Project Gutenberg's The Conquest of Canada (Vol. 1 of 2), by George Warburton

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Title: The Conquest of Canada (Vol. 1 of 2)

Author: George Warburton

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THE
CONQUEST OF CANADA.

BY

THE AUTHOR OF "HOCHELAGA."


IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. 1.

NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
82 CLIFF STREET.
1850.




INTRODUCTION.


England and France started in a fair race for the magnificent prize of
supremacy in America. The advantages and difficulties of each were much
alike, but the systems by which they improved those advantages and met
those difficulties were essentially different. New France was colonized
by a government, New England by a people. In Canada the men of
intellect, influence, and wealth were only the agents of the mother
country; they fulfilled, it is true, their colonial duties with zeal and
ability, but they ever looked to France for honor and approbation, and
longed for a return to her shores as their best reward. They were in the
colony, but not of it. They strove vigorously to repel invasion, to
improve agriculture, and to encourage commerce, for the sake of France,
but not for Canada.

The mass of the population of New France were descended from settlers
sent out within a short time after the first occupation of the country,
and who were not selected for any peculiar qualifications. They were not
led to emigrate from the spirit of adventure, disappointed ambition, or
political discontent; by far the larger proportion left their native
country under the pressure of extreme want or in blind obedience to the
will of their superiors. They were then established in points best
suited to the interests of France, not those best suited to their own.
The physical condition of the humbler emigrant, however, became better
than that of his countrymen in the Old World; the fertile soil repaid
his labor with competence; independence fostered self-reliance, and the
unchecked range of forest and prairie inspired him with thoughts of
freedom. But all these elevating tendencies were fatally counteracted by
the blighting influence of feudal organization. Restrictions,
humiliating as well as injurious, pressed upon the person and property
of the Canadian. Every avenue to wealth and influence was closed to him
and thrown open to the children of Old France. He saw whole tracts of
the magnificent country lavished upon the favorites and military
followers of the court, and, through corrupt or capricious influences,
the privilege of exclusive trade granted for the aggrandizement of
strangers at his expense.

France founded a state in Canada. She established a feudal and
ecclesiastical frame-work for the young nation, and into that
Procrustean bed the growth of population and the proportions of society
were forced. The state fixed governments at Montreal, Three Rivers, and
Quebec; there towns arose. She divided the rich banks of the St.
Lawrence and of the Richelieu into seigneuries; there population spread.
She placed posts on the lakes and rivers of the Far West; there the
fur-traders congregated. She divided the land into dioceses and
parishes, and appointed bishops and curates; a portion of all produce of
the soil was exacted for their support. She sent out the people at her
own cost, and acknowledged no shadow of popular rights. She organized
the inhabitants by an unsparing conscription, and placed over them
officers either from the Old Country or from the favored class of
seigneurs. She grasped a monopoly of every valuable production of the
country, and yet forced upon it her own manufactures to the exclusion of
all others. She squandered her resources and treasures on the colony,
but violated all principles of justice in a vain endeavor to make that
colony a source of wealth. She sent out the ablest and best of her
officers to govern on the falsest and worst of systems. Her energy
absorbed all individual energy; her perpetual and minute interference
aspired to shape and direct all will and motive of her subjects. The
state was every thing, the people nothing. Finally, when the power of
the state was broken by a foreign foe, there remained no power of the
people to supply its place. On the day that the French armies ceased to
resist, Canada was a peaceful province of British America.

A few years after the French crown had founded a state in Canada, a
handful of Puritan refugees founded a people in New England. They bore
with them from the mother country little beside a bitter hatred of the
existing government, and a stern resolve to perish or be free. One small
vessel--the Mayflower--held them, their wives, their children, and their
scanty stores. So ignorant were they of the country of their adoption,
that they sought its shores in the depth of winter, when nothing but a
snowy desert met their sight. Dire hardships assailed them; many
sickened and died, but those who lived still strove bravely. And bitter
was their trial; the scowling sky above their heads, the frozen earth
under their feet, and sorest of all, deep in their strong hearts the
unacknowledged love of that venerable land which they had abandoned
forever.

But brighter times soon came; the snowy desert changed into a fair scene
of life and vegetation. The woods rang with the cheerful sound of the
ax; the fields were tilled hopefully, the harvest gathered gratefully.
Other vessels arrived bearing more settlers, men, for the most part,
like those who had first landed. Their numbers swelled to hundreds,
thousands, tens of thousands. They formed themselves into a community;
they decreed laws, stern and quaint, but suited to their condition. They
had neither rich nor poor; they admitted of no superiority save in their
own gloomy estimate of merit; they persecuted all forms of faith
different from that which they themselves held, and yet they would have
died rather than suffer the religious interference of others. Far from
seeking or accepting aid from the government of England, they patiently
tolerated their nominal dependence only because they were virtually
independent. For protection against the savage; for relief in pestilence
or famine; for help to plenty and prosperity, they trusted alone to God
in heaven, and to their own right hand on earth.

Such, in the main, were the ancestors of the men of New England, and, in
spite of all subsequent admixture, such, in the main, were they
themselves. In the other British colonies also, hampered though they
were by charters, and proprietary rights, and alloyed by a Babel
congregation of French Huguenots, Dutch, Swedes, Quakers, Nobles,
Roundheads, Canadians, rogues, zealots, infidels, enthusiasts, and
felons, a general prosperity had created individual self-reliance, and
self-reliance had engendered the desire of self-government. Each colony
contained a separate vitality within itself. They commenced under a
variety of systems; more or less practicable, more or less liberal, and
more or less dependent on the parent state. But the spirit of
adventure, the disaffection, and the disappointed ambition which had so
rapidly recruited their population, gave a general bias to their
political feelings which no arbitrary authority could restrain, and no
institutions counteract. They were less intolerant and morose, but at
the same time, also, less industrious and moral than their Puritan
neighbors. Like them, however, they resented all interference from
England as far as they dared, and constantly strove for the acquisition
or retention of popular rights.

The British colonists, left at first, in a great measure, to themselves,
settled on the most fertile lands, built their towns upon the most
convenient harbors, directed their industry to the most profitable
commerce, raised the most valuable productions. The trading spirit of
the mother country became almost a passion when transferred to the New
World. Enterprise and industry were stimulated to incredible activity by
brilliant success and ample reward. As wealth and the means of
subsistence increased, so multiplied the population. Early marriages
were universal; a numerous family was the riches of the parent.
Thousands of immigrants, also, from year to year swelled the living
flood that poured over the wilderness. In a century and a half the
inhabitants of British America exceeded nearly twenty-fold the people of
New France. The relative superiority of the first over the last was even
greater in wealth and resources than in population. The merchant navy of
the English colonies was already larger than that of many European
nations, and known in almost every port in the world where men bought
and sold. New France had none.

The French colonies were founded and fostered by the state, with the
real object of extending the dominion, increasing the power, and
illustrating the glory of France. The ostensible object of settlement,
at least that holding the most prominent place in all Acts and Charters,
was to extend the true religion, and to minister to the glory of God.
From the earliest time the ecclesiastical establishments of Canada were
formed on a scale suited to these professed views. Not only was ample
provision made for the spiritual wants of the European population, but
the labors of many earnest and devoted men were directed to the
enlightenment of the heathen Indians. At first the Church and the civil
government leaned upon each other for mutual support and assistance, but
after a time, when neither of these powers found themselves troubled
with popular opposition, their union grew less intimate; their interests
differed, jealousies ensued, and finally they became antagonistic orders
in the community. The mass of the people, more devout than intelligent,
sympathized with the priesthood; this sympathy did not, however,
interfere with unqualified submission to the government.

The Canadians were trained to implicit obedience to their rulers,
spiritual and temporal: these rulers ventured not to imperil their
absolute authority by educating their vassals. It is true there were a
few seminaries and schools under the zealous administration of the
Jesuits; but even that instruction was unattainable by the general
population; those who walked in the moonlight which such reflected rays
afforded, were not likely to become troublesome as sectarians or
politicians. Much credit for sincerity can not be given to those who
professed to promote the education of the people, when no
printing-press was ever permitted in Canada during the government of
France.

Canada, unprovoked by Dissent, was altogether free from the stain of
religious persecution: hopelessly fettered in the chains of metropolitan
power, she was also undisturbed by political agitation. But this calm
was more the stillness of stagnation than the tranquillity of content.
Without a press, without any semblance of popular representation, there
hardly remained other alternatives than tame submission or open mutiny.
By hereditary habit and superstition the Canadians were trained to the
first, and by weakness and want of energy they were incapacitated for
the last.

Although the original charter of New England asserted the king's
supremacy in matters of religion, a full understanding existed that on
this head ample latitude should be allowed; ample latitude was
accordingly taken. She set up a system of faith of her own, and enforced
conformity. But the same spirit that had excited the colonists to
dissent from the Church of England, and to sacrifice home and friends in
the cause, soon raised up among them a host of dissenters from their own
stern and peculiar creed. Their clergy had sacrificed much for
conscience' sake, and were generally "faithful, watchful, painful,
serving their flock daily with prayers and tears," some among them,
also, men of high European repute. They had often, however, the
mortification of seeing their congregations crowding to hear the ravings
of any knave or enthusiast who broached a new doctrine. Most of these
mischievous fanatics were given the advantage of that interest and
sympathy which a cruel and unnecessary persecution invariably excites.
All this time freedom of individual judgment was the watch-word of the
persecutors. There is no doubt that strong measures were necessary to
curb the furious and profane absurdities of many of the seceders, who
were the very outcasts of religion. On considering the criminal laws of
the time, it would also appear that not a few of the outcasts of
society, also, had found their way to New England. The code of
Massachusetts contained the description of the most extraordinary
collection of crimes that ever defaced a statute-book, and the various
punishments allotted to each.

In one grand point the pre-eminent merit of the Puritans must be
acknowledged: they strove earnestly and conscientiously for what they
held to be the truth. For this they endured with unshaken constancy, and
persecuted with unremitting zeal.

The suicidal policy of the Stuarts had, for a time, driven all the
upholders of civil liberty into the ranks of sectarianism. The advocates
of the extremes of religious and political opinion flocked to America,
the furthest point from kings and prelates that they could conveniently
reach. Ingrafted on the stubborn temper of the Englishman, and planted
in the genial soil of the West, the love of this civil and religious
liberty grew up with a vigor that time only served to strengthen; that
the might of armies vainly strove to overcome. Thus, ultimately, the
persecution under the Stuarts was the most powerful cause ever yet
employed toward the liberation of man in his path through earth to
heaven.

For many years England generally refrained from interference with her
American colonies in matters of local government or in religion. They
taxed themselves, made their own laws, and enjoyed religious freedom in
their own way. In one state only, in Virginia, was the Church of England
established, and even there it was accorded very little help by the
temporal authority: in a short time it ceased to receive the support of
a majority of the settlers, and rapidly decayed. On one point, however,
the mother country claimed and exacted the obedience of the colonists to
the imperial law. In her commercial code she would not permit the
slightest relaxation in their favor, whatever the peculiar circumstances
of their condition might be. This short-sighted and unjust restriction
was borne, partly because it could not be resisted, and partly because
at that early time the practical evil was but lightly felt. Although the
principle of representation was seldom specified in the earlier
charters, the colonists in all cases assumed it as a matter of right:
they held that their privileges as Englishmen accompanied them wherever
they went, and this was generally admitted as a principle of colonial
policy.

In the seventeenth century England adopted the system of transportation
to the American colonies. The felons were, however, too limited in
numbers to make any serious inroad upon the morals or tranquillity of
the settlers. Many of the convicts were men sentenced for political
crimes, but free from any social taint; the laboring population,
therefore, did not regard them with contempt, nor shrink from their
society. It may be held, therefore, that this partial and peculiar
system of transportation introduced no distinct element into the
constitution of the American nation.

The British colonization in the New World differed essentially from any
before attempted by the nations of modern Europe, and has led to
results of immeasurable importance to mankind. Even the magnificent
empire of India sinks into insignificance, in its bearings upon the
general interests of the world, by comparison with the Anglo-Saxon
empire in America. The success of each, however, is unexampled in
history.

In the great military and mercantile colony of the East an enormous
native population is ruled by a dominant race, whose number amounts to
less than a four-thousandth part of its own, but whose superiority in
war and civil government is at present so decided as to reduce any
efforts of opposition to the mere outbursts of hopeless petulance. In
that golden land, however, even the Anglo-Saxon race can not increase
and multiply; the children of English parents degenerate or perish under
its fatal sun. No permanent settlement or infusion of blood takes place.
Neither have we effected any serious change in the manners or customs of
the East Indians; on the other hand, we have rather assimilated ours to
theirs. We tolerate their various religions, and we learn their
language; but in neither faith nor speech have they approached one
tittle toward us. We have raised there no gigantic monument of power
either in pride or for utility; no temples, canals, or roads remain to
remind posterity of our conquest and dominion. Were the English rule
over India suddenly cast off, in a single generation the tradition of
our Eastern empire would appear a splendid but baseless dream, that of
our administration an allegory, of our victories a romance.

In the great social colonies of the West, the very essence of vitality
is their close resemblance to the parent state. Many of the coarser
inherited elements of strength have been increased. Industry and
adventure have been stimulated to an unexampled extent by the natural
advantages of the country, and free institutions have been developed
almost to license by general prosperity and the absence of external
danger. Their stability, in some one form or another, is undoubted: it
rests on the broadest possible basis--on the universal will of the
nation. Our vast empire in India rests only on the narrow basis of the
superiority of a handful of Englishmen: should any untoward fate shake
the Atlas strength that bears the burden, the superincumbent mass must
fall in ruins to the earth. With far better cause may England glory in
the land of her revolted children than in that of her patient slaves:
the prosperous cities and busy sea-ports of America are prouder
memorials of her race than the servile splendor of Calcutta or the
ruined ramparts of Seringapatam. In the earlier periods the British
colonies were only the reflection of Britain; in later days their light
has served to illumine the political darkness of the European Continent.
The attractive example of American democracy proved the most important
cause that has acted upon European society since the Reformation.

Toward the close of George II.'s reign England had reached the lowest
point of national degradation recorded in her history. The disasters of
her fleets and armies abroad were the natural fruits of almost universal
corruption at home. The admirals and generals, chosen by a German king
and a subservient ministry, proved worthy of the mode of their
selection. An obsequious Parliament served but to give the apparent
sanction of the people to the selfish and despotic measures of the
crown. Many of the best blood and of the highest chivalry of the land
still held loyal devotion to the exiled Stuarts, while the mass of the
nation, disgusted by the sordid and unpatriotic acts of the existing
dynasty, regarded it with sentiments of dislike but little removed from
positive hostility. A sullen discontent paralyzed the vigor of England,
obstructed her councils, and blunted her sword. In the cabinets of
Europe, among the colonists of America, and the millions of the East
alike, her once glorious name had sunk almost to a by-word of reproach.
But "the darkest hour is just before the dawn:" a new disaster, more
humiliating, and more inexcusable than any which had preceded, at length
goaded the passive indignation of the British people into irresistible
action. The spirit that animated the men who spoke at Runnymede, and
those who fought on Marston Moor, was not dead, but sleeping. The free
institutions which wisdom had devised, time hallowed, and blood sealed,
were evaded, but not overthrown. The nation arose as one man, and with a
peaceful but stern determination, demanded that these things should
cease. Then, for "the hour," the hand of the All Wise supplied "the
man." The light of Pitt's genius, the fire of his patriotism, like the
dawn of an unclouded morning, soon chased away the chilly night which
had so long darkened over the fortunes of his country.

But not even the genius of the great minister, aided as it was by the
awakened spirit of the British people, would have sufficed to rend
Canada from France without the concurrent action of many and various
causes: the principal of these was, doubtless, the extraordinary growth
of our American settlements. When the first French colonists founded
their military and ecclesiastical establishments at Quebec, upheld by
the favor and strengthened by the arms of the mother country, they
regarded with little uneasiness the unaided efforts of their English
rivals in the South. But these dangerous neighbors rose with wonderful
rapidity from few to many, from weak to powerful. The cloud, which had
appeared no greater than "a man's hand" on the political horizon, spread
rapidly wider and wider, above and below, till at length from out its
threatening gloom the storm burst forth which swept away the flag of
France.

As a military event, the conquest of Canada was a matter of little or no
permanent importance: it can only rank as one among the numerous scenes
of blood that give an intense but morbid interest to our national
annals. The surrender of Niagara and Quebec were but the acknowledgment
or final symbol of the victory of English over French colonization. For
three years the admirable skill of Montcalm and the valor of his troops
deferred the inevitable catastrophe of the colony: then the destiny was
accomplished. France had for that time played out her part in the
history of the New World; during one hundred and fifty years her
threatening power had served to retain the English colonies in
interested loyalty to protecting England. Notwithstanding the immense
material superiority of the British Americans, the fleets and armies of
the mother country were indispensable to break the barrier raised up
against them by the union, skill, and courage of the French.

Montcalm's far-sighted wisdom suggested consolation even in his defeat
and death. In a remarkable and almost prophetic letter, which he
addressed to M. de Berryer during the siege of Quebec, he foretells
that the British power in America shall be broken by success, and that
when the dread of France ceases to exist, the colonists will no longer
submit to European control. One generation had not passed away when his
prediction was fully accomplished. England, by the conquest of Canada,
breathed the breath of life into the huge Frankenstein of the American
republic.

The rough schooling of French hostility was necessary for the
development of those qualities among the British colonists which enabled
them finally to break the bonds of pupilage and stand alone. Some degree
of united action had been effected among the several and
widely-different states; the local governments had learned how to raise
and support armies, and to consider military movements. On many
occasions the provincial militia had borne themselves with distinguished
bravery in the field; several of their officers had gained honorable
repute; already the name of WASHINGTON called a flush of pride upon each
American cheek. The stirring events of the contest with Canada had
brought men of ability and patriotism into the strong light of active
life, and the eyes of their countrymen sought their guidance in trusting
confidence. Through the instrumentality of such men as these the
American Revolution was shaped into the dignity of a national movement,
and preserved from the threatening evils of an insane democracy.

The consequences of the Canadian war furnished the cause of the quarrel
which led to the separation of the great colonies from the mother
country. England had incurred enormous debt in the contest; her people
groaned under taxation, and the wealthy Americans had contributed in
but a very small proportion to the cost of victories by which they were
the principal gainers. The British Parliament devised an unhappy
expedient to remedy this evil: it assumed the right of taxing the
unrepresented colonies, and taxed them accordingly. Vain was the
prophetic eloquence of Lord Chatham; vain were the just and earnest
remonstrances of the best and wisest among the colonists: the time was
come. Then followed years of stubborn and unyielding strife; the blood
of the same race gave sterner determination to the quarrel. The balance
of success hung equally. Once again France appeared upon the stage in
the Western world, and La Fayette revenged the fall of Montcalm.

However we may regret the cause and conduct of the Revolutionary war, we
can hardly regret its result. The catastrophe was inevitable: the folly
or wisdom of British statesmen could only have accelerated or deferred
it. The child had outlived the years of pupilage; the interests of the
old and the young required a separate household. But we must ever mourn
the mode of separation: a bitterness was left that three quarters of a
century has hardly yet removed; and a dark page remains in our annals,
that tells of a contest begun in injustice, conducted with mingled
weakness and severity, and ended in defeat. The cause of human freedom,
perhaps for ages, depended upon the issue of the quarrel. Even the
patriot minister merged the apparent interests of England in the
interests of mankind. By the light of Lord Chatham's wisdom we may read
the disastrous history of that fatal war, with a resigned and tempered
sorrow for the glorious inheritance rent away from us forever.

The reaction of the New World upon the Old may be distinctly traced
through the past and the present, but human wisdom may not estimate its
influence on the future. The lessons of freedom learned by the French
army while aiding the revolted colonies against England were not
forgotten. On their return to their native country, they spread abroad
tidings that the new people of America had gained a treasure richer a
thousand-fold than those which had gilded the triumphs of Cortes or
Pizarro--the inestimable prize of liberty. Then the down-trampled
millions of France arose, and with avaricious haste strove for a like
treasure. They won a specious imitation, so soiled and stained, however,
that many of the wisest among them could not at once detect its nature.
They played with the coarse bawble for a time, then lost it in a sea of
blood.

Doubtless the tempest that broke upon France had long been gathering.
The rays that emanated from such false suns as Voltaire and Rousseau had
already drawn up a moral miasma from the swamps of sensual ignorance:
under the shade of a worthless government these noxious mists collected
into the clouds from whence the desolating storm of the Revolution
burst. It was, however, the example of popular success in the New World,
and the republican training of a portion of the French army during the
American contest, that finally accelerated the course of events. A
generation before the "Declaration of Independence" the struggle between
the rival systems of Canada and New England had been watched by thinking
men in Europe with deep interest, and the importance to mankind of its
issue was fully felt. While France mourned the defeat of her armies and
the loss of her magnificent colony, the keen-sighted philosopher of
Ferney gave a banquet to celebrate the British triumph at Quebec, not as
the triumph of England over France, but as that of freedom over
despotism.[1]

The overthrow of French by British power in America was not the effect
of mere military superiority. The balance of general success and glory
in the field is no more than shared with the conquered people. The
morbid national vanity, which finds no delight but in the triumphs of
the sword, will shrink from the study of this checkered story. The
narrative of disastrous defeat and doubtful advantage must be endured
before we arrive at that of the brilliant victory which crowned our arms
with final success. We read with painful surprise of the rout and ruin
of regular British regiments by a crowd of Indian savages, and of the
bloody repulse of the most numerous army that had yet assembled round
our standards in America before a few weak French battalions and an
unfinished parapet.

For the first few years our prosecution of the Canadian war was marked
by a weakness little short of imbecility. The conduct of the troops was
indifferent, the tactics of the generals bad, and the schemes of the
minister worse. The coarse but powerful wit of Smollett and Fielding,
and the keen sarcasms of "Chrysal," convey to us no very exalted idea of
the composition of the British army in those days. The service had sunk
into contempt. The withering influence of a corrupt patronage had
demoralized the officers; successive defeats, incurred through the
inefficiency of courtly generals, had depressed the spirit of the
soldiery, and, were it not for the proof shown upon the bloody fields
of La Feldt and Fontenoy, we might almost suppose that English manhood
had become an empty name.

Many of the battalions shipped off to take part in the American contest
were hasty levies without organization or discipline: the colonel, a man
of influence, with or without other qualifications, as the case might
be; the officers, his neighbors and dependents. These armed mobs found
themselves suddenly landed in a country, the natural difficulty of which
would of itself have proved a formidable obstacle, even though
unenhanced by the presence of an active and vigilant enemy. At the same
time, there devolved upon them the duties and the responsibilities of
regular troops. A due consideration of these circumstances tends to
diminish the surprise which a comparison of their achievements with
those recorded in our later military annals might create.

Very different were the ranks of the American army from the magnificent
regiments whose banners now bear the crowded records of Peninsular and
Indian victory; who, within the recollection of living men, have stood
as conquerors upon every hostile land, yet never once permitted a
stranger to tread on England's sacred soil but as a prisoner, fugitive,
or friend. In Cairo and Copenhagen; in Lisbon, Madrid, and Paris; in the
ancient metropolis of China; in the capital of the young American
republic, the British flag has been hailed as the symbol of a triumphant
power or of a generous deliverance. Well may we cherish an honest pride
in the prowess and military virtue of our soldiers, loyal alike to the
crown and to the people; facing in battle, with unshaken courage, the
deadly shot and sweeping charge, and, with a still loftier valor,
enduring, in times of domestic troubles, the gibes and injuries of
their misguided countrymen.

In the stirring interest excited by the progress and rivalry of our
kindred races in America, the sad and solemn subject of the Indian
people is almost forgotten. The mysterious decree of Providence which
has swept them away may not be judged by human wisdom. Their existence
will soon be of the past. They have left no permanent impression on the
constitution of the great nation which now spreads over their country.
No trace of their blood, language, or manners may be found among their
haughty successors. As certainly as their magnificent forests fell
before the advancing tide of civilization, they fell also. Neither the
kindness nor the cruelty of the white man arrested or hastened their
inevitable fate. They withered alike under the Upas-shade of European
protection and before the deadly storm of European hostility. As the
snow in spring they melted away, stained, tainted, trampled down.

The closing scene of French dominion in Canada was marked by
circumstances of deep and peculiar interest. The pages of romance can
furnish no more striking episode than the battle of Quebec. The skill
and daring of the plan which brought on the combat, and the success and
fortune of its execution, are unparalleled. There a broad, open plain,
offering no advantages to either party, was the field of fight. The
contending armies were nearly equal in military strength, if not in
numbers. The chiefs of each were men already of honorable fame. France
trusted firmly in the wise and chivalrous Montcalm; England trusted
hopefully in the young and heroic Wolfe. The magnificent stronghold
which was staked upon the issue of the strife stood close at hand. For
miles and miles around, the prospect extended over as fair a land as
ever rejoiced the sight of man; mountain and valley, forest and waters,
city and solitude, grouped together in forms of almost ideal beauty.

The strife was brief, but deadly. The September sun rose upon two
gallant armies arrayed in unbroken pride, and noon of the same day saw
the ground where they had stood strewn with the dying and the dead.
Hundreds of the veterans of France had fallen in the ranks, from which
they disdained to fly; the scene of his ruin faded fast from Montcalm's
darkening sight, but the proud consciousness of having done his duty
deprived defeat and death of their severest sting. Not more than a
musket-shot away lay Wolfe; the heart that but an hour before had
throbbed with great and generous impulse, now still forever. On the face
of the dead there rested a triumphant smile, which the last agony had
not overcast; a light of unfailing hope, that the shadows of the grave
could not darken.

The portion of history here recorded is no fragment. Within a period
comparatively brief, we see the birth, the growth, and the catastrophe
of a nation. The flag of France is erected at Quebec by a handful of
hardy adventurers; a century and a half has passed, and that flag is
lowered to a foreign foe before the sorrowing eyes of a Canadian people.
This example is complete as that presented in the life of an individual:
we see the natural sequence of events; the education and the character,
the motive and the action, the error and the punishment. Through the
following records may be clearly traced combinations of causes, remote,
and even apparently opposed, uniting in one result, and also the
surprising fertility of one great cause in producing many different
results.

Were we to read the records of history by the light of the understanding
instead of by the fire of the passions, the study could be productive
only of unmixed good; their examples and warnings would afford us
constant guidance in the paths of public and private virtue. The narrow
and unreasonable notion of exclusive national merit can not survive a
fair glance over the vast map of time and space which history lays
before us. We may not avert our eyes from those dark spots upon the
annals of our beloved land where acts of violence and injustice stand
recorded against her, nor may we suffer the blaze of military renown to
dazzle our judgment. Victory may bring glory to the arms, while it
brings shame to the councils of a people; for the triumphs of war are
those of the general and the soldier; increase of honor, wisdom, and
prosperity are the triumphs of the nation.

The citizens of Rome placed the images of their ancestors in the
vestibule, to recall the virtues of the dead, and to stimulate the
emulation of the living. We also should fix our thoughts upon the
examples which history presents, not in a vain spirit of selfish
nationality, but in earnest reverence for the great and good of all
countries, and a contempt for the false, and mean, and cruel even of our
own.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: See Appendix, No. I. (see Vol II)]




THE CONQUEST OF CANADA.




CHAPTER I.


The philosophers of remote antiquity acquired the important knowledge of
the earth's spherical form; to their bold genius we are indebted for the
outline of the geographical system now universally adopted. With a
vigorous conception, but imperfect execution, they traced out the scheme
of denoting localities by longitude and latitude: according to their
teaching, the imaginary equatorial line, encompassing the earth, was
divided into hours and degrees.

Even at that distant period hardy adventurers had penetrated far away
into the land of the rising sun, and many a wondrous tale was told of
that mysterious empire, where one third of our fellow-men still stand
apart from the brotherhood of nations. Among the various and astounding
exaggerations induced by the vanity of the narrators, and the ignorance
of their audience, none was more ready than that of distance. The
journey, the labor of a life; each league of travel a new scene; the day
crowded with incident, the night a dream of terror or admiration. Then,
as the fickle will of the wanderer suggested, as the difficulties or
encouragement of nature, and the hostility or aid of man impelled, the
devious course bent to the north or south, was hastened, hindered, or
retraced.

By such vague and shadowy measurement as the speculations of these
wanderers supplied, the sages of the past traced out the ideal limits of
the dry land which, at the word of God, appeared from out the gathering
together of the waters.[2]

The most eminent geographer before the time of Ptolemy places the
confines of Seres--the China of to-day--at nearly two thirds of the
distance round the world, from the first meridian.[3] Ptolemy reduces
the proportion to one half. Allowing for the supposed vast extent of
this unknown country to the eastward, it was evident that its remotest
shores approached our Western World. But, beyond the Pillars of
Hercules, the dark and stormy waters of the Atlantic[5] forbade
adventure. The giant minds of those days saw, even through the mists of
ignorance and error, that the readiest course to reach this distant land
must lie toward the setting sun, across the western ocean.[6] From over
this vast watery solitude no traveler had ever brought back the story of
his wanderings. The dim light of traditionary memory gave no guiding
ray, the faint voice of rumor breathed not its mysterious secrets. Then
poetic imagination filled the void; vast islands were conjured up out of
the deep, covered with unheard-of luxuriance of vegetation, rich in
mines of incalculable value, populous with a race of conquering
warriors. But this magnificent vision was only created to be destroyed;
a violent earthquake rent asunder in a day and a night the foundations
of Atlantis, and the waters of the Western Ocean swept over the ruins of
this once mighty empire.[7] In after ages we are told, that some
Phoenician vessels, impelled by a strong east wind, were driven for
thirty days across the Atlantic: there they found a part of the sea
where the surface was covered with rushes and sea-weed, somewhat
resembling a vast inundated meadow.[8] The voyagers ascribed these
strange appearances to some cause connected with the submerged Atlantis,
and even in later years they were held by many as confirmation of
Plato's marvelous story.[9]

In the Carthaginian annals is found the mention of a fertile and
beautiful island of the distant Atlantic. Many adventurous men of that
maritime people were attracted thither by the delightful climate and the
riches of the soil; it was deemed of such value and importance that they
proposed to transfer the seat of their republic to its shores in case of
any irreparable disaster at home. But at length the Senate, fearing the
evils of a divided state, denounced the distant colony, and decreed the
punishment of death to those who sought it for a home. If there be any
truth in this ancient tale, it is probable that one of the Canary
Islands was its subject.[10]

Although the New World in the West was unknown to the ancients, there is
no doubt that they entertained a suspicion of its existence;[11] the
romance of Plato--the prophecy of Seneca, were but the offsprings of
this vague idea. Many writers tell us it was conjectured that, by
sailing from the coast of Spain, the eastern shores of India might be
reached;[13] the length of the voyage, or the wonders that might lie in
its course, imagination alone could measure or describe. Whatever might
have been the suspicion or belief[14] of ancient time, we may feel
assured that none then ventured to seek these distant lands, nor have we
reason to suppose that any of the civilized European races gave
inhabitants to the New World before the close of the fifteenth century.

To the barbarous hordes of Northeastern Asia America must have long been
known as the land where many of their wanderers found a home. It is not
surprising that from them no information was obtained; but it is strange
that the bold and adventurous Northmen should have visited it nearly
five hundred years before the great Genoese, and have suffered their
wonderful discovery to remain hidden from the world, and to become
almost forgotten among themselves.[15]

In the year 1001 the Icelanders touched upon the American coast, and for
nearly two centuries subsequent visits were repeatedly made by them and
the Norwegians, for the purpose of commerce or for the gratification of
curiosity. Biorn Heriolson, an Icelander, was the first discoverer:
steering for Greenland, he was driven to the south by tempestuous and
unfavorable winds, and saw different parts of America, without, however,
touching at any of them. Attracted by the report of this voyage, Leif,
son of Eric, the discoverer of Greenland, fitted out a vessel to pursue
the same adventure. He passed the coast visited by Biorn, and steered
southwest till he reached a strait between a large island and the main
land. Finding the country fertile and pleasant, he passed the winter
near this place, and gave it the name of Vinland,[16] from the wild vine
which grew there in great abundance.[17] The winter days were longer in
this new country than in Greenland, and the weather was more temperate.

Leif returned to Greenland in the spring; his brother Thorvald succeeded
him, and remained two winters in Vinland exploring much of the coast and
country.[19] In the course of the third summer the natives, now called
Esquimaux, were first seen; on account of their diminutive stature the
adventurers gave them the name of _Skr�lingar_.[20] These poor savages,
irritated by an act of barbarous cruelty, attacked the Northmen with
darts and arrows, and Thorvald fell a victim to their vengeance. A
wealthy Icelander, named Thorfinn, established a regular colony in
Vinland soon after this event; the settlers increased rapidly in
numbers, and traded with the natives for furs and skins to great
advantage. After three years the adventurers returned to Iceland
enriched by the expedition, and reported favorably upon the new country.
Little is known of this settlement after Thorfinn's departure till early
in the twelfth century, when a bishop of Greenland[21] went there to
promulgate the Christian faith among the colonists; beyond that time
scarcely a notice of its existence occurs, and the name and situation of
the ancient Vinland soon passed away from the knowledge of man. Whether
the adventurous colonists ever returned, or became blended with the
natives,[22] or perished by their hands, no record remains to tell.[23]

Discoveries such as these by the ancient Scandinavians--fruitless to the
world and almost buried in oblivion--can not dim the glory of that
transcendant genius to whom we owe the knowledge of a New World.

The claim of the Welsh to the first discovery of America seems to rest
upon no better original authority than that of Meridith-ap-Rees, a bard
who died in the year 1477. His verses only relate that Prince Madoc,
wearied with dissensions at home, searched the ocean for a new kingdom.
The tale of this adventurer's voyages and colonization was written one
hundred years subsequent to the early Spanish discoveries, and seems to
be merely a fanciful completion of his history: he probably perished in
the unknown seas. It is certain that neither the ancient principality
nor the world reaped any benefit from these alleged discoveries.[24]

In the middle of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth
centuries, the Venetian Marco Polo[25] and the Englishman Mandeville[26]
awakened the curiosity of Europe with respect to the remote parts of the
earth. Wise and discerning men selected the more valuable portions of
their observations; ideas were enlarged, and a desire for more perfect
information excited a thirst for discovery. While this spirit was
gaining strength in Europe, the wonderful powers of the magnet were
revealed to the Western World.[27] The invention of the mariner's
compass aided and extended navigation more than all the experience and
adventure of preceding ages: the light of the stars, the guidance of the
sea-coast, were no longer necessary; trusting to the mysterious powers
of his new friend, the sailor steered out fearlessly into the ocean,
through the bewildering mists or the darkness of night.

The Spaniards were the first to profit by the bolder spirit and improved
science of navigation. About the beginning of the fourteenth century,
they were led to the accidental discovery of the Canary Islands,[28] and
made repeated voyages thither, plundering the wretched inhabitants, and
carrying them off as slaves.[29] Pope Clement VI. conferred these
countries as a kingdom upon Louis de la Cerda, of the royal race of
Castile; he, however, was powerless to avail himself of the gift, and it
passed to the stronger hand of John de Bethancourt, a Norman baron.[30]
The countrymen of this bold adventurer explored the seas far to the
south of the Canary Islands, and acquired some knowledge of the coast of
Africa.

The glory of leading the career of systematic exploration belongs to the
Portuguese:[31] their attempts were not only attended with considerable
success, but gave encouragement and energy to those efforts that were
crowned by the discovery of a world: among them the great Genoese was
trained, and their steps in advance matured the idea, and aided the
execution of his design. The nations of Europe had now begun to cast
aside the errors and prejudices of their ancestors. The works of the
ancient Greeks and Romans were eagerly searched for information, and
former discoveries brought to light.[32] The science of the Arabians was
introduced and cultivated by the Moors and Jews, and geometry,
astronomy, and geography were studied as essential to the art of
navigation.

In the year 1412, the Portuguese doubled Cape Non, the limit of ancient
enterprise. For upward of seventy years afterward they pursued their
explorations, with more or less of vigor and success, along the African
coast, and among the adjacent islands. By intercourse with the people of
these countries they gradually acquired some knowledge of lands yet
unvisited. Experience proved that the torrid zone was not closed to the
enterprise of man.[33] They found that the form of the continent
contracted as it stretched southward, and that it tended toward the
east. Then they brought to mind the accounts of the ancient Phoenician
voyagers round Africa,[34] long deemed fabulous, and the hope arose that
they might pursue the same career, and win for themselves the
magnificent prize of Indian commerce. In the year 1486 the adventurous
Bartholomew Diaz[35] first reached the Cape of Good Hope; soon afterward
the information gained by Pedro de Covilham, in his overland journey,
confirmed the consequent sanguine expectations of success. The attention
of Europe was now fully aroused, and the progress of the Portuguese was
watched with admiration and suspense. But during this interval, while
all eyes were turned with anxious interest toward the East, a little
bark, leaky and tempest-tossed, sought shelter in the Tagus.[36] It had
come from the Far West--over that stormy sea where, from the creation
until then, had brooded an impenetrable mystery. It bore the richest
freight[37] that ever lay upon the bosom of the deep--the tidings of a
New World.[38]

It would be but tedious to repeat here all the well-known story of
Christopher Columbus;[39] his early dangers and adventures, his
numerous voyages, his industry, acquirements, and speculations, and how
at length the great idea arose in his mind, and matured itself into a
conviction; then how conviction led to action, checked and interrupted,
but not weakened, by the doubts of pedantic ignorance,[40] and the
treachery,[41] coolness, or contempt of courts. On Friday,[42] the 3d
of August, 1492, a squadron of three small, crazy ships, bearing ninety
men, sailed from the port of Palos, in Andalusia. Columbus, the
commander and pilot, was deeply impressed with sentiments of religion;
and, as the spread of Christianity was one great object of the
expedition, he and his followers before their departure had implored the
blessing of Heaven[43] upon the voyage, from which they might never
return.

They steered at first for the Canaries, over a well-known course; but on
the 6th of September they sailed from Gomera, the most distant of those
islands, and, leaving the usual track of navigation, stretched westward
into the unknown sea. And still ever westward for six-and-thirty days
they bent their course through the dreary desert of waters; terrified by
the changeless wind that wafted them hour after hour further into the
awful solitude, and seemed to forbid the prospect of return; bewildered
by the altered hours of day and night, and more than all by the
mysterious variation of their only guide, for the magnetic needle no
longer pointed to the pole.[44] Then strange appearances in the sea
aroused new fears: vast quantities of weeds covered the surface,
retarding the motion of the vessels; the sailors imagined that they had
reached the utmost boundary of the navigable ocean, and that they were
rushing blindly into the rocks and quicksands of some submerged
continent.

The master mind turned all these strange novelties into omens of
success. The changeless wind was the favoring breath of the Omnipotent;
the day lengthened as they followed the sun's course; an ingenious
fiction explained the inconstancy of the needle; the vast fields of
sea-weed bespoke a neighboring shore; and the flight of unknown
birds[45] was hailed with happy promise. But as time passed on, and
brought no fulfillment of their hopes, the spirits of the timid began to
fail; the flattering appearances of land had repeatedly deceived them;
they were now very far beyond the limit of any former voyage. From the
timid and ignorant these doubts spread upward, and by degrees the
contagion extended from ship to ship: secret murmurs rose to
conspiracies, complaints, and mutiny. They affirmed that they had
already performed their duty in so long pursuing an unknown and hopeless
course, and that they would no more follow a desperate adventurer to
destruction. Some even proposed to cast their leader into the sea.

The menaces and persuasions that had so often enabled Columbus to
overcome the turbulence and fears of his followers now ceased to be of
any avail. He gave way to an irresistible necessity, and promised that
he would return to Spain, if unsuccessful in their search for three days
more. To this brief delay the mutineers consented. The signs of land now
brought almost certainty to the mind of the great leader. The
sounding-line brought up such soil as is only found near the shore:
birds were seen of a kind supposed never to venture on a long flight. A
piece of newly-cut cane floated past, and a branch of a tree bearing
fresh berries was taken up by the sailors. The clouds around the setting
sun wore a new aspect, and the breeze became warm and variable. On the
evening of the 11th of October every sail was furled, and strict watch
kept, lest the ships might drift ashore during the night.

On board the admiral's vessel all hands were invariably assembled for
the evening hymn; on this occasion a public prayer for success was
added, and with those holy sounds Columbus hailed the appearance of that
small, shifting light,[46] which crowned with certainty his
long-cherished hope,[47] turned his faith into realization,[48] and
stamped his name forever upon the memory of man.[49]

It was by accident only that England had been deprived of the glory of
these great discoveries. Columbus, when repulsed by the courts of
Portugal and Spain, sent his brother Bartholomew to London,[50] to lay
his projects before Henry VII., and seek assistance for their execution.
The king, although the most penurious of European princes, saw the vast
advantage of the offer, and at once invited the great Genoese to his
court. Bartholomew was, however, captured by pirates on his return
voyage, and detained till too late, for in the mean while Isabella of
Castile had adopted the project of Columbus, and supplied the means for
the expedition.

Henry VII. was not discouraged by this disappointment: two years after
the discoveries of Columbus became known in England, the king entered
into an arrangement with John Cabot, an adventurous Venetian merchant,
resident at Bristol, and, on the 5th of March, 1495, granted him letters
patent for conquest and discovery. Henry stipulated that one fifth of
the gains in this enterprise was to be retained for the crown, and that
the vessels engaged in it should return to the port of Bristol. On the
24th of June, 1497, Cabot discovered the coast of Labrador, and gave it
the name of _Primavista_. This was, without doubt, the first visit of
Europeans to the Continent of North America,[51] since the time of the
Scandinavian voyages. A large island lay opposite to this shore: from
the vast quantity of fish frequenting the neighboring waters, the
sailors called it _Bacallaos_.[53] Cabot gave this country the name of
St. John's, having landed there on St. John's day. Newfoundland has long
since superseded both appellations. John Cabot returned to England in
August of the same year, and was knighted and otherwise rewarded by the
king; he survived but a very short time in the enjoyment of his fame,
and his son Sebastian Cabot, although only twenty-three years of age,
succeeded him in the command of an expedition destined to seek a
northwest passage to the South Seas.

Sebastian Cabot sailed in the summer of 1498: he soon reached
Newfoundland, and thence proceeded north as far as the fifty-eighth
degree. Having failed in discovering the hoped-for passage, he returned
toward the south, examining the coast as far as the southern boundary of
Maryland, and perhaps Virginia. After a long interval, the enterprising
mariner again, in 1517, sailed for America, and entered the bay[54]
which, a century afterward, received the name of Hudson. If prior
discovery confer a right of possession, there is no doubt that the whole
eastern coast of the North American Continent may be justly claimed by
the English race.[55]

Gaspar Cortereal was the next voyager in the succession of discoverers:
he had been brought up in the household of the King of Portugal, but
nourished an ardent spirit of enterprise and thirst for glory, despite
the enervating influences of a court. He sailed early in the year 1500,
and pursued the track of John Cabot as far as the northern point of
Newfoundland; to him is due the discovery of the Gulf of St.
Lawrence,[56] and he also pushed on northward, by the coast of
Labrador,[57] almost to the entrance of Hudson's Bay. The adventurer
returned to Lisbon in October of the same year. This expedition was
undertaken more for mercantile advantage than for the advancement of
knowledge; timber and slaves seem to have been the objects; no less than
fifty-seven of the natives were brought back to Portugal, and doomed to
bondage. These unhappy savages proved so robust and useful, that great
benefits were anticipated from trading on their servitude;[58] the
dreary and distant land of their birth, covered with snow for half the
year, was despised by the Portuguese, whose thoughts and hopes were ever
turned to the fertile plains, the sunny skies, and the inexhaustible
treasures of the East.[59]

But disaster and destruction soon fell upon these bold and merciless
adventurers. In a second voyage, the ensuing year, Cortereal and all his
followers were lost at sea: when some time had elapsed without tidings
of their fate, his brother sailed to seek them; but he too, probably,
perished in the stormy waters of the North Atlantic, for none of them
were ever heard of more. The King of Portugal, feeling a deep interest
in these brothers, fitted out three armed vessels and sent them to the
northwest. Inquiries were made along the wild shores which Cortereal had
first explored, without trace or tidings being found of the bold
mariner, and the ocean was searched for many months, but the deep still
keeps it secret.

Florida was discovered in 1512 by Ponce de Leon, one of the most eminent
among the followers of Columbus. The Indians had told him wonderful
tales of a fountain called Bimini, in an island of these seas; the
fountain possessed the power, they said, of restoring instantly youth
and vigor to those who bathed in its waters. He sailed for months in
search of this miraculous spring, landing at every point, entering each
port, however shallow or dangerous, still ever hoping; but in the weak
and presumptuous effort to grasp at a new life, he wasted away his
strength and energy, and prematurely brought on those ills of age he had
vainly hoped to shun. Nevertheless, this wild adventure bore its
wholesome fruits, for Ponce de Leon then first brought to the notice of
Europe that beautiful land which, from its wonderful fertility and the
splendor of its flowers, obtained the name of Florida.[60]

The first attempt made by the French to share in the advantages of these
discoveries was in the year 1504. Some Basque and Breton fishermen at
that time began to ply their calling on the Great Bank of Newfoundland,
and along the adjacent shores. From them the Island of Cape Breton
received its name. In 1506, Jean Denys, a man of Harfleur, drew a map of
the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Two years afterward, a pilot of Dieppe, named
Thomas Aubert, excited great curiosity in France by bringing over some
of the savage natives from the New World: there is no record whence they
were taken, but it is supposed from Cape Breton. The reports borne back
to France by these hardy fishermen and adventurers were not such as to
raise sanguine hopes of riches from the bleak northern regions they had
visited: no teeming fertility or genial climate tempted the settler, no
mines of gold or silver excited the avarice of the soldier;[61] and for
many years the French altogether neglected to profit by their
discoveries.

In the mean time, Pope Alexander VI. issued a bull bestowing the whole
of the New World upon the kings of Spain and Portugal.[62] Neither
England nor France allowed the right of conferring this magnificent and
undefined gift; it did not throw the slightest obstacle in the path of
British enterprise and discovery, and the high-spirited Francis I. of
France refused to acknowledge the papal decree.[63]

In the year 1523, Francis I. fitted out a squadron of four ships to
pursue discovery[64] in the west; the command was intrusted to Giovanni
Verazzano, of Florence, a navigator of great skill and experience, then
residing in France: he was about thirty-eight years of age, nobly born,
and liberally educated; the causes that induced him to leave his own
country and take service in France are not known. It has often been
remarked as strange that three Italians should have directed the
discoveries of Spain, England, and France, and thus become the
instruments of dividing the dominions of the New World among alien
powers, while their own classic land reaped neither glory nor advantage
from the genius and courage of her sons. Of this first voyage the only
record remaining is a letter from Verazzano to Francis I., dated 8th of
July, 1524, merely stating that he had returned in safety to Dieppe.

At the beginning of the following year Verazzano fitted out and armed a
vessel called the Dauphine, manned with a crew of thirty hands, and
provisioned for eight months. He first directed his course to Madeira;
having reached that island in safety, he left it on the 17th of January
and steered for the west. After a narrow escape from the violence of a
tempest, and having proceeded for about nine hundred leagues, a long,
low line of coast rose to view, never before seen by ancient or modern
navigators. This country appeared thickly peopled by a vigorous race, of
tall stature and athletic form; fearing to risk a landing at first with
his weak force, the adventurer contented himself with admiring at a
distance the grandeur and beauty of the scenery, and enjoying the
delightful mildness of the climate. From this place he followed the
coast for about fifty leagues to the south, without discovering any
harbor or inlet where he might shelter his vessel; he then retraced his
course and steered to the north. After some time Verazzano ventured to
send a small boat on shore to examine the country more closely: numbers
of savages came to the water's edge to meet the strangers, and gazed on
them with mingled feelings of surprise, admiration, joy, and fear. He
again resumed his northward course, till, driven by want of water, he
armed the small boat and sent it once more toward the land to seek a
supply; the waves and surf, however, were so great that it could not
reach the shore. The natives assembled on the beach, by their signs and
gestures, eagerly invited the French to approach: one young sailor, a
bold swimmer, threw himself into the water, bearing some presents for
the savages, but his heart failed him on a nearer approach, and he
turned to regain the boat; his strength was exhausted, however, and a
heavy sea washed him, almost insensible, up upon the beach. The Indians
treated him with great kindness, and, when he had sufficiently
recovered, sent him back in safety to the ship.[65]

Verazzano pursued his examination of the coast with untiring zeal, narrowly
searching every inlet for a passage through to the westward, until he
reached the great island known to the Breton fishermen--Newfoundland. In
this important voyage he surveyed more than two thousand miles of coast,
nearly all that of the present United States, and a great portion of
British North America.

A short time after Verazzano's return to Europe, he fitted out another
expedition, with the sanction of Francis I., for the establishment of a
colony in the newly-discovered countries. Nothing certain is known of
the fate of this enterprise, but the bold navigator returned to France
no more; the dread inspired by his supposed fate[66] deterred the French
king and people from any further adventure across the Atlantic during
many succeeding years. In later times it has come to light that
Verazzano was alive thirteen years after this period:[67] those best
informed on the subject are of opinion that the enterprise fell to the
ground in consequence of Francis I. having been captured by the Emperor
Charles V., and that the adventurer withdrew himself from the service of
France, having lost his patron's support.

The year after the failure of Verazzano's last enterprise, 1525, Stefano
Gomez sailed from Spain for Cuba and Florida; thence he steered
northward in search of the long-hoped-for passage to India, till he
reached Cape Race, on the south-eastern extremity of Newfoundland. The
further details of his voyage remain unknown, but there is reason to
suppose that he entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and traded upon its
shores. An ancient Castilian tradition existed that the Spaniards
visited these coasts before the French, and having perceived no
appearance of mines or riches, they exclaimed frequently, "Aca
nada;"[68] the natives caught up the sound, and when other Europeans
arrived, repeated it to them. The strangers concluded that these words
were a designation, and from that time this magnificent country bore the
name of CANADA.[70]


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 2: "La sph�ricit� de la terre �tant reconnue, l'�tendue de la
terre habit�e en longitude d�termin�, en m�me temps la largeur de
l'Atlantique entre les c�tes occidentales d'Europe et d'Afrique et les
c�tes orientales d'Asie par diff�rens degr�s de latitude. Eratosth�ne
(Strabo, ii., p. 87, Cas.) �value la circonf�rence de l'�quateur �
252,000 stades, et la largeur de la _chlamyde_ du Cap Sacr� (Cap Saint
Vincent) � l'extr�mit� de la grande ceinture de Taurus, pr�s de Thin� �
70,000 stades. En prolongeant la distance vers le sud est jusque au cap
des Coliaques qui, d'apr�s les id�es de Strabon sur la configuration de
l'Asie, repr�sente notre Cap Comorin, et avance plus � l'est que la c�te
de Thin�, la combinaison des donn�es d'Eratosth�ne offre 74,600 et m�me
78,000 stades. Or, en r�duisant, par la diff�rence de latitude, le
p�rim�tre equatorial au parall�le de Rhodes, des portes Caspiennes et de
Thin� c'est � dire, au parall�le de 36� 0' et non de 36� 21', on trouve
203,872 stades, et pour largeur de la terre habit�e, par le parall�le de
Rhodes, 67,500 stades. Strabon dit par cons�quence avec justesse, dans
le fameux passage o� il semble pr�dire l'existence du Nouveau Continent,
en parlant de deux terres habit�es dans la m�me zone temp�r�e bor�ale
que les terres occupent plus du tiers de la circonf�rence du parall�le
qui passe par Thin�. Par cette supposition la distance de l'Ib�rie aux
Indes est au del� de 236� � peu pr�s 240�. Ou peut �tre surpris de voir
que le r�sultat le plus ancien est aussi le plus exact de tous ceux que
nous trouvons en descendant d'Eratosth�ne par Posidonius aux temps de
Marin de Tyr et de Ptol�m�e. La terre habit�e offre effectivement,
d'apr�s nos connaissances actuelles, entre les 36� et 37� 130 degr�s
d'�tendue en longitude; il y a par cons�quent des c�tes de la Chine au
Cap Sacr� � travers l'oc�an de l'est � l'ouest 230 degr�s. L'accord que
je nommerai accidentel de cette vraie distance et de l'�valuation
d'Eratosth�ne atteint done dix degr�s en longitude. Posidonius
'soup�onne (c'est l'expression de Strabon, lib. ii., p. 102, Cas.), que
la longueur de la terre habit�e laquelle est, selon lui, d'environ
70,000 stades, doit former la moiti� du cercle entier sur lequel le
mesure se prend, et qu' ainsi � partir de l'extr�mit� occidentale de
cette m�me terre habit�e, en naviguant avec un vent d'est continuel
l'espace de 70,000 autres stades, ou arriverait dans l'Inde."--Humboldt's
_G�ographie du Nouveau Continent_.]

[Footnote 3: "La longueur de la terre habit�e comprise entre les
m�ridiens des �les Fortun�es et de Sera �toit, d'apr�s Marin de Tyr
(Ptol., Geogr., lib. i., cap. 11) de 15 heures ou de 225�. C'�toit
avancer les c�tes de la Chine jusqu'au m�ridien des �les Sandwich, et
r�duire l'espace � parcourir des �les Canaries aux c�tes orientales de
l'Asie � 135�, erreur de 86� en longitude. La grande extension de
23-1/2� que les anciens donnoient � la mer Caspienne, contribuoit
�galement beaucoup � augmenter la largeur de l'Asie. Ptol�m�e a laisse
intacte, dans l'�valuation de la terre habit�e, selon Posidonius, la
distance des �les Fortun�es au passage de l'Euphrate � Hi�rapolis. Les
reductions de Ptol�m�e ne portent que sur les distances de l'Euphrate �
_la Tour de Pierre_ et de cette tour � la m�tropole des Seres. Les 225�
de Marin de Tyr deviennent, selon l'Almagest (lib. ii., p. 1) 180�,
selon la G�ographie de Ptol�m�e (lib. i., p. 12) 177-1/4�. Les c�tes des
Sin�[4] reculent donc du m�ridien des �les Sandwich vers celui des
Carolines orientales, et l'espace � parcourir par mer en longitude
n'�toit plus de 135�, mais de 180� � 182-3/4�. Il �toit dans les
int�r�ts de Christophe Colomb de pr�f�rer de beaucoup les calculs de
Marin de Tyr � ceux de Ptol�m�e et a force de conjectures Colomb
parvient � restreindre l'espace de l'Oc�an qui lui restait � traverser
des �les du cap Vert au Cathay de l'Asie orientale � 128�" (_Vida del
Almirante_).--Humboldt's _G�ographie du Nouveau Continent_, vol. ii., p.
364.]

