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Pictures and Illustrations.
Map of the Mississippi or Conception River.
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Preface.
IT has long been a desideratum to have in English the early narratives of the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi. Marquette's map and voyage have indeed appeared, but the narrative varies in no small degree from the authentic manuscript, and the map is not at all a copy of that still proserved, as it came from the hand of the great explorer. These published from original manuscripts, and accompanied by the narratives of the missionaries in La Salle's expedition, are now first presented in an accessible shape, and complete the annals of the exploration.
The life of Marquette, and the history of the exploration itself, are the result of many years study of the early Spanish and French authorities, both printed and manuscript, some of which have never before been consulted.
Besides my own researches, I have been aided by those of the President of St. Mary's College, and of the Hon. James Viger, of Montreal, and I trust that the volume will be found to be as faithful as the subject is interesting.
NEW YORK, Sept., 1852.
J. G. S.
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History of the Discovery of the Mississippi River.
On glancing at a map of America, we are at once struck by the mighty river Mississippi, which, with its countless branches, gathers the waters of an immense valley, and rolls its accumulated floods to the gulf of Mexico, affording a line of uninterrupted communication for thousands of miles, which has in our day peopled its banks with flourishing towns and cities. So large a stream, so important a means of entering the heart of the continent, could not, it would be supposed, long remain unknown — or, known, remain unappreciated: yet so, in fact, it was.
Columbus himself entered the gulf of Mexico, but the southern coast only was explored by the discoverer of the New World. By whom the northern shore was first explored we do not know; but it is laid down with considerable accuracy in an edition of Ptolemy printed at Venice in 1513. This map is the more remarkable as the delta of a river corresponding to the Mississippi is traced upon it more distinctly than in the maps of the next century. Several adventurers now sailed along the northern or Florida shore, till it was
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completely examined by Garay in 1518. Three years later, a map was drawn up by the arbitrator appointed to decide between the claims of rival discoverers, and on it we find the Mississippi again traced on the part assigned as peculiarly Garay's, and on it the name it subsequently bore, Rio del Espiritu Santo, or River of the Holy Ghost.Several expeditions were now fitted out to explore and reduce the realms of Florida. Brilliant, daring, and adventurous attempts they were, and give the time that hue of chivalry which almost makes us forget the crimes which marked it — crimes, magnified and distorted indeed by foreign writers, but still coolly and dispassionately examined crimes that we must condemn.
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ruler and the ruled. Not yet had the world been startled by the extremes of a claim of divine right in the person of the monarch, and annual revolutions in the name of the people. The Spaniard was the freest man in Europe: the various powers of the state, still unbroken, maintained on each other that salutary check which prevents all tyranny. The time was yet when the tutor of the heir-apparent of the Spanish crown could inculcate on his pupil the doctrine that a tyrant might be put to death; while, at the same time, the people were taught that religion required their obedience to the ruling powers, with submission and support from which only extreme cases could absolve them.Besides this, "many circumstances concurred at this epoch of overwrought excitement, violence, and a mania for discovery by land and sea, to favor individuality of character, and enable some highly-gifted mind to develop noble germs drawn from the depth of feeling. They err," says Humboldt, "who believe that the Spanish adventurers were incited by mere love of gold and religious fanaticism. Perils always exalt the poetry of life; and besides, this remarkable age, unfolding as it did new worlds to men, gave every enterprise and the natural impressions awakened by distant travels, the charm of novelty and surprise."
Leon, Cordova, and Ayllon, had successively found death on the shores of Florida; but the spirit of the age was not damped: in 1528, Pamphilus de Narvaez undertook to conquer and colonize the whole northern coast of the gulf. He landed, and, after long and fruitless marches, returned to the coast, and in wretched boats endeavored to reach Tampico. Almost all perished: storms, disease, and famine, swept them
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away, and the coast was whitened with their bleaching bones. A few with Cabeza de Vaca were thrown on an island on the coast of Mississippi. After four years' slavery, De Vaca escaped and struck inland with four companions. Taken for supernatural beings, they became the medicinemen of the tribes through which they passed, and, with as little difficulty as the Indian jugglers, established their reputation. With lives thus guarded by superstitious awe, they rambled across to the gulf of California, traversing the bison plains and the adobe towns of the half-civilized natives of New Mexico, perched on their rocky heights. De Vaca is the first known to have traversed our territory from sea to sea. In this long wandering, he must have reached and crossed the Mississippi; but we in vain examine his narrative for something to distinguish it from any other large river that he met. He remains then in history, in a distant twilight, as the first European known to have stood on the banks of the Mississippi, and to have launched his boat upon its waters; but his "shipwrecks" shed no new light on its history.When he and his companions suddenly appeared amid their countrymen in Mexico, their strange accounts, and an air of mysterious secresy which they affected, gave a new impulse to the adventurous spirit of the age. In the spring of 1539, two attempts were made to reach the realm in the interior, which De Vaca had protested to be "the richest country in the world." One of these expeditions started from the Pacific, the other from the Atlantic. The former was led by the Franciscan friar Mark, a native of Nice in Italy, who, burning with a desire of conquering for Christ the many tribes within, set out with a negro companion of De Vaca's
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from Culiacan, and crossing the desert wastes, reached the Colorado; but after gazing from a commanding height on the embattled towers of Cibola, with its houses rising story above story, and its gateways so well glazed that they seemed masses of turquoise, returned with baffled hopes, for the natives had refused him entrance, and actually cut off his negro guide and a large party of friendly Indians. Friar Mark, on his return, raised the hopes of the Spanish authorities still higher, and his statements, apparently true in themselves, were so understood by the excited imaginations of all, as to leave impressions far from the reality. An ideal kingdom rose into existence, and a new expedition was projected. This reached the valley of the Mississippi; but before we trace its course, we must go back to the Atlantic expedition of 1539.It was commanded by the successful Ferdinand de Soto, who had risen by the conquest of Peru to rank and wealth, and was now governor of the rich island of Cuba. With a force far superior to any that had yet landed on the continent, he entered Florida, and, with his gallant array, struck into the unknown interior. The Mississippi, under the name of Espiritu Santo, was not unknown to him; for, after proceeding westward and turning slightly northeast to Hurripacuxi — after striking westward to Eteocale, whose heroes wore (the natives said) helmets of burnished gold — after carrying, by stubborn fight, the gallant town of Napetuca — after pressing on through Ivetachuco, fired like another Moscow by its dauntless people — after reaching Anaica Apalache, — he sent Maldonado back to Havana, with orders to meet him in six months at the mouth of the Mississippi.
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Here began his second campaign; lured by the glittering promises of an Indian guide, he marched to the northeast, crossing the Altamaha, and perhaps entered the territory of Carolina, a land full of remembrances of Ayllon. Weary with a march of twelve hundred miles, his men were fain to settle there; but no, on they must go, and turning northward, he traversed unconsciously the golden sands of the Chalaques, with a heavy heart, for it was poor in maize. At last he reached a great river by the western course, and with his mind still full of great hopes from the river of Espiritu Santo, he took the Coosa for the Mississippi, and traced it to its source,
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river was of great depth, and of a strong current; the water always muddy; there came down the river continually many trees and timber, which the force of the water and stream brought down."From the frequent mention of the river in Biedma's narrative we may infer that allusion to it was suppressed, or at most, mysteriously made by De Vaca, and that it was supposed to be the key to his land of gold. Certain it is, that their hopes seem here to brighten; they build boats, the first European craft to traverse the river, and crossed to the western side some twenty or thirty miles, as modern investigators tell us, below the mouth of the Arkansas.
The country now reached by the Spaniards, was one of large and populous towns, well defended by walls and towers, pierced with regular loop-holes, and surrounded by well-made ditches. De Soto ascended the river, and striking on a higher, drier, and more champaign country than he had yet seen, proceeded onward to Pacaha, a place it would not be easy now to locate. The Mississippi was thus explored
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for a considerable distance; but far other than commercial or colonial projects filled the mind of De Soto; he stood by what he knew an outlet to the sea, a great artery of the continent, but his splendid array had dwindled down, and the rich realm of De Vaca had not yet rewarded his many toils. Nerved by despair, he marched northeast till he found himself among the wandering Indians of the plains, with their portable cabins. This was his highest point, and could not have been far from the Missouri. He then turned southwest again to the Arkansas, at the large town of Quigata, to seek guides to lead them to the southern sea; but Coligoa beyond the mountains tempted him to the northwest again; yet Coligoa ill-repaid their toil; it was poorer than the well-built towns they had left behind. Striking west and southwest again, he seems to have once more reached the Arkansas at Cayas, and ascended it to the town of Tanico, with its lake of hot water and saline marshes. Turning then to the south and east, he again reached Vicanque also on the Arkansas, and wintering there, descended it in the spring of 1542 to die on the banks of the Mississippi; after having thus explored the valley of the Arkansas, and examined its inhabitants, who, from the scanty notices we have, seem quite different from those afterward found there, and apparently an offshoot of the New Mexican tribes.De Soto was now dead, the expedition was abandoned, the only object was to leave the fatal country. Muscoso, their new leader, despaired of reaching the gulf by the Mississippi, and struck westward in hopes of reaching New Spain, as De Yaca had done. In this western march of over seven hundred miles, he explored a considerable part of the valley of the Red river, passing by the tribes which were not
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expelled or exterminated when the country was ultimately explored by the French. Nazacahoz, in the province of Guascom, was the most westerly town in their march. Here they found turquoises, pottery, and cotton mantles from New Mexico and even an Indian woman who had escaped from the Pacific expedition, of which we shall next speak. From her statement, and the account given by the Indians of the large river of Daycao to the west, they marched ten days more, and crossing this river, probably the Pecos branch of the Rio Grande, found themselves in the country of the roving tribes. Disheartened at the prospect before him, Muscoso returned to the Mississippi, and ascending above Guachoya where De Soto had died, entered at Aminoya, and working up all their chains and iron into nails, began to build vessels to navigate the Mississippi. The place where these first brigantines were built, has not been clearly settled, its Indian name Aminoya has left no trace. Here "seven brigantines were constructed, well made, save that the planks were thin, because the nails were short, and were not pitched, nor had any decks to keep the water from coming in. Instead of decks, they laid planks, whereon the mariners might run to trim their sails, and the people might refresh themselves above and below." They were finished in June, and "it pleased God that the flood came up to the town to seek the brigantines, from whence they carried them by water to the river." Thus three hundred and twenty-two Spaniards sailed from Minoya on the 2d of July, 1543, and passing Guachoya, were attacked by the people of Quigalta, who pursued them for many days, and did considerable harm to the little fleet. At last, however, on the eighteenth day they reached the gulf of Mexico, after having sailed, as they computed, two hundred and fifty leagues down the river. Thence, afterxvi
many dangers and hardships, the survivors coasting along reached Tampico, "whereat the viceroy and all the inhabitants of Mexico wondered," says the chronicle.Such is, in brief, the history of the Mississippi as explored by De Soto, and his successor, Muscoso, the first who sailed "Down the great river to the opening gulf."
The account they gave received additional confirmation from the second expedition of Father Mark's from the Pacific coast. This expedition commanded by Coronado, and guided by the adventurous missionary, reached and took Cibola, which proved of little value. Ascending the Colorado, the commander left its valley and crossed the Rio Grande in search of Quivira; a faithless guide promised him gold in all abundance, and others as faithless now led him up and down the prairies watered by the upper branches of the Arkansas and Platte. He was thus on the upper waters of the former river, in 1542, at the time when Muscoso heard of him by his runaway slave; but neither trusted the accounts which he received and they did not meet. At Tiguex before he reached the Rio Grande, Coronado had found a "Florida Indian" whose description of the Mississippi tallies quite well with with that of the gentleman of Elvas. "This river in his country," he said,"was two leagues wide, and that they found, fish in it as large as horses, and that they had on it canoes which could hold twenty rowers on each side: and that the lords sat at the stern under a canopy."
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follow ninety days without leaving inhabited country. They added that the first village was called Haxa, that the river was more than a league wide, and that there was a great number of canoes."Such clear accounts of a great river, which the party of De Soto had found navigable for at least a thousand miles, would naturally have drawn attention to it; but we find no notice of any Spanish vessels entering the river to trade in furs or slaves, or simply to explore. Accident occasionally brought some to its banks, but these visits are few and brief, and they led to no result. Thus, in 1553, a rich argosy from Vera Cruz, after stopping at Havana, was wrecked on the Florida coast, and a few survivors reached Tampico by land, escaping from the constant and terrible attacks of the natives.
De Luna reached St. Mary's bay in safety, and had sent back two vessels to announce his arrival in Florida, when a sudden storm came on, and all his vessels were dashed to pieces. Thus left in as miserable a state as any shipwrecked party before, Tristan was not disheartened; he advanced to an Indian town Nanipacna, which had been taken and wasted by De Soto.
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then at war with the Napochies (probably the Natchez), who lay on the Ochechiton, or great water, which the Spaniards took to be the sea. An expedition was soon set on foot against the Natchez, and the cacique went at the head as chief of Coosa never went before, on a gallant Arabian steed, with a negro groom at his horse's head. Defeating the enemy, they reached the Ochechiton which proved to be a mighty river, the Rio del Espiritu de Santo, in other words, the Mississippi, thus reached again by the Spanish adventurers and missionaries. Revolts had meanwhile arisen in De Luna's camp, and vessels soon came to bear the survivors back to Mexico, and none now looked in hope to that fatal quarter.The entrance of some missionaries into New Mexico in 1580, though fatal to themselves, led to new expeditions, and to the final establishment of Spanish colonies there; here as before, they heard continually of the Mississippi, or Rio Grande del Espiritu Santo, and some seem actually to have reached it;
A work published in 1630,
The Mississippi was now forgotten, and although explored for at least a thousand miles, known to have at least two
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branches equal in size to the finest rivers of Spain, to be nearly a league wide and perfectly navigable, it is laid down on maps as an insignificant stream, often not even distinguished by its name of Espiritu Santo, and then we are left to conjecture what petty line was intended for the great river of the west.The Spaniards had thus abandoned the valley of the Mississippi, and a few years after the French at the north began to hear of it, and it was finally reached and explored by the Jesuit missionaries, the great pioneers of the north and west. Quebec was founded by Champlain, in 1608. He was soon joined by Recollect friars, and while he entered the Seneca country with his Huron allies, the intrepid Father Le Caron had ascended the Ottawa and reached the banks of Lake Huron. Subsequently others joined him there; they invited the Jesuits to aid them, and the tribes in the peninsula were visited from Detroit to Niagara, and from Lake Nipissing to Montreal. The capture of Canada by the English, in 1629, defeated any further missionary efforts for a time; but it was restored in 1632, and the Jesuits sent out to continue the missions alone. They "now became the first discoverers of the greater part of the interior of this continent. They were the first Europeans who formed a settlement on the coast of Maine, and among the first to reach it from the St. Lawrence. They, it was, who thoroughly explored the Saguenay, discovered Lake St. John, and led the way overland from Quebec to Hudson's bay. It is to one of them that we owe the discovery of the rich and inexhaustible salt springs of Onondaga
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Within ten years of their second arrival, they had completed the examination of the country from Lake Superior to the gulf, and founded several villages of Christian neophytes on the borders of the upper lakes. While the intercourse of the Dutch was yet confined to the Indians in the vicinity of Fort Orange, and five years before Elliott, of New England had addressed a single word to the Indians within six miles of Boston harbor the French missionaries planted the cross at Sault Ste. Marie, whence they looked down on the Sioux country and the valley of the Mississippi. The vast unknown west now opened its prairies before them."Fortunately the early missionaries were men of learning and observation. They felt deeply the importance of their position, and while acquitting themselves of the duties of their calling, carefully recorded the progress of events around them."
In the history of the French colonies, they are a source such as no other part of the country possesses. For our present purpose, they have been invaluable; from them we can trace step by step, the gradual discovery of the Mississippi.
As early as 1639, the adventurous and noble hearted sieur Nicolet,
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Hurons, and, reaching the last limit of the Algonquins, found himself among the Ouinipegou (Winnebagoes), "a people called so, because they came from a distant sea, but whom some French erroneously called Puants," says this early account. Like the Nadoueouis they spoke a language distinct from the Huron and Algonquin. With these Nicolet entered into friendly relations, and exploring Green bay, ascended Fox river to its portage, and embarked on a river, flowing west; and says Father Vimont, "the sieur Nicolet who had penetrated furthest into those distant countries, avers that had he sailed three days more on a great river which flows from that lake [Green bay], he would have found the sea." This shows that Nicolet like De Luna's lieutenant mistook for the sea, the Indian term Great Water, applied to the Mississippi. It is certain then, that to Nicolet is due the credit of having been the first to reach the waters of the Mississippi. The hope of reaching the Pacific now aroused the courage of the missionaries, some fathers invited by the Algonquins were to be sent to "those men of the other sea," but, adds Vimont prophetically, "Perhaps this voyage will be reserved for one of us who have some little knowledge of the Algonquin."xxii
In 1641, two Jesuits from the Huron mission, the illustrious Isaac Jogues and Charles Raymbout were actually sent to Sault St. Mary's, and they too heard of the Sioux and the river on which they lay, and they burned to enter those new realms and speak that language yet unknown, which fell so strangely on their ears now used to Huron and Algonquin sounds.
The next year the Iroquois war broke out in all its fury; and the missionaries had to abandon all hopes of extending to the west. The war proved fatal to the allies of the French; by 1650, all Upper Canada was a desert, and not a mission, not a single Indian was to be found, where but a few years before the cross towered in each of their many villages, and hundreds of fervent Christians gathered around their fifteen missionaries. The earth still reeked with the blood of the pastor and his flock; six missionary fathers had fallen by the hands of the Iroquois, another had been fearfully mutilated in their hands. But scarce was there a ray of peace when the survivors, were again summoned to the west. A field opened on Lake Superior. Father Garreau was sent in 1656, but was killed ere he left the St. Lawrence. De Groseilles and another Frenchman, more fortunate, wintered on the shores of the lake in 1658; they too visited the Sioux, and from the fugitive Hurons among them heard still clearer tidings of a great river on which they had struck, as, plunging through unknown wood and waste, over cliffs and mountains, they had sought to escape the destructive hand of the pursuing Iroquois. "It was a beautiful river," writes the annalist, "large, broad, and deep, which would bear comparison, they say, with our St. Lawrence." On its banks they found the Abimiouec, the Ilinois of later days.
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From other quarters, too, they began to hear of this great river. The missionaries on the Saguenay heard of the Winnipegouek, and their bay whence three seas could be reached, the north, the south, and the west.
Meanwhile M×nard, an old Huron missionary, proceeded, in 1660, to Lake Superior, and founded an Ottawa mission on the southern shore. He, too, heard of the Mississippi, and had resolved to reach the nations on its banks, undeterred by the difficulties of the way; but a work of charity called him to another quarter, and a death in the wilderness arrested his projects, before which one of half his years would have recoiled.
His successor, Father Allouez, also heard of the great river, "which empties," says he, "as far as I can conjecture, into the sea by Virginia." He heard, too, of the Ilimouek, and the Nadouessiouek; and here, for the first time, we find the
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river bear a name. "They live," says he, "on the great river called Messipi."The western mission now received new accessions, and their hopes of entering the great river became more and more sanguine. The distinguished Father Dablon was sent out as superior of the Ottawa missions. A station among the Illinois was determined upon, Father Marquette named to begin it, and the study of the Illinois language actually begun by that missionary. From the accounts of a young man who was his master in that language, he formed new conjectures as to its mouth, and was apparently the first who heard of the Missouri. As to his intended voyage, he says, "If the Indians who promise to make me a canoe do not break their word, we shall go into this river as soon as we can with a Frenchman and this young man given me, who knows some of these languages, and has a readiness for learning others; we shall visit the nations that inhabit them in order to open the passage to so many of our fathers, who have long awaited this happiness. This discovery will give us a complete knowledge of the southern or western sea."
Meanwhile Allouez, on the 3d of November, 1669, left Sault St. Mary's to visit Green bay; with great danger and hardship he reached it, and spent the winter preaching to the Pottawatomies, Menomonees, Sacs, Foxes, and Winnebagoes, whom he found mingled there. On the 16th of April, 1670, he began to ascend Fox river, and passing two rapids, reached Winnebago lake, and crossing it, came to a river "from a wild-oat lake." He was now, however, in search of the Outagamis, or Foxes, and turned up their river. He found them dejected by the loss of several families carried off by the Senecas on the banks of Lake Machihiganing (our
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Lake Michigan). After consoling them as he could, he explained the object of his coming, and after given them his first general instruction in Christianity, sailed down their river again, and continued to the town of the Machkoutench, whom, says he, the Hurons call Assistaectaeronnous, or Fire nation. To reach them, he traversed the lake or marsh at the head of the Wisconsin, for they lay on that river. "It was," he says, "a beautiful river running southwest without any rapid. It leads," he says, further on, "to the great river named Messi-sipi, which is only six days' sail from here." Thus had Allouez at last reached the waters of the Mississippi, as Nicolet had done thirty years before.There was now no difficulty in reaching it; an easier way lay open than that from Chagoimegon. Father Dablon wished himself to visit the spot, and in company with Allouez, he returned to Green bay, and as early as September, in the same year, both were again at Maskoutens.
Father Dablon had meanwhile been named superior-general of the Canada missions, and seems to have taken the more interest in the exploring of the Mississippi by the Wisconsin, as the projected Illinois mission of Father Marquette was, for a time at least, defeated. The peace on which they relied was suddenly destroyed; the Sioux provoked by the rash insolence of the Hurons and Ottawas, declared war, and
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sent back to the missionary the pictures which he had given them. Stratagem enabled them to neutralize the advantage which firearms gave their enemies; the Hurons and Ottawas were completely defeated, and fugitives already before the face of the Iroquois, they now fled again from a more terrible foe in the west. All hopes of his Illinois mission being thus dashed, the dejected Marquette followed his fugitive flocks, and as the Ottawas proceeded apart to Manitoulin, he accompanied the Hurons to Mackinaw.Father Dablon published the Relations of 1670-'71, and its map of Lake Superior. In his description of the map he at once alludes to the Mississippi. "To the south flows the great river, which they call the Missisipi, which can have its mouth only in the Florida sea, more than four hundred leagues from here."
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appear again. Some warriors of this country (Maskoutens), who say that they have descended that far, assure us that they saw men like the French, who were splitting trees with long knives, some of whom had their house on the water, thus they explained their meaning, speaking of sawed planks and ships. They say besides, that all along this great river are various towns of different nations, languages, and customs, who all make war on each other; some are situated on the river side, but most of them inland, continuing thus up to the nation of the Nadouessi who are scattered over more than a hundred leagues of country."The course of the Mississippi, its great features, the nature of the country, were all known to the western missionaries and the traders, who alone with them carried on the discovery of the west. Among the latter was Jolliet, who in his rambles also penetrated near the Mississippi.
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for the service to send the sieur Jolliet to discover the south sea by the Maskoutens country, and the great river Mississippi, which is believed to empty in the California sea. He is a man of experience in this kind of discovery, and has already been near the great river, of which he promises to see the mouth."Of the missionaries, two seemed entitled to the honor of exploring the great river, Allouez, the first to reach its waters, and Marquette named for some years missionary to the Illinois. The latter was chosen, and since his departure from Chegoimegon, he had constantly offered up his devotions to the blessed Virgin Immaculate, to obtain the grace of reaching the Mississippi. What was his joy when on the very festival dearest to his heart, that of the Immaculate Conception, Jolliet arrived bearing the letters of his superiors which bid him embark at last, in his company to carry out the design so long, and so fondly projected.
"The long-expected discovery of the Mississippi was now at hand, to be accomplished by Jolliet of Quebec, of whom there is scarce a record but this one excursion that gives him immortality and by Marquette, who, after years of pious assiduity to the poor wrecks of Hurons, whom he planted near abundant fisheries, on the cold extremity of Michigan, entered, with equal humility, upon a career which exposed his life to perpetual danger, and by its results affected the destiny of nations."
The winter was spent in preparation, in studying over all that had yet been learned of the great river, in gathering around them every Indian wanderer, and amid the tawny group drawing their first rude map of the Mississippi, and the water courses that led to it. And on this first map traced
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doubtless kneeling on the ground they set down the names of each tribe they were to pass, each important point to be met. The discovery was dangerous, but it was not to be rash; all was the result of calm, cool investigation, and never was chance less concerned than in the discovery of the Mississippi.In the spring they embarked at Mackinaw in two frail bark canoes, each with his paddle in hand, and full of hope, they soon plied them merrily over the crystal waters of the lake. All was new to Marquette, and he describes as he went along the Menomonies, Green bay, and Maskoutens, which he reached on the 7th of June, 1673. He had now attained the limit of former discoveries, the new world was before them; they looked back a last adieu to the waters, which great as the distance was, connected them with Quebec and their countrymen; they knelt on the shore to offer, by a new devotion, their lives, their honor, and their undertaking, to their beloved mother the Virgin Mary Immaculate; then launching on the broad Wisconsin, sailed slowly down its current amid its vine-clad isles, and its countless sand-bars. No sound broke the stillness, no human form appeared, and at last, after sailing seven days, on the 17th of June, they happily glided into the great river. Joy that could find no utterance in words filled the grateful heart of Marquette. The broad river of the Conception, as he named it, now lay before them, stretching away hundreds of miles to an unknown sea. Soon all was new; mountain and forest had glided away; the islands, with their groves of cotton-wood, became more frequent, and moose and deer browzed on the plains; strange animals were seen traversing the river, and monstrous fish appeared in its waters. But they proceeded on their way amid this solitude, frightful by its utter absence
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of man. Descending still further, they came to the land of the bison, or pisikiou, which, with the turkey, became sole tenants of the wilderness; all other game had disappeared. At last, on the 25th of June, they descried foot-prints on the shore. They now took heart again, and Jolliet and the missionary leaving their five men in the canoes, followed a little beaten path to discover who the tribe might be. They travelled on in silence almost to the cabin-doors, when they halted, and with a loud hallao proclaimed their coming. Three villages lay before them; the first, roused by the cry, poured forth its motley group, which halted at the sight of the newcomers, and the well-known dress of the missionary. Old men came slowly on, step by measured step, bearing aloft the all-mysterious calumet. All was silence; they stood at last before the two Europeans, and Marquette asked, "Who are you?" "We are Illinois," was the answer, which dispelled all anxiety from the explorers, and sent a thrill to the heart of Marquette; the Illinois missionary was at last amid the children of that tribe which he had so long, so tenderly yearned to see.After friendly greetings at this town of Pewaria, and the neighboring one of Moing-wena, they returned to their canoes, escorted by the wondering tribe, who gave their hardy visitants a calumet, the safeguard of the West. With renewed courage and lighter hearts, they sailed on, and passing a high rock with strange and monstrous forms depicted on its rugged surface, heard in the distance the roaring as of a mighty cataract, and soon beheld Pekitanoui, or the muddy river, as the Algonquins call the Missouri, rushing like some untamed monster into the calm and clear Mississippi, and hurrying in with its muddy waters the trees which it had rooted up in its impetuous course. Already had the missionaries heard of
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the river running to the western sea to be reached by the branches of the Mississippi, and Marquette, now better informed, fondly hoped to reach it one day by the Missouri. But now their course lay south, and passing a dangerous eddy, the demon of the western Indians, they marked the Waboukigou, or Ohio, the river of the Shawnees, and still holding on their way, came to the warm land of the cane, and the country which the musquitoes might call their own. While enveloped in their sails as a shelter from them, they came upon a tribe who invited them to the shore. They were wild wanderers, for they had guns bought of Catholic Europeans to the east.Thus far all had been friendly, and encouraged by this second meeting, they plied their oars anew, and amid groves of cotton-wood on either side, descended to the 33d degree, where, for the first time, a hostile reception seemed promised by the excited Metchigameas. Too few to resist, their only hope on earth was the mysterious calumet, and in heaven the protection of Mary, to whom they sent up those fervent prayers, which none but one who has called on her in the hour of need can realize. At last the storm subsided, and they were received in peace; their language formed an obstacle, but an interpreter was found, and after explaining the object of their coming, and announcing the great truths of Christianity, they embarked for Akamsea, a village thirty miles below on the eastern shore.
Here they were well received, and learned that the mouth of the river was but ten days sail from this village; but they heard, too, of nations there trading with Europeans, and of wars between the tribes, and the two explorers spent a night in consultation. The Mississippi, they now saw, emptied into the gulf of Mexico, between Florida and Tampico, two Spanish
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points; they might by proceeding fall into their hands. They resolved to return. Thus far only Marquette traced the map, and he put down the names of other tribes of which they heard. Of these in the Atotchasi, Matora, and Papihaka, we recognise Arkansas tribes; and the Akoroas and Tanikwas, Pawnees and Omahas, Kansas and Apiches, are well known in after days.They accordingly set out from Akensea on the 17th of July to return. Passing the Missouri again, they entered the Illinois, and meeting the friendly Kaskaskias at its upper portage, were led by them in a kind of triumph to Lake Michigan, for Marquette had promised to return and instruct them in the faith. Sailing along the lake, they crossed the outer peninsula of Green bay, and reached the mission of St. Francis Xavier, just four months after their departure from it.
Thus had the missionaries achieved their long-projected work. The triumph of the age was thus completed in the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi, which threw open to France, the richest, most fertile, and accessible territory in the new world. Marquette, whose health had been severely tried in this voyage, remained at St. Francis to recruit his strength before resuming his wonted missionary labors, for he sought no laurels, he aspired to no tinsel praise.
Jolliet, who had, like Marquette, drawn up a journal and map of his voyage, set out (probably in the spring) for Quebec, to report to the governor of Canada the result of his expedition, and took with him an Indian boy, doubtless the young slave given them by the great chief of the Illinois. Unfortunately, while shooting the rapids above Montreal, his canoe turned, and he barely escaped with his life, losing all his papers and his Indian companion. What route he had followed from Mackinaw, we do not know; but he seems to
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have descended by Detroit river, Lake Erie, and Niagara, as Frontenac announcing his return to the government in France, says, "he has found admirable countries, and so easy a navigation by the beautiful river which he found, that from Lake Ontario and Fort Frontenac, you can go in barks to the gulf of Mexico, there being but one discharge to be made at the place where Lake Erie falls into Lake Ontario."Separated as he was from Marquette, and deprived of his papers by the accident, Jolliet drew up a narrative of his voyage from recollection, and also sketched a map which Frontenac transmitted to France in November, 1674, three months after Jolliet's arrival at Quebec.
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in the Lands of the missionaries; these Frontenac promised to send, and Father Marquette, as we find by his autograph letter, transmitted copies to his superior at his request, prior to October; and the French government was, undoubtedly, possessed, in 1675, of Marquette's journal and map, and fully aware of the great advantage to be derived from the discoveries made, either for communicating direct with France from Illinois, or of seeking the nearest road to the gulf of California and the Pacific, by the western tributaries of the Mississippi. "These," says Frontenac, "are projects we can take in hand when peace is well established, and it shall please his majesty to carry out the exploration."The court allowed the whole affair to pass unnoticed. Marquette's narrative was not published, and the Jesuit Relations apparently prohibited; so that it would not, perhaps, have seen the light to our days, had not Thevenot obtained a copy of the narrative and a map which he published in 1681.
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some new field, and by reading the accounts of the Spanish adventurers, seems to have been the first to identify the great river of Marquette, and Jolliet with the great river of De Soto. The vast herds of bison seemed to him to afford an easy means of realizing all that he could hope, by enabling him to ship from the banks of the Missouri and Illinois direct to France by the gulf of Mexico, cargoes of buffalo-skins and wool. In 1677, he repaired again to France, and by the help of Frontenac's recommendation, obtained a patent for his discovery, and a new monopoly in the following May, and by September was in Canada with Tonty and a body of mechanics and manners, with all things necessary for his expedition. The plan traced by Jolliet in Frontenac's despatch of 1674, seems to have been followed by him without farther investigation. As it would be necessary to unload at the falls of Niagara, the Onghiara, of the old missionaries, he resolved to build a new fort there, and construct vessels above the cataract to ply on the upper lakes, and thus connect his trading-houses on the Mississippi with Fort Frontenac, his chief and most expensive establishment. Such was his celerity that, by the 5th of December, the first detachment of his party entered the Niagara river, and a site was soon selected for a fort, and for the construction of a vessel above the falls. Difficulties with the Senecas finally compelled him to relinquish the fort, and a mere shed or storehouse was raised. The vessel, however, went on, and he at last saw it glide down into the rapid current of Niagara in August, 1679, amid the admiring crowd of Indians who had gathered around the French.There was now no obstacle to his further progress, but we must here regret that he had not studies former discoveries more narrowly. One of his clear and comprehensive mind
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would have seized at once the great western branch of the Mississippi, already known to the missionaries and the Iroquois. By his present plans he had to build one vessel above the falls of Niagara, and a second on the Illinois river; one on the Ohio, so easily reached by the Alleghany would have carried him to the gulf, and he would thus have avoided the various troubles which so long retarded his reaching the mouth of the Mississippi. He sailed to Green bay, but found that he had arrayed against him all the private traders of the west, by sending men to trade, contrary to his patent, winch expressly excepted the Ottawa country. Of this he soon felt the effects, his men began to desert, and to crown all his misfortunes, his new vessel, the Griffin, was lost on her way back to Niagara. Before this catastrophe he had set out to descend Lake Michigan. He built a kind of fort at the mouth of the St. Joseph's and sounded its channel, and, at last, in December, proceed to enter the Kankakee, a branch of the Illinois, by a portage from the St. Joseph's. Disheartened by the desertion and disaffection of his men, and by the want of all tidings of his vessel, he began the erection of Fort Crevecoeur, and of a vessel near the Illinois camp below Lake Peoria. The vessel he had finally to abandon for want of proper materials to complete it, and he set out almost alone for Fort Frontenac by land, after sending Father Hennepin to explore the Illinois to its mouth. That missionary went farther; voluntarily or as a prisoner of the Sioux, he seems to have ascended as far as St. Anthony's falls, which owe their name to him. His exploration of the Mississippi between the Illinois river and St. Anthony's falls, took place in 1680, between the months of March and September, when, delivered by De Luth, he returned to Mackinaw, and thence in the spring almost direct to Quebec and Europe. Byxxxvii
1683, he published, at Paris, an account of his voyage under the title of Description de la Louisiane, which after the Relations, and Marquette's narrative, is the next work relative to the Mississippi, and contains the first printed description of that river above the mouth of the Wisconsin, from actual observation.La Salle returned to Illinois in 1681, and, to his surprise, found his fort deserted. He soon after met the survivors of his first expedition at Mackinaw, and set about new preparations for his great work. In January, 1682, he was again with his party at the extremity of Lake Michigan, and entering the Chicago river, followed the old line of Father Marquette, reached Fort Crev×coeur once more, and at last began in earnest his voyage down the Mississippi. He had abandoned the idea of sailing down in a ship, and resolved to go in boats, ascertain accurately the position of its mouth, and then return to France and sail direct with a colony for the mouth, and ascend to some convenient place. On the 6th of February, the little expedition, apparently in three large boats or canoes, conducted by La Salle and his lieutenants, Tonty and Dautray, with Father Zenobius Membr×, as their chaplain, and Indians as hunters and guides, entered the wide waters of the Mississippi, which henceforward, in the narratives of La Salle's companions assumes the name of Colbert. They passed the mouth of the muddy Missouri, and further on, the deserted village of the Tamaroas, and next the Ohio, where the marshy land began that prevented their landing. Detained soon after by the loss of one of his men, La Salle encamped on the bluff, and fell in with some Chickasaws, then proceeding on, at last, on the 3d of March, was roused by the war-cries, and the rattling drums of Arkansas village. He had reached the limit of Jolliet's
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voyage; henceforward, he was to be the first French explorer. Warlike as the greeting was, La Salle soon entered into friendly relations with them, and several days were spent in their village. Here a cross was planted with the arms of the French king, and the missionary endeavored, by interpreters and signs to give some idea of Christianity.On the 17th, La Salle embarked again, and passing two more Arkansas towns, reached the populous tribe of the Taensas, in their houses of clay and straw, with roofs of cane, themselves attired in mantles, woven of white pliant bark, and showing Eastern reverence for their monarch, who in great ceremony visited the envoys of the French.
Pursuing his course, the party next came to the Natchez, where another cross was planted, and visiting the Koroas proceeded on till the river divided into two branches. Following the westerly one, they sailed past the Quinipissas, and the pillaged town of another tribe, till they reached the delta, on the 6th of April. La Salle and his two lieutenants, each taking a separate channel, advanced, full of hope; the brackish water, growing salter as they proceeded, being a sure index of the sea, which they reached at last on the 9th of April, 1682, sixty-two days after their entering the Mississippi.
The French had thus, at last, in the two expeditions of Jolliet and La Salle, completely explored the river from the falls of St. Anthony to the gulf of Mexico. La Salle now planted a cross with the arms of France amid the solemn chant of hymns of thanksgiving, and in the name of the French king took possession of the river, of all its branches, and the territory watered by them; and the notary drew up an authentic act, which all signed with beating hearts, and a leaden plate with the arms of France, and the names of
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the discoverers was amid the rattle of musketry deposited in the earth.La Salle now ascended again to Illinois, and despatched Father Zenobius Membre to France to lay an account of his voyage before the government. He sailed from Quebec on the 15th of November with Frontenac, and the course of the Mississippi was known in France before the close of 1682.
The next year La Salle himself reached France, and set out by sea to reach the mouth of the Mississippi; he never again beheld it; but Tonty seeking him, had again descended to the mouth, and it was soon constantly travelled by the adventurous trader, and still more adventurous missionary. A Spanish vessel under Andrew de Pes, entered the mouth soon after; but, on the 2d of March, 1699, the Canadian Iberville, more fortunate than La Salle, entered it with Father Anastasius Douay, who had accompanied that unfortunate adventurer on his last voyage.
Henceforward all was progress; we might now trace the labors of those who explored each mighty tributary, and watch the progress of each rising town; we might follow down the first cargo of wheat, or look with the anxiety of the day at the first crop of sugar and of cotton; but this were to write the history of the Mississippi valley, and we undertook only that of its discovery. Our work is done. We turn now to trace the life of its first French explorers.
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Life of Father James Marquette, of the Society of Jesus, First Explorer of the Mississippi.
Near a little branch of the river Oise, in the department of Aisne, the traveller finds perched on the mountainside the small but stately city of Laon. Strong fortifications without, and a vast cathedral within, show that in former days it was one of those cities which were constantly replete with life and movement in the endless contests between noble and noble, and not unfrequently between the suzerain himself and his more powerful vassal.
The most ancient family in this renowned city, is that of Marquette, and in its long annals we find the highest civic honors borne almost constantly by members of that illustrious race. It already held an important place in the reign of Louis the young, and its armorial bearings still commemorate the devotedness of the sieur James Marquette, sheriff of Laon, to the cause of his royal master, the unfortunate John of France in 1360.
A martial spirit has always characterized this citizen family, and its members have constantly figured in the dazzling
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wars of France. Our own republic is not without its obligations to the valor of the Marquettes, three of whom died here in the French army during the Revolutionary war.Yet not their high antiquity nor their reckless valor would ever have given the name of Marquette to fame; the unsought tribute which it has acquired among us, is due to the labors of one who renounced the enjoyments of country and home to devote his days to the civilization and conversion of our Indian tribes; who died in the bloom of youth, worn down by toil, in a lonely, neglected spot, whose name every effort was made to enshrine in oblivion, but who has been at last, by the hand of strangers, raised on a lofty pedestal among the great, the good, and the holy, who have honored our land; the family is known to us only as connected with Father James Marquette of the Society of Jesus, the first explorer of the Mississippi.
Born at the ancient seat of his family, in the year 1637, he was, through his pious mother Hose de la Salle, allied to the venerable John Baptist de la Salle, the founder of the institute known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools, whose services in the cause of gratuitous education of the poor had instructed thousands before any of the modern systems of public schools had been even conceived.
At the age of seventeen his heart, detached from this world and all its bright allurements, impelled him to enter the Society of Jesus, as he did in the year 1654. When the two
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of self study and examination had passed away, he was as is usual with the young Jesuits, employed in teaching or study, and twelve years glided away in the faithful performance of the unostentatious duties assigned him. No sooner, however, was he invested with the sacred character of the priesthood, than his ardent desire to become in all things an imitator of his chosen patron, St. Francis Xavier, induced him to seek a mission in some land that knew not Go, that he might labor there to his latest breath, and die unaided and alone.The province of Champagne in which he was enrolled contained no foreign mission: he was transferred to that of France, and, in 1666, sailed for Canada. On the 20th of September he landed, buoyant with life and health, at Quebec and amid his brethren awaited the new destination on which his superiors should decide.
The moment of his arrival was one of deep interest in the religious history of a colony, which had in its early settlement so nobly represented the purest Catholicity, neither hampered by civil jealousy, nor unhearted by the cold and selfish policy of a pagan age. The halcyon days of the Canadian church were passing away, but God had raised up one to guide and guard his church, that is, in fact, his poor and little ones, in coming struggle with worldliness and policy. This was Francis de Laval, who landed at Quebec in 1659, with the shop of Petrea, and vicar apostolic of New France. Gradually he gathered around him a few secular priests and began to settle the ecclesiastical affairs of the French posts, till then mere missions in the hands of the Jesuits. At the period of Marquette's arrival, he had already begun to see his diocese assume a regular shape, his clergy had increased, his
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cathedral and seminary were rapidly rising. The war with the Iroquois which had so long checked the prosperity of the colony, and the hopes of the missionaries, was at last brought to a successful issue by the efforts of the viceroy de Tracy, and a new field was opened for the missions.These had always been an object of his deep solicitude; the wide west especially was a field which he sighed to penetrate himself, cross in hand, but this could not be. As early as 1660, from the new impulse thus given, an Ottawa mission was resolved upon, and the veteran M×nard, one of the last survivors of the old Huron mission, cheered by the parting words of his holy bishop, embarked to raise the cross of Sault St. Mary's, which his companions Jogues and Raymbaut had planted twenty years before. He bore it on to Keweena bay in Lake Superior, and while full of projects for reaching the Sioux on the upper Mississippi, died in the woods, a victim to famine or the hatchet of the roving Indian. At the time of Marquette's arrival, Father Allouez was there exploring parts which no white man had yet visited, and as he saw a wide field opening before his view, earnestly imploring a new missionary reinforcement.
Such was the Ottawa mission; but there were others also. Father Jogues thus associated with the earliest western discoveries, had penetrated into New York, and reddening the Mohawk with his life's blood, brought it within the bounds of catholicity. From this moment New York was a land which each missionary ambitioned; visited successively by two more as prisoners, their sufferings and blood confirmed the title of the missionaries, and, in 1654, Father Simon le Moyne visited Onondaga, and gave the first account of western New York. A mission was established the next year, and the missionaries explored the whole state from the Hudson
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to the Niagara; but a sudden change took place — a plot formed against the French colony at Onondaga, and this first mission was crushed in its infancy, after a brief existence of three years. The war which ensued made Canada itself tremble, and a new mission in New York was not even thought of; the attempt to renew that in Michigan is indeed one of the hardiest undertakings in the annals of the Jesuit missions, and a noble monument of their fearless zeal. But now the tree of peace was planted, the war-parties had ceased, and missionaries hastened to the Iroquois cantons, which, for nearly twenty years, were to be so well instructed in the truths of Christianity, that even now the catholic Iroquois almost outnumber the rest of their countrymen.Another great mission of the time was that of the Abnakis, in Maine, founded by Druillettes in 1647, and continued by him at intervals until it became at last the permanent residence of several zealous men.
Besides these were the missions of the wandering Algonquins of the river, which centred at Sillery and Three Rivers, but had been almost entirely destroyed by the Iroquois after the destruction of the Huron missions and depopulation of Upper Canada. These expiring missions the Jesuits still maintained; but another and a harder field was that of the Montagniais, of which Tadoussac was the centre. Here at the mouth of that strange river, the Saguenay, which pours its almost fathomless tide into the shallower St. Lawrence, is the oft-mentioned post of Tadoussac. For a few weeks each year, it was a scene of busy, stirring life; Indians of every petty tribe from the Esquimaux of Labrador, to the Micmac of Nova Scotia, came to trade with the French. Here, then a missionary was always found to instruct them as much as time permitted, and when found sufficiently acquainted with the
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mysteries of our faith, to baptize them. The Christian Indian always repaired to this post to fulfil the obligations of the church, to lay down the burthen of sin, to receive the bread of life, and then depart for the wilderness with his calendar and pin to be able to distinguish the Sundays and holydays; and thus amid the snows and crags join in the prayers and devotions of the universal church. When the trade was over, a new field lay before the missionary; the country was to be traversed in every direction to carry the light of faith from cabin to cabin, to exhort, instruct, confirm. These adventurous expeditions through parts still a wilderness, are full of interest, and, strange as it may seem, are rife with early notices of our western country; they reached from the Saguenay to Hudson's bay, and stretching westward, almost reached Lake Superior.This mission required one full of life, zeal, and courage, and to it Father Marquette was in the first instance destined. The Montagnais was the key language to the various tribes, and as early as the tenth of October,
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them Father Marquette embarked. The journey up the Ottawa river, and through French river to Lake Huron, and then across that inland sea to Sault St. Mary's, has been too often and too vividly described to need repetition here. Its toil and danger are associated with the accounts of all the early Huron missionaries.When he reached Lake Superior, Marquette found that the tribes whom fear of the Iroquois had driven to the extremity of the lake, were now returning to their former abodes. New missions were thus required, and it was resolved to erect two, one at Sault St. Mary's, the other in Green Bay. The former was assigned to Father Marquette, and planting his cabin at the foot of the rapid on the American side, he began his missionary career. Here, in the following year, he was joined by Father Dablon, as superior of the Ottawa missions, and by their united exertion, a church was soon built; and thus, at last, a sanctuary worthy of the faith raised at that cradle of Christianity in the west.
