“ For in truth this people, who, through the progress and experience of centuries, ought to have come to some perfection in the arts, sciences and philosophy, is like a great field of stunted and ill-begotten wild plants, a people which ought to have produced abundant fruits in philosophy, government, customs, and conveniences of life ”

“ I say this because prudence is of great importance to those who go to clear new lands, as we Frenchmen are so willing to go there with our eyes shut and our heads down; believing, for example, that in Canada, when we are hungry, all we will have to do is to go to an Island, and there by the skillful use of a club, right and left, we can bring down birds each as big as a duck, with every blow. ”

“ And the beauty of it is, that, after having racked our brains by dint of questions and researches, and after thinking that we have at last found the philosopher's stone, we find only that a ghost has been taken for a body, a shadow for a substance, and that all this precious Elixir has gone up in smoke! ”

“ But when it comes time for the good work to ripen, I mean when the time of this pious birth of virtue approaches, then it seems that all conspire for the suffocation of this divine creature, then it seems necessary to experience the pains and torments which Satan arouses, and to fear a fruitless abortion, rather than to hope for a happy deliverance. ”

“ Car si vous en estes à cinquante, ou soixante lieuës, que ferez-vous?
I have said before that the whole country is simply an interminable forest; for there are no open places except upon the margins of the sea, lakes, and rivers, and where meadows have been made by the overflows of the sea and rivers; there are many such places which are very beautiful, immense fields of grass and pasture, like those near Chinictou Bay, and the river of Port Royal, and others. But here we must avoid an illusion by which many have been inadvertently imposed upon. ”

“ The river saint John is to the Northwest of Port Royal, the intermediate space being occupied by French Bay, 14 leagues wide. The entrance to this river is very narrow and very dangerous: for the ship has to pass between two rocks where the current of the tide is tossed from one to the other, flashing between them as swift as an arrow. Beyond these rocks lies a frightful and horrible precipice, and if you do not pass over it at the proper moment, and when the water is smoothly heaped up, of a hundred thousand barques not an atom would escape, but men and goods would all perish. ”

“ We breathe under the same sky; the same constellations influence us; and I do not believe that the land, which produces trees as tall and beautiful as ours, will not produce as fine harvests, if it be cultivated. ”

“ Before him the land is a Garden of pleasure, and behind him a desolate wilderness. For truly, whoever will cast his eyes over all the vast circumference of the earth, and will consider the nations thereof which are illuminated by the Sun of Justice, our Savior Jesus Christ ”

“ It is new France, this new land, first discovered in the last century, by our countrymen, a twin land with ours, subject to the same influences, lying in the same latitude, and having the same climate; a vast country, and so to speak, infinite ”

“ On the contrary, if we turn aside our gaze, and look behind this cursed tyrant, Lucifer, and upon the places where he has exercised his intolerable cruelties, we shall find only destruction and solitude, cries and lamentations, only desolation and the shadow of death. ”

“ I have seen one of our little boys make a Savage, a foot taller than himself, fly before him; placing himself in the posture of a noble warrior, he placed his thumb over his fingers and said, "Come on!" ”

“ Who would then be more afflicted, do you think; the honest and God-fearing people finding themselves surrounded by such company, or such company, finding itself hemmed in and restrained by the presence of honest people? ”

“ For in truth, it is a very different thing for a man to philosophize in thesis, and to practice by hypothesis: to mould his ideas in his chamber, and to give form to his deeds among men: to count upon the liberty of the race, and then to find himself enslaved by place, time, people, and a thousand incidents which are trifling, but which very effectually bind him ”

“ Their wars are nearly always between language and language, or country and country, and always by deceit and treachery. They have the bow and the shield, or buckler, but they never place themselves in a line of battle, at least from what I have been able to learn. And, in truth, they are by nature fearful and cowardly, although they are always boasting, and do all they can to be renowned and to have the name of "Great-heart." ”

“ For they well understood that to do otherwise would not only be a profanation of Christianity, but also an injustice towards the Savages. For, inasmuch as it is an injustice to induce any one to sign a promise, or compulsory oath, without giving him to understand the conditions to which he binds himself: how much worse is it to force a rational being of competent age to make a solemn profession of the law of God (which is done through Baptism) , when he has never before been a novice, nor [111] been made to understand the rules and duties of this profession? ”

“ But to choose a place where all desirable qualities are united, is not the good fortune of an ordinary man, as Aristotle truthfully says, but the purpose and idea of a wise investigator: for, after all, the uses, success, and perfection of a place, as of a man, is not really that it be complete, but that there be no lack of what is essential and important. ”

“ Now when the country is well peopled and settled, as France is, this favorable representation [29] may show great good fortune, for, by means of transportation and trade, all these riches can be interchanged; but in an uncultivated and uncivilized country, like Canada, it makes no more difference than if they only had one thing in a place. ”

