The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents 24
Le iour que les trois Rois adorerent nostre Seigneur, nous receusmes
trois mauuaises nouuelles; La premiere, que le ieune Hyroquois estãt
allé à la chasse le iour precedent n'estoit point retourné, & comme
on sçauoit bien que la faim l'ayant affoibly il ne se pouuoit pas
beaucoup éloigner, on creut qu'il estoit mort, ou demeuré en quelque
endroit si debile pour n'auoir dequoy manger, que la faim & le froid le
tuëroient, en effect il n'a plus paru depuis, quelques vns ont pensé
qu'il pourroit bien s'estre efforcé de retourner en son pays; mais que
la plus part asseurent qu'il est mort en quelque endroit sur la neige,
c'estoit l'vn des trois prisonniers à Tadoussac, dont i'ay parlé és
premieres lettres que i'ay enuoyé de ce païs-cy, ses deux compatriotes
furent executez à mort auec des cruautez nompareilles, pour luy comme
il estoit ieune on luy sauua la vie à la requeste du sieur Emery de
Can, que nous priasmes d'interceder [291] pour luy, ce pauure ieune
homme s'en souuenoit fort bien, il auoit grande enuie de demeurer en
nostre maison; mais le Sorcier á qui il appartenoit ne le voulut iamais
donner ny vendre.
On the day that the three Kings adored our Lord, we received three
pieces of bad news. The first was that the young Hyroquois, who had
gone hunting the day before, had not returned; and, as they were
very well aware that hunger had weakened him so that he could not
go far, they thought he was dead, or lying somewhere so weak from
lack of food that hunger and cold would kill him. In fact, he has
never yet appeared; some thought he might have tried to return to
his own country, but the greater part are sure he is lying dead
somewhere upon the snow. He was one of the three prisoners at
Tadoussac, of whom I spoke in the first letters I sent from these
countries;[4] his two compatriots were executed with unparalleled
cruelties, but his life was saved because he was young, at the
request of sieur Emery de Can, whom we begged to intercede [291]
for him. This poor young man had very kind memories of me, and had
a great desire to live in our house; but the Sorcerer, to whom he
belonged, would neither give nor sell him.
La seconde mauuaise nouuelle nous fut apportée par vn ieune Sauuage qui
venoit d'vn autre cartier, lequel nous dit qu'vn Sauuage d'vne autre
cabane plus esloignée estoit mort de disette, que ses gens estoient
fort épouuentez ne trouuans pas de quoy viure, & nous voyant dans la
mesme necessité, cela l'estonnoit encore dauantage. La troisiesme fut
que nos gens découurisent la piste de plusieurs Sauuages qui nous
estoient plus voisins que nous ne pensions, car ils venoient chasser
iusques sur nos marches, enleuans nostre proye & nostre vie tout
ensemble; ces trois nouuelles abbatirent grandement nos Sauuages,
l'alarme estoit par tout, on ne marchoit plus que la teste baissée, ie
ne sçay comme i'estois fait, mais ils me paroissoiẽt tous fort maigres,
fort pensif, & fort mornes, si l'Apostat m'eust voulu [292] ayder à
porter & à gagner le Sorcier, c'estoit bien le temps; mais son diable
muet luy lioit sa langue.
The second piece of bad news was brought by a young Savage who
came from another quarter, who told us that a Savage of a more
distant cabin had died of hunger, and that his people were greatly
terrified at not finding anything to eat; when he saw us suffering
from the same scarcity, he was frightened still more. The third
news was that our people had discovered the trail of several
Savages, who were nearer to us than we thought, for they were
coming to hunt upon our very grounds, taking away our game and our
lives at the same time. These three pieces of news discouraged
our Savages greatly, the alarm spread everywhere, and all walked
with bowed heads. I do not know how I looked, but they seemed to
me very much emaciated, very sad and mournful. If the Apostate had
consented [292] to help me influence and win over the Sorcerer,
this was the time to do it; but his mute devil tied his tongue.
Il faut que ie remarque en ce lieu le peu d'estime que font de luy
les Sauuages, il est tombé dans vne grande confusion, voulant éuiter
vn petit reproche, il a quitté les Chrestiens & le Christianisme, ne
pouuãt souffrir quelques brocards des Sauuages, qui se gaussoient
par fois de luy de ce qu'il estoit Sedentaire, & non vagabond comme
eux, & maintenãt il est leur ioüet & leur fallot, il est esclaue du
Sorcier, deuant lequel il n'oseroit branler, ses freres & les autres
Sauuages m'ont dit souuent qu'il n'auoit point d'esprit, que c'estoit
vn busart, qu'il ressembloit à vn chien, qu'il mourroit de faim si on
ne le nourrissoit, qu'il s'égaroit dans les bois comme vn European, les
femmes en font leur entretien, si quelque enfant pleuroit n'ayant pas
dequoy manger, elles luy disoient, tais-toy, tais-toy, ne pleure point,
_Petrichtrich_, c'est ainsi qu'on le nomme par mocquerie, rapportera
vn Castor, & tu mangeras; quand elles [293] l'entendoient reuenir,
allez voir, disoiẽt elles aux enfans, s'il n'a point tué vne Orignac se
gaussant de luy comme d'vn mauuais chasseur, qui est vn grand blasme
parmy les Sauuages: car ces gens là ne sçauroient trouuer ou retenir
des femmes, l'Apostat en a desia eu quatre ou cinq à la faueur de ses
freres, toutes l'ont quitté, celle qu'il auoit cét hyuer me disoit
qu'elle le quitteroit au Prin-temps, & si elle eust esté de ce païs,
elle l'auroit quitté dés lors; i'apprends qu'en effect elle l'a quitté.
I must here speak of the little esteem the Savages have for him.
He has fallen into great embarrassment, in trying to avoid a
slight reproach. He gave up Christians and Christianity, because
he could not suffer the taunts of the Savages, who jeered at him
occasionally because he was Sedentary and not wandering, as they
were; and now he is their butt and their laughingstock. He is a
slave to the Sorcerer, in whose presence he would not dare to move.
His brothers and the other Savages have often told me that he has
no sense, that he is a buzzard, that he resembles a dog, that he
would die of hunger if they did not feed him, that he gets lost
in the woods like a European; the women make fun of him,--if some
child cries because it does not have enough to eat, they say to
it, "Hush, hush, do not cry, _Petrichtrich_ (they call him this in
sport) will bring back a Beaver, and then thou shalt have something
to eat." When they [293] hear him return, "Go and see," they say to
their children, "if he has not killed a Moose;" thus making sport
of him for being a poor hunter, a great reproach among the Savages.
Because such men cannot find wives or retain them, the Apostate,
with the help of his brothers, has already had four or five, all
of whom have left him. The one he has had this winter told me she
would leave him in the Spring, and, if she had belonged to this
part of the country, she would have left him then. I hear that she
has, in fact, deserted him.
Certain iour nos chasseurs estans tous dehors, il se tint vn conseil
des femmes dans nostre cabane: or comme elles ne croyoient pas que
ie les peusse entendre, elles parloient tout haut, & tout librement,
déchirant en pieces ce pauure Apostat, l'occasion estoit que le iour
precedent il n'auoit rien rapporté à sa femme d'vn festin où il
auoit esté inuité, & qui n'estoit pas à tout manger, ô le gourmand,
disoient-elles, qui ne donne point à manger à sa femme! encore s'il
pouuoit tuer quelque chose, il n'a point d'esprit, il mange tout [294]
comme vn chien: il y eut vne grande rumeur entre les femmes sur ce
sujet: car comme elles ne vont point ordinairement aux festins, elles
seroient bien affligées, si leurs marys perdoient la bonne coustume
qu'ils ont de rapporter leurs restes à leurs familles, le Renegát
suruenant pendant que cés femmes le depeignoient, elles sceurent fort
bien dissimuler leur ieu, luy témoignant vn aussi bon vsage qu'à
l'ordinaire, voire mesme celle qui en disoit plus de mal, luy donna vn
bout de petun, qui estoit pour lors vn grand present.