The tribes to which he ministered directly here were all Algonquin, and numbered about two thousand souls. They showed the greatest docility to his teaching, and would all gladly have received baptism, but caution was needed, and the prudent missionary contented himself for a time with giving them clear, distinct instructions, and with efforts to root out all lurking superstitions, conferring the sacrament only on the dying. The missionary's first lesson was, "to learn to labor and to wait."
His stay at the Sault among the Pahwitting-dach-irini, Outchibous, Maramegs, &c., was not, however, to be of long duration. Father Allouez departed for Green Bay, and a missionary was to be sent to Lapointe to continue the disheartening
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labors of that ungrateful field. Marquette was chosen. Without repugnance he set out for his new station in the autumn of 1669. We can not better depict his labors than by inserting at length the letter descriptive of his mission, which he addressed to Father Francis Le Mercier, the superior of the missions in the following year."Reverend Father,
"The Peace Of Christ.
"I am obliged to render you an account of the mission of the Holy Ghost among the Ottawas, according to the orders I received from you and again from Father Dablon on my arrival here, after a month's navigation on snow and through ice which closed my way, and kept me in constant peril of life.
"Divine Providence having destined me to continue the mission of the Holy Ghost begun by Father Allouez, who had baptized the chiefs of the Kiskakonk, I arrived there on the thirteenth of September, and went to visit the Indians who were in the clearings which are divided into five towns. The Hurons to the number of about four or five hundred, almost all baptized, still preserve some little Christianity. A number of the chiefs assembled in council, were at first well pleased to see me; but I explained that I did not yet know their language perfectly, and that no other missionary was coming, both because all had gone to the Iroquois, and because Father Allouez, who understood them perfectly, did not wish to return that winter, as they did not love the prayer enough. They acknowledged that it was a just punishment, and during the winter held talks about it, and resolved to amend, as they tell me.
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"The nation of the Outaouaks Sinagaux is far from the kingdom of God, being above all other nations addicted to lewdness, sacrifices, and juggleries. They ridicule the prayer, and will scarcely hear us speak of Christianity. They are proud and undeveloped, and I think that so little can be done with this tribe, that I have not baptized healthy infants who seem likely to live, watching only for such as are sick. The Indians of the Kinouch× tribe declare openly that it is not yet time. There are, however, two men among them formerly baptized. One now rather old, is looked upon as a kind of miracle among the Indians, having always refused to marry, persisting in this resolution in spite of all that had been said. He has suffered much even from his relatives, but he is as little affected by this as by the loss of all the goods which he brought last year from the settlement, not having even enough left to cover him. These are hard trials for Indians, who generally seek only to possess much in this world. The other, a new-married young man, seems of another nature than the rest. The Indians extremely attached their reveries had resolved that a certain number of young women should prostitute themselves, each to choose such partner as she liked. No one in these cases ever refuses, as the lives of men are supposed to depend on it. This young Christian was called; on entering the cabin he saw the orgies which were about to begin, and feigning illness immediately left, and though they came to call him back, he refused to go. His confession was as prudent as it could be, and I wondered that an Indian could live so innocently, and so nobly profess himself a Christian. His mother and some of his sisters are also good Christians. The Ottawas, extremely superstitious in their feasts and juggleries, seem hardened to the instructions given them, yet they like to have their children
l
baptized. God permitted a woman to die this winter in her sin; her illness had been concealed from me, and I heard it only by the report that she had asked a very improper dance for her cure. I immediately went to a cabin where all the chiefs were at a feast, and some Kiskakonk Christians among them. To these I exposed the impiety of the woman and her medicine-men, and gave them proper instructions. I then spoke to all present, and God permitted that an old Ottawa rose to advise, granting what I asked, as it made no matter, he said, if the woman did die. An old Christian then rose and told the nation that they must stop the licentiousness of their youth, and not permit Christian girls to take part in such dances. To satisfy the woman, some child's play was substituted for the dance; but this did not prevent her dying before morning. The dangerous state of a sick young man caused the medicine-men to proclaim that the devil must be invoked by extraordinary superstitions. The Christians took no part. The actors were these jugglers and the sick man, who was passed over great fires lighted in every cabin. It was said that he did not feel the heat, although his body had been greased with oil for five or six days. Men, women, and children, ran through the cabins asking as a riddle to divine their thoughts, and the successful guesser was glad to give the object named. I prevented the abominable lewdness so common at the end of these diabolical rites. I do not think they will recur, as the sick man died soon after.
"The nation of Kiskakons,which for three years refused to receive the gospel preached them by Father Allouez, resolved,
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in the fall of 1668, to obey God. This resolution was adopted in full council, and announced to that father who spent four winter months instructing them. The chiefs of the nation became Christians, and as Father Allouez was called to another mission, he gave it to my charge to cultivate, and I entered on it in September, 1669.
"All the Christians were then in the fields harvesting their Indian corn; they listened with pleasure when I told them that I came to Lapointe for their sake and that of the Hurons; that they never should be abandoned, but be beloved above all other nations, and that they and the French were one. I had the consolation of seeing their love for the prayer their pride in being Christians. I baptized the new-born and instructed the chiefs whom I found well-disposed. The head-chief having allowed a dog to be hung on a pole near his cabin, which is a kind of sacrifice the Indians make to the sun, I told him that this was wrong, and he went and threw it down.
"A sick man instructed, but not baptized, begged me to grant him that favor, or to live near him, as he did not wish medicine-men to cure him, and that he feared the fires of hell. I prepared him for baptism, and frequently visited his cabin. His joy at this partly restored his health; he thanked me for my care, and soon after saying that I had recalled him to life gave me a little slave he had brought from the Illinois two or three months before.
"One evening, while in the cabin of the Christian where I sleep, I taught him to pray to his guardian-angel, and told to show him the assistance they give us especially when in danger of offending God. ‘Now,’ said he, ‘I know the invisible hand that struck me when, since my baptism, I was going to commit a sin, and the voice that bid
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me remember that I was a Christian; for I left the companion of my guilt without committing the sin.’ He now often speaks of devotion to the angels, and explains it to the other Indians.
"Some young Christian women are examples to the tribe, and are not ashamed to profess Christianity. Marriages among the Indians are dissolved almost as easily as they are made, and then it is no dishonor to marry again. Hearing that a young Christian woman abandoned by her husband was in danger of being forced to marry by her family, I encouraged her to act as a Christian; she has kept her word. Not a breath has been uttered against her. This conduct, with my remonstrances, induced the husband to take her back again at the close of winter, since which time she has come regularly to the chapel, for she was too far off before. She has unbosomed her conscience to me, and I admired such a life in a young woman.
"The pagans make no feast without sacrifices, and we have great trouble to prevent them. The Christians have now changed these customs, and to effect it more easily, I have retained some, suppressing only what is really bad. The feast must open with a speech; they then address God, asking him for health and all they need, as they now give food to men. It has pleased God to preserve all our Christians in health except two children whom they tried to hide, and for whom a medicine-man performed his diabolic rites, but they died soon after my baptizing them.
Having invited the Kiskakons to come and winter near the chapel, they left all the other tribes to gather around us so as to be able to pray to God, be instructed, and have their children baptized. They call themselves Christians; hence, in all councils and important affairs, I address them, and
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when I wish to show them that I really wish what I ask, I need only address them as Christians; they told me even that they obeyed me for that reason. They have taken the upper hand, and control the three other tribes. It is a great consolation to a missionary to see such pliancy in savages, and thus live in such peace with his Indians, spending the whole day in instructing them in our mysteries, and teaching them the prayers. Neither the rigor of the winter, nor the state of the weather, prevents their coming to the chapel; many never let a day pass, and I was thus busily employed from morning till night, preparing some for baptism, some for confession, disabusing others of their reveries. The old men told me that the young men had lost their senses, and that I must stop their excesses. I often spoke to them of their daughters urging them to prevent their being visited at night. I knew almost all that passed in two tribes near us, but though others were spoken of, I never heard anything against the Christian women, and when I spoke to the old about their daughters, they told me that they prayed to God. I often inculcated this, knowing the importunities to which they are constantly exposed, and the courage they need to resist. They have learned to be modest, and the French who have seen them, perceive how little they resemble the others, from whom they are thus distinguished.
"One day instructing the old people in my cabin, and speaking of the creation of the world, and various stories from the old testament, they told me what they had formerly believed, but now treat as a fable. They have some knowledge of the tower of Babel, saying that their ancestors had related that they had formerly made a great house, but that a violent wind had thrown it down. They now despise all the little gods they had before they were baptized: they often ridicule
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them, and wonder at their stupidity in sacrificing to these subjects of their fables.
"I baptized an adult after a long trial. Seeing his assiduity at prayer, his frankness in recounting his past life, his promises especially with regard to the other sex, and his assurance of good conduct, I yielded to his entreaty. He has persevered, and since his return from fishing, comes regularly to chapel. After Easter, all the Indians dispersed to seek subsistence; they promised me that they would not forget the prayer, and earnestly begged that a father should come in the fall when they assemble again. This will be granted, and if it please God to send some father, he will take my place, while I, to execute the orders of our father superior, will go and begin my Ilinois mission.
"The Ilinois are thirty days' journey by land from Lapointe by a difficult road; they lie south-southwest of it. On the way you pass the nation of the Ketchigamins, who live in more than twenty large cabins; they are inland, and seek to have intercourse with the French, from whom they hope to get axes, knives, and ironware. So much do they fear them that they unbound from the stake two Ilinois captives, who said, when about to be burned, that the Frenchman had declared he wished peace all over the world. You pass then to the Miamiwek, and by great deserts reach the Ilinois, who are assembled chiefly in two towns, containing more than eight or nine thousand souls. These people are well enough disposed to receive Christianity. Since Father Alloaez spoke to them at Lapointe, to adore one God, they have begun to abandon their false worship, for they adored the sun and thunder. Those seen by me are of apparently good disposition; they are not night-runners like the other Indians. A man kills his wife, if he finds her unfaithful; they are less
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prodigal in sacrifices, and promise me to embrace Christianity, and do all I require in their country. In this view the Ottawas gave me a young man recently come from their country, who initiated me to some extent in the language during the leisure given me in the winter by the Indians at Lapointe. I could scarcely understand it, though there is something of the Algonquin in it; yet I hope by the help of God's grace to understand, and be understood if God by his goodness leads me to that country.
"No one must hope to escape crosses in our missions, and the best means to live happy is not to fear them, but in the enjoyment of little crosses, hope for others still greater. The Illinois desire us, like Indians, to share their miseries, and suffer all that can be imagined in barbarism. They are lost sheep to be sought amid woods and thorns, especially when they call so piteously to be rescued from the jaws of the wolf. Such really can I call their entreaties to me this winter. They have actually gone this spring to notify the old men to come for me in the fall.
"The Ilinois always come by land. They sow maize which they have in great plenty; they have pumpkins as large as those of France, and plenty of roots and fruit. The chase is very abundant in wild-cattle, bears, stags, turkeys, duck, bustard, wild-pigeon, and cranes. They leave their towns at certain times every year to go to their hunting-grounds together to be better able to resist, if attacked. They believe that I will spread peace everywhere, if I go, and then only the young will go to hunt.
"When the Illinois come to Lapointe, they pass a large river almost a league wide. It runs north and south, and so far that the Illinois, who do not know what canoes are, have never yet heard of its mouth; they only know that there are
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very great nations below them, some of whom raise two crops of maize a year. East-south-east of the country is a nation they call Chawanon, which came to visit them last summer. The young man given me who teaches me the language saw them; they wear beads, which shows intercourse with Europeans; they had come thirty days across land before reaching their country. This great river can hardly empty in Virginia, and we rather believe that its mouth is in California. If the Indians who promise to make me a canoe do not fail to keep their word, we shall go into this river as soon as we can with a Frenchman and this young man given me, who knows some of these languages, and has a readiness for learning others; we shall visit the nations which inhabit it, in order to open the way to so many of our fathers, who have long awaited this happiness. This discovery will give us a complete knowledge of the southern or western sea.
"Six or seven days below the Ilois (sic) is another great river (Missouri), on which are prodigious nations, who use wooden canoes; we can not write more till next year, if God does us the grace to lead us there.
The Ilinois are warriors; they make many slaves whom they sell to the Ottawas for guns, powder, kettles, axes, and knives. They were formerly at war with the Nadouessi, but having made peace some years since, I confirmed it, to facilitate their coming to Lapointe, where I am going to await them, in order to accompany them to their country.
The Nadouessi are the Iroquois of this country beyond Lapointe, but less faithless, and never attack till attacked. They lie southwest of the mission of the Holy Ghost, and are a great nation, though we have not yet visited them, having confined ourselves to the conversion of the Ottawas. They fear the Frenchman, because he brings iron into their country.
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Their language is entirely different from the Huron and Algonquin; they have many towns, but they are widely scattered; they have very extraordinary customs; they principally adore the calumet; they do not speak at great feasts, and when a stranger arrives, give him to eat with a wooden fork as we would a child. All the lake tribes make war on them, but with small success; they have false oats, use little canoes, and keep their word strictly. I sent them a present by an interpreter, to tell them to recognise the Frenchman everywhere, and not kill him or the Indians in his company; that the black-gown wished to pass to the country of the Assinipo�ars, to that of the Kilistinaux; that he was already at Outagamis, and that I was going this fall to the Illinois, to whom they should leave a free passage. They agreed; but as for my present waited till all came from the chase, promising to come to Lapointe in the fall, to hold a council with the Illinois and speak to me. Would that all these nations loved God, as much as they fear the French! Christianity would soon flourish.
"The Assinipo�ars, whose language is almost that of the Nadouessi, are toward the west from the mission of the Holy Ghost; some are are fifteen or twenty days off on a lake where they have false oats and abundant fishery. I have heard that there is in their country a great river running to the western sea, and an Indian told me that at its mouth he saw Frenchman, and four large canoes with sails.
"The Kilistinaux are a nomad people, whose rendezvous we do not yet know. It is northwest of the mission of the Holy Ghost; they are always in the woods, and live solely by their bow. They passed by the mission where I was last fall in two hundred canoes, coming to buy merchandise and
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corn, after which they go to winter in the woods; in the spring I saw them again on the shore of the lake."
Such is the substance of his letter as it has reached us, and shows us the hopes which Marquette entertained of reaching in the fall of that year, the Ilinois mission to which he had been appointed and for which he was now prepared by his knowledge of their language. If the Sioux and Ilinois met him at Lapointe in the fall, nothing was concluded; and the missionary did not begin his overland journey to the lodges of the Ilinois. It is not, however; probable that the meeting took place; for early in the winter the Sioux, provoked by the insolence of the Hurons and Ottawas, declared war, and first sent back to the missionaries the pious pictures which he had sent them as a present. Their war parties now came on in their might, and the Indians of Lapointe trembled before the fierce Dahcotah with his knives of stone stuck in his belt, and in his long, black hair. In the spring both Huron and Ottawa resolved to leave so dangerous a neighborhood; the latter were the first to launch upon the lake, and they soon made their way to Ekaentouton island. Father Marquette, whose missionary efforts had been neutralized by the unsettled state of his neophytes, and the concentration of their thoughts on the all-engrossing war, was now left alone with the Hurons. With both he had more to suffer than to do; and now he was at last compelled to leave Lapointe, and turn his back on his beloved Ilinois to accompany his Hurons in their wanderings and hardships. The remnant of a mighty nation resolved once more to commit themselves to the waves and seek a new home: with their faithful missionary they all embarked in their frail canoes, and now for the first time
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turned toward their ancient home. Fain would they have revisited the scenes of Huron power, the land of the fur-lined graves of their ancestors; fain too would the missionary have gone to spend his surviving years on the ground hallowed by the blood of Daniel, Brebeuf, Lalemant, Garnier, and Chabanel, but the power of the Iroquois was still too great to justify the step, and the fugitives remembering the rich fisheries of Mackinaw, resolved to return to that pebbly strand.But who, the reader may ask, were the Hurons with whom the missionary's career seems thus linked, yet who at first were not the special object of his care. It is a tale worthy of an historian.
The Wendats, whom the French called Hurons and the English Wyandots, are a nation of the same stock as the Iroquois.
No sooner had the French founded Quebec than the Franciscan missionaries attempted the conversion of the Hurons.
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Father Joseph Le Caron, the founder of that mission, wintered among them in 1615, and in subsequent years other recollects did their best to prepare them for the faith. The Jesuits were at last called in by the recollects to aid them, and laboring together in harmony, they looked forward with sanguine hope to the speedy conversion of the Hurons and Neuters, for they, too, were visited, when all their prospects were blasted by the English conquest of Canada, in 1629. On its restoration the French court offered the Canada missions to the Capucins, but, on their recommendation, committed it to the Jesuits alone. Brebeuf, for the second time, reached Upper Canada, and labored zealously on till the Huron nation was annihilated by the Iroquois. Twenty-one missionaries at different times came to share his toils, and of these eight like himself perished by hostile hands, martyrs to their faith and zeal, a nobler body of heroes than any other part of our country can boast. On the deaths of Brebeuf and Gamier, in 1650, the ruin of the Hurons and Petuns was consummated. The survivors fled and blended into one tribe, soon divided into two great parties, one composed entirely of Christians, repairing to Quebec to settle on Orleans island, whose descendants are still lingering at Lorette; the other, part Christians, part pagans, fled at last to Mackinaw, but pursued constantly by the Iroquois, they next settled on some islands at the mouth of Green Bay, where they seem to have been in Menard's time; later still, after roaming to the lodges of the Sioux on the Mississippi, they came to pitch their cabins by the mission cross planted by Allouez, at Chegoime-gon,lxi
Mackinaw, where they now rested, was indeed a bleak spot to begin a new home; it was a point of land almost encompassed by wind-tossed lakes, icy as Siberian waters. The cold was intense, and cultivation difficult; but the waters teemed with fish, and the very danger and hardships of their capture gave it new zest. Besides this, it was a central point for trade, and so additionally recommended to the Huron, who still, as of old, sought to advance his worldly prospects by commerce.
Stationed in this new spot, Father Marquette's first care was to raise a chapel. Rude and unshapely was the first sylvan shrine raised by catholicity at Mackinaw; its sides of logs, its roof of bark had nothing to impress the senses, nothing to win by a dazzling exterior the wayward child of the forest; all was as simple as the faith he taught. Such was the origin of the mission of St. Ignatius, or Michilimackinac, already in a manner begun the previous year by missionary labors on the island of that name.
No details of Marquette's labors during the first year have reached us; he wrote no letters to recount his wanderings,
"Rev. Father: —
"The Hurons, called Tionnontateronnons or Petun nation, who compose the mission of St. Ignatius at Michilimakinong began last year near the chapel a fort enclosing all their
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cabins. They have come regularly to prayers, and have listened more readily to the instructions I gave them, consenting to what I required to prevent their disorders and abominable customs. We must have patience with untutored minds, who know only the devil, who like their ancestors have been his slaves, and who often relapse into the sins in which they were nurtured. God alone can fix these fickle minds, and place and keep them in his grace, and touch their hearts while we stammer at their ears.
"The Tionnontateronnons number this year three hundred and eighty souls, and besides sixty Outaouasinagaux have joined them. Some of these came from the mission of St. Francis Xavier, where Father Andre wintered with them last year; they are quite changed from what I saw them at Lapointe; the zeal and patience of that missionary have gained to the faith those hearts which seemed to us most averse to it. They now wish to be Christians; they bring their children to the chapel to be baptized, and come regularly to prayers.
"Having been obliged to go to St. Marie du Sault with. Father Allouez last summer, the Hurons came to the chapel during my absence as regularly as if I had been there, the girls singing what prayers they knew. They counted the days of my absence, and constantly asked when I was to be back; I was absent only fourteen days, and on my arrival all assembled at chapel, some coming even from their fields, which are at a very considerable distance.
"I went readily to their pumpkin-feast, where I instructed them, and invited them to thank God, who gave them food in. plenty, while other tribes that had not yet embraced Christianity, were actually struggling with famine. I ridiculed dreams, and urged those who had been baptized to acknowledge
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Him, whose adopted children they were. Those who gave the feast, though still idolaters, spoke in high terms of Christianity, and openly made the sign of the cross before all present. Some young men, whom they had tried by ridicule to prevent from doing it, persevered, and make the sign of the cross in the greatest assemblies, even when I am not present.
"An Indian of distinction among the Hurons, having invited me to a feast where the chiefs were, called them severally by name and told them that he wished to declare his thoughts, that all might know it, namely, that he was a Christian; that he renounced the god of dreams and all their lewd dances; that the black-gown was master of his cabin; and that for nothing that might happen would he forsake his resolution. Delighted to hear this, I spoke more strongly than I had ever yet done, telling them that my only design was to put them in the way of heaven; that for this alone I remained among them; that this obliged me to assist them at the peril of my life. As soon as anything is said in an assembly, it is immediately divulged through all the cabins, as I saw in this case by the assiduity of some in coming to prayers, and by the malicious efforts of others to neutralize my instructions.
"Severe as the winter is, it does not prevent the Indians from coming to the chapel. Some come twice a day, be the wind or cold what it may. Last fall I began to instruct some to make general confessions of their whole life, and to prepare others who had never confessed since their baptism. I would not have supposed that Indians could have given so exact an account of all that had happened in the course of their life; but it was seriously done, as some took two weeks to examine themselves. Since then, I have perceived a marked change,
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so that they will not go even to ordinary feasts without asking my permission.
"I have this year baptized twenty-eight children, one of which had been brought from Ste. Marie du Sault, without having received that sacrament as the Rev. F. Henry Wouvel informed me, to put me on my guard. Without my knowing it, the child fell sick, but God permitted that while instructing in my cabin two important and sensible Indians, one asked me, whether such a sick child was baptized. I went at once, baptized it, and it died the next night. Some of the other children too are dead, and now in heaven. These are the consolations which God sends us, which make us esteem our life more happy as it is more wretched.
"This, rev. father, is all I give about this mission, where minds are now more mild, tractable, and better disposed to receive instructions, than in any other part. I am ready, however, to leave it in the hands of another missionary to go on your order to seek new nations toward the south sea who are still unknown to us, and to teach them of our great God whom they have hitherto unknown."
Such was the laborious post to which this talented, yet humble missionary condemned himself, daily subjected to the caprices of some, the insults and petty persecution of others, looking only to another world for the reward of labors which, crowned with the most complete success, would in the eyes of the world seem unimportant; but "motives are the test of merit," and convinced by the studies of riper years, no less than by the early teachings of a mother, that the baptismal promises were a reality, he sought to open by that sacrament the doors of bliss to the dying infant, or more aged but repenting
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sinner. To him the salvation of a single soul was more grand and noble than the conquest of an empire, and thus borne up, he labored on.This letter of which the date is not given, nor the closing words, must have been written in the summer of 1672, and transmitted to Quebec by the Ottawa flotilla. The same conveyance, doubtless, brought him back the assurance that his prayers had been heard, that the government had at last resolved to act in the matter, and that he was the missionary selected to accompany the expedition. His heart exulted at the prospect, though he foresaw the danger to which he was exposed, a health already shaken by his toils and hardships, a difficult and unknown way, the only nation known — the fierce Dahcotah — now hostile to the French and their allies, with many another tribe noted in Indian story for deeds of blood, closed up their path. But this did not alarm him. The hope of a glorious martyrdom while opening the way to future heralds of the cross, buoyed him up, though in his humility he never spoke of martyrdom. To him it was but "a death to cease to offend God."
This now engrossed his thoughts, and he waited with anxiety the coming of Jolliet, named to undertake the expedition. At last he arrived, and by a happy coincidence on the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin, "whom," says the pious missionary, "I had always invoked since my coming to the Ottawa country, in order to obtain of God the favor of being able to visit the nations on the Missisipi river."
The winter was spent in the necessary arrangements, regulating the affairs of his mission, which he left, it would seem, in the hands of Father Pierson, and in drawing up the maps and statements which Indian narrators could enable them to
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form. At last, on the 17th of May, 1673, they embarked in two canoes at Mackinaw, and proceeded to Green Bay, whence ascending the Fox river they at last reached the Wisconsin by its portage, and glided down to the Mississippi. We need not here detail this remarkable voyage, the first down the great river, as his whole narrative is contained in the volume. Sufficient to say, that with Jolliet he descended to the Arkansas, and having thus ascertained the situation of the mouth, and the perfect navigability of the river, reascended it as far as the mouth of the Ilinois, into which they turned, and by a portage reached Lake Michigan, and in September arrived without accident at the mission in Green Bay.In this voyage he twice met the Peoria tribe of the Ilinois, and baptized one dying child at the water's edge, as he left them finally. He also passed the Kaskaskia tribe of the same nation on the upper waters of the Ilinois, and having been already named an Ilinois missionary, he yielded to their earnest entreaties, and promised to return and begin a mission among them.
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with two men to aid him, accompanied by a number of Pottawotamies and Illinois. Beaching the lake, the canoes coasted along slowly, the missionary often proceeding on foot along the beautiful beach, embarking only at the rivers. He represents the navigation of the lake as easy; "there being," says he, "no portage to make, and the landing easy, provided you do not persist in sailing when the winds and waves are high. "The soil except in the prairies was poor, but the chase was abundant, and they were thus well supplied.In spite of all his courage, he was at last unable to proceed; by the 23d of November his malady had returned, and though he continued to advance, exposed to the cold and snows, when he reached Chicago river on the 4th of December, he found the river closed, and himself too much reduced to be able to attempt that winter march by land. There was no alternative but to winter there alone, and accordingly instructing his Indian companions as far as time allowed, they went their way, and he remained with his two men at the portage. Within fifty miles of them were two other Frenchmen, trappers and traders, one of whom was a surgeon at least in name, and still nearer an Illinois village. The former had prepared a cabin for the missionary, and one came now to visit him, being informed of his ill health; the Indians who had also heard it, wished to send a party to carry him and all his baggage, fearing that he might suffer from want. The good missionary, charmed at their solicitude, sent to reassure them on that head, although he was forced to tell them that if his malady continued, he would find it difficult to visit them even in the spring.
Alarmed at this, the sachems of the tribe assembled and deputed three to visit the blackgown, bearing three sacks of corn, dried meat and pumpkins, and twelve beaver-skins;
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first, to make him a mat; second, to ask him for powder; third, to prevent his being hungry; fourth, to get some merchandise. "I answered them," says Marquette in his last letter, "first, that I came to instruct them by speaking of the prayer; second, that I would not give them powder, as we endeavor to make peace everywhere, and because I did not wish them to begin a war against the Miamis; third, that we did not fear famine; fourth, that I would encourage the French to bring them merchandise, and that they must make reparation to the traders there for the beads taken from them, while the surgeon was with me." The missionary then gave them some axes, knives, and trinkets, in return for their presents, and as a mark of his gratitude for their coming twenty leagues to visit him. Before he dismissed them, he promised to make every effort to reach the village, were it but for a few days. "On this," says he, "they bid me take heart and stay and die in their country, as I had promised to remain a long time," and they returned to their winter-camps.Despairing now of being able to reach his destined goal without the interposition of Heaven, the missionary turned to the patroness of his mission, the blessed Virgin Immaculate, and with his two companions began a novena in her honor. Nor was his trust belied; God heard his prayer, his illness ceased, and though still weak, he gradually gained strength, and when the opening of the river and the consequent inundation compelled them to remove, he again resumed his long interrupted voyage to Kaskaskia, then on the upper waters of the Illinois river.
During this painful wintering, which for all his expressions of comfort, was one of great hardship and suffering, his hours were chiefly spent in prayer. Convinced that the term of his existence was drawing rapidly to a close, he consecrated
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this period of quiet to the exercises of a spiritual retreat, in which his soul overflowed with heavenly consolations, as rising above its frail and now tottering tenement, it soared toward that glorious home it was so soon to enter.The journal of his last voyage
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sacrifice; there was no more to be asked on earth; he was content to die.In hopes of reaching his former mission of Mackinaw to die with his religious brethren around him, fortified by the last rites of the church, he set out escorted to the lake by the Kaskaskias, to whom he promised that he, or some other missionary should soon resume his labors.
He seems to have taken the way by the St. Joseph's river, and reached the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, along which he had not yet sailed. His strength now gradually failed, and he was at last so weak that he had to be lifted in and out of his canoe when they landed each night. Calmly and cheerfully he saw the approach of death, for which he prepared by assiduous prayer; his office he regularly recited to the last day of his life; a meditation on death, which he had long since prepared for this hour, he now made the subject of his thoughts; and as his kind but simple companions seemed overwhelmed at the prospect of their approaching loss, he blessed some water with the usual ceremonies, gave his companions directions how to act in his last moments, how to arrange his body when dead, and to commit it to the earth, with the ceremonies he prescribed. He now seemed but to seek a grave; at last perceiving the mouth of a river which still bears his name, he pointed to an eminence as the place of his burial.
His companions, Peter Porteret and James — , still hoped to reach Mackinaw, but the wind drove them back, and they entered the river by the channel, where it emptied then, for it has since changed. They erected a little bark cabin, and stretched the dying missionary beneath it, as comfortably as their want permitted them. Still a priest, rather than a man, he thought of his ministry, and, for the last time, heard the
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confessions of his companions, and encouraged them to rely with confidence on the protection of God, then sent them to take the repose they so much needed. When he felt his agony approaching he called them, and taking his crucifix from around his neck, he placed it in their hands, and pronouncing in a firm voice his profession of faith, thanked the Almighty for the favor of permitting him to die a Jesuit, a missionary and alone. Then he relapsed into silence, interrupted only by his pious aspirations, till at last, with the names of Jesus and Mary on his lips, with his eyes raised as if in ecstacy above his crucifix, with his face all radiant with joy, he passed from the scene of his labors to the God who was to be his reward. Obedient to his directions his companions, when the first outbursts of grief were over, laid out the body for burial, and to the sound of his little chapel-bell, bore it slowly to the point which he had pointed out. Here they committed his body to the earth, and raising a cross above it, returned to their now desolate cabin.Such was the edifying and holy death of the illustrious explorer of the Mississippi, on Saturday, the 18th of May, 1675. He was of a cheerful, joyous disposition, playful even in his manner, and universally beloved. His letters show him to us a man of education, close observation, sound sense, strict integrity, a freedom from exaggeration, and yet a vein of humor which here and there breaks out, in spite of all his self-command.
But all these qualities are little compared to his zeal as a missionary, to his sanctity as a man. His holiness drew on him in life the veneration of all around him, and the lapse of years has not even now destroyed it in the descendants of those who knew him.
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find an all-absorbing devotion to the mother of the Savior, with its constant attendants, an angelical love of purity, and a close union of the heart with God. It is, indeed, characteristic of him. The privilege which the church honors under the title of the Immaculate Conception, was the constant object of his thoughts; from his earliest youth, he daily recited the little office of the Immaculate Conception, and fasted every Saturday in her honor. As a missionary, a variety of devotions directed to the same end still show his devotions and to her he turned in all his trials. When he discovered the great river, when he founded his new mission, he gave it the name of the Conception, and no letter, it is said, ever came from his hand that did not contain the words, "Blessed Virgin Immaculate," and the smile that lighted up his dying face, induced his poor companions to believe that she had appeared before the eyes of her devoted client.Like St. Francis Xavier, whom he especially chose as the model of his missionary career, he labored nine years for the moral and social improvement of nations sunk in paganism and vice, and as he was alternately with tribes of varied tongues, found it was necessary to acquire a knowledge of many American languages; six he certainly spoke with ease; many more he is known to have understood less perfectly. His death, however, was as he had always desired, more like that of the apostle of the Indies; there is, indeed, a striking resemblance between their last moments, and the wretched cabin, the desert shore, the few destitute companions, the lonely grave, all harmonize in Michigan and Sancian.
He was buried as he had directed on a rising ground near the little river, and a cross raised above his grave showed to all the place of his rest. The Indians soon knew it, and two years after his death, and almost on the very anniversary
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his own flock, the Kiskakons, returning from their hunt stopped there, and with Indian ideas, resolved to disinter their father, and bear his revered bones to their mission. At once they did so; the bones were placed in a neat box of bark, and the flotilla now become a funeral convoy, proceeded on its way; the missionary thus accomplishing in death the voyage which life had not enabled him to terminate. A party of Iroquois joined them, and as they advanced to Mackinaw, other canoes shot out to meet them with the two missionaries of the place, and there upon the waters rose the solemn De Profundis, continued till the body reached the land. It was then borne to the church with cross, and prayer, and tapers burning like his zeal, and incense rising like his aspirations to heaven; in the church a pall had been arranged in the usual form for a coffin, and beneath it was placed the little box of bark, which was next, after a solemn service, deposited in a little vault in the middle of the church, "where," says our chronicler, "he reposes as the guardian-angel of our Ottawa missions."There he still reposes, for I find no trace of any subsequent removal; vague tradition, like that of his death as given by Charlevoix and others, would indeed still place him at the mouth of his river; but it is certain that he was transferred to the church of old Mackinaw, in 1677. This church was, as I judge from a manuscript Relation (1675), erected subsequent to the departure of Marquette from Mackinaw, and probably about 1674. The founding of the post of Detroit drew from Mackinaw the Christian Hurons and Ottawas, and the place became deserted. Despairing of being able to produce any good among the few pagan Indians, and almost as pagan coureurs-de-bois who still lingered there, the missionaries solved to abandon the post, and set fire to their church in or
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about the year 1706. Another was subsequently erected, but this too has long since disappeared.The history of his narrative and map are almost as curious as that of his body. We have seen that he transmitted copies to his superior, and went to his last mission. Frontenac had promised to send a copy to the government, and in all probability he did. At this moment the publication of the Jesuit Relations ceases; though not from choice on their part as the manuscript of the year 1672-'73 prepared for the press by Father Dablon, still exists; it could not have been from any difficulty on the part of the printer, as the announcement of the expedition to the Mississippi would have given it circulation, even though the journal itself were reserved for the next year. To the French government then we must attribute the non-publication of further relations, the more so, as they neglected to produce the narrative of Marquette in their possession. The whole might have fallen into perfect oblivion, had not the narrative come into the hands of Thevenot who had just published a collection of travels; struck with the importance of this, he issued a new volume in 1681, called Receuil de Voyages, in which the journal of Father Marquette as commonly known, appeared with a map of the Mississippi. The narrative is evidently taken from a manuscript like that in my hands, in the writing of which I can see the cause of some of the strange forms which Indian names have assumed. The opening of the narrative was curtailed, and occasional omissions made in the beginning, few at the end. The map is so different from that which still exists in the hand-writing
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of Father Marquette, that it is not probable that it was taken from it. With greater likelihood we may believe it to be Jolliet's map drawn from recollection, which Frontenac, as his despatch tells us, transmitted to France in 1674. If this be so, it has a new value as an original map, and not a blundering copy. Sparks, in his life of Father Marquette, observes truly of this first-published map of the Mississippi, "It was impossible to construct it, without having seen the principal objects delineated;" and he adds, "It should be kept in mind that this map was published at Paris, in the year 1681, and consequently the year before the discoveries of La Salle on the Mississippi, and that no intelligence respecting the country it represents, could have been obtained from any source subsequently to the voyage of Marquette."Of the narrative itself, he says, "It is written in a terse, simple, and unpretending style. The author relates what occurs, and describes what he sees without embellishment or display. He writes as a scholar, and as a man of careful observation and practical sense. There is no tendency to exaggerate, nor any attempt to magnify the difficulties he had to encounter, or the importance of his discovery. In every point of view, this tract is one of the most interesting of those, which illustrate the early history of America."
In spite of all this it was overlooked and nearly forgotten; all the writers connected with La Salle's expedition except the first edition of Hennepin, published in 1683, speak of Jolliet's voyage as a fiction. Marquette they never mention;
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but in Le Clercq and those whom he cites, in the second Hennepin, in Joutel, in all in fact, except the faithful Tonty, the narrative of Marquette is derided, called a fable, or narrative of a pretended voyage; and one actually goes so far as to say that, sailing up the river with the book in his hand, he could not find a word of truth in it. As a necessary result of these assertions which few examined, most writers in France and elsewhere passed over it, and in works on the Mississippi, no discovery prior to that of La Salle is mentioned. Even Harris, who cites Marquette by name as describing the calumet, and calls him a man of good sense and fair character, does not give him due credit as the first explorer."Indeed the services and narrative would hardly have escaped from oblivion, had not Charlevoix brought them to light in his great work on Canada, nearly seventy years after the events."
As to the charges themselves, they are clearly refuted by Frontenac's despatches. Hennepin, in his Description de la Louisiane, (p. 13), and F. Anastasius in Le Clercq (p. 364), admit that Jolliet descended the Mississippi below the mouth of the Missouri. Membr× evidently alludes to his work (p. 259). Thus even his maligners admit that he was on the river, and without the despatches, without the force of its publication prior to La Salle's voyage, we need only weigh the respective writers by their works. "We find in Marquette simple narrative, in the others, the declamation of partisans, and the disposition to deprive Jolliet and Marquette of the honor of reaching the Mississippi at all, though they are forced to admit it.
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Meanwhile one of the copies, after having been prepared for publication by Father Claude Dablon, superior of the mission, with the introductory and supplementary matter in the form in which we now give it, lay unnoticed and unknown in the archives of the Jesuit college at Quebec. It did not even fall into the hands of Father Charlevoix when collecting material for his history, for he seems to have made little research if any into the manuscripts at the college of Quebec. A few years after the publication of his work, Canada fell into the hands of England, and the Jesuits and Recollects, as religious orders, were condemned, the reception of new members being positively forbidden. The members of each order now formed Tontints, the whole property, on the death of the last survivor, to go to the British government, or to the law knows whom, if situated in the United States.
The last survivor of the Jesuits, Father Cazot, after beholding that venerable institution, the college of Quebec closed for want of professors, and Canada deprived of its only and Northern America of its oldest collegiate seat of learning, felt at last that death would soon close with him the Society of Jesus in Canada. A happy forethought for the historic past induced him to wish to commit to other than to state hands, some objects and documents regarded as relics by the members of his society. Of these he made a selection, unfortunately too moderate and too rapid, and these papers he deposited in the Hotel Dieu, or hospital at Quebec, an institution destined to remain, as the nuns who directed it had not fallen under the ban of the government. They continued in their hands from shortly before 1800 till 1844, when the faithful guardians of the trust presented them to the Rev. F. Martin, one of the Jesuit fathers who returned in 1842 to the scene of the labors and sacrifices of their society. On the
lxxviii
application of Mr. B. F. French to publish the narrative of Marquette in his Historical Collections, and apply the proceeds, and such other sums as might be received, to the erection of a monument to the great discoverer of the Mississippi, the manuscript journal and map were committed to the hands of the writer of these sketches.This narrative is a very small quarto, written in a very clear hand, with occasional corrections, comprising in all, sixty pages. Of these, thirty-seven contain his voyage down the Mississippi, which is complete except a hiatus of one leaf in the chapter on the calumet; the rest are taken up with the account of his second voyage, death and burials, and the voyage of Father Allouez. The last nine lines on page 60, are in the hand-writing of Father Dahlon, and were written as late as 1678.
With it were found the original map in the hand-writing of Father Marquette, as published now for the first time, and a letter begun but never ended by him, addressed to Father Dablon, containing a journal of the voyage on which he died, beginning with the twenty-sixth of October, (1674), and running down to the sixth of April. The endorsements on it, in the same hand as the direction ascribe, the letter to Father Marquette; and a comparison between it, the written parts of the map, and a signature of his found in a parish register at Boucherville, would alone, without any knowledge of its history, establish the authenticity of the map and letter.
lxxix
Notice on the Sieur Jolliet.
After so extended a notice on Father Marquette, it would seem unjust to say nothing of his illustrious companion in his great voyage. It would be doubly interesting to give a full account of Jolliet, as he was a native of the country, but unfortunately our materials are scanty and our notices vague.
Neither his birthplace nor its epoch has, as far as the present writer knows, been ascertained. His education he owed to the Jesuit college of Quebec, where, unless I am mistaken, he was a class-mate of the first Canadian who was advanced to the priesthood. Jolliet was thus connected with the Jesuits, and apparently was an assistant in the college. After leaving them, he proceeded to the west to seek his fortune in the fur-trade. Here he was always on terms of intimacy with the missionaries, and acquired the knowledge and experience which induced the government to select him as the explorer of the Mississippi.
This choice was most agreeable to the missionaries, and he and Marquette immortalized their names. They explored the great river, and settled all doubts as to its course. On his return Jolliet lost all his papers in the rapids above Montreal, and could make but a verbal report to the government. This, however, he reduced to writing, and accompanied with a map drawn from recollection. On the transmission of these
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to France, lie, doubtless, expected to be enabled to carry out such plans as he had conceived, and to profit to some extent by his great discovery. But he was thrown aside by more flattered adventurers. The discoverer of Mississippi was rewarded as if in mockery with an island in the gulf of St. Lawrence. This was Anticosti, and here Jolliet built a fort and a dwelling for his family, and houses for trade. They were not, however, destined to be a source of emolument to him. His labors were devoted also to other fields. Thus we find him, in 1689, in the employment of the government, rendering essential services in the west.Two years after his island was taken by the English fleet, and he himself, with his wife and mother-in-law, probably while attempting to reach Quebec, fell into the hands of Phipps, the English commander. His vessel and property were a total loss, but his liberty he recovered when the English retired from the walls of Quebec.
Of his subsequent history there are but occasional traces, and we know only that he died some years prior to 1737.
1
Relation of the Voyages, Discoveries, and Death, of Father James Marquette, and the Subsequent Voyages of Father Claudius Allouez, by Father Claudius Dablon, Superior of the Missions of the Society of Jesus, in New France. Prepared for Publication in 1678.
2
Notice on Father Dablon.
Father Cladius Dablon came to Canada in 1655, and was immediately sent to Onondaga, where he continued with but one short interval of absence till the mission was broken up in 1658. Three years after, he and the hardy Druilletes attempted to reach Hudson's bay, by the Saguenay, but were arrested at the sources of the Nekouba by Iroquois war-parties. In 1668, he followed Father Marquette to Lake Superior, became superior of the Ottawa mission, founded Sault St. Mary's, visited Green bay, and reached the Wisconsin with Allouez, then returned to Quebec to assume his post as superior of all the Canada missions. This office he held with intervals for many years, certainly till 1693, and he was still alive, but not apparently superior in the following year. As the head of the missions, he contributed in no small degree to their extension, and above all, to the exploration of the Mississippi, by Marquette. He published the Relations of 1670-71, and '72, with their accurate map of Lake Superior, and prepared for press those of 1672-'73 and 1673-'79, which still remain in manuscript, and the following narratives of Marquette and Allouez. The period of his death is unknown.
His writings are the most valuable collection on the topography of the northwest, which have come down to our days.
3
The Voyages and Discoveries of Father James Marquette, in the Valley of the Mississippi.
Chapter I. — Of the First Voyage Made by Father Marquette Toward New Mexico, and How the Design was Conceived.
Father Marquette had long projected this enterprise, impelled by his ardent desire of extending the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and of making him known and adored by all the nations of that country. He beheld himself, as it were, at the door of these new nations, when, in 1670, he was laboring at the mission of Lapointe du St. Esprit,
4
up all hopes of succeeding, when the Almighty presented him the following opportunity: —In 1673, the Comte de Frontenac,
5
I say both at the same time selected for the enterprise the Sieur Jollyet, whom they deemed competent for so great a design, wishing to see Father Marquette accompany him.They were not mistaken in their choice of the Sieur Jollyet, for he was a young man, born in this country, and endowed with every quality that could be desired in such an enterprise. He possessed experience and a knowledge of the languages of the Ottawa
6
The day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, whom I had always invoked since I have been in this Ottawa country, to obtain of God the grace to be able to visit the nations on the river Missisipi,
We were not long in preparing our outfit, although we
7
were embarking on a voyage the duration of which we could not foresee. Indian corn, with some dried meat, was our whole stock of provisions. With this we set out in two bark canoes,It was on the 17th of May, 1673, that we started from the mission of St. Ignatius at Michilimakinac,
8
we were to pass, the course of the great river, and what direction we should take when we got to it.Above all, I put our voyage under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, promising her, that if she did us the grace to discover the great river, I would give it the name of Conception; and that I would also give that name to the first mission which I should establish among these new nations, as I have actually done among the Ilinois.
