[199] Apres ceste famine nous eusmes quelques bons iours, la neige qui n'estoit que trop haute pour auoir froid, mais trop basse pour prendre l'Orignac, s'estant grandement accreuë sur la fin de Ianuier, nos Chasseurs prirent quelques Orignaux, dont ils firent seicherie: or soit que mon intemperance, ou que ce boucan dur comme du bois, & sale comme les [52] ruës fut contraire à mon estomach, ie tombay malade au beau commencement de Feurier, me voila donc contraint de demeurer tousiours couché sur la terre froide, ce n'estoit pas pour me guerir des tranchées fort sensibles qui me tourmentoient, & qui me contraignoient de sortir à toute heure iour & nuict, m'engageant à chaque sortie dedans les neiges iusques aux genoux, & parfois quasi iusques à la ceinture, notamment au commencement que nous nous estions cabanez en quelque endroit, ces douleurs sensibles me durerent enuiron huict ou dix iours, comme aussi vn grand mal d'estomach, & vne foiblesse de coeur qui se répandoit par tout le corps, ie guary de ceste maladie, non pas tout à fait: car ie ne fis [200] que traisner iusques à la my-Caresme que le mal me reprit. Ie dis cecy pour faire voir le peu de secours qu'on doit attendre des Sauuages quand on est malade: estant vn iour pressé de la soif ie demanday vn peu d'eau, on me répondit qu'il n'y en auoit point & qu'on me donneroit de la neige fonduë si i'en voulois: comme ce breuuage estoit contraire à mon mal, ie fis entendre à mon hoste que i'auois veu vn lac nõ pas loing de là, & que i'en eusse bien voulu auoir vn peu d'eau, il fit la sourde oreille à cause que le chemin estoit vn peu fascheux, si bien que non seulement ceste fois; mais encore en tous les endroits que quelque fleuue ou quelque ruisseau estoit vn peu trop esloigné de nostre cabane, il falloit boire de ceste neige fonduë dans vne chaudiere, dont le cuiure estoit moins épais que la saleté: qui voudra sçauoir l'amertume de ce breuuage qu'il le tire d'vn vaisseau sortant de la fumée & qu'il en gouste.
[199] After this famine, we had some good days. The snow, which had been only too deep to be cold, but too shallow to take the Moose, having greatly increased toward the end of January, our Hunters captured some Moose, which they dried. Now either on account of my lack of moderation, or because this meat, dried as hard as wood and as dirty as the street, did not agree with my stomach, I fell sick in the very beginning of February. So behold me obliged to remain all the time lying upon the cold ground; this did not tend to cure me of the severe cramps that tormented me and compelled me to go out at all hours of the day and night, plunging me every time in snow up to my knees and sometimes almost up to my waist, especially when we had first begun our encampment in any one place. These severe attacks lasted about eight or ten days, and were accompanied by a pain in the stomach, and a weakness in the heart, which spread through my whole body. I recovered from this sickness, but not entirely, for I was [200] only dragging myself around at mid-Lent, when I was again seized with this disease. I tell the following in order to show how little help may be expected from the Savages when a person is sick. Being very thirsty one day, I asked for a little water; they said there was none, and that they would give me some melted snow if I wanted it. As this drink was bad for my disease, I made my host understand that I had seen a lake not far from there, and that I would like very much to have some of that water. He pretended not to hear, because the road was somewhat bad; and it happened thus not only this time, but at any place where the river or brook was a little distance from our cabin. We had to drink this snow melted in a kettle whose copper was less thick than the dirt; if any one wishes to know how bitter this drink is, let him take some from a kettle just out of the smoke and taste it.
Quant à la nourriture, ils partagent le malade comme les autres; s'ils prennent de la chair fresche, [54] ils luy en donnent sa part s'il en veut, s'il ne la mange, [201] pour lors on ne se met pas en peine de luy en garder vn petit morceau quand il voudra manger, on luy donnera de ce qu'il y aura pour lors en la cabane, c'est à dire du boucan & non pas du meilleur: car ils le reseruent pour les festins, si bien qu'vn pauure malade est contraint bien souuent de manger parmy eux, ce qui luy feroit horreur dans la santé mesme s'il estoit auec nos François. Vne ame bien alterée de la soif du Fils de Dieu, ie veux dire des souffrances, trouueroit icy dequoy se rassasier.
