Indeed I doe not wonder if a people poore and naked bee theeuish but when the heart is malicious it is vnexcusable This people is such that they must be handled with terrour for if through loue and gentlenesse one giue them too free accesse they will practise some surprise as it hath beene knowen in diuers occasions heeretofore and will yet heereafter beseene And without deferring any longer the second day after our comming thither as they saw our people busie awishing linnen they came some fifty one following another with bowes arrowes and quiuers intending to play some bad part as it was coniectured vpon their maner of proceeding but they were preuented some of our men going to meet them with their muskets and matches at the cocke which made some of them run away and the others being compassed in hauing put downe their weapons came to a Peninsule or small head of an Iland where our men were and making a friendly shew demanded to trucke the Tabacco they had for our merchandises The next day the Captaine of the said place and Port came into Monsieur De Poutrincourts barke to see him we did maruell to see him accompanied with Olmechin seeing the way was maruellous long to come thither by land and much shorter by sea That gaue cause of bad suspition albeit he had promised his loue to the Frenchmen Notwithstanding they were gently receiued And Monsieur De Poutrincourt gaue to the said Olmechin a complet garment wherewith being clothed he viewed himselfe in a glasse and did laugh to see himselfe in that order But a little while after feeling that the same hindred him although it was in October when he was returned vnto his Cabins he distributed it to sundry of his men to the end that one alone should not be ouerpestered with it This ought to be a sufficient lesson to so many finnical both men and women of these parts who cause their garments and brest-plates to be made as hard and stiffe as wood wherein their bodies are so miserably tormented that they are in their clothes vnable to all good actions And if the weather be too hot they suffer in their great bummes with a thousand folds vnsupportable heats that are more vntolerable than the torments which felons and criminall men are sometimes made to feele Now during the time that the said Monsieur De Poutrincourt was there being in doubt whether Monsieur De Monts would come to make an habitation on that coast as he wished it he made there a peece of ground to be tilled for to sow corne and to plant vines which they did with the helpe of our Apothecary Master Lewes Hebert a man who besides his experience in his art taketh great delight in the tilling of the ground And the said Monsieur De Poutrincourt may be heere compared to good father Noah who after he had made the tillage most necessarie for the sowing of corne he began to plant the vine whose effects he felt afterwards As they were a deliberating to passe farther Olmechin came to the Barke to see Monsieur De Poutrincourt where hauing taried certaine houres either in talking or eating he said that the next day 100. boates should come containing euery one six men but the comming of such a number of men being but troublesome Monsieur De Poutrincourt would not tarry for them but went away the same day to Malebarre not without much difficultie by reason of the great streames and sholds that are there So that the Barke hauing touched at three foot of water onely we thought to be cast away and we began to vnlade her and put the victuals into the Shaloup which was behinde for to saue vs on land but being no full sea the barke came aflote within an houre All this Sea is a land ouerflowed as that of Mount Saint Michels a sandy ground in which all that resteth is a plaine flat country as far as the Mountaines which are seene 15. leagues off from that place And I am of opinion that as far as Virginia it is all alike Moreouer there is heere great quantity of grapes as before and a country very full of people Monsieur De Monts being come to Malebarre in an other season of the yeare gathered onely greene grapes which he made to be preserued and brought some to the King But it was our good hap to come thither in October for to see the maturity thereof I haue heere before shewed the difficulty that is found in entering into Malebarre This is the cause why Monsieur De Poutrincourt came not in with his Barke but went thither with a shaloup onely which thirty or forty Sauages did helpe to draw in and when it was full tide but the tide doth not mount heere but two fadames high which is seldome seene he went out and retired himselfe into his said barke to passe further in the morning as soone as hee should ordaine it CHAP. XV. Dangers vnknowen languages the making of a forge and of an ouen Crosses set vp plenty a conspiracy disobedience murther the flight of three hundred against tenne the agility of the Armouchiquois bad company dangerous the accident of a Musket that did burst the insolency of the Sauages their timorosity impiety and flight the fortunate Port a bad sea reuenge the counsell and resolution for the returne new perils Gods fauours the arriuall of Monsieur De Poutrincourt at Port Royall and how he was receiued THe night beginning to giue place to the dawning of the day the sailes are hoised vp but it was but a very perilous nauigation For with this small vessell they were forced to coast the land where they found no depth going backe to sea it was yet woorse in such wise that they did strike twice or thrice being raised vp againe onely by the waues and the rudder was broken which was a dreadfull thing In this extremity they were constrained to cast anker in the sea at two fadams deepe and three leagues off from the land Which being done Daniel Hay a man which taketh pleasure in shewing foorth his vertue in the perils of the sea was sent towards the Coast to view it and see if there were any Port. And as he was neere land he saw a Sauage which did daunce singing yo yo yo he called him to come neerer and by signes asked him if there were any place to retire ships in and where any fresh water was The Sauage hauing made signe there was he tooke him into his shaloup and brought him to the Barke wherein was Chkoudun Captaine of the riuer of Oigoudi otherwise Saint Iohns riuer who being brought before this Sauage he vnderstood him no more than did our owne people true it is that by signes he comprehended better than they what he would say This Sauage shewed the places where no depth was and where was any and did so well indenting and winding heere
in the mouth against the Squinancie and against the biting of serpents It hath long leaues drawing in colour to a dark greene and produceth a black roote from which liquor is drawen as well as from the leaf Strabo saith that the like case hapned to the army that Aelius Gallus brought into Arabia by the commission of Augustus the Emperor And the like also chanced to king S. Lewes his armie in Egypt as the Lord de Ioinuille reporteth Other effects of bad waters are seene neere vnto vs to wit in Sauoy where the women more than men because they are of a colder constitution haue commonly swellings in their throats as bigge as bottels Next to waters the aire is also one of the fathers and ingenderes of this sicknes in boggy and watrish places and opposit to the South which is most often rainy But there is yet in New France another bad quality of the aire by reason of lakes that be thicke there and of the great rottennes in the woods whose odour the bodies hauing drawen vp during the raines of Autumne and winter easily are ingendred the corruptions of the mouth and swelling in the legges before spoken and a cold entreth vnsensibly into it which benummeth the limbes stifneth the sinewes constraineth to creepe with cruches and in the end to keepe the bed And for as much as the windes doe participate with the aire yea are an aire running with a more vehement force than ordinary and in this quality haue great power ouer the health and sicknesses of men we will speake some thing of it not for all that straying ourselues from the sequell of our historie The Easterly winde called by the Latins Subsolanus is held for the healthfullest of all and for that cause wise builders giue aduice to set their buildings towards the aspect of the East The opposit to it is the winde called Fauorinus or Zephirus which our Sea-men doe name West which in these parts is milde fructifying The Southern winde called Auster by the Latines is in Affrica hot and drie But in crossing the Mediterranian sea it gathereth a great moistnes which maketh it stormy and putrifying in Prouence and Languedoc The opposite to it is the Northern winde otherwise called Boreas Bize Tramontane which is colde and drie chaseth the cloudes and sweepeth the airie region It is taken for the holsommest next to the East winde But these qualities of the winde found and noted in these parts make not one generall rule thorow ouer all the earth For the North-winde beyond the Equinoctiall line is not colde as in these parts nor the South-winde hot because that by a long crossing they borrow the qualities of the regions thorow which they passe besides that the South-winde at his first issue is cooling according to the report of those that haue trauelled in Affrica In like maner there be regions in Perou as in Lima and the plaines where the North-winde is vnholsome and noysome And thorow all that coast which is aboue 500. leagues in length they take the South-winde for a sound and fresh cooling winde and which more is most milde and pleasant yea also that it doth neuer raine by it according to that which Ioseph Acosta writeth of it cleane contrary to that we see in this our part of Europe And in Spaine the East-winde which we haue said to be sound the same Acosta saith that it is noisome and vnsound The winde called Circius which is the North-west is so stormie and boistrous in the Westerly shores of Norwege that if there be any which