are let loose at night, nor the rigor of the cold, had prevented this good man from coming to call them. Sieur Nicolet and sieur de Launay[69] accompanied them; the latter was Godfather and gave her the name Marie. Her father and mother, although Barbarians, showed that they were pleased at this act, and thanked the Fathers and our Frenchmen for having taken the trouble to come out on a night so bad that sieur Nicolet was made sick by it. The poor girl had only words enough to accept the baptism which she had so much desired; for, as soon as she had received it, she entered into the pangs of death, and soon after went to Paradise, clad in the robes of innocence with which Heaven had just covered her. When her uncle saw that she was dead, he had Father Buteux called and said to him, "You love, not only during life, but even after death; my niece belongs to you, bury her in your [41] way. Make a big grave, for my brother, whom grief has stricken dumb, wishes to place with her her little belongings." They wished to bury with this girl two dogs, and several other things. As to the dogs, they were told that the French would not be pleased if such ugly beasts were placed among them. "Permit us, then," said they, "to bury them near your Cemetery; for the dead girl loved them, and it is our custom to give to the dead what they loved or possessed when they were living." We do all we can to oppose this superstition, which is every day becoming less general; nevertheless, one tolerates, in these first beginnings, many things which in time will disappear of themselves. If these poor ignorant people were refused the privilege of placing in the graves of their dead their few belongings, to go with them to the other life, they say, they would also refuse to allow us to approach their sick; and thus many souls would be lost which we are gathering in little by little, until the days of the great harvest come. So they enveloped the dead body in several robes; they gave her her trinkets, [42] her ornaments, a quantity of porcelain, which is the diamonds and pearls of this country;[70] and besides this they put in the grave two paddles, and two large bags filled with their wealth, and with different utensils or instruments which the girls and women use. Finally, the father of this girl, so dearly beloved,--seeing the honor they were showing his child, and that they had made her a beautiful coffin, a thing which gives infinite pleasure to these Barbarians,--threw himself upon Father Buteux's neck and said, "_Nikanis_, my well-beloved, in truth I recognize that thou lovest me, and that all of you, who wear this gown, cherish our Nation." Then apostrophizing his child: "My daughter, how happy thou art to be so well lodged!" This man is one of the principal men of his