Voyages of Samuel De Champlain Volume II Part 26

Going to Captain Yroquet, who was strongly attached to me, I asked him if he would like to take this young boy to his country to spend the winter with him, and bring him back in the spring. He promised to do so, and treat him as his own son, saying that he was greatly pleased with the idea. He communicated the plan to all the Algonquins, who were not greatly pleased with it, from fear that some accident might happen to the boy, which would cause us to make war upon them. This hesitation cooled the desire of Yroquet, who came and told me that all his companions failed to find the plan a good one. Meanwhile, all the barques had left, excepting that of Pont Grave, who, having some pressing business on hand, as he told me, went away too. But I stayed with my barque to see how the matter of the journey of this boy, which I was desirous should take place, would result. I accordingly went on sh.o.r.e, and asked to speak with the captains, who came to me, and we sat down for a conference, together with many other savages of age and distinction in their troops. Then I asked them why Captain Yroquet, whom I regarded as my friend, had refused to take my boy with him. I said that it was not acting like a brother or friend to refuse me what he had promised, and what could result in nothing but good to them; taking the boy would be a means of increasing still more our friendship with them and forming one with their neighbors; that their scruples at doing so only gave me an unfavorable opinion of them; and that if they would not take the boy, as Captain Yroquet had promised, I would never have any friendship with them, for they were not children to break their promises in this manner. They then told me that they were satisfied with the arrangement, only they feared that, from change of diet to something worse than he had been accustomed to, some harm might happen to the boy, which would provoke my displeasure. This they said was the only cause of their refusal.

I replied that the boy would be able to adapt himself without difficulty to their manner of living and usual food, and that, if through sickness or the fortunes of war any harm should befall him, this would not interrupt my friendly feelings towards them, and that we were all exposed to accidents, which we must submit to with patience. But I said that if they treated him badly, and if any misfortune happened to him through their fault, I should in truth be displeased, which, however, I did not expect from them, but quite the contrary.

They said to me: "Since then, this is your desire, we will take him, and treat him like ourselves. But you shall also take a young man in his place, to go to France. We shall be greatly pleased to hear him report the fine things he shall have seen." I accepted with pleasure the proposition, and took the young man. He belonged to the tribe of the Ochateguins, and was also glad to go with me. This presented an additional motive for treating my boy still better than they might otherwise have done. I fitted him out with what he needed, and we made a mutual promise to meet at the end of June.

We parted with many promises of friendship. Then they went away towards the great fall of the River of Canada, while I returned to Quebec. On my way, I met Pont Grave on Lake St. Peter, who was waiting for me with a large patache, which he had fallen in with on this lake, and which had not been expeditious enough to reach the place where the savages were, on account of its poor sailing qualities.

We all returned together to Quebec, when Pont Grave went to Tadoussac, to arrange some matters pertaining to our quarters there. But I stayed at Quebec to see to the reconstruction of some palisades about our abode, until Pont Grave should return, when we could confer together as to what was to be done.

On the 4th of June, Des Marais arrived at Quebec, greatly to our joy; for we were afraid that some accident had happened to him at sea.

Some days after, an Iroquois prisoner, whom I had kept guarded, got away in consequence of my giving him too much liberty, and made his escape, urged to do so by fear, notwithstanding the a.s.surances given him by a woman of his tribe we had at our settlement.

A few days after, Pont Grave wrote me that he was thinking of pa.s.sing the winter at the settlement, being moved to do so by many considerations. I replied that, if he expected to fare better than I had done in the past, he would do well.

He accordingly hastened to provide himself with the supplies necessary for the settlement.

After I had finished the palisade about our habitation, and put every thing in order, Captain Pierre returned in a barque in which he had gone to Tadoussac to see his friends. I also went there to ascertain what would result from the second trading, and to attend to some other special business which I had there. Upon my arrival, I found there Pont Grave, who stated to me in detail his plans, and the reasons inducing him to spend the winter. I told him frankly what I thought of the matter; namely, that I believed he would not derive much profit from it, according to the appearances that were plainly to be seen.

He determined accordingly to change his plan, and despatched a barque with orders for Captain Pierre to return from Quebec on account of some business he had with him; with the intelligence also that some vessels, which had arrived from Brouage, brought the news that Monsieur de Saint Luc had come by post from Paris, expelled those of the religion from Brouage, re-enforced the garrison with soldiers, and then returned to Court; [366]

that the king had been killed, and two or three days after him the Duke of Sully, together with two other lords, whose names they did not know. [367]

All these tidings gave great sorrow to the true French in these quarters.

As for myself, it was hard for me to believe it, on account of the different reports about the matter, and which had not much appearance of truth. Still, I was greatly troubled at hearing such mournful news.

Now, after having stayed three or four days longer at Tadoussac, I saw the loss which many merchants must suffer, who had taken on board a large quant.i.ty of merchandise, and fitted out a great number of vessels, in expectation of doing a good business in the fur-trade, which was so poor on account of the great number of vessels, that many will for a long time remember the loss which they suffered this year.

