[1] See Horatio Hale's "Fall of Hochelaga," in Journal of American Folklore, Cambridge, Mass., 1894.
[2] In this necessarily very imperfect description of the organisation and customs of the Five Nations I depend mainly on those valuable and now rare books, The League of the Iroquois, and Houses and Home Life of the Aborigines, by Lewis H. Morgan. The reader should also consult Horatio Hale's Iroquois Book of Rites.
IX.
CONVENTS AND HOSPITALS—VILLE-MARIE—MARTYRED
MISSIONARIES—VICTORIOUS IROQUOIS—HAPLESS HURONS.
(1635-1652.)
A scene that was witnessed on the heights of Quebec on a fine June morning, two hundred and eighty-three years ago, illustrated the spirit that animated the founders of Canada. At the foot of a cross knelt the Governor, Charles Hault de Montmagny, Knight of Malta, who had come to take the place of his great predecessor, Samuel Champlain, whose remains were buried close by, if indeed this very cross did not indicate the spot. Jesuits in their black robes, soldiers in their gay uniforms, officials and inhabitants from the little town below, all followed the example of Montmagny, whose first words were, according to Father Le Jeune, the historian of those days: "Behold the first cross that I have seen in this country, let us worship the crucified Saviour in his image." Then, this act of devotion accomplished, the procession entered the little church dedicated by Champlain to Notre Dame de la Recouvrance, where the priests solemnly chanted the Te Deum and offered up prayers for the King of France.
The Church was first, the State second. After the service the new governor entered the fort of St. Louis, only a few steps from the sacred building, received the keys amid salutes of cannon and musketry, and was officially installed as head of the civil and military government of Canada, at this time controlled by the Company of the Hundred Associates. Then he was called upon to act as god-father for a dying Indian who desired baptism. In the smoky cabin packed with Indians Montmagny stood by the earnest Jesuit and named the Algonquin Joseph. "I leave you to think," says Father Le Jeune, "how greatly astonished were these people to see so much crimson, so many handsomely dressed persons beneath their bark roofs."