With all these precautions, we made our paddles play merrily over a part of Lake Huron and that of the Ilinois into the Bay of the Fetid.
The first nation that we met was that of the Wild Oats.
9
gospel to these tribes for some years past, so that there are many good Christians among them.The wild oats, from which they take their name, as they are found in their country, are a kind of grass which grows spontaneously in little rivers with slimy bottoms, and in marshy places; they are very like the wild oats that grow up among our wheat. The ears are on stalks knotted at intervals; they rise above the water about the month of June, and keep rising till they float about two feet above it. The grain is not thicker than our oats, but is as long again, so that the meal is much more abundant.
The following is the manner in which the Indians gather it and prepare it for eating. In the month of September, which is the proper time for this harvest, they go in canoes across these fields of wild oats, and shake the ears on their right and left into the canoe as they advance; the grain falls easily if it is ripe, and in a little while their provision is made. To clear it from the chaff, and strip it of a pellicle in which it is enclosed, they put it to dry in the smoke on a wooden lattice, tinder which they keep up a small fire for several days. When the oats are well dried, they put them in a skin of the form of a bag, which is then forced into a hole made on purpose in the ground; they then tread it out so long and so well, that the grain being freed from the chaff is easily winnowed; after which they pound it to reduce it to meal, or even unpounded, boil it in water seasoned with grease, and in this way, wild oats are almost as palatable as rice would be when not better seasoned.
I informed these people of the Wild Oats of my design of going to discover distant nations to instruct them in the mysteries of our Holy Religion; they were very much surprised, and did their best to dissuade me. They told me, that I
10
would meet nations that never spare strangers, but tomahawk them without any provocation; that the war which had broken out among various nations on our route, exposed us to another evident danger — that of being killed by the war-parties which are constantly in the field; that the Great River is very dangerous, unless the difficult parts are known; that it was full of frightful monsters who swallowed up men and canoes together; that there is even a demon there who can be heard from afar, who stops the passage and engulfs all who dare approach; lastly, that the heat is so excessive in those countries, that it would infallibly cause our death.I thanked them for their kind advice, but assured them that I could not follow it, as the salvation of souls was concerned; that for them, I should be too happy to lay down my life; that I made light of their pretended demon, that we would defend ourselves well enough against the river-monsters; and, besides, we should be on our guard to avoid the other dangers with which they threatened us. After having made them pray and given them some instruction, I left them, and, embarking in our canoes, we soon after reached the extremity of the Bay of the Fetid, where our Fathers labor successfully in the conversion of these tribes, having baptized more than two thousand since they have been there.
This bay bears a name which has not so bad a meaning in the Indian language, for they call it rather Salt Bay than Fetid Bay, although among them it is almost the same, and this is also the name which they give to the sea. This induced us to make very exact researches to discover whether there were not in these parts some salt springs, as there are among the Iroquois, but we could not find any.
11
We accordingly concluded that the name has been given on account of the quantity of slime and mud there, constantly exhaling noisome vapors which cause the loudest and longest peals of thunder that I ever heard.
The bay is about thirty leagues long, and eight wide at its mouth; it narrows gradually to the extremity, where it is easy to remark the tide which has its regular flow and ebb, almost like that of the sea. This is not the place to examine whether they are real tides, whether they are caused by the winds, or by some other age; whether there are winds, out-riders of the moon, or attached to her suite, who consequently agitate the lake and give it a kind of flow and ebb, whenever the moon rises above the horizon. What I can certainly aver is, that when the water is quite tranquil, you can easily see it rise and fall with the course of the moon, although I do not deny that this movement may be caused by distant winds,
12
which pressing on the centre of the lake, make it rise and fall on the shore in the way that meets our eyes.We left this bay to enter a river
13
canoe to examine it at leisure, while we kept on our way toward Maskoutens, where we arrived on the 7th of June.Here we are then at Maskoutens. This word in Algonquin, may mean Fire nation,
This town is made up of three nations gathered here, Miamis, Maskoutens, and Kikabous. The first are more civil, liberal, and better made; they wear two long ear-locks, which give them a good appearance; they have the name of being warriors and seldom send out war parties in vain; they
14
are very docile, listen quietly to what you tell them, and showed themselves so eager to hear Father Allouez when he was instructing them, that they gave him little rest, even at night. The Maskoutens and Kikabous are ruder and more like peasants, compared to the others.As bark for cabins is rare in this country, they use rushes, which serve them for walls and roof, but which are no great shelter against the wind, and still less against the rain when it falls in torrents. The advantage of this kind of cabins is that they can roll them up, and carry them easily where they like in hunting-time.
When I visited them, I was extremely consoled to see a beautiful cross planted in the midst of the town, adorned with several white skins, red belts, bows and arrows, which these good people had offered to the Great Manitou (such is the name they give to God) to thank him for having had pity on them during the winter, giving them plenty of game when they were in greatest dread of famine.
I felt no little pleasure in beholding the position of this town; the view is beautiful and very picturesque, for from the eminence on which it is perched, the eye discovers on every side prairies spreading away beyond its reach, interspersed with thickets or groves of lofty trees.
No sooner had we arrived that M. Jollyet and I assembled the sachems; he told them that he was sent by our governor to discover new countries, and I, by the Almighty, to illumine them with the light of the gospel
15
lives wished to be known by all nations, and that to obey his will, I did not fear death, to which I exposed myself in such dangerous voyages; that we needed two guides to put us on our way, these, making them a present, we begged them to grant us. This they did very civilly, and even proceeded to speak to us by a present, which was a mat to serve us as a bed on our voyage.The next day, which was the tenth of June, two Miamis whom they had given us as guides, embarked with us, in the sight of a great crowd, who could wonder enough to see seven Frenchmen alone in two canoes, dare to undertake so strange and so hazardous an expedition.
We knew that there was, three leagues from Maskoutens, a river emptying into the
We now leave the waters which flow to Quebec, a distance of four or five hundred leagues, to follow those which will henceforth lead us into strange lands. Before embarking, we all began together a new devotion to the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, which we practised every day, addressing her particular
16
prayers to put under her protection both our persons and the success of our voyage. Then after having encouraged one another, we got into our canoes. The river on which we embarked is called Meskousing; it is very broad, with a sandy bottom, forming many shallows, which render navigation very difficult. It is full of vine-clad islets. On the banks appear fertile lands diversified with wood, prairie, and hill. Here you find oaks, walnut, whitewood, and another kind of tree with branches armed with long thorns. We saw no small game or fish, but deer and mooseOur route was southwest, and after sailing about thirty leagues, we perceived a place which had all the appearances of an iron mine, and in fact, one of our party who had seen some before, averred that the one we had found was very good and very rich. It is covered with three feet of good earth, very near a chain of rock, whose base is covered with fine timber. After forty leagues on this same route, we reached the mouth of our river, and finding ourselves at 42½° N., we safely entered the Missisipi
17
Here then we are on this renowned river, of which I have endeavored to remark attentively all the peculiarities. The Missisipi river has its source in several lakes
18
grayish head and neck all black.Having descended as far as 41° 28, following the same direction, we find that turkeys have taken the place of game, and the pisikious,
19
call them wild cattle, because they are like our domestic cattle; they are not longer, but almost as big again, and more corpulent; our men having killed one, three of us had considerable trouble in moving it. The head is very large, the forehead flat and a foot and a half broad between the horns, which are exactly like those of our cattle, except that they are black and much larger. Under the neck there is a kind of large crop hanging down, and on the back a pretty high hump. The whole head, the neck, and part of the shoulders, are covered with a great mane like a horse's; it is a crest a foot long, which renders them hideous, and falling over their eyes, prevents their seeing before them. The rest of the body is covered with a coarse curly hair like the wool of our sheep, but much stronger and thicker. It falls in summer, and the skin is then as soft as velvet. At this time the Indians employ the skins to make beautiful robes, which they paint of various colors; the flesh and fat of the Pisikious are excellent, and constitute the best dish in banquets. They are very fierce, and not a year passes without their killing some Indian. When attacked, they take a man with their horns, if they can, lift him up, and then dash him on the ground, trample on him, and kill him. When you fire at them from a distance with gun or bow, you must throw yourself on the ground as soon as you fire, and hide in the grass; for, if they perceive the one who fired, they rush on him and attack him. As their feet are large and rather short, they do not20
generally go very fast, except when they are irritated. They are scattered over the prairies like herds of cattle. I have seen a band of four hundred.We advanced constantly, but as we did not know where we were going, having already made more than a hundred leagues without having discovered anything but beasts and birds, we kept well on our guard. Accordingly we make only a little fire on the shore at night to prepare our meal, and after supper keep as far off from it as possible, passing the night in our canoes, which we anchor in the river pretty far from the bank. Even this did not prevent one of us being always as a sentinel for fear of a surprise.
Proceeding south and south-southwest, we find ourselves at 41° north; then at 40° and some minutes, partly by southeast and partly by southwest, after having advanced more than sixty leagues since entering the river, without discovering anything.
At last, on the 25th of June, we perceived footprints of men by the water-side, and a beaten path entering a beautiful prairie. We stopped to examine it, and concluding that it was a path leading to some Indian village, we resolved to go and reconnoitre; we accordingly left our two canoes in charge of our people, cautioning them strictly to beware of a surprise; then M. Jollyet and I undertook this rather hazardous discovery for two single men, who thus put themselves at the discretion of an unknown and barbarous people. We followed the little path in silence, and having advanced about two leagues, we discovered a village on the banks of the river, and two others on a hill, half a league from the former.
21
Then, indeed, we recommended ourselves to God, with all our hearts; and, having implored his help, we passed on undiscovered, and came so near that we even heard the Indians talking. We then deemed it time to announce ourselves, as we did by a cry, which we raised with all our strength, and then halted without advancing any further. At this cry the Indians rushed out of their cabins, and having probably recognised us as French, especially seeing a black gown,22
At the door of the cabin in which we were to be received, was an old man awaiting us in a very remarkable posture; which is their usual ceremony in receiving strangers. This man was standing, perfectly naked, with his hands stretched out and raised toward the sun, as if he wished to screen himself from its rays, which nevertheless passed through his fingers to his face. When we came near him, he paid us this compliment: "How beautiful is the sun, O Frenchman, when thou comest to visit us! All our town awaits thee, and thou shalt enter all our cabins in peace." He then took us into his, where there was a crowd of people, who devoured us with their eyes, but kept a profound silence. We heard, however, these words occasionally addressed to us: "Well done, brothers, to visit us!"
As soon as we had taken our places, they showed us the usual civility of the country, which is to present the calumet. You must not refuse it, unless you would pass for an enemy, or at least for being impolite. It is, however, enough to pretend to smoke. While all the old men smoked after us to honor us, some came to invite us on behalf of the great sachem of all the Ilinois to proceed to his town, where he wished to hold a council with us. We went with a good retinue, for all the people who had never seen a Frenchman among them could not tire looking at us: they threw themselves on the grass by the wayside, they ran ahead, then turned and walked back to see us again. All this was done without noise, and with marks of a great respect entertained for us.
23
Having arrived at the great sachem's town, we espied him at his cabin-door, between two old men, all three standing naked, with their calumet turned to the sun. He harangued us in few words, to congratulate us on our arrival, and then presented us his calumet and made us smoke; at the same time we entered his cabin, where we received all their usual greetings. Seeing all assembled and in silence, I spoke to them by four presents which I made: by the first, I said that we marched in peace to visit the nations on the river to the sea: by the second, I declared to them that God their Creator had pity on them, since, after their having been so long ignorant of him, he wished to become known to all nations; that I was sent on his behalf with this design; that it was for them to acknowledge and obey him: by the third, that the great chief of the French informed them that he spread peace everywhere, and had overcome the Iroquois. Lastly, by the fourth, we begged them to give us all the information they had of the sea, and of the nations through which we should have to pass to reach it.
When I had finished my speech, the sachem rose, and laying his hand on the head of a little slave, whom he was about to give us, spoke thus: "I thankthee, Blackgown, and thee, Frenchman," addressing M. Jollyet, "for taking so much pains to come and visit us; never has the earth been so beautiful, nor the sun so bright, as to-day; never has our river been so calm, nor so free from rocks, which your canoes have removed as they passed; never has our tobacco had so fine a flavor, nor our corn appeared so beautiful as we behold it today. Here is my son, that I give thee, that thou mayst know my heart. I pray thee to take pity on me and all my nation. Thou knowest the Great Spirit who has made us all; thou speakest to him and nearest his word: ask him to give me
24
life and health, and come and dwell with us, that we may know him." Saying this, he placed the little slave near us and made us a second present, an all-mysterious calumet, which they value more than a slave; by this present he showed us his esteem for our governor, after the account we had given of him; by the third, he begged us, on behalf of his whole nation, not to proceed further, on account of the great dangers to which we exposed ourselves.I replied, that I did not fear death, and that I esteemed no happiness greater than that of losing my life for the glory of Him who made all. But this these poor people could not understand.
The council was followed by a great feast which consisted of four courses, which we had to take with all their ways; the first course was a great wooden dish full of sagamity, that is to say, of Indian meal boiled in water and seasoned with grease. The master of ceremonies, with a spoonful of sagamity, presented it three or four times to my mouth, as we would do with a little child; he did the same to M. Jollyet. For the second course, he brought in a second dish containing three fish; he took some pains to remove the bones, and having blown upon it to cool it, put it in my mouth, as we would food to a bird; for the third course, they produced a large dog,
After this feast we had to visit the whole village, which
25
consists of full three hundred cabins. While we marched through the streets, an orator was constantly haranguing, to oblige all to see us without being troublesome; we were everywhere presented with belts, garters, and other articles made of the hair of the bear and wild cattle, dyed red, yellow, and gray. These are their rareties; but not being of consequence, we did not burthen ourselves with them.We slept in the sachem's cabin, and the next day took leave of him, promising to pass back through his town in four moons. He escorted us to our canoes with nearly six hundred persons, who saw us embark, evincing in every possible way the pleasure our visit had given them. On taking leave, I personally promised that I would return the next year to stay with them, and instruct them. But before leaving the Ilinois country, it will be well to relate what I remarked of their customs and manners.
To say Ilinois is, in their language, to say "the men," as if other Indians compared to them were mere beasts. And it must be admitted that they have an air of humanity
26
we had not remarked in the other nations that we had seen on the way. The short stay I made with them did not permit27
me to acquire all the information I would have desired. The following is what I remarked in their manners.28
They are divided into several villages, some of which are quite distant from that of which I speak, and which is called29
Peצuarea. This produces a diversity in their language which in general has a great affinity to the Algonquin, so that we30
easily understood one another. They are mild and tractable in their disposition, as we experienced in the reception they31
gave us. They have many wives, of whom they are extremely jealous; they watch them carefully, and cut off their32
nose or ears when they do not behave well; I saw several who bore the marks of their infidelity. They are well-formed, nimble, and very adroit in using the bow and arrow; they use guns also, which they buy of our Indian allies who trade with the French; they use them especially to terrify their enemies by the noise and smoke, the others lying too far to the west, have never seen them, and do not know their use. They are warlike and formidable to distant nations in the south and west, where they go to carry off slaves, whom they make an article of trade, selling them at a high price to other nations for goods.The distant nations against whom they go to war, have no knowledge of Europeans; they are acquainted with neither
33
iron or copper, and have nothing but stone knives. When the Ilinois set out on a war party, the whole village is notified by a loud cry made at the door of their huts the morning and evening before they set out. The chiefs are distinguished from the soldiers by their wearing a scarfTheir cabins are very large; they are lined and floored with rush-mats. They make all their dishes of wood, and their spoons of the bones of the buffalo, which they cut so well, that it serves them to eat their sagamity easily. They are liberal in their maladies, and believe that the medicines given them operate in proportion to the presents they have made the medicine-man. Their only clothes are
34
skins; their women are always dressed very modestly and decently, while the men do not take any pains to cover themselves. Through what superstition I know not, some Ilinois, as well as some Nadouessi, while yet young, assume the female dress, and keep it all their life. There is some mystery about it, for they never marry, and glory in debasing themselves to do all that is done by women:It now only remains for me to speak of the calumet, than which there is nothing among them more mysterious or more esteemed. Men do not pay to the crowns and sceptres of kings the honor they pay to it: it seems to be the god of peace and war, the arbiter of life and death. Carry it about you and show it, and you can march fearlessly amid enemies, who even in the heat of battle lay down their arms when it is shown. Hence the Ilinois gave me one, to serve as my safeguard amid all the nations that I had to pass on my voyage. There is a calumet for peace, and one for war, distinguished only by the color of the feathers with which they are adorned, red being the sign of war. They use them also for settling disputes, strengthening alliances, and speaking to strangers.
35
It is made of a polished red stone, like marble, so pierced that one end serves to hold the tobacco, while the other is fastened on the stem, which is a stick two feet long, as thick as a common cane, and pierced in the middle; it is ornamented with the head and neck of different birds of beautiful plumage; they also add large feathers of red, green, and other colors, with which it is all covered. They esteem it particularly because they regard it as the calumet of the sun; and, in fact, they present it to him to smoke when they wish to obtain calm, or rain, or fair weather. They scruple to bathe at the beginning of summer, or to eat new fruits, till they have danced it. They do it thus: —
The calumet dance
36
they call it, which is a snake, a bird, or something of the kind, which they have dreamed in their sleep, and in which they put all their trust for the success of their wars, fishing, and hunts. Near this manitou and at its right, they put the calumet in honor of which the feast is given, making around about it a kind of trophy, spreading there the arms used by the warriors of these tribes, namely, the war-club, bow, hatchet, quiver, and arrows.Things being thus arranged, and the hour for dancing having arrived, those who are to sing take the most honorable place under the foliage. They are the men and the women who have the finest voices, and who accord perfectly. The spectators then come and take their places around under the branches; but each one on arriving must salute the manitou, which he does by inhaling the smoke and then puffing it from his mouth upon it, as if offering incense. Each one goes first and takes the calumet respectfully, and supporting it with both hands, makes it dance in cadence, suiting himself to the air of the song; he makes it go through various figures, sometimes showing it to the whole assembly by turning it from side to side.
After this, he who is to begin the dance appears in the midst of the assembly, and goes first; sometimes he presents it to the sun, as if he wished it to smoke; sometime he inclines
37
it to the earth; and at other times he spreads its wings as if for it to fly; at other times, he approaches it to the mouths of the spectators for them to smoke, the whole in cadence. This is the first scene of the ballet.The second consists in a combat, to the sound of a kind of drum, which succeeds the songs, or rather joins them, harmonizing quite well. The dancer beckons to some brave to come and take the arms on the mat, and challenges him to fight to the sound of the drums; the other approaches, takes his bow and arrow, and begins a duel against the dancer who has no defence but the calumet. This spectacle is very pleasing, especially as it is always done in time, for one attacks, the other defends; one strikes, the other parries; one flies, the other pursues; then he who fled faces and puts his enemy to flight. This is all done so well with measured steps, and the regular sound of voices and drums, that it might pass for a very pretty opening of a ballet in France.
The third scene consists of a speech delivered by the holder of the calumet, for the combat being ended without bloodshed, he relates the battles he was in, the victories he has gained; he names the nations, the places, the captives he has taken, and as a reward, he who presides at the dance presents him with a beautiful beaver robe, or something else, which he receives, and then he presents the calumet to another, who hands it to a third, and so to all the rest, till all having done their duty, the presiding chief presents the calumet itself to the nation invited to this ceremony in token of the eternal peace which shall reign between the two tribes.
The following is one of the songs which they are accustomed to sing; they give it a certain expression, not easily represented by notes, yet in this all its grace consists: —
Naniongo."
38
We take leave of our Ilinois about the end of June, at three o'clock in the afternoon, and embark in sight of all the tribe, who admire our little canoes, having never seen the like.
We descend, following the course of the river, toward another called Pekitano�i,
Passing by some pretty high rocks which line the river, I perceived a plant which seemed to me very remarkable. Its root is like small turnips linked together by little fibres, which had the taste of carrots. From this root springs a leaf as wide as the hand, half of a finger thick with spots in the middle; from this leaf spring other leaves like the sockets of chandeliers in our saloons. Each leaf bears five or six bell-shaped yellow flowers.
39
As we coasted along rocks frightful for their height and length, we saw two monsters painted on one of these rocks, which startled us at first, and on which the boldest Indian dare not gaze long. They are as large as a calf, with horns on the head like a deer, a fearful look, red eyes, bearded like a tiger, the face somewhat like a man's, the body covered with scales, and the tail so long that it twice makes the turn of the body, passing over the head and down between the legs, and ending at last in a fish's tail. Green, red, and a kind of black, are the colors employed. On the whole, these two monsters are so well painted, that we could not believe any Indian to have been the designer, as good painters in France would find it hard to do as well; besides this, they are so high upon the rock that it is hard to get conveniently at them to paint them. This is pretty nearly the figure of these monsters, as I drew it off.
Pekitano�i
40
very far in the northwest, empties into the Missisipi. Many Indian towns are ranged along this river, and I hope, by its means, to make the discovery of the Red, or California sea.We judged by the direction the Missisipi takes, that if it keeps on the same course it has its mouth in the gulf of Mexico; it would be very advantageous to find that which leads to the South sea, toward California and this, as I said, I hope to find by Pekitano�i, following the account which the Indians have given me; for from them I learn that advancing up this river for five or six days, you come to a beautiful prairie twenty or thirty leagues long, which you must cross to the northwest. It terminates at another little river on which you can embark, it not being difficult to transport canoes over so beautiful a country as that prairie. This second river runs southwest for ten or fifteen leagues, after which it enters a small lake, which is the source of another deep river, running to the west where it empties into the sea.
Let us resume our route after having escaped as best we could, the dangerous rapid caused by the obstacle of which I have spoken.
41
After having made about twenty leagues due south, and a little less to the southeast, we came to a river called Ouaboukigou,
42
that they reckon as many as twenty-three villages in one district, and fifteen in another, lying quite near each other; they are by no means warlike, and are the people the Iroquois go far to seek in order to wage an unprovoked war upon them; and, as these poor people can not defend themselves, they allow themselves to be taken and carried off like sheep, and innocent as they are, do not fail to experience, at times, the barbarity of the Iroquois, who burn them cruelly.A little above this river of which I have just spoken, are cliffs where our men perceived an iron mine, which they deemed very rich; there are many veins, and a bed a foot thick. Large masses are found combined with pebbles. There is also there a kind of unctuous earth of three colors, purple, violet, and red,
43
water did not efface it for fifteen days that I used it in rowing.Here we began to see canes, or large reeds on the banks of the river; they are of a very beautiful green; all the knots are crowned with long, narrow, pointed leaves; they are very high, and so thick-set, that the wild cattle find it difficult to make their way through them.
Up to the present time we had not been troubled by musquitoes, but we now, as it were, entered their country.
With the same view we were obliged to make on the water a kind of cabin with our sails, to shelter ourselves from the musquitoes and the sun. While thus borne on at the will of the current, we perceived on the shore Indians armed with guns, with which they awaited us. I first presented my feathered calumet, while my comrades stood to arms, ready to fire on the first volley of the Indians. I hailed them in Huron, but they answered me by a word, which seemed to us a declaration of war. They were, however, as much frightened as ourselves,
44
and what we took for a signal of war, was an invitation to come near, that they might give us food; we accordingly landed and entered their cabins, where they presented us wild-beef and bear's oil, with white plums, which are excellent. They have guns, axes, hoes, knives, beads, and double glass bottles in which they keep the powder. They wear their hair long and mark their bodies in the Iroquois fashion; the head-dress and clothing of their women were like those of the Huron squaws.They assured us that it was not more than ten days' journey to the sea; that they bought stuffs and other articles of Europeans on the eastern side; that these Europeans had rosaries and pictures; that they played on instruments; that some were like me, who received them well. I did not, however, see any one who seemed to have received any instruction in the faith; such as I could, I gave them with some medals.
This news roused our courage and made us take up our paddles with renewed ardor. We advance then, and now begin to see less prairie land, because both sides or the river are lined with lofty woods. The cotton-wood, elm and white-wood, are of admirable height and size. The numbers of wild cattle we heard bellowing, made us believe the prairies near. We also saw quails on the water's edge, and killed a little parrot with half the head red, the rest, with the neck, yellow, and the body green. We had now descended to near 33° north, having almost always gone south, when on the water's
45
edge we perceived a village called Mitchigamea.46
a word of the six languages I knew; at last an old man was found who spoke a little Ilinois.We showed them by our presents, that we were going to the sea; they perfectly understood our meaning, but I know not whether they understood what I told them of God, and the things which concerned their salvation. It is a seed cast in the earth which will bear its fruit in season. We got no answer, except that we would learn all we desired at another great village called Akamsea, only eight or ten leagues farther down the river. They presented us with sagamity and fish, and we spent the night among them, not, however, without some uneasiness.
We embarked next morning with our interpreter, preceded by ten Indians in a canoe. Having arrived about half a league from Akamsea
47
toward us. The commander was standing up holding in his hand the calumet, with which he made signs according to the custom of the country; he approached us, singing quite agreeably, and invited us to smoke, after which he presented us some sagamity and bread made of Indian corn, of which we ate a little. He now took the lead, making us signs to follow slowly. Meanwhile they had prepared us a place under the war-chiefs' scaffold; it was neat and carpeted with fine rash mats, on which they made us sit down, having around us immediately the sachems, then the braves, and last of all, the people in crowds. We fortunately found among them a young man who understood Ilinois much better than the interpreter whom we had brought from Mitchigamea. By means of him I first spoke to the assembly by the ordinary presents; they admired what I told them of God, and the mysteries of our holy faith, and showed a great desire to keep me with them to instruct them.We then asked them what they knew of the sea; they replied that we were only ten days' journey from it (we could have made this distance in five days); that they did not know the nations who inhabited it, because their enemies prevented their commerce with those Europeans; that the hatchets, knives, and beads, which we saw, were sold them, partly by the nations to the east, and partly by an Ilinois town four days' journey to the west; that the Indians with fire-arms whom we had met, were their enemies who cut off their passage to the sea, and prevented their making the acquaintance of the Europeans, or having any commerce with them; that, besides, we should expose ourselves greatly by passing on, in consequence of the continual war-parties that their enemies sent out on the river; since being armed and used to war, we
48
could not, without evident danger, advance on that river which they constantly occupy.During this converse, they kept continually bringing us in wooden dishes of sagamity, Indian corn whole, or pieces of dog-flesh; the whole day was spent in feasting.
These Indians are very courteous and liberal of what they have, but they are very poorly off for food, not daring to go and hunt the wild-cattle, for fear of their enemies. It is true, they have Indian corn in abundance, which they sow at all seasons; we saw some ripe; more just sprouting, and more just in the ear, so that they sow three crops a year. They cook it in large earthern pots,
49
only by the rain which falls oftener than in summer.In the evening the sachems held a secret council on the design of some to kill us for plunder, but the chief broke up all these schemes, and sending for us, danced the calumet in our presence, in the manner I have described above, as a mark of perfect assurance; and then, to remove all fears, presented it to me.
M. Jollyet and I held another council to deliberate on what we should do, whether we should push on, or rest satisfied with the discovery that we had made. After having attentively considered that we were not far from the gulf of Mexico, the basin of which is 31° 40' north, and we at 33° 40', so that we could not be more than two or three days journey off; that the Missisipi undoubtedly had its mouth in Florida or the gulf of Mexico, and not on the, east, in Virginia, whose seacoast is at 34° north, which we had passed without having as yet reached the sea, nor on the western side in California, because that would require a west, or west-southwest course, and we had always been going south. We considered, moreover, that we risked losing the fruit of this voyage, of which we could give no information, if we should throw ourselves into the hands of the Spaniards, who would undoubtedly, at least, hold us as prisoners. Besides, it was
50
clear, that we were not in a condition to resist Indians allied to Europeans, numerous and expert in the use of fire-arms, who continually infested the lower part of the river. Lastly, we had gathered all the information that could be desired from the expedition.After a month's navigation down the Missisipi, from the 42d to below the 34th degree, and after having published the gospel as well as I could to the nations I had met, we left the village of Akamsea on the 17th of July, to retrace our steps. We accordingly ascended the Missisipi, which gave us great trouble to stem its currents.
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our way, and brought us, with little trouble, to the lake of the Ilinois.We had seen nothing like this river for the fertility of the land, its prairies, woods, wild cattle, stag, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parrots, and even beaver; its many little lakes and rivers. That on which we sailed, is broad, deep, and gentle for sixty-five leagues. During the spring and part of the summer, the only portage is half a league.
We found there an Ilinois town called Kaskaskia, composed of seventy-four cabins; they received us well, and compelled me to promise to return and instruct them. One of the chiefs of this tribe with his young men, escorted us to the Ilinois lake, whence at last we returned in the close of September to the bay of the Fetid, whence we had set out in the beginning of June.
Had all this voyage caused but the salvation of a single soul, I should deem all my fatigue well repaid, and this I have reason to think, for, when I was returning, I passed by the Indians of Peoria.
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baptized a little before it expired, by an admirable Providence for the salvation of that innocent soul.53
Chapter II. — Narrative of the Second Voyage Made by Father James Marquette to the Ilinois to Carry the Faith to Them, and the Glorious Death of the Same Father in the Labors of His Mission.
Father James Marquette having promised the Ilinois, called Kaskaskia, to return among them to teach them our mysteries, had great difficulty in keeping his word. The great hardships of his first voyage had brought on a dysentery, and had so enfeebled him, that he lost all hope of undertaking a second voyage. Yet, his malady having given way and almost ceased toward the close of summer in the following year, he obtained permission of his superiors to return to the Ilinois to found that noble mission.
54
He set out for this purpose in the month of November, 1674, from the Bay of the Fetid, with two men, one of whom had already made that voyage with him. During a month's navigation on the Ilinois lake, he was pretty well; but as soon as the snow began to fall, he was again seized with the dysentery which forced him to stop in the river which leads to the Ilinois. There they raised a cabin and spent the winter in such want of every comfort that his illness constantly increased; he felt that God had granted him the grace he had so often asked, and he even plainly told his companions so, assuring them that he would die of that illness, and on that voyage. To prepare his soul for its departure, he began that rude wintering by the exercises of St. Ignatius,
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performed with deep sentiments of devotion, and great heavenly consolation; and then spent the rest of his time in colloquies with all heaven, having no more intercourse with earth, amid these deserts, except with his two companions whom he confessed and communicated twice a week, and exhorted as much as his strength allowed. Some time after Christmas, in order to obtain the grace not to die without having taken possession of his beloved mission, he invited his companions to make a novena in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Contrary to all human expectation he was heard and recovering found himself able to proceed to the Ilinois town as soon as navigation was free; this he accomplished in great joy, setting out on the 29th of March. He was eleven days on the way, where he had ample matter for suffering, both from his still sickly state, and from the severity and inclemency of the weather.Having at last reached the town on the 8th of April, he was received there as an angel from heaven; and after having several times assembled the chiefs of the nation with all the old men (anciens),
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of the Blessed Virgin, which were thus visible on all sides. The auditory was composed of five hundred chiefs and old men seated in a circle around the father, while the youth stood without to the number of fifteen hundred, not counting women and children, who are very numerous, the town being composed of five or six hundred fires.The father spoke to all this gathering, and addressed them ten words by ten presents which he made them;
Three days after, on Easter Sunday, things being arranged in the same manner as on Thursday, he celebrated the holy mysteries for the second time, and by these two sacrifices, the first ever offered there to God, he took possession of that land in the name of Jesus Christ, and gave this mission the name of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin.
He was listened to with universal joy and approbation by all this people, who earnestly besought him to return as soon as possible among them, since his malady obliged him to leave them. The father, on his part, showed them the affection he bore them, his satisfaction at their conduct, and gave his word that he or some other of our fathers would return to continue this mission so happily begun. This promise he repeated again and again, on parting with them to begin his
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journey. He set out amid such marks of friendship from these good people, that they escorted him with pomp more than thirty leagues of the way, contending with one another for the honor of carrying his little baggage.After the Ilinois had taken leave of the father, filled with a great idea of the gospel, he continued his voyage, and soon after reached the Ilinois lake, on which he had nearly a hundred leagues to make by an unknown route, because he was obliged to take the southern [eastern] side of the lake, having gone thither by the northern [western]. His strength, however, failed so much, that his men despaired of being able to carry him alive to their journey's end; for, in fact, he became so weak and exhausted, that he could no longer help himself, nor even stir, and had to be handled and carried like a child.
He nevertheless maintained in this state an admirable equanimity, joy, and gentleness, consoling his beloved companions, and encouraging them to suffer courageously all the hardships of the way, assuring them that our Lord would not forsake them when he was gone. During this navigation he began to prepare more particularly for death, passing his time in colloquies with our Lord, with His holy mother, with his angel-guardian, or with all heaven. He was often heard pronouncing these words: "I believe that my Redeemer liveth" or, "Mary, mother of grace, mother of God, remember me." Besides a spiritual reading made for him every day, he toward
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the close asked them to read him his meditation on the preparation for death, which he carried about him: he recited his breviary every day; and although he was so low, that both sight and strength had greatly failed, he did not omit it till the last day of his life, when his companions induced him to cease, as it was shortening his days.A week before his death, he had the precaution to bless some holy water, to serve him during the rest of his illness, in his agony, and at his burial, and he instructed his companions how to use it.
The eve of his death, which was a Friday, he told them, all radiant with joy, that it would take place on the morrow. During the whole day he conversed with them about the manner of his burial, the way in which he should be laid out, the place to be selected for his interment; he told them how to arrange his hands, feet, and face, and directed them to raise a cross over his grave. He even went so far as to enjoin them, only three hours before he expired, to take his chapel-bell, as soon as he was dead, and ring it while they carried him to the grave. Of all this he spoke so calmly and collectedly, that you would have thought that he spoke of the death and burial of another, and not of his own.
Thus did he speak with them as they sailed along the lake, till, perceiving the mouth of a river, with an eminence on the bank which he thought suited for his burial, he told them that it was the place of his last repose. They wished, however, to pass on, as the weather permitted it, and the day was not far advanced; but God raised a contrary wind, which obliged them to return and enter the river pointed out by Father Marquette.
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They then carried him ashore, kindled a little fire, and raised for him a wretched bark cabin, where they laid him as little uncomfortably as they could; but they were so overcome by sadness, that, as they afterward said, they did not know what they were doing.
The father being thus stretched on the shore, like St. Francis Xavier, as he had always so ardently desired, and left alone amid those forests — for his companions were engaged in unloading — he had leisure to repeat all the acts in which he had employed himself during the preceding days.
When his dear companions afterward came up, all dejected, he consoled them, and gave them hopes that God would take care of them after his death in those new and unknown countries; he gave them his last instructions, thanked them for all the charity they had shown him during the voyage, begged their pardon for the trouble he had given them, and directed them also to ask pardon in his name of all our fathers and brothers in the Ottawa country, and then disposed them to receive the sacrament of penance, which he administered to them for the last time; he also gave them a paper on which he had written all his faults since his last confession, to be given to his superior, to oblige him to pray more earnestly for him. In fine, he promised not to forget them in heaven, and as he was very kind-hearted, and knew them to be worn out with the toil of the preceding days, he bade them go and take a little rest, assuring them that his hour was not yet so near, but that he would wake them when it was time, as in fact he did, two or three hours after, calling them when about to enter his agony.
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When they came near he embraced them for the last time, while they melted in tears at his feet; he then asked for the holy water and his reliquary, and taking off his crucifix which he wore around his neck, he placed it in the hands of one, asking him to hold it constantly opposite him, raised before his eyes; then feeling that he had but a little time to live, he made a last effort, clasped his hands, and with his eyes fixed sweetly on his crucifix, he pronounced aloud his profession of faith, and thanked the Divine Majesty for the immense grace he did him in allowing him to die in the society of Jesus; to die in it as a missionary of Jesus Christ, and above all to die in it, as he had always asked, in a wretched cabin, amid the forests, destitute of all human aid.
On this he became silent, conversing inwardly with God; yet from time to time words escaped him: "Sustinuit anima mea in verba ejus," or "Mater Dei, memento mei," which were the last words he uttered before entering on his agony, which was very calm and gentle.
He had prayed his companions to remind him, when they saw him about to expire, to pronounce frequently the names of Jesus and Mary. When he could not do it himself, they did it for him; and when they thought him about to pass, one cried aloud Jesus Maria, which he several times repeated distinctly, and then, as if at those sacred names something had appeared to him, he suddenly raised his eyes above his crucifix, fixing them apparently on some object which he seemed to regard with pleasure, and thus with a countenance all radiant with smiles, he expired without a struggle, as gently as if he had sunk into a quiet sleep.
His two poor companions, after shedding many tears over his body, and having laid it out as he had directed, carried it devoutly to the grave, ringing the bell according to his
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injunction, and raised a large cross near it to serve as a mark for passers-by.When they talked of embarking, one of them, who for several days had been overwhelmed with sadness, and so racked in body by acute pains that he could neither eat nor breathe without pain, resolved, while his companion was preparing all for embarkation, to go to the grave of his good father, and pray him to intercede for him with the glorious Virgin, as he had promised, not doubting but that he was already in heaven. He accordingly knelt down, said a short prayer, and having respectfully taken some earth from the grave, he put it on his breast, and the pain immediately ceased; his sadness was changed into a joy, which continued during the rest of his voyage.
God did not choose to suffer so precious a deposite to remain unhonored and forgotten amid the woods. The Kiskakon Indians,
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in which they were first instructed by Father Marquette, when stationed at Lapointe du Saint Esprit at the extremity of Lake Superior, were hunting last winter on the banks of Lake Ilinois; and as they were returning early in spring, they resolved to pass by the tomb of their good father, whom they tenderly loved; and God even gave them the thought of taking his remains and bringing them to our church at the mission of St. Ignatius, at Missilimakinac, where they reside.They accordingly repaired to the spot and deliberated together, resolved to act with their father, as they usually do with those whom they respect; they accordingly opened the grave, unrolled the body, and though the flesh and intestines were all dried up, they found it whole without the skin being in any way injured. This did not prevent their dissecting it according to custom; they washed the bones, and dried them in the sun, then putting them neatly in a box of birch bark, they set out to bear them to the house of St. Ignatius.
The convoy consisted of nearly thirty canoes in excellent order; including even a good number of Iroquois who had joined our Algonquins to honor the ceremony. As they approached our house, Father Nouvel, who is superior, went to meet them with Father Pierson,
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they bore was really Father Marquette's. Then, before landing, he intoned the "De Profundis" in sight of the thirty canoes still on the water, and of all the people on the shores; after this the body was carried to the church, observing all that the ritual prescribes for such ceremonies. It remained exposed under a pall stretched as if over a coffin all that day, which was Whitsun-Monday, the 8th of June; and the next day, when all the funeral honors had been paid it, it was deposited in a little vault in the middle of the church, where he reposes as the guardian angel of our Ottawa missions. The Indians often come to pray on his tomb, and to say no more, a young woman of about nineteen or twenty, whom the late father had instructed and baptized last year, having fallen sick, asked Father Nouvel to bleed her, and give her some remedies; but in place of medicine he bade her go for three days and say a pater and ave on the tomb of Father Marquette. She did so, and before the third day, was entirely cured without bleeding or other remedies.Father James Marquette, of the province of Champagne, died at the age of thirty-eight, of which he had spent twenty-one in the society, namely twelve in France, and nine in Canada. He was sent to the missions of the upper Algonquins, called Ottawas, and labored there with all the zeal that could be expected in a man who had taken St. Francis Xavier as the model of his life and death. He imitated that great saint, not only in the variety of the barbarous languages which he learned, but also by the vastness of his zeal which made him bear the faith to the extremity of this new world, nearly eight hundred leagues from here, in forests where the name of Jesus had never been announced.
He always begged of God to end his days in these toilsome missions, and to die amid the woods like his beloved St.
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Francis Xavier, in utter want of everything. To attain this he daily employed the merits of Christ and the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin, for whom his devotion was equally rare and tender.By such powerful mediators, he obtained what he so earnestly asked, since he had the happiness to die like the apostle of the Indies, in a wretched cabin on the banks of Lake Ilinois, forsaken by all.
We could say much of the rare virtues of this generous missionary, of his zeal which made him carry the faith so far, and announce the gospel to so many nations unknown to us; of his meekness which endeared him to every one, and which made him all to all — French with the French, Huron with the Hurons, Algonquin with the Algonquins; of his childlike candor in discovering his mind to his superiors, and even to all persons with an ingenuousness that gained all hearts, of his angelic purity and continual union with God.
But his predominant virtue was a most rare and singular devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and especially to the mystery of the Immaculate Conception; it was a pleasure to hear him preach or speak on this subject. Every conversation and letter of his contained something about the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, as he always styled her. From the age of nine, he fasted every Saturday; and from his most tender youth began to recite daily the little office of the Conception, and inspired all to adopt this devotion. For some months before his death, he daily recited, with his two men, a little chaplet of the Immaculate Conception, which he had arranged in this form; after the creed, they said one "Our Father and hail Mary," then four times these words: "Hail daughter of God the Father, hail mother of God the Son, hail spouse of the Holy Ghost, hail temple of the whole Trinity, by thy holy virginity and
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immaculate conception, O most pure Virgin, cleanse my flesh and my heart. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," and last of all the "Glory be to the Father," &c., the whole being thrice repeated.He never failed to say the mass of the Conception, or at least the collect, whenever he could; he thought of nothing else scarcely by night or by day, and to leave us an eternal mark of his sentiments, he gave the name of the Conception to the Ilinois mission.
So tender a devotion to the mother of God, deserved some singular grace, and she accordingly granted him the favor he had always asked, to die on a Saturday;
One of the last letters which he wrote to the superior of the missions before his great voyage, will be a sufficient instance of his sentiments. It began thus: —
"The Blessed Virgin Immaculate has obtained for me the grace to arrive here in good health, and resolved to correspond to God's designs upon me, since he has destined me to the voyage to the south. I have no other thought than to do what God wills. I fear nothing; neither the Nadouessii, nor the meeting of nations alarms me. One of two things must come: either God will punish me for my crimes and omissions, or else he will share his cross with me (for I have not
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borne it yet since I have been in this country, though per haps, it has been obtained for me by the Blessed Virgin Immaculate), or perhaps death to cease to offend God. For this I will endeavor to hold myself ready, abandoning myself entirely in his hands. I pray your reverence not to forget me and to obtain of God, that I may not remain ungrateful for the favors he heaps upon me."There was found among his papers a book entitled, "The Conduct of God toward a Missionary," in which he shows the excellence of that vocation, the advantages for self-sanctification to be found in it, and the care which God takes of his gospel-laborers. This little work shows the spirit of God by which he was actuated.
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Narrative of a Voyage Made to the Ilinois, by Father Claude Allouez.
Section I. — Father Allouez Sets Out on the Ice. — A Young Man Killed by a Bear. — Vengeance Taken. — Variuos Curiousities on the Way.
While preparing for my departure, as the weather was not yet suitable, I made some visits in the bay where I baptized two sick adults, one of whom died next day; the other lived a month longer; he was a poor old man, who
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being decrepit and half deaf, was the laughing stock and outcast of all, even of his children; but God did not cast him69
out; he did him the grace to enrol him among his children by baptism, and to receive him into heaven, as I have every reason to believe.70
In another visit which I made to the nation of the Outa-gamies (Foxes), I baptized six children almost all at the point of death. I was much consoled to see a marked change in the mind of these people; God visits them by his scourges to render them more docile to our instructions.
After these excursions, the time being proper for departing, I embarked about the close of October, 1676, in a canoe with two men to endeavor to go and winter with the Ilinois; but I had not got far when the ice prevented us, so early had the winter set in. This obliged us to lie to and wait till it was strong enough to bear us; and it was only in February that we undertook a very extraordinary kind of navigation, for instead of putting the canoe in the water, we put it on the ice, on which a favorable wind carried it along by sails, as if it was was on water. When the wind failed us, instead of paddles, we used ropes to drag it as horses do a carriage. Passing near the Po�teo�tamis, I learned that a young man had been lately killed by the bears. I had previously baptized him at Lapointe du St. Esprit, and was acquainted with his parents; this obliged me to turn a little off my way to go and console them. They told me that the bears get fat in the fall and remain so, and even grow fatter during the whole winter, although they do not eat as naturalists have remarked. They
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hide in hollow trees, especially the females, to bring forth their young, or else they lie on fir branches which they tear off on purpose to make a bed on the snow, which they do not leave all winter, unless discovered by the hunters, and their dogs trained to this chase. This young man having discovered one hidden in some fir-branches, fired all the arrows of his quiver at him. The bear feeling himself wounded, but not mortally, rose, rushed upon him, clawed off his scalp, and tearing out his bowels, scattered him all in pieces around. I found his mother in deep affliction; we offered up together prayers for the deceased, and though my presence had at first redoubled her grief, she wiped away her tears, saying for consolation: "Paulinus is dead; that good Paulinus whom thou didst always come to call to prayer."Then to avenge, as they said, this murder, the relatives and friends of the deceased made war on the bears while they were good — that is, during the winter; for in summer they are lean, and so famished, that they eat even toads and snakes. The war was so vigorous, that in a little while they killed more than five hundred, which they shared with us, saying that God had given them into our hands, to make them atone for the death of this young man who had been so cruelly treated by one of their nation.
