Page 19 [19]
wampum. The usual place of meeting was the
Valley of Onondaga, the political, as well as the
geographical, centre of the Confederacy.
Would the Iroguois, left undisturbed to work
out their own destiny, ever have emerged from the
savage state? Advanced, as they were, beyond
most other American tribes, there is no indication
whatever of a tendency to overpass the confines of
a wild hunter and warrior life. They were inveter¬
ately attached to it—impracticable conservatists of
barbarism, and in ferocity and cruelty they matched
the worst of their race. Nor did the power of
expansion apparently belonging to their system
Between the years 1712
ever produce much result.
and 1715, the Tuscaroras, a kindred people, were
admitted in the league as a sixth nation; but they
Long after,
| LT
were never admitted on egual terms.
in the period of their decline, several other tribes
were announced as new members of the league;
but these admissions never took effect. Their
when they had burned and
i SG ho Mh bee ee —_—
Lat? #2 7
prisoners of war,
butchered as many of them as would serve to sate
their own ire, and that of their women, were
divided — man by man,
child by child —adopted into different families-and
clans, and then incorporated into the nation. It
was by this means, and this alone, that they could
offset the losses of their incessant wars.
the eighteenth century, and even long before, a
vast proportion of their population consisted of
adopted prisoners.”
woman by woman, and
Early in
CHAPTER III.
THE DISCOVERY OF CANADA—CARTIER—CHAMPLAIN.
In the spring of 1534, Jacques Cartier, a French
navigator, sailed from St. Malo, with two small
vessels, manned by 61 men. At the end of twenty
| days Newfoundland was reached. Penetrating the
Strait of Belle Isle, they entered the “Baie des
Chaleurs,” and, on the 24th of July, landed on the
coast now known as Gaspe. After a short voyage
of exploration, Cartier returned to France ; sailing
on a second voyage the following year. On the
— — roth of August, he entered a bay at the mouth of
. the River St. John, to which he gave the name of
Veege Lawrence, having entered it on the festival
of that saint. The next principal navigator whose
. name is associated with the history of this country
"8 Champlain. In the colonization of Canada, the
on (gek and the objects aimed at, were of a
tote oid different nature from those adopted in the
| ol States. The colony was semi-military and
s i-religious; Roman Catholic missionaries tra¬
1 the country in all directions, suffered the
greatest hardships, and, in many instances, paid
the forfeit of their lives in vain attempts to convert
the Indians to Christianity. A chain of forts was
constructed, stretching from Quebec to Florida,
and including posts on Hudson Bay and the
North-West. Overlooking the practical aims of
colonization, the Jesuits faltered not in their zeal
for their holy calling. Their way to missions was
“pathless and long, by rock and torrent and the
gloom of savage forests. The goal was more dreary
yet. Toil, hardship, famine, filth, sickness; solitude,
insuit—all that is most revolting to men nurtured
among arts and letters, all that is most terrible to
monastic training—such were the promise and
reality of the missions. Bold to carry the Cross in
Their lives were a noble example of Christian
heroism and self-sacrifice.” " Their aim was to lay
the foundations of French dominion in the heart
and conscience of the savage. His stubborn neck
was to be subdued to the ‘yoke of faith.” The
power of the priest established, that of the temporal
ruler was secure. These sanguinary hordes, weaned
from intestfme strife, were to unite in a common
allegiance to God and the King. Mingled with
French traders and French settlers, softened by
French manners, guided by French priests, ruled
by French officers, their now divided bands would
become the constituents of a vast wilderness empire,
which, in time, might span the continent. Spanish
civilization crushed the Indian ; English civilization
scorned and neglected him; French civilization
embraced and cherished him."
In 1614, Champlain secured the services of four
Recollects to convert the Indians; these were the
first missionaries who visited Acadia.
brated expedition against the Iroquois, in which
In the cele¬
Father Joseph Le Cavon. In 1625, the Duke de
Ventadour sent over Father Lallemant and four
other priests and laymen, of the order of the Jesuits,
who were hospitably received by the Recollects. In
the following year, settlers and artizans began to
arrive; also three Jesuits, when the settlement
began to assume the appearance of atown, From
this time forward, every canton of the Iroquois and
village of the Hurons had its missionary, as well as
depot for the collection of furs. As a natural
sequence, there followed the establishment of mili¬
tary posts; the St. Lawrence becoming the highway
by which the French travelled to their distant out¬
posts.
above Montreal was at Cataraqui, now Kingston.
In the Journal of Count de Frontenac, a minute
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