[Footnote 4: In opposition to the opinion of Malte Brun and M. de
Josselin, Mr. Hugh Murray is considered to have satisfactorily proved
the correctness of Ptolemy's assertion that the Seres or Sin� are
identical with the Chinese.--See _Trans. of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh_, vol. viii., p. 171.]

[Footnote 5: That the vast waters of the Atlantic were regarded with
"awe and wonder, seeming to bound the world as with a chaos," needs no
greater proof than the description given of it by Xerif al Edrizi, an
eminent Arabian writer, whose countrymen were the boldest navigators of
the Middle Ages, and possessed all that was then known of geography.
"The ocean," he observes, "encircles the ultimate bounds of the
inhabited earth, and all beyond it is unknown. No one has been able to
verify any thing concerning it, on account of its difficult and perilous
navigation, its great obscurity, its profound depth, and frequent
tempests; through fear of its mighty fishes and its haughty winds; yet
there are many islands in it, some peopled, others uninhabited. There is
no mariner who dares to enter into its deep waters; or if any have done
so, they have merely kept along its coasts, fearful of departing from
them. The waves of this ocean, though they roll as high as mountains,
yet maintain themselves without breaking; for if they broke it would be
impossible for ship to plow them."--_Description of Spain_, by Xerif al
Edrizi: Cond�'s Spanish translation. Madrid, 1799.--Quoted by Washington
Irving.]

[Footnote 6: Aristotle, Strabo, Pliny, and Seneca arrived at this
conclusion. The idea, however, of an intervening continent never appears
to have suggested itself.--Humboldt's _Cosmos_.]

[Footnote 7: In the Atlantic Ocean, over against the Pillars of
Hercules, lay an island larger than Asia and Africa taken together, and
in its vicinity were other islands. The ocean in which these islands
were situated was surrounded on every side by main-land; and the
Mediterranean, compared with it, resembled a mere harbor or narrow
entrance. Nine thousand years before the time of Plato this island of
Atlantis was both thickly settled and very powerful. Its sway extended
over Africa as far as Egypt, and over Europe as far as the Tyrrhenian
Sea. The further progress of its conquests, however, was checked by the
Athenians, who, partly with the other Greeks, partly by themselves,
succeeded in defeating these powerful invaders, the natives of Atlantis.
After this a violent earthquake, which lasted for the space of a day and
a night, and was accompanied with inundations of the sea, caused the
islands to sink; and for a long period subsequent to this, the sea in
that quarter was impassable by reason of the slime and shoals.--Plato,
_Tim._, 24-29, 296; _Crit._, 108-110, 39, 43. The learned Gessner is of
opinion that the Isle of Ceres, spoken of in a poem of very high
antiquity, attributed to Orpheus, was a fragment of Atlantis. Kircher,
in his "Mundus Subterraneus," and Beckman, in his "History of Islands,"
suppose the Atlantis to have been an island extending from the Canaries
to the Azores; that it was really ingulfed in one of the convulsions of
the globe, and that those small islands are mere fragments of it.
Gosselin, in his able research into the voyages of the ancients,
supposes the Atlantis of Plato to have been nothing more nor less than
one of the nearest of the Canaries, viz, Fortaventura or Lancerote.
Carli and many others find America in the Atlantis, and adduce many
plausible arguments in support of their assertion.--Carli, _Letters
Amer._; Fr. transl., ii., 180. M. Bailly, in his "Letters sur
l'Atlantide de Platon," maintains the existence of the Atlantides, and
their island Atlantis, by the authorities of Homer, Sanchoniathon, and
Diodorus Siculus, in addition to that of Plato. Manheim maintains very
strenuously that Plato's Atlantis is Sweden and Norway. M. Bailly, after
citing many ancient testimonies, which concur in placing this famous
isle in the north, quotes that of Plutarch, who confirms these
testimonies by a circumstantial description of the Isle of Ogygia, or
the Atlantis, which he represents as situated in the north of Europe.
The following is the theory of Buffon: after citing the passage relating
to the Atlantis, from Plato's "Tim�us," he adds, "This ancient tradition
is not devoid of probability. The lands swallowed up by the waters were,
perhaps, those which united Ireland to the Azores, and the Azores to the
Continent of America; for in Ireland there are the same fossils, the
same shells, and the same sea bodies as appear in America, and some of
them are found in no other part of Europe."--Buffon's _Nat. Hist._, by
Smellie, vol. i., p. 507.]

[Footnote 8: The first authentic description of the Mar di Sargasso of
Aristotle is due to Columbus. It spreads out between the nineteenth and
thirty-fourth degrees of north latitude. Its chief axis lies about seven
degrees to the westward of the Island of Corvo. The smaller bank, on the
other hand, lies between the Bermudas and Bahamas. The winds and partial
currents in different years slightly affect the position and extent of
these Atlantic "sea-weed meadows." No other sea in either hemisphere
displays a similar extent of surface covered by plants collected in this
way. These meadows of the ocean present the wonderful spectacle of a
collection of plants covering a space nearly seven times as large as
France.--Humboldt's _Cosmos_.]

[Footnote 9: See Appendix, No. II. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 10: See Aristotle, _De Mirab. Auscult._, cap. lxxxiv., 84, p.
836, Bekk. This work, "A Collection of Wonderful Narratives," is
attributed to Aristotle; the real compiler is unknown. According to
Humboldt, it seems to have been written before the first Punic
war.--Diodorus of Sicily, vol. xix. Aristotle attributes the discovery
of the island to the Carthaginians; Diodorus to the Phoenicians. The
occurrence is said to have taken place in the earliest times of the
Tyrrhenian dominion of the sea, during the contest between the
Tyrrhenian Pelasgi and the Phoenicians. The Island of the Seven Cities
(see Appendix, No. II.) was identified with the island mentioned by
Aristotle as having been discovered by the Carthaginians, and was
inserted in the early maps under the name of Antilla. Paul Toscanelli,
the celebrated physician of Florence, thus writes to Columbus: "From the
Island of Antilia, which you call the Seven Cities, and of which you
have some knowledge," &c. In the Middle Ages conjectures were
religiously inscribed upon the maps, as is proved by Antilia, St.
Borondon (see Appendix), the Hand of Satan, Green Island, Maida Island,
and the exact form of vast southern regions. Humboldt refers the name of
Antilia so far back as the fourteenth century. The earliest date given
by Ferdinand Columbus is 1436. "Beyond the Azores, but at no great
distance toward the west, occurs the Ysola de Antilia, which we may
conclude, even allowing the date of the map to be genuine (in the
library of St. Mark, at Venice, date 1436), to be a mere gratuitous or
theoretic supposition, and to have received that strange name because
the obvious and natural idea of antipodes has been anathematized by
Catholic ignorance." He elsewhere says that "some Portuguese
cosmographers have inserted the island described by Aristotle in maps
under the name of Antilia."--_Hist. of the Discovery of America_, by Don
Ferdinand Columbus, in Ker, vol. iii., p. 3-29.

The origin of the name Antilla, or Antilia, is still a matter of
conjecture. Humboldt attributes to a "litt�rateur distingu�" the
solution of the enigma, from a passage in Aristotle's "De Mundo," which
speaks of the probable existence of unknown lands opposite to the mass
of continents which we inhabit. These countries, be they small or great,
whose shores are opposed to ours, were marked out by the word
_porthornoi_, which in the Middle Ages was translated by _antinsul�_.
Humboldt says that this translation is totally incorrect; however, the
idea of the "litt�rateur distingu�" is evidently the same as Ferdinand
Columbus's. The following is the hypothesis favored by Humboldt:
"Peut-�tre m�me le nom d'Antilia qui para�t pour la premi�re fois sur
une carte V�nitienne de 1436 n'est il qu'une forme Portuguaise donn�e �
un nom g�ographique des Arabes. L'�tymologie que hasarde M. Buace me
para�t tr�s ing�nieuse.... La syllabe initiale me para�t la corruption
de l'article Arabe. D'al Tinnin et d'Al tin on aura fait peu � peu
Antinna et Antilla, comme par un d�placement analogue de consonnes, les
Espagnols ont fait de crocodilo, corcodilo et cocodrilo. Le Dragon est
_al Tin_, et l'Antilia est peut-�tre, l'�le des dragons
marins."--Humboldt's _Ex. Crit._, vol. ii., 211.

Oviedo applies the relation of Aristotle to the Hesperian Islands, and
asserts that they were the "India" discovered by Columbus. "Perch� egli
(Colombo) conobbe come era in effetto che queste terre che egli ben
ritrovava scritte, erano del tutto uscite dalla memoria degli uomin; e
io per me non dubito che si sapissero, e possedessero anticamente dalli
R� de Spagna: e voglio qui dire quello che Aristotele in questo caso ne
scrisse, &c.... io tengo che queste Indie siano quelle autiche e famose
Isole Hesperide cos� dette da Hespero 12 Re di Spagna. Or come la Spagna
e l'Italia tolsero il nome da Hespero 12 Re di Spagna cosi anco da
questo istesso ex torsero queste isole Hesperidi, che noi diciamo, _onde
senza_ alcun dubbio si de tenere, che in quel tempe questo isole sotto
la signoria della Spagna stessero, e sotto un medesmo Re, che fu (come
Beroso dice) 1658 anni prima che il nostro Salvatore nascesse. E perch�
al presente siamo nel 1535 della salute nostra, ne segue che siano ora
tre milo e cento novantatre anni che la Spagna e'l suo Re Hespero
signoreggiavano queste Indie o Isole Hesperidi. E come cosa sua par che
abbia la divina giustizia voluto ritornargliele."--_Hist. Gen. dell'
Indie de Gonzalo Fernando d'Oviedo_, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 80.]

[Footnote 11: "It is very possible that in the same temperate zone, and
almost in the same latitude as Thin� (or Athens?), where it crosses the
Atlantic Ocean, there are inhabited worlds, distinct from that in which
we dwell."[12]--Strabo, lib. i., p. 65, and lib. ii., p. 118. It is
surprising that this expression never attracted the attention of the
Spanish authors, who, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, were
searching every where in classical literature with the expectation of
finding some traces of acquaintance with the New World.]

[Footnote 12: "The idea of such a locality in a continuation of the long
axis of the Mediterranean was connected with a grand view of the earth
by Eratosthenes (generally and extensively known among the ancients),
according to which the entire ancient continent, in its widest expanse
from west to east, in the parallel of about thirty-six degrees, presents
an almost unbroken line of elevation."--Humboldt's _Cosmos_.]

[Footnote 13: "D'Anville a dit avec esprit que la plus grande des
erreurs dans la g�ographie de Ptol�m�e a conduit les hommes � la plus
grande d�couverte de terres nouvelles c'est, � dire la supposition que
l'Asie s'�tendait vers l'est, au del� du 180 degr� de longitude."

Both Strabo and Aristotle speak of "the same sea bathing opposite
shores," Strabo, lib. i., p. 103; lib. ii., p. 162. Aristotle, _De
C�lo_, lib. ii., cap. 14, p. 297. The possibility of navigating from the
extremity of Europe to the eastern shores of Asia is clearly asserted by
the Stagirite, and in the two celebrated passages of Strabo. Aristotle
does not suppose the distance to be very great, and draws an ingenious
argument in favor of his supposition from the geography of animals.
Strabo sees no obstacle to passing from Iberia to India, except the
immense extent of the Atlantic Ocean. It is to be remembered that
Strabo, as well as Eratosthenes, extend the appellation of Atlantic Sea
to every part of the ocean.--Humboldt's _G�og. du Nouveau Continent_.]

[Footnote 14: See Appendix, No. III. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 15: "Au milieu de tant de discussions acerbes qu'une curieuse
malignit� et le go�t d'une fausse �rudition classique firent na�tre sur
le m�rite de Christophe Colomb, parmi ses contemporains, personne n'a
pens� aux navigations des Normands comme pr�curseurs des G�nois. Cette
id�e ne se presenta que soixante quatre ans apr�s la mort du grand
homme. On savait par ces propres r�cits 'qu'il �toit all� � Thul�' mais
alors ce voyage vers le nord ne fit na�tre aucun soup�on sur la
priorit�, de la d�couverte.... Le m�rite d'avoir reconnu la premi�re
d�couverte de l'Am�rique septentrionale par les Normands appartient
indubitablement au g�ographe Ortelius, qui annon�a cette opinion des
l'ann�e 1570. 'Christophe Colomb, dit Ortelius, a seulement mis le
Nouveau Monde en rapport durable de commerce et d'utilit� avec l'Europe'
(_Theatr. Orbis Terr._, on p. 5, 6). Ce jugement est beaucoup trop
s�ver�."--Humboldt's _G�og. du Nouveau Continent_.]

[Footnote 16: "Biorn first saw land in the Island of Nantucket, one
degree south of Boston, then in New Scotland, and lastly in
Newfoundland."--Carl Christian Rafn, _Antiquitates American�_, 1845, p.
4, 421; Humboldt's _Cosmos_.

"The country called 'the good Vinland' (Vinland it goda) by Leif,
included the shore between Boston and New York, and therefore parts of
the present states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut,
between the parallels of latitude of Civita, Vecchia and Terracina,
where, however, the average temperature of the year is between 46� and
52� (Fahr.). This was the chief settlement of the Normans. Their active
and enterprising spirit is proved by the circumstance that, after they
had settled in the south as far as 41� 30' north latitude, they erected
three pillars to mark out the boundaries near the eastern coast of
Baffin's Bay, in the latitude of 72� 55', upon one of the Women Islands
northwest of the present most northern Danish colony of Upernavik. The
Runic inscription upon the stone, discovered in the autumn of 1824,
contains, according to Rask and Finn Magnusen, the date of the year
1135. From this eastern coast of Baffin's Bay, the colonists visited,
with great regularity, on account of the fishery, Lancaster Sound and a
part of Barrow's Straits, and this occurred more than six centuries
before the bold undertakings of Parry and Ross. The locality of the
fishery is very accurately described; and Greenland priests, from the
diocese of Gardar, conducted the first voyage of discovery in 1266.
These northwestern summer stations were called the Kroksjardar, heathen
countries. Mention was early made of the Siberian wood, which was then
collected, as well as of the numerous whales, seals, walrus, and polar
bears."--Rafn, _Antiq. Amer._, p. 20, 274, 415-418, quoted by Humboldt.]

[Footnote 17: One of the objections brought forward by Robertson against
the Norman discovery of America is, that the wild vine has never since
been found so far north as Labrador; but modern travelers have
ascertained that a species of wild vine grows even as far north as the
shores of Hudson's Bay.[18] Since Robertson's time, however, the
locality of the first Norman settlement has been moved further south,
and into latitudes where the best species of wild vines are abundant.]

[Footnote 18: Sir A. Mackenzie's Travels in Iceland, 1812. Preliminary
Dissertation by Dr Holland, p. 46.]

[Footnote 19: Rafn, _Antiq. Amer._]

[Footnote 20: The Esquimaux were at that time spread much further south
than they are at present.--Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. ii., p. 268.]

[Footnote 21: Eric Upsi, a native of Iceland, and the first Greenland
bishop, undertook to go to Vinland as a Christian missionary in 1121.]

[Footnote 22: "The learned Grotius founds an argument for the
colonization of America by the Norwegians on the similarity between the
names of Norway and La Norimb�gue, a district bordering on New
England."--Grotius, _De Origine Gentium Americanarum_, in quarto, 1642.
See, also, the Controversy between Grotius and Jean de La�t.]

[Footnote 23: Accurate information respecting the former intercourse of
the Northmen with the Continent of America reaches only as far as the
middle of the fourteenth century. In the year 1349 a ship was sent from
Greenland to Markland (New Scotland) to collect timber and other
necessaries. Upon their return from Markland, the ship was overtaken by
storms, and compelled to land at Straumfjord, in the west of Iceland.
This is the last account of the "Norman America," preserved for us in
the ancient Scandinavian writings. The settlements upon the west coast
of Greenland, which were in a very flourishing condition until the
middle of the fourteenth century, gradually declined, from the fatal
influence of monopoly of trade, by the invasion of the Esquimaux, by the
black death which depopulated the north from the year 1347 to 1351, and
also by the arrival of a hostile fleet, from what country is not known.

By means of the critical and most praiseworthy efforts of Christian
Rafn, and the Royal Society for Northern Antiquities in Copenhagen, the
traditions and ancient accounts of the voyage of the Normans to
Helluland (Newfoundland), to Markland (the mouth of the River St.
Lawrence at Nova Scotia), and at Winland (Massachusetts), have been
separately printed and satisfactorily commented upon. The length of the
voyage, the direction in which they sailed, the time of the rising and
setting of the sun, are accurately laid down. The principal sources of
information are the historical narrations of Erik the Red, Thorfinn
Karlsefne, and Snorre Thorbrandson, probably written in Greenland
itself, as early as the twelfth century, partly by descendants of the
settlers born in Winland.--Rafn, _Antiq. Amer._, p. 7, 14, 16. The care
with which the tables of their pedigrees was kept was so great, that the
table of the family of Thorfinn Karlsefne, whose son, Snorre
Thorbrandson, was born in America, was kept from the year 1007 to 1811.

The name of the colonized countries is found in the ancient national
songs of the natives of the F�r�e Islands.--Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol.
ii., p. 268-452.]

[Footnote 24: See Appendix, No. IV. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 25: See Appendix, No. V. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 26: See Appendix, No. VI. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 27: See Appendix, No. VII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 28: The numerous data which have come down to us from
antiquity, and an acute examination of the local relations, especially
the great vicinity of the settlements upon the African coast, which
incontestably existed, lead me to believe that Phoenicians,
Carthaginians, Greeks, and Romans, and probably even the Etruscans, were
acquainted with the group of the Canary Islands.--Humboldt's _Cosmos_,
vol. ii., p. 414.

"Porro occidentalis navigatio, quantum etiam fam� assequi Plinius
potuit, tantum ad Fortunatas Insulas cursum protendit, earumque
pr�cipuam � multitudine canum Canariam vocatam refert."--Acosta, _De
Natura Novi Orbis_, lib. i., cap. ii.

Respecting the probability of the Semitic origin of the name of the
Canary Islands, Pliny, in his Latinizing etymological notions,
considered them to be _Dog Islands_! (Vide Credner's Biblical
Representation of Paradise, in Illgen's Journal for Historical Theology,
1836, vol. vi., p. 166-186.)--Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. ii., p. 414.

The most fundamental, and, in a literary point of view, the most complete
account of the Canary Islands, that was written in ancient times, down to
the Middle Ages, was collected in a work of Joachim Jos� da Costa de
Macedo, with the title "Memoria cem que se pretende provar que os Arabes
n�o connecer�o as Canarias autes dos Portuguesques, 1844." (See, also,
Viera y Clavigo, _Notic. de la Hist. de Canaria_.)--Humboldt's _Cosmos_.]

[Footnote 29: See Appendix, No. VIII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 30: "Jean de Bethancourt knew that before the expedition of
Alvaro Beccara, that is to say, before the end of the fourteenth
century, Norman adventurers had penetrated as far as Sierra Leone (lat.
8� 30'), and he sought to follow their traces. Before the Portuguese,
however, no European nation appears to have crossed the
equator."--Humboldt.

"Les Normands et les Arabes sont les seules nations qui, jusqu'au
commencement du douzi�me si�cle, aient partag� la gloire des grandes
exp�ditions maritimes, le go�t des aventures �tranges, la passion du
pillage et des conqu�tes �ph�m�res. Les Normands ont occup�
successivement l'Islande et la Neustrie, ravag� les sanctuaires de
l'Italie, ravag� la Pouille sur les Grecs, inscrit leurs caract�res
runiques jusque sur les flancs d'un des lions que Morosini enleva au
Pir�e d'Ath�nes pour en orner l'arsenal de Venise."--Humboldt's _G�og.
du Nouveau Continent_, vol. ii., p. 86.]

[Footnote 31: "No nation," says Southey, "has ever accomplished such
great things in proportion to its means as the Portuguese." Its early
maritime history does, indeed, present a striking picture of enterprise
and restless energy, but the annals of Europe afford no similar instance
of rapid degeneracy. There was an age when less than forty thousand
armed Portuguese kept the whole coasts of the ocean in awe, from Morocco
to China; when one hundred and fifty sovereign princes paid tribute to
the treasury of Lisbon. But in all their enterprises they aimed at
conquest, and not at colonization. The government at home exercised
little control over the arms of its piratical mariners; the mother
country derived no benefit from their achievements. To the age of
conquest succeeded one of effeminacy and corruption.--Merivale's
_Lectures on Colonization_, vol. i., p. 44.]

[Footnote 32: See Appendix, No. IX. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 33: The zones were imaginary bands or circles in the heavens,
producing an effect of climate on corresponding belts on the globe of
the earth. The frigid zones, between the polar circles and the poles,
were considered uninhabitable and unnavigable, on account of the extreme
cold. The torrid zone, lying beneath the track of the sun, or rather the
central part of it, immediately about the equator, was considered
uninhabitable, unproductive, and impassable, on account of the excessive
heat. The temperate zones, lying between the torrid and the frigid
zones, were supposed to be the only parts of the globe suited to the
purposes of life. Parmenides, according to Strabo, was the inventor of
this theory of the five zones. Aristotle supported the same doctrine. He
believed that there was habitable earth in the southern hemisphere, but
that it was forever divided from the part of the world already known by
the impassable zone of scorching heat at the equator. (Aristot., Met.,
ii., cap. v.) Pliny supported the opinion of Aristotle concerning the
burning zones. (Pliny, lib. i., cap. lxvi.) Strabo (lib. ii.), in
mentioning this theory, gives it likewise his support; and others of the
ancient philosophers, as well as the poets, might be cited, to show the
general prevalence of the belief.--Cicero, _Somnium Scipionis_, cap.
vi.; Geminus, cap. xiii., p. 31; ap. Petavii Opus de Doctr. Tempor. in
quo Uranologium sive Systemata var. Auctorum. Amst., 1705, vol. iii.]

[Footnote 34: See Appendix, No. X. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 35: Barros, Dec. I., lib. iii., cap. iv., p. 190, says
distinctly, "Bartholomeu Diaz, e os de sua compantica per causa dos
perigos, e tormentas, que em o dobrar delle pass�ram che puyeram nome
Tormentoso." The merit of the first circumnavigation, therefore, does
not belong to Vasco de Gama, as is generally supposed. Diaz was at the
Cape in May, 1487, and, therefore, almost at the same time that Pedro de
Covilham and Alonzo de Payva of Barcelona commenced their expedition. As
early as December, 1487, Diaz himself brought to Portugal the account of
his important discovery. The mission of Pedro Covilham and Alonzo de
Payva, in 1487, was set on foot by King John II., in order to search for
"the African priest Johannes." Believing the accounts which he had
obtained from Indian and Arabian pilots in Calicut, Goa, Aden, as well
as in Sofala, on the eastern coast of Africa, Covilham informed King
John II., by means of two Jews from Cairo, that if the Portuguese were
to continue their voyages of discovery upon the western coast in a
southerly direction, they would come to the end of Africa, whence a
voyage to the _Island of the Moon_, to Zanzibar, and the gold country of
Sofala, would be very easy. Accounts of the Indian and Arabian trading
stations upon the east coast of Africa, and of the form of the southern
extremity of the Continent, may have extended to Venice, through Egypt,
Abyssinia, and Arabia. The triangular form of Africa was actually
delineated upon the map of Sanuto, made in 1306, and discovered in the
"Portulano della Mediceo-Laurenziana," by Count Baldelli in 1351, and
also in the chart of the world by Fra Mauro.--Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol.
ii., p. 290, 461.]

[Footnote 36: Faria y Sousa complains that "the admiral entered Lisbon
with a vain-glorious exultation, in order to make Portugal feel, by
displaying the tokens of his discovery, how much she had erred in not
acceding to his propositions."--_Europa Portuguesa_, t. ii., p. 402,
403.

Ruy de Pina asserts that King John was much importuned to kill Columbus
on the spot, since, with his death, the prosecution of the undertaking,
as far as the sovereigns of Castile were concerned, would cease, from
want of a suitable person to take charge of it; but the king had too
much magnanimity to adopt the iniquitous measure proposed.--Vasconcellos,
_Vida del Rie Don Juan II._, lib. vi,; Garcia de Resende, _Vide da Dom
Joam II._; Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, lib. i., cap. lxxiv.; MS. quoted
by Prescott.]

[Footnote 37: See Appendix, No. XI. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 38: "A Castilla y a Leon Nuevo Mumto di� Colon," was the
inscription on the costly monument that was raised over the remains of
Columbus in the Carthusian Monastery of La Cuevas at Seville. "The like
of which," says his son Ferdinand, with as much truth as simplicity,
"was never recorded of any man in ancient or modern times."--_Hist. del
Almirante_, cap. cviii.

His ashes were finally removed to Cuba, where they now repose in the
Cathedral church of its capital.--Navarrete, _Coleccion de Viages_, tom.
ii.

"E dandogli il titol di Don volsero che egli aggiungesse presso all'arm�
di casa sua quattro altre, cio� quelle del Regno de Castiglio di Leon, e
il Mar Oceano con tutte l'isole e quattro anchore per dimostrare
l'ufficio d'Almirante, con un motto d'intorno che dicea, 'Per Castiglia
e per Leon, Nuovo Mundo trovo Colon.'"--Ramusio, _Discorio_, tom. iii.

The heir of Columbus was always to bear the arms of the admiral, to seal
with them, and in his signature never to use any other title than simply
"the Admiral."]

[Footnote 39: See Appendix, No. XII. (see Vol II)--In the Middle Ages
the prevalent opinion was that the sea covered but one seventh of the
surface of the globe; an opinion which Cardinal d'Ailly (Imago Mundi,
cap. viii.) founded on the apocryphal fourth book of Ezra. Columbus, who
always derived much of his cosmological knowledge from the cardinal's
work, was much interested in upholding this idea of the smallness of the
sea, to which the misunderstood expression of "the ocean-stream"
contributed not a little. He was also accustomed to cite Aristotle, and
Seneca, and St. Augustine, in confirmation of this opinion.--Humboldt's
_Examen Critique de l'Hist. de la G�ographie_, tom. i., p. 186.]

[Footnote 40: See, especially, the details of the conference held at
Salamanca (the great seat of learning in Spain), given in the fourth
chapter of Washington Irving's "Columbus." One of the objections
advanced was, that, admitting the earth to be spherical, and should a
ship succeed in reaching in this way the extremity of India, she could
never get back again; for the rotundity of the globe would present a
kind of mountain, up which it would be impossible for her to sail with
the most favorable wind.--_Hist. del Almirante_, cap. ii.; _Hist. de
Chiapa por Remesel_, lib. ii., cap. 27.]

[Footnote 41: Columbus was required by King John II., of Portugal, to
furnish a detailed plan of his proposed voyages, with the charts and
other documents according to which he proposed to shape his course, for
the alleged purpose of having them examined by the royal counselors. He
readily complied; but while he remained in anxious suspense as to the
decision of the council, a caravel was secretly dispatched with
instructions to pursue the route designated in the papers of Columbus.
This voyage had the ostensible pretext of carrying provisions to the
Cape de Verde Islands; the private instructions given were carried into
effect when the caravel departed thence. It stood westward for several
days; but then the weather grew stormy, and the pilots having no zeal to
stimulate them, and seeing nothing but an immeasurable waste of wild,
trembling waves still extending before them, lost all courage to
proceed. They put back to the Cape de Verde Islands, and thence to
Lisbon, excusing their own want of resolution by ridiculing the project
of Columbus. On discovering this act of treachery, Columbus instantly
quitted Portugal.--_Hist. del Almirante_, cap. viii.; Herrera, Dec. I.,
lib. i., cap. vii.; Munoz, _Hist. del Nuevo Mundo_, lib. ii.--Quoted by
Prescott.]

[Footnote 42: "Le Vendredi n'�tant pas regard� dans la Chr�tient� comme
un jour de bon augure pour le commencement d'une entreprise, les
historiens du 17[me] si�cle, qui g�missaient d�j� sur les maux dont,
selon eux, l'Europe a �t� accabl� par la d�couverte de l'Am�rique, on
fait remarque que Colomb est parti pour la premi�re exp�dition
_vendredi_, 3 ao�t 1492, et que la premi�re terre d'Am�rique a �t�
d�couverte _vendredi_ 12 Octobre de la m�me ann�e. La r�formation du
calendrier appliqu�e au journal de Colomb, qui indique toujours � la
fois, les jours de la semaine et la date du mois, feroit disparo�tre le
pronostic du jour fatal."--Humboldt's _G�og. du Nouveau Continent_, vol.
iii., p. 160.]

[Footnote 43: His first landing in the New World partook of the same
character as his departure from the Old.

"Christoforo Colombo--primo con una bandiera nella quale era figurato il
nostro Signore Jesu Christo in croce, salt� in terra, e quella piant�, e
poi tutti gli alti smontarono, e inginocchiati baciarono la terra, tre
volti piangendo di allegrezza. Di poi Colombo alzate le mani al cielo
lagrimando disse, Signor Dio Eterno, Signore omnipotente, tu creasti il
cielo, e la terra, e il mare con la tua santa parola, sia benedetto e
glorificato il nome tuo, sia ringraziata la tua Maest�, la quale si �
degnata per mano d' uno umil suo servo far ch' el suo santo nome sia
conosciuto e divulgato in questa altra parte del mondo."--Pietro
Martire, _Dell' Indie Occidentali_, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 2; Oviedo,
_Hist. Gen. dell' India_.]

[Footnote 44: Columbus not only has, incontestably, the merit of first
discovering the line where there is no declination of the needle, but
also of first inducing a study of terrestrial magnetism in Europe, by
his observations concerning the increasing declination as he sailed in a
westerly direction from that line. It had been already easily recognized
in the Mediterranean, and in all places where, in the twelfth century,
the declination was as much as eight or ten degrees, even though their
instruments were so imperfect that the ends of a magnetic needle did not
point exactly to the geographical north or south. It is improbable that
the Arabs or Crusaders drew attention to the fact of the compass
pointing to the northeast and northwest in different parts of the world,
as to a phenomenon which had long been known. The merit which belongs to
Columbus is, not for the first observance of the existence of the
declination, which is given, for example, upon the map of Andrew Bianca,
in 1436, but for the remark which he made on the 13th of September,
1492, that about two degrees and a half to the east of the Island of
Corvo the magnetic variation changed, and that it passed over from
northeast to northwest. This discovery of a magnetic line without any
variation indicates a remarkable epoch in nautical astronomy. It was
celebrated with just praise by Oviedo, Casas, and Herrera. If with Livio
Sanuto we ascribe it to the renowned mariner Sebastian Cabot, we forget
that his first voyage, which was undertaken at the expense of some
merchants of Bristol, and which was crowned with success by his touching
the main-land of America, falls five years later than the first
expedition of Columbus.--Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. ii., p. 318; Las
Casas, _Hist. Ind._, lib. i., cap. 6.]

[Footnote 45: "In sailing toward the West India Islands birds are often
seen at the distance of two hundred leagues from the nearest
coast."--Sloane's _Nat. Hist. of Jamaica_, vol. i., p. 30.

Captain Cook says, "No one yet knows to what distance any of the Oceanic
birds go to sea; for my own part, I do not believe that there is any one
of the whole tribe that can be relied on in pointing out the vicinity of
land."--_Voyage toward the South Pole_, vol. i., p. 275.

The Portuguese, however, only keeping along the African coast and
watching the flight of birds with attention, concluded that they did not
venture to fly far from land. Columbus adopted this erroneous opinion
from his early instructors in navigation.]

[Footnote 46: "Puesto que el amirante a los diez de la noche vi� lumbre
... y era como una candelilla de cera que se alzaba y levantaba, lo cual
a pocos pareciera ser indicio de tierra. Pero el amirante tuv� por
cierto estar junto a la tierra. Por lo qual quando dijeron la 'Salve'
que acostumbran decir y cantar a su manera todos los marineros, y de
hallan todos, vogo y amonest�los el amirante que hiciesen buena guarda
al castillo de proa, y mirasen bien por la tierra."--_Diar. de Colon.
Prem. Viag. 11 de Oct._]

[Footnote 47: "Let those who are disposed to faint under difficulties,
in the prosecution of any great and worthy undertaking, remember that
eighteen years elapsed after the time that Columbus conceived his
enterprise before he was enabled to carry it into effect; that most of
that time was passed in almost hopeless solicitation, amid poverty,
neglect, and taunting ridicule; that the prime of his life had wasted
away in the struggle, and that, when his perseverance was finally
crowned with success, he was about in his fifty-sixth year. This example
should encourage the enterprising never to despair."--Washington
Irving's _Life of Columbus_, vol. i., p. 174.]

[Footnote 48: "While Columbus lay on a sick-bed by the River Belem, he
was addressed in a dream by an unknown voice, distinctly uttering these
words: 'Maravill�samente Dios hizo sonar tu nombre en la tierra; de los
atamientos de la Mar Oceana, que estaban cerradas con cadenas tan
fuertes, te di� las llaves.' (Letter to the Catholic monarch, July 7th,
1503.)"--Humboldt's _Cosmos_.]

[Footnote 49: See Appendix, No. XIII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 50: "The application to King Henry VII. was not made until
1488, as would appear from the inscription on a map which Bartholomew
presented to the king. Las Casas intimates, from letters and writings of
Bartholomew Columbus, in his possession, that the latter accompanied
Bartholomew Diaz in his voyage from Lisbon, in 1486, along the coast of
Africa, in the course of which he discovered the Cape of Good
Hope."--Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, lib. i., cap. vii.]

[Footnote 51: "The American Continent was first discovered under the
auspices of the English, and the coast of the United States by a native
of England (Sebastian Cabot told me that he was born in
Bristowe)."--_History of the Travayles in the East and West Indies_, by
R. Eden and R. Willes, 1577. fol. 267. Posterity hardly remembered that
they[52] (the Cabots) had reached the American Continent nearly four
months before Columbus, on his third voyage, came in sight of the
main-land.--Bancroft's _Hist. of the United States_, vol. i., p. 11.
Charlevoix's "Histoire de la Nouvelle France," and the "Fastes
Chronologiques," endeavor to discredit the discoveries of John and
Sebastian Cabot, but the testimonies of cotemporary authors are
decisive. Unfortunately, no journal or relation remains of the voyages
of the Cabots to North America, but several authors have handed down
accounts of them, which they received from the lips of Sebastian Cabot
himself. See Hakluyt, iii., 27; Galearius Butrigarius, in Ramusio, tom.
ii.; Ramusio, Preface to tom. iii.; Peter Martyr ab Angleria, Dec. III.,
cap. vi.; Gomara, _Gen. Hist. of the West Indies_, b. ii., c. vi. In
Fabian's Chronicle, the writer asserts that he saw, in the sixteenth
year of Henry VII., two out of three men who had been brought from
"Newfound Island" two years before. The grant made by Edward VI. to
Sebastian Cabot of a pension equal to �1000 per annum of our money,
attests that "the good and acceptable service" for which it was
conferred was of a very important nature. The words of the grant are
handed down to us by Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 31.--See _Life of Henry
VII._, by Lord Bacon; Bacon's _Works_, vol. iii., p. 356, 357.]

[Footnote 52: "The only immediate fruit of Cabot's first enterprise is
said to have been the importation from America of the first turkeys ever
seen in Europe. Why this bird received the name it enjoys in England has
never been satisfactorily explained. By the French it was called 'Coq
d'Inde,' on account of its American original, America being then
generally termed Western India."--Graham's _Hist. of the United States_,
vol. i., p. 7.]

[Footnote 53: Baccalaos was the name given by the natives to the codfish
with which these waters abounded. Pietro Martire, who calls Sebastian
Cabot his "dear and familiar friend," speaks of Newfoundland as
Baccalaos; also, Lopez de Gomara and Ramusio.]

[Footnote 54: Mr. Bancroft pronounces this "fact to be indisputable,"
though he acknowledges that "the testimony respecting this expedition is
confused and difficult of explanation." Sebastian Cabot wrote "A
Discourse of Navigation," in which the entrance of the strait leading
into Hudson's Bay was laid down with great precision "on a card, drawn
by his own hand."--Ortelius, _Map of America in Theatrum Orbis
Terrarum_; Eden and Willis, p. 223; Sir H. Gilbert, in Hakluyt, vol.
iii., p. 49, 50; Bancroft, vol. i., p. 12.]

[Footnote 55: The learned and ingenious author of the "Memoirs of
Sebastian Cabot" has brought forward strong arguments against the
discovery of the Continent of America by Jean Vas Cortereal in
1494.--Humboldt's _G�og. du Nouveau Continent_, vol. i., p. 279; vol.
ii., p. 25.

"The discoverer of the territory of our country was one of the most
extraordinary men of his age. There is deep cause for regret that time
has spared so few memorials of his career. He gave England a continent,
and no one knows his burial-place."--Bancroft, vol. i., p. 14.]

[Footnote 56: Ramusio, vol. iii., p. 417. This discovery is also
attributed to Jacques Cartier, who entered the gulf on the 10th of
August, 1535, and gave it the name of the saint whose festival was
celebrated on that day.--Charlevoix.]

[Footnote 57: In an old map published in 1508, the Labrador coast is
called Terra Corterealis.]

[Footnote 58: It has been conjectured that the name Terra de Laborador
was given to this coast by the Portuguese slave merchants, on account of
the admirable qualities of the natives as laborers.--_Picture of
Quebec_.]

[Footnote 59: It was an idea entertained by Columbus, that, as he
extended his discoveries to climates more and more under the torrid
influence of the sun, he should find the productions of nature
sublimated by its rays to more perfect and precious qualities. He was
strengthened in this belief by a letter written to him, at the command
of the queen, by one Jayme Ferrer, an eminent and learned lapidary, who,
in the course of his trading for precious stones and metals, had been in
the Levant and in various parts of the East; had conversed with the
merchants of the remote parts of Asia and Africa, and the natives of
India, Arabia, and Ethiopia, and was considered deeply versed in
geography generally, but especially in the nature of those countries
from whence the valuable merchandise in which he dealt was procured. In
this letter Ferrer assured Columbus that, according to his experience,
the rarest objects of commerce, such as gold, precious stones, drugs,
and spices, were chiefly to be found in the regions about the
equinoctial line, where the inhabitants were black, or darkly colored,
and that until the admiral should arrive among people of such
complexions, he did not think he would find those articles in great
abundance.--Navarrete, _Coleccion_, tom. ii., Document 68.]

[Footnote 60: Ramusio, vol. iii., p. 347; Charlevoix, vol. i., p. 36;
see Osorio, History of the Portuguese, b. i.; Barrow's Voyages, p.
37-48; Herrera, Dec. 1., lib. vii., cap. ix.; Ensayo Chronologico para
la Historia general de la Florida. En Madrid, 1723.--Quoted by Murray.]

[Footnote 61: "Les demandes ordinaires qu'on nous fait sont, 'Y a-t-il
des tr�sors? Y a-t-il de l'or et de l'argent?' Et personne ne demande,
'Ces peuples l� sont il dispos�s � entendre la doctrine Chr�tienne?' Et
quant aux mines, il y en a vraiment, mais il les faut fouiller avec
industrie, labeur et patience. La plus belle mine que je sache, c'est du
bled et du vin, avec la nourriture du bestial; qui a de ceci, il a de
l'argent, et des mines, nous n'en vivons point."--Marc l'Escarbot.]

[Footnote 62: This bold stretch of papal authority, so often ridiculed
as chimerical and absurd, was in a measure justified by the event, since
it did, in fact, determine the principle on which the vast extent of
unappropriated empire in the eastern and western hemispheres was
ultimately divided between two petty states of Europe. Alexander had not
even the excuse that he thought he was disposing of uncultivated and
uninhabited regions, since he specifies in his donation both towns and
castles: "Civitates et castra in perpetuum tenore pr�sentium donamus."]

[Footnote 63: "What," said Francis I., "shall the kings of Spain and
Portugal divide all America between them, without suffering me to take a
share as their brother? I would fain see the article in Adam's will that
bequeaths that vast inheritance to them."--_Encyclopedia_, vol. iv., p.
695.]

[Footnote 64: "In the latter years of his life, Francis, by a strict
economy of the public money, repaired the evils of his early
extravagance, while, at the same time, he was enabled to spare
sufficient for carrying on the magnificent public institutions he had
undertaken, and for forwarding the progress of discovery, of the fine
arts, and of literature."--Bacon's _Life and Times of Francis I._, p.
399-401.]

[Footnote 65: See Appendix, No. XIV. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 66: "Navig� anche lungo la detta terra l'anno 1524 un gran
capitano del Re Christianissimo Francesco, detto Giovanni da Verazzano,
Fiorentino, e scorse tutta la costa fino alla Florida, come per una sua
lettera scritta al detto Re, particolarmente si vedi� la qual sola
abbiamo potuto avere perciocch� l'altre si sono smarrite nelli travagli
della povera citt� di Fiorenza e nell' ultimo viaggio che esso fece,
avendo voluto smontar in terra con alcuni compagni, furono tutti morti
da quei popoli, e in presentia di col�ro che erano rimasi nelle navi,
furono arrostiti e mangeati." (Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 416.) The Baron La
Houtan and La Potherie give the same account of Verazzano's end; they
are not, however, very trustworthy authorities. Le Beau repeats the same
story; but Charlevoix's words are, "Je ne trouve aucun fondement � ce
que quelques uns ont publi�, qu'ayant mis pied � terre dans un endroit
o� il voulait b�tir un fort, les sauvages se jet�rent sur lui, le
massacr�rent avec tous ses gens et le mang�rent." A Spanish historian
has asserted, contrary to all probability, that Verazzano was taken by
the Spaniards, and hung as a pirate.--D. Andr�s Gonzalez de Barcia,
_Ensayo Chronologico para la Historia della Florida_.]

[Footnote 67: Tiraboschi, _Storia della Literatura Italiana_, vol. vii.,
p. 261, 262.--Quoted in the _Picture of Quebec_, to which valuable work
J.C. Fisher, Esq., president of the Literary and Historical Society of
Quebec, largely contributed.]

[Footnote 68: Signifying "here is nothing." The insatiable thirst of the
Spanish discoverers for gold is justified by the greatest of all
discoverers, the disinterested Columbus himself, on high religious
principles. When acquainting their Castilian majesties with the
abundance of gold[69] to be procured in the newly-found countries, he
thus speaks, "El oro es excelentisimo, del oro se hace tesoro; y con el
quien lo tiene hace quanto quiere en el mundo, y elega a que echa las
animas al paraiso." (Navarrete, _Coleccion de los Viages_, vol. i., p.
309.) A passage which the modern editor of his papers affirms to be in
conformity with many texts of Scripture.]

[Footnote 69: The historian Herrera, writing in the light of experience,
makes use of the strong expression, that "mines were a lure devised by
the evil spirit to draw the Spaniards on to destruction." "L'Espagne,"
says Montesquieu, "a fait comme ce roi insens�, qui demanda que tout ce
qu'il toucheroit se convertit en or, et qui fut oblig� de revenir aux
Dieux, pour les prier de finir sa mis�re."--_Esprit des Loix_, lib.
xxi., cap. 22.

"Les mines du P�rou et du Mexique ne valoient pas m�me pour l'Espagne ce
qu'elle auroit tire du son propre fonds en los cultivant. Avec tant de
tr�sors Philippe II. fit banqueroute."--Millot. "P�turage et labourage,"
said the wise Sully, "valent mieux que tout l'or du P�rou."]

[Footnote 70: Father Hennepin asserts that the Spaniards were the first
discoverers of Canada, and that, finding nothing there to gratify their
extensive desires for gold, they bestowed upon it the appellation of El
Capo di Nada, "Cape Nothing," whence, by corruption, its present
name.--_Nouvelle Description d'un tr�s grand pays situ� dans l'Am�rique
entre le Nouveau Mexique et la Mer Glaciale, depuis l'an_ 1667 _jusqu'
en_ 1670. _Par le P�re Louis Hennepin, Missionaire Recollet � Utrecht_,
1697.

La Potherie gives the same derivation. _Histoire de l'Am�rique
Septentrionale par M. de Bacqueville de la Potherie, � Paris_, 1722. The
opinion expressed in a note of Charlevoix (Histoire de la Nouvelle
France, vol. i., p. 13), is that deserving most credit. "D'autres
d�rivent ce nom du mot Iroquois 'Kannata,' qui se prononce Cannada, et
signifie un amas de cabanes." This derivation would reconcile the
different assertions of the early discoverers, some of whom give the
name of Canada to the whole valley of the St. Lawrence; others, equally
worthy of credit, confine it to a small district in the neighborhood of
Stadacona (now Quebec). _Seconda Relatione di Jacques Cartier_, in
Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 442, 447. "Questo popolo (di Hochelaga) non
partendo mai del lore paese, ne essendo vagabondi, come quelli di Canada
e di Saguenay bench� dette di Canada sieno lor suggetti con otte o nove
altri villaggi posti sopra detto fiume." Father du Creux, who arrived in
Canada about the year 1625, in his "Historia Canadensis," gives the name
of Canada to the whole valley of the St. Lawrence, confessing, however,
his ignorance of the etymology: "Porro de Etymologi� vocis Canada nihil
satis cert� potui comperire; priscam quidem esse, constat ex eo, quod
illam ante annos prope sexaginta passim usurpari audiebam puer."

Dupon�eau, in the Transactions of the Philosophical Society of
Philadelphia, founds his conjecture of the Indian origin of the name of
Canada upon the fact that, in the translation of the Gospel of St.
Matthew into the Mohawk tongue, made by Brandt, the Indian chief, the
word Canada is always used to signify a village. The mistake of the
early discoverers, in taking the name of a part for that of the whole,
is very pardonable in persons ignorant of the Indian language. It is
highly improbable that at the period of its discovery the name of Canada
was extended over this immense country. The migratory habits of the
aborigines are alone conclusive against it. They distinguished
themselves by their different tribes, not by the country over which they
hunted and rode at will. They more probably gave names to localities
than adopted their own from any fixed place of residence. The Iroquois
and the Ottawas conferred their appellations on the rivers that ran
through their hunting grounds, and the Huron tribe gave theirs to the
vast lake now bearing their name. It has, however, never been pretended
that any Indian tribe bore the name of Canada, and the natural
conclusion therefore is, that the word "Canada" was a mere local
appellation, without reference to the country; that each tribe had their
own "Canada," or collection of huts, which shifted its position
according to their migrations.

Dr. Douglas, in his "American History," pretends that Canada derives its
name from Monsieur Kane or Cane, whom he advances to have been the first
adventurer in the River St. Lawrence.--Knox's _Historical Journal_, vol.
i., p. 303.]




CHAPTER II.


In the year 1534, Philip Chabot, admiral of France, urged the king to
establish a colony in the New World,[71] by representing to him in
glowing colors the great riches and power derived by the Spaniards from
their transatlantic possessions. Francis I., alive to the importance of
the design, soon agreed to carry it out. JACQUES CARTIER, an experienced
navigator of St. Malo, was recommended by the admiral to be intrusted
with the expedition, and was approved of by the king. On the 20th of
April, 1534, Cartier sailed from St. Malo with two ships of only sixty
tons burden each, and one hundred and twenty men for their crews:[72] he
directed his course westward, inclining rather to the north; the winds
proved so favorable, that on the twentieth day of the voyage he made
Cape Bonavista, in Newfoundland. But the harbors of that dreary country
were still locked up in the winter's ice, forbidding the approach of
shipping: he then bent to the southeast, and at length found anchorage
at St. Catharine, six degrees lower in latitude. Having remained here
ten days, he again turned to the north, and on the 21st of May reached
Bird Island, fourteen leagues from the coast.

Jacques Cartier examined all the northern shores of Newfoundland,
without having ascertained that it was an island, and then passed
southward through the Straits of Belleisle. The country appeared every
where the same bleak and inhospitable wilderness;[73] but the harbors
were numerous, convenient, and abounding in fish. He describes the
natives as well-proportioned men, wearing their hair tied up over their
heads like bundles of hay, quaintly interlaced with birds' feathers.[74]
Changing his course still more to the south, he then traversed the Gulf
of St. Lawrence, approached the main-land, and on the 9th of July
entered a deep bay; from the intense heat experienced there, he named it
the "Baye de Chaleurs." The beauty of the country, and the kindness and
hospitality of his reception, alike charmed him; he carried on a little
trade with the friendly savages, exchanging European goods for their
furs and provisions.

Leaving this bay, Jacques Cartier visited a considerable extent of the
gulf coast; on the 24th of July he erected a cross thirty feet high,
with a shield bearing the fleurs-de-lys of France, on the shore of Gasp�
Bay.[75] Having thus taken possession[76] of the country for his king in
the usual manner of those days, he sailed, the 25th of July, on his
homeward voyage: at this place two of the natives were seized by
stratagem, carried on board the ships, and borne away to France. Cartier
coasted along the northern shores of the Gulf till the 15th of August,
and even entered the mouth of the River St. Lawrence, but the weather
becoming stormy, he determined to delay his departure no longer: he
passed again through the Straits of Belleisle, and arrived at St. Malo
on the 5th of September, 1534, contented with his success, and full of
hope for the future.

Jacques Cartier was received with the consideration due to the
importance of his report. The court at once perceived the advantage of
an establishment in this part of America, and resolved to take steps for
its foundation. Charles de Moncy, Sieur de la Mailleraye, vice-admiral
of France, was the most active patron of the undertaking; through his
influence Cartier obtained a more effective force, and a new commission,
with ampler powers than before. When the preparations for the voyage
were completed, the adventurers all assembled in the Cathedral of St.
Malo, on Whitsunday, 1535, by the command of their pious leader; the
bishop then gave them a solemn benediction, with all the imposing
ceremonials of the Romish Church.

On the 19th of May Jacques Cartier embarked, and started on his voyage
with fair wind and weather. The fleet consisted of three small ships,
the largest being only one hundred and twenty tons burden. Many
adventurers and young men of good family accompanied the expedition as
volunteers. On the morrow the wind became adverse, and rose to a storm;
the heavens lowered over the tempestuous sea; for more than a month the
utmost skill of the mariners could only enable them to keep their ships
afloat, while tossed about at the mercy of the waves. The little fleet
was dispersed on the 25th of June: each vessel then made for the coast
of Newfoundland as it best might. The general's vessel, as that of
Cartier was called, was the first to gain the land, on the 7th of July,
and there awaited her consorts; but they did not arrive till the 26th of
the month. Having taken in supplies of fuel and water, they sailed in
company to explore the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A violent storm arose on
the 1st of August, forcing them to seek shelter. They happily found a
port on the north shore, at the entrance of the Great River, where,
though difficult of access, there was a safe anchorage. Jacques Cartier
called it St. Nicolas, and it is now almost the only place still bearing
the name he gave. They left their harbor on the 7th, coasting westward
along the north shore, and on the 10th came to a gulf filled with
numerous and beautiful islands.[77] Cartier gave this gulf the name of
St. Lawrence, having discovered it on that saint's festival day.[78]

On the 15th of August they reached a long, rocky island toward the
south, which Cartier named L'Isle de l'Assumption, now called
Anticosti.[79] Thence they continued their course, examining carefully
both shores of the Great River,[80] and occasionally holding
communication with the inhabitants, till, on the 1st of September, they
entered the mouth of the deep and gloomy Saguenay. The entrance of this
great tributary was all they had leisure to survey; but the huge rocks,
dense forests, and vast body of water, forming a scene of somber
magnificence such as had never before met their view, inspired them with
an exalted idea of the country they had discovered. Still passing to the
southwest up the St. Lawrence, on the 6th they reached an island
abounding in delicious filberts, and on that account named by the
voyagers Isle aux Coudres. Cartier, being now so far advanced into an
unknown country, looked out anxiously for a port where his vessels might
winter in safety. He pursued his voyage till he came upon another
island, of great extent, fertility, and beauty, covered with woods and
thick, clustering vines. This he named Isle de Bacchus:[81] it is now
called Orleans. On the 7th of September, Donnacona, the chief of the
country,[82] came with twelve canoes filled by his train, to hold
converse with the strangers, whose ships lay at anchor between the
island and the north shore of the Great River. The Indian chief
approached the smallest of the ships with only two canoes, fearful of
causing alarm, and began an oration, accompanied with strange and
uncouth gestures. After a time he conversed with the Indians who had
been seized on the former voyage, and now acted as interpreters. He
heard from them of their wonderful visit to the great nation over the
salt lake, of the wisdom and power of the white men, and of the kind
treatment they had received among the strangers. Donnacona appeared
moved with deep respect and admiration; he took Jacques Cartier's arm
and placed it gently over his own bended neck, in token of confidence
and regard. The admiral cordially returned these friendly
demonstrations. He entered the Indian's canoe, and presented bread and
wine, which they ate and drank together. They then parted in all amity.

