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By Root 600 0

took us both, wrapped us in a beaver skin, carried us into the woods, placed us in the hollow of a tree, and abandoned us. We remained there until, a Savage passing by, I began to weep and cry out, that he might hear me. He did, indeed, perceive me; he carried the news, to the village; my mother came, she took me again, bore me to her cabin, and brought me up such as thou seest me.” This charlatan also related about himself that when he was young, as he was very ill-shapen, the children made war upon him and ridiculed him, and that he had caused several of them to die; that, nevertheless, he had finally decided to endure it henceforth, lest he might ruin the country if he should kill all; that was a fine piece of bluster. Your Reverence will hear still more extravagant stories about him, in the course of time. At all events, behold in him one of the great Physicians of the country; nor did he lack practice. As for us, we could well dispense, thank God, with his remedies. . . . It was oftentimes said, during the evil reports that were current about us throughout the country, that if we had not been afflicted as well as the others, they would not have doubted that we were the cause of the disease. Your Reverence knows how they treat poisoners here; we informed you of it last year, and we have lately seen an example of it with our own eyes,—the danger going so far as to enable us to say that we might not have come out of it very cheaply. We all considered ourselves happy to die in this cause; but since it pleased this divine mercy to preserve our lives, it places us under fresh obligations to employ them for his glory, and not to spare ourselves in anything which can advance the conversion of our Savages. . . .

[October]

Meanwhile, the Devil was playing his pranks elsewhere, and speaking through the mouth of the Sorcerer Tonnerauanont, was turning aside these peoples from applying to God. Some time before, this little hunchback had declared that the whole country was sick; and he had prescribed a remedy, namely, a game of [la]crosse, for its recovery [see figure 14]. This order had been published throughout all the villages, the Captains had set about having it executed, and the young people had not spared their arms; but in vain. The disease did not cease to spread, and to gain ground all the time; and on the 15th of October we counted in our little village thirteen or 14 sick people. Nor did our Sorcerer engage at this time to undertake the cure of the whole country; yet he ventured one word as rash as it was presuming, for the village of Onnentisati, whence he came. He was not satisfied to give some hope that no one there would be sick,—he gave assurances thereof that he made indubitable, by founding them upon the power he claimed to have over the contagion in his character of Demon; he was immediately given something with which to make a feast. This boast spread everywhere, and was accepted as truth; all the people of Onnentisati were already considered fortunate and out of danger. This constrained us to exert ourselves with God, and to implore his divine goodness to confound the devil in the person of this wretch, and to obtain glory for himself from this public affliction. And the next day, the 14th, we made a vow to say for this purpose 30 Masses in honor of the glorious Patriarch, saint Joseph. It was not long before we had something with which to close the mouths of those who boasted to us of their prowess, and this Village was hardly more spared than the others. There were a great many sick there, several of whom died. Heaven, as we hope, has gained thereby. . . .

[November]

About this time another old man of our village was sorely troubled; people talked of nothing else than of going to break his head. For a long time he had been suspected of being a Sorcerer and a poisoner, and quite recently one Oaca had testified that he believed this Savage was making him die; and some of them said they had seen him at night roaming around the Cabins, and casting flames from his mouth. Here was only too much to make a bad