AN

ACCOUNT

OF THE

CUSTOMS and MANNERS

OF THE

MICMAKIS and MARICHEETS

SAVAGE NATIONS, Now Dependent on the

Government of CAPE-BRETON. 

FROM

An Original French Manuscript-Letter, Never Published, Written by a French Abbot, Who resided many Years, in quality of Missionary, amongst them. 

To which are annexed, Several Pieces, relative to the Savages, to Nova

Scotia, and to North-America in general. 

 * * * * *

LONDON:

Printed for S. Hooper and A. Morley at Gay's-Head, near Beaufort-Buildings in the Strand. MDCCLVIII. 

PREFACE. 

For the better understanding of the letter immediately following, it maynot be unnecessary to give the reader some previous idea of the peoplewho are the subject of it, as well of the letter-writer. 

The best account of the _Mickmakis_ I could find, and certainly the mostauthentic, is in a memorial furnished by the French ministry in April, 1751, from which the following paragraph is a translated extract:

"The government of the savages dependent on Cape-Breton exacts aparticular attention. All these savages go under the name of_Mickmakis_. Before the last war they could raise about six hundredfighting-men, according to an account given in to his most Christianmajesty, and were distributed in several villages established onCape-Breton island, island of St. John, on both the coasts of Acadia(Nova-Scotia) and on that of Canada. All, or most of the inhabitants ofthese villages have been instructed in the Christian religion, bymissionaries which the king of France constantly maintains amongst them. It is customary to distribute every year to them presents, in the nameof his majesty, which consist in arms, ammunition of war, victuals, cloathing, and utensils of various sorts. And these presents areregulated according to the circumstances of the time, and to thesatisfaction that shall have been given to the government by the conductof these savages. In the last war they behaved so as to deserve ourapprobation, and indeed have, on all occasions, given marks of theirattachment and fidelity. Since the peace too, they have equallydistinguished themselves in the disturbances that are on foot on theside of Acadia (Nova-Scotia). "

The last part of this foregoing paragraph needs no comment. Every oneknows by what sort of service these savages merit the encouragement ofthe French government, and by what acts of perfidy and cruelty exercisedon the English, they are to earn their reward. 

The _Maricheets_, mentioned in the said letter form a distinct nation, chiefly settled at St. John's, and are often confounded with the_Abenaquis_, so as to pass for one nation with them, though there iscertainly some distinction. They used, till lately, to be in a constantstate of hostility with the Mickmakis. But, however, these nations maybe at peace or variance with one another, in one point they agree, whichis a thorough enmity to the English, cultivated, with great applicationby the missionaries, who add to the scandal of a conduct so contrary totheir profession, the baseness of denying or evading the charge by themost pitiful equivocations. It is with the words peace, charity, anduniversal benevolence, for ever in their mouths, that theseincendiaries, by instigations direct and indirect, inflame and excitethe savages to commit the cruellest outrages of war, and the blackestacts of treachery. Poor Captain How! is well known to have paid with hislife, infamously taken away by them, at a parley, the influence one ofthese missionaries (now a prisoner in the island of Jersey, ) had overthese misguided wretches, whose native innocence and simplicity are notproof against the corruption, and artful suggestions of those holyseducers. 

It would not, perhaps, be impossible for the English, if they were toapply proper means, and especially lenient ones, to recover theaffections of these people, which, for many reasons, cannot be entirelyrooted in the French interest. That great state-engine of theirs, religion, by which they have so strong a hold on the weak and creduloussavages, might not, however, be an invincible bar to our success, if itwas duly counter-worked by the offer of a much more pure and rationalone of our own, joined to such temporal advantages as would shew themtheir situation capable of being much meliorated, in every respect; andespecially that of freedom, which they cannot but be sensible, is dailydecreasing under the insidious encroachments and blandishments of theFrench, who never cares but to enslave, nor hug but to stifle, whosepretences, in short, to superior humanity and politeness, are notamongst their least arts of conquest. 

As to the letter-writer, he is an abbot much respected in those parts, who has resided the greatest part of his life amongst the Mickmakis, andis perfectly acquainted with their language, in the composing of aDictionary of which he has labored eighteen or twenty years; but Icannot learn that it is yet published, and probably for reasons ofstate, it never may. The letter, of which the translation is now given, exists only in a manuscript, having never been printed, being entirelywritten for the satisfaction of a friend's curiosity, in relation to theoriginal manners and customs of the people of which it treats, andwhich, being those of savages in the primitive state of unpolishednature, may perhaps, to a philosophical enquirer, afford more amusementand instruction than those of the most refined societies. What manreally is, appears at least plainer in the uncultivated savage, than inthe civilized European. 

The account of Acadia (Nova-Scotia) will, it is to be hoped, appear notuncurious; allowance being made for its being only in form of a letter. 

A

LETTER, &c. 

_Micmaki-Country_, March 27, 1755. 

SIR, I should long before now have satisfied you in those points of curiosityyou expressed, concerning the savages amongst whom I have so longresided, if I could have found leisure for it. Literally true it is, that I have no spare time here, unless just in the evening, and that notalways. This was my case too in Louisbourg; and I do not doubt but youwill be surprised at learning, that I enjoy as little rest here asthere. 

Had you done me, Sir, the honor of passing with me but three days only, you would soon have seen what sort of a nation it is that I have to dealwith. I am obliged to hold frequent and long parleys with them, and, atevery occasion, to heap upon them the most fair and flattering promises. I must incessantly excite them to the practice of acts of religion, andlabor to render them tractable, sociable, and loyal to the king (ofFrance). But especially, I apply myself to make them live in goodunderstanding with the French. 

With all this, I affect a grave and serious air, that awes and imposesupon them. I even take care of observing measure and cadence in thedelivery of my words, and to make choice of those expressions theproperest to strike their attention, and to hinder what I say fromfalling to the ground. If I cannot boast that my harangues have all thefruit and success that I could wish, they are not however wholly withouteffect. As nothing inchants those people more than a style of metaphorsand allegories, in which even their common conversation abounds, I adaptmyself to their taste, and never please them better than when I givewhat I say this turn, speaking to them in their own language. I borrowthe most lively images from those objects of nature, with which they areso well acquainted; and am rather more regular than even themselves, inthe arrangement of my phrases. I affect, above all, to rhime as they do, especially at each member of a period. This contributes to give them sogreat an idea of me, that they imagine this gift of speaking is ratheran inspiration, than an acquisition by study and meditation. In truth, Imay venture to say, without presumption, that I talk the _Micmaki_language as fluently, and as elegantly, as the best of their women, whomost excel in this point. 

Another of my occupations is to engage and spur them on to the making acopious chace, when the hunting-season comes in, that their debts to thedealers with them may be paid, their wives and children cloathed, andtheir credit supported. 

It is neither gaming nor debauchery that disable them from the paymentof their debts, but their vanity, which is excessive, in the presents ofpeltry they make to other savages, who come either in quality of envoysfrom one country to another, or as friends or relations upon a visit toone another. Then it is, that a village is sure to exhaust itself inpresents; it being a standing rule with them, on the arrival of suchpersons, to bring out every thing that they have acquired, during thewinter and spring season, in order to give the best and mostadvantageous idea of themselves. Then it is chiefly they make feasts, which sometimes last several days; of the manner of which I shouldperhaps spare you the description, if the ceremony that attends them didnot include the strongest attestation of the great stress they lay onhunting; the excelling wherein they commonly take for their text intheir panegyrics on these occasions, and consequently enters, for agreat deal, into the idea you are to conceive of the life and manners ofthe savages in these parts. 

The first thing I am to observe to you is, that one of the greatestdainties, and with which they crown their entertainments, is the fleshof dogs. For it is not till the envoys, friends, or relations, are onthe point of departure, that, on the eve of that day, they make aconsiderable slaughter of dogs, which they slea, draw, and, with noother dressing, put whole into the kettle; from whence they take themhalf boiled, and carve out into as many pieces as there are guests toeat of them, in the cabbin of him who gives the treat. But every one, before entering the cabbin, takes care to bring with him his _Oorakin_, or bowl, made of bark of birch-tree, either polygone shaped, or quiteround; and this is practised at all their entertainments. These piecesof dogs flesh are accompanied with a small _Oorakin_ full of the oil orfat of seal, or of elk's grease, if this feast is given at themelting-time of the snow. Every one has his own dish before him, inwhich he sops his flesh before he eats it. If the fat be hard, he cuts asmall piece of it to every bit of flesh he puts into his mouth, whichserves as bread with us. At the end of this fine regale, they drink asmuch of the oil as they can, and wipe their hands on their hair. Thencome in the wives of the master and persons invited, who carry off theirhusbands plates, and retire together to a separate place, where theydispatch the remains. 

After grace being said by the oldest of the company, who also neverfails of pronouncing it before the meal, the master of the treat appearsas if buried in a profound contemplation, without speaking a word, for afull quarter of an hour; after which, waking as it were out of a deepsleep, he orders in the _Calumets_, or _Indian_ pipes, with tobacco. First he fills his own, lights it, and, after sucking in two or threewhiffs, he presents it to the most considerable man in the company:after which, every one fills his pipe and smoaks. 

The calumets lighted, and the tobacco burning with a clear fire, arescarce half smoked out, before the man of note before mentioned (for thegreatest honors being paid him) gets up, places himself in the midst ofthe cabbin, and pronounces a speech of thanksgiving. He praises themaster of the feast, who has so well regaled him and all the company. Hecompares him to a tree, whose large and strong roots afford nourishmentto a number of small shrubs; or to a salutary medicinal herb, foundaccidentally by such as frequent the lakes in their canoes. Some I haveheard, who, in their winter-feasts, compared him to the turpentine-tree, that never fails of yielding its sap and gummy distillation in allseasons: others to those temperate and mild days, which are sometimesseen in the midst of the severest winter. They employ a thousandsimilies of this sort, which I omit. After this introduction, theyproceed to make honorable mention of the lineage from which the matterof the feast is descended. 

"How great (will the oldest of them say) art thou, through thy great, great, great grand-father, whose memory is still recent, by tradition, amongst us, for the plentiful huntings he used to make! There wassomething of miraculous about him, when he assisted at the beating ofthe woods for elks, or other beasts of the fur. His dexterity atcatching this game was not superior to our's; but there was someunaccountable secret he particularly possessed in his manner of seizingthose creatures, by springing upon them, laying hold of their heads, andtransfixing them at the same time with his hunting-spear, though thriceas strong and as nimble again as he was, and much more capable withtheir legs only, than we with our rackets [a sort of buskined shoes madepurposely for the Indian travels over the snow], to make their way overmountains of snow: he would nevertheless follow them, dart them, withoutever missing his aim, tire them out with his chace, bring them down, andmortally wound them. Then he would regale us with their blood, skinthem, and deliver up the carcass to us to cut to pieces. But if thygreat, great, great grand-father made such a figure in the chace, whathas not thy great, great grand-father done with respect to the beavers, those animals almost men? whose industry he surpassed by his frequentwatchings round their cabbins, by the repeated alarms he would give themseveral times in one evening, and oblige them thereby to return home, sothat he might be sure of the number of those animals he had seendispersed during the day, having a particular foresight of the spot towhich they would come to load their tails with earth, cut down withtheir teeth such and such trees for the construction of their huts. Hehad a particular gift of knowing the favorite places of those animalsfor building them. But now let us rather speak of your greatgrand-father, who was so expert at making of snares for moose-deer, martins, and elks. He had particular secrets, absolutely unknown to anybut himself, to compel these sort of creatures to run sooner into hissnares than those of others; and he was accordingly always so wellprovided with furs, that he was never at a loss to oblige his friends. Now let us come to your grand-father, who has a thousand and a thousandtimes regaled the youth of his time with seals. How often in our youngdays have we greased our hair in his cabbin? How often have we beeninvited, and even compelled by his friendly violence, to go home withhim, whenever we returned with our canoes empty, to be treated withseal, to drink the oil, and anoint ourselves with it? He even pushed hisgenerosity so far, as to give us of the oil to take home with us. Butnow we are come to your father: there was a man for you! He used tosignalize himself in every branch of chace; but especially in the art ofshooting the game whether flying or sitting. He never missed his aim. Hewas particularly admirable for decoying of bustards by his artificialimitations. We are all of us tolerably expert at counterfeiting the cryof those birds; but as to him, he surpassed us in certain inflexions, ofhis voice, that made it impossible to distinguish his cry from that ofthe birds themselves. He had, besides, a particular way of motion withhis body, that at a distance might be taken for the clapping of theirwings, insomuch that he has often deceived ourselves, and put us toconfusion, as he started out of his hiding-place. 

"As for thyself, I say nothing, I am too full of the good things thouhast feasted me with, to treat on that subject; but I thank thee, andtake thee by the hand, leaving to my fellow-guests the care ofacquitting themselves of that duty. "

After this, he sits down, and some other younger, and in course of lessnote, for they pay great respect to age, gets up, and makes a summaryrecapitulation of what the first speaker has said; commending his mannerof singing the praises of the master of the feast's ancestors: to whichhe observes, there is nothing to be added; but that he has, however, left him one part of the task to be accomplished, which is, not to passover in silence the feast to which he and the rest of his brethren areinvited; neither to omit the merit and praises of him who has given theentertainment. Then quitting his place, and advancing in cadence, hetakes the master of the treat by the hand, saying, "All the praises mytongue is about to utter, have thee for their object. All the steps I amgoing to take, as I dance lengthwise and breadthwise in thy cabbin, areto prove to thee the gaiety of my heart, and my gratitude. Courage! myfriends, keep time with your motions and voice, to my song and dance. "

With this he begins, and proceeds in his _Netchkawet_, that is, advancing with his body strait erect, in measured steps, with his armsa-kimbo. Then he delivers his words, singing and trembling with hiswhole body, looking before and on each side of him with a steadycountenance, sometimes moving with a slow grave pace, then again with aquick and brisk one. 