After this happy interview, Jacques Cartier, with his boats, pushed up
the north shore against the stream, till he reached a spot where a
little river flowed into a "goodly and pleasant sound," forming a
convenient haven.[83] He moored his vessels here for the winter on the
16th of September, and gave the name of St. Croix to the stream, in
honor of the day on which he first entered its waters; Donnacona,
accompanied by a train of five hundred Indians, came to welcome his
arrival with generous friendship. In the angle formed by the tributary
stream and the Great River, stood the town of Stadacona, the
dwelling-place of the chief; thence an irregular slope ascended to a
lofty height of table-land: from this eminence a bold headland frowned
over the St. Lawrence, forming a rocky wall three hundred feet in
height. The waters of the Great River--here narrowed to less than a mile
in breath--rolled deeply and rapidly past into the broad basin beyond.
When the white men first stood on the summit of this bold headland,
above their port of shelter, most of the country was fresh from the hand
of the Creator; save the three small barks lying at the mouth of the
stream, and the Indian village, no sign of human habitation met their
view. Far as the eye could reach, the dark forest spread; over hill and
valley, mountain and plain; up to the craggy peaks, down to the blue
water's edge; along the gentle slopes of the rich Isle of Bacchus, and
even from projecting rocks, and in fissures of the lofty precipice, the
deep green mantle of the summer foliage hung its graceful folds. In the
dim distance, north, south, east, and west, where mountain rose above
mountain in tumultuous variety of outline, it was still the same; one
vast leafy vail concealed the virgin face of Nature from the stranger's
sight. On the eminence commanding this scene of wild but magnificent
beauty, a prosperous city now stands; the patient industry of man has
felled that dense forest, tree by tree, for miles and miles around, and
where it stood, rich fields rejoice the eye; the once silent waters of
the Great River below now surge against hundreds of stately ships;
commerce has enriched this spot, art adorned it; a memory of glory
endears it to every British heart. But the name QUEBEC[85] still remains
unchanged; as the savage first pronounced it to the white stranger, it
stands to-day among the proudest records of our country's story.

The chief Donnacona and the French continued in friendly intercourse,
day by day exchanging good offices and tokens of regard. But Jacques
Cartier was eager for further discoveries; the two Indian interpreters
told him that a city of much larger size than Stadacona lay further up
the river, the capital of a great country; it was called in the native
tongue Hochelaga; thither he resolved to find his way. The Indians
endeavored vainly to dissuade their dangerous guests from this
expedition; they represented the distance, the lateness of the season,
the danger of the great lakes and rapid currents; at length they had
recourse to a kind of masquerade or pantomime, to represent the perils
of the voyage, and the ferocity of the tribes inhabiting that distant
land. The interpreters earnestly strove to dissuade Jacques Cartier from
proceeding on his enterprise, and one of them refused to accompany him.
The brave Frenchman would not hearken to such dissuasions, and treated
with equal contempt the verbal and pantomimic warnings of the alleged
difficulties. As a precautionary measure to impress the savages with an
exalted idea of his power as a friend or foe, he caused twelve cannon
loaded with bullets to be fired in their presence against a wood; amazed
and terrified at the noise, and the effects of this discharge, they
fled, howling and shrieking, away.

Jacques Cartier sailed for Hochelaga on the 19th of September; he took
with him the Hermerillon, one of his smallest ships, the pinnace, and
two long-boats, bearing thirty-five armed men, with their provisions and
ammunition. The two larger vessels and their crews were left in the
harbor of St. Croix, protected by poles and stakes driven into the water
so as to form a barricade. The voyage presented few of the threatened
difficulties; the country on both sides of the Great River was rich and
varied, covered with stately timber, and abounding in vines. The natives
were every where friendly and hospitable; all that they possessed was
freely offered to the strangers. At a place called Hochelai, the chief
of the district visited the French, and showed much friendship and
confidence, presenting Jacques Cartier with a girl seven years of age,
one of his own children.

On the 29th, the expedition was stopped in Lake St. Pierre by the
shallows, not having hit upon the right channel. Jacques Cartier took
the resolution of leaving his larger vessels behind and proceeding with
his two boats; he met with no further interruption, and at length
reached Hochelaga on the 2d of October, accompanied by De Pontbriand, De
la Pommeraye, and De Gozelle, three of his volunteers. The natives
welcomed him with every demonstration of joy and hospitality; above a
thousand people, of all ages and sexes, come forth to meet the
strangers, greeting them with affectionate kindness. Jacques Cartier, in
return for their generous reception, bestowed presents of tin, beads,
and other bawbles upon all the women, and gave some knives to the men.
He returned to pass the night in the boats, while the savages made great
fires on the shore, and danced merrily all night long. The place where
the French first landed was probably about eleven miles from the city
of Hochelaga, below the rapid of St. Mary.

On the day after his arrival Jacques Cartier proceeded to the town; his
volunteers and some others of his followers accompanied him, arrayed in
full dress; three of the natives undertook to guide them on their way.
The road was well beaten, and bore evidence of having been much
frequented: the country through which it passed was exceedingly rich and
fertile. Hochelaga stood in the midst of great fields of Indian corn; it
was of a circular form, containing about fifty large huts, each fifty
paces long and from fourteen to fifteen wide, all built in the shape of
tunnels, formed of wood, and covered with birch bark; the dwellings were
divided into several rooms, surrounding an open court in the center,
where the fires burned. Three rows of palisades encircled the town, with
only one entrance; above the gate, and over the whole length of the
outer ring of defense, there was a gallery, approached by flights of
steps, and plentifully provided with stones and other missiles to resist
attack. This was a place of considerable importance, even in those
remote days, as the capital of a great extent of country, and as having
eight or ten villages subject to its sway.

The inhabitants spoke the language of the great Huron nation, and were
more advanced in civilization than any of their neighbors: unlike other
tribes, they cultivated the ground and remained stationary. The French
were well received by the people of Hochelaga; they made presents, the
Indians gave f�tes; their fire-arms, trumpets, and other warlike
equipments filled the minds of their simple hosts with wonder and
admiration, and their beards and clothing excited a curiosity which the
difficulties of an unknown language prevented from being satisfied. So
great was the veneration for the white men, that the chief of the town,
and many of the maimed, sick, and infirm, came to Jacques Cartier,
entreating him, by expressive signs, to cure their ills. The pious
Frenchman disclaimed any supernatural power, but he read aloud part of
the Gospel of St. John, made the sign of the cross over the sufferers,
and presented them with chaplets and other holy symbols; he then prayed
earnestly that the poor savages might be freed from the night of
ignorance and infidelity. The Indians regarded these acts and words with
deep gratitude and respectful admiration.

Three miles from Hochelaga, there was a lofty hill, well tilled and very
fertile;[86] thither Jacques Cartier bent his way, after having examined
the town. From the summit he saw the river and the country for thirty
leagues around, a scene of singular beauty. To this hill he gave the
name of Mont Royal; since extended to the large and fertile island on
which it stands, and to the city below. Time has now swept away every
trace of Hochelaga; on its site the modern capital of Canada has arisen;
fifty thousand people of European race, and stately buildings of carved
stone, replace the simple Indians and the huts of the ancient town.

Jacques Cartier, having made his observations, returned to the boats,
attended by a great concourse; when any of his men appeared fatigued
with their journey, the kind Indians carried them on their shoulders.
This short stay of the French seemed to sadden and displease these
hospitable people, and on the departure of the boats they followed their
course for some distance along the banks of the river. On the 4th of
October Jacques Cartier reached the shallows, where the pinnace had been
left; he resumed his course the following day, and arrived at St. Croix
on the 11th of the same month.

The men who had remained at St. Croix had busied themselves during their
leader's absence in strengthening their position, so as to secure it
against surprise, a wise precaution under any circumstances among a
savage people, but especially in the neighborhood of a populous town,
the residence of a chief whose friendship they could not but distrust,
in spite of his apparent hospitality.

The day after Jacques Cartier's arrival, Donnacona came to bid him
welcome, and entreated him to visit Stadacona. He accepted the
invitation, and proceeded with his volunteers and fifty sailors to the
village, about three miles from where the ships lay. As they journeyed
on, they observed that the houses were well provided and stored for the
coming winter, and the country tilled in a manner showing that the
inhabitants were not ignorant of agriculture; thus they formed, on the
whole, a favorable impression of the docility and intelligence of the
Indians during this expedition.

When the awful and unexpected severity of the winter set in, the French
were unprovided with necessary clothing and proper provisions; the
scurvy attacked them, and by the month of March twenty-five were dead,
and nearly all were infected; the remainder would probably have also
perished; but when Jacques Cartier was himself attacked with the
dreadful disease, the Indians revealed to him the secret of its cure:
this was the decoction of the leaf and bark of a certain tree, which
proved so excellent a remedy that in a few days all were restored to
health.[87]

Jacques Cartier, on the 21st of April, was first led to suspect the
friendship of the natives from seeing a number of strong and active
young men make their appearance in the neighboring town; these were
probably the warriors of the tribe, who had just then returned from the
hunting grounds, where they had passed the winter, but there is now no
reason to suppose that their presence indicated any hostility. However,
Jacques Cartier, fearing treachery, determined to anticipate it. He had
already arranged to depart for France. On the 3d of May he seized the
chief, the interpreters, and two other Indians, to present them to
Francis I.: as some amends for this cruel and flagrant violation of
hospitality, he treated his prisoners with great kindness; they soon
became satisfied with their fate. On the 6th of May he made sail for
Europe, and, after having encountered some difficulties and delays,
arrived safely at St. Malo the 8th of July, 1536.

The result of Jacques Cartier's expedition was not encouraging to the
spirit of enterprise in France; no mines had been discovered,[88] no
rare and valuable productions found.[89] The miserable state to which
the adventurers had been reduced by the rigorous climate and loathsome
diseases, the privations they had endured, the poverty of their
condition, were sufficient to cool the ardor of those who might
otherwise have wished to follow up their discoveries. But, happily for
the cause of civilization, some of those powerful in France judged more
favorably of Jacques Cartier's reports, and were not to be disheartened
by the unsuccessful issue of one undertaking; the dominion over such a
vast extent of country, with fertile soil and healthy climate, inhabited
by a docile and hospitable people, was too great an object to be lightly
abandoned. The presence of Donnacona, the Indian chief, tended to keep
alive an interest in the land whence he had come; as soon as he could
render himself intelligible in the French language, he confirmed all
that had been said of the salubrity, beauty, and richness of his native
country. The pious Jacques Cartier most of all strove to impress upon
the king the glory and merit of extending the blessed knowledge of a
Savior to the dark and hopeless heathens of the West; a deed well worthy
of the prince who bore the title of Most Christian King and Eldest Son
of the Church.

Jean Fran�ois de la Roque, lord of Roberval, a gentleman of Picardy, was
the most earnest and energetic of those who desired to colonize the
lands discovered by Jacques Cartier; he bore a high reputation in his
own province, and was favored by the friendship of the king. With these
advantages he found little difficulty in obtaining a commission to
command an expedition to North America; the title and authority of
lieutenant general and viceroy was conferred upon him; his rule to
extend over Canada, Hochelaga, Saguenay, Newfoundland, Belle Isle,
Carpon, Labrador, La Grand Baye, and Baccalaos, with the delegated
rights and powers of the crown. This patent was dated the 15th of
January, 1540. Jacques Cartier was named second in command. The orders
to the leaders of the expedition enjoined them to discover more than had
been hitherto accomplished, and, if possible, to reach the country of
Saguenay, where, from some reports of the Indians, they still hoped to
find mines of gold and silver. The port of St. Malo was again chosen for
the fitting out of the expedition: the king furnished a sum of money to
defray the expenses.[90]

Jacques Cartier exerted himself vigorously in preparing the little fleet
for the voyage, and awaited the arrival of his chief with the necessary
arms, stores, and ammunition; Roberval was meanwhile engaged at Honfleur
in fitting out two other vessels at his own cost, and being urged to
hasten by the king, he gave his lieutenant orders to start at once, with
full authority to act as if he himself were present. He also promised to
follow from Honfleur with all the required supplies. Jacques Cartier
sailed on the 23d of May, 1541, having provisioned his fleet for two
years. Storms and adverse winds dispersed the ships for some time, but
in about a month they all met again on the coast of Newfoundland, where
they hoped Roberval would join them. They awaited his coming for some
weeks, but at length proceeded without him to the St. Lawrence; on the
23d of August they reached their old station near the magnificent
headland of Quebec.

Donnacona's successor as chief of the Indians at Stadacona came in state
to welcome the French on their return, and to inquire after his absent
countrymen. They told him of the chief's death, but concealed the fate
of the other Indians, stating that they were enjoying great honor and
happiness in France, and would not return to their own country. The
savages displayed no symptoms of anger, surprise, or distrust at this
news; their countenances exhibited the same impassive calm, their
manners the same quiet dignity as ever; but from that hour their hearts
were changed; hatred and hostility took the place of admiration and
respect, and a sad foreboding of their approaching destruction darkened
their simple minds. Henceforth the French were hindered and molested by
the inhabitants of Stadacona to such an extent that it was deemed
advisable to seek another settlement for the winter. Jacques Cartier
chose his new position at the mouth of a small river three leagues
higher on the St. Lawrence;[91] here he laid up some of his vessels
under the protection of two forts, one on a level with the water, the
other on the summit of an overhanging cliff; these strongholds
communicated with each other by steps cut in the solid rock; he gave the
name of Charlesbourg Royal to this new station. The two remaining
vessels of the fleet he sent back to France with letters to the king,
stating that Roberval had not yet arrived.

Under the impression that the country of the Saguenay, the land of
fabled wealth, could be reached by pursuing the line of the St.
Lawrence, Jacques Cartier set forth to explore the rapids above
Hochelaga on the 7th of September, 1541. The season being so far
advanced, he only undertook this expedition with a view to being better
acquainted with the route, and to being provided with all necessary
preparations for a more extensive exploration in the spring. In passing
up the Great River he renewed acquaintance with the friendly and
hospitable chief of Hochelai, and there left two boys under charge of
the Indians to learn the language. On the 11th he reached the sault or
rapids above Hochelaga, where the progress of the boats was arrested by
the force of the stream; he then landed and made his way to the second
rapid. The natives gave him to understand that above the next sault
there lay a great lake; Cartier, having obtained this information,
returned to where he had left the boats; about four hundred Indians had
assembled and met him with demonstrations of friendship; he received
their good offices and made them presents in return, but still regarded
them with distrust on account of their unusual numbers. Having gained
as much information as he could, he set out on his return to
Charlesbourg Royal, his winter-quarters. The chief was absent when
Jacques Cartier stopped at Hochelai on descending the river; he had gone
to Stadacona to hold counsel with the natives of that district for the
destruction of the white men. On arriving at Charlesbourg Royal, Jacques
Cartier found confirmation of his suspicions against the Indians; they
now avoided the French, and never approached the ships with their usual
offerings of fish and other provisions; a great number of men had also
assembled at Stadacona. He accordingly made every possible preparation
for defense in the forts, and took due precautions against a surprise.
There are no records extant of the events of this winter in Canada, but
it is probable that no serious encounter took place with the natives;
the French, however, must have suffered severely from the confinement
rendered necessary by their perilous position, as well as from want of
the provisions and supplies which the bitter climate made requisite.

Roberval, though high-minded and enterprising, failed in his engagements
with Jacques Cartier: he did not follow his adventurous lieutenant with
the necessary and promised supplies till the spring of the succeeding
year. On the 16th of April, 1542, he at length sailed from Rochelle with
three large vessels, equipped principally at the royal cost. Two hundred
persons accompanied him, some of them being gentlemen of condition,
others men and women purposing to become settlers in the New World. Jean
Alphonse, an experienced navigator of Saintonge, by birth a Portuguese,
was pilot of the expedition. After a very tedious voyage, they entered
the Road of St. John's, Newfoundland, on the 8th of June, where they
found no fewer than seventeen vessels engaged in the inexhaustible
fisheries of those waters.

While Roberval indulged in a brief repose at this place, the unwelcome
appearance of Jacques Cartier filled him with disappointment and
surprise. The lieutenant gave the hostility of the savages and the
weakness of his force as reasons for having abandoned the settlement
where he had passed the winter. He still, however, spoke favorably of
the richness and fertility of the country, and gladdened the eyes of
the adventurers by the sight of a substance that resembled gold ore, and
crystals that they fancied were diamonds, found on the bold headland of
Quebec. But, despite these flattering reports and promising specimens,
Jacques Cartier and his followers could not be induced, by entreaties or
persuasions, to return. The hardships and dangers of the last terrible
winter were too fresh in memory, and too keenly felt, to be again
braved. They deemed their portion of the contract already complete, and
the love of their native land overcame the spirit of adventure, which
had been weakened, if not quenched, by recent disappointment and
suffering. To avoid the chance of an open rupture with Roberval, the
lieutenant silently weighed anchor during the night, and made all sail
for France. This inglorious withdrawal from the enterprise paralyzed
Roberval's power, and deferred the permanent settlement of Canada for
generations then unborn. Jacques Cartier died soon after his return to
Europe.[92] Having sacrificed his fortune in the pursuit of discovery,
his heirs were granted an exclusive privilege of trade to Canada for
twelve years, in consideration of his sacrifices for the public good;
but this gift was revoked four months after it was bestowed.

Roberval determined to proceed on his expedition, although deprived of
the powerful assistance and valuable experience of his lieutenant. He
sailed from Newfoundland for Canada, and reached Cap Rouge, the place
where Jacques Cartier had wintered, before the end of June, 1542. He
immediately fortified himself there, as the situation best adapted for
defense against hostility, and for commanding the navigation of the
Great River. Very little is known of Roberval's proceedings during the
remainder of that year and the following winter. The natives do not
appear to have molested the new settlers; but no progress whatever was
made toward a permanent establishment. During the intense cold, the
scurvy caused fearful mischief among the French; no fewer than fifty
perished from that dreadful malady during the winter. Demoralized by
misery and idleness, the little colony became turbulent and lawless, and
Roberval was obliged to resort to extreme severity of punishment before
quiet and discipline were re-established.

Toward the close of April the ice broke up, and released the French from
their weary and painful captivity. On the 5th of June, 1543, Roberval
set forth from Cap Rouge to explore the province of Saguenay, leaving
thirty men and an officer to protect their winter-quarters: this
expedition produced no results, and was attended with the loss of one of
the boats and eight men. In the mean time the pilot, Jean Alphonse, was
dispatched to examine the coasts north of Newfoundland, in hopes of
discovering a passage to the East Indies; he reached the fifty-second
degree of latitude, and then abandoned the enterprise; on returning to
Europe, he published a narrative of Roberval's expedition and his own
voyage, with a tolerably accurate description of the River St. Lawrence,
and its navigation upward from the Gulf. Roberval reached France in
1543; the war between Francis I. and the Emperor Charles V. for some
years occupied his ardent spirit, and supplied him with new occasions
for distinction, till the death of the king, his patron and friend, in
1547. In the year 1549 he collected some adventurous men, and,
accompanied by his brave brother, Achille, sailed once again for Canada;
but none of this gallant band were ever heard of more. Thus, for many a
year, were swallowed up in the stormy Atlantic all the bright hopes of
founding a new nation in America:[93] since these daring men had failed,
none others might expect to be successful.

In the reign of Henry II., attention was directed toward Brazil;
splendid accounts of its wealth and fertility were brought home by some
French navigators who had visited that distant land. The Admiral Gaspard
de Coligni was the first to press upon the king the importance of
obtaining a footing in South America, and dividing the magnificent prize
with the Portuguese monarch. This celebrated man was convinced that an
extensive system of colonization was necessary for the glory and
tranquillity of France. He purposed that the settlement in the New World
should be founded exclusively by persons holding that Reformed faith to
which he was so deeply attached, and thus would be provided a refuge for
those driven from France by religious proscription and persecution. It
is believed that Coligni's magnificent scheme comprehended the
possession of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, gradually colonizing
the banks of these great rivers into the depths of the Continent, till
the whole of North America, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of
Mexico, should be hemmed in by this gigantic line of French outposts.
However, the first proposition was to establish a colony on the coast of
Brazil; the king approved the project, and Durand de Villegagnon,
vice-admiral of Brittany, was selected to command in 1555; the
expedition, however, entirely failed, owing to religious differences.

Under the reigns of Francis II. and Charles IX., while France was
convulsed with civil war, America seemed altogether forgotten. But
Coligni availed himself of a brief interval of calm to turn attention
once more to the Western World. He this time bethought himself of that
country to which Ponce de Leon had given the name of Florida, from the
exuberant productions of the soil and the beauty of the scenery and
climate. The River Mississippi[94] had been discovered by Ferdinand de
Soto,[95] about the time of Jacques Cartier's last voyage, 1543;
consequently, the Spaniards had this additional claim upon the
territory, which, they affirmed, they had visited in 1512, twelve years
before the date of Verazzano's voyage in 1524. However, the claims and
rights of the different European nations upon the American Continent
were not then of sufficient strength to prevent each state from pursuing
its own views of occupation. Coligni obtained permission from Charles
IX. to attempt the establishment of a colony in Florida,[96] about the
year 1562. The king was the more readily induced to approve of this
enterprise, as he hoped that it would occupy the turbulent spirits of
the Huguenots, many of them his bitter enemies, and elements of discord
in his dominions. On the 18th of February, 1562, Jean de Ribaut, a
zealous Protestant, sailed from Dieppe with two vessels and a picked
crew; many volunteers, including some gentlemen of condition, followed
his fortunes. He landed on the coast of Florida, near St. Mary's River,
where he established a settlement and built a fort. Two years afterward
Coligni sent out a re-enforcement, under the command of Ren� de
Laudonni�re; this was the only portion of the admiral's great scheme
ever carried into effect: when he fell, in the awful massacre of Saint
Bartholomew, his magnificent project was abandoned. (1568.) After six
years of fierce struggle with the Spaniards, the survivors of this
little colony returned to France.[97]


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 71: Hist. de la Nouvelle France, par le P�re Charlevoix, de la
Compagnie de J�sus, vol. i., p. 11; Fastes Chronologiques, 1534.]

[Footnote 72: Prima Relatione de Jacques Cartier della Terra Nouva,
detta la Nouva Francia, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 435.]

[Footnote 73: "Se la terra fosse cosi buono; come vi sono buoni porti,
sarebbe un gran bene, ma ella non si debba chiamar Terra Nouva, anzi
sassi e grebani salvatichi, e proprij luoghi da fiere, per ci� che in
tutto l'isola di Tramontana--[translated by Hakluyt "the northern part
of the island"]--io non vidi tanta terra che se ne potesse coricar un
carro, e vi smontai in parecchi luoghi, e all' isola di Bianco Sabbione
non v'� altro che musco, e piccioli spini dispersi, secchi, e morti, e
in somma io penso che questa sia la terra che Iddio dette a Caino."--J.
Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 436.

The journal of the first two voyages of Cartier is preserved almost
entire in the "Histoire de la Nouvelle France," by L'Escarbot; there is
an Italian translation in the third volume of Ramusio. They are written
in the third person, and it does not appear that he was himself the
author.]

[Footnote 74: "Sono uomini d'assai bella vita e grandezza ma indomiti e
salvatichi: portano i capelli in cuna legati e stretti a guisa d'un
pugno di fieno rivolto, mettendone in mezzo un legnetto, o altra cosa in
vece di chiodo, e vi legano insieme certe penne d'uccelli."--J. Cartier,
in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 436.]

[Footnote 75: De La�t., vol. i., p. 58.]

[Footnote 76: This was ingeniously represented to the natives as a
religious ceremony, and, as such, excited nothing but the "grandissima
ammirazione" of the natives present; it was, however, differently
understood by their chief. "Ma essendo noi ritornati all� nostra navi,
venne il Capitano lor vestito d'im pella vecchia d'orso negro in una
barca con tre suoi figliuoli, e ci fece un lungo sermone mostrandaci
detta croce e facendo il segno della croce con due dita poi ci mostrava
la terra tutta intorno di noi come s'avesse voluto dice che tutta era
sua, e che noi non dovevamo piantar detta croce senza sua licenza."--J.
Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 439.]

[Footnote 77: "Trovavamo un molto bello e gran golfo pieno d'isole e
buone entrate e passaggi, verso qual vento si possa fare."--J. Cartier,
in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 441.]

[Footnote 78: "Carthier donna au golphe le nom de St. Laurent, ou plut�t
il le donna � une baye qui est entre l'isle d'Anticoste et la c�te
septentrionale, d'o� ce nom s'est �tendu � tout le golphe dont cette
baye fait partie."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle France_, tom. i., p. 15.]

[Footnote 79: "Des sauvages l'appelloient Natiscotec, le nom d'Anticosti
para�t lui avoir �t� donn� par les Anglais."--Charlevoix, tom. i., p.
16. This island is one hundred and twenty-five miles long, and in its
widest part thirty miles, dividing the River St. Lawrence into two
channels. Throughout its whole extent it has neither bay nor harbor
sufficiently safe to shelter ships. It is uncultivated, being generally
of an unprofitable soil, upon which any attempted improvements have met
with very unpromising results. Since the year 1809, establishments have
been formed on the island for the relief of shipwrecked persons; two men
reside there, at two different stations, all the year round, furnished
with provisions for the use of those who may have the misfortune to need
them. Boards are placed in different parts describing the distance and
direction to these friendly spots; instances of the most flagrant
inattention have, however, occurred, which were attended with the most
distressing and fatal consequences."--Bonchette, vol. i., p. 169.

"At present the whole island might be purchased for a few hundred
pounds. It belongs to some gentlemen in Quebec; and you might, for a
very small sum, become one of the greatest land-owners in the world, and
a Canadian _seigneur_ into the bargain."--Grey's _Canada_.]

[Footnote 80: This is the first discovery of the River St. Lawrence,
called by the natives the River Hochelaga, or the River of Canada.
Jacques Cartier accurately determined the breadth of its mouth ninety
miles across. Cape Rosier, a small distance to the north of the point of
Gasp�, is properly the place which marks the opening of the gigantic
river. "V'� tra le terre d'ostro e quelle di tramontana la distantia di
trenta leghe in circa, e pi� di dugento braccia di fondo. Ci dissero
anche i detti salvatichi e certificarono quivi essere il cammino e
principio del gran fiume di Hochelaga e strada di Canada."--J. Cartier,
in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 442.

J. Cartier always afterward speaks of the St. Lawrence as the River of
Hochelaga, or Canada. Charlevoix says, "Parceque le fleuve qu'on
appelloit auparavant la Rivi�re de Canada se d�charge dans le Golphe de
St. Laurent, il a insensiblement pris le nom de Fleuve de St. Laurent,
qu'il porte aujourd'hui (1720)."]

[Footnote 81: "Lorsque Jacques Carthier d�couvrit cette �le, il la
trouva toute remplie de vignes, et la nomma l'�le de Bacchus. Ce
navigateur �tait Br�ton, apr�s lui sont venus des Normands qui ont
arrach� les vignes et � Bacchus ont substitut� Pomone et C�r�s. En effet
elle produit de bon froment et d'excellent fruits."--_Journal
Historique_, lettre ii., p. 102.

Charlevoix also mentions that, when he visited the islands in 1720, the
inhabitants were famed for their skill in sorcery, and were supposed to
hold intercourse with the devil!

The Isle of Orleans was, in 1676, created an earldom, by the title of
St. Laurent, which, however, has long been extinct. The first Comte de
St. Laurent was of the name of Berthelot.--Charlevoix, vol. v., p. 99.]

[Footnote 82: "Il signor de Canada (chiamato Donnacona per nome, ma per
signore il chiamano Agouhanna)."--J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p.
442. Agouhanna signified chief or lord.

Here, says Jacques Cartier, begins the country of Canada. "Il settimo
giorno di detto mese la vigilia della Madonna, dopo udita la messa ci
partimmo dall' isola de' nocellari per andar all'insu di detta fiume, e
arrivamo a quattordici isole distanti dall' isola de Nocellari intorno
setto in otto leghe, e quivi � il principio della provincia, e terra di
Canada."--J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 442.]

[Footnote 83: The writer of these pages adds the testimony of an
eye-witness to the opinion of the ingenious author of the "Picture of
Quebec," as to the localities here described. The old writers, even
Charlevoix himself, have asserted that the "Port St. Croix was at the
entrance of the river now called Jacques Cartier, which flows into the
St. Lawrence about fifteen miles above Quebec." Charlevoix, indeed,
mentions that "Champlain pr�tend que cette rivi�re est celle de St.
Charles, mais," he adds, "il se trompe," &c. However, the localities are
still unchanged; though three centuries have since elapsed, the
description of Jacques Cartier is easily recognized at the present day,
and marks out the mouth of the little River St. Charles[84] as the first
winter station of the Europeans in Canada. The following are J.
Cartier's words: "Per cercar luogo e porto sicuro da metter le nav�, e
andammo al contrario per detto fiume intorno di dieci leghe costezziando
detta isola (di Bacchus) e in capo di quella trovammo un gorgo d'acqua
bello e ameno ("the beautiful basin of Quebec," as it is called in the
"Picture of Quebec")--nel quel luogo e un picciol fiume e porto, dove
per il flusso � alta l'acqua intorno a tre braccia, ne parve questo
luogo comodo per metter le nostre navi, per il che quivi le mettemmo in
sicuro, e lo chiamammo Santa Croce, percio che nel detto giorno v' eramo
giunti.... Alla riva e lito di quell' isola di Bacchus verso ponente v'�
un goejo d'acque molto bello e dilettevole, e convenientemente da
mettere navilij, dove � uno stretto del detto fiume molto corrente e
profondo ma non e lungo pi� d'un terzo di lega intorno, per traverso del
quale vi � una terra tutta di colline di buona altezza ... quive � la
stanza e la terra di Donnacona, e chiamasi il luogo Stadacona ... sotto
la qual alta terra verso tramontana � il fiume e porto di Santa Croce,
nel qual luogo e porto siamo stati dalli 15 di Settembre fino alli 16 di
Maggio 1536, nel qual luogo le navi rimasero in secco." The "one place"
in the River St. Lawrence, "deep and swift running," means, of course,
that part directly opposite the Lower Town, and no doubt it appeared, by
comparison, "very narrow" to those who had hitherto seen the noble river
only in its grandest forms. The town of Stadacona stood on that part of
Quebec which is now covered by the suburbs of St. Roch, with part of
those of St. John, looking toward the St. Charles. The area, or ground
adjoining, is thus described by Cartier, as it appeared three centuries
ago: "terra Tanta buona, quanto sia possibile di vedere, e � molto
fertile, piena di bellissimi arbori della sorte di quelli di Francia,
come sarebbeno quercie, olmi, frassin�, najare, nassi, cedri, vigne,
specie bianchi, i quali producono il frutto cosi grosso come susin�
damaschini, e di molte altre specie d'arbori, sotto de quali vi nasce e
cresce cosi bel canapo come quel di Francia, e nondimeno vi nasce senza
semenza, e senza opera umana o lavoro alcuno."--Jacques Cartier, in
Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 443, 449, 450.

The exact spot in the River St. Charles where the French passed the
winter is supposed, on good authority, to have been the site of the old
bridge, called Dorchester Bridge, where there is a ford at low water,
close to the Marine Hospital. That it was on the east bank, not far from
the residence of Charles Smith, Esq., is evident from the river having
been frequently crossed by the natives coming from Stadacona to visit
the French.--_Picture of Quebec_, p. 43-46; 1834.]

[Footnote 84: It received this name, according to La Potherie, in
compliment to Charles des Bo�es, grand vicar of Pontoise, founder of the
first mission of Recollets in New France. The River St. Charles was
called Coubal Coubat by the natives, from its windings and
meanderings.--Smith's _Canada_, vol. i., p. 104.]

[Footnote 85: "Quebec en langue Algonquine signifie _retr�cissement_.
Les Abenaquis dont la langue est une dialecte Algonquine, le nomment
Quelibec, qui veut dire _ce qui est ferme_, parceque de l'entr�e de la
petite rivi�re de la Chaudi�re par o� ces sauvages venaient � Quebec, le
port de Quebec ne paroit qu'une grande barge."--Charlevoix, vol. i., p.
50.

"Trouvant un lieu le plus �troit de la rivi�re que les habitans du pays
nomment Qu�bec;" "la pointe de Qu�bec, ainsi appell�e des
sauvages."--Champlain, vol. i., p. 115, 124.

Others give a Norman derivation for the word: it is said that Quebec was
so called after Caudebec, on the Seine.

La Potherie's words are: "On tient que les Normands qui �toient avec J.
Cartier � sa premi�re d�couverte, apercevant en bout de l'isle
d'Orl�ans, un cap fort �lev�, s'�cri�rent 'Quel bec!' et qu' � la suite
du tems la nom de Quebec lui est reste. Je ne suis point garant de cette
�tymologie." Mr. Hawkins terms this "a derivation entirely illusory and
improbable," and asserts that the word is of Norman origin. He gives an
engraving of a seal belonging to William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk,
dated in the 7th of Henry V., or A.D. 1420. The legend or motto is,
"Sigillum Willielmi de la Pole, Comitis Suffolcki�, Domine de Hamburg et
de Quebec." Suffolk was impeached by the Commons of England in 1450, and
one of the charges brought against him was, his unbounded influence in
Normandy, where he lived and ruled like an independent prince; it is
not, therefore, improbable that he enjoyed the French title of Quebec in
addition to his English honors.

The Indian name Stadacona had perished before the time of Champlain,
owing, probably, to the migration of the principal tribe and the
succession of others. The inhabitants of Hochelaga, we are told by
Jacques Cartier, were the only people in the surrounding neighborhood
who were not migratory.]

[Footnote 86: "In mezzo di quelle campagne, � posta la terra d'Hochelaga
appresso e congiunta con una montagna coltivata tutta attorno e molto
fertile, sopra la qual si vede molto lontano. Noi la chiamammo il Monto
Regal.... Parecchi uomini e donne ci vennero a condur e menar sopra la
montagna, qui dinanzi detta, la qual chiamammo Monte Regal, distante da
detto luogo poco manco d'un miglio, sopra la quale essendo noi, vedemmo
e avemmo notitia di pi� di trenta leghe attorno di quella, e verso la
parte di tramontana si vede una continuazione di montagne, li quali
corrono avante e ponente, e altra tante verso il mezzo giorno, fra le
quali montagna � la terra, pi� bella che sia possibile a veder."--J.
Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 447, 448.

"Cartier donna le nom de Mont Royal � la montagne au pied de laquelle
�toit la bourgade de Hochelaga. Il d�couvrit de l� une grande �tendue de
pays dont la vue le charma, et avec raison, car il en est peu au monde
de plus beau et de meilleur."--Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 20.]

[Footnote 87: "This tree is supposed to have been the spruce fir, _Pinus
Canadensis_. It is called 'Ameda' by the natives. Spruce-beer is known
to be a powerful anti-scorbutic."--Champlain. part i., p. 124.

Charlevoix calls the tree _Epinette Blanche_.]

[Footnote 88: Any information given by the natives as to the existence
of mines was vague and unsatisfactory, "Poscia ci mostrarono con segni,
che passate dette tre cadute si poteva navigar per detto fiume il spazio
di tre lune: noi pensammo che quello sia il fiume che passa per il passe
di Saguenay, e senza che li facessimo dimanda presero la catena del
subiotto del capitano che era d'argento, e il manico del pugnale di uno
de nostre compagni marinari, qual era d'ottone giallo quanto l'oro, e ci
mostrarono che quello veniva di sopra di detto fiume ... Il capitan
mostro loro del rame rosso, qual chiamano _Caignetadze_ dimostrandoli
con segni voltandosi verso detto paese li dimandava se veniva da quelle
parti, e eglino cominciarono a crollar il capo, volendo dir no, ma ben
ne significarono che veniva da _Saguenay_.

"Pi� ci hanno detto e fatto intendere, che in quel paese di _Saguenay_
sono genti vestite di drappi come noi, ... e che hanno gran quantit�
d'oro e rame rosso ... e che gli nomini e donne di quella terra sono
vestite di pelli come loro, noi li dimandammo se ci � oro e rame rosso,
ci risposero di si. Io penso che questo luogo sia verso la Florida per
quanto ho potuto intendere dalli loro segni e indicij."--J. Cartier, in
Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 448-450.]

[Footnote 89: The only valuable the natives seemed to have in their
possession was a substance called _esurgny_, white as snow, of which
they made beads and wore them about their necks. This they looked upon
as the most precious gift they could bestow on the white men. The mode
in which it was prepared is said by Cartier to be the following: When
any one was adjudged to death for a crime, or when their enemies are
taken in war, having first slain the person, they make long gashes over
the whole of the body, and sink it to the bottom of the river in a
certain place, where the esurgny abounds. After remaining ten or twelve
hours, the body is drawn up and the esurgny or _cornibotz_ is found in
the gashes. These necklaces of beads the French found had the power to
stop bleeding at the nose. It is supposed that in the above account the
French misunderstood the natives or were imposed upon by them; and there
is no doubt that the "valuable substance" described by Cartier was the
Indian wampum.]

[Footnote 90: See Appendix, No. XIV. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 91: The precise spot on which the upper fort of Jacques
Cartier was built, afterward enlarged by Roberval, has been fixed by an
ingenious gentleman at Quebec at the top of Cape Rouge Height, a short
distance from the handsome villa of Mr. Atkinson. A few months ago, Mr.
Atkinson's workmen, in leveling the lawn in front of the house, and
close to the point of Cape Rouge Height, found beneath the surface some
loose stones which had apparently been the foundation of some building
or fortification. Among these stones were found several iron balls of
different sizes, adapted to the caliber of the ship guns used at the
period of Jacques Cartier's and Roberval's visit. Upon the whole, the
evidence of the presence of the French at Cape Rouge may be considered
as conclusive. Nor is there any good reason to doubt that Roberval took
up his quarters in the part which Jacques Cartier had left.--_Picture of
Quebec_, p. 62-469.]

[Footnote 92: Jacques Cartier was born at St. Malo about 1500. The day
of his birth can not be discovered, nor the time and place of his death.
Most probably he finished his useful life at St. Malo; for we find,
under the date of the 29th of November, 1549, that the celebrated
navigator with his wife, Catharine des Granges, founded an obit in the
Cathedral of St. Malo, assigning the sum of four francs for that
purpose. The mortuary registers of St. Malo make no mention of his
death, nor is there any tradition on the subject.]

[Footnote 93: The name of America was first given to the New World in
1507. "L'opinion anciennement �mise et encore tr�s r�pandue que Vespuce,
dans l'exercice de son emploi de Piloto mayor, et charg� de corriger les
cartes hydrographiques de 1508 � 1512, ait profit� de sa position pour
appeler de son nom le Nouveau Monde, n'a aucun fondement. La
d�nomination d'Am�rique a �t� propos�e loin de Seville, en Lorraine, en
1507, une ann�e avant la cr�ation de l'office d'un Piloto mayor de
Indias. Les Mappe Mondes qui portent le nom d'Am�rique n'ont paru que 8
our 10 ans apr�s la mort de Vespuce, et dans des pays sur lequels ni lui
ni ses parents n'exer�aient aucune influence. Il est probable que
Vespuce n'a jamais su quelle dangereuse gloire on lui pr�paroit � Saint
Di�, dans un petit endroit, situ� au pied des Vosges, et dont
vraisembablement le nom m�me lui �toit inconnu. Jusqu' � l'�poque de sa
mort, le mot Am�rique, employ� comme d�nomination d'un continent ne
s'est trouve imprim� que dans deux seuls ouvrages, dans la Cosmographi�
Introductio de Martin Waldseem�ller, et dans le Globus Mundi (Argentor,
1509). On n'a jusqu'ici aucun rapport direct de Waldseem�ller
imprimateur de Saint Di�, avec le navigateur Florentin."--Humboldt's
_Geogr. du Nouveau Continent_, vol. v., p. 206.]

[Footnote 94: Nomoesi-Sipu, _Fish River_, Moesisip by corruption. This
river is called Cucagna by Garcilasso.]

[Footnote 95: For the romantic details of Ferdinand de Soto's perilous
enterprise, see Vega Garcilasso de Florida del Ynca, b. i., ch. iii.,
iv.; Herrera, Dec. VI., b. vii., ch. ix.; Purchas, 4, 1532; "Purchas,
his Pilgrimage," otherwise called "Hackluytus Posthumus;" a voluminous
compilation by a chaplain of Archbishop Abbot's, designed to comprise
whatever had been related concerning the religion of all nations, from
the earliest times.--Miss Aikin's _Charles I._, vol. i., p. 39.]

[Footnote 96: "La colonie Fran�aise �tablie sous Charles IX. comprenoit
la partie m�ridionnale de la Caroline Angloise, la Nouvelle Georgie,
d'aujourd'hui (1740) San Matteo, appell� par Laudonni�re Caroline en
l'honneur du roi Charles, St. Augustin, et tout ce que les Espagnols ont
sur cette c�te jusqu'au Cap Fran�ois, n'a jamais �t� appell�e autrement
que la Floride Fran�aise, ou la Nouvelle France, ou la France
Occidentale."--Charlevoix, tom. vi., p. 383.]

[Footnote 97: See Appendix, Nos. XV., XVI. (see Vol II)]




CHAPTER III.


Little or no effort was made to colonize any part of Canada for nearly
fifty years after the loss of Roberval; but the Huguenots of France did
not forget that hope of a refuge from religious persecution which their
great leader, Coligni, had excited in their breasts. Several of the
leaders of subsequent expeditions of trade and discovery to Canada and
Acadia were Calvinists, until 1627, when Champlain, zealous for the
Romish faith, procured a decree forbidding the free exercise of the
Reformed religion in French America.

Although the French seemed to have renounced all plan of settlement in
America by the evacuation of Florida, the fishermen of Normandy and
Brittany still plied their calling on the Great Bank and along the
stormy shores of Newfoundland, and up the Gulf and River of St.
Lawrence. By degrees they began to trade with the natives, and soon the
greater gains and easier life of this new pursuit transformed many of
these hardy sailors into merchants.

When, after fifty years of civil strife, the strong and wise sway of
Henry IV. restored rest to troubled France, the spirit of discovery
again arose. The Marquis de la Roche, a Breton gentleman, obtained from
the king, in 1598, a patent granting the same powers that Roberval had
possessed. He speedily armed a vessel, and sailed for Nova Scotia in the
same year, accompanied by a skillful Norman pilot named Chedotel. He
first reached Sable Island, where he left forty miserable wretches,
convicts drawn from the prisons of France, till he might discover some
favorable situation for the intended settlement, and make a survey of
the neighboring coasts. When La Roche ever reached the Continent of
America remains unknown; but he certainly returned to France, leaving
the unhappy prisoners upon Sable Island to a fate more dreadful than
even the dungeons or galleys of France could threaten. After seven years
of dire suffering, twelve of these unfortunates were found alive, an
expedition having been tardily sent to seek them by the king. When they
arrived in France, they became objects of great curiosity; in
consideration of such unheard-of suffering, their former crimes were
pardoned, a sum of money was given to each, and the valuable furs
collected during their dreary imprisonment, but fraudulently seized by
the captain of the ship in which they were brought home, were allowed to
their use. In the mean time, the Marquis de la Roche, who had so cruelly
abandoned these men to their fate, harassed by lawsuits, overwhelmed
with vexations, and ruined in fortune by the failure of his expedition,
died miserably of a broken heart.

The misfortunes and ruin of the Marquis de la Roche did not stifle the
spirit of commercial enterprise which the success of the fur trade had
excited. Private adventurers, unprotected by any especial privilege,
began to barter for the rich peltries of the Canadian hunters. (1600.) A
wealthy merchant of St. Malo, named Pontgrav�, was the boldest and most
successful of these traders; he made several voyages to Tadoussac, at
the mouth of the Saguenay, bringing back each time a rich cargo of rare
and valuable furs. He saw that this commerce would open to him a field
of vast wealth, could he succeed in obtaining an exclusive privilege to
enjoy its advantages, and managed to induce Chauvin, a captain in the
navy, to apply to the king for powers such as De la Roche had possessed:
the application was successful, a patent was granted to Chauvin, and
Pontgrav� admitted to partnership. (1602.) It was, however, in vain that
they attempted to establish a trading post at Tadoussac:[98] after
having made two voyages thither without realizing their sanguine
expectations of gain, Chauvin died while once more preparing to try his
fortune.

At this time the great object of colonization was completely forgotten
in the eager pursuit of the fur trade, till De Chatte, the governor of
Dieppe, who succeeded to the privileges of Chauvin, founded a company of
merchants at Rouen, for the further development of the resources of
Canada. (1603.) An armament was fitted out under the command of the
experienced Pontgrav�; he was commissioned by the king to make further
discoveries in the St. Lawrence, and to establish a settlement upon some
suitable position on the coast. Samuel de Champlain, a captain in the
navy, accepted a command in this expedition at the request of De
Chatte; he was a native of Saintonge, and had lately returned to France
from the West Indies, where he had gained a high name for boldness and
skill. Under the direction of this wise and energetic man the first
successful efforts were made to found a permanent settlement in the
magnificent province of Canada, and the stain of the errors and
disasters of more than seventy years was at length wiped away.

Pontgrav� and Champlain sailed for the St. Lawrence in 1603. They
remained a short time at Tadoussac, where they left their ships; then,
trusting themselves to a small, open boat, with only five sailors, they
boldly pushed up the Great River to the sault St. Louis, where Jacques
Cartier had reached many years before. By this time Hochelaga, the
ancient Indian city, had, from some unknown cause, sunk into such
insignificance that the adventurers did not even notice it, nor deem it
worthy of a visit; but they anchored for a time under the shade of the
magnificent headland of Quebec. On the return of the expedition to
France, Champlain found, to his deep regret, that De Chatte, the worthy
and powerful patron of the undertaking, had died during his absence.
Pierre du Guast, sieur de Monts, had succeeded to the powers and
privileges of the deceased, with even a more extensive commission.

De Monts was a Calvinist, and had obtained from the king the freedom of
religious faith for himself and his followers in America, but under the
engagement that the Roman Catholic worship should be established among
the natives. Even his opponents admitted the honesty and patriotism of
his character,[99] and bore witness to his courage and ability; he was,
nevertheless, unsuccessful; many of those under his command failed in
their duty, and the jealousy excited by his exclusive privileges and
obnoxious doctrines[100] involved him in ruinous embarrassments.

The trading company established by De Chatte was continued and increased
by his successor. With this additional aid De Monts was enabled to fit
out a more complete armament than had ever hitherto been engaged in
Canadian commerce. He sailed from Havre on the 7th of March, 1604, with
four vessels. Of these, two under his immediate command were destined
for Acadia. Champlain, Poutrincourt, and many other volunteers, embarked
their fortunes with him, purposing to cast their future lot in the New
World. A third vessel was dispatched under Pontgrav� to the Strait of
Canso, to protect the exclusive trading privileges of the company. The
fourth steered for Tadoussac, to barter for the rich furs brought by the
Indian hunters from the dreary wilds of the Saguenay.

On the 6th of May De Monts reached a harbor on the coast of Acadia,
where he seized and confiscated an English vessel, in vindication of his
exclusive privileges. Thence he sailed to the Island of St. Croix, where
he landed his people, and established himself for the winter. In the
spring of 1605 he hastened to leave this settlement, where the want of
wood and fresh water, and the terrible ravages of the scurvy, had
disheartened and diminished the number of his followers. In the mean
time Champlain had discovered and named Port Royal, now Annapolis, a
situation which presented many natural advantages. De Monts removed the
establishment thither, and erected a fort, appointing Pontgrav� to its
command. Soon afterward he bestowed Port Royal and a large extent of the
neighboring country upon De Poutrincourt, and the grant was ultimately
confirmed by letters patent from the king. This was the first concession
of land made in North America since its discovery.

When De Monts returned to France in 1605, he found that enemies had been
busily and successfully at work in destroying his influence at court.
Complaints of the injustice of his exclusive privileges poured in from
all the ports in the kingdom. It was urged that he had interfered with
and thwarted the fisheries, under the pretense of securing the sole
right of trading with the Indian hunters. These statements were
hearkened to by the king, and all the Sieur's privileges were revoked.
De Monts bore up bravely against this disaster. He entered into a new
engagement with De Poutrincourt, who had followed him to France, and
dispatched a vessel from Rochelle on the 13th of May to succor the
colony in Acadia. The voyage was unusually protracted, and the settlers
at Port Royal, at length reduced to great extremities, feared that they
had been abandoned to their fate. The wise and energetic Pontgrav� did
all that man could do to reassure them; but, finally, their supplies
being completely exhausted, he was constrained to yield to the general
wish, and embark his people for France. He had scarcely sailed, however,
when he heard of the arrival of Poutrincourt and the long-desired
supplies. He then immediately returned to Port Royal, where he found his
chief already landed. Under able and judicious management,[101] the
colony increased and prospered until 1614, when it was attacked and
broken up by Sir Samuel Argall with a Virginian force.[102]

The enemies of De Monts did not relax in their efforts till he was
deprived of his high commission. A very insufficient indemnity was
granted for the great expenses he had incurred. Still he was not
disheartened: in the following year, 1607, he obtained a renewal of his
privileges for one year, on condition that he should plant a colony upon
the banks of the St. Lawrence. The trading company did not lose
confidence in their principal, although his courtly influence had been
destroyed; but their object was confined to the prosecution of the
lucrative commerce in furs, for which reason they ceased to interest
themselves in Acadia, and turned their thoughts to the Great River of
Canada, where they hoped to find a better field for their undertaking.
They equipped two ships at Honfleur, under the command of Champlain and
Pontgrav�, to establish the fur trade at Tadoussac. De Monts remained in
France, vainly endeavoring to obtain an extension of his patent. Despite
his disappointments, he fitted out some vessels in the spring of 1608,
with the assistance of the company, and dispatched them to the River
St. Lawrence on the 13th of April, under the same command as before.

Champlain reached Tadoussac on the 3d of June; his views were far more
extended than those of a mere merchant; even honest fame for himself,
and increase of glory and power for his country, were, in his eyes,
objects subordinate to the extension of the Catholic faith. After a
brief stay, he ascended the Great River, examining the shore with minute
care, to seek the most fitting place where the first foundation of
French empire might be laid. On the 3d of July he reached QUEBEC, where,
nearly three quarters of a century before, Jacques Cartier had passed
the winter. This magnificent position was at once chosen by Champlain as
the site of the future capital of Canada: centuries of experience have
proved the wisdom of the selection; admirably situated for purposes of
war or commerce, and completely commanding the navigation of the Great
River, it stands the center of a scene of beauty that can nowhere be
surpassed.

On the bold headland overlooking the waters of the basin, he commenced
his work by felling the trees, and rooting up the wild vines and tangled
underwood from the virgin soil. Some rude huts were speedily erected for
shelter; spots around them were cultivated to test the fertility of the
land: this labor was repaid by abundant production. The first permanent
work undertaken in the new settlement was the erection of a solid
building as a magazine for their provisions. A temporary barrack on the
highest point of the position, for the officers and men, was
subsequently constructed. These preparations occupied the remainder of
the summer. The first snow fell on the 18th of November, but only
remained on the ground for two days: in December it again returned, and
the face of nature was covered till the end of April, 1609. From the
time of Jacques Cartier to the establishment of Champlain, and even to
the present day, there has been no very decided amelioration of the
severity of the climate; indeed, some of the earliest records notice
seasons milder than many of modern days.

The town of Stadacona, like its prouder neighbor of Hochelaga, seems to
have dwindled into insignificance since the time when it had been an
object of such interest and suspicion to Jacques Cartier. Some Indians
still lived in huts around Quebec, but in a state of poverty and
destitution, very different from the condition of their ancestors.
During the winter of 1608, they suffered dire extremities of famine;
several came over from the southern shores of the river, miserably
reduced by starvation, and scarcely able to drag along their feeble
limbs, to seek aid from the strangers. Champlain relieved their
necessities and treated them with politic kindness. The French suffered
severely from the scurvy during the first winter of their residence.

On the 18th of April, 1609, Champlain, accompanied by two Frenchmen,
ascended the Great River with a war party of Canadian Indians. After a
time, turning southward up a tributary stream, he came to the shores of
a large and beautiful lake, abounding with fish; the shores and
neighboring forests sheltered, in their undisturbed solitude, countless
deer and other animals of the chase. To this splendid sheet of water he
gave his own name, which it still bears. To the south and west rose huge
snow-capped mountains, and in the fertile valleys below dwelt numbers of
the fierce and hostile Iroquois. Champlain and his savage allies pushed
on to the furthest extremity of the lake, descended a rapid, and entered
another smaller sheet of water, afterward named St. Sacrement. On the
shore they encountered two hundred of the Iroquois warriors; a battle
ensued; the skill and the astonishing weapons of the white men soon gave
their Canadian allies a complete victory. Many prisoners were taken,
and, in spite of Champlain's remonstrances, put to death with horrible
and protracted tortures. The brave Frenchman returned to Quebec, and
sailed for Europe in September, leaving Captain Pierre Chauvin, an
experienced officer, in charge of the infant settlement. Henry IV.
received Champlain with favor, and called him to an interview at
Fontainebleau:[103] the king listened attentively to the report of the
new colony, expressing great satisfaction at its successful foundation
and favorable promise. But the energetic De Monts, to whom so much of
this success was due, could find no courtly aid: the renewal of his
privilege was refused, and its duration had already expired. By the
assistance of the Merchant Company, he fitted out two vessels in the
spring of 1610, under the tried command of Champlain and Pontgrav�: the
first was destined for Quebec, with some artisans, settlers, and
necessary supplies for the colony; the second was commissioned to carry
on the fur trade at Tadoussac. Champlain sailed from Honfleur on the 8th
of April, and reached the mouth of the Saguenay in eighteen days, a
passage which even all the modern improvements in navigation have rarely
enabled any one to surpass in rapidity. He soon hastened on to Quebec,
where, to his great joy, he found the colonists contented and
prosperous; the virgin soil had abundantly repaid the labors of
cultivation, and the natives had in no wise molested their dangerous
visitors. He joined the neighboring tribes of Algonquin and Montagnez
Indians, during the summer, in an expedition against the Iroquois.
Having penetrated the woody country beyond Sorel for some distance, they
came upon a place where their enemies were intrenched; this they took,
after a bloody resistance. Champlain and another Frenchman were slightly
wounded in the encounter.

In 1612 Champlain found it necessary to revisit France; some powerful
patron was wanted to forward the interests of the colony, and to provide
the supplies and resources required for its extension. The Count de
Soissons readily entered into his views, and delegated to him the
authority of viceroy, which had been conferred upon the count.[104]
Soissons died soon after, and the Prince of Cond� became his successor.
Champlain was wisely continued in the command he had so long and ably
held, but was delayed in France for some time by difficulties on the
subject of commerce with the merchants of St. Malo.

