throat, and fo fuddenly makes at his prey, that it rarely efcapes him. i he teeth which are placed on the Tides of the bone, which he ufes fo dexteroufly, are pretty long and very Iharp. The Indians pre- tend they are a fovereign remedy again ft the tooth- ach, and that by pricking the part molt affedfed with one of thele teeth the pain vanilhes that in- ftant. Thele people have a wonderful addrefs in dart- ing fifties under water, eipecially in rapid currents. They alfo filh with the bofom net, and prepare themfelves for it by a' ceremony fingular enough. Before they ule this net they marry it to two girls O' ( ) who are virgins, and during the marriage-feaft place it between the two brides-, they afterwards exhort it to catch plenty of fifh, and believe they do a great deal to obtain this favour, by makine large prefents to the fham fathers-in-law. The fturgeon of this country is both a frefh and fait- water fifh -, for it is caught on the coafts of Ca- nada, and in the great lakes crofs which the river St Lawrence runs. Many believe this to be the true dolphin of the antients ; if this is true, it was but fit the king of fifhes fhould reign both in the rivers and ocean. Be this as it will, we fee here lturgeons of from eight to ten, and twelve feet W and of a proportionable thicknefs. This animal has on its head a fort of crown about an inch hi^h and is covered with fcales half a foot diameter, °al mo ft oval, and with fmall figures on them, pretty much like the lily in the arms of France. The following is the way the Indians fifh for them in the lakes! I wo men place themfelves in the two extremities of a canoe ; the next the ftern fleers, the other ftanding up holuing a dart to which is tied a lon^ cord the other extremity whereof is faflened to one of the crofs timbers of the canoe. The mo- ment he fees the fturgeon within reach of him, he lances his dart -at him, and endeavours, as much as poffible, to Int in the place that is without fcales. it the fifh happens to be wounded, he flies and omws the canoe after him with extreme velocity ; but after he has fwam the diftance of an hundred and fifty paces or thereabouts, he dies, and then, fm!n d r ,UV r P a he me and take him - There is a £ Ln°J , a ! rSe °"’ the fiefh ^ which is exceed- ing tender, and prod.gious delicate. The V3 7 ( 237 ) The river St Lawrence breeds feveral fi fires, al- too-ether unknown in France. Thofe moft efteem- ed are the Achigau and the Gilthead. The other rivers of Canada, and efpecially thofe of Acadia, are equally well provided with this river, perhaps, the moft plentifully flocked with fifh in the whole world, and in which there is the greateft variety of different and thofe the beft forts. There are fome feafons in which the fifties in this river are alone capable of fuftaining the whole co- lony. But I am utterly at a lofs, what degree of credit ought to be given to what I have read in a manufcript relation of an ancient miflionary, who afferts, his having feen a Homme marin, or mer- maid in the river Sorel, three leagues below Cham- bly ; this relation is wrote with abundance of judg- ment •, but in order to ftate the matter of fafit, and to prove that he has not been deceived by a falfe and hafty appearance, the author ought to have added to his account a defcription of this monfter. People have often at firft look apprehended they faw the appearance of fomething, which vanifhes on the careful fcrutiny of a fage eye. Befides, had this fifh fo refembling a human creature come from the fea, he muft have made a long voyage before he got up as high as near Chambly, and it muft have been extraordinary enough he was never feen till he arrived at tHis fortrels. The forefts of Canada are far from being as well peopled with birds, as our lakes and rivers are with fifties. There are fome, however, which are not without their merit, and which are even peculiar to the Americans. We find here eagles of two forts ; the largeft have the head and neck almoft quite white ; they give chaee to the hares and rabbits, take them ( 2 3 8 them in their talons, and carry them to their nefts and airies. The reft are entirely grey, and only make war on birds. They are all excellent fifhers, The falcon, the gofs-hawk, and taflel, are abfo- lutely the fame with thofe of Europe •, but we have here a fecond fort of them, which live folely by fifhing. Our partridges are of three forts ; the grey, red, and black partridge. The laft are the leaft efteem- ed ; they favour too much of the grape, juniper, and fir-tree. They have the head and eyes of a phealant, and their flefh is brown ; they have all Jong rails, which they fpread like a fan, or like the tail of a turkey-cock. Thefe tails are exceeding beautiful ; lorne of them are a mixture of grey, fed, and browfi ; others are that of a light and dark brown. I laid the black partridge was not efteem- ed ; fome there are, however, who prefer them even to the red fort ; they are all bigger than ours in France, but fo ftupidly foolifh as to luffer them- felves to be fhot, and even to let you come near • them, almoft without ftirring. Befides fnipes which are excellent in this country, and fmall water-game, which is every where in great plenty, you meet with fome woodcocks about lpring, but thofe in no great numbers. In the country of the Illinois, and all Over the fouthern parts of New France, they are more common. M. Denys aflerts, that the raven of Canada is as good eating as a pullet. This may be true on the coafts of Acadia ; but I don’t find people of this opinion in thefe parts ; they are larger than in France, fome* thing blacker, and have a different cry from ours. 1 he ofpray, on the contrary is fmaller, and their cry not lb difagreeable. The owl of Canada has no diffe- ( 230 ) " difference from that of France, but a fmall ring of 5 white round the neck, and a particular kind of cry. Its flelh is good eating, and many prefer it to that lf or a pullet. In winter, its provisions are field mice, ' the legs of which he breaks, feeds carefully, and t; fattens till he wants them. The bat here is larger than that of France. 1 he blackbird and fwallovv are in this count! y birds of paflfage, as in Europe the former are not a deep black, but inclining to *- red. We have three forts of larks the fmallelt of ft' which are like fbarrows. This laft is little different h from ours •, he lias quite the fame inclinations, but q; his mien is very indifferent. * »i3n> its There are in th's country vaft multitudes of wild- 3: ducks, of which I have heard reckoned to the ;b.! number of two and twenty different fpecies. The is fnoft beautiful and the moft delicate eating are thole js called Canary's Bronchus, cr bough wild ducks, from :: their perching on the boughs of trees. Their plu- lij mage is extreamly variegated, and very brilliant, g; Swans, turkey-cocks, water-hens, cranes, teale, geefe, buftards, and other large water-fowl, fwarm every where, except near our habitations, which they never approach. We have cranes of two co- s fours ; fome quite white, and others of a light grey. They all make excellent foop. Our woodpecker is an animal of extreme beauty ; there are fome of all manner of colours, and others quite black, or of a dark brown ail over the body, except the head and neck, which are of a beautiful red. flf.' The thrum of Canada is much the fame with that of France as to fhape, but has only one half his mufick ; the wren has robbed him of the other half. The goldfinch has the head lefs beautiful than that of France, and its plumage is a mixture of 8 black , ( 240 ) black and yellow. As I have never feeri any of them in a cage, I can fay nothing of his fong. All our woods are full of a bird of the fize of a linnet, which is quite yellow, and has a delightful pipe ; his fong, however, is but Ihort, and without variety. This has no name to diftinguilh it, but that of its colour. A fort of ortolan, the plumage of which is of an alh-colour on the back, and white under the belly, and which is called the while-bird , is, of all the guefts in our forefts the belt fongller. This yields not to the nightingale of France^ but the male only is overheard to fing ; the female which is of a deeper colour, utters not a finale note even in a cage •, this fmall animal is of a very beautiful mien, and well deferves the name of orto- lan for its flavour. I know not whither he bends his courfe in the winter ; but he is always the firft to return, and to proclaim the approach of the fpring. The fnow is fcarce melted in fome parts, when they flock thither in great numbers, and then you may take as many of them as you pleafe. h ou mud travel a hundred leagues to the fouth- ward of this place before you meet with any of the birds called cardinals. There are fome in Paris which have been brought thither from Louifiana, and I think they might thrive in France, could they breed like the canary bird ; the fweetnefs of their fong, the brilliancy of their plumage, which is of a Ibining fcarlet incarnate ; the little tuft on their heads, and which is no bad refemblance of the crowns the painters give to Indian and Ameri- can kings, feem to promife them the empire of the airy tribe •, they have, however, a rival in this country, who would even have the unanimous voice of every one, were his pipe as grateful to the ear as lus outward appearance is to the fight ; this is ■ C Hi ) k* what is called In this country VOifeau Mouche , or ffei the fly- bird. 4 i{V This name has two derivations ; the firft is that Bii; of the fmallnefs of the animal ; for with all its iii; plumage, its volume is no larger than that of an V ordinary May-bug. The fecond is a loud fort of humming noife, which he makes with his wings, and which is not unlike that of a large fly ; its legs *4 which are about an inch long are like two nerdles ; fu-. his bill is of the fame thicknefs, and. from it he fends forth a fmall fling, with which he pierces the flowers, in order to extrad the lap, which is his jj,,| nourilhment. The female has nothing ftriking in ffi , her appearance, is of a tolerable agreeable white r under the belly, and of a bright grey all over the reft of the body ; but the male is a perfed jewel, he has on the crown of his head a fmall tuft of the moft beautiful black, the breaft red, the belly white, the back, wings, and tail of a green, like that of the leaves of the rofe-bulh ; fpecks of gold, flut- tered all over the plumage, add a prodigious eclat to it, and an imperceptible down produces on it the moft delightful fliadings that can poflibly be ■' feen. IE. Some travellers have confounded this bird with the Colily ; and in fad, this bird feems to be a fpe- cies of it. But the coliby of the iflands is fome- | thing bigger, has not lo much livelinefs of colour '[/ >n his plumage, and his bill is a little bent down- - wards. I might, however, be miftaken with re- gard to the brightnefs and luftre of his plumage, as s I never faw any of them alive : fome affirm he has a melodious pipe ; if this is true, he has a great advantage over the oifeau mouche, which no one Vol.. I. has ( 242 ) has as yet ever heard to fing •, but I myfelf have heard a female one whittle notes exceeding fhrill and difagreeable. This bird has an extremely ftrong and an amazingly rapid flight ; you behold him on fome flower, and in a moment he will dart upwards into the air almoft perpendicularly ; it is an enemy to the raven, and a dangerous one too. I have heard a man worthy of credit affirm, that he has feen one boldly quit a flower he was fucking, lance himfelf upwards into the air like lightning, get un- der the wing of a raven that lay motionlefs on his extended wings at a vaft height, pierce it with his his fting, and make him tumble down dead, either of his fall or the wound he had received. The oifeau mouche felefts fuch flowers as are of the ftrongeft fcent, and fucks them, always hop- ping about at the fame time ; he, however, alights now and then to reft himfelf when we have an op- portunity of beholding him at our leifure. Some of them have been kept for fome time, by feeding them with fugar-water and flowers •, 1 formerly kept one of them for twenty- four hours ; he differ- ed himfelf to be taken arid handled, and counter- feited himfelf dead ; the moment I let him go, he flew away, and continued fluttering about my win- dow. I made a prefent of him to a friend, who found him dead the next morning, and that very night there was a little froft. Thus thefe di- minutive animals are extremely watchful to prevent the firft advent of cold weather. There is great reafon to think, that they retire to Carolina, where we are allured they are never feen but in winter ; they make their nefts in Cana- da, where they fufpend them on the branch of fome 7 tree “ V T ( 243 ) tree, ahd turn them towards fuch an expofurc, ; that they are (heltered from all the injuries of the air and weather. Nothing can be neater than thefe nefts. The foundation eonfifts of tiny bits of wood interwoven balket-wife, and the iniide is lined with i! 1 don’t know what fort of down, which ieems tS be filk ; their eggs are of the fi2e of a pea, with yellow fpots on a black ground. Their common litter is laid to be three and fometimes five. ' . Amongd the reptiles of this country, I know of ,s; none as yet but the rattle fnake, that merits the leaft attention. There are fome of them as thick K as a man’s leg, and fometimes thicker, and long in proportion ; but there are others, and thofe I & be- lieve the greater number, which are neither longer 1 nor thicker than our larged lnakes of France ; their « figure is abundantly odd ; on a neck, which is flat it's and very broad, they have but a fmall head. Their Its colour is lively without being dazzling, and a pale tit yellow, with very beautiful lhades, is the colour ijji • which predominates. *' . 1 But the mod remarkable part of this animal is its 3; tail ; this is fcaly like a coat of mail, fomewhat id flattilh, and it grows, fay they, every year 3 row lt of feales ; thus its age may be known by its tail, ' as that of a horfe is by his teeth ; when he dirs he jj £ makes the fame noile with his tail as the gralhopper c j f i does when he leaps or flies; for your Grace, no doubt knows, that the pretended mufick of the gralhopper is no more than the noife of his wipgs. j.- Moreover, the refemblance I fpeak of is fo perfeft. that 1 have been deceived with it myfelf. It is from this noife, this fort of lerpent has obtained the name it bear?. Q.® Ik ' ( 244 ) Its bite is mortal, if the remedy be not applied immediately, but Providence has provided againft this misfortune. In all places where this dangerous reptile is found, there grows an herb, called the rattle-fnake plant, Her be a ferpent a fonettes , the root of which is a never- failing antidote againft the venom of this animal. You have only to bray or chew it, and to apply it in the nature of a plaifter upon the wound. This plant is beautiful andeafily known. Its Hem is round, and fomewhat thicker than a goofe quill, rifes to the height of three or four feet, and terminates in a yellow flower of the figure and fize of a Angle daify ; this flower has a very fweet fcent, the leaves of the plant are oval, narrow, fuftained, five and five, in form of a turkey cock’s foot, by a pedicle, or foot {talk an inch long. The rattle fnake rarely attacks any paflehger who gives him no provocation. I had one juft at my foot, which was certainly more afraid than I was, for I did not perceive him till he was flying But fhould you tread on him you are fure to be bitten, and if you purfue him, if he has ever fo little time to recover himfelf, he folds himfelf up in a circle with his head in the middle, and darts himfelf with great force againft his enemy. The Indians, how- ever, give chace to him, and efteem his flefh ex- cellent. I have even heard Frenchmen, who had eaten of it, fay, that it was no bad eating ; blit they were travellers, a fort of cattle who hold every thing excellent, being often expofed to be extreme hungry. It is, however, for certain, abundantly innocent food. ( 245 ) I don’t know. Madam, whither I ought to en- tertain you with an account of the foreds of Ca- nada. We are here furrounded with the vaded woods in the whole world *, in all appearance, they are as ancient as the world itfelf, and were never planted by the hand of man. Nothing can prefent a nobler or more magnificent profpedt to the eyes, the trees hide their tops in the clouds, and the va- riety of different fpecies of them is fo prodigious, 'that even amongft all thofe who have mod applied themfelves to the knowledge of them, there is not perhaps one who is not ignorant of at lead one half of them. As to their quality, and the ufes to which they may be applied, their fentiments are fo different, both in the country in which we now are, as well as in that where your grace is, that I defpair of being ever able to give you the infor- mation I could defire on this head. At prefent, at lead I ought to confine myfelf to fome observations on what I have myfelf feen, and on what I have heard people who have more experience fay, and who are greater adepts in this fcience. / What mod druck my eyes on my fird arrival in this country, was, the pines, fir-trees, and cedars, which are of a height and thicknefs perfectly adonifh- ing. There are two forts of pines in this country, all of them yielding a refinous fubftance very fit for making pitch and tar. The white pines, at lead fome of them, fhoot out at the upper extremity a kind of mufhroom, which the inhabitants call Guarigue, and which the Indians ufe with fuc- cefs againd diforders in the bread and in the dyfentery. The red pines are more gummy and heavier, but do not grow to fuch a thicknefs. The lands which produce both are not the mod proper 0^3 for 1 ( * 4 ^ ) for bearing of corn ; they are generally a mixture pf gravel, fand, and clay. There are four forts of fir-trees in Canada ; the firft refembles ours ; the three others are the Epinette Blanche, and Epinette Rouge, or the White and Red Prickly firs, and that called la Perujfe. The fe- cond and fourth forts rife to a vaft height, and are excellent for mails, efpecially the white prickly fort which are alfo extremely fit for carpenter’s work’ This grows generally in moift, and black lands but which after being drained, are fit forbearing forts of gram. Its bark is fmooth and Ihinincr, and there grows on it a kind of fmall blifters of the fize of kidney-beans, which contain a kind of turpentine, which is fovereign in wounds, which it cures fpeedily, and even in fr ad ures. We are afTm-cd that it cures fevers, and pains in the bread and llomach the way to ule it is to put two drops of it m forme broth. This is what is called in Paris White Ba'fatn. \ he c P inette roi, 8 e Has fcarce any refemblance to the epinette blanche. Its wood is heavy, and may be of good life in fhip- building, and in car- penter s \voi ic. j he lands where it grows area mixture of gravel and clay. The pouffe is gummy, but yields not a quantity fufficient to be made ufe of ; its wood remains long jn the ground without rotting, which renders it extremely fit for paling or mcloiures. The bark is excellent for tanners, and t e Indians make a dye of it, refembling that of a Uicy ue. Mpft of the lands where this tree gl ows are clayey ; I have, however, fee n fome very wasrhv CS ^y-g^nnds, though perhaps there Was clay under the fund. The the 0$ ltd isv fan to tk ced: gfO! T ofe m low cor is r of on; goo fac pali rid at lii I s an Ti ( 247 ) d The ce dar is of two forts, the white and the red the former are the thickeft of the two ; of thefe are made palings, and this too is the wood molt commonly '' made ufeof for Ihingles, on account of its light- s - nefs There diftills a fort of incenfe from it, but * it is without any fruit like thofe of Mount Liba- nus The red cedar is fhorter and thinner m pro- portion. The molt fenfible difference between them, is, that all the odour of the former is in the * leaves, and that of the fecond in its wood ; but the latter is the more agreeable flavour, ihe cedar, at lead the whice fort grows only in good ground. There are all over Canada two forts of oaks, diftin^uilhed by the names of the white and red i oa ks° The firft are often found in lands which are 3; low, fwampy, fertile, and proper for producing ;• corn and legumes. The red, the wood of which : is the lead edeemed, grow in dry fandy lands, both of them bear acorns. The maple is likewife very common in Canada, is very large and is made into good furniture ; this grows on high grounds, and fuch as are fit for bearing fruit-trees, which they call Rhene. Here is the female maple, the wood of which is dreaked and clouded very much, but is ii. paler than the male; befides it has all its qualities as well as its colour ; but it mud have a moid and rich foil. The cherry-tree, which is found promifcuoudy amongd the maple and white wood trees, is very fit for making furniture; it yields a much greater quantity of juice than the maple, but this is bitter and the fugar made of it never lofes this quality. The Indians ufe its bark againft certain difeafes, 4 which C 248 ) which are incident to women. There are in Cana- da, three forts of afh trees ; the free, the mongrel" anc the baftard. The firft grows among maples is ht tor carpenter’s work, and for ftaves for drv ware calks. 1 he fecond has the fame qualities* and like the baftard, will grow only in low and good lands. They reckon alfo in this country three forts of walnut-trees, the hard, the foft, and a third fort which has a very thin bark. The hard fort bears a very finall walnut, good to eat, but very coftive. The wood is only fit for fire- wood. The tender bears along fruit as large as thofe in France, but the Ihell is very hard. The kernels of them are excellent. The wood is not fo pretty as ours : but to make amends it is almoft incorruptible in water or in the ground and is difficult to confume in the J l ‘ e n th, [ d P roduces a nut of the famelize with the firft but in greater quantity, and which is bitter, and mclofed in a very tender hulk; they make excellent oil of it. This tree yields a fweeter fap t,.an that of the maple, but in a fmall quantity ??V n,y ’ aS doth the P>ft walnu? tree, in the belt lands. 5 , be ^ ch . is u h " e fo Plentiful, that whole trads r T?‘n ltb f j em ’ * ^ ave ^ ccn diem g row > n g on Tandy hills, and in exceeding fertile low lands. ie f> T ar S leat quantities of nuts, from which it would be an eafy matter to extract an oil. The !" ke tn j S their P rind P al nouriffiment, as do tender C P a ' tlKl 8 es c wood of it is exceeding thofr ;/ nd VCry fiC for oars and for Gallops, hut Jed vvhl Can ° e i are L made of maple. The tree cal- wood, which grows amongft maples, and the 1 v_ the cherry-tree is exceeding plentiful. Thefe trees ;; grow to a great thicknefs and very ftrait ; very good , l '; : planks and boards may be made of them, and' even ftaves for dry ware calks. It is foft and eafily worked the Indians peel, off the bark of this tree to cover their cabins. Elms are very plenty all over this country. • There are white and red elms •, the wood of this ; tree is difficult to work but lafts longeft. The bark of the red elrti is that of which the Iroquois make Ip their canoes. Some of them which are made of - one fingle piece, will contain twenty perfons ; fome K of them are likewife hollow, and to thefe the bears and wild cats retire in the month of November, and remain till April. The poplar grows coin- monly on the banks of rivers and on the fea- c fhore. In the thickeft woods are found great numbers of prune or plumb-trees, loaden with a very four fruit. The vinage-tree is a very pithy lhrub, which pro- duces a four cluftering fruit, of the colour of bul- lock’s blood ; they cauie infufe it in water, and make a fort of vinegar of it. The Pemime , is an- other lhrub growing along rivulets, and in mea- dows ; it bears alfo a cluftering fruit yielding a red and very aftringent liquor. There are three forts of goofeberry trees in this country ; thefe are the t fame with thofe of France. Th & Bluet grows here as in Europe in woods. This fruit is a fovereign and fpeedy cure for the dyfentery. The Indians dry them as we do cherries in France. The Atoca is a ftone- fruit of the fize of a cherry. This plant which creeps along the ground in fwamps, pro- O' .