Courcelle’s March.—His Failure and Return.—Courcelle and the Jesuits.—Mohawk Treachery.—Tracy’s Expedition.—Burning of the Mohawk Towns.—French and English.—Dollier de Casson at St. Anne.—Peace.—The Jesuits and the Iroquois.
The governor, Courcelle, says Father Le Meircier, “breathed nothing but war,” and was bent3 on immediate4 action. He was for the present subordinate to Tracy, who, however, forebore to cool his ardor6, and allowed him to proceed. The result was an enterprise bold to rashness. Courcelle, with about five hundred men, prepared to march in the depth of a Canadian winter to the Mohawk towns, a distance estimated at three hundred leagues. Those who knew the country, vainly urged the risks and difficulties of the attempt. The adventurous8 governor held fast to his purpose, and only waited till the St. Lawrence should be well frozen. Early in January, it was a solid floor; and on the ninth the march began. Officers and men stopped at Sillery, and knelt in the little mission chapel9 before the shrine10 of Saint Michael, to ask the protection and aid of the warlike archangel; then they resumed their course, and, with their snow-shoes tied at their backs, walked with difficulty and toil11 over the bare and slippery ice. A keen wind swept the river, and the fierce cold gnawed12 them to the bone. Ears, noses, fingers, hands, and knees were frozen; some fell in torpor13, and were dragged on by their comrades to the shivering bivouac. When, after a march of ninety miles, they reached Three Rivers, a considerable number were disabled, and had to be left behind; but others joined them from the garrison14, and they set out again. Ascending15 the Richelieu, and passing the new forts at Sorel and Chambly, they reached at the end of the month the third fort, called Ste. Thérèse. On the thirtieth they left it, and continued their march up the frozen stream. About two hundred of them were Canadians, and of these seventy were old Indian-fighters from Montreal, versed16 in woodcraft, seasoned to the climate, and trained among dangers and alarms. Courcelle quickly learned their value, and his “Blue Coats,” as he called them, were always placed in the van. * Here, wrapped in their coarse blue capotes, with blankets and provisions strapped17 at their backs, they strode along on snow-shoes, which recent storms had made indispensable. The regulars followed as they could. They were not yet the tough and experienced woodsmen that they and their descendants afterwards became; and their snow
* Doll du Montréal, a.d. 1665, 1666.
shoes embarrassed them, burdened as they were with the heavy loads which all carried alike, from Courcelle to the lowest private.
Lake Champlain lay glaring in the winter sun, a sheet of spotless snow; and the wavy18 ridges19 of the Adirondack? bordered the dazzling landscape with the cold gray of their denuded20 forests. The long procession of weary men crept slowly on under the lee of the shore; and when night came they bivouacked by squads22 among the trees, dug away the snow with their snow-shoes, piled it in a bank around them, built their fire in the middle, and crouched23 about it on beds of spruce or hemlock24; * while, as they lay close packed for mutual25 warmth, the winter sky arched them like a vault26 of burnished27 steel, sparkling with the cold diamond lustre28 of its myriads29 of stars. This arctic serenity30 of the elements was varied31 at times by heavy snow-storms; and, before they reached their journey’s end, the earth and the ice were buried to the unusual depth of four feet. From Lake Champlain they passed to Lake George, ** and the frigid32 glories of its snow-wrapped mountains; thence crossed to the Hudson, and groped their way through the woods in search of the Mohawk towns. They soon went astray; for thirty Algonquins, whom they had taken as guides, had found
* One of the men, telling the story of their sufferings to
Daniel Gookin, of Massachusetts, indicated this as their
mode of encamping. See Mass. Hist. Coll., first series, I.
161.
