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34O
LA POTHERIE
[Vol.
visitors] of paying their toll, because there were some Frenchmen, whom they were therefore very willing to treat with consideration; meanwhile they entertained the latter, as they were the most prominent men in the fleet. The guests halted an entire day, in order to conform to the usual custom of the savages who accord to their allies this right of hospitality. Next day the fleet passed through the Nepicing, and on the following day they descried some people in canoes, who uttered cries for the dead. All the fleet made for the shore, in order to wait for them; they reported that the pest was making great havoc in our colony, and they said too much about it not to frighten the more credulous of the travelers, who desired to give up their voyage. The Outa-ouaks, who saw all the canoes of these false alarmists arrive gradually, were surprised that they were in so good condition, and that they were so laden with merchandise. The [real] motive of those people was, to obtain at a moderate price, for themselves, the peltries belonging to the others, in order to spare themselves from going out hunting; but they did not dare to disclose their design. The savages are sufficiently politic not to seem to distrust one another; and in regard to news that is announced to them they always suspend their opinions, without letting it appear that often they think the informant is not telling the truth.
Le Brochet and Le Talon, two of the most prominent of the Outaouak chiefs, mistrusting that the Nepicirin-iens might be longing to beguile the Kristinaux and the inland tribes, in order to plunder them or else compel them to pay the toll, inquired of some Frenchmen if there was any probability that the pest was at Montreal. The Outaouaks were undeceived. The Mississakis, the Kristinaux, and the Gens de Terre, easy to persuade,