upon Taignoagny in doleful tones called out, 'Ill news!' Cartier
urged the Indian to explain, and the guide, still acting the part of
one who bears tidings from heaven, said that the great god, Cudragny,
had spoken at Hochelaga and had sent down three 'spirits' in the canoe
to warn Cartier that he must not try to come to Hochelaga, because
there was so much ice and snow in that country that whoever went there
should die. In the face of this awful revelation, Cartier showed a
cheerful and contemptuous scepticism. 'Their god, Cudragny,' he said,
must be 'a fool and a noodle,' and that, as for the cold, Christ would
protect his followers from that, if they would but believe in Him.
Taignoagny asked Cartier if he had spoken with Jesus. Cartier answered
no, but said that his priests had done so and that Jesus had told them
that the weather would be fine. Taignoagny, hypocrite still, professed
a great joy at hearing this, and set off into the woods, whence he
emerged presently with the whole band of Indians, singing and dancing.
Their plan had failed, but they evidently thought it wiser to offer no
further opposition to Cartier's journey, though all refused to go with
him.

The strange conduct of Donnacona and his Indians is not easy to
explain. It is quite possible that they meditated some treachery
towards the French: indeed, Cartier from first to last was suspicious
of their intentions, and, as we shall see, was careful after his return
to Stadacona never to put himself within their power. To the very end
of his voyage he seems to have been of the opinion that if he and his
men were caught off their guard, Donnacona and his braves would destroy
the whole of them for the sake of their coveted possessions. The
stories that he heard now and later from his guides of the horrors of
Indian war and of a great massacre at the Bic Islands certainly gave
him just grounds for suspicion and counselled prudence. Some writers
are agreed, however, that the Indians had no hostile intentions
whatever. The new-comers seemed to them wondrous beings, floating on
the surface of the water in great winged houses, causing the thunder to
roll forth from their abode at will and, more than all, feasting their
friends and giving to them such gifts as could only come from heaven.
Such guests were too valuable to lose. The Indians knew well of the
settlement at Hochelaga, and of the fair country where it lay. They
feared that if Cartier once sailed to