1637.] T^ GREAT COUNCIL. 117 



handkerchief, which he had previously dipped in 

 water, murmured the baptismal words with motion- 

 less lips, and snatched another soul from the fangs 

 of the " Infernal Wolf." ^ Thus, with the patience 

 of saints, the courage of heroes, and an intent truly 

 charitable, did the Fathers put forth a nimble-fin- 

 gered adroitness that would have done credit to the 

 profession of which the function is less to dispense 

 the treasures of another w^orld than to grasp those 

 which pertain to this. 



The Huron chiefs were summoned to a great 

 council, to discuss the state of the nation. The 

 crisis demanded all their wisdom ; for, while the 

 continued ravages of disease threatened them with 

 annihilation, the Iroquois scalping-parties infested 

 the outskirts of their towns, and murdered them 

 in their fields and forests. The assembly met in 

 August, 1637 ; and the Jesuits, knowing their deep 

 stake in its deliberations, failed not to be present, 

 with a liberal gift of wampum, to show their 

 sympathy in the public calamities. In private, 

 they sought to gain the good- will of the deputies, 

 one by one ; but though they were successful in 

 some cases, the result on the whole was far from 

 hopeful. 



In the intervals of the council, Brebeuf dis- 



1 Ce lonp infernal is a title often bestowed in the Relations on the 

 Devil. THe above details are gathered from the narratives of Brebeuf, 

 Le Mercier, and Lalemant, and letters, published and unpublished, of 

 several other Jesuits. 



In another case, an Indian girl was carrying on her back a sick child, 

 two months old. Two Jesuits approached, and while one of them amused 

 the girl with his rosary, "I'autre le baptise lestement; le pauure petit 

 n'attendoit que ceste faueur du Ciel pour s'y enuoler." 



