Algonquins, we will quote a sketch of the life he led among them, as a sample of that which was to be the future lot of the whole Jesuit band.

brought into closest contact, were very inferior in intellect, in civilization, and in general character to the savages more remote. By the vast lakes of the West dwelt numerous stationary populations, the chief belong"Put aside the bearskin, and enter the hut. ing to the great Huron race, settled on the Here, in a space some thirteen feet square, lake which still bears their name. In 1639 were packed nineteen savages, men, women, and the Jesuits made an enumeration of the children, with their dogs, crouched, squatted, Huron villages, dwellings, and families, coiled like hedgehogs, or lying on their backs, and ascertained that the total population with knees drawn up perpendicularly to keep was at least twelve thousand. The Huron their feet out of the fire. Le Jeune, always me-nation was a confederacy of four distinct thodical, arranges the grievances inseparable

tween the lakes and New England. This ferocious tribe had not as yet exerted itself against the Hurons, nor shown its full power. The Iroquois were not as numerous as the Hurons, and there was no reason for the Jesuits to suspect that these latter would be swept from the face of the earth by the other savages.

from these rough quarters, under four chief contiguous nations, and was powerful. The heads, cold, heat, smoke, and dogs. The only people at all their match were the bark covering was full of crevices, through Iroquois, who occupied the territory bewhich the icy blasts streamed in upon him from all sides; and the hole above, at once window and chimney, was so large, that, as he lay, he could watch the stars as well as in the open air. While the fire in the midst, fed with fat pineknots, scorched him on one side, on the other he had much ado to keep himself from freezing. At times, however, the crowded hut seemed heated to the temperature of an oven. During a snow-storm, and often at other times, the wigwam was filled with fumes so dense, stifling, and acrid, that all its inmates were forced to lie flat on their faces, breathing through mouths in contact with the cold earth. Their throats and nostrils felt as if on fire; their scorched eyes streamed with tears; and when Le Jeune tried to read, the letters of his breviary seemed printed in blood. The dogs ran and jumped over him as he lay, snatched the food from his birchen dish, or, in a mad rush at some bone or discarded morsel, now and then overset both dish and missionary. Sometimes of an evening he would leave the filthy den, to read his breviary in peace by the light of the moon. In the forest around, sounded the sharp crack of frostriven trees; and from the horizon to the zenith shot up the silent meteors of the Northern lights, in whose fitful flashings the awe-struck Indians beheld the dancing of the spirits of the dead. The cold gnawed him to the bone; and his devo

The priests determined to invade the territory of the Hurons, and form there a basis for future conquests, for, the Hurons once won, the Faith would spread in wider and wider circles, embracing one after another the kindred tribes. The way was pathless and long, by rock and torrent, and the gloom of primeval forests. The goal was more dreary still; toil, hardship, famine, filth, sickness, solitude, insult, and perhaps martyrdom. But the missionary did not shrink; once satisfied that the course selected was the right one, he cast himself into it with devotion and self-sacrifice.

Eliot, the Protestant missionary, niggled at proselytism within range of the guns of Boston; Brainerd visited Indian camps for a brief period, to return again to his domestic comforts; but these Catholic fathers flung from them every chance of safety, tions over, he turned back shivering. The illu- every hope of ease, and entered dauntlessly minated hut, from many a chink and crevice, on a course which was to be a living and a shot forth into the gloom long streams of light, athwart the twisted boughs. He stooped and entered. All within glowed red and fiery around the blazing pine-knots, where, like brutes in their kennel, were gathered the savage crew.'-Pp. 27-29.

The Jesuits soon learned that the Algonquin tribes, with whom the French were

dying martyrdom. By the help of strong liquors and direct compulsion, the Puritans laboured to improve the natives off the face of the earth, whilst, with the Cross, these Jesuits toiled to erect the only possible barrier against their destruction.

