Chapter XIX: Appendix (2)

THUS they treat their enemies; but at home they cultivate peace and carefully avoid quarrels, except those which the fury of drunkenness has aroused. Fortunate would they be if Europe had never introduced this scourge among them! They know nothing of anger, and at first were greatly surprised when the Fathers censured their faults before the assembly; they thought that the Fathers were madmen, because among peaceful hearers and friends they displayed such vehemence. These people seek a reputation for liberality and generosity; they give away their property freely and very seldom ask any return; nor do they punish thieves otherwise than with ridicule and derision. If they suspect that any one seeks to accomplish an evil deed by means of false pretences, they do not restrain him with threats, but with gifts. From the same desire for harmony comes their ready assent to whatever one teaches them; nevertheless they hold tenaciously to their native belief or superstition, and on that account are the more difficult to instruct. For what can one do with those who in word give agreement and assent to everything, but in reality give none? They kindly relieve the poverty of the unfortunate; they provide sustenance for widows and old men in their bereavement, except when, with old age, vitality is withering away, or some grievous disease arises; for then they think it better to cut short an unhappy existence than to support and prolong it. Whatever misfortune may befall them, they never allow themselves to lose their calm composure of mind, in which they think that happiness especially consists. They endure many days' fasting, also diseases and trials, with the greatest cheerfulness and patience. Even the pangs of childbirth, although most bitter, are so concealed or conquered by the women that they do not even groan; and if a tear or a groan should escape any one of them, she would be stigmatized by everlasting disgrace, nor could she find a man thereafter who would marry her. Friends never indulge in complaint or expostulation to friends, wives to their husbands, or husbands to their wives. They treat their children with wonderful affection, but they preserve no discipline, for they neither themselves correct them nor allow others to do so. Hence the impudence and savageness of the boys, which, after they have reached a vigorous age, breaks forth in all sorts of wickedness. Moreover, they exercise the same mildness which they exhibit toward their children and relatives, toward the remainder of their tribe and their countrymen. If any person has injured another by means of a rude jest (for they are commonly very talkative, and are ready jesters), the latter carefully conceals it, or lays it up, and in retaliation injures his detractor behind his back; for to jest in the victim's presence, or to make a verbal attack, face to face, is characteristic of religion. There is nothing which they are more prone to use as a counter-allegation, when provoked, than to charge a man with a lack of intelligence. For they claim praise because of their intelligence, and not without good reason. No one among them is stupid or sluggish, a fact which is evident in their inborn foresight in deliberation and their fluency in speaking. Indeed, they have often been heard to make a peroration so well calculated for persuasion, and that off-hand, that they would excite the admiration of the most experienced in the arena of eloquence.

Their bodies, well proportioned, handsome because of their height, vigorous in strength, correspond to their minds. They have the same complexion as the French, although they disfigure it with fat and rancid oil, with which they grease themselves; nor do they neglect paints of various colors, by means of which they appear beautiful to themselves, but to us ridiculous. Some may be seen with blue noses, but with cheeks and eyebrows black; others mark forehead, nose and cheeks with lines of various colors; one would think he beheld so many hobgoblins. They believe that in colors of this description they are dreadful to their enemies, and that likewise their own fear in line of battle will be concealed as by a veil; finally, that it hardens the skin of the body, so that the cold of winter is more easily borne. Besides these colors, which are usually applied or removed according to the pleasure of each person, many impress upon the skin fixed and permanent representations of birds or animals, such as a snake, an eagle, or a toad, in the following manner: With awls, spear-points, or thorns they so puncture the neck, breast or cheeks as to trace rude outlines of those objects; next, they insert into the pierced and bleeding skin a black powder made from pulverized charcoal, which unites with the blood and so fixes upon the living flesh the pictures which have been drawn that no length of time can efface them. Some entire tribes--that especially which is called the Tobacco nation, and also another, which is called the Neutral nation--practice it as a continuous custom and usage; sometimes it is not without danger, especially if the season be somewhat cold or the physical constitution rather weak. [347] For then, overcome by suffering, although they do not betray it by even a groan, they swoon away and sometimes drop dead. They praise small eyes and turned-up and projecting lips. Some shave their hair, others cultivate it; some have half the head bare, others the back of the head; the hair of some is raised upon their heads, that of others hangs down scantily upon each temple. They detest a beard as a monstrosity, and straightway pull out whatever hair grows upon their chins. The men as well as the women pierce the lobes of their ears, and place in them earrings made of glass or shells. The larger the hole, the more beautiful they consider it. They never cut their nails. They ridicule the Europeans, because the latter wipe off the mucus flowing from the nose with white handkerchiefs, and say: "For what purpose do they preserve such a vile thing?" In dancing, they bend the body, with the head lowered, in the form of a bow, and move their arms like those who knead dough, at the same time emitting hoarse grunts. They gird the lower portion of the belly with a broad piece of bark or hide or a parti-colored cloth, and leave the rest of the body naked. The women wear skins hanging from the shoulders and neck to the knees. They wear belts and bracelets ingeniously manufactured from Venus shells,[71] which we commonly call porcelain, or from porcupine quills; and necklaces made in this fashion they value highly. They make very neat mats from marisco (a variety of marine rush); with these they cover their floors, and also take their rest upon them, or upon the soft furs of the seal or the beaver. In winter they sleep about a fire constantly burning in the middle of the lodge, in summer under the open sky.