( 250 ) > produces its fruit in water ; this fruit is fharp, and is made into a confedtion. The white- thorn is found along rivulets* and produces a quantity of fruit with a treble kernel ; this is the food of Seve- ral wild beafts. What they call here the cotton- tree, is a plant which fprouts like afparagus, to the heighth of about three feet, and at the end grow leveral tufts of flowers. In the morning before the dew has fallen off, they fhake the flowers, and there falls from it, with the humidity, a kind of honey, which by boiling is reduced to a kind of fugar. The feed is formed in a fort of pod, which contains a kind of very fine cotton. The foleil is another very common plant in the fields of the Indians, and which rifes to the height of feven or eight feet. Its flower, which is very thick has much the fame figure with that of the marigold, and the feed is difpoted in the fame man- ner j the Indians extradt an oil from it by boiling, with which they anoint their hair. The legumes they cultivate molt, are, Maize, or Turkey-corn, French-beans, gourds, and melons. They have a fort of gourds fmaller than ours, and which fade much of fugar •, they boil rhem whole' in water, or roaft them under the allies, and fo eat them with- out any other preparation. The Indians were acquainted before our arrival in their country with the common and water me- lon. The former are as good as thofe in France, efpecially in this ifland, where they are in great plenty. The hop- plant and capilaire are likewife the natural produce of Canada ; but the latter grows to a much greater height, and is infinitely better than in France. I now finifli a letter, by which I ( 251 ) r -‘ which you may eafily difcover a traveller, rambling over the forefts and plains of Canada, and who is E diverted with every thing which prefents itfelf to - his view. But what could you expeft from one fe who travels through fuch a country as this is. F ( 253 > LETTER X. Of the caufes of the excefjive cold in Canada. Of the refources it affords for the fupport of life . fhe character of the French Canadians. Montreal , April 22 d, 172I; Madam, I T is furprifing, that in France, where they fo often meet with perfons who have fpent great part of their lives in Canada, they Ihould have fo imperfed a notion of the country. This undoubt- edly proceeds from this, that the greateft number of thofe, to whom they apply for information, are ac- quainted only with its bad fide. The winter com- monly begins before the velfels fet fail in order to return to France, and always in fuch a manner as to aftonifh every one except the natives of the place. The firft frofts in a few days fill the rivers with ice, and the earth is foon covered with fnow, which con- tinues for fix months, and is always fix feet deep in places not expofed to the wind. It is true there is no want of wood to guard a- gainft the cold, which very foon becomes extreme, and encroaches greatly on the fpring : but it is, how-, ever, fomething extremely ihocking, not to be able to C 2$4 ) to ftir out of doors without being frozen, at leaft, without being wrapt up in furs like a bear. More- over, what a fpedtacle is it to behold one continued tra<5t of fnow, which pains the fight, and hides from your view all the beauties of nature ? No more dif- ference between the rivers and fields, no more variety, even the trees are covered with fnow- froft, with large icicles depending from all their branches, under which you cannot pafs with fafety. What can a man think who fees the horfes with beards of ice more than a foot long, and who can travel in a country, where, for the fpace of fix months, the bears themfelves dare not lhew their faces to the weather ? Thus I have never pafled a winter in this country without feeing fome one or other carried to the hofpital, and who was obliged to have his legs or arms cut off on account of their being benumbed and frozen. In a word, if the iky is clear, the wind which blows from the well is in- tolerably piercing. If it turns to the fouth or eaft, the weather becomes a little more moderate, but fo thick a fnow falls, that there is no feeing ten paces before you, even at noon-day. On the other hand, if a compleat thaw comes on, farewel to the yearly flock of capons, quarters of beef and mutton, poul- try and fifh, which they had laid up in granaries, depending on the continuance of the froft •, fo that in l'pite of the exceflive feverity of the cold, people are reduced to the neceflity of wifhing for its conti- nuance. It is in vain to fay that the winters are not now as fevere as they were four and twenty years ago, and that in all probability they will become ftill milder in the fequel: the fufferings of thole who have gone before us, and the happinefs of fuch as may come after us, are no remedies againft a prefent evil, un- ( 2 55 ) der which we ourfelves labour. What comfort would it have been to a Creole of Martinico, who had arrived inFrance for the firfttime during thehard froft in 17P9, fhould I, who had juft then returned from Quebec, have told him that the cold he now felt was ftill inferior to that of Canada ? I fhould however have told him truth, and could have fup- ported it by good evidences ; but he might very well have anfwered me, that he found the cold in France not a whit the lefs piercing, by being infor- med it was ftill more fo in Canada. But as foon as the month of May begins, we have realon to change our language, the mildnefs of this latter part of the fpring being by fo much the more agreeable, as it fucceeds fo rigorous a feafon. The heat of the fummer, which in lefs than four months, {hews us both the feed and the crop *, the ferenity of autumn, during which there is a feries of fine wea- ther, very feldom to be feen, in thegreateftpart of the provinces of France : all which, joined to the li- berty which is enjoyed in this country, makes many find their flay here as agreeable as in the kingdom where they were born, and it is certain that our Ca- nadians would without hefitation give it the prefe- rence. After all, thefe colds fo long and fo fevere, are attended with inconveniencies which can never thoroughly be remedied. I reckon in the firft place the difficulty of feeding the cattle, which during the * The ground is tilled in Autumn, and the feed Town be- tween the middle of April and the tenth of May. The crop is cut down between the 1 5th of Auguft and 20th of September. The lands which are not tilled till the Spring yield fmaller crops, becaufe the nitrous particles of the fnow are not fo well able to penetrate into them. whole (2 56 ) whole winter feafon can find nothing in the fields, and confequently the preferving them muft be ex- tremely expenfive, while their flefh, after being kept fix months on dry food, muft have loft almoft all its relifh. Corn is alfo neceflfary for the poultry, and great care muft be taken to keep them alive during fo long a time. If to avoid expence all thofe beafts are killed about the end of Odober, which are intended for confumption before the month of May, you may eafily judge how infipid this fort of victuals muft be •, and from the manner in which they catch fifh through the ice, it appears this can- not be very plentiful, befides its being frozen from the very firft, fo that it is almoft impoffible to have it frefh in the feafon when it is mod wanted. Were it not for the cod-filh and eels there would hardly be any fuch thing as keeping Lent ; with refpeft to butter and frefh eggs there can be no queftion, nor indeed is much more account to be made of garden- fluff, which is kept as well as may be in the cellars, but lofes almoft all its virtue after it has been there for fome months. cor lit !C a rh at I 10 1 -k Add to this, that excepting apples, which are of an excellent quality, and fmall fummer fruit which does not keep, the fruits natural to France have not as yet fucceeded in Canada. Thefe, Madam, are all the difadvantages occafioned by this excelfive cold feafon. We are, notwithftanding, as near the fun as in the moft fourthern provinces of France, and the farther you advance into the colony, you kill approach the nearer to it. Whence then can arife this difference of temperatures under the fame paral- lels of latitude ? This is a queftion, which in my o* pinion no one has as yet anfwered in a fatisfadlory manner. iw an k: * • I 9 if i ai to ( 2 57 ) Moft authors who have handled this rftattef afg Contented with faying that this long and fevere cold is occafioned by the fnow lying fo long on the ground, that it is not poffible it can ever be tho- roughly warmed, efpecially in places under cover : But this anfwer removes the difficulty only one ftep 5 for it may be afkcd what produces this great quan- tity of fnow in climates as warm as Languedoc and Provence, and in countries at a much greater diftance from the mountains. The Sieur Denys, whom I have already quoted oftner than once, affirms that the trees refume their verdure before the fun is fufficiently elevated abovg the horizon to melt the fnow or warm the earth j this may be true in Acadia, and over all the fea coaft, but it is certain that every where elfe the fnow is melted in the thickeft forefts before there is a An- gle leaf upon the trees. This author feems to have no better authority for faying that the fnow melts rather by the heat of the earth than that of the air* and that it always begins to melt from below : but will he perfuade any man that the earth when cover- ed with frozen water, is warmer than the air, which immediately receives the rays of the fun. Befides, this is no anfwer to the queftion about the caufe of that deluge of fnow which overwhelms this im- menfe country fituated in the middle of the tempe- rate zone. There is no queftion but that generally fpeaking J j| the mountains, forefts, and lakes contribute greatly . to it, but it appears to me that we ought to feek out for other caufes beftdes. Father Jofeph Rretani, £ an Italian Jefuit, who fpent the belt part of his life-- time in Canada, has left behind him in his own lan- guage, an account of New France, wherein he eri- Vol. L R deavours ( *58 ) tleavours to clear up this point of natural philofo- phy. He will not allow that the cold, the caufes of which we are enquiring into, ought to be attri- buted to any of thofe juft mentioned, but methinks he goes too far ; for no reply can be made to expe- rience, which convinces us of the decreale of the cold, according as the country is cleared, tho’ that may not happen in the proportion it ought, were the thicknefs of the woods its principal caufe. He himfelf confefles that it is no rare thing to fee a frofty night fucceed a very hot lummer day ; but this way of reasoning appears to me to furnifli an ar- gument againft himfelf; for how can this phoeno- menon be explained otherwife than by faying that the fun having opened the pores of the earth in the day time, the humidity which was ftill contained in it, the nitrous particles which the fnow had left behind it in quantities, and the heat which an air equally fubtle with that in this country ftill preferves after fun-fet, all together form thefe gentle frofts in the fame manner as we make ice upon the fire. Be- fides, the humidity of the earth has evidently a large fhore in the exceffive colds of this climate ; but whence could this humidity proceed in a country, the foil of which has for the moft a great mixture of fand in it, if it was not from the number and extent of its lakes and rivers, the thicknefs of its forefts, its mountains covered with fnow, which as it melts o- verflows the plains, and the winds which carry the exhalations every where along with them. But fhould Father Bretani be miftaken, as I be- lieve he is, when he excludes all thofe from being the caufes of the excefftve cold in C anada, yet what he fubllitutes in their room leems, in my opinion, , ( 2 59 3 :! to contribute greatly to it. There are, fays he* hii- mid foils in the warmed: climates, and very dry foils !0: in the coldefi ; but a certain mixture of wet and dry G: forms ice and fnow, the quantity of which deter- e mines the degree and duration of cold. Now, who- 18 ever has travelled ever fo little in Canada muft be :a fenfible that this mixture obtains there in a very re- C: markable manner. There is undoubtedly no coun- “ try in the world which abounds more with water, and there are few which have a greater mixture- of {tones and fand. With all this it rains very feldom* and the air is extremely pure and wholefome, an e- k: vrdent proof of the natural drynefs of the foil. In fc effedl. Father Bretani tells us, that during the fix- it* teen years he was employed as midionary in the Jji country of the Hurons, there were there at the famd it: time to the number of fixty French, feveral of whom Ig were of a very delicate complexion, all of them had te been very ill fed, and had befides endured hardffiips beyond what could be imagined, and yet that not f one of that number had died. p . fjj / zyf | It is true, this prodigious number of rivers and g lakes, which take up as much fpace in new France jj as one half the continent of Europe, ought to fur- [■ nifh the air with a continual fupply of frefh vapours, r _ but befides that the greateft part pf thefe waters are n, extremely clear, and upon a fandy bottom, their - great and continual agitation by blunting the effi- cacy of the fun’s rays, prevents vapours from being exhaled in great quantities, or foon caufes them to fall again in mifts. For the winds raife a$ frequent and violent tempefts upon thefe freffi-water feas as , upon the ocean, which is likewife the true reafon ■ f why it rains fo feldom at fea. R 2 ^he / ( i6o ) The fecond caufe of the extreme cold of Canada, according to father Bretani, is the neighbourhood of the North Sea, covered with enormous iflands of ice for more than eight months of the year, there, Madam, you may call to mind what I told you in my fecond letter, of the cold we felt even in the dog-days, from the neighbourhood of one of thefe iflands of ice, or rather from the wind which blew upon us from that fide on which it lay, and which ceafed that moment it fell to the leeward of us. It is, belides, certain that it never fnows here but with a north-eaft wind, which blows from that quarter in which the northern ice lyes •, and tho’ the cold is not fo very piercing when the fnow falls, yet it cannot be doubted that it greatly contributes to ren- der the weft and north-well winds fo extremely lharp, which before they reach us blow over immenfe countries, and a great chain of mountains entirely covered with it. (S d w v Cil k die tie b k d Si its co- me . m. I.aftly, if wc believe the Italian miffionary, the height of the land is not the leaft caufe of the fub- tility of the air of this country, and confequently of the fever -ty of its cold. Father Bretani endea- vours to prove this height of the land from the depth of the fea, which encreafes according to him in proportion as you approach Canada, and from the number and height of the falls fo frequent in the rivers. But in my opinion the depth of the feaab- folutely proves nothing, and the falls of St. Law- rence and fome other rivers in .New France, no more than the cataracts of the Nile. Moreover, it is not obferved that, from Montreal where the falls commence to the lea, the river St. Lawrence is much more rapid than fome of our rivers in Eu- rope. I am therefore of opinion that we muft con- fine our reafoning to the ices of the north j and that even Ft a If 1 b v I C 261 ) even notwithftanding this, if Canada were as well cleared and as populous as France, the winters r* would become much fhorter and lefs fevere. They would not however be always fo mild as in France, ! e on account of the ferenity and purenefs of the air •, for it is certain that in the winter feafon every thing ff elfe being equal, the froft is always fharper when c the Hey is clear, and the fun has rarified the air. * After winter is pad, filhing and hunting fupply i thofe who will talce the trouble with provifions in h abundance ; befides the Bfh and the game which I iET have already fpoken of, the river St. Lawrence and til the foreds furnifh the inhabitants with two articles, tit , which are a great refource to them. From Quebec bf as high as Trois Rivieres, a prodigious quantity of large eels are caught in the river, which eels come down from Lake Ontario, where they are bred in the marfhes on the north fide of the Lake, and meeting, as I have already obferved, with the white porpoifes which give them chace, the greated part endeavour to return back, which is the reafon of their being taken in fuch numbers. This filhery is carried on in the following manner. ■ Thro’ that whole extent of ground, which is co- vered at high water, but left dry during the ebb, boxes are fet at convenient didances, which are fup- ported by a pallifade of ofier hurdles, contrived in fuch a manner that no free palfage is left for the eels. Large cafting nets of the fame materials and flruclure are fixed by the narrowed end in thefe boxes, while the other extremity, which is very wide, is backed againft the hurdles, upon which green branches are placed at intervals. When all is covered by the tide, the eels which love to be near the banks, and are attracted by the verdure, gather R 3 in ( 262 ) Jn great numbers along the pallifade, go in to the nets, which lead them into the prifons prepared for them, fo that all the boxes are often tilled in the fpace of one tide. Thefe eels are larger than ours, and yield a great deal of oil. I have already obferved that with what- ever fauce they are drcfled, they (till retain a difa-= greeable relifh, to which people cannot eafily accuf- tom themfelves. This perhaps is the fault of our cooks. Ail their bones terminate in a point fomet •what crooked, which I do not remember to have feen in thofe of France. '1 he bed method of pre- paring this fifh, is to hang them up in a chimney, and differ them to fry (lowly in their (kins, which come off of themfelves, and all the oil runs out. As great quantities of them are taken during the time this filhery lads, they are falted and barreled up like herrings. The other article I mentioned, is a fort of wood- pigeon, which ufed to come hither in the months of May and June, as was faid, in fuch numbers as to darken the air, but the cafe is different at prefent. Neverthelefs, a very great number dill come to reft themfelves upon the trees, even in the neighbour- hood of the towns. They are commonly called turtle s, and differ from the wood and other pigeons in Europe, fufficiently to conflitute a fourth fpecies. J hey are fmaller than our larged pigeons and have the fame eyes and changing fhadows upon their necks. Their plumage is a dark brown, excepting {heir wings, in which there are fome feathers of a Y^ry fine blue. x hefe birds may be faid to (eek only an opportu- PA7 9/ b^ing killed^ for if there is a naked branch upop jp®' : lick 31 fc j:;- ^ n :all 'h nii\ iie xa *4 upon a tree, on that they chtife to perch, and fit in fiich a manner, that the moft inexperienced gunner N can hardly fail of bringing down at leaft half a do- zen at a fingle Ihot. Means have likewife been found of catching many of them alive •, they are fed till the firft fetting in of the frofts, then killed, and thrown into the ftore-room, where they are preierv- a | ed all the winter. Thus it appears, Madam, that every one here is <“ poffefled of the necelfaries of life •, but there is little ! | paid to the King ; the inhabitant is not acquainted with taxes • bread is cheap •, filh and flefh are not 4 dear-, but wine, fluffs, and all French commodities igt are very expenfive. Gentlemen, and thole officers who have nothing but their pay, and are befides encumbered with families, have the greateft reafon to complaim. The women have a great deal of fpi- rit and good nature, are extremely agreeable, and excellent breeders -, and thefe good qualities are for the moft part all the fortune they bring their huf- bands ; but God has blefied the marriages in this country in the fame manner he formerly blefied thofe of the Patriarchs. In order to fupport fuch numerous families, they ought likewife to lead the lives of Patriarchs, but the time for this is paft. There are a greater number of noblefie in New France than in all the other colonies put together. The king maintains here eight and twenty com- panies of marines, and three etats majors. Many families have been ennobled here, and there ftill re- main feveral officers of the regiment of Corignan- Satieres, who have peopled this country with gentle- men who are not in extraordinary good circumftan- ces, and would be ftill lei's fo, were not commerce R 4 - allowed ( *°4 ) allowed them, and the right of hunting and lifting, which is common to every one. After all, it is a little their own fault if they are ever expofed to want ; the land is good almoft every where, and agriculture does not in the lead derogate from their quality. How many gentlemen through- out all our provinces would envy the lot of the Am- ple inhabitants of Canada, did they but know it? And can thofe who languilh here in a lhameful in* digence, be exculed lor refufing to embrace a pro- feffion, which the corruption of manners and the molt falutary maxims has alone degraded from its ancient dignity ? There is not in the world a more wholefome climate than this; no particular diftemper is epidemical here, the fields and woods are full of fimples of a wonderful efficacy, and the trees diftill balms of an excellent quality. Thefe advantages ought at lead to engage thofe whofe birth providence has caft in this country to remain in it ; but inconftancy, averfion to a regular and af- fiduous labour, and a fpirit of independence, have ever carried a great many young people out of it, and prevented the colony from being peopled. Thefe, Madam, are the defeds with which the French Canadians are, with the greateft juftice, re* preached. 1 he fame may likewife be laid of the Indians. One would imagine that the air they breathe in this immenfe continent contributes to it; but the example and frequent intercourle with its patural inhabitants are more than fufficient to con- fute this character. Our Creoles are likewife ac* cured of great avidity in amaffing, and indeed they qo things with this view, which could hardly be be- lieved if they were not feen. i he journeys they un- dertake ; the fatigues they undergo ; {he dangers to which II ( 265 ) which they expofe themfelves, and the efforts they make, furpafs all imagination. There are however few lefs interefted, who diflipate with greater facili- ty what has coft them fo much pains to acquire, or who teftify lefs regret at having loft it. Thus there is fome room to imagine that they commonly un- dertake fuch painful and dangerous journeys out of a tafte they have contra&ed for them. They love to breathe a free air, they are early accuftomed to a wandering life •, it has charms for them, which make them forget paft dangers and fatigues, and they place their glory in encountering them often. They have a great deal of wit, efpecially the fair fex, in whom it is brilliant and eafy ; they are, be- fides, conftant and refolute, fertile in refources, cou- rageous, and capable of managing the greateft af- fairs. You, Madam, are acquainted with more than one of this character, and have often declared your furprife at it to me. I can affure you fuch are frequent in this country, and are to be found in all ranks and conditions of life. I know not whether I ought to reckon amcngft the defers of our Canadians the good opinion they entertain of themielves. It is at leaft certain that it infpires them with a confidence, which leads them to undertake and execute what would appear impol- fible to manyfothers. It mult however be confeffed they have excellent qualities. There is not a pro- vince in the kingdom where the people have a finer complexion, a more advantageous ftature, or a body better proportioned. The ttrength of their confti- tution is not always anfwerable, and if the Cana- dians live to any age, they foon look old and decre- pid. This is not "entirely their own fault, it is like- wife that of their parents, who are not fufficiently watchful over their children to prevent their ruining fVtpir* ( 2 66 ) their health at a time of life, when if it fuffers it is feldom or never recovered. Their agility and ad- drefs are unequalled ; the mod: expert Indians them- ielves are not better markfmen, or manage their ca- noes in the moll dangerous rapids with greater fkill. r Many are of opinion that they are unfit for the fciences, which require any great degree of applica- tion, and a continued ftudy. I am not able to fay whether this prejudice is well founded, for as yet we have feen no Canadian who has endeavoured to remove it, which is perhaps owing to the diflipation m which they are brought up. But nobody can de- ny them an excellent genius for mechanics-, they have hardly any occafion for the affiftance of a maf- ter in order to excel in this fcience ; and fome are - every day to be met with who have fucceeded in all trades, without ever having ferved an apprentice- Some people tax them with ingratitude, neverthe- lefs they feem to me to have a pretty good difpofi- tion , ut their natural inconflancy often prevents their attending to the duties required by gratitude. It is alledged they make bad fervants, which is owmg to their great haughtinefs of fpirit, and to their loving liberty too much to fubjeft themfelves wiling y to fervitude. They are however good mafters, whicn is the reverfe of what is faid of thofe horn whom the greateft part of them are defeended. A he/ wou ld have been perfect in character, if to their own virtues they had added thofe of their an- ™ r !; Their ’ucon (fancy in friendfhip has fome- hirdL b | een com P ,ained of ; but this complaint can r^nn f e • 8enera1 ’ and in thofe who have given oc- toirrd to r’ P! oceeds ^ rom their not being accuf- tomed to conflnunt, even in their own afkdrs. If they C 267 ) ft': they are not eafily difciplin’d, this likewife proceeds «s'j from the fame principle, or from their having a dif- sife cipline peculiar to themfelves, which they believe is better adapted for carrying on war againft the Indi- sjj- ans, in which they are not entirely to blame. More- over, they appear to me to be unable to govern a certain impetuofity, which renders them fitter for vi fudden furprifes or hafty expeditions, than the regu- ]ar and continued operations of a campaign. It has likewife been obferved, that amongft a great num- ber of brave men who diftinguifhed themfelves in the laft wars, there were very few found capable of bearing a fuperior. This is perhaps owing to their ;; : ;l not having fufficiently learned to obey. It is how- Elil ever true, that when they are well conducted, there is nothing which they will not accomplifh, whether by fea or land, but in order to this they mud enter- tain a great opinion of their commander. The late M. d’ Iberville, who had all the good qualities of his countrymen without any of their defedts, could have led them to the end of the world. £ Hr There is one thing with refpedt to which they are not eafily to be excufed, and that is the little natu- ral affedtion molt of them fhew to their parents, who for their part difplay a tendernefs for them, which is not extrepely well managed. The Indians fall into the fame defedt, and it produces amongft them the fame confequences. But what above all things ought to make the Canadians be held in much efteem, is the great fund they have of piety and religion, and that nothing is wanting to their education upon this article. It is likewife true, that when they are out of their own country they hardly retain any of their defedts. As with all this they { are extremely brave and adlive, they might be of ereat fervice in war, in the marine and in the arts *, * and ( 268 ) and I am opinion that it would redound greatly to the advantage of the ftate, were they to be much more numerous than they are at prefent. Men con- ftitute the principal riches of the Sovereign, and Canada, fhould it be of no other ule to France, would ftill be, were it well peopled, one of themoft important of all our colonies. LETT E R XL Of the Iroquoife village of the Fall of St. Lewis. Of the different nations inhabiting Canada. Fall of St. Lewis, May i, 1721.' Madam, Came hither to fpend a part of the F.after holi- I days •, this is a time of devotion, and in this village every thing infpires one with fentiments of piety! All the exercifes of religion are carried on in a very edifying manner, and we ftill feel the im- preftion which the fervor of the firft inhabitants has left behind it •, for it is certain, that this for a long time was the only place in Canada, where you could perceive the great examples of thofe heroick virtues with which God has been ufed to enrich his churches when in their infancy ; and the manner in which it has been ereCted is fomething very extraordinary. The mifiionafies after having for a long time wa- tered the Iroquoife cantons with the fweat of their brows, and fome of them even with their blood, were at lad fenfible that it was impracticable toeita- blifh the chriltian religion atnongfc them upon a lolid foundation ; but they ftill had hopes ot reducing a kj { 1)0 ) ' confiderable number of thefe Indians under the yoke of the faith. They perceived that God had an eleft few among thefe barbarians as in every nation ; but they were perfuaded, that to make their calling and election fure , they mult feparate from their brethren ; and therefore came to a refolution to fettle all thole who were difpofed to embrace Chriftianity in a colo- ny by themfelves. They made known their defnm to the governor-general and intendant, who carry- ing their views ftill farther, highly approved it, be- ing fenfible that this fettlement would be greatly advantageous to New France, as it has indeed been, as well as another fimilar to it, which has fince been let on foot in the ifland of Montreal, under the name of la Montague^ of which the fuperiorsof thefemi- nary of St. Sulpicius have always had the direc- tion. I o return to this which has lerved as a model for the other, one of the Iroquois miflionaries com- municated his delign to lome Aquiers ; they relilhed his propofal, and this fettlement was formed chiefly out of that canton, which had at all times been the molt averfe to the minifters of the gofpel, and had even treated them the mod cruelly. Thus to the great allortifhment of the French and Indians, thole formidable enemies to God and our nation were touched with that victorious grace, which takes delight in triumphing over the hardeft and molt re- bellious hearts, abandoning every thing that was deareft to them, that they might have no impedi- ment in lerving the Lord with all liberty. A facri- fice ftill more glorious for Indians, than for any other nation, becaule there are none fo much at- tached as they are to their families and their native country. Their ( 271 ) Their numbers encreafed greatly in a ftiort tittle, and this progrefs was, in a great meafure, owing to the zeal of the fird converts who com poled this chofen flock. In the very height of a war, and even with the hazard of their lives they have tra- velled over all the cantons, in order to make profe- lites, and when they have fallen into the hands of fheir enemies, who were often their neareft relations, reckoned themfelves happy when dying in the midd of the mod frightful torments, as having expofed themfelves to them, folely for the glory of God and the falvation of their brethren. Such were the fentiments even of the murtherers of the miniders of Jefus Chrift, and perhaps this oracle of St. Paul, Ep. Rom. c. 20. Ubi atttem abundav.t delictum, fu- perabundavit Gratia , was never fo literally accom- plished as now. It was mod commonly left to their choice, either to renounce Jefus Chrid and re- turn to their canton, or to differ the mod cruel death, and there was not an example of one who accepted life upon that condition. Some have even perifhed worn out with miferies in the prifons of New- York, when they could have had their liberty on changing their belief, or engaging not to live among the French, which they imagined they could not do without running the rifque of lofing their faith. Thofe converts, who on fuch occafions difplayed fo much fidelity and greatnefs of foul, mud un- doubtedly have been prepared for it by the pured virtue -, we cannot in reality call in quedion certain facts, which have been notorious over the whole co- lony, and which render thofe very credible for which we have only the evidence of the Indians themfelves and their padors. M. de St. Vaiier, who is head of this church to this day, wrote as follows in the year ( 272 ) year 1688. ** The lives of all the Chriftians of this million are very extraordinary, and the whole village would be taken for a monaftery. As they have quitted the allurements of their native country, entirely to make fure of their falvation, they are all led to the pradice of the moft perfed refignation, and they preferve amongft them fuch excellent rules for their fandification that nothing can be added to them.” This village was at firft placed in the meadow it la Madeleire , about a league lower than the Fall of St. Lewis on the fouth-fide. But the foil being found improper for the culture of mai'z, it was tranfported to a place oppofite to the Fall itfelf, from whence it has taken the name it ftiil bears, though it has been carried from thence a few years ago a league higher up. I have already obferved, that its fituation is charming, that the church, and the houfe of the milfionaries, are two of the fined edi- fices in this country, which makes me imagine, that they have taken fuch good meafures as not to be obliged to make a new tranfinigration. On my arrival here, I had laid my account with departing immediately after the feftivals ; but no- thing is more fubjed to disappointments of all kinds than this manner of travelling. I am, therefore, ft ill uncertain as to the day of my departure •, and as in fuch voyages as mine, advantage is to be ta- ken of every occurrence, I fhall now make the bed ufe I can of this prefent delay. 