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
Ils mangent en outre des racines comme des oignons de martagons rouges,
vne racine, qui a goust de reglisse, vne autre que nos François
appellent des chapelets, pource qu'elle est distinguée par nœuds en
forme de grains, & quelques autres en petit nombre.
They eat, besides, roots, such as bulbs of the red lily; a root
which has a taste of liquorice; another that our French People call
"rosary," because it is distinguished by tubers in the form of
beads; and some others, not very numerous.[23]
Quand la grande famine les presse, ils mangent des racleures ou des
escorces d'vn certain arbre, qu'ils nomment _Michtan_, lesquels ils
fendent au Printẽps pour en tirer vn suc doux comme du miel, ou cõme du
sucre: à ce que m'ont dit quelques vns, mais à peine s'amusent ils à
cela tant il en coule peu.
When they are pressed by famine, they eat the shavings or bark of
a certain tree, which they call _Michtan_, which they split in the
Spring to get from it a juice, sweet as honey or as sugar;[24] I
have been told of this by several, but they do not enjoy much of
it, so scanty is the flow.
Voila les viandes & autres mets, dont se repaissent les Sauuages des
contrées où nous sommes; I'obmets sans doute [133] plusieurs autres
especes d'animaux, mais ils ne me reuiennent pas maintenant en la
memoire.
These, then, are the meats and other articles of food upon which
the Savages, of these countries where we are, subsist. I omit,
without doubt, [133] several other species of animals, but I do not
recall them at present.
Outre ces viures que ce peuple tire de son pays sans cultiuer la terre,
ils ont encore des farines & des bleds d'Inde; qu'ils troquent pour
des peaux d'Orignac auec les Hurons, qui descendent iusques à Kebec,
ou iusques aux trois riuieres. Ils acheptẽt encore du Petun de cette
nation, qui quasi tous les ans en a porté en grande quantité.
Besides these foods, which this people find in their own country
without cultivating the soil, they have also cereals and Indian
corn, which they trade for Moose skins with the Hurons, who come
down as far as Kebec or the three rivers. They also buy Tobacco
from that nation, who bring large quantities of it with them every
year.[25]
De plus, ils ont de nos François de la galette, du biscuit, du pain,
des pruneaux, des pois, des racines, des figues, & choses semblables.
Voila dequoy se nourrit ce pauure peuple.
Besides, they get from our French People galette, or sea biscuit,
bread, prunes, peas, roots, figs, and the like. You have here the
food of these poor people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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