Twelve leagues from the Po�teao�atami town we entered a very deep bay, whence we transported our canoe across the wood to the great lake of the Ilinois [Michigan]. This portage was a league and a half. On the eve of St. Joseph, the patron of all Canada, finding ourselves on the lake, we gave it the name of that great saint, and shall henceforth call it Lake St. Joseph. We accordingly embarked on the 23d of May, and had much to do with the ice, through which we had to break a passage. The water was so cold, that it froze on our oars, and on the side of the canoe which the sun did not reach.
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It pleased God to deliver us from the danger we were in on landing, when a gust of wind drove the cakes of ice on one side of our canoe, and the other on the ice which was fast to the shore. Our great trouble was, that the rivers being still frozen, we could not enter them till the 3d of April. "We consecrated that which we at last entered in holy week by planting a large cross on the shore, in order that the Indians, who go there in numbers to hunt — either in canoes on the lake, or on foot in the woods — might remember the instructions we had given them on that mystery, and that the sight of it might excite them to pray. The next day we saw a rock seven or eight feet out of water, and two or three fathoms around, and called it the Pitch rock. In fact, we saw the pitch running down in little drops on the side which was warmed by the sun. We gathered some, and found it good to pitch our canoes, and I even use it to seal my letters.We advanced coasting always along vast prairies that stretched away beyond our sight; from time to time we saw trees, but so ranged that they seemed planted designedly to form alleys more agreeable to the sight than those of orchards. The foot of these trees is often watered by little streams, where we saw herds of stags and does drinking and feeding quietly on the young grass. We followed these vast plains
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for twenty leagues, and often said, "Benedicite opera Domini Domino."After making seventy-six leagues on Lake St. Joseph, we at last entered the river which leads to the Ilinois. I here met eighty Indians of the country, by whom I was handsomely received. The chief advanced about thirty steps to meet me, holding in one hand a firebrand and in the other a feathered calumet. As he drew near, he raised it to my mouth, and himself lit the tobacco, which obliged me to pretend to smoke. He then led me into his cabin, and, giving me the most honorable place, addressed me thus: —
"Father! take pity on me: let me return with thee, to accompany thee and lead thee to my village; my meeting with, thee to-day will be fatal to me, unless I profit by it. Thou bearest to us the gospel and the prayer: if I lose the occasion of hearing thee, I shall be punished by the loss of my nephews, whom thou seest so numerous, but who will assuredly be defeated by the enemy. Embark, then, with us, that I may profit by thy coming into our land."
With these words he embarked at the same time as ourselves, and we soon after reached his village.
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Section II. — Father Allouez Arrives at the Ilinois Town. — Description of it and the Country. — The Faith Proclaimed to All these Nations.
In spite of all our efforts to hasten on, it was the 27th of April, before I could reach Kachkachlda, a large Ilinois town. I immediately entered the cabin where Father Marquette had lodged, and the sachems with all the people being assembled, I told them the object of my coming among them, namely, to preach to them the true, living, and immortal God, and his only Son, Jesus Christ. They listened very attentively to my whole discourse, and thanked me for the trouble I took for their salvation.
I found this village much increased since last year. It was before composed of only one nation, the Kachkachkia. There are now eight; the first having called the others who dwelt in the neighborhood of the Missipi. You could not easily form an idea of the number of Indians who compose this town; they are lodged in three hundred and fifty-one cabins, easily counted, for they are mostly ranged on the banks of the river.
The place which they have selected for their abode is situated at 40° 42'; it has on one side a prairie of vast extent, and on the other an expanse of marsh which makes the air unhealthy, and often loaded with mists; this causes much sickness and frequent thunder. They, however, like this post, because from it they can easily discover their enemies.
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These Indians are in character hardy, proud, and valiant. They are at war with eight or nine tribes; they do not use fire-arms, as they find them too awkward, and too slow; they carry them, however, when they march against nations unacquainted with their use, to terrify them by the noise, and thus rout them. They ordinarily carry only the war-club, bow, and a quiver full of arrows, which they discharge so adroitly and quickly, that men armed with guns, have hardly time to raise them to the shoulder. They also carry a large buckler made of skins of wild cattle; which is arrow-proof, and covers the whole body.
They have many wives, of whom they are extremely jealous, leaving them on the least suspicion. The women usually behave well, and are modestly dressed, though the men are not, having no shame of their nakedness.
They live on Indian corn, and other fruits of the earth, which they cultivate on the prairies, like other Indians. They eat fourteen kinds of roots which they find in the prairies; they made me eat them; I found them good and very sweet. They gather, on trees or plants, fruits of forty-two different kinds, which are excellent; they catch twenty-five kinds of fish, including eels. They hunt cattle, deer, turkeys, cats, a
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kind of tiger, and other animals, of which they reckon twenty, two kinds, and forty kinds of game and birds. In the lower part of the river there are, I am told, salt springs, from which they make salt; I can not speak from my own experience They assure me, too, that there are quarries near their town of slate as fine as ours. I have seen here, as in the Ottawa country, copper, found here as elsewhere, on the banks of the river in lumps. They tell me too, that there are rocks of pitch like that I saw on the banks of Lake St. Joseph. The Indians cut it and find silvery veins, which, when pounded, give a fine red paint. They also find other veins, from which the pitch runs; when thrown in the fire, it burns like ours.This is all that I could remark in this country, during the short stay I made there. I will now tell what I did for Christianity.
As I had but little time to remain, having come only to acquire the necessary information for the perfect establishment of a mission, I immediately set to work to give all the instruction I could to these eight different nations, by whom, by the help of God, I made myself sufficiently understood.
I would go to the cabin of the chief of the particular tribe that I wished to instruct, and there preparing a little altar with my chapel ornaments, I exposed a crucifix, before which I explained the mysteries of our faith. I could not desire a greater number of auditors, nor a more favorable attention. They brought me their youngest children to be baptized, those older, to be instructed. They repeated themselves all the prayers that I taught them. In a word, after I had done the same in all the eight nations, I had the consolation of seeing Christ acknowledged by so many tribes, who needed only careful cultivation to become good Christians. This we hope to give hereafter, at leisure.
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I laid the foundation of this mission by the baptism of thirty-five children, and a sick adult, who soon after died, with one of the infants, to go and take possession of heaven in the name of the whole nation. And we too, to take possession of these tribes in the name of Jesus Christ, on the 3d of May, the feast of the Holy Cross, erected in the midst of the town a cross twenty-five feet high, chanting the Vexilla Regis in the presence of a great number of Ilinois of all tribes, of whom I can say, in truth, that they did not take Jesus Christ crucified for a folly, nor for a scandal; on the contrary, they witnessed the ceremony with great respect, and heard all that I said on the mystery with admiration. The children even went to kiss the cross through devotion, and the old earnestly commended me to place it well so that it could not fall.
The time of my departure having come, I took leave of all these tribes, and left them in a great desire of seeing me as soon as possible, which I more willingly induced them to expect; as, on the one hand, I have reason to thank God for the little crosses he has afforded me in this voyage, and on the other, I see the harvest all ready and very abundant. The devil will, doubtless, oppose us, and perhaps will, for the purpose, use the war which the Iroquois seek to make on the Ilinois. I pray our Lord to avert it, that so fair a beginning be not entirely ruined.
"The next year, namely, 1678, Father Allouez set out to return to this mission, and to remain there two years in succession, to labor more solidly for the conversion of these tribes. We have since learned that the Iroquois made an incursion as far as there, but were beaten by the Ilinois. This will go far to enkindle the war between these nations, and do much to injure this mission, if God does not interpose."
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Bibliographical Notice of the "Etablissement de la Foi," by Father Christian le Clercq, Recollect.
This curious and now rare work is the source whence all the following narratives, except Hennepin's, are drawn. It was published at Paris, by Aimable Auroy, in 1691, with the following very comprehensive title: "First Establishment of the Faith in New France, containing the Publication of the Gospel, the History of the French Colonies, and the famous Discoveries from the Mouth of the St Lawrence, Louisiana, and the River Colbert, to the Gulf of Mexico, accomplished under the Direction of the late Monsieur de la Salle, by Order of the King, with the Victories gained in Canada, by the Arms of his Majesty over the English and Iroquois, in 1690. Dedicated to M. de Comte de Frontenac, Governor and Lieutenant-General of New France, by Father Christian le Clercq, Recollect Missionary of the Province of St. Anthony of Padua, in Arthois, and Warden of the Recollects of Lens."
Of Father le Clercq, under whose name the work is thus published, we know little beyond what we glean from this work, and from his Relation de Gaspesic. He was a zealous and devout missionary on the wild coast of Gasp×, where he lived in most cordial and friendly relations with the neighboring Jesuit missionaries, especially with Father Bigot, who speaks of him in the highest terms, as le Clercq did of him and his labors. He was the first novice of the province to which he belonged, and one of the first religious sent by it to Canada, in 1675. After spending five years as missionary at Isle Percee and Gasp×, he returned to Europe, was concerned in the establishment of a church and mission at Montreal, resumed for a time his missionary career, and was subsequently employed as superior in France. His Relation de Gaspesie is a description of his own field and his own labors; the Etablissement assumes to be a general history of religion in Canada, and of La Salle's voyages, as tending to the establishment of missions. How far it realizes the promise of the title-page, we shall soon see.
Had this work been a mere satirical pamphlet, we could at once understand it, and give it its proper value; but in this light it can not be regarded; it contains much historical information, especially with respect to La Salle, being the
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first printed account of his voyage down the Mississippi, and his last fatal attempt. A striking feature in the work is its literary skepticism, as to a great mass of early works on Canada, and the similar doubts raised subsequently as to the Etablissement itself. Le Clercq, or the real author, doubts the authenticity of the Relation of 1626, ascribed to F. Charles Lalemant. The ground of this doubt is completely destroyed by the title of one of the chapters in Sagard's larger work; the doubt has, however, been raised within the last few years by men of research, though probably from want of a close study of the doubting humor of the author. Having thus thrown a slur on the first Relation, he next brings the whole forty volumes of Relations, from 1632 to 1672, into the same category, because, forsooth, from his high respect for the Jesuits, he can not believe they ever wrote them; and, finally, Father Marquette's published journal which is, however, never ascribed to him, is treated as an imposture, and his voyage as pretended, on every possible occasion.This wholesale skepticism almost entitles him to a place with the celebrated Father Hardouin, who believed all the Greek and Latin classics to be forgeries. In a work like this, intended to show the validity of Marquette's claim, we must examine these doubts, and the person who makes them. Joutel, who contradicts the Etablissement pointedly in several places, says that it was composed on false relations, and thus gives some force to a charge brought in 1697, by the strange Hennepin, who asserts broadly that the Etablissement was published by Father Valentine le Roux, under the borrowed name of le Clercq; and he charges that the so-called narrative of Membré in the work, is really a transcript of the journal of his great voyage down the Mississippi, a copy of which he had left in le Roux's hands at Quebec. At a still later date, when all had become calm, Charlevoix states it as a common impression that Frontenac himself had a considerable hand in it. When with all this we remember that the first published narrative of Tonty is regarded as spurious, and that Mr. Sparks has irrefragably shown Hennepin's later works to be mere romances and literary thefts; the whole series of works relative to La Salle seems drawn up or moulded to suit some party views, and to unravel the whole, we must examine what parties at the time agitated Canada. We find immediately that the civil and ecclesiastical authorities were then completely at variance, chiefly from two causes: The first was what may be called the brandy war, in which Bishop Laval seeing the injury done to the Indians by the sale of liquor, had pronounced ecclesiastical censures against those who carried on the nefarious traffic: his clergy, and especially the Jesuits, sided with him and his successor entirely on this point, as being better able from daily intercourse to see the ruin of the native tribes by the use of spirituous liquors. But if the ecclesiastical authorities pronounced censures, the civil officers were not slow in taking up most curious modes of revenge; and ridicule, above all, was brought to play upon their antagonists. So far had public opinion become vitiated, that in a memoir drawn up apparently by the intendant Duchesneau with regard to the Indian village of Caughnawaga, the writer addressing the French court, deemed it necessary to defend the Jesuit missionaries against the charge of preventing the erection of any tavern on their lands at Laprairie, in the vicinity of their Indian village! The only defence made is more curious; it admits the fact, but denies the necessity
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of taverns there, as Montreal was full of them. In this brandy war, the Jesuits being in charge of the missions, were chiefly attacked, and soon after a new charge was made against them personally. 2. Frontenac especially insisted that Indian villages apart would never result in civilizing the natives; his plan was a complete fusion of the two races, by bringing them into perfect contact. The missionaries convinced that Indians living among the whites were irrecoverably lost, adhered pertinaciously to their original system of separate villages and gradual advancement. Frontenac's theory is much upheld by the Etablissement, and many arguments are adduced in favor of this plan which is assumed to be that of the early Recollects; but he startles us not a little, and somewhat unseats our gravity, when he tells us that it had been carried out with perfect success in the neighboring English and Dutch colonies; though, unfortunately, he does not tell us what New York or New England half-breed village resulted from the union.But to return to ancient politics. Religion was at that time upheld by popular opinion; a man in rank or office had to practise his religious duties; indeed, he never thought of not doing so. Now these duties in the catholic church are something very positive indeed, and many in Canada found themselves under ecclesiastical censures for trading in liquor with the Indians, and saw no other alternative but that of renouncing a lucrative traffic, unless, indeed they could find more lenient confessors. A party now called for the return of the Recollects as earnestly as they had opposed it, when they deemed them too expensive. Le Clercq states this ground of recall without a word of censure; the Recollects returned, became the fashionable confessors, and were stationed at trading points. In this way they became involved in existing disputes, and favored by and favoring Frontenac, found themselves arrayed in a manner against the rest of the clergy. A general charge made about the time seems to have been, that the Jesuits had really made no discoveries, and no progress in converting the natives. With this as a principle, it would not do to allow the discovery of the Mississippi to be ascribed wholly or in part to one of the missionaries of that society; hence a work dedicated to Frontenac must naturally be a eulogy of his ideas and his friends, and a well-directed attack on his enemies. It must be, and be expected to be, a party affair. When then we attack this work, it will be simply as to these matters; in an historical point of view, as faithful to the documents on which it professes to be founded, it has, I believe, never been called in question. It is a well-written history of the Recollect missions and La Salle's voyages, the rest is satire.
The work itself consists of three parts: the first in substance an abridgment of Sagard, for the first period of French rule in Canada, down to the capture of Quebec by 1629, contains some new facts derived from manuscripts, and especially from those of the great le Caron, the founder of the Huron missions. The English carried off both the Recollects and the Jesuits whom they had invited to aid them; but as the restoration of Canada was expected, both prepared for a speedy return. For some reason, however, the French government determined to send out another missionary body, and offered Canada to the Capuchins, like the Recollects, a branch of the great Franciscan order. The Capuchins, however, declined it, and recommended the Jesuits, who were accordingly
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sent, and the Recollects excluded. This was their first grief, and the volume before us details their unavailing efforts to return, and the suspicions entertained of opposition, or at least of lukewarmness, on the part of the Jesuits. They are, indeed, exculpated, but the charge is constantly renewed. With this on his heart, le Clercq proceeds to the second part, that of the Jesuit missions: and here he doubts the authenticity of all their Relations, and treats the missions they describe as chimerical. In this pretended account of the progress of Christianity during the period in question, there is no historical order preserved, no mention is made of the Huron missions, their rise and fall with the nation, and the death of the various missionaries whose last moments are a sufficient proof of their sincerity in the accounts which they had given. Of the Algonquin and Montagnais missions, and their almost entire destruction by sickness and war, no notice is taken; and what is said of the Iroquois is so garbled, that it were better unsaid.No missionary ever could have written this part; or, if he did, he must be content to rank below Hennepin. One instance will show the spirit of this portion. Speaking of the mission in New-York, in 1655-'58, he mentions the fact that Menard, at Cayuga, baptized four hundred; and adds, "Christianity must have advanced each year by still more happy and multiplied progress, and consequently all these people must be converted." Then, as he finds the mass of the Iroquois in 1690, as we find them in 1850, pagans, he concludes that the accounts of the missions are false. Now, in the first place, the period of missionary effort in New York embraces only the periods from 1655 to 1658, and from 1667 to 1685; in all, not more than twenty years, with a few visits at intervals before and after these dates; in 1690, there was no missionary in New York save Father Milet, who had just been dragged to Oneida as a prisoner taken at Fort Frontenac. And as to baptisms, no fact is more clearly stated in early writers, the Relations, and all others, than this, that the baptisms were chiefly those of dying children and adults. Among the Iroquois there were, indeed, children of Christian Hurons, who could be baptized in health, but only there. Hence the baptisms gave a very slight increase to the number of living neophytes, and in time of epidemics, a very great number might be baptized, and yet the church lose in point of numbers. To begin then by assuming that 400 baptisms gave as many living members, and that ten times as many gave 4,000 is a puerility in one who is not much acquainted with the matter, but a gross deceit in one who is.
The second part then is not to be considered as historical; it notices, indeed, the coming of the Ursuline and Hospital nuns, of the Sulpitians and the bishop; but even for these we must go elsewhere for a clear account.
The third part stands on a different footing; it is mainly historical, and though marked by the prevailing prejudice, and as we shall show by gross injustice to Marquette and Joliet, is, undoubtedly, the best account of La Salle's voyages, and, for some parts, the only one we have. It is, too, an account of the rise and progress of the second Recollect missions, in a very brief form which, with the mass of manuscripts of the time, gives rich materials for Canadian history. All that relates to La Salle is given in the present volume for the first time, we believe, in English. The remaining portion of Le Clercq is
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as the title states, an account of the defeat of the English at Quebec, in 1690, by Frontenac, who had returned the previous year.Compelled by a love of truth to be somewhat severe on both le Clercq and Hennepin, we would by no means seem to reflect generally on the Recollects of Canada. The latter committed his forgeries when east off by his province, the former was not, I believe, the author of the objectionable parts in the work that bears his name; that two hands were employed in it, will I think, appear to any one who will read it over attentively several times. That all the Recollects should have been at the time under some prejudice is natural, owing to their position, and allowance is made for that, as we must daily make for those who can not judge of an individual without some attack on the church to which he belongs. Fortunately for all, the Recollects were soon relieved from their false position by the settlement of the disputes, and without attempting new Indian missions, labored for the good of the colony with a zeal beyond all praise. Chosen almost always as chaplains to the troops and forts, they were to be found at every French post, and thus became the earliest pastors of some of our western towns. Like the Jesuits, they were a second time excluded from Canada by the English on their conquest in the last century, and the last survivor has long since descended to the grave. A few names, and a church that bears their name, are almost all that recall to the traveller the labors and merits of the children of St. Francis.
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Narrative of the First Attempt by Mdot; Caveliet de La Salle to Explore the Mississippi. Drawn Up from the Manuscripts of Father Zenobius Membr×, A Recollect by Father Chretien LeClercq.
The Sieur Robert Cavelier de la Salle, a native of Rouen, of one of the most distinguished families there, a man of vast intellect, brought up for literary pursuits,
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enterprising, prudent, and moral, had been for some years in Canada, and had already, under the administration of De Courcelles and Talon, shown his great abilities for discoveries. M. de Frontenac selected him to command Fort Frontenac, where he was nearly a year, till coming to France in 1675, he obtained of the court the government and property of the lake and its dependencies, on condition of building there a regular stone fort, clearing the ground, and making French and Indian villages, and of supporting there, at his own expense, a sufficient garrison, and Recollect missionaries.85
Monsieur de la Salle returned to Canada and fulfilled these conditions completely; a fort with four bastions was built at the entrance of the lake on the northern side at the end of a basin, where a considerable fleet of large vessels might be sheltered from the winds. This fort enclosed that built by Monsieur de Frontenac. He also gave us a piece of ground fifteen arpents in front, by twenty deep, the donation being accepted by Monsieur de Frontenac, syndic of our mission.
It would be difficult to detail the obstacles he had to encounter, raised against him daily in the execution of his plans, so that he found less opposition in the savage tribes whom he was always able to bring into his plans. Monsieur de Frontenac went up there every year, and care was taken to assemble there the chiefs and leading men of the Iroquois nations, great and small; maintaining by this means alliance and commerce with them, and disposing them to embrace Christianity, which was the principal object of the new establishment.
My design being to treat of the publication of the faith to that prodigious quantity of nations who are comprised in the dominions of the king, as his majesty has discovered them, we shall continue our subject by those which were made during the rest of the present epoch in all parts of New France. While the reverend father Jesuits among the southern Iroquois
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on the upper part of the river had the honor of bearing the gospel to the nations bordering on those tribes; the peace between the two crowns of France and England giving them free access everywhere, without being traversed by the English, they announced the faith to the Etchemins, and other Indian nations that came to trade at Loup river, where the ordinary post of the mission was; our missions of St. John's River, Beaubassin, Mizamichis, Nipisiguit, Ristigouche, and Isle Percee, were similarly supported — we continued to labor for the conversion of the Indians of those vast countries comprized under the name of Acadia, Cape Breton and the great bay (gulf of St. Lawrence).In the time of M.de Courcelles and Talon, the discoveries were pushed toward the north bay (Hudson's), of which something was known from two or three previous attempts. The sieur de St. Simon was chosen for the expedition, with the reverend father Albanes (Albanel), a Jesuit. By the maps of the country it is easy to see what difficulties had to be surmounted, how much toil and hardship undergone, how many falls and rapids to be passed, and portages made, to reach by land these unknown parts and tribes, as far as Hudson's bay or strait. M. de Frontenac was in Canada on the return of the party in 1672. This discovery thenceforward enabled them to push the mission much further to the north, and draw some elect from those distant nations to receive the first rudiments of Christianity, until in 1686, the victorious arms of the king, under the guidance of M. de Troye, D'Hiberville, Ste. Helaine, and a number of brave Canadians, by order of the marquis d'Enonville, then governor-general of the country, conquered those northern parts where, as the French arms are still gloriously maintained, the zeal of the Jesuit fathers is employed in publishing the gospel.
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The unwearied charity of those illustrious missionaries advanced their labors with much more success during the present epoch, among the Ottawa nations, seconded by the great zeal of Frontenac's protection, and the ascendant which the wisdom of the governor had acquired over the savages. A magnificent church, furnished with the richest vestments, was built at the mission of St. Mary's of the sault; that of the bay of the Fetid (Green bay), and Michilimakinak island, were more and more increased by the gathering of Indian tribes. The missions around Lake Conde (Superior) further north, were also increased. This lake alone is one hundred and fifty miles long, sixty wide, and about five hundred in circuit, inhabited by different nations, whence we may form an idea of the labors of the missionaries in five or six establishments. Finally, in the last years of M. de Frontenac's first administration, Sieur du Luth, a man of talent and experience opened a way to the missionaries and the gospel in many different nations turning toward the north of that lake, where he even built a fort. He advanced as far as the lake of the Issati, called Lake Buade, from the family name of M. de Frontenac, planting the arms of his majesty in several nations on the right and left, where the missionaries still make every effort to introduce Christianity, the only fruit of which indeed consists in the baptism of some dying children, and in rendering adults inexcusable at God's judgment by the gospel preached to them.
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I shall hereafter limit myself to publish the great discoveries made by order of the king, under the command of M. de Frontenac and the direction of M. de la Salle, as being those which promised the greatest fruits for the establishment of the faith, if in course of time they are resumed and supported as they deserve.
The sieur de la Salle having completed the construction of Fort Frontenac, and greatly advanced the establishment of French and Indian settlements, was induced, by the report of many tribes, to believe that great progress could be made by pushing on the discoveries by the lakes into the river Missisipi, which he then supposed to empty into the Red sea (gulf of California).
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and favored by letters from the count de Frontenac, obtained of the court necessary powers to undertake and carry out this great design at his own expense.Furnished with these powers, he arrived in Canada toward the close of September, 1678, with the sieur de Tonty, an Italian gentleman, full of spirit and resolution, who afterward so courageously and faithfully seconded him in all his designs. He had also with him thirty men — pilots, sailors, carpenters, and other mechanics, with all things necessary for his expedition. Some Canadians having joined him, he sent all his party in advance to Fort Frontenac, where Father Gabriel de la Ribourde, and Father Luke Buisset were already, and where Fathers Louis Hennepin, Zenobius Membre, and Melithon Watteau, now repaired. They were all three missionaries of our province of St. Anthony of Padua, in Artois, as well as Father Luke Buisset, his majesty having honored the Recollects with the care of the spiritual direction of the expedition by express orders addressed to Father Valentine le Roux, commissary provincial, and superior of the mission. The sieur de la Salle soon followed them, the Almighty preserving him from many perils in that long voyage from Quebec, over falls and rapids to Fort Frontenac, where he arrived at last, much emaciated. Deriving new strength from his great courage, he issued all his orders and sent off his troop in a brigantine for Niagara with Father Louis, on the 18th of November.
The navigation, in which they had to encounter many dangers and even disasters crossing the great lake in so advanced a season, prevented their reaching Niagara river before the 5th of December. On the sixth, they entered the river, and the following days, by canoe and land, advanced to the spot where the sieur de la Salle intended to raise a
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fort, and build a bark above Niagara falls, whence the St. Lawrence (Le Fleuve) communicates with Lake Conty (Erie), and Lake Frontenac (Ontario), by the said falls and river, which is, as it were, the strait of communication.A glance at the map will show that this project with that of Fort Frontenac, and the fort he was about to build at Niagara, might excite some jealousy among the Iroquois who dwell in the neighborhood of the great lake. The sieur de la Salle, with his usual address, met the principal chiefs of those tribes in conference, and gained them so completely that they not only agreed to it, but even offered to contribute with all their means to the execution of his design. This great concert lasted some time. The sieur de la Salle also sent many canoes to trade north and south of the lake among these tribes.
Meanwhile, as certain persons traversed with all their might the project of the sieur de la Salle, they insinuated feelings of distrust in the Seneca Iroquois as the fort building at Niagara began to advance, and they succeeded so well that the fort became an object of suspicion, and the works had to be suspended for a time, and he had to be satisfied with a house surrounded by palisades. The sieur de la Salle did not fail to give prompt orders; he made frequent voyages from Fort Frontenac to Niagara, during the winter on the ice, in the spring with vessels loaded with provisions. In all the opposition raised by those envious of him, fortune seemed to side with them against him; the pilot who directed one of his well-loaded barks, lost it on Lake Frontenac. When the snow began to melt, he sent fifteen of his men to trade on the lake in canoes, as far as the Hinois to prepare him the way, till his barque building at Niagara was completed. It was perfectly ready ia the month of August, 1679.
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The father commissary had started some time before from Quebec for the fort, to give the orders incumbent on his office, and put in force those expedited in the month of July, by which Father Gabriel was named superior of the new expedition, to be accompanied by Father Louis Hennepin, Zenobius Membre, and Melithon Watteaux, the latter to remain at Niagara, and make it his mission, while Father Luke should remain at the fort.
The three former accordingly embarked on the 7th of August, with Monsieur de la Salle and his whole party in the vessel, which had been named the Griffin in honor of the arms of Monsieur de Frontenac. Father Melithon remained at the house at Niagara, with some laborers and clerks. The same day they sailed for Lake Conty, after passing contrary to all expectations the currents of the strait. This was due to the resolution and address of the sieur de la Salle, his men, having before his arrival used every means to no purpose. It appeared a kind of marvel, considering the rapidity of the current in the strait, which neither man nor animal, nor any ordinary vessel can resist, much less ascend.
The map will show that from this place you sail up Lake Conty (Erie), to Lake Orleans (Huron), which terminates in Lake Dauphin (Michigan); these lakes being each a hundred, or a hundred and twenty leagues long, by forty or fifty wide, communicating with one another by easy channels and straits, which offer vessels a convenient and beautiful navigation. All these lakes are full of fish; the country is most finely situated, the soil temperate, being north and south, bordered by vast prairies, which terminate in hills covered with vines, fruit-trees, groves, and tall woods, all scattered here and there, so that one would think that the ancient Romans, princes and nobles would have made them as many villas. The soil is everywhere equally fertile.
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The sieur de la Salle having entered Lake Conty on the 7th, crossed it in three days, and on the 10th reached the strait (Detroit), by which he entered Lake Orleans. The voyage was interrupted by a storm as violent as could be met in the open sea; our people lost all hope of escape; but a vow which they made to St. Anthony, of Padua, the patron of mariners, delivered them by a kind of miracle, so that, after long making head against the wind, the vessel on the 27th reached Missilimakinak, which is north of the strait, by which we go from Lake Orleans to Lake Dauphin.
No vessels had yet been seen sailing on the lakes; yet an enterprise which should have been sustained by all well-meaning persons, for the glory of God, and the service of the king, had produced precisely the opposite feelings and effects, which had been already communicated to the Hurons, the Outao�ats of the island and the neighboring nations, to make them ill affected. The sieur de la Salle even found here the fifteen men, whom he had sent in the spring, prejudiced against him, and seduced from his service; a part of his goods wasted, far from having proceeded to the Ilinois to trade according to their orders; the sieur de Tonty, who was at their head, having in vain made every effort to inspire them with fidelity.
At last he weighed anchor on the 2d of September, and arrived pretty safely at the Bay of the Fetid (Green bay), at the entrance of Lake Dauphin, forty leagues from Missilimakinak. Would to God that the sieur de la Salle had continued his route in the vessel. His wisdom could not foresee the misfortunes which awaited him; he deemed proper to send it back by the same route to Niagara, with the furs already
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bought, in order to pay his creditors. He even left in it a part of his goods and implements, which were not easy to transport. The captain had orders to return with the vessel as soon as possible, and join us in the Ilinois.Meanwhile, on the 18th of September, the sieur de la Salle with our fathers and seventeen men, continued their route in canoes by Lake Dauphin, from the Pouteotatamis to the mouth of the river of the Miamis (St. Joseph's), where they arrived on the first of November. This place had been appointed a rendezvous for twenty Frenchmen, who came by the opposite shore, and also for the sieur de Tonty, who had been sent by the sieur de la Salle to Missilimakinak on another expedition.
The sieur de la Salle built a fort there to protect his men and property against any attack of the Indians; our religious soon had a bark cabin erected to serve as a chapel, where they exercised their ministry for French and Indians until the third of December, when leaving four men in the fort, they went in search of the portage which would bring them to the Seignelay (Ilinois), which descends to the Missisipi. They embarked on this river to the number of thirty or forty, by which after a hundred, or a hundred and twenty leagues sail, they arrived toward the close of December, at the largest Ilinois village, composed of about four or five hundred cabins each of five or six families.
It is the custom of these tribes at harvest-time to put their Indian corn in caches, in order to keep it for summer when meat easily spoils, and to go and pass the winter in hunting wild cattle and beaver, carrying very little grain. That of our people had run short, so that passing by the Ilinois village, they were obliged, there being no one there, to take some Indian corn, as much as they deemed necessary for their subsistence.
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They left it on the 1st of January, 1680, and by the 4th, were thirty leagues lower down amid the Ilinois camp; they were encamped on both sides of the river, which is very narrow there, but soon after forms a lake about seven leagues long, and about one wide, called Pimiteoui, meaning in their language that there are plenty of fat beasts there. The sieur de la Salle estimated it at 33° 45'. It is remarkable, because the Ilinois river, which for several months in winter is frozen down to it, never is from this place to the mouth, although navigation is at times interrupted by accumulations of floating ice from above.Our people had been assured that the Ilinois had been excited and prejudiced against them. Finding himself then in the midst of their camp, which lay on both sides of the river, at a narrow pass, where the current was hurrying on the canoes faster than they liked, the sieur de la Salle promptly put his men under arms, and ranged his canoes abreast so as to occupy the whole breadth of the river, the canoes nearest the two banks, in which were the sieur de Tonty, and the sieur de la Salle, were not more than half a pistol-shot from the shore. The Ilinois, who had not yet discovered the little flotilla ranged in battle order, were alarmed; some ran to arms, others fled in incredible confusion. The sieur de la Salle had a calumet of peace, but would not show it, not liking to appear weak before them. As they were soon so near that they could understand each other, they asked our Frenchmen, who they were. They replied that they were French, still keeping their arms ready, and letting the current bear them down in order, because there was no landing place till below the camp.
The Indians alarmed and intimidated by this bold conduct (although they were several thousand against a handful), immediately
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presented three calumets; our people at the same time presented theirs, and their terror changing to joy, they conducted our party to their cabins, showed us a thousand civilities, and sent to call back those who had fled. They were told, that we came only to give them a knowledge of the true God, to defend them against their enemies, to bring them arms and other conveniences of life. Besides presents made them, they were paid for the Indian corn taken at their village; a close alliance was made with them, the rest of the day being spent in feasts and mutual greetings.All the sieur de la Salle's intrepidity and skill were needed to keep the alliance intact, as Monsoela, one of the chiefs of the nation of Maskoutens came that very evening to traverse it. It was known that he was sent by others than those of his nation; he had even with him some Miamis, and young men bearing kettles, knives, axes, and other goods. He had been chosen for this embassy rather than a Miami chief, to give more plausibility to what he should say, the Ilinois not having been at war with the Maskoutens, as they had with the Miamis. He cabaled even the whole night, speaking of the sieur de la Salle as an intriguer, a friend of the Iroquois, coming to the Ilinois only to open the way to their enemies, who were coming on all sides with the French to destroy them; he made them presents of all that he had brought, and even told them that he came on behalf of several Frenchmen whom he named.
This council was held at night, the time chosen by the Indians to transact secret business. This embassador retired the same night, so that the next day the Ilinois chiefs were found completely changed, cold and distrustful, appearing even to plot against our Frenchmen, who were shaken by the change, but the sieur de la Salle, who had attached one of the chiefs
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to him particularly by some present, learned from him the subject of this change. His address soon dispelled all these suspicions, but did not prevent six of his men, already tampered with and prejudiced at Michilimaldnak, from deserting that very day.The sieur de la Salle not only reassured that nation, but found means in the sequel, to disabuse the Maskoutens and Miamis, and to form an alliance between them and the Ilinois which lasted as long as the sieur de la Salle was in the country.
With this assurance the little army, on the 14th of January, 1680, the floating ice from above having ceased, repaired to a little eminence, a site quite near the Ilinois camp where the Sieur de la Salle immediately set to work to build a fort, which he called Crevecoeur, on account of the many disappointments he had experienced, but which never shook his firm resolve. The fort was well advanced, and the little vessel already up to the string-piece by the first of March, when he resolved to proceed to Fort Frontenac. There were four or five hundred leagues to go by land, but not finding his brigantine, the Griffin, return, nor those he had sent on to meet her, and foreseeing the disastrous consequences of the probable loss of his vessel, his courage rose above the difficulties of so long and painful a journey.
As he had chosen Father Louis, and as the latter had offered to continue the discovery toward the north, by ascending the Missisipi, the sieur de la Salle reserving to himself its continuation in canoe by descending till he found the sea, Father Louis set out in canoe from Fort Crevecoeur on the 29th of February, 1680, with two men well armed and equipped, who had besides twelve hundred livres in goods, which make a good passport. The enterprise was great and hardy,
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although it did not equal the great zeal of the intrepid missionary who undertook and continued it with all the firmness, constancy, and edification, which can be desired, amid inconceivable toils.Although the discovery had already been pushed four or five hundred leagues into Louisiana,
I have hitherto given only a short abridgment of the Relations which Father Zenobius Membre gives of the commencement of this enterprise. Father Louis, whom we see starting for the upper Missisipi has published a description of the countries which he visited and into which he carried the gospel. I therefore refer my reader to it without repeating it here.
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Bibliographical Notice of the Works of Father Louis Hennepin, A Recollect of the Province of St. Anthony, in Artois.
We have already in the notice on Le Clercq alluded to the uncertainty which hangs around many of the works connected with the history of La Salle. In them, however, it was a question as to authorship, alterations made by publishers, or the influence of party spirit in the original writers; against Hennepin, however, there is a still heavier charge. A good man may be so blinded by party zeal as to be unjust to others, and be guilty of acts which he would personally shrink from doing, and in this case we must, to attain the truth, realize fully the position of the antagonistic parties at the time. Such is peculiarly the case with Le Clercq, as we have shown, and in judging the work, we have endeavored to go back to his own period.
The charge against Hennepin is, that he was vain, conceited, exaggerating, and even mendacious. To weigh so serious an accusation, we shall examine his several volumes, which, however, as will be seen, resolve themselves into two, published at an interval of fourteen years. It is the more necessary to enter into a full discussion of his merits as few works relative to America have been more widely spread than that of Hennepin. Published originally in French, it appeared subsequently in Dutch, English, Italian, and Spanish, and if I am not mistaken in German; and in a large class of writers is quoted with the commendation. It was, however, soon attacked. The editor of Joutel, in 1713, calls it in question; but he was too ignorant of Canadian history to give his charge any weight. Severer strictures were passed upon it by Harris, and by Kalm, the celebrated Swedish traveller. Harris says, in vol. ii., p. 350, "As to the accounts of La Hontan, and Father Hennepin, they have been formerly very much admired, yet we are now well satisfied that they are rather romances than relations, and that their authors had their particular schemes so much in view, that they have made no scruple of abusing the confidence of mankind." In this country, within the last few years a more thorough examination of authorities has consigned Hennepin,
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Missionare Eecollet et Notaire Apostolique, pp. 312, and 107 Paris Auroy, 1684.Charlevoix takes exception to the title of this work on the ground that he misapplies the name Louisiana, but in fact Illinois, from La Salle's time, was included under that name. The title is, however, false in the words "newly discovered to the southwest of Canada," as no new discovery had been made in that direction, and the whole volume can show nothing in the way of new exploration, beyond what had already been published in Europe, except of so much of the Mississippi as lies between the Wisconsin river and the falls of St. Anthony, which he was the first European to travel. But let us enter on the volume itself, which, apart from any intrinsic faults, possesses considerable value, as being the first published, and by far the fullest account of La Salle's first expedition. Such it pretends to be, and accordingly opens with an account of that adventurer's project of reaching China, his attempt with some Sulpitians, in 1669, and his establishment at Fort Frontenac. Hennepin introduces himself to us, for the first time, on page twelve, as having established a mission at that fort with Father Luke Buisset; then mentions Joliet's voyage down the Mississippi as far as the Illinois (Indians), which he represents as the work of La Salle's enemies. Then follow the latter's voyage to France, in 1677, his return the next year with an order for the author to accompany him in his discoveries, and his own voyage to Fort Frontenac, which he details as though it were his first trip to that place. At Fort Frontenac La Salle's expedition begins, and our author relates all that happened with great detail, and a vast profusion of nautical expressions, down to the building of Fort Crevecceur, and his own departure from it, February 29th, 1680. His journal from this point being given in the present volume, we need not analyze it further than to say, that being sent to explore the Illinois to its mouth, in the Mississippi (p. 184), he reached that point on the 8th of March (192), and after being detained there by floating ice till the 12th, continued his route, traversing and sounding the river. Then follows, not a journal of his voyage, but a geographical description of the upper Mississippi, from the Illinois river to Mille lake and the Sioux country. After this description, he resumes his journal and tells us (p. 206), that he was taken by the Indians on the eleventh of April, after having sailed two hundred leagues (p. 218), from the Illinois (Indians). He was taken by them to their villages, relieved by de Luth in July, and returned to Mackinaw by way of the Wisconsin and Green bay. Thence, in the spring, he proceeded to the Seneca country, Fort Frontenac and Montreal. His work contains, besides the journal given, only some account of the party he left at Fort Crevecoeur, from letters he saw at Quebec, and of La Salle's descent to the gulf from others received by him in France. This is followed by an account of the manners of the savages (p. 107).
Taking this volume by itself, the reader is struck by the unclerical character of the writer, his intense vanity and fondness for exaggeration. The manner in which he rises in importance, is truly amusing; not only does he, to all appearance, make himself the superior of the little band of missionaries in La Salle's expedition, but even a kind of joint commander with La Salle himself. Take as a specimen the following passage, which we select the more readily, as it bears on his voyage to the Mississippi Fort Crevecceur was almost built, the Dauphin had
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sent no tidings of her voyage, the men were discontented and mutinous, all was dark and gloomy around the exploring party in Illinois. "We must remark," says Hennepin, "that the winter in the Ilinois country is not longer than that in Provence; but, in 1679, the snow lasted more than twenty days, to the great astonishment of the Indians who had never seen so severe a winter, so that the sieur de la Salle and I beheld ourselves exposed to new hardships that will appear incredible to those who have no experience of great voyages and new discoveries. Fort Crevecoeur was almost completed, the wood was all prepared to finish the bark, but we had not cordage, nor sails, nor iron enough; we received no tidings of the bark we had left on Lake Dauphin, nor of those sent to find what had become of her; meanwhile the sieur de la Salle saw that summer was coming on, and that, if he waited some months in vain, our enterprise would be retarded one year, and perhaps two or three, because being so far from Canada, he could not regulate affairs, nor have the necessary articles forwarded.In this extremity we both took a resolution as extraordinary as it was difficult to execute, I to go with two men in unknown countries where we are every moment in great danger of death, and he on foot to Fort Frontenac more than five hundred leagues distant. We were then at the close of winter, which had been, as we have said, as severe in America as in France; the ground was still covered with snow, which was neither melted nor able to bear a man in snowshoes. He had to carry the usual equipment in such eases, that is, a blanket, pot, axe, gun, powder, and lead, with dressed skins to make Indian shoes, which last only a day, French shoes being of no use in the western countries. Besides, he had to resolve to pierce through thickets, march through marshes and melting snow, sometimes waist high, for whole days, at times with nothing to eat, because he and his three companions could not carry provisions, being compelled to rely for subsistence on what they killed with their guns, and to expect to drink only the water they found on the way. Finally he was exposed everyday, and especially every night, to be surprised by four or five nations at war with each other, with this difference that the nations through which he had to pass all know the French, while those where I was going had never seen Europeans. Yet all these difficulties did not astound him any more than myself; our only difficulty was to find some of our men stout enough to accompany us and prevent the rest already much shaken from deserting on our departure." This is a remarkable passage, and has struck almost every writer on La Salle as their accounts often seem inspired by this graphic sketch of Hennepin. It is more than we said at first: Hennepin is here even greater than La Salle in the resolution he took at this trying crisis. After this we expect to see the two commanders depart on their dangerous expeditions, we run over the succeeding pages, the highflown language cools down, and we come to some details of La Salle's appointment of Tonty to command, which, are followed by these matter-of-fact words, completely destroying the delusion created by the preceding passage.
"He begged me to take the trouble to go and discover in advance the route he would have to take as far as the river Colbert on his return from Canada, but as I had an abscess in my mouth which had suppurated constantly for a year and a half, I showed my repugnance, and told him that I needed to go back to Canada to have medical treatment. He replied, that if I refused this voyage,
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he would write to my superiors that I would be the cause of the failure of our new missions; the reverend father Gabriel de la Ribourde, who had been my novice master, begged me to go, telling me, that if I died of that infirmity, God would one day be glorified by my apostolic labors. ‘True, my son,’ said that venerable old man, whose head was whitened with more than forty years' austere penance, ‘you will have many monsters to overcome, and precipices to pass, in this enterprise which requires the strength of the most robust; you do not know a word of the language of these tribes whom you are going to endeavor to gain to God, but take courage, you will gain as many victories as you have combats.’ Considering that this father had at his age been ready to come to my aid in the second year of our new discoveries, with the view of announcing Christ to unknown tribes, and that this old man was the only male descendant and heir of his father's house, for he was a Burgundian of rank, I offered to make the voyage and endeavor to make the acquaintance of the tribes among whom I hoped soon to establish myself, and preach the faith. The sieur de la Salle showed me his satisfaction, gave me a calumet of peace, and a canoe with two men, one of whom was called the Picard du Gay, who is now at Paris, and the other, Michael Ako; the latter he intrusted with some merchandise fit to make presents, and worth ten or twelve thousand livres; and to myself he gave ten knives, twelve awls, a little roll of tobacco to give to the Indians, about two pounds of white and black beads, a little package of needles, declaring that he would have given me more, if he could. In fact, he is quite liberal to his friends. Having received the blessing of the reverend father Gabriel, and taken leave of the sieur de la Salle, and embraced all the party who came down to see us off, Father Gabriel concluding his adieu with the words, ‘Viriliter age et confortetur cor tuum,’ we set out from Fort Crevecoeur on the 29th of February," &c.Can anything be more striking than the difference of these two accounts; in one he seems a leader, in the other, a reluctant member of the expedition?
