CHAPTER XIII.

A TERRIBLE MONSTER, WHICH THE SAVAGES CALL GOUGOU--OUR SHORT AND FAVORABLE VOYAGE BACK TO FRANCE

There is, moreover, a strange matter, worthy of being related, which several savages have assured me was true; namely, near the Bay of Chaleurs, towards the south, there is an island where a terrible monster resides, which the savages call Gougou, and which they told me had the form of a woman, though very frightful, and of such a size that they told me the tops of the masts of our vessel would not reach to his middle, so great do they picture him; and they say that he has often devoured and still continues to devour many savages; these he puts, when he can catch them, into a great pocket, and afterwards eats them; and those who had escaped the jaws of this wretched creature said that its pocket was so great that it could have put our vessel into it. This monster makes horrible noises in this island, which the savages call the Gougou; and when they speak of him, it is with the greatest possible fear, and several have assured me that they have seen him. Even the above-mentioned Prevert from St. Malo told me that, while going in search of mines, as mentioned in the previous chapter, he passed so near the dwelling-place of this frightful creature, that he and all those on board his vessel heard strange hissings from the noise it made, and that the savages with him told him it was the same creature, and that they were so afraid that they hid themselves wherever they could, for fear that it would come and carry them off. What makes me believe what they say is the fact that all the savages in general fear it, and tell such strange things about it that, if I were to record all they say, it would be regarded as a myth; but I hold that this is the dwelling-place of some devil that torments them in the above-mentioned manner. This is what I have learned about this Gougou.

Before leaving Tadoussac on our return to France, one of the sagamores of the Montagnais, named Bechourat, gave his son to Sieur Du Pont Gravé to take to France, to whom he was highly commended by the grand sagamore, Anadabijou, who begged him to treat him well and have him see what the other two savages, whom we had taken home with us, had seen. We asked them for an Iroquois woman they were going to eat, whom they gave us, and whom, also, we took with this savage. Sieur de Prevert also took four savages: a man from the coast of La Cadie, a woman and two boys from the Canadians.

On the 24th of August, we set out from Gaspé, the vessel of Sieur Prevert and our own. On the 2d of September we calculated that we were as far as Cape Race, on the 5th, we came upon the bank where the fishery is carried on; on the 16th, we were on soundings, some fifty leagues from Ouessant; on the 20th we arrived, by God's grace, to the joy of all, and with a continued favorable wind, at the port of Havre de Grâce.

ENDNOTES:

249. The description of this enchanted island is too indefinite to invite a conjecture of its identity or location. The resounding noise of the breaking waves, mingled with the whistling of the wind, might well lay a foundation for the fears of the Indians, and their excited imaginations would easily fill out and complete the picture. In Champlain's time, the belief in the active agency of good and evil spirits, particularly the latter, in the affairs of men, was universal. It culminated in this country in the tragedies of the Salem witchcraft in 1692. It has since been gradually subsiding, but nevertheless still exists under the mitigated form of spiritual communications. Champlain, sharing the credulity of his times, very naturally refers these strange phenomena reported by the savages, whose statements were fully accredited and corroborated by the testimony of his countryman, M. Prevert, to the agency of some evil demon, who had taken up his abode in that region in order to vex and terrify these unhappy Indians. As a faithful historian, he could not omit this story, but it probably made no more impression upon his mind than did the thousand others of a similar character with which he must have been familiar. He makes no allusion to it in the edition of 1613, when speaking of the copper mines in that neighborhood, nor yet in that of 1632, and it had probably passed from his memory.

CHAMPLAIN'S EXPLANATION

OF THE

CARTE DE LA NOVVELLE FRANCE.

1632.

TABLE FOR FINDING THE PROMINENT PLACES ON THE MAP.

