|
|
Where should the Fathers make their abode? Their first thought
had been to establish themselves at a place called by the French
Rochelle, the largest and most important town of the Huron
confederacy; but Brébeuf now resolved to remain at Ihonatiria. Here
he was well known; and here, too, he flattered himself, seeds of the
Faith had been planted, which, with good nurture, would in time
yield fruit.
By the ancient Huron custom, when a man or a family wanted a house,
the whole village joined in building one. In the present case, not
Ihonatiria only, but the neighboring town of Wenrio also, took part
in the work,--though not without the expectation of such gifts as
the priests had to bestow. Before October, the task was finished.
The house was constructed after the Huron model. [See
Introduction.] It was thirty-six feet long and about twenty feet
wide, framed with strong sapling poles planted in the earth to form
the sides, with the ends bent into an arch for the roof,--the whole
lashed firmly together, braced with cross-poles, and closely covered
with overlapping sheets of bark. Without, the structure was strictly
Indian; but within, the priests, with the aid of their tools, made
innovations which were the astonishment of all the country. They
divided their dwelling by transverse partitions into three
apartments, each with its wooden door,--a wondrous novelty in the
eyes of their visitors. The first served as a hall, an anteroom, and
a place of storage for corn, beans, and dried fish. The second--the
largest of the three--was at once kitchen, workshop, dining-room,
drawing-room, school-room, and bed-chamber. The third was the
chapel. Here they made their altar, and here were their images,
pictures, and sacred vessels. Their fire was on the ground, in the
middle of the second apartment, the smoke escaping by a hole in the
roof. At the sides were placed two wide platforms, after the Huron
fashion, four feet from the earthen floor. On these were chests in
which they kept their clothing and vestments, and beneath them they
slept, reclining on sheets of bark, and covered with skins and the
garments they wore by day. Rude stools, a hand-mill, a large Indian
mortar of wood for crushing corn, and a clock, completed the
furniture of the room.
There was no lack of visitors, for the house of the black-robes
contained marvels1 the fame of which was
noised abroad to the uttermost confines of the Huron nation. Chief
among them was the clock. The guests would sit in expectant silence
by the hour, squatted on the ground, waiting to hear it strike. They
thought it was alive, and asked what it ate. As the last stroke
sounded, one of the Frenchmen would cry "Stop!"--and, to the
admiration of the company, the obedient clock was silent. The mill
was another wonder, and they were never tired of turning it. Besides
these, there was a prism and a magnet; also a magnifying-glass,
wherein a flea was transformed to a frightful monster, and a
multiplying lens, which showed them the same object eleven times
repeated. "All this," says Brébeuf, "serves to gain their affection,
and make them more docile in respect to the admirable and
incomprehensible mysteries of our Faith; for the opinion they have
of our genius and capacity makes them believe whatever we tell
them." [Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 33.]
"What does the Captain say?" was the frequent question; for by this
title of honor they designated the clock.
"When he strikes twelve times, he says, 'Hang on the kettle'; and
when he strikes four times, he says, 'Get up, and go home.'"
Both interpretations were well remembered. At noon, visitors were
never wanting, to share the Fathers' sagamite; but at the stroke of
four, all rose 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. But the standing topic
of their evening talk was the Huron language. Concerning this each
had some new discovery to relate, some new suggestion to offer; and
in the task of analyzing its construction and deducing its hidden
laws, these intelligent and highly cultivated minds found a
congenial employment. [Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1639, 17
(Cramoisy).]
But while zealously laboring to perfect their knowledge of the
language, they spared no pains to turn their present acquirements to
account. Was man, woman, or child sick or suffering, they were
always at hand with assistance and relief,--adding, as they saw
opportunity, explanations of Christian doctrine, pictures of Heaven
and Hell, and exhortations to embrace the Faith. Their friendly
offices did not cease here, but included matters widely different.
The Hurons lived in constant fear of the Iroquois. At times the
whole village population would fly to the woods for concealment, or
take refuge in one of the neighboring fortified towns, on the rumor
of an approaching war-party. The Jesuits promised them the aid of
the four Frenchmen armed with arquebuses, who had come with them
from Three Rivers. They advised the Hurons to make their palisade
forts, not, as hitherto, in a circular form, but rectangular, with
small flanking towers at the corners for the arquebuse-men. The
Indians at once saw the value of the advice, and soon after began to
act on it in the case of their great town of Ossossané, or Rochelle.
[Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 86.]
At every opportunity, the missionaries gathered together the
children of the village at their house. On these occasions, Brébeuf,
for greater solemnity, put on a surplice, and the close, angular cap
worn by Jesuits in their convents. First he chanted the Pater Noster,
translated by Father Daniel into Huron rhymes,--the children
chanting in their turn. Next he taught them the sign of the cross;
made them repeat the Ave, the Credo, and the Commandments;
questioned them as to past instructions; gave them briefly a few new
ones; and dismissed them with a present of two or three beads,
raisins, or prunes. A great emulation was kindled among this small
fry of heathendom. The priests, with amusement and delight, saw them
gathered in groups about the village, vying with each other in
making the sign of the cross, or in repeating the rhymes they had
learned.
At times, the elders of the people, the repositories of its ancient
traditions, were induced to assemble at the house of the Jesuits,
who explained to them the principal points of their doctrine, and
invited them to a discussion. The auditors proved pliant to a fault,
responding, "Good," or "That is true," to every proposition; but,
when urged to adopt the faith which so readily met their approval,
they had always the same reply: "It is good for the French; but we
are another people, with different customs." On one occasion,
Brébeuf appeared before the chiefs and elders at a solemn national
council, described Heaven and Hell with images suited to their
comprehension, asked to which they preferred to go after death, and
then, in accordance with the invariable Huron custom in affairs of
importance, presented a large and valuable belt of wampum, as an
invitation to take the path to Paradise. [Brébeuf, Relation des
Hurons, 1636, 81. For the use of wampum belts, see
Introduction.]
Notwithstanding all their exhortations, the Jesuits, for the
present, baptized but few. Indeed, during the first year or more,
they baptized no adults except those apparently at the point of
death; for, with excellent reason, they feared backsliding and
recantation. They found especial pleasure in the baptism of dying
infants, rescuing them from the flames of perdition, and changing
them, to borrow Le Jeune's phrase, "from little Indians into little
angels."
"Le seiziesme du mesme mois, deux petits Sauvages
furent changes en deux petits Anges."--Relation, 1636,
89 (Cramoisy).
"O mon cher frère, vous pourrois-je expliquer quelle
consolation ce m'etoit quand je voyois un pauure baptisé
mourir deux heures, une demi journée, une ou deux
journées, après son baptesme, particulièrement quand
c'etoit un petit enfant!"--Lettre du Père Garnier à son
Frère, MS.--This form of benevolence is beyond heretic
appreciation.
"La joye qu'on a quand on a baptisé un Sauvage qui se
meurt peu apres, & qui s'envole droit au Ciel, pour
devenir un Ange, certainement c'est un joye qui surpasse
tout ce qu'on se peut imaginer."--Le Jeune, Relation,
1635, 221 (Cramoisy).] |
The Fathers' slumbers were brief and broken. Winter was the
season of Huron festivity; and, as they lay stretched on their hard
couch, suffocating with smoke and tormented by an inevitable
multitude of fleas, the thumping of the drum resounded all night
long from a neighboring house, mingled with the sound of the
tortoise-shell rattle, the stamping of moccasined feet, and the
cadence of voices keeping time with the dancers. Again, some
ambitious villager would give a feast, and invite all the warriors
of the neighboring towns; or some grand wager of gambling, with its
attendant drumming, singing, and outcries, filled the night with
discord.
But these were light annoyances, compared with the insane rites to
cure the sick, prescribed by the "medicine-men," or ordained by the
eccentric inspiration of dreams. In one case, a young sorcerer, by
alternate gorging and fasting,--both in the interest of his
profession,--joined with excessive exertion in singing to the
spirits, contracted a disorder of the brain, which caused him, in
mid-winter, to run naked about the village, howling like a wolf. The
whole population bestirred itself to effect a cure. The patient had,
or pretended to have, a dream, in which the conditions of his
recovery were revealed to him. These were equally ridiculous and
difficult; but the elders met in council, and all the villagers lent
their aid, till every requisition was fulfilled, and the incongruous
mass of gifts which the madman's dream had demanded were all
bestowed upon him. This cure failing, a "medicine-feast" was tried;
then several dances in succession. As the patient remained as crazy
as before, preparations were begun for a grand dance, more potent
than all the rest. Brébeuf says, that, except the masquerades of the
Carnival among Christians, he never saw a folly equal to it. "Some,"
he adds, "had sacks over their heads, with two holes for the eyes.
