A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

Voyages of Samuel de Champlain V3

S >> Samuel de Champlain >> Voyages of Samuel de Champlain V3




Their cabins are in the shape of tunnels or arbors, and are covered with
the bark of trees. They are from twenty-five to thirty fathoms long, more
or less, and six wide, having a passage-way through the middle from ten to
twelve feet wide, which extends from one end to the other. On the two sides
there is a kind of bench, four feet high, where they sleep in summer, in
order to avoid the annoyance of the fleas, of which there are great
numbers. In winter they sleep on the ground on mats near the fire, so as to
be warmer than they would be on the platform. They lay up a stock of dry
wood, with which they fill their cabins, to burn in winter. At the
extremity of the cabins there is a space, where they preserve their Indian
corn, which they put into great casks made of the bark of trees and placed
in the middle of their encampment. They have pieces of wood suspended, on
which they put their clothes, provisions, and other things, for fear of the
mice, of which there are great numbers. In one of these cabins there may be
twelve fires, and twenty-four families. It smokes excessively, from which
it follows that many receive serious injury to the eyes, so that they lose
their sight towards the close of life. There is no window nor any opening,
except that in the upper part of their cabins for the smoke to escape.

This is all that I have been able to learn about their mode of life; and I
have described to you fully the kind of dwelling of these people, as far as
I have been able to learn it, which is the same as that of all the tribes
living in these regions. They sometimes change their villages at intervals
of ten, twenty, or thirty years, and transfer them to a distance of one,
two, or three leagues from the preceding situation, [190] except when
compelled by their enemies to dislodge, in which case they retire to a
greater distance, as the Antouhonorons, who went some forty to fifty
leagues. This is the form of their dwellings, which are separated from each
other some three or four paces, for fear of fire, of which they are in
great dread.

Their life is a miserable one in comparison with our own; but they are
happy among themselves, not having experienced anything better, and not
imagining that anything more excellent is to be found. Their principal
articles of food are Indian corn and Brazilian beans, [191] which they
prepare in various ways. By braying in a wooden mortar they reduce the corn
to meal. They remove the bran by means of fans made of the bark of trees.
From this meal they make bread, using also beans which they first boil, as
they do the Indian corn for soup, so that they may be more easily crushed.
Then they mix all together, sometimes adding blueberries [192] or dry
raspberries, and sometimes pieces of deer's fat, though not often, as this
is scarce with them. After steeping the whole in lukewarm water, they make
bread in the form of bannocks or pies, which they bake in the ashes. After
they are baked they wash them, and from these they often make others by
wrapping them in corn leaves, which they fasten to them, and then putting
them in boiling water.

But this is not their most common kind. They make another, which they call
_migan_, which is as follows: They take the pounded Indian corn, without
removing the bran, and put two or three handfuls of it in an earthen pot
full of water. This they boil, stirring it from time to time, that it may
not burn nor adhere to the pot. Then they put into the pot a small quantity
of fish, fresh or dry, according to the season, to give a flavor to the
_migan_, as they call it. They make it very often, although it smells
badly, especially in winter, either because they do not know how to prepare
it rightly, or do not wish to take the trouble to do so. They make two
kinds of it, and prepare it very well when they choose. When they use fish
the _migan_ does not smell badly, but only when it is made with
venison. After it is all cooked, they take out the fish, pound it very
fine, and then put it all together into the pot, not taking the trouble to
remove the appendages, scales, or inwards, as we do, which generally causes
a bad taste. It being thus prepared, they deal out to each one his
portion. This _migan_ is very thin, and without much substance, as may be
well supposed. As for drink, there is no need of it, the _migan_ being
sufficiently thin of itself.