1 have fpent my time in the company of fome old miflionaries, who have lived a long time among the Indians, and I fhall now. Madam, give you an account of what 1 have heard from them concerning the different nations inhabiting this immenfe continent* - ‘ The Ife rthre Ik ( 273 ) The firft land of America which is difcovered on a voyage from France to Canada is Newfoundland, pne of the iargeft islands we are acquainted with. It has never yet been fully determined, whether its inhabitants are natives of the country, and its bar- rennefs, were it really as great as it is fuppofed to be, would be no fufficient proof that they arq not for hunting and fifhing aftord fufficient fubiiftence for Indians. What is certain is, that none but Ef- kimaux have ever been feen upon it, who are not originally of this ifland. Their real naove country is the land of Laboraaor , or Labrador , it is there, at ieaff, they pafs the greateft part of the year ior, in my opinion, it would be profaning the grateful appellation of a native country, to apply it to wan- dering barbarians who have no affection for any country, and who being fcarce able to people two pr three, villages, yet occupy an immenfe extent of land. In effeft, befides the coafts of Newfound- land, which the Efkimaux wander over in the furri- mer-time, there are none but that people to be feen throughout all that vaft continent lying betwixt the river ot. L awrence, Canada, and the North fea. Some of them have been even found at a great dis- tance from hence up the river Bourbon, which runs from the weft ward, and falls into Hudfon’s-Bay. . The origin of their name is not certain, but it is probably derived from the Abenaquife word Efqui- mantris , which fignifies an eater of raw fleffi. The Efquimaux are in faeople i* which deferves better to be confined to it than the © Efkimaux. For my part, I am of opinion, that they are originally from Greenland. r fc Thefe favages are covered in fuch a manner that only a part of their faces and the ends of their hands are to be feen Over a fort of a fbirt made of bladders, or the intellines of fifli cut into fillets, and neatly enough fewed together, they throw a [ kind of a furtout made of bear- fkin, or of the fkin of fome other wild beaft, nay, fometimes of the fkins of birds, whilfb their head is covered with a cowl of the fame fluff, with the fhirt fixed to it ; on the top of which is a tuft of hair, which hangs down and fhades their forehead. The fhirt falls no lower than their loins, the furtout hangs down behind to their thighs, and terminates before in a point fomewhat lower than their girdle but in the women it defcends on both fides as far as the mid- leg, where it is fixed by a girdle, at which hang little bones. The men wear breeches made of fkins, with the hairy fide inwards, and faced on the outfide with ermine, and fuch like furs. They likewife wear on their feet pumps of fkins, the S 2 hairy ( 276 ) the; ti'h s® nil i!® sa hairy fide of which is alfo inwards and above them furred boots of the fame, and over thefe a fe- cond pair of pumps, then another pair of boots over that. It is affirmed they are fometinhes fliod in this manner three or four times over, which, however, does not prevent thefe Indians from being _ ext emely airive. Their arrows, the only weapons they ufe, are pointed with the teeth of the fea-cow, to which they likewife add iron when they can get it. In the fummer they live in the open air, nittht and day, but in the winter under ground, in a Tort of caverns, where they lie pell-mell one above an- other. line nr SKI :ey We are but little acquainted with the other na- tions living beyond Hud Ton’s -"bay, and in its neigh- bourhood. In the fcuthern parts of this bay, the trade is carried on with the Mataffins, the Monfo- nis, the Chriftinaux, and Afliniboils ; thefe laft mull come from a great diftance as they inhabit the borders of a lake to the north or north-weft of the Sioux, and likewife Ipeak a dialedt of their lan- guage. The three others fpeak the Algonquin tongue. I he Chriftinaux or Killifiinons, come from the northward of Lake Superior. The Indians in the neighbourhood of the river Bourbon *, and the river St. i herefa, have no affinity in their language either with the one or the other. Perhaps, they lit may be better underftood amongft the Elkimaux who have been leen, as is faid, a great way above the mouth of this river. It has been obfervedthat It is faid that a hundred leagues from the mouth of this liver, it is unnavigabje for fifty more, but thatapaflage is found by means of rivers and lakes which fall into it, and that after- wards it runs through the middle of a very fine country, which rAnfmnof Aft f T 1 /* 1 am 4% .. J •; nibo - O — J IAU ^ M continues as far as the Lake of the AfEmboils, from whence it taices its rife. they C 277 ) they are extremely fuperftitious, and ufe feme kind of lacrifices. Thofe who have had the greateft in- tercourfe wjth them, allure us, that in common with the Indians of Canada, they have a notion of a good and of an evil genius, that the Sun is their great divinity, and that when they deliberate upon any affair ot importance, they make him an offer- ing of fmoke which is done in the following man- ner. At break of day they affemble in the cabbin of one of their chiefs, who, after having lighted his pipe, prefents it three times to the riling fun, and then turning it with both his hands from the eaft to the weft, he fupplicates this luminary to be propitious to his people. This being done, all thofe who compofe the aftembly, fmoke in the fame pipe. All thefe Indians, though of four or five different nations are known in the French accounts under the general name of the Savanois , becaufe the country they inhabit is low, marlhy, and ill-wooded, and in Canada, all thofe wet lands, which are good for nothing are called Savannahs. Coafting along the north- Ihore of the Bay, you meet with two rivers, the firft of which is called Danifh- River, and the fecond the river of the Sea- IVoif-, on the banks of both thefe rivers there are Indians, who, I know not why, have got the name, or rather nickname of Plats cotez de Chiens , or Flat-fided Dogs, and are often at war with the Sa- vanois ; but neither of them treat their priloners with that barbarity which is ufual among the Cana- dians, being contented with keeping them in (la- very. Want fometimes reduces the Savanois to ftrange extremities •, and whether it be idlenefs on their part, or that their lands are abfolutely good for nothing, they find themfelves entirely deftitute of provifions when their hunting and filhing prove S 3 unfuc- ( 2 7 8 ) unfuccefsful, and then they are faid to make no dif- ficulty of eating one another. The molt daltardly are the firft facrifices ; it is further pretended, that when a man arrives at fuch an age that he can only be a burthen and expcnce to his family, he himfelf paffes a cord round his own neck, the extremities of which he prefents to the child who is deareft to him, who ftrangles hint as expeditioufly as he can, beli ving that in fo doing, he performs a good ac- tion, not only by putting an end to the bufferings of his father, but likewife by advancing his happi- nefs •, for thefe Indians imagine, that a man who dies old is born again in the other world at the age of a c' ild at the bread ; and that, on the contrary, thofi who finifh their courle foon, become old when they arrive at the country of fouls. ace si3i 53 iffi| It iff The young women among thefe people never marry but with the advice of their parents, and the fon-in law is obliged to flay with his father-in-law, and be fubfervient to him in every thing, till he has children himfelf. The young men leave their fa- ther’s houfts very early. Thefe Indians burn their dead bodies, and wrap the allies in the bark of a tree, which they lay into the ground. Afterwards they erect upon the grave a fort of monument with pons, to which they fix tobacco, in order that the deceufrd may have materials for fmoaking in the other world ‘f he was a hunter, his bow and ar- rows are fufpended there likewile. 1 he mothers lament their children for twenty days, and prefents are made to the fathers, who make an acknowledg- ment for them by a feail. War is held in lels efti- mation amonglt them than hunting •, but before any perfon can be efteemed a good hunter, he mult fall; for three days running, without rafting any thing whatever, and all that time he muft have his face m me si 1 in ( 2 79 ) ' face painted with black. The feaft being ended, H t h e candidate offers up a facrifice to the great fpirit, confining of a morfel of each of the animals he i J has been°ufed to hunt, being commonly the tongue :i and muzzle, which, except on fuch occafions, are i always the portion of the hunter himfelf. His pa- , rents a nd relations would rather die of hunger than touch it, and he is allowed to regale his friends and ftrangers only in this manner. ® It is further afferted, that thefe Indians are per- fectly difinterefted, that they poffels a fidelity proof :# againft all temptation, that they cannot endure a S He, and hold deceit in abhorrence. This, Madam, is what I have been able to learn with refpet to thefe northern people, with whom we have never maintained any regular commerce, and have only feen them in a tranfient manner. We fhall now proceed to thofe with whom we are better acquaint- ed, who may be divided into three clafies diftin- guiflied by their languages and their peculiar ge- niufes. In this vaft extent of country, properly called New- France, and bounded on the north by Hud- fon’s-Bay, which was difmembered from it by the treaty of Utrecht, on the call by the fea, by the Englifh colonies on the fouth, by Louifiana on the fouth-eaft, and by the Spanifh pofieftions on the weft ; I fay, in this vaft extent of country there are but three mother- tongues, from which all the reft are derived ; thefe are, the Sioux, Algonquin, and Huron languages ; we are but little acquainted with the people who fpeak the firft, and nobody knows how far they extend. We have hitherto had no trade with any but the Sioux and Afliniboils, and ■ | S 4 even C7 C 280 ) even this trade has not been very regularly car- ried on. Our miflionaries have endeavoured to make a fet- tlement amongft the firft, and I knew one who re- gretted very much his not b ing able to fucceed, or rather his not flaying longer amongft them, as they feemed to b extremely docile. There is, perhaps, no people to the north-weft of the Mifiiffippi, of of whom we can receive better and more authentic information than this, by reafon that they can carry on a trade with all the other nations on this immenfe continent 1 hey dwell commonly in meadows un~ der large tents made of fkins, which are very well wrought, and live on wild oats, which grow in great plenty in their meadows and river.:, and by hunt- ing, efpec ally the buffalo, which are covered with wool, and are found by thoufands in their meadows. They nave no fixed abode, but travel in great com- panies like the I artars, never flopping in any place longer than they are detained by the chace. Our geographers divide this people into the wan- dering Sioux , and the Sioux of ibe Meadows , into the Sioux of the Eaft , and the Sioux of the Weft. I his divifion does not feem to me to be well found- ed. All the Sioux live in the fame manner, whence it happens, that a village which the year before was on the eaftern bank of the Mifiiffippi, fhall be this year on the w’eftern bank, and that thofe who have lived for forne time on the banks of the river St. 'Peter, fhall, perhaps, be at prefent in fome meadow a great diftance from it. The name Sioux, which We have given to thefe Indians, is entirely of our own invent on, or rather the two laft fyllables of oJ the word Nad mejfioux, a name by which feveral potions diftinguifh them. Others call them Na- dcueffts, ( 28 1 ) doueffis. This nation is the mod populous we know in Canada. They were fufficiently pacific, and but little add idled to war, before the Hurons and Ou- tawais when they fled from the 'ury of the Iroquois, took refuge in their country. They laughed at them for their fimplicity, and made them warlike at their own expence. The Sioux have a plurality of wives, and fevtrely punifh fuch as are wanting in conjugal fidelity. They cut off the tip of their nofes, and make a circle in the fkin on the top of their heads, and afterwards tear it off. I have feen fome per- fons, who were perfuaded thefe people fpoke with the Chinele accent •, it would be no difficult mat- ter to determine this fadf, or if their language has any affinity with that of China. Thofe perfons who have had intercourfe with the Affimboils, tell us, that they are tall, well made, robuft, adtive, and inured to cold, and all manner of fatigue ; that they are pricked over all the body, and marked with the figures of ferpents and other animals ; and that they are in ufe to undertake very long journeys. 1 here is nothing in all this which diftinguifhes them from the other nations of this continent which we are acquainted with ; but what particularly charadlerizes them, is, their being ex- tremely phlegmatick, at leaf! they appear fo in ref- pedt of the Chriiiinaux who trade with them, and who are indeed of an extraordinary vivacity, con- tinually dancing and finging, and fpeaking with precipitation and a volubility of tongue, which is not obferved in any other Indian nation. The true country of the Affiniboils, is in the neighbourhood of a lake which bears their name, with which we are but little acquainted. A French- man, whom I faw at Montreal, allured me he had been 4_, 1721. Madam 9 I Set out from the Fall of St. Lewis on the id of May, alter clofing my laft epiftle, and lay at the weftern extremity of the ifland of Montreal, where I did not however arrive till midnight. On the morrow I employed the whole morning in vifit- ing this country, which is exceeding fine In the afternoon I eroded Lake St. Lewis, to go to the place called les ( . cijiades , where I found fuch of my people, as had gone direaiy thither, employed in fewing their -canoe, which they had let fall, as they were carrying it on their lhoulders, and which was thus fplit from one end to the other. This, Ma- dam, is the pleafure, and at the fame time the in- convenience of travelling in inch final! vehicles, the ^ 2 lead t ^ \ C 29 2 ) icaft thing in the world breaks them, but then ths remedy is both ready and eafy : all you have to do, is to provide yourfelf with a fufficient quantity of bark, gum, and roots ; befides, there are few places where you may not meet with gum and roots fuffi- cient tor Hitching your canoe. What they call les Cajcades , is a rapide or fall, fi- tuated exactly at the upper end of the ifiand Perrot, which feparates lake St. Lewis from the lake des deux Montagues. To fhun this, you keep a little to the right, and make your canoes go empty over a part of the river called le T rcu : you afterwards bring them on fhore, and then make over a carrying place of half a quarter of a league •, that is to fay, you carry your canoe and all your baggage on your fhoulders. This is to fhun a fecond rapide palled le B'uijfon or the bufh, being a fine Iheet of water, falling from a fiat rock of about a foot and a half high. One might be delivered from this trouble by hollowing a little the bed of a fmall river, which difcharges itfelf into another above the Cafcades,. The expence would be no gre2t matter. Above the Bouijfon , the river is a large quarter of a league broad, and the lands on both fides are ex- cellent and well wooded. They begin to clear thofe lying on the northern bank, and it would be very eafy to make a highway from the point oppofite to the ifiand of Montreal, as far as the height or creek called La Galette. By this means one might ihun a pafifage of forty leagues, and a navigation render- ed almoft impracticable with Rapides , and always ex- uding tedious. A fort would even be better placed at La Galette , where it would alfo be of more fervice than at Catarocoui, becaule not a fingle canoe can pafs it without being feen j whereas at Catarocoui, ( 2 91 ) they may. flip thro’ between the iflands without be* ing perceived. Morever, the lands about La Ga~ kite are excellent, and for this reafon there mull al- ways be plenty of provifions, which would fave a confiderable expence. Befides, a veffel might iail from hence to Niagara in two days with a favour- able wind. One of the objedls in view, in build- ing the fort of Cataracoui, was the commerce with the Iroquois but thofe Indians would as readily come to La Galette as to Catarocoui. They would indeed have a little farther to travel, but they would fhun a pafiage of eight or ten leagues crofs lake On- tario : laftly, the fort at Galette ' would cover the whole country lying between the river of the Otita- wais and the river St. Lawrence •, for this country cannot be attacked on the fide towards the river, by reafon of the Rapides , and nothing is more eafy than to defend the banks of the great river. I owe thefe Obfervations to a commifiary of the marine, who was fent by the king in 1706 to vifit all the remote parts of Canada. The fame day, the 3d of May, I advanced three leagues, and arrived at the place called Aux Cedres. This is the third fall or rapide, and has taken its name from the great number of cedars which were formerly in this place : but they have fince been moftly cut down. On the 4th I could get ho far- ther than to the fourth rapid, called le Coieau de Lac , tho’ no more than two leagues and a half from the preceeding, becaufe one of my canoes happened to fplit near it. Your Grace will not be furprifed at the frequency of thefe fhipwrecks, after you have been informed of the confirmation of thefe diminitive gondolas. I think I have already told you there are two forts of them; the one of die bark of elm, wider, and of very coarfe workmanfliip, but com- T 3 monly ( 294 ) monly the largeft. I know no nation but the Iro- quois, which have any of this fort. The others are of the bark of the birch tree, of a breadth lefs pro- portioned to their length, and much better and neater built. It is thefe latter I am going to de- scribe to you, as all the French, and almoft all the Indians ufe no other. They extend the pieces of bark, which are very- thick on flat and extremely thin timbers of Cedar- wood. All thefe timbers from head to ftern are kept in form by little crofs bars, which form the dif- ferent feats in the canoe. Two girders of the fame materials, to which thefe bars are fattened or fewed, bind the whole fabric. Between the timbers and the bark are inferted fmall pieces of cedar. Hill more flender than the timbers, and which ior all that con- tribute to ftrengthen the canoe, the two extremities of which rile gently, and terminate in two lharp points bending inwards. Thefe two extremities are perfectly alike fo that in order to go backward, the canoe- men have only to change offices. He who happens to be behind fleers with his oar, ftill rowing at the fame time ; and the chief employ- ment of he who is forwards, is to take care that the canoe touch nothing that may break it. They all fit low down, or on their knees, and their oars are •a fort of paddles from five to fix feet long, com- monly of maple. But when they are to item any ftrong current, they are obliged to make ufe of a pole, and to Hand upright, and this is called picquer le fi nd, or piercing the bottom They mutt' be we,l experienced to be able to preferve their balance in this work, tor nothing can be lighter, and confe- q :entiy eafier to overfet, than thefe vehicles, the largeft of which, with their whole loading, do not draw above half a foot water. 