“A great part of our nation accordingly settled here, where they lived in peace and abundance for several generations; the Great Sun, and those who had remained with him, never thought of joining us, being tempted to continue where they were by the pleasantness of the country, which was very warm, and by the weakness of their enemies, who had fallen into civil dissensions in consequence of the ambition of one of their chiefs, who wanted to raise himself from a state of equality with the other chiefs of the villages, and to treat all the people of his nation as slaves. During those discords among our enemies, some of them even entered into an alliance with the Great Sun, who still remained in our old country, that he might conveniently assist other brethren who had settled on the banks of the Great Water to the east of the large river, and extended themselves so far on the coast, and among the isles, that the Great Sun did not hear of them sometimes for five or six years together. “It was not till after many generations that the Great Suns came and joined us in this country, when, from the fine climate and the peace we had enjoyed, we had multiplied like the leaves of the trees. Warriors of fire, who made the earth to tremble, had arrived in our old country, and having entered into an alliance with our brethren, conquered our ancient enemies; but attempting afterwards to make slaves of our sons, they, rather than submit to them, left our brethren, who refused to follow them, and came hither attended only by their slaves.” Upon my asking him who those warriors of fire were, he replied, “that they were bearded white men, somewhat of a brownish colour, who carried arms that darted out fire with a great noise, and killed at a distance; that they had likewise heavy arms which killed a great many men at once, and like thunder made the earth tremble; and that they came from the sun-rising in floating villages.” “The ancients of the country,” he said, “were very numerous, and inhabited from the western coast of the Great Water to the northern countries on this side the sun, and very far up on the same coast beyond the sun. They had a great number of large and small villages, which were all built of stone, and in which there were houses large enough to lodge a whole village. Their temples were built with great labour and art, and they made beautiful works of all kinds of materials.” “But ye yourselves,” said I, “whence are ye come?” “The ancient speech,” he replied, “does not say from what land we came; all that we know is, that our fathers, to come hither, followed the sun, and came with him from the place where he rises; that they were a long time on their journey, were all on the point of perishing, and were brought into this country without seeking it.” [Illustration: _Les Marches Naturelles,_ near Quebec.]