vndertaketh any voyage that way when that winde bloweth he must make account to be lost and cast away And this winde is so colde in that region that it suffereth not any tree small or great to grow there So that for want of wood they must serue thēselues with the bones of great fishes to seeth or rost their meats which discommodity is not in these parts In like sort we haue had experience in New France that the North-winds are not for health And the North-east which are the colde strong sharpe and stormy Aquilons yet worse which our sicke folkes and they that had wintred there the former yeare did greatly feare because that likely some of them drooped away when that winde blew for indeed they had some sensible feeling of this winde As we see those that bee subiect to ruptures endure great pangs when that the South-winde doth blow And as we see the very beasts to prognosticate by some signes the change of weather This noisome qualitie of winde proceedeth in my iudgement from the nature of the countrie thorow which it passeth which as we haue said is full of lakes and those very great which be as it were standing and still waters Whereto I adde the exhalation of the rottennesse of woods that this winde bringeth and that in so much greater quantitie as the North-west part is great large and spacious The seasons are also to be marked in this disease which I haue not seene nor heard of that it beginnes to work neither in the spring time Summer nor Autumne vnlesse it be at the end of it but in Winter And the cause thereof is that as the growing heat of the Spring maketh the humours closed vp in the winter to disperse themselues to the extremities of the body and so cleareth it from melancholy and from the noisome humors that haue beene gathered in Winter so the Autumne as the Winter approcheth draweth them inward and doth nourish this melancholie and blacke humor which doth abound specially in this season and the Winter being come sheweth foorth his effects at the costs and griefe of the poore patients Galen yeldeth a reason for the same saying that the humors of the bodie hauing beene parched by the burning of the Summer that which may rest of it after the heat is expulsed becommeth foorthwith colde and drie That is to say colde by the priuation of the heat and drie in as much as in the drying of these humors all the moistnesse that was therein hath been consumed And thereby it commeth that sickenesses are bred in this season and the farther one goeth the weaker nature is and the vntemperate coldnesse of the aire being entred into a bodie alreadie thereto disposed doth handle it as it were at a becke and at will without pitie I would adde willingly to all the foresaid causes the bad foode of the sea which in a long voiage brings much corruption in mans bodie For one must of necessity after foure or fiue daies liue of salt meate or to bring sheepe aliue and store of poultry but this is but for Masters and Commanders in ships and we had none in our voyage but for to reserue and multiplie in the land whither we did go The mariners then and passengers doe suffer discommoditie as well in the bread as in meat and drinke the biskit
bringing vp of children of the Women of our time of the ancient Germain Women CHAP. IIII. Of the loue towards Children the Sauage Women loue their children more then the Women of these parts vse to do and the cause why wherein New France is profitable to the ancient France Possession of the land CHAP. V. Of Religion the origine of Idolatrie he which worshipeth nothing is more capable of Christian Religion than an idolater the Canadians Religion People easie to be conuerted the Astorgie and impietie of the Christians of this day the giuing of foode and teaching of Arts is the meanes to conuert Sauage people of the name of God of certaine Sauages already Christians in minde the Religion of the Sauages in Virginia fabulous tales concerning the Resurrection the Simulachers of gods the Floridians religion the error of Belle-forest the Cosmographer the worshipping of the Sunne the kissing of hands the Brasilians vexed by the diuell they haue some obscure knowledge of the generall floud and of some Christian which anciently hath beene among them CHAP. VI. Of the Soothsà iers and Aoutmoins of Priesthood the Idols of the Mexicans the Indian Priests are Phisicions withall pretence of Religion the Aoutmoins subtilties how they call vpon diuels songs to the praises of the diuell the Sabbath of the Sauages Bonefiers vpon Saint Iohns daies Vrim and Thummim the office of Priesthood successiue of the Caraibes deceiuers like to the sacrificers of the Idoll Bell. CHAP. VII Of the Language the Indians be all diuided in languages time bringeth an alteration in the toungs the conformity of them the causes of the change of tongues since when the trade of Beuers hath beene the Sauages pronunciation of the ancient Hebrewes Greeks Latines and of the Parisians the Sauages haue particular tongues not vnderstood by New found land men the Sauages maner of reckoning CHAP. VIII Of learning the inuention of letters is admirable the ancient Germains were without letters the letters and Sciences were among the Gaullois before that either the Greeks or Latins had them the Sarronides were in the old times Diuines and Philosophers among the Gaullois the Bardes were Poets thereuerence that was vsed towards them the reuerence of Mars towards the Muses the king his eldest daughter the Basilicke fastned in the temple of Apollo CHAP. IX Of Clothes and of Haires to what end Garments were made the nakednesse of the ancient Picts of the moderne Aethiopians of the Brasilians the Sauages of New France more honest their Cloakes of skins the ancient Hercules his garment of the ancient Germains of the Gothes the Shooing and Hoseing of the Sauages the couering of the head the Haires of the Hebrewes Gaullois Gothes the Ordinance for the Priests to weare Hats Shauen men CHAP. X. Of the shape and dexterity of the Sauages Mans forme is the most perfit the violence done to Nature the Brasilians be short nosed The rest of the Sauages be handsome men halfe dwarfes the Patagons be Gyants The fauour of the Sauages the description of the Westerly flies Why the Americans are not blacke From whence proceedes the heat of Affrica And the coolenesse of America being in the selfesame degree Of the colour of the haires and of the beard When the Romans began to weare beardes ihe Sauages are not hairy Hairy women The ancient Gaullois and Germans had their haires yellow like gold Their lookes voices eies The women shrew The eies of the men of Taprobane of the Sauages and Scythians Of the lips Monstruous bodies The agility of the body What the Naires of Malebaris doe for to be nimble What people haue agility The Indians skilfulnesse in swimming A sharpe sight The Sauages sense of smelling Their hatred against the Spaniards CHAP. XI Of the ornaments of the body Of the painting of the Hebrewes Romans Affricans c. ancient Englishmen Picts Gothes c. West-Indians Of the markes razings and incisions on their flesh Of the markes of the ancient Hebrewe Tyrons and Christians The reproouing of the painting of the face and other paintings of the body CHAP. XII Of the outward ornaments The two Tyrants of our life The superfluity of the ancient Rome The excesse of Ladies of their wiers and periwigges Colouring of haires Eare-rings Bracelets garters buskins and shooes What pearles are Matachiaz Vignols Esurgni Carkanets of iron and of gold CHAP. XIII Of mariage The Iewes custome The widdowes do blacken their faces the prostituting of Maidens the continency of the Souriquois women the maner to make sute to a maid for mariage the prostituting of maidens in Brasill of the Pox the cure thereof the chastitie of the ancient German women reason for the Sauages continency the Floridians doe loue women Ithyphalles Degrees of consanguinity The Gaulloise women fruitfull Poligamy without Iealousie Diuorce What a man ought to doe hauing a bad wife Abstinency of the widowes The Infidels haue whoredome in abomination CHAP. XIIII Of the Sauages Tabagie or banquet The manner of liuing of the Sauages of the hether lands How the Armouchiquois vse and serue themselues with their Corne the ancient Italians did the like the assembly of the Sauages making their Tabagy the women eat by themselues the honour giuen to women amongst the ancient Gaullois and Germans the bad condition of them among the Romans What they haue beene that haue established the Roman Empire the manner of liuing of the ancient Romans Tartarians Moschouites Getulians Germans Aethiopians of Saint Iohn Baptist of Aemilian Traian Adrian and of the Sauages Salt not altogether necessary the Sauages doe sometimes suffer want their superstition Of their gluttony and of Hercules the Brasilians food Anthropophagy Strange prostituting of maidens communalty of life the Sauages Hospitality of the Gaullois and Germans Of drinking the sirst Romans had no vines the Beere of the ancient Gaullois and Aegyptians the ancient Germans did hate wine How wine is necessary Tabacco the drinking one to another the drinke of the Floridians and Brasilians Hidromel CHAP. XV. Of dances and songes The origine of dances in the honour of God dances and songes in the honour of Apollo Neptune Mars of the Sonne of the Salians Praesul Socrates dance The dances turned into bad vse How much dangerous All Sauages doe vse dancing To what end Orpheus his foolish song Why we sing to God The songes of the Souriquois Of holy people Of the Gaullois Bardes Sonnets made by the commandement of Charolus Magnus The song of the Lacedemonians The dances and songes of the Sauages The orations of their Captaines CHAP. XVI Of the disposition of the body Phthisie The sweatinges of the Sauages the Phisitions and Chirurgions of the Floridians Brasilians and Souriquois Cures made by Charmes A maruellous report of the despising of griefe Triall of constancy Suffering of torments for the honour of Diana and of the Sun the long liues of the Sauages the causes thereof and of the shortning of our daies CHAP XVII The mens exercices of Bowes and arrowes Maces