8 The I ( 2 95 ) The bark of which they are built, as well as the timbers, are fewed with the roots of fir-trees, which are more pliant, and lefs apt to dry than the ofier. All the Teams are gummed within fide and without, but they muft be examined every day, to fee whe- ther the gum has fealed off. .The largeft canoes carry twelve men, two and two, and four thoufand weight, or two tons. Of all the Indians, the mod expert builders are the Outawais, and in general the Algonquin nations excel the Huron Indians in this trade. There are few French who can make a Canoe even fo much as tolerably well, but in con- ducing them, they are at lead full as fure to truft to as the natives, as they exercife themfelves at it , from their infancy. All thefe canoes, the fmalleft not excepted, carry fail, and with a favourable wind, make twenty leagues a-day. Without fails you muft have able canoe-men, to make twelve in ftill water. From Coteau de Lac, to lake St. Francis, you have only a large half league. This lake which I Croffed on the 5th, is fevert leagues long, and at moft three in breadth where broadeft. The lands On both Tides of it are low, but Teem indifferent good. The rout from Montreal thither lies fome- what fouth-weft, and lake St. Francis lies weft- fouth weft and eaft-fouth eaft. I encamped imme- diately above it, and in the night was awakened with piercing cries, as of people making lamenta- tions. I was frightened at firft, but they foon made me eafy, by telling me that it was a kind of cormo- rants called [marts from their howling. They alfo' told me thefe howlings were a fign of wind the next day, and it adually was fo. C7 ( 296 ) On the fixth I palled what they call les Chefnaux du Lac. 1 his they call the channels, formed by a multitude of iflands, which occupy alrnoft all the ri- ver in this place. I never faw a more charming country, and the foil appears excellent. The reft of the day we did nothing but clear the rapides : the moll considerable called leMoulinet, terrified me only to look at it, and we had much ado to extricate our- felves from it. I made however this day, alrnoft feven leagues, and encamped at the foot of the fali called le long Sau.lt: this is a rapide half a league in length, where canoes cannot fail up, but half load- ed. We pafled it on the 7th in the morning. We afterwards went on till three in the afternoon under fail, when the rain obliged us to encamp, and de- tained us all next day. There even fell on the 8th a little fnow, and on the night it froze as in France in the month of January. We were however under the fame parallel with Languedoc. On the ninth we pafled le Rapide plat , or flat fall, about feven leagues from the Sault, and five from le Calots, which is the laft of the Rapides. La Galette is a league and a half farther, where we arrived on die 10th. I could never have wearied of admiring the country between this creek and theGallots. It is impofiible to lee nobler forefts. I remarked elpecialiy oaks of an amazing height. Five or fix leagues from la Galette, is an illand called 1 onihata, the foil of which appears tolerably fertile, and which is about half a league long. An Iroquois, called the Quaker, for what realon I know not, a man of excellent good fenfe, and much de- voted to the French, had obtained the right to it fiom the Compte de Frontenac. and he Ihews his patent to every body that defires to lee it. He has however fold his lordfliip for four pots of brandy 5 but r>iiai jour i ute C 2 97 ) but he has referved the ufufruit for his own life, and has o-ot together on it eighteen or twenty families of his own nation. I arrived in his illand on the 1 2 th, and paid him a vifit. I found him at work in his garden ; this is not ufual with the Indians; but this perfon affe&s to follow all the French manners. He received me very well, and would have legaled me, but the fine weather invited me to purfue my voy- age. I took my leave of him, and went to pafs the night two leagues from hence in a very pleafant fpot. I had Hill thirteen leagues to fail before I could reach Catarocoui ; the weather v/as fine, and the night very clear ; this prevailed with us to em- bark at three in the morning. We palled thro’ the middle of an archipelago called the thouland illands, and 1 am fully perluaded there are above five hun- dred of them. After you have got from among them, you have only a league and an half to fail to reach Catarocoui. The river here is opener, and is full half a league over. You leave afterwards on your right three large creeks of a good depth, and on the third the fort hands. This fort has r our baftions built of ftone, which occupy a quarter of a league in circuit. Its fituation is truly exceeding pleafant. The banks of the river prefent on all fide landlkips of great variety, which is alfo the cafe at the entry of lake Ontario, at no more than a Ihort league’s diftance : it is adorned with a number of illands of different extent, all of them well wooded, and without any thing to con- fine the profpeft on that fide. This lake bore for fome time the name of St. Lewis, it afterwards ob- tained that of Frontenac, as did alfo the fort of Ca- tarocoui, of which Count Frontenac was the foun- der. The lake however infenfibly recovered its an- cient C 298 ) cent appellation, which is Huron in Iroquois, and the fort that of the place where it Hands. loiirst ifinW The foil from la Galette hither is barren enough* but this is only on the out fkirts ; beyond that it is excellent. There is oppofite to the fort a very plea- fant ifland in the middle of the river. They for- merly putfome hogs in it, which multiplied greatly, and whole name it bears. There are two other finall iflands below this, and half a league diftant from each other; one is called l’lfle aux Cedres, and the other ride aux Ceils. The creek of Catarouoi is double, that is, there is a point very near the middle which advances a great way into the water, and under which there is excellent anchoring ground for the largeft vellels. Monf. de la Salle, fo celebrated for his difcoveries and misfortunes, v/ho was once lord of Catarocoui, and governor of the fort, had two or three vefiels here which were funk, and are kill to be feen. Behind the fort is a morafs, which fwarms. with game. This is at once a diverfion, and an ad- vantage to the garrifon. There was formerly a very large commerce carried on at this place, efpecially with the Iroquois, and it was to hinder them from carrying their furs to the Englifb, and to hold them- ielves in refpedt, the fort was built. But this com- merce lafted not long, and the fort has not been able to prevent thofe Barbarians from doing us a- bundance of mifehief. They have Hill a few fami- lies without the fort, as well as fome of the Mtjfifa- gusz , an Algonquin nation, who have Hill a town on the weftern fhore of lake Ontario, another at j 1 ^' i mm sjatfe i n ] as air * 5 wit 4 3 » ; lartli i rat- A sets, 2 IS' l*r (Ilia Niagara, and a third at le Detroit , or the Nar- o tows. I found here. Madam, an occafion of fending my letters to Quebec ; I am going to Jay hold of fome hours ( 299 ) hours leifhre to fill this with what I have fiill to in- form you of, with refped to the different languages of Canada Thofe who have ftudied them to the bottom, pretend that the three of which I formerly made mention, have all the marks of primitive lan- guages : and it is certain that they have not any common origin. Their pronounciation would be alone fufficient to prove this. The Sioux Indian hif- fes rather than ipeaks. The Huron knows none of the labial letters, fpeaks thro’ the throat, and afpi- rates almoft all the fyllables •, the Algonquin pronoun- ces with a fofter tone, and fpeaks more naturally. I have not been able to learn any thing particular, with refped to the firft of thefe three tongues ; but our ancient miffionaries have laboured much on the two others, and on their principal dialeds : the follow- ing is what I have heard laid by the moll able of them. The Huron language has a copioufnefs, an ener- gy, and a noblenefs, which are fcarce to be found united in any of the fineft we know, and thofe whofe native tongue it is, tho’ but a handful of people, fiill retain a certain elevation of foul, which agrees much better with the majefty of their difcourfe, than with the wretched eftate to which they are re- duced. Some have imagined they found fome re- femblance with the Hebrew in it ; others, and a much greater, pretend that it has the fame origin with that of the Greeks ; but nothing can be more frivolous than the proofs they alledge in fupport of it. We are in a ipecial manner to beware of re- lying on the vocabulary of the Friar Gabriel Saghard a Recoiled, which has been cited in favour of this opinion : fiill lefs on that of James Cartier, and of the Baron de la Hontan. Thefe three authors took at random a few words, fome from the Huron, and * others ( 3 °° ) others from the Algonquin tongues, which they very ill remembered, and which often fignified fomething very different from what they imagined. How many errors have been occafioned by fuch miflakes in tra- vellers ! The Algonquin language has not the fame force with the Huron, but much more fweetnels and ele- gance. Both have a richnefs of expreflion, a varie- ty of turns and phrafes, a propriety of didlion, and a regularity, which are perfectly aftonilhing. what is ftill more wonderful is, that amongfl: Bar- barians, who never fludied the graces of elocution, and who never knew the ufe of letters or writing, they never introduce a bad word, an improper term, or a faulty conftrudtion, and that the very children re- tain the fame purity in their lighteft and mod fami- liar difcourfe. V» iangi Befides, their manner of animating whatever they fay leaves no room to doubt their comprehending all the force of their expreflions, and all the beauty and delicacy of their language. The dialedts which are derived from both, have retained neither the fame force nor the fame graces. The Tfonnonthouans for inftance, one of the five Iroquoife cantons, pals amongfl: the Indians for being the moll ruftick in their fpeech of any Indians. In the Huron language every word is infledted or conjugated ; there is a certain art which- 1 cannot well explain to you, by which they diftinguifh verbs from nouns, pronouns, adverbs, &e. Simple verbs have a twofold conjugation ; one abfolute, and the other relative or reciprocal. The third per- fons have two genders, which are all known in their tongues : to wit, the noble and ignoble. As Me '• T>ricr 1 a' — m 1 V ( 3 °*' ) for number and tenfe, they have the fame difference as the Greeks. For inftance, to relate the account of a voyage, you ufe a different exprefiion, if it is by land, from that you would make ufe of had it been bv water. Active verbs are multiplied as often as there are different objefts of their aft ion. Thus the verb which fignifies to eat, has as many different variations as there are different forts of eatables. The action is differently expreffed of an animated or inanimate thing : thus, to fay you fee a man or you fee a done* you muft make ufe of two different verbs. To make ufe of any thing which belongs to him who ufes it, or to the perfon to whom he addreffes himfelf, there are fo many different verbs. - - There is fomething of all this in the Algonquin language, but the manner of it is' different, and I am by no means in a condition to inform you of it. However, Madam, if it fhould follow from the little I have been telling you that the richnels and variety of thefe languages render them expreily dif- ficult to be learned, the poverty and barrennefs into which they have fince fallen caufe an equal confu- fion. For as thefe people, when we firft begun to have any intercourfe with them, were ignorant of every thing which was notin ufe among themfelves, or which tell not under the cognizance of their fen- fes, they wanted terms to exprefs them, or elfe had let them fall into defuetude and obfcurity. Thus having no regular form of worfhip, and forming confufed ideas of the deity and of every thing relating to religion, and never reflecting on any thing but the objects of their fenfes, or matters which concerned themfelves or their own affairs, which were fuflicient- ly confined, and being never accuflomed to difcourfe cf virtues, pafiions, and many other matters which are ( 3° 2 ) are the common fubjefts of converfation with us, as they neither cultivated the arts, except fuch as were necefiary to them, and which v/ere reduced to a very fmall number •, nor any fcience, minding only iuch things as were within the reach of their capa- city, and having no knowledge or defire of fuper- nuities, nor any manner of luxury or refinement • when we had occafion to fpeak of all thefe topicks to them, there was found a prodigious void in their language, and it became neceffary, in order to be underftood by them, to make ufe of troublefome and perplexing circumlocutions to both them and us. jO tnat a ^ ter learning their language, we were un- der a neceflity to teach them a new one partly compof- ' cd or their own terms, and partly of ours, in order to facilitate the pronounciation of it. As to letters or characters they had none, and they fupplied this want by a fort of hieroglyphicks. Nothing con- founded them more than to fee us exprefs our- felves in writing with the fame eafe as by word of mouth. J If any one fliould afk me how I came to know t lat the Sioux, Huron and Algonkin languages are mother tongues rather than fome others, which we ook upon as dialedts of thefe, I anfwer that it is impoffible to be miflaken in this point, and I afk no other Proof of it than the words of Monf. I’Abbe Dubos, which I have already cited : but laftly, as we cannot judge in this cafe but by comparifon, if by inch reflections we are able to determine that all the languages of Canada are derived from thefe three already mentioned, I will acknowledge they do not amount to an abfoJute proof of their being primitive, and as old as the firft inftitution or inven- n 0 an S Utt gcs. I add, that all thefe nations have fome :: ( 203 ) fornewhat of the Afiatic genius in their difcourfe, which gives a figurative turn and expreflion to things, and which is what has probably made fome conclude that they are of Afiatic extraction, which is moreover probable enough in other refpeCts. Not only the nations of the Huron language have always occupied themfelves more than the other In- dians in hufbandry and cultivation of their lands ; they have alfo been lei's difperfed, which has produ- ced two effeCts ; for firft, they are better fettled, lodged and fortified, but have alfo always been un- der a better fort of police, and a more diflinCt and regular form of government. The quality of chief, at lead among the true Hurons who are Tionnon- tatez, is always hereditary. In the fecond place, till the wars of the Iroquois, of which we have been witnefles, their country was the moft populous, tho’ polygamy never was in ufe in it. They have alfo the character of being the moft induftrious, moft laborious, moft expert in the management of their affairs, and moft prudent in their conduct, which can be attributed to nothing but to that fpirit of lo- ciety which they have better retained than the others. This is in a fpecial manner remarked of the Hurons, who forming at prefent but one nation or people, and being reduced to two middling vil- lages very remote from each other, are, notwith- ftanding the foul of all their councils in all matters regarding the community. *Tis true that notwith- ftanding this difference, which is not to 1 be difco- yered at firft glance, there is a ft rong refemblance in the genius, manners, and cuftoms of all the Indians of Canada ; but this is owing to the mutual com- merce they have carried on with each other for many ages. This W7 ^ ( 30 4 ) This is the proper place to take notice of the go* vernment of thefe Indians, as well as of their cuftoms and religion : but I can as yet difcover nothing but a chaos and confufion, which it is impoflible for me to unravel. You would certainly blame me Ihould I, like certain travellers, fill up my journal with every thing I had heard, without giving myfelf any trouble to afcertain the truth, and fhould retail to you all the extravagant ftories, charged to the ac- count of our Indians, or which have probably been drawn from their traditions. Thefe traditions are moreover fo very uncertain, and almoft always con- tradift themfelves fo grofly, that it is almoft impoflible to pick out any thing certain or coherent. In fad, how fhould a people fuch as they have been found really to be, how fhould fueh perfbns tranfmit a faithful account of what has pafled amongft them fo many ages, fince without any means of eafing or a flirting their memory ? And can it be conceived that men who think fo little of the future, fhould have fo much concern about the part, as to preferve faithful regifters of it ? Thus, after all the re- learches that could poflibly be made, we are yet in the dark and to feek, as to the fituation of Canada, when we firft difcovered it towards the middle of the fixteenth century. The foie point of their hiftory which has come down clothed with any degree of probability, is the origin of the war, which Monf. Champlain found kindled between the Iroquois on one fide, and the Hurons and Algonquins on the other, and in which he engaged much too far for our real intc- refts. I have ever been unable to difcover the epo- cha of it, but I do not believe it of very old Hand- ing. I will not put an end to this letter with this account : but I warn you before hand, that I don’t pretend ■ J ( 3°5 ) pretend to vouch for this hiftorical piece, tho’ I have it from pretty good hands. The Algonquins, as I have already obferved, oc- cupied all that trad of country lying between Que- bec, and poffibly from Tadouffac to the Lake Ni- pifiing, running along the north fhore of the river St. Lawrence, and tracing upwards the great river, which difcharges itfelf into the former above the ifland of Montreal. This would incline us to judge that this people was then pretty numerous, and it is certain it has long made a very great figure in this part of America, where the Hurons only were able to difpute the fuperiority with them over all the reft. With refped to fkill in hunting, they had no equal, and flood alfo foremoft in the lifts of fame for pro- wefs in war. The few remaining of them at this day, have not degenerated from the ancient renown of their fathers, nor have their misfortunes in the leaft tarnilhed their reputation. The Iroquois had concluded a kind of treaty of alliance with them, which was equally and greatly advantageous to either party, but' which too, in the eftimation of Indians, (with whom a great huntf- man and great warrior are in equal veneration) gave the Algonquins a real fuperiority over the Iroquois. The latter almoft wholly taken up with the culti- vating their fields, had ftipulated to pay a certain proportion of their harvefts to the Algonkins, who were on their part obliged to fliare with them the fruits of their huntings, and to defend them againft all invaders. Thefe two nations lived in harmony for a confiderable while, but an unreafonable piece of pride in the one, and a certain, fudden, and un- expected difguft on the other, broke all bounds of Vol. I. U con- c/ ( 306 ) concord, and embroiled thofe two nations in an ir- reconcileable quarrel. As the winter feafon is that of their great hunt- ing, and as the earth being covered with fnow, fur- nifhes no employment to the hulbandman, the In- dians of both confederate nations joined camps and wintered abroad in the foreft». But the Iroquois ge- nerally left the hunting to the Algonquins, and con- tented themfelveswith fleaingthe beafts, curing their flelh, and drefiing the fkins. This is now every where the bufinefs of the women : poffibly this was not then the cafe : be this as it will, the Iroquois were perfectly fatisfied. Now and then however fome particular perfons among them had a fancy to make an eflfay at hunting, the Algonquins making no oppofition to this pradtice. In this they afted like bad politicians. It happened one winter that a company of the two nations halted in a place where they made fure of a fuccefsful hunting; and fix young Algonquins, accompanied with as manylro- quoife of the fame age, were fent out to begin the work. hunt raon i Tt reply utrlj til aed rtpft (ink fuddi tb rot b bed They faw at firft a few elks, and immediately pit prepared to give them chace. But the Algonquins *0 would not fuffer the Iroquois to accompany them, and gave them to underftand that they would have em- 'ith) ployment enough in fleaing the beafts they fhould catch. As ill luck would have it for thefe bragga- Ik dodo’s, three days pafied without their being able ici 10 kill a fingle elk, tho’ they ftarted a great number. bn This fmall fuecefs mortified them, and probably ^4 highly pleafed the Iroquois, who earneftly defired tali to be allowed to go lome other way, where they te flattered themfelves they would prove more fortu- tits nate. Their propofal was agreed to by the Algon- d 1 ® quins, ( 3°7 ) quins, juft as David’s brethren did formerly, when that young ffiepherd afked leave to go and fight the giant Goliah. They told them it was vain to pre- tend to be abler huntfmen than the Algonquins* that their office was to turn the glebe, and that it be- came them to leave the honourable profeffion of hunting to their betters, to whom that exercife was more fuitable. The Iroquois affronted at this anfwer made no reply, but on the night following, they fet out pri- vately to hunt. The Algonquins, when they a- woke, were furprifed to find the Iroquois gone, but their furprife was foon changed into the moft violent hatred. For the fame evening they had the morti- fication to fee the Iroquois returning loaded with the flefh of elks. There are no mortals more fuf- ceptible of an affront, or who carry their refentment farther than the Indians. The effedts of this were fudden, for the Iroquois had fcarce clofed their eyes, when they were all butcher’d. Such a murder could not be long concealed, and tho’ their bodies were buried fecretly, it was very foon known to their na- tion. They at firft made their complaints with great moderation, -but they infilled on having juftice done on the murderers. They were too much def- pifed to obtain their requeft, nor were they thought worthy of receiving the fmalleft fatisfaftion. The Iroquois being thus drove to defpair, came to a determined refolution to revenge the contempt (hewn them, and piqued themfelves more on punilh* ing this, than even the murder itfelf. They bound themfelves by oath to periffi to a man, or to have their revenge * but as they did not believe them- felves in a condition to try their fortune againft the Algonquins, the terror of whofe name alone kept ° H V 2 all C 3° 8 ) all the other nations in awe, they went to a diftance from them, to try their ftrength againft fome other lefs dreadful enemy, whom they provoked on pur- pofe, and after they thought themfelve-. fufficiently inured to warfare, they poured all at once upon the Algonquins, and commenced that war of which we faw only the conclufion, and which fet all Canada on fire. This has been continued by the Iroquois with unparalled fury, and with a fiercenefs fo much the more dreadful, as it was deliberate, and as it had nothing of that headftrong rage, which hurries men into bad meafures, and which is foon over. Be- fides, Indians never think they have enough of re- venge, till they have entirely exterminated their e- nemies *, which is likewife more true of the Iroquois than of the other nations. They commonly fay of them, that they advance like foxes, attack like lions, and fly like birds. Thus they are almoft always fure of their blow, and their conduct has fucceeded fo well with them, that had it not been for the French, there would not have been left fo much as the memory of any of thofe nations which dared to oppofe themfelves to this deluge. Thofe who fuffered moft were the Hurons, who engaged in this war as allies, auxiliaries, or neigh- bours to the Algonquins, or becaufe they lay in the way of both. We have feen with aftonifhment one of the moft populous and warlike nations on this continent, and the moft efteemed of them all either for wifdom or good fenfe, almoft wholly difappear in a few years. We may even fay that there is not any nation in all this part of America who have not paid very dearly, for the Iroquois being obliged to take up arms, and I know none in all Canada ex- cept the Abenaquis, whom they have not molefted in their own countries. For after they were once ' entered, ( 3°9 ) entered, and proved their fuccefs in war, and had tail- ed of the fweets of conqued, they could no longer re- main quiet, like lions, whofe third after blood is only encreafed by tading of it. One would hardly imagine to what an immenfe didance they have gone to leek out their enemies, and to give them battle. Not- withdanding, by dint of making continual war, as they were not without leveral checks at dincicnt times, they have found themfelves extremely dimi- niihed •, and were it not for the flaves they have made on all hands, mod of whom they have adopt- ed, their fituation would be equally miferable with that of the nations they have fubdued. What happened in this refpeft to the Iroquois, may with dill mote realon be laid of the other In- dians in this country, and we are not to wonder if, as I have already remarked, thefe nations diminifh daily in a very fenfible manner. For tho’ their wars appear lefs ruinous than ours at fird light, they are however much more fo in proportion. I he mod numerous of thefe nations perhaps never contained above fixty thoufand fouls, and there fometimes hap- pen battles, in which cafe there is much blood fpilt. A furprife, or coup de main, fometimes dedroys a whole town •, oftentimes the fear of an irruption of an enemy makes a whole canton be deferted, when the fugitives to fhun the fword of the enemy, or their torturing punifhments, expofe themielves to die of hunger and mifery in the woods, or on moun- tains, havfng feldom leifureor confideration enough to carry the neceffary provifions to fuch. places. This happened in the lad age to a great number >, I lu- rons and Algonquins, whofe fate it has been lmpofli- ble to learn. I am, &c. U 3 LETTER ( 3 " ) LETTER XIII. Defcription of the country to the river of the Onnontagues. Of the fux and refux in the great lakes of Canada. Manner in •which the Indians fing the war-fong. Of their God of War. Manner of declaring war. Of the collars of Wampum or Porcelain, and the Calumet, with their cujloms relating to peace and war. Anfe de la Famine , May 1 6th, 1721. Madam, H ERE I am detained by a contrary wind, which has the' appearance of lafting fome time, and keeping me above a day in one of the word places in the world. I fhall endeavour to di- vert my chagrin by writing to you. Whole, ar- mies of thole pigeons we call turtles are continu- ally palling here, and if one of them would take charge of my letters, perhaps, you might hear of me before I leave this place ; but the Indians have not as yet thought of training up thefe birds to this piece of dexterity, as it is laid the Arabians and feveral other nations did formerly. ( 3 12 ) I embarked on the 1 4th, precifely at the fame hour, on which I arrived the evening before at Ca- tarocoui. 