** Carte des grands lacs, Ontario et autres... et des pays
les agniés (Mohawks), 1666.
the means of a grand debauch33 at Fort Ste. Thérèse, drunk themselves into helplessness, and lingered behind. Thus Courcelle and his men mistook the path, and, marching by way of Saratoga Lake and Long Lake, * found themselves, on Saturday the twentieth of February, close to the little Dutch hamlet of Corlaer or Schenectady. Here the chief man in authority told them that most of the Mohawks and Oneidas had gone to war with another tribe. They, however, caught a few stragglers, and had a smart skirmish with a party of warriors34, losing an officer and several men. Half frozen and half starved, they encamped in the neighboring woods, where, on Sunday, three envoys35 appeared from Albany, to demand why they had invaded the territories of his Royal Highness the Duke of York. It was now that they learned for the first time that the New Netherlands had passed into English hands, a change which boded38 no good to Canada. The envoys seemed to take their explanations in good part, made them a present of wine and provisions, and allowed them to buy further supplies from the Dutch of Schenectady. They even invited them to enter the village, but Courcelle declined, partly because the place could not hold them all, and partly because he feared that his men, once seated in a chimney-corner, could never be induced to leave it.
Their position was cheerless enough; for the vast beds of snow around them were soaking slowly under a sullen39 rain, and there was danger
* Carte... des pays traversez par MM. de Tracy et
Courcelle, etc.
that the lakes might thaw40 and cut off their retreat. “Ye Mohaukes,” says the old English report of the affair, “were all gone to their Castles with resolution to fight it out against the french, who, being refresht and supplyed with the aforesaid provisions, made a shew of marching towards the Mohaukes Castles, but with faces about, and great sylence and dilligence, return’d towards Cannada.” “Surely,” observes the narrator, “so bould and hardy41 an attempt hath not hapned in any age.” * The end hardly answered to the beginning. The retreat, which began on Sunday night, was rather precipitate42. The Mohawks hovered43 about their rear, and took a few prisoners; but famine and cold proved more deadly foes44, and sixty men perished before they reached the shelter of Fort Ste. Thérèse. On the eighth of March, Courcelle came to the neighboring fort of St. Louis or Chambly. Here he found the Jesuit Albanel acting45 as chaplain; and, being in great ill humor, he charged him with causing the failure of the expedition by detaining the Algonquin guides. This singular notion took such possession of him, that, when a few days after he met the Jesuit Frémin at Three Rivers, he embraced him ironically, saying, at the same time, “My father, I am the unluckiest gentleman in the world; and you, and the rest of you, are the cause of it.” ** The pious46 Tracy, and the prudent47
* A Relation of the Governr. of Cannada, his March with 600
Volunteire into if Territoryes of His Roy all Highnesse the
Duke of Yorke in America. See Doc. Hist. N. Y. I. 71.
** Journal des Jésuites, Mars, 1666. .
Talon48, tried to disarm49 his suspicions, and with such success that he gave up an intention he had entertained of discarding his Jesuit confessor, and forgot or forgave the imagined wrong.
Unfortunate as this expedition was, it produced a strong effect on the Iroquois by convincing them that their forest homes were no safe asylum50 from French attacks. In May, the Senecas sent an embassy of peace; and the other nations, including the Mohawks, soon followed. Tracy, on his part, sent the Jesuit Bêchefer to learn on the spot the real temper of the savages51, and ascertain53 whether peace could safely be made with them. The Jesuit was scarcely gone when news came that a party of officers hunting near the outlet54 of Lake Champlain had been set upon by the Mohawks, and that seven of them had been captured or killed. Among the captured was Leroles, a cousin of Tracy, and among the killed was a young gentleman named Chasy, his nephew.
On this the Jesuit envoy36 was recalled; twenty-four Iroquois deputies were seized and imprisoned55; and Sorel, captain in the regiment56 of Carignan, was sent with three hundred men to chastise2 the perfidious57 Mohawks. If, as it seems, he was expected to attack their fortified58 towns or “castles,” as the English call them, his force was too small. This time, however, there was no fighting. At two days from his journey’s end, Sorel met the famous chief called the Flemish Bastard59, bringing back Leroles and his fellow-captives, and charged, as he alleged60, to offer full satisfaction for the murder of Chasy.