But La Salle is not the only one sacrificed to his vanity. Delivered by de Luth from his Sioux captivity, he seems to lay that officer under great obligations to him, and disposes of him so summarily, that the name of de Luth, after being only three times mentioned, disappears from his pages, and he seems to be the commander of the united parties. He passes by one Jesuit mission at Green-bay without mentioning its existence, winters at another at Mackinaw, not only without uttering a word to induce us to suppose a missionary there, but actually using expressions which give us the idea that he was the only missionary to be found in all those parts, to minister to the Christians and instruct the heathen. When he leaves Mackinaw, in April, 1681, our Recollect rises still higher in importance; he is fired at the wrongs of an Ottawa chief, and apparently considering it beneath him to look for La Salle, or give him any account of the expedition on which he had been sent, proceeds to the Seneca country, convenes a council, compels that haughty tribe to make amends to the injured Ottawa, and returns to Fort Frontenac, after this somewhat curious proceeding in a good friar who never meddled in civil affairs, as some other people did. He crowns the whole by telling us at the close of the volume, that La Salle descended to the gulf, "as I had made peace with the nations of the north and northwest, five hundred leagues up the river Colbert, who made war on the Ilinois and southern tribes."
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This is enough to show to what extent even then he pushed his self-glorification. As to the object of his expedition, we are completely in the dark; we can not tell whether he was sent to explore the Illinois to its mouth, or to open intercourse with some tribe or tribes, where it was intended to begin a mission. At all events, he says nothing of having been sent up the Mississippi; but whatever was his mission, he seems to have so well avoided La Salle, that they never met again. Hennepin hastened back to France, and by the 3d of September, 1682, had the royal permission to print his work, which issued from the press on the 6th of January, 1683, though most copies have on the titlepage the date 1684 He was then for a time, it would seem, at Chateau Cambrensis, till ordered by his superiors to return to America; this he refused, and was in consequence compelled to leave France. Falling in with Mr. Blaithwait, secretary of war to William III., he passed to the service of the English king, as a Spanish subject, by permission of his own sovereign and his clerical superiors, as he avers. He assumed a lay dress in a convent at Antwerp, and proceeding to Utrecht, published in 1697, a new work entitled —
II. "Nouvelle description d'un tres grand pays situé dans l'Amerique entre le nouveau Mexique et la mer gl aeiale," reprinted the next year as "Wouvelle Decouverte d'un pays plus grandque l'Europe," a translation of which appeared in England, in 1699, entitled: "A new discovery of a vast country in America, extending above four thousand miles between New France and New Mexico."
This work begins with his own personal history, and from it we derive the following data for a life of this worthy, should any one deem it worth while to attempt it. He was born at Ath, in Hainault, and feeling a strong inclination to retire from the world, entered the order of St. Francis. He was soon seized with a desire of rambling; and while studying Dutch at Ghent, was strongly tempted to go to the East Indies, but was appeased by a tour through the Franciscan convents of Italy and Germany, back to Hainault, where, for a whole year, he was compelled to discharge the ministry. This year of permanent residence in one spot seems to have been an epoch in his erratic life. He next roamed to Artois, thence set out to beg at Calais, returned by Dunkirk to Dies, and after sauntering through several Dutch towns, spent eight months at Maestrieht, in the care of an hospital, where acquiring some military ardor, he was next an army chaplain at the battle of Senef (1674), immediately after which he was sent to Rochelle to embark for Canada. A convent life was, it is clear, irksome to him, and how little he was sensible of the dignity of the priesthood, either before God or man, we may judge by this extraordinary admission: "I used oftentimes to skulk behind the doors of victualling houses, to hear the seamen give an account of their adventures... This occupation was so agreeable to me, that [despite, he tells us, the nausea caused by their smoking] I spent whole days and nights at it without eating." Arrived in Canada, he preached the Advent and Lent to the hospital nuns at Quebec, being chosen by Bishop Laval, whose favor he had secured on the voyage by a display of zeal which by a train of incidents drew on him all La Salle's enmity. This brings him to 1676 when after rambling around Quebec, as far as Three-Rivers, he was sent to Fort Frontenac, with Father Buisset to direct the Indians gathered there. This now became the centre of new rambles, which he extended to the cantons of the
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Five Nations, visiting Onondaga, Oneida, and the Mohawk, in the last of which while entertained by the Jesuit missionary (probably Father Bruyas), he copied his Iroquois dictionary, for in this work, as if to spite his former friends, he mentions those missionaries in several places with terms of praise. He then visits Albany, and though entreated by the Dutch to stay, returned to Fort Frontenac. In 1678, he went down to Quebec, and soon after his arrival received orders to join La Salle's expedition. From this point his journal rolls on as in the "Description de la Louisiane," down to the 12th of March, 1680, till which day he was detained by the floating ice, but here a new scene breaks on the startled reader: Hennepin tells us, that he actually went down the Mississippi to the gulf, but had not published the fact to avoid the hostility of LaSalle. Amazed at so unexpected a revelation, we read on carefully, but find that he waited till the twelfth, yet started on the eighth, being consequently in two places at once, each moment during those four days; thus aided, he reached the mouth of the Mississippi by the twenth-fifth, or at most, twenty-sixth of March, after celebrating, on the 23d of March, the festival of Easter which, unfortunately for his accuracy, fell that year on the 21st of April, as he himself knew, for in his former work (p. 242), he states that he reached the Issati village about Easter, which, in his loose style, means some days after it. But to return to his voyage down, achieved in thirteen, or at most, eighteen days; he planted a cross and wished to wait a few days to make observations, but his men refused, and he was compelled to embark again. They did wait, however, some days it seems, for he started only on the first of April; by the twenty-fourth, he had reached and left the Arkansas, as he tells us in two different places (pp. 129, 137), and ascending toward the Illinois, advanced only by night for fear of a surprise by the French of Fort Crevecoeur. By the twelfth of the same month of April, being twelve days before he reached the Arkansas, he was taken by the Sioux a hundred and fifty leagues above the mouth of the Illinois, making all that distance from the gulf in eleven days, and the distance from the Arkansas, in considerably less than no time at all.From this point, it continues with but occasional variations, as in the Description de la Louisiane, except that de Luth appears more frequently down to their ascending the Wisconsin.
The second part, or second volume, contains an account of La Salle's last voyage, in which Father Anastasius is frequently cited; the subsequent part, from page 49 to 151, treats of the manners, and customs of the Indians, and their conversion, and then follows an account of the capture of Quebec, in 1628, by the English, and of the early Recollect missions.
Two things in this volume at once meet us, the horrible confusion of dates, and the utter impossibility of performing the voyages in the times given. These objections were made at the time, but were stoutly met by Hennepin, although the former seems not to have been much attended to by him. He gives us, however, a dissertation on the variation of the needle, and the difference of time in Europe and America, which had confused him somewhat in his ideas, and prevented his accuracy in that point. As to the impracticability of the matter, he denies it, averring that he had time enough and to spare, as a bark canoe can, if necessary, go ninety miles a day up stream!
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But a heavier charge was made when his new work was compared to the Etablissement de la Foi; his new journal down was but a set of scraps from that of Father Membre, and the reader may verify the truth of this charge by examining the parallel passages given by the accurate and judicious Sparks, in his life of La Salle, or by comparing Membre's journal in this volume with the English Hennepin, or even with the abridgment of it in vol. i., of Historical Collections of Louisiana. Hennepin admits the similarity, and accuses le Clercq or le Roux, whom he asserts to be the real author, of having published as Membre's, his, Hennepin's journal, which he had lent to le Roux, at Quebec. Let us hear his own words: "But if I do not blame Father le Clercq for the honorable mention he makes of his relative (Membr×), I think everybody will condemn him for his concealing the name of the author he has transcribed, and thereby attributing to himself (? Membr× or le Clercq), the glory of my perilous voyage. This piece of injustice is common enough in this age."
Sparks, who has the honor of having completely exposed Hennepin, and "the injustice common in that age," which induced Hennepin, le Clercq, Douay, Joutel, and others, to endeavor to rob Marquette of the glory due to his perilous voyage, shows this pretext of Hennepin to be groundless. We might stop to examine it, if only here he had copied le Clercq; but, on examination, we find that almost all the additional matter in the Nouvelle Decouverte is drawn from the Etablissement de la Foi, and almost literally. This is the case with the whole second part, where, though he cites Father Anastasius, he copies the remarks of the author of the Etablissement. What relates to the Indians is full of extracts from the latter work, and the capture of Quebec, and the early missions are mere copies. In the edition of 1720, which Charlevoix calls the second, and, perhaps, in some previous edition the amount of stolen matter is still larger; but some was of such a nature as to bring ecclesiastical censure on the work. For, strange as it may seem, Hennepin residing unfrocked in Holland, the flatterer and pensioner of William III., seems to have remained a Catholic and Franciscan to the last; at least I have seen nothing to establish the contrary. Had interest or ambition been his only motive, he would certainly have thrown off both titles at a time when the frenzy of religious animosity possessed the English public.
But while doing him this justice, that he does not seem to have been led by interest or ambition of place, while admitting that many of his descriptions are graphic, and to some extent reliable, we say all that can be said in his favor. Where in the main fact he is supported by others, we have followed him with caution in details, but we must admit that the charges brought against him are too well substantiated to allow us hesitate as to his character.
A question still remains as to what he really did do on leaving Fort Crevecoeur. In his first work, as we have already remarked, he states that he was sent to explore the Illinois to its mouth, or to visit some tribes where a mission was to be established; and he tells us that he had some design of going down the Mississippi to the gulf, but he nowhere says that he ascended it before he was taken. In the last, he was sent to the Mississippi, and the tribes on it to get the friendship of the nations inhabiting its banks, and as he tells us he went down. In both, at a very late period, he tells us that La Salle promised to send him further supplies at the mouth of the Wisconsin.
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In neither have we any journal of his voyage up the river; the geographical description is not that of a traveller ascending, as he describes first what he saw last; and though voyaging with Sioux, gives the Wisconsin the same name as Marquette, who reached it through the Outagamis. What then did he do between March 12th, and April 12th? This must remain a mystery. That he went down to the gulf, is too absurd to be received for a moment; that he went up is nowhere asserted by him, and is, I think, very doubtful. For my own part, I should rather believe that he was taken in an attempt to descend, or in some way acting contrary to the directions of La Salle. His evident avoiding of the latter is suspicious, and shows that he could not give a satisfactory account of his proceedings; for wintering at Mackinaw, he must have known that La Salle had passed out to rejoin them at Fort Cr×vecoeur, and that his own companions had been compelled to leave the fort, and were then at Green bay.
In the meantime Hennepin's account of the upper Mississippi must stand as first published, though we can not tell how much of it he really saw; standing on its own merits, it is an account which the first American explorers of the upper river compared as they went along, and found sufficiently accurate in one who could only guess at the various distances which he had to mention. As a valuable paper connected with the discoveries of the Mississippi, we insert it here, regretting our inability to give in justice a more flattering portrait of the writer.
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Narrative of the Voyage to the Upper Mississippi, by Father Louis Hennepin. From His "Description de la Louisiane," Printed at Paris, in 1683.
We set out from Fort Cr×vecoeur the 29th of February, 1680, and toward evening, while descending the Seignelay [Ilinois], we met on the way several parties of Islinois
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The river Seignelay on which we were sailing, is as deep and broad as the Seine, at Paris, and in two or three places widens out to a quarter of a league. It is lined with hills, whose sides are covered with fine large trees. Some of these hills are half a league apart, leaving between them a marshy strip often inundated, especially in the spring and fall, but producing, nevertheless, quite large trees. On ascending these hills, you discover prairies further than the eye can reach, studded at intervals, with groves of tall trees, apparently planted there intentionally. The current of the river is not perceptible, except in time of great rains; it is at all times navigable for large barks about a hundred leagues, from its mouth to the Islinois village, whence its course almost always runs south by southwest.
On the 7th of March, we found, about two leagues from its mouth, a nation called Tamaroa, or Maroa, composed of two hundred familes. They would have taken us to their village west of the river Colbert (Mississippi), six or seven leagues below the mouth of the river Seignelay; but our two canoemen, in hopes of still greater gain, preferred to pass on, according to the advice I then gave them. These last Indians seeing that we carried iron and arms to their enemies, and unable to overtake us in their periaguas, which are wooden canoes, much heavier than our bark ones, which went much faster than their boats, despatched their young men after us by land, to pierce us with their arrows at some narrow part of the river, but in vain; for soon after discovering the fire made by these warriors at their ambuscade, we crossed the river at once, and gaining the other side, encamped in an island, leaving our canoe loaded and our little dog to wake as, so as to embark with all speed, should the Indians attempt to surprise us by swimming across.
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Soon after leaving these Indians, we came to the mouth of the River Seignelay, fifty leagues distant from Fort Cr&eagrave;vecoeur, and about a hundred from the great Islinois village. It is between 36° and 37° N. latitude, and consequently one hundred and twenty or thirty leagues from the gulf of Mexico.
In the angle formed on the south by this river, at its mouth, is a flat precipitous rock, about forty feet high, very well suited for building a fort. On the northern side, opposite the rock, and on the west side beyond the river, are fields of black earth, the end of which you can not see, all ready for cultivation, which would be very advantageous for the existence of a colony.
The ice which floated down from the north kept us in this place till the 12th of March, when we continued our route, traversing the river and sounding on all sides to see whether it was navigable. There are, indeed, three islets in the middle, near the mouth of the river Seignelay, which stop the floating wood and trees from the north, and form several large sand-bars, yet the channels are deep enough, and there is sufficient water for barks; large flat-boats can pass there at all times.
The River Colbert runs south-southwest, and comes from the north and northwest; it runs between two chains of mountains, quite small here, which wind with the river, and in some places are pretty far from the banks, so that between the mountains and the river, there are large prairies, where you often see herds of wild cattle browsing. In other places these eminences leave semi-circular spots covered with grass or wood. Beyond these mountains you discover vast plains, but the more we approach the northern side ascending, the earth became apparently less fertile, and the woods less beautiful than in the Islinois country.
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This great river is almost everywhere a short league in width, and in some place, two or three; it is divided by a number of islands covered with trees, interlaced with so many vines as to be almost impassable. It receives no considerable river on the western side except that of the Otontenta,
On the eastern side you meet first an inconsiderable river (Rock river), and then further on another, called by the Indians Onisconsin, or Misconsin, which comes from the east and east-northeast. Sixty leagues up you leave it, and make a portage of half a league to reach the Bay of the Fetid (Puants) by another river which, near its course, meanders most curiously. It is almost as large as the river Seignelay, or Ilinois, and empties into the river Colbert, a hundred leagues above the river Seignelay.
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Twenty-four leagues above, you come to the Black river called by the Nadouessious, or Islati Chabadeba, or Chabaaudeba, it seems quite inconsiderable. Thirty leagues higher up, you find the lake of Tears (Lake Pepin), which we so named, because some of the Indians who had taken us, wishing to kill us, wept the whole night, to induce the others to consent to our death. This lake which is formed by the River Colbert, is seven leagues long, and about four wide; there is no considerable current in the middle that we could perceive, but only at its entrance and exit.
Forty leagues above is a river full of rapids (St. Croix), by which, striking northwest, you can reach Lake Cond× (Superior), that is, as far as Nimissakouat river,
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Issati left there the body of one of their warriors, killed by a rattlesnake. According to their custom, I put a blanket on the grave, which act of humanity gained me much importance by the gratitude displayed by the deceased's countrymen, in a great banquet which they gave me in their country, and to which more than a hundred Indians were invited.Continuing to ascend the Colbert ten or twelve leagues more, the navigation is interrupted by a fall, which I called St. Anthony of Padua's, in gratitude for the favors done me by the Almighty through the intercession of that great saint, whom we had chosen patron and protector of all our enterprises. This fall is forty or fifty feet high, divided in the middle by a rocky island of pyramidal form.
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last lake spreads out into great marshes, producing wild-rice, like many other places down to the extremity of the Bay of the Fetid. This kind of grain grows wild in marshy places: it resembles oats, but tastes better, and the stems are longer as well as the stalk. The Indians gather it when ripe. The women tie several stalks together with white wood bark to prevent its being all devoured by the flocks of duck and teal found there. The Indians lay in a stock for part of the year, to eat out of the hunting season.Lake Buade, or Lake of the Issati (Mille lake), is about seventy leagues west of Lake Conde; it is impossible to go from one to the other on account of the marshy and quaggy nature of the ground; you might go, though with difficulty on the snow in snowshoes; by water it is a hundred and fifty leagues, on account of the many detours to be made, and there are many portages. From Lake Conde, to go conveniently in canoe, you must pass by Tomb river, where we found only the bones of the Indian whom I mentioned above, the bears having eaten the flesh, and pulled up poles which the deceased's relatives had planted in form of a monument. One of our boatmen found a war-calumet beside the grave, and an earthen pot upset, in which the Indians had left fat buffalo meat, to assist the departed, as they say, in making his journey to the land of souls.
In the neighborhood of Lake Buade are many other lakes, whence issue several rivers, on the banks of which live the Issati, Nadouessans, Tinthonha (which means prairie-men), Chongaskethon, Dog, or Wolf tribe (for chonga among these nations means dog or wolf), and other tribes, all which we comprise under the name Nadonessiou. These Indians number eight or nine thousand warriors, very brave, great runners, and very good bowmen. It was by a part of these tribes
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that I and our two canoemen were taken in the following way: —We scrupulously said our morning and evening prayers every day on embarking, and the Angelus at noon, adding some paraphrases on the Response of St. Bonaventure in honor of St. Anthony of Padua. In this way we begged of God to meet these Indians by day, for when they discover people at night, they kill them as enemies, to rob those whom they murder secretly of some axes or knives which they value more than we do gold and silver; they even kill their own allies, when they can conceal their death, so as afterward to boast of having killed men, and so pass for soldiers.
We had considered the river Colbert with great pleasure, and without hinderance, to know whether it was navigable up and down: we were loaded with seven or eight large turkeys, which multiply of themselves in these parts. We wanted neither buffalo nor deer, nor beaver, nor fish, nor bear meat, for we killed those animals as they swam across the river.
Our prayers were heard when, on the 11th of April, 1680, about two o'clock in the afternoon, we suddenly perceived thirty-three bark canoes, manned by a hundred and twenty Indians, coming down with extraordinary speed, to make war on the Miamis, Islinois, and Maroa. These Indians surrounded us, and while at a distance, discharged some arrows at us; but as they approached our canoe the old men seeing us with the calumet of peace in our hands, prevented the young men from killing us. These brutal men leaping from their canoes, some on land, others into the water with frightful cries and yells, approached us, and as we made no resistance, being only three against so great a number, one of them wrenched our calumet from our hands, while our canoe
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and theirs were tied to the shore. We first presented them a piece of French tobacco, better for smoking than theirs, and the eldest among them uttered the words Miamiha, Miamiha. As we did not understand their language, we took a little stick, and by signs which we made on the sand, showed them that their enemies, the Miamis whom they sought, had fled across the river Colbert to join the Islinois; when they saw themselves discovered and unable to surprise their enemies, three or four old men, laying their hands on my head, wept in a lugubrious tone. With a wretched handkerchief I had left, I wiped away their tears, but they would not smoke our peace-calumet. They made us cross the river with great cries, which all shouted together with tears in their eyes; they made us row before them, and we heard yells capable of striking the most resolute with terror. After landing our canoe and goods, part of which had been already taken, we made a fire to boil our kettle; we gave them two large wild turkeys that we had killed. These Indians having called an assembly to deliberate what they were to do with us; the two head-chiefs of the party approaching, showed us, by signs, that the warriors wished to tomahawk us. This compelled me to go to the war chiefs with one of my men, leaving the other by our property, and throw into their midst six axes, fifteen knives, and six fathom of our black tobacco, then bowing down my head, I showed them, with an axe, that they might kill us, if they thought proper. This present appeased many individual members, who gave us some beaver to eat, putting the three first morsels in our mouth according to the custom of the country, and blowing on the meat which was too hot, before putting their bark dish before us, to let us eat as we liked; we spent the night in anxiety, because before retiring at night, they had returned us our peace-calumet.116
Our two boatmen were, however, resolved to sell their lives dearly, and to resist if attacked; their arms and swords were ready. As for my own part, I determined to allow myself to be killed without any resistance, as I was going to announce to them a God, who had been falsely accused, unjustly condemned, and cruelly crucified, without showing the least aversion to those who put him to death. We watched in turn in our anxiety so as not to be surprised asleep.In the morning, April 12th, one of their captains named Narrhetoba, with his face and bare body smeared with paint, asked me for our peace-calumet, filled it with tobacco of his country, made all his band smoke first, and then all the others who plotted our ruin. He then gave us to understand that we must go with them to their country, and they all turned back with us; having thus broken off their voyage, I was not sorry in this conjuncture to continue our discovery with these people.
But my greatest trouble was, that I found it difficult to say my office before these Indians, many seeing me move my lips said, in a fierce tone, Ouackanch×; and as we did not know a word of their language, we believed that they were angry at it. Michael Ako, all out of countenance, told me, that if I continued to say my breviary we should all three be killed, and the Picard begged me at least to pray apart, so as not to provoke them. I followed the latter's advice, but the more I concealed myself, the more I had the Indians at my heels, for when I entered the wood, they thought I was going to hide some goods under ground, so that I knew not on what side to turn to pray, for they never let me out of sight. This obliged me to beg pardon of my two canoemen, assuring them that I could not dispense with saying my office, that if we were massacred for that, I would be the innocent
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cause of their death, as well as of my own. By the word Ouakanch×, the Indians meant that the book I was reading was a spirit; but by their gesture they nevertheless showed a kind of aversion, so that to accustom them to it, I chanted the litany of the Blessed Virgin in the canoe with my book open. They thought that the breviary was a spirit which taught me to sing for their diversion, for these people are naturally fond of singing.The outrages done us by these Indians during our whole route was incredible, for seeing that our canoe was much larger and more heavily laden than theirs (for they have only a quiver full of arrows, a bow, and a wretched dressed skin, to serve too as a blanket at night, for it was still pretty cold at that season, always going north), and that we could not go faster than they, they put some warriors with us to help us row, to oblige us to follow them. These Indians sometimes make thirty or forty leagues, when at war and pressed for time, or anxious to surprise some enemy. Those who had taken us were of various villages and of different opinions as to us; we cabined every night by the young chief who had asked for our peace-calumet, and put ourselves under his protection; but jealousy arose among these Indians, so that the chief of the party named Aquipaguetin, one of whose sons had been killed by the Miamis, seeing that he could not avenge his death on that nation as he had wished, turned all his rage on us. He wept through almost every night him he had lost in war, to oblige those who had come out to avenge him, to kill us and seize all we had, so as to be able to persue his enemies; but those who liked European goods were much disposed to preserve us, so as to attract other Frenchmen there and get iron, which is extremely precious in their eyes; but of which they knew the great utility only when
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they saw one of our French boatmen kill three or four bustards or turkeys at a single shot, while they can scarcely kill only one with an arrow. In consequence, as we afterward learned, that the words Manza Ouackang×, mean "iron that has understanding," and so these nations call a gun which breaks a man's bones, while their arrows only glance through the flesh they pierce, rarely breaking the bones of those whom they strike, and consequently producing wounds more easily cured than those made by our European guns, which often cripple those whom they wound.We had some design of going to the mouth of the river Colbert, which more probably empties into the gulf of Mexico than into the Red sea; but the tribes that seized us, gave us no time to sail up and down the river.
We had made about two hundred leagues by water since leaving the Islinois, and we sailed with the Indians who took us during some nineteen days, sometimes north, sometimes northwest, according to the direction which the river took. By the estimate which we formed, during that time (depuis cetemps lá), we made about two hundred and fifty leagues, or even more on Colbert river; for these Indians row in great force, from early in the morning till evening, scarcely stopping to eat during the day. To oblige us to keep up with them, they gave us every day four or five men to increase the crew of our little vessel, which was much heavier than theirs. Sometimes we cabined when it rained, and when the weather was not bad, we slept on the ground without any shelter; this gave us all time to contemplate the stars and the moon when it shone. Notwithstanding the fatigue of the day, the youngest of these Indian warriors danced the calumet to four or or five of their chiefs till midnight, and the chief to whom they went, sent a warrior of his family in due ceremony to
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those who sang, to let them in turn smoke his war-calumet, which is distinguished from the peace-calumet by different feathers. The end of this kind of pandemonium was terminated every day by two of the youngest of those who had had relations killed in war; they took several arrows which they presented by the points all crossed to the chiefs, weeping bitterly; they gave them to them to kiss. Notwithstanding the force of their yelling, the fatigue of the day, the watching by night, the old men almost all awoke at daybreak for fear of being surprised by their enemies. As soon as dawn appeared one of them gave the cry, and in an instant all the warriors entered their bark canoes, some passing around the islands in the river to kill some beasts, while the most alert went by land, to discover whether any enemy's fire was to be seen. It was their custom always to take post on the point of some island for safety sake, as their enemies have only periaguas, wooden canoes, which can not go as fast as they do, on account of their weight. Only northern tribes have birch to make bark canoes; the southern tribes who have not that kind of tree, are deprived of this great convenience, which wonderfully facilitates the northern Indians in going from lake to lake, and by all rivers to attack their enemies, and even when discovered, they are safe if they can get into their canoes, for those who pursue them by land, or in periaguas, can not attack or pursue them quickly enough.During one of these nineteen days of painful navigation, the chief of the party by name Aquipaguetin, resolved to halt about noon in a large prairie; having killed a very fat bear, he gave a feast to the chief men, and after the repast all the warriors began to dance. Their faces, and especially their bodies, were marked with various colors, each being distinguished by the figure of different animals, according to his
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particular taste or inclination; some having their hair short and full of bear oil, with white and red feathers; others besprinkled their heads with the down of birds which adhered to the oil. All danced, with their arms akimbo, and struck the ground with their feet so stoutly as to leave the imprint visible. While a son, master of ceremonies, gave each in turn the war-calumet to smoke, he wept bitterly. The father in a doleful voice, broken with sighs and sobs, with his whole body bathed in tears, sometimes addressed the warriors, sometimes came to me, and put his hands on my head, doing the same to our two Frenchmen, sometimes he raised his eyes to heaven and often uttered the word Louis, which means sun, complaining to that great luminary of the death of his son. As far as we could conjecture this ceremony tended only to our destruction; in fact, the course of time showed us that this Indian had often aimed at our life; but seeing the opposition made by the other chiefs who prevented it, he made us embark again, and employed other trickery to get by degrees the goods of our canoemen, not daring to take them openly, as he might have done, for fear of being accused by his own people of cowardice, which the bravest hold in horror.This wily savage had the bones of some important deceased relative, which he preserved with great care in some skins dressed and adorned with several rows of black and red porcupine quills; from time to time he assembled his men to give it a smoke, and made us come several days in succession to cover the deceased's bones with goods, and by a present wipe away the tears he had shed for him, and for his own son killed by the Miamis. To appease this captious man, we threw on the bones several fathoms of French tobacco, axes, knives, beads, and some black and white wampum bracelets.
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In this way the Indian stripped us under pretexts, which we could not reproach him with, as he declared that what he asked was only for the deceased, and to give the warriors. In fact, he distributed among them all that we gave him. By these feints he made us believe that being a chief, he took nothing for himself, but what we gave him of our own accord. We slept at the point of the lake of Tears, which we so called from the tears which this chief shed all night long, or by one of his sons, whom he caused to weep when tired himself, in order to excite his warriors to compassion, and oblige them to kill us and pursue their enemies to avenge his son's death.These Indians at times sent their fleetest by land to chase the buffalo on the water side; as these animals crossed the river, they sometimes killed forty or fifty, merely to take the tongue, and most delicate morsels, leaving the rest with which they would not burthen themselves, so as to go on more rapidly. We sometimes indeed eat good pieces, but without bread, wine, salt, or other seasoning. During our three years' travels we had lived in the same way, sometimes in plenty, at others compelled to pass twenty-four hours, and often more, without eating; because in these little bark canoes you can not take much of a load, and with every precaution you are, for most part of the time, deprived of all necessaries of life. If a religious in Europe underwent many hardships and labors, and abstinences like those we were often obliged to suffer in America, no other proof would be needed for his canonization. It is true that we do not always merit in such cases and suffer only because we can not help it.
During the night some old men came to weep piteously, often rubbing our arms and whole bodies with their hands, which they then put on our head. Besides being hindered
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from sleeping by these tears, I often did not know what to think, nor whether these Indians wept because some of their warriors would have killed us, or out of pure compassion at the ill treatment shown us.On another occasion, Aquipaguetin relapsed into his bad humor: he had so gained most of the warriors, that one day when we were unable to encamp near our protector Narhetoba, we were obliged to go to the very end of the camp, the Indians declaring that this chief insisted positively on killing us. We accordingly drew from a box twenty knives and some tobacco, which we angrily flung down amid the malcontents; the wretch regarding all his soldiers one after another hesitated, asking their advice, either to refuse or take our present; and as we bowed our head and presented him with an axe to kill us, the young chief who was really or pretendedly our protector took us by the arm, and all in fury led us to his cabin. One of his brothers taking some arrows, broke them all in our presence, showing us by this action, that he prevented their killing us.
The next day they left us alone in our canoe, without putting in any Indians to help us, as they usually did; all remained behind us. After four or five leagues sail another chief came to us, made us disembark, and pulling up three little piles of grass, made us sit down; he then took a piece of cedar full of little round holes in one of which he put a stick, which he spun round between his two palms, and in this way made fire to light the tobacco in his great calumet. After weeping some time, and putting his hands on my head, he gave me his peace-calumet to smoke, and showed us that we should be in his country in six days.
Having arrived on the nineteenth day of our navigation five leagues below St. Anthony's falls, these Indians landed
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us in a bay and assembled to deliberate about us. They distributed us separately, and gave us to three heads of families in place of three of their children who had been killed in war. They first seized all our property, and broke our canoe to pieces, for fear we should return to their enemies. Their own they hid in some alders to use when going to hunt; and though we might easily have reached their country by water, they compelled us to go sixty leagues by land, forcing us to march from daybreak to two hours after nightfall, and to swim over many rivers, while these Indians, who are often of extraordinary height, carried our habit on their head; and our two boatmen, who were smaller than myself, on their shoulders, because they could not swim as I could. On leaving the water, which was often full of sharp ice, I could scarcely stand; our legs were all bloody from the ice which we broke as we advanced in lakes which we forded, and as we eat only once in twenty-four hours, some pieces of meat which these barbarians grudgingly gave us, I was so weak that I often lay down on the way, resolved to die there, rather than follow these Indians who marched on and continued their route with a celerity which surpasses the power of the Europeans. To oblige us to hasten on, they often set fire to the grass of the prairies where we were passing, so that we had to advance or burn. I had then a hat which I reserved to shield me from the burning rays of the sun in summer, but I often dropped it in the flames which we were obliged to cross.As we approached their village, they divided among them all the merchandise of our two canoemen, and were near killing each other for our roll of French tobacco, which is very precious to these tribes, and more esteemed than gold among Europeans. The more humane showed by signs that they
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would give many beaver-skins for what they took. The reason of the violence was, that this party was made up from two different tribes, the more distant of whom, fearing lest the others should retain all the goods in the first villages which they would have to pass, wished to take their share in advance. In fact, some time after they offered peltries in part payment; but our boatmen would not receive them, until they gave the full value of all that had been taken. And in course of time I have no doubt they will give entire satisfaction to the French, whom they will endeavor to draw among them to carry on trade.These savages also took our brocade chasuble, and all the articles of our portable chapel, except the chalice, which they durst not touch; for seeing that glittering silver gilt, they closed their eyes, saying that it was a spirit which would kill them. They also broke a little box with lock and key, after telling me, that if I did not break the lock, they would do so themselves with sharp stones; the reason of this violence was that from time to time on the route, they could not open the box to examine what was inside, having no idea of locks and keys; besides, they did not care to carry the box, but only the goods which were inside, and which they thought considerable, but they found only books and papers.
After five days' march by land, suffering hunger, thirst, and outrages, marching all day long without rest, fording lakes and rivers, we descried a number of women and children coming to meet our little army. All the elders of this nation assembled on our account, and as we saw cabins, and bundles of straw hanging from the posts of them, to which these savages bind those whom they take as slaves, and burn them; and seeing that they made the Picard du Gay sing, as he held and shook a gourd full of little round pebbles, while his
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hair and face were filled with paint of different colors, and a tuft of white feathers attached to his head by the Indians, we not unreasonably thought that they wished to kill us, as they performed many ceremonies, usually practised, when they intend to burn their enemies. The worst of it was, too, that not one of us three could make himself understood by these Indians; nevertheless, after many vows, which every Christian would make in such straits, one of the principal Issati chiefs gave us his peace-calumet to smoke, and accepted the one we had brought. He then gave us some wild rice to eat, presenting it to us in large bark dishes, which the Indian women had seasoned with whortleberries, which are black grains which they dry in the sun in summer, and are as good as currants. After this feast, the best we had had for seven or eight days, the heads of families who had adopted us, instead of their sons killed in war, conducted us separately each to his village, marching through marshes knee deep in water, for a league, after which the five wives of the one who called me Mitchinchi, that is to say, his son, received us in three bark canoes, and took us a short league from our starting place to an island where their cabins were.On our arrival, which was about Easter, April 21st, 1680,
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Aquipaguetin's son, who called me his brother, paraded about with our brocade chasuble on his bare back, having rolled up in it some dead man's bones, for whom these people had a great veneration. The priest's girdle made of red and white wool, with two tassels at the end, served him for suspenders, carrying thus in triumph what he called Pere Louis Chinnien, which means "the robe of him who is called the sun." After these Indians had used this chasuble to cover the bones of their dead, they presented it to some of their allies, tribes situated about five hundred leagues west of their country, who had sent them an embassy and danced the calumet.
The day after our arrival, Aquipaguetin, who was the head of a large family, covered me with a robe made of ten large dressed beaver-skins, trimmed with porcupine quills. This Indian showed me five or six of his wives, telling them, as I afterward learned, that they should in future regard me as one of their children. He set before me a bark dish full of fish, and ordered all those assembled, that each should call me by the name I was to have in the rank of our near relationship; and seeing that I could not rise from the ground but by the help of two others, he had a sweating cabin made, in which he made me enter naked with four Indians. This cabin he covered with buffalo-skins, and inside he put stones red to the middle. He made me a sign to do as the others before beginning to sweat, but I merely concealed my nakedness with a handkerchief. As soon as these Indians had several times breathed out quite violently, he began to sing in a thundering voice, the others seconded him, all putting their hands on me, and rubbing me, while they wept bitterly. I began to faint, but I came out, and could scarcely take my habit to put on. When he had made me sweat thus three times a week, I felt as strong as ever.
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I often spent sad hours among these savages; for, besides their only giving me a little wild rice and smoked fish roes five or six times a week, which they boiled in earthen pots, Aquipaguetin took me to a neighboring island with his wives and children to till the ground, in order to sow some tobacco seed, and seeds of vegetables that I had brought, and which this Indian prized extremely. Sometimes he assembled the elders of the village, in whose presence he asked me for a compass that I always had in my sleeve; seeing that I made the needle turn with a key, and believing justly that we Europeans went all over the habitable globe, guided by this instrument, this chief, who was very eloquent, persuaded his people that we were spirits, and capable of doing anything beyond their reach. At the close of his address, which was very animated, all the old men wept over my head, admiring in me what they could not understand. I had an iron pot with three lion-paw feet, which these Indians never dared touch, unless their hand was wrapped up in some robe. The women hung it to the branch of a tree, not daring to enter the cabin where it was. I was some time unable to make myself understood by these people, but feeling myself gnawed by hunger, I began to compile a dictionary of their language by means of their children, with whom I made myself familiar, in order to learn.As soon as I could catch the word Taketchiabihen, which means in their language, "How do you call that," I became, in a little while, able to converse with them on familiar things. At first, indeed, to ask the word run in their language, I had to quicken my steps from one end of their large cabin to the other. The chiefs of these savages seeing my desire to learn, often made me write, naming all the parts of the human body and as I would not put on paper certain indelicate words, at
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which they do not blush, it afforded them an agreeable amusement. They often put me questions, but as I had to look at my paper, to answer them, they said to one another: "When we ask Pere Louis [for so they had heard our two Frenchmen call me], he does not answer us; but as soon as he has looked at what is white [for they have no word to say paper], he answers us, and tells us his thoughts; that white thing," said they, "must be a spirit which tells Pere Louis all we say." They concluded that our two Frenchmen were not as great as I, because they could not work like me on what was white. In consequence the Indians believed that I could do everything; when the rain fell in such quantities as to incommode them, or prevent their going to hunt, they told me to stop it; but I knew enough to answer them by pointing to the clouds, that he was great chief of heaven, was master of everything, and that they bid me to do, did not depend on me.These Indians often asked me how many wives and children I had, and how old I was, that is, how many winters, for so these nations alway count. These men never illumined by the light of a faith were surprised at the answer I made them; for pointing to our two Frenchmen whom I had then gone to visit three leagues from our village, I told them that a man among us could have only one wife till death; that as for me, I had promised the Master of life to live as they saw me, and to come and live with them to teach them that he would have them be like the French; that this great Master of life had sent down fire from heaven, and destroyed a nation given to enormous crimes, like those committed among them. But that gross people till then, lawless and faithless, turned all I said into ridicule. "How," said they, "would you have those two men with thee have wives? Ours would not
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live with them, for they have hair all over the face, and we have none there or elsewhere." In fact, they were never better pleased with me, than when I was shaved; and from a complaisance certainly not criminal, I shaved every week. All our kindred seeing that I wished to leave them, made a packet of beaver-skins worth six hundred livres among the French. These peltries they gave me to induce me to remain among them, to introduce me to strange nations that were coming to visit them, and in restitution of what they had robbed me of; but I refused these presents, telling them that I had not come among them to gather beaver-skins, but only to tell them the will of the great Master of life, and to live wretchedly with them, after having left a most abundant country. "It is true," said they, "that we have no chase in this part, and that thou sufferest, but wait till summer, then we will go and kill buffalo in the warm country." I should have been satisfied had they fed me as they did their children, but they eat secretly at night unknown to me. Although women are, for the most part, more kind and compassionate than men, they gave what little fish they had to their children, regarding me as a slave made by their warriors in their enemies' country, and they reasonably preferred their children's lives to mine.There were some old men who often came to weep over my head in a sighing voice, saying, "Son," or "Nephew, I feel sorry to see thee without eating, and to learn how badly our warriors treated thee on the way; they are young braves, without sense, who would have killed thee, and have robbed thee of all thou hast. Hadst thou wanted buffalo or beaver-robes, we would wipe away thy tears, but thou wilt have nothing of what we offer thee."
Ouasicoud×, that is, the Pierced-pine, the greatest of all the
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Issati chiefs, being very indignant at those who had so maltreated us, said, in open council, that those who had robbed us of all we had, were like hungry curs that stealthily snatch a bit of meat from the bark dish, and then fly; so those who had acted so toward us, deserved to be regarded as dogs, since they insulted men who brought them iron and merchandise, which they had never had; that he would find means to punish the one who had so outraged us. This is what the brave chief showed to all his nation, as we shall see hereafter.As I often went to visit the cabins of these last nations, I found a sick child, whose father's name was Mamenisi; having a moral certainty of its death, I begged our two Frenchmen to give me their advice, telling them I believed myself obliged to baptize it. Michael Ako would not accompany me, the Picard du Gay alone followed me to act as sponsor, or rather as witness of the baptism.
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softness of the linen had refreshed her, but she was the next day smiling in her mother's arms, who believed that I had cured her child, but she died soon after to my great consolation.During our stay among the Issati or Nadouessiou, we saw Indians who came as embassadors from about five hundred leagues to the west. They informed us that the Assenipoualacs
Three months after, all these nations assembled, and the chiefs having regulated the places for hunting the buffalo, they dispersed in several bands so as not to starve each other. Aquipagnetin, one of the chiefs who had adopted me as his son, wished to take me to the west with about two hundred families; I made answer that I awaited spirits (so they called Frenchmen), at the river O�isconsin, which empties into the river Colbert, who were to join me to bring merchandise, and that if he went that way, I would continue with him; he would have gone but for those of his nation. In the beginning of July, 1680, we descended in canoe southward with the great chief named Ouasicoude, that is to say, the Pierced-pine, with about eighty cabins, composed of more than a hundred and thirty families, and about two hundred and fifty warriors. Scarcely would the Indians give me a place in their little fleet, for they had only old canoes. They went four leagues lower down to get birch bark to make some more. Having made a hole in the ground to hide our silver chalice and our
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papers till we returned from the hunt, and keeping only our breviary, so as not to be loaded, I stood on the bank of a lake formed by the river we had called St. Francis, and stretched out my hand to the canoes as they rapidly passed in succession; our Frenchmen also had one for themselves, which the Indians had given them; they would not take me in, Michael Ako saying that he had taken me long enough to satisfy him. I was hurt at this answer, seeing myself thus abandoned by Christians, to whom I had always done good, as they both often acknowledged; but God having never abandoned me in that painful voyage, inspired two Indians to take me in their little canoe, where I had no other employment than to bale out with a little bark tray the water which entered by little holes. This I did not do without getting all wet. This boat might, indeed, be called a death-box, from its lightness and fragility. These canoes do not generally weigh over fifty pounds; the least motion of the body upsets them, unless you are long habituated to that kind of navigation. On disembarking in the evening, the Picard, as an excuse, told me that their canoe was half rotten, and that, had we been three in it, we should have run a great risk of remaining on the way. In spite of this excuse I told him, that being Christians, they should not act so, especially among Indians, more than eight hundred leagues from the French settlements; that if they were well received in this country, it was only in consequence of my bleeding some asthmatic Indians, and my giving them some orvietan and other remedies which I kept in my sleeve, and by which I had saved the lives of some Indians bit by rattlesnakes, and because I had neatly made their tonsure, which Indian children wear to the age of eighteen or twenty, but have no way of making except by burning the hair with red-hot flat stones. I reminded them133
that by my ingenuity I had gained the friendship of these people, who would have killed us or made us suffer more, had they not discovered about me those remedies which they prize, when they restore the sick to health. However, the Picard only, as he retired to his host's, apologised to me.Four days after our departure for the buffalo hunt, we halted eight leagues above St. Anthony of Padua's falls on an eminence opposite the mouth of the river St. Francis; here the Indian women made their canoe frames while waiting for those who were to bring bark to make canoes. The young men went to hunt stag, deer, and beaver, but killed so few animals for such a large party, that we could very rarely get a bit of meat, having to put up with a broth once in every twenty-four hours. The Picard and myself went to look for haws, gooseberries, and little wild fruit, which often did us more harm than good; this obliged us to go alone, as Michael Ako refused, in a wretched canoe to Ouisconsin river, which was more than a hundred leagues off, to see whether the sieur de la Salle had sent to that place a reinforcement of men, with powder, lead, and other munitions, as he had promised us on our departure from the Islinois.
The Indians would not have suffered this voyage, had not one of the three remained with them; they wished me to stay, but Michael Ako absolutely refused. Our whole stock was fifteen charges of powder, a gun, a wretched earthern pot which the Indians had given us, a knife, and a beaver-robe, to make a journey of two hundred leagues, thus abandoning ourselves to Providence. As we were making the portage of our canoe at St. Anthony of Padua's falls, we perceived five or six of our Indians who had taken the start;
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one of them was up in an oak opposite the great fall weeping bitterly, with a well-dressed beaver robe, whitened inside and trimmed with porcupine quills which he was offering as a sacrifice to the falls, which is in itself admirable and frightful. I heard him while shedding copious tears say as he spoke to the great cataract: "Thou who art a spirit, grant that our nation may pass her quietly without accident, may kill buffalo in abundance, conquer our enemies, and bring in slaves, some of whom we will put to death before thee; the Messenecqz (so they call the tribe named by the French Outouagamis), have killed our kindred, grant that we may avenge them." In fact, after the heat of the buffalo-hunt, they invaded their enemies, killed some, and brought others as slaves. If they succeed a single time, even after repeated failures, they adhere to their superstition. This robe offered in sacrifice served one of our Frenchmen, who took it as we returned.A league below St. Anthony of Padua's falls, the Picard was obliged to land and get his powder-horn which he had left at the falls. On his return, I showed him a snake about six feet long crawling up a straight and precipitous mountain and which gradually gained on some swallows' nests to eat the young ones; at the foot of the mountain, we saw the feathers of those he had apparently eaten, and we pelted him down with stones.
