1G37-47.] MIRACLES. 107 



power declared itself in action immediate and 

 direct, controlling, guiding, or reversing the laws 

 of Nature. The missionaries did not reject the 

 ordinary cures for disease or wounds ; but they 

 relied far more on a prayer to the Vu'gin, a vow to 

 St. Joseph, or the promise of a neuvaine, or nine 

 days' devotion, to some other celestial personage ; 

 while the touch of a fragment of a tooth or bone 

 of some departed saint was of sovereign efficacy 

 to cure sickness, solace pain, or relieve a suffering 

 squaw in the throes of childbirth. Once, Chaumo- 

 not, havmg a headache, remembered to have heard 

 of a sick man who regained his health by com- 

 mending his case to St. Ignatius, and at the same 

 time putting a medal stamped with his image into 

 his mouth. Accordingly he tried a similar experi- 

 ment, putting into his mouth a medal bearing a 

 representation of the Holy Family, which was the 

 object of his especial devotion. The next morning 

 found him cured.^ 



The relation between this world and the next 

 was sometimes of a nature curiously intimate. 

 Thus, when Chaumonot heard of Garnier's death, 

 he immediately addressed his departed colleague, 

 and promised him the benefit of all the good works 

 which he, Chaumonot, might perform during the 

 next week, provided the defunct missionary would 

 make him heir to his knowledge of the Huron 

 tongue.^ And he ascribed to the deceased Garnier's 



1 Chaumonot, Vie, 73. 



2 " Je n'eus pas plutot appris sa glorieuse mort, que je lui promis tout 

 ce que je ferois de bien pendant huit jours, a condition qu'il me feroit son 

 heritier dans la connoissance parfaite qu'il avoit du Huron." — Chaumo 

 not, Vie, 61. 



