XXVI
As with its predecessor for 1635, the Relation of 1636 (Paris, 1637), although for the convenience of bibliographers styled Le Jeune's, is a composite. The first half, closing with p. 272, is the annual report of Le Jeune, as superior, dated August 28, 1636; the second half, separately paged, is a special report on the Huron mission, by Brébeuf, dated Ihonatiria, July 16, 1636.
For the text of the document, we have had recourse to the Lamoignon copy of the original Cramoisy edition in the Lenox Library, which is there designated as "H. 65," because described in Harrisse's Notes, no. 65.
Collation (H. 65). Title, with verso blank; "Extraict du Privilege du Roy" (dated Paris, Dec. 22, 1636), p. (1); "Approbation" by the provincial (dated Paris, Dec. 15, 1636), p. (1); "Table des Chapitres," pp. (4); Le Jeune's Relation (11 chaps.), pp. 1-272; Brébeuf's Huron Relation, (in two parts, 4 and 9 chaps. respectively), pp. 1-223; verso of last leaf blank.
There are two copies in the Lenox Library, in which we have discovered a number of textual variations which have never been noted before. For the sake of convenience we shall designate these as Lamoignon and Bancroft, the names of former owners whose individual impress they bear. Our reprint, as previously stated, is from the Lamoignon copy. The Quebec reprint (vol. 1, 1858) follows a copy with the text corresponding with the Bancroft variations. All the differences which we have discovered occur in the Huron Rel ation, and the references are to the pagination of that part. We give the principal ones below.
| Lamoignon. | Bancroft. |
| P. 85, last line ends with "s'il ne leur fust" | P. 85, last line ends with: "s'il ne leur fust arriué" |
| The last four lines of p. 85 are spaced freely to make up for theelision of "arriué." | |
| P. 146, l. 2, reads: "d'où ils tirent" | P. 146, l. 2, reads: "dont ils tirent" |
| P. 146, l. 22, reads: "alliance. Si leurs champs" | P. 146, l. 22, reads: "alliances, si leurs champs" |
| P. 146, l. 23, reads: "les occupe ils sont" | P. 146, l. 23, reads: "les occupe; ils sont" |
| P. 158, l. 9, reads: "cõtre" | P. 158, l. 9, reads: "contre" |
| P. 158, l. 10, reads: "les tourmentẽt: le" | P. 158, l. 10, reads: "les tourmentent" |
| P. 158, l. 13, reads: "que ces pauures miserables chanteront" | P. 158, l. 13, reads: "que ce pauure miserable chantera" |
| P. 158, l. 18, reads "s'ils estoiẽt vaillãs hommes, ils leur arrachẽt" | P. 158, l. 18, reads: "s'il estoit vaillant homme, ils luy arrachent" |
| P. 159, last line ends with "quelque Peuple auec qui ils" | P. 159, last line ends with: "quelques Peuples auec lesquels ils" |
There is still another edition of this Relation in which the matter was reset entirely, and in which the text-page is much larger than in the one described above. Pilling (Bibliography of the Iroquoian Languages, p. 18) describes the British Museum copy, and the following collation is based on his very careful account of it.
Collation (H. 66). Title, with verso blank, 1 leaf; "Table des Chapitres," pp. (2); Le Jeune's Relation, pp. 1-199; Brébeuf's Huron Relation, pp. 1-164.
Copies of H. 65 may be found in the following libraries: Lenox (two variations), Harvard, Library of Parliament (Ottawa), Brown (private), Archives of St. Mary's College (Montreal), and the British Museum. The Barlow copy (1889), no. 1276, sold for $17.50. Priced by Harrassowitz (1882), no. 23, at 125 marks. Copies of H. 66 are in the British Museum, and in the Bibliothèque Nationale (imperfect). We know of no example in America.
NOTES TO VOL. VIII
(Figures in parentheses, following number of note, refer to pages of English text.)
[1] (p. [9]).—Concerning the increase of French colonists at this time, see vol. [vii.], note [8].
[2] (p. [13]).—Pemptegoüs: one of numerous variants of the name Penobscot (often mentioned by Lescarbot and Biard as Pentegoët). Specific reference is here made to the peninsula of Matchebiguatus (contracted later to Bagaduce), the site of the present Castine, at the mouth of Penobscot River (see vol. [ii.], note [6]). It was visited by Champlain in 1604, and by John Smith, twelve years later. From that time, it was more or less frequented by English fishing vessels; and, in 1630, the Plymouth Company established here a post for traffic with the Indians. It is this trading station to which Le Jeune refers; in 1635, it was taken for the French by Charles d'Aulnay de Charnisay, a lieutenant of the Commander de Razilly.
The family of Razilly (Razilli or Rasilly), of Touraine, was one of rank, ability, and renown. Early in the seventeenth century it was represented mainly by three brothers—François, who in 1612 undertook, with Daniel de la Touche de la Ravardière, to found a French colony at Maranham, in Brazil; Claude, seigneur de Launay, who also went to Maranham—this colony being destroyed by the Portuguese in 1615; and Isaac, a chevalier of Malta, and commander of the isle Bouchard. All of these men held positions of honor and responsibility in the court, the army, or the navy. François served later as field marshal in the army, and was also sent as ambassador to Savoy. Guérin says that Claude and Isaac became two of the most skillful and renowned seamen of their age; they were commanders of squadrons, and even admirals, in many important naval contests. A memoir relating to "colonies, in view of the increase in the maritime power of France," was presented (1626) by Isaac de Razilly to Richelieu, to which Guérin ascribes much influence in securing the formation of the Company of New France, in the following year.
Isaac was one of the Hundred Associates, and after 1628 was their naval commander. In the spring of 1629, the company, hearing that Kirk's expedition was about to set out from England, prepared a fleet, loaded with supplies for the suffering colonists at Quebec. Orders were given that some of the vessels should sail directly from Dieppe or La Rochelle for Canada, leaving the rest to go later, under Razilly. These orders were neglected, so that, instead of reaching Quebec by the end of May, and thus affording timely aid to Champlain, the ships waited for Razilly—whose commission for Canada was, however, revoked upon the conclusion of the peace of Susa (April 24, 1629), and he was instead sent to Morocco. The vessels finally set sail from La Rochelle, but were delayed by bad weather, thus failing to reach Quebec before its capture by Kirk. The ship commanded by De Caen was taken by the English; that belonging to the Jesuits was wrecked off Canso (see vol. [iv.], doc. [xix.]); and those under Desdames and Joubert made their way back to France. In the spring of 1630, another expedition was fitted out by the Company of New France, under Razilly's command, for the recapture of Canada; but it was not despatched thither, owing to the promise of Charles I. to restore Quebec to France—an agreement that was, however, not carried into effect until 1632, because of Louis's delay in paying the dowry that he had promised with Henrietta Maria, Charles's queen. Finally, in that year, De Caen was sent to occupy Quebec for his king. At the same time, Razilly was commissioned to "put the Company of New France in possession of Port Royal"—for which purpose he was given an armed ship named "Espérance en Dieu," and the sum of 10,000 livres; he was also to take with him three Capuchin missionaries. The document authorizing this enterprise was signed by Richelieu March 27, 1632, two days before the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye. Razilly's formal commission to receive Port Royal from the English bears date of May 10 in the same year. These documents are given by Margry, in MSS. rel. Nouv. France, vol. i., pp. 85, 110.
Razilly was appointed governor of Acadia, D'Aulnay and Charles de la Tour being his lieutenants; he also obtained from the Company of New France (May 29, 1632) a concession at St. Croix river and bay, 12 by 20 leagues in extent. He established his seat of government at La Hêve. In January, 1635, was formed an association—headed by Isaac and Claude de Razilly, and Cardinal Richelieu—to colonize Port Royal and La Hêve. Isaac de Razilly died in November of that year, and was succeeded by D'Aulnay as governor of Acadia. Claude de Razilly inherited his brother's estates, which, with his own interests in Acadia, he subsequently transferred to D'Aulnay. Harrisse says (Notes, p. 57): "He seems to have died in poverty, about the year 1666—at least, we have reason to suppose this, from the petition in verse addressed to the king in 1667, by his sister Marie, a celebrated poetess known as 'Calliope' [1621-1704] to whom Louis XIV. granted a pension of 2,000 livres, in consideration of the straitened circumstances to which she had been reduced by her brother's losses (Titon du Tillet, Parnasse François, Paris, 1732, fol., p. 487)."
Concerning the Razillys, see Guérin's Navig. Français, pp. 313-338; Harrisse's Notes, pp. 53-57; and Moreau's Histoire de l'Acadie Françoise (Paris, 1873), pp. 112-117, 129-144.
[3] (p. [13]).—Quebec, like the other Canadian provinces, possesses great mineral wealth. Magnetic and hematite iron ores are abundant; and a rich vein of chromic iron has recently been found and worked, at Coleraine. A considerable quantity of copper is also mined in Quebec; gold to the amount of $260,905 was produced during the years 1877-94; and in 1894, this province yielded 101,318 ounces of silver. Among its other important mineral productions are asbestos, phosphates, petroleum, and building-stones.
