212 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



The little band of fugitives sought refuge on the Island of Orleans, 

 near Quebec. But even here they were pursued by the undying hate 

 of the Iroquois, who again and again attacked the mission beneath the 

 very guns of tlhe fort. The surviving Hurons were dispersed in scat- 

 tered groups far over the bleak northern wastes from the Sagiienay to 

 the Mississippi, and eventually disappeared as a distinct race. One band 

 sought the aid. of the powerful Ojibways, and confronted their merciless 

 foe on the shores of Lake Superior, where a gi-eat battle Avas fought on 

 the spot still known as Iroquois Point, otherwise " the place of 

 Iroquois bones.'' A few families, the remnant of the once powerful 

 Huron nation, still linger at Lorette, ïiear Quebec. 



Of pathetic interest is the specimen of the Huron language given 

 in the Eclations for the year*1641. This language, once the vernacular 

 of a numerous and powerful nation, is as completely lost as that of the 

 builders of Babel. In all the world is none who comprehends the 

 meaning of those strange mysterious words» Like the bones of the 

 diornis and the megatherium, this meagre fragment is the relic of an. 

 extinct race — ^the tombstone over the grave of a nation. 



Yet the labours of the Jesuit missionaries have not been altogether 

 lost. The lives of these devoted martyrs and confessors were a per- 

 petual altar flame of self-sacrifice and self-abnegation, consuming the 

 base and sordid elements of earth away, and developing an unsurpassed 

 nobility of soul which is its own exceeding great reward. Through their 

 efl'orts, also, multitudes of degraded savages were reclaimed from lives 

 of utter barbari^^m and of pagan superstition and cruelty to tlie dignity 

 of men, and not unfrequently to the piety of saints. 



Of the little company of Jesuit missionaries, Pères Daniel, Brébeuf, 

 Lalemant, Gamier, Garreau, But eux, and Chabanet; and Goupil, Brule 

 and Lalande, lay labourers, died by violence in the service of tlie mis- 

 sion; De Noue was frozen to death in the snow; and Bressani, Jogues, 

 Châtelaine, Chaumonot, Couture and others, endured tortures far worse 

 than death. 



He who reads the story of the soU'-denying lives and heroic deaths 

 of these Jesuit Fathers, although of alien race and diverse belief, will 

 not withhold the throl) of sympathy for their sufferings and of exulta- 

 tion in their lofty courage and unfaltering faith. The imperishable 

 record of their pious labours, of their sublime daring, of their inex- 

 tinguishable love of souls, will lie a perpetual inspiration to mankind. 



