chapter iv

.—ED.]

[678] This was not the only missionary labor in New France during the period already noticed. In 1619 some Recollect Fathers of the province of Aquitaine in France, at the instance of a fishing company which had establishments on the Acadian coast, came over to minister to the French and labor among the Indians. Their field of labor included Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Gaspé; but of the results of their attempts to instil an idea of Christianity into the minds of the Micmacs, we can give no details. One of their number, Father Sebastian, perished in the woods in 1623, while on his way from his post at Miscou to the chief mission station on St. John’s River. Three surviving Fathers joined the Recollects at Quebec in 1624 by order of their provincial in France, and took part in their ministry till Kirk arrived.

[679] [It was printed in 1833, in the _Memoirs_ of the American Academy. His strong box, captured at the same time, was for a while (1845-1855) in the keeping of the Massachusetts Historical Society (_Proceedings_, ii. 322; iii. 40). Pickering, who edited the dictionary when printed, submitted to the same Society (_Proceedings_, i. 476) some original papers concerning Rale, preserved in the _Massachusetts Archives_, and these were used by Convers Francis in his _Life of Ralle_ in Sparks’s _American Biography_. Cf. also 2 _Mass. Hist. Coll._ viii. 2511 and Proceedings, iii. 324. An account of his monument is in the _Historical Magazine_, March, 1858, p. 84, and June, 1871, p. 399.—ED.]

[680] The Abenaki missions on the St. Lawrence and in Maine were continued, however; and a remnant of the tribe still adhere to the Catholic faith at Indian Old Town, on the Penobscot, as they did in the days of Rale and of Orono, their chief, who led them to fight beside the Continentals in the Revolution. They are now known as the Penobscots and Passamaquoddies, but are dwindling away.

[681] [Harrisse, _Notes sur la Nouvelle France_, no. 62, says the

## book is hard reading, which explains the little use made of it by

historians. Chevalier, in his introduction to the Paris reprint by Tross, in 1864-66, arraigns Charlevoix for his harsh judgment of Sagard. The original is now rare and costly. Tross, before securing a copy to print from, kept for years a standing offer of 1,200 francs. There are copies in the Harvard College and Carter-Brown (vol. ii. no. 437) libraries. Rich, in 1832, priced it at £1 16_s._; Quaritch, in 1880, prices it at £63; and Le Clerc (no. 2,947), with the Huron music in fac-simile, gives 1,200 francs. Dufossé (_Americana_, 1876 and 1877-78) prices copies at 1,200 and 1,500 francs; cf. Crowninshield, no. 948, and Field’s _Indian Bibliography_, no. 1,344.

Of the _Grand Voyage_ of 1632, there are copies in Harvard College and Carter-Brown libraries, and in the Library of Congress. Other copies were in the Crowninshield (no. 949), Brinley (no. 143), and O’Callaghan (no. 2,046) sales. Harrisse (_Notes_, etc., no. 53) says that after the Solar sale, where it brought 320 francs, it became an object for collectors; and Dufossé, in 1877, priced it at 550 francs; Ellis & White, the same year, at £42; Quaritch, at £36; Rich, fifty years ago, said copies had brought £15. Cf. Field, no. 1,341. This book was also reprinted by Tross in 1865.—ED.]

[682] [This translation, of which only 250 copies were printed, was made by Dr. Shea. He introduces it with “A Sketch of Father Christian Le Clercq,” which includes a bibliographical account of his works. The book supplements in a measure Sagard’s _Histoire du Canada_, since that had given the earlier labors as this portrays the later works of the Recollects, or at least more minutely than Sagard. The Recollects had been recalled to Canada to thwart the Jesuits, and Le Clercq reached Quebec in 1673, and was assigned in 1675 to the vicinity of the Bay of Gaspé as a missionary field; and it is of his labors in this region that we learn in his _Nouvelle relation de la Gaspésie_, which was printed in Paris in 1691 (cf. Harrisse, _Notes_, 170; Field, _Indian Bibliography_, 902; Ternaux, 176; Faribault, 82; Lenox, in _Historical Magazine_, ii. 25; Dufossé, _Americana_, 1878, 75 and 100 francs; Sabin, vol. x. p. 159; Stevens, _Bibliotheca Historica_, 1870, no. 1,113; _Brinley Catalogue_, 102; Le Clercq, _Bibl. Amer._, 746, 140 francs; Carter-Brown, vol. ii. no. 1,415; O’Callaghan, no. 1,360), and Le Clercq refers his readers to the present work for a continuation of the story, but it does not contain it, that portion being suppressed, as Dr. Shea thinks. The Jesuits are bitterly satirized by Le Clercq in the concluding part of the first volume, and in the second of the _Établissement_. Shea’s collation of the _Nouvelle Relation_ does not correspond with the Harvard College copy, which has 28 instead of 26 preliminary leaves. See also Sabin’s _Dictionary_, vol. x. no. 39,649; Field’s _Indian Bibliography_, no. 903; Harrisse, _Notes sur la Nouvelle France_, no. 170; Boucher de la Richarderie, vi. 21; Faribault, p. 82.