A. Baye des Isles.

B. Calesme.

C. Baye des Trespasses.

D. Cap de Leuy.

E. Port du Cap de Raye, where the cod-fishery is carried on.

F. The north-west coast of Newfoundland, but little known.

G. Passage to the north at the 52d degree.

H. Isle St. Paul, near Cape St Lawrence

I. Isle de Sasinou, between Monts Déserts and Isles aux Corneilles.

K. Isle de Mont-réal, at the Falls of St. Louis, some eight or nine leagues in circuit.

L. Riuière Jeannin.

M. Riuière St. Antoine,

N. Kind of salt water discharging into the sea, with ebb and flood, abundance of fish and shell-fish, and in some places oysters of not very good flavor.

P. Port aux Coquilles, an island at the mouth of the River St. Croix, with good fishing.

Q. Islands where there is fishing.

R. Lac de Soissons.

S. Baye du Gouffre.

T. Isle de Monts Déserts, very high.

V. Isle S. Barnabe, in the great river near the Bic.

X. Lesquemain, where there is a small river, abounding in salmon and trout, near which is a little rocky islet, where there was formerly a station for the whale fishery.

Y. La Pointe aux Allouettes, where, in the month of September, there are numberless larks, also other kinds of game and shell-fish.

Z. Isle aux Liéures, so named because some hares were captured there when it was first discovered.

2. Port à Lesquille, dry at low tide, where are two brooks coming from the mountains.

3. Port au Saulmon, dry at low tide. There are two small islands here, abounding, in the season, with strawberries, raspberries, and bluets. Near this place is a good roadstead for vessels, and two small brooks flowing into the harbor.

4. Riuière Platte, coming from the mountains, only navigable for canoes. It is dry here at low tide a long distance out. Good anchorage in the offing.

5. Isles aux Couldres, some league and a half long, containing in their season great numbers of rabbits, partridges, and other kinds of game. At the southwest point are meadows, and reefs seaward. There is anchorage here for vessels between this island and the mainland on the north.

6. Cap de Tourmente, a league from which Sieur de Champlain had a building erected, which was burned by the English in 1628. Near this place is Cap Bruslé, between which and Isle aux Coudres is a channel, with eight, ten, and twelve fathoms of water. On the south the shore is muddy and rocky. To the north are high lands, &c.

7. Isle d'Orléans, six leagues in length, very beautiful on account of its variety of woods, meadows, vines, and nuts. The western point of this island is called Cap de Condé.

8. Le Sault de Montmorency, twenty fathoms high, formed by a river coming from the mountains, and discharging into the St. Lawrence, a league and a half from Quebec.

9. Rivière S. Charles, coming from Lac S. Joseph, very beautiful with meadows at low tide. At full tide barques can go up as far as the first fall. On this river are built the churches and quarters of the reverend Jésuit and Récollect Fathers. Game is abundant here in spring and autumn.

10. Rivière des Etechemins, by which the savages go to Quinebequi, crossing the country with difficulty, on account of the falls and little water. Sieur de Champlain had this exploration made in 1628, and found a savage tribe, seven days from Quebec, who till the soil, and are called the Abenaquiuoit.

11. Rivière de Champlain, near that of Batisquan, north-west of the Grondines.

12. Rivière de Sauvages

13. Isle Verte, five or six leagues from Tadoussac.

14. Isle de Chasse.

15. Rivière Batisquan, very pleasant, and abounding in fish.

16. Les Grondines, and some neighboring islands. A good place for hunting and fishing.

17. Rivière des Esturgeons & Saulmons, with a fall of water from fifteen to twenty feet high, two leagues from Saincte Croix, which descends into a small pond discharging into the great river St. Lawrence.

18. Isle de St. Eloy, with a passage between the island and the mainland on the north.

19. Lac S. Pierre, very beautiful, three to four fathoms in depth, and abounding in fish, surrounded by hills and level tracts, with meadows in places. Several small streams and brooks flow into it.

