The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 6: Quebec, 1633-1634
History
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 6: Quebec, 1633-1634
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Indians of North America -- Canada; Jesuits -- Missions; Jesuits -- North America
First, the Bear having been killed, the man who killed it did not
bring it back, but he returned to the Cabin to impart the news,
so that some one might go and see the prize, as something very
precious; for the Savages prefer the meat of the Bear to all other
kinds of food; it seems to me that the young Beaver is in no way
inferior to it, but the Bear has [93] more fat, and therefore the
Savages like it better.
Secondement l'Ours a[p]porté toutes les filles nubiles, & les ieunes
femmes mariées qui n'ont point encore eu d'ẽfans, tant celles de
la Cabane où l'Ours doit estre mangé, que des autres voisines, s'en
vont dehors, & ne rentrent point tant qu'il y reste aucun morceau de
cet animal, dont elles ne goustent point: Il negeoit & faisoit vn
temps fort fascheux, il estoit quasi nuict quãd cét Ours fut apporté
en nostre Cabane: tout à l'heure les femmes & les filles sortirent, &
s'en allerent Cabaner ailleurs le mieux quelles peurent non sans patir
beaucoup, car ils n'ont pas tousiours des écorces à leur commandemẽt
pour dresser leur maison, qu'ils couurẽt en tel cas de brãches de Sapin.
Second, the Bear being brought, all the marriageable girls and
young married women who have not had children, as well as those of
the Cabin where the Bear is to be eaten, and of the neighboring
cabins, go outside, and do not return as long as there remains a
piece of this animal, which they do not taste. It snowed, and the
weather was very severe. It was almost night when this Bear was
brought to our Cabin; immediately the women and girls went out and
sought Shelter elsewhere, the best they could find. They do this
not without much suffering; for they do not always have bark at
hand with which to make their house, which in such cases they cover
with branches of the Fir tree.
En troisiesme lieu, il faut bien éloigner les chiens, de peur qu'ils
ne lechent le sang, ou ne mangent les os, voire les excremens de cette
beste, tãt elle est cherie. On enterre ceux-cy sous le foyer, & on
iette ceux-là au feu; voila ce que i'obseruay en cette superstitiõ.
On fit deux banquets de cét Ours, [94] l'ayant fait cuire en deux
chaudieres, quoy qu'en mesme temps. On inuita les hõmes & les femmes
âgées au premier festin, lequel acheué, les femmes sortirent, puis on
depẽdit l'autre chaudiere, dont on fit festin à manger tout entre les
hommes seulement. Cela se fit le soir de la prise; le lendemain sur la
nuict, ou le second iour, ie ne m'en souuiens pas bien, l'Ours estant
entierement mangé, les ieunes femmes, & les filles retournerent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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