Quebec was full of Iroquois deputies, all bent on peace or pretending to be so. On the last day of August, there was a grand council in the garden of the Jesuits. Some days later, Tracy invited the Flemish Bastard and a Mohawk chief named Agariata to his table, when allusion62 was made to the murder of Chasy. On this the Mohawk, stretching out his arm, exclaimed in a braggart63 tone, “This is the hand that split the head of that young man.” The indignation of the company may be imagined. Tracy told his insolent64 guest that he should never kill anybody else; and he was led out and hanged in presence of the Bastard. * There was no more talk of peace. Tracy prepared to march in person against the Mohawks with all the force of Canada.
On the day of the Exaltation of the Cross, “for whose glory,” says the chronicler, “this expedition is undertaken,” Tracy and Courcelle left Quebec with thirteen hundred men. They crossed Lake Champlain, and launched their boats again on the waters of St. Sacrament, now Lake George. It was the first of the warlike pageants65 that have made that fair scene historic. October had begun, and the romantic wilds breathed the buoyant life of the most inspiring of American seasons, when
* This story rests chiefly on the authority of Nicolas
Perrot, M?urs des Saurages, 113. La Potherie also tells it,
with the addition of the chief’s name. Colden follows him.
The Journal des Jésuites mentions that the chief who led the
murderers of Chasy arrived at Quebec on the sixth of
September. Marie de l’Incarnation mentions the hanging of an
Iroquois at Quebec, late in the autumn, for violating the
peace.
the blue-jay screams from the woods; the wild duck splashes along the lake; and the echoes of distant mountains prolong the quavering cry of the loon66; when weather-stained rocks are plumed67 with the fiery68 crimson69 of the sumac, the claret hues70 of young oaks, the amber71 and scarlet72 of the maple73, and the sober purple of the ash; or when gleams of sunlight, shot aslant74 through the rents of cool autumnal clouds, chase fitfully along the glowing sides of painted mountains. Amid this gorgeous euthanasia of the dying season, the three hundred boats and canoes trailed in long procession up the lake, threaded the labyrinth75 of the Narrows, that sylvan76 fairy-land of tufted islets and quiet waters, and landed at length where Fort William Henry was afterwards built. *
About a hundred miles of forests, swamps, rivers, and mountains, still lay between them and the Mohawk towns. There seems to have been an Indian path; for this was the ordinary route of the Mohawk and Oneida war-parties: but the path was narrow, broken, full of gullies and pitfalls78, crossed by streams, and in one place interrupted by a lake which they passed on rafts. A hundred and ten “Blue Coats,” of Montreal, led the way, under Charles Le Moyne. Repentigny commanded the levies79 from Quebec. In all there were six hundred Canadians; six hundred regulars; and a hundred Indians from the missions, who ranged the woods in front, flank, and rear, like hounds on the scent80. Red or white, Canadians or regulars, all were full
* Carte... des pays traversez par MM. de Tracy et Courcelle,
etc.
of zeal81. “It seems to them," writes Mother Mary, “that they are going to lay siege to Paradise, and win it and enter in, because they are fighting for religion and the faith.” * Their ardor was rudely tried. Officers as well as men carried loads at their backs, whence ensued a large blister82 on the shoulders of the Chevalier de Chaumont, in no way used to such burdens. Tracy, old, heavy, and infirm, was inopportunely seized with the gout. A Swiss soldier tried to carry him on his shoulders across a rapid stream; but midway his strength failed, and he was barely able to deposit his ponderous84 load on a rock. A Huron came to his aid, and bore Tracy safely to the farther bank. Courcelle was attacked with cramps85, and had to be carried for a time like his commander. Provisions gave out, and men and officers grew faint with hunger. The Montreal soldiers had for chaplain a sturdy priest, Doilier de Casson, as large as Tracy and far stronger; for the incredible story is told of him that, when in good condition, he could hold two men seated on his extended hands. ** Now, however, he was equal to no such exploit, being not only deprived of food, but also of sleep, by the necessity of listening at night to the confessions86 of his pious flock; and his shoes, too, had failed him, nothing remaining but the upper leather, which gave him little comfort among the sharp stones. He bore up manfully, being by nature brave and
* Marie de l’Incarnation, Lettre du 16 Oct., 1666.