Champlain sailed again from St. Malo on the 6th of March, 1613, in a
vessel commanded by Pontgrav�, and anchored before Quebec on the 7th of
May. He found the state of affairs at the settlement so satisfactory
that his continued presence was unnecessary; he therefore proceeded at
once to Montreal, and, after a short stay at that island, explored for
some distance the course of the Ottawa, which there pours its vast flood
into the main stream of the St. Lawrence. The white men were filled with
wonder and admiration at the magnitude of this great tributary, the
richness and beauty of its shores, the broad lakes and deep rapids, and
the eternal forests, clothing mountain, plain, and valley for countless
leagues around. As they proceeded they found no diminution in the volume
of water; and when they inquired of the wandering Indian for its source,
he pointed to the northwest, and indicated that it lay in the unknown
solitudes of ice and snow, to which his people had never reached. After
this expedition Champlain returned with his companion Pontgrav� to St.
Malo, where they arrived in the end of August.

Having engaged some wealthy merchants of St. Malo, Rouen, and Rochelle
in an association for the support of the colony, through the assistance
of the Prince of Cond�, viceroy of New France, he obtained letters
patent of incorporation for the company (1614). The temporal welfare of
the settlement being thus placed upon a secure basis, Champlain, who was
a zealous Catholic, next devoted himself to obtain spiritual aid. By his
entreaties four Recollets were prevailed upon to undertake the mission.
These were the first[105] ministers of religion settled in Canada. They
reached Quebec in the beginning of April, 1615, accompanied by
Champlain, who, however, at once proceeded to Montreal.

On arriving at this island, he found the Huron and other allied tribes
again preparing for an expedition against the Iroquois. With a view of
gaining the friendship of the savages, and of acquiring a knowledge of
the country, he injudiciously offered himself to join a quarrel in which
he was in no wise concerned. The father Joseph Le Caron accompanied him,
in the view of preparing the way for religious instruction, by making
himself acquainted with the habits and language of the Indians.
Champlain was appointed chief by the allies, but his savage followers
rendered slight obedience to this authority. The expedition proved very
disastrous: the Iroquois were strongly intrenched, and protected by a
quantity of felled trees; their resistance proved successful; Champlain
was wounded, and the allies were forced to retreat with shame and with
heavy loss.

The respect of the Indians for the French was much diminished by this
untoward failure; they refused to furnish Champlain with a promised
guide to conduct him to Quebec, and he was obliged to pass the winter
among them as an unwilling guest. He, however, made the best use of his
time; he visited many of the principal Huron and Algonquin towns, even
those as distant as Lake Nipissing, and succeeded in reconciling several
neighboring nations. At the opening of the navigation, he gained over
some of the Indians to his cause, and, finding that another expedition
against the Iroquois was in preparation, embarked secretly and arrived
at Quebec on the 11th of July, 1616, when he found that he and the
father Joseph were supposed to have been dead long since. They both
sailed for France soon after their return from among the Hurons.

In the following year, a signal service was rendered to the colony by a
worthy priest named Duplessys: he had been engaged for some time at
Three Rivers in the instruction of the savages, and had happily so far
gained their esteem, that some of his pupils informed him of a
conspiracy among all the neighboring Indian tribes for the utter
destruction of the French; eight hundred chiefs and warriors had
assembled to arrange the plan of action. Duplessys contrived, with
consummate ability, to gain over some of the principal Indians to make
advances toward a reconciliation with the white men, and, by degrees,
succeeded in arranging a treaty, and in causing two chiefs to be given
up as hostages for its observance.

For several years Champlain was constantly obliged to visit France for
the purpose of urging on the tardily provided aids for the colony. The
court would not interest itself in the affairs of New France since a
company had undertaken their conduct, and the merchants, always limited
in their views to mere commercial objects, cared but little for the fate
of the settlers so long as their warehouses were stored with the
valuable furs brought by the Indian hunters. These difficulties would
doubtless have smothered the infant nation in its cradle, had it not
been for the untiring zeal and constancy of its great founder. At every
step he met with new trials from the indifference, caprice, or
contradiction of his associates, but, with his eye steadily fixed upon
the future, he devoted his fortune and the energies of his life to the
cause, and rose superior to every obstacle.

In 1620, the Prince of Cond� sold the vice-royalty of New France to his
brother-in-law, the Marshal de Montmorenci, for eleven thousand crowns.
The marshal wisely continued Champlain as lieutenant governor, and
intrusted the management of colonial affairs in France to M. Dolu, a
gentleman of known zeal and probity. Champlain being hopeful that these
changes would favorably affect Canada, resolved now to establish his
family permanently in that country. Taking them with him, he sailed from
France in the above-named year, and arrived at Quebec in the end of May.
In passing by Tadoussac, he found that some adventurers of Rochelle had
opened a trade with the savages, in violation of the company's
privileges, and had given the fatal example of furnishing the hunters
with fire-arms in exchange for their peltries.

A great danger menaced the colony in the year 1621. The Iroquois sent
three large parties of warriors to attack the French settlements. This
savage tribe feared that if the white men obtained a footing in the
country, their alliance with the Hurons and Algonquins, of which the
effects had already been felt, might render them too powerful. The first
division marched upon Sault St. Louis, where a few Frenchmen were
established. Happily, there was warning of their approach; the
defenders, aided by some Indian allies, repulsed them with much loss,
and took several prisoners. The Iroquois had, however, seized Father
Guillaume Poulain, one of the Recollets, in their retreat; they tied him
to a stake, and were about to burn him alive, when they were persuaded
to exchange the good priest for one of their own chiefs, who had fallen
into the hands of the French. Another party of these fierce marauders
dropped down the river to Quebec in a fleet of thirty canoes, and
suddenly invested the Convent of the Recollets, where a small fort had
been erected; they did not venture to attack this little stronghold, but
fell upon some Huron villages near at hand, and massacred the helpless
inhabitants with frightful cruelty; they then retreated as suddenly as
they had come. Alarmed by this ferocious attack, which weakness and the
want of sufficient supplies prevented him from avenging, Champlain sent
Father Georges le Brebeuf as an agent, to represent to the king the
deplorable condition of the colony, from the criminal neglect of the
company. The appeal was successful; the company was suppressed, and the
exclusive privilege transferred to Guillaume and Emeric de Caen, uncle
and nephew.

The king himself wrote to his worthy subject Champlain, expressing high
approval of his eminent services, and exhorting him to continue in the
same career. This high commendation served much to strengthen his hands
in the exercise of his difficult authority. He was embarrassed by
constant disputes between the servants of the suppressed company, and
those who acted for the De Caens; religious differences also served to
embitter these dissensions, as the new authorities were zealous
Huguenots.

This year Champlain discovered that his ancient allies, the Hurons,
purposed to detach themselves from his friendship, and unite with the
Iroquois for his destruction. To avert this danger, he sent among them
Father Joseph la Caron and two other priests, who appear to have
succeeded in their mission of reconciliation. The year after, he erected
a stone fort[108] at Quebec for the defense of the settlement, which
then only numbered fifty souls of all ages and sexes. As soon as the
defenses were finished, Champlain departed for France with his family,
to press for aid from the government for the distressed colony.

On his arrival, he found that Henri de Levi, duke de Ventadour, had
purchased the vice-royalty of New France from the Marshal de
Montmorenci, his uncle, with the view of promoting the spiritual welfare
of Canada, and the general conversion of the heathen Indians to the
Christian faith. He had himself long retired from the strife and
troubles of the world, and entered into holy orders. Being altogether
under the influence of the Jesuits, he considered them as the means
given by heaven for the accomplishment of his views. The pious and
exemplary Father Lallemant, with four other priests and laymen of the
Order of Jesus, undertook the mission, and sailed for Canada in 1625.
They were received without jealousy by their predecessors of the
Recollets, and admitted under their roof on their first arrival.[109]
The following year three other Jesuit fathers reached Quebec in a little
vessel provided by themselves; many artisans accompanied them. By the
aid of this re-enforcement, the new settlement soon assumed the
appearance of a town.

The Huguenot De Caens used their powerful influence to foment the
religious disputes now raging in the infant settlement;[110] they were
also far more interested in the profitable pursuit of the fur trade than
in promoting the progress of colonization; for these reasons, the
Cardinal de Richelieu judged that their rule was injurious to the
prosperity of the country; he revoked their privileges, and caused the
formation of a numerous company of wealthy and upright men; to this he
transferred the charge of the colony. This body was chartered under the
name of "The Company of One Hundred Associates:"[111] their capital was
100,000 crowns; their privileges as follows: To be proprietors of
Canada; to govern in peace and war; to enjoy the whole trade for
fifteen years (except the cod and whale fishery), and the fur trade in
perpetuity; untaxed imports and exports. The king gave them two ships of
300 tons burden each, and raised twelve of the principal members to the
rank of nobility. The company, on their part, undertook to introduce 200
or 300 settlers during the year 1628, and 16,000 more before 1643,
providing them with all necessaries for three years, and settling them
afterward on a sufficient extent of cleared land for their future
support. The articles of this agreement were signed by the Cardinal de
Richelieu on the 19th of April, 1627, and subsequently approved by the
king.

At this time the Indians were a constant terror to the settlers in
Canada: several Frenchmen had been assassinated by the ruthless savages,
and their countrymen were too feeble in numbers to demand the punishment
of the murderers. Conscious of their strength, the natives became daily
more insolent; no white man could venture beyond the settlement without
incurring great danger. Building languished, and much of the cleared
land remained uncultivated. Such was the disastrous state of the colony.

The commencement of the company's government was marked by heavy
misfortune. The first vessels sent by them to America fell into the
hands of the English, at the sudden breaking out of hostilities. In
1628, Sir David Kertk, a French Calvinist refugee in the British
service, reached Tadoussac with a squadron, burned the fur houses of the
free traders, and did other damage; thence he sent to Quebec, summoning
Champlain to surrender. The brave governor consulted with Pontgrav� and
the inhabitants; they came to the resolution of attempting a defense,
although reduced to great extremities, and sent Kertk such a spirited
answer that he, ignorant of their weakness, did not advance upon the
town. He, however, captured a convoy under the charge of De Roquemont,
with several families on board, and a large supply of provisions for the
settlement. This expedition against Canada was said to have been planned
and instigated by De Caen, from a spirit of vengeance against those who
had succeeded to his lost privileges.

In July, 1629, Lewis and Thomas, brothers of Sir David Kertk, appeared
with an armament before Quebec. As soon as the fleet had anchored, a
white flag with a summons to capitulate was sent ashore. This time the
assailants were well informed of the defenders' distress, but offered
generous terms if Champlain would at once surrender the fort. He, having
no means of resistance, was fain to submit. The English took possession
the following day, and treated the inhabitants with such good faith and
humanity, that none of them left the country. Lewis Kertk remained in
command at Quebec; Champlain proceeded with Thomas to Tadoussac, where
they met the admiral, Sir David, with the remainder of the fleet. In
September they sailed for England, and Champlain was sent on to France,
according to treaty.[112]

When the French received the news of the loss of Canada, opinion was
much divided as to the wisdom of seeking to regain the captured
settlement.[113] Some thought its possession of little value in
proportion to the expense it caused, while others deemed that the fur
trade and fisheries were of great importance to the commerce of France,
as well as a useful nursery for experienced seamen. Champlain strongly
urged the government not to give up a country where they had already
overcome the principal difficulties of settlement, and where, through
their means, the light of religion was dawning upon the darkness of
heathen ignorance. His solicitations were successful, and Canada was
restored to France at the same time with Acadia and Cape Breton, by the
treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye[114] (1632). At this period the fort of
Quebec, surrounded by a score of hastily-built dwellings and barracks,
some poor huts on the island of Montreal, the like at Three Rivers and
Tadoussac, and a few fishermen's log-houses elsewhere on the banks of
the St. Lawrence, were the only fruits of the discoveries of Verazzano,
Jacques Cartier, Roberval, and Champlain, the great outlay of La Roche
and De Monts, and the toils and sufferings of their followers, for
nearly a century.[115]

By the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye the company were restored to all
their rights and privileges, and obtained compensation for the losses
they had sustained, but it was some time before the English could be
effectually excluded from the trade which they had established with the
Indians during their brief possession of the country. In 1633 Champlain
was reappointed governor of New France, and on his departure for the
colony took with him many respectable settlers: several Protestants were
anxious to join him; this, however, was not permitted. Two Jesuits,
Fathers de Brebeuf and Enemond Masse, accompanied the governor: they
purposed to devote themselves to the conversion of the Indians to
Christianity, and to the education of the youth of the colony. The
Recollets had made but little progress in proselytism; as yet, very few
of the natives had been baptized, nor were the Jesuits at first[116]
much more successful: these persevering men were, however, not to be
disheartened by difficulties, and they were supported by the hope that
when they became better acquainted with the language and manners of
their pupils, their instructions would yield a richer harvest.[117]

As New France advanced in population and prosperity, the sentiments of
religion became strengthened among the settlers. On the first arrival of
the Jesuits, R�n� Rohault, the eldest son of the Marquis de Gamache, and
himself one of the order, adopted the idea of founding a college at
Quebec for the education of youth and the conversion of the Indians, and
offered 6000 crowns of gold as a donation to forward the object. The
capture of the settlement by the English had, for a time, interrupted
the execution of this plan; but Rohault at length succeeded in laying
the foundation of the building in December, 1635, to the great joy of
the French colonists.

In the same month, to the deep regret of all good men, death deprived
his country of the brave, high-minded, and wise Champlain. He was buried
in the city of which he was the founder, where, to this day, he is
fondly and gratefully remembered among the just and good. Gifted with
high ability, upright, active, and chivalrous, he was, at the same time,
eminent for his Christian zeal and humble piety. "The salvation of one
soul," he often said, "is of more value than the conquest of an empire."
To him belongs the glory of planting Christianity and civilization among
the snows of those northern forests; during his life, indeed, a feeble
germ, but, sheltered by his vigorous arm--nursed by his tender care--the
root struck deep. Little more than two centuries have passed since the
faithful servant went to rest upon the field of his noble toils. And now
a million and a half of Christian people dwell in peace and plenty upon
that magnificent territory, which his zeal and wisdom first redeemed
from the desolation of the wilderness.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 98: "Parceque les relations et les voyageurs parloient
beaucoup de Tadoussac, les G�ographes ont suppos� que e'�tait une ville,
mais il n'y a jamais eu qu'une maison Fran�aise, et quelques cabannes de
sauvages, qui y venoient au tems de la trait�, et qui emportoient
ensuite leurs cabannes; comme on fait les loges d'une foire. Il est vrai
que ce port a �t� lontems l'abord de toutes les nations sauvages du
nord et de l'est; que les Fran�ois s'y rendoient des que la navigation
�toit libre; soil de France, soil du Canada; que les missionnaires
profitoient de l'occasion, et y venoient n�gocier pour le ciel.... Au
reste Tadoussac est un bon port, et on m'a assur� que vingt cinq
vaisseaux de guerre y pouvoient �tre � l'abri de tous les vents, que
l'ancrage y est sur, et que l'entr�e en est facile."--Charlevoix, tom.
v., p. 96, 1721.

"Tadoussac, one hundred and forty miles below Quebec, is a post
belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, and is the residence of one of its
partners and an agent. They alone are allowed to trade with the Indians
in the interior. At Tadoussac is a Roman Catholic chapel, a store and
warehouse, and some eight or ten dwellings. Here is erected a
flag-staff, surrounded by several pieces of cannon, on an eminence
elevated about fifty feet, and overlooking the inner warehouse, where is
a sufficient depth of water to float the largest vessels. This place was
early settled by the French, who are said to have here erected the first
dwelling built of stone and mortar in Canada, and the remains of it are
still to be seen. The view is exceedingly picturesque from this point.
The southern shore of the St. Lawrence may be traced, even with the
naked eye, for many a league; the undulating line of snow-white cottages
stretching far away to the east and west; while the scene is rendered
gay and animated by the frequent passage of the merchant vessel plowing
its way toward the port of Quebec, or hurrying upon the descending tide
to the Gulf; while, from the summit of the hill upon which Tadoussac
stands, the sublime and impressive scenery of the Saguenay rises to
view."--_Picturesque Tourist_, p. 267 (New York, 1844).]

[Footnote 99: "The colony that was sent to Canada this year was among
the number of those things that had not my approbation; there was no
kind of riches to be expected from all those countries of the New World
which are beyond the fortieth degree of latitude. His majesty gave the
conduct of this expedition to the Sieur de Monts."--_Memoirs of Sully_,
b. xvi., p. 241, English translation.]

[Footnote 100: The pious Romanist, Champlain, thus details the
inconveniences caused by the different creeds of the Frenchmen composing
the expedition of De Monts: "Il se trouva quelque chose � redire en
cette entreprise, qui est en ce que deux religions contraires ne font
jamais un grand fruit pour la gloire de Dieu parmi les infid�les que
l'on veut convertir. J'ai vu le ministre et notre cur� s'entre battre �
coups de poing, sur le diff�rend de la religion. Je ne s�ais pas qui
�toit le plus vaillant et qui donnoit le meilleur coup, mas je s�ais
tr�s bien que le ministre se plaignoit quelquefois au Sieur de Monts
d'avoir �t� battue, et vuidoit en cette fa�on les points de
controversie. Je vous laisse � penser si cela �toit beau � voir; les
sauvages �toient tant�t d'une partie, tant�t d'une autre, et les
Fran�ois m�l�s selon leurs diverses croyances, disoit pis que pendre de
l'une et de l'autre religion, quoique le Sieur de Monts y apport�t la
paix le plus qu'il pouvoit."--_Voyages de la Nouvelle France
Occidentale, dite Canada, faits par le Sieur de Champlain � Paris_,
1632.]

[Footnote 101: De Poutrincourt had been accompanied, in his last voyage
from France, by Marc Lescarbot, well known as one of the best historians
of the early French colonists. His memoirs and himself are thus
described by Charlevoix: "Un avocat de Paris, nomm� Marc L'Escarbot,
homme d'esprit et fort attach� � M. de Poutrincourt, avoit eu la
curiosit� de voir le Nouveau Monde. Il animoit les uns, il piequoit les
autres d'honneur, il se faisoit aimer de tous, et ne s'�pargnoit
lui-m�me en rien. Il inventoit tous les jours quelque chose de nouveau
pour l'utilit� publique, et jamais on ne comprit mieux de quelle
ressource peut �tre dans un nouvel �tablissement, un esprit cultiv� par
l'�tude.... C'est � cet avocat, que nous sommes redevable des meilleurs
m�moires que nous ayons de ce qui s'est pass� sous ses yeux. On y voit
un auteur exact, judicieux, et un homme, qui eut �t� aussi capable
d'�tablir une colonie que d'en �crire une histoire." (Charlevoix, vol.
i., p. 185.) The title of L'Escarbot's work is "Histoire de la Nouvelle
France, par Marc L'Escarbot, Avocat en Parlement, t�moin oculaire d'une
partie des choses y r�cit�es: � Paris, 1609."]

[Footnote 102: "Argall se fondait sur une concession de Jacques I., qui
avait permis � ses sujets de s'etablir jusqu'au quarante cinq degr�s, et
il crut pouvoir profiter de la foiblesse des Fran�ais pour les traitre
en usurpateurs.... Si Poutrincourt avoit �t� dans son fort avec trente
hommes bien arm�s, Argall n'auroit pas m�me eu l'assurance de l'attaquer
... en deux heures de tems le fen consuma tout ce que les Fran�ais
possedoient dans une colonie o� l'on avait d�j� depens� plus de cent
mille �cus.... Celui qui y perdit davantage, fut M. de Poutrincourt qui,
depuis ce tems l� ne songea plus a l'Am�rique. Il rentra dans le
service, o� il s'�tait d�j� par plusieurs belles actions et mourut au
lit d'honneur."--Jean de La�t.

In 1621, James I. conferred Acadia upon Sir William Alexander, who gave
it the name of Nova Scotia. At the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, in
1632, it was restored to the French; again taken by the English, it was
again restored to France by the treaty of Breda, in 1667. In 1710, when
Acadia was taken by General Nicholson, the English perceived its
importance for their commerce. They obtained its formal and final
cession at the treaty of Utrecht, 1713.]

[Footnote 103: "It was at this time that the name of New France was
first given to Canada."--Charlevoix. tom. i., p. 232.]

[Footnote 104: Champlain, part i., p. 231; Charlevoix, vol. i., p. 236.]

[Footnote 105: Seven or eight years before the arrival of the PP.
Recollets at Quebec, Roman Catholic missionaries had found their way to
Nova Scotia. They were Jesuits. It was remarkable that Henry IV., whose
life had been twice attempted by the Jesuits,[106] should have earnestly
urged their establishment in America. When Port Royal was ceded to
Poutrincourt by De Monts, the king intimated to him that it was time to
think of the conversion of the savages, and that it was _his desire_
that the Jesuits should be employed in this work. Charlevoix
acknowledges that De Poutrincourt was "un fort honn�te homme, et
sinc�rement attach� � la religion Catholique"--nevertheless, his
prejudices against Jesuits were so strong, that "il �toit bien r�solu de
ne les point mene au Port Royal." On various pretexts he evaded obeying
the royal commands, and when, the year after, the Jesuits were sent out
to him, at the expense of Madame de Gruercheville, and by the orders of
the queen's mother, he rendered their stay at Port Royal as
uncomfortable as was consistent with his noble and generous character,
vigilantly guarding against their acquiring any dangerous influence. His
former prejudices could not have been lessened by the assassination of
Henry IV.[107] The two Jesuits selected by P. Cotton, Henry IV.'s
confessor, for missionary labors in Acadia, were P. Pierre Biast and P.
Enemond Masse. They were taken prisoners at the time of Argall's descent
on Acadia, 1614, and conveyed to England.--Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 189,
216.]

[Footnote 106: By Barri�re in 1593; by Jean Ch�tel in 1594. He finally
perished by the hand of Ravaillac, in 1610. See Sully's Memoirs, b. vi.,
vii.; Cayet, Chron. Noven., b.v.; P�re de Chalons, tom. iii., p. 245,
quoted by Sully.]

[Footnote 107: Henri s' �tait montr� bienveillant pour les J�suites,
encore que les parlemens et tous ceux qui tenoient, � la magistrature
ressentoient plus de pr�vention contre ces religieux que les Hugonots
eux-m�mes.... Henri IV. fit abattre la pyramide qui avait �t� �lev�e en
m�moire de l' attentat de Jean Ch�tel contre lui, parce que l'
inscription qu' elle portait inculpait les J�suites d'avoir excit� � cet
assassinat.--Sismondi: _Histoire des Fran�ais_. See De Thou, tom. ix.,
p. 696, 704; tom. x., p. 26 � 30.]

[Footnote 108: When Champlain first laid the foundations of the fort in
1623, to which he gave the name of St. Louis, it is evident that he was
actuated by views, not of a political, but a commercial character. When
Montmagny rebuilt the fort in 1635, it covered about four acres of
ground, and formed nearly a parallelogram. Of these works only a few
vestiges remain, except the eastern wall, which is kept in solid
repair.--Bonchette.]

[Footnote 109: Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 247.]

[Footnote 110: "Ce fut Guillaume de Ca�n qui les conduisit (les
J�suites) � Quebec. Il avoit donn� sa parole au Duc de Ventadour qu'il
ne laisseroit les J�suites manquer du rien; cependant, des qu'ils furent
d�barqu�s, il leur d�clara que, si les PP. Recollets ne vouloient pas
les recevoir et les loger chez eux, ils n'avoient point d'autre parti �
prendre que retourner en France. Ils s'aper�urent m�me bient�t qu'on
avoit travaill� a pr�v�nir contre eux les habitans de Quebec, en leur
mettant entre les mains les �crits les plus injurieux, que les
Calvinistes de France avoient publi�s contre leur compagnie. Mais leur
pr�sence eut bient�t effac� tous ces pr�jug�s."--Charlevoix, tom. i., p.
248.]

[Footnote 111: Charlevoix highly extols this brilliant conception of the
Cardinal de Richelieu, "et ne craint point d'avancer que la Nouvelle
France seroit aujourd'hui la plus puissante colonie de l'Am�rique, si
l'execution avoit r�pondue � la beaut� du projet, et si les membres de
ce grand corps eussent profit� des dispositions favorables du souverain
et de son ministre � leur �gard."--Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 250;
_M�moires des Commissaires_, vol. i., p. 346.]

[Footnote 112: Champlain's proposals of capitulation (Smith's Canada,
vol. i., p. 22) sufficiently prove that, down to 1629, France had
scarcely any permanent footing in the country. By stipulating for the
removal of "all the French" in Quebec, Champlain seems to consider that
the whole province was virtually lost to France, and "the single
vessel," which was to furnish the means of removal, reduces "all the
French" in Quebec to a very small number.]

[Footnote 113: Charlevoix.]

[Footnote 114: Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 273.]

[Footnote 115: "L'�le au Cap Br�ton (c'�toit bien peu de choses que
l'�tablissement que nous avions alors dans cette �le) le fort de Quebec
environn� de quelques m�chantes maisons et de quelques baraques, deux ou
trois cabanes dans l'�le de Montreal, autant peut-�tre � Tadoussac, et
en quelques autres endroits sur le fleuve St. Laurent, pour la commodit�
de la p�ch� et de la Trait�, un commencement d'habitation aux Trois
Rivi�res et les rivi�res de Port Royal, voil� en quoi consistoit la
Nouvelle France et tout le fruit des d�couvertes de Verazzani, de Jaques
Cartier, de M. de Roberval, de Champlain, des grandes d�penses de
Marquis de la Roche, et de M. de Monts et de l'industrie d'un grand
nombre de Fran�ais qui auroient pu y faire un grand �tablissement, s'ils
eussent �t� bien conduits."--Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 274.]

[Footnote 116: See Appendix, No. XVI. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 117: The Jesuits always retained the superior position they
held from the first among the Roman Catholic missionaries of Canada.
There is a well-known Canadian proverb, "Pour faire un Recollet il faut
une hachette, pour un Pr�tre un ciseau, mais pour un J�suite il faut un
pinceau." See Appendix, No. XVII., (see Vol II) for Professor Kalm's
account of these three classes.]




CHAPTER IV.


Having followed the course of discovery and settlement in New France up
to the death of the man who stamped the first permanent impression upon
that country, it is now time to review its character and condition at
the period when it became the abode of a civilized people. Champlain's
deputed commission of governor gave him authority over all that France
possessed or claimed on the continent and islands of North America;
Newfoundland, Isle Royale, and Acadia, were each portions of this vast
but vague territory; and those unknown, boundless solitudes of ice and
snow, lying toward the frozen north, whose very existence was a
speculation, were also, by the shadowy right of a European king, added
to his wide dominion. Of that portion, however, called Canada, it is
more especially the present subject to treat.

Canada is a vast plain, irregular in elevation and feature, forming a
valley between two ranges of high land; one of these ranges divides it,
to the north, from the dreary territories of Hudson's Bay; the other, to
the south, from the republic of the United States and the British
province of New Brunswick. None of the hills rise to any great height;
with one exception, Man's Hill, in the State of Maine, 2000 feet is
their greatest altitude above the sea. The elevated districts are,
however, of very great extent, broken, rugged, and rocky, clothed with
dense forests, intersected with rapid torrents, and varied with
innumerable lakes. The great plain of Canada narrows to a mere strip of
low land by the side of the St. Lawrence, as it approaches the eastern
extremity. From Quebec to the gulf on the north side, and toward Gasp�
on the south, the grim range of mountains reaches almost to the water's
edge; westward of that city the plain expands, gradually widening into a
district of great beauty and fertility; again, westward of Montreal, the
level country becomes far wider and very rich, including the broad and
valuable flats that lie along the lower waters of the Ottawa. The rocky,
elevated shores of Lake Huron bound this vast valley to the west; the
same mountain range extends along the northern shore of Lake Superior;
beyond lie great tracts of fertile soil, where man's industrious hand
has not yet been applied.

Canada may be described as lying between the meridians of 57� 50' and
90� west; from the mouth of the Esquimaux River on the confines of
Labrador, to the entrance of the stream connecting the waters of Lake
Superior and the Rainy Lake, bordering on Prince Rupert's Land. The
parallels of 42� and 52� inclose this country to the south and north.
The greatest length is about 1300 miles, the breadth 700. A space of
348,000 square miles is inclosed within these limits.

The great lakes in Canada give a character to that country distinct from
any other in the Old World or the New. They are very numerous; some far
exceed all inland waters elsewhere in depth and extent; they feed,
without apparent diminution, the great river St. Lawrence; the tempest
plows their surface into billows that rival those of the Atlantic,[118]
and they contain more than half of all the fresh water upon the surface
of the globe.[119]

Superior[120] is the largest and most elevated of these lakes: it is
crescent-shaped, convex to the north; to the southeast and southwest its
extremities are narrow points: the length through the curve is 360
geographical miles, the breadth in the widest part 140, the
circumference 1500. The surface of this vast sheet of fresh water is 627
feet above the level of the Atlantic; from various indications upon the
shores, there is good reason to conclude that at some remote period it
was forty or fifty feet higher. The depth of Lake Superior varies much
in different parts, but is generally very great; at the deepest it is
probably 1200 feet. The waters are miraculously pure and transparent;
many fathoms down, the eye can distinctly trace the rock and shingle of
the bottom, and follow the quick movements of the numerous and beautiful
fish inhabiting these crystal depths. No tides vary the stillness of
this inland sea, but when a strong prevailing wind sweeps over the
surface, the waves are lashed to fury, and the waters, driven by its
force, crowd up against the leeward shore. When in the spring the warm
sun melts the mountain snows, and each little tributary becomes an
impetuous torrent pouring into this great basin, the level of the
surface rises many feet. Although no river of any magnitude helps to
supply Lake Superior, a vast number of small streams fall in from among
clefts and glens along the rugged shores;[121] there are also many large
islands; one, Isle Royale, is more than forty miles in length. In some
places lofty hills[122] rise abruptly from the water's edge; in others
there are intervals of lower lands for sixty or seventy miles, but every
where stands the primeval forest, clothing height and hollow alike. At
the south-eastern extremity of this lake, St. Mary's Channel carries the
superabundant waters for nearly forty miles, till they fall into Lake
Huron; about midway between, they rush tumultuously down a steep
descent, with a tremendous roar, through shattered masses of rock,
filling the pure air above with clouds of snowy foam.

Lake Huron is the next in succession and the second in magnitude of
these inland seas. The outline is very irregular, to the north and east
formed by the Canadian territory, to the southwest by that of the United
States. From where the Channel of St. Mary enters this lake to the
furthest extremity is 240 miles, the greatest breadth is 220, the
circumference about 1000; the surface is only 32 feet lower than that of
Superior; in depth and in pure transparency the waters of this lake are
not surpassed by its great neighbor. Parallel to the north shore runs a
long, narrow peninsula called Cabot Head, which, together with a chain
of islands, shuts in the upper waters so as almost to form a separate
and distinct lake. The Great Manitoulin Island, the largest of this
chain, is seventy-five miles in length. In the Indian tongue the name
denotes it the abode of the Great Spirit,[123] and the simple savages
regard these woody shores with reverential awe.

To the north and west of Lake Huron the shores are generally rugged and
precipitous; abrupt heights of from 30 to 100 feet rise from the water's
edge, formed of clay, huge stones, steep rocks, and wooded acclivities;
further inland, the peaks of the Cloche Mountains ascend to a
considerable height. To the east, nature presents a milder aspect; a
plain of great extent and richness stretches away toward the St.
Lawrence. Many streams pour their flood into this lake; the principal
are the Maitland, Severn, Moon, and French Rivers; they are broad and
deep, but their sources lie at no great distance. By far the largest
supply of water comes from the vast basin of Lake Superior, through the
Channel of St. Mary. Near the northwestern extremity of Huron, a narrow
strait[124] connects it with Lake Michigan in the United States; there
is a slight difference of level between these two great sheets of water,
and a current constantly sets into the southern basin: this lake is also
remarkable for its depth and transparency.[125]

At the southern extremity of Lake Huron, its overflow pours through a
river about thirty miles in length into a small lake; both lake and
river bear the name of St. Clair.[126] Thence the waters flow on,
through the broad but shallow stream of the Detroit, until they fall
into Lake Erie thirty miles below; on either side, the banks and
neighboring districts are rich in beauty and abundantly fertile.

Lake Erie is shallow and dangerous, the anchorage is bad, the harbors
few and inconvenient. Long, low promontories project for a considerable
distance from the main land, and embarrass the navigation; but the
coasts, both on the Canadian and American side, are very fertile.[127]
Lake Erie is about 265 miles long, and 63 wide at its greatest breadth;
the circumference is calculated at 658 miles; its surface lies 30 feet
below the level of Lake Huron.[128] The length of the lake stretches
northeast, almost the same direction as the line of the River St.
Lawrence.

The Niagara River flows from the northeastern extremity of Lake Erie to
Lake Ontario in a course of 33 miles, with a fall of not less than 334
feet. About twenty miles below Lake Erie is the grandest sight that
nature has laid before the human eye--the Falls of Niagara. A stream
three quarters of a mile wide, deep and rapid, plunges over a rocky
ledge 150 feet in height; about two thirds of the distance across from
the Canadian side stands Goat Island, covered with stately timber: four
times as great a body of water precipitates itself over the northern or
Horse-shoe Fall as that which flows over the American portion. Above the
cataract the river becomes very rapid and tumultuous in several places,
particularly at the Ferry of Black Rock, where it rushes past at the
rate of seven miles an hour; within the last mile there is a tremendous
indraught to the Falls. The shores on both sides of the Niagara River
are of unsurpassed natural fertility, but there is little scenic beauty
around to divert attention from the one object. The simplicity of this
wonder adds to the force of its impression: no other sight over the wide
world so fills the mind with awe and admiration. Description may convey
an idea of the height and breadth[129]--the vast body of
water[130]--the profound abyss--the dark whirlpools--the sheets of
foam[131]--the plumy column of spray[132] rising up against the sky--the
dull, deep sound that throbs through the earth, and fills the air for
miles and miles with its unchanging voice[133]--but of the magnitude of
this idea, and the impression, stamped upon the senses by the reality,
it is vain to speak to those who have not stood beside Niagara.

Tho descent of the land from the shores of Lake Erie to those of Ontario
is general and gradual,[134] and there is no feature in the
neighborhood of the Falls to mark its locality. From the Erie boundary
the river flows smoothly through a level but elevated plain, branching
round one large and some smaller islands. Although the deep, tremulous
sound of Niagara tells of its vicinity, there is no unusual appearance
till within about a mile, when the waters begin to ripple and hasten on;
a little further it dashes down a magnificent rapid, then again becomes
tranquil and glassy, but glides past with astonishing swiftness. There
are numberless points whence the fall of this great river may be well
seen: the best is Table Rock, at the top of the cataract; the most
wonderful is the recess between the falling flood and the cliff over
which it leaps.

For some length below Niagara the waters are violently agitated;
however, at the distance of half a mile, a ferry plies across in safety.
The high banks on both sides of the river extend to Queenston and
Lewiston, eight miles lower, confining the waters to a channel of no
more than a quarter of a mile in breadth, between steep and lofty
cliffs; midway is the whirlpool,[135] where the current rushes
furiously round within encircling heights. Below Queenston the river
again rolls along a smooth stream, between level and cultivated banks,
till it pours its waters into Lake Ontario.

Ontario is the last[136] and the most easterly of the chain of
lakes.[137] The greatest length is 172 miles; at the widest it measures
59 miles across; the circumference is 467 miles, and the surface is 334
feet below the level of Lake Erie. The depth of Ontario varies very much
along the coast, being seldom more than from three to 50 fathoms; and in
the center, a plummet, with 300 fathoms of line, has been tried in vain
for soundings. A sort of gravel, small pieces of limestone, worn round
and smooth by the action of water, covers the shores, lying in long
ridges sometimes miles in extent. The waters, like those of the other
great lakes, are very pure and beautiful, except where the shallows
along the margin are stirred up by violent winds: for a few days in June
a yellow, unwholesome scum covers the surface at the edge every year.
There is a strange phenomenon connected with Ontario, unaccounted for by
scientific speculation; each seventh year, from some inscrutable cause,
the waters reach to an unusual height, and again subside, mysteriously
as they arose. The beautiful illusion of the mirage spreads its dreamy
enchantment over the surface of Ontario in the summer calms, mixing
islands, clouds, and waters in strange confusion.[138]

The outline of the shores is much diversified: to the northeast lie low
lands and swampy marshes; to the north and northeast extends a bold
range of elevated grounds; southward the coast becomes again flat for
some distance inland, till it rises into the ridge of heights that marks
the position of Niagara. The country bordering the lake is generally
rich and productive, and was originally covered with forest. A ridge of
lofty land runs from the beautiful Bay of Quint�, on the northwest of
the lake, westward along the shore, at a distance of nine or more miles:
from these heights innumerable streams flow into Ontario on one side,
and into the lakes and rivers of the back country on the other. At
Toronto the ridge recedes to the distance of twenty-four miles northeast
from the lake, separating the tributary waters of Lakes Huron and
Ontario; thence merging in the Burlington Heights, it continues along
the southwest side from four to eight miles distant from the shore to
the high grounds about Niagara.

Besides the great stream of Niagara, many rivers flow into Ontario both
on the Canadian and American sides. The bays and harbors are also very
numerous, affording great facilities for navigation and commerce: in
this respect the northern shore is the most favored--the Bays of Quint�
and Burlington are especially remarkable for their extent and
security.[139]

The northeast end of Lake Ontario, where its waters pour into the St.
Lawrence, is a scene of striking beauty;[140] numerous wooded islands,
in endless variety of form and extent, divide the entrance of the Great
River[141] into a labyrinth of tortuous channels, for twelve miles in
breadth from shore to shore: this width gradually decreases as the
stream flows on to Prescot, fifty miles below; a short distance beyond
that town the rapids commence,[142] and thence to Montreal the
navigation is interrupted for vessels of burden; boats, rafts, and small
steamers, however, constantly descend these tumultuous waters, and not
unfrequently are lost in the dangerous attempt. The most beautiful and
formidable of these rapids is called the Cedars, from the rich groves of
that fragrant tree covering numerous and intricate islands, which
distort the rushing stream into narrow and perilous channels: the water
is not more than ten feet deep in some places, and flows at the rate of
twelve miles an hour. The river there widens into Lake St. Francis, and
again into Lake St. Louis, which drains a large branch of the Ottawa at
its south-western extremity. The water of this great tributary is
remarkably clear and of a bright emerald color; that of the St. Lawrence
at this junction is muddy, from having passed over deep beds of marl for
several miles above its entrance to Lake St. Louis: for some distance
down the lake the different streams can be plainly distinguished from
each other. From the confluence of the first branches above Montreal
these two great rivers seem bewildered among the numerous and beautiful
islands, and, hurrying past in strong rapids, only find rest again in
the broad, deep waters many miles below.

The furthest sources of the Ottawa River are unknown.[143] It rises to
importance at the outlet from Lake Temiscaming, 350 miles west of its
junction with the St. Lawrence.[144] Beyond the Falls and Portage des
Allumettes, 110 miles above Hull, this stream has been little explored.
There it is divided into two channels by a large island fifteen miles
long: the southernmost of these expands into the width of four or five
miles, and communicates by a branch of the river with the Mud and Musk
Rat Lakes. Twelve miles further south the river again forms two
branches, including an extensive and beautiful island twenty miles in
length; numerous rapids and cascades diversify this wild but lovely
scene; thence to the foot of the Chenaux, wooded islands in picturesque
variety deck the bosom of the stream, and the bright blue waters here
wind their way for three miles through a channel of pure white marble.
Nature has bestowed abundant fertility as well as beauty upon this
favored district. The Gatineau River joins the Ottawa near Hull, after a
course of great length. This stream is navigated by canoes for more than
300 miles, traversing an immense valley of rich soil and picturesque
scenery.

At the foot of the Chenaux the magnificent Lake des Chats opens to
view, in length about fifteen miles; the shores are strangely indented,
and numbers of wooded islands stud the surface of the clear waters. At
the foot of the lake there are falls and rapids;[145] thence to Lake
Chaudi�re, a distance of six miles, the channel narrows, but expands
again to form that beautiful and extensive basin. Rapids again succeed,
and continue to the Chaudi�re Falls. The boiling pool into which these
waters descend is of great depth: the sounding-line does not reach the
bottom at the length of 300 feet. It is supposed that the main body of
the river flows by a subterraneous passage, and rises again half a mile
lower down. Below the Chaudi�re Falls the navigation is uninterrupted to
Grenville, sixty miles distant. The current is scarcely perceptible; the
banks are low, and generally over-flowed in the spring; but the varying
breadth of the river, the numerous islands, the magnificent forests, and
the crystal purity of the waters, lend a charm to the somewhat
monotonous beauty of the scene. At Grenville commences the Long Sault, a
swift and dangerous rapid, which continues with intervals till it falls
into the still Lake of the Two Mountains. Below the heights from whence
this sheet of water derives its name, the well-known Rapids of St.
Anne's discharge the main stream into the waters of the St.
Lawrence.[146]

Below the island of Montreal the St. Lawrence continues, in varying
breadth and considerable depth, to Sorel, where it is joined by the
Richelieu River from the south; thence opens the expanse of Lake St.
Peter, shallow and uninteresting; after twenty-five miles the Great
River contracts again, receives in its course the waters of the St.
Maurice, and other large streams; and 180 miles below Montreal the vast
flood pours through the narrow channel that lies under the shadow of
Quebec.[147] Below this strait lies a deep basin, nearly four miles
wide, formed by the head of the Island of Orleans: the main channel
continues by the south shore. It would be wearisome to tell of all the
numerous and beautiful islands that deck the bosom of the St. Lawrence
from Quebec to the Gulf. The river gradually expands till it reaches a
considerable breadth at the mouth of the Saguenay. There is a dark shade
for many miles below where this great tributary pours its gloomy flood
into the pure waters of the St. Lawrence: 120 miles westward it flows
from a large, circular sheet of water, called Lake St. John; but the
furthest sources lie in the unknown regions of the west and north. For
about half its course, from the lake to Tadoussac at the mouth, the
banks are rich and fertile; but thence cliffs rise abruptly out of the
water to a lofty height--sometimes 2000 feet--and two or three miles
apart. The depth of the Saguenay is very great, and the surrounding
scenery is of a magnificent but desolate character.

Below the entrance of the Saguenay the St. Lawrence increases to twenty
miles across, at the Bay of Seven Islands to seventy, at the head of the
large and unexplored island of Anticosti to ninety, and at the point
where it may be said to enter the Gulf between Gasp� and the Labrador
coast, reaches the enormous breadth of 120 miles. In mid-channel both
coasts can be seen; the mountains on the north shore rise to a great
height in a continuous range, their peaks capped with eternal snows.

Having traced this vast chain of water communication from its remotest
links, it is now time to speak of the magnificent territory which it
opens to the commerce and enterprise of civilized man.

Upper or Western Canada[148] is marked off from the eastern province by
the natural boundary of the Ottawa or Grand River. It consists almost
throughout of one uniform plain. In all those districts hitherto settled
or explored, there is scarcely a single eminence that can be called a
hill, although traversed by two wide ridges, rising above the usual
level of the country. The greater of these elevations passes through
nearly the whole extent of the province from southeast to northwest,
separating the waters falling into the St. Lawrence and the great lakes
from those tributary to the Ottawa: the highest point is forty miles
north of Kingston, being also the most elevated level on that
magnificent modern work, the Rideau Canal;[149] it is 290 feet above the
Ottawa at Bytown, and 160 feet higher than the surface of Lake Ontario.
Toward these waters the plain descends at the gradient of about four
feet in the mile; this declivity is imperceptible to the eye, and is
varied by gently undulating slopes and inequalities. Beyond the broad,
rich valley lying to the north of this elevation there is a rocky and
mountainous country; still farther north are seen snow-covered peaks of
a great but unknown height; thence to the pole extends the dreary region
of the Hudson Bay territory.

The lesser elevation begins near the eastern extremity of Ontario, and
runs almost parallel with the shores of the lake to a point about
twenty-four miles northwest from Toronto, where it separates the streams
flowing into Lakes Huron and Ontario: it then passes southeast between
Lakes Erie and Ontario, and terminates on the Genesee in the United
States. This has a more perceptible elevation than the southern ridge,
and in some places rises into bold heights.

The only portion of the vast plain of Western Canada surveyed or
effectually explored is included by a line drawn from the eastern coast
of Lake Huron to the Ottawa River, and the northern shores of the great
chain of lake and river; this is, however, nearly as large as the whole
of England.

The natural features of Lower or Eastern Canada are unsurpassed by those
of any other country in grace and variety: rivers, lakes, mountains,
forests, prairies, and cataracts are grouped together in endless
combinations of beauty and magnificence. The eastern districts,
beginning with the bold sea-coast and broad waters of the St. Lawrence,
are high, mountainous, and clothed with dark forests on both sides, down
to the very margin of the river. To the north, a lofty and rugged range
of heights runs parallel with the shore as far westward as Quebec;
thence it bends west and southwest to the banks of the Ottawa. To the
south, the elevated ridge, where it reaches within sixty miles of
Quebec, turns from the parallel of the St. Lawrence southwest and south
into the United States; this ridge, known by the name of the Alleganies,
rises abruptly out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence at Perc�, between the
Baye de Chaleur and Gasp� Cape, and is more distant from the Great River
than that upon the northern shore. Where the Alleganies enter the United
States they divide the plains of the Atlantic coast from the basin of
the Ohio; their greatest height is about 4000 feet above the level of
the sea.

The Valley of the St. Lawrence, lying between these two ranges of
heights, is marked by great diversities of hill, plain, and valley. Both
from the north and south numerous rivers pour their tributary flood into
the great waters of Canada; of those eastward of the Saguenay little is
known beyond their entrance; they flow through cliffs of light-colored
sand, rocky, wooded knolls, or, in some places, deep, swampy moss-beds
nearly three feet in depth. From the Saguenay to Quebec the mountain
ridge along the shore of the St. Lawrence is unbroken, save where
streams find their way to the Great River, but beyond this coast-border
the country is in some places level, in others undulating, with hills of
moderate height, and well-watered valleys. From Quebec westward to the
St. Maurice, which joins the St. Lawrence at Three Rivers, the land
rises in a gentle ascent from the banks of the Great River, and presents
a rich tract of fertile plains and slopes: in the distance, a lofty
chain of mountains protects this favored district from the bitter
northern blast. Along the north bank of the St. Lawrence, from the St.
Maurice, the country toward the Ottawa is slightly elevated into table
ridges, with occasional abrupt declivities and some extensive plains. In
this portion of Canada are included the islands of Montreal, Jesus, and
Perrot, formed by the various branches of the Great River and the
Ottawa, where their waters unite. Montreal is the largest and most
fertile of these islands; its length is thirty-two miles and breadth
ten; the general shape is triangular. Isle Jesus is twenty-one miles by
six in extent, and also very rich; there are, besides, several other
smaller islands of considerable fertility. Isle Perrot is poor and
sandy. The remote country to the north of the Ottawa is but little
known.

On the south shore of the St. Lawrence, the peninsula of Gasp� is the
most eastern district; this large tract of country has been very little
explored: so far as it has been examined, it is uneven, mountainous, and
intersected with deep ravines; but the forests, rivers, and lakes are
very fine, and the valleys fertile. The sea-beach is low and hard,[150]
answering the purposes of a road; at the Cape of Gasp�, however, there
are some bold and lofty cliffs. Behind the beach the land rises into
high, round hills, well wooded; sheltered from the Gasp� district to the
Chaudi�re River, the country is not so stern as on the northern side of
the St. Lawrence; though somewhat hilly, it abounds in large and fertile
valleys. The immediate shores of the river are flat; thence irregular
ridges arise, till they reach an elevated table-land fifteen or twenty
miles from the beach. From the Chaudi�re River westward extends that
rich and valuable country now known by the name of the Eastern
Townships. At the mouth of the Chaudi�re the banks of the St. Lawrence
are bold and lofty, but they gradually lower to the westward till they
sink into the flats of Baye du Febre, and form the marshy shores of Lake
St. Peter, whence a rich plain extends to a great distance. This
district contains several high, isolated mountains, and is abundantly
watered by lakes and rivers. To the south lies the territory of the
United States.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 118: "The sea (if it may be so termed) on Lake Ontario is so
high during a sharp gale, that it was at first thought the smaller class
steamboats could not live on it; and on Lake Superior, the waves almost
rival those of the far-famed Cape of Storms, while the ground-swell,
owing to the comparative shallowness, or little specific gravity of the
fresh water, is such as to make the oldest sailor sick. Whether the
water in the lowest depths of Lakes Superior and Ontario be salt or
fresh, we can not ascertain; for the greater density of the former may
keep it always below, or there may be a communication with the
fathomless abysses of the ocean."--Montgomery Martin, p. 181.]

[Footnote 119: "Beyond Lake Superior, stretching into the vast interior
of North America, we find first a long chain of little lakes connected
by narrow channels, and which, combined, form what in the early
narratives and even treaties is called Long Lake. Next occur, still
connected by the same channel, the larger expanses of Lake La Pluie and
Lake of the Woods. Another channel of about 100 miles connects this last
with the Winnipeg Lake, whose length from north to south is almost equal
to the Superior; but in a few parts only it attains the breadth of 50
miles. The whole of this wonderful series of lakes, separated by such
small intervals, may almost be considered as forming one inland sea.
There is nothing parallel to this in the rest of the globe. The Tzad,
the great interior sea of Africa, does not equal the Ontario. The
Caspian, indeed, is considerably greater than any of these lakes, almost
equal to the whole united; but the Caspian forms the final receptacle of
many great rivers, among which the Volga is of the first magnitude. But
the northern waters, after forming this magnificent chain of lakes, are
not yet exhausted, but issue forth from the last of them, to form one of
the noblest river channels either in the old or new continent."--_History
of Discoveries and Travels in North America_, by H. Murray, Esq.,
vol. ii., p. 458.]

[Footnote 120: "Lake Superior is called, also, Keetcheegahmi and
Missisawgaiegon. It is remarkable, that while every other large lake is
fed by rivers of the first order, this, the most capacious on the
surface of the globe, does not receive a third or even fourth rate
stream; the St. Louis, the most considerable, not having a course of
more than 150 miles. But, whatever deficiency there may be in point of
magnitude, it is compensated by the vast number which pour in their
copious floods from the surrounding heights. The dense covering of wood
and the long continuance of frost must also, in this region, greatly
diminish the quantity drawn off by evaporation."--Bouchette, vol. i., p.
127, 128. Darby's _View of the United States_ (1828), p. 200.]

[Footnote 121: "The _Pictured_ Rocks (so called from their appearance)
are situated on the south side of the lake, toward the east end, and are
really quite a natural curiosity; they form a perpendicular wall 300
feet high, extending about twelve miles, with numerous projections and
indentations in every variety of form, and vast caverns, in which the
entering waves make a tremendous sound. The Pictured Rocks of Lake
Superior have been described as 'surprising groups of overhanging
precipices, towering walls, caverns, waterfalls, and prostrate ruins,
which are mingled in the most wonderful disorder, and burst upon the
view in ever-varying and pleasing succession.' Among the more remarkable
objects are the Cascade La Portaille and the Doric Arch. The Cascade
consists of a considerable stream precipitated from a height of 70 feet
by a single leap into the lake, and projected to such a distance that a
boat may pass beneath the fall and the rock perfectly dry. The Doric
Arch has all the appearance of a work of art, and consists of an
isolated mass of sandstone, with four pillars supporting an entablature
of stone, covered with soil, and a beautiful grove of pine and spruce
trees, some of which are 60 feet in height."--Montgomery Martin's
_History of Canada_, vol. i., p. 211.]

[Footnote 122: "The Thunder Mountain is one of the most appalling
objects of the kind that I have ever seen, being a bleak rock, about
twelve hundred feet above the level of the lake, with a perpendicular
face of its full height toward the west; the Indians have a
superstition, which one can hardly repeat without becoming giddy, that
any person who may scale the eminence, and turn round on the brink of
its fearful wall, will live forever."--Simpson, vol. i., p. 33.]

[Footnote 123: "The Indian appellation of 'Sacred Isles' first occurs at
Lake Huron, and thence westward is met with in Superior, Michigan, and
the vast and numerous lakes of the interior. Those who have been in
Asia, and have turned their attention to the subject, will recognize the
resemblance in sound between the North American Indian and the Tartar
names."--Montgomery Martin's _History of Canada_, vol. i., p. 117.]

[Footnote 124: "The remarkable post of Michillimackinack is a beautiful
island or great rock, planted in the strait of the same name, which
forms the connection between Lakes Huron and Michigan. The meaning of
the Indian word Michillimackinack is _Great Turtle_. The island is
crowned with a cap 300 feet above the surrounding waters, on the top of
which is a fortification. If Quebec is the Gibraltar of North America,
Mackinaw (the vulgar appellation for this fort) is only second in its
physical character, and in its susceptibilities of improvement as a
military post. It is also a must important position for the facilities
it affords in the fur trade between New York and the Northwest."--Mr.
Colton's _American Lakes_, vol. i., p. 92.

The value of canals and steam navigation may be judged of from the fact
that, in 1812, the news of the declaration of war against Great Britain
by the United States did not reach the post of Michillimackinack (1107
miles from Quebec) in a shorter time than two months; the same place is
now within the distance of ten days' journey from the Atlantic.]

[Footnote 125: "So clear are the waters of these lakes, that a white
napkin, tied to a lead, and sunk thirty fathoms beneath a smooth
surface, may be seen as distinctly as when immersed three
feet."--Colton. vol. i., p. 93.]

[Footnote 126: "The St. Clair (according to Dr. Bigsby) is the only
river of discharge for Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron, which cover
a surface of thirty-eight and a half million of acres, and are fed by
numerous large rivers. Other able observers are of opinion that the
Missouri and the Mississippi receive some of the waters of Superior and
Michigan. Many persons think that a subterraneous communication exists
between all the great lakes, as is surmised to be the case between the
Mediterranean and the Euxine."--Montgomery Martin.]