As we descended the river Colbert, we found some of our Indians cabined in the islands, loaded with buffalo-meat, some of which they gave us. Two hours after landing, fifteen or sixteen warriors of the party whom we had left above St. Anthony of Padua's falls, entered tomahawk in hand, upset the cabins of those who had invited us, took all the meat and bear-oil that they found, and greased themselves
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from head to foot; we at first took them to be enemies, but one of those who called himself my uncle, told me, that having gone to the buffalo-hunt before the rest, contrary to the maxims of the country, they had a right to strip them, because they put the buffaloes to flight before the arrival of the mass of the nation.During sixty leagues that we sailed down the river, we killed only one deer, swimming across, but the heat was so great that the meat spoiled in twenty-four hours. This made us look for turtles, which we found hard to take, as their hearing is acute, and the moment they hear the least noise, they jump quickly into the water. We, however, took one much larger than the rest, with a thinner shell and fatter meat. While I tried to cut off his head, he all but cut off one of my fingers. We had drawn one end of our canoe ashore, when a gust of wind drove it into the middle of the great river; the Picard had gone with the gun into the prairie to try and kill a buffalo; so I quickly pulled off our habit, and threw it on the turtle with some stones to prevent its escaping, and swam after our canoe which went very fast down stream, as the current there was very strong. Having reached it with much difficulty, I durst not get in for fear of upsetting it, so I either pushed it before me, or drew it after me, and so little by little reached the shore about one eighth of a league from the place where I had the turtle. The Picard finding only our habit, and not seeing the canoe, naturally believed that some Indian had killed me. He retired to the prairie to look all around whether there were no people there. Meanwhile I remounted the river with all diligence in the canoe, and had just put on my habit, when I saw more than sixty buffalo crossing the river to reach the south side; I pursued the animals, calling the Picard with all my might; he ran up at
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the noise and had time to enter the canoe, while the dog which had jumped into the water had driven them into an island. Having given them chase here, they were crossing back when he shot one, which was so heavy that we could get it ashore only in pieces, being obliged to cut the best morsels, while the rest was in the water. As it was almost two days since we had eaten, we made a fire with the driftwood we found on the sand; and while the Picard was skinning the animal, I cooked the morsels of the fat meat in our little earthern pot; we then eat it so eagerly that we both fell sick, and had to stay two days in the island to recover. We could not take much of the meat, our canoe was so small, and besides the excessive heat spoiled it, so that we were all at once deprived of it, as it was full of worms; and when we embarked in the morning, we did not know what we would eat during the day. Never have we more admired God's providence than during this voyage, for we did not always find deer, and could not kill them when we would; but the eagles, which are very common in these vast countries, sometimes dropped from their claws bream, or large carp, which they were carrying to their nests. Another time we found an otter on the bank of the river Colbert eating a large fish, which had, running from the head, a kind of paddle or beak, five fingers broad and a foot and a half long, which made our Picard say, that he thought he saw a devil in the paws of that otter: but his fright did not prevent our eating the monstrous fish which we found very good.While seeking the Ouisconsin river, Aquipaguetin, that savage father, whom I had left, and whom I believed more than two hundred leagues off, suddenly appeared with ten warriors, on the 11th of July, 1680. We believed that he was coming to kill us, because we had left him, with the
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knowledge, indeed, of the other Indians, but against his will. He first gave us some wild-rice, and a slice of buffalo-meat to eat, and asked whether we had found the Frenchmen who were to bring us goods; but not being satisfied with what we said, he started before us, and went to Ouisconsin to try and carry off what he could from the French; this savage found none there, and rejoined us three days after. The Picard had gone in the prairie to hunt, and I was alone in a little cabin on the bank of the river, which I had made to screen us from the sun, with a blanket that an Indian had given me back. Aquipaguetin seeing me alone came up, tomahawk in hand: I laid hold of two pocket-pistols, which the Picard had got back from the Indians, and a knife, not intending to kill my pretended Indian father, but only to frighten him, and prevent his crushing me, in case he had that intention. Aquipaguetin reprimanded me for exposing myself thus to the insults of their enemies, saying that I should at least take the other shore to be more in safety. He wished to take me with him, telling me that he was with three hundred hunters, who killed more buffalo than those to whom I had abandoned myself. I would have done well to follow his advice, for the Picard and myself ascending the river almost eighty leagues way, ran great risk of perishing a thousand times.We had only ten charges of powder which we were obliged to divide into twenty to kill wild-pigeons, or turtle-doves; but when these at last gave out we had recourse to three hooks, which we baited with bits of putrid barbels dropped by an eagle. For two whole days we took nothing, and were thus destitute of all support when, during night prayer, as we were repeating these words addressed to St. Anthony of Padua, "Pereunt pericula, cessat et necessitas," the Picard heard a noise, left his prayers, and ran to our hooks which he drew
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from the waters with two barbels so large that I had to go and help him. Without cleaning these monstrous fish we cut them in pieces, and roasted them on the coals, our only little earthen pot having been broken. Two hours after night, we were joined by Mamenisi, the father of the little Indian girl that I had baptized before she died; he gave us plenty of meat.The next day the Indians whom we had left with Michael Ako, came down from Buffalo river with their flotilla of canoes loaded with meat. Aquipaguetin had, as he passed, told how exposed the Picard and I were on our voyage, and the Indian chiefs represented to us the cowardice of Michael Ako, who had refused to undertake it, for fear of dying by hunger. If I had not stopped him, the Picard would have insulted him.
All the Indian women hid their stock of meat at the mouth of Buffalo river, and in the islands, and we again went down the Colbert about eighty leagues to hunt with this multitude of canoes; from time to time the Indians hid their canoes on the banks of the river and in the islands; then struck in to the prairies seven or eight leagues beyond the mountains, where they took, at different times, a hundred and twenty buffaloes. They always left some of their old men on the tops of the mountains to be on the lookout for their enemies. One day when I was dressing the foot of one who called himself my brother, and who had run a splinter deep into his foot, an alarm was given in the camp, two hundred bowmen ran out; and that brave Indian, although I had just made a deep incision in the sole of his foot to draw out the wood, left me and ran even faster than the rest, not to be deprived of the glory of fighting, but instead of enemies, they found only a herd of about eighty stags, who took flight. The
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wounded man could scarcely regain the camp. During this alarm, all the Indian women sang in a lugubrious tone. The Picard left me to join his host, and I remaining with one called Otchimbi, had to carry in the canoe an old Indian woman of over eighty. For all her great age, she threatened to strike with her paddle three children who troubled us in the middle of our canoe. The men treated me well enough, but as the meat was almost entirely at the disposal of the women, I was compelled, in order to get some, to make their children's tonsures, about as large as those of our religious, for these little savages wear them to the age of fifteen or sixteen, and their parents make them with red hot stones.We had another alarm in our camp: the old men on duty on the top of the mountains announced that they saw two warriors in the distance; all the bowmen hastened there with speed, each trying to outstrip the others; but they brought back only two of their own women, who came to tell them that a party of their people were hunting at the extremity of Lake Conde (Superior), had found five spirits (so they call the French); who, by means of a slave, had expressed a wish to come on, knowing us to be among them, in order to find out whether we were English, Dutch, Spaniards, or Frenchmen being unable to understand by what roundabout we had reached those tribes.
On the 25th of July, 1680, as we were ascending the river Colbert after the buffalo-hunt, to the Indian villages we met the sieur de Luth, who came to the Nadouessious, with five French soldiers; they joined us about two hundred and twenty leagues distant from the country of the Indians who had taken us;
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they begged us to accompany them to the villages of those tribes, to which I readily agreed, knowing that these Frenchmen had not approached the sacraments for two years. The sieur de Luth, who acted as captain, seeing me tired of tonsuring the children, and bleeding asthmatic old men to get a mouthful of meat, told the Indians that I was his elder brother, so that, having my subsistence secured, I labored only for the salvation of these Indians.We arrived at the villages of the Issati on the 14th of August, 1680. I there found our chalice and books which I had hidden in the ground; the tobacco which I had planted, had been choked by the weeds; the turnips, cabbages, and other vegetables were of extraordinary size. The Indians durst not eat them. During our stay, they invited us to a feast where there were more than a hundred and twenty men all naked. The first chief, a relative of the one whose body I had covered with a blanket, brought me a bark dish of food which he put on a buffalo-robe, dressed, whitened, and trimmed with porcupine quills on one side, and the curly wool on the other. He afterward put it on my head, saying: "He whose body thou didst cover, covers thine; he has borne tidings of thee to the land of souls. Brave was thy act in his regard; all the nation praises thee for it." He then reproached the sieur du Luth, for not having covered the deceased's body, as I did. He replied that he covered only those of captains like himself; but the Indian answered, "P×re Louis is a greater captain than thou for his robe (meaning our brocade chasuble),
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which we have sent to our allies, who dwell three moons from this country, is more beautiful than that which thou wearest."Toward the end of September, having no implements to begin an establishment, we resolved to tell these people, that for their benefit, we would have to return to the French settlements.
We stopped near Ouisconsin river to smoke some meat; three Indians coming from the nations we had left, told us that their great chief named Pierced-pine, having heard that one of the chiefs of the nation wished to pursue and kill us, had entered his cabin and tomahawked him, to prevent his pernicious design. We regaled these three Indians with meat, of which we were in no want then.
Two days after, we perceived an army of one hundred and forty canoes, filled with about two hundred and fifty warriors; we thought that those who brought the preceding news were spies, for instead of descending the river on leaving us, they ascended to tell their people; however, the chiefs of the little army visited us and treated us very kindly, and the same day descended the river as we did to the Ouisconsin. We found that river as wide as the Seignelay (Illinois), with a strong current. After sailing up sixty leagues, we came to a portage of half a league, which the Nadoues-siouz chiefs had marked for us; we slept there to leave marks
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and crosses on the trunks of the trees.We passed four lakes, two pretty large, on the banks of which the Miami's formerly resided, we found Maskoutens, Kikapous, and Outaougamy there, who sow Indian corn for their subsistence. All this country is as fine as that of the Islinois.
We made a portage at a rapid called Kakalin, and after about four hundred leagues sail from our leaving the country of the Issati, and Nadouessiouz, we arrived safely at the extremity of the bay of the Fetid, where we found Frenchmen trading contrary to orders with the Indians. They had some little wine in a tin flagon, which enabled me to say mass; I had then only a chalice and altar stone; but Providence supplied me with vestments, for some Islinois flying from the tyranny of the Iroquois, who had destroyed a part of their nation, took the vestments of the chapel of Father Zenobius Membr×, Recollect, who was with the Islinois in their flight. They gave me all they took, except the chalice, which they promised to give back in a few days for a present of tobacco.
I had not celebrated mass for over nine months for want of wine; I had still some hosts. We remained two days to rest, sing the Te Deum, high mass, and preach. All our Frenchmen went to confession and communion, to thank God for having preserved us amid so many wanderings and perils.
One of our Frenchmen gave a gun for a canoe larger than
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ours, with which, after sailing a hundred leagues, we reached Missilimackinac, where we were obliged to winter. To employ the time usefully, I preached every holyday, and on the Sundays of Advent and Lent.During the winter, we took whitefish in Lake Orleans (Huron), in twenty or twenty-two fathoms water. They served to season the Indian corn, which was our usual fare. Forty-two Frenchmen trading there with the Indians begged me to give them all the cord of St. Francis, which I readily did, making an exhortation at each ceremony.
We left Missilimackinac in Easter week, 1681, and were obliged to drag our provisions and canoes on the ice, more than ten leagues on Lake Orleans; having advanced far enough on this fresh-water sea, and the ice breaking, we embarked after Low Sunday, which we celebrated, having some little wine which a Frenchman had fortunately brought, and which served us quite well the rest of the voyage. After a hundred leagues on Lake Orleans, we passed the strait (Detroit), for thirty leagues and Lake St. Clare,
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and axe, more than thirty sturgeon which came to spawn on the banks of the lake. On the way we met an Ottawa chief called Talon, six persons of whose family had died of starvation, not having found a good fishery or hunting-ground. This Indian told us that the Iroquois had carried off a family of twelve belonging to his tribe, and begged us to deliver them, if yet alive.We sailed along Lake Conty, and after a hundred and twenty leagues we passed the strait of the great falls of Niagara and Fort Conty, and entering Lake Frontenac, coasted along the southern shore. After thirty leagues from Lake Conty, we reached the great Seneca village about Whitsunday, 1681. We entered the Iroquois council and asked them, why they had enslaved twelve of our Ottawa allies, telling them that those whom they had taken, were children of the governor of the French, as well as the Iroquois, and that by this violence, they declared war on the French. To induce them to restore our allies, we gave them two belts of wampum.
The next day the Iroquois answered us by two belts, that the Ottawas had been carried off by some mad young warriors; that we might assure the governor of the French, that the Iroquois would hearken to him in all things; that they wished to live with Onontio like real children with their father (so they call the governor of Canada), and that they would restore those whom they had taken.
A chief named Teganeot, who spoke for his whole nation in all the councils, made me a present of otter and beaver-skins, to the value of over twenty-five crowns. I took it with one hand, and gave it with the other to his son, telling him that I gave it to him to buy goods of the other Frenchmen; that as for us, Barefeet, as the Iroquois called us, we would
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not take beaver or peltries; but that I would report their friendly feeling to the governor of the French. This Iroquois chief was surprised at my refusing his present, and told his own people that the other French did not do so. We took leave of the chief men, and after sailing forty leagues on the lake, reached Fort Frontenac, where the dear Recollect Father Luke was greatly surprised to see me, as for two years it had been reported that the Indians had hung me with our Franciscan cord. All the inhabitants, French and Indians, whom we had gathered at Fort Frontenac, welcomed me with extraordinary joy at my return; the Indians calling me Atkon, and putting their hand to their mouth, which means, Barefeet is a spirit to have travelled so far. At the month of Lake Frontenac the current is strong, and the more you descend the more it increases; the rapids are frightful. In two days and a half we descended the river St. Lawrence so rapidly that we reached Montreal (sixty miles from the fort), where the count de Frontenac, governor-general of all New France then was. This governor received me as well as a man of his probity can receive a missionary. As he believed me killed by the Indians, he was for a time thunderstruck, believing me to be some other religious. He beheld me wasted, without a cloak, with a habit patched with pieces of buffalo-skin. He took me with him for twelve days to recover, and himself gave me the meat I was to eat, for fear I should fall sick by eating too much after so long a diet. I rendered him an exact account of my voyage, and represented to him the advantage of our discovery.147
Narrative of the Adventures of La Salle's Party at Fort Crevecceur in Ilinois, From February, 1680, to June, 1681, by Father Zenobius Membr×, Recollect.
Father Louis (Hennepin) having set out on the 29th of February, 1680, the sieur de la Salle left the sieur de Tonty as commander of Fort Crevecceur with ammunitions, and provisions, and peltries, to pay the workmen
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as agreed, and merchandise to trade with and buy provisions as we needed them, and having lastly given orders as to what was to be done in his absence, set out with four Frenchmen and an Indian on the 2d of March, 1680. He arrived on the 11th at the great Ilinois village where I then was, and thence, after twenty-four hours' stay, he continued his route149
on foot over the ice to Fort Frontenac. From our arrival at Fort Crevecceur on the 14th of January past, Father Gabriel, our superior, Father Louis, and myself, had raised a cabin in which we had established some little regularity, exercising our functions as missionaries to the French of our party, and the Ilinois Indians who came in crowds. As by the end of February I already knew a part of their language, because I spent the whole of the day in the Indian camp, which was but half a league off, our father superior appointed me to follow when they were about to return to their village. A chief named Oumahouha had adopted me as his son in the Indian fashion and M. de la Salle had made him presents to take care of me. Father Gabriel resolved to stay at the fort with the sieur de Tonty and the workmen; this had been, too, the request of the sieur de la Salle who hoped that by his credit and the apparent confidence of the people in him, he would be able to keep them in order, but God permitted that the good intentions in which the sieur de la Salle thought he left them, should not last long. On the thirteenth, he himself had met two of his men whom he had sent to Missilimakinac to meet his vessel, but who had got no tidings of it. He addressed them to the sieur de Tonty; but these evil disposed men caballed so well, that they excited suspicion and dissatisfaction in most of those there, so that almost all deserted, carrying off the ammunition, provisions, and all that was in the store. Two of them who were conducting Father Gabriel to the Ilinois village where M. de Tonty had come on a visit, abandoned the good father at night in the middle of the road, and spiked the guns of the sieur de Boisrondet, and the man called Lesperance, who were in the same canoe, but not in their plot. They informed the sieur de Tonty who, finding himself destitute of everything, sent four of those who remained150
by two different routes to inform the sieur de la Salle.The perfidious wretches assembled at the fort which the sieur de la Salle had built at the mouth of the Myamis' river, demolished the fort, carried off all that was there, and as we learned some months after, went to Missilimackinac, where they seized the peltries belonging to the sieur de la Salle, and left in store there by him.
The only great Ilinois village being composed of seven or eight thousand souls, Father Gabriel and I had a sufficient field for the exercise of our zeal, besides the few French who soon after came there. There are, moreover, the Miamis situated southeast by south of the bottom of Lake Dauphin, on the borders of a pretty fine river, about fifteen leagues inland at 41° N.; the nation of the Maskoutens and Outagamies, who dwell at about 43° N., on the banks of the river called Melleoki (Milwauki), which empties into Lake Dauphin, very near their village; on the western side the Kikapous and the Ainoves (Iowas), who form two villages; west of these last, above the river Checagoumemant, the village of the Ilinois Cascaschia, situated west of the bottom of Lake Dauphin, a little southwest at about 41° N.; the Anthoutantas
The greater part of these tribes, and especially the Ilinois,
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with whom I have had intercourse, make their cabins of double mats of flat rushes sewed together. They are tall of stature, strong, and robust, and good archers; they had as yet, no firearms; we gave them some. They are, wandering, idle, fearful, and desolate, almost without respect for their chiefs, irritable, and thievish. Their villages are not enclosed with palisades, and being too cowardly to defend them, they take to flight at the first news of a hostile army. The richness and fertility of the country gives them fields everywhere. They have used iron implements and arms only since our arrival. Besides the bow, they use in war a kind of short pike, and wooden maces.As there are in their country many serpents, these Indians know herbs much superior to our orvietan and theriaque, for
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after rubbing themselves with them, they can without fear play with the most venomous insects, and even put them some distance down their throat. They go perfectly naked in summer except the feet, which are covered with shoes of ox-hide, and in winter they protect themselves against the cold (which is piercing in these parts though of short duration), with skins which they dress and card very neatly.Although we were almost destitute of succor, yet the sieur de Tonty never lost courage; he kept up his position among the Ilinois either by inspiring them all the hopes which he built on the sieur de la Salle's return, or by instructing them in the use of firearms, and many arts in the European way. As during the following summer a rumor ran that the Myamis wished to move and join the Iroquois, he taught them how to defend themselves by palisades, and even made them erect a kind of little fort with intrenchments, so that, had they had a little more courage, I have no doubt they would have been in a position to sustain themselves.
Meanwhile, from the flight and desertion of our men about the middle of March to the month of September, Father Gabriel and I devoted ourselves constantly to the mission. An Ilinois named Asapista, with whom the sieur de la Salle had contracted friendship, adopted Father Gabriel as his son, so that that good father found in his cabin a subsistence in the Indian fashion. As wine failed us for the celebration of the divine mysteries, we found means, toward the close of August, to get wild grapes which began to ripen, and we made very good wine which served us to say mass till the second disaster, which happened a few days after. The clusters of these grapes are of prodigious size, of very agreeable taste, and have seeds larger than those of Europe.
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With regard to conversions, I can not rely on any. During the whole time Father Gabriel unraveled their language a little, and I can say that I spoke so as to make myself understood by the Indians on all that I wished; but there is in these savages such an alienation from the faith, so brutal and narrow a mind, such corrupt and antichristian morals, that great time would be needed to hope for any fruit. It is, however, true that I found many of quite docile character. We baptized some dying children, and two or three dying persons who manifested proper dispositions. As these people are entirely material in their ideas, they would have submitted to baptism, had we liked, but without any knowledge of the sacrament. We found two who had joined us, and promised to follow us everywhere; we believed that they would keep their word, and that by this means we would insure their baptisms; but I afterward felt great scruples when I learned than an Indian named Chassagouach×, who had been baptized, had died in the hands of the medicine-men, abandoned to their superstitions, and consequently doubly a child of hell.
During the summer, we followed our Indians in their camps, and to the chase. I also made a voyage to the Myamis to learn something of their dispositions; thence I went to visit other villages of the Ilinois all, however, with no great success, finding only cause for chagrin at the deplorable state and blindness of these nations. It is such that I can not express it fully.
Thus far we enjoyed a pretty general peace, though meanwhile,
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a cruel war, which we knew not, was machinating. While we were still at Fort Frontenac, the year before the sieur de la Salle learned that his enemies had, to baffle his designs, excited the Iroquois to resume their former hostilities against the Ilinois, which had been relinquished for several years. They sought too to draw the Myamis into the same war. This is a tribe which formerly dwelt beyond the Ilinois, as regards the Iroquois and Fort Frontenac. They had persuaded them to invite the Iroquois by an embassy to join them against their common enemy; those who came to treat of this affair with the Iroquois, brought letters from some ill-disposed Frenchmen who had correspondents in those tribes, for there were at that time many coureurs de bois.The sieur de la Salle happened to be among the Senecas when this embassy arrived; the moment seemed unfavorable, and the ernbassadors were privately warned that they risked their lives, if they did not depart as soon as possible, the sieur de la Salle being a friend of the Ilinois. The Myamis, however, left his former country, and came and took up a position where he is now between the Iroquois and the Ilinois. This was afterward believed intentional, and we having to pass through both these nations suspected by each other, might become so to one of them who would then prevent our progress. Monsieur de la Salle, on his arrival at the Ilinois last year, made peace between the two nations; but as the Indians are very inconstant and faithless, the Iroquois and the Myamis afterward united against the Ilinois, by means which are differently related.
Be that as it may, about the 10th of September, in the present year, 1680, the Ilinois allies of Chaouenons (Shawnees), were warned by a Shawnee, who was returning home from an Ilinois voyage, but turned back to advise them, that he
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had discovered an Iroquois army, four or five hundred strong, who had already entered their territory. The scouts sent out by the Ilinois confirmed what the Shawnee had said, adding that the sieur de la Salle was there. For this there was no foundation, except that the Iroquois chief had a hat and a kind of vest. They at once talked of tomahawking us, but the sieur de Tonty undeceived them, and to show the falsity of the report, offered to go with the few men he had to fight the Iroquois with them. The Ilinois had already sent out to war the greater part of the young men, yet the next day they took the field against the enemy, whom the Myamis had reinforced with a great number of their warriors. This multitude terrified the Ilinois; nevertheless, they recovered a little at the solicitation of the sieur de Tonty and the French; they at first mingled and wrangled, but the sieur de Tonty having grounds to fear for the Ilinois who had almost no firearms, offered to put matters in negotiation, and to go to the Iroquois as a man of peace, bearing the calumet. The latter hoping to surprise the Ilinois, and seeing their hopes baffled by the state in which they found them resolved for battle, received without any demur a man who came with a calumet of peace, telling them, that the Ilinois were his brothers, friends of the French, and under the protection of Ononto, their common father. I was beside the sieur de Tonty, when an Iroquois, whom I had known in the Seneca village, recognised me. These proposals for peace did not, however, please some young men whose hands itched for fight; suddenly a volley of balls and arrows came whizzing around us, and a young Onondaga ran up with a drawn knife and struck M. de Tonty near the heart, the knife fortunately glancing off a rib. They immediately surrounded him, and wished to carry him off; but when, by his ears, which were not pierced, they saw that he156
was a Frenchman, one of the Iroquois chiefs asked loudly, what they had meant by striking a Frenchman in that way? that he must be spared, and drew forth a belt of wampum to stanch the blood, and make a plaster for the wound. Nevertheless a mad young Iroquois having hoisted the sieur de Tonty's hat on a gun to intimidate the Ilinois, the latter believing by this sign that Tonty was dead, we were all in danger of losing our heads; but the Iroquois having told us to show ourselves and stop both armies, we did so. The Iroquois received the calumet and pretended to retire; but scarcely had the Ilinois reached his village, when the Iroquois appeared on the opposite hills.This movement obliged the sieur de Tonty and the chiefs of the nation to depute me to these savages to know their reason. This was not a very agreeable mission to a savage tribe, with arms in their hands, especially after the risk I had already run; nevertheless, I made up my mind, and God preserved me from all harm. I spoke with them; they treated me very kindly, and at last told me, that the reason of their approach was, that they had nothing to eat. I made my report to the Ilinois, who gave them their fill, and even offered to trade for beaver and other furs, very abundant in those parts. The Iroquois agreed, hostages were given and received, and I went with an Ilinois to the enemy's camp, where we slept. The Iroquois came in greater numbers into that of the Ilinois, and even advanced to their village, committing hostilities so far as to disinter the dead, and destroy their corn; in a word, seeking a quarrel, under show of peace, they fortified themselves in the village. The Ilinois, on the first announcement of war, had made their families draw off behind a hill, to put them out of sight, and enable them to reach the Mississippi, so that the Iroquois found the village empty. The Ilinois
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warriors retired in troops on the hills, and even gradually dispersed, so that we seeing ourselves abandoned by our hosts, who no longer appeared in force, and left alone exposed to to the fury of a savage and victorious enemy, were not long in resolving to retreat. The reverend father Gabriel, the sieur de Tonty, the few French who were with us, and myself, began our march on the 18th of September, without provisions, food, or anything, in a wretched bark canoe, which breaking the next day, compelled us to land about noon to repair it. Father Gabriel seeing the place of our landing fit for walking in the prairies and hills with little groves, as if planted by hand, retired there to say his breviary while we were working at the canoe all the rest of the day. We were full eight leagues from the village ascending the river. Toward evening I went to look for the father seeing that he did not return; all our party did the same; we fired repeatedly, to direct him, but in vain; and as we had reason to fear the Iroquois during the night, we crossed to the other side of the river and lit up fires which were also useless. The next morning at daybreak, we returned to the same side where we were the day before, and remained till noon, making all possible search. We entered the wood, where we found several fresh trails, as well as in the prairie on the bank of the river. We followed them one by one without discovering anything, except that M. de Tonty had ground to believe and fear that some hostile parties were in ambush to cut us all off, for seeing us take flight, the savages had imagined that we declared for the Ilinois. I insisted on staying to wait for positive tidings; but the sieur de Tonty forced me to embark at three o'clock, maintaining that the father had been killed by the enemy, or else had walked on along the bank, so that following it constantly, we should at last infallibly meet him.158
We got, however, no tidings of him, and the more we advanced, the more this affliction unmanned us, and we supported this remnant of a languishing life by the potatoes and garlick, and other roots, that we found by scraping the ground with our fingers.We afterward learned that we should have expected him uselessly, as he had been killed soon after landing. The Kikapous, a little nation you may observe on the west, quite near the Winnebagoes, had sent some of their youth in war-parties against the Iroquois, but learning that the latter were attacking the Ilinois, the war-party came after them. Three braves who formed a kind of advanced guard having met the good father alone, although they knew that he was not an Iroquois, killed him for all that, cast his body into a hole, and carried off even his breviary, and diurnal, which soon after came to the hands of a Jesuit father. They carried off the scalp of this holy man, and vaunted of it in their village as an Iroquois scalp. Thus died this man of God by the hands of some mad youths. We can say of his body what the Scripture remarks of those whom the sanguinary Herod immolated to his fury, "Non erat qui sepileret." Surely he deserved a better fate, if, indeed, we can desire a happier one before God, than to die in the exercise of the apostolic functions, by the hands of nations to whom we are sent by God. He had not been merely a religious of common and ordinary virtue; it is well known that he had in Canada, from 1670, maintained the same sanctity of life which he had shown in France as superior, inferior, and master of novices. He had for a long time in transports of fervor acknowledged to me the profound grief which he felt at the utter blindness of these people, and that he longed to be an anathema for their salvation. His death, I doubt not, has been precious before God, and will
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one day have its effect in the vocation of these people to the faith, when it shall please the Almighty to use his great mercy.We must admit that this good old man, quite extenuated like ourselves by want of everything, would not have been able to support the hardships we had to go through after that. The sieur de Tonty and de Boisrondet, and two other Frenchmen with myself, had still eighty leagues to make to the Pottawatamis. Our canoe often failed us, and leaked on all sides. After some days we had to leave it in the woods, and make the rest of our journey by land, walking barefooted over the snow and ice. I made shoes for my companions and myself, of Father Gabriel's cloak. As we had no compass, we frequently got lost, and found ourselves in the evening where we had started in the morning, with no other food than acorns and little roots. At last, after fifteen days' march, we killed a deer, which was a great help to us. The sieur de
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Boisrondet lost us, and for at least ton days, we thought him dead. As he had a tin cup, he melted it to make balls for his gun, which had no flint. By firing it with a coal, he killed some turkeys, on which he lived during that time; at last we fortunately met at the Pottawatami village, where their chief, Onanghisse, quite well known among those nations, welcomed us most cordially. He used to say, that he knew only three great captains, M. de Frontenac, M. de la Salle, and himself. This chief harangued all his people who contributed to furnish us food. Not one of us could stand for weakness; we were like skeletons, the sieur de Tonty extremely sick, but being a little recruited, I found some Indians going to the bay of the Fetid, where the Jesuits have a house.From the Ilinois, we had always followed the route by the north, had God permitted us to take that by the south of Lake Dauphin, we should have met the sieur de la Salle who was coming with well-furnished canoes from Fort Frontenac, and had gone by the south to the Ilinois, where he expected
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to find us with all his people in good order as he had left us, when he started in the preceding year (March 2d, 1680).This he told us himself when he arrived at Missilimakinac, about the middle of June, when he found us a little restored from our sufferings. I leave you to conceive our mutual joy, damped, though it was, by the narrative he made us of all his misfortunes, and by that we made him of our tragical adventures. He told us, that after our departure from Fort Frontenac, they had excited his creditors before the time to seize his property and all his effects, on a rumor which had been spread, that he had been drowned with all his people. He told us that his ship, the Griffin, had perished in the lakes a few days after leaving the bay of the Fetid; that the captain, sailors, and more than ten thousand crowns in merchandise, had been lost and never heard of. He had sent little fleets of canoes to trade right and left on Lake Frontenac; but these wretches, he told us, had profited by the principal and the trade, without his being able to obtain any justice from those who should have rendered it, notwithstanding all the efforts made by M. de Frontenac, the governor in his favor; that to complete his misfortunes, a vessel coming from France with a cargo for his account, amounting to twenty-two thousand livres, had been wrecked on St. Peter's islands in the gulf of St. Lawrence; that canoes ascending from Montreal to Fort Frontenac loaded with goods, had been lost in the rapids; in a word, that except the count de Frontenac, all Canada seemed in league against his undertaking; the men he had brought from France had been seduced from him, some had run off with his goods to New York, and as regarded the Canadians who had joined him, means had been found to work upon them, and draw them from his interests.
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Although he had left Fort Frontenac in his bark on the 23d of July, 1680, he was detained on the lake by head winds so that he could not reach the straits of lake de Conty till the close of August. All seemed to oppose his undertaking; embarking in the beginning of September, on Lake de Conty, he had been detained with M. de la Forrest, his lieutenant and all his men, at Missilimakinac, being unable to obtain corn for goods or money; but at last, as it was absolutely necessary, he was obliged, after three weeks' stay, to buy some for liquor, and in one day he got sixty sacks.
He left there the 4th of October, and on the 28th of November, reached the Myamis' river, where he left a ship-carpenter and some of his people; then pushing on, reached the Ilinois on the first of December. There he was greatly surprised to find their great village burnt and empty. The rest of the time was spent in a journey to the Myamis' river, where he went to join his men forty leagues from the Ilinois. Thence he passed to different tribes, among others to an Outagamis village, where he found some Ilinois, who related to him the unhappy occurrences of the preceding year.
He learned, moreover, that after our flight and departure, from the Ilinois, their warriors had returned from the Nadouessiouz, where they had been at war, and that there had been several engagements with equal loss on both sides, and that, at last, of the seventeen Ilinois villages, the greater part had retired beyond the river Colbert, among the Ozages, two hundred leagues from their country, where too a part of the Iroquois had pursued them.
At the same time the sieur de la Salle intrigued with the Outagami chiefs, whom he drew into his interests and those of the Ilinois; thence he passed to the Myamis, whom he induced by presents and arguments to leave the Iroquois and
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join the Ilinois; he sent two of his men and two Abenaquis to announce this to the Ilinois, and prevent new acts of hostility, and to recall the dispersed tribes. To strengthen both more, he sent others with presents to the Shawnees to invite them to come and join the Ilinois against the Iroquois, who carried their wars even to them. All this had succeeded when M. de la Salle left on the 22d of May, 1681, to return to Missilimakinac, where he expected to find us. If we wish to settle in these parts, and see the faith make any progress, it is absolutely necessary to maintain peace and union among all these tribes, as well as among others more remote, against the common enemy, that is the Iroquois, who never makes a real peace with any whom he has once beaten, or whom he hopes to overcome by the divisions which he artfully excites, so that we should be daily exposed to routs like that to which we were subjected last year. M. de la Salle convinced of this necessity, has since our return, purchased the whole Ilinois country,The sieur de la Salle related to us all his hardships and voyages, as well as all his misfortunes, and learned from us as many regarding him; yet never did I remark in him the least alteration, always maintaining his ordinary coolness and self-possession. Any one but him would have renounced and abandoned the enterprise; but far from that, by a firmness of mind, and an almost unequalled constancy, I saw him more resolute than ever to continue his work, and to carry out his discovery. We accordingly left for Fort Frontenac, with his whole party to adopt new measures to resume and complete our course with the help of Heaven, in which we put all our trust.
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Narrative of La Salle's Voyage Down the Mississippi, by Father Zenobius Membr×, Recollect.
M. La Salle having arrived safely at the Miamies on the 3d of November, 1681, began with his ordinary activity and vast mind, to make all preparations for his departure. He selected twenty-three Frenchmen, and eighteen Mohegans and Abnakis,
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on taking along ten of their women to cook for them, as their custom is, while they were fishing or hunting. These women had three children, so that the whole party consisted of but fifty-four persons, including the sieur de Tonty and the sieur Dautray, son of the late sieur Bourdon, procurator-general of Quebec.On the 21st of December, I embarked with the sieur de Tonty and a part of our people on Lake Dauphin (Michigan), to go toward the divine river, called by the Indians Checagou, in order to make necessary arrangements for our voyage. The sieur de la Salle joined us there with the rest of his troop on the 4th of January, 1682, and found that Tonty had had sleighs made to put all on and carry it over the Chicago which was frozen; for though the winter in these parts is only two months long, it is notwithstanding very severe.
We had to make a portage to enter the Ilinois river, which we found also frozen; we made it on the 27th of the same month, and dragging our canoes, baggage, and provisions, about eighty leagues on the river Seignelay (Ilinois), which, runs into the river Colbert (Mississippi), we traversed the great Ilinois town without finding any one there, the Indians having gone to winter thirty leagues lower down on Lake Pimiteoui (Peoria), where Fort Crevecoeur stands. We found it in a good state, and La Salle left his orders here. As from this spot navigation is open at all seasons, and free from ice, we embarked in our canoes, and on the 6th of February, reached the mouth of the river Seignelay, at 38° north. The floating ice on the river Colbert, at this place, kept us till the 13th of the same month, when we set out, and six leagues lower down, found the Ozage (Missouri) river, coming from the west. It is full as large as the river Colbert into which it empties troubling it so, that from the mouth of
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the Ozage the water is hardly drinkable. The Indians assure us that this river is formed by many others, and that they ascend it for ten or twelve days to a mountain where it rises; that beyond this mountain is the sea where they see great ships; that on the river are a great number of large villages, of many different nations; that there are arable and prairie-lands, and abundance of cattle and beaver. Although this river is very large, the Colbert does not seem augmented by it; but it pours in so much mud, that from its mouth the water of the great river, whose bed is also slimy, is more like clear mud than river water, without changing at all till it reaches the sea, a distance of more than three hundred leagues, although it receives seven large rivers, the water of which is very beautiful, and which are almost as large as the Mississippi.On the 14th, six leagues further, we found on the east the village of the Tamaroas,
Forty leagues from Tamaroa is the river O�abache (Ohio), where we stopped. From the mouth of this river you must advance forty-two leagues without stopping, because the banks are low and marshy, and full of thick foam, rushes and walnut trees.
On the 24th, those whom we sent to hunt all returned but Peter Prudhomme; the rest reported that they had seen an
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Indian trail, which made us suppose our Frenchman killed or taken. This induced the sieur de la Salle to throw up a fort and intrenchment, and to put some French and Indians on the trail. None relaxed their efforts till the first of March, when Gabriel Minime and two Mohegans took two of five Indians whom they discovered. They said, that they belonged to the Sicacha (Chickasaw) nation, and that their village was a day and a half off. After showing them every kindness, I set out with the sieur de la Salle and half our party to go there, in hopes of learning some news of Prudhomme; but after having travelled the distance stated, we showed the Indians that we were displeased with their duplicity; they then told us frankly, that we were still three days off. (These Indians generally count ten or twelve leagues to a day.) We returned to the camp, and one of the Indians having offered to remain while the other carried the news to the village, La Salle gave him some goods, and he set out after giving us to understand that we should meet their nation on the bank of the river as we descended.At last Prudhomme, who had been lost, was found on the ninth day, and brought back to the fort, so that we set out the next day, which was foggy. Having sailed forty leagues till the third of March, we heard drums beating and sasacouest (war cries) on our right. Perceiving that it was an Akansa village, the sieur de la Salle immediately passed over to the other side with all his force, and in less than an hour threw up a retrenched redoubt on a point, with palisades, and felled trees to prevent a surprise, and give the Indians time to recover confidence. He then made some of his party advance on the bank of the river, and invite the Indians to come to us. The chiefs sent out a periagua (these are large wooden canoes, made of a hollow tree like little
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batteaux), which came within gun-shot. We offered them the calumet of peace, and two Indians advancing, by signs invited the French to come to them. On this the sieur de la Salle sent a Frenchman and two Abnakis, who were received and regaled with many tokens of friendship. Six of the principal men brought him back in the same periagua, and came into the redoubt where the sieur de la Salle made them presents of tobacco and some goods. On their side they gave us some slaves, and the most important chief invited us to go to the village to refresh ourselves, which we readily did.All those of the village, except the women, who had at first taken flight, came to the bank of the river to receive us. Here they built us cabins, brought us wood to burn, and provisions in abundance. For three days they feasted us constantly; the women now returned, brought us Indian corn, beans, flour, and various kinds of fruits; and we, in return, made them other little presents, which they admired greatly.
These Indians do not resemble those at the north, who are all sad and severe in their temper; these are far better made, honest, liberal, and gay. Even the young are so modest, that though they had a great desire to see La Salle, they kept quietly at the doors not daring to come in.
We saw great numbers of domestic fowls, flocks of turkeys, tame bustards, many kinds of fruits, peaches already formed on the trees, although it was only the beginning of March.
On the 14th of the same month, the sieur de la Salle took possession of this country with great ceremony. He planted a cross, and set up the king's arms, at which the Indians showed a great joy. You can talk much to Indians by signs, and those with us managed to make themselves a little understood in their language. I took occasion to explain something
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of the truth of God, and the mysteries of our redemption, of which they saw the arms. During this time they showed that they relished what I said, by raising their eyes to heaven, and kneeling as if to adore. We also saw them rub their hands over their bodies after rubbing them over the cross. In fact, on our return from the sea, we found that they had surrounded the cross with a palisade. They finally gave us provisions and men, to conduct us, and serve as interpreters with the Taensa, their allies, who are eighty leagues distant from their village.On the 17th we continued our route, and six leagues lower down we found another village of the same Akansa nation, and then another three leagues lower, the people of which were of the same kind, and received us most hospitably.
On the 22d we reached the Taensa, who dwell around a
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little lake formed in the land by the river Mississippi. They have eight villages. The walls of their houses are made of earth mixed with straw; the roof is of canes, which form a dome adorned with paintings; they have wooden beds, and much other furniture, and even ornaments in their temples, where they inter the bones of their chiefs. They are dressed in white blankets made of the bark of a tree which they spin; their chief is absolute, and disposes of all without consulting anybody. He is attended by slaves, as are all his family. Food is brought him outside his cabin; drink is given him in a particular cup, with much neatness. His wives and children are similarly treated, and the other Taensa address him with respect and ceremony.The sieur de la Salle being fatigued and unable to go into the town, sent in the sieur de Tonty and myself with presents. The chief of this nation not content with sending him provisions and other presents, wished also to see him, and accordingly, two hours before the time a master of ceremonies came, followed by six men; he made them clear the way he was to pass, prepare a place, and cover it with a delicately-worked cane-mat. The chief who came some time after was dressed in a fine white cloth, or blanket. He was preceded by two men, carrying fans of white feathers. A third carried a copper plate, and a round one of the same metal, both highly polished. He maintained a very grave demeanor during this visit, which was, however, full of confidence and marks of friendship.
The whole country is covered with palm-trees, laurels of two kinds, plums, peaches, mulberry, apple, and pear trees of every kind. There are also five or six kinds of nut-trees, some of which bear nuts of extraordinary size. They also gave us several kinds of dried fruit to taste; we found them
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large and good. They have also many other kinds of fruit-trees which I never saw in Europe; but the season was too early to allow us to see the fruit. We observed vines already out of blossom. The mind and character of this people appeared on the whole docile and manageable, and even capable of reason. I made them understand all I wished about our mysteries. They conceived pretty well the necessity of a God, the creator and director of all, but attribute this divinity to the sun. Religion may be greatly advanced among them, as well as among the Akansas, both these nations being half civilized.Our guides would go no further for fear of falling into the hands of their enemies, for the people on one shore are generally enemies of those on the other. There are forty villages on the east, and thirty-four on the west, of all of which we were told the names.
The 26th of March resuming our course, we perceived, twelve leagues lower down, a periagua or wooden canoe, to which the sieur de Tonty gave chase, till approaching the shore, we perceived a great number of Indians. The sieur de la Salle, with his usual precaution, turned to the opposite banks, and then sent the calumet of peace by the sieur de Tonty. Some of the chief men crossed the river to come to us as good friends. They were fishermen of the Nachie tribe (Natchez), enemies of the Taensa. Although their village lay three leagues inland, the sieur de la Salle did not hesitate to go there with a part of our force. We slept there, and received as kindly a welcome as we could expect; the sieur de la Salle, whose very air, engaging manners, and skilful mind, command alike love and respect, so impressed the heart of these Indians, that they did not know how to treat us well enough. They would gladly have kept us with
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them; and even in sign of their esteem, that night informed the Koroa,After having planted the king's arms under the cross, and made presents to the Nachi×, we returned to the camp the next day with the head men of the town, and the Koroa chief, who accompanied us to his village, situated ten leagues below, on a beautiful eminence, surrounded on one side by fine corn lands, and on the other by beautiful prairies. This chief presented the sieur de la Salle with a calumet, and feasted him and all his party. We here, as elsewhere, made presents in return. They told us that we had still ten days to sail to the sea.
The Sicacha (Chickasaw) whom we had brought thus far, obtained leave to remain in the village, which we left on Easter Sunday, the 29th of March, after having celebrated the divine mysteries for the French, and fulfilled the duties of good Christians. For our Indians, though of the most advanced and best instructed, were not yet capable.
About six leagues below, the river divides into two arms, or channels, forming a great island, which must be more than sixty leagues long. We followed the channel on the right, although we had intended to take the other, but passed it in a fog without seeing it. We had a guide with us, who pointed it out by signs; but his canoe being then behind, those in it neglected when the Indian told them to overtake us, for we were considerably ahead. We were informed that, on the
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other channel, there are ten different nations, numerous, and well-disposed.On the second of April, after having sailed forty leagues, we perceived some fishermen on the bank of the river; they took flight, and we immediately after heard sasacouest, that is, war-cries, and beating of drums. It was the Quinipissa nation. Four Frenchmen were sent to offer them the calumet of peace, with orders not to fire; but they had to return in hot haste, because the Indians let fly a shower of arrows at them. Four of our Mohegans, who went soon after, met no better welcome. This obliged the sieur de la Salle to continue his route, till two leagues lower down, we entered a village of the Tangibao,
At last, after a navigation of about forty leagues, we arrived, on the sixth of April, at a point where the river divides into three channels. The sieur de la Salle divided his party the next day into three bands, to go and explore them. He took the western, the sieur Dautray the southern, the sieur Tonty, whom I accompanied, the middle one. These three channels are beautiful and deep. The water is brackish; after advancing two leagues it became perfectly salt, and advancing on, we discovered the open sea, so that on the ninth of April, with all possible solemnity, we performed the ceremony of planting the cross and raising the arms of France. After we had chanted the hymn of the church, "Vexilla Regis," and the "Te Deum," the sieur de la Salle, in the name of his majesty, took possession of that river, of all rivers that enter it, and of all the country watered by them. An authentic act was drawn up, signed by all of us
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there, and amid a volley from all our muskets, a leaden plate inscribed with the arms of France, and the names of those who had just made the discovery, was deposited in the earth.We were out of provisions, and found only some dried meat at the mouth, which we took to appease our hunger; but soon after perceiving it to be human flesh, we left the rest to our Indians. It was very good and delicate. At last on the tenth of April, we began to remount the river, living only on potatoes and crocodiles (alligators). The country is so bordered with canes, and so low in this part, that we could not hunt, without a long halt. On the twelfth we slept at the
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village of the Tangibao, and as the sieur de la Salle wished to have corn willingly or by force ... Our Abnakis perceived, on the thirteenth, as we advanced, a great smoke near. We thought that this might be the Quinipissa, who had fired on us some days before; those whom we sent out to reconnoitre brought in four women of the nation, on the morning of the fourteenth, and we went and encamped opposite the village. After dinner some periaguas came toward us, to brave us; but the sieur de la Salle having advanced in person with the calumet of peace, on their refusal to receive it, a gun was fired which terrified these savages who had never seen firearms. They called it thunder, not understanding how a wooden stick could vomit fire, and kill people so far off without touching them. This obliged the Indians to take flight, although in great force, armed in their manner. At last the sieur de la Salle followed them to the other side, and put one woman on the shore with a present of axes, knives, and beads, giving her to understand that the other three should follow soon, if she brought some Indian corn. The next day a troop of Indians having appeared, the sieur de la Salle went to meet them, and concluded a peace, receiving and giving hostages. He then encamped near their village, and they brought us some little corn. We at last went up to the village, where these Indians had prepared us a feast in their fashion. They had notified their allies and neighbors, so that, when we went to enjoy the banquet in a large square, we saw a confused mass of armed savages arrive one after another. We were, however, welcomed by the chiefs, but having ground for suspicion, each kept his gun ready, and the Indians seeing it, durst not attack us.The sieur de la Salle retired with all his people, and his hostages into his camp, and give up the Quinipissa women.