Pierre Boucher (governor of Three Rivers in 1653-58 and 1662-67) thus mentions the mineral products of Canada, in his Histoire véritable et natvrelle de la Novvelle France, (Paris, 1664), chap. i.: "Springs of salt water have been discovered, from which excellent salt can be obtained; and there are others, which yield minerals. There is one in the Iroquois Country, which produces a thick liquid, resembling oil, and which is used in place of oil for many purposes. There are also many mines, according to report; I am certain that there are mines of iron and copper in many places. Various reliable persons have assured me that there is a great abundance of lead, and that not far from us; but, as it is along the road by which our Enemies pass, no one has yet dared to go thither to make its discovery."
[4] (p. [15]).—In regard to the Canadian policy of the Hundred Associates, see vol. [iv.], notes [21], [38]; and vol. [vii.], note [18]. Cf. Faillon (Col. Fr., pp. 343-352); he complains that the company, although at first making some efforts to bring over colonists, soon evaded the obligations imposed by their charter, and sent to Canada few besides their own fur-trade employees; that they cleared no land, and only sent provisions to the colony; that they made concessions (as to Giffard, Bourdon, and many others) obliging those to whom lands were given to assume the company's duties of clearing lands, and sending and supporting colonists—which acts should at the same time inure to the benefit of the Associates, and be credited to their account, as if performed by them.
[5] (p. [17]).—Concerning Duplessis-Bochard, see vol. [v.], note [34].
[6] (p. [19]).—Le Jeune states, in the Relation for 1634 (vol. [vii.] of this series, p. [229]), that this fort was built on St. Croix Island (see vol. [ii.], note [66]). The island was afterwards known by the name of the fort. Ferland (Cours d'Histoire, vol. i., p. 260, note) thus cites Faucher: "The little island below Richelieu, where now is a light-house, is precisely the same where was formerly situated a fort, to intercept passage in time of war. The channel adjacent to the island has been measured, and its greatest width is seven arpents; vessels generally pass at a distance of three or four arpents from the island. In all the river, there is no place more suitable for the erection of a fort. At low tide, no water remains in the channel."
[7] (p. [19]).—Metaberoutin: the Three Rivers (St. Maurice); see vol. [ii.], note [52].
[8] (p. [45]).—Pierre Pijart was born at Paris, May 17, 1608, and, soon after attaining his majority, became a Jesuit novice. His studies were successively pursued at Paris, La Flèche, and Caen; and, in July, 1635, he came to Canada. He was at once assigned to the Huron mission, where he remained five years. In November, 1640, he went with Garnier to open the Mission of the Holy Apostles among the Tionnontates or Tobacco Nation. This tribe, however, refused to listen to them; and within a year they were obliged to abandon this mission for a time. Pijart was employed at the Ste. Marie residence for some three years. In September, 1645, he was located at Three Rivers, being mentioned by Lalemant, in the Journal des Jésuites (Quebec, 1871), p. 5, as "procureur des Hurons." In August, 1650, he returned to France.
[9] (p. [47]).—Pierre Feauté, a lay brother in the Jesuit order, came to Canada in the summer of 1635; occasional mention of him in Journ. des Jésu. shows that he was employed in the Jesuit residence of Notre-Dame des Anges in 1636, and, later, at Quebec. In November, 1651, he made a voyage to France, whither he seems to have finally returned in October, 1657.
Rochemonteix (Jésuites, vol. i., p. 212) cites Catalogus Provinciæ Franciæ to show that Brother Pierre le Tellier was, toward 1665, in charge of the petite école, or primary department, of the college of Quebec.
[10] (p. [47]).—Claude Quentin came to Canada in July, 1635, and was assigned soon afterwards to the residence of Three Rivers, with Buteux, where he remained two years. In the summer of 1638, he was sent to the station at Miscou, returning some time later to Quebec, on account of ill-health. In the autumn of 1641, he was appointed procuror of the Canadian missions, occupying this position about six years—during which time he made several journeys between Canada and France, apparently making a final return to the latter country Oct. 21, 1647.
[11] (p. [47]).—François Joseph le Mercier was born at Paris, Oct. 4, 1604, and, at the age of eighteen, entered the Jesuit novitiate. In 1635, he came to Canada, and labored in the Huron mission until its destruction; he was at Ossossané in 1641-42, and at Ste. Marie-on-the-Wye in 1644. In June, 1656, he went, with other Jesuits, on the mission to the Onondagas, returning to Quebec the following year. He remained on the St. Lawrence during the rest of his labors in Canada, being superior of the missions in that province from August, 1653, until 1658, and again from 1665 to 1670. In November, 1659, he was assigned to a mission at Côte de Beaupré, where he labored nearly a year, being declared vicar of Quebec in October, 1660. Sommervogel says that Le Mercier returned to France in 1673, and was then sent to Martinique as superior of that mission, where he remained until his death, June 12, 1690.
Le Mercier, as superior, wrote various Relations of the Canadian missions, which will appear in later volumes of this series. The Hurons named him Chaüosé; the Iroquois, Teharonhiagannra.
[12] (p. [49]).—Echom (correctly spelled Echon): see vol. [v.], note [44].
[13] (p. [55]).—Anguien river: named for the eldest son of the prince of Condé, whose titular designation was duke of Anguien, or Enghien, from the city of that name in Hainault, near Brussels. The nobleman thus referred to (also mentioned in Relation for 1636, chap. i.) was later known as "the great Condé;" in 1642, he married a niece of Richelieu. The last scion of the house of Condé who bore this name was the unfortunate Louis Antoine, duke of Enghien, court-martialed and shot at Vincennes, March 21, 1804, by order of Napoleon Bonaparte.
The Anguien River cannot well be identified; the name does not appear on maps of that time.
[14] (p. [59]).—Petite Nation: see vol. [v.], note [56].
[15] (p. [61]).—Jean de Quen was born at Amiens in May, 1603, and became a Jesuit novice Sept. 13, 1620, at Rouen. His studies were pursued at Paris; and he afterwards became a teacher in the colleges at Amiens (1630-31), and Eu (1632-35). Coming to Canada in the summer of 1635, he was employed for several years at Quebec—at the college, and at Notre-Dame de Récouvrance. In 1640, he was at Sillery, of which mission he was the head from 1641 to 1649. During this time, he also made evangelizing journeys to neighboring tribes: and, at times, labored in the Ste. Croix mission at Tadoussac, and at Three Rivers. In June, 1651, he went on a mission to the Oumaniwek tribe, and apparently spent the ensuing two years in labors with this and other tribes on the upper Saguenay, with his headquarters at Tadoussac. To him is ascribed the honor of having, while engaged in this work, discovered Lake St. John. In 1655-56, he was superior of the missions of New France, and seems to have remained at Quebec until his death, which occurred Oct. 1, 1659, occasioned by a contagious fever brought on a French vessel, whose sick and dying sailors De Quen was nursing at the hospital.
In August, 1878, the demolition of the old Jesuit College at Quebec brought to light the remains of De Quen, Du Peron, and Jean Liégeois. For detailed accounts of this discovery and its attendant circumstances, with valuable historical information regarding this and other buildings in that city, see Faucher de Saint-Maurice's Relation des fouilles dans le Collège des Jésuites (Quebec, 1879); also Rochemonteix's Jésuites, vol. i., pp. 225-227, 456-465.
[16] (p. [61]).—Concerning these Turkish pirates, and others, see vol. [iv.], note [29].
[17] (p. [65]).—André Richard (here written Antoine, apparently by some error), born Nov. 23, 1600 (or 1599), became a Jesuit, Sept. 26, 1621, at Paris. A student successively at Paris, La Flèche, and Rouen, he was a teacher at Amiens (1624-26), Orleans (1626-28), Caen (1629-30), and Nevers (1631-33). In February, 1634, he departed for Canada, and, with Perrault, was stationed at Cape Breton, replacing Daniel and Davost. Richard remained at this mission about six years, being then sent to Miscou as a co-worker with Jean d'Olbeau, who had gone there in the preceding year; the latter fell ill with scurvy in December, 1642, and, afflicted with paralysis resulting therefrom, he was obliged to leave for France in the following summer—dying, however, while on the voyage, through an accidental explosion of powder, which destroyed the ship.
In 1646, Richard was joined by De Lyonne; and he remained on the coast of Gaspe—during most of the time, at Miscou—until 1661, making voyages to France in 1658 and 1659. According to Dionne ("Miscou," in Canada-Français, July, 1889), he spent the year 1661-62 at Chedabouctou in Acadia, after which he went back to France. Returning to Canada in 1666, he became superior of the Jesuit residence at Three Rivers; he is said to have died in 1696.
[18] (p. [65]).—Charles Turgis was born at Rouen, Oct. 14, 1606, and became a Jesuit as soon as he attained his majority. He studied at La Fléche and Clermont, and was a teacher in the former college during two years. In 1635, he arrived in Canada, and was sent to Miscou with Du Marché, to minister to the French (then 23 in number) residing at that post. The climate of Miscou, although now salubrious, seems to have been, at that early time, full of danger to Europeans; the island was repeatedly swept by the scurvy, which was usually fatal. The missionaries soon became its victims; Du Marché was compelled to return to France, and Turgis, although more robust, and longer resisting the disease, was laid low by it in March, 1637, dying on May 4. An account of his illness and death is given in the Relation for that year, which says of him: "He was equally regretted by the French and by the Savages, who honored and tenderly loved him."