Neither table nor chair can be seen in the hut. They squat upon their haunches like monkeys; this is their custom while eating, deliberating or conversing. They greet approaching friends with silly laughter, more often exclaiming, ho, hho, hhho. When they eat they do not take beverages with their food, nor do they drink often, but only once after eating. Whoever entertains his friends at a feast neither sits with them nor touches any part of the food, but divides it among the feasters; or, if he has some one act as carver, sits apart fasting and looks on. While eating they keep silence; they reject salt and condiments; they consider it a sin to throw the bones to the dogs; they either burn them in the fire or bury them in the ground. For, they say, if the bears, beaver, and other wild animals which we capture in hunting should know that their bones were given to dogs and broken to pieces, they would not suffer themselves to be taken so easily. They wipe off upon their hair the grease which is collected from fatty foods; sometimes they smear their cheeks or arms for the sake, as they say, of elegance and health; for they think that not only is the skin made resplendent with grease, but that the limbs are thus strengthened. For no other food do they have such fondness as for Sagamita. It is a relish made from flour, especially that of Indian corn, mixed with oil, which as a flavor is held in especial esteem among them. Therefore, in feasts the first course consists of oil or fat, in hard and compact lumps, into which they bite as we do into a piece of bread or an apple. Before pots, kettles and other vessels of the sort were brought to them from France, they used receptacles of closely joined bark; but, because they could not place them with safety over the flames, they devised the following way of cooking meat: They cast a large number of flint stones into the fire until they had become red-hot. Then they would drop these hot stones one after another into a vessel full of cold water and meat. In this manner the water was heated and the meat cooked more quickly and more easily than one would suppose. For wiping their hands they use the shaggy back of a dog, also powder of rotten wood. The last-named is used by mothers, in the place of wash-cloths, to clean the dirt from their infants; it is also used as a mattress to support the weary body. They do not cleanse their cooking utensils. The more they are covered with thick grease, so much the better are they, in their judgment. They consider it disgraceful and arrogant to walk while conversing. They dislike the odor of musk, and consider it a downright pest in comparison with a piece of rancid meat or moldy fat.

There, are six hundred matters of this sort in which their customs differ very widely from those of Europeans; but they are less removed from the faults of the latter, and either equal or excel them. They have received stimulants of the appetite, and drinks hostile to a good and sound mind, from European traders, who think much of profit, even when tainted with the disgrace of a wicked traffic. They continue to exist so long as they have anything to eat; they store up nothing for to-morrow, or for the winter; nor do they greatly dread famine, because they are confident of their ability to bear it for a long time. In feasts it is the rule, by general consent and custom of the race, that all the food shall be consumed. If any one eats sparingly and urges his poor health as an excuse, he is beaten or ejected as ill-bred, just as if he were ignorant of the art of living. The principal article of their household utensils is the pot or kettle in which the meat is cooked. They measure property by the number of kettles, and in the beginning conceived a high opinion of the king of France, for no other reason than because he was said to possess a good many kettles. How great is the impunity and wantonness of licentiousness among men uncivilized and free from all restraint, especially among the youth, maybe readily observed; for the elder men confine their lust within fixed limits, after the violence of their passions has subsided, and an erring woman does not go unpunished.

There is among them no system of religion, or care for it. They honor a Deity who has no definite character or regular code of worship. They perceive, however, through the twilight, as it were, that some deity does exist. What each boy sees in his dreams, when his reason begins to develop, is to him thereafter a deity, whether it be a dog, a bear, or a bird. They often derive their principles of life and action from dreams; as, for example, if they dream that any person ought to be killed, they do not rest until they have caught the man by stealth and slain him. It is wearisome to recount the tales which they invent concerning the creation of the world. Soothsayers and worthless quacks fill with these the idle and greedy ears of the people in order that they may acquire an impious gain. They call some divinity, who is the author of evil, "Manitou," and fear him exceedingly. Beyond doubt it is the enemy of the human race, who extorts from some people divine honors and sacrifices. Concerning the nature of spirits, they go none the less astray. They make them corporeal images which require food and drink. They believe that the appointed place, for souls, to which after death they are to retire, is in the direction of the setting sun, and there they are to enjoy feasting, hunting, and dancing; for these pleasures are held in the highest repute among them.

When they first heard of the eternal fire and the burning decreed as a punishment for sin, they were marvelously impressed; still, they obstinately withheld their belief because, as they said, there could be no fire where there was no wood; then, what forests could sustain so many fires through such a long space of time? This absurd reasoning had so much influence over the minds of the savages, that they could not be persuaded of the truth of the gospel. For, plainly, in the physical man, as some one from Sts. Peter and Paul says, the entire system of knowledge is based on vision. Nevertheless, a clever and ingenious priest overcame their obstinacy. He confidently declared that the lower world possessed no wood, and that it burned by itself. He was greeted by the laughter of the crowd of savages. "But," said he, "I will exhibit to you a piece of this land of Avernus, in order that, since you do not believe the words of God, you may trust the evidence of your own eyes." The novelty and boldness of the promise aroused their curiosity. Upon the appointed day they assembled from the whole neighborhood, and sat down together in an immense plain, surrounded by hills like an amphitheater. Twelve leading men of the tribe, persons of dignity and sagacity, were chosen to watch the priest, in order that neither fraud nor sorcery might be concealed. He produced a lump of sulphur and gave it to the judges and inspectors to be handled; after examining it with eyes, nose, and hand, they admitted that it was certainly earth. There stood near by a kettle containing live coals. Then the priest, under the eyes of the people at a distance, while the judges were gaping with their noses thrust down toward the coals, shook some grains from the lump of sulphur upon the coals, which suddenly took fire and filled the curious noses with a stifling odor. When this had been done a second and a third time, the crowd arose in astonishment, placing their hands flat over their mouths, by which gesture they signify great surprise; and believed in the word of God that there is a lower world.

[51] Rerum Insigniorum Indiculus.

_ALCES consideratio_, 7

_virtus mira ungulæ ejus_, 8

_Angli barbaris gladios et gravidas nitrato
pulvere fistulas suppeditant_, 27

_Animarum de natura delirant Canadenses_, 20, 46

_Aves Novæ Franciæ_, 14

_Avis prædatrix_, 15

_Batavi barbaris arma vendunt_, 27

_Canada fluvius_, 5

_Canadensium domus_, 16
_mulierum labores_, 17
_morbi et ægrorum cura_, 18
_funera_, 20
_bella_, 27
_arma_, 28
_crudelitas in captivos_, 29
_indoles_, 33
_corporis cultus_, 37
_cibi_, 42
_convivia_, 44
[52] _Canadensium supellex_, 44
_religio et superstitiones_, 45

