In attempting to return to the valley of the St. Lawrence in 1616, with his Andaste guides, Brule lost his way, and to avoid starvation surrendered himself to the Seneka Indians (the westernmost clan of the Iroquois) against whom the recent warlike operations of the French were being directed.  Discovering his nationality, the Senekas decided to torture him before burning him to death at the stake.  As they tore off his clothes they found that he was wearing an Agnus Dei medal next his skin.  Brule told them to be careful, as it was a medicine of great power which would certainly kill them.  By a coincidence, at that very moment a terrific thunderstorm burst from a sky which until recently had been all sunshine.  The Senekas were so scared by the thunder and lightning that they believed Brule to be a person of supernatural powers.  They therefore released him, strove to heal such slight wounds as he had incurred, and carried him off to their principal town, where he became a great favourite.  After a while they gave him guides to take him north into the country of the Hurons.

His further adventures led him to discover Lake Superior and the way thither through the Sault Ste. Marie, and to reach a place probably not far from the south coast of Hudson Bay, in which there was a copper mine.  Then he explored the Montagnais country north of Quebec, and even at one time (in 1629) entered the service of the English, who had captured Quebec and Tadoussac from the French.  When the English left this region Brule travelled again to the west and joined the Hurons once more.

His licentious conduct amongst his Indian friends seems to have roused them to such a pitch of anger that in 1632 they murdered him, then boiled and ate his body.  But immediately afterwards misfortune seemed to fall on the place.  The Hurons were terrified at what they had done, and thought they heard or saw in the sky the spirits of the white relations of Brule—­some said the sister, some the uncle—­threatening their town (Toanche), which they soon afterwards burnt and deserted.

In 1615 Champlain, returning from France, had brought out with him friars of the Recollet order.[4] These were the pioneer missionaries of Canada, prominent amongst whom was FATHER LE CARON, and these Recollets traversed the countries in the basin of the St. Lawrence between Lake Huron and Cape Breton Island, preaching Christianity to the Amerindians as well as ministering to the French colonists and fur traders.  One of these Recollet missionaries died of cold and hunger in attempting to cross New Brunswick from the St. Lawrence to the Bay of Fundy, and another—­Nicholas Viel—­was the first martyr in Canada in the spread of Christianity, for when travelling down the Ottawa River to Montreal he was thrown by the pagan Hurons (together with one of his converts) into the waters of a rapid since christened Sault le Recollet.  Another Recollet, Father d’Aillon, prompted by