and lodgings as you shall know to be fit profitable and necessarie for the performing of the said enterprise To establish garrisons and souldiers for the keeping of them To aide and serue you for the effects aboue said with the vagrant idle persons and masterlesse as well out of townes as of the countrie and with them that be condemned to perpetuall banishment or for three yeeres at the least out of our Realme Prouided alwaies that it be done by the aduice consent and authoritie of our officers Ouer and besides that which is aboue mentioned and that which is moreouer prescribed commanded and ordained vnto you by the commissions and powers which our most deare cosen the Lord of Ampuille Admirall of France hath giuen vnto you for that which concerneth the affaires and the charge of the Admiraltie in the exploit expedition and executing of the things aboue said to doe generally whatsoeuer may make for the conquest peopling inhabiting and preseruation of the said land of La Cadia and of the coastes territories adioining and of their appurtenances and dependencies vnder our name and authoritie whatsoeuer our selues would might doe if we were there present in person although that the case should require a more speciall order then we prescribe vnto you by these Presents To the contents whereof wee command ordaine and most expreslie doe enioine all our Iusticers officers and subiects to conforme themselues And to obey and giue attention vnto you in all and euery the things abouesaid their circumstances and dependencies Also to giue vnto you in the executing of them all such aid and comfort helpe and assistance as you shall haue need of and whereof they shall be by you required and this vpon paine of disobedience and rebellion And to the end no body may pretend cause of ignorance of this our intention and to busie himselfe in all or in part of the charge dignitie and authoritie which we giue vnto you by these presents Wee haue of our certaine knowledge full power and regall authoritie reuoked suppressed and declared voide and of none effect heereafter and from this present time al other powers and commissions letters and expeditions giuen and deliuered to any person soeuer for to discouer people and inhabite in the foresaid extention of the said lands situated from the said 40 degree to the 46 whatsoeuer they be And furthermore we command and ordaine all our said officers of what qualitie condition soeuer they be that after these Presents or the duplicate of them shall be duely examined by one of our beloued and trusty Counsellers Notaries and Secretaries or other Notarie Royall they doe vpon your request demand and sute or vpon the sute of any our Atturneis cause the same to be read published and recorded in the records of their Iurisdictions powers and precincts seeking as much as shall appertaine vnto them to quiet and appease all troubles and hinderances which may contradict the same For such is our pleasure Giuen at Fountain-Bleau the 8 day of Nouember in the yeere ofour Lord 1603 And of our reigne the 15. Signed HENRY and vnderneath by the King Potier And sealed vpon single labell with yellow waxe CHAP. II. The voyage of Monsieur De Monts into New France what accidents hapned in the said voyage The causes of the Icie banks in New found land The imposing of names to certaine Ports The perplexitie wherein they were by reason of the stay of the other ship MOnsieur De Monts hauing made the Commissions and Prohibitions before said to be proclaimed thorow the Realme of France and especially thorow the Ports and maritime townes thereof caused two ships to be rigged and furnished the one vnder the conduct of captaine Timothy of New-hauen the other of captaine Morell of Honfleur In the first he shipped himselfe with good number of men of account as well Gentlemen as others And forasmuch as Monsieur De Poutrincourt was and had beene of a long time desirous to see those countries of New France and there to finde out and chuse some fit place to retire himselfe into with his familie wife and children not meaning to be the last that should follow and participate in the glory of so faire and generous an enterprise would needs goe thither and shipped himselfe with the said Monsieur De Monts carrying with him some quantitie of armours and munitions of warre and so weighed anckers from New-hauen the seuenth day of March 1604. But being departed somewhat too soone before the Winter had yet left off her frozen weed they found store of Icie banks against the which they were in danger to strike and so to be cast away But God which hitherto hath prospered the nauigation of these voiages preserued them One might wonder and not without cause why in the same parallel there is more Ice in this sea than in that of France Whereunto I answer that the Ices that be found in those seas are not originary frō the same climate but rather come from the Northerly parts driuen without any let thorow the vast of this great sea by the waues stormes and boisterous flouds which the Easterly and Northerly windes doe cause in Winter and Spring time and driue them towards the South and West But the French seas are sheltered by Scotland England and Ireland which is the cause that the Ices cannot fall into it An other reason also might be alleaged and that is the motion of the sea which beareth more towards those parts because of the larger course that it maketh towards America than towards the lands of these our parts The perill of this voyage was not onely in the meeting of the said bankes of Ice but also in the stormes that vexed them One of them they had that brake the galleries of the ship And in these turmoiles a Ioyner was caried away by a sea or flash of water to the next doore of death ouerboord but he held himselfe fast at a tackling which by chance hung out of the said shippe The voyage was long by reason of contrarie windes which seldome hapneth to them that set out in March for the New found lands which are ordinarilie caried with an East or Northren winde fit to goe to those lands And hauing taken their course to the South of the I le of Sand or Sablon or Sand for to shunne the said Ices they almost fell from Caribdis into Scylla going to strike towards the said Ile during the thicke mists that are frequent in that sea In the end the sixt of May they came to a certain Port where they found captaine Rossignol of New-hauen who did trucke for skins with the Sauages contrarie to the Kings inhibitions which was the cause that his ship was confiscated This Port was called Le Port du Rossignol hauing in this his hard fortune this onely good that a good and fit Harborough or Port in those coasts beareth his name From thence coasting and
it than other more Southerly nations Witnesse the Hollanders Frizeland men and other thereabout amongst whom the said Hollanders doe write in their nauigations that going to the East Indies many of them were taken with the same disease being vpon the coast of Guinie a dangerous coast bearing a pestiferous aire a hundred leagues farre in the sea And the same I meane the Hollanders being in the yeere 1606 gone vpon the coast of Spaine to keepe the same coast and to annoy the Spanish Nauie were constrained to with-draw themselues by reason of this disease hauing cast into the sea two and twentie of their dead And if one will heare the witnesse of Olaus magnus writing of the Northerly Nations of which part himselfe was let him hearken to his report which is this There is saith he yet an other martiall sicknesse that is a sicknesse that afflicteth them which follow the warres which tormenteth and afflicteth them that are besieged such whose limbes thickned by a certaine fleshy heauinesse and by a corrupted bloud which is betweene the flesh and the skinne dilating it selfe like wax they sinke with the least impression made on them with the finger and disioineth the teeth as ready to fall out changeth the white colour of the skinne into blew and causeth a benumming with a distaste to take Physicke and that disease is called in the vulgar tongue of the countrey Sorbut in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per aduenture because of this putrifying softnesse which is vnder the skinne which seemeth to proceede of indigesting and salt meats and to be continued by the cold exhalation of the walles But it shall not haue so much force where the houses are inward wainscotted with boords If it continue longer it must be driuen out by taking euery day wormwood as one expelleth out the roote of the stone by a decoction of stale Beere drunke with butter The same Author doth yet say in an other place a thing much to be noted In the beginning saith he they sustaine the siege with force but in the end the Souldier being by continuance weakned they take away the prouisions from the inuaders by artificiall meanes subtilties and ambushments specially the sheepe which they carry away and make them to grase in grassie places of their houses for feare that through want of fresh meats they fall into the lothsomest sicknesse of all sicknesses called in the country language Sorbut that is to say a wounded stomacke dried by cruell torments and long anguishes for the cold and indigesting meats greedily taken seeme to be the true cause of this sicknesse I haue delighted my selfe to recite heere the very words of this Author because he speaketh thereof as being skilfull and setteth foorth sufficiently enough the land disease of New France sauing that he maketh no mention of the stiffening of the hammes nor of a superfluous flesh which groweth and aboundeth within the mouth and that if one thinke to take it away it increaseth still but well speaketh he of the bad stomacke For Monsieur De Poutrincourt made a Negroe to be opened that died