[149] CHAPTER XVI. [i.e., xv.]
SIEUR DE POTRINCOURT'S RETURN TO FRANCE, AND THE DIFFICULTY OF LEARNING THE LANGUAGE OF THE SAVAGES.
WE have heretofore explained the necessity which was urging sieur de Potrincourt to send his people back to France without delay. Now he wished to take them there himself, to more efficiently arrange all the affairs and especially to procure an immediate supply of provisions: for unless he did this, those whom he was leaving at Port Royal would be without means of passing the Winter, in evident danger of being carried off by famine. For this reason then, he departed about the middle of July of the same year, 1611, and arrived in France at the end of the following month of [150] August; he left his son, sieur de Biencourt, in his place, with twenty-two persons, counting the two Jesuits, who, seeing that for the conversion of the Pagans the language of the country was absolutely necessary, resolved to apply themselves to it with all diligence. But it would be hard to understand the great difficulties which they here encountered: the principal one being, that they had neither interpreter nor teacher. To be sure sieur de Biencourt, and some of the others, knew a little of it very well, enough for trade and ordinary affairs; but when there was a question of speaking about God and religious matters, there was the difficulty, there, the "not understand." Therefore, they were obliged to learn the language by themselves, inquiring of the savages how they called each thing. And the task was not so very wearisome as long [151] as what was asked about could be touched or seen: a stone, a river, a house; to strike, to jump, to laugh, to sit down. But when it came to internal and spiritual acts, which cannot be demonstrated to the senses, and in regard to words which are called abstract and universal, such as, to believe, to doubt, to hope, to discourse, to apprehend, an animal, a body, a substance, a spirit, virtue, vice, sin, reason, justice, etc.,—for these things they had to labor and sweat; in these were the pains of travail. They did not know by what route to reach them, although they tried more than a hundred; there were no gestures which would sufficiently express their ideas, not if they would use ten thousand of them. Meanwhile our gentlemen Savages, to pass away the time, made abundant sport of their pupils, always telling them a lot of [152] nonsense. And yet if you wanted to take advantage of this fun, if you had your paper and pencil ready to write, you had to set before them a full plate with a napkin underneath. For to such tripods do good oracles yield; without this incentive, both Apollo and Mercury would fail them; as it was, they even became angry and went away, if we wished to detain them a little. What would you have done under the circumstances? For in truth, this work cannot be understood except by those who have tried it. Besides, as these Savages have no formulated Religion, government, towns, nor trades, so the words and proper phrases for all those things are lacking; Holy, Blessed, Angel, Grace, Mystery, Sacrament, Temptation, Faith, Law, Prudence, Subjection, Authority, etc. Where will [153] you get all these things that they lack? Or, how will you do without them? O God, with what ease we make our plans in France! And the beauty of it is, that, after having racked our brains by dint of questions and researches, and after thinking that we have at last found the philosopher's stone, we find only that a ghost has been taken for a body, a shadow for a substance, and that all this precious Elixir has gone up in smoke! They often ridiculed, instead of teaching us, and sometimes palmed off on us indecent words, which we went about innocently preaching for beautiful sentences from the Gospels. God knows who were the instigators of such sacrileges.
Vn expedient se presenta aux Iesuites pour se depestrer heureusement [154] de ces embroüillements, & entraues. C'estoit d'aller trouuer le ieune du Pont duquel on apportoit nouuelle, qu'il s'estoit resolu d'hyuerner à la riuiere S. Ieã, à quelques dix-huict, où vingt lieuës de Port Royal. Car d'autãt que ledit du Pont auoit ja long temps vescu au pays, & mesmes à la Syluatique parmy les Originaires, on disoit de luy, qu'il entendoit fort biẽ la lãgue. Et ne falloit point douter, qu'au moins il sçauroit propremẽt expliquer les demandes pour tirer des sauuages la response à propos: ce qui estoit necessaire pour coucher par escrit vn petit Catechisme, & instruction Chrestienne. Le P. Biard donc se resolut d'aller chercher ledit du Pont, se determinant de plustost passer la Baye Françoise dans vn cauot, deuant que de ne se seruir de ceste occasion de bien faire. [155] Mais le sieur de Biencourt s'opposa fort à ceste deliberation, entrant à ceste occasion en de grãds ombrages, ausquels il fallut ceder, pour auoir paix.
An expedient presented itself to the Jesuits, by which they could extricate themselves happily [154] from these perplexities and obstacles. It was to go and find young du Pont, who, we had heard, had made up his mind to pass the winter on the St. John river, some eighteen or twenty leagues from Port Royal. For since this du Pont had already lived a long time in the country, even leading the life of a Sylvan among the Natives, it was said of him that he understood the language very well, and there was no doubt that he could at least properly explain the questions so as to get from the savages suitable answers; these were necessary in order to write down a little Catechism, and some Christian instruction. Father Biard then decided to go and look for du Pont, deciding to cross French Bay in a canoe, rather than not to avail himself of this opportunity of doing good. [155] But sieur de Biencourt was very much opposed to this decision, taking great offense at it; and we had to yield to him, to have peace.