[19] (p. [65]).—Charles du Marché was assigned to the Miscou station at the same time as Turgis (1635), the missionary residence being named St. Charles. Within a year of their arrival, Du Marché was attacked by the prevalent scourge of that region—the mal du terre, or scurvy—and was compelled to return to Quebec. Here he remained a few months, being employed at the chapel as confessor; in August, 1636, he was aiding Buteux at Three Rivers; later, he returned to France.
[20] (p. [67]).—Concerning Jean Liégeois, see vol. [vii.], note [7].
Gilbert Burel, a lay brother, had come to Canada with the first Jesuit missionaries (1625), and again, with Le Jeune, in 1632. The latter mentions him in 1626 (see vol. [iv.], p. [183]); but his name does not occur in the Relations, excepting in this passage in our text.
[21] (p. [69]).—Sonontoerrhonons, also variously written Entouhonorons (Champlain), Sonnontouans, Tsonnontouans: the westernmost and also the largest of the five Iroquois tribes or cantons; by early Dutch writers called Sennecas or Sinnekens, by the English Senecas, and among themselves Nun-dá-wa-o-nó (Morgan) or Nan-do-wah-gaah (Marshall). The latter writer says that the name Sonnontouan is derived from the Seneca words onondah, "hill," and go waah, "great,"—"the people of the great hill," alluding to Boughton Hill, where was located their principal village, Ga-o-sa-eh-ga-aah (or Gandagaro); and that "Seneca" is a corruption of Nan-do-wah-gaah.—See his pamphlet, First visit of De la Salle to the Senecas [Buffalo, 1874], p. 44.
Beauchamp, in his "Origin and Early life of the N. Y. Iroquois," Transactions of Oneida Hist. Society, 1887-89, (Oneida, N. Y., 1889), p. 124, derives the Senecas "from the Eries, perhaps within historic times. That the Senecas differed from the other Iroquois, in religious observances, totems and clans, habits of life, and other things, is very clear." He also writes, in a recent letter: "The Senecas always had two great villages, and were probably at first a minor confederacy—the two branches being clearly distinguished in all historic times, and even now. Among the leading founders of the League they had two great chiefs where the others had but one, in every account. In the last half of the seventeenth century, the two great Seneca towns, "held by their two branches, were at Mendon, and at Boughton Hill, Victor. In 1660, the easternmost Seneca village was 20 miles west of Geneva, and all were comprised within a very few miles." Their villages are shown on J.S. Clark's map of "Seneca Castles and Mission Sites," in Hawley's "Early Chapters in Seneca History," Cayuga Co. Hist. Collections, No. 3, (Auburn, N. Y., 1884); see also his note identifying their sites, pp. 25, 26. This paper is a careful and minute account of the Jesuit missions among the Senecas (1656-84), with valuable annotations by both Hawley and Clark. The chief Seneca villages in recent times were near the sites of the present Geneva, Canandaigua, Lima, and Avon.
[22] (p. [71]).—This chief, La Perdrix, is mentioned also in the Relation for 1634. In regard to the Island tribe, see vol. [v.], note [57].
[23] (p. [71]).—Attiguenongha (Atignenongach, Attigneenongnahac, Attiniatoenten): this and the Attignaouantan, or Bear Nation, (see vol. [v.], note [17]), were not only the most important, but the oldest of the Huron tribes, "having received into their country, and adopted, the others" (Relation for 1639, chap. i.), and being able to trace their tribal history for two centuries back. This tribe was the southernmost of the Huron clans; one of its most important towns was Teanaustayé, located in what is now Medonté township. Here was situated the Jesuit mission of St. Joseph, destroyed by the Iroquois in 1649.
[24] (p. [71]).—Arendarhonons, Ahrendarrhonons, or Renarhonons (Sagard, who also calls them "nation de la Roche"): the easternmost tribe of Hurons, located west of the Severn River. They were the first of the Hurons to engage in trade with the French, and regarded themselves as the special allies of the latter. It was with this tribe that Champlain spent the winter of 1615-16 (see vol. [v.], note [52]), at their village of Cahiagué, where, later, was established the Jesuit mission of St. Jean Baptiste.
[25] (p. [75]).—The Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers have many and often dangerous rapids; but both rivers are now rendered navigable by canals around the rapids. The Chaudière Falls above Ottawa, and the Lachine Rapids above Montreal, are the most noted of these obstructions. In the St. Lawrence River are 30 miles of rapids. The elevation between Lake Ontario and tidewater is 240 feet.
The name "Rivière des Prairies" was at first applied to the Ottawa River (see vol. [ii.], note [53]); but it is now restricted to the channel that separates Isle Jésus from the island of Montreal.
[26] (p. [81]).—Simon Baron was one of the Jesuit donnés. Sulte says (Can.-Français, vol. ii., p. 53): "He had lived at Chibou, Cape Breton Island, about 1631, and had there acquired some surgical knowledge. In 1634, he was in the service of the Jesuits, and accompanied the missionaries to the Huron country, whence he returned in 1637. He is mentioned at Three Rivers in 1637, 1658, and 1664." During the epidemic of 1637, Baron acquired renown through his facility in handling the lancet.
[27] (p. [85]).—Concerning La Rochelle, see vol. [v.], note [60].
[28] (p. [91]).—For location of Toanché, see vol. [v.], note [61].
[29] (p. [99]).—Jean Nicolet, a native of Cherbourg, France, came to Quebec in 1618, probably at the age of about 20 years. Like Marsolet, Brulé, and others, he was sent by Champlain to live among the Indians, that he might acquire a knowledge of the country, of the natives, and of their language. For this purpose, Nicolet went (1620) to the Algonkins of Allumettes Island, where he remained two years; while among this tribe, he accompanied a large body of their warriors to the Iroquois country, in order to arrange a treaty of peace—an enterprise successfully accomplished. He then spent some nine years among the Nipissings, during which time he wrote an account of these savages, their customs, etc., as Le Jeune informs us in the Relation for 1636.
Upon the recovery of Canada by the French, Nicolet returned to Quebec, probably early in 1633. In June, 1634, Champlain sent him on an exploring expedition westward—partly in the hope of finding the "sea of China" which was at that time supposed to lie not far west of the regions of America then known, and thereby discovering the long-looked-for short passage to Asia; partly to become acquainted with the savage tribes lying beyond the "Mer douce" (Lake Huron), and to extend the French trade for peltries. Upon this trip (accompanying Brébeuf as far as Allumettes Island), Nicolet went to his old abode, Lake Nipissing. Thence, with a bark canoe, and an escort of seven Hurons, he voyaged by French River into Lake Huron, and northward to St. Mary's Straits and Mackinac; and thence by Lake Michigan, Green Bay, and the Fox River, as far as a village of the Mascoutins, probably in what is now Green Lake county, Wisconsin. He was thus the first white man who, so far as is recorded, had entered this region. From the Mascoutin village, he journeyed southward to what is now Northern Illinois,—afterwards returning to Canada by the same route on which he had set out; he reached Quebec early in the autumn of 1635. This notable voyage was generally supposed to have occurred in 1639, until Sulte advanced the theory, in Mélanges d'Histoire et de Littérature (Ottawa, 1876), pp. 426, 436, that it must have been in 1634-35—a theory apparently verified by Butterfield, in his painstaking Discovery of the Northwest by Jean Nicolet (Cincinnati, 1881).
Nicolet, after his return to Canada, resumed his employment (begun in 1633) as clerk and interpreter at Three Rivers. Oct. 7, 1637, he married Marguerite (then aged eleven years), second daughter of Guillaume Couillard. Probably about this time, he obtained, jointly with his brother-in-law, Le Tardif (see vol. [v.], note [49]), the estate of Belleborne (so named from the brook of Belleborne, which traverses the "plains of Abraham"). In 1641, the Iroquois having attacked the Algonkins in the near vicinity of Three Rivers, Nicolet, with the Jesuit Ragueneau, attempted, but with little success, to turn aside the hostile savages.
Nicolet died Oct. 29, 1642, being drowned at Sillery; he left but one child, Marguerite, who in 1656 married Jean Baptiste le Gardeur.
Full accounts of Nicolet and of his discoveries are given in Butterfield's monograph, and by Sulte, ut supra; also in Jouan's "Jean Nicolet," and Butterfield's bibliography of the subject, Wisconsin Historical Collections, vol. xi., pp. 1-25. Cf. also Sulte's "Notes on Jean Nicolet," Id., vol. viii., pp. 188-194. Nicolet river and lake, in Wolfe county, Que., are named for this noted explorer; the river had been, until about 1640, known as the St. Jean.
[30] (p. [103]).—Le Borgne: this name, meaning "the one-eyed," was applied by the French, during many years, to the Algonkin chief at the head of the Island tribe (see vol. [v.], note [57]), whose native name was Tessouehat (or Tessoueatch).
Champlain mentions that, in June, 1603, he met at Tadoussac an Algonkin sagamore named Besouat; Laverdière (Champlain, p. 76) thinks this is simply an error for Tesouat. Just ten years later, Champlain visited Tessouat at Allumettes Island, and speaks of the latter as "a good old Captain."