As to the food, they divide with a sick man just as with the others; if they have fresh meat they give him his share, if he wants it, but if he does not eat it [201] then, no one will take the trouble to keep a little piece for him to eat when he wants it; they will give him some of what they happen to have at the time in the cabin, namely, smoked meat, and nothing better, for they keep the best for their feasts. So a poor invalid is often obliged to eat among them what would horrify him even in good health if he were with our Frenchmen. A soul very thirsty for the Son of God, I mean for suffering, would find enough here to satisfy it.
Il me reste encore à parler de leur conuersation, pour faire entierement cognoistre ce qu'on peut souffrir auec ce peuple. Ie m'estois mis en la compagnie de mon hoste & du Renegat, à condition que nous n'hyuerneriõs point auec le Sorcier, que ie cognoissois pour tres-meschant homme, ils m'auoient accordé ces conditions, mais ils furent infidelles, ne gardans ny l'vne ny l'autre: ils m'engagerent donc auec ce pretendu Magicien, comme ie diray cy apres; or ce miserable homme, & la fumée m'ont esté les deux plus grands tourmens [202] que i'aye enduré parmy ces Barbares: ny le froid, ny le chaud, ny l'incommodité des chiens, ny coucher à l'air, ny dormir sur vn lict de terre, ny la posture qu'il faut tousiours tenir dans leurs cabanes, se ramassans en peloton, ou se couchans, ou s'asseans sans siege & sans mattelas, ny la faim, ny la soif, ny la pauuerté & saleté de leur boucan, ny la maladie, tout cela ne m'a semblé que ieu à comparaison de la fumée & de la malice du Sorcier, auec lequel i'ay tousiours esté en très mauuaise intelligence pour les raisons suiuantes.
It remains for me yet to speak of their conversation, in order to make it clearly understood what there is to suffer among these people. I had gone in company with my host and the Renegade, on condition that we should not pass the winter with the Sorcerer, whom I knew as a very wicked man. They had granted my conditions, but they were faithless, and kept not one of them, involving me in trouble with this pretended Magician, as I shall relate hereafter. Now this wretched man and the smoke were the two greatest trials [202] that I endured among these Barbarians. The cold, heat, annoyance of the dogs, sleeping in the open air and upon the bare ground; the position I had to assume in their cabins, rolling myself up in a ball or crouching down or sitting without a seat or a cushion; hunger, thirst, the poverty and filth of their smoked meats, sickness,—all these, things were merely play to me in comparison to the smoke and the malice of the Sorcerer, with whom I have always been on a very bad footing, for the following reasons:—
Premierement, pource que m'ayant inuité d'hyuerner [56] auec luy, ie l'auois éconduy, dequoy il se ressentoit fort, voyant que ie faisois plus d'estat de mon hoste, son cadet, que de luy.
First, because, when he invited me to winter with him, I refused; and he resented this greatly, because he saw that I cared more for my host, his younger brother, than I did for him.
Secondement, pource que ie ne pouuois assouuir sa cõuoitise, ie n'auois rien qu'il ne me demandast, il m'a fait fort souuent quitter mon manteau de dessus mes espaules pour s'en couurir: or ne pouuant pas satisfaire à toutes ses demandes, il me voyoit de mauuais oeil, voire mesme quand ie luy eusse donné tout le peu que i'auois, ie n'eusse peu gagner [203] son amitié: car nous auions bien d'autres sujets de diuorce.
Second, because I could not gratify his covetousness. I had nothing that he did not ask me for, often taking my mantle off my shoulders to put it on his own. Now as I could not satisfy all his demands, he looked upon me with an evil eye; indeed, even if I had given him all the little I had, I could not have gained [203] his friendship, because we were at variance on other subjects.