1633.] PLANS OF LE JEUNE. 21 



from the first, turned his eyes towards the distant 

 land of the Hurons, — a field of labor full of peril, 

 but rich in hope and promise. Le Jeune's duties 

 as Superior restrained him from wanderings so 

 remote. His apostleship must be limited, for a 

 time, to the vagabond hordes of Algonquins, who 

 roamed the forests of the lower St. Lawrence, and 

 of whose language he had been so sedulous a 

 student. His difficulties had of late been increased 

 by the absence of Pierre, who had run off as Lent 

 drew near, standing in dread of that season of fast- 

 ing. Masse brought tidings of him from Tadoussac, 

 whither he had gone, and where a party of English 

 had given him liquor, destroying the last trace of 

 Le Jeune's late exhortations. "God forgive those," 

 writes the Father, " who introduced heresy mto this 

 country ! If this savage, corrupted as he is by 

 these miserable heretics, had any wit, he would be 

 a great hindrance to the spread of the Faith. It is 

 plain that he was given us, not for the good of his 

 soul, but only that we might extract from him the 

 principles of his language." ^ 



Pierre had two brothers. One, well known as 

 a hunter, was named Mestigoit ; the other was the 

 most noted " medicine-man," or, as the Jesuits 

 called him, sorcerer, in the tribe of the Montagnais. 

 Like the rest of then* people, they were accustomed 

 to set out for then- winter hunt in the autumn, after 

 the close of their eel-fishery. Le Jeune, despite the 

 experience of De None, had long had a mind to 

 accompany one of these roving bands, partly in the 



1 Relation, 1638, 29. 