The syllables he articulates the most distinctly are, _Ywhannah, Owanna, Haywanna, yo! ha! yo! ha!_ and when he makes a pause he looks full atthe company, as much as to demand their chorus to the word _Heh!_ whichhe pronounces with great emphasis. As he is singing and dancing theyoften repeat the word _Heh!_ fetched up from the depth of their throat;and when he makes his pause, they cry aloud in chorus, _Hah!_

After this prelude, the person who had sung and danced recovers hisbreath and spirits a little, and begins his harangue in praise of themaker of the feast. He flatters him greatly, in attributing to him athousand good qualities he never had, and appeals to all the company forthe truth of what he says, who are sure not to contradict him, being inthe same circumstance as himself of being treated, and answer him by theword _Heh_, which is as much as to say, _Yes_, or _Surely_. Then hetakes them all by the hand, and begins his dance again: and sometimesthis first dance is carried to a pitch of madness. At the end of it hekisses his hand, by way of salute to all the company; after which hegoes quietly to his place again. Then another gets up to acquit himselfof the same duty, and so do successively all the others in the cabbin, to the very last man inclusively. 

This ceremony of thanksgiving being over by the men, the girls and womencome in, with the oldest at the head of them, who carries in her lefthand a great piece of birch-bark of the hardest, upon which she strikesas it were a drum; and to that dull sound which the bark returns, theyall dance, spinning round on their heels, quivering, with one handlifted, the other down: other notes they have none, but a guttural loudaspiration of the word Heh! Heh! Heh! as often as the old female savagestrikes her bark-drum. As soon as she ceases striking, they set up ageneral cry, expressed by Yah! Then, if their dance is approved, theybegin it again; and when weariness obliges the old woman to withdraw, she first pronounces her thanksgiving in the name of all the girls andwomen there. The introduction of which is too curious to omit, as it sostrongly characterises the sentiments of the savages of that sex, andconfirms the general observation, that where their bosom once harbourscruelty, they carry it greater lengths than even the men, whomfrequently they instigate to it. 

"You men! who look on me as of an infirm and weak sex, and consequentlyof all necessity subordinate to you, know that in what I am, the Creatorhas given to my share, talents and properties at least of as much worthas your's, I have had the faculty of bringing into the world warriors, great hunters, and admirable managers of canoes. This hand, withered asyou see it now, whose veins represent the root of a tree, has more thanonce struck a knife into the hearts of the prisoners, who were given upto me for my sport. Let the river-sides, I say, for I call them towitness for me, as well as the woods of such a country, attest theirhaving seen me more than once tear out the heart, entrails, and tongue, of those delivered up to me, without changing color, roast pieces oftheir flesh, yet palpitating and warm with life, and cram them down thethroats of others, whom the like fate awaited. With how many scalps havenot I seen my head adorned, as well as those of my daughters! With whatpathetic exhortations have not I, upon occasion, rouzed up the spirit ofour young men, to go in quest of the like trophies, that they mightatchieve the reward, honor, and renown annexed to the acquisition ofthem: but it is not in these points alone that I have signalized myself. I have often brought about alliances, which there was no room to thinkcould ever be made; and I have been so fortunate, that all the coupleswhose marriages I have procured, have been prolific, and furnished ournation with supports, defenders, and subjects, to eternize our race, andto protect us from the insults of our enemies. These old firs, theseantient spruce-trees, full of knots from the top to the root, whose barkis falling off with age, and who yet preserve their gum and powers oflife, do not amiss resemble me. I am no longer what I was; all my skinis wrinkled and furrowed, my bones are almost every where startingthrough it. As to my outward form, I may well be reckoned amongst thethings, fit for nothing but to be totally neglected and thrown aside;but I have still within me wherewithal to attract the attention of thosewho know me. "

After this introduction follow the thanksgiving and encomiums, much inthe same taste as the first haranguer's amongst the guests. This is whatis practised in all the more solemn entertainments, both on the men andwomen's side. Nor can you imagine, how great an influence such praiseshave over them, derived as they are from the merit of hunting, and howgreatly they contribute to inflame their passion for it. Nor is itsurprising, considering how much almost the whole of their livelihooddepends upon the game of all sorts that is the object of their chace. 

They have also a kind of feasts, which may be termed war-feasts, sincethey are never held but in time of war, declared, commenced, orresolved. The forms of these are far different from those of pacific andfriendly entertainments. There is a mixture of devotion and ferocity inthem, which at the same time that it surprises, proves that theyconsider war in a very solemn light, and as not to be begun without thegreatest reason and justice; which motives, once established, or, whichis the same thing, appearing to them established, there is nothing theydo not think themselves permitted against their enemy, from whom they, on the other hand, expect no better quarter than they themselves give. 

To give you an idea of their preparatory ceremony for a declaration ofwar, I shall here select for you a recent example, in the one that brokeout not long ago between the Micmaquis, and Maricheets. These last hadput a cruel affront on the former, the nature of which you will see inthe course of the following description: but I shall call the Micmaquisthe aggressors, because the first acts of hostility in the field beganfrom them. Those who mean to begin the war, detach a certain number ofmen to make incursions on the territories of their enemies, to ravagethe country, to destroy the game on it, and ruin all the beaver-hutsthey can find on their rivers and lakes, whether entirely, or onlyhalf-built. From this expedition they return laden with game and peltry;upon which the whole nation assembles to feast on the meat, in a mannerthat has more of the carnivorous brute in it than of the human creature. Whilst they are eating, or rather devouring, all of them, young and old, great and little, engage themselves by the sun, the moon, and the nameof their ancestors, to do as much by the enemy-nation. 

When they have taken care to bring off with them a live beast, from thequarter in which they have committed their ravage, they cut its throat, drink its blood, and even the boys with their teeth tear the heart andentrails to pieces, which they ravenously devour, giving thereby tounderstand, that those of the enemies who shall fall into their hands, have no better treatment to expect at them. 

After this they bring out _Oorakins_, (bowls of bark) full of thatcoarse vermillion which is found along the coast of Chibucto, and on thewest-side of Acadia (Nova-Scotia) which they moisten with the blood ofthe animal if any remains, and add water to compleat the dilution. Thenthe old, as well as the young, smear their faces, belly and back withthis curious paint; after which they trim their hair shorter, some ofone side of the head, some of the other; some leave only a small tuft onthe crown of their head; others cut their hair entirely off on the leftor right side of it; some again leave nothing on it but a lock, just onthe top of their forehead, and of the breadth of it, that falls back onthe nape of the neck. Some of them bore their ears, and pass through theholes thus made in them, the finest fibril-roots of the fir, which theycall _Toobee_, and commonly use for thread; but on this occasion serveto string certain small shells. This military masquerade, which they useat once for terror and disguise, being compleated, all the peltry of thebeasts killed in the enemy's country, is piled in a heap; the oldest_Sagamo_, or chieftain of the assembly gets up, and asks, "What weatherit is? Is the sky clear? Does the sun shine?" On being answered in theaffirmative, he orders the young men to carry the pile of peltry to arising-ground, or eminence, at some little distance from the cabbin, orplace of assembly. As this is instantly done, he follows them, and as hewalks along begins, and continues his address to the sun in thefollowing terms:

"Be witness, thou great and beautiful luminary, of what we are this daygoing to do in the face of thy orb! If thou didst disapprove us, thouwouldst, this moment, hide thyself, to avoid affording the light of thyrays to all the actions of this assembly. Thou didst exist of old, andstill existeth. Thou remainest for ever as beautiful, as radiant, and asbeneficent, as when our first fore fathers beheld thee. Thou wilt alwaysbe the same. The father of the day can never fail us, he who makes everything vegetate, and without whom cold, darkness, and horror, would everywhere prevail. Thou knowest all the iniquitous procedure of our enemiestowards us. What perfidy have they not used, what deceit have they notemployed, whilst we had no room to distrust them? There are now morethan five, six, seven, eight moons revolved since we left the principalamongst our daughters with them, in order thereby to form the mostdurable alliance with them, (for, in short, we and they are the samething as to our being, constitution, and blood); and yet we have seenthem look on these girls of the most distinguished rank, _Kayheepidetchque_, as mere playthings for them, an amusement, a pastimeput by us into their hands, to afford them a quick and easy consolation, for the fatal blows we had given them in the preceding war. Yet, we hadmade them sensible, that this supply of our principal maidens was, inorder that they should re-people their country more honorably, and toput them under a necessity of conviction, that we were now becomesincerely their friends, by delivering to them so sacred a pledge ofamity, as our principal blood. Can we then, unmoved, behold them sobasely abusing that thorough confidence of ours? Beautiful, all-seeing, all-penetrating luminary! without whose influence the mind of man hasneither efficacy nor vigor, thou hast seen to what a pitch that nation(who are however our brothers) has carried its insolence towards ourprincipal maidens. Our resentment would not have been so extreme withrespect to girls of more common birth, and the rank of whose fathers hadnot a right to make such an impression on us. But here we are wounded ina point there is no passing over in silence or unrevenged. Beautifulluminary! who art thyself so regular in thy course, and in the wisedistribution thou makest of thy light from morning to evening, wouldstthou have us not imitate thee? And whom can we better imitate? The earthstands in need of thy governing thyself as thou dost towards it. Thereare certain places, where thy influence does not suffer itself to befelt, because thou dost not judge them worthy of it. But, as for us, itis plain that we are thy children; for we can know no origin but thatwhich thy rays have given us, when first marrying efficaciously, withthe earth we inhabit, they impregnated its womb, and caused us to growout of it like the herbs of the field, and the trees of the forest, ofwhich thou art equally the common father. To imitate thee then, wecannot do better than no longer to countenance or cherish those, whohave proved themselves so unworthy thereof. They are no longer, as tous, under a favorable aspect. They shall dearly pay for the wrong theyhave done us. They have not, it is true, deprived us of the means ofhunting for our maintenance and cloathing; they have not cut off thefree passage of our canoes, on the lakes and rivers of this country; butthey have done worse; they have supposed in us a tameness of sentiments, which does not, nor cannot, exist in us. They have defloured ourprincipal maidens in wantonness, and lightly sent them back to us. Thisis the just motive which cries out for our vengeance. Sun! be thoufavorable to us in this point, as thou art in that of our hunting, whenwe beseech thee to guide us in quest of our daily support. Be propitiousto us, that we may not fail of discovering the ambushes that may be laidfor us; that we may not be surprized unawares in our cabbins, orelsewhere; and, finally, that we may not fall into the hands of ourenemies. Grant them no chance with us, for they deserve none. Behold theskins of their beasts now a burnt-offering to thee! Accept it, as if thefire-brand I hold in my hands, and now set to the pile, was lightedimmediately by thy rays, instead of our domestic fire. "

Every one of the assistants, as well men as women, listen attentively tothis invocation, with a kind of religious terror, and in a profoundsilence. But scarce is the pile on a blaze, but the shouts and war-criesbegin from all parts. Curses and imprecations are poured forth withoutmercy or reserve, on the enemy-nation. Every one, that he may succeed indestroying any particular enemy he may have in the nation against whichwar is declared, vows so many skins or furs to be burnt in the sameplace in honor of the sun. Then they bring and throw into the fire, thehardest stones they can find of all sizes, which are calcined in it. They take out the properest pieces for their purpose, to be fastened tothe end of a stick, made much in the form of a hatchet-handle. They slitit at one end, and fix in the cleft any fragment of those burnt stones, that will best fit it, which they further secure, by binding it tightlyround with the strongest _Toobee_, or fibrils of fir-rootabove-mentioned; and then make use of it, as of a hatchet, not so muchfor cutting of wood, as for splitting the skull of the enemy, when theycan surprize him. They form also other instruments of war; such as longpoles, one of which is armed with bone of elk, made pointed like asmall-sword, and edge of both sides, in order to reach the enemy at adistance, when he is obliged to take to the woods. The arrows are madeat the same time, pointed at the end with a sharp bone. The wood ofwhich these arrows are made, as well as the bows, must have been driedat the mysterious fire, and even the guts of which the strings are made. But you are here to observe, I am speaking of an incident that happenedsome years ago; for, generally speaking, they are now better providedwith arms, and iron, by the Europeans supplying them, for their chace, in favor of their dealings with them for their peltry. But to return tomy narration. 

Whilst the fire is still burning, the women come like so many furies, with more than bacchanalian madness, making the most hideous howlings, and dancing without any order, round the fire. Then all their apparentrage turns of a sudden against the men. They threaten them, that if theydo not supply them with scalps, they will hold them very cheap, and lookon them as greatly inferior to themselves; that they will denythemselves to their most lawful pleasures; that their daughters shall begiven to none but such as have signalized themselves by some militaryfeat; that, in short, they will themselves find means to be revenged ofthem, which cannot but be easy to do on cowards. 

The men, at this, begin to parley with one another, and order the womento withdraw, telling them, that they shall be satisfied; and that, in alittle time, they may expect to have prisoners brought to them, to dowhat they will with them. 

The next thing they agree on is to send a couple of messengers, in thenature of heralds at arms, with their hatchets, quivers, bows, andarrows, to declare war against the nation by whom they conceivethemselves aggrieved. These go directly to the village where the bulk ofthe nation resides, observing a sullen silence by the way, withoutspeaking to any that may meet them. When they draw near the village, they give the earth several strokes with their hatchets, as a signal ofcommencing hostilities in form; and to confirm it the more, they shoottwo of their best arrows at the village, and retire with the utmostexpedition. The war is now kindled in good earnest, and it behoves eachparty to stand well on its guard. The heralds, after this, return tomake a report of what they have done; and to prove their having been atthe place appointed, they do not fail of bringing away with them someparticular marks of that spot of the country. Then it is, that theinhabitants of each nation begin to think seriously, whether they shallmaintain their ground by staying in their village, and fortifying it intheir manner, or look out for a place of greater safety, or go directlyin quest of the enemy. Upon these questions they assemble, deliberate, and hold endless consultations, though withal not uncurious ones: for itis on these occasions, that those of the greatest sagacity and eloquencedisplay all their talents, and make themselves distinguished. One oftheir most common stratagems, when there were reasons for not attackingone another, or coming to a battle directly, was for one side to make asif they had renounced all thoughts of acting offensively. A party ofthose who made this feint of renunciation, would disperse itself in awood, observing to keep near the borders of it; when, if any stragglersof the enemy's appeared, some one would counterfeit to the life theparticular cry of that animal, in the imitation of which he mostexcelled; and this childish decoy would, however, often succeed, indrawing in the young men of the opposite party into their ambushes. 