of that sicknesse in our voyage who was found to haue the inward parts very sound except the stomacke that had wrinckles as though they were vlcered And as for the cause proceeding from salt meats it is verie true there are many other causes concurring which feed and entertaine this sicknesse Amongst which I will place in generall the bad food comprehending with it the drinks then the vice of the aire of the countrey and after the euill disposition of the bodie leauing the Physicians to sift it out more curiously Whereunto Hippocrates saith that the Physicion ought also carefully to take heed in considering the seasons the windes the aspects of the Sunne the waters the land it selfe the nature and situation of it the nature of men their maner of liuing and exercise As for the food this sicknesse is caused by cold meats without iuice grosse and corrupted One must then take heed of salt meats smokie mustie raw and of an euill sent likewise of dried fishes as New-found land fish and stinking Raies Briefly from all melancholy meates which are of hard digesting are easily corrupted and breed a grosse and melancholie bloud I would not for all that be so scrupulous as the Physicians which do put in the number of grosse and melancholie meates Beeuesflesh Beares wilde Bores and Hogges flesh they might as well adde vnto them Beuers flesh which notwithstanding we haue found very good as they do amongst fishes the Tons Dolphins all those that carie lard among the birds the Hernes Duckes and all other water birds for in being an ouer curious obseruator of these things one might fall into the danger of staruing and to die for hunger They place yet among the meats that are to be shunned bisket beanes and pulse the often vsing of miâ—ke cheese the grosse and harsh wine and that which is too small white wine and the vse of vineger Beere which is not well sodden nor well scummed and that hath not hoppes enow Also waters that runne thorow rotten wood and those of lakes and bogges still and corrupted waters such as is much in Holland and Frizeland where is obserued that they of Amsterdam are more subiect to paulfies and stifning of sinewes than they of Roterdam for the abouesaid cause of still and sleepie waters which besides doe ingender dropfies dysenteries fluxes quarten agues and burning feuers swellings vlcers of the lights shortnesse of breath ruptures in children swelling in the veines sores in the legges finally they wholly belong to the disease whereof we speake being drawen by the spleene where they leaue all their corruption Sometimes this sicknesse doth also come by a vice which is euen in waters of running fountaines as if they be among or neere bogges or if they issue from a muddie ground or from a place that hath not the Suns aspect So Pliny reciteth that in the voiage which the prince Caesar Germanicus made into Germany hauing giuen order to his armie to passe the riuer of Rhine to the end to get still forward in the countrie he did set his campe on the sea shore vpon the coast of Frizeland in a place where was but one onely fountaine of fresh water to be found which notwithstanding was so pernicious that all they that dranke of it lost their teeth in lesse than two yeeres space and had their knees so weake and disiointed that they could not beare themselues Which is verily the sicknesse whereof we speake which the Physicians doe call Stomaccacè that is to say mouthes sore and Scelotyrbè which is as much to say as the shaking of thighs and legs And it was not possible to finde any remedie but by the meanes of an hearbe called Britannica or Scuruie-grasse which besides is very good for the sinewes against the sores and accidents
becommeth dampish and rotten the fishes that are giuen them alike and the waters stincking they which carie sweet meates be it flesh or fruits and that vse good bread good wine and good brothes do easily auoide those sicknesses and I durst in some sort be answerable vnto them for their healthes vnlesse they be very vnhealthfull by nature And when I consider that this disease is as well taken in Holland Frizeland in Spaine and in Guinie as in Canada I am brought to beleeue that the chiefe cause thereof is in that which I haue said and not peculiar nor particular to New France After all these causes and considerations it is good in euery place to haue a wel disposed body for to be in health and liue long For those which naturally gather colde and grosse humors and haue the masse of their bodie pory Item they that be subiect to the oppilations of the spleene and they that vse not a sturring life but sitting and without frequent motion are more apt and subiect to these sicknesses Therefore a Physitian might say that a student is not fit for that Countrie that is to say he shall not liue there in health nor those which ouertoile in labors nor melancholy people men which haue drowsie dreaming spirits nor those that be often visited with agues and such other sort of people Which I might easily beleeue because that these things doe heape much melancholy cold and superfluous humors Notwithstanding I haue tried the contrarie both by my selfe and by others against the opinion of some of ours yea of Sagamos Membertou himselfe which plaieth the Soothsaier among the Sauages who arriuing in that countrie said that I should neuer returne into France nor Monsieur Boullet sometimes captaine of Monsieur De Poutrincourt his regiment who for the most part of the time hath had agues there but he did farewel And they themselues did aduise our labourers to take but small labour in their worke which counsell they could very well obserue For I may say and that truely that I neuer made so much bodily worke for the pleasure that I did take in dressing and tilling my gardens to inclose and hedge them against the gluttony of the hogges to make knots to draw out allies to build arbours to sowe wheat rie barly oates beanes pease garden hearbs and to water them so much desire had I to know the goodnesse of the ground by my owne experience So that Summers daies were vnto mee too short and very often did I worke by Moonelight Concerning the labour of the minde I tooke a reasonable part of it for at night euery one being retired among the pratings noises and hurliburlies I was shut vp in my studie reading or writing of something Yea I will not be ashamed to speake that being requested by Monsieur De Poutrincourt our Commander to bestow some houres of my industrie in giuing Christian instructions to our small company for not to liue like beasts and for to giue to the Sauages an example of our maner of life I haue done it according to the necessitie and being thereof requested euery Sunday and sometimes extraordinarilie almost during all the time we haue beene there And well was it for me that I had brought my Bible and some bookes vnawares for otherwise it had beene very difficult for me and had beene cause to excuse me of that worke It hath not beene without fruit many witnessing vnto me that they had neuer heard so much good talke of God not knowing before any principle of that which belongeth to Christian doctrine And such is the state wherin liue the most part of Christendome And if there were any edifying of one part there was backbiting on the other by reason that vsing a French liberty I willingly spake the truth Whereupon I remember the saying of the Prophet Amos They haue hated saith he him that reproued them in the gate and haue had in abomination him that spake in integrity But in the end we became all good friends And amongst these things God gaue me alwaies a sound and a perfect health alwaies a good taste alwaies mery and nimble sauing that hauing once laien in the woods neere to a brooke in snowey weather I was touched with a Crampe or Sciatika in my thigh a fortnights space not loosing my appetite nor stomacke for the same for indeed I tooke delight in that which I did desiring to confine there my life if it would please God to blesse the voyages I should be ouer tedious if I would set downe heere the disposition of all persons and to speake concerning children that they are more subiect to this sicknesse then others for that they haue very often vlcers in the mouth and gummes because of the thin substance that abound in their bodies and also that they gather many crude humours by their disorder of liuing and by the quantity of fruits they eate being neuer filled with it by which m eans they gather great quantity of waterish bloud and the spleene being stopped cannot soake vp those moisturs And as for old folkes that haue their heat weakened and cannot resist the sicknes being filled with crudities and with a cold and moist temperature which is the qualitie proper to stirre vp and nourish it I will not take the Physitians office in hand fearing the censuring rod and notwithstanding with their leaue not touching with their orders and receits of Agaric aloes rubarbe and other ingrediens I will write heere that which I thinke more ready at hand for the poore people which haue not the abilitie and meanes to send to Alexandria as well for the preseruation of their health as for the remedie of this sicknesse It is a certaine axiome that a contrary must be healed by his contrarie This sicknesse proceeding from an indigestion of rude grosse cold and melancholie meates which offend the stomacke I thinke it good submitting my selfe to better Iudgement and aduice to accompany them with good sawces be it of butter oyle or fat all well spiced to correct as well the quality of the meate as of the bodie inwardly waxen colde Let this be said for rude and grosse meates as beanes pease and fish for he that shall eat good capons 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—â—idges good duckes and good rabets he may be â—â—sured of his health or else his body is of a very bad constitution We haue had some sicke that haue as it were raised vp from death to life for hauing eaten twice or thrice of a coolice made of a cocke good wine taken according to the necessity of nature is a soueraigne preseruatiue for all sicknesses and particularily for this Master Macquin and Master Georges worshipfull Marchants of Rochel as associates to Monsieur De Monts did furnish vs with 45. toones of wine which did vs very much good And our sicke folkes themselues hauing their mouthes spoiled and not being able to eat haue neuer lost
