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CHAPTER XII.

OF THE CHARACTER AND CUSTOMS OF THE IROQUOIs.

THE

HE Iroquois, of whose Villages we have as yet discovered only fourteen, are divided into the Lower and the Upper Iroquois. The former consist only of the Anniehronnons, who are the most cruel, and with whom we [125] have less communication. Under the name of Upper Iroquois are comprised the Sonnontouaehronnons, who are the most numerous; the Onontagehronnons, who are the most influential, and our most faithful allies; the Oiogoenhronnons, who are the most arrogant; and the Onneiouthronnons, who are the weakest of all.

The character of all these Nations is warlike and cruel; and, as they have no neighbors to fight, because they have subjugated all of them, they go to seek new enemies in other countries. Not long ago, they went to carry war very far beyond the country of the Cats, to peoples who have as yet no knowledge of Europeans, by whom they are equally unknown. The chief virtue of these poor Pagans being cruelty, just as mildness is that of Christians, they teach it to their children from their very cradles, and accustom them to the most atrocious carnage and the most barbarous spectacles. Their first expeditions are undertaken merely for the purpose of shedding human blood [126] and of signaling themselves by murders; and their infantile bands, armed with hatchets and guns which they can hardly carry, do

fe fignaler par des meurtres, & leurs trouppes enfantines armées de haches & de fuzils, qu'elles ont de la peine à fouftenir, ne laiffent pas de porter par tout l'épouuante & l'horreur. Ils vont à la guerre à deux & trois cents lieuës loin de leurs pays par des rochers inacceffibles, & des forefts immenfes, n'eftant munis que d'efperance; & ne laiffant dans leurs Bourgs pendant des années entieres que leurs femmes & leurs petits enfans. Mais quelques cheuelures qu'ils remportent, ou quelques prifonniers de guerre deftinez à leur boucherie, font les trophées dont ils croient leurs trauaux heureusement recompenfez.

Cependant ces victoires leur caufant prefque autant de perte qu'à leurs ennemis, elles ont tellement depeuplé leurs Bourgs, qu'on y compte plus d'Estrangers que de naturels du pays. Onnontaghé à sept nations differentes qui s'y font venues establir, & il s'en trouue iufqu'à onze dans Sonnontoüan; en forte que leur ruïne caufée par leurs conqueftes, nous donnent l'auantage de prefcher la Foy à quantité de Nations diuerfes que [127] nous ne pourions aller inftruire chacune dans fon pays.

Leurs mariages ne rendent que le lict commun au mari & à la femme, chacun demeurant pendant le iour chez fes propres parents, & la femme allant le foir trouuer fon mari pour s'en retourner le lendemain de bon matin chez fa mere, ou chez fon plus proche parent: fans que le mari ofe aller dans la cabane de fa femme deuãt qu'elle ait quelques enfans de luy. La feule communication de biens qui est entre l'vn & l'autre, eft que le mari donne tous les fruits de fa chaffe à fa femme, qui luy rend en

not fail to spread fear and horror everywhere. They go to war at a distance of two or three hundred leagues from their country, over inaccessible rocks and through vast forests, provided solely with hope, and leaving in their Villages, for whole years at a time, only their women and little children. But a few scalps that they bring back, or a few prisoners of war, destined to be butchered by them, are the trophies with which they consider their labors happily rewarded.

Nevertheless, these victories cause almost as much loss to them as to their enemies, and they have depopulated their own Villages to such an extent, that they now contain more Foreigners than natives of the country. Onnontaghé counts seven different nations, who have come to settle in it; and there are as many as eleven in Sonnontouan. Thus, their ruin, caused by their conquests, gives us the advantage of preaching the Faith to a number of various Nations, whom [127] we could not visit and instruct each in its own country.

Their marriages make only the bed common to the husband and wife; each one lives, during the day, with his own relatives. The wife goes to her husband at night, returning early next morning to the home of her mother or of her nearest relative, and the husband does not dare to enter his wife's cabin until she has had some children by him. The only community of property between them is, that the husband gives all the products of his hunting to his wife, who in return renders him certain services, and is obliged to till his fields and harvest the crops.

They make their most serious illnesses ridiculous

recompenfe quelques feruices, & eft obligée de cultiuer fes champs, & d'en faire la recolte.

Ils rendent ridicules les plus fafcheufes de leurs maladies par la fuperftition groffiere qu'ils apportent à leur guerifon. Car fe perfuadant que toute leur incommodité vient de ce que l'ame manque de quelque chofe quelle fouhaitte, & qu'il ne faut que luy donner ce qu'elle defire pour la retenir paisiblement dans le corps; C'est à qui fe monftrera [128] le plus liberal, faifant au malade les prefents qu'il fouhaite, & aufquels il croit que fa vie eft attachée. On voit vn moribond enuironné d'alefnes, de cifeaux, de coufteaux, de fonnettes, d'aiguilles, & de mille autres bagatelles, de la moindre defquelles il attend la fanté. S'il fe laiffe enfin mourir on attribuë fa mort au defaut de quelque chofe qu'il defiroit: il meurt, dit-on, parce que fon ame defiroit manger d'vn chien, ou de la chair d'vn homme; parce qu'on ne luy a pas trouué vne certaine hache qu'il defiroit, ou parce qu'on n'a peu luy retrouuer vne belle paire de chauffes qui luy ont efté derobées: fi au contraire le malade recouure fa fanté, il attribuë fa guerison au prefent qu'on luy a fait de la derniere chofe qu'il fouhaitoit pendant fa maladie, & le cheriffant toufiours par apres, le conferue foigneufement iufqu'à la mort. En forte que comme ils croient que toutes leurs maladies ont la mefme caufe, ils ne reconnoiffent auffi qu'vn feul remede pour les guerir.

Les Morts ne font non plus exempts de leurs fuperftitions que les malades. [129] Auffi-toft que quelqu'vn a expiré dans vne cabane, on y entend des cris & des lamentations de la parenté affemblée, de tout âge & de tout fexe, fi effroiables qu'on prendroit

by the gross superstition with which they seek to cure them. They are convinced that they are afflicted with diseases only because the soul is in want of something for which it craves; and that it is only necessary to give it what it desires, in order to detain it peacefully in the body. They all vie with each other as to who shall be [128] the most liberal, giving to the sick person all the presents that he desires. and on which he considers that his life depends. A dying man may be seen surrounded by awls, scissors, knives, bells, needles, and a thousand other trifles, from the least of which he expects to obtain health. If at last he happen to die, his death is attributed to the absence of some article that he desired. "He dies," say they, "because his soul wished to eat the flesh of a dog, or of a man; because a certain hatchet that he wished for could not be procured; or because a fine pair of leggings that had been taken from him could not be found." If, on the contrary, the sick man recover his health, he attributes his cure to the gift of the last thing that he wished for during his illness, and afterward he cherishes it forever, preserving it carefully until his death. Thus, as they believe that all their illnesses are due to the same cause, they also recognize but one remedy for effecting their cure.

The Dead are not more exempt from their superstitions than the sick. [129] As soon as any one dies in a cabin, one hears in it the cries and lamentations uttered by the assembled relatives of all ages and both sexes; and so frightful are they that one would take that lugubrious uproar, which lasts for months and even for entire years, for the howlings of Hell. Meanwhile, after the dead man is buried, and his

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