robe of beaver-skin, or a hundred francs. [ "Nos plats, quoyque de bois,
nous coutent plus cher que Les votres; ils sont de la valeur d'une robe
de castor, c'est a dire cent francs."--Lettre du P. Du Peron a son Frere,
27 Avril, 1639.--The Father's appraisement seems a little questionable. ]
Their food consisted of sagamite, or "mush," made of pounded Indian-corn,
boiled with scraps of smoked fish. Chaumonot compares it to the paste
used for papering the walls of houses. The repast was occasionally
varied by a pumpkin or squash baked in the ashes, or, in the season,
by Indian corn roasted in the ear. They used no salt whatever. They
could bring their cumbrous pictures, ornaments and vestments through the
savage journey of the Ottawa; but they could not bring the common
necessaries of life. By day, they read and studied by the light that
streamed in through the large smoke-holes in the roof,--at night, by the
blaze of the fire. Their only candles were a few of wax, for the altar.
They cultivated a patch of ground, but raised nothing on it except wheat
for making the sacramental bread. Their food was supplied by the Indians,
to whom they gave, in return, cloth, knives, awls, needles, and various
trinkets. Their supply of wine for the Eucharist was so scanty, that
they limited themselves to four or five drops for each mass.

[ The above particulars are drawn from a long letter of Francois Du Peron
to his brother, Joseph-Imbert Du Peron, dated at La Conception
(Ossossane), April 27, 1639, and from a letter, equally long, of
Chaumonot to Father Philippe Nappi, dated Du Pays des Hurons, May 26,
1640. Both are in Carayon. These private letters of the Jesuits,
of which many are extant, in some cases written on birch-bark, are
invaluable as illustrations of the subject.

The Jesuits soon learned to make wine from wild grapes. Those in Maine
and Acadia, at a later period, made good candles from the waxy fruit of