made by sea Then the said Monsieur De Monts hoised vp sailes and leaueth the said Monsieur Du Pont as his Lieutenant and deputie in these parts who wanting no diligence according to his nature in making perfect that which was needfull for to lodge both himselfe and his people which was all that might be done for that yeare in that country For to goe farre from home in the Winter and after so long a toile there was no reason And as for the tillage of the ground I beleeue they had no fit time to doe it For the said Monsieur Du Pont was not a man to be long in rest nor to leaue his men idle if there had beene any meanes for it The Winter being come the Sauages of the country did assemble themselues from farre to Port Royal for to truck with the Frenchmen for such things they had some bringing Beauers skinnes and Otters which are those whereof most account may be made in that place and also Ellans or Stagges whereof good buffe may be made Others bringing flesh newly killed wherewith they made many good Tabagies or feasts liuing merily as long as they had wherewithall They neuer wanted any bread but wine did not continue with them till the season was ended For when we came thither the yeare following they had been aboue three Moneths without any wine and were very glad of our comming for that made them to take againe the taste of it The greatest paine they had was to grinde the corne to haue bread which is very painfull with hand-mils whereall the strength of the bodie is requisite And therefore it is not without cause that in old time bad people were threatned to be sent to the Mill as to the painefullest thing that is to which occupation poore slaues were set to before the vse of water and winde-mils was found out as the Prophane histories make mention and the same of the comming of the people of Israel out of the land of Aegypt where for the last scourge that God will send to Pharao he declareth by the mouth of Moises that about midnight he will passe thorow Aegypt and euery first borne shall die there from the first borne of Pharao that should sit vpon his throne to the first borne of the maide Seruant which grindeth at the Mill. And this labor is so great that the Sauages although they be very poore cannot beare it and had rather to be without bread then to take so much pains as it hath beene tried offering them halfe of the grinding they should doe but they chused rather to haue no corne And I might well beleeue that the same with other things hath beene great meanes to breed the sicknesse spoken of in some of Monsieur Du Pont his men for there died some halfe a dosen of them that winter True it is that I finde a defect in the buildings of our Frenchmen which is they had no ditches about them whereby the waters of the ground next to them did runne vnder their lower-most roomes which was a great hindrance to their health I adde besides the bad waters which they vsed that did not runne from a quicke spring but from the neerest brooke The winter being passed the sea nauigable Monsieur Du Pont would needes atchieue the enterprise begun the yeere before by Monsieur De Monts and to goe seeke out a Port more Southerly where the aire might be more temperate according as he had in charge of the said Monsieur De Monts He furnished then the barke which remained with him to that effect But being set out of the port and full readie hoisted vp failes for Malebarre he was forced by contrarie winde twice to put backe againe and at the third time the said Barke strake against the rockes at the entire of the said Port. In this disgrace of Neptune the men were saued with the better part of prouision and merchandise but as for the Barke it was rent in peeces And by this mishap the voyage was broken and that which was so desired intermitted For the habitation of Port Royall was not iudged good And notwithstanding it is on the North and North-west sides well sheltered with mountaines distant some one league some halfe a league from the Port and the riuer L'Equille So we see how that enterprises take not effect according to the desires of men and are accompanied with many perils So that one must not woonder if the time be long in establishing of Colonies specially in lands so remote whose nature and temperature of aire is not knowen and where one must fell and cut downe forrests and be constrained to take heed not from the people that we call Sauages but from them that terme themselues Christians and yet haue but the name of it cursed and abhominable people woorse then woolues enemies to God and humane nature This attempt then being broken Monsieur Du Pont knew not what to doe but to attend the succour and supplie that Monsieur De Monts promised parting from Port Royall at his returne into France to send him the yeere following Yet for all euents he built an other Barke and a Shaloup for to seeke French shippes in the places where they vse to dry fish such as Campseau Port English Port Misamichis Port the Baie of Chaleur or heat the Baie of Morues or Coddes and others in great number according as Monsieur De Monts had done the former yeere to the end to ship himselfe in them and to returne into France in case that no shippe should come to succour him Wherein he did wisely for he was in danger to heare no newes from vs that were appointed to succeed him as it shall appeare by the discourse following But in the meane while wee must consider that they which in these voyages haue transported themselues in these parts haue had an aduantage ouer those that would plant in Florida which is in hauing that refuge beforesaid of French shippes that frequent the New found lands for fishing not being forced to build great shippes nor to abide extreme famines as they haue done in Florida whose voyages haue beene lamentable for that respect and these by reason of the sicknesses that haue persecuted them but they of Florida haue had a blessing for that they were in a milde and fertill countrey and more friendly to mans health then New France spoken of else where If they haue suffered famines there was great fault in them for not hauing tilled the ground which they found plaine and champion Which before all other thing is to be done of them that will lodge themselues so farre from ordinarie succour But the Frenchmen and almost all nations at this day I meane of those that be not borne and brought vp to the manuring of the ground haue this badde nature that they thinke to derogate much from their dignitie in addicting themselues to the
at the biggest end which is flat one putteth some grease to it mingled with butter then all the sailes are stricken downe and the sound cast and when that the bottome is felt and the lead draweth no more line they leaue off leting downe of it So our sound being drawen vp brought with it some small stones with a white one and a peece of shell hauing moreouer a pit in the grease whereby they iudged that the bottome was a rocke I cannot expresse the Ioy that we had seeing vs there where we had so much desired to be There was not any one of vs more sicke euery one did leape for Ioy and did seeme vnto vs to be in our owne country though we were come but to the halse of our voyage at least for the time that passed before we came to Port Royall whther we were bound Heere I will before I proceed any further decipher vnto you what meaneth this word Bancke which paraduenture putteth some in paine to know what it is They somtimes call Banckes a sandy bottome which is very shallow or which is a drie at low water Such places be mortall for ships that meete with them But the Bancke whereof we speake are mountaines grounded in the depth of the waters which are raised vp to 30. 36. and 40. fadams neere to the vpper face of the sea This Bancke is holden to be of 200. leagues in lenght and 18. 20. and 24. leagues broad which being passed there is no more bottome found out then in these parts vntill one come to the land The ships being there arriued the sailes are rowled vp and there fishing is made of the greene fish as I haue said whereof we shall speake in the booke following For the satisfying of my reader I haue drawen it in my Geography call Map of New-found-land with prickes which is all may be done to represent it There is farther off other banckes as I haue marked in the said Map vpon the which good fishing may be made and many goe thither that know the places When that we parted from Rochel there was as it were a forrest of ships lying at Chef de Bois whereof that place hath taken his name which went all in a company to that country preuenting vs in their going but onely of two daies Hauing seene and noted the Bancke wee hoisted vp sailes and bare all night keeping still our course to the West But the dawne of day being come which was Saint Iohn Baptists Eue in Gods name we pulled downe sailes passing that day a fishing of Cod-fish with a thousand mirthes and contentments by reason of fresh meates whereof we had asmuch as we would hauing long before wished for them Monsieur De Poutrincourt and a yong man of Retel named Le Feure who by reason of the sea-sicknesse were not come out from their beds nor cabanes from the beginning of the Nauigation came vpon the hatches that day and had the pleasure not onely of fishing of Cod but also of those birds that bee called by French mariners Happe-foyes that is to say Liuer-catchers because of their greedinesse to deuour the liuers of the Cod-fishes that are cast into the sea after their bellies bee opened whereof they are so couetous that though they see a great