[Footnote 127: "The Lake Erie is justly dignified by the illustrious
name of Conti, for assuredly it is the finest lake upon earth. Its
circumference extends to 230 leagues; but it affords every where such a
charming prospect, that its banks are decked with oak-trees, elms,
chestnut-trees, walnut-trees, apple-trees, plum-trees, and vines, which
bear their fine clusters up to the very top of the trees, upon a sort of
ground that lies as smooth as one's hand. Such ornaments as these are
sufficient to give rise to the most agreeable idea of a landscape in the
world."--La Hontan, in Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p. 343 (1683).

"Le nom que le Lac Eri� porte est celui d'une nation de la langue
Huronne, qui �tait �tablie sur ses bords et que les Iroquois ont
enti�rement d�truite. Eri� veut dire Chat, et les Eri�s sont nomm�s dans
quelques relations la nation du Chat. Ce nom vient apparemment de la
quantit� de ces animaux qu'on trouve dans le pays. Quelqes cartes
modernes ont donn� au Lac Eri� le nom de Conti, mais ce nom n'a pas fait
fortune, non plus que ceux de Cond�, de Tracy, et d'Orl�ans, donn�s au
Lac Huron, au Lac Sup�rieur, et au Lac Michigan."--Charlevoix, tom. v.,
p, 374 (1721).]

[Footnote 128: "In extreme depth Lake Erie varies from forty to
forty-five fathoms, with a rocky bottom. Lakes Superior and Huron have a
stiff, clayey bottom, mixed with shells. Lake Erie reported to be the
only one of the series in which any current is perceptible. The fact, if
it is one, is usually ascribed to its shallowness; but the vast volume
of its outlet--the Niagara River--with its strong current, is a much
more probable cause than the small depth of its water, which may be far
more appropriately adduced as the reason why the navigation is
obstructed by ice much more than either of the other great lakes. As
connected with trade and navigation, this lake is the most important of
all the great chain, not only because it is bordered by older
settlements than any of them except Ontario, but still more because from
its position it concentrates the trade of the vast West. The Kingston
Herald notices a most extraordinary occurrence on Lake Erie during a
late storm (1836). A channel was made by the violence of the tempest
through Long Point, N. Foreland, 300 yards wide, and from 11 to 15 feet
deep. It had been in contemplation to cut a canal at this very spot, the
expenses of which were estimated at �12,000. The York Courier confirms
this extraordinary intelligence, stating that the storm made a breach
through the point near the main land, converted the peninsula into an
island, and actually made a canal 400 yards wide, and eight or ten feet
deep, almost at the very point where the proposed canal was to be cut,
and rendered nothing else now necessary in order to secure a safe
channel for the vessels, and a good harbor on both sides, than the
construction of a pier on the west side, to prevent the channel being
filled up with sand."--Montgomery Martin.]

[Footnote 129: "The Horse-shoe Cataract on the British side is the
largest of the Falls. The curvatures have been geometrically computed at
700 yards, and its altitude, taken with a plumb-line from the surface of
the Table Rock, 149 feet; the American fall, narrowed by Goat Island,
does not exceed 375 yards in curvilinear length (the whole irregular
semicircle is nearly three quarters of a mile), its perpendicular height
being 162 feet, or 13 feet higher than the top of the Great Fall, adding
57 feet for the fall. The rapids thus give only a total of 219 feet,
which is less than many other falls; but their magnificence consists in
the volume of the water precipitated over them, which has been computed
at 2400 millions of tons per day, 102 millions per hour! A calculation
made at Queenston, below the Falls, is as follows: The river is here
half a mile broad; it averages 25 feet deep; current three miles an
hour; in one hour it will discharge a current of water three miles long,
half a mile wide, and twenty-five feet deep, containing 1,111,400,000
cubic feet, being 18,524,000 cubic feet, or 113,510,000 gallons of water
each minute."--Montgomery Martin's _History of Canada_.]

[Footnote 130: "The total area of the four great lakes which pour forth
their waters to the ocean over the Falls of Niagara is estimated at
100,000 square miles."--Montgomery Martin.]

[Footnote 131: Colonel Bouchette observes, that, according to the
altitude of the sun, and the situation of the spectator, a distinct and
bright iris is soon amid the revolving columns of mist that soar from
the foaming chasm, and shroud the broad front of the gigantic flood.
Both arches of the bow are seldom entirely elicited, but the interior
segment is perfect, and its prismatic hues are extremely glowing and
vivid. The fragments of a plurality of rainbows are sometimes to be seen
in various parts of the misty curtain.]

[Footnote 132: Symptoms of the Falls are discerned from a vast distance.
From Buffalo, twenty miles off, two small fleecy specks are distinctly
seen, appearing and disappearing at intervals. These are the clouds of
spray arising from the Falls; it is even asserted that they have been
seen from Lake Erie, a distance of fifty-four miles.--Weld, p. 374.]

[Footnote 133: The sound of the Falls appears to have been heard at the
distance of twenty or even forty miles: but these effects depend much on
the direction of the wind, and the tranquil or disturbed state of the
atmosphere. Mr. Weld mentions having approached the Falls within half a
mile without hearing any sound, while the spray was but just
discernible.--Weld, p. 374.]

[Footnote 134: "The shores of Lake Erie, though flat, are elevated about
400 feet above those of Lake Ontario. The descent takes place in the
short interval between the two lakes traversed by the Niagara Channel.
This descent is partly gradual, producing only a succession of rapids.
It is at Queenston, about seven miles below the present site of the
Falls, that a range of hills marks the descent to the Ontario level.
Volney conceives it certain that this must have been the place down
which the river originally fell, and that the continued and violent
action of its waves must have gradually worn away the rocks beneath
them, and in the course of ages carried the Fall back to its present
position, from which it continues gradually receding. Mr. Howison
confirms the statement, that, in the memory of persons now living in
Upper Canada, a considerable change has been observed. The whole course
of the river downward to Queenston is through a deep dell, bordered by
broken and perpendicular steeps, rudely overhung by trees and shrubs,
and the opposite strata of which correspond, affording thus the
strongest presumption that it is a channel hewn out by the river
itself."--H. Murray's _Historical Description of America_, vol. ii., p.
466.

"It is now considered that there is clear geological proof that the Fall
once existed at Queenston. The 710,000 tons of water which each minute
pour over the precipice of the Niagara, are estimated to carry away a
foot of the cliff every year; therefore we must suppose a period of
20,000 years occupied in the recession of the cataract to its present
site."--Lyell's _Geology_.]

[Footnote 135: "The mouth of the whirlpool is more than 1000 feet wide,
and in length about 2000. Mr. Howison, in his sketches of Upper Canada,
says that the current of the river has formed a circular excavation in
the high and perpendicular banks, resembling a bay. The current, which
is extremely rapid, whenever it reaches the upper point of this bay,
forsakes the direct channel, and sweeps wildly round the sides of it;
when, having made this extraordinary circuit, it regains its proper
course, and rushes with perturbed velocity between two perpendicular
precipices, which are not more than 400 feet asunder. The surface of the
whirlpool is in a state of continual agitation. The water boils, mantles
up, and wreaths in a manner that proves its fearful depth, and the
confinement it suffers; the trees that come within the sphere of the
current are swept along with a quivering, zigzag motion, which it is
difficult to describe. This singular body of water must be several
hundred feel deep, and has not hitherto been frozen over, although in
spring the broken ice that descends from Lake Erie descends in such
quantities upon its surface, and becomes so closely wedged together,
that it resists the current, and remains till warm weather breaks it up.
The whirlpool is one of the greatest natural curiosities in the Upper
Province, and its formation can not be rationally accounted
for."--Martin's _History of Canada_, p. 139.]

[Footnote 136: "This inland sea, though the smallest of the great chain
with which it is connected, is of such extent, that vessels in crossing
it lose sight of land, and must steer their way by the compass; and the
swell is often equal to that of the ocean. During the winter, the
northeast part of Ontario, from the Bay of Quint� to Sacket's Harbor, is
frozen across; but the wider part of the lake is frozen only to a short
distance from the shore. Lake Erie is frozen still less; the northern
parts of Huron and Michigan more; and Superior is said to be frozen to a
distance of seventy miles from its coasts. The navigation of Ontario
closes in October; ice-boats are sometimes used when the ice is _glare_
(smooth). One, mentioned by Lieutenant de Roos, was twenty-three feet in
length, resting on three skates of iron, one attached to each end of a
strong cross-bar, fixed under the fore-feet, the remaining one to the
stern, from the bottom of the rudder; the mast and sail those of a
common boat: when brought into play on the ice, she could sail (if it
may be so termed) with fearful rapidity, nearly twenty-three miles an
hour. One has been known to cross from Toronto to Fort George or
Niagara, a distance of forty miles, in little more than three quarters
of an hour; but, in addition to her speed before the wind, she is also
capable of beating well up to windward, requiring, however, an
experienced hand to manage her, in consequence of her extreme
sensibility of the rudder during her quick motion."--Martin's _History
of Canada_.

"The great earthquake that destroyed Lisbon happened on the 1st of
November, 1755, and on Lake Ontario strong agitations of the water were
observed from the month of October, 1755."--_Lettera Rarissima data
nelle Indie nella Isola di Jamaica a 7 Julio del_ 1503 (Bassano, 1810,
p. 29).

"From some submarine center in the Atlantic, this earthquake spread one
enormous convulsion over an area of 700,000 square miles, agitating, by
a single impulse, the lakes of Scotland and Sweden, and the islands of
the West Indian Sea. Not, however, by a simultaneous shock, for the
element of time comes in with the distance of undulation; and, together
with this, another complexity of action in the transmission of
earthquake movements through the sea, arising from the different rate of
progression at different depths. In the fact that the wave of the Lisbon
earthquake reached Plymouth at the rate of 2.1 miles per minute, and
Barbadoes at 7.3 miles per minute, there is illustration of the law that
the velocity of a wave is proportional to the square root of its depth,
and becomes a substitute for the sounding line in fixing the mean
proportional depth of different parts of this great ocean."--Humboldt.]

[Footnote 137: "There are two lakes in Lower Canada, Matapediac and
Memphremagog. The former is about 16 miles long, and three broad in its
greatest breadth, about 21 miles distant from the St. Lawrence River, in
the county of Rimouski; amid the islands that separate the waters
running into the St. Lawrence from those that run to the Bay of
Chaleurs, it is navigable for rafts of all kinds of timber, with which
the banks of the noble River Matapediac are thickly covered.
Memphremagog Lake, in the county of Stanstead, stretching its south
extremity into the State of Vermont, is of a semi-circular shape, 30
miles long, and very narrow. It empties itself into the fine river St.
Francis, by means of the River Magog, which runs through Lake
Scaswaninepus. The Memphremagog Lake is said to be navigable for ships
of 500 tons burden."--Martin's _History of Canada_, p. 102.]

[Footnote 138: "It is worthy of remark, that the great lakes of Upper
Canada are liable to the formation of the Prester or water-spout, and
that several instances are recorded of the occurrence of that truly
extraordinary phenomenon, the theory of which, however, is well known.
Whether electricity be a cause or a consequence of this formidable
meteor, appears, nevertheless, to be a question of some doubt among
natural philosophers; Gassendi being disposed to favor the former
opinion, while Cavallo espouses the latter."--Bouchette's _Topographical
and Statistical Description of Upper and Lower Canada_, vol. i., p.
346.]

[Footnote 139: "The most considerable harbors on the English side are
Toronto (York, the former name, has recently been changed to the Indian
name of the place, Toronto) and Kingston. Toronto is situated near the
head of Lake Ontario, on the north side of an excellent harbor or
elliptical basin, of an area of eight or nine miles, formed by a long,
low, sandy peninsula or island, stretching from the land east of the
town to Gibraltar Point, abreast of a good fort. The town of Toronto, at
that period York, was twice captured by the Americans, in April and
August, 1813, owing to its defenseless state, and a large ship of war on
the stocks burned. The Americans would not now find its capture such an
easy task. Little more than forty years ago, the site whereon Toronto
now stands, and the whole country to the north and west of it, was a
perfect wilderness; the land is now fast clearing--thickly settled by a
robust and industrious European-descended population, blessed with
health and competence, and on all sides indicating the rapid progress of
civilization. The other British town of importance on this shore is
Kingston, formerly Cataraqui or Frontenac, distant from Toronto 184
miles, and from Montreal 180 miles. It is, next to Quebec and Halifax,
the strongest British post in America, and, next to Quebec and Montreal,
the first in commercial importance. It is advantageously situated on the
north bank of Lake Ontario, at the head of the River St. Lawrence, and
is separated from Points Frederic and Henry by a bay, which extends a
considerable distance to the northwest beyond the town, where it
receives the water of a river flowing from the interior. Point Frederic
is a long, narrow peninsula, extending about half a mile into the lake,
distant from Kingston about three quarters of a mile on the opposite
side of its bay. This peninsula forms the west side of a narrow and deep
inlet called Navy Bay, from its being our chief naval d�p�t on Lake
Ontario."--Martin's _History of Canada_.]

[Footnote 140: "The channel of the St. Lawrence is here so spacious that
it is called the Lake of the Thousand Islands. The vast number implied
in this name was considered a vague exaggeration, till the commissioners
employed in fixing the boundary with the United States actually counted
them, and found that they amounted to 1692. They are of every imaginable
size, shape, and appearance; some barely visible, others covering
fifteen acres; but, in general, their broken outline presents the most
picturesque combinations of wood and rock. The navigator, in steering
through them, sees an ever-changing scene: sometimes he is inclosed in a
narrow channel; then he discovers before him twelve openings, like so
many noble rivers; and, soon after, a spacious lake seems to surround
him on every side."--Bouchette, vol. i., p. 156; Howison's _Sketches of
Canada_, p. 46.]

[Footnote 141: "The St. Lawrence traverses the whole extent of Lower
Canada, as the lakes every where border and inclose Upper Canada. There
is a difficulty in tracing its origin, or, at least, which of the
tributaries of Lake Superior is to be called the St. Lawrence. The
strongest claim seems to be made by the series of channels which connect
all the great upper lakes, though, strictly speaking, till after the
Ontario, there is nothing which can very properly be called a river.
There are only a number of short canals connecting the different lakes,
or, rather, separating one immense lake into a number of great branches.
It seems an interesting question how this northern center of the
continent, at the precise latitude of about 50�, should pour forth so
immense and overwhelming a mass of waters; for through a great part of
its extent it is quite a dead flat, though the Winnepeg, indeed, draws
some tributaries from the Rocky Mountains. The thick forests with which
the surface is covered, the slender evaporation which takes place during
the long continuance of cold, and, at the same time, the thorough
melting of the snows by the strong summer heat, seem to be the chief
sources of this profuse and superabundant moisture."--H. Murray's
_Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in North America_, vol.
ii., p. 459, 1829.]

[Footnote 142: "The statements laid before Parliament thus enumerate and
describe the five rapids of the St. Lawrence, which are impassable by
steam, and occur between Montreal and Kingston, a distance, by the St.
Lawrence River, of 171 miles, and by the Rideau Canal, 267 miles. The
rapids vary in rapidity, intricacy, depth and width of channel, and in
extent, from half a mile to nine miles. The Cedar Rapid, twenty-four
miles from La Chine, is nine miles long, very intricate, running from
nine to twelve miles an hour, and in some places only from nine to ten
feet water in the channel. The Coteau du Lac Rapid, six miles above the
former, is two miles long, equally intricate in channel, and in some
places only sixteen feet wide. Long Sault, forty-five miles above the
preceding, is nine or ten miles long, with generally the same depth of
water throughout. It is intersected by several islands, through whose
channels the water rushes with great velocity, so that boats are carried
through it, or on it, at the rate of twenty-seven miles an hour; at the
foot of the rapid the water takes a sudden leap over a slight precipice,
whence its name. From the Long Sault to Prescot is forty-one miles shoal
water, running from six to eight miles an hour, and impassable by
steamboats. Then the Rapid du Plas, half a mile long, and Rapid Galoose,
one and half a mile long, intervene."]

[Footnote 143: "According to Mr. M'Gregor (_Brit. Amer._, vol. ii., p.
525), the Ottawa, or Grand River, is said to have its source near the
Rocky Mountains, and to traverse in its windings a distance of 2500
miles. The more sober statement of Bouchette attributes to the Ottawa a
course of about 450 miles before joining the St. Lawrence."--Bouchette,
vol. i., p. 187.

"A tremendous scene is presented at the eastern part of Lake St. Louis,
where the St. Lawrence and its grand tributary, the Ottawa, rush down at
once and meet in dreadful conflict. The swell is then equal to that
produced by a high gale in the British Channel, and the breakers so
numerous, that all the skill of the boatmen is required to steer their
way. The Canadian boatmen, however, are among the most active and hardy
races in the world, and they have boats expressly constructed for the
navigation of these perilous channels. The largest of these, called, it
is not known why, the Durham boat, is used both here and in the rapids
of the Mohawk. It is long, shallow, and nearly flat-bottomed. The chief
instrument of steerage is a pole ten feet long, shod with iron, and
crossed at short intervals with small bars of wood like the feet of a
ladder. The men place themselves at the bow, two on each side, thrust
their poles into the channel, and grasping successively the wooden bars,
work their way toward the stern, thus pushing on the vessel in that
direction. At other times, by the brisk and vigorous use of the oar,
they catch and dash through the most favorable lines of current. In this
exhausting struggle, however, it is needful to have frequent pauses for
rest, and in the most difficult passages there are certain positions
fixed for this purpose, which the Canadians call _pipes_."--H. Murray's
_Hist. Descr. of America_, vol. ii., p. 473.]

[Footnote 144: "From the sea to Montreal, this superb river is called
the St. Lawrence; from thence to Kingston, in Upper Canada, the
Cataraqui or Iroquois; between Lakes Ontario and Erie, the Niagara;
between Lakes Erie and St. Clair, the Detroit; between Lakes St. Clair
and Huron, the St. Clair; and between Lakes Huron and Superior, the
distance is called the Narrows, or Falls of St. Mary. The St. Lawrence
discharges to the ocean annually about 4,277,880 millions of tons of
fresh water, of which 2,112,120 millions of tons may be reckoned melted
snow; the quantity discharged before the thaw comes on, being 4512
millions of tons per day for 240 days, and the quantity after the thaw
begins, being 25,560 millions per day for 125 days, the depths and
velocity when in and out of flood being duly considered: hence a ton of
water being nearly equal to 55 cubic yards of pure snow, the St.
Lawrence frees a country of more than 2000 miles square, covered to the
depth of three feet. The embouchure of this first-class stream is that
part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence where the island of Anticosti divides
the mouth of the river into two branches. According to Mr. M'Taggart, a
shrewd and humorous writer, the solid contents in cubic feet of the St.
Lawrence, embracing Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario,
is estimated at 1,547,792,360,000 cubic feet, and the superficial area
being 72,930 square miles, the water therein would form a cubic column
of nearly 22 miles on each side!"--Montgomery Martin's _History of
Canada_.]

[Footnote 145: "Kinnel Lodge, the residence of the celebrated Highland
chieftain M'Nab, is romantically situated on the south bank of the lake,
about five miles above the head of the Chats Rapids, which are three
miles long, and pass amid a labyrinth of varied islands, until the
waters of the Ottawa are suddenly precipitated over the Falls of the
Chats, which, to the number of fifteen or sixteen, form a curved line
across the river, regularly divided by woody islands, the falls being in
depth from sixteen to twenty feet."--M. Martin's _History of Canada_.]

[Footnote 146: See Appendix, No. XIX. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 147: "At Quebec, the River St. Lawrence narrows to 1314 yards;
yet the navigation is completely unobstructed, while there is formed
near the city a capacious harbor. About twenty-one miles lower, its
waters, beginning to mingle with those of the sea, acquire a saline
taste, which increases till, at Kamauraska, seventy-five miles nearer
its mouth, they become completely salt. Yet custom, with somewhat
doubtful propriety, considers the river as continued down to the island
of Anticosti, and bounded by Cape Rosier on the southern, and Mingau
settlement on the northern shore."--Bouchette's _Top. and Stat. Descr.
of Canada_, vol. i., p. 164-169.]

[Footnote 148: See Appendix, No. XX. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 149: "The Falls of the Rideau are about fifty feet in height
and 300 in breadth, being, at the time we saw them, more magnificent
than usual, by reason of the high state of the waters. It is from their
resemblance to a curtain that they are distinguished by the name of
Rideau, and they also give this name to the river that feeds them, which
again lends the same appellation to the canal that connects the Ottawa
with Lake Ontario."--Simpson, vol. i., p. 16.]

[Footnote 150: Modern alluvial accumulations are rapidly increasing on
some points of this coast, owing to the enormous mass of fresh water,
charged with earthy matter, that here mingles with the sea. The surface
of the water at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, where the depth is 100
fathoms, is stated by Bayfield to be turbid from this cause: yet that
this discoloration is superficial is evident, for in the wake of a ship
moving through the turbid surface, the clear blue waters of the sea are
seen below.]




CHAPTER V.


Upon the surface of Canada are found manifest indications of that
tremendous deluge, the effects of which are so plainly visible in the
Old World. Huge bowlder stones[151] abound in almost every part of the
province; sometimes they are seen rounded, piled in high heaps on
extensive horizontal beds of limestone, swept together by the force of
some vast flood. Masses of various kinds of shells lie in great
quantities in hollows and valleys, some of them hundreds of feet above
the level of Lake Ontario. Near to great rivers, and often where now no
waters are at hand, undulations of rocks are seen like those found in
the beds of rapids where the channels are waved. These have evidently,
at some remote period, been the courses of floods now no longer
existing. On the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence detached bowlder
stones appear, some of enormous size, many tons in weight; they must
have come from a great distance, for nowhere in that region is there any
rock of similar material. In the upper strata of the country are
abundant fossil remains of distinct animal existences now unknown; they
are blended with the limestone in which they lie.

It seems certain that the whole of Canada has been violently convulsed
by some effort of nature since the floods of the deluge passed away; the
mountains are abrupt and irregular in outline, and in some places cleft
with immense chasms; the rivers also show singular contortions. North of
Quebec and in St. Paul's Bay are many traces of volcanic eruptions, and
vast masses of alluvial rocks, bearing marks of vitrification,
frequently appear on the surface of the earth. There is, besides, strong
evidence that the American Continent has lain for unknown ages beneath
the great deep, or that it is of later formation than Europe or Asia.

As far as it has been explored, the general geological structure of
Canada exhibits a granite country, with some calcareous rocks of a soft
texture in horizontal strata. The lower islands in the St. Lawrence are
merely inequalities of the vast granite strata which occasionally stand
above the level of the waters; the whole neighboring country appears as
if the Great River had at one time covered it. The banks of the St.
Lawrence are in many places formed of a schistus substance in a decaying
state, but still granite is every where found in strata, inclined, but
never parallel to the horizon. In the Gasp� District, many beautiful
quartz, and a great variety of cornelians, agates, copals, and jaspers
have been found, and traces of coal have also been observed.[152]

The north shore of the St. Lawrence, from thirty miles below Quebec
eastward, and along the coast of Labrador, is generally of the primitive
formations. Except in the marshes and swamps, rocks obtrude upon the
surface in all quarters; in many places, deep fissures of from six
inches to two feet wide are seen bearing witness to volcanic violence;
the Indians describe some of these rents as several miles long, and
forty or fifty deep; when covered with the thick underwood, they are, at
times, very dangerous to the traveler. These chasms are probably owing
to some great subterranean action; there is a manuscript in the Jesuits'
College at Quebec which records the occurrence of an earthquake on the
5th of February, 1663, at about half past 5 P.M., felt through the whole
extent of Canada: trees in the forests were torn up and dashed against
each other with inconceivable violence; mountains were raised from their
foundations and thrown into valleys, leaving awful chasms behind; from
the openings issued dense clouds of smoke, dust, and sand; many rivers
disappeared, others were diverted from their course, and the great St.
Lawrence became suddenly white as far down as the mouth of the Saguenay.
The first shock lasted for more than half an hour, but the greatest
violence was only for fifteen minutes. At Tadoussac, a shower of
volcanic ashes descended upon the rivers, agitating the waters like a
tempest. This tremendous earthquake extended simultaneously over
180,000 square miles of country, and lasted for nearly six months almost
without intermission.[153]

In the neighborhood of Quebec, a dark clay slate generally appears, and
forms the bed of the St. Lawrence as far as Lake Ontario, and even at
Niagara; bowlders and other large masses of rock, however, of various
kinds, occur in detached portions at many different places. The great
elevated ridge of broken country running toward the Ottawa River, at the
distance of from fifty to one hundred miles from the north shore of Lake
Ontario, and the course of the St. Lawrence, is rich in silver, lead,
copper, and iron. On the north shore of the Saguenay, the rugged
mountains abound in iron to such an extent as to influence the mariner's
compass. The iron mines of St. Maurice[154] have been long known, and
found abundantly productive of an admirable metal, inferior to none in
the world; it is remarkably pliant and malleable, and little subject to
oxydation. In 1667, Colbert sent M. de la Potardi�re, an experienced
mineralogist, to examine these mines; he reported the iron very
abundant, and of excellent quality, but it was not till 1737 that the
forges were established by the French: they failed to pay the expenses
of the speculation; the superintendent and fourteen clerks, however,
gained fortunes by the losses of their employers.

There is no doubt that immense mineral resources remain undiscovered
among the rocky solitudes of Lower Canada. Marble of excellent quality,
and endless variety of color, is found in different parts of the
country, and limestone is almost universal. Labrador produces a
beautiful and well-known spar of rich and brilliant tints, ultra-marine,
greenish yellow, red, and some of a fine pearly gray.

In Upper Canada, the country north of Lake Ontario is generally
characterized by a limestone subsoil resting on granite. The rocks about
Kingston are usually a very compact limestone, of a bluish-gray color,
having a slight silicious admixture, increasing as the depth increases,
with occasional intrusions of quartz or hornstone. The limestone strata
are horizontal, with the greatest dip when nearest to the elder rock on
which it rests; their thickness, like the depths of the soil, varies
from a few feet to a few inches: in these formations many minerals are
observed; genuine granite is seldom or never found.

West of Lake Ontario, the chasm at the Falls of Niagara shows the strata
of the country to be limestone, next slate, and lowest sandstone.
Limestone and sandstone compose the secondary formations of a large
portion of Canada, and of nearly all that vast extent of country in the
United States drained by the Mississippi. At Niagara the interposing
structure of slate is nearly forty feet thick, and fragile, like shale
crumbling away from under the limestone, thus strengthening the opinion
that there has been for many ages a continual retrocession of the Great
Falls. Around Lake St. Clair, masses of granite, mica slate, and quartz
are found in abundance. The level shores of Lake Huron offer little
geological variety; secondary limestone, filled with the usual reliqui�,
is the general structure of the coast, but detached blocks of granite
and other primitive rocks are occasionally found: this district appears
poor in minerals. The waters of Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior have
evidently, at some remote period, formed one vast sheet, which probably
burst its bounds by a sudden action of nature, and subsided into the
present divisions, all lower than the former general level: the
separating ridges of these waters are but slightly elevated; great
masses of rock and huge bowlders of granite are found rolled at least
100 miles from their original situations, and immense alluvial beds of
fresh-water shells, apparently formed since the deluge, but when the
waters were still of a vast depth and extent, are found in the east of
Lake Huron.

Little or nothing is known of the dreary solitudes beyond Lake Superior;
enormous muddy ponds and marshes are succeeded by open, dry, sandy
plains; then forests of hemlock and spruce arise, again swamp, bog,
windfalls, and stagnant water succeed; in the course of many miles there
may not be one dry spot found for a resting-place. The cold is intense
in this desolate region; in winter spirits freeze into a consistency
like honey; and even in the height of summer the thermometer only shows
thirty-six degrees at sunrise. Part of the north and east shore of this
greatest of the lakes present old formations--sienite, stratified
greenstone, more or less chloritic, and alternating five times with vast
beds of granite--the general direction east, with a north or
perpendicular dip. Great quantities of the older shell limestone are
found strewn in rolled masses on the beach. Amygdaloid occupies also a
very large tract to the north, mingled with porphyries, conglomerates,
and various other substances. From Thunder Mountain westward, trappose
greenstone is the prevailing rock: it gives rise to some strange
pilastered precipices near Fort William. Copper[155] abounds in this
region to an extent, perhaps, unsurpassed any where in the world. At the
Coppermine River, three hundred miles from the Sault de St. Marie, this
metal, in a pure state, nearly covers the face of a serpentine rock, and
is also found within the stone in solid masses. Iron is abundant in many
parts of Upper Canada; at Charlotteville, eight miles from Lake Erie,
the metal produced is of a very fine quality. The Marmora Iron Works,
about thirty-two miles north of the Bay of Quint�, on the River Trent,
are situated on an extensive white rocky flat, apparently the bed of
some dried-up river; the ore is found on the surface, and is very rich,
yielding ninety-two per cent.: the necessary assistants, lime and fuel,
abound close at hand. Various other minerals have also been found there;
among the rest, small specimens of a metal like silver.

There are many strong mineral springs in different parts of Canada; the
most remarkable of these is the Burning Spring above Niagara; its waters
are black, hot and bubbling, and emit, during the summer, a gas that
burns with a pure bright flame; this sulphureted hydrogen is used to
light a neighboring mill. Salt springs are also numerous; gypsum is
obtained in large quantities, with pipe and potter's clay; yellow ocher
sometimes occurs; and there are many kinds of valuable building stones.
It is gathered from the Indians that there are incipient volcanoes in
several parts of these regions, particularly toward the Chippewa hunting
grounds.

The soil of Lower Canada is generally fertile; about Quebec it is light
and sandy in some parts, in others it is a mixture of loam and clay.
Above the Richelieu Rapids, where the great valley of the St. Lawrence
begins to widen, the low lands consist of a light and loose dark earth,
with ten or twelve inches of depth, lying on a stratum of cold clay, all
apparently of alluvial formation. Along the banks of the Ottawa there is
a great extent of rich alluvial soil; each year develops large districts
of fertile land, before unknown. The soils of Upper Canada are various;
brown clay and loam, intermixed with marl, predominates, particularly in
the rich district between the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa: north of
Ontario it is more clayey and extremely fertile. A rich black mold
prevails in the district between Lakes Ontario and Erie. There is in
this upper country an almost total absence of stone or gravel for
building and other common purposes. So great is the fertility of the
soil in Canada, that fifty bushels of wheat an acre are frequently
produced, even where the stumps of trees still occupy a considerable
portion of the ground: near Toronto one hundred bushels of wheat have
been grown upon a single acre, and in some districts the land has
yielded rich crops of that grain for twenty successive years, without
being manured.

The quality of the soil in wild lands may be known by the timber growing
upon it. Hard-wood trees, those that shed their leaves during winter,
show the best indication, such as maple, bass-wood, elm, black walnut,
hickory, butternut, iron-wood, hemlock, and a giant species of nettle.
A mixture of beech is good, but where it stands alone the soil is
generally light. Oak is uncertain as an indication, being found on
various bottoms. Soft or evergreen wood, such as pine, fir, larch, and
others of the species, are considered decisive of a very light soil. The
larch or tamarack on wide, flat plains, indicates sand upon a substratum
of marly clay, which the French Canadians hold in high estimation. It
is, however, right to add, that some very respectable authorities
dispute that the nature of the timber can be fully relied on as a guide
to the value of the land. The variety of trees found in the Canadian
forest is astonishing, and it is supposed that many kinds still remain
unknown. Of all these, none is more beautiful and useful than the maple;
its brilliant foliage, changing with each season of the year, is the
richest ornament of the forest. The timber is valuable for many
purposes, and from the sap might be produced an immense quantity of
excellent sugar. A great deal is at present made, but, like all the
other resources of this magnificent country, it is very partially turned
to the use of man: the sap of the maple is valuable also for
distillation.

There is a considerable variety of climate in Canada, from the
northeast, chilled by the winds of the Atlantic,[156] to the southwest,
five degrees lower, and approaching the center of the continent; the
neighborhood of ranges of bare and rugged mountains,[157] has also a
marked effect upon the temperature of different localities. However, in
all parts the winters are very severe, while the heat of summer is
little inferior to that of the tropics. But, on the whole, the clear
blue sky, unobscured by fog or mist, and the pure elastic air, bespeak
the salubrity of these provinces in all seasons.

In Lower Canada the extreme severity of the winter is, in a measure,
caused by the vicinity of the range of lofty and rugged mountains, as
well as by its more northern position. The fall of snow commences in
November, but seldom remains long on the ground till December; in that
month constantly successive falls of snow rapidly cover the whole
surface of the country. Toward the end of December the heavy clouds
disperse, and the rude storm is followed by a perfect calm; the air
becomes pure and frosty, and the skies of a clear and beautiful azure.
The River St. Lawrence[158] is frozen over every winter from Montreal to
the Richelieu Rapids, but from thence to Quebec only once in about five
years; at other times, however, enormous fields and masses of ice drift
up and down with the changing tides, increasing or diminishing with the
severity or mildness of the weather; where the Island of Orleans divides
the Great River into two branches, the northern channel is narrow and
less acted upon by tides; here these huge frozen masses are forced
together by the winds and waters, and form an enormous bridge from shore
to shore. The greatest degree of cold prevails toward the end of
January, for a few days occasionally so intense that the human frame can
scarcely endure exposure to it for any length of time. When winter has
set in nearly every bird disappears, and few wild animals are any longer
to be seen; some, like the bear, remain torpid, others change their
color to a snowy white, and are rarely observed. Rocks of the softer
kinds are often rent asunder, as if with the explosion of gunpowder, by
the irresistible expansive power of the frost.[159] Dogs become mad
from the severity of the cold, and polished iron or other metal, when
exposed in the air for a little time, _burns_ the hand at the touch as
if it were red hot.[160] During the still nights of intense frost the
woods send forth a creaking sound, like the noise of chopping with
thousands of hatchets. Sometimes a brief thaw occurs in the middle of
winter, when a very extraordinary effect, called by the Canadians _ver
glas_, is occasionally produced upon the bare trees: they are covered
with an incrustation of pure ice from the stem to the extremities of the
smallest branches; the slight frost of the night freezes the moisture
that covered the bark during the day; the branches become at last unable
to bear their icy burden, and when a strong wind arises, the destruction
among trees of all kinds is immense. When the sun shines upon the forest
covered with this brilliant incrustation, the effect is indescribably
beautiful.

The months of March and April are usually very hot, and the power of the
sun's rays is heightened by the reflection of the ice and snows. Toward
the end of April or the beginning of May, the dreary winter covering has
altogether disappeared; birds of various kinds return from their wintery
exile; the ice accumulated in the great lakes and streams that are
tributary to the St. Lawrence breaks up with a tremendous noise, and
rushes down in vast quantities toward the ocean, till again the tides of
the Gulf drive them back. Sometimes the Great River is blocked up from
shore to shore with these frozen masses; the contending currents force
them together with terrible violence, and pile them over each other in
various fantastic forms. The navigation of the river is not fairly
practicable till all these have disappeared, which is generally about
the 10th of May.

When the young summer fairly sets in, nothing can be more charming than
the climate--during the day bright and genial, with the air still pure
and clear; the transition from bare brown fields and woods to verdure
and rich green foliage is so rapid, that its progress is almost
perceptible. Spring has scarcely begun before summer usurps its place,
and the earth, awakened from nature's long, wintery sleep, gives forth
her increase with astonishing bounty. This delightful season is usually
ushered in by moderate rains, and a considerable rise in the meridian
heat; but the nights are still cool and refreshing. In June, July, and
August, the heat becomes great, and for some days intense; the roads and
rocks at noon are so hot as to be painful to the touch, and the direct
rays of the sun possess almost tropical power; but the night brings
reinvigorating coolness, and the breezes of the morning are fresh and
tempered as in our own favored land. September is usually a delightful
month, although at times oppressively sultry. The autumn or fall rivals
the spring in healthy and moderate warmth, and is the most agreeable of
the seasons. The night-frosts destroy the innumerable venomous flies
that have infested the air through the hot season, and, by their action
on the various foliage of the forest, bestow an inconceivable richness
of coloring to the landscape.

During the summer there is a great quantity of electric fluid in the
atmosphere, but storms of thunder and lightning are not of very frequent
occurrence. When they do take place, their violence is sometimes
tremendous, and serious damage often occurs. These outbursts, however,
usually produce a favorable effect upon the weather and temperature.

The most remarkable meteoric phenomenon that has occurred in Canada
since the country became inhabited by civilized man, was first seen in
October, 1785, and again in July, 1814. At noonday a pitchy darkness, of
a dismal and sinister character, completely obscured the light of the
sun, continuing for about ten minutes at a time, and being frequently
repeated during the afternoon. In the interval between each mysterious
eclipse dense masses of black clouds, streaked with yellow, drove
athwart the darkened sky, with fitful gusts of wind; thunder,
lightning, black rain, and showers of ashes added to the terrors of the
scene; and, when the sun appeared, its color was a bright red. The
Indians ascribe this wonderful phenomenon to a vast volcano in the
unknown regions of Labrador. The testimony of M. Gagnon gives
corroboration to this idea. In December, 1791, when at St. Paul's Bay,
in the Saguenay country, he saw the flames of an immense volcano,
mingled with black smoke, rising to a great height in the air. Several
violent shocks, as of an earthquake, accompanied this strange
appearance.

The prevailing winds of Lower Canada are the northeast, northwest, and
southwest, and these exercise considerable influence on the temperature
of the atmosphere and the state of the weather. The southwest wind, the
most prevalent, is generally moderate, accompanied by clear, bright
skies; the northeast and east wind bring rain in summer, and snow in
winter, from the dreary regions of Labrador; and the northwest blast is
keen and dry, from its passage over the vast frozen solitudes that lie
between the Rocky Mountains[161] and Hudson's Bay. Winds from the north,
south, or west are seldom felt: the currents of the neighboring air are
often affected by the direction of the tidal streams, which act as far
as 400 miles from the mouth of the Great River.

The effect of a long continuance of snow upon the earth is favorable to
vegetation; were the surface exposed to the intense severity of wintery
frosts, unprotected by this ample covering, the ground could not regain
a proper degree of heat, even under a Canadian sun, before the autumn
frosts had again chilled the energies of nature. The natural heat of the
earth is about 42�; the surface waters freeze at 32�, and thus present a
non-conducting incrustation to the keen atmosphere; then the snow
becomes a warm garment till the April sun softens the air above; the
latent heat of the earth begins to be developed; the snow melts, and
penetrates the ground through every pore, rendering friable the stiffest
soil. For a month or more before the visible termination of the
Canadian winter, vegetation is in active progress on the surface of the
earth, even under snow several feet thick.

In Upper Canada the climate does not present such extremes of heat and
cold as in the Lower Province. In the Newcastle District, between
latitude 44� and 45�, the winter is little more severe than in England,
and the warmth of summer is tempered by a cool and refreshing southwest
breeze, which blows throughout the day from over the waters of the great
lakes. In spring and autumn the southwest wind brings with it frequent
rains; the northwest wind prevails in winter, and is dry, cold, and
elastic; the south-eastern breezes are generally accompanied by thaw and
rain: from the west, south, or north, the wind rarely blows. The most
sudden changes of weather consequent upon varying winds are observed
from the northwest, when the air becomes pure and cool; thunder storms
generally clear away with this wind: the heaviest falls of snow, and the
most continued rains, come with the eastern breezes.

The great lakes are never frozen in their centers, but a strong border
of thick ice extends for some distance from the shore: in severe
weather, a beautiful evaporation in various fantastic shapes ascends
from the vast surfaces of these inland seas, forming cloudy columns and
pyramids to a great height in the air: this is caused by the water being
of a higher temperature than the atmosphere above. The chain of shallow
lakes from Lake Simco toward the midland district are rarely frozen over
more than an inch in thickness till about Christmas, and are free from
ice again by the end of March. The earth in Upper Canada is seldom froze
more than twelve or eighteen inches deep, and the general covering of
the snow is about a foot and a half in thickness.

In Canada the Indian summer is perhaps the most delightful period of the
year. During most of November the weather is mild and serene; a soft,
dry haze pervades the air, thickening toward the horizon; in the
evenings the sun sets in a rich crimson flush, and the temperature is
mild and genial: the birds avail themselves of the Indian summer for
their migration. A phenomenon called the "tertian intervals" has excited
much interest, and is still unexplained: at the end of the third day
the greatest intensity of frost is always remittent, and succeeded by
several days of mild weather. The climate is so dry that metals rarely
are rusted by exposure to the air. This absence of humidity prevents the
extremes of heat and cold from being so powerful here in their effect
upon the sensations of the human frame as in other countries.

The Aurora Borealis, or northern lights,[162] appear with great
brilliancy in the clear Canadian sky, especially during the winter
nights. Starting from behind the distant horizon, they race up through
the vault of heaven, spreading over all space one moment, shrinking to a
quivering streak the next, shooting out again where least expected, then
vanishing into darkness deeper than before; now they seem like vast
floating banners of variegated flame, then as crescents, again as
majestic columns of light, ever changing in form and color. It is said
that a rustling sound like that of silk accompanies this beautiful
appearance.

The climate of Canada has undergone a slight change since the discovery
of the country; especially from the year 1818, an amelioration has been
perceptible, partly owing to the motion of the magnetic poles, and
partly to the gradual cultivation and clearing of the country. The
winters are somewhat shorter and milder, and less snow falls than of
old; the summers are also hotter.[163] The felling of the forests, the
draining of the morasses, partial though it may still be, together with
the increasing population, have naturally some effect. The thick
foliage, which before interposed its shade between the sun and the
earth, intercepting the genial warmth from the lower atmosphere, has now
been removed in many extensive tracts of country: the cultivated soil
imbibes the heat, and returns it to the surrounding air in warm and
humid vapors. The exhalations arising from a much increased amount of
animal life, together with the burning of so many combustibles, are not
altogether without their influence in softening the severity of the
climate.[164]

Canada abounds in an immense and beautiful variety of trees[165] and
shrubs. Among the timber trees, the oak, pine, fir, elm, ash, birch,
walnut, beech, maple, chestnut, cedar, and aspen, are the principal. Of
fruit-trees and shrubs there are walnut, chestnut, apple, pear, cherry,
plum, elder, vines,[166] hazel, hickory, sumach, juniper, hornbeam,
thorn, laurel, whortleberry, cranberry, gooseberry, raspberry,
blackberry, blueberry, sloe, and others; strawberries of an excellent
flavor are luxuriantly scattered over every part of the country.
Innumerable varieties of useful and beautiful herbs and grasses enrich
the forests, whose virtues and peculiarities are as yet but little known
to Europeans.[167] In many places, pine-trees grow to the height of 120
feet and upward, and are from nine to ten feet in circumference.[170]
Of this and of the fir species there are many varieties, some of them
valuable from their production of pitch, tar, and turpentine. The
American oak[171] is quicker in its growth and less durable than that of
England; one species, however, called the live oak, grown in the warmer
parts of the continent, is said to be equal, if not superior, to any in
Europe for ship-building. The white oak is the best found in the
Canadian settlements, and is in high repute. Another description is
called the scrubby oak--it resembles the British gnarled oak, and is
remarkably hard and durable. The birch[173] tribe is very numerous: the
bark is much used by the Indians in making canoes,[174] baskets, and
roofings; the wood is of a useful quality, and the sap, when extracted
in the spring, produces by fermentation a pleasant but weak wine. The
maple[175] is one of the most variable and beautiful of all the forest
trees, and is adopted as the emblem of Canadian nationality.

Two plants, formerly of great importance in these counties, are now
almost extirpated, or little noticed as articles of commerce--ginseng[176]
and capillaire. The first was found in great abundance by the French in
their earlier settlement of the colony, and large quantities were exported
to Europe, from whence it was forwarded to China. The high value it then
possessed in that distant market induced the Canadians to collect the roots
prematurely; and the Indians also gathered them wherever they could be
found; consequently, this useful production was soon exhausted, and is now
rarely seen. The capillaire[177] is now either become rare or neglected
for other objects; a small quantity is, however, still exported. In the
woods there is a vast variety of wild plants and flowers, many of them very
beautiful. The sweet garlic especially deserves notice: two large
pale-green leaves arise from the root; between them stands the delicate
stem, about a foot in height, bearing a cluster of graceful flowers,
resembling blue-bells in shape and color. The wild turnip is also very
beautiful. There are, besides, many valuable herbs and roots, which the
Indians use for various purposes. The reindeer moss[178] often serves
for support and refreshment to the exhausted hunter; when boiled down
into a liquid, it is very nourishing; and an herb called Indian tea
produces a pleasant and wholesome draught, with a rich aromatic flavor.
Wild oats and rice[179] are found in some of the marshy lands. The soil
and climate are also favorable to the production of hops and a mild
tobacco, much esteemed for the manufacture of snuff. Hemp[180] and flax
are both indigenous in America. Father Hennepin, in the seventeenth
century, found the former growing wild in the country of the Illinois;
and Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in his travels to the western coast, met
with flax in the interior, where no European was ever known to have been
before. The Indian hemp[181] is seen in abundance upon the Canadian
soil, particularly in light and sandy places; the bark is so strong that
the natives use it for bow-strings; the pod bears a substance that
rivals down in softness and elasticity; the culture is easy; the root,
penetrating deep into the earth, survives the frosts of winter, and
shoots out fresh stalks every spring. When five or six years old it
attains the greatest perfection. It may be added that in these favored
provinces all European plants, fruits, vegetables, grain,[182] legumes,
and every other production of the earth required for the subsistence or
luxury of man, yield their increase even more abundantly than in the old
continents.

The animals originally belonging to America appear to be of an inferior
race--neither so robust, fierce, or numerous as those of the other
continents: some are peculiar to the New World; but there is reason to
suppose that several species have become utterly extinct, and the spread
of cultivation, and increase of the human race rapidly extirpate many of
those that still remain. America gives birth to no creature of equal
bulk to the elephant and rhinoceros, or of equal strength and ferocity
to the lion and tiger. The particular qualities in the climate, stinting
the growth and enfeebling the spirit of the native animals, have also
proved injurious to such as have been transported to the Canadas by
their present European inhabitants. The soil, as well as temperature, of
the country seems to be rather unfavorable to the development of
strength and perfection in the animal creation.[183] The general quality
of the natural grasses covering those boundless pastures is not good or
sufficiently nutritious.[184]

The native animals of Canada are the buffalo, bison, and musk bull,
belonging to the ox kind. The buffalo is still found in herds of
immense numbers upon the prairies of the remote western country, where
they have wandered from the hated neighborhood of civilized man: the
skin[185] is invaluable to the Canadians as a protection from the keen
wintery air, and is abundantly supplied to them by the hunters of the
Hudson's Bay Company.[186] This animal is about the size of an ox, with
the head disproportionably large; he is of a lighter color, less
ferocious aspect, and inferior strength to those of the Old World. Both
the bison and musk ox are varieties of the domestic cow, with a covering
of shaggy hair; they possess considerable strength and activity. There
are different descriptions of deer: the black and gray moose or elk, the
caribou or reindeer,[187] the stag[188] and fallow deer.[189] The moose
deer[190] is the largest wild animal of the continent; it is often seen
upward of ten feet high, and weighing twelve hundred weight; though
savage in aspect, the creature is generally timid and inoffensive even
when attacked by the hunter, and, like the sheep, may be easily
domesticated: the flesh and skin are both of some value.

The black and brown bear[191] is found in various parts of America, but
chiefly in the northwest: some few are seen in the forests to the north
of Quebec. This animal chooses for his lurking-place the hollow trunk of
an old tree, which he prepares with sticks and branches, and a coating
of warm moss; on the approach of the cold season he retires to his lair,
and sleeps through the long winter till the return of spring enables him
again to seek his prey. The bear is rather shy than fierce, but very
powerful and dangerous when driven to extremities; he displays a strong
degree of instinct, and is very dexterous and cunning in procuring food:
the flesh is considered a delicacy, and the skin highly prized for
beauty and warmth. Foxes[192] are numerous; they are of various colors
and very cunning. Hares[193] are abundant, and turn white in winter like
those of Norway. The wolverine or carcajou is called by the hunters
beaver-eater, and somewhat resembles a badger; the skin is soft and
handsome. A species of porcupine or urchin is found to the northward,
and supplies the Indians with quills about four inches long, which, when
dyed, are worked into showy ornaments. Squirrels[194] and various other
small quadrupeds with fine furs are abundant in the forests. The animals
of the cat kind are the cougar or American lion, the loup-cervier, the
catamount, and the manguay or lynx.

Beavers[195] are numerous in North America; these amphibious animals are
about two feet nine inches in length, with very short fore feet and
divided toes, while the hinder are membranous, and adapted for swimming;
the body is covered with a soft, glossy, and valuable fur; the tail is
oval, scaly, destitute of hair, and about a foot long. These industrious
creatures dam up considerable streams, and construct dwellings of many
compartments, to protect them from the rigor of the climate, as well as
from their numerous enemies; their winter food, consisting of poplar
logs, pieces of willows, alder, and fragments of other trees, is
collected in autumn, and sunk in the water near the habitation. The
beaver exhibits an extraordinary degree of instinct, and may be easily
tamed; when caught or surprised by the approach of an enemy, it gives
warning to its companions by striking the water with the flat of its
tail. The musk rat and otter resemble the beaver in some of their
habits, but are inferior in ingenuity, and of less value to the hunter.

The walrus has now disappeared from the frequented waters of the Gulf of
St. Lawrence, but is still found on the northern coasts of Labrador; in
shape he somewhat resembles the seal, but is of much greater size,
sometimes weighing 4000 pounds; when protecting their young, or when
wounded, they are dangerous from their immense tusks; when out of the
water, however, they are very helpless.

Nearly all these wild animals are pursued by the Indians, and the
hunters of the Hudson's Bay Company,[196] for their skins; they are
consequently growing rarer, and their haunts become more remote each
succeeding year: probably, at no distant time, they will be altogether
extinct.

The birds of Canada differ little from those of the same names in
Europe, but the severe climate is generally uncongenial to them. There
are eagles, vultures, hawks, falcons, kites, owls, ravens, crows, rooks,
jays, magpies, daws, cuckoos, woodpeckers, hoopers, creepers,
humming-birds, thrushes, blackbirds, linnets, finches, sparrows,
fly-catchers, pigeons, turkeys, ducks, geese, swans, grouse, ptarmigans,
snipes, quails, and many others. The plumage of the American birds is
very brilliant; but the sweet voices that fill the European woods with
melody are never heard. Many of the birds of Lower Canada are migratory;
the water-fowl seek the cooler north during the heat of summer, and
other species fly to the south to shun the wintery frosts. In the milder
latitudes of Upper Canada, birds are more numerous. They are known by
the same names as those of corresponding species in England, but differ
from them to some extent in plumage and character.

In Lower Canada the reptiles are few and innocuous, and even these are
not met with in the cultivated parts of the country. In the Upper
Province, however, they are more numerous; some species are very
dangerous, others harmless and exquisitely beautiful. Two kinds of
rattlesnakes[197] are found here: one of a deep brown and yellow color,
and seldom more than thirty inches in length; it frequents marshes and
low meadows, and is very dangerous to cattle, often fastening its fangs
upon their lips while grazing. The other is a bright greenish yellow
clouded with brown, and twice the size of the former. These reptiles are
thicker in proportion to their length than any others; the rattle is at
the end of the tail, and consists of a number of dry, horny shells
inclosed within each other. When wounded or enraged, the skin of the
rattlesnake assumes a variety of beautiful colors; the flesh is white as
that of the most delicate fish, and is esteemed a great luxury by the
Indians. Cold weather weakens or destroys their poisonous qualities. In
the spring, when they issue from their place of winter concealment, they
are harmless till they have got to water, and at that time emit a
sickening smell so as to injure those who hunt them. In some of the
remoter districts they are still numerous, but in the long-settled parts
of the country they are now rarely or never seen.

Several varieties of lizards and frogs abound; the latter make an
astonishing noise in marshy places during the summer evening by their
harsh croaking. The land crab is found on the northern shore of Lake
Erie. A small tortoise, called a terrapin,[198] is taken in some rivers,
creeks, and swampy grounds, and is used as an article of food. Seals
have been occasionally seen on the islands in Lake Ontario.

Insects[199] are very numerous and various, some of them both
troublesome and mischievous: locusts or grasshoppers have been known to
cause great destruction to the vegetable world. Musquitoes and
sand-flies infest the woods, and the neighborhood of water, in
incredible numbers, during the hot weather. There are many moths and
butterflies resembling those seen in England. The beautiful fire-fly is
very common in Canada, their phosphorescent light shining with wonderful
brightness through the shady forests in the summer nights.

The lakes and rivers of Upper Canada abound in splendid fish of almost
every variety known in England, and others peculiar to the country:
sturgeon of 100 lbs. weight are frequently taken, and a giant species of
pike, called the maskenongi, of more than 60 lbs. The trout of the upper
lakes almost rivals the sturgeon in size, but not in flavor. The
delicious white-fish, somewhat resembling a shad, is very plentiful, as
is also the black bass, which is highly prized. A fresh-water herring
abounds in great shoals, but is inferior in delicacy to the
corresponding species of the salt seas. Salmon are numerous in Lake
Ontario, but above the Falls of Niagara they are never seen.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 151: "The neighborhood of Quebec, as well as Canada in
general, is much characterized by bowlders, and the size and position of
some of them is very striking. There are two crowning the height which
overlooks the domain farm at Beauport, whose collective weight is little
short, by computation, of forty tons. The Heights of Abraham also are,
or rather were, crowded with them; and it should never be forgotten that
it was upon one of these hoary symbols, the deb�cles of the deluge, as
they are supposed to be, that the immortal and mortal parts of two
heroes separated from each other. It has often occurred to us, that one
of the most suitable monuments to the memory of Wolfe and Montcalm might
have been erected with these masses, in the form of a pyramid or pile of
shot, instead of burying them, as in many instances has been done, in
order to clear the ground."--_Picture of Quebec_, p. 456.]

[Footnote 152: Gray says, in 1809, that "no coal has ever yet been found
in Canada, probably because it has never been thought worth searching
after. It is supposed that coal exists in the neighborhood of Quebec; at
any rate, there can be no doubt that it exists in great abundance in the
island of Cape Breton, which may one day become the Newcastle of
Canada."--P. 287.