** Grandet, Notice manuscrite sur Dollier de Casson, extract
(Montreal, 1868).
light-hearted; and, when a servant of the Jesuits fell into the water, he threw off his cassock and leaped after him. His strength gave out, and the man was drowned; but a grateful Jesuit led him aside and requited88 his efforts with a morsel89 of bread. * A wood of chestnut-trees full of nuts at length stayed the hunger of the famished90 troops.
It was Saint Theresa’s day when they approached the lower Mohawk town. A storm of wind and rain set in; but, anxious to surprise the enemy, they pushed on all night amid the moan and roar of the forest; over slippery logs, tangled91 roots, and oozy92 mosses93; under dripping boughs94 and through saturated95 bushes. This time there was no want of good guides; and when in the morning they issued from the forest, they saw, amid its cornfields, the palisades of the Indian stronghold. They had two small pieces of cannon96 brought from the lake by relays of men, but they did not stop to use them. Their twenty drums beat the charge, and they advanced to seize the place by coup-de-main. Lucidly97 for them, a panic had seized the Indians. Not that they were taken by surprise, for they had discovered the approaching French, and, two days before, had sent away their women and children in preparation for a desperate fight; but the din5 of the drums, which they took for so many devils in the French service; and the armed men advancing from the rocks and thickets98 in files that seemed interminable,—so wrought99 on the scared imagination of the warriors that they fled in terror to their next
* Dollier de Casson, Histoire du Montréal, a.d 1665, 1666.
town, a short distance above. Tracy lost no time, but hastened in pursuit. A few Mohawks were seen on the hills, yelling and firing too far for effect. Repentigny, at the risk of his scalp, climbed a neighboring height, and looked down on the little army, which seemed so numerous as it passed beneath, “that,” writes the superior of the Ursulines, “he told me that he thought the good angels must have joined with it; whereat he stood amazed.”
The second town or fort was taken as easily as the first; so, too, were the third and the fourth. The Indians yelled, and fled without killing100 a man; and still the troops pursued, following the broad trail which led from town to town along the valley of the Mohawk. It was late in the afternoon when the fourth town was entered, * and Tracy thought that his work was done; but an Algonquin squaw who had followed her husband to the war, and who had once been a prisoner among the Mohawks, told him that there was still another above. The sun was near its setting, and the men were tired with their pitiless marching; but again the order was given to advance. The eager squaw showed the way, holding a pistol in one hand and leading Courcelle-with the other; and they soon came in sight of Andaraqué, the largest and strongest of the Mohawk forts. The drums beat with fury, and the troops prepared to attack, but there were none to oppose them. The scouts101 sent forward, reported
* Marie de l'Incarnation says that there were four towns in
all I follow the Acte de prise de possession, made on the
spot. Five are here mentioned.
“God has done for us,” says Mother Mary, “what he did in ancient days for his chosen people, striking terror into our enemies, insomuch that we were victors without a blow. Certain it is that there is miracle in all this; for, if the Iroquois had stood fast, they would have given us a great deal of trouble and caused our army great loss, seeing how they were fortified and armed, and how haughty102 and bold they are.”
The French were astonished as they looked about them. These Iroquois forts were very different from those that Jogues had seen here twenty years before, or from that which in earlier times set Champlain and his Hurons at defiance103. The Mohawks had had counsel and aid from their Dutch friends, and adapted their savage defences to the rules of European art. Andaraqué was a quadrangle formed of a triple palisade, twenty feet high, and flanked by four bastions. Large vessels104 of bark filled with water were placed on the platform of the palisade for defence against fire. The dwellings105 which these fortifications enclosed were in many cases built of wood, though the form and arrangement of the primitive106 bark lodge107 of the Iroquois seems to have been preserved. Some of the wooden houses were a hundred and twenty feet long, with fires for eight or nine families. Here and in subterranean108 caches was stored a prodigious109 quantity of Indian-corn and other provisions; and all the dwellings were supplied with carpenters’ tools, domestic utensils110, and many other appliances of comfort.