20. Rivière du Gast, very pleasant, yet containing but little water.

21. Rivière Sainct Antoine.

22. Rivière Saincte Suzanne.

23. Rivière des Yrocois, very beautiful, with many islands and meadows. It comes from Lac de Champlain, five or fix days' journey in length, abounding in fish and game of different kinds. Vines, nut, plum, and chestnut trees abound in many places. There are meadows and very pretty islands in it. To reach it, it is necessary to pass one large and one small fall.

24. Sault de Rivière du Saguenay, fifty leagues from Tadoussac, ten or twelve fathoms high.

25. Grand Sault, which falls some fifteen feet, amid a large number of islands. It is half a league in length and three leagues broad.

26. Port au Mouton.

27. Baye de Campseau.

28. Cap Baturier, on the Isle de Sainct Jean.

29. A river by way of which they go to the Baye Françoise.

30. Chasse des Eslans.

31. Cap de Richelieu, on the eastern part of the Isle d'Orléans.

32. A small bank near Isle du Cap Breton.

33. Rivière des Puans, coming from a lake where there is a mine of pure red copper.

34. Sault de Gaston, nearly two leagues broad, and discharging into the Mer Douce. It comes from another very large lake, which, with the Mer Douce, have an extent of thirty days' journey by canoe, according to the report of the savages.

Returning to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Coast of La Cadie.

35. Riuière de Gaspey.

36. Riuière de Chaleu.

37. Several Islands near Miscou and the harbor of Miscou, between two islands.

38. Cap de l'Isle Sainct Jean.

39. Port au Rossignol.

40. Riuière Platte.

41. Port du Cap Naigré. On the bay by this cape there is a French settlement, where Sieur de la Tour commands, from whom it was named Port la Tour. The Reverend Récollect Fathers dwelt here in 1630.

42. Baye du Cap de Sable.

43. Baye Saine.

44. Baye Courante, with many islands abounding in game, good fishing, and places favorable for vessels.

45. Port du Cap Fourchu, very pleasant, but very nearly dry at low tide. Near this place are many islands, with good hunting.

47. Petit Passage de Isle Longue. Here there is good cod-fishing.

48. Cap des Deux Bayes.

49. Port des Mines, where, at low tide, small pieces of very pure copper are to be found in the rocks along the shore.

50. Isles de Bacchus, very pleasant, containing many vines, nut, plum, and other trees.

51. Islands near the mouth of the river Chouacoet.

52. Isles Assez Hautes, three or four in number, two or three leagues distant from the land, at the mouth of Baye Longue.

53. Baye aux Isles, with suitable harbors for vessels. The country is very good, and settled by numerous savages, who till the land. In these localities are numerous cypresses, vines, and nut-trees.

54. La Soupçonneuse, an island nearly a league distant from the land.

55. Baye Longue.

56. Les Sept Isles.

57. Riuière des Etechemins. The Virginias, where the English are settled, between the 36th and 37th degrees of latitude. Captains Ribaut and Laudonnière made explorations 36 or 37 years ago along the coasts adjoining Florida, and established a settlement.

58. Several rivers of the Virginias, flowing into the Gulf.

59. Coast inhabited by savages who till the soil, which is very good.

60. Poincte Confort.

61. Immestan.

62. Chesapeacq Bay.

63. Bedabedec, the coast west of the river Pemetegoet.

64. Belles Prairies.

65. Place on Lac Champlain where the Yroquois were defeated by Sieur Champlain in 1606.

66. Petit Lac, by way of which they go to the Yroquois, after passing over that of Champlain.

67. Baye des Trespassez, on the island of Newfoundland.

68. Chappeau Rouge.

69. Baye du Sainct Esprit.

70. Les Vierges.

71. Port Breton, near Cap Sainct Laurent, on Isle du Cap Breton.

72. Les Bergeronnettes, three leagues from Tadoussac.

73. Le Cap d'Espoir, near Isle Percée.

74. Forillon, at Poincte de Gaspey.

75. Isle de Mont-réal, at the Falls of St. Louis, in the River St. Lawrence.

76. Riuière des Prairies, coming from a lake at the Falls of St. Louis, where there are two islands, one of which is Montreal. For several years this has been a station for trading with the savages.