powle ouer their heads ready to strike them downe yet they aduenture themselues to come neere to the ship to catch some of them at what price soeuer And they which were not occupied in fishing did passe their time in that sport And so did they by their diligence that wee tooke some thirty of them But in this action one of our shipwrights fell downe in the sea And it was good for him that the ship went but slow which gaue him meanes to saue himselfe by taking hold of the rudder from which he was pulled in a boord but for his paines was well beaten by Captaine Foulques In this fishing we sometimes did take sea-dogges whose skinnes our Ioyners did keepe carefully to smooth their worke withall Item fishes called by Frenchmen Merlus which be better then Cod and sometimes another kinde of fish called Bars which diuersity did augment our delight They which were not busie in taking neither fishes nor birdes did passe their time in gathering the hearts guts and other inward parts most delicate of the Cod-fish which they did mince with lard and spices and with those things did make as good Bolonia sausiges as any can be made in Paris and we did eat of them with a very good stomacke On the euening we made ready to continue our course hauing first made our Canons to roare as well because of Saint Iohn his holy day as for Monsieur De Poutrincourts sake which beareth the name of that Saint The next day some of our men tolde vs they had seene a Bancke of Ice And thereupon was recited vnto vs how that the yeare before a ship of Olone was cast away by approaching too neere to it and that two men hauing saued themselues vpon the Ice had this good fortune that another ship passing by the men tooke them in aboord them It is to be noted that from the 18. of Iune vntill wee did arriue at Port Royall we haue found the weather quite otherwise to that we had before For as we haue already said we had colde mistes or fogges before our comming to the Bancke where we came in faire sunshine but the next day we fell to the fogges againe which a far off we might perceiue to come and wrappe vs about holding vs continually prisoners three whole daies for two daies of faire weather that they permitted vs which was alwaies accompanied with colde by reason of the Summers absence Yea euen diuers times wee haue seene our selues a whole sennight continually in thicke fogges twice without any shew of Sunne but very little as I will recite heereafter And I will bring foorth a reason for such effects which seemeth vnto me probable As wee see the fire to draw the moistnesse of a wet cloath opposite vnto it likewise the sunne draweth moistnesse and vapours both from the sea and from the land But for the dissoluing of them there is heere one vertue and beyond those parts another according to the accidents and circumstances that are found In these our countries it raiseth vp vapours onely from the ground and from our riuers which earthly vapours grosse and waighty and participating lesse of the moist ellement doe cause vs a hot aire and the earth discharged of those vapours becomes thereby more hot and parching From thence it commeth that the said vapors hauing the earth of the one part and the Sunne on the other which heateth them they are easily dissolued not remaining long in the aire vnlesse it be in winter when the earth is waxen colde and the Sunne beyond the Equinoctiall line farre off from vs. From the same reason proceedeth the cause why mistes and
to her ancient glory and giue vnto her being a roiall daughter the proprietie of that Basilic fastened to the temple of Apollo who by an hidden vertue did hinder that the Spiders should weaue their webbe along his walles But will also establish his New France and bring to the bosome of the Church so many poore soules which that countrey beareth al starued for the want of the word of God who are as a pray vnto hell And that for to doe this hee will giue meanes to conduct thither Christian Sarronides and Bardes bearing the Flower-deluce in their hearts who will instruct and bring to ciuilitie those barbarous people and will bring them to his obedience CHAP. IX Of their clothing and wearing of their haires GOd in the beginning did create man naked and innocent made all the parts of his body to bee of honest sight But sin hath made the members of generation to become shamefull vnto vs and not vnto beasts which haue no sinne It is the cause why our first parents hauing knowen their nakednesse destitute of clothes did sow figge leaues together for to hide their shame therewith But God made vnto them coates of skinnes and clothed them with it and this before they went out of the gardē of Eden Clothing then is not only to defend vs from cold but also for decencie and to couer our shame And neuerthelesse many nations haue anciently liued and at this day doe liue naked without apprehension of this shame decencie and honestie And I maruell not of the Brasilien Sauages that are such as well men as women nor of the ancient Picts a nation of great Britaine who Herodian saith had not any vse of clothes in the time of Seuerus the Emperour nor of a great number of other nations that haue beene and yet are naked for one may say of them that they be people fallen into a reprobate sense and forsaken of God But of Christians which are in Aethiopia vnder the great Negus whom we call Prester-Ihon which by the report of the Portingals that haue writen histories of them haue not their parts which wee call priuie members any waies couered But the Sauages of New France and of Florida haue better learned and kept in minde the lesson of honestie than those of Aethiopia For they couer them with a skinne tied to a latch or girdle of leather which passing between their buttocks ioineth the other end of the said latch behind And for the rest of their garments they haue a cloake on their backs made with many skinnes whether they be of Otters or of Beauers and one only skin whether it be of Ellan or Stagges skinne Beare or Luserne which cloake is tied vpward with a leather riband and they thrust commonly one arme out but being in their cabins they put it off vnlesse it be cold And I cannot better compare it than to pictures that are made of Hercules who killed a lion and put the skinne thereof on his backe Notwithstanding they haue more ciuilitie in that they couer their priuie members As for the women they differ onely in one thing that is they haue a girdle ouer the skin they haue on and doe resemble without comparison the pictures that be made of Saint Iohn Baptist But in Winter they make good Beuer sleeues tied behind which keepe them very warme And after this maner were the ancient Germans clothed by the report of Caesar and Tacitus hauing the most part of the body naked As for the Armouchiquois and Floridians they haue no furres but onely shamois yea the said Armouchiquois haue very often but a peece of matte vpon their backe for fashions sake hauing neuerthelesse their priuie members couered God hauing so wisely prouided for mans infirmitie that in cold countries he hath giuen furres and not in the hot because that otherwise men would make no esteeme of them And so for that which concerneth the body Let vs come to the legges and feet then we will end with the head Our Sauages in the Winter going to sea or a hunting doe vse great and high stockings like to our boote-hosen which they tie to their girdles and at the sides outward there is a great number of points without tagges I doe not see that they of Brasil or Florida doe vse of them but seeing they haue leather they may as well make of them if they haue need as the others Besides these long stockings our Sauages doe vse shooes which they call Mekezin which they fashion very properly but they cannot dure long specially when they goe into watrie places because they be not curried nor hardened but onely made after the maner of Buffe which is the hide of an Ellan Howsoeuer it be yet are they in better order then were the ancient Gottes which were not throughly hosed but with buskins or halfe bootes which came somewhat higher than the anckle of the foote where they made a knot which they bound with horse haires hauing the calfe of the legge the knees and thighes naked And for the rest of their garments they had leather coates pleated as greasie as Lard and the sleeues downe to the beginning of the arme And on those Ierkins in stead of gold lace they made red borders as our Sauages doe Behold the state of those that ransacked the Romane Empire whom Sidonius Apollinaris Bishop of Auuergne doth describe after this maner going to the Councell of Auitus the Emperour for to treat of peace Squalent vestes acsordidamacro Linteapinguescunt tergo nec tangere possunt Altatae suram pelles ac poplite nudo Peronem pauper nudis suspendit equinum c. As for the head attire none of the Sauages haue any vnlesse it bee that some of the hether lands trucke his skinnes with Frenchmen for Hattes and Cappes but rather both men and women weare their haires flittring ouer their shoulders neither bound nor tied except that the men doe trusse them vpon the crowne of the head some foure fingers length with a leather lace which they let hang downe behinde But for the Armouchiquois Floridians as well men as women they haue their haires much longer and they hang them downe lower than the girdle when they are vntrussed for to auoide then the hindrance that they might bring to them they trusse them vp as our horse-keepers doe a horses taile and the men doe sticke in them some feather that like them and the women a needle or bodkin with three points after the fashion of the french Ladies who also weare their needles or bodkins that serue them partly for an ornament of the head All the ancient had this custome to goe bareheaded and the vse of hats is but lately come in The faire Absalon was hanged by his haires at an Oake after he had lost the battell against his fathers army and they did neuer couer their heads in those daies but when they did mourne
