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Voyages of Samuel de Champlain V3

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But those who suffer especially during this time are the wives of those
possessed, and all the inmates of their cabins, from the fear they have
lest the raging ones burn up all that is in their houses. This leads them
to remove everything that is in sight; for as soon as he arrives he is all
in a fury, his eyes flashing and frightful, sometimes standing up,
sometimes seated, as his fancy takes him. Suddenly a fit seizes him, and
laying hold of everything he finds in his way he throws them to one side
and the other. Then he lies down and sleeps for some time. Waking up with a
jump, he seizes fire and stones which he throws about recklessly on all
sides. This rage passes off with the sleep which seizes him again. Then he
rages and calls several of his friends to sweat with him. The latter is the
best means they have for preserving themselves in health. While they are
sweating, the kettle boils to prepare them something to eat They remain,
two or three hours or so, covered up with great pieces of bark and wrapped
in their robes, with a great many stones about them which have been heated
red hot in the fire. They sing all the time while they are in the rage,
occasionally stopping to take breath. Then they give them many draughts of
water to drink, since they are very thirsty, when the demoniac, who was
crazy or possessed of an evil spirit, becomes sober.

Thus it happens that three or four of these sick persons get well, rather
by a happy coincidence and chance than in consequence of any intelligent
treatment, and this confirms their false belief that they are healed by
means of these ceremonies, not considering that, for two who are thus
cured, ten others die on account of the noise, great hubbub and hissing,
which are rather calculated to kill than cure a sick person. But that they
expect to recover their health by this noise, and we on the contrary by
silence and rest, shows how the devil does everything in hostility to the
good.

There are also women who go into these rages, but they do not do so much
harm. They walk on all fours like beasts. Seeing this, the magician, called
_oqui_, begins to sing; then, with some contortions of the face, he blows
upon her, directing her to drink certain waters, and make at once a banquet
of fish or flesh, which must be procured although very scarce at the
time. When the shouting is over and the banquet ended, they return each to
her own cabin. At another time he comes back and visits her, blowing upon
her and singing in company with several others, who have been summoned for
this purpose, and who hold in the hand a dry tortoise-shell filled with
little pebbles, which they cause to resound in the ears of the sick woman.
They direct her to make at once three or four banquets with singing and
dancing, when all the girls appear adorned and painted as I have
represented in figure G. The _oqui_ orders masquerades, and directs them to
disguise themselves, as those do who run along the streets in France on
_Mardi-gras_. [196] Thus they go and sing near the bed of the sick woman
and promenade through the village while the banquet is preparing to receive
the maskers, who return very tired, having taken exercise enough to be able
to empty the kettle of its _migan_.

According to their custom each household lives on what it gets by fishing
and planting, improving as much land as it needs. They clear it up with
great difficulty, since they do not have the implements adapted to this
purpose. A party strip the trees of all their branches, which they burn at
their base in order to kill them. They clear carefully the land between the
trees, and then plant their corn at distances of a pace, putting in each
place some ten kernels, and so on until they have made provision for three
or four years, fearing that a bad year may befall them. The women attend to
the planting and harvesting, as I have said before, and to procuring a
supply of wood for winter. All the women aid each other in procuring this
provision of wood, which they do in the month of March or April, in the
order of two days for each. Every household is provided with as much as it
needs; and if a girl marries, each woman and girl is expected to carry to
the newly married one a parcel of wood for her provision, since she could
not procure it alone, and at a season when she has to give her attention to
other things.

The following is their mode of government: the older and leading men
assemble in a council, in which they settle upon and propose all that is
necessary for the affairs of the village. This is done by a plurality of
voices, or in accordance with the advice of some one among them whose
judgment they consider superior: such a one is requested by the company to
give his opinion on the propositions that have been made, and this opinion
is minutely obeyed. They have no particular chiefs with absolute command,
but they show honor to the older and more courageous men, whom they name
captains, as mark of honor and respect, of which there are several in a
village. But, although they confer more honor upon one than upon others,
yet he is not on that account to bear sway, nor esteem himself higher than
his companions, unless he does so from vanity. They make no use of
punishments nor arbitrary command, but accomplish everything by the
entreaties of the seniors, and by means of addresses and remonstrances.
Thus and not otherwise do they bring everything to pass.

