“And much esteemed among them.”

So wrote Father Chrestien Le Clercq in 1685, a Recollect priest who spent about 12 years among the Miramichi of Gaspé, on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The full excerpt from New Relation of Gaspesia, with the Customs and Religion of the Gaspesian Indians reads:

The red which they employ is not vivid like our vermilion [sic]; it is a sombre red, much like that of dragon’s blood. But as to the Tissaouhianne [sic], which is a little red and slender root like the fruit of parsley, it is valued, say they, and much esteemed among them. In fact, our Gaspesians, who preserve it with much care, make remarkably good use of it in staining their quills of porcupine a beautiful brilliant red; and with these they ornament their canoes, their snowshoes, and their other works which are sent into France as curiosities.

At about the same time, Nicholas Denys wrote of a “flame-color” better than any known in France, noting that its source was a thread-like root. Both Denys’ and Le Clercq’s descriptions echo those of Samuel de Champlain from about 60 years earlier:

They put on their robes bands of porcupine quills, which they dye a very fine scarlet color. They value these bands very highly, and detach them so that they may serve for other robes when they wish to make a change.

The $1, 000, 000 question–if you’re interested in dye analysis, like I am–is what, precisely, is that red dye? There is a very good clue in a travel journal written nearly 150 years after Champlain’s. Take a day to sleuth a bit: I’ll post on the clue tomorrow!

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