In 1634 Brébeuf, Daniel, Davost, and some French attendants left Quebec in the company of some Hurons for their destina

and departed, leaving the missionaries for a time in peace. Now the door was barred, and, gathering around the fire, they discussed the prospects of the mission, compared their several experiences, and took counsel for the future. mandments, abjure your faith in dreams; P. 61. take but one wife and be true to her; give

At every opportunity, the missionaries gath-up your superstitious feasts and your asered together the children of the village at their semblies of debauchery; eat no human house. On these occasions, Brébeuf, for greater flesh; never give feasts to devils; and make

written. They must renounce a host of super-out six workmen to build a hospital for the Institions, to which they were attached with a dians; how, in every house of the Jesuits, young strange tenacity, or which may rather be said to priests turn eager eyes towards Canada; and have been ingrained in their very natures. Cer-how, on the voyage thither, the devils raised a tain points of Christian morality were also tempest, endeavouring, in vain fury, to drown strongly urged by the missionaries, who insisted the invaders of their American domain.’—P. 151. that the convert should take but one wife, and not cast her off without grave cause, and that In 1640, various new religious establishhe should renounce the gross licence almost uni-ments were erected at Quebec. A school versal among the Hurons. Murder, cannibalism, and several offences were also forbidden.' P. 134.

for Huron children was begun; an Ursuline convent, an incipient hospital, a new Algonquin mission at a place called Sillery In 1639 the Jesuits resolved on establish- Madame de la Peltrie, a pious but very wilwere in progress. On the 15th of July, ing one central station as a focus whence ful lady with a fortune, at the head of a the light of the Faith might radiate through community of Ursulines, her especial pets, all the wilderness around, instead of isolat- arrived in Canada. The most remarkable ing the missionaries at separate stations in of these nuns was Marie de l'Incarnation, the several Huron towns. This was to serve who had been an ecstatic visionary in at once as residence, fort, magazine, hospi- France, but who with practical work in the tal, and convent. Hence the priests would set forth on missionary expeditions far and Algonquin mission, became a sensible and near; and hither they could retire, as to an with the prospect of work; here was someuseful person. The ladies were delighted asylum, in sickness or in peril. Here also thing to exercise their sympathies, long the converts were to be settled and taught driven in by the stifling atmosphere of the the arts of husbandry, and preserved from French convent. the perverting influences of their fellow-zeal, they seized and kissed every Indian In the transports of their savages. In fact, the ancient monastic sys- female child on whom they could lay hands, tem of central abbey with cells dotted over 'without minding,' says Father Le Jeune, the country, was reproduced in the wilds of Canada. The site of this station was near de S. Barnard, a fair and delicate girl, was whether they were dirty or not.' Marie the Matchedash Bay of Luke Huron. another of the Ursulines. 'Her disposition Traces of it exist to this day. It was is charming,' writes one of the nuns to called Sainte-Marie. From this centre the France; in our times of recreation she ofintrepid missionaries visited distant nations, ten makes us cry with laughing; it would be the Neutrals and the Tobaccos, enduring hard to be melancholy when she is near.' terrible hardships, and with their life ever Beside the cloister stood a large ash-tree; in their hands. In 1641 broke out the de- and it stands there still. Beneath its shade solating Iroquois war, which was to be the ruin of the mission. But, before entering her nuns instructed the little savages in the Marie de l'Incarnation, the Superior, and on this eventful period for the Huron mistruths of the Gospel. sion, it will be necessary to cast a look at Quebec, and see what the Jesuits had been doing there, at their Canadian head-quarters. Champlain had been succeeded by De Montmagny, as Governor of Quebec, a worthy successor to that heroic and Christian soldier. One of his first acts on entering on his duties, was to stand sponsor to a dying Indian. Le Jeune's letters to France had been published, and had stirred up an

intense interest in the mission.

"He reads how, in a single convent, thirteen nuns have devoted themselves, by a vow, to the work of converting Indian women and children; how in the Church of Montmartre, a nun lies prostrate day and night before the altar, praying for the mission; how the Carmelites are all as fire, the Ursulines full of zeal, the Sisters of the Visitation have no words to speak their ardour; how some person unknown but blessed of Heaven, means to found a school for Huron children; how the Duchesse d'Aiguillon has sent

versière, a receiver of taxes. One day, In Anjou dwelt one Jérôme de la Dauwhilst at his devotions, he heard an inward voice commanding him to found a hospital

on the island of Montreal, in Canada.

Montreal was then a wilderness, and the hospital, if erected, would have no patients. However, the voice was to be obeyed, and Dauversière selected priests and nuns, then chose a governor for the island, the Sieur de Maisonneuve, forty workmen, obtained authority from the Crown, and sent them off to Canada to found Montreal. On the 17th of May, 1642, Maisonneuve's little flotilla, a pinnace, a flat-bottomed craft moved by sail, and two row-boats, approached the tree-grown island of Montreal, all on board raising in unison a hymn of praise.