Sieur de Pont Grave and I embarked, each of us in a barque, leaving Captain Pierre on the vessel. We took Du Parc to Quebec, where we finished what remained to be done at the settlement. After every thing was in good condition, we resolved that Du Parc, who had wintered there with Captain Pierre, should remain again, and that Captain Pierre should return to France with us, on account of some business that called him there.

We accordingly left Du Parc in command there, with sixteen men, all of whom we enjoined to live soberly, and in the fear of G.o.d, and in strict observance of the obedience due to the authority of Du Parc, who was left as their chief and commander, just as if one of us had remained. This they all promised to do, and to live in peace with each other.

As to the gardens, we left them all well supplied with kitchen vegetables of all sorts, together with fine Indian corn, wheat, rye, and barley, which had been already planted. There were also vines which I had set out when I spent the winter there, but these they made no attempt to preserve; for, upon my return, I found them all in ruins, and I was greatly displeased that they had given so little attention to the preservation of so fine and good a plot, from which I had antic.i.p.ated a favorable result.

After seeing that every thing was in good order, we set out from Quebec on the 8th of August for Tadoussac, in order to prepare our vessel, which was speedily done.

ENDNOTES:

364. This testimony of the Algonquin chief is interesting, and historically important. We know of no earlier reference to the art of melting and malleating copper in any of the reports of the navigators to our northern coast. That the natives possessed this art is placed beyond question by this pa.s.sage, as well as by the recent discovery of copper implements in Wisconsin, bearing the marks of mechanical fusion and malleation. The specimens of copper in the possession of the natives on the coast of New England, as referred to by Brereton and Archer, can well be accounted for without supposing them to be of native manufacture, though they may have been so. The Basques. Bretons, English, and Portuguese had been annually on our northern coasts for fishing and fur-trading for more than a century, and had distributed a vast quant.i.ty of articles for savage ornament and use; and it would, therefore, be difficult to prove that the copper chains and collars and other trinkets mentioned by Brereton and Archer were not derived from this source. But the testimony of the early navigators in the less frequented region of the St. Lawrence is not open to this interpretation. When Cartier advanced up the Gulf of Lawrence in 1535, the savages pointed out the region of the Saguenay, which they informed him was inhabited, and that from thence came the red copper which they called _caignetdaze_.

"Et par les sauuaiges que auions, nous a esse dict que cestoit le commencement du Saguenay & terre habitable. Et que de la ve noit le cuyure rouge qu'ilz appellent caignetdaze."--_Brief Recit_, par Jacques Cartier, 1545. D'Avezac ed., p. 9. _Vide idem_, p. 34.

When Cartier was at Isle Coudres, say fifty miles below Quebec, on his return, the Indians from the Saguenay came on board his ship, and made certain presents to their chief, Donnacona, whom Cartier had captured, and was taking home with him to France. Among these gifts, they gave him a great knife of red copper, which came from the Saguenay. The words of Cartier are as follows:--

"Donnerent audict Donnaconan trois pacquetz de peaulx de byeures & loups marins avec vng grand cousteau de cuyure rouge, qui vient du Saguenay & autres choses."--_Idem_, p. 44.

This voyage of Cartier, made in 1535, was the earliest visit by any navigator on record to this region. It was eighty years before the Recollects or any other missionaries had approached the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There was, therefore, no intercourse previous to this that would be likely to furnish the natives with European utensils of any kind, particularly knives of _red copper_. It is impossible to suppose that this knife, seen by Cartier, and declared by the natives to have come from the Saguenay, a term then covering an indefinite region stretching we know not how far to the north and west, could be otherwise than of Indian manufacture. In the text, Champlain distinctly states on the testimony of an Algonquin chief that it was the custom of the Indians to melt copper for the purpose of forming it into sheets, and it is obvious that it would require scarcely greater ingenuity to fabricate moulds in which to cast the various implements which they needed in their simple arts. Some of these implements, with indubitable marks of having been cast in moulds, have been recently discovered, with a mult.i.tude of others, which may or may not have pa.s.sed through the same process. The testimony of Champlain in the text, and the examples of moulded copper found in the lake region, render the evidence, in our judgment, entirely conclusive that the art of working copper both by fusion and malleation existed among the Indians of America at the time of its first occupation by the French.

During the period of five years, beginning in 1871, an enthusiastic antiquary, Mr. F. S. Perkins, of Wisconsin, collected, within the borders of his own State, a hundred and forty-two copper implements, of a great variety of forms, and designed for numerous uses, as axes, hatchets, spear-heads, arrowheads, knives, gouges, chisels, adzes, augers, gads, drills, and other articles of anomalous forms. These are now deposited in the archives of the Historical Society of Wisconsin. Other collections are gradually forming. The process is of necessity slow, as they are not often found in groups, but singly, here and there, as they are turned up by the plough or spade of other implements of husbandry. The statement of Champlain in the text, and the testimony of Carrier three-quarters of a century earlier, to which we have referred, give a new historical significance to these recent discoveries, and both together throw a fresh light upon the prehistoric period.