1 had only fix leagues to make, in or- der to gain the ifland aux Chevreuils , or of Roe- bucks, where there is a good harbour capable of receiving large barks; but my Canadians having forgot to examine their canoe, and the fun having melted the gum in feveral places, it admitted the water on all fides, and I was obliged to flop two hours in order to repair it in one of the iflands at the entrance of Lake Ontario ; we continued our courfe aiterwards till paft ten at night, but not be- ing able to gain the ifland aux Chevreuils , we were obliged to pafs the remainder of the night at the corner of the foreft. Here I obferved for the firft time vines in the woods. There were almoft as many as there were trees, and they always climbed quite to their top. This was the firft time I had made this obfervation having never ftopt before but in open fields ; but I am told this continues all the way to Mexico. Thefe vines are very thick at bottom, and bear great plenty of grapes, which,' however, are no larger than peafe, but this cannot be otherwife, feeing they are neither pruned nor cultivated. When ripe they afford excellent feeding for the bears, who climb to -fie tops of the higheft trees in queft of them. Af- ter all, they have only the leavings of the birds, which would foon rob whole forefts of their vintage. Next day I fet out early in the morning, and at eleven o’clock ftopt at the ifland aux G allot s, three leagues beyond the ifland aux Chevres , in 43 deg. 33 min. lat. I reimbarked a little after mid-day, and made a traverfe of a league and a half, in or- der v ( 313 ) der to gain the Point of the Traverfe • for had I coafted along the main- land in order to get at thac place, from that where I fpent the night, I ffiould have had a courfe to make of above forty leagues, which way, however, muft be taken when thclake is not very calm ; for if it be ever fo little agitated, the waves are as heavy as thole at open feat It is not even poffible to range along the coaft when the wind is any thing large. From the point of the Ifle aux G allots, you fee to the weftward the river of Cbauguen , formerly the river of Onnonlague, at the diftance of four- teen leagues. As the lake was calm, as there was no appearance of bad weather, and as we had a fmall breeze at eaft, juft fufficient to fill our fails, I took a refolution to fteer directly for that river, in order to fave a circuit of fifteen or twenty leagues. My guides who had more experience than I, Ima- gined this enterprize hazardous, but yielded out of complaifance to my opinion. The beauty of the country which lay on the left hand, did not tempt me, any more than the falmon and great quantities of other excellent fifh, which are taken in the fix fine rivers, which lie at the diftance of two or three leagues from one another*. We therefore bore away, and till four o’clock had no reafon to repent it ; but then the wind rofe all on a fudden, and we lhould have been very well pleafed to have been clofe in with the land. We made towards the neareft, from which we ftill were three leagues, and had great difficulty to gain it. At laft about feven * The river of Aflumption is a league from the point of the Traverfe, that of Sables three leagues farther; that of la Planche two leagues beyond the former, that of La Grande Famine two leagues more, that of La Petite Famine one league, and that of La groffe Ecorce another league. in C 3*4 ) in the evening we landed at Anfe de la Famine , or the Creek of Famine, fo called, becaufe M. de la Barre, governor-general of New-France, had very near loft his whole army there by hunger, and other dif- tempers, when he was going upon an expedition againft the Iroquois. It was high time we fliould arrive, the wind was ftrong, and the waves ran fo high that no one durft have crofied the Seine oppofite to the Louvre, in fuch a fituation as we were then in. This place is indeed very proper for deftroying an army which fhould depend on hunting and fiihing for fubfift- ence, befides that the air leems to be extremely unwholfome. Nothing, however, can exceed the beauty of the foreft, which covers all the banks of this lake. The white and red oaks raife their heads as high as the clouds, and there is another tree of a very large kind, the wood of which is hard but brittle, and bears a great refemblance to that of the plane-tree •, its leaves have five points, are of a middle fize, of a very beautiful green in the infide, but whitifh without. It has got the name of the cotton-tree, becaule it bears a fhell nearly of the thicknefs of an Indian Chefnut-tree, con- taining a fort of cotton which, however feems to be good for nothing. As I was walking on the banks of the lake I ob- ferved that it fenfibly lofes ground on this fide, the land being here much lower and more fandy for the fpace of half a league, than it is beyond it. 1 likewife obferved that in this lake, and I am told that the fame thing happens in all the reft ; there is a fort of flux and reflux almoft inftantaneous, the rocks near the banks being covered with water, and uncovered again feveral times in the fpace of it woe act ( 3*5 ) a quarter of an hour, even Ihould the furface of the lake be very calm, with fcarce a • reath of wind. After refledling for fome time on this appearance, I imagined it was owing to the fprings at the bottom of the lakes, and to the fhock of their currents with thole of the rivers, which fall into them from all fides, and thus produce thofe intermitting mo- tions. But would you believe it. Madam, that at this feafon of the year, and in the 43d deg. of latitude, there is not as yet fo much as a fingle leaf upon the trees, though we have fometimes as hot wea- ther as with you in the month of July. This is undoubtedly owing to the earth’s having been co- vered with fnow for feveral months, and not being as yet fufficiently warm to open the pores of the roots, and to caufe the fap to afcend. The Grande and Petite Famine fcarce deierve the name of rivers •, they are only brooks, efpecially the latter, but are pretty well flocked with fifh. There are eagles here of a prodigious fize, my people have juft now thiown down a neft, in which there was a cart-load of wood and two eaglets, not as yet feathered, but as big as the largeft Indian pullets. They have eat them, and declare they were very good. I return to Catarocoui, where, the night 1 pafied there, I was witnefs to a pretty curious fcene. tJ A 1 gi I t a About ten or eleven o’clock at night, juft as I was going to retire, I heard a cry, which I was told was the war-cry, and foon after faw a troop of the Mifiifaquez enter the fort finging all the way. It feems, for fome years paft, thefe Indians have been engaged in a war which the Iroquois carried on againft the Cherokees, a numerous nation inhabit- ing a fine country to the fouthward of Lake Erie ; and ( 3 l6 ) and fince that time their young men have had a ftrange itching to be in a&ion. Three or four of thefe bravoes equipped as if they had been going to a mafquerade, with their faces painted in fuch a manner as to infpire horror, and followed by almott all the Indians in the neighbourhood of the fort, after having gone through all the cabbins Tinging their war fongs to the found of the chichikoue, which is a fort of calabafh filled with little flint ftones, came to perform the fame ceremony through all the apartments in the fort, in order to do ho- nour to the commandant and the reft of the of- ficers. ffi t ski: itffi ■ f^snc ±cG dvtrfc s cm 5V I own to you. Madam, that this ceremony has fomething in it which infpires one with horror when feen for the firft time, and I had not been as yet fo fully fenfible as I then was, that I was among bar- barians. Their fongs are at all times melancholy and doleful •, but here they were to the laft degree frightful, occafioned perhaps entirely by the dark- nefs of the night, and the apparatus of this feftival, for fuch it is amongft the Indians. This invitation was made to the Iroquois, who finding the war with the Cherokees begin to turn burthenfome, or not being in the humour, required time for deli- beration, after which every one returned home. fKpe: is lo iff ■ To talr [laid: :JdIro mu ' |ispn iefei 5K . :iiyi ;krh It Ihould feem. Madam, that in thefe fongs they invoke the god of war, whom the Hurons call Arejkoui , and the Iroquois Agrejkwc I know not what name he bears in the Algonquin languages. But it is not a little furprifing, that the Greek word Afuj, which is Mars, and the god of war in all thofe countries which have followed the theology of Ho- mer, Ihould be the root whence feveral terms in the Huron and Iroquoife languages feem to be de- rived, sea iiia Hid ten 5ta f ( 317 ) rived, which have a relation to war. Aregouen fignifies to make war, and is conjugated in this manner : Garego , I make war ; Sarego, thou mak- eft war ; Arego, he makes war. Moreover, Aref- koui is not only the Mars of thefe people, but like- wife the fovereign of the gods, or as they exprefs it, the Great Spirit, the Creator and Mafter of the Univerfe, the Genius who governs all things ; but it is chiefly in warlike expeditions that they invoke him •, as if the attribute, which does him greateft honour, was, that of being the God of armies. His name is their war-cry before battle, and in the heat of the engagement : in their marches likewife they repeat it often, as if to encourage one another, and to implore his afiiftance. To take up the hatchet, is to declare war ; every private perfon has a right to do it, and nothing can be faid againft him ; unlefs it be among the Hurons and Iroquois, where the matrons command and pro- hibit a war as feems good unto them ; we fhall fee in its proper place how far their authority extends in thefe matters. But if a matron wants to engage any one who does not depend on her, to levy a a party for war, whether it be to appeafe the manes of her hufband, fon, or near relation, or whether it be to procure prifoners, in order to replace thofe in her cabbin, of whom death or captivity has de- prived her ; fhe muft make him a prefent of a col- lar of Wampum, and fuch an invitation is feldom found ineffectual. When the bufinefs is to declare war in form be- tween two or three nations, the manner of exprefl- ing it is to hung the kettle oven the fire j which has its origin without doubt from the barbarous cuftom of eating their prifoners, and thofe who have^been 1 C7 C 3 l8 /) killed after boiling them. They likewife fay fim- - :0rr ply, that they are going to eat fuch a nation , which fignifies that they are going to make war againft to 21 them in the mod delimit ivc and outrageous man- 3®^ ner, and indeed they feldom do otherwife. When they intend to engage an ally in the quarrel, they pK fend him a porcelain or wampum, which is a large |s tntt Ihell, in order to invite him to drink the blood, or ptno) as the terms made ufe of fignify, the broth of the ' pdot flefh of their enemies. After all, this praftice may pA have been very antient, without our being able to stops, infer from thence, that thefe people have always titof been Anthropophagi, or Man-eaters. It was, per- pa haps, at firft, only an allegorical manner of fpeak- JtViigii ing, with examples of which the fcripture often furnifhes us. David, in all appearance, had not to do with enemies w-ho were accuftomed to eat hu- iThert man flefh, when he fays : Dam appropriant fuper itp me nocentes ut edunt Cannes mens. Pfalms xxvi. 2. ala. Afterwards fome nations becoming favage and bar- 1 that barous, may have fubftituted the reality in the room -.tore of the figure. . "/-jcolot I took notice that the porcelain in thefe countries are fhells ; thefe are found on the coafts of New- England and Virginia ; they are channelled, drawn out lengthwife, a little pointed, without ears and pretty thick. The fifh contained in thefe fhells are not good to eat ; but the infide is of fo beauti- ful a varnilh with fuch lively colours, that it is im- poffible to imitate it by art. When the Indians went altogether naked, they made the fame ufe of them which our firft parents did of the leaves of the fig-tree, when they difcovered their nakednefs and were afhamed at it. They likewife hung them at their necks, as being the moft precious things they had, and to this day their greateft riches and fineft ais, k ski /it *ol ftx nfet’ i: !F;2 i: ’ fe. sat fe- te iS ft M C 319 ) fineft ornaments confift of them. In a word, they entertain the fame notion of them that we do of gold, filver, and precious ftones ; in which they are fo much the more reafonable, as in a manner they have only to ftoop to procure riches as real as ours, for all that depends upon opinion. James Cartier in his memoirs makes mention of a fhell of an un- common fhape, which he found, as he fays, in the ifland of Montreal ; he calls it Efurgni , and affirms it had the virtue of flopping a bleeding at the nofe. Perhaps, it is the fame we are now fpeaking of; but they are no longer to be found in the ifland of Montreal, and I never heard of any but the ffiells of Virginia which had the property Cartier fpeaks of. There are two forts of thefe fhells, or to fpeak more properly two colours, one white and the other violet. The firft is moft common, and perhaps, on that account lefs efleemed. The fecond feems to have a finer grain when it is wrought ; the deeper its colour is, the more it is valued. Small cylin- drical grains are made of both, which are bored through and flrung upon a thread, and of thefe the branches and collars of Porcelain or Wampum are made. The branches are no more than four or five threads, or fmall flraps of leather, about a foot in length, on which the grains or beads of Wampum are flrung. The collars are in the manner of fillets or diadems formed of thefe branches, fewed toge- ther with thread, making four, five, fix or feven rows of beads, and of a proportionable length ; all which depends on the importance of the affair in agitation, and dignity of the perfon to whom the collar is prefented. By ( 3 2 ° ) By a mixture of beads of different colours, they form fuch figures and characters as they have a mind, which often ferve to diftinguifh the affairs in queftion. Sometimes the beads are plaited, at leaft it is certain that they frequently fend red collars when a war is in agitation. Thefe collars are care- fully preferved, and not only compofe part of the publick treafurcs, but are likewife their regifters or annals, and ought to be ftudied by thofe who have the charge of the archives, which are depofited in the cabbin of the chief. When there are two chiefs in a village of equal authority, they keep the trea- lures and archives by turns for one night, but this night, at leaft at prefen t, is a whole year. Col- lars are never ufed but in affairs of confequence j for thofe of lefs importance they make ufe of branches, or firings of porcelain, fkins, blankets, maiz, either in grain or flour, and fuch like things ; for all thefe make a part of the publick treafure. When they invite a village or a nation to enter into an alliance, fometimes they fend them a pair of co- lours tinged with blood ; but this pradice is modern, and there is good reafon to believe, they have taken the hint from the white colours of the French, and the red of the Englifh. ft is even faid, that we ourfelves firrt introduced it amongft them, and that they have thought of tinging theirs with blood, when the queftion was to declare war. The calumet is no lefs facred among the Indians than the collar of Wampum ; it has even, if we may believe them a divine original, for they main- tain, it was a prefent made them by the Sun. It is more in ufe among the fouthern and weftern nations, than among the eaftern and northern, and is more frequently employed for peace than for war. Calu- met is a Norman word, being a corruption of Cba- liorveau, ■rP fejcoi "H tai 1:5 COQ ■W :;0uez : ;k It aid Bee inapt k ptip 1 an E;h -fell in still , it;i * ik. ( ) Horzeati, and the calumet of the Indians is properly the (talk of the pipe, but under that name is un- derftcod the whole pipe as well as the ftalk. The ftalk is very long in calumets of ceremony, and the pipe has the fhape of our old hammers for arms ; it is commonly made of a fort of reddifh marble, very eafy to work, and found in the country of the Aiouez, beyond the MifTiffippi. The ftalk is of a light wood, painted with different colours, and a- domed with the heads, tails, and feathers of the rnoft beautiful birds, which in all probability is only intended for ornament. The cuflom is to fmoke in the calumet when it is accepted, and perhaps, there is no example of an engagement entered into in this manner being vio- lated. The Indians at leall are perfuaded, that the great fpirit never fuffcrs an infrailion of this kind to efcape with impunity. If in the midft of a bat- tle, an enemy prefents a calumet, it may be refil- led ; but if it is accepted, their arms on both fides mult immediately be laid down. There are calu- mets for all different forts of treaties. When an exchange is agreed upon in trade they prefent a ca- lumet, in order to cement the bargain, which ren- ders it in fome meafure facred. Vv hen a war is in agitation, not only the ftalk, but even the feathers with which it is adorned are red •, fometimes they are red only on one fide, and it is pretended, that from the manner in which the feathers are difpofed, they know at firft fight to what nation it is to be prefented. It cannot be doubted, but that the Indians, by caufing thofe to fmoke in the calumet, with whom they feek to enter into a treaty of alliance or com- merce, intend to take the fun for a witnefs, and in Vol. 1 . X fome ( 3 2Z ) Tome meafure for a guarantee of their mutual en- gagements ; for they never fail to blow the fmoke towards that luminary * but that from this pradice, and from the ordinary ufe of the calumet, we ought to infer as fome have done, that this pipe might originally be the Caduceus of Mercury, appears to me by fo much the lefs probable, as the Caduceus had no manner of relation to the Sun, and as no- thing is to be found in the traditions of the Indians, by which we can imagine they 'had ever the leaft acquaintance with the Grecian Mythology. It would, in my opinion, be much more natural to fuppofe, that thefe people, informed by experience that the fmoke of their tobacco diffipated the va- pours of the brain, made their heads clearer, raifed their fpirits, and put them into a better condition for managing affairs, have for that reafon intro- duced it into their councils, where, indeed, they have the pipe continually in their mouths, and that after having maturely deliberated and taken their refolutions, they imag : r.ed they could not find a more proper fymbol for affixing a feal to what had been agreed upon, nor a pledge more capable of fe- ewing its execution, than the inftrument which had had fo much fhare in their deliberations. Perhaps, Madam, you may think it more fimple, flili to fay, that thefe people imagined nothing could be a more natural fign of a flridb union, than finoking put of the fame pipe, efpecially, if the fmoke be offered to a Divinity, who lets the feal of religion upon it. To fmoke then out of the fame pipe, in jign of alliance, is the fame thing as to drink out of the fame cup, as has been at all times the pradlice among feveral nations. Such cuftoms as thefe are too natural an offspring of the human mind, for u$ to feek for myfleries in them. The C 32 3 ) The fize and ornaments of the calumets, which are prefented to perfons of diftindion, on occafions of importance, are not fo particular that we need fearch far for their motives. When men begin to have ever fo little commerce together, or to enter- tain mutual refpect for one another, they are loon accuftomed to have certain regards for one another, chiefly on occafions when publick affairs are in agi- tation, or when they want to engage the good will of thofe with whom they have bufinefs to tranfad, and hence proceeds the care they take to give a greater magnificence to the prefcnts they make one another. But it is to the Fanis, a nation fettled on the banks of the Miflfouri, who extend themfelves a good way towards New Mexico, that it is pretended the Sun gave the calumet. But thefe Indians have probably done like a great many other people, en- deavoured to ennoble by the marvellous, a cuftom of which they were the authors ; and all that can be concluded from this tradition, is, that the Panis paid the Sun a more ancient and diftinguilhed wor- lhip than the other nations of that part of the con- tinent of America, and that they were the firft who thought of making the calumet a fymbol of alli- ance. In the laft place, if the calumet had been in its inftitution the caduceus of Mercury, it would have only been employed in affairs relating to peace or commerce, whereas it is certain, that it is ufed in treaties that have war for their objed. Thefe hints, Madam, I thought neceffary, in or- der to give you a perfed knowledge of what relates to the wars of the Indians, about which I fhall en- tertain you in my nextdetters till I have exhaufted the fubjed ; at lead, if they are digreffions, they are not altogether foreign to my delign. Befides, X a ‘ a ( 3 * 4 ) a traveller endeavours to difpofe in the leaft dis- agreeable manner he can every thing that he learns upon his rout. letter XIV. Defcription of the country from the Anfe de la Famine to the Riviere des Sables. Motives of the Indians for going to war. Departure of the warriors' for the campain, with what precedes their fetting out. Their manner of taking leave of their relations and countrymen . Their arms offertfive and defenfive. Their care in taking along with them their tutelary gods. Particularities of the country as far as Nia- gara. Riviere des Sables, May ig, iy2i: Madam, I Am now once more flopped by a contrary wind, which aroie the moment we were likelieft to make moft fpeed. It even furprifed us fo abruptly, that we would have been in great danger had we not fortunately met with this fmall river to take fan&uary in. You muft acknowledge there are a multitude of incbnveniencies and difappointments to cope with in fuch a voyage as this. It is a very fad thing to fail a hundred, and fometimes two hun- dred leagues without meeting with a fingle houfe. ( 3 26 ) or feeing one human creature ; to be engaged in a voyage of two or three hundred leagues to lhun a paffage of twenty, made with many difficul- ties, and with the hazard of lofing one’s life by the caprice of the winds to be (topped, as it (ometimes happens, for whole weeks, on fome point or barren (hore, or if it fhould happen to rain, to be obliged to take up one’s lodging under fome canoe, or in a tent : if the wind proves ftrong we mull feek for (helter in fome wood, where we are expofed to be crufhed to death by the fall of fome tree. Thefe inconveniencies might be (hunned in part by the building velfels for failing on the lakes ; but in or- der to have this advantage, the trade muft be better able to afford it. We are now on the borders of the Iroquois can- tons, which is an exceeding delightful country. We embarked early yederday in the fined weather ima- ginable. There was not a fingle breath of wind, and the lake was as fmooth as glafs. About nine or ten o’clock we paffed by the mouth of the river of Onnantague, which feemed to me to be about 1 20 feet in breadth. The lands near it are fomewhat low, but exceeding well wooded. Almod all the rivers which water the Iroquois cantons difeharge themfelves into this, the fource of which is a fine lake called Gannentatha , on the banks of which are faltpits. I owards half an hour pad eleven we made fail by favour of a fmall breeze at north-ead, and in a few hours pulhed on as far as the Bay des Goyogo- uins, which is ten leagues from the Riviere of On- nontague. The whole coad in this tradf is diverfi- fied with fwamps and high lands fomewhat fandy, covered with the fined trees, efpecially oaks, which feem as if planted by the hand of men. ( 3 2 7 ) - A (Irons ©ale of wind from the land, which o* vertook us oppofite to the Bay des Goyogoums, obliged us to take fandtuary in it. This is one of the fine ft fpots I have ever feen. A pemnfula well wooded advances from the middle, and iorms a kind of theatre. On the left as you enter, you per- ceive in a bight a fmall ifland which conceals the mouth of a river, by which the Goyogoums defcend to the lake. The wind did not continue long, we therefore fet out again, and made three or four leagues farther. This morning we embarked before fun-rife, and have actually made five or fix leagues. I know not how long the north-weft wind may de- tain us here. Whilft I wait t,U a favourable ga e arifes, 1 will refume my relation of the wars of the Indians, where I left it off. Thefe Barbarians rarely refufe to engage in a. war, when invited by their allies. They commonly do not even want any invitation to take up arms-, the fmalleft motive, even a very nothing, is with them caufe fufficient. But above all, vengeance is the.r darling paffion; they have always fome old or new grudge to fatisfy 5 for no length of time ever clofe Fhofc fort of wounds, let them be ever fo flight. Thus one can never be fure that the peace is fully eftablifhed between two nations who have been long enemies : on the other hand, the defire of re P lacl "» the dead by prifoners to appeafe their manes ; the caprice of a private perfon, a dream which every one explains at random, with other reafons and pre- texts equally frivolous, will often occafion a party to go !o war, who thought of nothing lefs the day before. •TU true, thefe fmall fent of the council, are generally without any gtett X 4 ( 3 ^ ) corrfequence, and as they demand no great prepara- tions, there is little attention paid to them ; but ge- gerally fpeaking, they are not much difpleafed to fee the youth exercifed, and keep themfclves in breath, and they muft have very cogent reafons to oppofe fuch a refolution ; b (Tides, they rarely em- ploy authority to this end, every one being mailer of his own aflions : But they try to intimidate fome by falfe reports which they take care to fpread a- broad •, others they follicit underhand ; they engage the chief to break off the party by preferits, which is no difficult matter ; for a dream, true or falfe, no matter which, is all that is requifite to accompliffi it. A mongft fome nations their M refource is to addrefs themfelves to the nations, which is general- ly efficacious, but they never have recourfe to this method, but when the affair is of much confequence. A war in which the whole nation is concerned, is not foeafily put an end to : they weigh with much deliberation the advantages and difadvantages of it, and whillt they are conlulting, they take great care to remove every thing that may give the enemy the leaft fufpicion of their intention of breaking with him. The war being once refolved upon, they con- lider firft the providing the necefiary provifions, and the equipage of the warriors, which require no long time. Their dances, fongs, fealls, and certain fu- perftitious ceremonies which vary greatly in diffe- rent nations, require a much greater length of time. He who is to command never thinks of levying foldiers, till he has obferved a fall of feveral days” during which he is bedawb’d with black, holds no manner of difcourle with any one, invokes day and night his tutelar genius, and above all he is very careful C P9 ) careful to obferve what dreams he has. Their firm perfuafion, according to the prefuinptupus genius of thofe Barbarians, that he is marcliing forth to certain victory, never fails to infpire him with fuch dreams as he defires. The taft being ended, he af- fembles his friends, and holding a collar of porce- lain in his hand, addrefifes them in words like thefe : My brethren, the Great Spirit is the author of what I fpeak, and has infpired me with the thought of what I am going to put in execution. The blood of fuch an one is not yet wiped away, his corpfe is not yet covered, and I am going to perform this duty to him. He lets forth in like manner the o- ther motives which move him to take up arms. “ I am therefore refolved to march to fuch a place “ to take lcalps, or to make prifoners Or, “ I will “ eat fuch a nation. Should I perilh in this glo- “ rious enterprize, or Ihould any of my compa- “ nions in it lofe his life, this collar will ferve to re- “ ceive us, that we may not be for ever hid in the “ dull, or in the mire.” That is, perhaps, it will be the recompence of him who buries the dead. As he pronounces thefe lad words, he lays the collar on the ground, and he who takes it up, by lb doing declares himfelf his lieutenant ; he then thanks him for his zeal to revenge his brother, or to main- tain the honour of the nation. Then they let water on to w’arm, w r afli the chief from his dawbing, drefs, anoint with oil or fat, or paint his hair. They paint his face with differentxolours, and clothe him in his fined: robe. Thus adorned, he fings with a hollow voice the fong of death ; his foldiers, that is to fay, all thofe who have offered themfelves to accompany him (for no one is ever compelled) thun- der out one after another their war fong ; for every one has one peculiar to himfelf, which no other per- x ( 33 ° ) fon is allowed to ufe ; and there are which are coveted by certain families. even After this previous jneafure, which pafles in fome remote place, and often in a ftove, the chief com- municates his project to the council, wlyj fit upon it, without ever admitting him who is the author of it, to be prefent. As foon as his projeft is ap- proved of he makes a feaft ; at which the chief, and fometimes the only, difn is a dog. Some pretend that this animal is offered to the god of war, before he is put in to the kettle, and poffibly this may be the pra&ice amongft fome nations. I am glad, Madam, to have this opportunity of adver- tifing you once for all, that I don’t pretend to fay that what I relate on this fubjeft, is abfolutely univerfal amongft all the nations. But it feems certain, that on the occalion I here fpeak of they make many in- vocations to their genii, good and evil, and above all to the god of wir. All this takes up feveral days, or rather the fame thing is repeated tor feveral days running : but tho’ every one feems wholly employed in theie feftivals, each family takes its meafures for obtaining a fhare of the prisoners, either to replace their lofles, or to revenge their dead. In this view they make prefents to the chief, who on his fide gives both his promife and pledges befides. In default of prifoners they demand fcalps, which are more eafily obtained. In fome places, as amongft the Iroquois, as loon as a military expedition is refolved on they fet on the war kettle, and advertife their allies to fend or bring fomething to it, to fhew their approbation of the enterprize, and their readinefs to take part in it. 8 All ( 33 * ) Ail thofe who enlitl themfelves, give alfo to the chief, as a token of their engagement, a bit of wood with their mark upon it, and he who after that fhould draw back, would never be fafe while he lived •, at leaft he would be dilhonoured for ever. The party once formed, the war chief prepares a a new feaft, to which the whole village is inVited, and before any thing is tailed, he, or an orator for him, and in his name, accofts them in fuch words asthefe: “ My brethren, I know I am not worthy “ to be called a man, tho’ you all know that I “ have more than once looked an enemy in the “ face. We have been flaughtered ; the bones of “ fuch and fuch perfons are yet unburied, they cry “ out againft us, and we mull fatisfy their requeft. “ They were once men as well as we; how there- “ fore "could we fo foon forget them, and fit fo long “ in this lethargy on our matrefles ? In a word, the “ genius who is the guardian of my honour and “ the author of my renown, infpires me with “ the refolution to revenge them. Youth, take “ courage, anoint your hair, paint your vifages, “ fill your quivers, caufe the forefts refound with *f the voice of your military fongs, let us eafe and “ comfort the deceafed, and (hew them that we “ have avenged them.” After this difcourfe, and the applaufes with which it never fails to be attended, the chief proceeds into the midft of the affembly, his hatchet in his hand, and fings his fong ; all his foldiers make refponfes in the fame manner, and fwear to fecond him or to die in the attempt. All this is accompanied with gef- t tires highly expreffive of their refolution never to give ground to an enemy ; but it is to be remarked that not a fyllable efcapes any foldier, which figni- fies the lead dependance. The whole confids in a pro- ( 33 * ) . . a pronvfe to adt with perfect unanimity and in con- cert. Betides, the engagement they lay themfelves under, requires great acknowledgements on the part of the chief, for inftance, as often as any one in the public dances ftrikes the pod with his hatchet* and recals to memory his molt fignal exploits, as is always the cuftorn, the chief under whole conduct he performed them, is obliged to make him a pre- fent * at lead this is ufual among fome nations. Thefe fongs are followed with dances •, fometimes this is no more than a fierce fort of march, but in cadence ; at others it is done by very lively geftures, expreffive of the operations of a campaign, and al- ways in cadence. Laftly, the whole ceremony con- cludes with a feaft. The war chief is no more than a fpedlator of it, with his pipe in his mouth •, it is even common enough in every confiderable feaft, for him who does the honours of it, to touch no- thing at all himlelf. The following days, and till the departure of the warriors, many things pals, the recital of which is not worth notice, and which are befides neither efiential nor generally pradtifed : but I cannot forget a cuftorn fingular enough, and with which the Iroquois in particular never difpenfe: it feems to have been deviled to difcover fuch per- fons as are endued with natural good fenle, and what is called mother-wit, and are capable of govern- ing themfelves as well as others ; for thefe Indians whom we imagine barbarous people, believe it im- poflible for any one to po fiefs true courage without being abfolute mafter of his paflions, or if he can- not endure the mofl: cruel reverfes that can pofii- bly happen. The affair is this. The mofl; ancient of the military company treat the young people, at lead fuch as have never feen C 333 ) an enemy, with all the fcorn and infults they are capable of deviling. They threw hot embers on their heads ; they throw the molt cruel reproaches in their teeth ; they in fhort load them with all manner of injuries, and carry this treatment to the greateft excefs. All this muft be endured with the utmoft infenfibility •, to give at fuch occafions the lead fign of impatience, would be fufficient to caufe them be declared for ever incapable of bearing arms : But when this is done by perfons of the fame age, as it often happens, the aggreffor muft take care to do nothing wantonly, or out of private pique, or other- wife he would be obliged, when the fport is ended, to attone for the affront by a prefent. I fay, when the fport is ended, for whilft it lafts they are oblig- ed to bear every thing without being angry, tho’ this fort of paftime often goes fo far as the throw- ing big burning brands at each others heads, and giving heavy blows with cudgels. As the hope of having their wounds cured, fhould they happen to receive any, is no fmall encourage- ment for the braveft to expofe themfelves boldly to danger, they afterwards prepare the drugs for this purpofe, and this is the office of their jugglers. I will fome other time tell you what fort of perfons thefe are. The whole town being afiembled, one of thefe quacks declares he is going to communi- cate to the roots and plants, of which he takes care to provide good ftore, the virtue of healing all forts of wounds, and even of reftoring the dead to life. He falls immediately a finging •, the otherquacks makere- fponfes to him, and it is believed that during the con- cert, which would not appear to your ear very me lodious, and which is accompanied with many gri- maces on the part of the actors, the medicinal qua- lity is communicated to the plants. The chief jug- C 334 ) gler then makes trial of them ; he begins with bleeding his own lips, he applies his remedy ; the blood which the impoftor lucks in very dextroufly ceafes to flow, and the whole auditory cries out, A miracle , a miracle. After this, he takes a dead ani- mal, and leaves the fpedtators as much time to con- lider as they chufe, when by means of a canule or pipe inferted under the tail, he caul’es it to move by blowing his herbs into its throat when the exclama- tions of admiration are redoubled. Laftly, the whole company of jugglers makes the tour of the cabbins, finging the praifes and virtues of their re- medies. Thefe tricks at bottom deceive no one, but ferve to amufe the multitude, and cuftom mull be obeyed. The following is another ufagepeculiart o the Mi- amis, and perhaps to fome other nations in the neigh- bourhood of Louifiana. I have extracted it from the memoirs of a Frenchman who was eye-witnels of it. After a folemn feaft they placed, fays he, on a kind of altar, fome figures of pagods, made of bears lkins, the heads of which were painted green. All the Indians palled before this altar, making their genuflexions, or bending their knees, and the quacks led the band, holding in their hand a fack, in which were inclofed all thefe things which were wont to be ufed in their invocation or wor- fhip. He was the cleverelt fellow who made the mod extravagant contortions, and in proportion as any one diftinguilhed himfelf this way, he was ap- plauded with great fliouts. After they had thus paid their firft homage to the idols, they all danced in a very confufed manner, to the found of the drum and ehichicoue *, and during this the jugglers pretended to bewitch or charm feveral Indians, who leemed ( 335 ) feemed to be expiring under the power of their in- cantations : afterwards, by applying a certain pow- der to their lips, they reftored them to life. When this farce had lafted fome time, he who prefided at the feaft, having two men and two wo- men near him, run over all the cabbins, to intimate that the facrifices were going to begin. On meet- ing any one in his way, he refted both hands on his headi and the other embraced his knees. The victims were to be dogs, and the cries of thefe ani- mals, which were howling, and of the Indians who howled as if to anfwer them, with all their might were heard on all fides. When the viands were ready, they were offered to the pagods, they were afterwards eaten, and the bones were burnt. Mean time the juggler continued to reftore the dead to life, and the whole concluded with diftributing to thefe quacks a portion of whatever was moft to their fancy in the whole town. From the time of their coming to the refolution of making war, to the departure of the warriors, the nights are fpent in finging, and the days in making the neceffary preparations. They depute warriors to fing the war fong amongft their neigh- bours and allies, whom they often take care to dif- pofe to their defires before hand, and by fecret ne- gotiations. If their rout is by water, they build or repair their canoes ; if it happen to be in the winter feafon, they provide themfelves in fledges and fnow fnoes. Thefe fnow fhoes, which are abfolutely ne- ceffary for walking in the fnow, are about three feet long, and from fifteen to fixteen inches in their extreme width. They are of an oval fhape, except that the hind part terminates in a point ; there are fmall bits of wood placed crofs wife five or fix inches from ( 33 6 ) from either end, which ferve to ftrengthen them, and that on the- fore pari, is as it were the firing of a bow, under an opening in which the foot is inferr- ed, and made fait with thongs. The tiflue or co- vering of the fnow fhoe is made of ftraps of leather two fingers broad, and the border is of a light wood hardened in the fire. To walk well on thefe lhoes, you muft turn your knees inwards, keeping your legs at a good diftance from each o- ther. It is very difficult to accuftom one’s felf to them ; but when once you attain it, you walk ea- fily and without fatiguing yourfelf any more than if you had nothing on your feet. It is impoffible to make ufe of thefe fnow lhoes with common ffioes. One muft wear thofe of the Indians, which are a kind of facks made of dried hides, folded over the extremity of the foot, and tied with cords. Their fledges, which ferve to tranfport the bag- gage, and in cafe of neceffity the lick and wound- ed, are two fmall and very thin boards half a foot broad each, and fix or feven long. The fore part is fomewhat railed, and the fides bordered with fmall bands, to which the thongs for binding what- ever is laid upon the carriage, is fattened. Let thefe carriages be ever fo much loaded, an Indian draws it without difficulty, by means of a long thong or ftrap, which is pafs’d round his breaft, and is cal- led a collar. They ufe them likewife for carrying burdens, and mothers for carrying their children with their cradles ; but in this cafe the thong or Collar is placed upon their forehead, and not on their breafts. Every thing being ready, and the day of their departure come, they take their leave with great demonftrations of real attention. Every one is de- firous y ( 337 ) firous of having fomething the warriors have been in ule to wear or carry about them, and gives them in return pledges of their friendlhip, and alfurances of an everlalting remembrance of them. They fcarce ever enter any of their cabins without carry- ing away their robe, in order to give them a better, or at leaft one full as good in its ftead. Laftly, they all repair to the chief. They find him armed as on the firft day of his addreffing himfelf to them, and as hehas appeared in publick everfince. 1 hey again have their faces painted, every one after his own fancy or caprice, and all of them generally fo as to ftrike terror. The chief makes them a ihort harangue : afterwards he comes out of his cabin finging the death fong. They all follow him in file, or one after another, obferving a profound filence ; and the fame thing is repeated every morning when they be- gin their march. Here the women lead the van with their provifions •, and when the warriors have joined them, they deliver to them all their baggage, and remain a] molt naked ; at leaft as much fo as the l'tafon will allow. Formerly the arms of theTndians were the bow and arrow, and a kind of javelin, both pointed with a kind of bone worked in different manners ; and hil- ly, the hatchet or break-head. T his was formerly a Ihort club of a very hard wood, the head of which was partly round, and partly fliarp edged. Mod had no defenfive weapon •, but when they attacked any entrenchment, they covered their whole body with fmallTight boards. Some nave a fort of cui- rafs, or bread plate, of fmall pliable rings very neat- ly worked. They had even formerly a kind of mail for the arms and thighs made of the fame ma- terials. But as this kind of armour was found not to be proof againft fire arms, they have renounced Vol. I. ° Y them C 338 ) them, without putting any thing in their place The weflern Indians always ufe bucklers of buffa- loes hide, which are very light, and proof againft mufket-fhot. It is pretty furprifing, the other Indian nations never ufe them. When they ufe our fwords, which is very rare, they handle them like our half pike : but when they can have fire arms, powder and {hot, they abandon their bows, and are excellent markfmen. We have no caufe to repent having given them thefe arms, tho* we were not the firft to do it. The Iro- quois had got them of the Dutch, who were then in pofleffion of New-York ; which laid us under the neceffity of giving them to our allies. They have a kind of ftandards or colours to know one another by, and to enable them to rally ; thefe are fmall pieces of bark cut into a round form, which they fix to the head of a pole, and on which is drawn the mark of their nation or village. If the party is numerous, each family or tribe has its peculiar en- fign with its diftinguifhing mark. Their arms are alfo adorned with different figures, and fometimes with the mark of the chief. But that which they are as careful not to forget, as even their arms, and which they guard with ftili more care, is their manitous. I fhall treat more particularly of them elfewherej it fuffices here to lay, that they are fo many fymbols, under which every one reprefents his tutelar genius. They in- clofe them all in a bag made of rufhes, and painted with different colours ; and often to do honour to the chief, they place this bag in the prow of his ca- noe. If there are too many manitous to be con- tained in one bag, they diftribute them amongft le- veral bags, which are entrufted to the care of the lieutenant ( 339 ) lieutenant and of the elders of each family. To thefe they join the prefents which have been made them in order to obtain prifoners, together with the tongues of all the animals killed during the cam- paign, and which are to be facrificed to the genii at their return. In their marches by land, the chief carries his own bag called his matrafs, but may difcharge this burden on any one at pleafure, and need not fear being refufed, this being looked upon as an honour done the perfon to whom it is given : this is alfo a fort of right of furvivorlhip to the command in cafe the chief and his lieutenant fhould happen to die in the campaign. Buc whilft I write you, be- hold me arrived in the river Niagara, where I lhall meet with agreeable company, and remain fome days. I fet out from Riviere des Sables, the 21ft before fun rife, but the wind proving always con- trary, we were obliged at ten o’clock to enter the bay of the Tfonnonthouans. At half way between this bay and Riviere des Sables, there is a fmall ri- ver which 1 would not have failed to vifit, had I been fooner informed of what it has that is fingular, which I learnt juft after my arrival here. This river is called Cafconchiagon, and is very narrow, and fhallow at its difcharge into the lake. A little higher it is 240 feet in breadth, and it is affirmed that there is water to float the largeft fhips. Two leagues from its mouth you are flopped by a fall, which feems to be about fixty feet high, and 240 feet broad ; a mulket (hot above this, you find a lecond of the fame breadth, but not fo high by a third : and half a league higher ftill a third, which is full a hundred feet high, and 360 feet broad. You meet after this with feveral rapids, Y 2 ' and ( 340 ) and after failing fifty leagues higher, you difcover a fourth fall, nothing inferior to the third. The courfe of this river is an hundred leagues, and after you have failed up fixty leagues on it, you have no more than ten to make over land, turning towards the right, to arrive at the Ohio, otherwife, la Belle Riviere. The place where- you arrive at is called Ganos, where, an officer worthy of credit, and from whom 1 have received all I have been relating to you, a fill res me he faw a fountain, the water of which refembles oil, and has the tafie of iron. He added, that a little farther there is another exactly of the fame kind, and that the Indians make ufe of its water to mitigate all kinds of pains. The bay of the Tfonnonthouans is a delightful place : here is a fine river which meanders between two beautiful meadows fkirted with hills, between which you difcover vallies which ftretch a great way, the whole forming the nobleft profpedt in the whole world, and is furrounded with a magnificent forefi of the tailed; arid largefi timber trees : but the foil feemed to me a little light and fandy. We fet out again at half an hour pad: one, and continued our voyage till ten at night. Our defign was to take up our night’s lodgings within a fmall river called Buffaloe’s river ; but we found the entry fhut up with fand banks, which often happens to fmall rivers which difcharge themfelves into thefe lakes, by reafon of their carrying a great quantity of fand along with them : for when the wind blows diredfly towards their mouths, the fand is flopped by the waves, and gradually forms a dike, fo high and ftrong that the current of the rivers cannot force a pafiage thro’ it, except at fuch times as they are ivvoln by the melting of the fnow. Ciil! . I, . 4 §'** I was ( 34i ) I was obliged to pals the reft of the night in my canoe, where I was expofed to a very hard froft. Thus the trees were fcarce obferved to bud, but were all in the fame ftate as in the middle of winter. We fet out thence at half an hour paft three in the morning of the 2 2d, being afcenfion day, and went to fay mafs at nine o’clock, at what is called le Grand Marais. This is much fuch another place as that of the Tfonnonthouans, but the lands leem better. Towards two o’clock in the afternoon, we entered the river of Niagara formed by the great fall, whereof I (hall fpeak prefently, or rather it is the river St. Lawrence, which proceeds from lake Erie, and paffes thro’ lake Ontario after fourteen leagues of Narrows. Ic is called the river Niagara from the fall being a courfe of fix leagues. After failing three leagues, you find on the left fome ca- bins of the Iroquois, Tfonnonthouans, and of t! e Miffifagues as at Catarocoui. The Sieur de Jon- caire, lieutenant of our troops, has alfo a cabbin at this place, to which they have before hand given the name of Fort * : for it is pretended that in time this will be changed into a great fortrefs. I found here feveral officers, who were to return in a few days to Quebec. For this reafon I am obliged to clofe my letter, which I fhall fend by that way. As for my own part, I forefee I fhall have time fufficient to write you another after they are gone, and the place itfelf will in a great meafure furnifh me materials enough to fill it, together with * A fort has been ftnce built in the mouth of the river of Niagara on the fame fide, and exactly at the place where Monf. de Denonville had built one, which (ubfifted not long, i here even begins to be formed here a French town. O Y 3 what ( 342 ) what I fhall be able to learn of the officer I have mentioned. 1 have the honour to be , &c. Niagara ? May 23, 1721. LETTER 'C/ C 343 ) b I letter XV. franfaffions between the Tfonnonthouans (a tribe of the Iroquois) and the Englifh, on oc- cafion of building a French fort at Niagara. Dfcription of the country. Fire-dance ; Jlory on this occafion. Defcription of the Fall of Niagara. Ti : From the Fall of Niagara , May 1 4 j iJ2i. Madam, I Have already had the honour to acquaint you, that we have a fcheme for a fettletnent in this place •, but in order to know the reafon of this pro- jeft, it will be proper to obferve, that as the Eng- lilh pretend, by virtue of the treaty of Utrecht, to the fovereignty of all the Iroquoife country, and by confequence, to be bounded on that fide, by Lake Ontario only -, now it is evident, that, m cate we allow of their pretenfions, they would then have it abfolutely in their power to eftablith themfelves firmly in the heart of the French colonies, or at leaft, entirely to ruin their commerce. In .°™ er » therefore, to prevent this evil, it has been judged proper, without, howevoy iolatmg the treaty, j.o ( 344 ) make a fcttlement in fome place, which might fe- cure to us the free communication between the lakes, and where the Englifh fhould not have it in their power to oppofe us. A com million has therefore been given to M. de Joncaire, who having in his youth been prifoner amongft the Tfonnonthouans, fo infinuated himfelf into the good graces of thofe Indians, chat they adopted him, fo that even in the hotted of their wars with us, and notwithftanding his remarkable fervices to his country, he has a° ways enjoyed the privileges of that adoption. On receiving the orders I have been now men- tioning to you, he repaired to them, aflembled their chiefs, and after having afllired them, that his great- elf pie alii re in this world would be to live amongft his brethren ; he added, that he would much oftener vifit them, had he a cabin amongft them, to which lve might retire when he had a mind to be private. They told him, that they had always looked upon him as one of their own children, that he had only to make choice of a place to his liking in any part of the country. He afked no more, but went im- mediately and made choice of a fpot on the banks of the river, which terminates the canton of Tfon- nonthouan, where he built his cabbin. The news of this foon reached New-York, where it excit- ed fo much the more the jealoufy of the Englilh, as that nation had never been able to obtain the fa- vour granted to the Sieur de Joncaire, in any Iro- quoife canton. j hey made loud remonftrances, which being le- conded with prelents, the other four cantons at once efpoufed their interefts. *1 hey were, however, ne- vei the nearer their point, as the cantons are not pn y mdependant of eacji other, but alio veryjea- • lous ( 345 ) lous of this independance. It was therefore necef- fary to gain that of Tfonnonthouan, and the Eng- liihi omitted nothing to accomplilh it ; but they were foon fenfible they fhould never be able to get Jon- caire difmifled from Niagara. At laft they content- ed themfelves with demanding, that, at lead, they might be permitted to have a cabin in the fame place; but this was likewife refufed' them. “ Our country is in peace, laid the Tfonnonthouans, the French and you will never be able to live together, without raifing difturbances. Moreover, added they, it is of no confequence that Joncaire fhould remain here ; he is a child of the nation, he enjoys his right which we are not at liberty to take from him.” No'V, Madam, we muff acknowledge, that no- thing but zeal for the publick good could poffibly induce an officer to remain in fuch a country as this, than which a wilder and more frightful is not to be feen. On the one fide you fee juft under your feet, and as it were at the bottom of an abyfs, a great river, but which in this place is liker a torrent by its rapidity, by the whirlpools formed by a thoufand rocks, through which it with difficulty finds a paf- fage, and by the foam with which it is always co- vered ; on the other the view is confined by three mountains placed one over the other, and whereof the laft hides itfelf in the clouds. This would have been a very proper feene for the poets to make the Titans attempt to fcale the heavens. In a word, on whatever fide you turn your eyes, you difeover nothing which does not infpire a fecret horror. You have, however, but a very ffiort way to go, to behold a very different prolpedt. Behind thofe uncultivated and uninhabitable mountains, you en- joy ( 346 ) joy the fight of a rich country, magnificent forefts, beautiful and fruitful hills ; you breathe the pureft air, under the mildeft and moft temperate climate imaginable, fituated between two lakes the leaft of which * is two hundred and fifty leagues in cir- cuit. It is my opinion that had we the precaution to make fure of a place of this confequence, by a good fortrefs, and by a tolerable colony, all the forces of the Iroquoife and Englifh conjoined, would not have been able, at this time to drive us out of it, and that we ourfelves would have been in a condi- tion to give law to the former, and to hinder moft part of the Indians from carrying their furs to the lecond, as they daily do with impunity. The com- pany I found here with M. de Joncaire, was com- pofed of the baron de Longueil, king’s lieutenant in Montreal +, the marquis de Cavagnal, fon of the marquis de Vaudreuil, the prefent governor of New-France; M. de Senneville, captain, and the Sieur de la Chauvignerie, enfign, and interpreter of the Iroquoife language. Thefe gentlemen are about negotiating an agreement of differences with the canton of Onontague, and were ordered to vifit the fettlement of the Sieur de Joncaire, with which they were extremely well fatisfied. The Tfonnonthou- ans renewed to them the promife they had for- merly made them, to maintain it. This was done in a council, in which Joncaire, as they told me, fpoke with all the good fenfe of a Frenchman, whereof he enjoys a large fhare, and with the fub- limeft eloquence of an Iroquoife. * Lake Ontario. Lake Erie is three hundred leagues round*, •f He died governor of this city. On T ( 347 ) On the eve of their departure, that is, on the 29th, aMiflifuague regaled us with a feftival, which has fomething in it Angular enough. It was quite dark when it began, and on entering the cabin of this Indian, we found a fire lighted, near which fat a man beating on a kind of drum i another was conftantly lhaking his Chichicoue , and finging at the fame time. This lafted two hours, and tired us very much as they were always repeating the fame thing over again, or rather uttering half arti- culated founds, and that without the leaft variation. We entreated our hoft not to carry this prelude any further, who with a good deal of difficulty ffiewed us this mark of complaifance. Next, five or fix women made their appearance, drawing up in a line, in very clofe order, their arms hanging down, and dancing and finging at the lame time, that is to fay, they moved Ibme paces forwards, and then as many backwards, without breaking the rank. When they had continued this exercife about a quarter of an hour, the fire, which was all that gave light in the cabbin, was put out, and then nothing was to be perceived but an Indian dancing with a lighted coal in his mouth. The concert of the drum and chichicoue ftill continued, the women repeated their dances and finging from time to time; the Indian danced all the while, but as he could only be diftinguiffied by the light of the coal in his mouth he appeared like a goblin, and was horrible to fee. This medley of dancing, and finging, and inftruments, and that fire which never went out, had a very wild and whimfical appear- ance, and diverted us for half an hour ; after which we went out of the cabin, though the entertainment lafted till morning. This Madam is all I faw of the fire dance, and I have not been able to learn what pafled r C ^48 ) palled the remainder of the night. The mufick, which I heard for fome time after, was a great deal more fupportable at a diflance than when near it. The contrail of male and female voices at a certain dillance had a pleafant efifedt enough ; and if the Indian women were taught mufick, I am confident they would make very agreeable fingers. I was very defirous to know how a man was able to hold a lighted coal in his mouth fo long, with- out being burnt, and without its going out ; but all 1 have been able to learn of this point is, that the Indians are acquainted with a plant which ren- ders the part that has been rubbed with it infenfible to fire, but whereof they would never communi- cate the difcovery to the Europeans. We know that the onion and garlick will produce the fame effe<5t, though for a very Ihort while *. Befides, how could this coal remain fo long lighted ? be this as it will, I remember to have read in the letters of one of our ancient mifilonaries of Canada, a thing that has fome relation to this, and which he learned from another mifiionary who was an eye witnefs. This perfon Ihewed him one day a Hone, which one of their juglers or quacks had thrown into the fire in his prefence, leaving it there till it became red hot-, after which falling into a fort of enthufiaftick frenzy, he took it between his teeth, and carrying it always in that manner, went to vifit a patient, the mifiionary following him ; as he call the flone upon the ground, the father on taking it up, perceived the marks of the Indian’s teeth in it, but yet could not obferve the leail fign of burning in his mouth. He does not mention what the quack * It is pretended that the leaves of the anemone of Canada, in other iefpe&s very caulbck, have this virtue. did ( 349 ) did afterwards for the relief of the patient ; but here is another incident of the fame kind, and pro- ceeding from the fame fource, and of which your Grace will judge as you think proper. A Huron woman, after having had a vifion, true or falfe, was feized with a giddinefs, and an almoft univerfal contraction of the nerves. As this wo- man from the beginning of the diforder, never flept without having many troublefome dreams, fhe began to fufpeCt fomething preternatural in it, and took it into her head, fhe fhould be cured by means of a feaft whereof fhe herfelf regulated all the ce- remonies, according to what fhe faid, fhe remem- bered to have ften formerly praCtifed. Firft, fhe would have them carry her to the village where fhe was born, the elders whom fhe caufed to be adver- tized of her defign exhorting all the people to ac- company her. In a moment’s time her cabin was crowded with people, who came to offer her their fervice. She accepted them, inftruCted them in what they were to do, and immediately the ftouteft of them placed her in a kind of litter, and carried her by turns, finging with all their might. "When they were come near the village, they af- fembled a great council to which the miffionaries were invited by way of compliment, who did all in their power, but ineffectually, to diffuade then*: from a thing, in which they juftly fufpe&ed equal folly and fuperftition. 