'On the following day, they glided along the green and solitary shores, now thronged with the

life of a busy city, and landed on the spot which | tached themselves to the mission, went to Champlain, thirty-one years before, had chosen Quebec to obtain a supply of necessaries as the fit site for a settlement. It was a tongue for the Huron Mission of S. Marie. They or triangle of land, formed by the junction of a were returning with about forty Indians in rivulet with the S. Lawrence. The rivulet was twelve canoes. Jogues was a constitutionbordered by a meadow, and beyond rose the for-ally timid man, with a refined and delicate est with its vanguard of scattered trees. Early mind; he was a finished scholar. His oval spring flowers were blooming in the young grass, face, and the mould of his features, indiand birds of varied plumage flitted among the cated a modest, thoughtful, and intelligent boughs. The canoes had reached the wesnature.

Maisonneuve sprang ashore, and fell on his knees. His followers imitated his example, and all joined their voices in enthusiastic songs of thanksgiving. Tents, baggage, arms, and stores were landed. An altar was raised on a pleasant spot near at hand; and Mademoiselle Marie, with Madame de la Peltrie, aided by her servant Charlotte Barré, decorated it with a taste which was the admiration of the beholders. Now all the company gathered before the shrine. Here stood Vimont, in the rich vestments of his office. Here were the two ladies, with their servant; Montmagny, and Maisonneuve, a warlike figure, erect and tall, his men clustering around him, soldiers, sailors, artisans, and labourers, all alike soldiers at need. They kneeled in reverent silence as the Host was raised aloft; and when the rite was over, the priest turned and addressed them: "You are a grain of mustard-seed, that shall rise and grow till its branches overshadow the earth. You are few, but your work is the work of God. His smile is on you, and your children shall fill the land."

The afternoon waned; the sun sank behind the western forest, and twilight came on. Fireflies were twinkling over the darkened meadow. They caught them, tied them with threads into shining festoons, and hung them before the altar, where the Host remained exposed. Then they pitched their tents, lighted their bivouac fires, stationed their guards, and lay down to rest. Such was the birth-night of Montreal.' - Pp. 207-209.

tern end of the Lake of S. Peter, when they were attacked by the Iroquois. The Hurons, seized with panic, leaped ashore and fled into the woods. Goupil, and several of the Christian converts who showed fight, were captured. Jogues sprang into the bulrushes, and might have escaped; but when he saw Goupil and the neophytes in the hands of the Iroquois, he came out of his hiding-place and gave himself up. Couture had eluded pursuit; but when he thought of Jogues, and of what might be his fate, he resolved not to desert him, and he retraced his steps. Four Iroquois, on catching sight of him, rushed at him like tigers, stripped off all his clothing, tore away his finger-nails with their teeth, gnawed his fingers with the fury of famished dogs, and thrust a sword through one of his hands. Jogues broke from his guard, and threw his arins round his friend's neck. The savages tore him away, beat him with warclubs, and bit and lacerated his fingers as they had done those of Couture. Captives were brought up at each moment, and the priest, with his bleeding and mangled hands, baptized those who asked for the regenerat ing stream.

For days the captives were dragged about in the train of their ferocious enemies. The pain and fever of their wounds, and the It was thirty-two years since the French clouds of mosquitoes, left them no peace by had first attacked the Iroquois. They had day, nor sleep by night. On the way they nursed their wrath for more than a genera- were beaten with such cruelty that Jogues tion, and at length their hour was come. fell powerless, drenched in blood, and faintThe Dutch traders provided them with fire- ing. His hands were again gnawed, and arms. In 1641, mutterings of the impend- fire was applied to his body. At night, ing storm reached the Jesuits of the Huron when the exhausted prisoners sought rest, Mission, and warned the little colony of the young warriors came to rip open their Montreal to be on its guard. Sometimes closing wounds, and pluck out their hair. war parties hovered about the fortifications At the expiration of thirteen days the war of Quebec. Scalped corpses of fur-traders were discovered in the woods, Iroquois war-whoops pealed through the sombre forests, and their canoes darted over the lakes upon unprotected Algonquin or Huron villages, or intercepted boats descending the S. Lawrence with furs.

party arrived in their towns, bearing with them in triumph their captives. They were made to run the gauntlet between lines of savages armed with sticks and cudgels. They were then placed on a high platform, and exposed to the mockery and taunts of the whole town. They were allowed a few In 1642, the Jesuit Isaac Jogues, with minutes to recover their breath, and then a two young Frenchmen, René Goupil and chief called out, 'Come, let us caress these Guillaume Couture, laymen, who, from a Frenchmen.' A Christian Algonquin woreligious motive and without pay, had at-man, a prisoner among the Iroquois, was