Second, the Bear being brought, all the marriageable girls and young married women who have not had children, as well as those of the Cabin where the Bear is to be eaten, and of the neighboring cabins, go outside, and do not return as long as there remains a piece of this animal, which they do not taste. It snowed, and the weather was very severe. It was almost night when this Bear was brought to our Cabin; immediately the women and girls went out and sought Shelter elsewhere, the best they could find. They do this not without much suffering; for they do not always have bark at hand with which to make their house, which in such cases they cover with branches of the Fir tree.
En troisiesme lieu, il faut bien éloigner les chiens, de peur qu'ils ne lechent le sang, ou ne mangent les os, voire les excremens de cette beste, tãt elle est cherie. On enterre ceux-cy sous le foyer, & on iette ceux-là au feu; voila ce que i'obseruay en cette superstitiõ. On fit deux banquets de cét Ours, [94] l'ayant fait cuire en deux chaudieres, quoy qu'en mesme temps. On inuita les hõmes & les femmes âgées au premier festin, lequel acheué, les femmes sortirent, puis on depẽdit l'autre chaudiere, dont on fit festin à manger tout entre les hommes seulement. Cela se fit le soir de la prise; le lendemain sur la nuict, ou le second iour, ie ne m'en souuiens pas bien, l'Ours estant entierement mangé, les ieunes femmes, & les filles retournerent.
In the third place, the dogs must be sent away, lest they lick the blood, or eat the bones, or even the offal of this beast, so greatly is it prized. The latter are buried under the fireplace, and the former are thrown into the fire. The preceding are the observations which I made during the performance of this superstition. Two banquets are made of this Bear, [94] as it is cooked in two kettles, although all at the same time. The men and older women are invited to the first feast, and, when it is finished, the women go out; then the other kettle is taken down, and of this an eat-all feast is made for the men only. This is done on the evening of the capture; the next day toward nightfall, or the second day, I do not exactly remember, the Bear having been all eaten, the young women and girls return.
Si l'oiseau qu'ils nomment Ouichcatchan, qui est quasi de la grosseur d'vne pie, & qui luy ressemble, (car il est gris aux endroicts que la pie est noire, & blanc ou elle est blanche) se presente pour entrer dans leur Cabane, ils le chassent fort soigneusement, pource disent ils, qu'ils auroient mal à la teste: ils n'ẽ dõnent point de raison ils l'ont, si on les croit, [220] experimenté, ie les ay veu prendre le gesier de cét animal, le fendans & regardans dedans fort attentiuement; mon hoste me dit, si ie trouue dedans vn petit os d'Originac (car cét oyseau mange de tout) ie tueray vn Orignac, si ie trouue vn os d'Ours, ie [95] tueray vn Ours, & ainsi des autres animaux.
If the bird which they call Ouichcatchan, which is nearly the size of the magpie, and which resembles it (for it is gray in the places where the magpie is black, and white where it is white), tries to get into their Cabins, they drive it away very carefully, because, they say, they would have a headache; they do not give any reason for this, but have, if they are to be believed, learned it by experience. I have seen them take the throat of this animal, split it open, and look into it very attentively. My host tells me, "If I find inside a little bone of the Moose (for this bird eats everything) I shall kill a Moose; if I find a bone of the Bear, I [95] shall kill a Bear;" and so on with other animals.
Dans la famine que nous auons enduré, nos Sauuages ne voulurent point manger leurs chiens, pource que si on tuoit vn chiẽ pour le manger, vn hõme seroit tué à coups de hache, disoiẽt-ils.
In the famine which we endured, our Savages would not eat their dogs, because they said that, if the dog was killed to be eaten, a man would be killed by blows from an axe.
Mon hoste iettant quelques branches de pin dans le feu, il prestoit l'oreille au bruit qu'elles feroient en se bruslant, prononçant quelques paroles; ie luy demanday pourquoy il faisoit cette ceremonie, pour prendre des Porcs épics, me respond il, de dire quel rapport il y a de ces branches bruslées auec leur chasse, c'est ce qu'ils ne sçauent pas, & ne sçauroient sçauoir.
My host, throwing some pine branches into the fire, listened attentively to the noise which they made in burning, and pronounced some words. I asked him why he went through this ceremony; "To capture Porcupines," he answered me. What connection there is between these burning branches and their hunting, they neither do nor can explain.
Ils ne mangent point la moëlle des vertebres ou de l'espine du dos de quelque animal que ce soit, car ils auroient mal au dos, & s'ils fourroient vn baston dans ces vertebres, ils sentiroiẽt vne douleur, comme si on le fichoit dans les leur. Ie le faisois expres deuant eux pour les desabuser, mais vn mal d'esprit si grand, comme est vne superstition inueterée depuis tant de siecles, & succée auec le laict de la nourrice [96] ne se guerit pas en vn moment.