_Captivorum crudelis sors_, 29

_Casæ Canadensium_, 16
_cadavera perjanuam nunquam esseruntur_, 20

_Casæ fibrorum_, 10

_Causarus seu Piscis armatus_, 12

_Clypei barbarorum_, 28

_Coquendi ratio in cacabis è cortice confectis_, 42

_Ebrietas ab Europæis discitur_, 44

_Exequiarum ritus_, 20

_Feminis imponitur quidquid laboris est_, 17

_Fibri consideratio_, 9

_Fluvii quid habent singulare_, 6

_Franciæ Novæ descriptio, flumina_, 5
_coelum_, 6
_soli natura_, 7
_feræ_, 7

_Galliæ rex cur magni æstimabatur_, 45

_Hurones diem Mortuorum celebrant_, 25

_Infantium mira mortalitas_, 17
_cur corpora propter viam sepeliunt_, 21

_Infernales ignes esse probat sacerdos_, 48

[53] _Iroquæi bellum cum Montanis singulari certamine finiunt_, 28

_Iroquæorum lacus_, 12

_Kebecum, urbs primaria Novæ Franciæ_, 6

_Magna Bellua, quid_, 7

_Manitoù, genius malorum_, 46

_Missisipus fluvius_, 6

_Montani bellum singulari certamine finiunt_, 28

_Morborum fontes duo_, 18

_Mortuorum festa celebritas apud Hurones_, 25

_Mos Canadensis mortuos suscitandi_, 25

_Naviculæ barbarorum_, 6

_Neutra Natio_, 38

_Numen nullo certo cultu prosequuntur_, 44

_Palumbes absque numero_, 14

_Pisces armatus_, 13

_Patres non pauci Societatis Jesu dire torquentur_, 31

_Religio Canadensium_, 45

_Reticula pedibus substrata ut super nives de ambulent_, 8

_S. Laurentii fluvius_, 5, 6

_Sagamita quid_, 42

[54] _Saltus seu catadupæ in fluviis_, 6

_Sinus Sancti Laurentii_, 14

_Somniorum vanitas_, 46

_Sudando noxios humores ejiciunt_, 19

_Tabacum, natio ejus nominis_, 38

_Trophæus_, 32

_Volucrum insula_, 14

[51] Index of Prominent Topics.

[_The page numbers refer to O'Callaghan's Reprint._]

_ELK: description_, 7
_wonderful efficacy of its hoof_, 8

_The English supply swords, guns and ammunition to the savages_, 27

_Absurd ideas of Canadians concerning the soul_, 20, 46

_Birds of New France_, 14

_A bird of prey_, 15

_The Dutch sell arms to the savages_, 27

_The river Canada_, 5

_Homes of the Canadians_, 16
_tasks of the women_, 17
_diseases and treatment of the sick_, 18
_funerals_, 20
_wars_, 27
_weapons_, 28
_cruelty to prisoners_, 29
_character_, 33
_care of the body_, 37
_food_, 42
_feasts_, 44
[52] _Implements of the Canadians_, 44
_religion and superstitions_, 45

_Cruel fate of prisoners_, 29

_Houses of the Canadians_, 16
_corpses are never carried out through the door_, 20

_Houses of the beavers_, 10

_The Causar or armored Fish_, 12

_Shields of the savages_, 28

_Manner of cooking in vessels made from bark_, 42

_Drunkenness is learned from the Europeans_, 44

_Rites of sepulture_, 20

_Whatever work there is, is placed upon the women_, 17

_Description of the beaver_, 9

_Peculiarities of the rivers_, 6

_Description of New France, rivers_, 5
_climate_, 6
_nature of the soil_, 7
_wild animals_, 7

_Why the king of France was greatly respected_, 45

_The Hurons celebrate the day of the Dead_, 25

_Remarkable mortality among infants_, 17
_why they bury the bodies near the road_, 21

_A priest proves that there is hell fire_, 48

[53] _The Iroquois conclude a war with the Montagnais by single
combat_, 28

_Lake of the Iroquois_, 12

_Kebec, the chief city of New France_, 6

_The Great Beast, what it is_, 7

_Manitou, the spirit of evil_, 46

_Mississippi river_, 6

_The Montaignais conclude a war by single combat_, 28

_Two sources of disease_, 18

_Festival of the Dead among the Hurons_, 25

_Canadian manner of honoring the dead_, 25

_Boats of the savages_, 6

_The Neutral Nation_, 38

_They revere a deity with no fixed form of worship_, 44

_Innumerable pigeons_, 14

_The armored fish_, 13

_Fathers of the Society of Jesus are cruelly tortured_, 31

_Religion of the Canadians_, 45

_Network bound under the feet, to walk over the snow_, 8

_St. Lawrence river_, 5, 6

_Sagamita, what it is_, 42

[54] _Water-falls, or cataracts, in the rivers_, 6

_Gulf of St. Lawrence_, 14

_Ignorant belief in dreams_, 46

_They expel noxious humors by sweating_, 19

_Tobacco, the nation of that name_, 38

_The trophy_, 32

_Isle of Birds_, 14

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA: VOL. I

I

Our text of Lescarbot's _La Conversion_ follows, to the close of p. 44 (original pagination), the copy at Lenox Library: pp. 45, 46, the "Regitre de Bapteme," follow the copy at John Carter Brown Library, Providence, R. I., as the Lenox copy does not have these two pages.

It is a rare book; the two copies above cited are the only ones known to us, in America. Leclerc, in _Bibliotheca Americana_ (Paris, 1867), p. 206, says: "Cette pièce est plus rare que l'Histoire de la Nouvelle France," referring to Lescarbot's better-known work. Sabin speaks of it (vol. x., no. 40167), as "probably the rarest of Lescarbot's works."

See further references in the John Carter Brown Catalogue (Bartlett's _Bibliotheca Americana_, Providence, 1882), vol. ii., no. 99: Graesse's _Trésor de Livres Rares et Précieux_ (Dresden, 1863), vol. iv., p. 175; Harrisse's _Notes sur la Nouvelle France_ (Paris, 1872), no. 21; Ternaux's _Bibliothèque Américaine_ (Paris, 1837), no. 330; Winsor's _Narrative and Critical History of America_, vol. iv., p. 299; and Lenox _Catalogue of Jesuit Relations_ (N. Y., 1879), p. 3.[XVII.]

_Title-page._ This is given in photographic facsimile, in this reissue. The Lenox and Brown copies are alike, in this. It will be noticed that there is no date of publication, this being established from the Privilege.

_Collation._ Title, 1 p.; blank at back of title, 1 p.; dedication "A LA ROYNE," 3 pp., signed "MARC LESCARBOT;" privilege, 1 p., dated "Paris, 9 Sep., 1610," and signed "Brigard;" text, pp. 7-44. Page 7 is misnumbered 1. (The Brown Catalogue says: Page 1 is misnumbered 7." This is a misprint in the Catalogue.) "FIN," at end of p. 24; then pp. 23 and 24 are reprinted, all except the last sentence on p. 24: "Dieu vueille par sa | grace conduire le tout en sorte que la chose | reüssisse à sa gloire & à l'édification de ce peu-| ple, pour lequel tous Chrétiens doivent faire | continuelles prieres à sa divine bonté, à ce qu'il | lui plaise confirmer & avancer l'oeuvre qu'il | lui a pleu susciter en ce temps pour l'exaltation | de son nom, & le salut de ses creatures. | FIN."

