312 ANOTHER WAR. [1647. 



caught tortoises in the muddy brooks. She had 

 the good fortune to find a hatchet in a deserted 

 camp, and with it made one of those wooden im- 

 plements which the Indians used for kindling ^^e 

 by friction. This saved her from her worst suffer- 

 ing; for she had no covering but a thin tunic, 

 which left her legs and arms bare, and exposed 

 her at night to tortures of cold. She built her fire 

 in some deep nook of the forest, warmed herself, 

 cooked what food she had found, told her rosary 

 on her fingers, and slept till daylight, when she 

 always threw water on the embers, lest the rising 

 smoke should attract attention. Once she discov- 

 ered a party of Iroquois hunters ; but she lay con- 

 cealed, and they passed without seeing her. She 

 followed their trail back, and found their bark ca- 

 noe, which they had hidden near the bank of a 

 river. It was too large for her use ; but, as she 

 was a practised canoe -maker, she reduced it to a 

 convenient size, embarked in it, and descended the 

 stream. At length she reached the St. Lawrence, 

 and paddled with the current towards Montreal. 

 On islands and rocky shores she found eggs of 

 water-fowl in abundance ; and she speared fish 

 with a sharpened pole, hardened at the point with 

 fire. She even killed deer, by driving them into 

 the water, chasing them in her canoe, and striking 

 them on the head with her hatchet. When she 

 landed at Montreal, her canoe had still a good 

 store of eggs and dried venison.^ 



1 This story is taken from the Relation of 1647, and tlie letter oi 

 Marie de I'lncarnation to her son. before cited. The woman nmst have 



