Libr@rsi

1656-58] RELA TION OF 1656-57 45
CHAPTER XX.
OF THE FRESH HOPES FOR THE PROGRESS OF THE FAITH
IN THE MISSIONS OF NEW FRANCE.
SO abundant a harvest, gathered in so short a time
by so small a number of laborers, would sufl&ce
to lead us to hope for a still more abundant
one, because the minds of all those peoples are already
disposed toward the Faith. Moreover, the number
of those who work there is shortly to be increased,
and we have already prepared for them an
as we hope ;
Iroquois Dictionary, to facilitate their learning the
language.
[184] There is nothing that wins the Savages or
excites their admiration more than the zeal which
has caused a good many French to abandon the
conveniences and comforts of France, to undergo the
hardships of their own existence, and to abandon themselves
to their mercy. The little fear that we mani-
fest when we hear them say, ' *
a black Gown," *'
It is I who killed such
It is I who burned that other,"
gives them a favorable impression of the truths that
we preach and that cause us so to despise the dangers
of death and of torture.
Very few of our Savages come back from Kebec
without greater esteem and affection for our mysteries,
and without a desire to be instructed and to
embrace the Faith; they say that they experience
quite different feelings when they return from the
Dutch settlements. But, without going so far, the