The only living things in Andaraqué, when the French entered, were two old women, a small boy, and a decrepit111 old man, who, being frightened by the noise of the drums, had hidden himself under a canoe. From them the victors learned that the Mohawks, retreating from the other towns, had gathered here, resolved to fight to the last; but at sight of the troops their courage failed, and the chief was first to run, crying out, “Let us save ourselves, brothers; the whole world is coming against us.”
A cross was planted, and at its side the royal arms. The troops were drawn112 up in battle array, when Jean Baptiste du Bois, an officer deputed by Tracy, advancing sword in hand to the front, proclaimed in a loud voice that he took possession in the name of the king of all the country of the Mohawks; and the troops shouted three times, Vive le Roi. *
That night a mighty113 bonfire illumined the Mohawk forests; and the scared savages from their hiding-places among the rocks saw their palisades, their dwellings, their stores of food, and all their possessions, turned to cinders114 and ashes. The two old squaws captured in the town, threw themselves in despair into the flames of their blazing homes. When morning came, there was nothing left of Andaraqué but smouldering embers, rolling their pale smoke against the painted background of the
* Acte de priss de possession, 17 Oct., 1666.
October woods. Te Deum was sung and mass said; and then the victors began their backward march, burning, as they went, all the remaining forts, with all their hoarded115 stores of corn, except such as they needed for themselves. If they had failed to destroy their enemies in battle, they hoped that winter and famine would do the work of shot and steel.
While there was distress116 among the Mohawks, there was trouble among their English neighbors, who claimed as their own the country which Tracy had invaded. The English authorities were the more disquieted117, because they feared that the lately conquered Dutch might join hands with the French against them. When Nicolls, governor of New York, heard of Tracy’s advance, he wrote to the governors of the New England colonies, begging them to join him against the French invaders118, and urging that, if Tracy’s force were destroyed or captured, the conquest of Canada would be an easy task. There was war at the time between the two crowns; and the British court had already entertained this project of conquest, and sent orders to its colonies to that effect. But the New England governors, ill prepared for war, and fearing that their Indian neighbors, who were enemies of the Mohawks, might take part with the French, hesitated to act, and the affair ended in a correspondence, civil if not sincere, between Nicolls and Tracy. * The treaty of Breda, in the following year, secured peace for a time between the rival colonies.
* See the correspondence in N. Y. Col. Docs. III. 118-156.
Compare Hutchinson Collection, 407, and Mass. Hist. Coll.
XVIII. 102.
The return of Tracy was less fortunate than his advance. The rivers, swollen119 by autumn rains, were difficult to pass; and in crossing Lake Champlain two canoes were overset in a storm, and eight men were drowned. From St. Anne, a new fort built early in the summer on Isle77 La Motte, near the northern end of the lake, he sent news of his success to Quebec, where there was great rejoicing and a solemn thanksgiving. Signs and prodigies120 had not been wanting to attest121 the interest of the upper and nether37 powers in the crusade against the myrmidons of hell. At one of the forts on the Richelieu, “the soldiers,” says Mother Mary, “were near dying of fright. They saw a great fiery cavern122 in the sky, and from this cavern came plaintive123 voices mixed with frightful124 howlings. Perhaps it was the demons125, enraged126 because we had depopulated a country where they had been masters so long, and had said mass and sung the praises of God in a place where there had never before been any thing but foulness127 and abomination.”