Sometimes the scheme was to examine what particular spot lay so, thatthe enemies must, in all necessity, pass through it, to hunt, or providebark for making their canoes. It was commonly in these passes, ordefiles, that the bloodiest encounters or engagements happened, whenwhole nations have been known to destroy one another, with such anexterminating rage on both sides, that few have been left alive oneither; and to say the truth, they were, generally speaking, merecannibals. It was rarely the case that they did not devour some limbs, at least, of the prisoners they made upon one another, after torturingthem to death in the most cruel and shocking manner: but they neverfailed of drinking their blood like water; it is now, some time, thatour Micmakis especially are no longer in the taste of exercising suchacts of barbarity. I have, yet, lately myself seen amongst them someremains of that spirit of ferocity; some tendencies and approaches tothose inhumanities; but they are nothing in comparison to what they usedto be, and seem every day wearing out. The religion to which we havebrought them over, and our remonstrances have greatly contributed tosoften that savage temper, and atrocious vindictiveness that heretoforereigned amongst them. But remember, Sir, that as to this point I am nowonly speaking, upon my own knowlege, of the Micmakis and Mariquects, who, though different in language, have the same customs and manners, and are of the same way of thinking and acting. 

But to arrive at any tolerable degree of conjecture, whence these peoplederive their origin own myself at a loss: possibly some light might begot into it, by discovering whether there was any affinity or notbetween their language, and that of the Orientalists, as the Chinese orTartars. In the mean time, the abundance of words in this languagesurprized, and continues to surprize me every day the deeper I get intoit. Every thing is proper in it; nothing borrowed, as amongst us. Hereare no auxiliary verbs. The prepositions are in great number. This it isthat gives great ease, fluency, and richness to the expression ofwhatever you require, when you are once master enough to join them tothe verbs. In all their absolute verbs they have a dual number. What wecall the imperfect, perfect, and preter-perfect tenses of the indicativemood, admits, as with us, of varied inflexions of the terminations todistinguish the person; but the difference of the three tenses isexpress, for the preter-perfect by the preposition _Keetch_; for thepreter-pluperfect by _Keetch Keeweeh_: the imperfect is againdistinguished from them by having no preposition at all. 

They have no feminine termination, either for the verbs or nouns. Thisgreatly facilitates to me my composition of songs and hymns for them, especially as their prose itself naturally runs into poetry, from thefrequency of their tropes and metaphors; and into rhime, from theirnouns being susceptible of the same termination, as that of the words inthe verbs which express the different persons. In speaking of personsabsent, the words change their termination, as well in the nouns as inthe verbs. 

They have two distinctions of style; the one noble, or elevated, forgrave and important subjects, the other ignoble, or trivial, forfamiliar or vulgar ones. But this distinction is not so much with them, as with us, marked by a difference of words, but of terminations. Thus, when they are treating of solemn, or weighty matters, they terminate theverb and the noun by another inflexion, than what is used for trivial orcommon conversation. 

I do not know, whether I explain clearly enough to you this so materiala point of their elocution; but it makes itself clearly distinguished, when once one comes to understand the language, in which it supplies theplace of the most pathetic emphasis, though even that they do not want, nor great expression in their gestures and looks. All their conjugationsare regular and distinct. 

Yet, with all these advantages of language, the nation itself isextreamly ignorant as to what concerns itself, or its origin, and theirtraditions are very confused and defective. They know nothing of thefirst peopling of their country, of which they imagine themselves theAborigines. They often talk of their ancestors, but have nothing to sayof them that is not vague or general. According to them, they were allgreat hunters, great wood-rangers, expert managers of canoes, intrepidwarriors, that took to wives as many as they could maintain by hunting. They had too a custom amongst them, that if a woman grew pregnant whilstshe was sucking a child, they obliged her to use means for procuring anabortion, in favor of the first-come, who they supposed would otherwisebe defrauded of his due nourishment. Most of them also value themselveson being descended from their Jugglers, who are a sort of men thatpretend to foretel futurity by a thousand ridiculous contorsions andgrimaces, and by frightful and long-winded howlings. 

The great secret of these Jugglers consists in having a great _Oorakin_full of water, from any river in which it was known there werebeaver-huts. Then he takes a certain number of circular turns round thisOorakin, as it stands on the ground, pronouncing all the time with a lowvoice, a kind of gibberish of broken words, unintelligible to theassistants, and most probably so to himself, but which those, on whom hemeans to impose, believe very efficacious. After this he draws near tothe bowl, and bending very low, or rather lying over it, looks athimself in it as in a glass. If he sees the water in the least muddy, orunsettled, he recovers his erect posture, and begins his rounds again, till he finds the water as clear as he could wish it for his purpose, and then he pronounces over it his magic words. If after having repeatedthem twice or thrice, he does not find the question proposed to himresolved by this inspection of the water, nor the wonders he wantsoperated by it, he says with a loud voice and a grave tone, that the_Manitoo_, or _Miewndoo_, (the great spirit) or genius, which, accordingto them, has all knowledge of future events, would not declare himselftill every one of the assistants should have told him (the Juggler) inthe ear what were his actual thoughts, or greatest secret. [A Romishmissionary must, with a very bad grace, blame the Jugglers, for whathimself makes such a point of religion in his _auricular confession_. Even the appellation of _Juggler_ is not amiss applicable to those oftheir craft, considering all their tricks and mummery not a whitsuperior to those of these poor savages, in the eyes of common-sense. Who does not know, that the low-burlesque word of _Hocus-pocus_, is anhumorous corruption of their _Hoc est corpus meum_, by virtue of which, they make a _God_ out of a vile wafer, and think it finely solved, bycalling it a _mystery_, which, by the way is but another name for_nonsense_. Is there any thing amongst the savages half so absurd or soimpious?] To this purpose he gets up, laments, and bitterly inveighsagainst the bad dispositions of those of the assistants, whose fault itwas, that the effects of his art were obstructed. Then going round thecompany, he obliges them to whisper him in the ear, whatever held thefirst place in their minds; and the simplicity of the greater number issuch, as to make them reveal to him what it would be more prudent toconceal. By these means it is, that these artful Jugglers rendersthemselves formidable to the common people, and by getting into thesecrets of most of the families of the nation, acquire a hank over them. Some, indeed, of the most sensible see through this pitiful artifice, and look on the Jugglers in their proper light of cheats, quacks, andtyrants; but out of fear of their established influence over the bulk ofthe nation, they dare not oppose its swallowing their impostures, or itsregarding all their miserable answers as so many oracles. When theJuggler in exercise, has collected all that he can draw from the inmostrecesses of the minds of the assistants, he replaces himself, as before, over the mysterious bowl of water, and now knows what he has to say. Then, after twice or thrice laying his face close to the surface of thewater, and having as often made his evocations in uncouth, unintelligible words, he turns his face to his audience, sometimes hewill say, "I can only give a half-answer upon such an article; there isan obstacle yet unremoved in the way, before I can obtain an entiresolution, and that is, there are some present here who are in such andsuch a case. That I may succeed in what is asked of me, and thatinterests the whole nation, I appoint that person, without my knowing, as yet, who it is, to meet me at such an hour of the night. I name noplace of assignation but will let him know by a signal of lighted fire, where he may come to me, and suffer himself to be conducted wherever Ishall carry him. The _Manitoo_ orders me to spare his reputation, andnot expose him; for if there is any harm in it to him, there is alsoharm to me. "

Thus it is the Juggler has the art of imposing on these simple credulouscreatures, and even often succeeds by it in his divinations. Sometimeshe does not need all this ceremonial. He pretends to foretell off-hand, and actually does so, when he is already prepared by his knowledge, cunning, or natural penetration. His divinations chiefly turn on theexpedience of peace with one nation, or of war with another; uponmatches between families, upon the long life of some, or the short lifeof others; how such and such persons came by their deaths, violently ornaturally; whether the wife of some great _Sagamo_ has been true to hisbed or not; who it could be that killed any particular persons founddead of their wounds in the woods, or on the coast. Sometimes theypretend it's the deed of the _Manitoo_, for reasons to them unknown:this last incident strikes the people with a religious awe. But what theJugglers are chiefly consulted upon, and what gives them the greatestcredit, is to know whether the chace of such a particular species ofbeasts should be undertaken; at what season, or on which side of thecountry; how best may be discovered the designs of any nation with whichthey are at war; or at what time such or such persons shall return fromtheir journey. The Juggler pretends to see all this, and more, in hisbowl of water: divination by coffee-grounds is a trifle to it. He isalso applied to, to know whether a sick person shall recover or die ofhis illness. But what I have here told you of the procedure of theseJugglers, you are to understand only of the times that preceded theintroduction of Christianity amongst these people, or of those partswhere it is not yet received: for these practices are no longer sufferedwhere we have any influence. 

Amongst the old savages lately baptized, I could never, from theaccounts they gave me of the belief of their ancestors, find any true_knowledge_ of the supreme Being; no idea, I mean, approaching to thatwe have, or rather nothing but a vague imagination. They have, it istrue, a confused notion of a Being, acting they know not how [Whodoes?], in the universe, but they do not make of him a great souldiffused through all its parts. They have no conception or knowledge ofall the attributes we bestow on the Deity. Whenever they happen tophilosophize upon this _Manitoo_, or great spirit, they utter nothingbut _rêveries_ and absurdities. [Are not there innumerable volumes onthis subject, to which the same objection might as justly be made?Possibly the savages, and the deepest divines, with respect to themanner of the Deity's existence, may have, in point of ignorance, nothing to reproach one another. It matters very little, whether onesees the sun from the lowest valley, or the highest mountain, when theimmensity of its distance contracts the highest advantage of theeminence to little less than nothing. Surely the infinite superiority ofthe Deity, must still more effectually mock the distinction of themental eye, at the same time that his existence itself is as plain asthat of the sun, and like that too, dazzling those most, who contemplateit most fixedly; reduces them to close the eye, not to exclude thelight, but as overpowered by it. ]

Amongst other superstitious notions, not the least prevalent is that ofthe _Manitoo_'s exercise of his power over the dead, whom he orders toappear to them, and acquaint them with what passes at a distance, inrespect to their most important concerns; to advise them what they hadbest do, or not do; to forewarn them of dangers, or to inspire them withrevenge against any nation that may have insulted them, and so forth. 

They have no idea of his spirituality, or even of the spirituality ofthat principle, which constitutes their own vital principle. They haveeven no word in their language that answers to that of soul in ours. Theterm approaching nearest thereto that we can find, is _M'cheejacmih_, which signifies _Shade_, and may be construed something in the nature ofthe _Manes_ of the Romans. 

The general belief amongst them is, that, after death, they go to aplace of joy and plenty, in which sensuality is no more omitted than inMahomet's paradise. There they are to find women in abundance, a countrythick of all manner of game to humor their passion for hunting, and bowsand arrows of the best sort, ready made. But these regions are supposedat a great distance from their's, to which they will have to travel; andtherefore it's requisite to be well-provided, before they quit their owncountry, with arrows, long poles fit for hunting, or for coveringcabbins, with bear-skins, or elk-hides, with women, and with some oftheir children, to make their journey to that place more commodious, more pleasant, and appear more expeditious. It was especially incharacter for a warrior, not to leave this world without taking with himsome marks of his bravery, as particularly scalps. Therefore it was, that when any of them died, he was always followed by, at least, one ofhis children, some women, and above all, by her whom in his life he hadmost loved, who threw themselves into the grave, and were interred withhim. They also put into it great strips, or rolls of the bark of birch, arrows, and scalps. Nor do they unfrequently, at this day, light uponsome of these old burying-places in the woods, with all these funeralaccompanyments; but of late, the interment of live persons has beenalmost entirely disused. 

I never could learn whether they had any set formulary of prayer, orinvocation to the _great Manitoo_; or whether they made any sacrificesof beasts or peltry, to any other _Manitoo_, in contradiction to him, orto any being whom they dreaded as an evil genius. I could discover nomore than what I have above related of the ceremonies in honor of thesun. I know, indeed, they have a great veneration for the moon, whichthey invoke, whenever, under favor of its light, they undertake anyjourneys, either by land or water, or tend the snares they have set fortheir game. This is the prayer they occasionally address to it:

"How great, O moon! is thy goodness, in actually, for our benefit, supplying the place of the father of the day, as, next to him, thou hastconcurred to make us spring out of that earth we have inhabited from thefirst ages of the world, and takest particular care of us, that themalignant air of the night, should not kill the principle and bud oflife within us. Thou regardest us, in truth, as thy children. Thou hastnot, from the first time, discontinued to treat us like a true mother. Thou guidest us in our nocturnal journies. By the favor of thy light itis, that we have often struck great strokes in war; and more than oncehave our enemies had cause to repent their being off their guard in thyclear winter-nights. Thy pale rays have often sufficiently lighted us, for our marching in a body without mistaking our way; and have enabledus not only to discover the ambushes of the enemy, but often to surprizehim asleep. However we might be wanting to ourselves, thy regular coursewas never wanting to us. Beautiful spouse of the sun! give us todiscover the tracks of elks, moose-deer, martins, lynxes, and bears, when urged by our wants, we pursue by night the hunt after these beasts. Give to our women the strength to support the pains of child-birth[_Lucina fer opem_, was also the cry amongst the ancient heathens], render their wombs prolific, and their breasts inexhaustible fountains. "

I have often tried to find out, whether there was any tradition orknowledge amongst them of the deluge, but always met with suchunsatisfactory answers, as entirely discouraged my curiosity on thathead. 

