A Land Apart

A Land Apart, by Ian Roberts, was inspired by the life of Etienne Brulé, (circa 1592 - 1634), the original courier de bois, who lived among the indigenous people of North America, learning their languages, adopting their customs and trading in furs. He travelled farther west than any other European of his era, going as far as present-day Duluth, MN, and probably to the Mississippi River. He lived mainly with the Wendat (Wyandot) people, also known as the Hurons. Eventually he came into conflict with Champlain, the Governor of New France, because he was trading with the English. He was murdered by a Wendat around 1634, possibly for trading with the Iroquois, but no one knows for sure.

A landscape painter as well as a writer, Ian Roberts has included over twenty-five painterly illustrations, all in black, white and shades of grey except for the coloured cover. The illustrations evoke a mood of tension and suspense, showing how overwhelming the New World wilderness was for the Europeans. The scenes include a foamy canoe ride through the rapids at dusk, a stand of birches against a dark background, and a night illuminated only by a campfire, the full moon and the stars. Another striking picture shows a Jesuit and two colonial officials in lace collars and white wigs talking in the glow of candle-light.

A Land Apart, set in 1634, is presented from multiple main character viewpoints, at one point with a rainstorm as a unifying device, with the rain beating down on the men in their separate locations, each with his own thoughts and feelings. The various principal actors have conflicting ambitions and objectives. Sixty year old Governor Samuel de Champlain reflects that New France is fifteen times the size of Old France, with only two hundred settlers located at Quebec. “The French court, when they think of New France at all, envision turning this wilderness into a kind of frontier Paris,” he says. Having seen the “slavery, pillage and murder” of indigenous people by the Spanish, he wants the French and the North American aboriginal people to live together in peace - as Christians.

The idea that the indigenous people should be Christian does not sit well with Petashwa, Champlain’s assistant. Though a convert, he prefers his own religion of “the Great Spirit alive and present everywhere”. Petashwa is in charge of taking a party, including a new Jesuit priest and two French nobles, to the Wendat settlement of Ossossane, the proposed site of another French colony. The nobles don’t like taking direction from a ‘savage’ while Petashwa finds them childish and woefully impractical in their brocade coats and high heeled shoes.

The idea for a second French colony to stop British advancement north originated with Cardinal Richilieu, King Louis XIII’s chief minister. He has sent Jesuit Father du Barre, to give Champlain these orders. The cardinal has given all trading rights in New France to a company which has promised to fund additional settlers over a fifteen year period. The cardinal wants an expanded fur trade, gold and silver, and a trade route to India.

Brulé, who considers North America an Eden, came to New France with Champlain in 1609 to get away from the religious wars in which his father died. He wants his way of life and that of the indigenous people to go on as it is. On returning to Wendat territory from a trading trip to the west, he finds the bodies of murdered Wendat men, with a survivor who tells him that women and children have been taken prisoner. The culprits are the Iroquois who are friendly with the English and have muskets.

Through Brulé, Roberts contrasts European warfare with that of indigenous people in North America. European wars, he says, are all about massive slaughter, in contrast to North American aboriginal warfare which is about valour, ritual, and the skills of combat. Only one or two people die in wars between indigenous groups, though “prisoners are taken.”

Brulé’s father appears to him in a vision, warning him that “war and death” are coming to his paradise and that he must “follow whatever sliver of hope he can find to the end.” Etienne Brulé urges the Wendat chief to meet with his Iroquois counterpart and convince him that warfare with muskets will be the ruin of all the aboriginal people, and that he shouldn’t play into the hands of the English and their schemes. When such talks prove futile, Brulé decides, reluctantly, that the Wendat need muskets to defend themselves. Though Champlain will not provide them, Brulé says he will buy them with his accumulated pay from the fur trade.

The theme of the novel is stated by the Wendat chief: “It is the white man that is our ruin, not the Iroquois.” Scenes of Wendat children dying from smallpox reinforce this message. Ian Roberts’ Brulé is akin to the leading characters in the movies Little Big Man and Dances With Wolves, in which a man of European ancestry becomes immersed in another culture and strives to preserve and defend it. The second quote at the beginning of this review shows him speaking bluntly to Father Le Charon about the reasons for his failed mission among the Wendat. Brulé’s feelings about the impact of European settlement upon indigenous North Americans are those of progressive-thinking people of the 21st century.

Roberts’ notes on “Historical Accuracy”, with sections titled: “Etienne Brulé”, “Languages”, “Indians”, “Guns” and “Religion”, includes no bibliography showing his sources. Was the real Etienne Brulé like the protagonist of A Land Apart? That question won’t matter to readers who like exciting tales centring on a hero:

With his face “smeared dark with dirt and blood” and his blue eyes that “shine clear, fearless of whatever is to come...”, Etienne Brulé tells Savignon, “We’ll find Paradise yet, my friend.”