It is evident that the intention was to have the first leaf (pp. 23, 24) cut out. This duplication of pp. 23, 24 is in both the Brown and Lenox copies.

The "Extrait du Regitre de Bapteme" in the Brown copy (it is not in the Lenox Copy) forms 2 pages at the end of text. The first page of this "Regitre" is not numbered; the second is numbered "-4-6" (intended for 46), and this ends the book. The same "Regitre" appears in somewhat different order in Lescarbot's _Nouvelle France_, (1612 ed.), pp. 638-640, chap. 5, book v.; also, according to Harrisse's _Notes_, in chap. 3, book v., of the 1611 ed.

II

In Bertrand's _Lettre Missive_, we follow the original Paris edition, in Lenox. It is a rare publication, the Lenox copy being apparently the only one in the United States; Brown has a manuscript copy, made from that at Lenox. Sabin (vol. x., no. 40682), says: "It is a piece of unusual rarity." Sabin has a previous reference in vol. ii., no. 5025, under caption "Bertrand," wherein a misprint makes him cite the date of the letter as "28 June, 1618" (eight years later than the actual date); a further misprint causes Sabin to record the pamphlet as having "48 pages or less," the actual number being 8. In his _Notes_, Harrisse omits a line-ending after the second "nouuelle" in his description of the title-page. See, for further references: Ternaux, no. 329; Winsor, p. 299; Lenox Catalogue, p. 3; Brown Catalogue, vol. ii., no. 103.

_Title-page._ Given in photographic facsimile, in present volume.

_Collation._ Title, 1 p.; blank at back of title, 1 p.; text, pp. 3-6; dated on p. 6, "Port Royal xxviij. Iuin, 1610," and signed "Bertrand." Blank leaf at end, completing 4 leaves = 8 pp.

III-VI

In these four letters, by Biard and Massé, we follow Carayon's _Première Mission des Jésuites au Canada_ (Paris, 1864). It is a scarce book, and brought $8 at the Barlow Sale, in New York, 1890. See references in Harrisse, p. 285; Sabin, no. 10792; Winsor, pp. 151, 292, 300; and Lenox Catalogue, p. 15. The origin of the letters in the volume is found at the top of the first page of each letter; and these data, with accompanying notes by Carayon, are reproduced in the present series, which will, in strict chronological order, contain all of the papers given by that editor; although in many cases we shall follow the original issues of the letters, whenever found. Documents III., V., and VI. were written in Latin; and Document IV. in French.

_Collation._ Blank, 2 pp.; bastard title, 1 p.; blank, 1 p.; title proper, 1 p.; blank, 1 p. Preface begins on p. vii. (not numbered), and ends on p. xvi. Preface acknowledges indebtedness to F. Felix Martin, S. J., for copying and translating into French (from the Latin) most of the letters in the volume. Text, pp. 1-302; Table at end, 2 pp.; the last of these is numbered 304.

VII

We follow the style and make-up of Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan's Reprint (Albany, N. Y., 1871) of the _Canadicæ Missionis_, in Jouvency's _Hist. Soc. Jesu_, part v., commencing p. 321. In the Lenox Catalogue, it is designated "O'Callaghan's Reprint, No. 4." This numbering of O'Callaghan's reprints, is merely a device peculiar to the Lenox Catalogue, for sake of easy reference, and has been followed by Winsor; the reprints themselves bear no numbers.

The text of this document, however, we have compared with the original folio edition of Jouvency's work, in the library of St. Francis Xavier College, New York, and the pagination thereof is indicated instead of that of the O'Callaghan Reprint. The list, "Missiones Societatis Jesu in America Septentrionali Anno M. DCC. X.," which O'Callaghan reprints as if a part of the original _Canadicæ Missionis_, is on pp. 961, 962 of the same volume of Jouvency in which the latter appears (part v.).

_Title-page._ The O'Callaghan Reprint is closely imitated.

_Collation of O'Callaghan Reprint._ Title, 1 p.; reverse of title, with inscription: "Editio viginti quinque exemplaria. O'C.," 1 p.; Biardi Eulogium ac Vita, pp. i-v.; blank, 1 p.; Tabula, 1 p.; blank, 1 p.; text, pp. 5-33; colophon: "Albaniae Excvdebat Joel Munsellius | Mense Aprilis Anno | CI[C=]. I[C=]CCC. LXXI.," 1 p.; half-title, "Appendix," 1 p.; blank, 1 p.; "Missiones Societatis Iesu | in America Septentrionali |Anno M.DCC.X.," 2 pp., the last of which is numbered 38.

VIII

We follow the style and make-up of O'Callaghan's Reprint (Albany, 1871), which is numbered 5 in the Lenox Catalogue. The text and pagination follow the original, in Jouvency's _Hist. Soc. Jesu_, part v., commencing p. 344.

_Title-page._ The O'Callaghan Reprint is closely imitated.

_Collation of O'Callaghan Reprint._ Title, 1 p.; reverse of title, with inscription: "Editio viginti quinque exemplaria. O'C.," 1 p.; Tabula Rerum, 1 p.; blank, 1 p.; text, pp. 5-49; blank, 1 p.; Rerum Insigniorum Indiculus, 4 pp.; colophon: "Albaniae Excvdebat Joel Munsellius | Mense Qvintilis Anno | CI[C=]. I[C=]CCC. LXXI.," 1 p.

FOOTNOTES:

[XVII.] In order to save needless repetition of long titles, bibliographical works, when once cited in full, will thereafter be referred to by the usual cut-shorts: e.g., the John Carter Brown Catalogue will be hereafter known in our Bibliographical Data as "Brown Catalogue;" the list of Jesuitica in Winsor's _Narrative and Critical History_ vol. iv., as "Winsor;" the Lenox _Catalogue of Jesuit Relations_, as "Lenox Catalogue;" Harrisse's _Notes sur la Nouvelle France_, as "Harrisse's _Notes_," or simply as "Harrisse;" etc., etc. The student who is familiar, in a general way, with these bibliographical sources,--and it is presumed that those are, for whom this series of reprints is designed,--will not be confused by the customary method of brief citation.

