tribes with whom they were acquainted for the purpose of traffic or
exchange, and their return was celebrated by dances and festivities.

They had a certain form of marriage which Champlain thus describes. When
a girl had reached the age of eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen or
fifteen years, she had suitors, more or less, according to her
attractions, who wooed her for some time. The consent of the parents was
then asked, to whose wills the girl did not always submit, although the
most discreet of them did so. The favoured lover or suitor then
presented to the girl some necklaces, bracelets or chains of porcelain,
which she accepted if the suitor was agreeable to her. The suitor then
resided with her for three or four days, without saying anything to her
in the meantime, but if they did not agree, the girl left her suitor,
who forfeited his necklaces and the other presents which he had made,
and each was free to seek another companion if so disposed. This term of
probation was often extended to eight, or even to fifteen days.

The children enjoyed great freedom. The parents indulged them too much
and never punished or corrected them. As a consequence they grew up bad
and vicious. They would often strike their mothers, and when they were
powerful enough they did not hesitate to strike their fathers.

The Hurons did not recognize any divine power or worship of God. They
were without belief, and lived like brute beasts, with this exception,
that they had a sort of fear of an evil spirit. They had _ogni_ or
_manitous_, who were medicine-men, and who healed the sick, bound up the
wounded, foretold future events, and practised all the abuses and
illusions of the black arts.

Champlain firmly believed that the conversion of the Hurons to