AN OLD STORY OF THE NEW WORLD. 27 



first device was to represent that the river was dan- 

 gerous or not navigable. Finding this not sufficient, 

 Donnacanna, after a present of fish and a solemn dance 

 and song, drew a circle in the sand (an action for 

 which had he known it, there are classical precedents) 

 around Cartier and his companions, in token that they 

 were to remain where they were, and then formally 

 presented him with a girl and two boys, children of 

 the best families in the town, as pledges of alliance 

 and friendship. Even this, however, proved of no 

 avail, and then the sanctions of religion were invoked. 

 Three medicine-men with blackened faces, dog-skin 

 or skunk-skin dresses, and huge horns on their heads, 

 appeared suddenly in a canoe, as messengers from the 

 Great Spirit, Coudragny, to reveal the news that at 

 Hochelaga the ice and snow would be so formidable 

 that the French would all be destroyed. This, how- 

 ever, the captain refused to believe, alleging that the 

 Indian god had no power over the followers of Christ : 

 and the expedients of Donnacanna were exhausted, so 

 that the adventurous Breton was allowed to proceed 

 on his way. 



On the 17th day of September Cartier began his 

 long and toilsome ascent of the great river, arriving at 

 Hochelaga on the 2nd of October, thus occupying 

 thirteen days in a voyage which the magnificent river- 

 boats of the St. Lawrence now perform in as many 

 hours. He was struck with the grandeur of the great 

 stream, the fertile lands on its banks, and the magni- 

 ficent forests, now beginning to assume their, splendid 