They have another kind of _migan_, namely, they roast new corn before it is
ripe, which they preserve and cook whole with fish, or flesh when they have
it. Another way is this: they take Indian corn, which is very dry, roast it
in the ashes, then bray it and reduce it to meal as in the former case.
This they lay up for the journeys which they undertake here and there. The
_migan_ made in the latter manner is the best according to my taste. Figure
H shows the women braying their Indian corn. In preparing it, they cook a
large quantity of fish and meat, which they cut into pieces and put into
great kettles, which they fill with water and let it all boil well. When
this is done, they gather with a spoon from the surface the fat which comes
from the meat and fish. Then they put in the meal of the roasted corn,
constantly stirring it until the _migan_ is cooked and thick as soup. They
give to each one a portion, together with a spoonful of the fat. This dish
they are accustomed to prepare for banquets, but they do not generally make
it.

Now the corn freshly roasted, as above described, is highly esteemed among
them. They eat also beans, which they boil with the mass of the roasted
flour, mixing in a little fat and fish. Dogs are in request at their
banquets, which they often celebrate among themselves, especially in
winter, when they are at leisure. In case they go hunting for deer or go
fishing, they lay aside what they get for celebrating these banquets,
nothing remaining in their cabins but the usual thin _migan_, resembling
bran and water, such as is given to hogs to eat.

They have another way of eating the Indian corn. In preparing it, they take
it in the ear and put it in water under the mud, leaving it two or three
months in this state until they think it is putrefied. Then they remove it,
and eat it boiled with meat or fish. They also roast it, and it is better
so than boiled. But I assure you that there is nothing that smells so badly
as this corn as it comes from the water all muddy. Yet the women and
children take it and suck it like sugar-cane, nothing seeming to them to
taste better, as they show by their manner. In general they have two meals
a day. As for ourselves, we fasted all of Lent and longer, in order to
influence them by our example. But it was time lost.

They also fatten bears, which they keep two or three years, for the purpose
of their banquets. I observed that if this people had domestic animals they
would be interested in them and care for them very well, and I showed them
the way to keep them, which would be an easy thing for them, since they
have good grazing grounds in their country, and in large quantities, for
all kinds of animals, horses, oxen, cows, sheep, swine, and other kinds,
for lack of which one would consider them badly off, as they seem to be.
Yet with all their drawbacks, they seem to me to live happily among
themselves, since their only ambition is to live and support themselves,
and they lead a more settled life than those who wander through the forests
like brute beasts. They eat many squashes, [193] which they boil, and roast
in the ashes.

In regard to their dress, they have various kinds and styles made of the
skins of wild beasts, both those which they capture themselves, and others
which they get in exchange for their Indian corn, meal, porcelain, and
fishing-nets from the Algonquins, Nipissings, and other tribes, which are
hunters having no fixed abodes. All their clothes are of one uniform shape,
not varied by any new styles. They prepare and fit very well the skins,
making their breeches of deer-skin rather large, and their stockings of
another piece, which extend up to the middle and have many folds. Their
shoes are made of the skins of deer, bears, and beaver, of which they use
great numbers. Besides, they have a robe of the same fur, in the form of a
cloak, which they wear in the Irish or Egyptian style, with sleeves which
are attached with a string behind. This is the way they are dressed in
winter, as is seen in figure D. When they go into the fields, they gird up
their robe about the body; but when in the village, they leave off their
sleeves and do not gird themselves. The Milan trimmings for decorating
their garments are made of glue and the scrapings of the before-mentioned
skins, of which they make bands in various styles according to their fancy,
putting in places bands of red and brown color amid those of the glue,
which always keep a whitish appearance, not losing at all their shape,
however dirty they may get. There are those among these nations who are
much more skilful than others in fitting the skins, and ingenious in
inventing ornaments to put on their garments. It is our Montagnais and
Algonquins, above all others, who take more pains in this matter. They put
on their robes bands of porcupine quills, which they dye a very fine
scarlet color. [194] They value these bands very highly, and detach them so
that they may serve for other robes when they wish to make a change. They
also make use of them to adorn the face, in order to give it a more
graceful appearance whenever they wish particularly to decorate themselves.