1 hey calmly heard all they had to fay on this fubjeCt, but when they had done fpeaking, one of the chiefs of the council, under- took to refute their arguments, but with no better fuccefs. Then leaving the miffionaries where he found them, he exhorted all the afTiffants to acquit themfclves exa&ly of what fhould be prefcribed , them. ( 35 ° ) them, and to maintain the ancient cuftoms. Whilft he was ftill fpeaking, two deputies from the pa- tient entered the aflembly, and requefted on her behalf, to have fent her two young boys and two young girls, attired in robes and belts of Wam- pum, with certain prefents, which fhe mentioned, adding, that (lie would make known her further in- tentions to thefe four perfons. This was immediately put in execution, a fhort while afterwards, the four young perfons returned, empty handed, and almoft naked, the patient hav- ing ftript them of all they had, even to their very robes. In this condition they entered the council which was (till afiembled, and fet forth the demands of this woman, confiding of two and twenty arti- cles, amongft which one was a blue covering, to be furnilhed by the miffionaries, and all of them to be delivered within an hour. They tried all their rhetorick to obtain the covering, but this being pe- remptorily refufed, they were obliged to go with- out it. As foon as the fick perfon received the other prefents, file entered the village, being carried, as I have already faid, all the way. Towards even- ing, a publick crier, by her order, made procla- mation, to have fires lighted in every cabbin, fhe being to vifit them all, which accordingly Ihe did as foon as the fun was fet, being fupported by two men, and followed by the whole village. She palled through the middle of all the fires, her feet and legs naked, without receiving any harm, whilft her two l'upporters, though they did their utmoft e ideavours to keep clear of being fcorched fuffered greatly, as they were obi ged to condudt her in this manner acids upwards ot three hundred fires: as for her part, her conftant complaint was of the cold •, ( 35 1 ) cold ; at the end of this courfe, (he declared (he felt herfelf better. On the morrow, at funrife, they began, and by her order too, a kind of Bacchanalian feftival, which lafted three days. On the firft, all the people run through the cabins, breaking and overturning every thing, and, in proportion as the noife and hubbub encreafed, the patient declared that her pains dimi- niihed. The other two days were fpent in running over all the fires through which (he had pafied, pro- pofing her defires in aenigmatical terms, which they were obliged to divine, and to perform accordingly, that inftant •, fome of thefe were obfcene even to a horrible degree. The fourth day, the fick perlbn made, a fecond time, the tour of all the cabbins, but in a very different manner from the firft. She was placed in the midft of two troops of Indians, marching one after another, with a fad and lan- guifhing air, and obferving a profound filence. No perfon was fuffered to be in her way, and thofe who formed the vanguard of her efcort, cleared the road of all they met. As foon as (he entered any cabin they made her fit down, and placed themfelves round her ; (he fighed, related with a moving ac- cent, all her evils, and gave to underftand that her being perfectly cured, depended on the accomplifli- ment of (bme wilh, which (he kept to herfelf, and which mull be divined. Every one did his bed to interpret it, but this defire was Very complex, and confided of a great number of particulars, fo that in proportion as they hit upon one of them, they were obliged to give her what (he fought for, (he fcarce ever left any cabbin, till (he had got all it contained. A 4 When ( 35 2 ) When fhe faw them at a lofs to guefs her mean- ing, fhe exprelTed herfelf fomewhat more clearly, and when they had guefled all, fhe caufed every thing to be reftored. There was no longer any doubt of her being perfeftly cured, and a feftival was made on the occafion, which confifted in cries, or rather, hideous howlings, and all manner of ex- travagancies. Laftly, flie paid her acknowledg- ments, and, the better to teftify her gratitude, fhe vifited all the cabbins a third time, but without any ceremony. The miflionary, who was witnefs to this ridiculous fcene, fays, that the fick perfon was not entirely cured, but that fhe was, however, a great deal better, though the mod healthy and ro- buft perfon would have died under fuch an opera- tion. The father was at great pains to cauie her take notice, that her pretended genius or familiar, had promifed her a perfedf cure, but had failed of his promife. He was anfwered, that amongll fuch a number of things as were to be done, it was hard- ly poffible fomething fhould not have been omitted. He expedted they would have chiefly infifted on the refufal of the blue covering ; it is true they made no mention of it, only they faid, that after this refufal, the genius had appeared to the patient, and afllired her that this refufal fhould do her no prejudice, be- caufe, the French not being natives of the country, the genii had no power over them. I return to my voyage. The officers having departed, I afcended thofe frightful mountains, in order to vifit the famous Fall of Niagara, above which I was to take water ; this is a journey of three leagues, though formerly five •, becaufe the way then lay by the other, that is, the weft- fide of the river, and alfo becaufe the place for embarking lay full two leagues above the ( 353 ) Fall. But there has fince been found, on the left, at the diftance of half a quarter of a league from this cataract, a creek, where the current is not per- ceivable, and confequently a place where one may take water without danger. My firll: care, after my arrival, was to vifit the nobleft cafcade perhaps in the world ; but I prefently found the baron de la Hontan had committed fuch a miftake with refpefl to its height and figure, as to give grounds to be- lieve he had never feen it. It is certain, that if you meafure its height by that of the three mountains, you are obliged to climb to get at it, it docs not come much fhort of what the map of M. Deflifle makes it ; that is, fix hundred feet, having certain- ly gone into this paradox, either, on the faith of the baron de la Hontan or father Hennepin ; but after I arrived at the fummit of the third moun- tain, I obferved, that in the fpace of three leagues, which I had to walk before I came to this piece of water, though you are fometimes obliged to afcend, you mull yet defcend ftill more, a circumftance to which travellers feem not to havefufficiently attend- ed. As it is impolfible to approach it but on one fide only, and confequently to fee it, excepting in profil, or fidevvays ; it is no eafy matter to meafure its height with inftruments. It, has, however, been attempted by means of a pole tied to a long line, and after many repeated trials, it has been found only one hundred and fifteen, or one hundred and twenty feet high. But it is impolfible to be fure that the pole has not been ftopt by fome pro- jefting rock •, for though it was always drawn up wet, as well as the end of the line to which it was tied, this proves nothing at all, as the water which precipitates itfelf from the mountain, rifes very high in foam. For my own part, after having Vol. I. z exa- ( 354 ) examined it on a’l fides, where it could be viewed to the greateft advantage, I am inclined to think we cannot allow it lefs than a hundred and forty, or fifty feet. As to its figure, it is in the fhape of a horfe- fhoe, and is about four hundred paces in circum- ference ; it is divided into two, exa&ly in the mid- dle, by a very narrow ifland, half a quarter of a league long. It is true, thole two parts very foon unite ; that on my fide, and which I could only have a fide view of, has feveral branches which pro- ject from the body of the cafcade, but that which I viewed in front, appeared to me quite entire, i he baron de la Hontan mentions a torrent, which if this author has not invented it, mud: certainly fall through fome channel on the melting of the fnows. You may eafily guefs, Madam, that a great way below this Fall, the river Hill retains ftrong marks of fo violent a Ihock ; accordingly, it becomes on- ly navigable three leagues below, and exaffly at the place which M. de Joncaire has chofen for his refi- dence. It Ihould by right be equally unnavigable above it, fince the river falls perpendicular the whole lpace of its breadth. But befides the ifland, which divides it into two, feveral rocks which are fcattered up and down above it, abate much of the rapidity of the ftream ; it is notwithftanding fo very ftrong, that ten or twelve Outaways trying to crofs over to the ifland to fhun the Iroquoile who were in purfuit of them, were drawn into the precipice, in fpite of all their efforts to preferve themfelves. I have ( 355 ) 1 have heard fay that the ftfh that happen to be entangled in the current, fall dead into the river, and that the Indians of thofe parts were confiderably advantaged by them ; but I faw nothing of this fort. 1 was alfo told, that the birds that attempted to fly over were fometimes caught in the whirlwind formed, by the violence of the torrent. But I ob- ferved quite the contrary, for I faw fmall birds fly- ing very low, and exadtly over the Fall, which yet cleared their pafiage very well. This fheet of water falls upon a rock, and there are two reafons which induce me to believe, that it has either found, or perhaps in time hollowed out a cavern of confiderable depth. The firft is, that the noife it makes is very hollow, refembling that of thunder at a diftance. You can fcarce hear it at M. de Joncaire’s, and what you hear in this place, may poflibly be only that of the whirlpools caufed by the rocks, which fill the bed of the river as far as this. And fo much the rather as above the ca- taradl, you do not hear it near fo far. T. he iecond is, that nothing has ever been feen again that has once fallen over it, not even the wrecks of the canoe of the Outaways, I mentioned juft now. Be this as it will, Ovid gives us the defcription of fuch another cataradl fituated according to him in the delightful valley of Tempe. I will not pretend that the country of Niagara is as fine as that, though I believe its cataract much the nobleft of the two * . * Eft nemus Hiemonii, prasrupta quod undique claudit Sylva, vocant Tempe, per qus Peneus ab imo EfFufus Pindo {pumofis volvitur undis. , Deje&ifque gravi tenues agitantia fumos Nubila conducit, fummifque afpergine fyhas Impluic, et fonitis plufquam vicina fatigat. MtT. av . I. 2 2 Be Tides ( 35 I * * * * 6 ) Befides I perceived no mift above it, but from behind, at a diftance, one would take it. for fmoke, and there is no perfon who would not be deceived with it, if he came in fight of the ifie, without having been told before- hand that there was fo fur- prifing a cataradt in this place. The foil of the three leagues I had to walk a foot to get hither, and which is called the carrying-place of Niagara, feems very indifferent ; it is even very ill-wooded, and you cannot walk ten paces without treading on ant-hills, or meeting with rattle- fnakes, efpecially during the heat of the day. I think, I told you, Madam, that the Indians efteem the flefh of thofe reptiles a very great dainty. In general, ferpents are no way frightful to thefe people ; there is no animal you fee oftener painted on their faces and bodies, and they feldom ever purfue them, ex- cept for food. The bones and fkins of ferpents are alfo of great fervice to their jugglers and wiz- ards in divining •, the laft of which they make ufe of for belts and fillets. It is no lefs true what we are told of their having the fecret of enchanting, or, to fpeak more properly, ftupifying thofe animals ; their taking them alive, handling them, and put- ting them in their bofom, without receiving any hurt ; a circumftance, which contributes not a lit- tle towards gaining them the great credit they have amongft thefe people. I was going to feal this letter, when my people came to tell me, we fhould not let out to-morrow as I expedted. So I muft wait with patience, and profit what I can of my fpare time. I am therefore going to refume the article of the wars of the In- dians, which will not be fo foon exhaufted. The 6 mo- ( 357 ) * moment all the warriors are embarked, the canoes fail to a little diftance, keeping clofe together in one line ; then the chief rifes, holding in his hand his chichicoue, and lings aloud his own war-fong, to which his foldiers made anfwer by a treble he! fetched from the bottom of their breads. The el- ders and chiefs of the council who have remained on the banks, then exhort the warriors to do their duty, and above all to beware of being furprifed. This is of all the advices- which can be given an Indian, the mod neceflfary, and that, by which they gene- rally profit lead. This admonition, however in- terrupts not the chief who continues to fing all the while Ladly, the warriours conjure their relations and friends, to remember them continually, anc then raifing the mod horrid Ihouts or howling* all together, they immediately fet out with fo muchce- ferity, that they are inftantly out of light. The Hurons and Iroquois make no life of the chichicoue, but give them to their prtfoners, jo that his which* with other Indians is a warlike mftru- m nt, feems with them a mark or badge of flavery The warriors never make (hort marches, efpec, ally dta in large bodies , moreover, ** thine that happens into an omen, and the jugglers, whole fun&ion it is to explain them, haden or retard dieir marches atpleafure WhilH they are in a country " ^of precaution" £*££22 . 25 fdoC«r"ors together, the reft being difperfed up the roue, Aey aP taern be a! the place of rendezvous at the hour appointed. Z 3 They ( 35 8 ) They pitch their camp long before fun-fet, and commonly leave in the front of it a large fpace, in- clofed with a pallifade, or rather a kind of lattice- work, on which are placed their manitous, turned towards that fide on which their rout lies. They invoke them for the fpace of an hour, and the fame thing is done every morning before they fet out. This being done, they imagine they have nothing to fear, being perfuaded that the genii take upon themfelves the office of centinels, and the whole army (leeps fecurely under their fafeguard. No ex- perience is able to undeceive thefe barbarians, or to draw them out of their prefumptuous confidence. This has its fource in an indolence and lazinefs which nothing is able to overcome. Every thing in the way of the warriors is held as an enemy. In cafe, however, they ffiould happen to meet with their allies, or parties of near the fame force with whom they no have quarrel, they enter in a league of mutual friendfhip. If the allies they meet are at war with the fame enemy, the chief of the ftrong- eft party, or of that which has firft taken up arms, gives the other a prefent of fcalps, of which they never fail to make provifion for fuch occafions ; and tells h m, You alfo have a blow here ; that is, you have fulfilled your engagements, your honour is now fecure, and you are at liberty to return ; but this is to be underdood when the rencounter is ac- cidental, and that no word or promife has pafled betwixt them, or that they have no need of a rein- forcement. When they are on the point of entering the ene- my s country, they halt to perform a very extraor- dinary ceremony. In the evening there is a great feaft T C 359 ) feaft, after which they go to fleep As foon as all are awake, thofe who have had any dreams go from tent to tent, or rather from fire to fire, finging their dcath-fong, in which they infert their dreams in an enigmatical manner. Every one fits his brains to woTk to interpret them, and ffiould no one be ab:e to fucceed in it, the dreamers are free to return home. A notable opportunity for cowards truly. After- wards new invocations are made to the genu, and they animate themfelves anew to acquit themielves nobly, and to perform wonders ; they fwear to ait each other mutually ; laftly, they begin their march, and in cafe they have come thus far in canoes, they take a great care to conceal them. If every thin were exadtly done, which is prescribed on fuch oc- cafions, it would be very difficult to iurpnfe an In- dian party in an enemy’s country 1 here muft no moreffires be lighted, no more ftoutmg and no more hunting; they are not even to fpeak but by fians ; but thefe laws are ill-obferved 1 he Indians are naturally prefumptuous and the lead ' capable o* confinement of any people in the world ^ They ne^ledt not, however, to fend out fcouts er y * ing who employ two or three hours in excurf ons on different fides If thefe fitep fecurely, and once more abandon their P to the fafeguard of their mamtous. As foon as they have thofe fend to reconnoitre him, and . g aencra!ly fint out hold > ^uneffi ^ P the time they fuppofe made at day- break. an d they keep the enemy to be in P their f accS} themfelves the their approaches in the w.thout ftirring- J ■ hands and feet, till they fame manner, creepu D i have L 4 • ( 3 6 ° ) have got within a bow-fhot of the enemy. Then they all flart up, the chief gives the fignal by a fmall cry, to which the whole body makes anfwer by hideous howlings, and at the fame time make their difcharge. 7 hen without giving them time to recover from their confufion they pour upon them with hatchet in hand. Since the Indian have fub- ftituted iron hatchets to their old wooden ones, their battles have become more bloody. The com- bat ended, they fcalp the dead and dying, and ne- ver think of making prifoners, till all refiftance is over. But when they find the enemy on his guard, or too ftrongly intrenched they retire, provided they have ftill time to do it. If not, they boldly re- iolve on fighting to the laft drop, and there is fome- times abundance of blood-flied on both fides. A camp which has been forced is the very pidure of fury irfelf, the barbarous fiercenefs of the conquer- ors, the defpair of the conquered, who know what they have to exped fhould they fall alive into the hands of the enemy, occafion prodigious efforts on both fides, which furpafs all that can be related of them. The figure of the combatants all befmeared with black and red, ftill augments the horror of the confhd, and a very good pidure of hell might be drawn from this model. When the vidory is no longer doubtful, the conquerors firft difpatch all inch as they defpair of being able to carry with them, without trouble, and then try only to tire the reft whom they are defirous of makin°- pri- loners. ° The Indians are naturally intrepid, and in fpite of their brutal fiercenefs always retain abundance of cold ( 36* ) cold blood in the midft of aftion ; yet they never engage in an open country when they can avoid it; their reafon for it being, fay they, that a vlftory bought with blood is no viftory, and that the glory of z chief confifts above all things in bringing back all his people fafe and found, or in whole fkins. I have heard fay, that when two enemies who are ac- quaintances meet in battle, they hold dialogues to- gether like the fpeeches of former heroes. I do not believe this happens in the heat of the action, but it may very well happen in fmad rencounters, or before palling fome rivulet, or facing an entrench- ment, in which cafe they bid one another defiance, or recall to memory what may have palled in lome former action. War is almoft a’ways made by furprize, which generally fucceeds well enough. For if the Indians are negligent in guarding againft furprizes, they are equally alert and dextrous in furprifing their ene- mies. Befides, thefe people have a natural and a molt admirable talent, or I might call it an inftina, to know whether they have paired any particular way On the fmootheft grafs, or the hardeft earth, even on the very ftones, they will difeover the tra- ces of an enemy, and by their lhape and figure of the footfteps, and the diftance between their plants, they will, it is faid, diftinguifh not only different nations, but alfo tell whether they were men or women who have gone that way. I was long o opinion that what I had been told of them was much exaggerated, but the uniform voices of ail who have lived and converfed much with Indians, leave™ no room to queftion the truth of them. If there are any of the prifoners wounded in fuch manner as that they cannot be tranlported, they immediate- C 362 ) ly burn them, and this is done in their firflr trans- ports of rage, and as they are often obliged to make a hady retreat, they generally come off cheaper than thofe they referve for a flower punifh- ment. It is cudomary among fome nations, for the chief of the victorious party to leave his hatchet upon the field of battle, on which he takes care to trace the mark of his nation, that of his family, together with his own portrait, that is, an oval, with all the figures he wears on his vilage repre- sented within it. Others paint all thefe marks on the trunk of a tree, or on a piece of bark, with charcoal dull mixed with Some other colours. They alSo add hieroglyphick characters by means of which palfengers may inform themfelves of the minuted circumftances, not only of the action but of the whole campaign. The chief of the party may be known by the marks above-mentioned ; the number of his exploits by So many matrafles ; the number of his Soldiers by So many lines •, that of the pri- soners by So many Small figures carrying daves, or chichicoues ; that of the killed by So many human figures without heads, with Such different marks as Serve to didinguifh men grown from women and children. But this is not always found very near the place of addion, for when a party is in fear of being purfued, they place them at a d f- tar.ee from their route, in order to deceive their purfuers. ' Till Such time as they reach a country where they may be in Safety, they make abundance of difpatch, and that the wounded may not retard their flight, they carry them by turns on litters, or draw them on .•;!beir t 1 fejisalf •srl Ttaf< fkof ^ theii * $ri$ iton iff, rare plb m Ik SR k jp suer. m . Sfe .3tC ;jv- * mu * 1 ( 3 6 3 ) on (ledges if it is in the winter-feafon. On enter- ing their canoes, they make their prifoners fing, which is alfo done as often as they meet with any of their allies. This honour cods thofe who re- ceive it a feaft, and fomething (till worfe than the trouble of finging to the wretched captives. They invite their allies to carefs them ; now to carefs a prifoner is to do him all the mifchief they can think of, or to maim him in fuch manner that he remains a cripple for ever after. There are fome chiefs, however, who take indifferent good care of thefe unhappy people, and who do not fuffer them to be too cruelly handled •, but nothing can come up to their care in watching them. In the day time they are tied by the neck and arm to the timbers of a canoe, and when the journey is by land, there is always one to hold them. In the night-time they are ftretched along the ground quite naked, and there are cords fixed to hooks planted in the ground, which tie their legs, arms, and neck fo faft, that they cannot flir, and there are befides, long cords, which are fattened to their hands and feet in luch manner, that the lead: motion they make wakens the Indian who lies on thefe cords. After the warriors have got within a certain dif- tance of their village, they halt, and the chief fends to give notice of his approach. A mongft fome na- tions, as foon as the deputy has got near enough to be within hearing, he makes different cries which communicate a general idea of the principal adven- tures and fuccefs of the campaign. The fit it iig- nifies the number of men killed, by fo many death- cries. Immediately the young people come out to inform themfelves more particularly ; ar o ten a Whole village runs out, but only one perfon accofts ( 3 6 4 ) the envoy, learns of him the detail of the news he brings -, as he relates any particular, the other turns towards the reft of the people and repeats it aloud, and they anfwer by fo many acclamations or cries of lamentation, as the news prove mournful, or the contrary. The envoy is afterwards conduced into a cabin, where the elders put the fame queftions to him, af- ter which a publick crier invites all the youth to go to meet the warriors, and the women to carry them refrefhments. In other parts they think of nothing at firft but bewailing thofe they have loft. The envoy makes only death-cries. No body comes out to meet him ; but on his entering the village he finds all the people affembled, he relates in few words all that has paffed, and then retires to his cabin, where they bring him fomething to eat, and for fome time they are wholly occupied in mourning for the dead. O This term being expired, another cry is made, to denote the vidory. Then every one wipes off his tears, and there is nothing but rejoicing ; fome- thing like this is done, at the return from hunt- ing •, the women who have remained in the vil- lage go out to meet them, on being informed of their approach, and before they are acquainted with the fuccefs of their hunting, they fignify by their tears the number of deaths fince their departure. To return to the warriors, the moment the wo- men join them is properly the beginning of the fufferings of the prifoners •, likewife, when fome of them have at firft been appointed to be adopted, which is not lawful in every nation, their future parents, whom they take care to inform, go to a greater ( 3 6 5 ) greater diftance to receive them, and conduct them to their cabbins by round about ways. The cap- tives are generally long in the dark with refpeft to their fate, and there are few who efcape the firft failles of the rage of the women. But this article would carry me too far, and we muft fet out to- morrow betimes. I am, Sec. LETTER ( 3 6 7 ) LETTER XVI. Firjl reception of the prifoners. 