This nation counts its years by the winters. When they ask a man how oldhe is, they say, "How many winters have gone over thy head?"

Their months are lunar, and they calculate their time by them. When wewould say, "I shall be six weeks on my journey;" they express it by, "Ishall be a moon and a half on it. "

Before _we_ knew them, it was common to see amongst them, persons ofboth sexes of a hundred and forty, or a hundred and fifty years of age. But these examples of longevity are grown much more rare. 

By all accounts too, their populousness is greatly decreased. Someimagine this is owing to that inveterate animosity, with which these somany petty nations were continually laboring one another's destructionand extirpation. Others impute it to the introduction by the Europeans, of the vice of drunkenness, and to the known effect of spirituousliquors in the excesses of their use, to which they are but too prone, in striking at the powers of generation, as well as at the principles ofhealth and life. Not improbably too, numbers impatient of theencroachments of the Europeans on their country, and dreading theconsequences of them to their liberty, for which they have a passionateattachment, and incapable of reconciling or assimilating their customsand manners to ours, have chosen to withdraw further into the westernrecesses of the continent, at a distance impenetrable to our approach. 

But which ever of these conjectures is the truest, or whether or not allof these causes have respectively concurred, in a lesser or greaterdegree, the fact is certain, that all these northern countries areconsiderably thinned of their natives, since the first discovery of themby the Europeans. Nor have I reason to think, but that this is true ofAmerica in general, wherever they have carried their power, or extendedtheir influence. 

It is also true, that the women of this country are naturally not soprolific as those of some other parts of the world in the same latitude. One reason for this may be, their not having their menstrual flux socopiously, or for so long a time as those of Europe. Yet one wouldthink, the plurality of wives permitted amongst them, might in somemeasure compensate for this defect, which, however, it evidently doesnot. 

Their women have always observed, not to present themselves at anypublic ceremony, or solemnity, whilst under their monthly terms, nor toadmit the embraces of their husbands. 

At stated times they repair to particular places in the woods, wherethey recite certain formularies of invocation to the _Manitoo_ dictatedto them by some of their oldest _Sagamees_, or principal women, and morefrequently by some celebrated Juggler of the village, that they mayobtain the blessing of fruitfulness. For it is with them, as amongst theJews, that barrenness is accounted opprobrious. A woman is not lookedupon as a woman, till she has proved it, by her fulfilling what theyconsider as one of the great ends of her creation. Failing in that, sheis divorced from her husband, and may then prostitute herself withoutany scandal. If she has no inclination or relish for this way of life, they compel her to it, in regard to their young men, who do not care tomarry, till they are arrived at full-ripe years, and for whom, on theirreturn from their warlike or hunting expeditions, they think itnecessary to provide such objects of amusement. They pretend withal, that they are subject to insupportable pains in their loins, if such aremedy is not at hand to relieve them. But once more you are toremember, that I am only speaking of those people not yet converted toChristianity, by which this licentiousness is not allowed. And yet, notwithstanding the maxims we inculcate to them, the natives continue noother than what they were before, that is to say, as much addicted tovenery as ever, and rarely miss an occasion of gratifying their appetiteto it. The only way we can think of to prevent their offending religion, is to have them married as soon as they begin to feel themselves men. The restraint however in this point is, what they can least endure. 

In their unconverted state, their manner of courtship and marriage is asfollows: When a youth has an inclination to enter into the connubialstate, his father, or next relation, looks out for a girl, to whosefather the proposal is made: this being always transacted between theparents of the parties to be married. The young man, who is commonlyabout thirty years of age, or twenty at the least, rarely consults hisown fancy in this point. The girl, who is always extreamly young, isnever supposed to trouble her head about the measures that are taking tomarry her. When the parents on each side have settled the matter, theyouth is applied to, that he may prepare his calumet as soon as hepleases. 

The calumet used on these occasions, is a sort of spungeous reed, whichmay furnish, according to its length, a number of calumets, each ofwhich is about a foot long, to be lighted at one end, the other servingto suck in the smoak at the mouth, and is suffered to burn within aninch of the lips. 

The speech made to the youth on this occasion is as follows: "Thoumay'st go when thou wilt, by day or by night, to light thy calumet insuch a cabbin. Thou must observe to direct the smoak of it towards theperson who is designed for thee, and carry it so, that she may take sucha taste to this vapor, as to desire of thee that she may smoak of thycalumet. Show thyself worthy of thy nation, and do honor to thy sex andyouth. Suffer none in the cabbin to which thou art admitted, to want anything thy industry, thy art, or thy arrows can procure them, as well forfood, as for peltry, or oil, for the good of their bodies, inside andoutside. Thou hast four winters given thee, for a trial of thy patienceand constancy. "

At this the youth never fails of going to the place appointed. If thegirl, (who knows the meaning of this) has no particular aversion to him, she is soon disposed to ask his calumet of him. In some parts, but notin this where I am, she signifies her acceptance by blowing it out. Hereshe takes it from him, and sucking it, blows the smoak towards hisnostrils, even sometimes so violently, as to make him qualm-sick, atwhich she is highly delighted. Nothing, however, passes farther againstthe laws of modesty, though she will tress his hair, paint his face, andimprint on various parts of his body curious devices and flourishes, allrelative to their love; which she pricks in, and rubs over with acomposition that renders the impression uncancellable. 

If the parents of the girl are pleased with the procedure of the suitor, they commonly, at the end of the second year, dispense, in his favor, with the rest of the probation-time; and, indeed, they could not wellbefore, the girl almost always wanting, from the time she is firstcourted, at least two years to bring on the age of consummation. Theytell him, "Thou may'st now take a small part of the covering of thybeloved whilst she sleeps. " No sooner is this compliment made him, than, without saying any thing, he goes out of the cabbin, armed with his bowand arrows, and hurrying home acquaints his friends, that he is going tothe woods, whence he shall not return till it pleases his beloved torecall him. 

Accordingly he repairs forthwith to the woods, and stays there for twoor three days, diverting himself with hunting; at the end of which ithas been agreed on, to send all the youths of the village to fetch him:and they come back loaded with game of all sorts, though the bridegroomis not suffered to carry any thing. There is also great provision madeof seal and sea-cows for the wedding-feast. 

The head Juggler of the village, meets the bridegroom who is at the headof the procession, takes him by the hand, and conducts him to the cabbinof the bride, where he is to take part of her bed; upon which he liesdown by her side, and both continue unmoveable and silent like twostatues, whilst they are obliged to hear the long tedious harangues ofthe Juggler, of the parents of both, and of their oldest relations. After that, they both get up, and are led, the one by the young men, theother by the girls, to the place of entertainment, all singing, shooting, and dancing. 

The bridegroom is seated amongst the young men on one side, and thebride amongst the girls on another. One of his friends takes an_Oorakin_, loads it with roast-meat, and sets it down by him, whilst oneof her's does the same thing, with an _Oorakin_ of the same size, andnearly alike, which is placed by the bride's side. After this ceremonyof placing the _Oorakin_, the Juggler pronounces certain magical wordsover the meat: he foretels, especially to the bride, the dreadfulconsequences she must expect from the victuals she is about to eat, ifshe has in her heart any perfidiousness towards her husband: that shemay be assured of finding in the _Oorakin_ that contains them, a certainprognostic of her future happiness, or unhappiness: of happiness, if sheis disposed never in her life to betray her nation, nor especially herhusband, upon any occasion, or whatever may befal her: of unhappiness, if through the caresses of strangers, or by any means whatever sheshould be induced to break her faith to him, or to reveal to the enemythe secrets of the country. 

At the end of every period, all the assistants signify their assent tothe Juggler's words, by a loud exclamation of _Hah!_ Whilst he istalking, the particular friend of the bridegroom, and that of the bride, keep their eyes fixed on the two _Oorakins_; and as soon as he has done, the bride's friend making as if she did not think of what she was about, takes the _Oorakin_ allotted for the bridegroom, and carries it to thebride, whilst the bridegroom's friend, (the thing being pre-concerted)acts the like mummery of inadvertence, and sets before the bridegroomthe _Oorakin_ belonging to the bride; after which the dishes are servedin to the rest of the company. When they are all served, the two friendsof the parties musing a little, pretend to have just then discoveredtheir exchange of the bride and bridegroom's _Oorakins_. They declare itopenly to each other, at which the Juggler takes up his cue, and with asolemn face says, "The _Manitoo_ has had his designs in this mistake: hehas vouchsafed to give an indubitable sign of his approbation of thestrait alliance this day contracted. What is the one's, is the same asthe other's. They are henceforward united, and are as one and the sameperson. It is done. May they multiply without end!" At this theassistants all start up, and with cries of joy, and congratulation, rushto embrace the bride and bridegroom, and overwhelm them with caresses. After which they sit very gravely down again to the entertainment beforethem, and dispatch it in great silence. This is followed by dances ofall kinds, with which the feast for the day concludes, as must thisletter, in which I have certainly had less attention to the observingthe limits of one, than to the gratifying your curiosity, with respectto these people, amongst whom my lot has so long been cast. 

I am, Sir, Your most obedientHumble servant, _To understand the following piece, it is necessary to know, that afterthe insidious peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the savage nations, especiallythe Mickmakis and Maricheets continued hostilities against the English, at the underhand instigation of the French, who meant thereby toprevent, or at least distress, as much as obstruct, our new settlementsin Nova-Scotia. For this purpose, the French missionaries had their cuefrom their government to act the incendiaries, and, to inflame mattersto the highest pitch. These being, however, sensible, that the partassigned them was a very odious one, and inconsistent with the spirit ofthat religion for which they profess such zeal, one of them, by way ofpalliation, and in order to throw the blame on the English themselves, drew up the following state of the case, between our nation and thesavages, viz. _

MEMORIAL

OF THE

Motives of the Savages, called _Mickmakis_and _Maricheets_, for continuingthe War with _England_ since the lastPeace. 

Dated _Isle-Royal_, 175-. 

These nations have never been able to forget all that the Englishsettled in North-America have done since the very first of theirestablishment, towards destroying them root and branch. They haveespecially, at every moment, before their eyes the followingtransactions:

In 1744, towards the end of October, Mr. Gorrhon, (perhaps Goreham)deceased, commanding a detachment of the English troops, sent to observethe retreat the French and savages were making from before Port-Royal(Annapolis) in Acadia, (Nova-Scotia): this detachment having found twohuts of the Mickmaki-savages, in a remote corner, in which there werefive women and three children, (two of the women were big with child)ransacked, pillaged, and burnt the two huts, and massacred the fivewomen and three children. It is to be observed, that the two pregnantwomen were found with their bellies ripped open. An action which thesesavages cannot forget, especially as at that time they made fair warwith the English. They have always looked on this deed as a singularmark of the most unheard-of cruelty. [Who would not look on it in thesame light? But as no nation on earth is known to have more than oursconstitutionally, a horror for such barbarities, especially in coldblood; it may be very easily presumed, that this fact was, if true, committed by some of the savages themselves, without the knowledge ofthe commander, or of any of the English troops. ]

Five months before this action, one named _Danas_, or _David_, anEnglish privateer, having treacherously hoisted French colors in theStreights of Fronsac, by means of a French deserter he had with him, decoyed on board his vessel the chief of the savages of Cape-Breton, called James Padanuque, with his whole family, whom he carried toBoston, where he was clapped into a dungeon the instant he was landed;from which he was only taken out to stifle him on board of a vessel, inwhich they pretended to return him safe to Cape-Breton. His son, at thattime a boy of eight years of age, they will absolutely not release;though, since their detention of that young savage, they have frequentlyhad prisoners sent back to them, without ransom, on condition ofrestoring the young man to his country: but though they accepted thecondition, they never complied with it. 

In the month of July, 1745, the same Danas, with the same success, employed the same decoy on a savage-family, which could not get out oftheir hands, but by escaping one night from their prisons. 

About the same time one named Bartholomew Petitpas, an appointedsavage-linguist, was carried away prisoner to Boston. The savages haveseveral times demanded him in exchange for English prisoners they thenhad in their hands, of whom two were officers, to whom they gave theirliberty, on condition of the Bostoners returning of Petitpas; whom, however, they not only kept prisoner, but afterwards put to death. 

In the same year, 1745, a missionary of the savages of Cape Breton, Natkikouesch, Picktook, and of the island of St. John, having beeninvited by several letters, on the part of the commodore of the_English_ squadron, and of the general of the land-forces, to a parley, those gentlemen desired with him, concerning the savages, repaired toLouisbourg, at that time in possession of the English, on the assurancesthey had given him in writing, and on the formal promises they had boundwith an oath, of full liberty to return from whence he came, afterhaving satisfied them in all they wanted of him. They detained him atLouisbourg, where they gave him a great deal of ill usage, and obligedhim to embark, all sick as he was, and destitute of necessaries, onboard of one of the ships of the squadron, in which he was conveyed toEngland, from whence he at length got to France. [Most probably he hadnot given the satisfaction required by those gentlemen, which had beenconfessedly by himself made the condition of his return. ]

The same year, 1745, several bodies of the savages, deceased, and buriedat _Port Tholouze_, were dug up again by the Bostoners, and thrown intothe fire. The burying-place of the savages was demolished, and all thecrosses, planted on the graves, broke into a thousand pieces. 

In 1746, some stuffs that the savages had bought of the English, whothen traded in the bay of Megagouetch at _Beau-bassin_, there being atthat time a great scarcity of goods over all the country, were found tobe _poisoned_, [Is it possible a missionary of the truths of the Gospelcould gravely commit to paper such an infernal lie? If even the savageshad been stupid enough of themselves to imbibe such a notion, was it notthe duty of a Christian to have shewn them the folly of it, or even butin justice to the Europeans? But what must be their guilt, if theysuggested it? Surely, scarce less than that of the action itself. ] sothat more than two hundred savages of both sexes perished thereby. 

