1637.J THE SACRIFICE. 81 



custom of those who knew themselves to be at 

 the point of death. All were welcome to this 

 strange banquet; and when the company were 

 gathered, the host addressed them in a loud, firm 

 voice : '^ My brothers, I am about to die. Do your 

 worst to me. I do not fear torture or death." 

 Some of those present seemed to have visitings of 

 real compassion ; and a woman asked the priests 

 if it would be wrong to kill him, and thus save 

 him from the fire. 



The Jesuits had from the first lost no opportunity 

 of accosting him ; while he, grateful for a genuine 

 kindness amid the cruel hypocrisy that surrounded 

 him, gave them an attentive ear, till at length, 

 satisfied with his answers, they baptized him. His 

 eternal bliss secure, all else was as nothing ; and 

 they awaited the issue with some degree of com- 

 posure. 



A crowd had gathered from all the surround 

 ing towns, and after nightfall the presiding chief 

 harangued them, exhorting them to act their parts 

 well in the approaching sacrifice, since they would 

 be looked upon by the Sun and the God of War.^ 

 It is needless to dwell on the scene that en- 

 sued. It took place in the lodge of the great war- 

 chief, Atsan. Eleven fires blazed on the ground, 

 along the middle of this capacious dwelling. The 

 platforms on each side were closely packed with 

 spectators ; and, betwixt these and the fii'es, the 



1 Areskoui (see Introrluction). He was often regarded as identical 

 with the Sun. Tlie semi-sacrificial cliaracter of the torture in this case 

 is also shown by the injunction, " que pour ceste nuict on n'allast point 

 folastrer dans les hois." — Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 114. 



