The Jesuit Missions : A Chronicle of the Cross in the WildernessMarquis, Thomas Guthrie
History
The Jesuit Missions : A Chronicle of the Cross in the Wilderness
Marquis, Thomas Guthrie
Jesuits -- Canada
Le Caron spent the remainder of the year 1615 among the
Hurons, studying the people, learning the language, and
compiling a dictionary. Champlain, his expedition ended,
returned to Huronia and remained there until the middle
of January, when he and Le Caron set out on a visit to
the Petun or Tobacco Nation, then dwelling on the southern
shore of Nottawasaga Bay, a two-days' journey south-west
of Carhagouha. There had been as yet no direct communication
between the French and the Petuns, and the visitors were
not kindly received. The Petun sorcerers or medicine-men
dreaded the influence of the grey-robed friar, regarded
him as a rival, and caused his teachings to be derided.
After an uncomfortable month Champlain and Le Caron
returned to Carhagouha, where they remained until the
20th of May, and then set out for Quebec.
When Le Caron reached Quebec on the 11th of July (1616)
he found that his comrades had not been idle. A chapel
had been built, in what is now the Lower Town, close to
the habitation, and here Father Jamay ministered to the
spiritual needs of the colonists and laboured among the
Indians camped in the vicinity of the trading-post. Father
d'Olbeau had been busy among the Montagnais, a wandering
Algonquin tribe between Tadoussac and Seven Islands, his
reward being chiefly suffering. The filth and smoke of
the Indian wigwams tortured him, the disgusting food of
the natives filled him with loathing, and their vice and
indifference to his teaching weighed on his spirit.
The greatest trial the Recollets had to bear was the
opposition of the Company of St Malo and Rouen, which
was composed largely of Huguenots, and had a monopoly of
the trade of New France. Many of the traders were actively
antagonistic to the spread of the Catholic religion and
they all viewed the work of the Recollets with hostility.
It was the aim of the missionaries to induce the Indians
to settle near the trading-posts in order that they might
the more easily be reached with the Gospel message. The
traders had but one thought--the profits of the fur trade;
and, desiring to keep the Indians nomadic hunters of
furs, they opposed bringing them into fixed abodes and
put every possible obstacle in the way of the friars.
Trained interpreters in the employ of the company for
both the Hurons and the various Algonquin tribes were
ordered not to assist the missionaries in acquiring a
knowledge of the native languages. The company was pledged
to support six missionaries, but the support was given
with an unwilling, niggardly hand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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