NOTES TO VOL. I

(_Figures in parentheses, following number of note, refer to pages of English text._)

1. (p. 55)--Marie de Médicis, queen regent, widow of Henry of Navarre; appointed regent by the king, the day before his assassination, May 14, 1610. She was accused of having been privy to his murder.

2. (p. 55)--The reports of Champlain, and the maps and charts with which, upon returning from his voyage of 1603, he entertained Henry IV., so interested the latter that he vowed to encourage the colonization of New France. To carry on this work he commissioned, as his lieutenant-general in Acadia, Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts, governor of Pons, a Huguenot resident at court, and, according to Champlain, "a gentleman of great respectability, zeal, and honesty." De Monts' commission is given at length in Baird's _Huguenot Emigration to America_, vol. i., p. 341; his charter of "La Cadie" embraced the country between the 40th and 46th degrees of latitude, and he held therein a monopoly of the fur trade. J. G. Bourinot, in _Canadian Monthly_, vol. vii., pp. 291, 292, says the name Acadia (also written Acadie, and La Cadie) "comes from àk[^a]de, which is an affix used by the Souriquois or MIC Macs ... to signify a place where there is an abundance of some particular thing."--See, also, Laverdière's _Oeuvres de Champlain_ (Quebec, 1870), p. 115. In 1604, De Monts sailed from France with a colony composed of Catholics and Huguenots, served by "a priest and a minister." Champlain and Poutrincourt were with the expedition, and Pontgravé commanded one of the two ships. The cancelling of his monopoly (1607), deprived De Monts of the means to carry on his colonization schemes. The title to Port Royal he had already ceded to Poutrincourt. The king renewed De Monts' monopoly for one year, upon his undertaking to found a colony in the interior. Thereupon De Monts sent Champlain to the St. Lawrence (1608), as his lieutenant. Upon the death of Henry IV. (1610), De Monts, now financially ruined, surrendered his commission, selling his proprietary rights to the Jesuits.

"Jean de Biencourt, Baron de Poutrincourt, a gentleman of Picardy, a brave chevalier, had carried arms against Henry IV. in the ranks of the Catholics, during the wars of the League. Lescarbot tells how 'The king, holding him besieged in his castle of Beaumont, wished to give him the dukedom of this place in order to attach him to his service.' Poutrincourt refused. But, when the king had abjured his faith, he served this prince loyally and followed him to battle, where he accumulated more honor than fortune. In 1603, he lived in retirement with his wife, Jeanne de Salazar, and his children, in his barony of Saint-Just, in Champagne, struggling painfully against the difficulties of an embarrassed situation, and striving to improve the tillage and crops of his little domain. It was here that De Monts, his former companion in arms, found him. He knew his courage, his intelligence, and his activity, and did not doubt that a voyage to Canada and an agricultural colony in these distant lands, so fertile and primeval, would appeal to his ardent soul. Poutrincourt, in fact, received with enthusiasm the plan of his old friend; however, before binding himself definitely, he wished to find out, on his own account, something about the state of the country, and for this purpose to make a trial voyage."--Rochemonteix's _Les Jésuites et la Nouvelle France_ (Paris, 1896), vol. i., p. 11.

Pleased with Annapolis harbor, Poutrincourt decided to settle there with his family, and De Monts gave him a grant of the place. In 1606, Poutrincourt made a second voyage to Port Royal, exploring the coast with Champlain and Lescarbot. After the abandonment of the colony (1607), he went to France, returning to Acadia in 1610, inspired with zeal to convert the savages, but without the aid of the Jesuits. See Parkman's _Pioneers of France in the New World_ (ed. 1885, which will hereafter be cited, unless otherwise noted), pp. 244-322; also Shea's ed. of Charlevoix's _History of New France_, vol. i., p. 260. By the destruction of Port Royal in 1613, he was the heaviest loser--the total loss to the French, according to Charlevoix, being a hundred thousand crowns. In 1614, Poutrincourt visited the ruins of Port Royal for the last time, thence returning to France to engage in the service of the king. He was fatally wounded by a treacherous shot after the taking of Méry (1615). Baird (_Hug. Emig._, vol. i., p. 94), says: "This nobleman, if nominally a Roman Catholic, appears to have been in full sympathy with his Huguenot associates, De Monts and Lescarbot. His hatred of the Jesuits was undisguised." Lescarbot's account of Poutrincourt's dispute with them differs essentially from that given by Biard, _post_.

3. (p. 55)--Marc Lescarbot (or L'Escarbot), parliamentary advocate, was born at Vervins, France, between 1570 and 1580. He was more given to literature than to law, and appears to have been a man of judgment, tact, and intelligence. He spent the winter of 1606-07 at Port Royal, which Slafter (Prince Soc. ed. of _Voyages of Samuel Champlain_, vol. ii., p. 22, _note_ 56) locates "on the north side of the bay [Annapolis Basin] in the present town of Lower Granville; not, as often alleged, at Annapolis." See Bourinot's "Some Old Forts by the Sea," in _Trans. Royal Society of Canada_, sec. ii, pp. 72-74, for description of Port Royal, which he places on the site of the present Annapolis. In the spring of 1607, Lescarbot explored the coast between the harbor of St. John, N. B., and the River St. Croix. On the abandonment of De Monts' colony, the same year, he returned to France, where he wrote much on Acadia and in praise of Poutrincourt. Larousse gives the date of his death as 1630. Parkman's _Pioneers_, pp. 258 _et seq._, gives a lively account of Lescarbot's winter at the colony. Abbé Faillon, in _Histoire de la Colonie Française en Canada_ (Montreal, 1865), vol. i, p. 91, says he has given us the best accounts extant (in the present document, his _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_, 1609, and his _Les Muses de la Nouvelle France_, 1618) of the enterprises of De Monts and Poutrincourt; and that while a Catholic in name, he was a Huguenot at heart.

4. (p. 57)--_Clameur de Haro, Chartre Normand_, an expression used in all the privileges or licenses granted by the king to booksellers. The latter phrase refers to a deed containing numerous privileges or concessions, accorded to the inhabitants of Normandy by Louis X., Mar. 19, 1313, and repeatedly confirmed afterward. _Haro_ is supposed to be derived from, _Ha Rou!_ or _Ha Rollo!_ Hence an appeal to Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy.