Most of them paint the face black and red. These colors they mix with oil
made from the seed of the sun-flower, or with bear's fat or that of other
animals. They also dye their hair, which some wear long, others short,
others on one side only. The women and girls always wear their hair in one
uniform style. They are dressed like men, except that they always have
their robes girt about them, which extend down to the knee. They are not at
all ashamed to expose the body from the middle up and from the knees down,
unlike the men, the rest being always covered. They are loaded with
quantities of porcelain, in the shape of necklaces and chains, which they
arrange in the front of their robes and attach to their waists. They also
wear bracelets and ear-rings. They have their hair carefully combed, dyed,
and oiled. Thus they go to the dance, with a knot of their hair behind
bound up with eel-skin, which they use as a cord. Sometimes they put on
plates a foot square, covered with porcelain, which hang on the back. Thus
gaily dressed and habited, they delight to appear in the dance, to which
their fathers and mothers send them, forgetting nothing that they can
devise to embellish and set off their daughters. I can testify that I have
seen at dances a girl who had more than twelve pounds of porcelain on her
person, not including the other bagatelles with which they are loaded and
bedecked. In the illustration already cited, F shows the dress of the
women, G that of the girls attired for the dance.

All these people have a very jovial disposition, although there are many of
them who have a sad and gloomy look. Their bodies are well proportioned.
Some of the men and women are well formed, strong, and robust. There is a
moderate number of pleasing and pretty girls, in respect to figure, color,
and expression, all being in harmony. Their blood is but little
deteriorated, except when they are old. There are among these tribes
powerful women of extraordinary height These have almost the entire care of
the house and work; namely, they till the land, plant the Indian corn, lay
up a store of wood for the winter, beat the hemp and spin it, making from
the thread fishing-nets and other useful things. The women harvest the
corn, house it, prepare it for eating, and attend to household matters.
Moreover they are expected to attend their husbands from place to place in
the fields, filling the office of pack-mule in carrying the baggage, and to
do a thousand other things. All the men do is to hunt for deer and other
animals, fish, make their cabins, and go to war. Having done these things,
they then go to other tribes with which they are acquainted to traffic and
make exchanges. On their return, they give themselves up to festivities and
dances, which they give to each other, and when these are over they go to
sleep, which they like to do best of all things.

They have some sort of marriage, which is as follows: when a girl has
reached the age of eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen years she
has suitors, more or less according to her attractions, who woo her for
some time. After this, the consent of their fathers and mothers is asked,
to whose will the girls often do not submit, although the most discreet and
considerate do so. The lover or suitor presents to the girl some necklaces,
chains, and bracelets of porcelain. If the girl finds the suitor agreeable,
she receives the present. Then the lover comes and remains with her three
or four nights, without saying anything to her during the time. They
receive thus the fruit of their affections. Whence it happens very often
that, after from eight to fifteen days, if they cannot agree, she quits her
suitor, who forfeits his necklaces and other presents that he has made,
having received in return only a meagre satisfaction. Being thus
disappointed in his hopes, the man seeks another woman, and the girl
another suitor, if it seems to them desirable. Thus they continue to do
until a favorable union is formed. It sometimes happens that a girl thus
passes her entire youth, having more than twenty mates, which twenty are
not alone in the enjoyment of the creature, mated though they are; for when
night comes the young women run from one cabin to another, as do also the
young men on their part, going where it seems good to them, but always
without any violence, referring the whole matter to the pleasure of the
woman. Their mates will do likewise to their women-neighbors, no jealousy
arising among them on that account, nor do they incur any reproach or
insult, such being the custom of the country.

Now the time when they do not leave their mates is when they have
children. The preceding mate returns to her, renews the affection and
friendship which he had borne her in the past, asserting that it is greater
than that of any other one, and that the child she has is his and of his
begetting. The next says the same to her. In time, the victory is with the
stronger, who takes the woman for his wife. Thus it depends upon the
choice of the woman to take and accept him who shall please her best,
having meantime in her searching and loves gained much porcelain and,
besides, the choice of a husband. The woman remains with him without
leaving him; or if she do leave him, for he is on trial, it must be for
some good reason other than impotence. But while with this husband, she
does not cease to give herself free rein, yet remains always at home,
keeping up a good appearance. Thus the children which they have together,
born from such a woman, cannot be sure of their legitimacy. Accordingly, in
view of this uncertainty, it is their custom that the children never
succeed to the property and honors of their fathers, there being doubt, as
above indicated, as to their paternity. They make, however, the children of
their sisters, from whom they are known to have issued, their successors
and heirs.