In 1749, towards the end of the month of May, at a time that thesuspension of arms between the two crowns was not yet known in NewFrance, the savages, having made prisoners two Englishmen ofNewfoundland, had from these same prisoners the first news of thecessation of hostilities. They believed them on their bare words, expressed their satisfaction to them, treated them like brothers, unbound them, and carried them to their huts. The said prisoners rose inthe night, and massacred twenty-five of these savages, men, women, andchildren. There were but two of the savages escaped this carnage, bybeing accidentally not present. [_How improbable is the whole of thisstory?_]

Towards the end of the same year, the English being come to Chibuckto, made the report be every where spread [The missionaries in those partsmight indeed raise such reports; the which giving the savages anaversion to the English, forced them to take hostile measures againstthem in their own defence: but who would suspect the English themselvesof raising them, in direct opposition to their own interest?], that theywere going to destroy all the savages. They seemed to act in consequencethereto, since they sent detachments of their troops, on all sides, inpursuit of the savages. 

These people were so alarmed with this procedure of the English, thatfrom that time they determined, as weak as they were, to declare openwar against them. Knowing that France had concluded a peace withEngland, they nevertheless resolved not to cease from falling on theEnglish, wherever they could find them; saying, they were indispensablyobliged to it, since, against all justice, they wanted to expel them outof their country. They then sent a declaration of war in form to theEnglish, in the name of their nation, and of the savages in alliancewith it. 

As to what concerns the missionaries to the savages, they cannot besuspected of using any connivence in all this, if justice is done to theconduct they have always observed amongst them, and especially in thetime of the last war. How many acts of inhumanity would have beencommitted by this nation, naturally vindictive, if the missionaries hadnot taken pains, in good earnest, to put such ideas out of their heads?It is notorious, that the savages believe that there are no extremitiesof barbarity, but what are within the rules of war against those whomthey consider as their enemies. Inexpressible are the efforts whichthese same missionaries have employed to restrain, on such occasions, this criminal ferocity, especially as the savages deemed themselvesauthorized by right of reprisals. How many unfortunate persons of theEnglish nation would have been detained for ever captives, or undergonethe most cruel deaths, if, by the intervention of the missionaries, thesavages had not been prevailed on to release them?

They are even ready to prove, by their written instructions, the lessonsthey inculcate to the savages, of the humanity and gentleness they oughtto practise, even in time of war. It is especially ever since aboutseventeen years ago, that they do not cease declaiming against thosebarbarous and sanguinary methods of proceeding that seem innate to them. On this principle it is, that in the written maxims of conduct for them, care has been taken to insert a chapter, which, from the beginning tothe end, places before their eyes the extreme horror they ought to haveof such enormities. Their children particularly are sedulously taughtthis whole chapter, whence it comes, that one may daily perceive themgrowing more humane, and more disposed to listen, on this head, to theremonstrances of the missionaries. 

[_To this plea of innocence in the French missionaries, as to anyinstigation of the savages to hostilities against the English, we shalloppose the testimony of their own court, in the following words of theFrench ministry, in the very same year_, 1751. 

"His Majesty (the French king) has already observed, that the savageshave hitherto been in the most _favorable dispositions_; and it evenappears, that the conduct of the general C--n--ll--s, with respect tothem, has only served to exasperate them more and more. It is of the_greatest importance_, both for the present and future, to keep them upto that spirit. The _missionaries_ amongst them, are more than any oneat hand to _contribute thereto_, and his majesty has _reason_ to be_satisfied_ with the _pains_ they take in it. Our governor must excitethese _missionaries_ not to _slacken their endeavours_ on this head. Buthe should advise them to _contain_ their _zeal_ within due bounds, so asnot to render themselves _obnoxious_ to the English, unless for verygood purpose, and so as to avoid giving handle for just complaints. "

_In this his most Christian Majesty has been faithfully served by thesemissionaries, in all points, except that political injunction of notgiving a handle for just complaints, which they overshot in the ardor oftheir zeal; since it is undoubted matter of fact, that the missionariesopenly employed all their arts, and all the influence of religion, toinvenom the savages against us. Thence, besides a number of horridcruelties, the most treacherous and base murder of captain How, at aconference, by some savages they set on, who perpetrated it within sightof the French forces. The publishing, however, of the foregoing memorialmay have this good effect, that it will apprise the English of thematter of accusation against them, and enable them to counter-work thoseholy engines of state, and emissaries of ambition. It is also certain, that this very memorial was drawn up by a French priest, purely tofurnish the French ministry a specious document to oppose to the mostjust representations of the British government. Besides the fictionswith which it abounds, he has taken care to suppress the acts of crueltycommitted, and the atrocious provocations given by the savages, at theinstigation of his fellow-laborers sedition and calumny. _]

LETTER

FROM

Mons. DE LA VARENNE, TO HIS

FRIEND at ROCHELLE. 

_Louisbourg_, the 8th of _May_, 1756. 

Though I had, in my last, exhausted all that was needful to say on ourprivate business, I could not see this ship preparing for France, especially with our friend _Moreau_ on board, without giving you thisfurther mark of how ardently I wish the continuance of ourcorrespondence. It will also serve to supplement any former deficienciesof satisfaction to certain points of curiosity you have stated to me;this will give to my letter a length beyond the ordinary limits of one:and I have before-hand to excuse to you, the loose desultory way inwhich you will find I write, as things present themselves to my mind, without such method or arrangement, as a formal design of treating thesubject would exact. But who looks for that in a letter?

I need not tell you how severely our government has felt thedismemberment of that important tract of country already in thepossession of the English, under the name of Acadia; to say nothing oftheir further pretentions, which would form such terrible encroachmentson Canada. And no wonder it should feel it, considering the extent of sofruitful, and valuable a country as constitutes that peninsula. It mightof itself form a very considerable and compact body of dominion, being, as you know, almost everywhere surrounded by the sea, and abounding withadmirable and well-situated ports. It is near one hundred leagues inlength, and about sixty in breadth. Judge what advantages such an areaof country, well-peopled, and well-cultivated, and abounding in mines, might produce. It is full of hills, though I could not observe any of anextraordinary heighth, except that of Cape Doree, at the mouth of theriver _des Mines_, the most fertile part of it in corn and grain, andonce the best peopled. There are a number of rivers very rapid, but notlarge, except that of St. John's, which is the finest river of allAcadia, where good water is rather scarce. 

The soil in the vallies is rich, and even in the uplands, commonlyspeaking, good. The grains it yields are wheat, pease, barley, oats, rye, and Indian corn, and especially that of the vallies, for the higherground is not yet cultivated. The pastures are excellent and verycommon, and more than sufficient to supply Cape-Breton, with the cattlethat may be raised. There is fine hunting, and a plentiful fishing forcod, salmon, and other fish, particularly on the east-side, which isfull of fine harbours at the distance of one, two, three, four, or ofsix or seven leagues at farthest from one another, within the extent ofninety leagues of coast. It is thought, in short, this fishery is betterthan any on the coasts belonging to France. 

The air is extreamly wholesome, which is proved by the longevity of itsinhabitants. I myself know some of above an hundred years of age, descendants from the French established in Acadia. Distempers are veryrare. I fancy the climate is pretty near the same as in the north ofChina, or Chinese-Tartary. This country too, being rather to thesouthward of Canada, is not so cold as that; the snow not falling tilltowards St. Andrew's day: nor does it lie on the ground above two orthree days at most, after which it begins to soften; and though the thawdoes not take place, the weather turns mild enough to allow of working, and undertaking journeys. In short, what may be absolutely called coldweather, may be reduced to about twenty-five or thirty days in a winter, and ceases entirely towards the end of March, or at latest, the middleof April. Then comes the seed-time. Then are made the sugar and syrupsof maple, procured from the juice or sap of that tree, by means ofincisions in the bark; which sap is carefully received in propervessels. 

I could never find any ginseng-root; yet I have reason to believe theremay be some in or near the hills, as the climate and situation have somuch affinity to the northern provinces of China, or Northwest Tartary, as described to us by our missionaries. 

We have very little knowledge of the medicinal herbs in this country, though some of them have certainly great virtue. There are themaiden-hair, the saxi-frage, and the sarsaparilla. There is also aparticular root in this country of an herb called _Jean Hebert_, aboutthe ordinary size of the _Salsifix_, or _Goatsbread_, with knots atabout an inch, or an inch and an half distance from one another, of ayellowish colour, white in the inside, with a sugarish juice, which isexcellent for the stomach. 

There has been lately discovered in these parts a poisonous root, muchresembling, in color and substance, a common carrot. When broke it has apleasing smell; but between the flakes may be observed a yellowishjuice, which is supposed to be the poison. Of four soldiers that hadeaten of it in their soup lately, two were difficultly preserved by dintof antidotes; the other two died in the utmost agonies of pain, andconvulsions of frenzy. One of them was found in the woods sticking bythe head in a softish ground, into which he had driven it, probably inthe excess of his torture. Such a vegetable must afford matter ofcurious examination to a naturalist; for as it does so much harm, it mayalso be capable of great good, if sought into by proper experiments. 

The spirit of turpentine is much used by the inhabitants. The gum itselfis esteemed a great vulnerary; and purges moderately those who are fullof bilious, or gross humors. 

For the rest there is, I believe, hardly any sort of grain, tree, orvegetable, especially in the north of France that might not besuccessfully raised in Acadia. The rains are frequent in every season ofthe year. There are indeed often violent squalls of wind, especiallyfrom the South, and seem the West, but nothing like the hurricanes inthe West-Indies. It is a great rarity if thunder does any mischief. Someyears ago there was a man killed in his hut by it; but the oldest men ofthe country never remembered to have known or heard of any thing like itbefore. There have been earthquakes felt but rarely, and not veryviolent. This country produces no venomous beasts, at least, that Icould hear of. In the warmer season there are sometimes found snakes, not, however, thicker than one's finger, but their bite is not known tobe attended with any fatal consequences, There are no tygers, nor lions, nor other beasts of prey to be afraid of unless bears, and that only intheir rutting-time, and even then it is very rare that they attack. Asthere are then no carnivorous animals except the lynxes, who have abeautiful skin, and these rarely fall upon any living creatures; thesheep, oxen, and cows, are turned out into the woods or commons, withoutany fear for them. Partridges are very common, and are large-sized, withflesh very white. The hares are scarce, and have a white fur. There area great many beavers, elks, cariboux, (moose-deer) and other beasts ofthe cold northern countries. 

The original inhabitants of this country are the savages, who may bedivided into three nations, the _Mickmakis_, the _Maricheets_, or_Abenaquis_, (being scarcely different nations) and the _Canibats_. 

The _Mickmakis_ are the most numerous, but not accounted so goodwarriors as the others: but they are all much addicted to hunting, andto venery; in which last, however, they observe great privacy. They arefond of strong liquors, and especially of brandy: that is their greatestvice. They are also very uncurious of paying the debts they contract, not from natural dishonesty, but from their having no notion ofproperty, or of meum or tuum. They will sooner part with all they have, in the shape of a gift, than with any thing in that of payment. Honorsand goods being all in common amongst them, all the numerous vices, which are founded upon those two motives, are not to be found in them. Yet it is true, that they have chiefs to whom they give the title of_Sagamo_; but all of them almost, at some time or other, assume tothemselves this quality, which is never granted by universal consent, but to the personal consideration of distinguished merit in councils, orin arms. Their troops have this particularity, that they are, for themost part, composed of nothing but officers; insomuch that it is rare tofind a savage in the service that will own himself a private man. Thiswant of subordination does not, however, hinder them from concurringtogether in action, when their native ferocity and emulation stand them, in some sort, instead of discipline. 

They are extreamly vindictive, of which I shall give you one example. Mons. _Daunay_, a French captain, with a servant, being overset in acanoe, within sight of some savages, they threw themselves into thewater to save them, and the servant was actually saved. But the savage, who had pitched upon Mons. _Daunay_, seeing who it was, and rememberingsome blows with a cane he had a few days before received from him, tookcare to souse him so often in the water, that he drowned him before hegot ashore. 

It is remarked, that in proportion as the Europeans have settled in thiscountry, the number of the savages considerably diminishes. As they livechiefly upon their hunting, the woods that are destroyed to cultivatethe country, must in course contract the district of their chace, andcause a famine amongst them, that must be fatal to them, or compel themto retire to other countries. The English, sensible of this effect, andwho seemed to place their policy in exterminating these savage nations, have set fire to the woods, and burnt a considerable extent of them. Ihave myself crossed above thirty leagues together, in which space theforests were so totally consumed by fire, that one could hardly at nightfind a spot wooded enough to afford wherewithal to make an extemporecabbin, which, in this country, is commonly made in the followingmanner: Towards night the travellers commonly pitch upon a spot as neara rivulet or river as they can; and as no one forgets to carry hishatchet with him, any more than a Spanish don his toledo, some cut downwood for firing for the night; others branches of trees, which are stuckin the ground with the crotch uppermost, over which a thatching is laidof fir-boughs, with a fence of the same on the weather-side only. Therest is all open, and serves for door and window. A great fire is thenlighted, and then every body's lodged. They sup on the ground, or uponsome leaved branches, when the season admits of it; and afterwards thetable serves for a bed. The savages themselves rarely have any fixedhut, or village, that maybe called a permanent residence. If there areany parts they most frequently inhabit, it is only those which aboundmost in game, or near some fishing-place. Such were formerly for them, before the English had driven them away, _Artigoneesch_, _Beaubassin_, _Chipoody_, _Chipnakady_, _Yoodayck_, _Mirtigueesh_, _La Héve CapeSable_, _Mirameeky_, _Fistigoisch_, _La Baye des Chaleurs Pentagony_, _Medochtek_, _Hokepack_, and _Kihibeki_. 

