The Travels and Adventures of James Massey

by Simon Tyssot de Patot

We were overjoy'd at this Deliverance, which we had Reason to think a happy one. Next Day when we went out to see what Slaughter we had made, we found 72 dead, and 13 Wretches gasping for Life, whom we instantly dispatch'd with the But-Ends of our Musquets, and after having made a great Pit, we cast them all into it, for fear the Stench of their Carcases might infect the Air. The only wounded Man we had was one that was polled upon the Breast-work, who was shot in the Thigh with an Arrow, but was soon after cur'd.

After this Skirmish we doubled our Diligence or our Preservation; we were still in Dread of our conquer'd Enemy, because we apprehended that in time they would be wiser; but we never saw them afterwards, nor heard any thing of 'em any more than of our two Comrades, whom to be sure the Villains murder'd and devour'd.

Now you mention eating, said I, methinks 'tis time to talk of laying the Cloth. If you'll be rul'd by me, we will dine first, and then see what we have to say to one another more. Since that time, said Normand, nothing happen'd worth your Notice. Are you all living still? I ask'd him. No verily, said he, four died two Years ago, and there's another very ill, but perhaps the Sight of you will contribute to his Recovery; at least I am persuaded, that both he and others will be transported to see you. I beg let us go to them, we have time enough before us, else the poor Fellows will not know what's become of us. Tho' we were not yet recover'd of the Fatigues of the preceding Days, yet after having taken a Bit without Loss of Time, we travell'd away.

The Sun had been set a long while when we came to our Journey's End, but the Sky was clear; and the Moon almost at Full. I could not help laughing when we came about 100 Paces from the Fort, to hear one cry, Who goes there? and to hear Normand say, A Friend. Yet this was not all; you were but two when you went, said the Centinel, but I see more. Officers! Guard! At these Words, Le Grand came out with a Gun in his Hand to take a View of us. I was very well pleas'd with this good Guard, especially at that time when I was come from a Country where they knew not what a Guard meant. Normand stepp'd before us, and discover'd who we were, at which they came upon us all at once, and had like to have smother'd us with Embraces. Here we were oblig'd to give another Narrative of our Adventures, and to hear ourselves bitterly reproach'd for not having improv'd our Fortunes.

Le Grand said, why Friends, do you seek for Treasures and Empires? What need have we of any thing but plain Food and Raiment? You were in a Place where you enjoy'd these two Advantages at once, where all Persons are upon a Level, except here and there a few to whom the others pay a small voluntary Deference on Account of their Virtues, and the Care they take to administer Justice. You were also familiar with the King, who nourish'd you with the Fat of a plentiful fruitful Country, a Land of Blessing and Peace, from whence Soldiers are banish'd as much as Hangmen, and where humane Blood is sacred and safe from the Rage and Tyranny of great Men? I pray, what would you have more? Go where you please, you will never find so much again elsewhere. But 'tis the Foible of most Men, they seldom are contented with what they enjoy, and in whatsoever State and Place they are, they always think that to be happy they must change it.

All this moralizing, reply'd La Foret, is to no Purpose, we are come away, and we will not go back again were we to want Bread elsewhere. He is in the right, said I, when Errors are committed, 'tis needless to think any more of 'em, unless it be to be a Warning to us at another Time. If ever such good Luck should happen to us again, perhaps we shall know better how to improve it.

Next Day we went to fetch the remainder of the Baggage which we had left near the River, and came hither with it, designing to live and die here with the rest of our Company.

I was mightily pleas'd to see the good Order which Le Grand kept in this Fort with Respect to Manners. The least immodest Word was forbid on Pain of public Correction. He read Prayers every Morning and Evening at which they all attended, for tho' they were for most part Catholics, yet they liv'd together as if they had been all of one Religion. They all profess'd to love God and their Neighbour, as much as themselves; every one took his Turn to go and fetch in Provisions, to dress the Victuals, to mount the Guard, and so of the rest, while others walk'd Abroad for the Air, or employed themselves in what they pleas'd. It was an easy Matter for us to accommodate ourselves to the Maxims of this petty Republick. The sick Person I found there was cur'd, so that our Company consisted of 12 Persons.

We liv'd 27 Months together without any considerable Accident among us, but then one of our Comrades died, whose Name was Gascagnet, a Native of the Cevennes. He had been sadly afflicted with an Asthma for several Years, which had made him as lean as a Rake. When he was dead, I begg'd Leave to open him, which was readily granted. For this Operation I made use of some sorry Rasors and Scissors which my Comrades had sav'd. I found his Lungs contracted, and dry as a Spunge. The Trachian Artery or Pipe of the Lungs was hard, inflexible, and wide enough to put an Egg into it. The Liver was green, one of its Parts was gritty, and the other which seem'd perfectly ulcerated, stuck to his Kidneys. I found 4 Stones as big as Prune-Stones in the Bladder of the Gall, which was as yellow as Wax. As to the Heart, it seem'd in as good Order to outward Appearance as one could wish, but when I open'd it, I found a Hole in the Septum Medium of the Size of a Silver Penny, edg'd with a Membrane which without doubt was form'd there to hinder its closing up.

I confess that this surpriz'd me, but after a little Consideration I guess'd that the Deceased having always labour'd under a Difficulty of Breathing, and his Lungs by consequence wanting to be sufficiently cool'd, Nature was willing to provide a Remedy, as it does, tho' by other Means, for Infants in their Mother's Womb, and which indeed do not breathe at all, inasmuch as the Blood is circulated in them in a very different Manner from what it is when they are born. For, whereas in this Case, the Blood which is contain'd in the Veins, and push'd from the Extremities of the Body towards the Heart, which it enters thro' the Vena Cava, discharges itself into the right Cavity from whence it passes into the Arterious Vein, afterwards into the Arteria Venosa, and from thence into the left Cavity of the Heart, from whence it is push'd to the Extremities of the Animal by the Aorta, which communicates by its Branches with those of the Vena Cava; in the other case on the contrary, the Blood which issues from the Right Cavity passes immediately from the Trunk of the Arterious Vein into the Aorta, at the same time that it also flows immediately from the Vena Cava into the Trunk of the Veinous Artery, which from thence enters and dilates it self in the Left Cavity of the Heart.