The following is the way they nourish and bring up their children: they
place them during the day on a little wooden board, wrapping them up in
furs or skins. To this board they bind them, placing them in an erect
position, and leaving a little opening for the child to do its necessities.
If it is a girl, they put a leaf of Indian corn between the thighs, which
presses against its privates. The extremity of the leaf is carried outside
in a turned position, so that the water of the child runs off on it without
inconvenience. They put also under the children the down of certain reeds
that we call hare's-foot, on which they rest very softly. They also clean
them with the same down. As an ornament for the child, they adorn the board
with beads, which they also put on its neck, however small it may be. At
night they put it to bed, entirely naked, between the father and mother. It
may be regarded as a great miracle that God should thus preserve it so that
no harm befalls it, as might be expected, from suffocation, while the
father and mother are in deep sleep, but that rarely happens. The children
have great freedom among these tribes. The fathers and mothers indulge them
too much, and never punish them. Accordingly they are so bad and of so
vicious a nature, that they often strike their mothers and others. The most
vicious, when they have acquired the strength and power, strike their
fathers. They do this whenever the father or mother does anything that
does not please them. This is a sort of curse that God inflicts upon them.

In respect to laws, I have not been able to find out that they have any, or
anything that approaches them, inasmuch as there is not among them any
correction, punishment, or censure of evil-doers except in the way of
vengeance, when they return evil for evil, not by rule but by passion,
which produces among them conflicts and differences, which occur very
frequently.

Moreover, they do not recognize any divinity, or worship any God and
believe in anything whatever, but live like brute beasts. They have,
however, some respect for the devil, or something so called, which is a
matter of uncertainty, since the word which they use thus has various
significations and comprises in itself various things. It is accordingly
difficult to determine whether they mean the devil or something else, but
what especially leads to the belief that what they mean is the devil is
this: whenever they see a man doing something extraordinary, or who is more
capable than usual, or is a valiant warrior, or furthermore who is in a
rage as if out of his reason and senses, they call him _oqui_, or, as we
should say, a great knowing spirit, or a great devil. However this may be,
they have certain persons, who are the _oqui_, or, as the Algonquins and
Montagnais call them, _manitous_; and persons of this kind are the
medicine-men, who heal the sick, bind up the wounded, and predict future
events, who in fine practise all abuses and illusions of the devil to
deceive and delude them. These _oquis_ or conjurers persuade their patients
and the sick to make, or have made banquets and ceremonies that they may be
the sooner healed, their object being to participate in them finally
themselves and get the principal benefit therefrom. Under the pretence of a
more speedy cure, they likewise cause them to observe various other
ceremonies, which I shall hereafter speak of in the proper place. These
are the people in whom they put especial confidence, but it is rare that
they are possessed of the devil and tormented like other savages living
more remote than themselves.

This gives additional reason and ground to believe that their conversion to
the knowledge of God would be more easy, if their country were inhabited by
persons who would take the trouble and pains to instruct them. But it is
not enough to send to them friars, unless there are those to support and
assist them. For although these people have the desire to-day to know what
God is, to-morrow this disposition will change when they are obliged to lay
aside and bring under their foul ways, their dissolute manners, and their
savage indulgences. So that there is need of people and families to keep
them in the way of duty, to constrain them through mildness to do better,
and to move them by good example to mend their lives. Father Joseph [195]
and myself have many times conferred with them in regard to our belief,
laws, and customs. They listened attentively in their assemblies, sometimes
saying to us: You say things that pass our knowledge, and which we cannot
understand by words, being beyond our comprehension; but if you would do us
a service come and dwell in this country, bringing your wives and children,
and when they are here we shall see how you serve the God you worship, and
how you live with your wives and children, how you cultivate and plant the
soil, how you obey your laws, how you take care of animals, and how you
manufacture all that we see proceeding from your inventive skill. When we
see all this, we shall learn more in a year than in twenty by simply
hearing you discourse and if we cannot then understand, you shall take our
children, who shall be as your own. And thus being convinced that our life
is a miserable one in comparison with yours, it is easy to believe that we
shall adopt yours, abandoning our own.

