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Why does the Micmac leader claim that Indians consider themselves "infinitely more happy and more powerful than the French"?  b) How does the Indian leader interpret the French migration from Europe to North America?

Why does the Micmac leader claim that Indians consider themselves "infinitely more happy and more powerful than the French"?  b) How does the Indian leader interpret the French migration from Europe to North America?

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a) Why does the Micmac leader claim that Indians consider themselves "infinitely more happy and more powerful than the French"?  b) How does the Indian leader interpret the French migration from Europe to North America?

6. A Micmac Indian Replies to the French (1677) Source: William F. Ganong, trans, and ed., New Relation of Gaspesia, with the Customs and Religion of the Gaspesian Indians, by Chrestien LeClerq (Toronto, 1910), pp. 104-06. fu Nearly all European colonizers were convinced of the superiority of their own culture to that of the Indians. Many Indians, while anxious to benefit from trade with the technologically more advanced Europeans, did not share this view. In the excerpt that follows, Chrestien LeClerq, a French priest who traveled among the Micmac Indians of the Gaspe peninsula of Quebec, reproduces an Indian leader's response to French assertions of superiority, defending the Indians' way of life. THOU REPROACHEST US, very inappropriately, that our country is a little hell in contrast with France, which thou comparest to a ter restrial paradise, inasmuch as it yields thee, so thou sayest, every kind of provision in abundance. Thou sayest of us also that we are the most miserable and most unhappy of all men, living without religion, without manners, without honour, without social order, and, in a word, without any rules, like the beasts in our woods and our forests, lacking bread, wine, and a thousand other comforts which thou hast in superfluity in Europe. Well, my brother, if thou dost not yet know the real feelings which our Indians have towards thy country and towards all thy nation, it is proper that I inform thee at once. I beg thee now to believe that, all miserable as we seem in thine eyes, we consider ourselves nevertheless much happier than thou in this, that we are very content with the little that we have; and believe also once for all, I pray, that thou deceivest thyself greatly if thou thinkest to persuade us that thy country is better than ours. For if France, as thou sayest, is a little terrestrial paradise, art thou sen- sible to leave it? And why abandon wives, children, relatives, and friends? Why risk thy life and thy property every year, and why ven- ture thyself with such risk, in any season whatsoever, to the storms and tempests of the sea in order to come to a strange and barbarous country which thou considerest the poorest and least fortunate of the world? Besides, since we are wholly convinced of the contrary, we scarcely take the trouble to go to France, because we fear, with good reason, lest we find little satisfaction there, seeing, in our own experience, that those who are natives thereof leave it every year in order to enrich themselves on our shores. We believe, further, that you are also incomparably poorer than we, and that you are only simple journeymen, valets, servants, and slaves, all masters and grand captains though you may appear, seeing that you glory in our old rags and in our miserable suits of beaver which can no longer be of use to us, and that you find among us, in the fishery for cod which you make in these parts, the wherewithal to comfort your misery and the poverty which oppresses you. As to us, we find all our riches and all our conveniences among ourselves, without trouble and without exposing our lives to the dangers in which you find your- selves constantly through your long voyages. And, whilst feeling
Transcribed Image Text:6. A Micmac Indian Replies to the French (1677) Source: William F. Ganong, trans, and ed., New Relation of Gaspesia, with the Customs and Religion of the Gaspesian Indians, by Chrestien LeClerq (Toronto, 1910), pp. 104-06. fu Nearly all European colonizers were convinced of the superiority of their own culture to that of the Indians. Many Indians, while anxious to benefit from trade with the technologically more advanced Europeans, did not share this view. In the excerpt that follows, Chrestien LeClerq, a French priest who traveled among the Micmac Indians of the Gaspe peninsula of Quebec, reproduces an Indian leader's response to French assertions of superiority, defending the Indians' way of life. THOU REPROACHEST US, very inappropriately, that our country is a little hell in contrast with France, which thou comparest to a ter restrial paradise, inasmuch as it yields thee, so thou sayest, every kind of provision in abundance. Thou sayest of us also that we are the most miserable and most unhappy of all men, living without religion, without manners, without honour, without social order, and, in a word, without any rules, like the beasts in our woods and our forests, lacking bread, wine, and a thousand other comforts which thou hast in superfluity in Europe. Well, my brother, if thou dost not yet know the real feelings which our Indians have