5. (p. 59)--The first attempt of the Huguenots to establish a colony in America was at Rio Janeiro, under Villegagnon (1555). A reinforcement was sent thither in 1557, and among its Calvinist preachers was Jean de Léri, the historian of the disastrous undertaking. See his _Historia Navigationis in Brasiliam_ (1586), quoted in Parkman's _Pioneers_, p. 28.

6. (p. 61)--The St. Lawrence; so named by Cartier (1535), but frequently called "The Great River," "The River of the Great Bay," etc., by early annalists. In the account of his second voyage, Cartier styles it _le grand fleuve de Hochelaga_. See Winsor's _Narrative and Critical History of America_, vol. iv., p. 163; also his _Cartier to Frontenac_, p. 28.

7. (p. 61)--Concerning early European acquaintance with American Indians:

"In the yeere 1153 ... it is written, that there came to Lubec, a citie of Germanie, one Canoa with certaine Indians, like vnto a long barge: which seemed to haue come from the coast of Baccalaos, which standeth in the same latitude that Germanie doth." (Antoine Galvano, in Goldsmid's ed. of _Hakluyt's Voyages_, vol. xvi., p. 293.)

Harrisse (_Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima_, no. 71) cites the _Chronicon_ of Eusebius (Paris, 1512) as having, "under the date 1509, a notice saying that there had been brought to Rouen seven Savages from North America."

The Indians of Newfoundland, when first discovered by the French, called codfish _bacalos_, which Lescarbot and other early French writers say is identical with the Basque word for codfish. Many evidences led Cartier, upon his first voyage (1534), to believe that the natives had had previous intercourse with Europeans.

8. (p. 61)--Probably André Thevet. A translation of his description of the Isles of Demons (now known as Belle Isle and Quirpon), is given in Parkman's _Pioneers_, p. 191. Thevet's _Cosmographie Universelle_ (Paris, 1558), and _Singularitez de la France antarctique_ (Paris, 1558), must have been familiar to Lescarbot. De Costa gives a translation of so much of the _Cosmographie_ as relates to New England, in _Magazine of American History_, vol. viii., p. 130: "The production of the mendacious monk, André Thevet." It seems clear that Thevet never saw the American coast, that his imagination amplified the accounts of navigators who had visited the region, particularly those of Cartier. Priceless as are first editions of Thevet, he has a poor reputation for veracity.

9. (p. 61)--The Armouchiquois (or Almouchiquois of Champlain) were, according to Parkman (_Jesuits of N. America_, p. xxi.), the Algonkin tribes of New England,--Mohicans, Pequots, Massachusetts, Narragansetts, and others,--"in a chronic state of war with the tribes of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia." Williamson, in _History of the State of Maine_ (Hallowell, 1832, vol. i., p. 477), says they were an Etchemin tribe, the Marechites of the St. John River; but Champlain, who had, like Biard, visited the Armouchiquois country, says that it lies beyond Choüacoet (Saco), and that the language is different from those of the Souriquois and Etchemins. Laverdière affirms that "the French called Almouchiquois several peoples or tribes that the English included under the term Massachusetts;" and he conjectures that these two names are etymologically allied.--See his _Champlain_, pp. 200, 205, 206.

10. (p. 61)--Lescarbot here refers to his _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_. The first edition (Paris, 1609) is a rare prize to collectors,--a London catalogue of 1878 pricing it at £45. The edition of 1612 is followed in the Tross reprint (Paris, 1866); that of 1618 contains Lescarbot's assault upon the Jesuits. The fourth and sixth books, only, were "translated out of the French into English" by P. Erondelle, 1609. A German version of a brief summary of the work appeared in 1613.

11. (p. 67)--The term Norembega, variously spelled, was applied indifferently to the entire range of Acadian and New England coast; but apparently the Penobscot is here meant. See Winsor's _N. and C. Hist._, vol. iv., index; _Documentary History of State of Maine_, vol. ii., pp. lii., liii.; Prince Society's ed. of _Champlain_, memoir and index. The claim is made for Bangor, Me., that it is on the site of an ancient town called Norumbega. Much information on this point is given in _Maine Hist. Soc. Colls._, vols. ii., iv., v., vii., viii., and ix. Sewall claims that the true form of Norumbegua is Arâmbec, and that it was the name of a city of the savages, situated near the head-waters of the Damariscotta, above Pemaquid.--_Ancient Dominions of Maine_, pp. 30-46. Horsford, in _Discovery of the Ancient City of Norembega_ and _Defences of Norembega_ (Boston, 1890 and 1891), claims, on slender evidence, that Watertown, Mass., occupies the site of an old town of that name founded by Norse vikings in 1000 A. D.

12. (p. 67)--Bay of Fundy; first shown on map of Diego Homem (1558); named by De Monts Grande Baye Française (shown on Lescarbot's chart of Port Royal); appears as Argal's Bay, on Alexander's map (1624); Golfo di S. Luize, on Dudley's (1647); Fundi Bay, on Moll's (1712); and Bay of Fundy, or Argal, on that of the English and French Commissioners (1755). Bourinot (_Canad. Mo._, vol. vii., p. 292) says that Fundy is a corruption of _Fond de la Baie_, as the lower part of the bay was called; he follows here Ferland's suggestion, in _Cours d'Histoire du Canada_ (Quebec, 1861), vol. i., p. 65.

13. (p. 67)--The son of Pontgravé, who, according to Parkman (_Pioneers_, p. 290) had exasperated the Indians by an outrage on one of their women, and had fled to the woods.

14. (p. 69)--_Palourdes_ is Breton for a kind of shellfish.

15. (p. 73)--The Souriquois, or Micmacs, of Nova Scotia. Champlain's map of 1632 places them east of Port Royal.

16. (p. 73)--Raphael Maffei, Maffeus Volaterranus, or Raffaello Volterrano, savant and historian; born in Volterra 1451, died 1521 or 1522. Harrisse (_Bib. Amer. Vet._, p. 88) gives a catalogue of his works, and says, "The _Commentary_ of Maffei has a peculiar interest from the fact that it preceded the publication of Peter Martyr's _Decades_" (1511-46).

