On the first day of August, the Hurons came to see our Chapel, having heard it spoken of by those who had seen it; and I believe that, if they had made a longer stay at Kebec, there would not have been one who did not visit it. Their fair is soon over. The day of their arrival they erect their huts; the second, they hold their councils and make their presents; the third and fourth, they trade, sell, buy, barter their furs and their tobacco for blankets, hatchets, kettles, capes, iron arrow-points, little glass beads, shirts, and many similar things. It is a pleasure to watch them during this trading. When it [190] is over they take one day more for their last council, for the feast which is generally made for them, and the dance; and early the next morning they disappear like a flock of birds. Now those who had sold their goods early came to see our home, attracted thither by the description they had heard of the beauty of our Chapel. Father Brebeuf entertained them; and, after he had discoursed upon Paradise and Hell to one of their companies, a man interrupted him, asking: "And what shall we do, Eschom" (that is the name they give to the Father), "that we may escape these great torments?" When the Father told them what they must do, they assured him that they were ready to obey. He said that this Chapel was the place in which we offered prayers to the great God of the sky, that they must kneel down, and [191] that they should pray to him in their hearts. I saw them all get on their knees one beside the other, before the Altar, or rather they squatted down, for they do not know what kneeling is, as it is not one of their postures. Their prayer, which was not long, having been made, the Father asked one of them what he had said to the great God. He replied: "I said to him, 'Have courage to aid and succor us, and to give us a good voyage.'" That was the prayer of this poor barbarian. While one was praying, another said to him: "Look well into thy heart for what thou wilt say to this great Master." Oh, if we only knew the language of these poor Savages! That will come when it pleases Our Lord. May his holy name be forever blessed!
[266] Le 3. du mesme mois d'Aoust le Sieur de Champlain festina tous les [192] Hurons. Les mets du festin furent de la sagamité cõposée de pois, de pain esmié ou de galette puluerisée, & de pruneaux, tout cela bouilly dans vne grande chaudiere dont on se sert pour faire de la biere, auec de l'eau sās sel, leur a semblé tres-excellente. Ie ne declareray point les particularitez de ce banquet, ny de leur chant & de leur danse: ce sera pour vn autre fois.
(Continued in Vol. vi.)
On the 3rd of the same month of August, Sieur de Champlain made a feast for all the [192] Hurons. The dishes of this feast were sagamité, composed of peas, of bread-crumbs or powdered sea biscuit, and of prunes; all this was boiled together in a great kettle which is used for making beer, with water and no salt, and they thought it very good indeed. I shall not go into details about this banquet, nor about their songs and their dances. That will be for another time.
(Continued in Vol. vi.)
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA: VOL. V
XX
In reprinting Le Jeune's Brief Relation (1632), commonly classed as the first Relation of the regular series, we follow the original Cramoisy in Lenox Library. This is the copy marked "GB" in Winsor's list; it was formerly in the Bancroft collection, which was absorbed by the Lenox, being considered the chief jewel therein. Other copies are known to be in Brown Library, Providence; British Museum; and Bibliothèque Nationale and Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Paris. Winsor mentions a copy in the Murphy collection, but it was not included in the sale catalogue; the Kalbfleisch collection mentioned by Winsor had a copy, but that library is now dispersed.
Extracts from this Relation, for which "privilege" was issued Nov., 1632, appear in Mercure François, vol. xviii., pp. 56-72; the date of the "privilege" for this volume of Mercure is March, 1633. The Relation given in the Quebec Reprint (1858), is after the copy in the Bibliothèque Nationale.