Again, in 1629, he mentions Le Borgne (apparently the successor of the first-named) as "a good Savage and a man of intelligence" (Laverdière's ed., p. 1198). It was this man who is mentioned in our text as alarming the Hurons by reports of Champlain's intended vengeance for Brulé's murder; he died in August, 1635. In the spring of that year, he had gone (as Brébeuf tells us) with an Algonkin embassy to the Huron country, to ask the latter tribes to unite with them in an attack upon the Iroquois, which proposal was declined by the Hurons.
A third Le Borgne was Tessouehat (called by the Hurons Andesson or Ondesson), characterized by the missionaries as "unusually arrogant and malicious" (Relation for 1641). Much to their surprise, he came down to Montreal in March, 1643, for Christian instruction, and was baptized under the name of Paul. In the Relation for that year, Vimont says of this chief: "As soon as he became a Christian, God gave him the gentleness and meekness of a little child;" and the missionaries were greatly delighted and edified by his piety.
In May, 1646, a chief of this name took part in a council held at Three Rivers with an embassy from the Iroquois; but, as he invoked the sun to be a witness of the negotiations, he must have been a heathen, and therefore a successor to the preceding chief. This same man was rebuked by a converted Indian at Sillery for not being a Christian; but his pious death, after an illness of two years, is recorded in the Relation for 1654. He, too, like his predecessor, was renowned as much for his arrogance as for his eloquence.
[31] (p. [105]).—Oënrio (Ouenrio, or Wenrio): the site of this village, which was located in a populous Huron neighborhood, has not been identified beyond question. Du Creux's map places it near the head of an inlet—evidently the one now known as Dault's Bay, on the west side of Tiny township; and he associates it with the mission of St. Charles. There are remains which correspond very nearly to this position; though some have supposed that Oënrio was nearer Penetanguishene Bay, where the remains of another village have been found. As it contained part of the Hurons from Toanché, it may be assumed that it was not far from Thunder Bay.—A.F. Hunter.
[32] (p. [111]).—Sagamité: see vol. [v.], note [28].
[33] (p. [115]).—Mer douce: see vol. [i.], note [54].
[34] (p. [115]).—Brébeuf here gives the Huron names of the other tribes composing the great Huron-Iroquois family. Concerning the Khionontaterrhonons (Tobacco Nation), see vol. [v.], note [18].
Atiouandaronks (Attiwandarons, Atiraguenrek, or Atirhangenrets): called by the French "Nation Neutre," because they were at peace with both the Hurons and the Iroquois, between whom they lived. Harris thus endeavors to account for this neutrality, in his paper, "The Flint-Workers," Publications of Buffalo Historical Society, vol. iv. (Buffalo, 1896), p. 239: "There is but one solution of this problem, and that is to be found in the immense quantities of flint along the east end of Lake Erie. Without flint arrow and spear heads, the Iroquois could not cope with the Hurons, nor the Hurons with the Iroquois; and, as the Neutrals controlled the chert beds, neither nation could afford to make the Neutrals its enemy."
Eastward of the Neutrals, lay the territories of the Five Nations, or Iroquois League. Clark's map of this region, showing locations of the several tribes and of their villages, is given in Hawley's Early Chapters of Cayuga History, 1656-84 (Auburn, N. Y., 1879); Morgan (Iroq. League) also gives a map, showing locations in recent times. For historical sketch of the tribes included in the League, see Beauchamp's Origin of N. Y. Iroquois (cited in note [21], ante) pp. 119-142; he says: "The Huron-Iroquois family thus seems to have been the last wave of the migratory tribes advancing from the west and northwest, and had not reached the sea 300 years ago, except a few individuals on the St. Lawrence. The Tuscaroras might also be excepted.... Almost parallel with these [the Algonquins], but a little later as a whole, the Huron-Iroquois, finding the southern regions occupied, advanced along the north, through Michigan, Canada, and Ohio, pressing toward the sea, but generally prevented from reaching it by the Algonquins. This is very nearly the tradition of the Delawares, who represent the Iroquois as moving from the west in a line parallel with their own migrations, but a little in the rear. The Huron-Iroquois occupied temporarily the solitudes of Canada and New York, as well as Michigan and Northern Ohio, gathering strength within their narrow limits, until they could force a passage south along the Susquehanna. There the Andastis stopped and grew strong. The Eries passed along the south shore of their lake, the Hurons and Neutrals on the north. The Tuscaroras reached North Carolina, and all the southern Iroquois may have had temporary homes in New York at an early day." For estimates of the military strength of the respective tribes, in 1660 and 1677, see Parkman's Jesuits, p. 297.
(1) Sonontoerrhonons (Senecas): see note [21], ante. (2) Ouioenrhonons (Ouiogweronons, Oiogouins, or Goyogouins): the Cayugas, next east from the Senecas, and probably kindred with them. The name of the tribe is derived from that of the lake, the meaning of which is variously rendered. Beauchamp says (Iroq. Trail, p. 57): "D. Cusick makes it Go-yo-goh, 'mountain rising from water;' Albert Cusick, Kwe-u-kwe, 'where they drew their boats ashore;' L. H. Morgan, Gwe-u-gweh, 'at the mucky land.' All seem to refer to the higher and firm land beyond the Montezuma marshes." Much valuable information regarding this tribe is given in Hawley's Early Cayuga Hist. (cited supra); on p. 21, a note by Clark thus mentions their chief towns: "Their principal village, Goi-o-gouen (a name also applied by the early French writers to the country and canton of the Cayugas), appears to have been located at this time [1657] about 3½ miles south of Union Springs, near Great Gully Brook. Thiohero, ten miles distant, was on the east side of Seneca River, at the northern extremity of Cayuga Lake. The archæological remains in the vicinity of Goi-o-gouen indicate different locations occupied at different periods, one of which was on a point at the junction of two ravines about four miles from the lake; this was very ancient, and probably occupied in the prehistoric age." The site of Thiohero has been recently identified, 2½ miles east of Savannah. (3) Onontaerrhonons (Onnontaes, Onnondaetonnons, or Onnontagués): the Onondagas (in their own tongue, Onondáhka). Beauchamp says (Orig. of N. Y. Iroquois, pp. 123, 124, 130): "It is very likely that there was an earlier Huron-Iroquois settlement of Central New York [before the coming of the Mohawks] from Jefferson county, where there are many fort sites. Among these are traces of Huron burial customs, and the earthenware is generally finer than that farther south, there being often temporary deterioration in such things, as men recede from the parent stock. From that region the Onondagas certainly came, as they relate.... I have little doubt that the Onondagas were driven out of Jefferson county by the Hurons, about the same time that the Mohawks had to leave Montreal." An interesting mention of this tribe, at nearly the same time as Brébeuf's (possibly a little earlier), is made by Arent Van Curler (who calls them "Onnedagens"), in his Journal of 1634-35, (accompanied by an Iroquois vocabulary), a translation of which, with notes by James G. Wilson, is published in Annual Report of Amer. Hist. Association, 1895, pp. 81-101. This was probably the most influential of the Five Nations; their village of Onnontagué (Onondaga) was the capital of the confederacy, where their principal councils were held. Clark says (Early Cayuga Hist., p. 9): "This was situated on a considerable elevation between two deep ravines, formed by the west and middle branches of Limestone Creek, in the present town of Pompey, N. Y., two miles south of the village of Manlius. It contained at this time [1656] 300 warriors, with 140 houses, several families often occupying a single house. Their cornfields extended for two miles, north and south, and in width from one-half to three-fourths of a mile, interspersed with their dwellings. The grand council chamber was here, in which all matters of interest, common to the several nations of the League, were decided. This site was abandoned about 1680." Beauchamp writes: "At the time of Champlain's attack on the Oneida town, the Onondagas were living on the east side of Limestone Creek, about 1½ miles west of Cazenovia Lake. Alarmed by this invasion, they went farther south, selecting a site which commanded the whole valley. Then, as the Huron war progressed favorably, they went northward again, crossing the ridge and reaching the west branch of Limestone Creek, being on its banks a little south of Pompey Center about 1640. In 1654, Le Moyne visited them at their great village still farther north, at Indian Hill, two miles south of Manlius village. Thence, by a gradual removal, they went to the east side of Butternut Creek, where their fort was burned in 1696. Soon afterward, they occupied the east side of Onondaga Valley, but were almost entirely on the west side of the creek by 1750; and after the sale of their lands they retired to their present reservation." (4) Onoiochronons (Oneiouchronons, Oneiouts, or Onneyouts): "the people of the stone," commonly known as Oneidas. This tribe and the Cayugas were of somewhat inferior rank among the other Iroquois tribes. According to Pyrtæus, "the alliance having been first proposed by a Mohawk chief, the Mohawks rank in the family as the eldest brother, the Oneidas as the eldest son; the Senecas, who were the last that consented to the alliance, were called the youngest son." Cf. Relation for 1646, chap. i.: "Onnieoute is a tribe which, the greater part of its men having been destroyed by the upper Algonquins, was compelled to call upon the Annierronnons to repeople it; whence it comes that the Annierronnons call it their daughter." They lived almost entirely in Madison county, having usually one village, but sometimes two. Their settlements were entirely confined to the valleys of Oneida and Oriskany Creeks,—mainly the former." (5) Agnierrhonons (Agnongherronons, Anniengehronnons, Agniers, or Aniers): "the people of the flint," called Maquas by the Dutch, and Mohawks by the English; the easternmost of the Iroquois tribes, occupying the lower part of the Mohawk River valley. They were probably the inhabitants of Hochelaga (Montreal), whom Cartier found in 1535, and the name Canada, then first used by the French, is itself a Mohawk word. Their own traditions represent the Mohawks as living on the St. Lawrence, in alliance with the Algonkin tribe of Adirondacks; a dispute arising between them, the former were driven out by their Algonkin neighbors, probably late in the sixteenth century.—See Beauchamp's N. Y. Iroquois; cf. Sulte's sketch of the Algonkin-Iroquois wars, in vol. [v.] of this series, note [52]; the latter thinks that the Montreal Iroquois had retired to Lake Simcoe by 1615. Beauchamp says (Iroq. Trail, p. 55): "The three Mohawk castles were in Montgomery county. When first visited by the Dutch, there was a castle for each clan, the Bear, Wolf, and Turtle. Two villages only were in existence about 1600, as the Wolf clan sprang out of the Bear (according to an early writer), having probably lived with them. One of the two villages is on the south side of the river; the other is in Ephrata, in Fulton county." Wilson says, in a note on Van Curler's Journal (Am. Hist. Asso. Rept., 1895, p. 99): "The abandoned castle pointed out by the Mohawks seems to have marked their farthest eastern extension. Their early villages were in a radius of a dozen miles from Canajoharie, but they moved eastward until checked by the Mohicans. Later, European pressure forced them back until the western castle was at Danube." The sites of these Mohawk towns in 1642, as identified by Clark, are thus given by Shea, in his translation of Martin's Life of Jogues (3rd ed., N. Y., 1885), p. 85: "Ossernenon (Osserinon, Agnié, Oneougiouré, or Asserua), later Cahniaga or Caughnawaga, was near the present station of Auriesville; Tionnontoguen, on a hill just south of Spraker's Basin, about 13 miles west of Ossernenon; Andagaron, or Gandagaron, between them, and also on the south side of the river." Beauchamp makes some corrections on Clark's map, which will be noted in later volumes. It was at Ossernenon that the martyrdom of Isaac Jogues occurred—an event which is now being commemorated by the erection of a costly memorial church, at Auriesville.