They all deliberate in common, and whenever any member of the assembly
offers to do anything for the welfare of the village, or to go anywhere for
the service of the community, he is requested to present himself, and if he
is judged capable of carrying out what he proposes, they exhort him, by
fair and favorable words, to do his duty. They declare him to be an
energetic man, fit for undertakings, and allure him that he will win honor
in accomplishing them. In a word, they encourage him by flatteries, in
order that this favorable disposition of his for the welfare of his fellow-
citizens may continue and increase. Then, according to his pleasure, he
refuses the responsibility, which few do, or accepts, since thereby he is
held in high esteem.

When they engage in wars or go to the country of their enemies, two or
three of the older or valiant captains make a beginning in the matter, and
proceed to the adjoining villages to communicate their purpose, and make
presents to the people of these villages, in order to induce them to
accompany them to the wars in question. In so far they act as generals of
armies. They designate the place where they desire to go, dispose of the
prisoners who are captured, and have the direction of other matters of
especial importance, of which they get the honor, if they are successful;
but, if not, the disgrace of failure in the war falls upon them. These
captains alone are looked upon and considered as chiefs of the tribes.

They have, moreover, general assemblies, with representatives from remote
regions. These representatives come every year, one from each province, and
meet in a town designated as the rendezvous of the assembly. Here are
celebrated great banquets and dances, for three weeks or a month, according
as they may determine. Here they renew their friendship, resolve upon and
decree what they think best for the preservation of their country against
their enemies, and make each other handsome presents, after which they
retire each to his own district.

In burying the dead, they take the body of the deceased, wrap it in furs,
and cover it very carefully with the bark of trees. Then they place it in a
cabin, of the length of the body, made of bark and erected upon four posts.
Others they place in the ground, propping up the earth on all sides, that
it may not fall on the body, which they cover with the bark of trees,
putting earth on top. Over this trench they also make a little cabin. Now
it is to be understood that the bodies remain in these places, thus
inhumed, but for a period of eight or ten years, when the men of the
village recommend the place where their ceremonies are to take place; or,
to speak more precisely, they hold a general council, in which all the
people of the country are present, for the purpose of designating the place
where a festival is to be held. After this they return each to his own
village, where they take all the bones of the deceased, strip them and make
them quite clean. These they keep very carefully, although they smell like
bodies recently interred. Then all the relatives and friends of the
deceased take these bones, together with their necklaces, furs, axes,
kettles, and other things highly valued, and carry them, with a quantity of
edibles, to the place assigned. Here, when all have assembled, they put the
edibles in a place designated by the men of the village, and engage in
banquets and continual dancing. The festival continues for the space of ten
days, during which time other tribes, from all quarters, come to witness it
and the ceremonies. The latter are attended with great outlays.

Now, by means of these ceremonies, including dances, banquets, and
assemblies, as above stated, they renew their friendship to one another,
saying that the bones of their relatives and friends are to be all put
together, thus indicating by a figure that, as their bones are gathered
together and united in one and the same place, so ought they also, during
their life, to be united in one friendship and harmony, like relatives and
friends, without separation. Having thus mingled together the bones of
their mutual relatives and friends, they pronounce many discourses on the
occasion. Then, after various grimaces or exhibitions, they make a great
trench, ten fathoms square, in which they put the bones, together with the
necklaces, chains of porcelain, axes, kettles, sword-blades, knives, and
various other trifles, which, however, are of no slight account in their
estimation. They cover the whole with earth, putting on top several great
pieces of wood, and placing around many posts, on which they put a
covering. This is their manner of proceeding with regard to the dead, and
it is the most prominent ceremony they have. Some of them believe in the
immortality of the soul, while others have only a presentiment of it,
which, however, is not so very different; for they say that after their
decease they will go to a place where they will sing, like crows, a song,
it must be confessed, quite different from that of angels. On the following
page are represented their sepulchres and manner of interment.

It remains to describe how they spend their time in winter; namely, from
the month of December to the end of March, or the beginning of our spring,
when the snow melts. All that they might do during autumn, as I have before
stated, they postpone to be done during winter; namely, their banquetings,
and usual dances for the sake of the sick, which I have already described,
and the assemblages of the inhabitants of various villages, where there are
banquetings, singing, and dances, which they call _tabagies_ [197] and
where sometimes five hundred persons are collected, both men, women, and
girls. The latter are finely decked and adorned with the best and most
costly things they have.

On certain days they make masquerades, and visit each other's cabins,
asking for the things they like, and if they meet those who have what they
want, these give it to them freely. Thus they go on asking for many things
without end; so that a single one of those soliciting will have robes of
beaver, bear, deer, lynxes, and other furs, also fish, Indian corn,
tobacco, or boilers, kettles, pots, axes, pruning-knives, knives, and other
like things. They go to the houses and cabins of the village, singing these
words, That one gave me this, another gave that, or like words, by way of
commendation. But if one gives them nothing they get angry, and show such
spite towards him that when they leave they take a stone and put it near
this man or that woman who has not given them anything. Then, without
saying a word, they return singing, which is a mark of insult, censure, and
ill-will. The women do so as well as the men, and this mode of proceeding
takes place at night, and the masquerade continues seven or eight days.
There are some of their villages which have maskers or merry-makers, as we
do on the evening of _Mardi-gras_, and they invite the other villages to
come and see them and win their utensils, if they can. Meanwhile banquets
are not wanting. This is the way they spend their time in winter.

Moreover the women spin, and pound meal for the journeys of their husbands
in summer, who go to other tribes to trade, as they decide to do at the
above-mentioned councils, in which it is determined what number of men may
go from each village, that it may not be deprived of men of war for its
protection; and nobody goes from the country without the general consent of
the chiefs, or if they should go they would be regarded as behaving
improperly. The men make nets for fishing, which they carry on in summer,
but generally in winter, when they capture the fish under the ice with the
line or with the seine.

The following is their manner of fishing. They make several holes in a
circular form in the ice, the one where they are to draw the seine being
some five feet long and three wide. Then they proceed to place their net at
this opening, attaching it to a rod of wood from six to seven feet long,
which they put under the ice. This rod they cause to pass from hole to
hole, when one or more men, putting their hands in the holes, take hold of
the rod to which is attached an end of the net, until they unite at the
opening of five to six feet. Then they let the net drop to the bottom of
the water, it being sunk by little stones attached to the end. After it is
down they draw it up again with their arms at its two ends, thus capturing
the fish that are in it. This is, in brief, their manner of fishing in
winter.

The winter begins in the month of November and continues until the month of
April, when the trees begin to send forth the sap and show their buds.

On the 22d of the month of April we received news from our interpreter, who
had gone to Carantoüan, through those who had come from there. They told us
that they had left him on the road, he having returned to the village for
certain reasons.

Now, resuming the thread of my narrative, our savages assembled to come
with us, and conduct us back to our habitation, and for this purpose we set
out from their country on the 20th of the month, [198] and were forty days
on the way. We caught a large number of fish and animals of various kinds,
together with small game, which afforded us especial pleasure, in addition
to the provisions thus furnished us for our journey. Upon our arrival among
the French, towards the end of the month of June, I found Sieur du Pont
Gravé, who had come from France with two vessels, and who had almost
despaired of seeing me again, having heard from the savages the bad news,
that I was dead.

We also saw all the holy fathers who had remained at our settlement. They
too were very happy to see us again, and we none the less so to see them.
Welcomes, and felicitations on all sides being over, I made arrangements to
set out from, the Falls of St. Louis for our settlement, taking with me my
host D'Arontal. I took leave also of all the other savages, assuring them
of my affection, and that, if I could, I would see them in the suture, to
assist them as I had already done in the past, bringing them valuable
presents to secure their friendship with one another, and begging them to
forget all the disputes which they had had when I reconciled them, which
they promised to do.

