1640-1649.] JESUIT MISSIONARIES. 53 



drag the canoe against the headlong water. Again, 

 radiant in the vestments of his priestly office, he 

 administers the sacramental bread to kneelinfir 

 crowds of plumed and painted proselytes in the 

 forests of the Hurons ; or, bearing his life in his 

 hand, carries his sacred mission into the stronsr- 

 holds of the Iroquois, like one who invades un- 

 armed a den of angry tigers. Jesuit explorers 

 traced the St. Lawrence to its source, and said 

 masses among the solitudes of Lake Superior, 

 where the boldest fur-trader scarcely dared to fol- 

 low. They planted missions at St. Mary's and 

 at Michillimackinac ; and one of their fraternity, 

 the illustrious Marquette, discovered the Missis- 

 sippi, and opened a new theatre to the boundless 

 ambition of France. 



The path of the missionary was a thorny and a 

 bloody one ; and a life of weary apostleship was 

 often crowned with a frightful martyrdom. Jean 

 de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lallemant preached the 

 faith among the villages of the Hurons, when their 

 terror-stricken Hock were overwhelmed by an irrup- 

 tion of the Iroquois. The missionaries might have 

 fled ; but, true to their sacred function, they re- 

 mained behind to aid the wounded and baptize the 

 dying. Both were made captive, and both were 

 doomed to the fiery torture. Brebeuf, a veteran 

 soldier of the cross, met his fate with an undaunted 

 composure, which amazed his murderers. With 

 unflinching constancy he- endured torments too 

 horrible to be recorded, and died calmly as a 



