La Salle and the discovery of the great West - North Central ...

46 THE JESUITS ON THE LAKES. [1670-72."Thus it is," writes Dablon, who chronicles theincident, " that our holy faith is established amongthese people ; and we have good hope that we shallsoon carry it to the famous river called the Mississippi,yIandperhaps even to the South Sea." 1 Most thingshuman have their phases of the ludicrous; and theheroism of these untiring priests is no exception tothe rule.>The various missionary stationswere much alike.They consisted of a chapel (commonly of logs) andone or more houses, with perhaps a storehouseand aworkshop; the whole fenced with palisades, andforming, in fact, a stockade fort, surrounded withclearings and cultivated fields. It is evident thatthe priests had need of other hands than their ownand those of the few lay brothers attached to themission. They required men inured to labor, accustomedto the forest life, able to guide canoes andhandle tools and weapons. In the earlier epoch ofthe missions, when enthusiasm was at its height,they were served in great measure by volunteers,who joined them through devotion or penitence, andwho were known as dowries^ or "given men." Oflate, the number of these had much diminished; andthey now relied chiefly on hired men, or engages.These were employed in building, hunting, fishing,clearing, and tilling the ground, guiding canoes, and(if faith is to be placed in reports current throughoutthe colony) in trading with the Indians for the profiti Relation, 1672, 42.