48 THE HURON MISSION. [1633. 



forehead to the neck; while that of a thhd hung, 

 long and flowing from one side, but on the other 

 was cut short. Sixty chiefs and principal men, 

 with a crowd of younger warriors, formed their 

 council-circle in the fort, those of each village 

 grouped together, and all seated on the ground 

 with a gravity of bearing sufficiently curious to 

 those who had seen the same men in the domestic 

 chcle of their lodge-fires. Here, too, were the 

 Jesuits, robed in black, anxious and intent: and 

 here was Champlain, who, as he surveyed the 

 throng, recognized among the elder warriors not 

 a few of those who, eighteen years before, had 

 been his companions in arms on his hapless foray 

 against the Iroquois.^ 



Their harangues of compliment being made and 

 answered, and the inevitable presents given and 

 received, Champlain introduced to the silent con- 

 clave the three missionaries, Brebeuf, Daniel, and 

 Davost. To their lot had fallen the honors, dan- 

 gers, and woes of the Huron mission. " These are 

 our fathers," he said. " We love them more than 

 we love ourselves. The whole French nation honors 

 them. They do not go among you for your furs. 

 They have left their friends and their country to 

 show you the way to heaven. If you love the 

 French, as you say you love them, then love and 

 honor these our fathers."^ 



Two chiefs rose to reply, and each lavished all 



1 See "Pioneers of France," 870. 



2 Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 274 (Cramoisy); Mercitre Frangais, 1634. 

 845. 



