The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 5: Quebec, 1632-1633 — John Shaqi
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 5: Quebec, 1632-1633
History
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 5: Quebec, 1632-1633
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Indians of North America -- Canada; Jesuits -- Missions; Jesuits -- North America
The next day we again set sail, and on the 18th of June we cast
anchor at Tadoussac. This is another bay or very small cove, near
which there is a river named Sagué [Saguenay], which empties into
the great river St. Lawrence. This river [15] is as beautiful as
the Seine, about as rapid as the Rosne [Rhone], and deeper than
many places in the sea, for it is said to be 80 fathoms deep in its
shallowest places. As we were on our way to say the Holy Mass on
the shore, one of our soldiers killed a great eagle near its eyrie.
Its head and neck were entirely white, the beak and feet yellow,
the rest of the body blackish; it was as large as a Turkey-cock. We
sojourned here from the 14th of June to the 3rd of July; that is to
say, 19 days. It was still very cold when we arrived, but before
leaving we felt excessive heat; and yet it was only the spring,
since the trees had only just begun to put forth their foliage. In
a very short time the leaves, the buds, the flowers, and the fruit
appear here and ripen; I mean the wild [16] fruit, as there is no
other. It was here that I saw Savages for the first time. As soon
as they saw our vessel, they lighted fires, and two of them came
on board in a little canoe very neatly made of bark. The next day
a Sagamore, with ten or twelve Savages, came to see us. When I saw
them enter our Captain's room, where I happened to be, it seemed
to me that I was looking at those maskers who run about in France
in Carnival time. There were some whose noses were painted blue,
the eyes, eyebrows, and cheeks painted black, and the rest of the
face red; and these colors are bright and shining like those of
our masks; others had black, red, and blue stripes drawn from the
ears to the mouth. Still others were entirely black, except the
upper part of the brow and around [17] the ears, and the end of
the chin; so that it might have been truly said of them that they
were masquerading. There were some who had only one black stripe,
like a wide ribbon, drawn from one ear to the other, across the
eyes, and three little stripes on the cheeks. Their natural color
is like that of those French beggars who are half-roasted in the
Sun, and I have no doubt that the Savages would be very white if
they were well covered. To describe how they were dressed would be
difficult indeed. All the men, when it is a little warm, go naked,
with the exception of a piece of skin which falls from just below
the navel to the thighs. When it is cold, or probably in imitation
of the Europeans, they cover themselves with furs of the Beaver,
Bear, Fox, and other animals of the same kind, but so awkwardly,
that it does not prevent the greater part of their bodies from
being seen. [18] I have seen some of them dressed in Bear skin,
just as St. John the Baptist is painted. This fur, with the hair
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