'Triumph of the warriors. Dijiribution of the captives ; in what manner their fate is decided , with what happens afterwards. The inhumanity with which thojfe are treated who are condemned to death. The courage they Jhew. Negotiations of the Indians. Entrance of Lake Erie , May 27th, 1721. Madam, I Set out this morning from the Falls of Niagara, and had about feven leagues to make before I got to Lake Erie, which I have done without any trouble. We laid our account with not lying here this night ; and while my people were rowing with all their might, I made a good progrefs in a new letter, and now whilft they are taking a little re- pofe I fliall finifh, and give it to feme Canadians going to Montreal, whom I met with m this place. I fliall refume my account where I left it oft in my laft. All ( 3 68 ) All the prifoners who are condemned to die, and thofe whofe fate is not yet determined, are, as I have already told you, Madam, abandoned to the women, who go before the warriors, and it is fur- prifing how they are able to furvive all the torments they make them fuffer. If any one has loft in the war a fon, hufband, or any other perfon who was dear to her, were it thirty years before, fhe becomes a fury, (he fixes upon the firft who falls into her hands, and it cannot be conceived to what length her rage will tranfport her. She has no regard ei- ther to humanity or decency, and at every blow fhe gives, you would think he would fall dead at her feet, if you did not know how ingenious thefe bar- barians are in protrafting the moft unheard of tor- ments. The whole night is fpent in this manner at the encampment of the warriors. Next day is a day of triumph for the conquerors. The Iroquois and fome others affeft a great mo- defty, and ftill a greater difintereftednefs on thefe oc- cafions. The chiefs enter the village firft by them- felves, without any marks of viftory, obferving a profound filence, and retire to their cabins, with- out fhewing that they have the leaft pretenfions up- on any of the captives. But amongft other nations affairs are carried on in a different manner ; the chief marches at the head of his company with the air of a conqueror, his lieutenant comes after him, and is preceded by a crier whofe bufinefs is to re- peat the death-cry. The warriors follow two and two, the prifoners being in the middle crowned with flowers, their face and hair painted, holding a flick in one hand and a chichicoue in the other, their body almoft naked, their arms tied above the el- bow with a cord, the extremities of which are held by C 3% ) by the warriors, and Tinging all the while their death -Tong to the beat of the chichikoue. This Tong is at the fame time extremely fierce and doleful? the captive difcovering nothing that has the leaft appearance of a perfon that has been vanquifhed, or is under affliction. The purport of this foner is as follows : “lam brave and undaunt- “ ed, and fear neither death nor the cruelleft tor* « m ents ; thofe who fear them are cowards and lefs u than women ; life is nothing to a man that has “ courage-, may rage and defpair choak all^ my “ enemies ; why cannot I devour them and drink “ up their blood to the laft drop.” The prifoners are made to halt from time to time, the Indians meanwhile flocking round them, dancing themitlves and caufing them to dance which they ieem to do very chearfully, relating all the time the braveft ac- tions of their lives, and mentioning the names of all thofe whom they have killed or burnt. Tney take particular notice of thole in whom the affilt- ants are moftly interefted ; and it may be laid, that their chief defign is to incenfe the arbiters of then £« and more againft them. Thefe bravado* feldom fail to provoke the fury of all w ho he them< and their vanity frequently colls them dear. But from the manner in which they bear the crue - eft treatment, one fhould think that tormenting them is doing them a pleafure. Sometimes they are forced to run between two rows of Indians armed with ftones and cud- rows ot mja as . f they inte nded to gels, who ' b j QW 'This, however, knock them down at e » t feem (0 ftrike a t Tnd h Z en a»dmU by fury, rhey Yol. I. A a ( 37° ) take care never to touch any part where a blow might prove mortal. During this operation any one has the liberty to flop the fufFerer, who is like- wife permitted to (land in his defence, though it is feldom done to any purpofe. As foon as they ar- rive at the village, they are led from cabbin to cab- bin, and are every where treated in the fame man- ner. Here they pluck off a nail, there they take off a finger, either with their teeth, or a bad knife which cuts like a faw •, an old man tears off their flefh to the bones, a child pierces them with an awl wherever he can, a woman beats them unmerci- fully till her arms fall down with fatigue ; all this time none of the warriors lay hands on them, tho’ they are dill their mailers. They are not even fuf- fered to be maimed without their permiflion, which is feldom granted. This excepted, every one may make them fuffer what torments he pleafes, and if they are led about in feveral villages, either of the fame nation, or of their neighbours, or allies, who happen to defire it, they every w'here meet with the fame reception. Thefe preliminaries over, they fet about dividing the captives whofe lot depends upon thofe into whole power they are delivered up. As foon as the coun- cil, where their fate has been determined is over, a crier calls an affembly of the people in the fquare, where a diftribution is made without any noife or dilpute whatfoever. Thofe women who have loft their fons or hufbands in the war, are commonly fatisfied in the firft place. Afterwards they fulfil the engagements entered into with thofe from whom they have received collars of Wampum ; if there is not a fufficient number of prifoners for this pur- pofe, tlie defeat is fupplied with fealps, which are worn by way of ornament on days of rejoicing, 7 but ( 37 * ) but at other times are hung up at the gates of their cabbins. If on the other hand the number of pri- foners is more than diffident for thefe purpofes, the overplus is fent to their allies. The place of a chief is never filled up but by a chief, or by two or three (laves, who are always burnt, even though the chief had died a natural death. The Iroquois ne- ver fail to fet apart fome prifoners for the ufe of the publick, in which cafe the council difpofes of them as they think proper-, but the matrons dill have the power to abrogate their fentence, being abfolute fovereigns of the life and death of thofe who have been condemned or abfolved by the council. The warriors, in fome nations, never dived them- felves entirely of the right of difpofing of their prifoners, and thofe to whom the council has dt- ftributed them, are obliged to make reditution to them if demanded -, which, however, fe dom hap- pens, but when it does, they are alfo obliged to re- ftore the pledges they have received from thole who had contracted for thefe prifoners. If upon their arrival, the warriors declare their intentions upon this point, they are feldom oppofed. In ge- neral, the greated number of the prifoners of war are condemned to die, or to a very lev .ic - a '^ r y * which their life is never fecure. Some are adopted, and from that time their condition differs in noth from that of the children of the nation-, they fume all the rights of thofe whofe plag they oc cpy. ,-d teh°”’mfnn"r. that tLy make "Realty of go- ing to war again ft their ' L, K( ) t |, em . policy, the lroquotfe have hitheTO Wppo ^ reives, for having been co . rMnJ , hcm _ they immemorial, with all the n. ^ A a 2 ( 37 2 ) muft have been, by this time, reduced to nothing had they not taken care to naturalize a large pro- portion of their prifoners of war. It fometimes happens that inftead of fending the overplus of the captives to other villages, they pre- ient theirs to private perfons, who did not demand any, who, in fuch a cafe, are not fo much their matters as not to be obliged to confult the chiefs of the council what they are to do with them, or elfe to adopt them. If the firft cafe, he to whom a Have has been given, fends for him by one of his family, he then ties him up to the door of his cab- bin, after which he calls together the chiefs of the council, to whom he declares his intentions, and afks their advice, which they generally give in a manner conformable to his inclinations. In the fe- cond cafe, on delivering the prifoner into his hands, they tell him. “ It is a long time fince we have “ been deprived of fuch a one, your friend, or re- “ lation, who was the fupport of our village.” Or, “ We regret the fpirit of fuch a one, whom “ you have loft, and who, by his wifdom rnain- “ tamed the tranquillity of the publitk, he muft “ this day be made to appear again, he was too 14 dear to us, as well as too valuable a perfonage to “ defer any longer bringing him back to life ; we “ therefore replace him upon his mattrafs in the “ perfon of this captive.” There are fome private perfons, however, pro- bably of more credit and reputation than common, who receive the gift of a prifoner without any con- dition at all, and with full liberty to difpofeof him as they fhall- think proper ; on dt li ’ering him into fuch a perfon’s hancls the council addrefs him in this manner. “ Eehold wherewithal to repair the lofs “ of “ of fuch a one, and to glad the heart of his fa- “ ther, his mother, his wife and his children •, whe- “ ther you chufe to make them drink the broth “ of this flelh, or rather incline to replace the de- “ c.aftd upon his mattrafs in the perfon of this cap- “ tive. You may do with him according to your 11 will and pleafure.” As loon as a prifoner is adopted he is carried to the cabbin, where he is to remain, and his tonds are immediately loofed. He is walhed with warm wa- ter, and his wounds are probed, if he has any, and were they even full of worms he is foon cured ; nothing is omitted to make him forget all the evils he hasluffered, victuals are fet before him, and he is properly drelfed. In a word, they could not do more for the child of the houfe, or even for the per- fon whom he reftores again to life, as they exprels themfelves. Some days after this? a feaft is made, in the courfq of which he receives in a folemn man- ner the name of him whom he replaces, and from thenceforth not only fucceeds to all his rights, but likewife becomes liable to all his obligations. Amongft the Ilurons and Iroquois thofe who are condemned to be burnt, are fometimes as well trea- ted from the firft, and even till the moment of their execution, as thofe who are adopted. It is pro a ble thefe are vi&ims fattened for facrifice, and they are indeed offered up to the god of war : the only difference betwixt them and other captives, is that their faces are fmeared over with black. Except- ing this, they treat them in the bell manner pombl^ fetting before them the bell food, never fpeak.ng to them but with an air of friendship, calling them ton brother, nephew, according as they thmfdvo « related to the perfon whole manes the pnloners are A a 3 to O' ^ ( 374 ) to appeafe by their death : fometimes they yield the girls up to their pleafures, ’ who ferve them as wives during the time they have yet to live. But when they are apprifed of their fate, they mud be careful- * ist ly watched for fear they fhould efcape. For this reafon it is often concealed from them. fpjn gab As foon as every thing is ready for the execution i® they are delivered up to a woman, who from the S® fondnefs of a mother pafies at once into the rage of a fury, and from the tenderelkcarefies to the molt tab- extreme trail fports of madnefs. She begins with S»e invoking the lhadc of him whom (he is about to a- Stn, venge. “ Approach, fays fhe, thou art going to aiia “ be appealed ; I am preparing for thee a feaft, sm “ drink deep draughts of this broth which is now act e ‘ to be poured out before thee ; receive the victim gba “ prepared for thee in the perfon of this warrior ; rich “ he (hall be burnt and put into the chaldron ; jar “ burning hatchets fliall be applied to his Ikin ; his m “ fcalp fliall be flea’doft"; they will drink out of an “ his lcull ; ceafe therefore thy complaining ; thou is * e fhalt be fully fatisfied.” This formula, which is «l properly the fentence of death, often varies conlider- : s ably in the txprefiion, but is always nearly the fame fjs in fubf ance. A crier then calls the prifoner out of ;a his cabbin, proclaiming with a loud voice the in- tentions of the perlon to whom he belongs, and con- ] eludes with exhorting the youth to perform their m parts well. A fecond herald then advances, and rh addrefling himfelf to the prifoner, tells him, “ Thou J “ art going to be burnt, my brother, be of good 1 ^ “ courage ” He again anfwers coolly, “ It is j)s well, 1 thank thee ” Immediately the whole’ vil- lage fet up a loud fhout, and the prifoner is con- ducted to the place appointed for his execution. •- l The ( 375 ) The prifoner is commonly tied to a poll by the hands and feet, but in fuch a manner that he may turn quite round it. Sometimes when the execu- tion is to be in a cabbin, whence there is no danger of his making his efcape, he is not tied, but fuller- ed to run from one end to the other. Before they begin burning him, he fings his death fong for the laft time, then he makes a recital of all the gallant addons of his life, and almoft always in a manner the moft infulting to the by-ftanders. Afterwards he exhorts them not to lpare him, but to remember that he is a man and a warrior. 1 am much mil- taken, if the fufferer’s finging with all his might, and infulting and defying his executioners, as they commonly do to their laft breath, is the circumftance that ou°ht to furprife us moft in thofe tragical and barbarous fcenes ; for there is in this a herccnefs which elevates the mind, which tranfports it, and even withdraws it from the thoughts of what they fuffer, and at the fame time prevents their fhewing too much fenftbility. Befides, the motions they make divert their thoughts, and produce the fame effett, nay fometimes a greater, than cries and tears would do. In the laft place, they are fenfible there is no mercy to be expeded, and defpair gives them ftrength, and infpires them with refolution. This fpecies of infenfibility is nor however fo u- niverfal as a great many have believed. It » no rare thin* to hear thefe wretches crying m fuch a r 0 „ ,11 rvp.-re the hardcft hearts, which manner as would pieice tne n Rnf . however only rejoices the acftors and afliftants. But as to his inhumanity in the Indians, of which hu- man nature could hardly have been thought capa- . 1 . i,„i; PV p r hev have attained to it by degrees, aid tha^ praftice has infenfibly accuftomed them to tt , that ?h= of making their enemy (how a ( 37 6 ) meannefs of fpirit, the infults which the fufferers never fail to offer to their tormentors, the defire of revenge, a ruling paflion in thefe people, which they never think fufficiently gratified while thofe who are tiie objects of it continue to fhew the leaft fparks of remaining courage, and finally, fuperftition have all a great lhare in it : for what exceffes will not a falie zeal, inflamed by lb many pafiions, produce ! I fliall not give you a detail. Madam, of every thing that paffes at thefe horrible executions. It would engage me too far, becaufe there is no uni- formity, nor any rules in them but what are fuggeft- ed by fury and caprice. i here are often as many adfors as fpeftators, that is to fay, inhabitants of the village, men, women and children, every one doing as much mifehief as poffible, and none &!t thole belonging to the cabbin to which the prifoner had been delivered, refraining from tormenting him ; at lead this is the practice among feme nations. They commonly begin with burning the feet, then the legs, thus afcending to the head, and lometimes they make the pun fhment lad for a whole week, as happened to a gentleman of Canada among the jroquois. i foie arc leaf! fpared, wno having been already taken and adopted, or fet at liberty, are afterwards retaken. I hey are looked upon as un- natural chiidien, or ungrateful perlons, who have made war upon their parents and benefactors, and no mercy whatever is lhewn them. It lometimes happens that the patient is left at his liberty, even ti.o’ he is not executed in a cabbin, and buffered to Hand on his own defence, which he does lefs thro’ hope of laving h s li.e, than out of a defire to levenge his oeatn before hand, and to acquire thi reputation of dying like a brave man. There have Leen many instances to prove what a prodigious cicgice Oi Urength and courage l'uch a relolution is capable m ■k' tar site! amp and. sic 2EW (Jt, SOW jip« ■ k icolii M . dew anc ttti ;tv . ' m t: vie ■ :icf . .A ti lty k C 377 ) capable of infpiring, of which the following, atteft- ed by perfons of credit who were eye-witnefles, is one very remarkable. An Iroquois captain of the canton called Onneyouth^ rather chofe to expofe himfelf to the word that could happen, than to diflionour himfelf by flying, which he reckoned of dangerous confequence from the ill example it would give to the youth under his com- mand. He fought a long time like a man refolved to die with his arms in his hands, but the Hurons his enemies were refolved on taking him if poflible alive. Luckily for him and thofe who were taken prifoners with him, they were conducted to a vil- lage where there happened to be fome miflionaries, who were allowed the full liberty of converfing with them. Thefe fathers found them of an admirable docility, which they looked upon as a beginning of the grace of their converfion •, accordingly they in- ftru&ed and baptized them •, they were all burnt in a few days afterwards, and teftified to their laft mo- ments a fort of conftancy, which the Indians were not till then acquainted with, and which, infidels as they were, they attributed to the virtue of the fa- crament of baptifm. The Iroquois captain, notwithftanding, believed he might lawfu ly do his enemies all the mif- chief in his power, and delay his death as long as poflible. They had made him afcend a fort of Itage or theatre, where they began by burning his body all over, without the leaft mercy, to which he ap- peared as infenfible as if he had felt no pain i but on perceiving one of his companions whom they were tormenting juft by him, betray lome figns of weaknefs, he teftified a great deal ot uneafinefs, and emitted nothing in his power to encourage him to *•' ,« bear ( 37 8 ) bear his fufferings with patience, thro’ the hopes of the happinefs awaiting them in heaven, and he had the fatisfadlion to fee him expire like a brave man and a chriftian. Then all thofe who had put his companion to death fell upon him with fuch rage as if they would tear him to pieces. He appeared not at all moved at it, and they were now at a lofs to find any part of his body that was fenfible to pain ; when one of the executioners, after making an incifion in the fkin quite round his head, tore it entirely off by mere force and violence. The pain made him fall into a fwoon, when his tormentors believing him dead, left him. Upon his recovery a moment after, and feeing nothing near him but the dead body of his friend, he took up a firebrand with both hands, fcorched and Head as they were, defying his execu- tioners to come near him. This uncommon refoiu- tion terrified them, they made hideous fliouts, ran to arms, fome laying hold of burning coals, and and others feizing red hot irons, and all at once poured upon him ; he flood the brunt of their fury with the courage of a man in defpair, and even made them retire. The fire that furrounded him ferved him for an entrenchment, which he com- pleated with the ladders they had ufed to afcend the fcaffold, and thus fortifying himfelf, and making a fort of citadel of his funeral pile, which was now become the theatre of his bravery, and armed with the inflruments of his torture, he was for a confi- derable time the terror of a whole canton, and not ,one had the heart to approach him, tho ! he was more than half burnt to death, and the blood trick- led from all parts of his body. His ( 379 ) His foot happening to flip, as he was endeavouring to avoid a fire-brand darted at him, delivered him once more into the hands of his murderers, who, as you may well imagine, made him pay dear for the terror he had put them into. After being tired with tormenting him, they threw him into the middle of a great coal fire, where they left him, fully per- fuaded he would never be able to rife from it. But they were deceived, for when they leaft thought of it, they beheld him armed with fire-brands running towards the village, as if he was going to fet it on fire. All hearts were frozen with fear, and no one dared to face him, when juft as he had almoft reach- ed the firft cabbin, a ftick thrown at him, and fal- ling between his legs, brought him to the ground, and they laid hold of him before he could recover himfelf. Here they firft cut off his hands and feet, and rolled him upon burning embers, and then threw him below the burning trunk of a tree, the whole village gathering round him to enjoy the fpec- tacle. He loft fuch a quantity of blood as almoft ex- tinguifhed the fire, fo that they had now no manner of apprehenfion remaining of any future attempt. He made however another, which ftruck terror into the moft undaunted. He crept upon his knees and elbows with lb much vigour, and with fuch a threat- ning afpeft, as made thofe who were neareft him re- tire°to a diftance, more indeed out of aftoniihment than fear, for what could he have done mutilated and difmembered as he was ? In this dreadful con- dition the miffionaries, who had never loft fight of him, endeavoured to put him in mind of thofe eter- nal truths with which he had been at firft fo much penetrated ; he liftened with attention, and leemed for lbme time entirely taken up with the thoughts. C 380 ) of his falvation, when one of the Hurons tak- ing advantage of this opportunity, ftruck off his head. If thofe nations, Madam, make war like Barba- rians, it mud however be allowed that in treaties of peace, and generally in all negotiations, they dif- play fuch a dexterity, addrefs and elevation of foul, as would do honour to the mod civilized nations. They never trouble themfelves about making cori- q efts, or extending their dominions. Some na- tions kn w no manner of dominion or fovereignty •, and thofe who have never been at a diftance from their native country, and who look upon themfelves as the lords and fove reigns of the foil, are not fo jealous of their property as to find fault with new- comers who fettle on it, provided they do not at- tempt to moleft them. The points which are the only fubjefts of their treaties, are to make alliances aguinft powerful enemies •, to put an end to a war which may have become burthenfome to both par- ties •, or rather to treat of a fufpenfion of hoftilities, for I have already obferved, that every war is ever- lafting among the Indians, when it happens between different nations. Thus a treaty of peace is very little to be depended on, whilft any of the parties are capable of molefting or giving uneafinefs to the other. During the whole time of the negotiation, and even before it commences, their chief care is, that they may not feem to make the firft advances, or if they do, they ufe all their addrefs to make their enemy believe that it does not proceed from fear or neceffity •, and this laft is managed very artfully. A plenipotentiary abates nothing of his haughtinefs, even when the affairs of his country are in the worft fituation » ( 38* ) Situation •, and he has generally the good fortune to perfuade thofe with whom he is treating, that it is their intereft to put an end to hoftilities, tho’ they have been the conquerors. It is befides of the lalt confequence to himfelf, to employ all his eloquence atid addrefs, for fhould his propofals happen not to be relifhed, he muft keep well on his guard, a blow with a hatchet being fometimes the only anfwer gi- ven on fuch occafions. He is not out of danger even it he efcapes the firft furprife, but muft lay his account with being purfued and burnt, if taken, provided fuch an adt of violence can be juftified by any pretext, fuch as that of reprifals for a like pro- ceeding. Thus it happened to fome French a- mongft the Iroquois, to whom they had been fent on the part of the governor general •, and the mif- fionaries, who for fome years refided among thofe Barbarians, altho’ they were under the fafeguard of the public faith, and in fome meafure agents for the colony, yet were every day in dread of being facri- ficed to fome ancient grudge, or becoming vidtims to the intrigues of the governors of New York. It is furprifing, in fhort, that nations who nevet make war from motives of intereft, and who even carry their difintereftednefs to fuch a height, that their warriors never load themfelves with the Jpoils of the vanquished, and it they bring home any booty,’ abandon it to the firft that pleafes to take it ; and laftly, who take up arms for glory only, or to revenge themfelves on their enemies ; it 1S > a )» quite aftoni Ihing to fee them fo well verfed and p radii fed in the greateft refinements of policy, and even fo as to keep minifters refidmg among t eu enemies at the public expence. ey avt one cu tom with refpedt to thefe agents, which at firft fight appears Sufficiently extravagant, tho it may be rec ( 382 ) koned prudent enough at the fame time, which is that they never pay any regard to any intelligence they receive from thefe penfioners, if it is not ac- companied with fome prefenr. Their policy here arifes no doubt from this confidcration, that in or- der to give an entire credit to any piece of intelli- gence, it is not only neceflary that he who commu- nicates it fhould have nothing to hope from it, but even that it fhould be attended with fome expence to him, both becaufe the intereft of the public fhould be his only motive for fending it, and alfo that he may not rafhly trouble them with trifling and fuperficial matters. I am , &c. End of the First Volume. I is net ac- me tie alfo iaing r J V I