for the missionary, he hated to admit to himself that he found this woman both exotic and beautiful and, for that reason, all the more threatening.A non-submissive woman is the devil incarnate! he thought.
“I’m not making myself understood very well,” Angélique continued. “The Mi’kmaq believe in one God as well, but we have trouble understanding why we have to abandon our traditions. We leave profit, property, and material goods to the white man. When the colonies began, the Indians welcomed you with open arms; we helped you survive scurvy thanks to the healing powers of anneda…
The missionary was openly touched by Angélique’s mention of the sorry state of the new arrivals who died of scurvy during their first winters, and the miracle cure, the white cedar herbal tea the Indians brought for them.
“Yes, that was a gift from heaven,” the priest admitted. “God certainly allowed the Indians to be His instruments to allow France to expand its empire… Will you respect the teachings of our Holy Mother the Church as promised on the day of your baptism?” he asked suddenly.
Angélique murmured assent.
So Ignace de la Transfiguration let them have their way.
* * *
After the wedding, Fiery Elouèzes opened the banquet by offering his red clay pipe to each of the spirits of the four directions then to the spirit of the sky before lowering his pipe to the spirit of the earth. He beat on his drum (two smooth hides stretched over a wooden hoop case containing stones) to give the signal for the feast to begin. Great bonfires burned both along the shore and in Ruisseau, and long pine tables covered in birchbark buckled under the weight of all the local and European food. Saint-Jean had dug into his stores. From a French ship that had stopped over in Ruisseau, he also bought goods meant for Quebec’s high society. For his daughter’s wedding, he had decided on French gastronomy and European-looking menus. As well as barrels of French wine and rum from Martinique, he had brought out truffles and chocolates from Rouen, ham from Mayence, oranges from Brazil, spices from the East Indies and Mocha coffee from Yemen. In his view, food was close to a religion, a rite he followed with art and sophistication.
The feast took on gargantuan proportions. An exceptionally late summer made it possible to gather all the fruits of the sea and the forest. On that September 1, 1740, on the Ruisseau beach, seafood was abundant. The wedding menu included red oyster soup seasoned with wild mint, clam chowder seasoned with wood garlic, smoked salmon with loon eggs. Clams, halibut, lobster, and crab were served, scallop and shrimp brochettes on cedar sticks, cod with mussel sauce, and trout seasoned with black mustard and seasalt wrapped in clay and cooked in the embers. The fruits of the land and the sky had their own place of honour: goose, teal, doves, caribou, and bear roasted on the spit (on a bed of blueberries, cranberries, and raspberries). Accompanying dishes were not forgotten either: wild rice, corn on the cob, and greens (watercress, wild leek, wood garlic, sorrel, fiddleheads1, and dandelions) tossed in a birch sap vinaigrette. A few women prepared the desserts: wild currants and jumper berries with moosemilk cream, pumpkin and maple nut pies, barley bread full of almonds and wild cherries. There were also all kinds of drinks: tea made of pine needles or the leaves of strawberries, raspberries, cherries or rosehip. However, the Mi’kmaq preferred either the cider from Ile d’Orléans, rum from the West Indies, the p’tit caribou1, root beer, dandelion, and blackberry wine or the barrels of wine from Gascogne and Bordeaux with which to make merry.
Finally, they could eat no more. Some had overindulged on their traditional corn-based dish, called “migan” – corn either mashed and boiled with fish or grilled and ground, then mixed in with a meat and fish soup. Foaming Bear had stuffed himself on all kinds of game and had nearly finished off a quarter caribou by himself. Revved up by the rum vapours, he hovered around the missionary, just waiting for a pretext to warm the man’s behind on the embers. But the shaman thought it better to temper Foaming Bear’s enthusiasm. Fiery Elouèzes, proudly wearing around his neck a black and red medicinal stone carved into an oval shape, called on the Great Creator to ensure the missionary felt the evil effects of the talisman that had been found in evil Gougou’s hideout.
Membertou was hiding behind some fat, still-steaming pumpkins that had been cooked in the embers. Armed with a slingshot, he shot small stones into the migan dishes. As for Ignace de la Transfiguration, he had not been able to resist the lure of the beaver tail dough dipped in maple syrup and cooked in a lilypad leaf. Slow, wild music enveloped the bay. The concert began with flutes made of elderwood and tamtams. There were water drums3 too, whose faint beat still managed to travel great distances. Other bigger drums on stands mimicked the beating of the heart and the vibrations of the earth in the four directions. Angélique began to dance, the stark sensuality of her slender body heightened by the crescendo of sounds rising to meet the rays of the setting sun. Father Ignace began to feel a prickling at the base of his spine. He had no idea the beaver tails he’d been eating were considered to be an aphrodisiac. Fiery Elouèzes could feel the Black Robes growing consternation, which he attributed to the powers of his magic stone. Then the rhythm switched to a devilish cadence, and the dancers turned into shadow figures projected by the flames. The frenzied dancing gave off such sensuality that the missionary was obliged to walk alone farther down the shore to regain some semblance of composure.
Smoke from the fires and from the many tobacco pipes perfumed the heavens with their earthly aromas. The smoke wafting its way skyward mingled with the cries of those who, after their sauna in the sweat lodge, plunged into the creek. The missionary began dreaming about the French and Catholic empire of America, in which he would be Gods right hand and the Kings representative to this refractory people. But it was a disappointing time for him since many baptized natives refused in extremis a burial in the Catholic cemetery. It was not uncommon to see the families come for their dying family member to bury him or her in their ancestors’ sacred sites.
Kings and popes fear us, he consoled himself, but here we are faced with resistance not easily shaken by questions of right and wrong
His thoughts were interrupted by Joseph, who had come to join him. “What’s the news of Quebec?” Joseph asked.
“The Canadiens are worried. The survival of the colony is not assured, and there’s always the fear of an English victory. The colonies of Virginia and Boston are already twenty times more heavily populated.”
With Angélique’s scent still on his skin, Joseph felt far removed from such concerns. The mention of Quebec did not even stir up memories of Emilie for him… He was sufficiently alert, however, to notice that Black Robe did not mention the corruption of certain leaders, who were more interested in lining their own pockets than in fortifying New France.
1. Ferns.
2. A mixture of white alcohol and port wine.
3. So called because they were filled with water.
Chapter 4
As of 1653, Nicolas Denys, nicknamed Grande Barbe, received from the Compagnie de Nouvelle France (established by Richelieu) a vast concession stretching from Canseau to the Baye des Chaleurs in Acadia. He organized the triple trade of lumber, fur, and fishing there with establishments in, among others, Miscou, Nipisiguit, and Miramichi. He was appointed governor of the territory and