365. This was the Island St. Ignace, which lies opposite the mouth of the river Iroquois or Richelieu. Champlain's description is not sufficiently definite to enable us to identify the exact location of this conflict with the savages. It is, however, evident, from several intimations found in the text, that it was about a league from the mouth of the Richelieu, and was probably on the bank of that river.

366. For some account of Saint Luc, see Memoir, Vol. I. By those of the religion, _ceux de la Religion_, are meant the Huguenots, or Protestants.

367. The a.s.sa.s.sination of Henry IV. occurred on the 14th of May, 1610; but the rumor of the death of the Duke of Sully was erroneous. Maximelien de Bethune, the Duke of Sully, died on the 22d of December, 1641, at the age of eighty-two years.

CHAPTER III.

RETURN TO FRANCE.--MEETING A WHALE;--THE MODE OF CAPTURING THEM.

On the 13th of the month, we set out from Tadoussac, arriving at ile Percee the next day, where we found a large number of vessels engaged in the fishery, dry and green.

On the 18th of the month, we departed from ile Percee, pa.s.sing in lat.i.tude 42, without sighting the Grand Bank, where the green fishery is carried on, as it is too narrow at this alt.i.tude.

When we were about half way across, we encountered a whale, which was asleep. The vessel, pa.s.sing over him, awakening him betimes, made a great hole in him near the tail, without damaging our vessel; but he threw out an abundance of blood.

It has seemed to me not out of place to give here a brief description of the mode of catching whales, which many have not witnessed, and suppose that they are shot, owing to the false a.s.sertions about the matter made to them in their ignorance by impostors, and on account of which such ideas have often been obstinately maintained in my presence.

Those, then, most skilful in this fishery are the Basques, who, for the purpose of engaging in it, take their vessels to a place of security, and near where they think whales are plenty. Then they equip several shallops manned by competent men and provided with hawsers, small ropes made of the best hemp to be found, at least a hundred and fifty fathoms long. They are also provided with many halberds of the length of a short pike, whose iron is six inches broad; others are from a foot and a half to two feet long, and very sharp. Each shallop has a harpooner, the most agile and adroit man they have, whose pay is next highest to that of the masters, his position being the most dangerous one. This shallop being outside of the port, the men look in all quarters for a whale, tacking about in all directions. But, if they see nothing, they return to the sh.o.r.e, and ascend the highest point they can find, and from which they can get the most extensive view. Here they station a man on the look-out. They are aided in catching sight of a whale both by his size and the water he spouts through his blow-holes, which is more than a puncheon at a time, and two lances high. From the amount of this water, they estimate how much oil he will yield. From some they get as many as one hundred and twenty puncheons, from others less.

Having caught sight of this monstrous fish, they hasten to embark in their shallops, and by rowing or sailing they advance until they are upon him.

Seeing him under water, the harpooner goes at once to the prow of the shallop with his harpoon, an iron two feet long and half a foot wide at the lower part, and attached to a stick as long as a small pike, in the middle of which is a hole to which the hawser is made fast. The harpooner, watching his time, throws his harpoon at the whale, which enters him well forward. As soon as he finds himself wounded, the whale goes down. And if by chance turning about, as he does sometimes, his tail strikes the shallop, it breaks it like gla.s.s. This is the only risk they run of being killed in harpooning. As soon as they have thrown the harpoon into him, they let the hawser run until the whale reaches the bottom. But sometimes he does not go straight to the bottom, when he drags the shallop eight or nine leagues or more, going as swiftly as a horse. Very often they are obliged to cut their hawser, for fear that the whale will take them underwater. But, when he goes straight to the bottom, he rests there awhile, and then returns quietly to the surface, the men taking aboard again the hawser as he rises. When he comes to the top, two or three shallops are stationed around with halberds, with which they give him several blows. Finding himself struck, the whale goes down again, leaving a trail of blood, and grows weak to such an extent that he has no longer any strength nor energy, and returning to the surface is finally killed. When dead, he does not go down again; fastening stout ropes to him, they drag him ash.o.r.e to their head-quarters, the place where they try out the fat of the whale, to obtain his oil. This is the way whales are taken, and not by cannon-shots, which many suppose, as I have stated above.

To resume the thread of my narrative: after wounding the whale, as mentioned, we captured a great many porpoises, which our mate harpooned to our pleasure and amus.e.m.e.nt. We also caught a great many fish having a large ear, with a hook and line, attaching to the hook a little fish resembling a herring, and letting it trail behind the vessel. The large ear, thinking it in fact a living fish, comes up to swallow it, thus finding himself at once caught by the hook, which is concealed in the body of the little fish. This fish is very good, and has certain tufts which are very handsome, and resemble those worn on plumes.

On the 22d of September, we arrived on soundings. Here we saw twenty vessels some four leagues to the west of us, which, as they appeared from our vessel, we judged to be Flemish.

On the 25th of the month, we sighted the Isle de Greneze, [368] after experiencing a strong blow, which lasted until noon.

On the 27th of the month, we arrived at Honfleur.

ENDNOTES:

368. Guernsey, which lay directly before them as they advanced up the English Channel, and was the first large island that met the eye on their way to Honfleur.