Andastoerrhonons (or Andastes): called Minquas by the Dutch, and Susquehannocks or Conestogas by the English. Ragueneau (Relation for 1648) mentions "the Andastoëronons, allies of our Hurons, and who talk like them." Clarke (Early Cayuga Hist., p. 36, note) thus describes them: "Andastes, a term used generically by the French, and applied to several distinct Indian tribes located south of the Five Nations, in the present territory of Pennsylvania. They were of kindred blood and spoke a dialect of the same language as the Iroquois of New York. The most northerly of these tribes, called by Champlain in 1615 Carantouannais, were described by him as residing south of the Five Nations, and distant a short three days' journey from the Iroquois fort attacked by him that year, which fort is supposed to have been located in the town of Fenner, Madison Co., N. Y. Late researches appear to warrant the conclusion that the large town called Carantouan by Champlain was located on what is now called "Spanish Hill," near Waverly, Tioga Co., N. Y. One of the most southerly tribes was located at the Great Falls between Columbia and Harrisburg, Pa., and in the vicinity of the latter place; described by Gov. Smith in 1608 as occupying five towns, and called by him Sasquesahanoughs or Susquehannas. At an early date, a tribe resided in the vicinity of Manhattan, called Minquas; and the Dutch colonists appear to have applied this term to all cognate tribes west of them and south of the Five Nations. The Jesuit Fathers had no missions among them, although frequent reference is made in the Relations to the wars between them and the Iroquois. These tribes were engaged in various wars with the Iroquois, which began as early as 1600 and continued with more or less frequency until 1675, those nearest the Five Nations being first overthrown. At the latter date, their power for further resistance appears to have been completely broken, and they were incorporated into the League; a part, however, retreated southward, and were menaced by the Maryland and Virginia troops, the last remnant falling victims to the butchery of the 'Paxton boys' [1763]." Cf. Shea's paper on these tribes, Hist. Mag., vol ii., pp. 294-297. In 1651, a part of the Minquas, then living on the Delaware River, sold their lands to the Dutch West India Company, reserving only the right of hunting and fishing thereon (N. Y. Colon. Docs., vol. i., pp. 593-600). There was also a division known as the "Black Minquas," who were claimed by the Mohawks as an offshoot.
Rhiierrhonons (Riguehronons, Eriechronons, Errieronons, or Erigas): called by the French "Nation du Chat" ("Cat Nation"). This appellation was given, according to the Relation for 1654, "because in their country are a prodigious number of wild cats." But on this point Beauchamp writes thus: "Albert Cusick, my Onondaga interpreter, tells me that Kah-kwah [another name applied to this tribe] means 'an eye swelled like a cat's,'—that is, prominent rather than deep-set; this would indicate that the name refers to a physical characteristic, rather than to the wild cats mentioned by the missionaries." This tribe inhabited the south shore of Lake Erie; they were fierce and warlike, and used poisoned arrows; they had frequent wars with the Iroquois, and were vanquished and utterly destroyed by the latter in 1655-56.
Ahouenrochrhonons (Awenrherhonons, or Wenrôhronons): a small tribe at the eastern end of Lake Erie, lying between the Eries and the Neutrals. According to the Relation for 1639, this tribe was for some time allied to the Neutrals; but, some dispute arising between them, the Awenrherhonons left their own country in that year, and took refuge with the Hurons. The Relation for 1641 (chap. vi.) mentions them as living at the town of Khioetoa (St. Michel), and as well disposed towards the missionaries.
The two remaining tribes in Brébeuf's list have not yet been identified. Beauchamp thinks the Scahentoarrhonons may have been the Skenchiohronons, mentioned as a sedentary tribe in the Relation for 1640 (indicated on Sanson's map as Squenguioron, at the west end of Lake Erie); the Conkhandeenrhonons he conjectures to have been the Carantouans, or possibly one of the divisions of the Senecas (q.v., ante).
[35] (p. [117]).—Sonontoen (Sonnontouan, Tsonnontouan, or Tegarnhies): see note [21], ante: the chief town of the Senecas. It was also known by the names of Totiakton, Theodehacto and Dá-u-de-hok-to (Morgan), meaning "at the bend," or "bended stream." It is in the town of Mendon, on the N.E. bend of Honeoye Creek, two miles N. of Honeoye Falls, and 12½ miles due S. from the centre of Rochester; see Clark's map, cited in note [21], ante.
Franquelin's Carte de la Louisiane (1684) shows Sonontouan east of the present Genesee River; south of it a point is thus designated, fontaine d'eau qui brule, "spring of water which burns." Cf. the fontaine brulante on Bellin's map in Charlevoix's Nouv. France, tome i., p. 440. René de Galinée, in his journal of La Salle's voyage (1669-70), also mentions this spring, as situated four leagues south of Sonnontouan. Marshall, commenting on this in his pamphlet, De la Salle among the Senecas, p. 23, note, describes the spring (one of many in Western New York), in which an inflammable gas rises from the water, and is readily lighted with a match.
At Sonnontouan was located the Jesuit mission of La Conception.
[36] (p. [117]).—A similar description of Ataentsic and Jouskeha is given by Sagard (Canada, Tross ed., pp. 452-455), from whom Brébeuf seems to have obtained part of the information given in the text—two sentences being the same, word for word, as in Sagard—an appropriation easily explained, in view of Brébeuf's recent arrival among the Hurons, and consequent difficulties in obtaining a knowledge of their beliefs. Sagard says that they told him that "this God Youskeha existed before this Universe, which, with all that was therein, he had created; that, although he grew old, like all things in this world, he did not lose his being and his power; and that, when he became old, he had power to rejuvenate himself in a moment, and to transform himself into a young man of twenty-five or thirty years; thus he never died, and remained immortal, although, like other human beings, he was to some extent subject to corporeal necessities."
Lafitau (Mœurs des Sauvages, t. i., pp. 244, 401) also mentions Ataentsic—"the Queen of the Manes"—but names her grandson Tharonhiaouagon. Parkman thinks this latter personage (also written Tarenyowagon) was a divinity peculiar to the Iroquois Five Nations. Brinton discusses these legends at length in American Hero-Myths (Phila., 1882), pp. 53-62; and also in Myths of the New World (3rd ed.), pp. 156, 203-205; in the latter work, he considers that Taronhiawagon was but Jouskeha (Ioskeha) under another name, and explains the stories of all these deities as myths of the Sun and Moon, of Night and Day, of the conflict between light and darkness. Cf. Parkman's Jesuits, lxxv.-lxxvii., and the outline of Huron cosmogony given by Hale in Jour. Amer. Folk-Lore, vol. i., pp. 177-183; see also Cusick's account of the creation, in Beauchamp's Iroquois Trail, pp. 1-5.
[37] (p. [121]).—For references on the subject of the immortality of souls, see vol. [vi.], note [17].
