Untitled - Libr@rsi

1651-62] RELATION OF j6si-52 249
that man of ill humor took the bit in his teeth, as
the saying is,— paddling in the torrents, and making
his way over the portages with the Father and his
Catechumen, without taking any rest from morning
till night. The Geldings of England eat almost all
night, and travel all day without being unbridled.
The Americans of these regions do almost the same
when they are on a journey. The poor Father set
out at daybreak, and toiled on, without eating, until
nightfall; his supper was a little of that smoked
meat, hard as wood,— or a small fish, if he could
catch one with his line ; and, after saying his prayers,
the ground was his bed, a log his pillow. Yet,
with all that, he slept [83] more sweetly than those
who do naught but dream upon
feathers and down.
At length, after 23 or 24 days of hard work, they
arrived at one of the villages or towns of the Abna-
quiois, called Nazayichouak}^ The Captain of the
place, whose name was Oumamanradok, received them
with a salvo of arquebus shots, and, embracing the
Father, exclaimed: '* I see well, now, that the great
Spirit who commands in the Skies is pleased to
regard us with favor, since he sends us back our
Patriarch." His harangue was tolerably long, at the
close of which he made inquiry of the Catechumen
if the Father had been in good health on the jour-
ney, and if he had been well treated. Upon learning
that the Savage from the country of the Etechemins
had often given him trouble, he said to him, with a
grave and very serious tone: " Thou hast shown, by
not paying respect to our Patriarch, that thou hadst
no sense. Thou wouldst have deserted him in the
middle of the journey, and thou didst force him to
part with his companion and leave behind a small