Laverdière (_Champlain_, p. 70, _note_) says that _sagamo_ is a Montagnais word; and he cites Laflèche as deriving it from _tchi_ and _okimau_, meaning "great chief."

17. (p. 73)--Berosus (325-255 B. C., _circa_), a Chaldean priest, astrologer, and historian. His best known work is the _Babylonica_, a history of Babylonia; its remaining fragments have been reproduced by several European writers, especially in Richter's _Berosi Chald. Historiæ quae supersunt_ (Leipsic, 1825).

18. (p. 75)--The Tolosains were a tribe of the Volcæ of Gaul. Another tribe of the Volcæ were the Tectosages--so called from their _sagum_ (frock or cloak).

19. (p. 75)--Membertou was chief of all the Micmac groups from Gaspé to Cape Sable. Champlain writes, that he was "a friendly savage, although he had the name of being the worst and most traitorous man of his tribe." Lescarbot called him "the _chef d'oeuvre_ of Christian piety," and Biard had strong faith in him. He claimed to remember the first visit of Cartier (1534).

20. (p. 77)--Biard, six years later, complains bitterly of this overhaste in baptizing, declaring that these savages, when he went among them in 1611, did not know the first principles of the Faith, and had even forgotten their Christian names.

21. (p. 81)--In the original edition, pp. 25 and 26, apparently through an error in make-up, are verbal repetitions of the two preceding pages. This duplication has been omitted in the present edition.

22. (p. 105)--Marked changes occurred in the population of the St. Lawrence valley, between the visits of Cartier (1535) and Champlain (1603). Morgan, in _League of the Iroquois_ (Rochester, 1851), p. 5, maintains the correctness of a tradition that the aborigines whom Cartier found at Hochelaga were Iroquois, and that they then were subject to the Algonkins, whom Champlain found in possession of the valley. Cf. Parkman's _Pioneers_, p. 208, and Schoolcraft's _Hist. of Indian Tribes of the U. S._, vol. vi., pp. 33, 188. For further treatment of the migrations of the Iroquois, see Introduction to Hale's _Iroquois Book of Rites_ (Phila., 1883), and Faillon's _Col. Fr._, vol. i., pp. 524, _et seq._

23. (p. 107)--_Tabagie._ A feast described fully in one of the later Relations.

24. (p. 107)--This easy victory of the French and Algonkins over the Iroquois (July 29, 1609), on the western shores of Lake Champlain, cost New France dearly, as it secured for the struggling colony the deadly enmity of the most warlike savages on the continent, for nearly a century and a half. It was impossible for New France to make permanent headway when sapped by such an enemy. Slafter's exhaustive notes to _Champlain's Voyages_ (Prince Soc.), vol. i., p. 91, and vol. ii., p. 223, make it clear that the site of this momentous skirmish was Ticonderoga.

25. (p. 109)--Jessé Fléché, a secular priest from the diocese of Langres, was invited by Poutrincourt to accompany the first colony to Acadia. The papal nuncio gave him authority to absolve in all cases, except those reserved to the pope.--Faillon's _Col. Fr._, vol. i., p. 99. Poutrincourt evidently meant to Christianize Acadia without the aid of the Jesuits. The wholesale baptism of savages by Fléché, before the arrival of Biard and Massé, was, according to Faillon (_Ibid._, vol. i., p. 100), condemned as a profanation by good Catholics, "tous les théologiens, and notamment la Sorbonne."--Cf. also note 19, _ante_, and Sagard's _Histoire du Canada_, p. 97. He had been at Port Royal nearly a year before the arrival of the Jesuits. The name is variously spelled: Fleche, Fléche, Flèche, Fléché, Flesche, Fleuchy, and Fleuche; see Sulte's _Poutrincourt en Acadie_, p. 38. See Bourinot's picturesque description of the baptismal scene, in _Can. Royal Soc. Trans._, sec. ii, p. 73. Fléché was much esteemed by the Micmacs; his nickname, "Le Patriarch," is still current among them corrupted into "Patliasse," as the name for a priest.--See Ferland's _Cours d'Histoire_ (Quebec, 1861), vol. i, p. 80.

26. (p. 127)--The four letters here given (Biard, Jan. 21, June 10, and June 11, 1611; and Massé, June 11, 1611) are from Carayon's _Première Mission des Jésuites au Canada: Lettres et Documents Inédits_ (Paris, 1864). All of the documents in Carayon's collection will be published in this series, in chronological order, with that Editor's valuable footnotes.

Auguste Carayon, S. J., a leading authority upon the history of his order in New France, was born in Saumur, France, 1813, and died in Poitiers, 1874. His principal works were: _Bibliographie historique de la Compagnie de Jésus; Catalogue des ouvrages relatifs à l'histoire des Jésuites depuis leur origine jusqu'à nos jours_ (Paris, 1864); _Documents inédits concernant la Compagnie de Jésus_ (Poitiers, 1863-1875, 18 vols.); _Première Mission des Jésuites au Canada_ (Paris, 1864); _Bannissement des Jésuites de la Louisiane_ (Paris, 1865); _Établissement de la Compagnie de Jésus à Brest, par Louis XIV._ (1865); _Prisons du Marquis de Pombal, ministre du Portugal, journal de 1759 à 1777_ (1865); _Notes historiques sur les parlements et les Jésuites au dix-huitième siécle_ (1867). Carayon also edited numerous important historical works, between 1864 and 1871.

27. (p. 127)--Pierre Biard, S. J., writer of several of the early Acadian _Relations_, was born at Grenoble, France, 1567, and died at Avignon, November 17, 1622. In 1608, he was called from a chair of scholastic theology and Hebrew, in Lyons, by Father Coton, the King's confessor and preacher, to take charge of the Jesuit mission in Acadia. His several accounts of the colony, with the part taken by himself in notable episodes, do not always agree with the version of Lescarbot. See Parkman's _Pioneers_, part ii., chaps, v.-viii.; also, R. P. Felix Martin's _Life of R. P. Pierre Biard,_ S. J. (Montreal, 1890).

28. (p. 127)--Claude Aquaviva, S. J., born 1544; elected general of the Society of Jesus, 1581; died, 1615; a Neapolitan nobleman; chamberlain of the Court of Rome; fifth general of the order, and ranked by some historians as its ablest legislator and second founder. See Nicolini's _History of the Jesuits_, pp. 210, 257.

29. (p. 127)--Fathers Biard and Massé sailed January 26.

