Touching the faith of the Indians, it is said, they believed no whit in God, but in one whom they call “Cudruiagni,” to whom, they say, they are often indebted for a foreknowledge of the weather. And when he is angry, his displeasure is manifested by casting dust in their eyes. They believe that, after death, they go into the stars, descending by degrees towards the horizon, and are finally received into certain green fields, abounding in fruits and flowers.
They are represented as possessing all property in common, and as being “indifferently well stored” with the useful “commodities” of the country—clothing themselves imperfectly in skins, wearing hose and shoes of skins in winter, and going barefooted in summer. The men labour little, and are much addicted to smoking. The condition of the women is one of drudgery and servitude. On them the labour of tilling the grounds, &c., principally devolves. The young women live a dissolute life, until marriage, and married women, after the death of their husbands, are condemned to a state of perpetual widowhood. Polygamy is tolerated. Both sexes are represented as very hardy, and capable of enduring the most intense degree of cold. In this there is little to distinguish the native of 1536 from that of the present day, if we substitute the blanket for the muttatos,[34] and except the remark respecting the condition of widows, the accuracy of which, as it was made upon slight acquaintance, may be reasonably doubted. It may also be remarked, that the condition of young women, as described by Cartier, was more degraded and vitiated than it is now known to be among any of the North American tribes.
The geographical information recorded respecting the St. Lawrence and its tributaries is generally vague and confused. But may be referred to as containing the first notice published by the French of the Great Lakes. Cartier was told by Donnacona and others that the river originated so far in the interior, that “there was never man heard of that found out the end thereof,” that it passed through “two or three great lakes,” and that there is “a sea of fresh water,” alluding, probably, to Superior.
At what time the ice broke up, is not distinctly told. It is stated that “that year the winter was very long,” and a scarcity of food was felt among the Indians, so much so, that they put a high price upon their venison, &c., and sometimes took it back to their camps, rather than part with it “any thing cheap.” Donnacona and many of his people withdrew themselves to their hunting grounds, under a pretence of being absent a fortnight, but were absent two months. Cartier attributed this long absence to a design of raising the country, and attacking him in his fortified positions—a design which no cordiality of friendship on the part of D. would prevent his entertaining, and which the latter gave some colour to by neglecting to visit Cartier on his return with great numbers of natives not before seen, and by evading the attempts made to renew an intercourse, by feigning sickness as the cause of his neglect. Cartier felt his own weakness, from the death of so many of his crew and the sickness of others, and has recorded for his government on this occasion the proverb, that “he that takes heed and shields himself from all men, may hope to escape from some.” He determined to abandon one of his vessels, that he might completely man and re-fit the others, and appears to have been diligent in making early preparations to return. While thus engaged, Donnacona (April 22,) appeared with a great number of men at Stadacona, and John Powlet, “who being best believed of those people,” he sent to reconnoitre them in their principal villages, reported that he saw so many people, that “one could not stir for another, and such men as they were never wont to see.” Taignoagny, whom he saw on this occasion, requested him to beseech Cartier to take off “a lord of the country,” called Agonna, who probably stood in the way of his own advancement. Cartier availed himself of this request to bring on an interview with Taignoagny, and by flattering his hopes, finally succeeded in the execution of a project he appears to have previously entertained. This was nothing less than the seizure of Donnacona, Taignoagny, Domaigaia, (his previous captives,) and “two more of the chiefest men,” whom, with the children before received, making ten persons in all, he conveyed to France.
This seizure was made on the 3d of May, being “Holyrood day,” at a time when Cartier had completed his preparations for sailing. He took formal possession of the country, under the name of New France, by erecting a cross “thirty-five feet in height,” bearing a shield with the arms of France, and the following inscription:
“Franciscus primum dei gratia Francorum Rex regnat,”
a sentence upon which this unjustifiable outrage formed a practical comment. Three days afterwards he sailed from the port of the Holy Cross, leaving crowds of the natives to bewail the loss of their chiefs. And whose kindness led them to send on board a supply of provisions, when they found they could not effect their liberation. Finding the current of the St. Lawrence much swoln, he came to anchor at the isle of Filberds, near the entrance of the Sagnenay, where he was detained nine days. In the meantime many of the natives of Sagnenay visited the ships, and finding Donnacona a prisoner, they presented him three packs of beaver. On the 17th May, he made an unsuccessful attempt to proceed, but was forced back and detained four days longer, waiting “till the fierceness of the waters” were past. He entered and passed out of the gulph on the 21st, but encountering adverse winds, did not take his final departure from the Newfoundland coast till the 19th June. He then took advantage of a favorable wind, and performed the homeward voyage in 17 days. He entered the port of St. Malo, July 6, 1536, having been absent less than 14 months, 8 of which had been passed in the St. Lawrence.
THIRD VOYAGE.
The reports and discoveries of Cartier were so well received by the King of France (Francis I), that he determined to colonize the newly discovered country, and named John Francis de la Roche, Lord of Roberval, his “Lieutenant and Governor in the countries of Canada and Hochelaga.” Cartier retained his former situation as “Captain General and leader of the ships,” and to him was entrusted the further prosecution of discoveries. Five vessels were ordered to be prepared at St. Malo, and measures appear to have been taken to carry out settlers, cattle, seeds, and agricultural implements. Much delay, however, seems to have attended the preparations, and before they were completed, Donnacona and his companions, who had been baptized, paid the debt of nature. A little girl, ten years old, was the only person surviving out of the whole number of captives.
It is seldom that a perfect harmony has prevailed between the leaders of naval and land forces, in the execution of great enterprises. And though but little is said to guide the reader in forming a satisfactory opinion on the subject, the result in this instance proved that there was a settled dissatisfaction in the mind of Cartier respecting the general arrangements for the contemplated voyage. Whether he thought himself neglected in not being invested with the government of the country he had discovered, or felt unwilling that another should share in the honors of future discoveries, cannot now be determined. It should be recollected that the conquest of Mexico had then but recently been accomplished (1520), and it is not improbable that Cartier, who had taken some pains to exalt Donnacona into another Montezuma, thought himself entitled to receive from Francis, rewards and emoluments in some measure corresponding to those which his great rival, Charles, had finally bestowed upon Cortez.