77. Sault de la Chaudière, on the river of the Algonquins, some eighteen feet high, and descending among rocks with a great roar.

78. Lac de Nibachis, the name of a savage captain who dwells here and tills a little land, where he plants Indian corn.

79. Eleven lakes, near each other, one, two, and three leagues in extent, and abounding in fish and game. Sometimes the savages go this way in order to avoid the Fall of the Calumets, which is very dangerous. Some of these localities abound in pines, yielding a great amount of resin.

80. Sault des Pierres à Calunmet, which resemble alabaster.

81. Isle de Tesouac, an Algonquin captain (Tesouac) to whom the savages pay a toll for allowing them passage to Quebec.

82. La Riuière de Tesouac, in which there are five falls.

83. A river by which many savages go to the North Sea, above the Saguenay, and to the Three Rivers, going some distance overland.

84. The lakes by which they go to the North Sea.

85. A river extending towards the North Sea.

86. Country of the Hurons, so called by the French, where there are numerous communities, and seventeen villages fortified by three palisades of wood, with a gallery all around in the form of a parapet, for defence against their enemies. This region is in latitude 44 deg. 30', with a fertile soil cultivated by the savages.

87. Passage of a league overland, where the canoes are carried.

88. A river discharging into the Mer Douce.

89. Village fortified by four palisades, where Sieur de Champlain went in the war against the Antouhonorons, and where several savages were taken prisoners.

90. Falls at the extremity of the Falls of St. Louis, very high, where many fish come down and are stunned.

91. A small river near the Sault de la Chaudière, where there is a waterfall nearly twenty fathoms high, over which the water flows in such volume and with such velocity that a long arcade is made, beneath which the savages go for amusement, without getting wet. It is a fine sight.

92. This river is very beautiful, with numerous islands of various sizes. It passes through many fine lakes, and is bordered by beautiful meadows. It abounds in deer and other animals, with fish of excellent quality. There are many cleared tracts of land upon it, with good soil, which have been abandoned by the savages on account of their wars. It discharges into Lake St. Louis, and many tribes come to these regions to hunt and obtain their provision for the winter.

93. Chestnut forest, where there are great quantities of chestnuts, on the borders of Lac St Louis. Also many meadows, vines, and nut-trees.

94. Lake-like bodies of salt water at the head of Baye François, where the tide ebbs and flows. Islands containing many birds, many meadows in different localities, small rivers flowing into these species of lakes, by which they go to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near Isle S. Jean.

95. Isle Haute, a league in circuit, and flat on top. It contains fresh water and much wood. It is a league distant from Port aux Mines and Cap des Deux Bayes. It is more than forty fathoms high on all sides, except in one place, where it slopes, and where there is a pebbly point of a triangular shape. In the centre is a pond with salt water. Many birds make their nests in this island.

96. La Riuière des Algommequins, extending from the Falls of St Louis nearly to the Lake of the Bissereni, containing more than eighty falls, large and small, which must be passed by going around, by rowing, or by hauling with ropes. Some of these falls are very dangerous, particularly in going down.

Gens de Petun. This is a tribe cultivating this herb (tobacco), in which they carry on an extensive traffic with the other tribes. They have large towns, fortified with wood, and they plant Indian corn.

Cheveux Releuez. These are savages who wear nothing about the loins, and go stark naked, except in winter, when they clothe themselves in robes of skins, which they leave off when they quit their houses for the fields. They are great hunters, fishermen, and travellers, till the soil, and plant Indian corn. They dry bluets and raspberries, in which they carry on an extensive traffic with the other tribes, taking in exchange skins, beads, nets, and other articles. Some of these people pierce the nose, and attach beads to it. They tattoo their bodies, applying black and other colors. They wear their hair very straight, and grease it, painting it red, as they do also the face.

