The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 2: Acadia, 1612-1614
History
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 2: Acadia, 1612-1614
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Indians of North America -- Canada; Jesuits -- Missions; Jesuits -- North America
Then he recommended to them again [32] and again to maintain peace
with us, and also piously gave his blessing to certain of his
people, I dictating the words and guiding his hand. A short time
after, he died. We deemed it well to celebrate his funeral with
great pomp. And certainly there has for a long time been no Chief
of such great authority among these people. What is still more
remarkable is that he always adhered firmly to his resolution never
to have more than one wife at a time, even before his conversion.
Atque hæc domi gesta, nunc exeamus foras. Lustraui ego cum Domino
Biencurtio magnam totius regionis partem, hoc est totum id, quod
antiqui Norumbedam appellabant, flumina etiam ingressus sum præcipua.
Fructus is extitit, vt & cognosceremus, & cognosceremur; ipsique
siluatici, qui nunquam antea Sacerdotē, aut sacra nostra viderant,
inceperint aliquid nostra de Religione apprehendere. Vbicumque ac
quoties potuimus, infiniti pretij hostiam obtulimus Omnipotenti DEO,
vt scilicet altari, tanquam sede sua posita, inciperet hoc sibi
dominium seruator hominum vendicare; terrerētúrque ac fugarentur [33]
vsurpatione sua laruales tyranni. Et astiterunt frequenter Barbari
magno semper silentio ac reuerentiâ. Inuisebam postea ipsorum casulas,
orabam, ægris manus imponebam, cruciculas æneas aut imagunculas
donabam, ipsisqʒ de collo suspendebam, & quæ poteram diuina insinuabam.
Excipiebant illi omnia perlibenter, signúmque Crucis me ducente
conformabant, feréqʒ omnes pueri etiam me longè prosequebantur, vt
ipsum sæpius iterarent. Semel contigit, vt quem ægrotum altero antè
die inuiseram, propemodúmque depositum audieram, pòst cernerē vegetum,
hilarémque, cruce sua gloriantem, & mihi vultu manúque gratulantem,
vt suspicio magna sit, non solùm opem crucis sensisse, verum etiam
agnouisse. Si quando in Gallicas naues incidebamus, vt sæpe incidimus,
monita salutaria dabantur pro loci & temporis opportunitate: interdum
etiam vectores expiabantur. Semel maxima quædam complurium mala, &
animorum fortunarúmque labes auersa est per DEI gratiam: semel item
[34] exitium certissimum, cædésque non paucorum. Reconciliatus quoque
magni quidam Iuuenis & animi & spei. Is quòd sibi à D. Potrincurtio
timeret, annum iam vnum cum Siluicolis eorum more atque vestitu
pererrabat: & suspicio erat peioris quoque rei. Obtulit eum mihi DEVS,
colloquor, denique post multa Iuuenis sese mihi credit, deduco eum
ad D. Potrincurtium, non pœnituit fidei datæ, pax facta est maximo
omnium gaudio, & Iuuenis postridie, antequam ad sacram Eucharistiam
accederet, suapte ipse sponte à circumstātibus mali exempli veniam
petijt. Iam verò vti superuacaneum est de nauigantibus dicere, quòd
multa pericula mirabiliter euaserint; ita & de hîc commorantibus, quòd
multa sustineant. Quod aqua bibatur, nulla querela est: siquidem cœpit
iam nobis ante sex hebdomadas ita panis deficere, vt nunc detur in
hebdomadam, quod antè dabatur in vnum diem.
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