Tracy had at first meant to abandon Fort St. Anne; but he changed his mind after returning to Quebec. Meanwhile the season had grown so late that there was no time to send proper supplies to the garrison. Winter closed, and the place was not only ill provisioned, but was left without a priest. Tracy wrote to the superior of the Sulpitians at Montreal to send one without delay; but the request was more easily made than fulfilled, for he forgot to order an escort, and the way was long and dangerous. The stout-hearted Dollier de Casson was told, however, to hold himself ready to go at the first opportunity. His recent campaigning had left him in no condition for braving fresh hardships, for he was nearly disabled by a swelling128 on one of his knees. By way of cure he resolved to try a severe bleeding, and the Sangrado of Montreal did his work so thoroughly129 that his patient fainted under his hands. As he returned to consciousness, he became aware that two soldiers had entered the room. They told him that they were going in the morning to Chambly, which was on the way to St. Anne; and they invited him to go with them. “Wait till the day after to-morrow,” replied the priest, “and I will try.” The delay was obtained; and, on the day fixed130, the party set out by the forest path to Chambly, a distance of about four leagues. When they reached it, Dollier de Casson was nearly spent, but he concealed131 his plight132 from the commanding officer, and begged an escort to St. Anne, some twenty leagues farther. As the officer would not give him one, he threatened to go alone, on which ten men and an ensign were at last ordered to conduct him. Thus attended, he resumed his journey after a day’s rest. One of the soldiers fell through the ice, and none of his comrades dared help him. Dollier de Casson, making the sign of the cross, went to his aid, and, more successful than on the former occasion, caught him and pulled him out. The snow was deep; and the priest, having arrived in the preceding summer, had never before worn snow-shoes, while a sack of clothing, and his portable chapel which he carried at his back, joined to the pain of his knee and the effects of his late bleeding, made the march a purgatory133.
He was sorely needed at Fort St. Anne. There was pestilence134 in the garrison. Two men had just died without absolution, while more were at the point of death, and praying for a priest. Thus it happened that when the sentinel descried135 far off, on the ice of Lake Champlain, a squad21 of soldiers approaching, and among them a black cassock, every officer and man not sick, or on duty, came out with one accord to meet the new-comer. They overwhelmed him with welcome and with thanks. One took his sack, another his portable chapel, and they led him in triumph to the fort. First he made a short prayer, then went his rounds among the sick, and then came to refresh himself with the officers. Here was La Motte de la Lucière, the commandant; La Durantaye, a name destined136 to be famous in Canadian annals; and a number of young subalterns. The scene was no strange one to Dollier de Casson, for he had been an officer of cavalry137 in his time, and fought under Turenne; * a good soldier, without doubt, at the mess table or in the field, and none the worse a priest that he had once followed the wars. He was of a lively humor, given to jests and mirth; as pleasant a father as ever said Benedicite. The soldier and
* Grandet, Notice manuscrite sur Dollier de Casson,
extracts from copy in possession of the late Jacques Viger.
the gentleman still lived under the cassock of the priest. He was greatly respected and beloved; and his influence as a peace-maker, which he often had occasion to exercise, is said to have been remarkable138. When the time demanded it, he could use arguments more cogent139 than those of moral suasion. Once, in a camp of Algonquins, when, as he was kneeling in prayer, an insolent savage came to interrupt him, the father, without rising, knocked the intruder flat by a blow of his fist, and the other Indians, far from being displeased140, were filled with admiration141 at the exploit. *
His cheery temper now stood him in good stead; for there was dreary142 work before him, and he was not the man to flinch143 from it. The garrison of St. Anne had nothing to live on but salt pork and half-spoiled flour. Their hogshead of vinegar had sprung a leak, and the contents had all oozed144 out. They had rejoiced in the supposed possession of a reasonable stock of brandy; but they soon discovered that the sailors, on the voyage from France, had emptied the casks and filled them again with salt-water. The scurvy145 broke out with fury. In a short time, forty out of the sixty men became victims of the loathsome146 malady147. Day or night, Doilier de Casson and Forestier, the equally devoted148 young surgeon, had no rest. The surgeon’s strength failed, and the priest was himself slightly attacked with the disease. Eleven men
* Grandet, Notice manuscrite sur Dollier de Casson, cited
by Faillon, Colonie Fran?aise, III. 395, 396
died; and others languished149 for want of help, for their comrades shrank from entering the infected dens83 where they lay. In their extremity150 some of them devised an ingenious expedient151. Though they had nothing to bequeath, they made wills in which they left imaginary sums of money to those who had befriended them, and thenceforth they found no lack of nursing.