At present these savage nations bear an inveterate antipathy to theEnglish, who might have easily prevented or cured it, if instead ofrigorous measures, they had at first used conciliative ones: but this itseems they thought beneath them. This it is, that has given ourmissionaries such a fair field for keeping them fixed to the Frenchparty, by the assistance of the difference of religion, of which they donot fail to make the most. But lest you may imagine I am giving you onlymy own conjectures, take the following extract from, a letter of fatherNoel de Joinville, of a pretty antient date. 

"I have remarked in this country so great an aversion in theconvert-savages to the English, caused by difference of religion, thatthese scarce dare inhabit any part of Acadia but what is under their ownguns. These savages are so zealous for the Roman Catholick church, thatthey always look with horror upon, and consider as enemies those who arenot within the pale of it. This may serve to prove, that if there hadbeen _priests_ provided in time, to work at the conversion of thesavages of New-England, before the English had penetrated into theinterior of the county as far as they have done, it would not have beenpossible for them to appropriate to themselves such an extent of countryas, at this day, makes of New-England alone the most magnificent colonyon the face of the earth. " [This pompous epithet might have yet beenmore just, if the improvement of that colony had been enough the care ofthe state, to have been pushed all the lengths of which it was sosusceptible. Few Englishmen will, probably, on reflexion deny, that ifbut a third of those sums ingulphed by the ungrateful or slippery powerson the continent, upon interests certainly more foreign to England thanthose of her own colonies, or lavished in a yet more destructive way, that of corrupting its subjects in elections: if the third, I say, ofthose immense sums, had been applied to the benefit of the plantations, to the fortifying, encouraging, and extending them, there would, by thistime, have hardly been a Frenchman's name to be heard of inNorth-America especially. ]

But with this good father's leave, he attributes more influence toreligion, though as the priests manage it, it certainly has a veryconsiderable one, than in fact belongs to it. Were it not for otherconcurring circumstances that indispose the savages against the English, religion alone would not operate, at least so violently, that effect. Every one knows, that the savages are at best but slightly tincturedwith it, and have little or no attachment to it, but as they find theiradvantage in the benefits of presents and protection, it procures tothem from the French government. In short, it is chiefly to the conductof this English themselves, we are beholden for this favorable aid ofthe savages. If the English at first, instead of seeking to exterminateor oppress them by dint of power, the sense of which drove them forrefuge into our party, had behaved with more tenderness to them, andconciliated their affection by humoring them properly, and distributinga few presents, they might easily have made useful and valuable subjectsof them. Whereas, disgusted with their haughtiness, and scared at themenaces and arbitrary encroachments of the English, they are now theirmost virulent and scarce reconcileable enemies. This is even true ofmore parts in America, where, though the English have liberally givenpresents to ten times the value of what our government does, they havenot however had the same effect. The reason of which is clear: they makethem with so ill a grace, and generally time their presents sounjudiciously, as scarce ever to distribute them, but just when theywant to carry some temporary point with the savages, such, especially, as the taking up the hatchet against the French. This does not escapethe natural sagacity of the savages, who are sensible of the designlurking at bottom of this liberality, and give them the less thanks forit. They do not easily forget the length of time they had beenneglected, slighted, or unapplied to, unless by their itinerant traders, who cheat them in their dealings, or poison them with execrable spirits, under the names of brandy and rum. Whereas, on the contrary, the Frenchare assiduously caressing and courting them. Their missionaries aredispersed up and down their several cantonments, where they exerciseevery talent of insinuation, study their manners, nature, andweaknesses, to which they flexibly accommodate themselves, and carrytheir points by these arts. But what has, at least, an equal share inattaching the savages to our party, is the connivence, or ratherencouragement the French government has given to the natives of France, to fall into the savage-way of life, to spread themselves through thesavage nations, where they adopt their manners, range the woods withthem, and become as keen hunters as themselves. This conformity endearsour nation to them, being much better pleased with seeing us imitatethem, than ready to imitate us, though some of them begin to fall intoour notions, as to trafficking and bartering, and knowing the use ofmoney, of which they were before totally ignorant. We employ besides amuch more effectual method of uniting them to us, and that is, by theintermarriages of our people with the savage-women, which is acircumstance that draws the ties of alliance closer. The childrenproduced by these are generally hardy, inured to the fatigues of thechace and war, and turn out very serviceable subjects in their way. 

But what is most amazing is, that though the savage-life has all theappearance of being far from eligible, considering the fatigues, theexposure to all weathers, the dearth of those articles which custom hasmade a kind of necessaries of life to Europeans, and many otherinconveniencies to be met with in their vagabond course; yet it has suchcharms for some of our native French, and even for some of them who havebeen delicately bred, that, when once they have betaken themselves to ityoung, there is hardly any reclaiming them from it, or inducing them toreturn to a more civilized life. They prefer roving in the woods, trusting to the chapter of accidents for their game which is their chiefsupport, and lying all night in a little temporary hut, patched up of afew branches; to all the commodiousness they might find in towns, orhabitations, amongst their own countrymen. By degrees they lose allrelish for the European luxuries of life, and would not exchange forthem the enjoyments of that liberty, and faculty of wandering about, forwhich, in the forests, they contract an invincible taste. A gun withpowder and ball, of which they purchase a continuation of supplies withthe skins of the beasts they kill, set them up. With these they mixamongst the savages, where they get as many women as they please: someof them are far from unhandsome, and fall into their way of life, withas much passion and attachment, as if they had never known any other. 

Mons. _Delorme_, whom you possibly may have seen in Rochelle, where hehad a small employ in the marine-department, brought over his son here, a very hopeful youth, who had even some tincture of polite education, and was not above thirteen years old, and partly from indulgence, partlyfrom a view of making him useful to the government, by his learning, atthat age, perfectly the savage language, he suffered him to go amongstthe savages. The young _Delorme_ would, indeed, sometimes return homejust on a visit to his family; but always expressed such an impatience, or rather pining to get back again to them, that, though reluctantly, the father was obliged to yield to it. No representations in short, after some years, could ever prevail on him to renounce his connexions, and residence amongst the _Abenaquis_, where he is almost adored. He haslearned to excel them all, even in their own points of competition. Heout-does them all in their feats of activity, in running, leaping, climbing mountains, swimming, shooting with the bow and arrow, managingof canoes, snaring and killing birds and beasts, in patience of fatigue, and even of hunger; in short, in all they most value themselves upon, orto which they affix the idea of personal merit, the only merit thatcommands consideration amongst them. They are not yet polished enough toadmire any other. By this means, however, he perfectly reigns amongstthem, with a power the greater, for the submission to it not only beingvoluntary, but the effect of his acknowledged superiority, in thosepoints that with them alone constitute it. His personal advantageslikewise may not a little contribute thereto, being perfectly well-made, finely featured, with a great deal of natural wit, as well as courage. He dresses, whilst with the savages, exactly in their manner, ties hishair up like them, wears a tomby-awk, or hatchet, travels with_rackets_, (or Indian shoes) and, in short, represents to the life thecharacter of a compleat savage-warrior. When he comes to _Quebec_, or_Louisbourg_, he resumes his European dress, without the least markappearing in his behaviour, of that wildness or rudeness one wouldnaturally suppose him to have contracted by so long a habit of them withthe savages. Nobody speaks purer French, or acquits himself better inconversation. He takes up or lays down the savage character with equalgrace and ease. His friends have, at length, given over teazing him tocome and reside for good amongst them; they find it is to so littlepurpose. The priests indeed complain bitterly, that he is not overloadedwith religion, from his entering so thoroughly into the spirit of thesavage-life; and his setting an example, by no means edifying, of alicentious commerce with their women; besides, his giving no signs ofhis over-respecting either their doctrine or spiritual authority. Thisthey pretend hurts them with their actual converts, as well as withthose they labor to make; though, in this conduct, he is not singular, for the French wood-rangers, in general, follow the like course in agreater or lesser degree. These representations of the priests would, however, have greater influence with our government, if the temporaladvantage they derive from these rovers, undisciplined as they are, didnot oblige them to wink at their relaxation in spirituals. 

But it is not only men that have taken this passion for a savage life;there have been, though much rarer, examples of our women going into it. It is not many years since a very pretty French girl ran away into thewoods with a handsome young savage, who married her after his countryfashion. Her friends found out the village, or rather ambulatory tribeinto which she had got; but no persuasions, or instances, could prevailon her to return and leave her savage, nor on him to content to it; sothat the government not caring to employ force, for fear of disobligingthe nation of them, even acquiesced in her continuance amongst them, where she remains to this day, but worshipped like a little divinity, or, at least, as a being superior to the rest of their women. Possiblytoo she is not, in fact, so unhappy, as her choice would make one thinkshe must be; and if opinion constitutes happiness, she certainly is notso. 

There are not wanting here, who defend this strange attachment of someof their countrymen to this savage life, on principles independent ofthe reason of state, for encouraging its subjects to spread and gainfooting amongst the savage nations, by resorting to their country, ofwhich they, at the same time, gain a knowledge useful to futureenterprizes, by a winning conformity to their actions, and byintermarriages with them. They pretend, that even this savage lifeitself is not without its peculiar sweets and pleasures; that it is themost adapted, and the most natural to man. Liberty, they say, is nowhere more perfectly enjoyed, than where no subordination is known, butwhat is recommended by natural reason, the veneration of old age, or therespect of personal merit. 

The chace is at once their chief employment and diversion; it furnishesthem with means to procure those articles, which enter into the smallnumber of natural wants. The demands of luxury, they think too dearlybought with the loss of that liberty and independence they find in thewoods. They despise the magnificence of courts and palaces, incomparison with the free range and scope of the hills and vales, withthe starry sky for their canopy: they say, we enjoy the Universe only inminiature, whilst the savage-rovers enjoy it in the great. Thus reasonsome of our admirers here of the savage-system of life, and yet I do notfind that these refining advocates for it, are themselves tempted toembrace it. They are content to commend what themselves do not care topractise. Those who actually do embrace it, reason very little about it, though no doubt, the motives above assigned for their preference, aregenerally, one may say instinctively, at the bottom of it. Theirgreatest want is of wine, especially at first to those who are used toit; but they are soon weaned from it by the example of others, andcontent themselves with the substitution of rum, or brandy, of whichthey obtain supplies by their barter of skins and furs. In short, theirhunting procures them all that they want or desire, and their liberty orindependence supplies to them the place of those luxuries of life, thatare not well to be had without the sacrifice in some sort of it. 

It is more difficult to find an excuse for the shocking cruelties andbarbarities, exercised by the savages on their unhappy captives in war. The instances, however, of their inhumanity, are certainly notexagerated, nor possible to be exagerated, but they are multipliedbeyond the limits of truth. That they put then their prisoners to deathby exquisite tortures, is strictly true; but it is as true too, thatthey do not serve so many in that manner as has been said. Numbers theysave, and even incorporate with their own nation, who become as free as, and on a footing with, the conquerors themselves. And even in thatcruelty of theirs, there is at the bottom a mixture of piety with theirvindictiveness. They imagine themselves bound to revenge the deaths oftheir ancestors, their parents, or relations, fallen in war, upon theirenemies, especially of that nation by whom they have fallen. It is inthat apprehension too, they extend their barbarity to young children, and to women: to the first, because they fear they may grow up to anage, when they will be sure to pursue that revenge of which the spiritis early instilled into them; to the second, lest they should producechildren, to whom they would, from the same spirit, be sure to inculcateit. Thus, in a round natural enough, their fear begets their cruelty, and their cruelty their fear, and so on, _ad infinitum_. They considertoo these tortures as matter of glory to them in the constancy withwhich they are taught to suffer them; they familiarize to themselves theidea of them, in a manner that redoubles their natural courage andferocity, and especially inspires them to fight desperately in battle, so as to prefer death to a captivity, of which the consequences are, andmay be, so much more cruel to them. Another reason is also assignablefor their carrying things to these extremities: War is considered bythese people as something very sacred, and not lightly to be undertaken;but when once so, to be pushed with the utmost rigor by way of terror, joining its aid towards the putting the speediest end to it. The savagenations imagine such examples necessary for deterring one another fromcoming to ruptures, or invading one another upon slight motives, especially as their habitations or villages used to be so slightlyfortified, that they might easily be surprised. They have lately indeedlearned to make stronger inclosures, or pallisadoes, but still notsufficient entirely to invalidate this argument for their guardingagainst sudden hostilities, by the idea of the most cruel revenge theyannex to the commission of them. It is not then, till after the maturestdeliberation, and the deepest debates, that they commonly come to aresolution of _taking up the hatchet_, as they call declaring of war;after which, there are no excesses to which their rage and ferocity donot incite them. Even their feasting upon the dead bodies of theirenemies, after putting them to death with the most excruciating torturesthey can devise, is rather a point of revenge, than of relish for such abanquet. 

That midst all their savageness they have, however, some glimmeringperception of the _laws of nations_, is evident from the use to whichthey put the _calumet_, the rights of which are kept inviolate, thro'especially the whole northern continent of America. It answers nearestthe idea of the olive-branch amongst the ancients. 

As to your question, Sir, about the English being in the right or wrong, in their treatment of the _Acadians_, or descendants of the Europeansfirst settled in Acadia, and in their scheme of dispersing them, thepoint is so nice, that I own I dare not pronounce either way: but I willcandidly state to you certain facts and circumstances, which may enableyourself to form a tolerably clear idea thereon. 

But previously I shall give you a succinct description of these people:They were a mixed breed, that is to say, most of them proceeded frommarriages, or concubinage of the savage women with the first settlers, who were of various nations, but chiefly French, the others wereEnglish, Scotch, Swiss, Dutch, &c. The Protestants amongst whom, andespecially their children were, in process of time, brought over to aconformity of faith with ours. They found they could not easily keeptheir footing in the country, or live sociably with the great majorityof the French, but by this means of coming over to our religion. 

