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Show 258 TilE LILY AND TilE TOTE~l·- but his polilly had been rather to m::~inta.in terms of allin~ce, olfcnsiYc and defensive, with a powerful chieftain, at some httle distance, than to depend wholly upon others more ncar at hand. This policy ,vas ::~gain drawn from that of the Spaniard. I le was soon to be taught how little wns the reliance which he could place in any of the forest tribes. He was about to suffilr from t~osc deficiencies and evils which were due to his nllxious explorations of the country, wllen lliS people had been much better employed in the wholesome labors of the fieW, in the very eye of the garrison. . f' 1t was the custom of tlJC Indian tribes, after the gathcnng and storin,. away of their harvests, to commence bunting with the first fall of0 the leaves, probably about the middle of September. The chase, during this period, was seldom such as to carry th.f.'lm far from the fields which they bad watched during the summer. Ncar at J1and, for a season at least, the game was in fnfficicnt quantity to supply their \Vants. But, as the season advanced, and towards the months of January, February and l\farch, they gradually passed into tho deeper thickets, and disappeared from their temporary habitations. During tllis period, they build up new abodes, which arc equally frail, in the regions to which they go, and which arc contiguous to thu bunting·grounds which they nrc about to pcnetrn.tc. To these Tetrcn.ts the whole tribe retires; and hither tllCy carry all tile commodities which arc valuable in their eyes. Their summer dwellings arc thus as completely stripped as if the region were ab::~ndoucd forever. This removal, for which their previous experience should sufficiently have prepared our Frenchmen, was yet destined to ha,·e for t11em some very pernicious results. We have seen that certain subsidies of corn an<l beans had been procured from 1 C lt!STORICAL SUMMARY. 259 -various tribes and nations; enough, according to Lauclonnicrc, to serve them until tire arrival of expected succors from France. But, calculuting on these succors, and confident of their anh•a\ during the month of April, our Frcnclnucn had become profligate of their stores. April found them strn.itcncd for provisions, and not an Jndian could be seen. April passed slowly and brought no succot. With the nfonth of 1\Jay the l ndians lmd returned to their former abodes ; but, by this time, their remaining stO<:k of grain had mostly found its way into the ground, in the setting of anot! M- crop. From the Ba\'agcs, accordingly, nothirrg but scanty supplies of fish could be procm·cd, without which, says Laudonnicrc, "assuredly wee had perished from famine." or the incompetence of this captain, and tl~e wretched order which prevailed nmong his garrison, his incapacit,y and other incompetence, tllis ~>tatcment affords sufficient pr·oof. They neither tilled the earth for its g r·ain, nor sounded the ri,·er for its finny tribes ; though these realms were quite as mnelr under their dominion as that of the savages ; but they relied solely upon this capricious and inferior race, iu the exploration of land and sea, for maintaining them against starvation May succeeded to April, nnd still in vain did our Frenchmen look forth upon the sea, for the ships of their di.~tant countrymen. June en me, and their wants increased. They fell finally into famine, of which Laudonnicrc himself nffords usa sufficiently im-prcssive picture. " \Ve were constrnyncd to cate rootes, which the most part of our men punned in tho mortars which I had brought with nrc to bcatc gunnepowder in, and tl1e graine which came to us from other places. Some tooke the wood of tsquine, C) beatc it, and made mcale thereof, which they boiled with water, and eatc it. |