In the intervals152 of his labors153, Dollier de Casson would run to and fro for warmth and exercise on a certain track of beaten snow, between two of the bastions, reciting his breviary as he went, so that those who saw him might have thought him out of his wits. One day La Motte called out to him as he was thus engaged, “Eh, Monsieur le curé, if the Iroquois should come, you must defend that bastion. My men are all deserting me, and going over to you and the doctor.” To which the father replied, “Get me some litters with wheels, and I will bring them out to man my bastion. They are brave enough now; no fear of their running away.” With banter154 like this, they sought to beguile155 their miseries156; and thus the winter wore on at Fort St. Anne. *
Early in spring they saw a troop of Iroquois approaching, and prepared as well as they could to make fight; but the strangers proved to be
* The above curious incidents are told by Dollier de
Casson, in his Histoire du Montréal, preserved in manuscript
in the Mazarin Library at Paris. He gives no hint that the
person in question was himself, but speaks of him as un
ecclésiastique. His identity is, however, made certain by
internal evidence, by a passage in the Notice of Grandet,
ambassadors of peace. The destruction of the Mohawk towns had produced a deep effect, not on that nation alone, but also on the other four members of the league. They were disposed to confirm the promises of peace which they had already made; and Tracy had spurred their good intentions by sending them a message that, unless they quickly presented themselves at Quebec, he would hang all the chiefs whom he had kept prisoners after discovering their treachery in the preceding summer. The threat had its effect: deputies of the Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas presently arrived in a temper of befitting humility158. The Mohawks were at first afraid to come: but in April they sent the Flemish Bastard with overtures159 of peace; and in July, a large deputation of their chiefs appeared at Quebec. They and the rest left some of their families as hostages, and promised that, if any of their people should kill a Frenchman, they would give them up to be hanged. *
They begged, too, for blacksmiths, surgeons, and Jesuits to live among them. The presence of the Jesuits in their towns was in many ways an advantage to them; while to the colony it was of the greatest importance. Not only was conversion160 to the church justly regarded as the best means of attaching the Indians to the French, and alienating161 them from the English; but the Jesuits living in the midst of them could influence even those whom they could not convert, soothe162 rising jealousies163,
* Lettre du Père Jean Pierron, de la Compagnie de Jésus,
escripte de la Motte (Fort Ste. Anne) sur le lac Champlain,
le 12me d’aoust. 1667
counteract164 English intrigues165, and keep the rulers of the colony informed of all that was passing in the Iroquois towns. Thus, half Christian166 missionaries167, half political agents, the Jesuits prepared to resume the hazardous168 mission of the Iroquois. Frémin and Pierron were ordered to the Mohawks, Bruyas to the Oneidas, and three others were named for the remaining three nations of the league. The troops had made the peace; the Jesuits were the rivets169 to hold it fast; and peace endured without absolute rupture170 for nearly twenty years. Of all the French expeditions against the Iroquois, that of Tracy was the most productive of good.
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chastised
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| v.严惩（某人）（尤指责打）( chastise的过去式 ) | |
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chastise
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| vt.责骂，严惩 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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immediate
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din
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ardor
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par
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adventurous
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chapel
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shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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13
torpor
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| n.迟钝；麻木；（动物的）冬眠 | |
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14
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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15
ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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versed
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| adj. 精通，熟练 | |
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17
strapped
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| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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18
wavy
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| adj.有波浪的，多浪的，波浪状的，波动的，不稳定的 | |
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19
ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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denuded
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| adj.[医]变光的，裸露的v.使赤裸( denude的过去式和过去分词 )；剥光覆盖物 | |
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21
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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22
squads
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| n.（军队中的）班( squad的名词复数 )；（暗杀）小组；体育运动的运动（代表）队；（对付某类犯罪活动的）警察队伍 | |
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23
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
hemlock
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| n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉 | |
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25
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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26
vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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27
burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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28
lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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29
myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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30
serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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31
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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32
frigid
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| adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的 | |
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33
debauch
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| v.使堕落，放纵 | |
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34
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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35
envoys
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| 使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份 | |
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36
envoy
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| n.使节，使者，代表，公使 | |
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37
nether
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| adj.下部的，下面的；n.阴间；下层社会 | |
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38
boded
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| v.预示，预告，预言( bode的过去式和过去分词 )；等待，停留( bide的过去分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待 | |
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39
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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40
thaw
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| v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和 | |
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41
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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42
precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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43
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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44
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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45
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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46
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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47
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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48
talon
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| n.爪；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物 | |
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49
disarm
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| v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和 | |
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50
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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51
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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52
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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53
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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54
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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55
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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57
perfidious
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| adj.不忠的，背信弃义的 | |
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58
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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59
bastard
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| n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子 | |
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60
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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61
retraced
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| v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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62
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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63
braggart
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| n.吹牛者；adj.吹牛的，自夸的 | |
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64
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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65
pageants
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| n.盛装的游行( pageant的名词复数 )；穿古代服装的游行；再现历史场景的娱乐活动；盛会 | |
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66
loon
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| n.狂人 | |
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67
plumed
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| 饰有羽毛的 | |
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68
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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69
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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70
hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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71
amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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72
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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73
maple
