As Our Band Was Great, There Was A Greater Crew Of People To See The
Prisoners, And The Report Of
My taking being now made, and of the death of
the 3 men, which afflicted the most part of that
Nation, great many of
which came through a designe of revenge and to molest me more then any
other. But it was altogether otherwise, for among the tumult I perceaved my
father & mother with their 2 daughters. The mother pushes in among the Crew
directly to mee, and when shee was neere enough, shee clutches hould of my
haire as one desperat, calling me often by my name; drawing me out of my
ranck, shee putts me into the hands of her husband, who then bid me have
courage, conducting me an other way home to his Cabban, when he made me
sitt downe. [He] said to me: You senselesse, thou was my son, and thou
rendered thyselfe enemy, and thou rendered thyself enemy, thou lovest not
thy mother, nor thy father that gave thee thy life, and thou
notwithstanding will kill me. Bee merry; Conharrassan, give him to eate.
That was the name of one of the sisters. My heart shook with trembling and
feare, which tooke away my stomach. Neverthelesse to signifie a bould
countenance, knowing well a bould generous minde is allwayes accounted
among all sort of nations, especially among wariors, as that nation is very
presumptious and haughty. Because of their magnanimity and victories
opposing themselves into all dangers and incounters what ever, running over
the whole land for to make themselves appeere slaining and killing all they
meete in exercising their cruelties, or else shewing mercy to whom they
please to give liberty. God gave mee the grace to forgett nothing of my
duty, as I tould my father the successe of my voyage in the best tearme I
could, and how all things passed, mixturing a litle of their languag with
that of the Hurrons, which I learned more fluently then theirs, being
longer and more frequently with the Hurrons.
Every one attentively gave ears to me, hoping by this means to save my
life. Uppon this heere comes a great number of armed men, enters the
Cabban, where finding mee yett tyed with my cords, fitting by my parents,
made their addresses to my father, and spak to him very loud. After a while
my father made me rise and delivers me into their hands. My mother seeing
this, cryes and laments with both my sisters, and I believing in a terrible
motion to goe directly on to the place of execution. I must march, I must
yeeld wheere force is predominant att the publique place.
I was conducted where I found a good company of those miserable wretches,
alltogether beaten with blowes, covered with blood, and bourned. One
miserable frenchman, yett breathing, having now ben consumed with blowes of
sticks, past so through the hands of this inraged crew, and seeing he could
[bear] no more, cutt off his head and threw it into the fire. This was the
end of this Execrable wofull body of this miserable.
They made me goe up the scaffold where weare 5 men, 3 women, and 2 children
captives, and I made the Eleventh. There weare severall scaffolds nigh one
an other, where weare these wretches, who with dolefull singings
replenished the heavens with their Cryes. For I can say that an houre
before the weather approved very faire, and in an instant the weather
changed and rayned Extremely. The most part retired for to avoid this
hayle, and now we must expect the full rigour of the weather by the
retiration of those perfidious [persons], except one part of the Band of
hell who stayed about us for to learn the trade of barbary; ffor those
litle devils seeing themselves all alone, continued [a] thousand inventions
of wickednesse. This is nothing strang, seeing that they are brought up,
and suck the crueltie from their mother's brest.
I prolong a litle from my purpose of my adventure for to say the torments
that I have seen souffred att Coutu, after that they have passed the
sallett, att their entering in to the village, and the rencounters that
they meet ordinarily in the wayes, as above said. They tie the prisoners to
a poast by their hands, their backs tourned towards the hangman, who hath a
bourning fire of dry wood and rind of trees, which doth not quench easily.
They putt into this fire hattchets, swords, and such like instruments of
Iron. They take these and quench them on human flesh. They pluck out their
nailes for the most part in this sort. They putt a redd coale of fire uppon
it, and when it is swolen bite it out with their teeth. After they stop the
blood with a brand which by litle and litle drawes the veines the one after
another from off the fingers, and when they draw all as much as they can,
they cutt it with peeces of redd hott Iron; they squeeze the fingers
between 2 stones, and so draw the marrow out of the boanes, and when the
flesh is all taken away, they putt it in a dishfull of bourning sand. After
they tye your wrist with a corde, putting two for this effect, one drawing
him one way, another of another way. If the sinews be not cutt with a
stick, putting it through & tourning it, they make them come as fast as
they can, and cutt them in the same way as the others. Some others cutt
peeces of flesh from all parts of the body & broyle them, gett you to eat
it, thrusting them into yor mouth, puting into it a stick of fire. They
breake your teeth with a stoane or clubbs, and use the handle of a kettle,
and upon this do hang 5 or 6 hattchetts, red hott, which they hang about
their neck and roast your leggs with brands of fire, and thrusting into it
some sticks pointed, wherein they put ledd melted and gunnepowder, and then
give it fire like unto artificiall fire, and make the patient gather it by
the stumps of his remalning fingers.
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