narrative, by the finding of a great pile of human bones
in a cave on an island near Bic, not far from the mouth
of the Saguenay. The place is called L'Isle au Massacre
to-day.

The French now settled down into their winter quarters.
They seem for some time to have mingled freely with the
Indians of the Stadacona settlement, especially during
the month which yet remained before the rigour of winter
locked their ships in snow and ice. Cartier, being of an
observing and accurate turn of mind, has left in his
narrative some interesting notes upon the life and ideas
of the savages. They had, he said, no belief in a true
God. Their deity, Cudragny, was supposed to tell them
the weather, and, if angry, to throw dust into their
eyes. They thought that, when they died, they would go
to the stars, and after that, little by little, sink with
the stars to earth again, to where the happy hunting
grounds lie on the far horizon of the world. To correct
their ignorance, Cartier told them of the true God and
of the verities of the Christian faith. In the end the
savages begged that he would baptize them, and on at
least one occasion a great flock of them came to him,
hoping to be received into the faith. But Cartier, as he
says, having nobody with him 'who could teach them our
belief and religion,' and doubting, also, the sincerity
of their sudden conversion, put them off with the promise
that at his next coming he would bring priests and holy
oil and cause them to be baptized.