Hæc publica calamitas, inimica corporibus, animis salutaris fuit: neque enim hactenus laborum nostrorum fructus major extitit, nunquam altius descendit fides in pectora, neque hic usquam christianum nomen fuit illustrius, quam inter ruinas afflictæ gentis. Numeramus hoc posteriore anno, baptizatos barbaros, supra tria millia: verissime ut nobis dictum appareat effatum illud Apostoli, flagellat Deus omnem filium quem recipit. Superstites adhuc sumus in hac missione, Patres tredecim, coadjutores quatuor, domestici perpetui viginti duo, undecim alii famuli non perpetui (quibus solis stipendia solvuntur satis modica); sex milites, quatuor pueri, sexaginta omnino animæ; quibus cœlestia sic sapiunt, ut terrena desipiant: certè enim affirmare possum Paternitati vestræ, neminem unum esse qui in spiritu et veritate Deum non adoret; vere ut hæc dici possit esse Domus Dei, et Porta cœli.

Paternam erga nos Dei manum experimur; ita enim hæc nos mala cingunt, ut tamen nusquam attingant; nihil ut animis, nihil ut corporibus defuerit; non earum quidem rerum, quæ ad delicias, sed quibus natura satis sustentet se parvo contenta. Neque vero nobis solum hîc viximus; sed insuper nobis dedit divina munificentia, unde possemus christianorum paupertati ac miseriis, misericorditer subvenire, vix ut ullus restet in vivis, qui auxilio nostro non vivat; vix ut ullus sit mortuus, qui non agnoverit plus charitati nostræ debere se, quam ulli omnino

this year has given a value far higher than, formerly, was usually placed upon Indian corn.

This calamity of our people was, though destructive to their bodies, salutary to their souls,- for, up to this time, our labors have not yielded greater fruits; never before has faith gone more deeply into hearts, or the name of Christian been more glorious, than in the midst of the disasters to a stricken people. We count more than three thousand savages baptized this last year; so that verily that saying of the Apostle seems to be spoken unto us: Flagellat Deus omnem filium quem recipit. At present, there remain in this mission thirteen Fathers, four coadjutors, twenty-two donnés, eleven other domestics (to whom alone are paid very modest wages), six soldiers, and four boys,- sixty souls in all; to these, heavenly things have so sweet a savor that they render those of earth insipid. Truly, I can declare to your Paternity that there is not one who does not worship God in spirit and in truth, so that this may verily be called Domus Dei, et Porta cæli.

We experience the fatherly guidance of God; for, although evils environ us, they yet do not touch us, so that nothing is lacking to either soul or body,not indeed of those things which minister to pleasure, but in those which sufficiently sustain a nature content with little. Yet we do not live here merely for ourselves; but the divine bounty has given us, in addition, means with which to relieve, in compassion, the poverty and wretchedness of the Christians, so that there is hardly one among the living who does not live by our aid; hardly one of those that died who did not acknowledge that he owed more to our charity than to that of any other human being.

mortalium omnium. Sic adeo ut parentes Patriæ publice jam vocemur, et omnino simus: magnum sane adjumentum ad christianam fidem.

De futuro Dominus providebit, sufficit enim diei malitia sua. Sed tamen duæ res sunt, unde multum timemus huic missioni, ne ruinam trahat. Alterum, ab hostibus Iroquæis; alterum a defectu annonæ: neque enim satis apparet, unde huic malo obviam iri possit. Coacti sunt Hurones nostri, superiori anno, non modo suas domos, suaque oppida, sed agros etiam deserere: vexati nimis bello, ac perpetuis afflicti cladibus; fugientem gregem, secuti sumus Pastores; nostrasque etiam sedes, delicias dicam nostras, Sanctæ Mariæ domum reliquimus, excultaque a nobis jugera, quæ spem divitem messis darent: imo, operi manuum nostrarum, nos ipsi ignem subjecimus; ne hostibus impiis, tectum præberet Domus sancta: atque adeo una die, ac fere momento, absumi vidimus labores nostros, decem propemodum annorum: unde spes erat nobis, potuisse nos colligere, quæ necessaria nobis ad victum forent; adeoque perstare nos potuisse, in his regionibus, sine auxilio Galliæ. Sed Deo aliter visum est: desolata nunc domus, desolatique Penates; alio migrandum fuit, et in terra exilii nostri, novum exilium quærendum.

In conspectu continentis, viginti circiter milliaribus ab hac prima sede Sanctæ Mariæ, Insula est, vastissimo cincta lacu (quod mare melius vocetur): illic stetere Hurones profugi, pars saltem maxima; illic

Indeed, we are publicly hailed as the fathers of this Country, and so we are, wherein there is certainly strong support to the Christian faith.

For the future, the Lord will provide; sufficit enim diei malitia sua. Nevertheless, there are two sources of possible destruction to this mission, which we greatly dread,- first, the hostile Iroquois; second, the failure of provisions; and it is not clear how these dangers may be encountered. Our Hurons, last year, were forced not only to leave their homes and their fortified villages, but even to forsake their fields, because they were harassed by warfare, and crushed by unceasing disaster. We, the Shepherds, followed our fleeing flock, and we too have left our dwelling-place,-I might call it our delight,—the residence of Sainte Marie, and the fields we had tilled, which promised a rich harvest. even applied the torch to the work of our own hands, lest the sacred House should furnish shelter to our impious enemy: and thus in a single day, and almost in a moment, we saw consumed our work of nearly ten years, which had given us the hope that we could produce the necessities of life, and thus maintain ourselves in this country without aid from France. But God has willed otherwise; our home is now laid waste, and our Penates forsaken; we have been compelled to journey elsewhere, and, in the land of our exile, to seek a new place of banishment.

Nay, more, we

Within sight of the mainland, about twenty miles from that first site of Sainte Marie, is an Island surrounded by a vast lake (which might better be called a sea). There the fugitive Hurons checked their flight, at least most of them; there also we must abide; there, where lately were the dens of wild

etiam standum nobis fuit: illic struendæ novæ sedes, ubi nuper ferarum tecta fuerant; illic exscindendæ silvæ, nunquam ab orbe condito securim passæ; illic demum exstruenda præsidia, bellicus labor, non nobis solum, sed etiam barbaris. Hæ fuerunt artes nostræ, hic conatus noster continuus; non æstate modo, sed tota hyeme; ut jam satis tuti nobis videamur, ab hac parte, atque excipiendo communi hosti haud imparati : neque enim ligneo tantum vallo cincti sumus, ut moris hactenus fuerat; sed lapide, spissoque muro, quam difficili ad ascensum, tam facili ad defensionem; quique inimicum ignem non metuat, non arietem, tormentave ulla bellica quibus uti possint Iroquæi.

Sed operosior longe restat labor, evellendis arboribus, tellurique ad cultum agrorum parandæ, unde arcendæ fami, partim frumenta, partim radices, atque herbæ sufficiant; Tali enim cibo hîc vescimur; nullo utimur potu, nisi aquæ frigidæ: vix ullo vestitu, nisi ferarum pellibus, quas natura sine arte præbet. Gallinas decem, par unum porcorum reservavimus, boves duos, totidemque vaccas quantum scilicet servandæ prolis sit satis; annonæ frumenti Indici, in annum unum, absumpta reliqua, ut charitati christianæ non deessemus: servatum tamen exiguum illud, quod dixi; quia charitas non agit perperam; nec debuit tam esse prodiga, curandis utique corporibus, nihil ut nobis reliqui faceret, quo possemus nos utcumque sustentare, qui fidei excolendæ, salutique animorum procurandæ incumbamus. Ut tamen