1G38-40.] CONDITIONS OF BAPTISM. 133 



their feet and legs." They knelt, mingled with 

 the French mechanics, before the altar, — very 

 awkwardly at first, for the posture was new to 

 them, — and all received the sacrament together : 

 a spectacle which, as the missionary chronicler 

 declares, repaid a hundred times all the labor of 

 tlieir conversion.^ 



Some of the principal methods of conversion are 

 curiously illustrated in a letter written by Gar 

 nier to a friend in France. " Send me," he says, 

 "a pictui'e of Christ without a beard." Several 

 Virgins are also requested, together with a variety 

 of souls in perdition — dmes damnees — most of 

 them to be mounted in a portable form. Particular 

 directions are given ^\ith respect to the demons, 

 dragons, flames, and other essentials of these works 

 of art. Of souls in bliss — dmes hienheureuses — 

 he thinks that one will be enough. All the pic- 

 tures must be in full face, not in profile ; and they 

 must look directly at the beholder, with open eyes. 

 The colors should be bright ; and there must be no 

 flowers or animals, as these distract the attention 

 of the Indians.^ 



The first point with the priests was of course to 

 bring the objects of their zeal to an acceptance of 

 the fundamental doctrines of the Koman Church ; 

 but, as the mind of the savage was by no means 



1 Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1639, 62, 



2 Gamier, Lettre 11"^, MS. These directions show an excellent 

 knowledge of IndiaL pecuUarities. The Indian dislike of a beard is well 

 known. Catlin, the painter, once caused a fatal quarrel among a party of 

 Sioux, by representing one of them in profile, whereupon he was jibed 

 by a rival as being but half a man. 



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