"No idea can be formed of the importance of the American coal seams
until we reflect on the prodigious area over which they are continuous.
The elliptical area occupied by the Pittsburg seam is 225 miles in its
largest diameter, while its maximum breadth is about 100 miles, its
superficial extent being about 14,000 square miles.

"The Apalachian coal-field extends for a distance of 720 miles from
northeast to southwest, its greatest width being about 180 miles.

"The Illinois coal-field is not much inferior in dimensions to the whole
of England."--Lyell's _America_, vol. ii., p. 31.

"It was the first time I had seen the true coal in America, and I was
much struck with its surprising analogy in mineral and fossil characters
to that of Europe; ... the whole series resting on a coarse grit and
conglomerate, containing quartz pebbles, very like our millstone grit,
and often called by the Americans, as well as the English miners, the
'Farewell Rock,' because, when they have reached it in their borings,
they take leave of all valuable fuel."--_Ibid._, vol. i., p. 61.]

[Footnote 153: See Appendix, No. XXI. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 154: Professor Kalm visited the iron-works of St. Maurice in
1748, eleven or twelve years after their first establishment. "The
iron-work, which is the only one in the country, lies three miles to the
west of Trois Rivi�res. Here are two great forges, besides two lesser
ones to each of the great ones, and under the same roof with them. The
bellows were made of wood, and every thing else as in the Swedish
forges. The ore is got two and a half miles from the iron-works, and is
carried thither on sledges. It is a kind of moor-ore (Tophus Tubalcaini:
_Linn. Syst. Nat._, lib. iii., p. 187, note 5), which lies in veins
within six inches or a foot from the surface of the ground. Each vein is
from six to eighteen inches deep, and below it is a white sand. The
veins are surrounded with this sand on both sides, and covered at the
top with a thin mold. The ore is pretty rich, and lies in loose lumps in
the veins of the size of two fists, though there are a few which are
near eighteen inches thick. These lumps are full of holes which are
filled with ocher. The ore is so soft that it may be crushed between the
fingers. They make use of a gray limestone, which is broke in the
neighborhood, for promoting the fusibility of the ore; to that purpose
they likewise employ a clay marl, which is found near this place.
Charcoals are to be had in great abundance here, because the country
round this place is covered with wood which has never been stirred. The
charcoals from evergreen trees, that is, from the fir kind, are best for
the forge, but those of deciduous trees are best for the smelting-oven.
The iron which is here made was to me described as soft, pliable, and
tough, and is said to have the quality of not being attacked by rust so
easily as other iron. This iron-work was first founded in 1737 by
private persons, who afterward ceded it to the king; they cast cannon
and mortars here of different sizes, iron stoves, which are in use all
over Canada, kettles, &c. They have likewise tried to make steel here,
but can not bring it to any great perfection, because they are
unacquainted with the best method of preparing it. Here are many
officers and overseers, who have very good houses built on purpose for
them. It is agreed on all hands that the resources of the iron-work do
not pay the expenses which the king must every year be at in maintaining
it. They lay the fault on the bad state of population, and say that the
few inhabitants in the country have enough to do with agriculture, and
that it therefore costs great trouble and large sums to get a sufficient
number of workmen. But, however plausible this may appear, yet it is
surprising that the king should be a loser in carrying on this work, for
the ore is easily broken, being near the iron-work, and very fusible.
The iron is good; and this is, moreover, the only iron-work in the
country, from which every body must supply himself with tools, and what
other iron he wants. But the officers and servants belonging to the
iron-work appear to be in very affluent circumstances. A river runs down
from the iron-work into the River St. Lawrence, by which all the iron
can be sent in boats throughout the country at a low rate."--Kalin in
Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p. 631.

"M. Dantic, after a number of experiments to class the different kinds
of iron, discovered that the iron of Styria was the best, and that the
iron of North America, of Danemara in Sweden, of Spain, Bayonne,
Roussillon, Foix, Berri, Thierache in Sweden, the communes of France,
and Siberia, was the next class."--Abb� Raynal, vol. iii., p. 268.

Weld and Heriot mention that the bank of iron ore at the forges of St.
Maurice was nearly exhausted in their time; new veins, however, have
been since discovered.

Charlevoix says, in 1720: "Il est certain que ces mines de fer, que
l'oeil per�ant de M. Colbert et la vigilance de M. Talon avoit fait
d�couvrir, apr�s avoir presq� enti�rement disparu pendant plus de
soixante dix ans, viennent d'�tre retrouv�es par les soins de ceux qui
occupent aujourd'hui leur place."--Charlevoix, tom. ii., p. 166.]

[Footnote 155: Henry and others speak of a rock of pure copper, from
which the former out off 100 lbs. weight. W. Schoolcraft examined the
remainder of the mass in 1820, and found it of irregular shape; in its
greatest length three feet eight inches, greatest breadth three feet
four inches, making about eleven cubic feet, and containing, of metallic
matter, about 2200 lbs.; but there were many marks of chisels and axes
upon it, as if a great deal had been carried off. The surface of the
block, unlike most metals which have suffered a long exposure to the
atmosphere, presents a metallic brilliancy.--Martin's _History of
Canada_, p. 175.

Weld mentions having seen in the possession of a gentleman at Niagara a
lump of copper, of several ounces weight, apparently as pure as if it
had passed through the fire, which had been struck off with a chisel
from a piece equally pure, growing on one of the islands in Lake
Superior. Rich veins of copper are visible in almost all the rocks on
these islands near the shore; and copper ore, resembling copperas, is
likewise found in deep beds near the water.--Weld, p. 346.

In Charlevoix's time (1720), "on trouvoit sur les bords du Lac Sup�rieur
et autour de certains isles, de grosses pi�ces de cuivre qui sont
l'objet de cette superstition des sauvages; ils les regardent avec
v�n�ration comme un pr�sent des Dieux qui habitent sous les eaux; ils en
ramassent les plus petits fragmens et les conservent avec soin, mais ils
n'en font aucune usage. J'ai connu un de nos fr�res lequel �toit orf�vre
de son m�tier, et qui, pendant qu'il �toit dans la mission du Sault
Sainte Marie, en �toit all� chercher l�, et en avoit fait des
chandeliers, des croix, et des encensoirs, car ce cuivre est souvent
presque tout pur."--Tom. v., p. 415.

Kalm says that the copper found is so pure that it does not require
melting over again, but is fit for working immediately.--Kalm in
Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p. 691 (1748).

"Before saying good-by to Lake Superior, let me add, that since the date
of my visit, the barren rocks which we passed have become an object of
intense interest, promising to rival, in point of mineral wealth, the
Altai chain and the Uralian Mountains. Iron had long been known to
abound on the northern shore, two mines having been at one time worked
and abandoned, chiefly on account of temporary obstacles, which the
gradual advance of agriculture and civilization was sure to remove; and,
more recently, the southern shore, though of a much less favorable
character in that respect, was found to possess rich veins of copper and
silver. Under these circumstances, various enterprising persons in
Canada have prosecuted investigations which appear to have
satisfactorily proved that, in addition to their iron, the forbidding
wastes of the northern shore contain inexhaustible treasures, both of
the precious and of the useful metals, of gold and of silver, of copper
and tin, and already have associations been formed to reap the teeming
harvest."--Sir G. Simpson's _Journey round the World_, vol. i., p. 35
(1841).

The following extract is from a Quebec newspaper, bearing date 25th
June, 1848:

"THE COPPER REGION: SINGULAR DISCOVERY.--A correspondent of the Buffalo
Express, writing under date June 14, from Ontonagon, Lake Superior,
says:

"'Mr. Knapp, of the Vulcan Mining Company, has lately made some very
singular discoveries here in working one of the veins which he lately
found. He worked into an old cave which has been excavated centuries
ago. This led them to look for other works of the same sort, and they
have found a number of sinks in the earth which they have traced a long
distance. By digging into those sinks they find them to have been made
by the hand of man. It appears that the ancient miners went on a
different principle from what they do at the present time. The greatest
depth yet found in these holes is thirty feet: after getting down to a
certain depth, they drifted along the vein, making an open cut. These
cuts have been filled nearly to a level by the accumulation of soil; and
we find trees of the largest growth standing in this gutter, and also
find that trees of a very large growth have grown up and died, and
decayed many years since; in the same places there are now standing
trees of over three hundred years' growth. Last week they dug down into
a new place, and about twelve feet below the surface found a mass of
copper that will weigh from eight to ten tons. This mass was buried in
ashes, and it appears they could not handle it, and had no means of
cutting it, and probably built fire to melt or separate the rock from
it, which might be done by heating, and then dashing on cold water. This
piece of copper is as pure and clean as a new cent; the upper surface
has been pounded clear and smooth. It appears that this mass of copper
was taken from the bottom of a shaft, at the depth of about thirty feet.
In sinking this shaft from where the mass now lies, they followed the
course of the vein, which pitches considerably: this enabled them to
raise it as far as the hole came up with a slant. At the bottom of a
shaft they found skids of black oak, from eight to twelve inches in
diameter: these sticks were charred through, as if burned: they found
large wooden wedges in the same situation. In this shaft they found a
miner's gad and a narrow chisel made of copper. I do not know whether
these copper tools are tempered or not, but their make displays good
workmanship. They have taken out more than a ton of cobble-stones, which
have been used as mallets. These stones were nearly round, with a score
cut around the tenter, and look as if this score was cut for the purpose
of putting a withe round for a handle. The Chippewa Indians all say that
this work was never done by Indians. This discovery will lead to a new
method of finding veins in this country, and may be of great benefit to
some. I suppose they will keep finding new wonders for some time yet, as
it is but a short time since they first found the old mine. There is
copper here in abundance, and I think people will begin to dig it in a
few years. Mr. Knapp has found considerable silver during the past
winter.'"]

[Footnote 156: Acosta is the first philosopher who endeavored to account
for the different degrees of heat in the Old and New Continents by the
agency of the winds which blow in each, (_Hist. Moral._, lib. ii. and
iii.) M. de Buffon adopted the same theory, and illustrated it with many
new observations. "The prevailing winds, both in Upper and Lower Canada,
are the northeast, northwest, and southwest, which all have a
considerable influence on the temperature of the atmosphere and the
state of the weather. The southwest wind is the most prevalent, but it
is generally moderate, and accompanied by clear skies; and the northeast
and easterly winds usually bring with them continued rain in summer, and
snow in winter; the northwest is remarkable for its dryness and
elasticity, and, from its gathering an intense degree of frigor as it
sweeps over the frozen plains and ice-bound hills in that quarter of the
continent, invariably brings with it a perceptible degree of cold. Winds
from due north, south, or west are not frequent. At Quebec, the
direction of the wind often changes with the tide, which is felt for
nearly sixty miles higher up the stream of the St. Lawrence."--Bonchette,
vol. i., p. 343.

"The northwest wind is uncommonly dry, and brings with it fresh
animation and vigor to every living thing. Although this wind is so very
piercing in winter, yet the people never complain so much of cold as
when the northeast wind blows. The northeast wind is also cold, but it
renders the air raw and damp. That from the southeast is damp, but warm.
Rain or snow usually falls when the wind comes from any point toward the
east. The northwest wind, from coming over such an immense tract of
land, must necessarily be dry; and, coming from regions eternally
covered with mounds of snow and ice, it must also be cold. The northeast
wind, from traversing the frozen seas, must be cold likewise; but, from
passing over such a large portion of the watery main afterward, it
brings damp and moisture with it. All those from the northeast are damp,
and loaded with vapors from the same cause. Southerly winds, from
crossing the warm regions between the tropics, are attended with heats;
and the southwest wind, from passing, like the northwest, over a great
extent of land, is dry at the same time."--Weld's _Travels in America_,
4th ed., p. 184.

Kalm says, p. 748, that he was assured that "the northeast wind, when it
is very violent in winter, pierces through walls of a moderate
thickness, so that the whole wall on the inside of the house is covered
with snow, or a thick hoar frost. The wind damages severely the houses
that are built of stone, so that the owners are frequently obliged to
repair them on the northeast side. In summer the north wind is generally
attended with rain."--Kalm in Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p. 651.]

[Footnote 157: "Many of these mountains are very high. During my stay in
Canada, I asked many people who have traveled much in North America
whether they ever met with mountains so high that the snow never melts
on them in summer, to which they always answered in the negative. They
say that the snow sometimes stays on the highest, viz., on some of those
between Canada and the English colonies during a part of the summer, but
that it melts as soon as the great heat begins."--Kalm, p. 671.]

[Footnote 158: "It is worthy of remark, and not a little surprising,
that so large a river as the St. Lawrence, in latitude 47�, should be
shut up with ice as soon, and continue as long shut up, as the
comparatively small river, the Neva, in latitude 60�."--Gray's _Canada_,
p. 320.]

[Footnote 159: "The following curious experiments were made some years
ago at Quebec, by Major Williams, of the Artillery. Iron shells of
different sizes, from the thirteen-inch shell to the cohorn of four
inches diameter, were nearly filled with water, and an iron plug was
driven in at the fuse-hole by a sledge-hammer. It was found, however,
that the plug could never be driven so firmly into the fuse-hole as to
resist the expanding ice, which pushed it out with great force and
velocity, and a bolt or cylinder of ice immediately shot up from the
hole; but when a plug was used that had springs which would expand and
lay hold of the inside of the cavity, so that it could not possibly be
pushed out, the force of expansion split the shell. The amazing force of
expansion is also shown from the distance to which these iron plugs are
thrown out of the fuse-hole. A plug of two pounds and a half weight was
thrown no less than 415 feet from the shell; the fuse axis was at an
angle of 45�; the thermometer showed 51� below the freezing point. Here
you see ice and gunpowder performing the same operations. That similar
effects should proceed from such dissimilar causes is very
extraordinary."--Gray's _Canada_, p. 309.]

[Footnote 160: See Appendix, No. XXII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 161: "These mountains were known to the French missionaries by
the name of Montagnes des Pierres Brillantes."--Chateaubriand.]

[Footnote 162: See Appendix, No. XXIII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 163: See Appendix, No. XXIV. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 164: See Appendix, No. XXV. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 165: "In Europe, in Asia, in Africa, and even in South
America, the primeval trees, however much their magnitude may arrest
admiration, do not grow in the promiscuous style that prevails in the
general character of the North American woods. Many varieties of the
pine, intermingled with birch, maple, beech, oak, and numerous other
tribes, branch luxuriantly over the banks of lakes and rivers, extend in
stately grandeur along the plains, and stretch proudly up to the very
summits of the mountains. It is impossible to exaggerate the autumnal
beauty of these forests; nothing under heaven can be compared to its
effulgent grandeur. Two or three frosty nights in the decline of autumn
transform the boundless verdure of a whole empire into every possible
tint of brilliant scarlet, rich violet, every shade of blue and brown,
vivid crimson, and glittering yellow. The stern, inexorable fir tribes
alone maintain their eternal somber green. All others, in mountains or
in villages, burst into the most glorious vegetable beauty, and exhibit
the most splendid and most enchanting panorama on earth."--M'Gregor, p.
79, 80.

Mr. Weld says, "The varied hues of the trees at this season of the year
(autumn) can hardly be imagined by those who never have had an
opportunity of observing them; and, indeed, as others have often
remarked before, were a painter to attempt to color a picture from them,
it would be condemned in Europe as totally different from any thing that
ever existed in nature."--Weld, p. 510.

"I can only compare the brightness of the faded leaves, scarlet, purple,
and yellow, to that of tulips."--Lyell's _America_, vol. i., p. 107.]

[Footnote 166: See Appendix, No. XXVI. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 167: "One of the most striking features in the vegetation of
Canada is the number of species belonging to the _genera_ Solidago,
Aster, Quercus, and Pinus. It is also distinguished for the many plants
contained in the Orders, or natural families--Grossulace�, Onograce�,
Hypericace�, Acerace�, Betulace�, Juglandace�, and Vacciniace�; and for
the presence of the peculiar families--Podophyll�, Sarraceniace�, and
Hydrophyllace�. There is, on the contrary, the climate being considered,
a remarkable paucity of Crucifer� and Umbellifer�, and, what is most
extraordinary, a total absence of the genus Erica (heath),[168] which
covers so many thousands of acres in corresponding latitudes in Europe.
Mrs. Butler mentions, in her Journal, 'that some poor Scotch peasants,
about to emigrate to Canada, took away with them some roots of the
"bonny blooming heather," in hopes of making this beloved adorner of
their native mountains the cheerer of their exile. The heather, however,
refused to grow in the Canadian soil. The person who told me this said
that the circumstance had been related to him by Sir Walter Scott, whose
sympathy with the disappointment of these poor children of the romantic
heather-land betrayed itself even in tears.'

"Canada is not rich in roses; only three species occur throughout the
two provinces. Among the Ribes and the Ericace�, however, are found many
of the most beautiful ornaments of the English garden: Andromedas,
Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and Kalmias belong to the latter order. The
Azalea was thus described by one of the earlier European botanical
travelers. Professor Kalm[169] (in 1748): 'the Mayflowers, as the Swedes
call them, were plentiful in the woods wherever I went to-day,
especially on a dry soil, or one that is somewhat moist. The Swedes have
given them this name because they are in full blossom in May. Some of
the Swedes and the Dutch call them "Pinxter Bloem" (Whitsunday flowers),
as they are in blossom about Whitsuntide. The English call them wild
honeysuckles, and at a distance they really have a resemblance to the
honeysuckle or lonicera. Dr. Linn�us and other botanists call it an
Azalea (Azalea Nudiflora, _Linn. Spec. Plant._, p. 214.) Its flowers
were now open, and added a new ornament to the woods, being little
inferior to the flowers of the honey-suckle and hedysarum. They sit in a
circle round the stem's extremity, and have either a dark red or lively
red color; but by standing some time, the sun bleaches them, and at last
they get a whitish hue. The height of the bush is not always alike. Some
were as tall as a full-grown man, and taller; others were but low, and
some were not above a palm from the ground; yet they were all full of
flowers. They have some smell, but I can not say it is very pleasant.
However, the beauty of the color entitles them to a place in every
flower garden.'"--_Travels in North America_, by Professor Kalm, in
Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p. 557.]

[Footnote 168: Seven hours' journey above the sources of the Bow River,
Sir George Simpson mentions meeting with "an unexpected reminiscence of
my own native hills, in the shape of a plant which appeared to me to be
the very heather of the mountains of Scotland; and I might well regard
the reminiscence as unexpected, inasmuch as in all my wanderings, of
more than twenty years, I had never found any thing of the kind in North
America. As I took a considerable degree of interest in the question of
the supposed identity, I carried away two specimens, which, however,
proved, on a minute comparison, to differ from the genuine staple of the
brown heaths of the 'Land o' Cakes.'"--Vol. i., p. 120.

"We missed, also, the small 'crimson-tipped daisy' on the green lawns,
and were told that they have been often cultivated with care, but are
found to wither when exposed to the dry air and bright sun of this
climate. When weeds so common with us can not be reared here, we cease
to wonder at the dissimilarity of the native Flora of the New World.
Yet, wherever the aboriginal forests are cleared, we see orchards,
gardens, and arable lands filled with the same fruit-trees, the same
grain and vegetables, as in Europe, so bountifully has Nature provided
that the plants most useful to man should be capable, like himself, of
becoming cosmopolites."--Lyell's _Travels in North America_, vol. i., p.
5.]

[Footnote 169: The Kalmias were so named by Linn�us in honor of
Professor Kalm, a favorite pupil of the great botanist.]

[Footnote 170: See Appendix, No. XXVII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 171: The oak from the dense forests of Canada, into which the
sun's rays never penetrate, is more porous, more abundant in sap, and
more prone to the dry rot than the oak grown in any other country.
Canadian timber has increased in value since the causes of its former
rapid decay have been more fully understood. Mr. Nathaniel Gould asserts
that the wane of the moon is now universally considered the best season
for felling timber, both in the United States and in Canada. The
Americans contract for their ship timber to be felled or girdled between
the 20th of October and the 12th of February. Dry rot being probably
caused by the natural moisture or sap being left in the wood, the less
there is in the tree when cut, the longer it will keep sound. As regards
the Canadian oak, it is stated by Mr. M'Taggart (the engineer, who so
ably distinguished himself while in the colony), that it is not so
durable as that of the British, the fiber not being so compact and
strong; it grows in extensive groves near the banks of large lakes and
rivers, sometimes found growing to 50 feet in length by 2 feet 6 inches;
its specific gravity is greater than water, and therefore, when floated
down in rafts, it is rendered buoyant with cross bars of pine. It is
easily squared with the hatchet, and answers well for ship-building and
heavy work; will endure the seasons for about fifteen years,[172] and
does not decay in England so soon as in Canada.--Montgomery Martin's
_Canada_, p. 257; Gray's _Canada_, p. 207.]

[Footnote 172: Kalm says, in 1748, "They were now building several ships
below Quebec for the king's account. However, before my departure, an
order arrived from France prohibiting the further building of ships of
war, because they had found that the ships built of American oak do not
last so long as those of European oak. Near Quebec is found very little
oak, and what grows there is not fit for use, being very small;
therefore they are obliged to fetch their oak timber from those parts of
Canada which border upon New England. But all the North American oaks
have the quality of lasting longer, and withstanding putrefaction
better, the further north they grow."--Kalm, p. 663.]

[Footnote 173: The most useful American plants in the small order
Betulace� are the birches, of which Canada contains six species. The
most celebrated is Betula Papyracea, the canoe birch, so called from the
use made of the bark in the construction of the Indian boats. It extends
from the shore of the Hudson in New York to a considerable range of
country northward of Canada. The bark is obtained with facility in large
pieces, and is sewed together with the tough and slender roots of the
pine-tree. La Hontan relates a characteristic story respecting the birch
bark: "I remember I have seen, in a certain library in France, a
manuscript of the Gospel of St. Matthew, written in Greek upon this sort
of bark; and which is yet more surprising, I was there told that it had
been written above a thousand years; and, at the same time, I dare swear
that it was the genuine birch bark of New France, which, in all
appearance, was not then discovered."--La Hontan, in Pinkerton, vol.
xiii., p. 361.

Mr. Weld says that "the bark resembles in some degree that of the
cork-tree, but it is of a closer grain, and also much more pliable, for
it admits of being rolled up the same as a piece of cloth. The Indians
of this part of the country always carry large rolls of it in their
canoes when they go on a hunting party, for the purpose of making
temporary huts. The bark is spread on small poles over their heads, and
fastened with strips of elm bark, which is remarkably tough, to stakes,
so as to form walls on the sides."--Weld, p. 311.]

[Footnote 174: See Appendix, No. XXVIII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 175: See Appendix, No. XXIX. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 176: The ginseng belongs to the small order Araliace�. The
botanical name is Panax quinquefolium: it was called Aureliana
Canadensis by Lafitau, who was the first to bring it from Canada to
France.--(Charlevoix, tom. iv., p. 309, fig. 13.) It was discovered in
the forests of Canada in 1718. It is herbaceous, scarcely a foot and a
half in height, and toward the upper part of the stem arise three
quinate-digitate leaves, from the center of which springs the flower
stalk. The root is fusiform and fleshy, and is the part most valued. We
are informed that among the Chinese many volumes have been written upon
its virtues; and that, besides the name already mentioned, it is known
by several others, expressive of the high estimation in which it is
universally held throughout the Celestial Empire: two of these
appellations are, 'the pure spirit of the earth,' and 'the plant that
gives immortality.' An ounce of ginseng bears the surprising price of
seven or eight ounces of silver at Pekin. When the French botanists in
Canada first saw a figure of it, they remembered to have seen a similar
plant in this country. They were confirmed in their conjecture by
considering that several settlements in Canada lie under the same
latitude with those parts of Chinese Tartary and China where the true
ginseng grows wild. They succeeded in their attempt, and found the same
ginseng wild and abundant in several parts of North America, both in
French and English plantations, in plain parts of the woods. It is fond
of shade, and of a deep, rich mold, and of land which is neither wet nor
high. It is not every where very common, for sometimes one may search
the woods for the space of several miles without finding a single plant
of it; but in those spots where it grows it is always found in great
abundance. It flowers in May and June, and its berries are ripe at the
end of August. The trade which is carried on with it here is very brisk,
for they gather great quantities of it, and send them to France, from
whence they are brought to China, and sold there to great advantage. The
Indians in the neighborhood of Montreal were so taken up with the
business of collecting ginseng, that the French farmers were not able
during that time to hire a single Indian, as they commonly do, to help
them in the harvest. The ginseng formerly grew in abundance round
Montreal, but at present there is not a single plant of it to be found,
so effectually have they been rooted out. This obliged the Indians this
summer to go far within the English boundaries to collect these roots.
After the Indians have sold the fresh roots to the merchants, the latter
must take a great deal of pains with them. They are spread on the floor
to dry, which commonly requires two months and upward, according as the
season is wet or dry. During that time they must be turned once or twice
every day, lest they should putrefy or molder. The roots prepared by the
Chinese are almost transparent, and look like horn in the inside; and
the roots which are fit for use are heavy and compact in the inside. No
one has ever discovered the Chinese method of preparing it. It is
thought, among other preparations, they dip the roots in a decoction of
the leaves of ginseng. Kalm wrote thus of the ginseng in 1749 (Kalm, in
Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p. 639). Mr. Heriot mentions that "one article of
commerce the Canadians had, by their own imprudence, rendered altogether
unprofitable. From the time that Canada ginseng had been imported to
Canton, and its quality pronounced equal to that of Corea or Tartary, a
pound of this plant, which before sold in Quebec for twenty pence,
became, when its value was once ascertained, worth one pound and
tenpence sterling. The export of this article amounted in 1752 to
�20,000 sterling. But the Canadians, eager suddenly to enrich
themselves, reaped this plant in May when it should not have been
gathered until September, and dried it in ovens when its moisture should
have been gradually evaporated in the shade. This fatal mistake, arising
from cupidity, and in some measure from ignorance, ruined the sale of
their ginseng among the only people on earth who are partial to its use,
and at an early period cut off from the colony a new branch of trade,
which, under proper regulations, might have been essentially
productive."--Heriot's _Travels through the Canadas_, p. 99, 1807.

"Mountainous woods in Tartary are mentioned as the place where the
ginseng is produced in the greatest abundance. In 1709, the emperor
ordered an army of ten thousand men to collect all the ginseng they
could find, and each person was to give him two ounces of the best,
while for the remainder payment was to be made in silver, weight for
weight. It was in the same year that Father Jartoux, a Jesuit missionary
in China, prepared a figure and accurate description of the plant, in
which he bears testimony to the beneficial effects of the root. He tried
it in many instances himself, and always with the same result,
especially when exhausted with fatigue. His pulse was increased, his
appetite improved, and his whole frame invigorated. Judging from the
accounts before us, we should say that the Chinese were extravagant in
their ideas of the virtues of this herb; but that it is undoubtedly a
cordial stimulant, to be compared, perhaps, in some degree, with the
aromatic root of Meum athamanticum, so much esteemed by the Scottish
Highlanders. It has nevertheless disappeared from our Materia
Medica."--Murray's _Canada_, vol. iii., p. 308. Charlevoix, tom. vi., p.
24.

"Ginseng a v�ritablement la vertu de soutenir, de fortifier, et de
rappeller les forces �puis�es."--Lafitau, tom. ii., p. 142.]

[Footnote 177: In La Hontan's time (1683), he speaks of "maiden-hair"
being as common in the forests of Canada as fern in those of France, and
is esteemed beyond that of other countries, insomuch that the
inhabitants of Quebec prepare great quantities of its syrup, which they
send to Paris, Nantes, Rouen, and several other cities of France.
Charlevoix gives a figure of the maiden-hair (tom. iv., p. 301), under
the name of Adiantum Americanum.--"Cette plante a la racine fort petite,
et envelopp�e de fibres noires, fort d�li�es; sa tige est d'un pourpre
fonc�, et s'�l�ve en quelques endroits � trois ou quatre pieds de haut;
il en sort des branches, qui se courbent en tous sens. Les feuilles sont
plus larges que celles de notre Capillaire de France, d'un beau verd
d'un c�t�, et de l'autre, sem�es de petits points obscurs; nulle part
ailleurs cette plante n'est si haute ni si vive, qu'en Canada. Elle n'a
aucune odeur tandis qu'elle est sur pied, mais quand elle a �t�
renferm�e, elle r�pand une odeur de violette, qui embaume. Sa qualit�
est aussi beaucoup au-dessus de tous les autres capillaires."

The Herba capillaris is the Adiantum pedatum of Linn�us (Sp. Pl., p.
1557). Cornutus, in his _Canadens. Plant. Historia_, p. 7, calls it
Adiantum Americanum, and gives a figure of it, p. 6. Kalm says that "it
grows in all the British colonies of America, and likewise in the
southern parts of Canada, but I never found it near Quebec. It grows in
the woods in shady places, and in a good soil. Several people in Albany
and Canada assured me that its leaves were very much used instead of tea
in consumptions, coughs, and all kinds of pectoral diseases. This they
have learned from the Indians, who have made use of it for these
purposes from time immemorial. This American maiden-hair is reckoned
preferable in surgery to that which we have in Europe, and therefore
they send a great quantity of it to France every year. Commonly the
price at Quebec is between five and fifteen sols a pound. The Indians
went into the woods about this time (August), and traveled far above
Montreal in quest of this plant."--Kalm, in Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p.
641.]

[Footnote 178: "This moss is called by the Canadian voyageurs, _Tripe de
Roche_; it belongs to the order Gyrophara. They who have perused the
affecting narrative of the sufferings of Captain Franklin and his
gallant party, on their return from their first journey to the Arctic
Sea, will remember that it was on _Tripe de Roche_ that they depended,
under God, for their very existence. 'We looked,' says Captain Franklin,
'with humble confidence to the Great Author and giver of all good, for a
continuance of the support which had been hitherto always supplied to us
at our greatest need,' and he was not disappointed."--Murray's _Canada_,
vol. iii., p. 330. "Parmi les sauvages errans, et qui ne cultivent point
du tout la terre, lorsque la chasse et la p�che leur manquent, leur
unique ressource est une esp�ce de mousse, qui cro�t sur certains
rochers, et que nos Fran�ais ont nomm�e Tripe de Roche; rien n'est plus
insipide que ce mets, lequel n'a pas m�me beaucoup de substance, c'est
bien l� �tre r�duit au pur n�cessaire pour ne pas mourir de
faim."--Charlevoix, tom. vi., p. 24.]

[Footnote 179: See Appendix, No. XXX. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 180: See Appendix, No. XXXI. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 181: "The Swedes gave the name of Indian hemp to Apocynum
cannabinum, because the Indians apply it to the same purposes as the
Europeans do hemp; for the stalk may be divided into filaments, and is
easily prepared. This plant grows in abundance in old corn grounds, in
woods, on hills, and on high glades. The Indians make ropes of this
Apocynum, which the Swedes buy, and employ them as bridles, and for
nets. These ropes are stronger, and kept longer in water than such as
were made of common hemp. The Swedes commonly got fourteen yards of
these ropes for one piece of bread. On my journey through the country of
the Iroquois, I saw the women employed in manufacturing this hemp. The
plant is perennial, which renders the annual planting of it altogether
unnecessary. Out of the root and stalk of this plant, when it is fresh,
comes a white, milky juice, which is somewhat poisonous. Sometimes the
fishing tackle of the Indian consists entirely of this hemp."--Kalm, in
Pinkerton, vol xiii., p. 544.]

[Footnote 182: See Appendix, No. XXXII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 183: Buffon, Hist. Nat., tom. ix., p. 13, 203; Acosta, Hist.,
lib. iv., cap. xxxiv.; Pisonis Hist., p. 6; Herrera, Dec. IV., lib. iv.,
cap. i.; lib. x., cap. xiii.]

[Footnote 184: Canada has not the fine natural pastures of Ireland,
England, Holland, and other countries enjoying a cool, moist, and
equable climate. Artificial grasses, now a most valuable branch of
British husbandry, are peculiarly important in Canada, where so large a
quantity of hay should be stored for winter use. They are also most
useful in preparing the soil for grain crops, but have the disadvantage
of requiring to stand the severe winter, so trying to all except annual
plants. Clover, which is supposed to yield three times the produce of
natural grass, grows luxuriantly; but in the second year its roots are
often found to have been destroyed by frost. For this reason, it is
necessary to have recourse to the species named Timothy, which is
extremely hardy, and will set at defiance even a Canadian
winter.--Talbot, vol. i., p. 301, Gould, p. 67.]

[Footnote 185: "In the western parts of Lower Canada, and throughout
Upper Canada, where it is customary for travelers to carry their own
bedding with them, these skins are very generally made use of for the
purpose of sleeping upon. For upward of two months we scarcely ever had
any other bed than one of the skins spread on the floor and a blanket to
each person. The skins are dressed by the Indians with the hair on, and
they are rendered by a peculiar process as pliable as cloth. When the
buffalo is killed in the beginning of the winter, at which time he is
fenced against the cold, the hair resembles very much that of a black
bear; it is then long, straight, and of a blackish color; but when the
animal is killed in the summer, the hair is short and curly, and of a
light brown color, owing to its being scorched by the rays of the
sun."--Weld, p. 313.]

[Footnote 186: Charlevoix says, "que la peau, quoique tr�s forte,
devient souple et mo�lleuse comme le meilleur chamois. Les sauvages en
font des boucliers, qui sont tr�s l�gers, et que les bals de fusil ne
per�ent pas ais�ment."--Tom. v., p. 193.]

[Footnote 187: The height of the domesticated reindeer is about three
feet; of the wild ones, four. It lives to the age of sixteen years. The
reindeer is a native of the northern regions only. In America it does
not extend further south than Canada. The Indians often kill numbers for
the sake of their tongue only; at other times they separate the flesh
from the bones, and preserve it by drying it in the smoke. The fat they
sell to the English, who use it for frying instead of butter. The skins,
also, are an article of extensive commerce with the English.--Rees's
_Cyclop�dia_, art. Cervus Tarandus.

Charlevoix says that the Canadian _caribou_ differs in nothing from the
_Renne_ of Buffon except in the color of its skin, which is brown or
reddish.--Tom. v., p. 191. La Hontan calls the _caribou_ a species of
wild ass; and Charlevoix says that its form resembles that of the ass,
but that it at least equals the stag in agility.]

[Footnote 188: Pennant is persuaded that the stag is not a native of
America, and considers the deer known in that country by the name of
stag as a distinct species. The American stag is the Cervus Canadensis
of Erxleben. The Americans hunt and shoot those animals not so much for
the sake of the flesh as of the fat, which serves as tallow in making
candles, and the skins, which they dispose of to the Hudson's Bay
Company. They are caught principally in the inland parts, near the
vicinity of the lakes.--Rees's _Cyclop�dia_, art. Cervus Elaphus.

Charlevoix says that "le Cerf en Canada est absolument le m�me qu'en
France, peut �tre commun�ment un peu plus grand."--Tom. v., p. 189.]

[Footnote 189: The fallow deer in America have been introduced there
from Europe; for the animal called the American fallow is of a very
different kind, and is peculiar to the New Continent. This, the _Cervus_
Virginianus, inhabits all the provinces south of Canada.--Rees's
_Cyclop�dia_, art. Cervus Virginianus.]

[Footnote 190: See Appendix, No. XXXIII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 191: See Appendix, No. XXXIV. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 192: See Appendix, No. XXXV. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 193: See Appendix, No. XXXVI. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 194: See Appendix, No. XXXVII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 195: See Appendix, No. XXXVIII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 196: See Appendix, No. XXXIX. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 197: See Appendix, No. XL. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 198: "While we were roaming along the shore of Lake Ontario we
caught a species of tortoise (testudo picta), which was a gayly-colored
shell, and I carried it a day's journey in the carriage, and then turned
it out, to see whether, as I was told, it would know its way back to
Lake Ontario. I am bound to admit that its instinct on this occasion did
not fail, for it made directly for a ravine, in the bottom of which was
a stream that would lead it in time to the Genesee River, and this would
carry it to its native lake if it escaped destruction at the Falls below
Rochester, where the celebrated diver, Sam Patch, perished, after he had
succeeded in throwing himself with impunity down several other great
waterfalls. There is a fresh-water tortoise in Europe (Terrapena
Europea) found in Hungary, Prussia, and Silesia, as far north as
latitude 50� to 52�. It also occurs near Bordeaux, and in the north of
Italy, 44� and 45� north latitude, which precisely corresponds with the
latitude of Lake Ontario."--Lyell's _Travels in North America_, vol. i.,
p. 25.]

[Footnote 199: "To the Malacodermous division belongs the remarkable
genus Lampyris, which contains the insects commonly called glow-worms.
The substance from which the luminous property results has been the
subject of frequent experiment and observation. It is obviously under
the control of the animal, which, when approached, may frequently be
observed to diminish or put out its light. The only species with which
we are acquainted in British America is Lampyris corusca. It occurs in
Canada, and has been taken at least as far north as latitude 54�. It was
originally described by Simmons as a native of Finland and Russia, on
the authority of Uddman, but has not since been found there."--Murray,
vol. iii., p. 277.

"We saw numerous yellow butterflies, very like a British species.
Sometimes forty of them clustering on a small spot resembled a plot of
primroses, and as they rose altogether, and flew off slowly on every
side, it was like the play of a beautiful fountain."--Lyell's _America_,
vol. i., p. 25.]




CHAPTER VI.


Perhaps the saddest chapter in the history of the sons of Adam is
furnished by the Red Man of America. His origin is unknown; no records
tell the tale of his ancient deeds. A foundling in the human family,
discovered by his stronger brethren wandering wild through the forests
and over the prairies of the western desert, no fraternal welcome
greeted this lost child of nature; no soothing voice of affection fell
upon his ear; no gentle kindness wooed him from his savage isolation.
The hand of irresistible power was stretched out, not to raise him from
his low estate and lead him into the brotherhood of civilized man, but
to thrust him away with cruel and unjust disdain.

Little more than three centuries and a half have elapsed since the
Indian first gazed with terror and admiration upon the white strangers,
and already three fourths of his inheritance are rent away, and three
fourths of his race have vanished from the earth; while the sad remnant,
few and feeble, faint and weary, "are fast traveling to the shades of
their fathers, toward the setting sun."[200] Year by year they wither
away; to them the close breath of civilized man is more destructive than
the deadliest blight.[202] The arts and appliances which the accumulated
ingenuity of ages has provided to aid the labor and enhance the
enjoyments of others, have been but a curse to these children of the
wilderness. That blessed light which shines to the miserable of this
world through the vista of the "shadowy valley," cheering the fainting
spirit with the earnest of a glorious future, sheds but a few dim and
distorted rays upon the outskirts of the Red Man's forest land.

All the relations of Europeans to the Indian have been alike fatal to
him, whether of peace or war; as tyrants or suppliants; as conquerors
armed with unknown weapons of destruction; as the insidious purchasers
of his hunting-grounds, betraying him into an accursed thirst for the
deadly fire-water; as the greedy gold-seekers, crushing his feeble frame
under the hated labors of the mine; as shipwrecked and hungry wanderers,
while receiving his simple alms, marking the fertility and
defenselessness of his lands; as sick men enjoying his hospitality,
and, at the same time, imparting that terrible disease[203] which has
swept off whole nations; as woodmen in his forest, and intrusive tillers
of his ground, scaring away to the far West those animals of the chase
given by the Great Spirit for his food: there is to him a terrible
monotony of result. In the delicious islands of the Caribbean Sea, and
in the stern and magnificent regions of the northeast, scarcely now
remains a mound, or stone, or trace even of tradition, to point out the
place where any among the departed millions sleep.

The discovery of the American Indians brought to light not only a new
race, but also a totally new condition of men. The rudest form of human
society known in the Old World was far advanced beyond that of the
mysterious children of the West, in arts, knowledge, and government.
Even among the simplest European and Asiatic nations the principle of
individual possession was established; the beasts of the field were
domesticated to supply the food and aid the labors of man, and large
bodies of people were united under the sway of hereditary chiefs. But
the Red Man roamed over the vast forests and prairies of his
undiscovered continent, accompanied by few of his fellows, unassisted by
beasts of burden,[204] and trusting alone to his skill and fortune in
the chase for a support. The first European visitors to the New World
were filled with such astonishment at the appearance and complexion of
the Red Man, that they hastily concluded he belonged to a different
species from themselves. As the native nations became better known,
their warriors, statesmen, and orators commanded the admiration of the
strangers. Especially in the northern people, every savage virtue was
conspicuous; they were gentle in peace, but terrible in war; of a proud
and noble bearing, honest, faithful, and hospitable, loving order though
without laws, and animated by the strongest and most devoted loyalty to
their tribe. At the same time, while willingly recording their high and
admirable qualities, pity for the devoted race must not blind us to
their ferocious and degrading vices.

It was not until the end of the seventeenth century that the manners and
characteristics of this strange race attracted to any considerable
degree the attention of philosophers and theorists; a chasm in human
history then seemed about to be filled. Eager to throw light upon the
subject, but too impatient to inquire into the facts necessary for the
formation of opinions, the conclusions formed were often unjust to the
native dignity of the Red Indian,[205] and have been proved erroneous by
subsequent and more perfect information. On the other hand, one of the
most gifted but dangerous of modern philosophers would exalt these
untutored children of nature to a higher degree of honor and excellence
than civilization and knowledge can confer. He deemed that the elevation
and independence of mind, resulting from the rude simplicity of savage
life, is sought in vain among the members of refined and organized
societies.[206]

Every thing tended to render inquiry into the state of the rude tribes
of America difficult and obscure. In the generality of cases they
presented characteristics of a native simplicity, elsewhere unknown; and
even in the more favored districts, where a degree of civilization
appeared, it had assumed a form and direction totally different from
that of the Old World.[207]

The origin of this mysterious people has been the subject of an immense
variety of speculations, and has involved the question, whether all men
are the sons of Adam, or whether the distinctions of the human race were
owing to the several sources from whence its members sprung? The skeptic
supposition that each portion of the globe gave its own original type of
man to the human family at once solves the difficulty of American
population; but as both Christianity and philosophy alike forbid
acceptance of this view,[208] it becomes necessary to consider the
relative probabilities in favor of the other different theories which
enthusiasm, ingenuity, and research have contributed to lay before the
world.

Without referring to the most sacred and ancient of authorities, we may
find existing natural evidence abundantly sufficient to establish the
belief of the common descent of our race. There are not in the human
form differences such as distinguish separate species of the brute
creation. All races of men are nearly of like stature and size, varying
only by the accidents of climate and food favorable or adverse to their
full development. The number, shape, and uses of limbs and extremities
are alike, and internal construction is invariably the same. These are
circumstances the least acted upon by situation and temperature, and
therefore the surest tests of a particular species. Color is the most
obvious and the principal indication of difference in the human
families, and is evidently influenced to a great extent by the action of
the sun,[209] as the swarthy cheek of the harvest laborer will witness.
Under the equator we find the jet black of the negro; then the
olive-colored Moors of the southern shores of the Mediterranean; again,
the bronzed face of the Spaniard and Italian; next, the Frenchman,
darker than those who dwell under the temperate skies of England; and,
last, the bleached and pallid visages of the north. Along the arctic
circle, indeed, a dusky tint again appears: that, however, may be fairly
attributed to the scorching power of the sun, constantly over the
horizon, through the brief and fiery summer. The natives remain
generally in the open air during this time, fishing, or in the chase;
and the effect of exposure stamps them with a complexion which even the
long-continued snows can not remove. In the rigorous winter season, the
people of those dreary countries pass most of their time in wretched
huts or subterranean dwellings, where they heap up large fires to warm
their shivering limbs. The smoke has no proper vent in these
ill-constructed abodes; it fills the confined air, and tends to darken
the complexions of those constantly exposed to its influence.

The difference of color in the human race is doubtless influenced by
many causes, modifying the effect of position with regard to the
tropics. The great elevation of a particular district, its proximity to
the sea, the shades of a vast forest, the exhalations from extensive
marshes, all tend to diminish materially the power of a southern
sun.[210] On the other hand, intensity of heat is aggravated by the
neighborhood of arid and sandy deserts, or rocky tracts. The action of
long-continued heat creates a more permanent effect than the mere
darkening of the outer skin: it alters the character of those subtile
juices that display their color through the almost transparent
covering.[211] We see that, from a constitutional peculiarity in
individuals, the painful variety of the albino is sometimes produced in
the hottest countries. Certain internal diseases, and different
medicines, change the beautiful bloom of the young and healthy into
repulsive and unnatural tints. A peculiar secretion of the carbon
abounding in the human frame produces the jet black of the negro's skin,
and enables him to bear without inconvenience the terrible sultriness of
his native land.[212] The dark races, inferior in animal and
intellectual powers to the white man, are yet nearly free from the
deformities he so often exhibits, perhaps on account of a less
susceptible and delicate structure. The Caucasian or European races,
born and matured under a temperate climate, manifestly enjoy the highest
gifts of man. Wherever they come in contact with their colored brother,
he ultimately yields to the irresistible superiority, and becomes,
according to the caprice of their haughty will, the victim, the
dependent, or the slave.[213]

There are other characteristics different from, but generally combined
with color, which are influenced by constitutional varieties. The hair
usually harmonizes with the complexion, and, like it, shows the
influence of climate. In cold countries, the natural covering of every
animal becomes rich and soft; the plentiful locks and manly beard of the
European show a marked contrast to the coarse and scanty hair of the
inhabitants of tropical countries. The development of mental power and
refined habits of life have also a strong but slow effect upon the
outward form.[214] Certain African nations of a higher intelligence and
civilization than their rude neighbors, show much less of the
peculiarities of the negro features. The refined Hindoo displays a
delicate form and expression under his dark complexion. The black color
and the negro features are accidentally not necessarily connected, and
it seems to require both climate and inferiority of intellect to unite
them in the same race.

When circumstances of climate or situation have effected peculiar
appearances in a nation or tribe, the results will long survive the
causes when people are removed to widely-different latitudes: a dark
color is not easily effaced, even under the influence of moderate
temperature and heightened civilization. For these reasons, there appear
many cases where the complexion of the inhabitants and the climate of
the country do not correspond, but the original characteristics will be
found undergoing the process of gradual change, ultimately adapting
themselves to their new country and situation.[215] The marked and
peculiar countenances of the once "chosen people" vary, in color at
least, wherever they are seen over the world, although uninfluenced by
any admixture of alien blood. In England the children of Israel and the
descendant of the Saxon are alike of a fair complexion, and on the banks
of the Nile the Jew and the Egyptian show the same swarthy hue.[216]

At first sight this American race would appear to offer evidence against
the supposed influence of climate upon color, as one general form and
complexion prevail in all latitudes of the New World, from the tropics
to the frozen regions of the north. Great varieties, however, exist in
the shade of the red or copper[217] color of the Indians. There are two
extremes of complexion among mankind--those of the northern European and
the African negro; between these there is a series of shades, that of
the American Indian being about midway. The structure of the New World,
and the circumstances of its inhabitants, may account for the generally
equal color of their skin. The western Indian never becomes black, even
when dwelling directly under the equator. He lives among stupendous
mountain ranges, where cool breezes from the snowy heights sweep
through the valleys and over the plains below. The vast rivers springing
from under those lofty peaks inundate a great extent of country, and
turn it into swamps, whence perpetual exhalations arise and lower the
temperature. There are no fiery deserts to heat the passing wind and
reflect the rays of the sun; a continual forest, with luxuriant foliage,
and a dense underwood, spreads a pleasant shade over the surface of the
earth. America, under the same latitudes, especially on the eastern
coast, is every where colder than the Old World. The nearest approach to
a black complexion is seen in the people of Brazil, a country
comparatively low, and immediately under the equator. The inhabitants of
the lofty Mexican table-land are also very dark, and on those arid
plains the sun pours down its scorching rays upon a surface almost
devoid of sheltering vegetation.

The habits of savage life, and the constant exposure to the elements,
seem sufficient to cause a dark tint upon the human skin even in the
temperate regions of America, where the cold is far greater than in the
same latitude in Europe. The inhabitants of those immense countries are
badly clothed, imperfectly defended against the weather, miserably
housed; wandering in war or in the chase, exposed for weeks at a time to
the mercy of the elements, they soon darken into the indelible red or
copper color of their race. On the northwest coasts, about latitude 50�,
in Nootka Sound, and a number of other smaller bays, dwell a people more
numerous and better provided with food and shelter than their eastern
neighbors. They are free from a great part of the toils and hardships of
the hunter, and from the vicissitudes of the season. When cleansed from
their filthy and fantastic painting, it appears that their complexion
and features resemble those of the European.[218]

Modern discoveries have to a great extent dispelled the mystery of the
Indian origin, and proved the fallacy of the numerous and ingenious
theories formerly advanced with so much pertinacity and zeal. Since the
northwest coasts of America and the northeast of Asia have been
explored, little difficulty remains on this subject. The two continents
approach so nearly in that direction that they are almost within sight
of each other, and small boats can safely pass the narrow strait. Ten
degrees further south, the Aleutian and Fox Islands[219] form a
continuous chain between Kamtschatka and the peninsula of Alaska, in
such a manner as to leave the passage across a matter of no difficulty.
The rude and hardy Tschutchi, inhabiting the northeast of Asia,
frequently sail from one continent to the other.[220] From the remotest
antiquity, this ignorant people possessed the wonderful secret of the
existence of a world hidden from the wisest and most adventurous of
civilized nations. They were unconscious of the value of their vast
discovery; they passed over a stormy strait from one frozen shore to
another, as stern and desolate as that they had left behind, and knew
not that they had crossed one of the great boundaries of earth. When
they first entered upon the wilderness of America, probably the most
adventurous pushed down toward the genial regions of the south, and so
through the long ages of the past the stream of population flowed slowly
on, wave by wave, to the remotest limits of the east and south. The
Indians resemble the people of northeastern Asia in form and feature
more than any other of the human race. Their population is most dense
along the districts nearest to Asia; and among the Mexicans, whose
records of the past deserve credence, there is a constant tradition that
their Aztec and Toultec chiefs came from the northwest. Every where but
to the north, America is surrounded with a vast ocean unbroken by any
chain of islands that could connect it with the Old World. Most
probably no living man ever crossed this immense barrier before the time
of Columbus. It is certain that in no part of America have any authentic
traces been found of European civilization; the civilization of America,
such as it was, arose, as it flourished, in the fertile plains of
Mexico[221] and in the delightful valleys of Peru;[222] there, where the
bounty of nature supplied an abundance of the necessaries of life, the
population rapidly multiplied, and the arts became objects of
cultivation.

There is something almost mysterious in the total difference between
the languages of the Old and New World.[223] All the tongues of
civilized nations spring from a few original roots, somewhat analogous
to each other; but it would seem that, among wandering tribes, dispersed
over a vast extent of country, carrying on but little intercourse, and
having no written record or traditionary recital to preserve any fixed
standard, language undergoes a complete change in the course of ages.
The great varieties of tongues in America, and their dissimilarity to
each other, tend to confirm this supposition.

In various parts of America, remains are found which place beyond a
doubt the ancient existence of a people more numerous, powerful, and
civilized than the present race of Indians; but the indications of this
departed people are not such as to bespeak their having been of very
remote antiquity: the ruined cities of Central America, concealed by the
forest growth of centuries, and the huge mounds of earth[224] in the
Valley of the Mississippi and upon the table-lands of Mexico, their
dwellings and mausoleums, although long swept over by the storm of
savage conquest, afford no proofs of their having existed very far back
into those dark ages when the New World was unknown to Europe. The
history of these past races of men will probably forever remain a sealed
book, but there is no doubt that a great population once covered those
rich countries which the first English visitors found the wild
hunting-grounds for a few savage tribes.[225] Probably the existing race
of Red Men were the conquerors and exterminators of the feeble but
civilized aboriginal nations, and as soon as they possessed the land
they split into separate and hostile communities, waging perpetual war
with each other so as constantly to diminish their numbers.

Far up the Mississippi and the Missouri the exploration of the country
brings to light incontestable proofs of the existence of the mysterious
aboriginal race: wells artificially walled, and various other structures
for convenience or defense, are frequently seen; ornaments of silver,
copper, and even brass are found, together with various articles of
pottery and sculptured stone; sepulchers filled with vast numbers of
human bones have often been discovered, and human bodies in a state of
preservation are sometimes exhumed. On one of these the hair was yellow
or sandy, and it is well known that an unvarying characteristic of the
present red race is the lank black hair. A splendid robe of a kind of
linen, made apparently from nettle fibers, and interwoven with the
beautiful feathers of the wild turkey, encircled this long-buried mummy.
The number and the magnitude of the mounds bear evidence that the
concurrent labors of a vast assembly of men were employed in their
construction.[226]

In the progress of early discovery and settlement, striking views were
presented of savage life among the Red Men inhabiting the Atlantic
coast; but later researches along the banks of the Mississippi and its
tributaries, and by the great Canadian lakes, exhibited this people
under a still more remarkable aspect. The most prominent among the
natives of the interior for power, policy, and courage, were the
Iroquois or Five Nations.[227] Their territory extended westward from
Lake Champlain, to the farthest extremity of Ontario, along the southern
banks of the St. Lawrence, and of the Great Lake. Although formed by the
alliance of five independent tribes, they always presented a united
front to their foes, whether in defense or aggression. Their enemies,
the Algonquins, held an extensive domain on the northern bank of the St.
Lawrence; these last were at one time the masters of all that portion of
America, and were the most polished and mildest in manners of the
northern tribes. They depended altogether for subsistence on the produce
of the chase, and disdained those among their neighbors who attempted
the cultivation of the soil. The Hurons[228] were a numerous nation,
generally allied with the Algonquins, inhabiting the immense and
fertile territory extending westward to the Great Lake, from which they
take their name: they occupied themselves with a rude husbandry, which
the fertile soil of the west repaid, by affording them an abundant
subsistence; but they were more effeminate and luxurious than their
neighbors, and inferior in savage virtue and independence. The
above-named nations were those principally connected with the events of
Canadian history.