La Nation Neutre. This is a people that maintains itself against all the others. They engage in war only with the Assistaqueronons. They are very powerful, having forty towns well peopled.

Les Antouhonorons. They consist of fifteen towns built in strong situations. They are enemies of all the other tribes, except Neutral nation. Their country is fine, with a good climate, and near the river St. Lawrence, the passage of which they forbid to all the other tribes, for which reason it is less visited by them. They till the soil, and plant their land. Les Yroquois. They unite with the Antouhonorons in making war against all the other tribes, except the Neutral nation.

Carantouanis. This is a tribe that has moved to the south of the Antouhonorons, and dwells in a very fine country, where it is securely quartered. They are friends of all the other tribes, except the above named Antouhonorons, from whom they are only three days' journey distant. Once they took as prisoners some Flemish, but sent them back again without doing them any harm, supposing that they were French. Between Lac St. Louis and Sault St. Louis, which is the great river St Lawrence, there are five falls, numerous fine lakes, and pretty islands, with a pleasing country abounding in game and fish, favorable for settlement, were it not for the wars which the savages carry on with each other.

La Mer Douce is a very large lake, containing a countless number of islands. It is very deep, and abounds in fish of all varieties and of extraordinary size, which are taken at different times and seasons, as in the great sea. The southern shore is much pleasanter than the northern, where there are many rocks and great quantities of caribous.

Le Lac des Bisserenis is very beautiful, some twenty-five leagues in circuit, and containing numerous islands covered with woods and meadows. The savages encamp here, in order to catch in the river sturgeon, pike, and carp, which are excellent and of very great size, and taken in large numbers. Game is also abundant, although the country is not particularly attractive, it being for the most part rocky.

ENDNOTES:

1. It is to be observed that some of the letters and figures are not found on the map. Among the rest, the letter A is wanting. It is impossible of course to tell with certainty to what it refers, particularly as the places referred to do not occur in consecutive order. The Abbé Laverdière thinks this letter points to the bay of Boston or what we commonly call Massachusetts Bay, or to the Bay of all Isles as laid down by Champlain on the eastern coast of Nova Scotia.

2. On the southern coast of Newfoundland, now known as Placentia Bay.

3. Point Levi, opposite Quebec.

4. The letter G is wanting, but the reference is plainly to the Straits of Belle Isle, as may be seen by reference to the map.

5. This island was somewhere between Mount Desert and Jonesport; not unlikely it was that now known as Petit Manan. It was named after Sasanou, chief of the River Kennebec. Vide Vol. II. p. 58.

6. The underestimate is so great, that it is probable that the author intended to say that the length of the island is eight or nine leagues.

7. The Boyer, east of Quebec. It appears to have been named after the President Jeannin. Vide antea, p.112.

8. A river east of the Island of Orleans now called Rivière du Sud.

9. N is wanting.

10. A harbor at the north-eastern extremity of the island of Campobello. Vide Vol II. p. 100.

11. Q is wanting. The reference is perhaps to the islands in Penobscot Bay.

12. Lac de Soissons. So named after Charles de Bourbon, Count de Soissons, a Viceroy of New France in 1612. Vide antea, p 112. Now known as the Lake of Two Mountains.

13. A bay at the mouth of a river of this name now called St. Paul's Bay, near the Isle aux Coudres. Vide Vol. II. note 305.

14. Vide antea, note 241.

15. An island in the River St Lawrence west of Tadoussac, still called Hare Island. Vide antea, note 148.

16. Figure 2 is not found on the map, and it is difficult to identify the place referred to.

17. Bluets, Vaccinium Canadense, the Canada blueberry. Champlain says it is a small fruit very good for eating. Vide Quebec ed. Voyage of 1615, p. 509.

18. Vide Vol. II. p. 176.

19. For Lac S. Joseph, read Lac S. Charles.

20. Champlain here calls the Chaudière the River of the Etechemins, notwithstanding he had before given the name to that now known as the St. Croix. Vide Vol. II. pp. 30, 47, 60. There is still a little east of the Chaudière a river now known as the Etechemin; but the channel of the Chaudière would be the course which the Indians would naturally take to reach the head-waters of the Kennebec, where dwelt the Abenaquis.