On a certain day, when our hunters had gone out, a council of
women was held in our cabin. Now as they did not think I could
understand, they spoke aloud and freely, tearing this poor Apostate
to pieces. The occasion for this was, that the day before he had
not carried anything home to his wife from a feast to which he
had been invited, and which was not an eat-all feast. "Oh, the
glutton," they said, "who gives his wife nothing to eat! If he
could only kill something! He has no sense; he eats everything
[294] like a dog." There was great excitement among the women over
this subject, for, as they do not usually go to the feasts, they
would be very sorely afflicted if their husbands lost the good
habit they have of bringing home the remains to their families.
The Renegade coming in while these women were drawing this picture
of him, they knew very well how to put a good face on the matter,
showing countenances as smiling as usual, even to such an extent
that the one who had said the worst things about him, gave him a
bit of tobacco, which was then a great present.
Le neufiesme de Ianuier, vn Sauuage nous venant visiter nous dit, qu'vn
homme & vne femme du lieu dont il venoit estoient morts de faim, & que
plusieurs n'en pouuoient plus, le pauure homme ieusna le iour de sa
venuë aussi bien que nous, pource qu'il ny auoit rien à manger, encore
fallut-il attendre iusques au lendemain à dix heures de nuit, que mon
hoste rapporta deux Castors qui nous firent grand bien.
On the ninth of January, a Savage, who came to visit us, said that
a man and a woman of the place from which he had come had starved
to death, and that several others were on the verge of starvation.
The poor man fasted the day of his arrival as well as we, for there
was nothing to eat; and we had to wait until ten o'clock of the
next night, when my host brought in two Beavers, which were a great
blessing to us.
[295] Le iour suiuant nos gens tuerent le second Orignac, ce qui causa
par tout vne grande ioye, il est vray qu'elle fut vn peu troublée par
l'arriuée d'vn Sauuage, & de deux ou trois femmes, & d'vn enfant que
la famine alloit bien tost égorger, s'ils n'eussent fait rencontre de
nostre cabane, ils estoient fort hideux, l'homme particulierement plus
que les femmes, dont l'vne auoit accouché depuis dix iours dans les
neiges, & dans la famine, ayant passé plusieurs iours sans manger.
[295] On the following day our people killed the second Moose, at
which there was general rejoicing. True, it was a little marred by
the arrival of a Savage, and of two or three women and a child,
whom famine would have slaughtered, if they had not happened to
come to our cabin. They looked most hideous, the man especially,
more so than the women, one of whom had given birth to a child ten
days before in the snow, and, in the famine, had passed several
days without eating.
Mais admirez s'il vous plaist l'amour que ces barbares se portent les
vns aux autres, on ne demanda point a ces nouueaux hostes pourquoy ils
venoient sur nos limites, s'ils ne sçauoient pas bien que nous estions
en aussi grand danger qu'eux, qu'ils nous venoient oster le morceau
de la bouche; ains au contraire on les receut, non de paroles, mais
d'effect, sans courtoisie exterieure, car les Sauuages n'en ont point,
mais non pas sans charité: on leur ietta de grandes pieces de l'Orignac
nouuellement tué, [296] sans leur dire autre parole, _mitisou_k_ou_
mangez, aussi leur eust on fait grand tort d'appliquer pour lors leurs
bouches à autre vsage: pendant qu'ils mangeoient on prepara vn festin,
auquel ils furent traictez à grand plat, ie vous en réponds: car la
portion qu'on leur donna à chacun, sortoit beaucoup hors de leurs
_ouragans_ qui sont tres capables.
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