1642.] . IROQUOIS CRUELTY. 249 



the captive Algonquins, fast bound, and surrounded 

 by a crowd of men, women, and childi'en, all sing- 

 ing at the top of their throats. The largest lodge 

 was ready to receive them; and as they entered, the 

 victims read thek doom in the fires that blazed on 

 the earthen floor, and in the aspect of the attendant 

 savages, whom the Jesuit Father calls attendant 

 demons, that waited then- coming. The torture 

 ^\hich ensued was but preliminary, designed to 

 cause all possible sufl'ering without touching life. 

 It consisted in blows with sticks and cudgels, gash- 

 ing then- limbs with knives, cutting ofi" theu' fingers 

 Avith clam-shells, scorching them with fii'ebrands, 

 and other indescribable torments.^ The women 

 were stripped naked, and forced to dance to the 

 singing of the male prisoners, amid the applause 

 and laughter of the crowd.- They then gave them 

 food, to strengthen them for further sufi'ering. 



On the following morning, they w^ere placed on 

 a large scafl'old, in sight of the whole population. 

 It was a gala-day. Young and old were gathered 

 from far and near. Some mounted the scafl'old, 

 and scorched them mth torches and fii*ebrands; 

 while the children, standing beneath the bark plat- 

 form, applied fire to the feet of the prisoners be- 

 tween the crevices. The Algonquin women were 

 told to burn theu' husbands and companions ; and 

 one of them obeyed, vainly thinking to appease her 



1 " Cette pauure creature qui s'est sauuee, a les deux pouces couppez, 

 ou plus tost hachez. Quand ils me les eurent couppez, disoit-elle, ils me 

 les voulurent faire manger ; mais ie les mis sur mon giron, et leur dis 

 qu'ils me tuassent s'ils vouloient, que ie ne leur pouuois obeir." — Buteux, 

 in Relation, 1642, 47. 



