318 PRIEST AND PURITAN. [1640-47. 



cessful mission at Tadoussac, or Sadilege, as the 

 neighboring Indians called it. In winter, this 

 place was a solitude ; but in summer, when the 

 Montagnais gathered from their hunting-grounds 

 to meet the French traders, Jesuits came yearly 

 from Quebec to instruct them in the Faith. Some- 

 times they followed them northward, into wilds 

 where, at this day, a white man rarely penetrates. 

 Thus, in 1646, De Quen ascended the Saguenay, 

 and, by a series of rivers, torrents, lakes, and rapids, 

 reached a Montagnais horde called the Nation of 

 the Porcupine, where he found that the teachings 

 at Tadoussac had borne fruit, and that the converts 

 had planted a cross on the borders of the savage 

 lake where they dwelt. There was a kindred band, 

 the Nation of the White Fish, among the rocks and 

 forests north of Three Eivers. They proved tract- 

 able beyond all others, threw away their " medi- 

 cines " or fetiches, burned theh magic drums, 

 renounced their medicine-songs, and accepted in- 

 stead rosaries, crucifixes, and versions of Catholic 

 hymns. 



In a former chapter, we followed Father Paul 

 Le Jeune on his winter roamings, with a band of 

 Montagnais, among the forests on the northern 

 boundary of Maine. Now Father Gabriel Druil- 

 letes sets forth on a similar excursion, but with one 

 essential difi'erence. Le Jeune's companions were 

 heathen, who persecuted him day and night with 

 theu' gibes and sarcasms. Those of Druilletes were 

 all converts, who looked on him as a friend and a 

 father. There were prayers, confessions, masses, 