Then we set out, on the 8th of July, and arrived at our settlement on the
11th of that month. Here I found everybody in good health, and we all, in
company with our holy fathers, who chanted the Divine service, returned
thanks to God for His care in preserving us, and protecting us amid the
many perils and dangers to which we had been exposed.

After this, and when everything had become settled, I proceeded to show
hospitalities to my host, D'Arontal, who admired our building, our conduct,
and mode of living. After carefully observing us, he said to me, in
private, that he should never die contented until he had seen all of his
friends, or at least a good part of them, come and take up their abode with
us, in order to learn how to serve God, and our way of living, which he
esteemed supremely happy in comparison with their own. Moreover he said
that, if he could not learn it by word of mouth, he would do so much better
and more easily by sight and by frequent intercourse, and that, if their
minds could not comprehend our arts, sciences, and trades, their children
who were young could do so, as they had often represented to us in their
country in conversation with Father Joseph. He urged us, for the promotion
of this object, to make another settlement at the Falls of St. Louis, so as
to secure them the passage of the river against their enemies, assuring us
that, as soon as we should build a house, they would come in numbers to
live as brothers with us. Accordingly I promised to make a settlement for
them as soon as possible.

After we had remained four or five days together, I gave him some valuable
presents, with which he was greatly pleased, and I begged him to continue
his affection for us, and come again to see our settlement with his
friends. Then he returned happy to the Falls of St Louis, where his
companions awaited him.

When this Captain D'Arontal had departed, we enlarged our habitation by a
third at least in buildings and fortifications, since it was not
sufficiently spacious, nor convenient for receiving the members of our own
company and likewise the strangers that might come to see us. We used, in
building, lime and sand entirely, which we found very good there in a spot
near the habitation. This is a very useful material for building for those
disposed to adapt and accustom themselves to it.

The Fathers Denis and Joseph determined to return to France, in order to
testify there to all they had seen, and to the hope they could promise
themselves of the conversion of these people, who awaited only the
assistance of the holy fathers in order to be converted and brought to our
faith and the Catholic religion.

During my stay at the settlement I had some common grain cut; namely,
French grain, which had been planted there and which had come up very
finely, that I might take it to France, as evidence that the land is good
and fertile. In another part, moreover, there was some fine Indian corn,
also scions and trees which had been given us by Sieur du Monts in
Normandy. In a word all the gardens of the place were in an admirably fine
condition, being planted with peas, beans, and other vegetables, also
squashes, and very superior radishes of various sorts, cabbages, beets, and
other kitchen vegetables. When on the point of departure, we left two of
our fathers at the settlement; namely, Fathers Jean d'Olbeau and Pacifique,
[199] who were greatly pleased with all the time spent at that place, and
resolved to await there the return of Father Joseph, [200] who was expected
to come back in the following year, which he did.

We sailed in our barques the 20th day of July, and arrived at Tadoussac the
23d day of the month, where Sieur du Pont Gravé awaited us with his vessel
ready and equipped. In this we embarked and set out the 3d day of the month
of August. The wind was so favorable that we arrived in health by the grace
of God, at Honfleur, on the 10th day of September, one thousand six hundred
and sixteen, and upon our arrival rendered praise and thanks to God for his
great care in preserving our lives, and delivering and even snatching us,
as it were, from the many dangers to which we had been exposed, and for
bringing and conducting us in health to our country; we besought Him also
to move the heart of our King, and the gentlemen of his council, to
contribute their assistance so far as necessary to bring these poor savages
to the knowledge of God, whence honor will redound to his Majesty, grandeur
and growth to his realm, profit to his subjects, and the glory of all these
undertakings and toils to God, the sole author of all excellence, to whom
be honor and glory. Amen.


ENDNOTES:

78. Champlain's first voyage was made in 1603, and this journal was
published in 1619. It was therefore fully fifteen years since his
explorations began.

79. _Vide Histoire du Canada_, par Sagard, Trois ed., pp 27, 28. The reader
is likewise referred to the Memoir of Champlain, Vol. I. pp 122-124.

