In the one section the working animal most prized was the ox, so patient and useful in cultivating the rocky farms in little valleys and on hillsides, and the cows furnishing so much food for the family, and the sheep for the production of wool. In the middle colonies the ox was used, but not so much as the draft horse, in cultivating the large wheat fields; while in Virginia the hoe was as necessary, if not more, than the plow in cultivating tobacco. The Virginian cherished the horse as the noblest of animals, and imported from England the finest for the saddle, for hunting, and for racing, meanwhile neglecting his domestic cattle.

CHAPTER XIX

1634-1687

MISSIONS AND SETTLEMENTS IN NEW FRANCE

The Emigrants Few in Number-The Jesuits; Their Zeal as Teachers and Explorers-Missions Among the Hurons— Ahasistari-The Five Nations, or Iroquois-Father Jogues-The Abenakis; Dreuilettes-The Dangers of the Missions-French Settlers at Oswego-James Marquette -The Mississippi-La Salle; His Enterprise; His Failure and Tragical End.

We have already given an account of the discoveries made in New France, and the settlements founded under the direction of Samuel Champlain. We now intend to trace the history of these settlements and missions, from that period till the time when the Lily of France was supplanted by the Banner of St. George.

The climate offered but few inducements to cultivators of the soil, and emigrants came but slowly; they established trading houses, rather than agricultural settlements. To accumulate wealth their main resource was in the peltries of the wilderness, and these could be obtained only from the Indians, who roamed over the vast regions west and north of the lakes.

A partial knowledge of the country had been obtained from a priest, Father Le Caron, the friend and companion of Champlain. He had, by groping through the woods, and paddling over the waters in his birch bark canoe, penetrated far up the St. Lawrence, explored the south shore of Lake Ontario, and even found his way to Lake Huron.

Three years before the death of Champlain, Louis

XIII. gave a charter to a company, granting them the control of the valley of the St. Lawrence and all its tributaries. An interest was felt for the poor savages, and it was resolved to convert them to the religion of Rome;-not only convert them, but make them the allies of France. Worldly policy had as much influence as religious zeal. It was plain, the only way to found a French empire in the New World, was by making the native tribes subjects, and not by transplanting Frenchmen.

The missions to the Indians were transferred to the supervision of the Jesuits. This order of priests was founded expressly to counteract the influence of the Reformation under Luther. As the Reformers favored education and the diffusion of general intelligence, so the Jesuit became the advocate of education-provided it was under his own control. He resolved to rule the world by influencing its rulers; he would govern by intellectual power and the force of opinion, rather than by superstitious fears. He endeavored to turn the principles of the Reformation against itself. His vows enjoined upon him perfect obedience to the will of his superior,-to go on any mission to which he might be ordered. No clime so deadly that he would not brave its danger; no people so savage that he would not attempt their conversion.

With their usual energy and zeal, the Jesuits began to explore the wilds of New France, and to bring its wilder inhabitants under the influence of the Catholic faith. To the convert was offered the privileges of a subject of France. From this sprang a social equality, friendly relations were established, and intermarriages took place between the traders and the Indian women.

Companies of Hurons, who dwelt on the shores of the lake which bears their name, were on a trading expedition to Quebec. On their return home the

Jesuits Brebeuf and Daniel accompanied them. They went up the Ottawa till they came to its largest western branch, thence to its head-waters, and thence across the wilderness to their villages on Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe. The faith and zeal of these two men sustained them during their toilsome journey of nine hundred miles, and though their feet were lacerated and their garments torn, they rejoiced in their sufferings. Here in a grove they built, with their own hands, a little chapel, in which they celebrated the ceremonies of their church. The Redman came to hear the morning and evening prayers; though in a language which he could not understand, they seemed to him to be addressed to the Great Spirit, whom he himself worshipped. Six missions were soon established in the villages around these lakes and bays. Father Brebeuf spent four hours of every morning in private prayer and self-flagellations, the rest of the day in catechizing and teaching. Sometimes he would go out into the village, and as he passed along would ring his little bell and thus invite the grave warriors to a conference, on the mysteries of his religion. Thus he labored for fifteen years.

These teachings had an influence on the susceptible heart of the great Huron chief Ahasistari. He professed himself a convert and was baptized. Often as he escaped uninjured from the perils of battle, he thought some powerful spirit watched over him, and now be believed that the God whom the white man worshipped was that guardian spirit. In the first flush of his zeal he exclaimed: "Let us strive to make all men Christians."

Thousands of the sons and daughters of the forest listened to instruction, and the story of their willingness to hear, when told in France, excited a new interest. The king and queen and nobles vied with

each other in manifesting their regard by giving encouragement and aid to the missionaries, and by presents to the converts. A college, to educate men for these missions, was founded at Quebec, two years before the founding of Harvard. Two years afterward the Ursuline convent was founded at Montreal for the education of Indian girls, and three young nuns came from France to devote themselves to that labor. They were received with demonstrations of joy by the Hurons and Algonquins. Montreal was now chosen as a more desirable centre for missionary operations.

The tribes most intelligent and powerful, most warlike and cruel, with whom the colonists came in contact were the Mohawks, or Iroquois, as the French named them. They were a confederacy consisting of five nations, the Senecas, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Mohawks-better known to the English by the latter name. This confederacy had been formed in accordance with the counsels of a great and wise chief, Hiawatha. Their traditions tell of him as having been specially guided by the Great Spirit, and that amid strains of unearthly music, he ascended to heaven in a snow-white canoe. They inhabited that beautiful and fertile region in Central New York, where we find the lakes and rivers still bearing their names.

Their territory lay on the south shore of Lake Ontario, and extended to the head-waters of the streams which flow into the Chesapeake and Delaware bays, and also to the sources of the Ohio. These streams they used as highways in their war incursions. They pushed their conquests up the lakes and down the St. Lawrence, and northward almost to the frozen regions around Hudson's Bay. They professed to hold many of the tribes of New England as tributary, and extended their influence to the extreme east. They