[38] (p. [125]).—Scanonaenrat (where was the mission of St. Michael) was one of the largest towns of the Huron country—itself comprising the entire nation of the Tohontahenrats. It was on the forest trail leading from the upper mission towns in Tiny township to Teanaustayé (St. Joseph), and about 1¼ leagues from the latter (Relation for 1639). Du Creux's map places it at a short distance northwest of the small body of water now known as Orr Lake; and there are extensive remains in the tract between this lake and the modern village of Waverley that correspond very well with the numerous references to St. Michael in the Relations. Here have been found, in a space about two miles square, traces of a large town, and of half a dozen others, smaller, but similar. With each of these sites there is, instead of the usual ossuary, a cemetery of isolated graves. In this respect the Tohontahenrats appear to have differed from the other Huron nations, who adopted the ossuary almost to the exclusion of every other mode of burial. One small ossuary, however, was found in this tract in 1895 (Ontario Archæol. Rept., 1894-95, p. 42). Among its contents were four brass finger-rings, on which can be distinctly seen the cross and the initials I. H. S. Patches of ground strewn with iron tomahawks—indubitable signs of Indian conflict—are common in this neighborhood, confirming the Jesuits' accounts of the battles of 1648-50, when seven hundred Huron warriors were quartered here (Relation for 1649, chap. iii.), and suggesting other conflicts which these chroniclers had probably overlooked in the general confusion of that period. Several farms in the first concession of Medonté township (lots 68 to 74 inclusive), in the immediate neighborhood of St. Michael, abound in this class of relics. Dr. Taché's location of this mission town, as given in the map of the Huron country in Parkman's Jesuits, is several miles from the correct position.—A. F. Hunter.
[39] (p. [125]).—Lake of the Hiroquois: see vol. [i.], note [67].
[40] (p. [135]).—See Hunter's note on the Tobacco Nation, vol. [v.], note [18]. Hale found, in 1872-74 (Jour. Amer. Folk-Lore, vol. i., p. 178), among the Wyandots of the Anderdon Reserve, "the most archaic form of the Huron-Iroquois speech that had yet been discovered. I believe it to be the dialect which was spoken by the tribe formerly known to the French colonists as the 'Tobacco People' (Nation du Petun), but among the Hurons and Iroquois as the Tionontates (corrupted by the English to Dionondaddies), which means, apparently, 'people beyond the hills.'"
[41] (p. [139]).—Neutral Nation (Atiwandaronks): see note [34], ante. Their villages were situated north of Lake Erie, mainly on the western side of Niagara (Onguiaahra) River. The Récollet La Roche-Daillon, writing in 1627, says (Shea's Le Clercq, vol. i., pp. 265, 266) that the Neutrals had then twenty-eight towns, cities, and villages, under one renowned chief, Souharissen, who "acquired this honor and power by his courage, and by having been repeatedly at war with seventeen nations that are their enemies, and taken heads or brought in prisoners from them all." Coyne writes us: "The early reports and maps show clearly that they occupied the entire north shore of Lake Erie, from river to river, besides extending a short distance east of the Niagara. There can be no reasonable doubt that the numerous earthworks and village sites from Detroit to Buffalo, on the north shore, are remains of the Neutral tribes or nation. Sanson's map of 1656, and Du Creux's of 1660, are perfectly clear on this point, and entirely consistent with Lalemant's relation of the visit of Brébeuf and Chaumonot to this nation in 1640-41, as well as with Champlain's brief reference and Daillon's letter describing his sojourn there in 1626-27." Beauchamp writes: "A fort and cemetery in Cambria, Niagara county, I consider a town of the Neutrals. It contains French articles, and there were no Seneca towns in that vicinity at any time." Cf. the description of these remains given by O. Turner, in Pioneer History of Holland Purchase (Buffalo, 1850), pp. 26-28.
Morgan says (Iroq. League, p. 41, note): "The Neuter nation were known to the Iroquois as the 'Cat Nation'—the word itself, Je-go-sa-sa, signifying 'a wild cat' Charlevoix has assigned this name to the Eries." Marshall thinks, in his Niagara Frontier (rev. ed., Buffalo, 1881), p. 6, that "the Neutral Nation were called Kah-kwas by the Senecas, and were exterminated by them as early as 1651." Beauchamp differs from this opinion, saying: "On the map of 1680, the Kakouagoga, 'a nation destroyed,' is placed near Buffalo, but no mention is made of the Eries; for this reason I think Marshall mistaken in identifying the Kah-kwas with the Neutrals."
For a more detailed account of this tribe, see Harris's Flint-Workers, cited in note [34], ante; and Coyne's Country of the Neutrals.
[42] (p. [139]).—The village of Onentisati (Onnentisati) was situated about midway on the west side of Tiny township. In the Ontario Archæological Museum are some relics taken from a bone-pit at the supposed site of Onentisati—three portions of beavers' jaws with teeth, two bone awls, one trumpet-mouthed pipe-head, and one of cylindrical shape.—A. F. Hunter.
[43] (p. [141]).—François Petit-Pré was one of the Jesuit engagés; he remained with the missionaries in the Huron country during several years, and was the only Frenchman at the mission who escaped the pestilence of 1637. The registers of Three Rivers mention him as present there in 1635, and again in 1641. The river Petit-Pré, in Montmorency county, Que. (granted to Jean de Lauson, in 1652), may have been named for him.
[44] (p. [157]).—Julien Perrault arrived in Canada April 30, 1634, and, with André Richard, was sent to the Cape Breton mission. He must have returned to France within a year, for his name does not appear in the list given by Le Jeune at the end of the Relation for 1635, nor is his name mentioned elsewhere in the Relations.
[45] (p. [157]).—For various names applied to Cape Breton Island, see vol. [ii.], note [62]. For its history, with copious bibliographical and statistical notes, see Bourinot's valuable monograph, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Island of Cape Breton (Montreal, 1892). An excellent map of the island is given at the end of Brown's Cape Breton.
[46] (p. [157]).—Chibou: also known as Grand Chibou or Cibou; the inland estuary or lake now called Bras d'Or, which extends from the eastern to the southwestern part of the island, almost severing it in two. The name Bras d'Or is modern (perhaps a corruption of Labrador, the name, given the inlet on old charts, both French and English). See Bourinot's Cape Breton, p. 93; and Brown's Cape Breton, pp. 2, 5, 77.
[47] (p. [159])—Marmot: either the hoary marmot (see vol. [vi.], note [22]), or the allied species, Arctomys monax, commonly called "woodchuck," which abounds throughout the northern United States and Canada.
Parrot fish: a name given to various species of the families Labridæ and Scaridæ, from their brilliant colors, or the peculiar shape of the head. Most of these species belong to tropical or semi-tropical regions, but several are found along the northern Atlantic coast. That mentioned in the text may be the cunner or blue-perch, Ctenolabrus adspersus.
[48] (p. [185]).—For origin of the term "patriarch," as applied to priests, see vol. [i], pp. [161], [163], and note [25].
[49] (p. [215]).—The war here referred to was a part of the Thirty Years' War. Gustavus Adolphus, the leader of the Protestant alliance, was killed at the battle of Lutzen, Nov. 16, 1632. Richelieu had, in 1631, formed a treaty of alliance between France and Sweden; this was renewed in 1633, with Oxenstiern, the successor of Gustavus; and France, in accordance therewith, gave moral and financial support to the Protestants in their struggle against Austria and Spain. Finally, in May, 1635, France, having formed an alliance with Holland, declared war against Spain, and the allied armies invaded the Netherlands; while other French armies were sent into Lorraine, Germany, and Italy. Thus scattered, and often under inefficient commanders, the armies of France could accomplish little; and for years the war continued with but slight advantage for either side. Not until Oct. 24, 1648, was the long conflict ended by the treaty of Westphalia.
[50] (p. [217]).—The death of Champlain, who had long been governor of New France (see vol. [ii.], note [42]), occurred Dec. 25, 1635. His successor was Charles Huault de Montmagny, a chevalier of the military order of St. John of Jerusalem, more commonly known as Knights of Malta. His commission was dated March 10, 1636; but Sulte (Can.-Français, vol. ii., p. 59) notes that certain official "acts" of the Hundred Associates, dated at Paris Jan. 15, 1636, mention Montmagny as "governor for the said company, under the authority of the king and of the cardinal duke of Richelieu, of Quebec and of other places on the river St. Lawrence." This would imply that the Associates had appointed him to this post in anticipation of Champlain's death, or possibly to supersede the latter. He arrived at Quebec on June 11 following.
The praises lavished by the missionaries upon Montmagny seem largely justified by his conduct as governor, and by the opinions of other historians. He was a man of great personal courage, executive ability, good judgment, and profound piety. He was a warm friend and supporter of the Jesuit missions, as also of the new religious colony founded at Montreal, which he escorted thither in May, 1642. Montmagny's commission was renewed June 6, 1645. Eleven months later, he received from the Company of New France a concession of land at Rivière du Sud, 1½ leagues along the St. Lawrence, and four leagues in depth; also of two islands in the same river, Île aux Oies and Île aux Grues.
Recalled to France, Montmagny left Canada Sept. 23, 1647. He remained at Paris at least four years; Ferland (Cours d'Histoire, vol. i., p. 363, note) cites a MS. of Aubert de la Chesnaye as stating that Montmagny spent the last years of his life with a relative at St. Christopher's, W.I., but thinks there is no proof of the correctness of this assertion.
[51] (p. [217]).—Pierre Chastellain and Charles Garnier arrived at Quebec with Montmagny, June 11, 1636; and on July 21 they left Three Rivers with the Indian trading canoes, to join the mission in the Huron country. Both were attacked by the smallpox in the following September, but in due time recovered their health. Chastellain labored at Ihonatiria about two years; was at Ossossané in 1638-39; then at St. Joseph (Teanaustayé). In November, 1640, he was left in sole charge of the residence of Ste. Marie-on-the-Wye, and was there in 1644. The Journ. des Jésu. mentions him as officiating at Quebec from December, 1650, to March, 1664. The Hurons called him Arioo.
[52] (p. [217]).—Charles Garnier was born May 25, 1606, and became a Jesuit novice Sept. 5, 1624, at Paris. His studies were pursued at Clermont, 1626-36, except while he was an instructor at Eu (1629-32). In 1636 he came to Canada (see note [51], ante), and labored among the Hurons. In November, 1639, he went with Isaac Jogues on a mission to the Tobacco Nation; but this tribe feared them as sorcerers, owing to the calumnies of certain Hurons, and after a few months the Jesuits were driven away, and obliged to return to the Huron missions. A year later, Garnier, with Pierre Pijart, made another though similarly unavailing attempt to reach this tribe. But in 1647 a third effort proved successful, and Garnier, with several assistants, established in the Tobacco Nation two missions, St. Jean and St. Mathias. These were highly prosperous until Dec. 7, 1649, when the town of Etarita (St. Jean) was destroyed by an Iroquois band, most of the inhabitants killed or made prisoners, and Garnier himself slain. The Relation for 1650 (chap. iii.) gives a long account of the life, death, character, and devoted piety of this missionary. Among the Hurons he was known as Ouaracha (Waracha). Two of his brothers were also priests—Henry a Carmelite, and Joseph a Capuchin.
[53] (p. [219]).—Upon the death of Champlain (see note [50], ante), a temporary successor was appointed, Marc Antoine de Brasdefer, sieur de Chasteaufort, the commandant of the new post at Three Rivers, whose commission had been for some time in the hands of Le Jeune—the former, according to Kingsford (Canada, vol. i., p. 149), having "been appointed to act as Governor in case of any extraordinary event. The Jesuit Father had accordingly possessed the unusual power of superseding Champlain, when he had deemed it advisable." Chasteaufort accordingly administered the affairs of the colony until the arrival of Montmagny (June, 1636). He then resumed command of the post at Three Rivers, where he still was in February, 1638.
[54] (p. [221]).—M. de Courpon was admiral of the fleet of Canada in 1641. Sulte says (Can.-Français, vol. ii, p. 119, note) that De Courpon, in that year, gave his own surgeon to Maisonneuve for the new colony at Montreal.
[55] (p. [221]).—Nicolas Adam, four days after his arrival (June 12, 1636), was seized by a fever which brought on a stroke of paralysis, disabling his hands and feet. In the Relation for 1637 (chap. xv.) he relates how he was cured, after an illness of three months, by a novena of communions in honor of the Virgin. He remained at Notre-Dame des Anges, giving religious instruction to the residents there. In the summer of 1642, he returned to France, at the command of his superiors; according to Rochemonteix (Jésuites, vol. i., p. 433, note), because he could not learn the Indian language.
[56] (p. [221]).—Ambroise Cauvet, a lay brother, is mentioned by Journ. des Jésu. as at Quebec in 1645, 1646, and 1648, employed in various ways as a domestic and artisan; he returned to France Sept. 18, 1657.
[57] (p. [221]).—The Norman families of Le Gardeur and Le Neuf (allied by marriage) came together to Canada with Montmagny (June, 1636), and were prominent and influential among the early colonists. Catherine de Cordé, widow of René le Gardeur, sieur de Tilly, came with two sons and a daughter; and Jeanne le Marchant, widow of Mathieu le Neuf de Hérisson, brought two sons and two daughters. Some of these had also wives and children; in all, they numbered 18 persons; Sulte gives a list of their names and relationships in Can.-Français, vol. ii., p. 60. The remainder of the 45 persons mentioned in the text probably included their servants, and families brought over as colonists.
Pierre le Gardeur, sieur de Repentigny, (born about 1610?) had at this time three children, and fixed his residence at Quebec. During 1642-47, he was commander of the Canadian fleet of the Hundred Associates; and in his care Dauversière placed the provisions, arms, and other supplies purchased by the latter for the colony of Montreal (1642). In the autumn of 1644, Le Gardeur and Jean Paul Godefroy (afterwards his son-in-law), went to France as delegates from the inhabitants of Canada, to obtain from the government some restriction of the fur-trade monopoly hitherto enjoyed by the Company of New France; they also requested that Récollets might be sent to Canada as parish priests, for the benefit of the French population—the Jesuits being mainly missionaries to the Indian tribes. The latter effort failed; but the fur trade was ceded by the company to the French colonists of the St. Lawrence valley; the latter were obliged to support their government, the garrisons, and the religious establishments, and to pay the company 1,000 pounds of beaver skins annually as a seignorial rent. For particulars of this arrangement, see Ferland's Cours d'Histoire, vol. i., pp. 338, 339; the royal decree confirming it (dated March 6, 1645) is given in Édits du Conseil du Roi concernant le Canada (Quebec, 1854), pp. 28, 29. Other decrees (March 27, 1647, and March 5, 1648) reorganized the government, and granted a considerable degree of autonomy to the inhabitants.—See Ferland, ut supra, pp. 356-358, 363-365; and Sulte's Can.-Français, vol. iii., pp. 7, 8, 14; cf. Faillon's Col. Fr., vol. ii., pp. 92-94.
Pierre le Gardeur had done much to bring about these political changes; but, for some reason, he opposed the new ordinances, so strongly that he was superseded in the command of the fleet. Departing immediately afterwards for Canada, he died at sea (July, 1648), from an epidemic disease that prevailed on shipboard. He had obtained from the Company of New France (April 16, 1647) two concessions on the St. Lawrence—the seigniory of Lachenaye, and that afterwards known as Cournoyer, opposite Three Rivers.
[58] (p. [221]).—Jacques le Neuf de la Poterie (born 1606) came to Canada in 1636, with Pierre le Gardeur, whose sister Marguerite was his wife (see note [57], ante). In the preceding January, De la Poterie had obtained a grant of the seigniory of Portneuf, above Quebec, on which he made improvements, and where at first he resided. He was governor of Three Rivers during November, 1645-August, 1648; June, 1650-August, 1651; September, 1652-July, 1653; and July, 1658-December, 1662. In 1649, he purchased a fief at Three Rivers from Champflour; and in the same year he obtained a grant of the Isle aux Cochons, at the mouth of the St. Maurice River. About this time, he was active in the organization of a volunteer militia. In 1665, De Mézy (then governor of New France) a few days before his death gave De la Poterie a commission appointing the latter as his successor, in case of that event; but the council refused to recognize his authority, excepting over the militia. In October, 1666, he went to France; but it is not known whether he returned thence.
Sulte says (Can.-Français, vol. vii., p. 42) that the Le Neuf family became extinct after the conquest of Canada.
[59] (p. [227]).—Concerning the Marquis de Gamache, see vol. [vi.], note [9].
[60] (p. [227]).—Various acts of the Hundred Associates, from 1634 to 1647, are signed by Lamy (L'Amy), "for the company;" but other information regarding him is not available.
[61] (p. [229]).—This was Emery de Caen; concerning his indemnification for losses incurred at the capture of Quebec by Kirk, see vol. [iv.], p. [258], note [21]; and vol. [vii.], note [18].
[62] (p. [235]).—Marie Madeleine de Wignerod (Vignerot) was the daughter of René de Wignerod, marquis du Pont de Courlai (who died in 1625), and of Françoise Duplessis, sister of Cardinal Richelieu. About 1620, Marie became the wife of Antoine de Beauvoir de Roure, marquis de Combalet; two years later, an officer in the Huguenot war, he fell in battle at Montpellier. His widow refused to marry again, and devoted her time and fortune to works of piety and charity. Le Jeune's Relation for 1635 directed her attention to the Canadian missions, and his suggestion as to the foundation of a hospital at Quebec at once appealed to her heart—an impression doubtless strengthened by the counsel of Vincent de Paul, who was an intimate friend of the Cardinal. She offered to send thither, at her own expense, some Hospital nuns from Dieppe; the Company of New France granted them lands; and the undertaking was aided not only by Madame de Combalet, but by Richelieu himself, who also gave his niece (1638) the estate of Aiguillon, and conferred upon her the title of duchess. After various delays, the Hotel-Dieu of Quebec was established in 1639. The Duchess d'Aiguillon continued for many years to aid this and other charitable enterprises; she died April 17, 1675.
