[Europeans arrival]
We finally reached the new land after a crossing that took several months.
We planted our flag so that everyone could see the royal power of France.
This land is lush and fertile and,
according to our scouts, it is rich in precious stones and metals.
Its furs are also said to be of the highest quality. Exporting furs to France would enrich the colony and fill the King’s coffers.
The local inhabitants live like early man.
They don’t have gunpowder.
Their boats are small and made of bark.
They don’t have metal tools, only a few adornments of pure copper.
They aren’t Christians and they don’t know God.
Fortunately, the King has sent members of the clergy to teach them the Word of God and good manners.
They arrived in large canoes carried by the wind.
They have white skin and wear colourful fabrics and headgear.
They also have large sticks that spew fire.
When we get hit by the fire, we fall to the ground like we’ve been hit by a hundred arrows.
They landed on our territory and we realized that they were planning to stay.
They were hungry and sick, so we gave them food and water.
In exchange, they offered us shiny tools, beads of every colour, blankets and all sorts of other objects.
Afterwards, several of our people died because the new inhabitants had also brought smallpox with them.
Since then, things have not been the same. We’re going hungry.
We should be hunting, gathering and fishing for food and making provisions for the winter, but instead we’re scouring our territory for beaver so that we can exchange pelts for European goods.
We call this trading.
It’s getting harder and harder for us to hunt, however, because the animals are fleeing.
We have to travel to other hunting grounds on the territories of other nations.
This leads to war and much sadness.