towards thy country and towards all thy nation, it is proper that I inform thee at once. I beg thee now to believe that, all miserable as we seem in thine eyes, we consider ourselves nevertheless much happier than thou in this, that we are very content with the little that we have; and believe also once for all, I pray, that thou deceivest thyself greatly if thou thinkest to persuade us that thy country is better than ours. For if France, as thou sayest, is a little terrestrial paradise, art thou sen- sible to leave it? And why abandon wives, children, relatives, and friends? Why risk thy life and thy property every year, and why ven- ture thyself with such risk, in any season whatsoever, to the storms and tempests of the sea in order to come to a strange and barbarous country which thou considerest the poorest and least fortunate of the world? Besides, since we are wholly convinced of the contrary, we scarcely take the trouble to go to France, because we fear, with good reason, lest we find little satisfaction there, seeing, in our own experience, that those who are natives thereof leave it every year in order to enrich themselves on our shores. We believe, further, that you are also incomparably poorer than we, and that you are only simple journeymen, valets, servants, and slaves, all masters and grand captains though you may appear, seeing that you glory in our old rags and in our miserable suits of beaver which can no longer be of use to us, and that you find among us, in the fishery for cod which you make in these parts, the wherewithal to comfort your misery and the poverty which oppresses you. As to us, we find all our riches and all our conveniences among ourselves, without trouble and without exposing our lives to the dangers in which you find your- selves constantly through your long voyages. And, whilst feeling
compassion for you in the sweetness of our repose, we wonder at the anxieties and cares which you give yourselves night and day in order to load your ship, We see also that all your people live, as a rule, only upon cod which you catch among us. It is everlastingly noth- ing but cod-cod in the morning, cod at midday, cod at evening, and always cod, until things come to such a pass that if you wish some good morsels, it is at our expense; and you are obliged to have recourse to the Indians, whom you despise so much, and to beg them to go a-hunting that you may be regaled. Now tell me this one little thing, if thou hast any sense: Which of these two is the wisest and happiest he who labours without ceasing and only obtains, and that with great trouble, enough to live on, or he who rests in comfort and finds all that he needs in the pleasure of hunting and fishing? It is true,....that we have not always had the use of bread and of wine which your France produces; but, in fact, before the arrival of the French in these parts, did not the Gaspesians live much longer than now? And if we have not any longer among us any of those old men of a hundred and thirty to forty years, it is only because we are gradually adopting your manner of living, for experience is making it very plain that those of us live longest who, despising your bread, your wine, and your brandy, are content with their natural food of beaver, of moose, of waterfowl, and fish, in accord with the custom of our ancestors and of all the Gaspesian nation. Learn now, my brother, once for all, because I must open to thee my heart: there is no Indian who does not consider himself infinitely more happy and more powerful than the French.
Transcribed Image Text:compassion for you in the sweetness of our repose, we wonder at the anxieties and cares which you give yourselves night and day in order to load your ship, We see also that all your people live, as a rule, only upon cod which you catch among us. It is everlastingly noth- ing but cod-cod in the morning, cod at midday, cod at evening, and always cod, until things come to such a pass that if you wish some good morsels, it is at our expense; and you are obliged to have recourse to the Indians, whom you despise so much, and to beg them to go a-hunting that you may be regaled. Now tell me this one little thing, if thou hast any sense: Which of these two is the wisest and happiest he who labours without ceasing and only obtains, and that with great trouble, enough to live on, or he who rests in comfort and finds all that he needs in the pleasure of hunting and fishing? It is true,....that we have not always had the use of bread and of wine which your France produces; but, in fact, before the arrival of the French in these parts, did not the Gaspesians live much longer than now? And if we have not any longer among us any of those old men of a hundred and thirty to forty years, it is only because we are gradually adopting your manner of living, for experience is making it very plain that those of us live longest who, despising your bread, your wine, and your brandy, are content with their natural food of beaver, of moose, of waterfowl, and fish, in accord with the custom of our ancestors and of all the Gaspesian nation. Learn now, my brother, once for all, because I must open to thee my heart: there is no Indian who does not consider himself infinitely more happy and more powerful than the French.
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