Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 01

by Samuel de Champlain

CHAPTER II.

FAVORABLE RECEPTION GIVEN TO THE FRENCH BY THE GRAND SAGAMORE OF THE SAVAGES OF CANADA—THE BANQUETS AND DANCES OF THE LATTER—THEIR WAR WITH THE IROQUOIS.—THE MATERIAL OF WHICH THEIR CANOES AND CABINS ARE MADE, AND THEIR MODE OF CONSTRUCTION—INCLUDING ALSO A DESCRIPTION OF ST MATTHEW'S POINT.

On the 27th, we went to visit the savages at St. Matthew's point, distant a league from Tadoussac, accompanied by the two savages whom Sieur du Pont Gravé took to make a report of what they had seen in France, and of the friendly reception the king had given them. Having landed, we proceeded to the cabin of their grand Sagamore [137] named Anadabijou, whom we found with some eighty or a hundred of his companions celebrating a tabagie, that is a banquet. He received us very cordially, and according to the custom of his country, seating us near himself, with all the savages arranged in rows on both sides of the cabin. One of the savages whom we had taken with us began to make an address, speaking of the cordial reception the king had given them, and the good treatment they had received in France, and saying they were assured that his Majesty was favorably disposed towards them, and was desirous of peopling their country, and of making peace with their enemies, the Iroquois, or of sending forces to conquer them. He also told them of the handsome manors, palaces, and houses they had seen, and of the inhabitants and our mode of living. He was listened to with the greatest possible silence. Now, after he had finished his address, the grand Sagamore, Anadabijou, who had listened to it attentively, proceeded to take some tobacco, and give it to Sieur du Pont Gravé of St. Malo, myself, and some other Sagamores, who were near him. After a long smoke, he began to make his address to all, speaking with gravity, stopping at times a little, and then resuming and saying, that they truly ought to be very glad in having his Majesty for a great friend. They all answered with one voice, Ho, ho, ho, that is to say yes, yes. He continuing his address said that he should be very glad to have his Majesty people their land, and make war upon their enemies; that there was no nation upon earth to which they were more kindly disposed than to the French. finally he gave them all to understand the advantage and profit they could receive from his Majesty. After he had finished his address, we went out of his cabin, and they began to celebrate their tabagie or banquet, at which they have elk's meat, which is similar to beef, also that of the bear, seal and beaver, these being their ordinary meats, including also quantities of fowl. They had eight or ten boilers full of meats, in the middle of this cabin, separated some six feet from each other, each one having its own fire. They were seated on both sides, as I stated before, each one having his porringer made of bark. When the meat is cooked, some one distributes to each his portion in his porringer, when they eat in a very filthy manner. For when their hands are covered with fat, they rub them on their heads or on the hair of their dogs of which they have large numbers for hunting. Before their meat was cooked, one of them arose, took a dog and hopped around these boilers from one end of the cabin to the other. Arriving in front of the great Sagamore, he threw his dog violently to the ground, when all with one voice exclaimed, Ho, ho, ho, after which he went back to his place. Instantly another arose and did the same, which performance was continued until the meat was cooked. Now after they had finished their tabagie, they began to dance, taking the heads of their enemies, which were slung on their backs, as a sign of joy. One or two of them sing, keeping time with their hands, which they strike on their knees: sometimes they stop, exclaiming, Ho, ho, ho, when they begin dancing again, puffing like a man out of breath. They were having this celebration in honor of the victory they had obtained over the Iroquois, several hundred of whom they had killed, whose heads they had cut off and had with them to contribute to the pomp of their festivity. Three nations had engaged in the war, the Etechemins, Algonquins, and Montagnais. [138] These, to the number of a thousand, proceeded to make war upon the Iroquois, whom they encountered at the mouth of the river of the Iroquois, and of whom they killed a hundred. They carry on war only by surprising their enemies; for they would not dare to do so otherwise, and fear too much the Iroquois, who are more numerous than the Montagnais, Etechemins, and Algonquins.

