1633-34.] HIS INDIAN COMPANIONS. 31 



sity imply ill-will. The rest of the party, in their 

 turn, fared no better. They rallied and bantered 

 each other incessantly, with as little forbearance, 

 and as little malice, as a troop of unbridled school- 

 boys.^ No one took offence. To have done so 

 would have been to bring upon one's self genuine 

 contumely. This motley household was a model 

 of harmony. True, they showed* no tenderness or 

 consideration towards the sick and disabled; but 

 for the rest, each shared with all in weal or woe : 

 the famine of one was the famine of the whole, 

 and the smallest portion of food was distributed 

 in fair and equal partition. Upbraidings and com- 

 plaints were unheard ; they bore each other's 

 foibles with wondrous equanimity ; and while per- 

 secuting Le Jeune with constant importunity for 

 tobacco, and for everything else he had, they never 

 begged among themselves. 



When the fire burned well and food was abun- 

 dant, their conversation, such as it was, was in- 

 cessant. They used no oaths, for their language 

 supplied none, — doubtless because their mythol- 

 ogy had no beings sufficiently distinct to swear by. 

 Their expletives were foul words, of which they 



leurs cabanes, se raraassans en peloton, ou se couchans, ou s'asseans sans 

 siege & sans mattelas, ny la faim, ny la soif, ny la pauurete & salete de 

 leur boucan, ny la maladie, tout cela ne m'a semble que ieu a comparai- 

 son de la fumee & de la malice du Sorcier." — Relation, 1634, 201 (Cra' 

 moisy). 



1 "Leur vie se passe h, manger, a rire, et k railler les rns des autres, 

 et de tons les peuples qu'ils cognoissent ; ils n'ont rien de serieux, sinon 

 par fois I'exterieur, faisans parmy nous les graues et les retenus, maia 

 entr'eux sont de vrais badins, de vrais enfans, qui ne demandent qu'a 

 Tiie." — Relation, 1634, 30. 



