The Hurons did not recognize any divine power or worship of God.  They were without belief, and lived like brute beasts, with this exception, that they had a sort of fear of an evil spirit.  They had ogni or manitous, who were medicine-men, and who healed the sick, bound up the wounded, foretold future events, and practised all the abuses and illusions of the black arts.

Champlain firmly believed that the conversion of the Hurons to Christianity would have been easier if the country had been inhabited by persons who would devote their energies to instructing them.  Father Le Caron and himself had often conversed with them regarding the Catholic faith, the laws and customs of the French, and they had listened attentively, sometimes saying: 

“You say things that pass our knowledge, and which we cannot understand by words, being beyond our comprehension; but if you would do us a service, come and dwell in this country, bringing your wives and children, and when they are here, we shall see how you serve the God you worship, and how you live with your wives and children, how you cultivate and plant the soil, how you obey your laws, how you take care of animals, and how you manufacture all that we see proceeding from your inventive skill.  When we see all this we shall learn more in a year than in twenty by simply hearing your discourse; and if we cannot understand, you shall take our children, who shall be as your own.  And thus being convinced that our life is a miserable one in comparison with yours, it is easy to believe that we shall adopt yours, abandoning our own.”

The following was their mode of government.  The older and leading men assembled in a council, in which they settled upon and proposed all that was necessary for the affairs of the village.  This was done by a plurality of voices, or in accordance with the advice of some one among them whose judgment they considered superior; such a one was requested by the company to give his opinion on the propositions that had been made, and his opinion was minutely obeyed.  They had no particular chief with absolute command, but they honoured the older and more courageous men, of which there were several in a village, whom they named captains, as a mark of distinction and respect.

They all deliberated in common, and whenever any member of the assembly offered to do anything for the welfare of the village, or to go anywhere for the service of the community, he was requested to present himself, and if he was judged capable of carrying out what he proposed, they exhorted him, by fair and favourable words, to do his duty.  They declared him to be an energetic man, fit for the undertaking, and assured him that he would win honour in accomplishing his task.  In a word, they encouraged him by flatteries, in order that this favourable disposition of his for the welfare of his fellow-citizens might continue and increase.  Then, according to his pleasure, he accepted or refused the responsibility, and thereby he was held in high esteem.