Man is less affected by climate in his bodily development than any other
animal; his frame is at the same time so hardy and flexible, that he
thrives and increases in every variety of temperature and situation,
from the tropic to the pole; nevertheless, in extremes such as these,
his complexion, size, and vigor usually undergo considerable
modifications.[229] Among the Red Men of America, however, there is a
remarkable similarity of countenance, form, manners, and habits, in
every part of the continent. No other race can show people speaking
different languages, inhabiting widely different climates, and
subsisting on different food, who are so wonderfully alike.[231] There
are, indeed, varieties of stature, strength, intellect, and self-respect
to be found among them; but the savage of the frozen north, and the
Indian of the tropics, have the same stamp of person, and the same
instincts.[232] There is a language of signs common to all, conveying
similar ideas, and providing a means of mutual intelligence to every Red
Man from north to south.

The North American Indians are generally of a fair height and
proportion. Deformities or personal defects[233] are rare among them;
and they are never seen to fall into corpulency. Their features,
naturally pleasing and regular, are often distorted by absurd attempts
to improve their beauty, or render their appearance more terrible. They
have high cheek bones, sharp and rather aquiline noses, and good teeth.
Their skin is generally described as red or copper-colored, approaching
to the tint of cinnamon bark, a complexion peculiar to the inhabitants
of the New World. The hair of the Americans, like that of their
Mongolian ancestors, is coarse, black, thin, but strong, and growing to
a great length. Many tribes of both these races remove it from every
part of the head except the crown, where a small tuft is left, and
cherished with care. It is a universal habit among the tribes of the New
World to eradicate every symptom of beard: hence the early travelers
were led to conclude that the smoothness of their faces resulted from a
natural deficiency. One reason for the adoption of this strange custom
was to enable them to paint themselves with greater ease. Among old men,
who have become indifferent to their appearance, the beard is again seen
to a small extent.[234]

On the continent, especially toward the north, the natives were of
robust and vigorous constitution. Their sole employment was the chase of
the numerous wild animals of the forest and prairies: from their
continual activity, their frame acquired firmness and strength;[235] but
in the islands, where game was rare, and the earth supplied
spontaneously an abundant subsistence, the Indians were comparatively
feeble, being neither inured to the exertions of the chase nor the
labors of cultivation. Generally, the Americans were more remarkable for
agility than strength, and are said to have been more like beasts of
prey than animals formed for labor. Toil was hateful, and even
destructive to them; they broke down and perished under tasks that would
not have wearied a European. Experience proves that the physical
strength of civilized man exceeds that of the savage.[236] Hand to hand
in war, in wrestling, leaping, and even in running for a short distance,
this superiority usually appears. In a long journey, however, the
endurance of the Indian has no parallel among Europeans. A Red Man has
been known to travel nearly eighty miles between sunrise and sunset,
without apparent fatigue. He performs a long journey, bearing a heavy
burden, and indulging in no refreshment or repose; an enemy can not
escape his persevering pursuit, even when mounted on a strong horse.

It has been already observed that the Americans are rarely or never
deformed, or defective in their senses, while in their wild state, but
in those districts where the restraints of law are felt, an
extraordinary number of blind, deaf, dwarfs, and cripples, are observed.
The terrible custom among the savage tribes of destroying those
children who do not promise a vigorous growth, accounts for this
apparent anomaly. Infancy is so long and helpless that it weighs as a
heavy burden upon a wandering people; food is scanty and uncertain of
supply, hunters and their families must range over extensive countries,
and often remove from place to place. Judging that children of feeble or
defective formation are not likely to survive the hardships of this
errant life, they destroy all such unpromising offspring,[237] or desert
them to a slower and more dreadful fate. The lot of all is so hard that
few born with any great constitutional defect could long survive, and
arrive at maturity.

In the simplicity of savage life, where labor does not oppress, nor
luxury enervate the human frame, and where harassing cares are unknown,
we are led to expect that disease and suffering should be comparatively
rare, and that the functions of nature should not reach the close of
their gradual decay till an extreme old age. The decrepit and shriveled
forms of many American Indians would seem to indicate that they had long
passed the ordinary time of life. But it is difficult or impossible to
ascertain their exact age, as the art of counting is generally unknown
among them, and they are strangely forgetful and indifferent to the
past. Their longevity, however, varies considerably, according to
differences of climate and habits of life. These children of nature are
naturally free from many of the diseases afflicting civilized nations;
they have not even names in their language to distinguish such ills, the
offspring of a luxury to them unknown. The diseases of the savage,
however, though few, are violent and fatal; the severe hardships of his
mode of life produce maladies of a dangerous description. From
improvidence they are often reduced for a considerable time to a state
bordering on starvation. When successful in the chase, or in the seasons
when earth supplies her bounty, they indulge in enormous excesses. These
extremes of want and abundance prove equally pernicious, for, although
habit and necessity enable them at the time to tolerate such sudden
transitions, the constitution is ultimately injured: disorders arising
from these causes strike down numbers in the prime and vigor of youth,
and are so common that they appear the necessary consequences of their
mode of life. The Indian is likewise peculiarly subject to consumption,
pleurisy, asthma, and paralysis, engendered by the fatigues and
hardships of the chase and war, and constant exposure to extremes of
heat and cold. Experience supports the conclusion that the average life
is greater among people in an advanced condition of society than among
those in a state of nature; among savages, all are affected by
circumstances of over-exertion, privation, and excess, but in civilized
societies the diseases of luxury only affect the few.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 200: "Driven by the European populations toward the northwest
of North America,[201] the savage tribes are returning, by a singular
destiny, to expire on the same shore where they landed, in unknown ages,
to take possession of America. In the Iroquois language, the Indians
gave themselves the appellation of _Men of Always_ (Ongoueonoue); these
_men of always_ have passed away, and the stranger will soon have left
to the lawful heirs of a whole world nothing but the mold of their
graves."--Chateaubriand's _Travels in America_ (Eng. trans.), vol. ii.,
p. 93.]

[Footnote 201: De Tocqueville calculated that along the borders of the
United States, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico, extending a
distance of more than 1200 miles, as the bird flies, the whites advance
every year at a mean rate of seventeen miles; and he truly observes that
there is a grandeur and solemnity in this gradual and continuous march
of the European race toward the Rocky Mountains. He compares it to "a
deluge of men rising, unabatedly, and daily driven onward by the hand of
God."--_Democracy in America_, vol. ii., cap. x., �4; Lyell, vol. ii.,
p. 77.]

[Footnote 202: See Appendix, No. XLI. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 203: See Appendix, No. XLII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 204: "Generally speaking, the American races of mankind were
characterized by a want of domestic animals, and this had considerable
influence on their domestic life." (_Cosmos_, note, vol. ii., p. 481.)
Contrasting the Bedouin with the Red Indian, Volney observes, "the
American savage is, on the contrary, a hunter and a butcher, who has had
daily occasion to kill and slay, and in every animal has beheld nothing
but a fugitive prey, which he must be quick to seize. He has thus
acquired a roaming, wasteful, and ferocious disposition; has become an
animal of the same kind with the wolf and tiger; has united in bands or
troops, but not into organized societies."]

[Footnote 205: On ne prit pas d'abord les Am�ricains pour des hommes,
mais pour des orang-otangs, pour des grands singes, qu'on pouvoit
d�truire sans remords et sans reproche. Un pape fit une Bulle originale
dans laquelle il d�clara qu' ayant envie de fonder des Ev�ch�s dans les
plus riches contr�es de l'Am�rique, il plaisoit � lui et au Saint Esprit
de reconnoitre les Am�ricains pour des hommes v�ritables; de sorte que,
sans cette d�cision d'une Italien, les habitans du Nouveau Monde
seroient encore maintenant, aux yeux des fid�les, une race d'animaux
�quivoques.... Qui auroit cru que malgr� cette sentence de Rome, on eut
agit� violemment au conseil de Lima, 1583, si les Am�ricains avoient
assez d'esprit pour �tre admis aux sacrements de l'Eglise. Plusieurs
�v�ques persist�rent � les leur refuser pendant que les J�suites
faisoient communier tous les jours leurs Indiens esclaves au Paraquai,
afin de les acco�tumer, disoient-ils, � la discipline, et pour les
d�tourner de l'horrible coutume de se nourrir de chair humain.--_R�cherches
Philosophiques sur les Am�ricains_, De Pauw, tom. i., p. 35.]

[Footnote 206: Rousseau, opposed by Buffon, Volney, &c.]

[Footnote 207: "Notwithstanding the striking analogies existing between the
nations of the New Continent and the Tartar tribes who have adopted the
religion of Bouddah, I think I discover in the mythology of the Americans,
in the style of their paintings, in their languages, and especially in
their external conformation, the descendants of a race of men, which, early
separated from the rest of mankind, has followed for a lengthened series of
years a peculiar road in the unfolding of its intellectual faculties, and
in its tendency toward civilization."--Humboldt's _Ancient Inhabitants of
America_, vol. i., p. 200.

"It can not be doubted that the greater part of the nations of America
belong to a race of men who, isolated ever since the infancy of the
world from the rest of mankind, exhibit in the nature and diversity of
language, in their features, and the conformation of their skull,
incontestable proofs of an early and complete civilization."--_Ibid._,
vol. i., p. 250.

On the American races in general, Humboldt refers to the beautiful work
of Samuel George Morton, _Crani� American�_, 1839, p. 62-86; and an
account of the skulls brought by Pentland from the Highlands of
Titicaca, in the '_Dublin Journal of Medical and Chemical Science_,'
vol. v., p. 475, 1834; also, Alcide d'Orbigny, _L'Homme Am�ricain
consid�r� sous ses Rapports Physiol. et Mor._, p. 221, 1839; and,
further, the work, so full of delicate ethnographical observations, of
Prinz Maximilian of Wied, _Reise in das Innere von Nordamerika_, 1839.]

[Footnote 208: "With regard to their origin, I have no doubt,
independent of theological considerations, but that it is the same with
ours. The resemblance of the North American savages to the Oriental
Tartars renders it probable that they originally sprang from the same
stock."--Buffon, Eng. trans., vol. iii., p. 193.]

[Footnote 209: "The Ethiopians," sings the old tragedian, Theodectes of
Phaselis, "are dyed by the near sun-god in his course with a dark and
sooty luster; the sun's heat crisps and dries up their hair." The
expeditions of Alexander, which were so influential in exciting ideas of
the physical cosmography, first fanned the dispute on the uncertain
influence of climate upon races of men. Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. i., p.
386. Volney, p. 506, and Oldmixon, vol. i., p. 286, assert that the
savages are born white, and in their infancy continue so. An intelligent
Indian said to Volney, "Why should there be any difference of color
between us and them? (some Spaniards who had been bronzed in America).
In them, as in us, it is the work of _the father of colors_, the sun,
that burns us. You whites yourselves compare the skin of your faces with
that of your bodies." This brought to my remembrance that, on my return
from Turkey, when I quitted the turban, half my forehead above the
eyebrows was almost like bronze, while the other half next the hair was
as white as paper. If, as natural philosophy demonstrates, there be no
color but what originates from light, it is evident that the different
complexions of people are owing entirely to the various modifications of
this fluid with other elements that act on our skin, and even compose
its substance. Sooner or later it will be proved that the blackness of
the African has no other source.--P. 408.

"Vespuce d�crit les indig�nes du Nouveau Continent dans sa premi�re
lettre comme des hommes � face large et � physionomie _tartare_, dont la
couleur rouge�tre n'�toit due qu'� l'habitude de ne pas �tre v�tus. Il
revient � cette m�me opinion en examinant les Br�siliens." (Canovai, p.
87, 90.) "Leur teint, dit il, est rouge�tre, ce qui vient de leur nudit�
absolue et de l'ardeur du soleil auquel ils sont constamment expos�s.
Cette erreur a �t� partag�e par un des voyageurs modernes les plus
spirituels, mais des plus syst�matiques, par Volney." (_Essai Politique
sur la Mexique._) Humboldt's _G�og. du Nouv. Continent_, vol. v., p.
25.]

[Footnote 210: On the influence of humidity much stress has been laid by
M. D'Orbigny and Sir R. Schomburgh, each of whom has made the remark as
the result of personal and independent observation on the inhabitants of
the New World, that people who live under the damp shade of dense and
lofty forests are comparatively fair.]

[Footnote 211: See Appendix, No. XLI. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 212: Mr. Jarrold asserts that the negro becomes the most
perfect specimen of the human species, in consequence of his possessing
the coarsest and most impassive integument.--_Anthropologia._]

[Footnote 213: See Appendix, No. XLII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 214: "It is intellectual culture which contributes most to
diversify the features. Barbarous nations have rather a physiognomy of
tribe or horde than one peculiar to such or such an individual. The
savage and civilized man are like those animals of the same species,
several of which rove in the forest, while others connected with us
share in the benefits and evils that accompany civilization. The
varieties of form and color are frequent only in domestic animals. How
great is the difference with respect to mobility of feature and variety
of physiognomy between dogs again become savage in the New World, and
those whose slightest caprices are indulged in the houses of the
opulent. Both in men and animals the emotions of the soul are reflected
in the features; and the features acquire the habit of mobility in
proportion as the emotions of the mind are more frequent, more varied,
and more durable. In every condition of man, it is not the energy or the
transient burst of the passions which give expression to the features;
it is rather that sensibility of the soul which brings us continually
into contact with the external world, multiplies our sufferings and our
pleasures, and reacts at once on the physiognomy, the manners, and the
language. If the variety and mobility of the features embellish the
domain of animated nature, we must admit also that both increase by
civilization without being produced by it alone. In the great family of
nations, no other race unites these advantages to a higher degree than
that of Caucasus or the European. It must be admitted that this
insensibility of the features is not peculiar to every race of men of a
very dark complexion: it is much less apparent in the African than in
the natives of America."--Humboldt's _Personal Narrative_, vol. iii., p.
230.]

[Footnote 215: Tacitus, in his speculations on the peopling of Britain,
distinguishes very beautifully between what may belong to the ultimate
influences of the country, and what may pertain to an old, unalterable
type in the immigrated race. "Britanniam qui mortales initio coluerunt,
indigen� an advecti, ut inter barbaros, parum compertum. Habitus
corporis varii, atque ex eo argumenta; namque rutil� Caledoniam
habitantium com�, magni artus Germanicam originem adseverant. Silurum
colorati vultus et torti plerumque crines, et posita contra Hispania,
Iberos veteres trajecisse, easque sedes occup�sse fidem faciunt: proximi
Gallis et similes sunt, seu durante originis vi; seu, procurrentibus in
divisa terris, positio coeli corporibus habitum dedit."--_Agricola_,
cap. ii.

"No ancient author has so clearly stated the two forms of reasoning by
which we still explain in our days the differences of color and figure
among neighboring nations as Tacitus. He makes a just distinction
between the influence of climate and hereditary dispositions, and, like
a philosopher persuaded of our profound ignorance of the origin of
things, leaves the question undecided."--Humboldt's _Personal
Narrative_.]

[Footnote 216: See Smith on _The Variety of Complexion of the Human
Species_.]

[Footnote 217: Mr. Lawrence's precise definition is "an obscure orange
or rusty-iron color, not unlike the bark of the cinnamon-tree." Among
the early discoverers, Vespucius applies to them the epithet
"rouge�tre." Verazzano says, "sono di color berrettini e non molto dalli
Saracini differenti."]

[Footnote 218: Cook's Narrative calls their color an _effete_ white,
like that of the southern nations of Europe. Meares expressly says that
some of the females, when cleaned, were found to have the fair
complexions of Europe.

Somewhat further north, at Cloak Bay, in lat. 54� 10', Humboldt remarks,
that "in the midst of copper-colored Indians, with small, long eyes,
there is a tribe with large eyes, European features, and a skin less
dark than that of our peasantry."--_New Spain_, vol. i., p. 145.

Humboldt considers this as the strongest argument of an original
diversity of race which has remained unaffected by climate.]

[Footnote 219: See Appendix. No. XLV. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 220: Cochrane's _Pedestrian Journey_.]

[Footnote 221: Prescott remarks, that the progress made by the Mexicans
in astronomy, and especially the fact of their having a general board
for education and the fine arts, proves more in favor of their
advancement than the noble architectural monuments which they and their
kindred tribes erected. "Architecture," he observes, "is a sensual
gratification, and addresses itself to the eye; it is the form in which
the resources of a semi-civilized people are most likely to be
lavished."--_Conquest of Mexico_, vol. i., p. 155; Lyell's _America_,
vol. i., p. 115.]

[Footnote 222: Dans les r�gions anciennement agricoles de l'Am�rique
m�ridionale les conqu�rans Europ�ens n'ont fait que suivre les traces
d'une culture indig�ne. Les Indiens sont rest�s attach�s au sol qu'ils
ont d�frich� depuis des si�cles. Le Mexique seul compte un million sept
cent mille indig�nes de race pure, dont le nonbre augmente avec la m�me
rapidit� que celui des autres castes. Au Mexique, � Guatemala, � Quito,
au P�rou, � Bolivia, la physionomie du pays, � l'exception de quelques
grandes villes, est essentiellement Indienne; dans les campagnes la
variet� des langues s'est conserv�e avec les moeurs, le costume et les
habitudes de la vie domestiqne. Il n'y a de plus que des troupeaux de
vaches et de brebis, quelques c�reales nouvelles et les c�r�monies d'une
culte qui se m�l� � d'antiques superstitions locales. Il faut avoir v�cu
dans les hautes plaines de l'Am�rique Espagnole ou dans la conf�deration
Anglo-Am�ricain pour sentir vivement combien ce contraste entre des
peuples chasseurs et des peuples agricoles, entre des pays longtemps
barbares ou des pays offrant d'anciennes institutions politiques et une
l�gislation indig�ne tr�s developp�e, a facilit� ou entrav� la conqu�te,
influ� sur les formes des premiers �tablissement europ�ens, conserv�
m�me de nos jours aux diff�rentes parties de l'Am�rique ind�pendante, un
caract�re ineffa�able. D�j� le p�re Joseph Acosta qui a �tudi� sur les
lieux m�mes les suites du grand drame sanguinaire de la conqu�te a bien
saisi ces diff�rences frappantes de civilisation progressive et
d'absence enti�re d'ordre social qu'offrait le nouveau-monde � l'�poque
de Christopher Colomb, ou peu de tems apr�s la colonisation par les
Espagnols.--_Hist. Nat. y Moral._ lib. vi., cap. ii.; Humboldt's
_G�ographie du Nouveau Continent_, tom. i., p. 130.]

[Footnote 223: See Appendix, No. XLVI. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 224: "In both Americas it is a matter of inquiry what was the
intention of the natives when they raised so many artificial hills,
several of which appear to have served neither as mounds, nor
watch-towers, nor the base of a temple. A custom established in Eastern
Asia may throw some light on this important question. Two thousand three
hundred years before our era, sacrifices were offered in China to the
Supreme Being, Chan-Ty, on four great mountains called the Four Yo. The
sovereigns, finding it inconvenient to go thither in person, caused
eminences representing these mountains to be erected by the hands of men
near their habitations."--_Voyage of Lord Macartney_, vol. i., p. 58;
Hager, _Monument of Yu_, p. 10, 1802.]

[Footnote 225: Mr. Flint asserts, "that the greatest population clearly
has been in those positions where the most dense future population will
be."--P. 166.]

[Footnote 226: "The bones of animals and snakes have sometimes been
found mixed with human bones in these tumuli, and out of one near
Cincinnati were dug two large marine shells, one of which was the
_Cassis cornulus_ of the Asiatic islands, the other the _Fulgur
perversus_ of the coast of Georgia and East Florida; and this is an
additional argument used in favor of the alleged intercourse existing
anciently between the Indians of this part of North America and the
inhabitants of Asia, and between them and those of the Atlantic. Many
circumstances still existing give probability to the popular belief that
the American Indians had their origin in Asia. In their persons, color,
and reserved disposition, they have a strong resemblance to the Malays
of the Oriental Archipelago--that is to say, to some of the Tartar
tribes of Upper Asia; and it is a remarkable circumstance, that, like
those, they shave the head, leaving only a single lock of hair. The
picture language of the Mexicans, as corresponding with the ancient
picture language of China, and the quipos of Peru with the knotted and
party-colored cords which the Chinese history informs us were in use in
the early period of the empire, may also be adduced as corroborative
evidence. The high cheek bones and the elongated eye of the two people,
besides other personal resemblances, suggest the probability of a common
origin."--_Quarterly Review_, No. LVII., p. 13.

"The Iroquois and Hurons made hieroglyphic paintings on wood, which bear
a striking resemblance to those of the Mexicans."--Lafitau, vol. ii., p.
43, 225; La Houtan, p. 193.

"A long struggle between two religious sects, the Brahmans and the
Buddhists, terminated by the emigration of the Chamans to Thibet.
Mongolia, China, and Japan. If tribes of the Tartar race have passed
over to the northwest coast of America, and thence to the south and the
east, toward the banks of Gila, and those of the Missouri, as
etymological researches serve to indicate, we should be less surprised
at finding among the semi-barbarous nations of the New Continent idols
and monuments of architecture, a hieroglyphical writing, and exact
knowledge of the duration of the year, and traditions respecting the
first state of the world, recalling to our minds the arts, the sciences,
and religious opinions of the Asiatic nations."--Humboldt's
_Researches_.

In his description of a Mexican painting, Humboldt observes, "The slave
on the left is like the figure of those saints which we see frequently
in Hindoo paintings, and which the navigator Roblet found on the
northwest coast of America, among the hieroglyphical paintings of the
natives of Cox's Channel."--Merchant's _Voyage_, vol. i., p. 312.

"It is probably by philosophical and antiquarian researches in Tartary
that the history of those civilized nations of North America, of whose
great works only the wreck remains, will alone be elucidated."--See
Bancroft's _History of the United States_, vol. iii., chap. xxii.; and
Stephens's _Central America_, vol. i., p. 96; vol. ii., chap, xxvi., p.
186, 357, 413, 433. See Appendix, No. XLVII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 227: "The five nations were the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the
Cayugas, the Onondagas, and the Senecas. The Dutch called them Maquas,
the French Iroquois; their appellation at home was the Mingoes, and
sometimes the Aganuschion, or United People."--Governor Clinton's
_Discourse before New York Historical Society_, 1811.

The Iroquois have often, among Europeans, been termed the Romans of the
West. "Le nom d'Iroquois est purement fran�ois, et a �t� forme du terme
_Hiro_, qui signifie, _J'ai dit_, par lequel ces sauvages finissent tout
leur discours, comme les Latins faisaient autrefois par leur _Dixi_; et
_de Kou�_, qui est un cri, tant�t de tristesse, lorsqu' on le prononce
en tra�nant, et tant�t de joie, lorsqu'on le prononce plus court. Leur
nom propre est Agonnonsionni, qui veut dire, _Faiseurs de Cabannes_;
parcequ'ils les b�tissent beaucoup plus solides, que la plupart des
autres sauvages."--Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 421.

Lafitau gives the Iroquois the same name of Agonnonsionni; they used to
say of themselves that the five nations of which they were composed
formed but one "Cabane."]

[Footnote 228: "Le P�re Brebeuf comptoit environ trente mille �mes de
vrais Hurons, distribu�s en vingt villages de la nation. Il y avoit
outre cela, douze nations s�dentaires et nombreuses, qui parloient leur
langue. La plupart de ces nations ne subsistent plus, les Iroquois ces
ont detruites. Les vrais Hurons sont r�duits aujourd'hui � la petite
mission de Lorette, qui est pr�s de Quebec, o� l'on voit le
Christianisme fleurir avec l'�dification de tous les Fran�ais, � la
nation des Tionnontat�s qui sont �tablis au D�troit, et � une autre
nation qui s'est refugi�e � la Carolina."--Charlevoix, 1721.

"The Tionnontat�s mentioned above now bear the name of Wyandots, and are
a striking exception to the degeneracy which usually attends the
intercourse of Indians with Europeans. The Wyandots have all the energy
of the savage warrior, with the intelligence and docility of civilized
troops. They are Christians, and remarkable for orderly and inoffensive
conduct; but as enemies, they are among the most dreadful of their race.
They were all mounted (in the war of 1812-13), fearless, active,
enterprising; to contend with them in the forest was hopeless, and to
avoid their pursuit, impossible.

"It is worthy of remark, that the Wyandots are the only part of the
Huron nation who ever joined in alliance with the English. The mass of
the Hurons were always the faithful friends of the French during the
times of the early settlement of Canada."--_Quarterly Review_.]

[Footnote 229: The extremes of heat and cold are as unfavorable to
intellectual as to physical superiority,[230] a fact which may be easily
traced throughout the vast and varied extent of the two Americas. "As
far as the parallel of 53�, the temperature of the northwest coast of
America is milder than that of the eastern coasts: we are led to expect,
therefore, that civilization had anciently made some progress in this
climate, and even in higher latitudes. Even in our own times, we
perceive that in the 59th degree of latitude, in Cox's Channel and
Norfolk Sound, the natives have a decided taste for hieroglyphical
paintings on wood."--Humboldt _on the Ancient Inhabitants of America_.

It has been ascertained that this western coast is populous, and the
race somewhat superior to the other Indians in arts and
civilization.--Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 297-303; Venegas's _California_,
Part ii., �ii.

"From the happy coincidence of various circumstances, man raises himself
to a certain degree of cultivation, even in climates the least favorable
to the development of organized beings. Near the polar circle, in
Iceland, in the twelfth century, we know the Scandinavians cultivated
literature and the arts with more success than the inhabitants of
Denmark and Prussia."--Humboldt.]

[Footnote 230: The most temperate climate lies between the 40th and 50th
degree of latitude, and it produces the most handsome and beautiful
people. It is from this climate that the ideas of the genuine color of
mankind and of the various degrees of beauty ought to be derived. The
two extremes are equally remote from truth and from beauty. The
civilized countries situated under this zone are Georgia, Circassia, the
Ukraine, Turkey in Europe, Hungary, the south of Germany, Italy,
Switzerland, France, and the northern parts of Spain. The natives of
these territories are the most handsome and most beautiful people in the
world.--Buffon, English trans., vol. iii., p. 205.]

[Footnote 231: Mr. Flint says. "I have inspected the northern, middle,
and southern Indians for a length of ten years; my opportunities of
observation have, therefore, been considerable, and I do not undertake
to form a judgment of their character without, at least, having seen
much of it. I have been forcibly struck by a general resemblance in
their countenance, make, conformation, manners, and habits. I believe
that no race of men can show people who speak different languages,
inhabit different climes, and subsist on different food, and who are yet
so wonderfully alike."--(1831.)

Don Antonio Ulloa, who had extensive opportunities of forming an opinion
on the natives of both the continents of America, asserts that "If we
have seen one American, we may be said to have seen all, their color and
make are so nearly the same."--_Notic. Americanas_, p. 308. See,
likewise, Garcia, _Origin de los Indios_, p. 55-242; Torquemada,
_Monarch. Indiana_, vol. ii., p. 571.

"If we except the northern regions, where we find men similar to the
Laplanders, all the rest of America is peopled with inhabitants among
whom there is little or no diversity. This great uniformity among the
natives of America seems to proceed from their living all in the same
manner. All the Americans were, or still are, savages; the Mexicans and
Peruvians were so recently polished that they ought not to be regarded
as an exception. Whatever, therefore, was the origin of those savages,
it seems to have been common to the whole. All the Americans have sprung
from the same source, and have preserved, with little variation, the
characters of their race; for they have all continued in a savage state,
and have followed nearly the same mode of life. Their climates are not
so unequal with regard to heat and cold as those of the ancient
continent, and their establishment in America has been too recent to
allow those causes which produce varieties sufficient time to operate so
as to render their effects conspicuous."--Buffon, Eng. trans., vol.
iii., p. 188.]

[Footnote 232: See Appendix, No. XLVIII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 233: See Appendix, No. XLIX. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 234: There would never have been any difference of opinion
between physiologists, as to the existence of the beard among the
Americans, if they had paid attention to what the first historians of
the conquest of their country have said on this subject; for example,
Pigafetta, in 1519, in his Journal preserved in the Ambrosian library at
Milan, and published (in 1800) by Amoretti, p. 18.--Benzoni, _Hist. del
Mundo Nuovo_, p. 35, 1572; Bembo, _Hist. Venet._, p. 86, 1557;
Humboldt's _Personal Narrative_, vol. iii., p. 235.

"The Indians have no beard, because they use certain receipts to
extirpate it, which they will not communicate."--Oldmixon, vol. i., p.
286.

"Experience has made known that these receipts were little shells which
they used as tweezers; since they have become acquainted with metals,
they have invented an instrument consisting of a piece of brass wire
rolled round a piece of wood the size of the finger, so as to form a
special spring; this grasps the hairs within its turns, and pulls out
several at once. No wonder if this practice, continued for several
generations, should enfeeble the roots of the beard. Did the practice of
eradicating the beard, originate from the design of depriving the enemy
of such a dangerous hold on the face? This seems to me probable."--Volney,
p. 412.]

[Footnote 235: When the statue of Apollo Belvedere was shown to Benjamin
West on his first arrival at Rome, he exclaimed, "It is a model from a
young North American Indian."--_Ancient America._]

[Footnote 236: "It is a notorious fact, that every European who has
embraced the savage life has become stronger and better inured to every
excess than the savages themselves. The superiority of the people of
Virginia and Kentucky over them has been confirmed, not only in troop
opposed to troop, but man to man, in all their wars."--Volney, p. 417.]

[Footnote 237: Yet infanticide is condemned among the Red Indians both
by their theology and their feelings. Dr. Richardson relates that those
tribes who hold the idea that "the souls of the departed have to
scramble up a great mountain, at whose top they receive the reward of
their good or bad deeds, declare that women who have been guilty of
infanticide never reach the top of this mountain at all. They are
compelled instead to travel around the scenes of their crimes with
branches of trees tied to their legs. The melancholy sounds which are
heard in the still summer evenings, and which the ignorance of the white
people looks upon as the screams of the goat-suckers, are really,
according to my informant, the moanings of these unhappy
beings"--Franklin's _Journey to the Polar Seas_, p. 77, 78.]




CHAPTER VII.


The Indian is endowed with a far greater acuteness of sense than the
European. Despite the dazzling brightness of the long-continued snows,
and the injurious action of the smoke of burning wood to which he is
constantly exposed, he possesses extraordinary quickness of sight. He
can also hear and distinguish the faintest sounds, alike through the
gentle rustling of the forest leaves and in the roar of the storm; his
power of smell is so delicate that he scents fire long before it becomes
visible. By some peculiar instinct the Indian steers through the
trackless forests, over the vast prairies, and even across wide sheets
of water with unerring certainty. Under the gloomiest and most obscure
sky, he can follow the course of the sun[238] as if directed by a
compass. These powers would seem innate in this mysterious race; they
can scarcely be the fruit of observation or practice, for children who
have never left their native village can direct their course through
pathless solitudes as accurately as the experienced hunter.

In the early stages of social progress, when the life of man is rude and
simple, the reason is little exercised, and his wants and wishes are
limited within narrow bounds; consequently, his intellect is feebly
developed, and his emotions are few but concentrated. These conditions
were generally observable among the rudest tribes of the American
Indians.

There are, however, some very striking peculiarities in the intellectual
character of the Red Men. Without any aid from letters or education,
some of the lower mental faculties are developed in a remarkable degree.
As orators, strategists, and politicians, they have frequently exhibited
very great power.[240] They are constantly engaged in dangerous and
difficult enterprises, where ingenuity and presence of mind are
essential for their preservation. They are vigorous in the thought which
is allied to action, but altogether incapable of speculation, deduction,
or research. The ideas and attention of a savage are confined to the
objects relating to his subsistence, safety, or indulgence: every thing
else escapes his observation or excites little interest in his mind.
Many tribes appear to make no arrangement for the future; neither care
nor forethought prevents them from blindly following a present impulse,
regardless of its consequences.

The natives of North America were divided into a number of small
communities; in the relation of these to each other, war or negotiation
was constantly carried on; revolutions, conquests, and alliances
frequently occurred among them. To raise the power of his tribe, and to
weaken or destroy that of his enemy, was the great aim of every Indian.
For these objects schemes were profoundly laid, and deeds of daring
valor achieved: the refinements of diplomacy were employed, and plans
arranged with the most accurate calculation. These peculiar
circumstances also developed the power of oratory to an extraordinary
degree.[241] Upon all occasions of importance, speeches were delivered
with eloquence, and heard with deep attention. When danger threatened,
or opportunity of aggrandizement or revenge offered itself, a council of
the tribe was called, where those most venerable from age and
illustrious for wisdom deliberated for the public good. The composition
of the Indian orator is studied and elaborate; the language is vigorous,
and, at the same time, highly imaginative; all ideas are expressed by
figures addressed to the senses; the sun and stars, mountains and
rivers, lakes and forests, hatchets of war and pipes of peace, fire and
water, are employed as illustrations of his subject with almost Oriental
art and richness. His eloquence is unassisted by action or varied
intonation, but his earnestness excites the sympathy of the audience,
and his persuasion sinks into their hearts.[242]

The want of any written or hieroglyphic records of the past among the
Northern Indians was, to some extent, supplied by the accurate memories
of their old men; they were able to repeat speeches of four or five
hours' duration, and delivered many years before, without error or even
hesitation, and to hand them down from generation to generation with
equal accuracy, their recollection being only assisted by small pieces
of wood corresponding to the different subjects of discourse. On great
and solemn occasions, belts of wampum were used as aid to recollection
whenever a conference was held with a neighboring tribe, or a treaty or
compact is negotiated. One of these belts, differing in some respects
from any other hitherto used, was made for the occasion; each person who
speaks holds this in his hand by turns, and all he says is recorded in
the "living books" of the by-standers' memory in connection with the
belt. When the conference ends, this memorial is deposited in the hands
of the principal chief. As soon as any important treaty is ratified, a
broad wampum belt of unusual splendor is given by each contracting party
to the other, and these tokens are deposited among the other belts, that
form, as it were, the archives of the nation. At stated intervals they
are reproduced before the people, and the events which they commemorate
are circumstantially recalled. Certain of the Indian women are intrusted
with the care of these belts: it is their duty to relate to the children
of the tribe the circumstances of each treaty or conference, and thus is
kept alive the remembrance of every important event.

On the matters falling within his limited comprehension, the Indian
often displays a correct and solid judgment; he pursues his object
without hesitation or diversion. He is quickly perceptive of simple
facts or ideas, but any artificial combination, or mechanical
contrivance he is slow to comprehend, especially as he considers every
thing beneath his notice which is not necessary to his advantage or
enjoyment. It is very difficult to engage him in any labor of a purely
mental character, but he often displays vivacity and ardor in matters
that interest him, and is frequently quick and happy in repartee.[243]

The Red Man is usually characterized by a certain savage elevation of
soul and calm self-possession, that all the aid of religion and
philosophy can not enable his civilized brethren to surpass. Master of
his emotions, the expression of his countenance rarely alters for a
moment even under the most severe and sudden trials. The prisoner,
uncertain as to the fate that may befall him, preparing for his dreadful
death, or racked by agonizing tortures, still raises his unfaltering
voice in the death song, and turns a fearless front toward his
tormentors.[245]

The art of numbering was unknown in some American tribes, and even among
the most advanced it was very imperfect; the savage had no property to
estimate, no coins to count, no variety of ideas to enumerate. Many
nations could not reckon above three, and had no words in their language
to distinguish a greater number; some proceeded as far as ten, others to
twenty; when they desired to convey an idea of a larger amount, they
pointed to the hair of the head, or declared that it could not be
counted. Computation is a mystery to all rude nations; when, however,
they acquire the knowledge of a number of objects, and find the
necessity of combining or dividing them, their acquaintance with
arithmetic increases; the state of this art is therefore, to a
considerable extent, a criterion of their degree of progress. The wise
and politic Iroquois had advanced the farthest, but even they had not
got beyond one thousand; the smaller tribes seldom reached above ten.

The first ideas are suggested to the mind of man by the senses: the
Indian acquires no other. The objects around him are all important; if
they be available for his present purposes, they attract his attention,
otherwise they excite no curiosity: he neither combines nor arranges
them, nor does he examine the operations of his own mind upon them; he
has no abstract or universal ideas, and his reasoning powers are
generally employed upon matters merely obvious to the senses. In the
languages of the ruder tribes there were no words to express any thing
that is not material, such as faith, time, imagination, and the like.
When the mind of the savage is not occupied with matters relating to his
animal existence, it is altogether inactive. In the islands, and upon
the exuberant plains of the south, where little exertion of ingenuity
was required to obtain the necessaries of life, the rational faculties
were frequently dormant, and the countenance remained vacant and
inexpressive. Even the superior races of the north loiter away their
time in thoughtless indolence, when not engaged in war or the chase,
deeming other objects unworthy of their consideration. Where reason is
so limited in a field for exertion, the mind can hardly acquire any
considerable degree of vigor or enlargement. In civilized life men are
urged to activity and perseverance by a desire to gratify numerous
artificial wants; but the necessities of the Indian are few, and
provided for by nature almost spontaneously. He detests labor, and will
sometimes sit for whole days together without uttering a word or
changing his posture. Neither the hope of reward nor the prospect of
future want can overcome this inveterate indolence.

Among the northern tribes, however, dwelling under a rigorous climate,
some efforts are employed, and some precautions taken, to procure
subsistence; but the necessary industry is even there looked upon as a
degradation: the greater part of the labor is performed by women, and
man will only stoop to those portions of the work which he considers
least ignominious. This industry, so oppressive to one half of the
community, is very partial, and directed by a limited foresight. During
one part of the year they depend upon fishing for a subsistence, during
another upon the chase, and the produce of the ground is their resource
for the third. Regardless of the warnings of experience, they neglect to
apportion provision for their wants, or can so little restrain their
appetites, that, from imprudence or extravagance, they often are exposed
to the miseries of famine like their ruder neighbors. Their sufferings
are soon forgotten, and the horrors of one year seem to teach no lesson
of providence for the next.

The Indians, for the most part, are very well acquainted with the
geography of their own country. When questioned as to the situation of
any particular place, they will trace out on the ground with a stick, if
opportunity offer, a tolerably accurate map of the locality indicated.
They will show the course of the rivers, and, by pointing toward the
sun, explain the bearings of their rude sketch. There have been recorded
some most remarkable instances of the accuracy with which they can
travel toward a strange place, even when its description had only been
received through the traditions of several generations, and they could
have possessed no personal knowledge whatever of the surrounding
country.

The religion of the natives of America can not but be regarded with an
interest far deeper than the gratification of mere curiosity. The forms
of faith, the rites, the ideas of immortality; the belief in future
reward, in future punishment; the recognition of an invisible Power,
infinitely surpassing that of the warrior or the chief; the dim
traditions of a first parent, and a general deluge--all these, among a
race so long isolated from the rest of the human family, distinct in
language, habits, form, and mind, and displaying, when societies began
to exist, a civilization utterly dissimilar from any before known,
afford subject for earnest thought and anxious inquiry. Those who in the
earlier times of American discovery supplied information on these
points, were generally little qualified for the task. Priests and
missionaries alone had leisure or inclination to pursue the subject;
and their minds were often so preoccupied with their own peculiar
doctrines, that they accommodated to them all that fell under their
observation, and explained it by analogies which had no existence but in
their own zealous imaginations. They seldom attempted to consider what
they saw or heard in relation to the rude notions of the savages
themselves. From a faint or fancied similarity of peculiar Indian
superstitions to certain articles of Christian faith, some missionaries
imagined they had discovered traces of an acquaintance with the divine
mysteries of salvation: they concluded that the savage possessed a
knowledge of the doctrine of the Trinity,[247] of the Incarnation, of
the sacrifice of a Saviour, and of sacraments, from their own
interpretation of certain expressions and ceremonies.[248] But little
confidence can be placed in any evidence derived from such sources.

The earlier travelers in the interior of the New World received the
impression that the Indians had no religious belief; they saw neither
priests, temples, idols, nor sacrifices among any of the various and
numerous tribes. A further knowledge of this strange people disproved
the hastily-formed opinion, and showed that their whole life and all
their actions were influenced by a belief in the spiritual world.[249]
It is now known that the American Indians were pre-eminent among savage
nations for the superior purity of their religious faith,[250] and,
indeed, over even the boasted elegance of poetical mythology. From the
reports of all those worthy of credence, who have lived intimately among
these children of the forest, it is certain that they firmly believe in
the power and unity of the Most High God, and in an immortality of
happiness or misery. They worship the Great Spirit, the Giver of life,
and attribute to him the creation of the world, and the government of
all things with infinite love, wisdom, and power. Of the origin of their
religion they are altogether ignorant. In general they believe that,
after the world was created and supplied with animal life by the Great
Spirit, he formed the first red man and woman, who were very large of
stature, and lived to an extreme old age; that he often held council
with his creatures, gave them laws and instructed them, but that the red
children became rebels against their Great Father, and he then withdrew
himself in sorrowful anger from among them, and left them to the
vexations of the Bad Spirit. But still this merciful Father, from afar
off, where he may be seen no more, showers down upon them all the
blessings they enjoy. The Indians are truly filial and sincere in their
devotions; they pray for what they need, and return hearty thanks for
such mercies as they have enjoyed.[251] They supplicate him to bestow
courage and skill upon them in the battle; the endurance which enables
them to mock the cruel tortures of their enemies is attributed to his
aid; their preparation for war is a long-continued religious ceremony;
their march is supposed to be under omnipotent guidance, and their
expeditions in the chase are held to be not unworthy of divine
superintendence. They reject all idea of chance on the fortune of war,
and believe firmly that every result is the decision of a Superior
Power.[252] Although this elevated conception of the One God[253] is
deeply impressed upon the Indian's mind, it is tainted with some of the
alloy which ever must characterize the uninspired faith. Those who have
inquired into the religious opinions of the uneducated and laborious
classes of men, even in the most enlightened and civilized communities,
find that their system of belief is derived from instruction, and not
from instinct or the results of their own examination: in savage life
it is vain to expect that men should reason accurately, from cause to
effect, and form a just idea of the Creator from the creation. The
Indian combines the idea of the Great Spirit with others of a less
perfect nature. The word used by him to indicate this Sovereign Being
does not convey the notion of an immaterial nature; it signifies with
him some one possessed of lofty and mysterious powers, and in this sense
may be applied to men and even to animals.

To the first inquirers into the religious faith of the native Americans,
the subject of their mythology presented very great difficulties and
complications; those Indians who attempted to explain it to Europeans
had themselves no distinct or fixed opinions. Each man put forward
peculiar notions, and was constantly changing them, without attempting
to reconcile his self-contradictions.

Some of the southern tribes, who were more settled in their religious
faith, exhibited a remarkable degree of bigotry and spiritual pride.
They called the Europeans "men of the accursed speech," while they
styled themselves "the beloved of the Great Spirit." The Canadian and
other northern nations, however, were less intolerant, and at any time
easily induced to profess the recantation of their heathen errors for
some small advantage. Among these latter, the hare was deemed to possess
some mystic superiority over the rest of the animal creation; it was
even raised to be an object of worship, and the Great Hare was
confounded in their minds with the Great Spirit. The Algonquins believed
in a Water God, who opposes himself to the benevolent designs of the
Great Spirit; it is strange that the name of the Great Tiger should be
given to this Deity, as the country does not produce such an animal, and
from this it appears probable that the tradition of his existence had
come from elsewhere. They have also a third Deity, who presides over
their winter season. The gods of the Indians have bodies like the sons
of men, and subsist in like manner with them, but are free from the
pains and cares of mortality; the term "spirit" among them only
signifies a being of a superior and more excellent nature than man.
However, they believe in the omnipresence of their deities, and invoke
their aid in all times and places.

Besides the Great Spirit and the lesser deities above mentioned, every
Indian has his own Manitou, Okki, or guardian power; this divinity's
presence is represented by some portable object, often of the most
insignificant nature, such as the head, beak, or claw of a bird, the
hoof of a deer or cow. No youth can be received among the brotherhood of
warriors till he has placed himself, in due form, under the care of this
familiar. The ceremony is deemed of great importance: several days of
strict fasting are always observed in preparation for the important
event, and the youth's dreams are carefully noted during this period.
While under these circumstances, some object usually makes a deep
impression upon his mind; this is then chosen for his Manitou or
guardian spirit, and a specimen, of it is procured. He is next placed
for some time in a large vapor bath, and having undergone the process of
being steamed, is laid on the ground, and the figure of the Manitou is
pricked on his breast with needles of fish-bone dipped in vermilion; the
intervals between the scars are then rubbed with gunpowder, so as to
produce a mixture of red and blue. When this operation is performed, he
cries aloud to the Great Spirit, invoking aid, and praying to be
received as a warrior.

The Indian submits with resignation to the chastening will of the Great
Spirit. When overtaken by any disaster, he diligently examines himself
to discover what omission of observance or duty has called down the
punishment, and endeavors to atone for past neglect by increased
devotion. But if the Manitou be deemed to have shown want of ability or
inclination to defend him, he upbraids the guardian power with
bitterness and contempt, and threatens to seek a more effectual
protector. If the Manitou continue useless, this threat is fulfilled.
Fasting and dreaming are again resorted to in the same manner as before,
and the vision of another Manitou is obtained. The former representation
is then, as much as possible, effaced, and the figure of the
newly-adopted amulet painted in its place. All the veneration and
confidence forfeited by the first Manitou is now transferred to the
successor.[254]

It is also part of the Indian's religious belief that there are inferior
spirits to rule over the elements, under the control of the Supreme
Power, he being so great that he must, like their chiefs, have
attendants to execute his behests. These inferior spirits see what
passes on earth, and report it to their Great Ruler: the Indian,
trusting to their good offices, invokes those spirits of the air in
times of peril, and endeavors to propitiate them by throwing tobacco or
other simple offerings to the winds or upon the waters. But, amid all
these corrupt and ignorant superstitions, the One Spirit, the Creator
and Ruler of the World, is the great object of the Red Man's adoration.
On him they rest their hopes; to him they address their daily prayers,
and render their solemn sacrifice.

The worship of the Indians, although frequently in private, is generally
little regulated either by ceremonies or stated periodical devotions.
But there are, at times, great occasions, when the whole tribe assembles
for the purpose,[255] such as in declaring war or proclaiming peace, or
when visited by storms or earthquakes. Their great feasts all partake of
a religious character; every thing provided must be consumed by the
assembly, as being consecrated to the Great Spirit. The Ottawas seem to
have had a more complicated mythology than any other tribe: they held a
regular festival in honor of the sun; and, while rendering thanks for
past benefit, prayed that it might be continued to the future. They have
also been observed to erect an idol in their village, and offer it
sacrifice: this ceremony was, however, very rare. Many Western tribes
visit the spring whence they have been supplied with water during the
winter, at the breaking up of the ice, and there offer up their grateful
worship to the Great Spirit for having preserved them in health and
safety, and having supplied their wants. This pious homage is performed
with much ceremony and devotion.

Among this rude people, who were at one time supposed to have been
without any religion, habitual piety may be considered the most
remarkable characteristic: every action of their lives is connected with
some acknowledgment of a Superior Power. Many have imagined that the
severe fasts sometimes endured by the Indians were only for the purpose
of accustoming themselves to support hunger; but all the circumstances
connected with these voluntary privations leave no doubt that they were
solemn religious exercises. Dreams and visions during these fasts were
looked upon as oracular, and respected as the revelations of Heaven. The
Indian frequently propitiates the favor of the inferior spirits by vows;
when for some time unsuccessful in the chase, or suffering from want in
long journeys, he promises the genius of the spot to bestow upon one of
his chiefs, in its honor, a portion of the first fruits of his
success;[256] if the chief be too distant to receive the gift, it is
burned in sacrifice.

The belief of the Indian in a future state, although deeply cherished
and sincere, can scarcely be regarded as a defined idea of the
immortality of the soul.[257] There is little spiritual or exalted in
his conception. When he attempts to form a distinct notion of the
spirit, he is blinded by his senses; he calls it the shadow or image of
his body, but its acts and enjoyments are all the same as those of its
earthly existence. He only pictures to himself a continuation of present
pleasures. His Heaven is a delightful country, far away beyond the
unknown Western seas, where the skies are ever bright and serene, the
air genial, the spring eternal, and the forests abounding in game; no
war, disease, or torture are known in that happy land; the sufferings of
life are endured no more, and its sweetest pleasures are perpetuated and
increased; his wife is tender and obedient, his children dutiful and
affectionate. In this country of eternal happiness, the Indian hopes to
be again received into the favor of the Great Spirit, and to rejoice in
his glorious presence.[258] But in his simple mind there is a deep and
enduring conviction that admission to this delightful country of souls
can only be attained by good and noble actions in this mortal life. For
the bad men there is a fate terribly different--endless afflictions,
want, and misery; a land of hideous desolation; barren, parched, and
dreary hunting-grounds, the abode of evil and malignant spirits, whose
office is to torture, whose pleasure is to enhance the misery of the
condemned. It is also almost universally believed that the Great Spirit
manifests his wrath or his favor to the evil and the good in their
journey to the land of souls. After death the Indian believes that he is
supplied with a canoe; and if he has been a virtuous warrior, or
otherwise worthy, he is guided across the vast deep to a haven of
eternal happiness and peace by the hand of the Great Spirit; but if his
life be stained with cowardice, vice, or negligence of duty, he is
abandoned to the malignity of evil genii, driven about by storms and
darkness over that unknown sea, and at length cast ashore on the barren
land, where everlasting torments are his portion.[259]

The Indians generally believe in the existence of a Spirit of Evil, and
occasionally pray to him in deprecation of his wrath. They do not doubt
his inferiority to the Great Spirit, but they believe that he has the
power to inflict torments and punishments upon the human race, and that
he has a malignant delight in its exercise.

The souls of the lower animals are also held by the Red Man to be
immortal: he recognizes a certain portion of understanding in them, and
each creature is supposed to possess a guardian spirit peculiar to
itself. He only claims a superiority in degree of intelligence and power
over the beasts of the field, Man is but the king of animals. In the
world of souls are to be found the shades of every thing that breathes
the breath of life. However, he takes little pains to arrange or develop
these strange ideas. The enlightened heathen philosophers of antiquity
were not more successful.

To penetrate the mysteries of the future has always been a favorite
object of superstition,[260] and has been attempted by a countless
variety of means. The Indian trusts to his dreams for this revelation,
and invariably holds them sacred. Before he engages in any important
undertaking, particularly in war, diplomacy, or the chase, the dreams of
his principal chiefs are carefully watched and examined; by their
interpretation his conduct is guided. In this manner the fate of a whole
nation has often been decided by the chance visions of a single man. The
Indian considers that dreams are the mode by which the Great Spirit
condescends to hold converse with man; thence arises his deep veneration
for the omens and warnings they may shadow forth.[261]

Many other superstitions, besides those of prognostics from dreams, are
cherished among the Indians. Each remarkable natural feature, such as a
great cataract, a lake, or a difficult and dangerous pass, possesses a
spirit of the spot, whose favor they are fain to propitiate by votive
offerings: skins, bones, pieces of metal, and dead dogs are hung up in
the neighborhood, and dedicated to its honor. Supposed visions of ghosts
are sometimes, but rarely, spoken of: it is, however, generally believed
that the souls of the dead continue for some time to hover round the
earthly remains: dreading, therefore, that the spirits of those they
have tortured watch near them to seek opportunity of vengeance, they
beat the air violently with rods, and raise frightful cries to scare the
shadowy enemy away.

Among some of the Indian tribes, an old man performed the duty of a
priest at their religious festivals; he broke the bread and cast it in
the fire, dedicated the different offerings, and officiated in the
sacrifice. It was also his calling to declare the omens from dreams and
other signs, as the warnings of Heaven. These religious duties of the
priest were totally distinct from the office of the juggler, or
"medicine-man," although some observers have confounded them together.
There were also vestals in many nations of the continent who were
supposed to supply by their touch a precious medicinal efficacy to
certain roots and simples.

The "medicine-men," or jugglers, undertook the cure of diseases, the
interpretation of omens, the exorcising of evil spirits, and magic in
all its branches. They were men of great consideration in the tribe, and
were called in and regularly paid as physicians; but this position could
only be attained by undergoing certain ordeals, which were looked upon
as a compact with the spirits of the air. The process of the vapor bath
was first endured; severe fasting followed, accompanied by constant
shouting, singing, beating a sort of drum, and smoking. After these
preliminaries the jugglers were installed by extravagant ceremonies,
performed with furious excitement and agitation. They possessed,
doubtless, some real knowledge of the healing art; and in external
wounds or injuries, the causes of which are obvious, they applied
powerful simples, chiefly vegetable, with considerable skill. With
decoctions from ginseng, sassafras, hedisaron, and a tall shrub called
bellis, they have been known to perform remarkable cures in cases of
wounds and ulcers. They scarified the seat of inflammation or rheumatic
pain skillfully with sharp-pointed bones, and accomplished the cupping
process by the use of gourd shells as substitutes for glasses. For all
internal complaints, their favorite specific was the vapor bath, which
they formed with much ingenuity from their rude materials. This was
doubtless a very efficient remedy, but they attached to it a
supernatural influence, and employed it in the ceremonies of solemn
preparation for great councils.

All cases of disease, when the cause could not be discovered, were
attributed to the influence of malignant spirits. To meet these, the
medicine-man, or juggler, invested himself with his mysterious
character, and endeavored to exorcise the demon by a great variety of
ceremonies, a mixture of delusion and imposture. For this purpose, he
arrayed himself in a strange and fanciful dress, and on his first
arrival began to sing and dance round the sufferer, invoking the
spirits with loud cries. When exhausted with these exertions, he
attributed the hidden cause of the malady to the first unusual idea that
suggested itself to his mind, and in the confidence of his supposed
inspiration, proclaimed the necessary cure. The juggler usually
contrived to avoid the responsibility of failure by ordering a remedy
impossible of attainment when the patient was not likely to recover. The
Iroquois believed that every ailment was a desire of the soul, and, when
death followed, it was from the desire not having been accomplished.