80. Bernard du Verger, a man of exalted virtue--_Laverdière_.

81. Robert Ubaldim was nuncio at this time. _Vide Laverdière in loco_.

82. Denis Jamay. Sagard writes this name _Jamet_.

83. Jean d'Olbeau. _Vide Histoire du Canada_, par Gabriel Sagard, Paris,
1636, Tross ed., Vol. I. p. 28.

84. Pacifique du Plessis was a lay-brother, although the title of Father is
given to him by several early writers. _Vide citations by Laverdière in
loco_, Quebec ed., Vol. IV. p. 7.

85. Read April 24. It is obvious from the context that it could not be
August. Sagard says _le_ 24 _d'Auril_. _Vide Histoire du Canada_, Trois
ed., Vol. I. p 36.

86. The Recollect Father Joseph le Caron.

87. _Vide Laverdière in loco_.

88. Father Denis Jamay.

89. Jean d'Olbeau and Pacifique du Plessis.

90. This refers to the volume bearing date 1613, but which may not have
been actually issued from the press till 1614.

91. Our views of the war policy of Champlain are stated at some length in
Vol I. pp 189-193.

92. Laverdière thinks it probable that Champlain left the Falls of St Louis
on the 23d of June, and that the Holy Mass was celebrated on the
Rivière des Prairies on the 24th, the festival of St John the Baptist.

93. This interpreter was undoubtedly Etienne Brûlé. It was a clearly
defined policy of Champlain to send suitable young men among the
savages, particularly to learn their language, and subsequently to act
as interpreters. Brûlé is supposed to have been of this class.

94. The Lake of Two Mountains.

95. The River Ottawa, which Champlain had explored in 1613, as far as
Allumet Island, where a tribe of the Algonquins resided, called later
_Kichesipinni_. _Vide Relation des Jésuites_, 1640, p 34.

96. This is an over-estimate.

97. Champlain here again, _Vide_ note 90, refers to the issue bearing date
1613. It is not unlikely that while it bears the imprint of 1613, it
did not actually issue from the press till 1614.

98. The lake or expansion of the Ottawa on the southern side of Allumet
Island was called the lake of the Algonquins, as Allumet Island was
oftentimes called the Island of the Algonquins.

99. The River Ottawa.

100. Père Vimont calls this tribe _Kotakoutouemi_. _Relation des Jésuites_,
1640, p. 34. Père Rogueneau gives _Outaoukotouemiouek_, and remarks
that their language is a mixture of Algonquin and Montagnais. _Vide
Relation des Jésuites_, 1650. p. 34; also _Laverdière in loco_.

101. _Blues_, blueberries. The Canada blueberry. _Vaccinium Canadense_.
Under the term _blues_ several varieties may have been included.
Charlevoix describes and figures this fruit under the name _Bluet du
Canada. _Vide Description des Plantes Principales de l'Amérique
Septentrionale_, in _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_, Paris. 1744,
Tom. IV. pp. 371, 372; also Vol. I: p 303, note 75, of this work.

102. At its junction with the Mattawan, the Ottawa's course is from the
north. What is known as its east branch rises 150 miles north of the
city of Ottawa. Extending towards the west in a winding course for the
distance of about 300 miles, it turns towards the southeast, and a few
miles before it joins the Mattawan its course is directly south. From
its northeastern source by a short portage is reached the river
Chomouchouan, an affluent of Lake St. John and the Saguenay.

103. Mattawa is 197 miles from Ottawa. We have no means of giving the
latitude with entire accuracy, but it is about 46° 20'.

104. Lac du Talon and Lac la Tortue.

105. Nipissings, or Nipissirini. Champlain writes _Nipisierinii_.

106. On the 26th of July, The distance from the junction of the Ottawa and
the Mattawan to Lake Nipissing is about thirty-two miles If _lieues_
were translated miles, it would be a not very incorrect estimate.

107. _Vide_ the representations here referred to.

108. Lake Nipissing, whose dimensions are over-stated.

109. Sturgeon River.

110. Père Vimont gives the names of these tribes as follows,--_Timiscimi,
Outimagami, Ouachegami, Mitchitamou, Outurbi, Kiristinon_. _Vide
Relation des Jésuites_. 1640. p. 34.

111. French River.

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