“ But they have a very rude way of making love; for the suitor, as soon as he shows a preference for a girl, does not dare look at her, nor speak to her, nor stay near her, unless accidentally; and then he must force himself not to look her in the face, nor to give any sign of his passion, otherwise he would be the laughingstock of all, and his sweetheart would blush for him. ”

“ ON THE MEDICINE OF THE SAVAGES. 115 IT is true that great poverty stifles the spirit, and overwhelms it with its importunate and despotic sway, so that it can seldom turn to itself, or revel in agreeable meditations, nor even dream of something better to prevent or lighten it, being always absorbed in and possessed by the greatest needs. We see this in our poor Savages, who live only from hand to mouth, and hence are always subject to the fear of hunger, first and strongest of all wants; they have no opportunity of developing their minds in the pursuit of [77] knowledge ”

“ These poor creatures endure all the misfortunes and hardships of life; they prepare and erect the houses, or cabins, furnishing them with fire, wood, and water; prepare the food, preserve the meat and other provisions, that is, dry them in the smoke to preserve them; go to bring the game from the place where it has been killed; sew and repair the canoes, mend and stretch the skins, curry them, and make clothes and shoes of them for the whole family; they go fishing and do the rowing ”

“ For, if indeed they have not all those pleasures which the children of this age are seeking after, they are free from the evils which follow them, and have the contentment which does not accompany them. ”

“ If you tell them that they will be hungry in the Winter: Endriex, they will answer you, "It is all the same to us, we shall stand it well enough: we spend seven and eight days, even ten sometimes, without eating anything, yet we do not die." Nevertheless, if they are by themselves and where they may safely listen to their wives (for women are everywhere better managers) , they will sometimes make some storehouses for the Winter, where they will keep smoked meat, roots, shelled acorns, peas, beans, or prunes bought from us, etc. ”

“ But now if we come to sum up the whole and compare their good and ill with ours, I do not know but that they, in truth, have some reason to prefer (as they do) their own kind of happiness to ours, at least if we speak of the temporal happiness, which the rich and worldly seek in this life. ”

“ Thus, from these lands nothing can arise except cold, gloomy, and mouldy vapors; and these are the fogs when the wind ceases, and our piercing cold when they are put in motion and blown into a fury. Whereas, if the land were inhabited and cultivated, from it and from the dwellings of the inhabitants would arise exhalations, that is, warm and dry fumes; furthermore, the sun would find it prepared to feel its rays, and to scatter the cold and fogs ”

“ Where can the glory of a Christian more successfully ennoble him, than there where it brings both bodily and spiritual happiness to his brethren; and where, as one of God's great instruments, he would make a Garden out of the wilderness ”

“ The young people [51] flatter him, hunt, and serve their apprenticeship under him, not being allowed to have anything before they are married, for then only can they have a dog and a bag; that is, have something of their own, and do for themselves. Nevertheless they continue to live under the authority of the Sagamore, and very often in his company; as also do several others who have no relations, or those who of their own free will place themselves under his protection and guidance, being themselves weak and without a following. ”

“ Now we have never lived anywhere else, for we have not penetrated into the country except through the sea and rivers. Acadie, otherwise called the Souriquoys, where Port Royal is, is almost a peninsula; also it is more chilly and more variable than Norambegue, 61 which without doubt is better and in every way more habitable and fertile. ”

“ They must give the cold rather strong wings to make it come to us from four or five hundred leagues. For I believe 59 there are as many and more than that, up to new Albion; however, we often notice that a single league and even less makes a noticeable difference in the heat and cold, light and darkness, dryness and humidity, and all such other variations, so much so that it is remarkable. ”

“ You do not encounter a big-bellied, hunchbacked, or deformed person among them: those who are leprous, gouty, affected with gravel, or insane, are unknown to them. Any of our people who have some defect, such as the one-eyed, squint-eyed, and flat-nosed, are immediately noticed by them and greatly derided, especially behind our backs and when they are by themselves. For they are droll fellows, and have a word and a nickname very readily at command, if they think they have any occasion to [39] look down upon us. ”

“ The aged, who die, we also baptize, catechizing them as well as we can, and as time permits. As to the others, who are not in immediate danger of death, we shall baptize them also when, with your help, we shall be able to instruct them in their own language, and when they will know how to answer us. ”

“ They often curry both sides of elk skin, like our buff skin, then variegate it very prettily with paint put on in a lace-like pattern, and make gowns of it; from the same leather they make their shoes and strings. The men do not wear [40] trousers, because (they say) they hinder them too much, and place them as it were, in chains; they wear only a piece of cloth over their middle; in Summer they often wear our capes, and in Winter our bed-blankets, which they improve with trimming and wear double. ”

“ When the body is placed, as it does not come up even with the ground on account of the depth of the grave, they arch the grave over with sticks, so [92] that the earth will not fall back into it, and thus they cover up the tomb. If it is some illustrious personage they build a Pyramid or monument of interlacing poles; as eager in that for 131 glory as we are in our marble and porphyry. If it is a man, they place there as a sign and emblem, his bow, arrows, and shield ”