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The next morning before daybreak, our sentinel reported that he heard a noise among the canes on the banks of the river. The sieur Dautray said that it was nothing; but the sieur de la Salle, always on the alert, having already heard noise, called to arms. As we instantly heard war-cries, and arrows were fired from quite near us, we kept up a brisk fire, although it began to rain. Day broke, and after two hours' fighting, and the loss of ten men killed on their side, and many wounded, they took to flight, without any of us having been injured. Our people wished to go and burn the village of these traitors; but the sieur de la Salle prudently wished only to make himself formidable to this nation, without exasperating it, in order to manage them in time of need. We, however, destroyed many of their canoes. They were near, but contented themselves with running away and shouting. Our Mohegans took only two scalps.We set out then the evening of the same day, the eighth-teenth of April, and arrived on the first of May, at the Koroa, after having suffered much from want of provisions. The Koroa had been notified by the Quinipissa, their allies, and had, with the intention of avenging them, assembled Indians of several villages, making a very numerous army, which appeared on the shores, and often approached us to reconnoitre. As this nation had contracted friendship with us on our voyage down, we were not a little surprised at the change; but they told us the reason, which obliged us to keep on our guard. The sieur de la Salle even advanced intrepidly, so that the Indians durst not undertake anything.
When we passed going down, we were pretty well provided with Indian corn, and had put a quantity in cache, pretty near their village. We found it in good condition and having taken it up, continued our route; but were surprised
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to see the Indian corn at this place, which, the twenty-ninth of March, was just sprouting from the ground, already fit to eat, and we then learned that it ripened in fifty days. We also remarked other corn four inches above ground.We set out then the same day, the first of May in the evening, and after seeing several different nations on the following days, and renewed our alliance with the Taensa, who received us perfectly well, we arrived at the Akansa where we were similarly received. We left it on the eighteenth, the sieur de la Salle went on with two canoes of our Mohegans and pushed on to a hundred leagues below the river Seignelay, where he fell sick. We joined him there with the rest of the troop on the second of June. As his malady was dangerous, and brought him to extremity, unable to advance any further, he was obliged to send forward the sieur de Tonty for the Ilinois and Miamis, to take up our caches, and put everything in order, appointing Tonty to command there. But at last the malady of the sieur de la Salle, which lasted forty days, during which I assisted him to my utmost, having somewhat abated, we started at the close of July, by slow journeys. At the end of September, we reached the Miami river, where we learned of several military expeditions made by the sieur de Tonty after he had left us. He had left the sieur Dautray, and the sieur Cochois among the Miamis, and other people among the Ilinois, with two hundred new cabins of Indians, who were going to repeople that nation. The said sieur de Tonty pushed on to Missilimakinac, to render an account, more at hand, of our discovery to the governor, the count de Frontenac, on behalf of the sieur de la Salle, who prepared to retrace his steps to the sea the next spring with a larger force, and families to begin establishments.
The river Seignelay is very beautiful, especially below the
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Ilinois (Indians), wide and deep, forming two lakes as far as the sea (jusqu'a la mer), edged with hills, covered with beautiful trees of all kinds, whence you discern vast prairies on which herds of wild-cattle pasture in confusion. The river often overflows, and renders the country around marshy, for twenty or thirty leagues from the sea.It is the same with what we have visited on the river Colbert. When you are twenty or thirty leagues below the Maroa, the banks are full of canes until you reach the sea, except in fifteen or twenty places where there are very pretty hills, and spacious, convenient, landing-places. The inundation does not extend far, and behind these drowned lands you see the finest country in the world. Our hunters, French and Indian, were delighted with it. For an extent of at least two hundred leagues in length, and as much in breadth, as we were told, there are vast fields of excellent land, diversified here and there with pleasing hills, lofty woods, groves through which you might ride on horseback, so clear and unobstructed are the paths. These little forests also line the rivers which intersect the country in various places, and which abound in fish. The crocodiles are dangerous here, so much so that in some parts no one would venture to expose himself, or even put his hand out of his canoe. The Indians told us that these animals often dragged in their people, where they could anywhere get hold of them.
The fields are full of all kinds of game, wild-cattle, stags,
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does deer, bears, turkeys, partridges, parrots, quails, woodcock wild-pigeons, and ring-doves. There are also beaver, otters, martens, till a hundred leagues below the Maroa, especially in the river of the Missouri, the Ouabache, that of the Chepousseau (the Cumberland?), which is opposite it, and on all the smaller ones in this part; but we could not learn that there were any beavers on this side toward the sea.There are no wild beasts, formidable to man. That which is called Michybichy never attacks man, although it devours the strongest beasts; its head is like that of a lynx, though much larger; the body long and large like a deer's, but much more slender; the legs also shorter, the paws like those of a wild-cat, but much larger, with longer and stronger claws, which it uses to kill the beasts it would devour. It eats a little, then carries off the rest on its back, and hides it under some leaves, where ordinarily no other beast of prey touches it. Its skin and tail resemble those of a lion, to which it is inferior only in size.
The cattle of this country surpass ours in size; their head is monstrous, and their look frightful, on account of the long, black hair with which it is surrounded, and which hangs below the chin, and along the houghs of this animal. It has on the back a kind of upright crests (coste), of which that nearest the neck is longest, the others diminish gradually to the middle of the back. The hair is fine, and scarce inferior to wool. The Indians wear their skins which they dress very neatly with earth, which serves also for paint. These animals are easily approached, and never fly from you; they could be easily domesticated.
There is another little animal (the opposum) like a rat, though as large as a cat, with silvery hair sprinkled with black. The tail is bare, as thick as a large finger, and about
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a foot long; with this it suspends itself, when it is on the branches of trees. It has under the belly a kind of pouch, where it carries its young when pursued.The Indians assured us that inland, toward the west, there are animals on which men ride, and which carry very heavy loads, they described them as horses, and showed us two feet which were actually hoofs of horses.
We observed everywhere wood of various kinds fit for every use; and among others the most beautiful cedars in the world, and another kind shedding an abundance of gum, as pleasant to burn as the best French pastilles. We also remarked everywhere, hemlocks, and many other pretty large trees with white bark. The cotton-wood trees are large; of these, the Indians dig out canoes forty or fifty feet long, and have sometimes fleets of a hundred and fifty below their villages. We saw every kind of tree fit for ship-building. There is also plenty of hemp for cordage, and tar might be made remarkably near the sea.
You meet prairies everywhere; sometimes of fifteen or twenty leagues front, and three or four deep, ready to receive the plough. The soil excellent, capable of supporting great colonies. Beans grow wild, and the stalk lasts several years, always bearing fruit; it is thicker than an arm, and runs up like ivy to the top of the highest trees. The peach-trees are quite like those of France, and very good; they are so loaded with fruit, that the Indians have to prop up those they cultivate in their clearings. There are whole forests of very fine mulberries, of which we ate the fruit from the month of May; many plum-trees and other fruit-trees, some known and others unknown in Europe; vines, pomegranates, and horse-chestnuts, are common. They raise three or four crops of corn a year. I have already stated that I saw some
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ripe, while more was sprouting. Winter is known only by the rains.We had not time to look for mines; we only found coal in several places; the Indians who had lead and copper wished to lead us to many places, whence they take it; there are quarries of very fine stone, white and black marble, yet the Indians do not use it.
These tribes, though savage, seem generally of very good dispositions, affable, obliging, and docile. They have no true idea of religion by a regular worship; but we remarked some confused ideas, and a particular veneration they had for the sun, which they recognise as him who made and preserves all. It is surprising how different their language is from that of tribes not ten leagues off; they manage, however, to understand each; and, besides, there is always some interpreter of one nation residing in another, when they are allies, and who acts as a kind of consul. They are very different from our Canada Indians in their houses, dress, manners, inclinations, and customs, and even in the form of the head, for theirs is very flat. They have large public squares, games, assemblies; they seem lively and active; their chiefs possess all the authority; no one would dare pass between the chiefs and the cane-torch which burns in his cabin, and is carried before him when he goes out; all make a circuit around it with some ceremony. The chiefs have their valets and officers, who follow them and serve them everywhere. They distribute their favors and presents at will. In a word, we generally found them to be men. We saw none who knew firearms, or even iron or steel articles, using stone knives and hatchets. This was quite contrary to what had been told us, when we were assured that they traded with the Spaniards, who were said to be only twenty-five or thirty leagues off;
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they had axes, guns, and all commodities found in Europe.There are many other things which our people observed on advancing a little into the country to hunt, or which we learned from the tribes, through whom we passed; but I should be tedious were I to detail them: and, besides, the particulars should be better known.
To conclude, our expedition of discovery was accomplished without having lost any of our men, French or Indian, and without anybody's being wounded, for which we were indebted to the protection of the Almighty, and the great cappacity of Monsieur de la Salle. I will say nothing here of conversions; formerly the apostles had but to enter a country, when on the first publication of the gospel, great conversions were seen. I am but a miserable sinner, infinitely destitute of the merits of the apostles; but we must also acknowledge that these miraculous ways of grace are not attached to the exercise of our ministry; God employs an ordinary and
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common way, following which I contented myself with announcing, as well as I could, the principal truths of Christianity to the nations I met. The Ilinois language served me about a hundred leagues down the river, and I made the rest understand by gestures and some term in their dialect which I insensibly picked up; but I can not say that my little efforts produced certain fruits. With regard to these people, perhaps, some one by a secret effect of grace, has profited; God only knows. All we have done has been to see the state of these tribes, and to open the way to the gospel and to missionaries; having baptized only two infants, whom I saw struggling with death, and who, in fact, died in our presence.185
Account of La Salle's Attempt to Reach the Mississippi by Sea, and of the Establishment of a French Colony in St. Louis Bay, by Father Christian Le Clercq.
The first design of the sieur de la Salle had been to find the long-sought passage to the Pacific ocean, and although the river Colbert (Mississippi) does not lead to it, yet this great man had so much talent and courage, that he hoped to find it, if it were possible, as he would have done, had God spared his life.
The Ilinois territory, and vast countries around, being the centre of his discovery, he spent there the winter, summer, and beginning of autumn, 1683, in establishing his posts. He at last left Monsieur de Tonty, as commandant and resolved to return to France to render an account of his fulfilment of the royal orders. He reached Quebec early in November, and Rochelle, France, on the twenty-third of December.
His design was to go by sea to the mouth of the river Colbert,
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and there found powerful colonies under the good pleasure of the king. These proposalsThe first care of the sieur de la Salle, after being invested with these powers, was to provide for the spiritual, to advance especially the glory of God in this enterprise. He turned to two different bodies of missionaries, in order to obtain men able to labor in the salvation of souls, and lay the foundations of Christianity in this savage land. He accordingly applied to Monsieur Troncon, superior-general of the clergymen of the seminary of St. Sulpice, who willingly took part in the work of God, and appointed three of his ecclesiastics full of zeal, virtue, and capacity, to commence these new missions. They were Monsieur Cavelier, brother of the sieur de la Salle, Monsieur Chefdeville, his relative, and Monsieur de Ma×ulle,
As for nearly ten years the Recollects had endeavored to second the designs of the sieur de la Salle for the glory of God and the sanctification of souls throughout the vast countries of Louisiana, depending on him from Fort Frontenac, and had accompanied him on his expeditions, in which our Father Gabriel was killed, he made it an essential point to take some one of our fathers to labor in concert to establish the kingdom of God in these new countries. For this purpose, he applied to the Rev. Father Hyacinth le Febvre, who
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had been twice provincial of our province of St. Anthony, in Artois, and was then, for the second time, provincial of that of St. Denis in France, who, wishing to second with all his power the pious intentions of the sieur de la Salle, granted him the religious he asked: namely, Father Zenobius Membré superior of the mission, and Fathers Maximus Le Clercq and Anastasius Douay, all three of our province of St. Anthony, the first, having been for four years the inseparable companion of the sieur de la Salle during his discovery on land; the second had served for five years with great edification in Canada, especially in the mission of the seven islands, and Anticosti. Father Dennis Morguet was added as a fourth priest; but that religious finding himself extremely sick on the third day after embarking, he was obliged to give up and return to his province.The reverend father provincial had informed the Congregation de propagand× fide, of this mission, to obtain necessary authority for the exercise of our ministry; he received decrees in due form, which we will place at the end of the chapter, not to interrupt the reader's attention here. His holiness Innocent XL, added by an express brief, authentic powers, and permissions in twenty-six articles, as the holy see is accustomed to grant to missionaries whose remoteness makes it morally impossible to recur to the authority of the ordinary. It was granted against the opposition of the bishop of Quebec, Cardinal d'Estrees having shown that the distance from Quebec to the mouth of the river was more than eight or nine hundred leagues by land.
The hopes that were then justly founded on this famous expedition, induced many young gentlemen to join the sieur de
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la Salle as volunteers; lie chose twelve who seemed most resolute; among them, the sieur de Morange, and the sieur Cavelier, his nephews, the latter only fourteen years of age.The little fleet was fitted out at Rochelle, to be composed of four vessels — the Joly, a royal ship, a frigate called the Belle, a storeship called the Aimable, and a ketch called the St. Francis. The royal vessel was commanded by Captain de Beaujeu, a Norman gentleman known for valor and experience, and his meritorious services; his lieutenant was M. le chevalier d'Aire, now captain in the navy, and son of the dean of the parliament of Metz. The sieur de Hamel, a young gentleman of Brouage, full of fire and courage, was ensign. Would to God the troops and the rest of the crew had been as well chosen! Those who were appointed, while M. de la Salle was at Paris, picked up a hundred and fifty soldiers, mere wretched beggars soliciting alms, many too deformed and unable to fire a musket. The sieur de la Salle had also given orders at Rochelle to engage three or four mechanics in each trade; the selection was, however, so bad, that when they came to the destination, and they were set to work, it was seen that they knew nothing at all. Eight or ten families of very good people presented themselves, and offered to go and begin the colonies. Their offer was accepted, and great advances made to them as well as to the artisans and soldiers.
All being ready, they sailed on the 24th of July, 1684. A storm which came on a few days later, obliged them to put in at Chef-de-Bois to repair one of their masts broken in the gale. They set sail again on the 1st of August, steering for St. Domingo; but a second storm overtook them, and dispersed them on the fourteenth of September, the Aimable and the Belle alone remaining together, reached Petit Goave
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in St. Domingo, where they fortunately found the Joly. The St. Francis being loaded with goods and effects, and unable to follow the others, had put in at Port de Paix, whence she sailed after the storm was over to join the fleet at the rendezvous; but as during the night, while quite calm, the captain and crew thinking themselves in safety, were perfectly off their guard, they were surprised by two Spanish periaguas, which took the ketch.This was the first mishap which befell the voyage; a disaster which caused universal consternation in the party, and much grief to the sieur de la Salle, who was just recovering from a dangerous malady, which had brought him to the verge of the grave. They stayed, indeed, some time at St. Domingo, where they laid in provisions, a store of Indian corn, and of all kinds of domestic animals to stock the new country. M. de St. Laurent, governor-general of the Isles, Begon, intendant, and de Cussy, governor of St. Domingo, favored them in every way, and even restored the reciprocal understanding so necessary to succeed in such undertakings; but the soldiers, and most of the crew, having plunged into every kind of debauchery and intemperance, so common in those parts, were so ruined and contracted such dangerous disorders that some died in the island, and others never recovered.
The little fleet thus reduced to three vessels, weighed anchor November 25th, 1684, and pursued its way quite successfully along the Cayman isles, and passing by the Isle of Peace (pines), after anchoring there a day to take in water, reached Port San Antonio, on the island of Cuba, where the three ships immediately anchored. The beauty and allurement of the spot, and its advantageous position, induced them to stay and even land. For some unknown reason the Spaniards had abandoned their several kinds of provisions, and
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among the rest some Spanish wine, which they took, and after two days' repose, left to continue the voyage to the gulf of Mexico.The sieur de la Salle, although very clear-headed, and not easily mislead, had, however, too easily believed the advice given him by some persons in St. Domingo; he discovered, too late, that all the sailing directions given him were absolutely false; the fear of being injured by northerly winds, said to be very frequent and dangerous at the entrance of the gulf, made them twice lie to, but the discernment and courage of the sieur de la Salle made them try the passage a third time, and they entered happily on the 1st of January, 1685, when Father Anastasius celebrated a solemn mass as a thanksgiving, after which, continuing the route, they arrived in fifteen days in sight of the coast of Florida, when a violent wind forced the Joly to stand off, the store-ship and frigate coasting along, the sieur de la Salle being anxious to follow the shore.
He had been persuaded at St. Domingo, that the gulf-stream ran with incredible rapidity toward the Bahama channel. This false advice set him entirely astray, for thinking himself much further north than he was, he not only passed Espiritu Santo bay (Appalachee) without recognising it, but even followed the coast far beyond the river Colbert, and would even have continued to follow it, had they not perceived by its turning south, and by the latitude, that they were more than forty or fifty leagues from the mouth, the more so, as the river, before emptying into the gulf, coasts along the shore of the gulf to the west, and as longitude is unknown to pilots, it proved that he had greatly passed his parallel lines.
The vessels at last, in the middle of February, met at Espiritu Santo bay, where there was an almost continual
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roadstead. They resolved to return whence they came, and advanced ten or twelve leagues to a bay which they called St. Louis bay (St. Bernard). As provisions began to fail, the soldiers had already landed, the sieur de la Salle explored and sounded the bay which is a league broad, with a good bottom. He thought that it might be the right arm of the river Colbert. He brought the frigate in without accident on the eighteenth of February; the channel is deep, so deep in fact, that even on the sand bar, which in a manner bars the entrance, there are twelve or fifteen feet of water at low tide.The sieur de la Salle having ordered the captain of the store-ship not to enter without the pilot of the frigate, in whom he put all confidence, to unload his cannon and water into the boats to lighten his cargo, and lastly, to follow exactly the channel staked out; none of his orders were executed, and the faithless man, in spite of the advice given him by a sailor who was at the main-top, to keep off, drove his vessel on the shoals where he touched and stranded, so that it was impossible to get off.
La Salle was on the seashore when he saw this deplorable maneuvre, and was embarking to remedy it, when he saw a hundred or a hundred and twenty Indians come; he had to put all under arms, the roll of the drum put the savages to flight; he followed them, presented the calumet of peace, and conducted them to their camp, regaled them, and even made them presents; and the sieur de la Salle gained them so that an alliance was made with them; they brought meat to the camp the following days; he bought some of their canoes, and there was every reason to expect much from this necessary union.
Misfortune would have it that a bale of blanketing from
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the wreck was thrown on shore; some days after a party of Indians seized it, the sieur de la Salle ordered his men to get it out of their hands peaceably; they did just the contrary; the commander presented his musket as if about to fire; this so alarmed them, that they regarded us only as enemies. Provoked to fury they assembled on the night of the 6th and 7th of March, and finding the sentinel asleep, poured in a destructive volley of arrows. Our men ran to arms, the noise of musketry put them to flight, after they had killed on the spot the sieurs Oris and Desloge, two cadets volunteers, and dangerously wounded the sieur de Moranger, lieutenant and nephew of the sieur de la Salle, and the sieur Gaien, a volunteer. The next day they killed two more of our men, whom they found sleeping on the shore.Meanwhile, the store-ship remained more than three weeks at the place of its wreck, without going to pieces, but full of water; they saved all they could in periaguas and boats, when a calm allowed them to reach it. One day Father Zenobius having passed in a boat, it was dashed to pieces against the vessel by a sudden gust of wind. All quickly got on board, but the good father who remained last to save the rest, would have been drowned had not a sailor thrown him a rope, with which he drew himself up as he was sinking.
At last Monsieur de Beaujeu sailed in the Joly with all his party on the twelfth of March, to return to France,
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and set out with fifty others; the sieur Cavelier and fathers Zenobius and Maximus intending to seek at the extremity of the bay, the mouth of the river, and a proper place to fix his colony.The captain of the frigate had orders to sound the bay in boats, and to bring his vessel in as far as he could; he followed twelve leagues along the coast, which runs from southeast to northwest, and anchored opposite a point to which the sieur Hurier gave his name; he was appointed commander there; this post serving as a station between the naval camp, and the one the sieur de la Salle went, on the second of April, to form at the extremity of the bay, two leagues up a beautiful river called Cow river, from the great number of those wild animals, they found there. Our people were attacked there by a party of Indians, but repulsed them.
On the twenty-first, holy Saturday, the sieur de la Salle came to the naval camp, where the next day and the three following, those great festivals were celebrated with all possible solemnity, each one receiving his Creator. The following days all the effects, and generally all that could be of service to the camp of the sieur de la Salle, were transferred from those of the sieurs de Moranger and Hurier, which were destroyed. For a month the sieur de la Salle made them work in cultivating the ground; but neither the grain nor the vegetables sprouted, either because they were damaged by the salt water, or because, as was afterward remarked, it was not the right season. The fort which was built in an advantageous position, was soon in a state of defence, furnished with twelve pieces of cannon, and a magazine under ground, for fear of fire, in which all the effects were safely deposited. The maladies which the soldiers had contracted at St. Domingo, were visibly carrying them off, and
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a hundred died in a few days, notwithstanding all the relief afforded by broths, preserves, treacle, and wine, which were given them.On the 9th of August, 1685, three of our Frenchmen being at the chase which is plentiful in these parts, in all kinds of game and deer, were surrounded by several troops of armed savages, but our men putting themselves on the defensive, first killed the chief and scalped him; this spectacle terrified and scattered the enemy, who nevertheless, some time after, surprised and killed one of our Frenchmen.
On the thirteenth of October, the sieur de la Salle seeing himself constantly insulted by the savages, and wishing, moreover, to have some of their canoes by force or consent, as he could not do without them, resolved to make open war on them in order to bring them to an advantageous peace.
He set out with sixty men armed with wooden corslets to protect them against arrows, and arrived where they had gathered; in different engagements by day and night, he put some to flight, wounded several, killed some; others were taken, among the rest some children, one of whom a girl three or four years old was baptized and died some days after, as the first fruits of this mission, and a sure conquest sent to heaven. The colonists now built houses, and formed fields by clearing the ground, the grain sowed succeeding better than the first. They crossed to the other side of the bay in canoes, and found on a large river a plentiful chase, especially of cattle and turkeys. In the fort they raised all kinds of domestic animals, cows, hogs, and poultry, which multiplied greatly. Lastly, the execution done among the Indians had rendered the little colony somewhat more secure, when a new misfortune succeeded all the preceding.
The sieur de la Salle had ordered the captain of the frigate
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to sound the bay carefully as he advanced, and to recall all his men on board at nightfall: but this captain and six of his strongest, stoutest, and ablest men, charmed with the agreeableness of the season, and the beauty of the country, left their canoe and arms on the sand at low-water, and advanced a gun shot on the plain to be dry; here they fell asleep, and an Indian party espying them, surprised them, aided by their sleep and the darkness, massacred them cruelly, and destroyed their arms and canoe. This tragical adventure produced the greatest consternation in the camp.After rendering the last honors to the murdered men, the sieur de la Salle leaving provisions for six months, set out with twenty men and his brother, the sieur Cavelier, to seek the mouth of the river (Mississippi) by land. The bay which he discovered to be in latitude 27° 45' N., is the outlet of a great number of rivers, none of which, however, seemed large enough to be an arm of the river Colbert. The sieur de la Salle explored them in hope that a part of these rivers was formed further up by one of the branches of the said river; or, at least, that by traversing the country to some distance, he would make out the course of the Missisipi. He was longer absent than he had expected, being compelled to make rafts to cross the rivers, and to intrench himself every night to protect himself against attacks. The continual rains too, formed ravines, and destroyed the roads. At last, on the 13th of February, 1686, he thought that he had found the river; he fortified himself there, left a part of his men, and with nine others continued to explore a most beautiful country, traversing a number of villages and nations, who treated him very kindly; at last, returning to find his people, he arrived at the general camp, on the 31st of May, charmed with the beauty and fertility of the fields, the incredible
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quantity of game of every kind, and the numerous tribes he had met on the way.The Almighty was preparing him a still more sensible trial than the preceding, in the loss of the frigate, his only remaining vessel in which he hoped to coast along, and then pass to St. Domingo, to send news to France, and obtain new succor. This sad accident happened from want of precaution on the part of the pilot. All the goods were lost irrecoverably; the vessel struck on the shore, the sailors were drowned; the sieur de Chefdeville, the captain, and four others, with difficulty, escaped in a canoe which they found almost miraculously on the shore. They lost thirty-six barrels of flour, a quantity of wine, the trunks, clothes, linen, equipage, and most of the tools. We leave the reader to imagine the grief and affliction felt by the sieur de la Salle at an accident which completely ruined all his measures. His great courage even could not have borne him up, had not God aided his virtue by the help of extraordinary grace.
All these measures being thus disconcerted, and his affairs brought to extremes, he resolved to try to reach Canada by land; he returned some time after, and undertook a second in which he lost his life by the cruelty of his men, some of whom remaining faithful, continued their route and reached France, among the rest Father Anastasius Douay. Although the detail of his remarks was lost in his many wrecks, the following is an abridgment of what he could gather from them, with which, perhaps, the reader will be better pleased than if I gave it in my own style.
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Narrative of La Salle's Attempt to Ascend the Mississippi in 1687, by Father Anastasius Douay, Recollect.
The sieur de la Salle seeing no other resource for his affairs, but to go by land to the Ilinois, to be able to give in France, tidings of his disasters, chose twenty of his best men, including Nika, one of our Shawnee Indians, who had constantly attended him from Canada to France, and from France to Mexico; Monsieur Cavelier, the sieur de Moranget and I also joined them for this great journey, for which we made no preparation but four pounds of powder, and four of lead, two axes, two dozen knives, as many awls, some beads, and two kettles. After celebrating the divine mysteries in
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the chapel of the fort, and invoking together the help of Heaven, we set out on the 22d of April, 1686, in a northeasterly direction.On the third day we perceived in some of the finest plains in the world a number of people, some on foot, others on horseback; these came galloping toward us, booted and spurred, and seated on saddles. They invited us to their town, but as they were six leagues to the northwest, out of our route, we thanked them, after learning in conversation, that they had intercourse with the Spaniards. Continuing our march the rest of the day, we cabined at night in a little intrenched stockade fort, to be beyond reach of insult; this we always after practised with good results.
Setting out the next morning, we marched for two days through continual prairies to the river which we called Robek, meeting everywhere so prodigious a quantity of Cibola, or wild cattle, that the smallest herds seemed to us to contain two or three hundred. We killed nine or ten in a moment, and dried a part of the meat so as not to have to stop for five or six days. A league and a half further we met another and finer river, wider and deeper than the Seine at Paris, skirted by some of the finest trees in the world, set as regularly as though they had been planted by man. Among them were many mulberry and other fruit trees. On one side were prairies, on the other woods. We passed it on rafts, and called it La Maligne.
Passing through this beautiful country, its delightful fields, and prairies skirted with vines, fruit-trees, and groves, we, a few days after, reached a river which we called Hiens, after a German from Wittemburg, who got so fast in the mud that he could scarcely get out. One of our men, with an axe on his back, swam over to the other side, a second followed
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at once; they then cut down the largest trees, while others on our side did the same. These trees were cut so as to fall on each side into the river, where meeting, they formed a kind of bridge on which we easily passed. This invention we had recourse to more than thirty times in our journeys, finding it surer than the Cajeu, which is a kind of raft formed of many pieces, and branches tied together, on which we passed over, guiding it by a pole.Here the sieur de la Salle changed his route from northeast to east, for reasons which he did not tell us, and which we could never discover.
After several days' march, in a pretty fine country, crossing ravines on rafts, we entered a much more agreeable and perfectly delightful territory, where we found a very numerous tribe who received us with all possible friendship, even the women coming to embrace our men. They made us sit down on well-made mats, at the upper end, near the chiefs, who presented us the calumet adorned with feathers of every hue, which we had to smoke in turn. They served up to us among other things a sagamity, made of a kind of root called Toque, or Toquo. It is a shrub, like a kind of bramble without thorns, and has a very large root, which they wash and dry perfectly, after which it is pounded and reduced to powder in a mortar. The sagamity has a good taste, though astringent. These Indians presented us with some cattle-skins, very neatly dressed, to make shoes; we gave them in exchange beads, which they esteem highly. During our stay the sieur de la Salle so won them by his manners, and insinuated so much of the glory of our king, telling them that he was greater and higher than the sun, that they were all ravished with astonishment.
The sieur Cavelier and I endeavored here, as everywhere
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else, to give them some first knowledge of the true God. This nation is call Biskatrong× but we called them the nation of weepers,We crossed three or four others the following days, without any incident of note, except that our Shawnee, firing at a deer pretty near a large village, so terrified them all by the report that they took to flight. The sieur de la Salle put all under arms to enter the village, which consisted of three hundred cabins. We entered the largest, that of the chief, where we found his wife still, unable to fly from old age. The sieur de la Salle made her understand that we came as friends; three of her sons, brave warriors, observed at a distance what passed, and seeing us to be friendly, recalled all their people. We treated of peace, and the calumet was danced till evening, when the sieur de la Salle, not trusting them overmuch, went and encamped beyond the canes, so that, if the Indians approached by night, the noise of the canes would prevent our being surprised.
This showed his discernment and prudence, for during the night a band of warriors, armed with arrows, approached; but the sieur de la Salle, without leaving his intrenchment, threatened to thunder his guns; and in a word spoke so bold and firmly, that he obliged them to draw off. After
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their retreat the night passed off quietly, and the next day after reciprocal marks of friendship, apparent at least on the side of the Indians, we pursued our route to five or six leagues beyond. Here we were agreeably surprised to find a party of Indians come out to meet us, with ears of corn in their hands, and a polished, honest air. They embraced us, inviting us most pressingly to go and visit their villages; the sieur de la Salle seeing their sincerity, agreed. Among other things these Indians told us that they knew whites toward the west, a cruel, wicked nation, who depeopled the country around them. (These were the Spaniards.) We told them that we were at war with that people; when the news of this spread through the village called that of the Kironas, all vied with each other in welcoming us, pressing us to stay, and go to war with the Spaniards of Mexico. We put them off with fair words, and made a strict alliance with them, promising to return with more numerous troops; then after many feasts and presents, they carried us over the river in periaguas.As we constantly held on our way to the east, through beautiful prairies, a misfortune befell us after three days' march. Our Indian hunter Nika suddenly cried out with all his might, "I am dead!" We ran up and learned that he had been cruelly bitten by a snake; this accident stopped us for several days. We gave him some orvietan, and applied viper's salt on the wound after scarifying it to let out the poison and tainted blood; he was at last saved.
Some days after we had many other alarms. Having reached a large and rapid river, which we were told ran to the sea, and which we called Misfortune
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of our people got on; but scarcely had they got into the current, when by its violence it carried them off with incredible rapidity, so that they disappeared almost instantly. I remained ashore with a part of our men: our hunter was absent, having been lost for some days. It was a moment of extreme anguish for us all, who despaired of ever again seeing our guardian-angel, the sieur de la Salle. God vouchsafed to inspire me constantly with courage, and I cheered up those who remained as well as I could. The whole day was spent in tears and weeping, when at nightfall we saw on the opposite brink La Salle with all his party. We now learned that by an interposition of Providence, the raft had been stopped by a large tree floating in the middle of the river. This gave them a chance to make an effort and get out of the current, which would otherwise have carried them out to sea. One of his men sprang into the water to catch the branch of a tree, and then was unable to get back to the raft. He was a Breton named Eut; but he soon after appeared on our side, having swim ashore.The night was spent in anxiety, thinking how we should find means to pass to the other side to join the sieur de la Salle. We had not eaten all day, but Providence provided for us by letting two eaglets fall from a cedar-tree; we were ten at this meal.
The next day we had to pass; the sieur de la Salle advised us to make a raft of canes; the sieur Moranget and I, with three others, led the way, not without danger, for we went under every moment, and I was obliged to put our breviary in our
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de la Salle sent two men to swim out and help us push the canes on, and they brought us safely in. Those who remained on the other side did not at all like risking it, but they had to do it at last, on our making show of packing up and continuing our march without them; they then crossed at less hazard than we.The whole troop except the hunter being now assembled, we for two days traversed a thick cane-brake, the sieur de la Salle cutting his way with two axes, and the others in like manner to break the canes. At last, on the third day, our hunter Nika came in loaded with three dried deer, and another just killed. The sieur de la Salle ordered a discharge of several guns to show our joy.
Still marching east, we entered countries still finer than those we had passed, and found tribes that had nothing barbarous but the name; among others we met a very honest Indian returning from the chase with his wife and family. He presented the sieur de la Salle with one of his horses and some meat, invited him and all his party to his cabin; and to induce us, left his wife, family, and game, as a pledge, while he hastened to the village to announce our coming. Our hunter and a servant of the sieur de la Salle accompanied him, so that two days after they returned to us with two horses loaded with provisions, and several chiefs followed by warriors very neatly attired in dressed skins adorned with feathers. They came on bearing the calumet ceremoniously, and met us three leagues from the village; the sieur de la Salle was received as if in triumph, and lodged in the great chief's cabin. There was a great concourse of people; the young men being drawn out and under arms, relieving one
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another night and day, and besides loading us with presents and all kinds of provisions. Nevertheless, the sieur de la Salle fearing lest some of his party might go after the women, encamped three leagues from the village. Here we remained three or four days, and bought horses and all that we needed.This village, that of the Coenis, is one of the largest and most populous that I have seen in America. It is, at least, twenty leagues long, not that it is constantly inhabited, but in hamlets of ten or twelve cabins, forming cantons each with a different name. Their cabins are fine, forty or fifty feet high, of the shape of bee-hives. Trees are planted in the ground, and united above by the branches, which are covered with grass. The beds are ranged around the cabin, three or four feet from the ground; the fire is in the middle, each cabin holding two families.
We found among the Coenis many things which undoubtedly came from the Spaniards, such as dollars, and other pieces of money, silver spoons, lace of every kind, clothes and horses. We saw, among other things, a bull from Rome, exempting the Spaniards in Mexico from fasting during summer. Horses are common, they gave them to us for an axe; one Coenis offered me one for our cowl, to which he took a fancy.
They have intercourse with the Spaniards through the Cho�mans, their allies, who are always at war with New Spain. The sieur de la Salle made them draw on bark a map of their country, of that of their neighbors, and of the river Colbert, or Mississippi, with which they are acquainted. They reckoned themselves six days' journey from the Spaniards, of whom they gave us so natural a description, that we no longer had any doubts on the point, although the Spaniards had not yet undertaken to come to their villages, their
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warriors merely joining the Cho�mans to go war on New Mexico. The sieur de la Salle, who perfectly understood the art of gaining the Indians of all nations, filled these with admiration at every moment. Among other things he told them, that the chief of the French was the greatest chief in the world, as high as the sun, and as far above the Spaniard as the sun is above the earth. On his recounting the victories of our monarch, they burst into exclamations, putting their hand on their mouth as a mark of astonishment. I found them very docile and tractable, and they seized well enough what we told them of the truth of a God.There were then some Cho�mans embassadors among them, who came to visit us; I was agreeably surprised to see them make the sign of the cross, kneel, clasp their hands, raise them from time to time to heaven. They also kissed my habit, and gave me to understand that men dressed like us instructed tribes in their vicinity, who were only two days' march from the Spaniards, where our religious had large churches, in which all assembled to pray. They expressed very naturally the ceremonies of mass, one of them sketched me a painting that he had seen of a great lady, who was weeping because her son was upon a cross. He told us that the Spaniards butchered the Indians cruelly, and finally that if we would go with them, or give them guns, they could easily conquer them, because they were a cowardly race, who had no courage, and made people walk before them with a fan to refresh them in hot weather.
After remaining here four or five days to recruit, we pursued our route through the Nassonis, crossing a large river which intersects the great Coenis village. These two nations are allies, and have nearly the same character and customs.
Four or five leagues from there, we had the mortification
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to see that four of our men had deserted under cover of night, and retired to the Nassonis; and, to complete our chagrin, the sieur de la Salle and his nephew, the sieur de Moranget, were attacked with a violent fever, which brought them to extremity. Their illness was long, and obliged us to make a long stay at this place, for when the fever, after frequent relapses, left them at last, they required a long time to recover entirely.The length of this sickness disconcerted all our measures, and was eventually the cause of the last misfortunes which befell us. It kept us back more than two months, during which we had to live as we could; our powder began to run out; we had not advanced more than a hundred and fifty leagues in a straight line, and some of our people had deserted. In so distressing a crisis the sieur de la Salle resolved to retrace his steps to Fort Louis; all agreed and we straightway resumed our route, during which nothing happened worth note; but that, as we repassed the Maligne, one of our men was carried off with his raft by a crocodile of prodigious length and bulk.
After a good month's march, in which our horses did us good service, we reached the camp on the 17th of October, in the same year, 1686, where we were welcomed with all imaginable cordiality; but, after all, with feelings tinged alike with joy and sadness, as each related the tragical adventures which had befallen both since we had parted.
It would be difficult to find in history courage more intrepid or more invincible than that of the sieur de la Salle; in adversity he was never cast down, and always hoped with the help of Heaven to succeed in his enterprises, despite all the obstacles that rose against it.
He remained two months and a half at Saint Louis bay,
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and we visited together all the rivers which empty into it. To my own knowledge, I am sure that there are more than fifty, all navigable, coming from the west and northwest; the place where the fort stands is somewhat sandy; everywhere else the ground is good. On every side we saw prairies on which the grass is, at all seasons of the year, higher than wheat with us. Every two or three leagues is a river skirted with oaks, thorn, mulberry, and other trees. This kind of country is uniform till within two days' march of the Spaniards.The fort is built on a little eminence which runs north and south; it has the sea on the southwest, vast prairies to the west, and on the southwest two small lakes, and Woods a league in circuit; a river flows at its foot. The neighboring nations are the Quoaquis, who raise Indian corn, and have horses cheap, the Bahamos, and the Quinets, wandering tribes with whom we are at war. During this time, the sieur de la Salle forgot nothing to console his little infant colony, in which the families began to increase by births. He advanced greatly the clearing of land, and the erection of buildings; the sieur de Chefdeville, priest, the sieur Cavelier, and we three Recollects, laboring in concert for the edification of the French, and of some Indian families who withdrew from the neighboring nations to join us. During all this time the sieur de la Salle did his utmost to render the Indians less hostile; peace with them being of the utmost consequence for the establishment of the colony.
At last Monsieur de la Salle resolved to resume his Ilinois voyage, so necessary for his plans; he made an address full of eloquence, with that engaging way so natural to him; the whole colony was present, and were almost moved to tears persuaded of the necessity of his voyage, and the uprightness
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of his intentions. Would to God that all had persevered in these sentiments! He completed the fortification of a great enclosure, encircling all the habitations and the fort, after which he chose twenty men, the sieur Cavelier, his brother, the sieurs Moranget and Cavelier, his nephews, with the sieur Joutel,209
The very first day we met an army of Bahamos going to war with the Erigoanna; the sieur de la Salle made an alliance
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with them. He wished also to treat with the Quinets, who fled at our approach; but having overtaken them by means of our horses, we treated them so kindly that they promised an inviolable peace.The fourth day, three leagues further to the northeast, we came to the first Cane river. Our route lay through prairies, with scattered groves; the soil is so good that the grass grows ten or twelve feet high. There are on this river many populous villages; we visited only the Quaras and the Anachoremas.
In the same direction, three leagues further, we came to the second Cane river, inhabited by different tribes; here we found fields of hemp.
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Five leagues further, we passed the Sandy river, so called from the sandy strip along it, though all the rest is good land and vast prairies.
We marched seven or eight leagues to Robec river, passing through prairies, and over three or four rivers, a league from one another. Robec river has many populous villages, where the people have a language so guttural, that it would require a long time to form ourselves to it. They are at war with the Spaniards, and pressed us earnestly to join their warriors; but there was no hope of keeping us. We stayed, however, five or six days with them, endeavoring to gain them by presents and Christian instruction, a thing they do not get from the Spaniards.
Continuing our route, we crossed great prairies to the Maligne. This deep river, where one of our men had been devoured by a crocodile, comes from a great distance, and is inhabited by forty populous villages, which compose a nation called the Quanoatinno; they make war on the Spaniards, and lord it over the neighboring tribes. We visited some of these villages;
In the same direction, after four leagues of similar land, extremely fertile, we crossed Hiens river on rafts; then turning north-northeast, we had to cross a number of little rivers and ravines, navigable in winter and spring. The land is diversified with prairies, hills, and numerous springs. Here we
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found three large villages, the Taraha, Tyakappan, and Palona, who have horses. Some leagues further on, we came to the PalaquessonAfter having passed these nations, the most disheartening of all our misfortunes overtook us. It was the murder of Monsieur de la Salle, of the sieur de Moranget, and of some others. Our prudent commander finding himself in a country full of game, after all the party had recruited and lived for several days on every kind of good meat, sent the sieur Moranget, his lackey Saget, and seven or eight of his people, to a place where our hunter, the Shawnee Nika, had left a quantity of buffalo meat (boeuf) to dry, so as not to be obliged to stop so often to hunt.
The wisdom of Monsieur de la Salle had not been able to foresee the plot which some of his people would make to slay his nephew, as they suddenly resolved to do, and actually did on the 17th of March, by a blow of an axe, dealt by one whom charity does not permit me to name (Liotot). They also killed the valet of the sieur de la Salle, and the Indian Nika, who, at the risk of his life, had supported them for more than three years. The sieur de Moranget lingered for about two hours, giving every mark of a death precious in the sight of God, pardoning his murderers, and embracing them; and making acts of sorrow and contrition, as they themselves assured us, after they recovered from their unhappy blindness. He was a perfectly honest man, and a good Christian, confessing every week or fortnight on our march. I have every reason to hope that God has shown him mercy.
The wretches resolved not to stop here; and not satisfied
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with this murder, formed a design of attempting their commander's life, as they had reason to fear his resentment and chastisement. We were full two leagues off; the sieur de la Salle, troubled at the delay of the sieur de Moranget and his people, from whom he had been separated now for two or three days, began to fear that they had been surprised by the Indians. Asking me to accompany him, he took two Indians and set out. All the way he conversed with me of matters of piety, grace, and predestination; expatiating on all his obligations to God for having saved him from so many dangers during the last twenty years that he had traversed America. He seemed to me peculiarly penetrated with a sense of God's benefits to him. Suddenly I saw him plunged into a deep melancholy, for which he himself could not account; he was so troubled that I did not know him any longer; as this state was far from being usual, I roused him from his lethargy. Two leagues after we found the bloody cravat of his lackey; he perceived two eagles flying over his head, and at the same time discovered some of his people on the edge of the river, which he approached, asking them what had become of his nephew. They answered us in broken words, showing us where we should find him. We proceeded some steps along the bank to the fatal spot, where two of these murderers were hidden in the grass, one on each side with guns cocked; one missed Monsieur de la Salle, the one firing at the same time shot him in the head; he died an hour after, on the 19th of March, 1687.I expected the same fate, but this danger did not occupy my thoughts, penetrated with grief at so cruel a spectacle, I saw him fall a step from me, with his face all full of blood; I watered it with my tears, exhorting him, to the best of my power, to die well. He had confessed and fulfilled his
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devotions just before we started; he had still time to recapitulate a part of his life, and I gave him absolution. During his last moments he elicited all the acts of a good Christian, grasping my hand at every word I suggested, and especially at that of pardoning his enemies. Meanwhile his murderers, as much alarmed as I, began to strike their breasts, and detest their blindness. I could not leave the spot when he had expired without having buried him as well as I could, after which I raised a cross over his grave.Thus died our wise commander, constant in adversity, intrepid, generous, engaging, dexterous, skilful, capable of everything. He who for twenty years had softened the fierce temper of countless savage tribes, was massacred by the hands of his own domestics, whom he had loaded with caresses. He died in the prime of life, in the midst of his course and labors, without having seen their success.
