PREFACE TO VOL. XXXV

Following is a synopsis of the documents contained in the present volume:

LXXII. This is a letter from Ragueneau to the father general, dated in the Huron country, March 13, 1650. In it is depicted in vivid colors the distress and misery into which the Huron nation has been plunged. Since the last Relation, two more Jesuits have fallen at their posts,-Charles Garnier and Noël Chabanel. The little Huron church is scattered in every direction, the country being devastated by war, famine, and pestilence. So great is the famine that cannibalism prevails, and corpses are dug from the graves for food. In the midst of their afflictions, the people seek instruction and baptism from the missionaries, as never before. The latter" as good shepherds, following their flock"- have abandoned their house of Ste. Marie, and established a new residence on St. Joseph (now Christian) Island, that they may minister to the Hurons who have fled. thither. Here they make a fresh clearing in the forest, and build homes; and, besides, construct fortifications for defense, should the Iroquois attack them. Hardest of all is to clear the ground from stumps, and plant it with seed. They have brought supplies of food and live stock from Ste. Marie, and have aided their disciples with their reserves of Indian corn. Notwithstanding their hardships, all

connected with the mission are ready to lay down their lives for its sake; and they rejoice in their sufferings, regarding these as tokens of God's favor.

LXXIII. The Journal des Jésuites continues its record, through the year 1650. But few events of importance occur, until the coming of summer. In January, a cabin for the savages is erected at the hospital, by the French carpenters; but, "upon occupying it, the cabin proved to be useless, on account of the smoke." The moose-hunt of this winter is unusually good.

men.

"On St. Joseph's eve, there was a very cold bonfire that is to say, very simple, without fireworks or rockets." In consequence of the governor's illness, Lalemant starts the fire, "but with great repugnance." Late in April, the Jesuits decide to assign lands at Beauport to the fugitive Hurons; also, to erect, at their own expense, a new building for their mission at Three Rivers. May 11, the Iroquois make a raid upon a farm close to Quebec, and kill two At this time, the Jesuits exchange their land at Three Rivers-nearly 500 arpents- for another tract of like size, that the former may be turned into common lands; this is done under constraint from the local authorities. Bressani sets out for the Huron country, on June 7, accompanying a large tradingfleet of canoes. A week later, a Huron from Three Rivers comes to Quebec, claiming that the Iroquois have sent him to negotiate a peace with the French. This story proving 'false, his own countrymen condemn him to death; "he was accordingly baptized on the 20th, and named Louys, without as yet knowing whether he were to live or to die." On the following day, he is put to death by the Hurons; and

charitable French women bury his corpse.

About

this time, the Jesuit superior makes the visitation at the hospital; but he "did not go in, or see the Accounts, having noticed that they. had not much inclination for this."

This year, Lalemant excuses himself from the St. John's bonfire,—“not judging it proper to encourage this custom, which had not been practiced in the time of M. de Montmagny" (this last statement being apparently a lapsus memoriæ, to judge by the record of the Journal itself). The French fleet comes earlier than last year; the letters it brings are conveyed from Tadoussac to Quebec by a Jesuit and a habitant, arriving at the latter place July 5; the first ship reaches Quebec on the 10th. On the 28th, Ragueneau also arrives, with all his company. In August occur more Iroquois raids, several Frenchmen being captured or killed by them. Among the latter is Robert le Coq, a Jesuit donné.

On the returning vessels, this autumn, eight Fathers, with numerous brethren and donnés, are sent back to France. Among these are Jerome Lalemant, the superior, who is succeeded at Quebec by Ragueneau; the latter, therefore, continues the Journal after October 22. The new superior seldom mentions in its pages a church service or procession,-unlike Lalemant, who filled most of the Journal with minutiæ of all ecclesiastical affairs; Ragueneau notes, as a rule, only matters of general interest in the annals of the colony.

Several prominent habitants go down to Tadoussac, November 10, to engage in the seal-fishery, for which they have secured important concessions. The Jesuits' new church is consecrated December 24, and

the first mass is said therein, although the building is not completed. The Ursuline convent is burned to the ground on the night of December 30, and the nuns with difficulty save their own lives, losing all their furniture and clothing; the loss is estimated at 40,000 francs. The Ursulines are aided, as much as possible, by the Hospital nuns and the Jesuits; the latter (including even the brethren) decide to deny themselves their desserts, in order to aid therewith these good mothers, who have more need than we of these delicacies."

LXXIV. The Relation of 1649-50 is entirely written by the new superior, Ragueneau, being dated at Quebec, September 1, 1650; it is supplemented by two letters, one, penned by Jerome Lalemant, apparently soon after his arrival in France, in December following, and addressed to the provincial at Paris; the other by the mother superior of the Hospital nuns, addressed to "Monsieur N., a citizen of Paris," and dated at Quebec, September 29.

In the Relation proper (of which we here give the first twelve chapters), a short prefatory note to the provincial announces the removal of the Huron Christians from their ruined country to the more sheltered vicinity of the French settlements. The Relation proper begins with the removal of the mission from Ste. Marie to St. Joseph Island. The wretched Hurons having fled in all directions,— into the forests or the rocky islands of the lake, or to a refuge among the Tobacco and Neutral tribes,- the Jesuits see that they can no longer remain at their posts, but must follow their flocks. Accordingly, they accede to the request made by their disciples, that they will accompany the latter to St. Joseph,—

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some of the Fathers, however, being sent on itinerant missions to remote bands of savages. The departure from their old home, and its destruction by their own hands, lest the enemy should find it a vantagespot, are eloquently and pathetically related. At the new Ste. Marie, built upon the island, the Jesuits are obliged to fortify both their house and the neighboring village. This village had over a hundred cabins, containing more than six thousand souls; but famine and pestilence have swept away many of these. During the entire winter, the people not only suffer these horrors, but are in constant dread of a threatened attack by the Iroquois. This accumulation of misfortunes, however, renders the poor Hurons so tractable to the Faith that the missionaries accomplish among them "by a single word, more than ever before, in entire years." Another potent influence upon them is the charity of the Jesuits, who aid the starving and sick people to the utmost of their power; "many have remained alive only through the assistance which we rendered them." It is interesting to note the method employed by these Fathers in aiding the poor — that of personal investigation, the essential element of the best modern almsgiving; and the foresight which secured, before winter, all available supplies of food within their reach. The writer describes the occupations of the missionaries during the winter, relieving the poor, visiting the sick, and instructing all in religion.

Ragueneau describes, at length, the capture and devastation of the mission villages in the Tobacco tribe, and the martyr deaths of Garnier and Chabanel, the former, on December 7, 1648; the latter,