Untitled - Libr@rsi

PREFACE TO VOL. XXXVII 11
forests; so Buteux is obliged to return to Three
Rivers (June i8). He regards this as a most promising
field of labor, and as an opening to many remote
tribes of the North,— an additional advantage lying
in the prospective increase of the fur trade for the
French settlements. He hopes to return to these
^ood people, the following year.
In a subsequent letter (dated November 4, 165 1),
Buteux describes the invasion, by the Iroquois, of
that remote region which he had traversed. They
fall, in the night-time, upon some of those poor Attikam^gues,
kill the men, and drag the women and
children into a horrible captivity. Others of these
Christian Indians flee to Three Rivers, for refuge
with the French, and Buteux earnestly appeals for
help to be given these destitute brethren. They
have been invited to go to Sillery; but many considerations
make it desirable to retain them at Three
Rivers. If they go to Sillery or Quebec, Buteux
desires to go there with them, that he may accom-
pany them to their own country in the following
spring.
The letter from the Sillery chief, Noel Tekweri-
mat, to Father le Jeune, tells the Father of his mission
to New England for help against the Iroquois,
and of its failure. He begs Le Jeune to procure in
France aid against this enemy. He regrets the
Father's absence, and asks him to return soon.
He sends him a present of a robe, and entreats his
prayers for himself and his family.
The letter of De Lyonne, who took with him to
France the copy for the Relation of this year, describes
the terrors of his winter voyage across the Atlantic,
lasting from November 16 to December 25 — the