CHAPTEE XXIX. 



1649, 1650. 

 THE SANCTUARY. 



Dispersion of the Hukoks. — Sainte Marie abandoned. — Islb 

 St. Joseph. — Removal of the Mission. — The New Fort. — 

 Misery of the Hdrons. — Famine. — Epidemic. — Employ- 

 ments OP the Jesuits. 



All was over with the Hurons. The death-knell 

 of theh nation had struck. AVithout a leader, 

 without organization, without union, crazed with 

 fright and paralyzed with misery, they yielded to 

 theu' doom without a hlow. Theu' only thought 

 was flight. Within two weeks after the disasters 

 of St. Ignace and St. Louis, fifteen Huron towns 

 were abandoned, and the greater number burned, 

 lest they should give shelter to the Iroquois. The 

 last year's harvest had been scanty ; the fugitives 

 had no food, and they left behind them the fields 

 in which was theu' only hope of obtaining it. In 

 bands, large or small, some roamed northward 

 and eastward, through the half-thawed wilderness ; 

 some hid themselves on the rocks or islands of Lake 

 Huron ; some sought an asylum among the Tobacco 



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