Canada to marrie them Wherin they seeme to be very raw and ignorant Captaine Iames Quartier speaking of the marriage of the Canadians in his second relation saith thus They obserue the order of marriage sauing that the men take two or three wiues And the husband being dead the women doe neuer marrie againe but doe mourne for his death all their life long and doe daube their face with coale beaten to powder and with grease the thicknesse of a knife and thereby are knowen to be widowes Then he goeth further They haue another bad custome with their daughters For being come to be marriageable they are put all in a stewe house abandoned to all commers vntill they haue found out a match And all this haue wee seene by experience For we haue seene the houses as full of these maidens as is a Schoole of boies in France I would haue thought that the said Iames Quartier had touching this prostituting of maides added somewhat of his owne but the discourse of Monsieur Champlein which is but six yeres since doth confirme the same thing vnto me sauing that he speaketh not of assemblies which keepeth me frō contrarying it But among our Souriquois there is no such thing not that these Sauages haue any great care of continencie and virginitie for they doe not think to doe euill in corrupting it But whether it be by the frequentation of French-men or otherwise the maides are ashamed to doe any vnchast thing publikely and if it happen that they abandon themselues to any one it is in secret Moreouer he that will marrie a Maid it behooueth him to demand her of her father without whose consent shee shall be none of his as we haue already said heeretofore and brought foorth the example of one that had done otherwise And if he will marry he shall sometimes make loue not after the manner of the Esseens who as Iosephus sayeth did try the maidens by the space of three yeeres before they married them but by the space of six months or a yeere without abusing of them will paint his face that he may seeme the fairer and will haue a new gowne of Beuers or Otters or of some thing else well garnished with Matachias garded and laid ouer in forme of parchment lace of gold and siluer as the Gothes did vse heeretofore It is meete moreouer that he shew himselfe valiant in hunting and that they know him able to doe some thing for they doe not trust in a mans meanes which are none other than that which he getteth by his daies labor not caring any wise for other riches than hunting vnlesse our maners make them to haue a desire of it The Maidens of Brasill haue liberty to prostitute themselues assone as they are able for the same euen as them of Canada Yea the fathers do serue for pandors to their daughters and they repute for an honour to communicate them to the men of these parts that goe thither to the end to haue of their race But to consent vnto it would bee too damnable an abomination and that would deserue rigorous punishment as indeed for the slacknesse of men God hath punished this vice in such wise that the fore hath been communicated in these parts euen to them that haue been too much addicted after Christian wenches and women by the sicknesse which is called the pox which before the discouery of those lands was vnknowen in Europe for these people are very much subiect to it and euen they of Florida but they haue the Guayac the Esquin and the Sasafr as trees very soueraign for the cure of that leprosie and I beleeue that the tree Annedda whose wonders we haue recited is one of these kinds One might thinke that the nakednesse of this people would make them more lecherous but it is not so For as Caesar giueth the Germans this commendation that they had in their ancient Sauages life such a continency as they reputed it a thing most vile for a yong-man to haue the company of a woman before he came to the age of 20. yeares and in their owne disposition also they were not mooued thereunto although that pell mell all together men and women yongue and old did bathe themselues in riuers So also may I say for our Sauages that I neuer saw amonst them any vnseemely gesture or vnchaste looke I dare affirme that they be lesser giuen to that vice than we in these parts I attribute the cause thereof partly to this their nakednesse and chiefely to the keeping bare of their head from whence the matter of generation hath his originall partly to the want of hot spices of wine and of meats that doe prouoke to that which is primary signe of vncleane desires and partly to the frequent vse which they haue of Tabacco whose smoake dulleth the senses and mounting vp to the braines hindereth the functions of Venus Iohn De Leri praiseth the Brasilians for this continencie neuerthelesse he addeth that when they are angrie they call sometimes one another Tiuiré that is to say So domite whereby it may be coniectured that this sinne raigneth among them as Captaine Laudonniere saith it doth in Florida and that the Floridians loue the feminine sex very much And indeed I haue heard that for to please the women the more they busie themselues very much about that which is the primary signe of vncleane desires whereof we spake euen now and that they may the better doe it they furnish themselues with Ambergris wherof they haue great store which first they melt at the fire then iniect it with such paine that it maketh them to gnash their teeth euen so farre as to the bone Sacrum and with a whippe of nettles or such like thing make that idoll of Maacha to swell which king Asa made to be consumed into ashes and cast it into the brooke Cedron On the other side the women vse certaine herbes and endeuour themselues as much as they can to make restrictions for the vse of the said Ityphalles and to giue either partie their due Let vs returne to our marriages which are better than all these rogueries The contracters do not giue their faith betweene the hands of Notaries nor of their Sooth-saiers but simply doe demand the consent of the parents and so they doe euery where But heere is to be noted that they keepe and in Brasill also three degrees of consanguinity in the which they are not vsed to contract marriage that is to wit of the sonne with the mother of the father with his daughter and of the brother with the sister These excepted all things are permitted As for dowry there is no mention of it Also when any diuorce hapneth the husband is bound to nothing And although that as it hath been said there is no promise of loialtie giuen before any superior power neuertheles in what part soeuer the wiues
is their hatred euen against the dead And for to end this chapter as we began it they neuer make any Tabagie or feast but that there is a dance after it And afterward if the Sagamos be disposed according to the state of their affaires he will make an oration of one two or three houres continuance and at euery demonstration asking the aduice of the companie if they approoue his proposition euery one will crie out aloud Hé e e e in signe of allowing and ratifying of the same Wherein they giue him very attentiue audience as wee haue seene many times And also when that Monsieur De Poutrincourt did feast our Sauages Memberton after dancing made an oration with such vehemencie that he made the world to woonder shewing the curtesies and witnesses of friendship that they receaued of the Frenchmen what they might hope of them heereafter and how much their presence was profitable yea necessarie vnto them because that they did sleepe in securitie and had no feare of their enemies c. CHAP. XVI Of the disposition of their bodies and of their Physike and Cheirurgie WE haue said in the last Chapter that dancing is profitable for the preseruation of health Also it is one of the causes why our Sauages do delight so much in it But they haue yet some other preseruatiues which they vse very often that is to say sweates whereby they preuent sicknesses For they be sometimes touched with this Phthisie wherewith the men of Captain Iames Quartier and Monsieur De Monts were annoied which notwithstanding is but seldome But when it hapneth they haue in Canada the tree called Annedda which I terme the tree of life for the excellencie thereof wherewith they heale themselues and in the countrie of the Armouchiquois they haue Sassafras and in Florida Esquine The Souriquois which haue none of these kinds of woods doe vse sweats as we haue said and they haue their Aoutmoins for Phisitions who for that purpose doe digge in the ground and make a pit which they couer with wood and bigge flatte stones ouer it then they put fire to it by a hole and the wood being burned they make a raft with poles which they couer with all the skinnes and other couerings which they haue so as no aire entereth therein they cast water vpon the said stones which are fallen in the pit and doe couer them then they pu themselues vnder the same raft and with motions the Aoutmoin singing and the others saying as in their dances Het het het they put themselues into a sweat If they happen to fall into sicknesse for one must die in the end the Aoutmoin doth blow with exercisings vpon the member grieued doth licke it and sucke it and if that be not sufficient he letteth the patient bloud scotching his flesh with the point of a knife or some thing else If they doe not heale them alwaies one must consider that our Physicians doe not alwaies cure their patients neither In Florida they haue their Iarvars who continually carry a bagge full of hearbs and drugges hanging about their necks to cure the sicke which are for the most part sicke of the Pox and they blowe vpon the parts affected vntill they draw the very bloud from it The Brasilians Phisitions are named among them Pagés they be not their Caraibes or Southsaiers who in sucking as aforesaid they endeuour themselues to heale diseases But they haue one sickenesse which is vncureable which they call Pians proceeding of lecherie which