fasting, extremely fatigued by our journey, and covered with very dirty rags; but for refreshment were ordered to sing as we walked, thus attired. It was the beginning of our victors' triumph. I intoned the Litany of the blessed Virgin, [58] the Veni Creator, and other Hymns of the Church.

“ As we crossed the river of the Dutch, I confessed my companion, who wished to prepare himself for death, having caught sight of about forty or fifty Iroquois who appeared to be waiting for us with staves in their hands. We were stripped entirely naked, except our breech-clouts, and were made to pass through these Barbarians, who were drawn up in line. They gave me some blows on the back with their switches; but as I was quickening my steps, one of those executioners stopped me short, taking me by the arm and stretching it out, in order to give me a blow with a short, thick stick that he raised aloft. I gave my arm to Our Lord, thinking the man was about to break and [59] shatter the bone between the elbow and the wrist; but, the blow falling on the joint, I came off with a wound which disappeared in course of time. When we had entered the Village, I was made to take the lead in ascending a scaffold erected in the middle of the public place, and raised about five feet from the ground. My companion joined me there soon afterward, bearing the marks of the blows he had received; and, among others, were seen the traces of a trouble. some and painful lashing across his breast.

“I felt so firm and calm on this stage, and faced, with so serene an eye and mind, those who were looking at me, that I wondered at myself. Nevertheless, I felt some alarm at the sight of a certain

Ie me fentois fi fort, & fi paisible sur ce theatre, & i'enuifageois ceux qui me regardoiet, d'vn œil & d'vn efprit fi ferain, que ie m'eftonnois de moymefme. Ie fenty neantmoins quelque frayeur, à la veuë d'vn certain Borgne, qui [60] portoit vn cousteau d'vne main, & vn morceau de leur pain de l'autre. Ie me fouuenois que le bon Pere Isaac Iogues, auoit perdu l'vn de ses poulces fur vn femblable efchaffaut, & ne me fentant point pour lors, dãs la difpofition de luy donner mes doigts, ie m'addreffay à fon bon Ange, & cét homme s'eftant auancé, donna le pain, qu'il tenoit, à mon compagnon, & puis se retira fans fa[i]re aucun mal. Vne pluye furuenant, écarta les fpectateurs, & on nous conduifit fous vn petit toit, à l'entrée d'vne cabane. Là on nous fit chanter, Dieu me mit dans vne telle foumiffion à ces Barbares, & ie m'abandonnay si fortement à toutes fortes de mépris, qu'il n'y auoit rien que ie ne fiffe, pourueu qu'il me fut commandé, & qu'il ne fut pas [61] contre la Loy de Dieu. Ie diray icy en passant, ce que i'ay remarqué dans vne lettre particuliere. Que le Pere, ne reüffiffant pas dans toutes ces fingeries, felon l'idée des Sauuages; qui, par confequent, eftans moins fatisfaits, l'auroient plustoft condamné à mort; vn ieune Huron captif parmy ces peuples, se presenta pour chanter, pour danfer, & pour faire toutes les grimaces, en la place du Pere, qui n'auoit iamais appris ce mestier.

Sur le foir, poursuit le Pere, on nous conduifit dans la cabane de celuy qui m'auoit pris; & là on me donna vn plat de leur fagamité, c'est de la boüillie faite auec de l'eau, & de la farine de bled d'Inde. Les vieillards s'eftans affemblez, dans cette cabane,

One-eyed man who [60] carried a knife in one hand, and a piece of their bread in the other. I remem. bered that the good Father Isaac Jogues had lost one of his thumbs on a similar scaffold; and, not feeling then disposed to give the man my fingers, I appealed to his good Angel; and the man, approaching us, gave my companion the bread that he was holding, and then withdrew without doing any injury. A shower, coming up suddenly, dispersed the spectators, and we were conducted to the shelter of a little roof at the entrance to a cabin. There we were made to sing; and God put me in such a state of submission to those Barbarians, and I abandoned myself with such fortitude to all sorts of indignities, that there was nothing I would not have done, provided it were bidden me and were not [61] contrary to God's Law.” I will say here, in passing, what I have noticed in a private letter,— namely, that, as the Father did not succeed in all these apish tricks in a manner satisfactory to the Savages,— who, in consequence, would have been inclined to condemn him to death,-a young Huron, a captive among these people, came forward to sing and dance, and execute all the grimaces, in the Father's place, the latter having never learned that trade.

