The document discusses the Jesuit missionaries who followed European colonists to the New World to convert indigenous peoples to Catholicism. It describes how the Jesuits learned the native languages and customs to understand their cultures. However, European diseases devastated the native populations. The Jesuits focused on baptizing the dying rather than treating illness. It also describes the Jesuits' missionary efforts among the Iroquois nations and their difficulties in getting the Iroquois to fully adopt Catholicism. The document notes that some Jesuit missionaries were tortured and killed by the Iroquois for their efforts.