the three missionaries, Brebeuf, Daniel, and Davost. To their lot had
fallen the honors, dangers, and woes of the Huron mission. "These are
our fathers," he said. "We love them more than we love ourselves.
The whole French nation honors them. They do not go among you for your
furs. They have left their friends and their country to show you the way
to heaven. If you love the French, as you say you love them, then love
and honor these our fathers." [ Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 274 (Cramoisy);
Mercure Francais, 1634. 845. ]

Two chiefs rose to reply, and each lavished all his rhetoric in praises
of Champlain and of the French. Brebeuf rose next, and spoke in broken
Huron,--the assembly jerking in unison, from the bottom of their throats,
repeated ejaculations of applause. Then they surrounded him, and vied
with each other for the honor of carrying him in their canoes. In short,
the mission was accepted; and the chiefs of the different villages
disputed among themselves the privilege of receiving and entertaining the
three priests.

On the last of July, the day of the feast of St. Ignatius, Champlain and
several masters of trading vessels went to the house of the Jesuits in
quest of indulgences; and here they were soon beset by a crowd of curious
Indians, who had finished their traffic, and were making a tour of
observation. Being excluded from the house, they looked in at the
windows of the room which served as a chapel; and Champlain, amused at
their exclamations of wonder, gave one of them a piece of citron.
The Huron tasted it, and, enraptured, demanded what it was. Champlain
replied, laughing, that it was the rind of a French pumpkin. The fame of
this delectable production was instantly spread abroad; and, at every
window, eager voices and outstretched hands petitioned for a share of the
marvellous vegetable. They were at length allowed to enter the chapel,