tly up to
him; his gun rests alongside of him loaded; he takes aim, shoots, and
hits the deer in the breast, and the creature drops before him on its
two fore feet and there remains. Without going to the deer, he thanks
God upon his knees that he had heard his prayer and had turned back
the reproach. "Oh," said he, "now do I know there is a God, who is in
the woods also, and hears, loves, and thinks of me there." He comes to
the deer, which is a young buck two or three years old, as fat and
beautiful as he had ever seen in his life, and takes it upon his
shoulders and goes with joy to his uncle, whom he found, and asked
where was his good hunt and the game he had shot. His uncle was angry
and spoke angrily, saying he had been going the whole day, tired and
weary, without seeing or shooting anything, and had come there to look
after chestnuts. "That is well, that is good," said Wouter, "reproach
the Indians no more for not being good shooters. Look at what God has
given me upon my prayer;" for he was very glad at what had occurred.
The uncle stood and looked, and knew not what to say, being ashamed at
what he heard and saw, and of himself. Wouter said further, "I know
there has been no wild animal round about here, for I have explored
the whole place, far and near, without being able to discover any; and
now in so short a time this one presented itself before me, and it is,
therefore, certain that God placed it there or caused it to come
there. I have no doubt of it." Although the uncle was ashamed, he was
not much affected by the circumstance, and still less humiliated or
improved. But Elletie had taken it strongly to heart, and when they
both told it to us, we were affected by it ourselves, and saw God in
it more than he had done.

[Footnote 342: Methinks he was moved by seeing this bended branch, to
bend himself before God, and therefore hung his hat upon it; though I
dare not so affirm certainly.--_Note of the journalist._]

Another occasion was during the last harvest, in the year 1679, while
he was out in the woods hunting beavers. He had then had a successful
time and had killed some beavers, the flesh of which he used for food,
and had nothing else to eat. The flesh of the beaver, although we
never relished it, is esteemed by others a great delicacy.
Nevertheless, as we have been told by those who are well acquainted
with it, it is a kind of food with which they soon become satiated. He
also became tired of it;