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| n.槭树，枫树，槭木 | |
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74
aslant
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| adv.倾斜地；adj.斜的 | |
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75
labyrinth
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| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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76
sylvan
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| adj.森林的 | |
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77
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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78
pitfalls
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| （捕猎野兽用的）陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 )； 意想不到的困难，易犯的错误 | |
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79
levies
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| （部队）征兵( levy的名词复数 )； 募捐； 被征募的军队 | |
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80
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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81
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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82
blister
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| n.水疱；(油漆等的)气泡；v.(使)起泡 | |
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83
dens
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| n.牙齿，齿状部分；兽窝( den的名词复数 )；窝点；休息室；书斋 | |
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84
ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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85
cramps
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| n. 抽筋, 腹部绞痛, 铁箍 adj. 狭窄的, 难解的 v. 使...抽筋, 以铁箍扣紧, 束缚 | |
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86
confessions
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| n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔 | |
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87
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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88
requited
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| v.报答( requite的过去式和过去分词 )；酬谢；回报；报复 | |
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89
morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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90
famished
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| adj.饥饿的 | |
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91
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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92
oozy
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| adj.软泥的 | |
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93
mosses
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| n. 藓类, 苔藓植物 名词moss的复数形式 | |
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94
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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95
saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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96
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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97
lucidly
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| adv.清透地，透明地 | |
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98
thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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99
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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100
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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101
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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102
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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103
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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104
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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105
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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106
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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107
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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108
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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109
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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110
utensils
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| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
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111
decrepit
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| adj.衰老的，破旧的 | |
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112
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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113
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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114
cinders
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| n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道 | |
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115
hoarded
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| v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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116
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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117
disquieted
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| v.使不安，使忧虑，使烦恼( disquiet的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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118
invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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119
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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120
prodigies
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| n.奇才，天才（尤指神童）( prodigy的名词复数 ) | |
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121
attest
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| vt.证明，证实；表明 | |
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122
cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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123
plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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124
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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125
demons
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| n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念 | |
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126
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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127
foulness
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| n. 纠缠, 卑鄙 | |
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128
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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129
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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130
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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131
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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132
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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133
purgatory
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| n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的 | |
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134
pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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descried
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| adj.被注意到的，被发现的，被看到的 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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137
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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cogent
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| adj.强有力的，有说服力的 | |
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displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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142
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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143
flinch
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| v.畏缩，退缩 | |
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144
oozed
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的过去式和过去分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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145
scurvy
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| adj.下流的，卑鄙的，无礼的；n.坏血病 | |
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loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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147
malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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148
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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languished
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| 长期受苦( languish的过去式和过去分词 )； 受折磨； 变得（越来越）衰弱； 因渴望而变得憔悴或闷闷不乐 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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153
labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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154
banter
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| n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑 | |
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beguile
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| vt.欺骗，消遣 | |
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156
miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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158
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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159
overtures
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| n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲 | |
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conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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161
alienating
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| v.使疏远( alienate的现在分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等） | |
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soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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163
jealousies
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| n.妒忌( jealousy的名词复数 )；妒羡 | |
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164
counteract
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| vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消 | |
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165
intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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166
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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167
missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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168
hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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169
rivets
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| 铆钉( rivet的名词复数 ) | |
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170
rupture
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| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
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