The original edition of the _Établissement_ had two varieties of title, one bearing the author’s name in full, and the other concealing it by initials. It is very rare with either title, but copies can be found in the Carter-Brown Library (see _Catalogue_, no. 1,413), and in the Sparks Collection at Cornell University (see _Sparks Catalogue_, no. 1,482). Dr. Shea notes other copies in Baron James Rothschild’s library at Paris, and in the Abbé H. Verreau’s collection at Montreal. Mr. Stewart tells me there are copies in the libraries of Laval University, of the Quebec Government, Of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, and of Parliament, at Ottawa. The Leno Library has a copy of what seems the same edition, with the title changed to _Histoire des colonies françoises_, Paris and Lyons, 1692. Mr. Lenox (_Historical Magazine_, January, 1858), following Sparks and others, claimed that the 1691 edition was suppressed; but Harrisse (_Notes_, etc. p. 159) disputes this in a long notice of the book, in which he cites _Œuvres de Messire Antoine Arnould_, Paris, 1780, xxxiv. 720, to the contrary. Le Clercq’s book should have a map, “Carte generalle de la Nouvelle France,” which is given in fac-simile in vol. ii. of this translation. It includes all North America, except the Arctic regions, but, singularly, omits Lake Champlain.

President Sparks wrote in his copy: “An extremely rare book.... It is peculiarly valuable as containing the first original account of the discoveries of La Salle by two [Recollect] missionaries who accompanied him. From this book, also, Hennepin drew the account of his pretended discovery of the Mississippi River.” See the bibliographical notice in Shea’s _Discovery and Explorations of the Mississippi Valley_, p. 78. Sparks, in his _Life of La Salle_, first pointed out how Hennepin had plagiarized from the journal of Father Membré, contained in Le Clercq. See further in Shea’s _Mississippi Valley_, p. 83 _et seq._, where Membré’s journal in Shea’s translation from Le Clercq was printed for the first time, and the note on Hennepin, following chap. viii. of the present volume. Harrisse, _Notes_, etc., p. 160, points out what we owe to this work for a knowledge of La Salle’s explorations. Cf. Parkman’s _La Salle_; Field’s _Indian Bibliography_, no. 903, with a note touching the authorship; Brunet, _Supplement_, i. 810, noting copies sold,—Maisonneuve, 250 francs; Sóbolewski, 150 thalers; Tross (1873), 410 francs; Dufossé, 600 francs; Le Clercq, no. 2,833, 1,500 francs.

The bibliographers are agreed that others than Le Clercq were engaged in the _Établissement_, and that the part concerning Frontenac was clearly not by Le Clercq. Charlevoix says Frontenac himself assisted in it; and it is Shea’s opinion that extraneous matter was attached to Le Clercq’s account of the Recollect missions, to convert the book into an attack in large part on the Jesuits.—ED.

[683] Champlain’s _Voyages_, Prince ed. iii. 104 _et seq._

[684] _Establishment of the Faith_, i. 200, 346.

[685] [See a note on the bibliography of Hennepin, following chap. viii. of the present volume.—ED.]

[686] [S. Lesage, in the _Revue Canadienne_, iv. 303 (1867), gives a good summary of the Recollect missions.—ED.]

[687] [An annotated bibliography of the _Relations_ follows this chapter.—ED.]

[688] Harrisse, no. 122. The book has been priced by Leclerc at 500 francs, and by Quaritch at £16 16_s._ Field does not mention it in his _Indian Bibliography_.

[689] See chap. v.; and cf. _Historical Magazine_, ix. 205, and Shea’s _Charlevoix_, iii. 165. Also later _Sub_ 1655-56.

[690] Cf. Wilson on Mines in _Canadian Journal_, May, 1856.

[691] See _Mgr. de St. Valier et L’Hôpital Général de Quebec_. Quebec, 1882.

[692] This son, François Louis, entered the army, and was killed while in the service of King Louis, in Germany.

[693] A plan of this fort was sent by M. Denonville to France, on the 13th November, 1685. A copy may be seen in Faillon’s _Histoire de la Colonie Française_, iii. 467, entitled “Fort de Frontenac ou Katarakourg, construit par le Sieur de la Salle.” A sketch after Faillon is given on another page, in the editorial note on La Salle appended to