"
They were a lawless lot whom this mission, not only between water and land
but also between civilization and barbarism, "spoiled for civilization."
But they must not be judged too harshly in their vibrations between the
two standards of life which they bridged, making periodical confession to
charitable priests in one, of the sins committed in the other, which,
unforgiven, might have driven them entirely away from the church and into
perdition.
The names of most of these coureurs de bois are forgotten by history
(which is rather particular about the character of those whom it
remembers--other than those in kingly or other high places). But they who
have followed immediately in the trails of these men of the verges have
written these names, or some of them, in places where they are more widely
read than if cherished by history even. Etienne Brule--who, as
interpreter, led Le Caron out upon the first western mission--after
following trails and waters for hundreds of miles back of the English
settlements, where the timid colonists had not dared to venture, suffered
the martyrdom of fire, and is remembered in a tempestuous stream in the
west and perhaps in an Indian tribe.
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