On the 28th of this month they came and erected cabins at the harbor of Tadoussac, where our vessel was. At daybreak their grand Sagamore came out from his cabin and went about all the others, crying out to them in a loud voice to break camp to go to Tadoussac, where their good friends were. Each one immediately took down his cabin in an incredibly short time, and the great captain was the first to take his canoe and carry it to the water, where he embarked his wife and children and a quantity of furs. Thus were launched nearly two hundred canoes, which go wonderfully fast; for, although our shallop was well manned, yet they went faster than ourselves. Two only do the work of propelling the boat, a man and a woman. Their canoes are some eight or nine feet long, and a foot or a foot and a half broad in the middle, growing narrower towards the two ends. They are very liable to turn over, if one does not understand how to manage them, for they are made of the bark of trees called bouille, [139] strengthened on the inside by little ribs of wood strongly and neatly made. They are so light that a man can easily carry one, and each canoe can carry the weight of a pipe. When they wish to go overland to some river where they have business, they carry their canoes with them.

Their cabins are low and made like tents, being covered with the same kind of bark as that before mentioned. The whole top for the space of about a foot they leave uncovered, whence the light enters; and they make a number of fires directly in the middle of the cabin, in which there are sometimes ten families at once. They sleep on skins, all together, and their dogs with them. [140]

They were in number a thousand persons, men, women and children. The place at St. Matthew's Point, where they were first encamped, is very pleasant. They were at the foot of a small slope covered with trees, firs and cypresses. At St. Matthew's Point there is a small level place, which is seen at a great distance. On the top of this hill there is a level tract of land, a league long, half a league broad, covered with trees. The soil is very sandy, and contains good pasturage. Elsewhere there are only rocky mountains, which are very barren. The tide rises about this slope, but at low water leaves it dry for a full half league out.

ENDNOTES:

137. Sagamo, thus written in the French According to Laflèche, as cited by Laverdière, this word, in the Montagnais language, is derived from tchi, great and okimau, chief, and consequently signifies the Great Chief.

138. The Etechemins, may be said in general terms to have occupied the territory from St. John, N. B., to Mount Desert Island, in Maine, and perhaps still further west, but not south of Saco. The Algonquins here referred to were those who dwelt on the Ottawa River. The Montagnais occupied the region on both sides of the Saguenay, having their trading centre at Tadoussac. War had been carried on for a period we know not how long, perhaps for several centuries, between these allied tribes and the Iroquois.

139. Bouille for bouleau, the birch-tree. Betula papyracea, popularly known as the paper or canoe birch. It is a large tree, the bark white, and splitting into thin layers. It is common in New England, and far to the north The white birch, Betula alba, of Europe and Northern Asia, is used for boat-building at the present day.—Vide Chronological History of Plants, by Charles Pickering, M.D., Boston, 1879, p. 134.

140. The dog was the only domestic animal found among the aborigines of this country. "The Australians," says Dr. Pickering, "appear to be the only considerable portion of mankind destitute of the companionship of the dog. The American tribes, from the Arctic Sea to Cape Horn, had the companionship of the dog, and certain remarkable breeds had been developed before the visit of Columbus" (F. Columbus 25); further, according to Coues, the cross between the coyote and female dog is regularly procured by our northwestern tribes, and, according to Gabb, "dogs one-fourth coyote are pointed out; the fact therefore seems established that the coyote or American barking wolfe, Canis latrans, is the dog in its original wild state."—Vide Chronological History of Plants, etc., by Charles Pickering, M.D., Boston, 1879, p. 20.

"It was believed by some for a length of time that the wild dog was of recent introduction to Australia: this is not so."—Vide Aborigines of Victoria, by R. Brough Smyth, London, 1878, Vol. 1. p. 149. The bones of the wild dog have recently been discovered in Australia, at a depth of excavation, and in circumstances, which prove that his existence there antedates the introduction of any species of the dog by Europeans. The Australians appear, therefore, to be no exception to the universal companionship of the dog with man.