30. (p. 129)--_Brother-coadjutor._ The six classes of the order of Jesuits were: (1) novices, (2) lay-brothers, (3) scholars, (4) coadjutors, (5) Jesuits of the Third Order, and (6) Jesuits of the Fourth Order. See Thomas D'Arcy McGee's _Lecture on the Jesuits_.

31. (p. 133)--Biencourt and Robin de Coulogne, not having means to equip and provision the vessel which was to convey Biard and Massé to Port Royal, made an arrangement with Dujardin and Duquesne, two merchants of Dieppe, by which the latter undertook to furnish the equipment and supplies in consideration of being admitted as partners in Poutrincourt's fur-trading and cod-fishing enterprise. Concerning this _Contract d'Association des Jésuites au Trafique du Canada_, made January 20, 1611, see Parkman's _Pioneers_, p. 288, _note_. Cf. also, Rochemonteix's _Jésuites_, vol. i., p. 32. These partners, being Huguenots, objected to the shipment of the Jesuits, but finally sold their interests for 2,800 livres to Madame de Guercheville, whose part in this expedition is related in note 33, _post_. See Biard's succeeding letter, for fuller details of this adventure.

32. (p. 133)--_Formal order of the Queen._ October 7, 1610, the young King, Louis XIII., wrote from Monceaux to Baron de Poutrincourt: "Monsieur de Poutrincourt, as Father Pierre Biard and Father Ennemond Massé, religious of the Society of Jesus, are being sent over to New France to celebrate the divine services of the church and to preach the Gospel to the people of that country, I wish to hereby recommend them to you, that you may, upon all occasions, assist and protect them in the exercise of their noble and holy calling, assuring you that I shall consider it a great service."

The Queen Mother also wrote: "Monsieur de Poutrincourt, now that the good Jesuit Fathers are about to try, under the authority of the King, my son, to establish our faith over there, I hereby request you to give them, for the success of this good work, all the courtesy and assistance in your power, as a service very near our heart, and very acceptable to us, praying God, Monsieur de Poutrincourt, to keep you under his holy and watchful care."--David Asseline's _Antiquities and Chronicles of the City of Dieppe_ (Dieppe, 1874; 2 vols.) The letters are reproduced in Faillon's _Col. Fr._, vol. i., p. 102.

33. (p. 135)--Antoinette de Pons, Marquise de Guercheville, patroness of Jesuit missions in New France, was lady of honor to Marie de Médicis, and accounted one of the most beautiful and zealously religions women of her time. Taking up the defence of the Jesuits against Poutrincourt, she not only bought the ship in which to transport them to America, but the cargo and the royal patent of De Monts, thus succeeding the latter as proprietor of all Acadia, excepting Port Royal, which still remained in Poutrincourt's possession. Concerning her rupture with De Monts, see Shea's _Charlevoix_, vol. i., p. 274. She resolved to plant a strictly Catholic colony at Pentagoet (site of Bangor, Me.), and sent out, under La Saussaye, some fifty settlers and three Jesuit missionaries (1613). Upon reaching Port Royal, they were joined by Biard and Massé, and thence proceeded to the eastern side of Mount Desert Island. For the location of their mission, St. Sauveur, see Parkman's _Pioneers_, p. 304, _note_. The descent of the English under Argall (1613), was the end of Madame de Guercheville's mission. See _N. Y. Colonial Documents_, vol. iii., pp. 1, 2, concerning reparation allowed her by the government of Great Britain for the loss of her vessel. Cf. Faillon's _Col. Fr._, vol. i., pp. 110-117; and Baird's _Hug. Emig._, vol. i., p. 103. Upon the queen regent's high regard for the Jesuits, see _Col. Fr._, vol. i., pp. 101, 102.

34. (p. 141)--Several of the old French coins were called écus. They date from the period of Charles VII.,--_écus à la couronne_, or crowns of gold, from the crown which formed the type of the reverse.--Prime's _Coins, Medals, and Seals_, p. 150. The écu of Louis XIV. is first given in Dye's _Coin Encyclopedia_, p. 621; value in United States currency, $1.10S. The early écu was equal to three francs; later, to about five.

35. (p. 141)--_Viaticum._ In Père de Ravignan's _On the Existence and Institutions of the Jesuits_ (Paris, 1862), p. 190, _note_ ii., mention is made of a custom in connection with the viaticum of missionaries, which was frequently observed at this time. The founders or benefactors of missions, in order to obtain with greater certainty and abundance the money which they intended for missionary work in distant lands, charged the merchants, who acted as agents, to sell the merchandise which they consigned to them, and to remit the price of it to the missionaries for their support. Thus Madame de Guercheville furnished considerable money to Biencourt to invest in the fish and fur trade, which he was about to undertake, with the sole condition that, for her share, he should support the missionaries. See Rochemonteix's _Jésuites_, vol. i., pp. 35-36, _note_.

36. (p. 141)--The Marchioness de Verneuil furnished their chapel, Madame de Sourdis their vestments and linen, and Madame de Guercheville provided other necessaries.--_Annuæ Litteræ S. J._, an. 1612, p. 570.

Madame de Verneuil founded a convent of Annunciades, and gave her declining years to religion. She died at Paris, 1633, aged 54.

37. (p. 143)--In his _Relation_ of 1616, chap, xi., Biard says: "Thomas Robin de Coulogne enjoyed a modest fortune; he had often heard about New France from the Dieppe merchants, and had wished to mingle in this colonization movement. What Baron de Poutrincourt told him about the attempts made at Port Royal pleased him greatly, and he promised to assist him."

The names of Monsieur de Coullogne (Coulogne) and of Madame de Sigogne (Sicoine) appear in Fléché's list of baptisms, _ante_. Other contemporary spellings of Coulogne are: Cologne, Coloigne, and Coloine.

38. (p. 147)--This is an interesting, and we believe a unique statement of Biard, that the islands off the Gulf of St. Lawrence were once called the "Azores of the Great Bank." The maps of many early cartographers and navigators represent Newfoundland as a group of islands, or a large island with a circlet of smaller ones, or "almost a single island."--See Winsor's _N. and C. Hist._, vol. i., pp. 74, 77, 79, 93, 379. As Newfoundland was the first land sighted by voyagers in New France, and as their last sight of land had been the Azores, the naming of the islands on the Great Bank the Azores is in keeping with their custom in this regard.