notwithstanding little children sometimes haue euen as them in these our parts that be full of pock-holes which commeth vnto them as I thinke from the corruption of their Parents This contagion doth conuert it selfe into boiles broader then the thombe which disperse themselues throughout all the bodie and euen as farre as the face and being touched therewith they beare the marks thereof all their life time fowler then lepers as well Brasilians as other nations As for the sicke bodie his diet they giue him not any thing vnlesse he asketh for it and without taking any other care of them they cease not to make their noise and hurly burlies before them drinking skipping and singing according to their custome As for the wounds Aoutmos of our Souriquois and their neighbours doe licke and sucke them vsing the Beuers kidney whereof they put a slice vpon the wound and so doth heale it selfe with that The ancient Germans saith Tacitus not hauing yet the Art of Cheirurgie did the like They bring saith he their wounds to their Mothers and to their Wiues who are not afraid neither to number them nor to sucke them yea they bring them vittails to the campe and exhort them to fight valiantly so that sometimes armies readie to runne away haue beene restored by the prayers of the women opening their breasts to their husbands And afterwards they willingly vsed the womens aduices and counsels wherein they esteeme some holy thing to be And among the Christians many not caring for God no longer then they receaue good gifts of him doe seeke for the healing of their diseases by charmes and helpe of Witches So among our Sauages the Aoutmoin hauing some sore in cure inquireth often of his diuell to know whether he shall heale or no and hath neuer no answer but doubtfully by if or and. There bee some of them which sometimes doe make incredible cures as to heale one that hath his armes cut off Which notwithstanding I know not why I should finde it strange when I consider what Monsieur de Busbeque writeth in his discourse of his Embassie into Turkie the fourth Epistle Comming neere vnto Buda the Basha sent some of his houshold Seruants to meete vs with many Haraldes and officers But among the rest a faire troupe of yong men on horse-backe remarkable for the nouelty of their order They had their heads bare and shauen vpon the which they had made a long bloudie slash and thrust diuers feathers of birds within the wound from whence the very pure bloud did trickle downe but insteed of shrinking at it they went lifting vp their heads with a laughing countenance Before me marched some foote men one of them had his armes naked and hanging down on his sides both which armes aboue the Elbowe was thrust quite through with a knife that stucke fast in them Another was naked from his head to the nauell hauing the skinne of his-backe so iagged vp and downe in two places achwart which he had made to passe an hatchet of armes which he did carry in scarffe wise as we would doe a cuttleaxe I saw another of them who had fixed vpon the crowne of his head a horse shooe with many nailes and of so long continuance that the nailes were so fixed and fast in the flesh that they stirred not Wee entred into Buda in this pompe and were brought into the Bashas house with whom I
Babylon containing that he of her successors that had neede of mony should make it to be opened and that he should finde there euen as much as he would haue Whereof Darius willing to make triall found in it nothing else but other letters speaking in this sorte Vnlesse thou wert a wicked man and vnsatiable thou wouldst not haue through couetousnesse so troubled the quiet of the dead and broken downe their Sepulchers I would thinke this custome to haue beene onely among the Heathen were it not that I finde in Iosephus his history that Salomon did put in the Sepulcher of Dauid his father aboue three millions of gould which were rifled thirteene hundred yeeres after This custome to put gould into the Sepulchers being come euen to the Romans was forbidden by the twelue tables also the excessiue expences that many did make in watering the bodies with precious liquors and other mysteries that we haue recited heeretofore And notwithstanding many simple and foolish men and women did ordaine by will and testament that one should bury with their bodies their ornamentes ringes and iewels which the Greekes did call entaphia as there is a forme seene of it reported by the lawyer Scaeuola in the bookes of the Digestes Which was reprooued by Papiniam and Vlpian likewise ciuill lawyers in such sort that for the abuse thereof the Romans were constrained to cause that the Censors of the womens ornamentes did condemne as simple and effeminated them that did such thinges as Pluturch saith in the liues of Solon and Sylla Therefore the best course is to keepe the modesty of the ancient Patriarches and euen of king Cyrus whom we haue mentioned before on whose tombe was this inscription reported by Arrian Thou that passest by whomsoeuer thou beest and from what parte soeuer thou commest for I am sure that thou wilt come I am that Cyrus who got the dominion to the Persians I pray thee enuie not this little parcell of grounde which couereth my poore body So then our Sauages are not excusable in putting all the best ornamentes they haue into the Sepulchers of the dead seeing they might reape commodity by them But one may answer for them that they haue this custome euen from their fathers beginning for we see that almost from the very time of the floud the like hath beene done in this hither world and giuing to their dead their furres Matachias Bowes Arrowes and Quiuers they were thinges that they had no neede of And notwithstanding this doth not cleere the Spaniardes from blame who haue robbed the Sepulchers of the Indians of Perou and cast the bones on the dunghill nor our owne men that haue done the like in taking away the Beuers skinne in our New-France as I haue said heeretofore For as Isodorus saith of Damiette in an Epistle It is the parte of enemies voide of all humanitie to robbe the bodies of the dead which cannot defende themselues Nature it selfe hath giuen this to many that hatred doth ceasse after death and doe reconcile themselues with the deceassed But riches make the couetous to become enemies to the dead against whom they haue nothing to say who torment their bones with reproach and iniury And therefore not without cause haue the ancient Emperors made lawes and ordained rigorous paines against the spoilers and destroiers of Sepulchers All praises be giuen to God The Errata PAge 8. for I le of Sand or Sablon or Sand. read I le of Sablon or Sand. p. 9. for Pourtrincourt r. Poutrincourt p. 14. for Peron r. Perou p. 42. for haue raised r. haue beene raised ib for toones r. tonnes p. 52. for Point r. Pont. Idle and banished men imploied in this businesse The setting foorth out of New-hauen Danger A perillous storme Winde commonly good in March for the New found lands The I le of Sablon or Sand. Port du Rossignol Le Port da Moutton Capitol Milan About 100. Planters Deliberation vpon the returne into France Store of Conies The English Porte Campseau Port. Note heere the good nature and diligence of the Sauages La Baye des Iles. The Ice cōmeth farther to the South than Campseau Monsieur Du Pont goeth to Canada to trade for Furres Cap De Sable or the Sandie Cape Saint Maries Baye Faire place to inhabite Mines of Iron and Siluer An accident of a man lost in the woods the space of 16. daies La Baye Françoise The riuer of L' Equille Port Royal. A Copper Mine In the 28. and 29 chap. of the second booke of the whole volume vntranslated Things first to be prouided in new Plantation Nota. Esaiah 52. vers 5. Patronius Arbiter Ecclesiast 31. ver 8. 9. 10. Diamonds Turky stones Saint Iohns Riuer Dangerous comming in The fall of a Riuer 1608. Vines Great grapes among the Armouchiquois Abundance of fishes The Commoditie of voyaging by the riuer The I le of S. Croix 20. leagues from S Iohns riuer He that will possesse a land ought to place himselfe in the maine or firme land Returne to the Baie of Saint Marie where the lost man was found again The long I le Cheries Plin. lib. 7. Cap. 2. Iohn Wier in the treatie De ieiuniis comment Ibidem Ibidem Euagrius lib. 1. of the Ecclesiasticall historie cap. 3. Baronius vpon the Martyrol Rom. 9. Ian◠The Sauage submit themselues to the censure of Monsieur De Monts in in their variances The fathers authoritie in mariage The cause the of Sauagespleaded before Monsieur De Monts Store of Salmons Beuers Matachias be laces beades bracelets or such trinckets The description of the I le of Saint Croix The fruitfulnesse of the Soile The Iland halfe a league in compasse Store of Mussels Enuy vpon the priuiledge granted to Monsieur De Monts vpon Beuers The returne of Monsieur De Poutrincourt into France The first perill The second danger Necessitie maketh vs seeke to God The diuellishnesse of reuengefull desire The third danger Their return at New hauen The fourth perill The building at the I le of S. Croix Three discōmodities in wintering at S. Croix Wickednesse of manie Christians The riuer of Roan Vnknowen Sicknesses The number of the dead and sicke Dangerous moneths Hippocrates Northerly people subiect to the land disease of New France Olaus magnus Lib. 16. cap. 5◠Euill disposition of the body corrupteth the meates A medicine for the stone It is in the 9. booke ca. 38 This is to be noted Sorbut or Scoruie The opening of a dead bodie Causes of the said disease In the beginning of the book De aere aquu loc What foode causeth the land disease Bad waters Plin. li. 25. 〈…〉 Stomaccacè Scelotyrbè Britannica an herbe Strabo Monsieur d◠Ioinuille The Gouitres of Sauoye What aire is against health Windes What windes be healthfull and vnhealthfull The windes haue not one and the selfe same qualitie in all places Lib. 3 cap. 3. Olam magnus Lib. 1. Cap. 10. Sicke folkes and beasts doe feele the