Some were as naked as your hand, with horns or feathers on their
heads, their bodies painted white, and their faces black as devils.
Others were daubed with red, black, and white. In short, every one
decked himself as extravagantly as he could, to dance in this
ballet, and contribute something towards the health of the sick
man." [Relation des Hurons, 1636, 116.] This remedy also failing, a
crowning effort of the medical art was essayed. Brébeuf does not
describe it, for fear, as he says, of being tedious; but, for the
time, the village was a pandemonium.2
This, with other ceremonies, was supposed to be ordered by a certain
image like a doll, which a sorcerer placed in his tobacco-pouch,
whence it uttered its oracles, at the same time moving as if alive.
"Truly," writes Brébeuf, "here is nonsense enough: but I greatly
fear there is something more dark and mysterious in it."
But all these ceremonies were outdone by the grand festival of the
Ononhara, or Dream Feast,--esteemed the most powerful remedy
in cases of sickness, or when a village was infested with evil
spirits. The time and manner of holding it were determined at a
solemn council. This scene of madness began at night. Men, women,
and children, all pretending to have lost their senses, rushed
shrieking and howling from house to house, upsetting everything in
their way, throwing firebrands, beating those they met or drenching
them with water, and availing themselves of this time of license to
take a safe revenge on any who had ever offended them. This scene of
frenzy continued till daybreak. No corner of the village was secure
from the maniac crew. In the morning there was a change. They ran
from house to house, accosting the inmates by name, and demanding of
each the satisfaction of some secret want, revealed to the pretended
madman in a dream, but of the nature of which he gave no hint
whatever. The person addressed thereupon threw to him at random any
article at hand, as a hatchet, a kettle, or a pipe; and the
applicant continued his rounds till the desired gift was hit upon,
when he gave an outcry of delight, echoed by gratulatory cries from
all present. If, after all his efforts, he failed in obtaining the
object of his dream, he fell into a deep dejection, convinced that
some disaster was in store for him.
| [Brébeuf's account of the Dream Feast is brief. The
above particulars are drawn chiefly from Charlevoix,
Journal Historique, 356, and Sagard, Voyage du Pays des
Hurons, 280. See also Lafitau, and other early writers.
This ceremony was not confined to the Hurons, but
prevailed also among the Iroquois, and doubtless other
kindred tribes. The Jesuit Dablon saw it in perfection
at Onondaga. It usually took place in February,
occupying about three days, and was often attended with
great indecencies. The word ononhara means turning of
the brain.] |
The approach of summer brought with it a comparative peace. Many
of the villagers dispersed,--some to their fishing, some to
expeditions of trade, and some to distant lodges by their detached
corn-fields. The priests availed themselves of the respite to engage
in those exercises of private devotion which the rule of St.
Ignatius enjoins. About midsummer, however, their quiet was suddenly
broken. The crops were withering under a severe drought, a calamity
which the sandy nature of the soil made doubly serious. The
sorcerers put forth their utmost power, and, from the tops of the
houses, yelled incessant invocations to the spirits. All was in
vain; the pitiless sky was cloudless. There was thunder in the east
and thunder in the west; but over Ihonatiria all was serene. A
renowned "rain-maker," seeing his reputation tottering under his
repeated failures, bethought him of accusing the Jesuits, and gave
out that the red color of the cross which stood before their house
scared the bird of thunder, and caused him to fly another way.3
On this a clamor arose. The popular ire turned against the priests,
and the obnoxious cross was condemned to be hewn down. Aghast at the
threatened sacrilege, they attempted to reason away the storm,
assuring the crowd that the lightning was not a bird, but certain
hot and fiery exhalations, which, being imprisoned, darted this way
and that, trying to escape. As this philosophy failed to convince
the hearers, the missionaries changed their line of defense.
