1632.] LE ,TEinsrE REACHES CANADA. 15 



the three sailed together on the eighteenth of April, 

 1632. The sea treated them roughly; Le Jeune 

 was wretchedly sea-sick ; and the ship nearly foun- 

 dered in a gale. At length they came in sight of 

 " that miserable country," as the missionary calls 

 the scene of his future labors. It was in the har- 

 bor of Tadoussac that he first encountered the 

 objects of his apostolic cares ; for, as he sat in 

 the ship's cabin with the master, it was suddeidy 

 invaded by ten or twelve Indians, whom he com- 

 pares to a party of maskers at the Carnival. Some 

 had their cheeks painted black, their noses blue, 

 and the rest of their faces red. Others were deco- 

 rated with a broad band of black across the eyes ; 

 and others, again, with diverging rays of black, 

 red, and blue on both cheeks. Their attii'e was no 

 less uncouth. Some of them wore shaggy bear- 

 skins, reminding the priest of the pictures of St. 

 John the Baptist. 



After a vain attempt to save a number of Iro- 

 quois prisoners whom they were preparing to burn 

 alive on shore, Le Jeune and his companions again 

 set sail, and reached Quebec on the fifth of July. 

 Having said mass, as already mentioned, under the 

 roof of Madame TIebert and her delighted family, 

 the Jesuits made their way to the two hovels built 

 by their predecessors on the St. Charles, which 

 had suffered woful dilapidation at the hands of 

 the English. Here they made their abode, and 

 applied themselves, with such skill as they could 

 command, to repair the shattered tenements and 

 cultivate the waste meadows around. 