Certain Normans, of which number was Champlein, were the _first_ Frenchthat discovered Port-Royal, now Annapolis, where they found some Scotchsettled, who had built a fort of turf, and planted in the area before itsome plumb-trees, and walnut-trees, which was all the works ofagriculture, and fortification the British nation had made in thiscountry before the year 1710. This is the chief reason [And a very goodone surely. ] too, why they so much insist on calling Acadia, Nova-Scotia, and pretend to be the first inhabitants and trueproprietors. These Scotch were driven from Port-Royal by the Normans. Itis true, they had discovered the river of Port-Royal _before_ theNormans, and had built a turf-fort; but it is by no means true, thatthey were therefore the true settlers on this river, and less yet in thewhole of Acadia. [Nothing can be more false and pitiful, than whatfollows of this Frenchman's reasoning. If a fort is not a settlement, what can be called one? Is it not one of the most valid, and generallyreceived marks of taking possession? It supposes always a design tocultivate and improve; and no doubt but these first settlers would havedone both, if they had not been untimely driven away. ] The trueinhabitants are those who cultivate a country, and thereby acquire areal permanent situation. The property of ground is to them who clear, plant, and improve it. The English had done nothing in this way to ittill the year 1710. They never came there, but on schemes of incursionor trade; and in all the wars they had with the French, on beingsuperior to them, they contented themselves with putting them to ransom;and though they sometimes took their fortified places, they did notsettle in them. As all their pretension in Acadia was trade, theysometimes indeed detained such French as they could take prisoners; butthat was only for the greater security of their traffic in the meanwhile with the savages. Traders, continually obliged to follow thesavages in their vagabond journeys, could not be supposed to have timeor inclination for agriculture. This title then the French settlers had;and in short, the whole body of the inhabitants of Acadia, from timeimmemorial, may be averred to have been French, since a few families ofEnglish, and other Europeans, cannot be said to form an exception, andthose, as I have before observed, soon became frenchified. Except a fewfamilies from Boston or New-England I could never learn there were abovethree of purely British subjects, who also, ultimately conforming bothin the religious and civil institutions to the French, becameincorporated with them. These families were the _Peterses_, the_Grangers_, the _Cartys_. These last indeed descended from one RogerJohn-Baptist Carty, an Irish Roman-Catholic. He had been an indentedservant in New-England, and had obtained at length his discharge fromhis master, with permission to remain with the French Acadians for thefreer exercise of his religion. Peters was an iron-smith in England, andtogether with Granger, married in Acadia, and was there naturalized aFrenchman. Granger made his abjuration before M. Petit, secular-priestof the seminary of Paris, then missionary at Port-Royal (Annapolis). These and other European families then soon became united with theFrench Acadians, and were no longer distinguished from them. Most ofthese last were originally from _Rochelle_, _Xaintonge_, and _Poitou_;but all went under the common name of Acadians; and were once verynumerous. The Parish of _Annapolis-Royal_ alone in 1754, according tothe account of father _Daudin_, contained three hundred habitations, orabout two thousand communicants. The _Mines_, which are aboutfive-and-thirty leagues from Port-Royal, and the best corn country inAcadia, were also very populous; nor were there wanting inhabitants inmany commodious parts of this peninsula. 

The character of the French Acadians was good at the bottom: theirmorals far from vitious; their constitution hardy, and yet stronglyturned to indolence and inaction, not caring for work, unless a point ofpresent necessity pressed them; much attached to the customs of thecountry, which have not a little of the savage in them, and to theopinions of their fore-fathers, which they cherished as a kind ofpatrimony; it was hard to inculcate any novelty to them. They had manyparts of character in common with the Canada French. A little mattersurprises, and sets them a staring, without stirring their curiosity toexamine, or exciting their inclination to adopt or embrace it. They areremarkably fond of rosaries, crucifixes, agnus deis, and all the littletrinkets consecrated by religion, with which they love to adorn theirpersons, and of which the priests make no little advantage in disposingof amongst them: and in truth, it is almost incredible what a power andinfluence these have over them, and with which they despotically governthem. One instance I am sure cannot but make you laugh. In September, 1754, the priest at _Pigigeesh_, had appointed his parishioners toperform the religious ceremony of a _Recess_, and to make them expiatesome disgust they had given him, obliged them, men, women, and children, to attend the adoration of the holy-sacrament with a rope about theirnecks; and what is more, he not only made them all buy the rope of him, in which you may be sure he took care to find his account, but exactedtheir coming to fetch it bare-footed, from his parsonage house; and thisthey quietly submitted to. In short, considering the sweets of power onwhomsoever exercised, our good fathers the missionaries are not so muchto be pitied, as they would have us believe, for their great apostolicallabors, and exposure to fatigue; since it is certain, they live likelittle kings in their respective parishes, and enjoy in all senses thebest the land affords; and even our government itself, for its own ends, is obliged to pay a sort of court to them, and to keep them in goodhumour. 

The Acadian men were commonly drest in a sort of coarse black stuff madein the country; and many of the poorer sort go bare-footed in allweathers. The women are covered with a cloak, and all their head-dressis generally a handkerchief, which would serve for a veil too, in themanner they tied it, if it descended low enough. 

Their dwellings were almost all built in an uniform manner; theinhabitants themselves it was who built them, each for himself, therebeing but few or no mechanics in the country. The hatchet was theircapital and universal instrument. They had saw-mills for their timber, and with a plane and a knife, an Acadian would build his house and hisbarn, and even make all his wooden domestic furniture. Happy nation!that could thus be sufficient to itself, which would always be the case, were the luxury and the vanity of other nations to remain unenvied. 

Such in short were the French Acadians, who fell under the dominion ofthe king of Great Britain, when the English experienced, from both theAcadians and savages, a most thorough reluctance to the recognition oftheir new sovereign, which has continued to this day. 

As to the savages it is certain, that the governors for the Englishacted entirely against the interest of their nation, in their procedurewith them. They had been long under the French government, so far astheir nature allows them to be under any government at all; and besidesalmost all the Micmakis, and great numbers of the Maricheets, orAbenaquis, were converted to our faith, and were consequently under theinfluence of the priests. It could not then be expected, naturallyspeaking, that these people could all of a sudden shake off theirattachment to, and connexions with our nation; so that, even after thecession of Acadia, they continued, with a savage sulleness, to givemarks of their preference of our government. This could not fail ofgiving the English umbrage; and their impatience not brooking eitherdelays, or soothing them into a temper and opinion more favorable tothem: they let it very early be seen, and penetrated by the savages, that they intended to clear the country of them. Nor would thisexterminating plan, however not over-humane, have been perhaps wholly animpolitical one, if they had not had the French for neighbors, who, everwatchful and alert in concerning themselves with what past in thoseparts, took care underhand, by their priests and emissaries, to inflamethem, and to offer them not only the kindest refuge, but to provide themwith all necessaries of life, sure of being doubly repaid by the servicethey would do them, if but in the mischief they would do the English, towhom it was a great point with our government to make Acadia asuncomfortable, and as untenable as possible. It was no wonder then, thatthe savages, ill-used by the English, and still dreading worse fromthem, being constantly plied by our caresses, presents, and promises, should prefer our nation to that. I have before said, that religion hasno great hold of these savages, but it could not be but of some weightin the scale, where their minds were already so exulcerated againstthose of a different one, whom they now considered as their capitalenemies. You may be sure like-wise, our priests did not neglect makingthe most of this advantage, which the English themselves furnished themby their indiscreet management: for certain it is, that a few presentswell placed, proper methods of conciliation, and a very little time, would have entirely detached the savages from our interest, and haveturned the system of annoyance of the English against the Frenchthemselves. Some English governors indeed grew sensible of this, andapplied themselves to retrieve matters by a gentler treatment, but themischief was already done and irretrieveable; and our missionaries tookcare to widen the breach, and to keep up their spirit of hatred andrevenge, by instilling into them the notions of jealousy, that suchovertures of friendship, on the part of the English, were no better thanso many snares laid to make them perish, by a false security, since theycould not hope to do it by open violence. One instance may serve to showyou the temper of these people: Some years ago the English officersbeing assembled at the _Mines_, in order to take a solemn recognitionfrom them of the king of Great Britain, when a savage, a new convert, called _Simon_, in spite of all dissuasion, went himself alone to theEnglish commander, and told him, that all his endeavours to get the kingof England acknowledged, would be to no purpose; that, for his part, heshould never pay any allegiance but to the king of France, and drawing aknife, said, "This indeed is all the arms I have, and with this weaponalone, I will stand by the king of France till death. "

Yet, with all this obstinacy of sentiments, once more I dare aver, thesavages would have been easily won over and attached to the Englishparty, had these gone the right way about it: and I well know that theFrench, who knew best the nature of the savages, much dreaded it; andwere not a little pleased to see the English take measures so contraryto their own interest, and play the game so effectually into our hands. In short, we took, as was natural, all the advantage of theirindiscretion and over-sight. 

I come now to the Acadians, or what may more properly be called theFrench Acadians. These would undoubtedly have proved very valuablesubjects to the English, and extreamly useful to them in improving adominion so susceptible of all manner of improvement as _Acadia_, (Nova-Scotia) if they could have been, prevailed on to break theirformer ties of allegiance to the king of France, and to have remainedquietly under the new government to which they were now transferred. Butfrom this they were constantly dissuaded, and withheld by the influenceof our French priests, cantoned, amongst them [The letter-writer mighthave here added the infamous arts and falsities by which theseemissaries of the French imposed on those bigotted deluded people, andto that end made religion a vile tool of state. They represented tothese Acadians, that it was an inexpiable crime against their faith, tohold any commerce with heretics, and much more so to enter into theirinterests;--that there would be no pardon for them, either in the otherworld, or even in this, when the French should regain, as they certainlywould, possession of a country ceded so much against the grain. Inshort, they succeeded but too well in keeping up the spirit of rebellionamongst those infatuated devotees of theirs, who remained sullen andrefractory to all the advances the English made to gain them. ], who keptthem steady to our party. You may be sure our government did not fail ofconstantly inculcating the expediency of this conduct to our priests;who not only very punctually and successfully conformed to theirinstructions on this head, but very often in the heat of their zeal somuch exceeded them, as to draw on themselves the animadversion of theEnglish government. This answered a double end, of hindering that nationfrom finding those advantages in this country, by the prospect of whichit had been tempted to settle in it, and of engaging it to considerAcadia itself, as something not material enough to think worth itskeeping, at the expence which it must occasion, and consequently inducethe English to be the readier to part with it again, on any futuretreaty of peace. This too is certain, that the French themselves knewneither the extent, nor the value of this country, till they weresensible of the improvements the English were projecting; and the usenow so easy to discover might be made of so fine an establishment. Butto return to the Acadians: It must be confest the English had, withrespect to them, a difficult game to play. To force such a number offamilies, of which too such great use might have been made, to evacuatethe country, seems at first both impolitic and inhuman. But then it mustbe considered, that these people were absolutely untractable as to theEnglish, and thoroughly under the direction of priests in an interestquite opposite to theirs. To have taken those priests entirely fromthem, would have exasperated them yet more, and was, in fact, a measurerepugnant to that spirit of toleration in religious matters, of whichthey boast, and to which it must be owned they constantly adhered, as tothese people, both in speculation and practice. 

[Might not this dilemma have been removed, by procuring for thempriests, since priests they must have, from neutral nations, such as theFlemings, the Roman Swiss Cantons, &c. Whom a very small matter ofreward and encouragement would, it is probable, have fixed in theEnglish interest? At least, they could not have the same motives forfomenting rebellious principles, as the French priests, who were set onby that government. ]

None of the Acadians were ever molested purely for their religion; andeven the priests of our nation were always civilly treated by them, whenever they had not reason to think they meddled in temporal matters, or stirred up their parishioners to rebellion. I have seen many of theirown letters that acknowledge as much; so that upon the whole, I do notsee that the English could do otherwise than they did, in expellingtheir bounds a people, who were constitutionally, and invincibly, aperpetual thorn in their side, whom they could at best look on as secretdomestic enemies, who wanted nothing but an occasion to do them all themischief in their power, and of whom, consequently, there could not, fortheir interest and safety, remain too few in the land. 