"You say that the red color of the cross frightens the bird of
thunder. Then paint the cross white, and see if the thunder will
come."
This was accordingly done; but the clouds still kept aloof. The
Jesuits followed up their advantage.
"Your spirits cannot help you, and your sorcerers have deceived you
with lies. Now ask the aid of Him who made the world, and perhaps He
will listen to your prayers." And they added, that, if the Indians
would renounce their sins and obey the true God, they would make a
procession daily to implore his favor towards them.
There was no want of promises. The processions were begun, as were
also nine masses to St. Joseph; and, as heavy rains occurred soon
after, the Indians conceived a high idea of the efficacy of the
French "medicine."
["Nous deuons aussi beaucoup au glorieux sainct
Ioseph, espoux de Nostre Dame, et protecteur des Hurons,
dont nous auons touché au doigt l'assistance plusieurs
fois. Ce fut vne chose remarquable, que le iour de sa
feste et durant l'Octaue, les commoditez nous venoient
de toutes parts."--Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1635,
41.
The above extract is given as one out of many
illustrations of the confidence with which the priests
rested on the actual and direct aid of their celestial
guardians. To St. Joseph, in particular, they find no
words for their gratitude.] |
In spite of the hostility of the sorcerers, and the transient
commotion raised by the red cross, the Jesuits had gained the
confidence and good-will of the Huron population. Their patience,
their kindness, their intrepidity, their manifest disinterestedness,
the blamelessness of their lives, and the tact which, in the utmost
fervors of their zeal, never failed them, had won the hearts of
these wayward savages; and chiefs of distant villages came to urge
that they would make their abode with them. [Brébeuf preserves a
speech made to him by one of these chiefs, as a specimen of Huron
eloquence.--Relation des Hurons, 1636, 123.] As yet, the results of
the mission had been faint and few; but the priests toiled on
courageously, high in hope that an abundant harvest of souls would
one day reward their labors.
1 "Ils ont pensé qu'elle entendoit,
principalement quand, pour rire, quelqu'vn de nos François
s'escrioit au dernier coup de marteau, c'est assez sonné, et que
tout aussi tost elle se taisoit. Ils l'appellent le Capitaine du
iour. Quand elle sonne, ils disent qu'elle parle, et demandent quand
ils nous viennent veoir, combien de fois le Capitaine a desia parlé.
Ils nous interrogent de son manger. Ils demeurent les heures
entieres, et quelquesfois plusieurs, afin de la pouuoir ouyr parler."--Brébeuf,
Relation des Hurons, 1635, 33.
2 "Suffit pour le present de dire en general, que
iamais les Bacchantes forcenées du temps passé ne firent rien de
plus furieux en leurs orgyes. C'est icy à s'entretuer, disent-ils,
par des sorts qu'ils s'entreiettent, dont la composition est
d'ongles d'Ours, de dents de Loup, d'ergots d'Aigles, de certaines
pierres et de nerfs de Chien; c'est à rendre du sang par la bouche
et par les narines, ou plustost d'vne poudre rouge qu'ils prennent
subtilement, estans tombez sous le sort, et blessez; et dix mille
autres sottises que ie laisse volontiers."--Brébeuf, Relation des
Hurons, 1636, 117.
3 The following is the account of the nature of
thunder, given to Brébeuf on a former occasion by another sorcerer.
"It is a man in the form of a turkey-cock. The sky is his palace,
and he remains in it when the air is clear. When the clouds begin to
grumble, he descends to the earth to gather up snakes, and other
objects which the Indians call okies. The lightning flashes
whenever he opens or closes his wings. If the storm is more violent
than usual, it is because his young are with him, and aiding in the
noise as well as they can."--Relation des Hurons, 1636, 114.
The word oki is here used to denote any object endued with
supernatural power. A belief similar to the above exists to this day
among the Dacotahs. Some of the Hurons and Iroquois, however, held
that the thunder was a giant in human form. According to one story,
he vomited from time to time a number of snakes, which, falling to
the earth, caused the appearance of lightning.
This site includes some historical
materials that may imply negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language
of a particular period or place. These items are presented as part of the
historical record and should not be interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in
any way endorse the stereotypes implied.
The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century, 1867
Jesuits
in North America
 |