21. River Verte, entering the St. Lawrence on the south of Green Island, opposite to Tadoussac.

22. Green Island.

23. Jacques Cartier River.

24. Near the Batiscan.

25. Nicolet. Vide Laverdière's note, Quebec ed. Vol. III. p. 328.

26. River St. Francis.

27. Rivière du Loup.

28. River Richelieu.

29. This number is wanting.

30. The Falls of St Louis, above Montreal. The figures are wanting.

31. One of the small rivers between Cobequid Bay and Cumberland Strait.

32. Moose Hunting, on the west of Gaspé.

33. Argentenay.--Laverdière.

34. Champlain had not been in this region, and consequently obtained his information from the savages. There is no such lake as he represents on his map, and this island producing pure copper may have been Isle Royale, in Lake Superior.

35. The Falls of St. Mary.

36. York River.

37. The Ristigouche.

38. Now called North Point.

39. Probably Gold River, flowing into Mahone Bay.

40. Still called Port La Tour.

41. Halifax Harbor. Vide Vol. II. note 266.

42. Vide Vol. II. note 192.

43. Now Cape Chignecto, in the Bay of Fundy.

44. Advocates' Harbor.

45. Richmond Island Vide note 42 Vol. I. and note 123 Vol. II. of this work.

46. The Isles of Shoals. Vide Vol. II. note 142.

47. Boston Bay.

48. Martha's Vineyard Vide Vol. II. note 227.

49. Merrimac Bay, as it may be appropriately called stretching from Little Boar's Head to Cape Anne.

50. These islands appear to be in Casco Bay.

51. The figures are not on the map. The reference is to the Scoudic, commonly known as the River St Croix.

52. There is probably a typographical error in the figures. The passage should read "66 or 67 years ago."

53. Now Old Point Comfort.

54. Jamestown, Virginia.

55. Vide Vol. II. note 95.

56. This should read 1609. Vide Vol. II. note 348.

57. Lake George Vide antea, note 63. p. 93.

58. This cape still bears the same name.

59. This number is wanting.

60. This river comes from the Lake of Two Mountains, is a branch of the Ottawa separating the Island of Montreal from the Isle Jésus and flows into the main channel of the Ottawa two or three miles before it reaches the eastern end of the Island of Montreal.

61. The Chaudière Falls are near the site of the city of Ottawa. Vide antea, p. 120.

62. Muskrat Lake.

63. This number is wanting on the map. Muscrat Lake is one of this succession of lakes, which extends easterly towards the Ottawa.

64. Allumette Island, in the River Ottawa, about eighty-five miles above the capital of the Dominion of Canada.

65. That part of the River Ottawa which, after its bifurcation, sweeps around and forms the northern boundary of Allumette Island.

66. The Ottawa beyond its junction with the Matawan.

67. French River.

68. Vide antea, note 83, p. 130.

69. Plainly Lake St. Louis, now the Ontario, and not the Falls of St Louis. The reference is here to Niagara Falls.

70. The River Rideau.

71. The River Trent discharges into the Bay of Quinte, an arm of Lake Ontario or Lac St Louis.

72. On the borders of Lake Ontario in the State of New York.

73. The head-waters of the Bay of Fundy.

74. The River Ottawa, here referred to, extends nearly to Lake Nipissing, here spoken of as the lake of the Bissèreni.

75. The Canada blueberry, Vaccanium Canadense. The aborigines of New England were accustomed to dry the blueberry for winter's use. Vide Josselyn's Rarities, Tuckerman's ed., Boston, 1865, p. 113.

76. This reference is to the Antouoronons, as given on the map.

THE PRINCE SOCIETY.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.

IN THE YEAR ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FOUR.

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE PRINCE SOCIETY.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: