They do not eat the marrow of the vertebræ or backbone of any animal whatever, for they would have a backache; and, if they were to thrust a stick into these vertebræ, they would feel the pain the same as if some one had driven it into theirs. I did it purposely, in their presence, to disabuse them; but a disease of the mind so great as is a superstition firmly established for so many centuries, and drunk in with the nurse's milk, [96] is not eradicated in a moment.
Ils ne mangent point les petits embrions d'Orignac, qu'ils tirent du ventre de leurs meres, sinon à la fin de la chasse de cét animal, la raison est que leurs meres les aiment, & qu'elles s'en rendroient fascheuses & difficiles à prendre, si on mangeoit leur fruict si ieune.
They do not eat the little embryos of Moose, which they take from the wombs of the mothers, except at the end of the chase for this animal. The reason is that their mothers love them, and they would become angry and difficult to capture, if their offspring were eaten so young.
[222] Ils ne reconnoissent que dix Lunes en l'année, i'entends la pluspart des Sauuages, car i'ay fait auouër au Sorcier qu'il y en auoit douze.
They recognize only ten Moons in the year,—I mean the greater part of the Savages, for I made the Sorcerer admit that there are twelve.
Ils croyent que la Lune de Feurier est plus lõgue de plusieurs iours que les autres, aussi la nomment ils la grande Lune; Ie leur ay demanday d'où venoit l'Eclypse de Lune & de Soleil; ils m'ont respondu que la Lune s'éclypsoit ou paroissoit noire, à cause qu'elle tenoit son fils entre ses bras, qui empeschoit que l'on ne vist sa clarté. Si la Lune a vn fils, elle est mariée, ou l'a été, leur dis-je, oüy dea, me dirent ils, le Soleil est son mary qui marche tout le iour, & elle toute la nuict; & s'il s'eclypse, ou s'il s'obscurcit, c'est qu'il prend aussi par fois le fils qu'il a eu de [97] la Lune entre ses bras: oüy, mais ny la Lune ny le Soleil n'ont point de bras, leur disois-je, tu n'as point d'esprit: ils tiẽnent tousiours leur arcs bandés deuant eux, voila pourquoy leurs bras ne paroissent point; & sur qui veulent ils tirer? hé qu'en sçauons nous. Ie leur demanday que vouloient dire ces taches qui se font voir en la Lune; tu ne sçay riẽ du tout, me disoient ils; c'est vn bonet qui luy couure la teste, & non pas des taches. Ie m'enquis pourquoy le fils du Soleil & de la Lune n'estoit pas luisant comme ses parents, ains noir & obscur; nous n'en sçauons rien, me firent ils, si nous auions esté au Ciel nous te respondrions. Au reste ils croyent qu'ils viẽt quelquefois en terre, & quand il se pourmene en leur pays, ils meurent en grand nõbre. Ie leur ay demandé s'ils n'auoiẽt point veu de Cometes, ces Estoilles à longue queuë, & ce que c'estoit; nous en auons veu, me dirent ils, c'est vn animal qui a vne grande queuë, 4. pieds, & une teste, nous voyons tous cela, disoiẽt-ils.
They believe that the February Moon is longer by several days than the others, and therefore they call it the great Moon. I asked them whence came the Eclipse of the Moon and of the Sun. They answered that the Moon was eclipsed, or appeared to be dark, because she held her son in her arms, which prevented her brightness from being seen. "If the Moon has a son, she is married, or has been," I told them. "Oh, yes," they replied, "the Sun is her husband, who walks all day, and she all night; and if he be eclipsed, or darkened, it is because he also sometimes takes the son which he has had by [97] the Moon, into his arms." "Yes, but neither the Moon nor the Sun has any arms," I answered them. "Thou hast no sense; they always hold their drawn bows before them, and that is why their arms do not appear." "And whom do they wish to shoot?" "Ah, how do we know?" I asked them what those spots meant that appear on the Moon. "Thou knowest nothing at all," they said; "it is a cap which covers her head, and not spots." I inquired why the son of the Sun and of the Moon was not bright like parents, but black and gloomy. "We do not know," said they; "if we had been in the Sky, we might answer thee." Furthermore, they think that he comes now and then upon earth; and, when he walks about in their country, many people die. I asked them if they had never seen Comets, those Stars with long tails, and what they were. "We have seen them," they answered; "it is an animal that has a long tail, 4 feet, and a head; we can see all that," they said.
[224] Ie les interrogeay sur le tonnerre, ils me dirent qu'ils ne sçauoient pas quel animal c'estoit, qu'il mangeoit les serpents [98] & quelquefois les arbres, que les Hurons croyẽt que c'est vn oiseau fort grãd induit à cette creãce, par vn bruit sourd que fait vne espece d'hirondelle qui paroist icy l'Esté: Ie n'ay point veu de ces oiseaux en France, i'en ay tenu icy, il a le bec, & la teste, & la figure du corps, cõme vne hirondelle, sinõ qu'il est vn peu plus gros; il se pourmene le soir en l'air, faisant vn bruit pesãt par reprises. Les Hurons disent qu'il fait ce bruit du derriere, cõme aussi l'oiseau qu'ils pẽsent estre le tõnerre, & qu'il n'y a qu'vn seul hõme qui voye cét oiseau, & encore vne fois en sa vie; c'est ce que m'ẽ dit mõ vieillard.
I asked them about the thunder; they said that they did not know what animal it was; that it ate snakes, [98] and sometimes trees; that the Hurons believed it to be a very large bird. They were led to this belief by a hollow sound made by a kind of swallow which appears here in the Summer. I have not seen any of these birds in France, but have examined some of them here. They have a beak, a head, and a form like the swallow, except that they are a little larger; they fly about in the evening, repeatedly making a dull noise. The Hurons say that they make this noise from behind, as does also the bird which they think is the thunder; and that there is only one man who has seen this bird, and he only once in his lifetime. This is what my old man told me.
Voila vne partie de leurs superstitiõs; que de poussiere dedans leurs yeux, & qu'il y aura de peine à la faire sortir, pour leur faire voir le beau iour de la verité. Ie croy neãtmoins, que qui sçauroit parfaittement leur langue, pour les payer promptement de bonnes raisons, qu'ils se mocqueroient eux mesmes de leurs sottises: car par fois ie les rendois honteux & cõfus, quoy que ie ne parle quasi que par les mains, ie veux dire par signes.