Their words seemed to me good common sense, showing the desire they have to
get a knowledge of God. It is a great wrong to let so many men be lost, and
see them perish at our door, without rendering them the succor which can
only be given through the help of kings, princes, and ecclesiastics, who
alone have the power to do this. For to them alone belongs the honor of so
great a work; namely, planting the Christian faith in an unknown region and
among savage nations, since we are well informed about these people, that
they long for and desire nothing so much as to be clearly instructed as to
what they should do and avoid. It is accordingly the duty of those who have
the power, to labor there and contribute of their abundance, for one day
they must answer before God for the loss of the souls which they allowed to
perish through their negligence and avarice; and these are not few but very
numerous. Now this will be done when it shall please God to give them grace
to this end. As for myself, I desire this result rather to-day than
to-morrow, from the zeal which I have for the advancement of God's glory,
for the honor of my King, and for the welfare and renown of my country.

When they are sick, the man or woman who is attacked with any disease sends
for the _oqui_, who visits the patient and informs himself about the malady
and the suffering. After this, the _oqui_ sends for a large number of men,
women, and girls, including three or four old women. These enter the cabin
of the sick, dancing, each one having on his head the skin of a bear or
some other wild beast, that of the bear being the most common as it is the
most frightful. There are three or four other old women about the sick or
suffering, who for the most part feign sickness, or are sick merely in
imagination. But they are soon cured of this sickness, and generally make
banquets at the expense of their friends or relatives, who give them
something to put into their kettle, in addition to the presents which they
receive from the dancers, such as porcelain and other bagatelles, so that
they are soon cured; for when they find that they have nothing more to look
for, they get up with what they have secured. But those who are really sick
are not readily cured by plays, dances, and such proceedings.

To return to my narrative: the old women near the sick person receive the
presents, each singing and pausing in turn. When all the presents have been
made, they proceed to lift up their voices with one accord, all singing
together and keeping time with sticks on pieces of dry bark. Then all the
women and girls proceed to the end of the cabin, as if they were about to
begin a ballet or masquerade. The old women walk in front with their
bearskins on their heads, all the others following them, one after the
other. They have only two kinds of dances with regular time, one of four
steps and the other of twelve, as in the _trioli_ de Bretagne. They
exhibit much grace in dancing. Young men often take part with them. After
dancing an hour or two, the old women lead out the sick person to dance,
who gets up dolefully and prepares to dance, and after a short time she
dances and enjoys as much as the others. I leave it to you to consider how
sick she was. Below is represented the mode of their dances.

The medicine-man thus gains honor and credit, his patient being so soon
healed and on her feet. This treatment, however, does nothing for those who
are dangerously ill and reduced by weakness, but causes their death rather
than their cure; for I can testify that they sometimes make such a noise
and hubbub from morning until two o'clock at night that it is impossible
for the patient to endure it without great pain. Sometimes the patient is
seized with the desire to have the women and girls dance all together,
which is done in accordance with the direction of the _oqui_. But this is
not all, for he and the _manitou_, accompanied by some others, make
grimaces, perform magic arts, and twist themselves about so that they
generally end in being out of their senses, seemingly crazy, throwing the
fire from one side of the cabin to the other, eating burning coals, holding
them in their hands for a while, and throwing red-hot ashes into the eyes
of the spectators. Seeing them in this condition, one would say that the
devil, the _oqui_, or _manitou_, if he is thus to be called, possesses and
torments them. This noise and hubbub being over, they retire each to his
own cabin.

Copyright (c) 2007. famouswriterz.com. All rights reserved.