16 PAUL LE JEUNE. [1632. 



The beginning of Le Jeune's missionary labors 

 was neither imposing nor promising. He describes 

 himself seated with a small Indian boy on one side 

 and a small negro on the other, the latter of whom 

 had been left by the English as a gift to Madame 

 Hebert. As neither of the three understood the 

 language of the others, the pupils made little prog- 

 ress in sphitual knowledge. The missionaries, it 

 was clear, must learn Algonquin at any cost ; and, 

 to this end, Le Jeune resolved to visit the Indian 

 encampments. Hearing that a band of Montagnais 

 were fishing for eels on the St. Lawrence, between 

 Cape Diamond and the cove which now bears the 

 name of Wolfe, he set forth for the spot on a 

 morning in October. As, with toil and trepida- 

 tion, he scrambled around the foot of the cape, — 

 whose precipices, with a chaos of loose rocks, 

 thrust themselves at that day into the deep tide- 

 water, — he dragged down upon himself the trunk 

 of a fallen tree, which, in its descent, well nigh 

 swept him into the river. The peril past, he pres- 

 ently reached his destination. Here, among the 

 lodges of bark, were stretched innumerable strings 

 of hide, from which hung to dry an incredible mul- 

 titude of eels. A boy invited him into the lodge 

 of a withered squaw, his grandmother, who has- 

 tened to ofi'er him four smoked eels on a piece of 

 birch bark, while other squaws of the household 

 instructed him how to roast them on a forked stick 

 over the embers. All shared the feast together, 

 his entertainers using as napkins their own hair 

 or that of their dogs ; while Le Jeune, intent on 



