1633.] JESUIT SCHEMES. 43 



their name. Here was a hopeful basis of indef- 

 inite conquests ; for, the Hurons won over, the 

 Faith would spread in wider and wider circles, 

 embracing, one by one, the kindred tribes, — the 

 Tobacco Nation, the Neutrals, the Eries, and the 

 Andastes. Nay, in His own time, God might lead 

 into His fold even the potent and ferocious Iro- 

 quois. 



The way was pathless and long, by rock and tor- 

 rent and the gloom of savage forests. The goal was 

 more di'eary yet. Toil, hardship, famine, filth, sick- 

 ness, solitude, insult, — all that is most revolting to 

 men nurtui'ed among arts and letters, all that is 

 most terrific to monastic credulity: such were the 

 promise and the reality of the Huron mission. 

 In the eyes of the Jesuits, the Huron country was 

 the innermost stronghold of Satan, his castle and 

 his donjon-keep.^ All the weapons of his malice 

 were prepared against the bold invader who should 

 assail him in this, the heart of his ancient domain. 

 Far from shrinking, the priest's zeal rose to tenfold 

 ardor. He signed the cross, invoked St. Ignatius, 

 St. Francis Xavier, or St. Francis Borgia, kissed his 

 reliquary, said nme masses to the Virgin, and stood 

 prompt to battle with all the hosts of Hell. 



A life sequestered from social intercourse, and 

 remote from every prize which ambition holds 

 worth the pursuit, or a lonely death, under forms, 

 perhaps, the most appalling, — these were the mis 

 sionaries' alternatives. Their maligners may taunt 



1 " Une des principales forteresses & comme un donjon des Demons.'* 

 — Lalemant, Relation des Hurons y 1639, 100 (Cramoisy). 