Among many of the Indian tribes, the barbarous custom of putting to
death those who were thought past recovery, existed, and still exists.
Others abandoned these unfortunates to perish of hunger and thirst, or
under the jaws of the wild beasts of the forest. Some nations put to
death all infants who had lost their mother, or buried them alive in her
grave, under the impression that no other woman could rear them, and
that they must perish by hunger. But the dreadful custom of deserting
the aged and emaciated among the wandering tribes is universal.[262]
When these miserable creatures become incapable of walking or riding,
and there is no means of carrying them, they themselves uniformly insist
upon being abandoned to their fate, saying that they are old and of no
further use--they left their fathers in the same manner--they wish to
die, and their children must not mourn for them. A small fire and a few
pieces of wood, a scanty supply of meat, and perhaps a buffalo skin, are
left as the old man's sole resources. When in a few months the wandering
tribe may revisit the spot where he was deserted, a skull and a few
scattered bones will be all that the wolves and vultures have left as
tokens of his dreadful fate.

The Indian father and mother display great tenderness for their
children,[263] even to the weakness of unlimited indulgence; this
affection, however, appears to be merely instinctive, for they use no
exertion whatever to lead their offspring to the paths of virtue.
Children, on their part, show very little filial affection, and
frequently treat their parents, especially their father, with indignity
and violence. This vicious characteristic is strongly exemplified in the
horrible custom above described.

When the Indian believes that his death is at hand, his conduct is
usually stoical and dignified. If he still retain the power of speech,
he harangues those who surround him in a funeral oration, advising and
encouraging his children, and bidding them and all his friends farewell.
During this time, the relations of the dying man slay all the dogs they
can catch, trusting that the souls of these animals will give notice of
the approaching departure of the warrior for the world of spirits; they
then take leave of him, wish him a happy voyage, and cheer him with the
hope that his children will prove worthy of his name. When the last
moment arrives, all the kindred break into loud lamentations, till some
one high in consideration desires them to cease. For weeks afterward,
however, these cries of grief are daily renewed at sunrise and sunset.
In three days after death the funeral takes place, and the neighbors are
invited to a feast of all the provisions that can be procured, which
must be all consumed. The relations of the deceased do not join in the
banquet; they cut off their hair, cover their heads, blacken their
faces, and for a long time deny themselves every amusement.[264]

The deceased is buried with his arms and ornaments, and a supply of
provisions for his long journey; the face is painted, and the body
arrayed in the richest robes that can be obtained; it is then laid in
the grave in an upright posture, and skins are carefully placed around,
that it may not touch the earth. At stated intervals of eight, ten, or
twelve years, the Indians celebrate the singular ceremony of the
Festival of the Dead; till this has been performed, the souls of the
deceased are supposed still to hover round their earthly remains. At
this solemn festival, the people march in procession to the
burial-ground, open the tombs, and continue for a time gazing on the
moldering relics in mournful silence. Then, while the women raise a loud
wailing, the bones of the dead are carefully collected, wrapped in fresh
and valuable robes, and conveyed to the family cabin.[265] A feast is
then held for several days, with dances, games, and prize combats. The
relics are next carried to the council-house of the nation, where they
are publicly displayed, with the presents destined to be interred with
them. Sometimes the remains are even carried on bearers from village to
village. At length they are laid in a deep pit, lined with rich furs;
tears and lamentations are again renewed, and for some time fresh
provisions are daily laid, by this simple people, upon the graves of
their departed friends.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 238: "At night the savages direct their course by the polar
star; they call it the _motionless star_. It is a curious coincidence
that the constellation of the Bear should be called by the savages the
Bear. This is certainly a very ancient name among them, and given long
before any Europeans visited the country. They turn into ridicule the
large imaginary tail which astronomers have given to an animal that has
scarcely any such appendage, and they call the three stars that compose
the tail of the Bear, three hunters who are in pursuit of it. The second
of these stars has a very small one very close to it. This, they say, is
the kettle of the second hunter, who is the bearer of the baggage and
the provision belonging to all three.[239] The savages also call the
Pleiades 'the Dancers,' and Hygin tells us that they were thus called by
the ancients, because they seem, from the arrangement of their stars, to
be engaged in a circular dance."--Lafitau, vol. ii., p. 236. Hygin.,
lib. ii., art. Taurus.]

[Footnote 239: "Even at the present time" (1720), Lafitau writes, "these
three stars are called in Italy, _i tre cavalli_"--the three knights--on
the celestial globe of Caronelli.]

[Footnote 240: See Appendix, No. L. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 241: Charlevoix says that the eloquence of the savages was
such as the Greeks admired in the barbarians, "strong, stern,
sententious, pointed, perfectly undisguised."

Decanesora's oratory was greatly admired by the most cultivated among
the English: his bust was said to resemble that of Cicero. The
celebrated address of Logan is too well known to be cited here. Mr.
Jefferson says of it, "I may challenge the whole orations of Demosthenes
and Cicero, and of any other more eminent orator, if Europe has
furnished more eminent, to produce a single passage superior to the
speech of Logan." An American statesman and scholar, scarcely less
illustrious than the former, has expressed his readiness to subscribe to
this eulogium.--Clinton's _Historical Discourse_, 1811.]

[Footnote 242: Catlin gives the following account of a native preacher,
known by the name of the Shawnee Prophet: "I soon learned that he was a
very devoted Christian, regularly holding meetings in his tribe on the
Sabbath, preaching to them, and exhorting them to a belief in the
Christian religion, and to an abandonment of the fatal habit of
whisky-drinking. I went on the Sabbath to hear this eloquent man preach,
when he had his people assembled in the woods; and although I could not
understand his language, I was surprised and pleased with the natural
case, and emphasis, and gesticulation which carried their own evidence
of the eloquence of his sermon. I was singularly struck with the noble
efforts of this champion of the mere remnant of a poisoned race, so
strenuously laboring to rescue the remainder of his people from the
deadly bane that has been brought among them by enlightened Christians.
It is quite certain that his exemplary endeavors have completely
abolished the practice of drinking whisky in his tribe."--Catlin, vol.
ii., p. 98.]

[Footnote 243: "Whatever may be the estimate of the Indian character in
other respects, it is with me an undoubting conviction, that they are by
nature a shrewd and intelligent race of men, in no wise, as regards
combination of thought or quickness of apprehension, inferior to
uneducated white men. This inference I deduce from having instructed
Indian children.[244] I draw it from having seen the men and women in
all situations calculated to try and call forth their capacities. When
they examine any of our inventions, steamboats, steam-mills, and cotton
factories, for instance; when they contemplate any of our institutions
in operation, by some quick analysis or process of reasoning, they seem
immediately to comprehend the principle or the object. No spectacle
affords them more delight than a large and orderly school. They scorn
instinctively to comprehend, at least they explained to me that they
felt, the advantages which this order of things gave our children over
theirs."--Flint's _Ten Years in the Valley of the Mississippi_, 1831.

Mr. Flint, an experienced and intelligent observer, takes so dark a view
of the moral character of the Red Indian that his favorable opinion of
their mental faculties may be looked upon as probably accurate, though
differing strongly from that more generally held. On the other side of
the question, among the early writers may be cited M. Bouguer, _Voyage
au P�rou_, p. 102; _Voyage d'Ulloa_, tom. i., p. 335-337. "They seem to
live in a perpetual infancy," is the striking expression of De la
Condamine, _Voyage de la Riv. Amazon_, p. 52, 53. Chauvelon, _Voyage �
la Martinique_, p. 44, 50. P. Venegas, _Hist. de la Californie_.]

[Footnote 244: All those who have expressed an opinion on the subject
seem to agree that _children_ of most native races are fully, or more
than a match, for those of Europeans, in aptitude for intellectual
acquirement. Indeed, it appears to be a singular law of Nature, that
there is less precocity in the European race than almost any other. In
those races in which we seem to have reason for believing that the
intellectual organization is lower, perception is quicker, and maturity
earlier.--Merivale _On Colonization_, vol. ii., p. 197.]

[Footnote 245: "Thus, on the whole, it may be said that the virtues of
the savages are reducible to intrepid courage in danger, unshaken
firmness amid tortures, contempt of pain and death, and patience under
all the anxieties and distresses of life. No doubt these are useful
qualities, but they are all confined to the individual, all selfish, and
without any benefit to the society. Farther, they are proofs of a life
truly wretched, and a social state so depraved or null, that a man,
neither finding nor hoping any succor or assistance from it, is obliged
to wrap himself up in despair, and endeavor to harden himself against
the strokes of fate. Still it may be urged that these men, in their
leisure hours, laugh, sing, play, and live without care for the past as
well as for the future. Will you then deny that they are happier than
we? Man is such a pitiable and variable creature, and habits have such a
potent sway over him, that in the most disastrous situations he always
finds some posture that gives him ease, something that consoles him,
and, by comparison with past suffering, appears to him well-being and
happiness; but if to laugh, sing, or play constitute bliss, it must
likewise be granted that soldiers are perfectly happy beings, since
there are no men more careless or more gay in dangers or on the eve of
battle. It must be granted, too, that during the Revolution, in the most
fatal of our jails, the Conciergerie, the prisoners were very happy,
since they were, in general, more careless and gay than their keepers,
or than those who only feared the same fate. The anxieties of those who
were at large were as numerous as the enjoyments they wished to
preserve; they who were in the other prisons felt but one, that of
preserving their lives. In the Conciergerie, where a man was condemned
in expectation or in reality, he had no longer any care; on the
contrary, every moment of life was an acquisition, the gain of a good
that was considered as lost. Such is nearly the situation of a soldier
in war, and such is really that of the savage throughout the whole
course of his life. If this be happiness, wretched indeed must be the
country where it is an object of envy. In pursuing my investigation, I
do not find that I am led to more advantageous ideas of the liberty of
the savage; on the contrary, I sees in him only the slave of his wants,
and of the freaks of a sterile and parsimonious nature. Food he has not
at hand; rest is not at his command; he must run, weary himself, endure
hunger and thirst, heat and cold, and all the inclemency of the elements
and seasons; and as the ignorance in which he was born and bred gives
him or leaves him a multitude of false and irrational ideas and
superstitious prejudices, he is likewise the slave of a number of errors
and passions, from which civilized man is exempted by the science and
knowledge of every kind that an improved state of society has
produced."--Volney's _Travels in the United States_, p. 467.

"Their impassible fortitude and endurance of suffering are, after all,
in my mind, the result of a greater degree of physical insensibility. It
has been told me, and I believe it, that in amputation and other
surgical operations, their nerves do not shrink, do not show the same
tendency to spasm with those of the whites. When the savage, to explain
his insensibility to cold, called upon the white man to recollect how
little his own face was affected by it, in consequence of its constant
exposure, he added, 'My body is all face.'[246] This increasing
insensibility, transmitted from generation to generation, finally
becomes inwrought with the whole web of animal nature, and the body of
the savage seems to have little more sensibility than the hoofs of
horses."--Flint's _Ten Years in the Valley of the Mississippi_. See,
also, Ulloa's _Notic. Amer._, p. 313.

Charlevoix quotes a passage from Cicero to the effect that "l'habitude
au travail donne de la facilit� � supporter la douleur."--2 _Tusc._,
25.]

[Footnote 246: Delicacy of skin is observed to be in proportion to
civilization among nations, in proportion to degrees of refinement among
individuals.--Sharon Turner.]

[Footnote 247: Conical stones, wrapped up in 100 goat skins, were the
idols preserved in the temple of the Natchez. Many authors assert that
the Amazons and many Eastern people had nothing in their temples but
these pyramidal stones, which represented to them the Divinity....
"Peut-�tre aussi vouloient ils (les fondateurs des Pyramides) figurer en
m�me tems la Divinit�, et ce qui leur restoit d'id�es du myst�re de la
Sainte Trinit�, dans les trois faces de ces pyramides. Du moins est ce
ainsi qu'aux Indes un Brame paroissoit concevoir les choses et
s'expliquer d'apr�s les anciennes. 'Il faut,' disoit il, 'se r�pr�senter
Dieu et ses trois noms diff�rents qui r�pondent � ces trois principaux
attributs, � peu pr�s sous l'id�e de ces Pyramides triangulaires qu'on
voit �lev�es devant la poste de quelques temples."--_Lettre du P�re
Bouchet � M. Huet, Ev�que d'Avranches._ Three logs are always employed
to keep up the fire in the Natchez temple.--Lafitau, vol. i., p. 167.

Extract from a dialogue between John Wesley and the Chickasaw Indians:

"_Wesley._ Do you believe there is One above who is over all things?

"_Answer._ We believe there are four beloved things above--the clouds,
the sun, the clear sky, and He that lives in the clear sky.

"_Wesley._ Do you believe there is but One who lives in the clear sky?

"_Answer._ We believe there are two with Him, three in all."--Wesley's
_Journal_, No. 1., p. 39.]

[Footnote 248: See Stephens's "Incidents of Travel in Central America,"
vol. ii., p. 346.

"Les croix qui ont tant excit� la curiosit� des conquistadores �
Coqumel, � Yucatan, et dans d'autres contr�es de l'Am�rique ne sont pas
'des contes de moines,' et m�ritent, comme tout ce qui a rapport au
culte des peuples indig�nes du Nouveau Continent, un examen plus
s�rieux. Je me sers du mot culte, car un relief conserv� dans les ruines
de Palenque, de Guatemala, et dont je poss�de une copie, ne me para�t
laisser ancun doute qu'une figure symbolique en forme de croix �toit un
objet d'adoration. Il faut faire observer cependant qu'� cette croix
manque le prolongement sup�rieur, et qu'elle forme plut�t la lettre
_tau_. Des id�es qui n'ont ancun rapport avec le Christianisme ont pu
�tre symboliquement attach�es � cet embl�me Egyptien d'Herm�s, si
c�l�bre parmi les Chr�tiens depuis la destruction du temple de S�rapis �
Alexandrie sous Th�odose le Grand. (Rufinus, _Hist. Eccles._, lib. ii.,
cap. xxix., p. 294; Zozomenes, _Eccl. Hist._, lib. iii., cap. xv.) Un
b�ton termin� par une croix se voit dans la main d'Astart� sur les
monnaies de Sidon au 3me si�cle avant notre �re. En Scandinavie, un
signe de l'alphabet _runique_ figurait le _marteau de Thor_, tr�s
semblable � la croix du relief de Palenque. On marquoit de cette _rune_,
dans les tems payens, les objets qu'on vouloit sanctifier." (Voyez
l'excellent Trait� de M. Guillaume Grimm. _Ueber Deutsche Runen_, p.
242.)--Humboldt, _G�ographie de Nouveau Continent_, vol. ii., p. 356.

"La�t avoue qu' Herrera parle d'une esp�ce de bapt�me, et de confession
usit�e dans Yucatan et dans les isles voisines, mais il ajoute qu'il est
bien plus naturel d'attribuer toutes ces marques �quivoques de
Christianisme qu'on a cru apercevoir en plusieurs provinces du Nouveau
Monde au d�mon qui a toujours affect� de contrefaire le culte du vrai
Dieu." Charlevoix adds, "Cette remarque est de tous les bons auteurs qui
out parle de la religion des peuples nouvellement d�couverts, et fond�e
sur l'autorit� des p�res de l'Eglise."--Charlevoix, tom. v., p. 28.]

[Footnote 249: See Appendix, No. LI. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 250: "The most sensual, degraded, and least intellectual
tribes of Northern Asia and America have purer notions of a Spiritual
Deity than were possessed of old by the worshipers of Jupiter and Juno
under Pericles."--_Progression by Antagonism._ This, according to Lord
Lindsay's theory, is to be accounted for by the absence of imagination,
these nations being only governed by Sense and Spirit, to the exclusion
of intellect in either of its manifestations, Imagination, or
Reason.--P. 21, 26.]

[Footnote 251: "At the breaking up of the winter," says Hunter, "after
having supplied ourselves with such things as were necessary and the
situation afforded, all our party visited the spring from which we had
procured our supplies of water, and there offered up our orisons to the
Great Spirit for having preserved us in health and safety, and for
having supplied all our wants. This is the constant practice of the
Osages, Kansas, and many other nations of Indians on breaking up their
encampments, and is by no means an unimportant ceremony." The habitual
piety of the Indian mind is remarked by Heckewelder, and strongly
insisted upon by Hunter, and it is satisfactorily proved by the whole
tenor of his descriptions, where he throws himself back, as it were,
into the feelings peculiar to Indian life. And, indeed, after hearing at
a council the broken fragments of an Indian harangue, however
imperfectly rendered by an ignorant interpreter, or reading the few
specimens of Indian oratory which have been preserved by translation, no
one can fail to remark a perpetual and earnest reference to the power
and goodness of the Deity. "Brothers! we all belong to one family; we
are all children of the Great Spirit," was the commencement of
Tecumth�'s harangue to the Osages; and he afterward tells them: "When
the white men first set foot on our grounds, they were hungry; they had
no places on which to spread their blankets or to kindle their fires.
They were feeble; they could do nothing for themselves. Our fathers
commiserated their distress, and shared freely with them whatever the
Great Spirit has given to his red children."--_Quarterly Review._]

[Footnote 252: On the remarkable occasion on which our forces were
compelled, in 1813, to evacuate the Michigan territory, Tecumth�, in the
name of his nation, refused to consent to retreat; he closed his denial
with these words: "Our lives are in the hand of the Great Spirit: He
gave the lands which we possess to our fathers; if it be his will, our
bones shall whiten upon them, but we will never quit them." An old
Oneida chief, who was blind from years, observed to Heckewelder, "I am
an aged hemlock; the winds of one hundred years have whistled through my
branches; I am dead at the top. Why I yet live, the great, good Spirit
only knows." This venerable father of the forest lived long enough to be
converted to Christianity.--_Quarterly Review._]

[Footnote 253: A Huron woman under the instruction of a missionary, who
detailed to her the perfections of God, exclaimed, in a species of
ecstasy, "I understand, I understand; and I always felt convinced that
our Areskoui was exactly such a one as the God you have described to
me."--Lafitau, tom. i., p. 127. The Great Spirit was named Areskoui
among the Huron, Agriskon� among the Iroquois, Manitou among the
Algonquins.]

[Footnote 254: See Appendix, No. LII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 255: Every spring the Arkansas go in a body to some retired
place, and there turn up a large space of land, which they do with the
drums beating all the while. After this they call it the _Desart_, or
the Field of the Spirit, and thither they go when they are in their
enthusiastic fits, and there wait for inspiration from their pretended
deity. In the mean while, as they do this every year, it proves of no
small advantage to them, for by this means they turn up all their land
by degrees, and it becomes abundantly more fruitful.--Tonti.]

[Footnote 256: Lafitau asserts that the first beast killed by a young
hunter was always offered in sacrifice.--Vol. i., p. 515. See Catlin's
description of the sacrifices and ceremonies practiced when the first
fruits of corn are ripe.--Catlin, vol. i., p. 189.]

[Footnote 257: Peter Martyr speaks of the general opinion among the
early discoverers that the Indians believed in a species of immortality.
"They confess the soul to be immortal; having put off the bodily
clothing, they imagine it goeth forth to the woods and the mountains,
and that it liveth there perpetually in caves; nor do they exempt it
from eating or drinking, but that it should be fed there. The answering
voices heard from caves and hollows, which the Latines call echoes, they
suppose to be the souls of the departed wandering through those
places."--Peter Martyr, Decad. VIII., cap. ix., M. Lock's translation,
1612.]

[Footnote 258: "Une jeune sauvagesse voyant sa soeur mourante, par la
quantit� de cigu� qui elle avoit pris dans un d�pit, et d�termin� � ne
faire aucun rem�de pour se garantir de la mort, pleuroit � chaudes
larmes, et s'effor�oit de la toucher par les liens du sang, et de
l'amiti� qui les unissoit ensemble. Elle lui disoit sans cesse, 'C'en
est donc fait; in veux que nous ne nous retrouvions jamais plus, et que
nous ne nous revoyions jamais?' Le missionnaire, frapp� de ces paroles,
lui en demanda la raison. 'Il me semble,' dit-il, 'que vous avez un pays
des �mes, o� vous devez tous vous re�nir � vos anc�tres; pourquoi donc
est ce que tu parles ainsi � la soeur?' 'Il est vrai,' reprit-elle, 'que
nous allons tous au pays des �mes; mais les mechants, et ceux en
particulier, qui se sont d�truits eux-m�mes par un mort violente, y
portent la peine de leur crime; ils y sont s�par�s des autres, et n'ont
point de communication avec eux: c'est l� le sujet de mes
peines.'"--Lafitau, tom. i., p. 404. See Appendix, LII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 259: Hunter gives the following view of the Indian mythology,
while describing his own and his companions' first sight of the Pacific
Ocean: "Here the surprise and astonishment of our whole party was
indescribably great. The unbounded view of waters, the incessant and
tremendous dashing of the waves along the shore, accompanied with a
noise resembling the roar of loud and distant thunder, filled our minds
with the most sublime and awful sensation, and fixed on them as
immutable truths the tradition we had received from our old men, that
the great waters divide the residence of the Great Spirit from the
temporary abodes of his red children. We have contemplated in silent
dread the immense difficulties over which we should be obliged to
triumph after death before we could arrive at those delightful
hunting-grounds, which are unalterably destined for such only as do
good, and love the Great Spirit. We looked in vain for the stranded and
shattered canoes of those who had done wickedly; we could see none, and
were led to hope they were few in number. We offered up our devotions,
or, I might say, our minds were serious, and our devotions continued all
the time we were in this country, for we had ever been taught to believe
that the Great Spirit resided on the western side of the Rocky
Mountains; and this idea continued throughout the journey,
notwithstanding the more specific boundary assigned to Him by our
traditionary dogmas."--_Memoirs of a Captivity among the North American
Indians from Childhood to the Age of Nineteen_. By John D. Hunter, p.
69. 1824.--See Appendix, No. LIII. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 260: See Appendix, No. LIV. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 261: See Appendix, No. LV. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 262: See Appendix, No. LVI. (see Vol II)]

[Footnote 263: "While I remained among the Indians, a couple, whose tent
was adjacent to mine, lost a son of four years of age. The parents were
so much affected at the death of their child, that they observed the
usual testimonies of grief with such extreme rigor as through the weight
of sorrow and loss of blood to occasion the loss of the father. The
woman, who had hitherto been inconsolable, no sooner saw her husband
expire than she dried up her tears, and appeared cheerful and resigned.
I took an opportunity of asking her the reason of so extraordinary a
transition, when she informed me that her child was so young it would
have been unable to support itself in the world of spirits, and both she
and her husband were apprehensive that its situation would be far from
happy. No sooner, however, did she behold her husband depart for the
same place, who not only loved the child with the tenderest affection,
but was a good hunter, and would be able to provide plentifully for its
support, than she ceased to mourn. She said she had now no reason to
continue her tears, as the child on whom she doted was under the care
and protection of a fond father, and she had now only one wish remaining
ungratified, that of herself being with them."--Carver.]

[Footnote 264: Captain Franklin says of the Chippewyans, "No article is
spared by these unhappy men when a near relative dies; their clothes and
tents are cut to pieces, their guns broken, and every other weapon
rendered useless if some person do not remove these articles from their
sight."

"When the French missionaries asked the Indians why they deprived
themselves of their most necessary articles in favor of the dead, they
answered, 'that it was not only to evidence their love for their
departed relatives, but that they might avoid the sight of objects
which, having been used by them, would continually renew their grief.'
The same delicacy of feeling, so inconsistent with the coarseness of the
Red Man's nature, was manifested in their custom of never uttering the
names of the dead; and if these names were borne by any of the other
members of the family, they laid them aside during the whole of their
mourning. And it was esteemed the greatest insult that could be offered
to say to any one, 'Your father is dead, your mother is
dead.'"--Charlevoix, tom. vi., p. 109.]

[Footnote 265: P�re Brebeuf, _Relation de la Nouvelle France_;
Charlevoix; Lafitau. Catlin describes the same ceremonies.

It has been often said that the care taken by the Indians for the
deceased corpses of their ancestors was in consequence of a universally
received tradition that these corpses were to rise again to immortal
life.]




CHAPTER VIII.


In the warmer and milder climates of America, none of the rude tribes
were clothed; for them there was little need of defense against the
weather, and their extreme indolence indisposed them to any exertion not
absolutely necessary for their subsistence. Others were satisfied with a
very slight covering, but all delighted in ornaments. They dressed their
hair in different forms, stained their skins, and fastened bits of gold,
or shells, or bright pebbles in their noses and cheeks. They also
frequently endeavored to alter their natural form and feature; as soon
as an infant was born, it was subjected to some cruel process of
compression, by which the bones of the skull while still soft, were
squeezed into the shape of a cone, or flattened, or otherwise
distorted.[266] But in all efforts to adorn or alter their persons, the
great object was to inspire terror and respect. The warrior was
indifferent to the admiration of woman, whom he enslaved and despised,
and it was only for war or the council that he assumed his choicest
ornaments, and painted himself with unusual care. The decorations of the
women were few and simple; all those that were precious and splendid
were reserved for their haughty lords. In several tribes, the wives had
to devote much of their time to adorning their husbands, and could
bestow little attention upon themselves. The different nations remaining
unclothed show considerable sagacity in anointing themselves in such a
manner as to provide against the heat and moisture of the climate. Soot,
the juices of herbs having a green, yellow, or vermilion tint, mixed
with oil and grease, are lavishly employed upon their skin to adorn it
and render it impervious. By this practice profuse perspiration is
checked, and a defense is afforded against the innumerable and
tormenting insects that abound every where in America.[268] Black and
red are the favorite colors for painting the face. In war, black is
profusely laid on, the other colors being only used to heighten its
effect, and give a terrible expression to the countenance.[269] The
breast, arms, and legs of the Indian are tattooed with sharp needles or
pointed bones, the colors being carefully rubbed in. His Manitou, and
the animal chosen as the symbol of his tribe, are first painted, then
all his most remarkable exploits, and the enemies he has slain or
scalped, so that his body displays a pictorial history of his life.[270]

In the severe climate of the north the Indian's dress is somewhat more
ample. Instead of shoes he wears a strip of soft leather wrapped round
the foot, called the moccasin. Upward to the middle of the thigh, a
piece of leather or cloth, fitting closely, serves instead of pantaloons
and stockings: it is usually sewed on to the limb, and is never removed.
Two aprons, each about a foot square, are fastened to a girdle round the
waist, and hang before and behind. This is their permanent dress. On
occasions of ceremony, however, and in cold weather, they also wear a
short shirt, and over all a loose robe, closed or held together in
front. Now, an English blanket is generally used for this garment; but,
before the produce of European art was known among them, the skins of
wild animals furnished all their covering. The chiefs usually wear a
sort of breast-plate, covered with shells, pebbles, and pieces of
glittering metal. Those who communicate with Europeans display beads,
rings, bracelets, and other gauds instead. The ear, too, is cumbrously
ornamented with showy pendents, and the tuft of hair on the crown of the
head is interwoven with feathers, the wings of birds, shells, and many
fantastic ornaments. Sometimes the Indian warrior wears buffalo
horns,[271] reduced in size and polished, on his head: this, however, is
a distinction only for those renowned in war or in the council. The
dress of the women varies but little from that of the men, except in
being more simple. They wear their hair long and flowing, and richly
ornamented, whenever they can procure the means.

The dwellings of the Indians usually receive much less attention than
their personal appearance. Even among tribes comparatively far advanced
in civilization, the structure of their houses or cabans was very rude
and simple. They were generally wretched huts, of an oblong or circular
form, and sometimes so low that it was always necessary to preserve a
sitting or lying posture while under their shelter. There were no
windows; a large hole in the center of the roof allowed the smoke to
escape; and a sort of curtain of birch bark occupied the place of the
door. These dwellings are sometimes 100 feet long, when they accommodate
several families. Four cabans generally form a quadrangle, each open to
the inside, with the fire in the center common to all. The numerous and
powerful tribes formerly inhabiting Canada and its borders usually dwelt
in huts of a very rude description. In their expeditions, both for war
and the chase, the Indians erect temporary cabans in a remarkably short
space of time. A few poles, raised in the shape of a cone, and covered
with birch bark, form the roof, and the tops of pine branches make a
fragrant bed. In winter the snow is cleared out of the place where the
caban is to be raised, and shaped into walls, which form a shelter from
the wind. The permanent dwellings were usually grouped in villages,
surrounded with double and even triple rows of palisades, interlaced
with branches of trees, so as to form a compact barrier, and offering a
considerable difficulty to an assailing foe.

The furniture in these huts was very scanty. The use of metal being
unknown, the pots or vessels for boiling their food were made of coarse
earthen-ware, or of soft stone hollowed out with a hatchet. In some
cases they were made of wood, and the water was boiled by throwing in a
number of heated stones.

The Indian displays some skill in the construction of canoes, and they
are admirably adapted for his purpose. They are usually made of the bark
of a single tree, strengthened by ribs of strong wood. These light and
buoyant skiffs float safely on stormy or rapid waters under the
practiced guidance of the Indian, and can with ease be borne on his
shoulder from one river or lake to another. Canoes formed out of the
trunk of a large tree are also sometimes used, especially in winter, for
the purpose of crossing rivers when there is floating ice, their great
strength rendering them capable of enduring the collision with the
floating masses, to which they are liable.

Even among the rudest Indian tribes a regular union between man and wife
was universal, although not attended with ceremonials. The marriage
contract is a matter of purchase. The man buys his wife of her parents;
not with money, for its value is unknown, but with some useful and
precious article, such as a robe of bear or other handsome skin, a
horse, a rifle, powder and shot. When the Indian has made the bargain
with his wife's parents, he takes her home to his caban, and from that
time she becomes his slave. There are several singular modes of
courtship among some of the tribes, but generally much reserve and
consideration are exhibited.[272] In many respects, however, the morals
and manners of the Indians are such as might be expected in communities
where the precepts of Christianity are unknown, and where even the
artificial light of civilization is wanting. There are occasionally
instances of a divorce being resorted to from mere caprice; but,
usually, the marriage tie is regarded as a perpetual covenant. As the
wife toils incessantly, and procures a great part of the subsistence,
she is considered too valuable a servant to be lightly lost. Among the
chiefs of the tribes to the west and south, polygamy is general, and the
number of these wife-servants constitute the principal wealth; but among
the northern nations this plurality is very rarely possessed. The Indian
is seldom seen to bestow the slightest mark of tenderness upon his wife
or children: he, however, exerts himself to the utmost for their
welfare, and will sacrifice his life to avenge their wrongs. His
indomitable pride prompts him to assume an apparent apathy, and to
control every emotion of affection, suffering, or sorrow.

Parents perform few duties toward their children beyond procuring their
daily bread. The father is by turns occupied in war and the chase, or
sunk in total indolence, while the mother is oppressed by the toils of
her laborious bondage, and has but little time to devote to her maternal
cares. The infant is fastened to a board, cushioned with soft moss, by
thongs of leather, and is generally hung on the branch of a tree, or, in
traveling, carried on the mother's back.[273] When able to move, it is
freed from this confinement, and allowed to make its way about as it
pleases. It soon reaches some neighboring lake or river, and sports
itself in the water all day long. As the child advances in years it
enjoys perfect independence; it is rarely or never reproved or
chastised. The youths are early led to emulate the deeds of their
fathers; they practice with the bow, and other weapons suited to a
warrior's use; and, as manhood approaches, they gradually assume the
dignified gravity of the elders. In some tribes the young men must pass
through a dreadful ordeal when they arrive at the age of manhood, which
is supposed to prepare them for the endurance of all future sufferings,
and enables the chiefs to judge of their courage, and to select the
bravest among them to lead in difficult enterprises.

During four days previous to this terrible torture the candidates
observe a strict fast, and are denied all sleep. When the appointed day
arrives, certain strange ceremonies of an allegorical description are
performed, in which all the inhabitants of the village take part. The
candidates then repair to a large caban, where the chiefs and elders of
the tribe are assembled to witness the ordeal. The torture commences by
driving splints of wood through the flesh of the back and breasts of the
victim: he is next hoisted off the ground by ropes attached to these
splints, and suspended by the quivering flesh, while the tormentors
twist the hanging body slowly round, thus exquisitely enhancing the
agony, till a death-faint comes to the relief of the candidate: he is
then lowered to the ground and left to the care of the Great Spirit.
When he recovers animation, he rises and proceeds on his hands and feet
to another part of the caban: he there lays the little finger of the
left hand upon a buffalo skull, as a sacrifice to the Great Spirit, and
another Indian chops it off. The fore-finger is also frequently offered
up in the same manner: this mutilation does not interfere with the use
of the bow, the only weapon for which the left hand is required. Other
cruel tortures are inflicted for some time, and at length the wretched
victim, reeling and staggering from the intensity of his suffering,
reaches his own dwelling, where he is placed under the care of his
friends. Some of the famous warriors of the tribe pass through this
horrible ordeal repeatedly, and the oftener it is endured, the greater
is their estimation among their people. No bandages are applied to the
wounds thus inflicted, nor is any attention paid to their cure; but,
from the extreme exhaustion and debility caused by want of sustenance
and sleep, circulation is checked, and sensibility diminished; the
bleeding and inflammation are very slight, and the results are seldom
injurious.

The native tribes are engaged in almost perpetual hostility against each
other. War is the great occupation of savage life, the measure of merit,
the high road of ambition, and the source of its intensest
joy--revenge.[274] In war the Indian character presents the darkest
aspect; the finer and gentler qualities are vailed or dormant, and a
fiendish ferocity assumes full sway. It is waged to exterminate, not to
reduce. The enemy is assailed with treachery, and, if conquered, treated
with revolting cruelty. The glory and excitement of war are dear to the
Indian, but when the first drop of blood is shed, revenge is dearer
still. He thirsts to offer up the life of an enemy to appease the
departed spirit of a slaughtered friend. Thus each contest generates
another even more embittered than itself. The extension or defense of
the hunting-grounds is often a primary cause of hostility among the
native nations, and the increase of the power of their tribe by
incorporating with them such of the vanquished as they may spare from a
cruel death is another frequent motive. The savage pines and chafes in
long-continued peace, and the prudence of the aged can with difficulty
restrain the fierce impetuosity of the young. Individual quarrels and a
thirst for fame often lead a single savage to invade a hostile territory
against the counsels of his tribe; but, when war is determined by the
general voice, more enlarged views, and a desire of aggrandizement guide
the proceedings.

As soon as the determination of declaring war is formed, he who is
chosen by the nation as the chief enters on a course of solemn
preparation, entreating the aid and guidance of the Great Spirit. As a
signal of the approaching strife, he marches three times round his
winter dwelling, bearing a large blood-red flag, variegated with deep
tints of black. When this terrible emblem is seen, the young warriors
crowd around to hearken to the words of their chief. He then addresses
them in a strain of impassioned, but rude and ferocious eloquence,
calling upon them to follow him to glory and revenge. When he concludes
his oration, he throws a wampum belt on the ground, which is
respectfully lifted up by some warrior of high renown, who is judged
worthy of being second in command. The chief now paints himself black,
and commences a strict fast, only tasting a decoction of consecrated
herbs to assist his dreams, which are strictly noted and interpreted by
the elders. He then washes off the black paint. A huge fire is lighted
in a public place in the village, and the great war-caldron set to boil:
each warrior throws something into this vessel, and the allies who are
to join the expedition also send offerings for the same purpose. Lastly,
the sacred dog is sacrificed to the God of War, and boiled in the
caldron to form the chief dish at a festival, to which only the warriors
and men great in council are admitted.

During these ceremonies the elders watch the omens with deep anxiety,
and if the promise be favorable, they prepare for immediate departure.
The chief then paints himself in bright and varied colors, to render his
appearance terrible, and sings his war song, announcing the nature of
the projected enterprise. His example is followed by all the warriors,
who join a war-dance, while they proclaim with a loud voice the glory of
their former deeds, and their determination to destroy their enemies.
Each Indian now seizes his arms: the bow and quiver hang over the left
shoulder, the tomahawk from the left hand, and the scalping-knife[275]
is stuck in the girdle. A distinguished chief is appointed to take
charge of the Manitous or guardian powers of each warrior; they are
collected, carefully placed in a box, and accompany the expedition as
the ark of safety. Meanwhile the women incite the warriors to vengeance,
and eagerly demand captives for the torture, to appease the spirits of
their slaughtered relatives, or sometimes, indeed, to supply their
place. When the war party are prepared to start, the chief addresses his
followers in a short harangue; they then commence the march, singing,
and shouting the terrible war-whoop. The women proceed with the
expedition for some distance; and when they must return, exchange
endearing names with their husbands and relations, and express ardent
wishes for victory. Some little gift of affection is usually exchanged
at parting.

Before striking the first blow the Indians make open declaration of war.
A herald, painted black, is sent, bearing a red tomahawk, on one side of
which are inscribed figures representing the causes of hostilities. He
reaches the enemy's principal village at midnight, throws down the
tomahawk in some conspicuous place, and disappears silently. When once
warning is thus given, every stratagem that cunning can suggest is
employed for the enemy's destruction.

As long as the expedition continues in friendly countries, the warriors
wander about in small parties for the convenience of hunting, still,
however, keeping up communication by means of sounds imitating the cries
of birds and beasts. None ever fail to appear at the appointed place of
meeting upon the frontier, where they again hold high festival, and
consult the omens of their dreams. When they enter the hostile territory
a close array is observed, and a deep silence reigns. They creep on all
fours, walk through water, or upon the stumps of trees, to avoid leaving
any trace of their route. To conceal their numbers they sometimes march
in a long single file, each stepping on the foot-print of the man before
him. They sometimes even wear the hoofs of the buffalo or the paws of
the bear, and run for miles in a winding course to imitate the track of
those animals. Every effort is made to surprise the foe, and they
frequently lure him to destruction by imitating from the depths of the
forest the cries of animals of the chase.

If the expedition meet with no straggling party of the enemy, it
advances with cautious stealth toward some principal village; the
warriors creep on their hands and feet through the deep woods, and often
even paint themselves the color of dried leaves to avoid being perceived
by their intended victims. On approaching the doomed hamlet, they
examine it carefully, but rapidly, from some tree-top or elevated
ground, and again conceal themselves till nightfall in the thickest
covert. Strange to say, these subtle warriors neglect altogether the
security of sentinels, and are satisfied with searching the surrounding
neighborhood for hidden foes; if none be discovered, they sleep in
confidence, even when hostile forces are not far off. They weakly trust
to the protecting power of their Manitous. When they have succeeded in
reaching the village, and concealing themselves unobserved, they wait
silently, keeping close watch till the hour before dawn, when the
inhabitants are in the deepest sleep. Then crawling noiselessly, like
snakes, through the grass and underwood, till they are upon the foe, the
chief raises a shrill cry, and the massacre begins. Discharging a shower
of arrows, they finish the deadly work with the club and tomahawk. The
great object, however, of the conquerors is to take the enemy alive, and
reserve him to grace their triumph and rejoice their eyes by his
torture. When resistance is attempted, this is often impossible, and an
instant death saves the victim from the far greater horrors of captivity
and protracted torment. When an enemy is struck down, the victor places
his foot upon the neck of the dead or dying man, and with a horrible
celerity and skill tears off the bleeding scalp.[276] This trophy is
ever preserved with jealous care by the Indian warriors.

After any great success the war party always return to their villages,
more eager to celebrate the victory than to improve its advantages.
Their women and old men await their return in longing expectation. The
fate of the war is announced from afar off by well-known signs; the bad
tidings are first told. A herald advances to the front of the returning
party, and sounds a death-whoop for each of their warriors who has
fallen in the fray. Then, after a little time, the tale of victory is
told, and the number of prisoners and of the slain declared. All
lamentations are soon hushed, and congratulations and rejoicing succeed.
During the retreat, if the war party be not hard pressed by the enemy,
prisoners are treated with some degree of humanity, but are very closely
guarded. When the expedition has returned to the village, the old men,
women, and children form themselves into two lines; the prisoners are
compelled to pass between them, and are cruelly bruised with sticks and
stones, but not vitally injured by their tormentors.

A council is usually held to decide the fate of the prisoners: the
alternatives are, to be adopted into the conquering nation, and received
as brothers, or to be put to death in the most horrible torments, thus
either to supply the place of warriors fallen in battle, or to appease
the spirits of the departed by their miserable end. The older warriors
among the captives usually meet the hardest fate; the younger are most
frequently adopted by the women, their wounds are cured, and they are
thenceforth received in every respect as if they belonged to the tribe.
The adopted prisoners go out to war against their former countrymen,
and the new tie is held even more binding than the old.

The veteran warrior, whose tattooed skin bears record of slaughtered
enemies, meets with no mercy: his face is painted, his head crowned with
flowers as if for a festival, black moccasins are put upon his feet, and
a flaming torch is placed above him as the signal of condemnation. The
women take the lead in the diabolical tortures to which he is subjected,
and rage around their victim with horrible cries. He is, however,
allowed a brief interval to sing his death-song, and he often continues
it even through the whole of the terrible ordeal. He boasts of his great
deeds, insults his tormentors, laughing at their feeble efforts, exults
in the vengeance that his nation will take for his death, and pours
forth insulting reproaches and threats. The song is then taken up by the
woman to whose particular revenge he has been devoted. She calls upon
the spirit of her husband or son to come and witness the sufferings of
his foe. After tortures too various and horrible to be particularized,
some kind wound closes the scene in death, and the victim's scalp is
lodged among the trophies of the tribe. To endure with unshaken
fortitude[277] is the greatest triumph of an Indian warrior, and the
highest confusion to his enemies, but often the proud spirit breaks
under the pangs that rack the quivering flesh, and shouts of intolerable
agony reward the demoniac ingenuity of the tormentors.

Many early writers considered that the charge of cannibalism[278]
against the Indians was well founded: doubtless, in moments of fury,
portions of an enemy's flesh have been rent off and eaten. To devour a
foeman's heart is held by them to be an exquisite vengeance. They have
been known to drink draughts of human blood, and, in circumstances of
scarcity, they do not hesitate to eat their captives. It is certain that
all the terms used by them in describing the torture of prisoners relate
to this horrible practice; yet, as they are so figurative in every
expression, these may simply mean the fullest gratification of revenge.
The evidence upon this point is obscure and contradictory; the Indian
can not be altogether acquitted or found guilty of this foul imputation.

The brief peace that affords respite amid the continual wars of the
Indian tribes is scarcely more than a truce. Nevertheless, it is
concluded with considerable form and ceremony. The first advance toward
a cessation of hostilities is usually made through the chief of a
neutral power. The nation proposing the first overture dispatches some
men of note as embassadors, accompanied by an orator, to contract the
negotiation. They bear with them the calumet[279] of peace as the
symbol of their purpose, and a certain number of wampum belts[280] to
note the objects and conditions of the negotiation. The orator explains
the meaning of the belts to the hostile chiefs, and if the proposition
be received, the opposite party accept the proffered symbols, and the
next day present others of a similar import. The calumet is then
solemnly smoked, and the burial of a war hatchet for each party and for
each ally concludes the treaty. The negotiations consist more in
presents, speeches, and ceremonies, than in any demands upon each other;
there is no property to provide tribute, and the victors rarely or never
require the formal cession of any of the hunting-grounds of the
vanquished. The unrestrained passions of individuals, and the satiety of
long continued peace, intolerable to the Indian, soon again lead to the
renewal of hostility.

The successful hunter ranks next to the brave warrior in the estimation
of the savage. Before starting on his grand expeditions, he prepares
himself by a course of fasting, dreaming, and religious observances, as
if for war. He hunts with astonishing dexterity and skill, and regards
this pursuit rather as an object of adventure and glory than as an
industrious occupation.

With regard to cultivation and the useful arts, the Indians are in the
very infancy of progress.[283] Their villages are usually not less than
eighteen miles apart, and are surrounded by a narrow circle of
imperfectly-cleared land, slightly turned up with a hoe, or scraped with
pointed sticks,[284] scarcely interrupting the continuous expanse of
the forest. They are only acquainted with the rudest sorts of clay
manufactures, and the use of the metals (except by European
introduction) is altogether unknown.[285] Their women, however, display
considerable skill in weaving fine mats, in staining the hair of
animals, and working it into brilliant colored embroideries. The wampum
belts are made with great care and some taste. The calumet is also
elaborately carved and ornamented; and the painting and tattooing of
their bodies sometimes presents well-executed and highly descriptive
pictures and hieroglyphics. They construct light and elegant baskets
from the swamp cane, and are very skillful in making bows and arrows;
some tribes, indeed, were so rude as not to have attained even to the
use of this primitive weapon, and the sling was by no means generally
known.

Most of the American nations are without any fixed form of government
whatever. The complete independence of every man is fully recognized. He
may do what he pleases of good or evil, useful or destructive, no
constituted power interferes to thwart his will. If he even take away
the life of another, the by-standers do not interpose. The kindred of
the slain, however, will make any sacrifice for vengeance. And yet, in
the communities of these children of nature there usually reigns a
wonderful tranquillity. A deadly hostility exists between the different
tribes, but among the members comprising each the strictest union
exists. The honor and prosperity of his nation is the leading object of
the Indian. This national feeling forms a link to draw him closely to
his neighbor, and he rarely or never uses violence or evil speech
against a countryman. Where there is scarcely such a thing as individual
property, government and justice are necessarily very much simplified.
There exists almost a community of goods. No man wants while another has
enough and to spare. Their generosity knows no bounds. Whole tribes,
when ruined by disasters in war, find unlimited hospitality among their
neighbors; habitations and hunting-grounds are allotted to them, and
they are received in every respect as if they were members of the nation
that protects them.

As there is generally no wealth or hereditary distinction among this
people, the sole claim to eminence is founded on such personal qualities
as can only be conspicuous in war, council, or the chase. During times
of tranquillity and inaction all superiority ceases. Every man is
clothed and fares alike. Relations of patronage and dependence are
unknown. All are free and equal, and they perish rather than submit to
control or endure correction. During war, indeed, or in the chase, they
render a sort of obedience to those who excel in character and conduct,
but at other times no form of government whatever exists. The names of
magistrate and subject are not in their language. If the elders
interpose between man and man, it is to advise, not to decide. Authority
is only tolerated in foreign, not in domestic affairs.

Music and dancing express the emotions of the Indian's mind. He has his
songs of war and death, and particular moments of his life are appointed
for their recital. His great deeds and the vengeance he has inflicted
upon his enemies are his subjects; the language and music express his
passions rudely but forcibly. The dance[286] is still more important:
it is the grand celebration at every festival, and alternately the
exponent of their triumph, anger, or devotion. It is usually pantomimic,
and highly descriptive of the subject to which it is appropriate.

The Indians are immoderately fond of play as a means of excitement and
agitation. While gaming, they, who are usually so taciturn and
indifferent, become loquacious and eager. Their guns, arms, and all that
they possess are freely staked, and at times where all else is lost,
they will trust even their personal safety to the hazard of the
die.[287] The most barbarous of the tribes have unhappily succeeded in
inventing some species of intoxicating liquor: that from the root of the
maize was in general use; it is not disagreeable to the taste, and is
very powerful. When the accursed fire-water is placed before the
Indians, none can resist the temptation. The wisest, best, and bravest
succumb alike to this odious temptation: and when their unrestrained
passions are excited by drinking, they are at times guilty of enormous
outrages, and the scenes of their festivities often become stained with
kindred blood. The women are not permitted to partake of this fatal
pleasure; their duty is to serve the guests, and take care of their
husbands and friends when overpowered by the debauch. This exclusion
from a favorite enjoyment is evidence of the contempt in which females
are held among the Indians.

In the present day, he who would study the character and habits of these
children of Nature must travel far away beyond the Rocky Mountains,
where the murrain of perverted civilization has not yet spread. There he
may still find the virtues and vices of the savage, and lead among those
wild tribes that fascinating life of liberty which few have ever been
known to abandon willingly for the restraints and luxuries of
civilization and refinement.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 266: "The custom of squeezing and flattening the head is still
strictly adhered to among the Chinooks. The people bearing the name of
Flat Heads are very numerous, but very few among them actually practice
the custom. Among the Chinooks it is almost universal. The process is
thus effected: The child is placed on a thick plank, to which it is
lashed with thongs to a position from which it can not escape, and the
back of the head supported by a sort of pillow made of moss or
rabbit-skins, with an inclined piece resting on the forehead of the
child. This is every day drawn down a little tighter by means of a cord,
which holds it in its place, until at length it touches the nose, thus
forming a straight line from the crown of the head to the end of the
nose. This process is seemingly a cruel one, though I doubt whether it
causes much pain, as it is done in earliest infancy, while the bones are
soft and cartilaginous, and easily pressed into this distorted shape by
forcing the occipital up and the frontal down, so that the skull at the
top in profile will show a breadth of not more than an inch and a half
or two inches, when in a front view it exhibits a great expansion on the
sides, making it at the top nearly the width of one and a half natural
heads. By this remarkable operation the brain is singularly changed from
its natural state, but in all probability not in the least diminished or
injured in its natural functions. This belief is drawn from the
testimony of many credible witnesses who have closely scrutinized them,
and ascertained that those who have the head flattened are in no way
inferior in intellectual powers to those whose heads are in their
natural shapes. This strange custom existed precisely the same until
recently among the Choctaws and Chickasaws, who occupied a large part of
the states of Mississippi and Alabama, where they have laid their bones,
and hundreds of their skulls have been procured, bearing marks of a
similar treatment, with similar results."--Catlin's _American Indians_,
vol. ii., p. 112.

With respect to the origin of this singular custom, Humboldt is inclined
to think that it may be traced from the natural inclination of each race
to look upon their own personal peculiarities as the standard of beauty.
He observes that the pointed form of the heads is very striking in the
Mexican drawings, and continues thus: "If we examine osteologically the
skulls of the natives of America, we see that there is no race on the
globe in which the frontal bone is more flattened or which have less
forehead.[267] (Blumenbach, _Decas Quinta Craniorum_, tab. xlvi., p. 14,
1808.) This extraordinary flattening exists among people of the
copper-colored race, who have never been acquainted with the custom of
producing artificial deformities, as is proved by the skulls of Mexican,
Peruvian, and Aztec Indians, which M. Bonpland and myself brought to
Europe, and several of which are deposited in the Museum of Natural
History at Paris. The negroes prefer the thickest and most prominent
lips, the Calmucks perceive the line of beauty in turned-up noses. M.
Cuvier observes (_Le�ons d'Anatomie Compar�e_, tom. ii., p. 6) that the
Grecian artists, in the statues of heroes, raised the facial line from
85� to 100�, or beyond the natural form. I am led to think that the
barbarous custom, among certain savage tribes in America, of squeezing
the heads of children between two planks, arises from the idea that
beauty consists in this extraordinary compression of the bone by which
Nature has characterized the American race. It is no doubt from
following this standard of beauty that even the Aztec people, who never
disfigured the heads of their children, have represented their heroes
and principal divinities with heads much flatter than any of the Caribs
I saw on the Lower Orinoco."--Humboldt's _Researches on the Ancient
Inhabitants of America_.]

[Footnote 267: "L'anatomie compar�e en offre une autre confirmation dans
la proportion constante du volume des lobes c�r�brales avec le degr�
d'intelligence des animaux."--Cuvier's _Report to the Institute on
Flouren's Experiments in 1822_.]

[Footnote 268: "Ces huiles leur sont absolument n�cessaires, et ils sont
mang�s de vermine quand elles leur manquent."--Lafitau, tom. i., p. 59.

It is supposed by Volney that the fatal effects of the small-pox among
the Indians are to be attributed to the obstacle that a skin thus
hardened opposes to the eruption.--P. 416. In the most detailed account
given of the ravages of this disease, Catlin particularly mentions that
no eruption was visible in any of the bodies of the dead. Forster, the
English translator of Professor Kalm's _Travels in America_, held the
same opinion as Volney.

"When the Kalmucks in the Russian dominions get the small-pox, it has
been observed that very few escape. Of this, I believe, no other reason
can be alleged than that the small-pox is always dangerous, either when
the open pores of the skin are too numerous, which is caused by opening
them in a warm-water bath, or when they are too much closed, which is
the case with all the nations that are dirty and greasy. All the
American Indians rub their body with oils; the Kalmucks rub their bodies
and their fur coats with grease; the Hottentots are also, I believe,
patterns of filthiness: this shuts up all the pores, hinders
perspiration entirely, and makes the small-pox always fatal among these
nations."--_Note_ by the translator of Kalm, p. 532.

"The ravages which the small-pox made this year (1750) among their
Mohawk friends was a source of deep concern to these revered
philanthropists. These people having been accustomed from early
childhood to anoint themselves with bear's grease, to repel the
innumerable tribes of noxious insects in summer, and to exclude the
extreme cold ill winter, their pores are so completely shut up that the
small-pox does not rise upon them, nor have they much chance of recovery
from any acute disorder."--_Memoirs of an American Lady_, vol. i., p.
322.]

[Footnote 269: M. de Tracy, when governor of Canada, was told by his
Indian allies that, with his good-humored face, he would never inspire
the enemy with any degree of awe. They besought him to place himself
under their brush, when they would soon make him such that his very
aspect would strike terror.--Creuxius, _Nova Francia_, p. 62;
Charlevoix, tom, vi., p. 40.]

[Footnote 270: St. Isidore of Seville, and Solinus, give a similar
description of the manner of painting the body in use among the Picts.
"The operator delineates the figures with little points made by the
prick of a needle, and into those he insinuates the juice of some native
plants, that their nobility, thus written, as it were, upon every limb
of their body, might distinguish them from ordinary men by the number of
the figures they were decorated with."--Isidor., _Origin_, lib. xix.,
cap. xxiii.; Solin., _De Magn� Britanni�_, cap. xxv.]

[Footnote 271: "These horns are made of about a third part of the horn
of a buffalo bull, the horn having been split from end to end, and a
third part of it taken, and shaved thin and light, and highly polished.
They are attached to the top or the head-dress on each side, in the same
place as they rise and stand on the head of a buffalo, rising out of a
mat of ermine skins and tails, which hangs over the top of the
head-dress somewhat in the form that the large and profuse locks of hair
hang and fall over the head of a buffalo bull. This custom is one which
belongs to all northeastern tribes, and is no doubt of very ancient
origin, having purely a classic meaning. No one wears the head-dress
surmounted with horns except the dignitaries who are very high in
authority, and whose exceeding valor, worth, and power is admitted by
all the nation. This head-dress is used only on certain occasions, and