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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 inveterately 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 tra1 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 celeFather 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 military posts; the St. Lawrence becoming the highway by which the French travelled to their distant outposts. above Montreal was at Cataraqui, now Kingston. In the Journal of Count de Frontenac, a minute Kár — ié ati _ "4 b : r a ő ar ie 7 a 7 oy a ~ éj, Fe eláll n a ‘ €: "a b er + ots , ar +* k 1 a i ' ae . ora | ' - = u iz) 7 bs i ÜL a "zén e ú E. sa A + . 4 ér j FI , ka ‘ oa ! < R Mos a a ae gris eee. a ad az BM dir FEL oe hadi me - ői ay ká a MT
