Untitled - Libr@rsi

1651-52] RELATION OF ibso-si 45
baptized this year. [loi] The others of the same Tribe
I
whom I saw were also fairly well ; disposed but
deemed it more advisable not to grant them holy
Baptism so soon, because some of them had formerly
followed the trade of Jugglers, who are the Sorcerers
of the country.
A second proof of the true Christianity that prevails
among those who compose this assembly —
which, properly speaking, consists of Attikamegues—
is the zeal that they manifest in banishing vice, and
in tolerating nothing among them that is contrary to
the promises that they made to God at their Baptism.
A young man had taken a Christian wife, without,
however, being able to have the marriage performed
with the rites of the Church. (When they are at a
distance of two or three hundred leagues in the
woods, resort to the Pastor is a very onerous condition.)
Some discord having arisen [102] in this marriage,
the husband left his wife, and took another
during the Winter. No sooner had this wretched
man arrived than he was referred to me. He came
to me, and, as the scandal had been public, he asked
me for a public penance, which gave me and all those
good Christians more consolation than his sin had
caused them grief. This is the second scandal that
has occurred in a region and in a flock so remote from
the sight of its Pastor, where there is nothing which
can prevent sin, except the fear and the love of God.
The third proof of the firmness of their faith is the
assiduity and diligence with which they perform the
duties of a good Christian. They are not content
with praying to God night and morning, before all
their actions and before their meals but ; they usually
pray [103] six or seven times a night, interrupting