[63] (p. [237]).—Montmartre: an eminence on the western side of Paris, about three hundred feet in height; so called (Lat. mons martyrum) because St. Denis, bishop of Paris in the third century, and two other Christians, were beheaded at the foot of the hill. The Chapel of Martyrs built here was still visible in the seventeenth century; and in it Ignatius Loyola pronounced his first vows, Aug. 15, 1534. The church of St. Pierre de Montmartre, evidently the one referred to in the text, was built in the twelfth century, by Louis VI. It served as a chapel for the Benedictine convent also founded by that monarch, and rebuilt by Louis XIV.; this was a "royal convent," the abbess being appointed by the king, not elected by the nuns. During the Reign of Terror, the abbess and all the inmates of this house were guillotined. A costly church has recently been erected on the highest point of Montmartre, where formerly stood temples dedicated to Mars and Mercury.
The heights of Montmartre were long famous for quarries of gypsum (hence the name "plaster of Paris"). Here, too, was begun the Communist insurrection of 1871.—See Hare's Walks in Paris (N.Y. and London, 1888), pp. 481-486.
[64] (p. [237]).—Concerning the Ursulines, see vol. [v.], note [3]. Sulte says (Can.-Français, vol. ii., p. 67): "The seigniory of Ste.-Croix, in Lotbinière county, measuring one league of frontage by six in depth, was granted Jan. 15, 1637, by the company, to Jean de Beauvais, commissary of the French marine, in order to found at Quebec a convent of Ursuline nuns."
There were many orders of hospital nuns, formed mainly to nurse the sick, but often also caring for neglected children and repentant women. The one introduced by the duchess d'Aiguillon was apparently that of the Hospital Sisters of the Mercy of Jesus, established in 1630, according to the rule of St. Augustine: it was confirmed eight years later by letters patent, and in 1664 and 1677 by papal bulls.
Both the Ursuline and the Hospital nuns arrived at Quebec Aug. 1, 1639.
[65] (p. [253]).—Sulte (Can.-Français, vol. ii., pp. 40, 54, 92) gives this information regarding him: "André de Malapart, a native of Paris, a soldier and a poet, wrote an account of this campaign [the expulsion of Stewart's colony from Cape Breton by Charles Daniel; see vol. [iv.] of this series, note [46]], which he addressed to M. Jean de Lauson, and which was published in 1630. In 1635, he was at Three Rivers, and four years later was commandant at that post. He was still in Canada in 1641." Tanguay (Dict. Généal., vol. i., p. 406) says: "In 1649, the registers designate him as 'arcis moderator' [commandant];" but the date here given is apparently a typographical error.
[66] (p. [253]).—M. de Maupertuis was in charge of the trading post at Three Rivers, in 1635-36.
[67] (p. [253]).—Capitanal, or Kepitanal (Creuxius, Hist. Canad., pp. 116, 182): a Montagnais chief of great ability. Le Jeune gives at length (vol. [v.], pp. [205-211]) the speech delivered by this man at a conference between Champlain and the Montagnais savages, May 24, 1633, and highly praises his intellect and eloquence. Capitanal died in the autumn of 1634: his traits of character, and his relations with the French, are described by Le Jeune in the Relation for 1635, ante, p. 55.
[68] (p. [259]).—Adrien du Chesne (Duchêne), a surgeon, came from Dieppe to Canada, probably about 1620. He remained with his wife at Quebec during the English occupation; and, after the return of the French, practised his profession at Quebec and Three Rivers. In October, 1645, he is mentioned by the Journ. des Jésu. (p. 9), in connection with his nephew Charles le Moyne, the father of the noted explorer Le Moyne d'Iberville.—See Sulte's Can.-Français, vol. ii., pp. 7, 144.
[69] (p. [267]).—Pierre de Launay (born 1616), a native of the province of Maine, France, is first mentioned in January, 1636, as an agent of the Hundred Associates; this position he seems to have retained at least until 1645; in that year he married Françoise Pinguet, at Quebec. Certain Indians from Tadoussac made complaints to the Quebec council (June, 1646) concerning De Launay's methods of trade, and the exorbitant prices charged by him. He was killed by the Iroquois, Nov. 28, 1654.
[70] (p. [269]).—Porcelain, which is the diamonds and pearls of this country: According to Littre, porcelain (a word of Italian origin; adopted, with slight variations, into nearly all European languages) was a name given, from very early times, to a univalvular, gastropodous mollusk, Cypræa; especially used for the species C. moneta, the money cowry of Africa and the East Indies, and for its shell. The same term was applied to the nacre (from which were made vases, ornaments, etc.) obtained from the shells of this and many other mollusks; and the enameled pottery brought from the Orient about the 16th century was also called "porcelain," from its resemblance to this nacre.
The early explorers on this continent found shells, or beads made therefrom, everywhere in use among the natives as currency. Cartier mentions this article as called "esurgny" by the Indians at Montreal; Champlain and other French writers applied the term already familiar to them, "porcelain;" the English colonists adopted the name in use among the natives of New England, "wampum" (from wompi, "white"); while the Dutch traders called it "sewan" (seawant, or zee-wand; a corruption of seah-whóun, "scattered, loose").
An interesting account of this Indian money is given by Roger Williams, in his Key into the Language of America (London, 1643),—reprinted, with careful and extensive annotations (mainly philological) by J. H. Trumbull, in Publications of the Narragansett Club, vol. i. (Providence, R. I., 1866). In chap. xxvi. of this work, pp. 173-178, "Concerning their Coyne," the author says: "The Indians are ignorant of Europes Coyne; yet they have given a name to ours, and call it Monêash from the English Money. Their own is of two sorts; one white, which they make of the stem or stocke of the Periwincle, which they call Meteaûhock, when all the shell is broken off: and of this sort six of their small beads (which they make with holes to string the bracelets) are currant with the English for a peny. The second is black, inclining to blew, which is made of the shell of a fish which some English call Hens, Poquaûhock, and of this sort three make an English peny.... This one fathom of this their stringed money, now worth of the English but five shillings (sometimes more), some few yeeres since was worth nine, and sometimes ten shillings per Fathome: the fall is occasioned by the fall of Beaver in England: the Natives are very impatient, when for English commodities they pay so much more of their money, and not understanding the cause of it; and many say the English cheat and deceive them, though I have laboured to make them understand the reason of it.... Their white they call Wompam (which signifies white): their black Suckduhock (Súcki signifying blacke). Both amongst themselves, as also the English and Dutch, the blacke peny is two pence white: the blacke fathom double, or two fathom of white. Before ever they had Awle blades from Europe, they made shift to bore this their shell money with stone, and so fell their trees with stone set in a wooden staff, and used wooden howes: which some old & poore women (fearfull to leave the old tradition) use to this day. They hang these strings of money about their necks and wrists, as also upon the necks and wrists of their wives and children." Trumbull (pp. 140, 175, ut supra) says that the Poquaûhock was the Venus mercenaria, the round clam, or quahaug; the Meteaûhock was probably the Pyrula carica or P. canaliculata, which have retained the name of "periwinkle" on the coast of New England. (The two latter species are also known as Fulgur carica and Scycotypus canaliculata.) From these shells were cut beads of cylindrical shape, through which holes were drilled; these beads were then strung upon cords, or the sinews of animals, and, when woven into plaits about as broad as the hand, made wampum "belts." In early times, various articles were used as substitutes for the shell beads—colored sticks of wood, porcupine quills, and glass or porcelain beads, brought from Europe by the traders.
The early traders readily adopted wampum as a medium of exchange in their transactions with the Indians, in both purchase and sale. Thus it "quickly became a standard of values, the currency of the colonists to a great extent in their transactions with each other, and even a legal tender." In Massachusetts, "wampampeag" was legal tender (Act of 1648) for all debts less than forty shillings, "except county rates to the treasurer,"—the white at eight for a penny, and the black at four for a penny. "So slow were the red men to relinquish this currency, that wampum continued to be fabricated until within fifty years in several towns of New York State (chiefly at Babylon, L. I.) to meet the demand for it by Western fur traders."—See Ingersoll's "Wampum and its History," in American Naturalist, vol. xvii. (1883), pp. 467-479.
Beauchamp says (N. Y. Iroquois): "I have mentioned the lack of wampum among the early New York Iroquois, as a proof that they had not reached the sea; but it was not abundant even on the coast in prehistoric times. On early Iroquois sites it is not found, nor anything resembling it.... A few stray, prehistoric, small wampum beads might be expected low down in the Mohawk valley, but I know of none; west of this, they are absolutely unknown. When, therefore, we are told of ancient wampum belts in New York, coeval with and recording the formation of the Iroquois league, we may settle it in our minds that such do not exist and never did. The most ancient Onondaga belt is modern, and it is doubtful if any one is much over a century old."
Wampum was used not only as money, and for purposes of ornament; it was sent with a messenger as his credentials, and was the mark of a chief's authority; it was used for "presents" or gifts, both within and without one's tribe; it was paid as ransom for a prisoner, or as atonement for a crime; and was used in negotiating and in recording treaties. The wampum "means nothing to white man, all to Indian," said recently a prominent Onondaga. Cf. Hale's "Indian Wampum Records," in Popular Science Monthly, February, 1897.
Transcriber's Note.
Variable spelling and hyphenation have been retained. Minor punctuation inconsistencies have been silently repaired.