Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 03Champlain, Samuel de
History
Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 03
Champlain, Samuel de
America -- Discovery and exploration -- French; Indians of North America -- Canada; New France -- Discovery and exploration
Now the time when they do not leave their mates is when they have
children. The preceding mate returns to her, renews the affection and
friendship which he had borne her in the past, asserting that it is greater
than that of any other one, and that the child she has is his and of his
begetting. The next says the same to her. In time, the victory is with the
stronger, who takes the woman for his wife. Thus it depends upon the
choice of the woman to take and accept him who shall please her best,
having meantime in her searching and loves gained much porcelain and,
besides, the choice of a husband. The woman remains with him without
leaving him; or if she do leave him, for he is on trial, it must be for
some good reason other than impotence. But while with this husband, she
does not cease to give herself free rein, yet remains always at home,
keeping up a good appearance. Thus the children which they have together,
born from such a woman, cannot be sure of their legitimacy. Accordingly, in
view of this uncertainty, it is their custom that the children never
succeed to the property and honors of their fathers, there being doubt, as
above indicated, as to their paternity. They make, however, the children of
their sisters, from whom they are known to have issued, their successors
and heirs.
The following is the way they nourish and bring up their children: they
place them during the day on a little wooden board, wrapping them up in
furs or skins. To this board they bind them, placing them in an erect
position, and leaving a little opening for the child to do its necessities.
If it is a girl, they put a leaf of Indian corn between the thighs, which
presses against its privates. The extremity of the leaf is carried outside
in a turned position, so that the water of the child runs off on it without
inconvenience. They put also under the children the down of certain reeds
that we call hare's-foot, on which they rest very softly. They also clean
them with the same down. As an ornament for the child, they adorn the board
with beads, which they also put on its neck, however small it may be. At
night they put it to bed, entirely naked, between the father and mother. It
may be regarded as a great miracle that God should thus preserve it so that
no harm befalls it, as might be expected, from suffocation, while the
father and mother are in deep sleep, but that rarely happens. The children
have great freedom among these tribes. The fathers and mothers indulge them
too much, and never punish them. Accordingly they are so bad and of so
vicious a nature, that they often strike their mothers and others. The most
vicious, when they have acquired the strength and power, strike their
fathers. They do this whenever the father or mother does anything that
does not please them. This is a sort of curse that God inflicts upon them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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