In the mean time the French took special care to appear at least toreceive with open arms those _refugees_, whom their fear or hatred ofthe English drove out of that country; they gave them temporary placesof habitation, both for them and their cattle, besides provisions, arms, tools, &c. Till they should fix a settlement in some part of the Frenchdominions here, which they recommended especially in the island of, oron the banks of the river of St. John; but they were at first very lothto come to a determination. And surely, these unfortunate victims oftheir attachment to the French government deserved all the reparation inits power to give them, for what they had quitted for the sake ofpreserving allegiance to it, even after their country had beentransferred to another sovereign. I cannot, however, consistently withtruth say, they were received as kindly as they deserved, which probablybred that undetermination of their's to fix a new settlement, as theywere pressed to do by the French government. They retained still ahankering after their old habitations: the temporary new ones were farfrom being equally agreeable or convenient; and even the ancientsettlers in those places where these refugees were provisionallycantoned, began to make complaints of their encroaching upon them, andto represent their apprehensions of their becoming burthensome to them. Some of our people in power, more sollicitous for their own privateinterest, than for the public good, were but too remiss in relieving andcomforting these poor people. This, at length, indisposed them so, thatafter very pathetic remonstrances on the hardship of their case, and themotives upon which they thus suffered, great numbers of them began tolisten seriously to the proposals made them by the English, to returnupon very inviting terms to the settlements they had quitted. In short, it required the utmost art of the missionaries, and even a kind ofcoercion from the military power, to keep them from accepting theEnglish offers. For when they presented a petition to Mons. _de Vergor_, for leave to return to the English district, this commander, afterhaving remonstrated to them that he could not grant their request, nordecide any thing of himself in a matter of that importance, was forced, at length, to declare to them, that he would _shoot_ any man who shouldattempt to go over to the English. [It should here be remarked, thatthese very people had taken the oath of allegiance to the crown ofEngland, agreeable to the tenor of the treaty of Utrecht. But theFrench, not content with harbouring these causeless malecontents, thatwere actually deserters over to them, kept continually, by means of thepriests, plying such as staid behind with exhortations, promises, menaces, in short, with every art of seduction, to engage them towithdraw their sworn allegiance to their now lawful sovereign. In short, if all the transactions of the French in those parts were thrown into ahistory, it would lay open to the world such a scene of complicatedvillainy, rebellion, perjury, subornation of perjury, perfidiousness, and cruelty, as would for ever take from that nation the power ofpluming itself, as it now so impudently does, on its sincerity, fairness, and moderation. The English, on the other hand, too consciousof the justice of their cause at bottom, have been too remiss in theirconfutation of the French falsities: content with being in the right, they cared too little for having the appearance of being so, as if theworld was not governed by appearances. ] Thus these poor people remainedunder this deplorable dilemma. Some of them too, had not evenhabitations to go back if they would: they had been forced into themeasure of deserting their country, and passing over to the French side, by the violence of the Abbot de Loutre, who had not only preached theminto this spirit, but ordered the savages, whom he had at his disposal, to set fire to their habitations, barns, &c. Particularly at_Mirtigueesh_. [The reader is desired to observe, that in the memorialsdelivered into the English court by the French ministers, this burningof villages was specifically made an article of complaint, at the sametime that it was their own incendiary agent, at their own instigation, who had actually caused fire to be set to them by his savages. Couldthen impudence be pushed farther than it was on this occasion?]

In the mean time the French did not spare, at least, the consolation ofwords and promises to these distrest Refugee-acadians. They wereassured, that they would infallibly be relieved on the regulation of thelimits taking place, which was then on the point of being settled, bycommissaries, between the two crowns. [The truth is, that in theseassurances the French government, which never intended a conclusion, butonly an amusement, did not scruple equally deceiving the English, andthese infatuated Acadian subjects of ours, who, to the French interesthad sacrificed their own, their possessions in their country, theirsworn faith, in short, their ALL. Whoever has the patience to go throughthe French memorials, in their procedure with our commissaries, may seesuch instances of their pitiful prevarications, petty-fogging chicanery, quirks, and evasions, as would nauseate one. The whole stress of theirargument, in short, turns merely upon names, where the things themselveswere absolutely out of the question, from the manifest notoriety ofthem. ] This hope, in some sort, pacified them; and they lived as well asthey could in the expectation of a final decision, which was not so soonto come. 

Yet even this example of the sufferings of these people, purely onaccount of their attachment to the French government, could not outbalance with the French Acadians, who remained in the English district, the assiduous applications of our priests to keep them firm in theFrench interest. They never ceased giving every mark in their power oftheir preference of our government to that, under which the treaty ofUtrecht had put them. The English, however, at length finding that, neither by fair nor foul means, could they reclaim or win them over totheir purpose, so as that they might in future depend upon them, came atonce to a violent resolution. They surprized and seized every FrenchAcadian-man they could lay their hands on, (the women they knew wouldfollow of course) and, to clear the country effectually of them, dispersed them into the remotest parts of their other settlements inNorth-America, where they thought they could do the least mischief tothem. Some were shipped off for England: the priests shared the samefate, and were conveyed to Europe. With this evacuation, the veryexistence of the French Acadians may be said to have ended; for inAcadia there are scarce any traces of them left, few or none havingescaped this general seizure and transportation, for the necessity ofwhich, the English were perhaps more to be pitied than blamed. 

In the mean time our government had so far succeeded, as to force theEnglish, thus to deprive themselves of such a number of subjects, who, but for the reasons above deduced, might have been very valuable ones, and a great strengthening of their new colony. Hitherto then ourneighborhood has made it almost as irksome, and uncomfortable to them, as we could wish; and this fine spot of dominion does not nigh produceto them the advantages that might otherwise naturally be expected fromit. Numbers of themselves begin to exclaim against it, as if its valueand importance had been overrated; not considering, that it is on thecircumstances of their possession, and not on the nature of thepossession itself, that their complaints and murmurings should fall. Itis very likely, that whenever we get it back again, we shall know verywell what to do with it. They have begun to teach us the value of whatwe thus inadvertently parted with to them; and it will be hard, indeed, on recovering it, if we do not improve upon their lessons. 

In the mean time you in Europe are cruelly mistaken, if you do not annexan idea of the highest consequence and value, to the matters of dominionnow in dispute, between the crowns of France and Great Britain, betweenwhom the war is in a manner begun, by the capture of the Alcides andLys, and which, even without that circumstance, was inevitable. I knowthat our (French) government, is indeed fully sensible of the capitalimportance to it of its interest in these parts, and has proceeded inconsequence. But it is not so, I find by your letters, and the reportsof others, with numbers in Europe, who do not conceive, that the presentobject of the war is so considerable as it really is. 

To say nothing of the vast extent of country that falls under the claimof the English to Acadia (Nova-Scotia) which alone would form an immencemass of dominion, greatly improveable in a number of points, itssituation is yet of greater weight. By the English possessing it, Canadaitself would be so streightened, so liable to harrassment, andespecially to the comptrol of its navigation, that it would scarce betenable, and surely not worth the expence of keeping. The countrypretended to have been ceded is far preferable to it; and the masters ofit would be equally masters of the sea all over North-America. Hallifax, for example, according to which of the nation's hand it should be in, may be equally an effectual check on Quebec, or Boston. 

You will then allow, that was there even nothing more in dispute thanthe limits of the cession of Acadia, or Nova-Scotia, together with itsnecessary dependence, that alone would form such a considerable object, as not easily to be given up on either side. The commissaries appointedby both crowns, then failing of coming to any agreement or regulation, it is no wonder to see the appeal lodged with the sword; especially whenthere is another point yet remains, of perhaps equal, if not superior, importance, depending on the issue of the war: and that is, the westerninland frontiers of the English colonies. Should we ever command thenavigation of the lakes and rivers, behind their settlements, you caneasily figure to yourself, not only the vast advantages of preservingthat communication of Canada, with New Orleans and the Mississippi, soabsolutely essential to both these our colonies, but the facility itwill give us on all occasions of distressing the English, where neithertheir marine-force can succor them, nor can they be able to resist theattack, since we may make it wherever ever we please, and effectuallydodge any land-force they might assemble in any one or two parts tooppose us. We may then carry the war into the quarter most convenient;and most safe for us, if we should ever have the whole navigation of thelakes so far at our disposal, as to prevent their constructing anymaterial number vessels to dispute it with us. Thus we can penetrateinto the heart of any of their colonies, that may best suit us, especially with the concurrent aid of the savages, whom we have foundmeans to attach so strongly to us, and on whom we can greatly depend forthe effectual harrassment of, especially, the back-plantations of theEnglish. 

You see then, Sir, by this summary sketch of the points in contest, thatthe war being once engaged, it will not be so easy a matter as many inEurope imagine, to adjust the pretensions, so various and so important, of the respective nations, so as to be able to procure a peace. Some, ofthe points appear to me absolutely _untreatable_. You may observe too, that I do not so much as touch upon the dispute about Tabago, Santa-Lucia, or any of the Leeward islands, which are not, however, ofsmall consequence. In short, the war must, in all human probability, bea much longer one, than is commonly believed. Neither nation canmaterially relax of its claims, without such a thorough sacrifice of itsinterest in America, as nothing but the last extremities of weakness cancompel. 

Long as this letter is, I cannot yet close it without mentioning to youa singular phenomenon of nature, in the island of St. John. You know itis a flat, level island, chiefly formed out of the congestion of sandand soil from the sea. Tradition, experience, and authentic public acts(_Procés verbaux_) concur to attest that every seven years, it isvisited by swarms either of locusts, or of field-mice, alternately, never together; without its being possible to discover hitherto eitherthe reason, or the origin of these two species, which thus in theirturns, at the end of every seventh year, pour out all of a sudden inamazing numbers, and having committed their ravages on all the fruits ofthe earth, precipitate themselves into the sea. Neither has anypreventive remedy for this evil been yet discovered. It is well knownhow they perish, but, once more, how they are produced no one, that Icould learn, has as yet been able to trace. The field-mice areundoubtedly something in the nature of those swarms of the sable-mice, that sometimes over-run Lapland and Norway, though I do not know thatthese return so regularly, and at such stated periods, as those of thisisland. 

I am, Sir, Your most obedient, Humble servant. 

CHARACTER

OF THE

SAVAGES of NORTH-AMERICA, EXTRACTED FROM

A LETTER of the Father CHARLEVOIX, TO

A LADY of Distinction, To give you, Madam, a summary sketch of the character of the savages inthis country, I am to observe to you, that under a savage appearance, with manners and customs, that favor entirely of barbarism, may be founda society exempt from almost all the faults that so often vitiate thehappiness of ours. 

They appear to be without passion, but they are in cold blood, andsometimes even from principle, all that the most violent and mostunbridled passion can inspire into those, who no longer listen toreason. 

They seem to lead the most miserable of lives, and they are, perhaps, the only happy of the earth. At least those of them are still so, amongst whom the knowledge of those objects that disturb and seduce us, has not yet penetrated, or awakened in them, those pernicious desireswhich their ignorance kept happily dormant: it has not, however, hitherto made great ravages amongst them. 

There may be perceived a mixture in them of the most ferocious and themost gentle manners; of the faults reproachable to the carnivorousbeasts, with those virtues and qualities of the head and heart, that dothe most honor to human-kind. 

One would, at first, imagine, that they had no sort of form ofgovernment, that they knew no laws nor subordination, and that living inan entire independence, they suffered themselves to be entirely guidedby chance, or by the most wild, untamed caprice: yet they enjoy almostall the advantages, which a well-regulated authority can procure to themost civilized nations. Born free and independent, they hold in horrorthe very shadow of despotic power; but they rarely swerve from certainprinciples and customs, founded upon good-sense, which stand them in thestead of laws, and supplement in some sort to their want of legalauthority. All constraint mocks them; but reason alone hold them in akind of subordination, which, for its being voluntary, does not the lessanswer the proposed end. 

A man, whom they should greatly esteem, would find them tractable andductile enough, and might very nearly make them do any thing he had amind they should; but it is not easy to gain their esteem to such apoint. They grant it only to merit, and that merit a very superior one, of which they are as good judges as those, who, amongst us, valuethemselves the most upon being so. They are, especially, apt to be takenwith physiognomy; and there are not in the world, perhaps, men who aregreater _connoisseurs_ in it: and that is, because they have for no manwhatever, any of those respects that prejudice or impose on us, and thatstudying only nature, they understand it well. As they are not slaves toambition or interest, those two passions that have chiefly cancelled inus that sentiment of humanity, which the author of nature had engravedin our hearts; the inequality of conditions is not necessary to them, for the support of society. 

There are not therefore, Madam, to be seen amongst them, or at least, are rarely to be met with, those arrogant haughty characters, who, fullof themselves of their greatness, or their merit, look on themselvesalmost as a species a-part, and disdain the rest of mankind, of whomconsequently they can never have the confidence or love. Their equalsthese rarely know any thing of, because the jealousy that reigns amongstthe great, hinders them from being intimate enough with one another. Neither do they know themselves, from their never studying themselves, and from their constant self-flattery. They never reflect, that to gainadmission into the hearts of men, they must make themselves theirequals; so that with this pretended superiority of enlightenedunderstanding, which they look on as an essential property of the rankthey hold, the most part of them live groveling in a proud and incurableignorance of all that it would be the most important for them to know, and never enjoy the true sweets of life. 

In all this how wretchedly different from the savages! In this country, all the men esteem themselves equally men; and in man, what they mostesteem is, the man. No distinction of birth; no prerogative attributedto rank, to the prejudice of the other free members of society; nopre-eminence annexed to merit that can inspire pride, or make othersfeel too much their inferiority. There is, perhaps, less delicacy intheir sentiments than amongst us, but surely more uprightness; lessceremony; less of all that can form a dubious character; less of thetemptations or illusions or self-love. 

Religion only can perfect these people in what is good in them, andcorrect what bad. This indeed is not peculiar to them, but what is so, is, that they bring with them fewer obstacles to religious devotion whenonce they have begun to believe, which can only be the effect of aspecial grace. It is also true, that to establish firmly the empire ofreligion over them, it would be necessary that they should see itpractised in all its purity by those who profess it. They are extremelysusceptible of the scandal given by bad Christians, as are all those whoare, for the first time, instructed in the principles of theGospel-morality. 

You will perhaps ask me, Madam, if they have a religion? To this Ianswer, that it cannot be said they have not one, though it is difficultto give a definition of what it is. I shall sometime or other, takeoccasion to enter into more particulars on this head. This letter, likemost of the others that have preceded it, prove sufficiently that I donot pretend to write to you methodically. 

I shall then now only content myself with adding, by way of finishing, to this picture of the savages, that even in their most indifferentactions, may be perceived the traces of the primitive natural religion, but which escape those who do not study them enough, because they areyet more defaced by the want of instruction, [This want of instructionis wretchedly supplemented amongst the savage-converts to the Popishreligion, by that superstitious worship, and those fabulous traditions, its missionaries have introduced amongst them, and which must be onlythe more execrable, for their being a superstructure on so fair afoundation as that of the truths of the Gospel. At least, the savages, in their genuine unsophisticated state, have no such base, absurd, derogatory ideas of the Deity, as are implied by the doctrines oftransubstantiation, purgatory, absolution, and the like fictions in theRomish church, which have been the more than mines of Mexico and Peru, of its clergy. ] than adulterated by the mixture of a superstitiousworship, and by fabulous traditions. 

_FINIS. _