“ Toward evening," continues the Father, “we were conducted to the cabin of him who had captured me, and there I was given a dish of their sagamité, or porridge made of Indian corn and water. The old men having assembled in this cabin, a woman presented a brasse of Porcelain [62] to enforce her request that one of my fingers should be cut off. I felt no farther reluctance at giving up my hands, especially as — in the hope which I had entertained,

vne femme presenta vne brasse de Porcelaine, [62] pour me faire coupper vn doigt. Ie n'eus plus de repugnance de donner mes mains; veu mesmement, que dans les esperances que i'auois euës de la vie, pendant mon voyage, & dans les defirs de trauailler en suitte à la paix; ie croyois tousiours qu'il estoit expedient, que i'en portasse les marques, & qu'il m'en coutast quelque doigt. . Si bien que ie ne m'addressay plus aux Anges de ces Barbares, pour éuiter cette croix: mais bien à Saint Gabriel, pour obtenir la force de la souffrir gayement. Le Borgne qui s'estoit approché de nostre eschaffaut, pour faire ce qu'il n'executa pas pour lors, me prit la main droite, considerant mes doigts; & comme i'auois la pensée, que les doigts de cette main, m'estoient vn peu plus necessaires, [63]. que ceux de la gauche: il la prit, quittant la droite, & appellant vn enfant âgé de quatre à cinq ans, il luy donne son couteau: me prit l'index, ou le second doigt de la main gauche, & le fit couper à cet enfant. I'offry mon sang, & mes souffrances, pour la paix: regardant ce petit sacrifice d'vn wil doux, d'vn visage serain, & d'vn caur ferme: chantant le Vexilla, & ie me fouuiens, que ie reïteray deux ou trois fois le couplet, ou la Strophe, Impleta funt quæ concinit, Dauid fideli carmine, dicendo nationibus, regnauit à ligno Deus.

L'Hymne acheué, & le doigt coupé, cét homme me mit au col, vne partie de la Porcelaine, que cette femme auoit donnée, & de l'autre il entoura mon doigt coupé, qu'il porta à celuy qui m'auoit pris. Or comme le sang sortoit [64] de la playe en abondance, ce Borgne y voulut appliquer le feu de sa pippe à prendre du tabac, pour l'estancher: ce qui during my journey, of saving my life, and in my desire to work afterward in the cause of peace - I always believed it expedient that I should bear the marks of my experience, and that it should cost me one of my fingers. As a result, I no longer appealed to the Angels of these Barbarians, in order to avoid that cross, but rather to Saint Gabriel, that I might gain strength to suffer it cheerfully. The One-eyed man, who had approached our scaffold with a purpose which he did not execute at the time, took my right hand and examined my fingers; and, just as I was thinking that the fingers of that hand were a little more necessary to me [63] than those of the left, he took the latter and dropped the right. Then calling a child, from four to five years of age, he gave him his knife, took the index or forefinger of my left hand, and made the child cut it off. I offered my blood and my sufferings in the cause of peace, regarding this little sacrifice with a mild eye, a serene countenance, and a stout heart; I sang the Vexilla, and I remember that I repeated two or three times the couplet, or Strophe, — Impleta sunt quæ concinit David fideli carmine, dicendo nationibus, regnavit à ligno Deus.

The Hymn completed and the finger cut off, that man hung around my neck a part of the Porcelain beads which the woman mentioned above had given; and with the rest he encircled my severed finger, and carried it to my captor. Now, as the blood flowed [64] from the wound in abundance, the Oneeyed man wished to apply to it the fire of his tobaccopipe, in order to stanch it - which would have caused me intense pain. But he was anticipated by others, who had a glowing coal applied to it by the same