They Added, That Beyond The River Of Hochelega And Saguenay,
There Is An Island Environed By That And Other Rivers,
Beyond which and
Saguenay the river leads into three or four great lakes, and a great
inland sea of fresh
Water, the end whereof had never been found, as they
had heard from the natives of Saguenay, having never been there
themselves. They told us likewise that, at the place where we left our
pinnace when we went to Hochelega or Montreal, there is a river which
flows from the south-west, by which in a months sailing they reach a
certain other land having neither ice nor snow, where the inhabitants
are continually at war against each other, and which country produces
abundance of oranges, almonds, nuts, apples, and many other kinds of
fruit, the natives being clad in the skins of beasts. On being asked if
there were any gold or red copper in that country, they answered no. So
far as I could understand their signs and tokens, I take this country to
be towards Florida[57].
[Footnote 56: The meaning of these routes are not explicable, as we are
unacquainted with what is meant by Saguenay. The river of that name
flows into the north-west side of the St Lawrence 150 miles below
Quebec, in a nearly east course of about 150 miles from the lake of St
John. The other river, said in the text to come from Saguenay, is
probably that of the Utawas; but there does not appear to be any common
direction or object attainable by the navigation of these two rivers.
The subsequent account of the inhabitants of Saguenay is obviously
fabulous, or had been misunderstood by the French adventurers. - E.]
[Footnote 57: The river from the south-west must have been the Chambly,
and its series of lakes towards Hudson river. The rest of these vague
indications refer to the great Canadian lakes. - E.]
In the month of December, we learnt that the inhabitants of the
neighbouring town of Stadacona were infected by a pestilential disease
by which above fifty of them had been cut off before we got the
intelligence. On this account we strictly enjoined them not to come to
our fort or ships, or to have any intercourse with us; notwithstanding
which precaution this unknown sickness began to spread among us in the
strangest manner that ever was seen or heard of. Some of our men lost
their strength so completely that they could not stand, their legs
being excessively swelled and quite black, and their sinews shrunk up.
Others also had their skins spotted all over with spots of a dark purple
or blood colour; which beginning at the ankles, spread up their knees,
thighs, shoulders, arms and neck: Their breath did stink most
intolerably; their gums became so rotten that the flesh fell off even to
the roots of their teeth, most of which fell out[58]. So severely did
this infection spread among us, that by the middle of February, out of
110 persons composing the companies of our three ships, there were not
ten in perfect health to assist the rest, so that we were in a most
pitiable case, considering the place we were in, as the natives came
every day to the outside of our fort and saw but few of us. Eight were
already dead, and fifty more so extremely ill that we considered them
past all hopes of recovery. In consideration of our misery, our captain
commanded all the company to prepare by devout prayer in remembrance of
Christ our Saviour, and caused his holy image to be set upon a tree
about a musquet-shot from the fort, giving us to understand that divine
service was to be performed there on the Sunday following, every one who
could possibly do so attending in solemn procession, singing the seven
psalms of David and other litanies, and praying most heartily to our
Lord Christ Jesus to have compassion upon our wretched state. Service
being accordingly performed as well as we could, our captain made a vow,
if it should please God to permit his return into France, that he would
go on pilgrimage to the shrine of our Lady of Rocquemado.
[Footnote 58: The author clearly describes the scurvy, long so fatal to
mariners on long voyages, now almost unknown in consequence of superior
attention to articles of diet and cleanness. - E.]
On that day Philip Rougement died, being 22 years old; and because the
nature of the sickness was utterly unknown, the captain caused his body
to be opened, to see if by any means the cause of the disease could be
discovered, or any thing found out by which to preserve the rest of the
people. His heart was found to be white, but rotten, with more than a
quart, of red water about it. The liver was tolerably sound; but the
lungs were black and mortified. The blood was all collected about the
heart; so that a vast quantity of rotten blood issued from thence when
opened. The milt or spleen was rough and somewhat perished, as if it had
been rubbed against a stone. One of his thighs being very black was
opened, but it was quite sound within. The sickness increased, to such a
pitch that there were not above three sound men in the whole company;
all the rest being unable to go below hatches to bring up victuals or
drink for themselves or others. We were sometimes obliged to bury such
as died under the snow, being unable to dig graves for them, as the
ground was frozen quite hard, and we were all reduced to extreme
weakness. To add to our distress, we were sore afraid that the natives
might discover our weakness and misery. To hide this, our captain, whom
it pleased God always to keep in health, used to make his appearance
with two or three of the company, some sick and some well, whenever any
of the natives made their appearance, at whom he threw stones,
commanding them to go away or he would beat them:
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