Page 190 - Transcriptions d'actes notariés - Tome 20 - 1682-1686

to sail for Canada shorily. FiIled with joy at the news he exclaimed:
"Lord, here 1 am. My heart is ready. Take me."(l)
Father Allouez was a inan of middIe height, rarher stoeky in build,
hardy, and quite strr~ng enough to endure thc hardships that were ahead
of him. He possessed a strong will, and was not easily turned aside
from any eourse he had set himseli. He was prudent. energtic, well-
inlorined, of good praetical jndgmeii~, calm in outward appearanee, but
burning with a zeal withiii, He was ~he very type of man needed on
the Canadian missions.")

The iieiv recruit saiIed for Canada with Mr, d'Argeneon who wap
coming out to toke over the duties of goveruor of New France. They
Arrived at Quebee on July 11, 1658. Ouring the iiext six years Allouez
was stationcd al Quebec, arid also at Three Rivers where he was Superior
for a time. He studied the Huron micl hlgonkian languages, and rvaa
initiated in10 the work of ilie Indian missions in the Three Rivers neigh-
bourhood. In 1664 he was r~ady to go to the Ottawa country on Lake
Superior. Bishop Laval appointed hirn Vicar General of the nhoIe
Northwest country, and he went tri hlontreal late in the summer to jojn
the usual lndian Aoiilla on its way back ta Lake Superior. But he
arrived there too late: the Indians had left already. So he returned to
Three Rivers to wait another year.'31
Finally on Aueusi 8, 1665, A11onez began the long trip to Lake
Superior ar:cornpanied by sir Frenchrnen and more than four huiidred
Indiane. The journey up the Ottawa, Iiy the Mattawa, across Lake
Nipissing, down the Frcnch River, and along the north shore of Georgian
Bay was an ertrernely arduous experience eveu nnder the niost fmvour-
able condition.. But oii this occasion ~he Indians treawd the missionary
very badlv indeed: they showcd hini plainly that he was a mod unwel-
eome fello w-travcller : Lhey stole soine of hi5 possessions; they vented
~heir inry upon hjm bwause ri1 his unskilled paddling. At one point
the Ottawa chief ordered hirn left behind. hbandoned in the dmp forest,
what çould the poor man do but [al1 on hie kneca and pray ? Fortuuetely,
one of ihe Indians iook pity on hjm, and returiied ta brjng him in his
eanoe. But his sufferjng* were by no means ended. Long hours ai the
paddle utterly exhausled him, and there was no food but the iiaueous
mess 01 boiled licheii, tripe de roche, and some badly spoiItd venison.
Shen there was the very dibeult problem of transporting hie persona1
effects, some hooks, his aitar equipment, and a two-years' supply of wine
over the thirtr-six poriapps. lu spite of everything he managed to reaeh
Sault Ste. Marie by the beginning of September. From there he and the
six Frenchmen took a more lei~urelv trip along the sriuth shore of Lake
Superior. It ivas when they arrived at the portage across the Keweenaw

1) The rlc~ails alialit Allourz'e tafly lire are given in Rachmiinteii, "Les Jériuitefi
et ln Elou\plle France au XVII' Sii-cle". II, pp. 351-354.
(2) "The Roman Archivra of ihe Sociriy ai lesus". cited hy Rochmonteix, op. cit.,
p. 334.
!Si "1ournd defi Jkeuites" (2C bl., Mou~réal, 18921, p. 328.