Occupied with these thoughts, which he had himself a thousand times suggested to us, while relating the events of the new discoveries, I unceasingly adored the inscrutable designs of God in this conduct of his providence, uncertain still what fate he reserved for us, as our desperadoes plotted nothing less than our destruction. We at last entered the place where Monsieur Cavelier was; the assassins entered the cabin unceremoniously, and seized all that was there. I had arrived a moment before them; I had no need to speak, for as soon as he beheld my countenance all bathed in tears, the sieur Cavelier exclaimed aloud, "Ah! my poor brother is dead!" This holy ecclesiastic, whose virtue has been so often tried in the apostolic labors of Canada, fell at once on his knees, his nephew, the sieur Cavelier, myself, and some
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others did the same, to prepare to die the same death, but the wretches touched by some sentiments of compassion at the sight of the venerable old man, and besides half penitent for the murders they had committed, resolved to spare us, on condition that we should never return to France; but as they were still undecided, and many of them wished to return home, we heard them often say, that they must get rid of us; that otherwise we would accuse them before the tribunals, if we once had them in the kingdom.They elected as chief the murderer of the sieur de la Salle (Duhaut), and, at last, after many deliberations, resolved to push on to that famous nation of the Coenis. Accordingly, after marching together for several days, crossing rivers and rivers, everywhere treated by these wretches as servants, having nothing but what they left, we reached the tribe without accident.
Meanwhile the justice of God accomplished the punishment of these men, in default of human justice. Jealousy and desire of command arose between Hiens and the sieur de la Salle's murderer; each one of the guilty band sided on one side or the other. We had passed the Coanis, after some stay there, and were already at the Nassonis, where the four deserters, whom I mentioned in the first expedition, rejoined us. On the eve of Ascension seeing all together, and our wretches resolved to kill each other, I made them an exhortation on the festival, at which they seemed affected, and resolved to confess; but this did not last. Those who most regretted the murder of their commander and leader, had sided with Hiens who, seizing his opportunity two days' after, sought to punish crime by crime. In our presence he shot the murderer of La Salle through the heart with a pistol; he died on the spot, unshriven, unable even to utter the names
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of Jesus and Mary. Another who was with Hiens, shot the murderer of the sieur de Moranget (Liotot), in the side with a musket-ball. He had time to confess, after which a Frenchman fired a blank cartridge at his head; his hair, and then his shirt, and clothes, took fire and wrapped him in flames, and in this torment he expired. The third author of the plot and murder fled; Hiens wished to make way with him, and thus completely avenge the death of the sieur de la Salle, but the sieur Joutel conciliated them, and it stopped there.By this means Hiens remained chief of the wretched hand; we had to return to the Coenis where they had resolved to settle, not daring to return to France for fear of punishment.
A Coenis army was ready to march against the Kanoatino, a hostile tribe, cruel to their enemies, whom they boil alive; the Coenis took our Frenchmen with them, after which Hiens pressed us strongly to remain with them, but we would not consent. Six of us, all French, accordingly set out from the Coenis, among whom were the sieurs Cavelier, uncle and nephew, and the sieur Joutel. They gave us each a horse, powder and lead, and some goods to pay our way. We stopped at the Nassonis to celebrate the octave of Corpus Christi. They spoke to us daily of the cruelty of the Spaniards to the Americans, and told us that twenty Indian nations were going to war against the Spaniards, inviting us to join them, as we would do more with our guns than all their braves with their warclubs and arrows; but we had very different designs. We only took occasion to tell them that we came on behalf of God to instruct them in the truth and save
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their souls. In this we spent ten or twelve days, till the 3d of June, the feast of St. Anthony of Padua whom the sieur de la Salle had taken as patron of his enterprise.Having received two Indians to guide us, we continued our way north-northeast, through the finest country in the world; we passed four large rivers and many ravines, inhabited by many different nations; we reconnoitred the Haquis on the east, the Nabiri, and Naansi, all numerous tribes at war with the Coenis, and at last, on the 23d of June, we approached the Cadodacchos.
All the village being assembled, the women, as is their wont, washed our head and feet with warm water, and then placed us on a platform covered with a very neat, white mat; then followed banquets, calumet-dances, and other public rejoicings, day and night. The people knew the Europeans only by report; like other tribes through which we had passed, they have some very confused ideas of religion and adore the sun; their gala dresses bear two painted suns; on the rest of the body are representations of buffalo, stags, serpents, and other animals. This afforded us an opportunity to
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give them some lessons on the knowledge of the true God, and on our principal mysteries.At this place it pleased God to traverse us by a tragical accident. The sieur de Marne, in spite of all that we could say, went to bathe on the evening of the 24th, the younger sieur Cavelier accompanied him to the river side, quite near the village; de Marne sprang into the water and instantly disappeared. It was an abyss where he was in a moment swallowed up. A few hours after his body was recovered and brought to the chief's cabin; all the village mourned his death with all ceremony; the chief's wife herself neatly wound him in a beautiful cloth, while the young men dug the grave which. I blessed the next day, when we buried him with all possible solemnity. The Indians admired our ceremonies, from which we took occasion to give them some instruction during the week that we remained in this fatal place. Our friend was interred on an eminence near the village, and his tomb surrounded by a palisade, surmounted by a large cross, which we got the Indians to raise, after which we started on the 2d of July.
This tribe is on the banks of a large river, on which lie three more famous nations, the Natchoos, the Natchites, the Ouidiches, where we were very hospitably received. From the Coenis river, where we began to find beaver and otter, they became very plentiful as we advanced. At the Ouidiches, we met three warriors of two tribes called the Cahinnio and the Mentous, twenty-five leagues further east-northeast, who had seen Frenchmen. They offered to guide us there, and on our way we passed four rivers on rafts. We were received with the calumet of peace, and every mark of joy and esteem.
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captain, who had only one arm (this was Monsieur de Tonty), whom they had seen, and who told them that a greater captain than he would pass through their village; this was Monsieur de la Salle.The chief lodged us in his cabin, from which he made his family retire. We were here regaled for several days on, every kind of meat; there was even a public feast, where the calumet was danced for twenty-four hours, with songs made for the occasion, which the chief intoned with all his might, treating us as people of the sun, who came to defend them from their enemies by the noise of our thunder. Amidst these rejoicings the younger Cavelier fired his pistol three times, crying "Vive le roi," which the Indians repeated loudly, adding, "Vive le soleil." These Indians have prodigious quantities of beaver and otter skins, which could be easily transported by a river near the village; they wished to load our horses with them, but we refused, to show our disinterestedness; we made them presents of axes and knives, and set out with two Cahinnio to act as guides, after having received embassies from the Analao and Tanico, and other tribes to the northwest and southeast. It was delightful to traverse for several days the finest country, intersected by many rivers, prairies, little woods, and vine-clad hills. Among others, we passed four large navigable rivers, and at last, after a march of about sixty leagues, we reached the Osotteoez, who dwell on a great river which comes from the northwest, skirted by the finest woods in the world. Beaver and otter-skins, and all kinds of peltries, are so abundant there, that being of no value they burn them in heaps. This is the famous river of the Achansa, who here form several villages. At this point we began to know where we were, and finding a large cross, bearing below the royal arms, with a French-looking
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house, our people discharged their guns; two Frenchmen at once came forth, and the one in command, by name Couture, told us that the sieur de Tonty had stationed them there to serve as an intermediate station to the sieur de la Salle, to maintain the alliance with those tribes, and to shield them against attacks by the Iroquois. We visited three of these villages, the Torimans, the Doginga, and the Kappa; everywhere we had feasts, harangues, calumet-dances, with every mark of joy; we lodged at the French house, where the two gentlemen treated us with all desirable hospitality, putting all at our disposal. Whenever any affairs are to be decided among these nations, they never give their resolution on the spot; they assemble the chiefs and old men, and deliberate on the point in question. We had asked a periagua and Indians to ascend the river Colbert, and thence to push on to the Ilinois by the river Seignelay, offering to leave them our horses, powder, and lead; when the council was held, it was said that they would grant us the periagua, and four Indians to be selected, one from each tribe, in token of a more strict alliance. This was faithfully executed, so that we dismissed our Cahinnio with presents, which perfectly satisfied them.At last, after some time stay, we embarked on the 1st of August, 1687, on the river Colbert, which we crossed the same day in our periagua forty feet long; but as the current is strong, we all landed to make the rest of our journey on foot, having left our horses and equipage at the Akansa. There remained in the canoe only the sieur Cavelier whose age, joined to the hardships he had already undergone on the way, did not permit him to accomplish on foot the rest of our course (at least four hundred leagues), to the Ilinois. One Indian was in the canoe to perch it along, one of his comrades
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relieving him from time to time. As for the rest of us, we used the periagua only when necessary to cross some dangerous passages or rivers. All this was not without much suffering; for the excessive heat of the season, the burning Sand, the broiling sun, heightened by a want of provisions for several days, gave us enough to endure.We had already travelled two hundred and fifty leagues across the country from St. Louis bay, viz.: one hundred leagues to the Coenis (sixty north-northeast, the last forty east-northeast); from the Coenis to the Nassonis, twenty-five to the east-northeast; from the Nassonis to the Cadodacchos, forty to the north-northeast; from the Cadodacchos to the Cahinnio and Mentous, twenty-five to the east-northeast; from the Cahinnio to the Akansa, sixty to the east-northeast.
We then continued our route, ascending the river through the same places which the sieur de la Salle had previously passed when he made his first discovery, of which I have heard him frequently speak, except that we went to the Sicacha, where he had not been. The principal village is twenty-five leagues east of the Akansa. This nation is very numerous; they count at least four thousand warriors, have an abundance of every kind of peltry. The chiefs came several times to offer us the calumet, wishing to form an alliance with the French and put themselves under their protection, offering even to come and dwell on the river O�abache (Ohio) to be nearer to us.
This famous river is full as large as the river Colbert, receiving a quantity of others by which you can enter it. The mouth, where it empties into the river Colbert, is two hundred leagues from the Akansa, according to the estimate of the sieur de la Salle, as he often told me; or two hundred and fifty, according to Monsieur de Tonty, and those who accompanied
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him in his second voyage to the sea, not that it is that distance in a straight line across the prairies, but following the river which makes great turns, and winds a great deal, for by land it would not be more than five days' good march.We crossed the O�abache then on the 26th of August, and found it full sixty leagues to the mouth of the river Ilinois, still ascending the Colbert. About six leagues above this mouth, there is on the northwest the famous river of the Massourites or Osages, at least as large as the river into which it empties; it is formed by a number of other known rivers, everywhere navigable, and inhabited by many populous tribes; as the Panimaha who had but one chief and twenty-two villages, the least of which has two hundred cabins; the Paneassa, the Pana, the Paneloga, and the Matotantes, each of which, separately, is not inferior to the Panimaha. They include also the Osages who have seventeen villages on a river of their name, which empties into that of the Massourites, to which the maps have also extended the name of Osages. The Akansas were formerly stationed on the upper part of one of these rivers, but the Iroquois drove them out by cruel wars some years ago, so that they, with some Osage villages, were obliged to drop down and settle on the river which now bears their name, and of which I have spoken.
About midway between the river O�abache and that of the Massourites is Cape St. Anthony. It was to this place only and not further that the sieur Joliet descended in 1673; they were there taken, with their whole party, by the Mansopela. These Indians having told them that they would be killed if they went further; they turned back, not having descended lower than thirty or forty leagues below the mouth of the Ilinois' river.
I had brought with me the printed book of this pretended
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discovery, and I remarked all along my route that there was not a word of truth in it. It is said that he went as far as the Akansa, and that he was obliged to return for fear of being taken by the Spaniards; and yet the Akansa assured us that they had never seen any Europeans before Monsieur de la Salle. It is said that they saw painted monsters that the boldest would have difficulty to look at, and that there was something supernatural about them. This frightful monster is a horse painted on a rock with matachia,I would not be inclined to think that the sieur Joliet avowed the printed account of that discovery which is not, in fact, under his name, and was not published till after the first discovery made by the sieur de la Salle. It would be easy to show that it was printed only on false memoirs, which the author, who had never been on the spot, might have followed in good faith.
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At last, on the 5th of September, we arrived at the mouth of the Ilinois' river, whence they reckon at least a hundred leagues to Fort Crevecoeur, the whole route presenting a very easy navigation. A Shawnee named Turpin, having perceived
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us from his village, ran on to the fort to carry the news to the sieur de Belle Fontaine, the commander, who would not credit it; we followed close on the Indian, and entered the fort on the 14th of September. We were conducted to the chapel where the Te Deum was chanted in thanksgiving, amid the noise and volleys of the French and Indians who were immediately put under arms. The sieur de Tonty, the governor of the fort, had gone to the Iroquois to conciliate the minds of those Indians, we, nevertheless, received a very cordial welcome; the commandant neglecting nothing to show his joy at our arrival, to console us in our misfortunes, and restore us after our hardships.Although the season was advanced, we had, nevertheless, set out in hopes of reaching Quebec soon enough to sail to France; but head-winds having detained us a fortnight at the entrance of Lake Dauphin, we had to give it over and winter at the fort, which we made a mission till the spring of 1688.
The sieur de Tonty arrived there at the beginning of winter with several Frenchmen; this made our stay much more agreeable, as this brave gentleman was always inseparably attached to the interests of the sieur de la Salle, whose lamentable fate we concealed from him, it being our duty to give the first news to the court.
He told us that, at the same time that we were seeking the river Missisipi by sea, he had made a second voyage, descending the river with some French and Indians to the mouth, hoping to find us there; that he remained there a week, visited all the remarkable points, and remarked that there was a very fine port with a beautiful entrance, and wide channel; and, also, places fit for building forts, and not at all inundated as he had supposed, when he descended the first time with the sieur de la Salle; adding, that the lower
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river is habitable and even inhabited by Indian villages; that ships can ascend the river a hundred leagues above the gulf; that, besides the tribes which he had discovered when descending the first time, he had seen several others on the second, as the Picheno, the Ozanbogus, the Tangibao, the Otonnica, the Mausopelea, the Mouisa, and many others which I do not remember.Oar conversations together confirmed me in the opinion of the sieur de la Salle, that St. Louis bay could not be more than forty or fifty leagues from the mouth of one of the arms of the river Colbert in a straight line, for though we struck that river only at the Akansa, it was because we took the Ilinois route across the country, God having led us through these parts to enable us to discover all those tribes which dwell there.
I had remarked one hundred and ten populous nations on my route, not including a great many others of which I heard in those through which we passed, who knew them either in war, or in trade. The greatest part of these tribes are unknown to Europeans.
These are the finest and most fertile countries in the world; the soil, which there produces two crops of every kind of grain a year, being ready to receive the plough. From time to time there are vast prairies where the grass is ten or twelve feet high at all seasons; at every little distance there are rivers entering larger ones, everywhere navigable, and free from rapids. On these rivers are forests full of every kind of trees, so distributed that you can everywhere ride through on horseback.
The chase is so abundant and easy, especially for wild-cattle, that herds of thousands are discovered; there are deer and other animals of the stag kind in numbers, as well as
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turkeys, bustards, partridges, parrots, rabbits, and hares. Poultry are common there, and produce at all seasons, and swine several times a year, as we observed at the settlement where we left more than two hundred.The rivers are unusually abundant in all kinds of fish, so much so that we took them at the foot of the fort with our hands, without basket or net. Our people one day took away from the Indians a fish-head which was alone a load for a man. No settler arriving in the country will not find at first enough to support plenteously a large family, or will not, in two years time be more at his ease than in any place in Europe. I have already remarked that horses for every use are there very common, the Indians thinking themselves well paid when they get an axe for a horse.
The commerce might be very great there in peltries, tobacco, and cotton. Hemp grows very fine; and as the fields are full of mulberry-trees which also line the rivers, silk might be raised in abundance. Sugar-canes would succeed there well, and could be easily got by trade with the West Indies, as the Europeans nations have done in Terra-firma, where they are neighbors to Louisiana.
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quantity of wool which the cattle of the country are loaded, the vast prairies everywhere afford means of raising flocks of sheep, which produce twice a year.The various accidents that befell us, prevented our searching for the treasures of this country: we found lead quite pure, and copper ready to work. The Indians told us that there were rivers where silver mines are found: others wished to conduct us to a country known to the Spaniards, abounding in gold and silver mines. There are also some villages where the inhabitants have pearls, which they go to seek on the seacoast and find, they say, in oysters.
We found few nations within a hundred and fifty or two hundred leagues of the sea, who are not prejudiced against the Spaniards on account of their great cruelty. These tribes are all populous; and there is one which, in war, would furnish as many as five thousand men.
The shortness of our stay among these tribes gave us no time to lay solid foundations of Christianity; but we remarked good dispositions for the faith; they are docile, charitable, susceptible of good impressions; there is even some government and subordination, savage though it always be. By the help of God, religion might make progress there. The sun is their divinity, and they offer it in sacrifice the best of their chase in the chief's cabin. They pray for half an hour, especially at sunrise; they send him the first whiff of their pipes, and then send one to each of the four cardinal points.
I left St. Louis bay on the second voyage to remain among the Coenis and begin a mission there. Here Father Zenobius was to join me, to visit the neighboring tribes while awaiting from France a greater number of gospel laborers, but the melancholy death of the sieur de la Salle having compelled
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me to proceed, Father Zenobius no doubt went there to meet me, and is, perhaps, there yet with Father Maximus (le Clercq), having left M. de Chefdeville at the mission in the fort, to which he was destined at our departure. There were there nine or ten French families, and, besides, several of our people had gone to get and had actually married Indian women to multiply the colony. What has befallen them since, I do not know.This, adds le Clercq, is a faithful extract of what Father Anastasius could remember of his toilsome voyage. He left the Ilinois in the spring of 1688, with M. Cavelier, his nephew, the sieur Joustel, and an Indian now domiciled near Versailles. They arrived at Quebec on the 27th of July, and sailed for France on the 20th of August, where, God enabling them to be still together, after having passed through so many perils, they presented on account of all to the late marquis of Seignelay.
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Recit des Voyages et des Decouvertes du P. Jacques Marquette, de la Compagnie de Jesus en L'annee 1673, et aux Suivantes.
Chapitre 1er. — Du Premier Voyage qu'afait le P. Marquette Vers le Nouveau Mexique et Comment s'en est Form× le Dessein.
Il y avoit longtemps que le Pere premeditoit cette entreprise, port× d'un tres ardent desir d'estendre le Royaume de J. Ch. et de le faire connoistre et adorer par tous les peuples de ce pays. Il se voioit comme a la porte de ces nouvelles nations, lorsque des l'ann×e 1670, il travailloit en la mission de lapointe du St. Esprit qui est a l'extremit× du lac Superieur aux Outao�acs, il voioit mesme quel-quefois plusieurs de ces nouveaux peuples, desquels il prenoit toutes les connoissances quil pouvoit, c'est ce qui luy a fait faire plusieurs efforts pour commencer cette entreprise, mais tousiour inutilement, et mesme il avoit perdu l'esperance d'en venir about lorsque Dieu luy en fit naistre cette occasion.
En l'ann×e 1673, M. Le Comte de Frontenac nostre gouverneur, et M. Talon alors nostre Intendant, connoissant l'importance de cette decouverte, soit pour chercher un passage d'icy jusqu'a la mer de la Chine, par la riviere qui se d6charge a la mer Vermeille au Califor-nie, soit qu'on voulu s'asseurer de ce qu'on a dit du depuis, touchant les 2 Royaumes de Thegua×b et de Quivira, limitrophes du Canada, ou l'on tient que les mines d'or sont abondantes, ces Messieurs, disie,
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nommerent en mesme temps pour cette entreprise le sieur Jolyet quils jugerent tres propres pour un si grand dessein, estant bien aise que le P. Marquette fut de le partie.Il ne se tromperent pas dans le choix quils firent du sieur Jolyet, car c'estoit un jeune homme natif de ce pays, qui a pour un tel dessein tous les advantages qu'on peut souhaiter: Il a l'experience et la Connoissance des Langues du Pays des Outaoiiacs, ou il a passée; plusieurs annees, il a la conduitte et la sagesse qui sont les princi-pales parties pour faire reussir un voyage egalement, dangereux et difficile. Enfin il a le courage pour ne rien apprehender, ou tout est a craindre, aussi a-t-il remply l'attente qu'on avoit de luy, et si apres avoir passe mille sortes de dangers, il ne fut venu malheur-eusement faire nauffrage auport, son canot ayant tourne au dessoubs du Sault de St. Loiiys proche de Montreal, ou il a perdu et ses homines et ses papiers, et d'ou il n'a eschap×e que par une espece de miracle, il ne lassoit rien a souhaiter au succez de son voyage.
Section I. — Depart du P. Jacques Marquette pour la Decouverte de la Grande Riviere Appell´ee par les Sauvages Missisipi qai Conduit au Nouveau Mexique.
LE jour de I'lmmacule×e Conception de la Ste. Vierge, que javois tousjour invoqu×e depuisque je suis en ce pays des Outao�acs, pour obtenir de Dieu la grace de pouvoir visiter les nations qui sont sur la riviere de Missis-pi, fut justement celuy auquel arriva M. Jollyet avec les ordres de M. le comte de Frontenac nostre gouverneur et de M. Talon nostre Intendant, pour faire avec moy cette decouverte. Je fus d'autant plus ravy de cette bonne nouvelle, que je voiois que mes desseins alloient ×tre accomplis et que je me trouvois dans une heureuse necessit× d'exposer ma vie pour le salut de tous ces peuples et particulierement pour les Ilinois qui m'avoient pri× avec beaucoup d'instance lorsque j'estois a la pointe du St. Esprit de leur porter chez eux la parole de Dieu.
Nous ne fusmes pas long temps a preparer tout nostre equippage quoyque nous nous engageassions en un voyage dont nous ne pouvions pas prevoir la dur×e; du Bled d'Inde avec quelque viande boucan×e furent toutes nos provisions, avec lesquelles nous nous embarquammes
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sur 2 canots d'×corce, M. Jollyet et moy avec 5 hommes, bien resolus a tout faire et a tout souffrir pour une si glorieuse enterprise.Ce fut done le 17e jour de May, 1673, que nous partimes de la mission de St. Ignace a Michilimackinac, ou j'estois pour lors; la joye que nous avions d'×tre choisis pour cette expedition animoit nos courages et nous rendoit agreables les peines que nous avions a ramer depuis le matin jusqu'au soir; et parceque nous allions cher-cher des pays inconnus, nous apportammes toutes les precautions que nous p�mes, affinque si nostre entreprise estoit hazardeuse elle ne fut pas temeraire; pour ce sujet nous primes toutes les connois-sances que nous pתmes des sauvages qui avoient frequent× ces en-droicts l× et mesme nous trac×mes sur leur raport une carte de tout ce nouveau pays, nous y fimes marquer les rivieres sur lesquelles nous devions naviger, les noms des peuples et des lieux par lesquels nous devions passer, le cours de la grande riviere, et quels rund devent nous devions tenir quand nous y serions.
Surtout je mis nostre voyage soubs la protection de la Ste. Vierge Immacul×e, luy promettant que si elle nous faisoit la grace de de-couvrir la grande riviere, je luy donnerois le nom de la Conception et que je ferois aussi porter ce nom a la premiere mission que j'×tablyrois chez ces nouveaux peuples, ce que j'ay fait de vray chez les Ilinois.
Section II. — Le Pere Visite en Passant les Peuples de la Folle Avoine; Ce que c'est que cette Fotte Avoine. Il Entre dans la Baye des Puants, quelques Particularitez de cette Baye, Il Arrive a la Nation Dufeu.
AVEC toutes ces precautions nous faisons jo�er joyeusement les avirons, sur une partie du Lac Huron, et celuy des Ilinois, et dans la baye des Puans.
Le premiere nation que nous rencontrames, fut celle de la folle avoine. I'entray dans leur riviere pour aller visiter ces peuples aus quels nous avons presch× l'Evangile depuis plusieurs ann×es, aussi se trouve-t-il parmy eux plusieurs bons Chrestiens.
La folle avoine dont ils portent le nom, parcequelle se trouve sur leurs terres est une sorte d'herbe qui croit naturellement dans les
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petites rivieres dont le fond est de vase, est dans les lieux mares-ageux; elle est bien semblable a la folle avoine qui croit parmy nos bleds. Les epics sont stir des tuyeaux no�×s d'espace en espace, ils sortent de l'eau vers le mois de juin et vont tousjour montant jusqu'-acequils surnagent de deux pieds environ; Le grain n'est pas plus gros que celuy de nos avoines, mais il est une fois plus long, aussi la farine en est elle bien plus abondante. Voicy comme les sauvages la cueillent et la preparent pour la manger. Dans le mois de Sep-tembre qui est le terns propre pour cette recolte, ils vont en canot au travers de ces champs de folle avoine, ils en secoiient les espies de part et d'autre dans le canot, a mesure qu'ils avancent; le grain tombe aisement sil est meur, et en peu de temps ils en font leur provision. Mais pour le nettoyer de la paille et le depouiller d'une pellicule dans laquelle il est enferm×, ils le mettent secher a la fumee, sur un gril de bois soubs lequel ils entretiennent un petit feu, pendant quelques jours, et lorsque l'avoine est bien seche, ils la mettent dans une Peau en forme de pouche, laquelle ils enfoncent dans un trou fait a ce dessein en terre, puis ils la pillent avec les pieds, tant et si fortement que le grain s'estant separ× de la paille, ils le vannent tres ais×ment, apres quoy ils le pillent pour le reduire en farine ; or mesme sans etre pill× ils le font cuire dans l'eau, qu'ils assaisonnent avec de la graisse et de cette fa9on on trouve la folle avoine presque aussi delicate, qu'est le ris, quand on n'y met pas de meilleur assaisonnement.Je racontay a ces peuples de la folle avoine, le dessein que j'avois d'aller decouvrir ces nations esloign×es pour les pouvoir instruire des mysteres de nostre Ste. Religion: ils en furent extremement surpris, et firent tous leur possible pour m'en dissuader; ils me representerent que je rencontrerois des Nations qui ne pardonnent jamais aux estrangers ausquels ils cassent la teste sans aucun sujet; que la guerre qui estoit allume× entre divers peuples qui estoiont sur nostre Route nous exposoit a un autre danger manifeste d'estre tuez par les bandes de guerriers qui sont tousjours en campagne; que la grande riviere est tres dangereuse, quand on n'en scait pas les Endroicts difficiles, qu'elle estoit pleine de monstres effroyables, qui devoroient les hommes et les canots tout ensemble; qu'il y a mesme un d×mon qu'on entend de fort loing qui en ferme le passage et qui abysme ceux qui osent en approcher, enfin que les chaleurs sont si excessives en ces pays la qu'elles nous causeroient la mort infaillible-ment.
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Je les remerciay de ces bons advis qu'ils me donnolt, mais je leur dis que je ne pouvois pas les suivre, puisqu'il s'agissoit du salut des ames pour lesquelles je serois ravy de donner ma vie, que je me moquois de ce demon pretendu, que nous nous deffenderions bien de ces monstres marins, et qu'au reste nous nous tienderions sur nos gardes pour eviter les autres dangers dont ils nous menacoient. Apres les avoir fait prier Dieu et leur avoir donn×e quelque Instruction, je me separay d'eux, et nous estant embarquez sur nos canots nous arriv×ames peu de temps apres dans le fond de la Baye des Puantz, ou nos Peres travaillent utilement a la conversion de ces peuples, en ayant baptise plus de deux mille depuis qu'ils y sont.
Cette baye porte un nom qui n'a pas une si mauvaise signification en la langue des sauvages, car ils l'appellent plustost la baye sall×e que la Baye des Puans, quoyque parmy eux ce soit presque le mesme, et e'est aussi le nom qu'ils donnent a la mer; cequi nous a fait faire de tres exactes recherches pour decouvrir s'il n'y avoit pas en ces quartiers quelques fontaines d'eau sallee, comme il y en a parmy les hiroquois; mais nous n'en avons pas trouve nous jugeons done qu'on luy a donn×e ce nom a cause de quantit×e vase et de Bo�e, qui s'y rencontre, d'ou s'eslevent continuellement de meschantes vapeurs qui y causent les plus grands et les plus continuels Tonner-res, que j'aye iamais entendu.
La Baye a environ trente lie�es de profondeur et huict de large en son commencement; elle va tousjour se retrecissant jusques dans le fond, ou il est aise de remarquer la maree qui a son flux et reflux regl×e presque comme celuy de la Mer. Ce n'est pas icy le lieu d'examiner si ce sont des vrayes marees; si elles sont caus×es par les vents ou par quelqu'autre principe; s'il y a des vents qui sont les avant-coureurs de la Lune et attachez a sa suitte, lesquels par consequent agitent le lac et luy donnent comme son flux et reflux toutes les fois que la Lune monte sur l'horison. Ce que je peux dire de certain est que quand l'eau est bien calme, on la voit ais×ement monter et descendre suivant'le cours de la lune, quoyque jene nie pas que ce mouvement ne puisse estre caus×e par les ventz qui sont bien ×loignez et qui pesant sur le milieu du lac font que les bords crois-sent et d×croissent de la faqon qui paroit a nos yeux.
Nous quitt×mes cette baye pour entrer dans la riviere qui s'y decharge; elle est tres belle en son embouchure et coule douce-ment; elle est pleine d'outardes, de Canards, de cercelles et d'autres oyseaux qui y sont attirez par la folle avoine, dont ils sont fort frians,
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mais quand on a un peu avanc× dans cette riviere, on la trouve tres difficile, tant a cause des courants que des Roches affilees, qui coup-pent les canots et les pieds de ceux qui sont oblig×s de les traisner, surtout quand les eaux sont basses. Nous franchlmes pourtant heureusement ces rapideset en approchant de Machkoutens, le nation du feu, jeu la curiosite de boire des eaux mineralles de la riviere qui n'est pas loing de cette bourgade, je pris aussi le temps de recon-noistre un simple qu'un sauvage qui en scait le secret a enseign× au P. Allo�es avec beaucoup de ceremonies. Sa racine sert contre la morsure des serpents, Dieu ayant voulu donner ce remede contre un venin qui est tres frequent en ces pays. Elle est fort chaude, et elle a un gout de poudre quand on l'escrase sous la dent; il faut la mascher et la mettre sur la piquurre du serpent, qui en a une si grande horreur, qu'il s'enfuit mesme de celuy, qui s'en est frotte, elle produit plusieurs tiges, hautes d'un pied, dont la feuille est un peu longue et la fleur blanche et beaucoup semblable a la girofl×e. J'en mis dans mon canot pour l'examiner a loisir pendant que nous avan-cions tousjour vers Maskoutens, ou nous arriv×mes le 7 de Juin.Section III. — Description de la Bourgade de Maskoutens, Cequi s'y Passu entre le Pere et les Sauvages; Les Francois Commencent d'entrer dans un Pays Nouveau et Inconnu et Arrivent a Missispi.
NOUS voicy rendus a Maskoutens. Ce mot en Algonquin peut signifier, nation du feu; aussi est ce le nom qu'on luy a donn×. C'est ici le terme des d×couvertes qu'ont fait les Francois, car ils n'ont point encore pass× plus avant.
Ce Bourg est compose de trois sortes de Nations qui s'y sont ramassees, des Miamis, des Maskoutens, et des Kikabous. Les premiers sont les plus civils, les plus liberaux, et les mieux faitz; ils portent deux longues moustaches sur les oreilles, qui leur donnent bonne grace, ils passent pour les guerriers, et font rarement des parties sans succez; ils sont fort dociles, ils escoutent paisiblement ce qu'on leur dit et ont paru si avides d'entendre le P. Alloues quand il les instruisoit, qu'ils luy donnoient peu de repos, mesme pendant la nuict. Les Maskoutens et les Kikabous sont plus grossiers et
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semblent etre des paysantz en comparaison des autres. Comme les Escorces a faire des cabannes sont rares en ce pays la, ils se ser-vent de joncs qui leur tiennent lieu de murailles et de couvertures, mais qui ne les defendant pas beaucoup des vents, et bien moins des pluyes quand elles tombent en abondance. La commodit× de ces sortes de cabannes est qu'ils les mettent en pacquetz et les portent aisement ou ils veulent pendant le temps de leur chasse.Lorsque je les visitay,je fus extrem×ment console de veoir une belle croix plant×e au milieu du bourg et ornee de plusieurs peaux blanches, de ceintures rouges d'arcs et de fl×ches que ces bonnes gens avoient offertz au grand Manitou (c'est le nom qu'ils donnent a Dieu), pour le remercier de ce qu'il avoit eu piti× d'eux pendant l'hyver, leur donnant une chasse abondante, lorsqu'ils apprendoient le plus la famine.
Je pris plaisir de veoir la situation de cette bourgade, elle est belle et bien divertissante; car d'une eminence, sur laquelle elle est plac×e, on d×couvre de toutes parts des prairies a perte de veue, partagees par des bocages ou par des bois de haute futaye. La terre y est tres bonne et rend beaucoup de bled d'inde; les sauvages ramassent quantite de prunes et de raisins, dont on pourroit faire beaucoup de vin si l'on vouloit.
Nous ne f�mes pas plustost arrivez que nous assembl×mes les anciens M. Joelyet etmoy, il leur dit qu'il estoit envoy× de la part de monsr. nostre gouverneur pour d×couvrir de nouveaux pays et moi de la part de Dieu pour les esclairer des lumieres du St. Evangile; qu'au reste le maistre souverain de nos vies vouloit estre connu de toutes les nations, et que pour obeir a ses volont×s, je ne craignois pas la mort a la quelle je m'exposois dans des voyages si perilleux; que nous avions besoin de deux guides pour nous mettre dans nostre route; nous leur fimes un present, en les priant de nous les accor-der, ce qu'ils firent tres civilement et mesme voulurent aussi nous parler par un present qui fut une nate pour nous servir de lit pendant tout nostre voyage.
Le lendemain qui fut le dixieme de Juin, deux Miamis qu'on nous donna pour guides s'embarquerent avec nous, a la veue d'un grand monde qui ne pouvoit assez s'estonner de veoir sept francjois, seuls et dans deux canotz oser entreprendre une expedition si ex-tresordinaire et si hazardeuse.
Nous scavions qu'a trois lie�s de Maskoutens estoit une riviere qui se d×charge dans Missispi; nous scavions encor que le rund de
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vent que nous devions tenir pour y arriver estoit l'ouest soro�est, mais le chemin est partag× de tant de marais et de petitz lacs, qu'il est aise de s'y egarer d'autant plus que la riviere qui y mene est si chargee de folle avoine, qu'on a peine a en reconnoistre le canal; c'est en quoy nous avions bien besoin de nos deux guides, aussi nous conduisirent ils heureusement jusqua un portage de 2,700 pas et nous aiderent a transporter nos canotz pour entrer dans cette riviere, apres quoy ils s'en retournerent nous laissant seuls en ce pays in-connu, entre les mains de la providence.Nous quittons done les eaux qui vont jusqua Quebeq a 400 ou 500 lieues d'icy pour prendre celles qui nous conduiront desormais dans les terres estrangeres. Avant que de nous y embarquer, nous commenc×mes tous ensemble une nouvelle devotion a la Ste. Vierge Im-macul×e que nous pratiqu×mes tous les jours, luy addressant des prieres particulieres pour mettre sous sa protection et nos personnes et le succez de nostre voyage et apres nous estre encourag×s les uns les autres nous montons en canot.
La riviere sur laquelle nous nous embarquames s'appelle Mes-kousing. Elle est fort large, son fond est du sable, qui fait diverses battures lesquelles rendent cette navigation tres difficile; elle est pleine d'isles couvertes de vignes; sur les bords paroissent de bonnes terres, entremesl&eacue;es de bois, de prairies et de costeaux, on y voit des chesnes, des noiers, des bois blancs et une autre espece d'arbres, dontz les branches sont arm×es de longues espines. Nous n'avons ra ni gibier ni poisson, mais bien des chevreuils et des vaches en assez grande quantite. Nostre route estoit au suro�est et apres avoir navigé environ 30 lieues, nous apperce�mes un endroit qui avoit toutes les apparences de mine de fer, et de fait un de nous qui en a veu autrefois assure que celle que nous avons trouv× est fort bonne et tres abondante; elle est couverte de trois pieds de bonne terre, assez proche d'une chaine de rocher, dont le bas est plein de fort beau bois. Apres 40 lieues sur cette mesme route nous arrivons a l'embouchure de nostre riviere et nous trouvant a 42 degrez et demy d'eslevation, nous entrons heureusement dans Misissipi le 17e Juin avec une joye que je ne peux pas expliquer.
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Section IV. — De la Grande Riviere Appel×e Missisipi, ses Plus Notables Particularites. — De Divers Animaux et Particulierement les Pisikious ou Boeufs Sauvages, leur Figure et leur Naturel. — Des Premiers Villages des Ilinois ou les Francois Arrivent.
Nous voyla donc sur cette riviere si renomm×e dont iay tach× d'en remarquer attentivement toutes les singularit×s; la riviere de Missisipi tire son origine de divers lacs qui sont dans le pays des peuples du nord; elle est estroitte a sa d×charge de Miskous. Son courant qui porte du cost× du sud est lent et paisible. A la droitte on voist une grande chaisne de montagnes fort hautes et a la gauche de belles terres; elle est coup×e d'isles en divers endroictz. En sondant nous avons trouv×s dix brasses d'eau, sa largeur est fort inegale, elle a quelquefois trois quartz de lie�es, et quelquefois elle se retressit jusqua trois arpens. Nous suivons doucement son cours, qui va au sud et au sudest jusqu'aux 42 degr×s d'elevation. C'est icy que nous nous appercevons bien qu'elle a tout chang× de face. II n'y a presque plus de bois ny de montagnes, les isles sont plus belles et couvertes de plus beaux arbres; nous ne voions que des chevreils et des vaches, des outardes et des cygnes sans aisles, par-cequ'ils quittent leurs plumes en ce pays. Nous rencontrons de temps en temps des poissons monstrueux, un desquels donna si rude-ment contre nostre canot, que je cr� que c'estoit un gros arbre qui l'alloit mettre en pi×ces. Une autrefois nous apperce�mes sur l'eau un monstre qui avoit une teste de tigre, le nez pointu comrne celuy d'un chat sauvage, avec la barbe et des oreilles droittes ×lev×es en haut, la teste estoit grize et le col tout noir, nous n'en vismes pas davantage. Quand nous avons jett× nos retz a l'eau nous avons pris des esturgeons et une espece de poisson fort extresordinaire, il res-semble a la truitte avec cette difference, qu'il a la gueule plus grande, il a proche du nez (qui est plus petit aussi bien que les yeux) une grande areste, comme un bust de femme, large de trois doigts, long d'une coud×e, aubout de laquelle est un rond large comme la main, Cela l'oblige souvent en saultant hors de l'eau de tomber en derriere. Estant descendus jusqua 41 degr×s 28 minuittes suivant le mesme rund, nous trouvons que les cocs d'inde out pris la place du gibier et les pisikibus ou besufs sauvages celles des autres bestes.
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Nous les appelons breufs sauvages parcequ'ils sont bien semblables a nos boeufs domestiques, ils ne sont pas plus longs, mais ils sont pres d'une fois plus gros et plus corpulentz; nos gens en ayant tue un, trois personnes avoient bien de la peine a le remüer. Ils ont la teste forte grosse, le front plat et large d'un pied et demy entre les cornes qui sont entierement semblables a celles de nos boeufs, mais elles sont noires et beaucoup plus grande. Ils ont sous le col comme une grande falle, qui pend en bas et sur le dos une bosse assez elevee. Toute la teste, la col et une partie des espaules sont cou-vertz d'un grand crin comme celuy des chevaux, c'est une hure longue d'un pied, qui les rend hideux et leur tombant sur les yeux les empeche de voire devant eux. Le reste du corps est revetu d'un gros poil fris× a peu pres come celuy de nos moutons, mais bien plus fort et plus espais, il tombe en est× et la peau devient douce comme du velours. C'est pourlors que les sauvages les employent pour s'en faire de belles Robbes qu'ils peignent de diverses couleurs; la chair et la graisse des pisikious est excellente et fait le meilleur mets des festins. Aureste ils sont tres m×chants et il ne se passent point d'ann×e qu'ils ne tuent quelque sauvage; quand on vient les attaquer, ils prennent s'ils peuvent un homme avec leurs cornes, l'enlevent en Fair, puis ils le jettent contre terre, le foulent des pieds et le tuent. Si on tire de loing sur eux ou de l'arc au du fusil, il faut si tost apres le coup se jetter a terre et se cacher dans l'herbe, car s'ils apercoivent celuy qui a tire, ils courent apres et le vont attaquer. Comme ils ont les pieds gros et assez courtz, ils ne vont pas bien viste pour l'ordinaire, si ce n'est lorsqu'ils sont irritez. Ils sont espars dans les prairies comme des troupeaux; j'en ay veu une bande de 400.
Nous avancons tousjours mais comme nous ne scavions pas oש nous allions ayant fait deia plus de cent lie�es sans avoir rien d×-couvert que des bestes et des oyseaux nous nous tenons bien sur nos gardes-; c'est pourquoy nous ne faisons qu'un petit feu a terre sur le soir pour preparer nos repas et apres so�per nous nous en eloignons le plus que nous pouvons et nous allons passer la nuict dans nos canotz que nous tenons a l'ancre sur la riviere assez loing des bords; ce qui n'empeche pas que quelqu'un denous ne soit tousjour en sen-tinelle de peur de surprise, Allant par le sud et le sud suro�est nous nous trouvons a la hauteur de 41 degrez et jusqua 40 degrez quelques minutes en partie par sudest et en partie par le suro�est apres avoir
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avanc× plus de 60 lie�es depuis nostre entr×e dans la Riviere sans rien d×couvrir.Enfin le 25e Juin nous apercetanes sur le bord de l'eau des pistes d'hommes, et un petit sentier assez battu, qui entroit dans une belle prairie. Nous nous arrest×mes pour l'examiner, et jugeant que cestoit un chemin qui conduisoit a quelque village de sauvages, nous pr×mes resolution de l'aller reconnoistre: nous laissons done nos deux canotz sous la garde de nos gens, leur recommandant bien de ne se pas laisser surprendre, apres quoy M. Jollyet et moy entre-primes cette d×couverte assez hazardeuse pour deux hornmes seuls qui s'exposent a la discretion d'un peuple barbare et inconnu. Nous suivons en silence ce petit sentier et apres avoir fait environ 2lie�es, nous d×couvrimes un village sur le bord d'une riviere,et deux autres sur un costeau escart× du premier d'une demi lie�e Ce fut pour lors que nous nous recommand×mes, a Dieu de bon coeur et ayant implor× son secours nous pass×mes outre sans ×tre d×couverts et nous vinsmes si pres que nous entendions mesme parler les sauvages. Nous cr�mes done qu'il estoit temps de nous d×couvrir, ce que nous fismes par un cry que nous pouss×mes de toutes nos forces, en nous arrestant sans plus avancer. A ce cry les sauvages sortent prompte-ment de leurs cabanes et nous ayant probablement reconnus pour francois, surtout voyant une robe noire, ou du moins n'ayant aucun suject de defiance, puisque nous n'estions que deux hommes, et que nous les avions advertis de nostre arriv×e, ils d×eputerent quattre viel-liards, pour nous venir parler, dontz deux portoient des pipes a pren-dre du tabac, bien orn×es et empanach×es de divers plumages, ils marchoient a petit pas, et ×levant leurs pipes vers le soleil, ils sem-bloient luy presenter a fumer, sans neamoins dire aucun mot. Ils furent assez long temps a faire le peu de chemin depuis leur village jusqu'a nous. Enfin nous ayant abordes, ils s'arresterent pour nous considerer avec attention; je me rassuray, voyant ces ceremonies, que ne se font parmy eux qu'entre amys, et bien plus quand je les vis couvertz d'estoffe, jugeantpar laqu'ils estoient de nos alliez. Je leur parlay done le premier et je leur demanday, qui ils estoient, ils me r×pondirent qu'ils estoient Ilinois et pour marque de paix ils nous presenterent leur pipe pour petuner, ensuitte ils nous inviterent d'entrer dans leur village, oש tout le peuple nous attendoit avec im-patience. Ces pipes a prendre du tabac s'appellent en ce pays des calumetz; ce mot sy est mis tellement en usage, que pour estre en-tendu je seray oblig× de m'en servir ayant a en parler bien des fois.
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Section V. — Comment les Ilinois Receurent le Pere dans leur Bourgade.
A la porte de la cabane oש nous devions estie receus, estoit un vielliard qui nous attendoit dans une posture assez surprenante, qui est la ceremonie qu'ils gardent quand ils recoivent des estrangers. Cet homme estoit debout et tout mid,tenant ses mains estendus et lev×es vers le soleil, comme s'il eut voulu se deffendre de ses rayons, les-quels neamoins passoient sur son visage entre ses doigts; quand nous fusmes proches de luy, il nous fit ce compliment; que le soleil est beau, francois, quand tu nous viens visiter, tout nostre bourg t'attend, et tu entreras en paix dans toute nos cabanes. Cela dit, il nous introduisit, dans la sienne, oש il y avoit une foule de monde qui nous devoroit des yeux, qui cependant gardoit un profond silence, on entendoit neamoins ces paroles qu'on nous addressoit de temps en temps et d'une voix basse, que voyla qui est bien, mes freres, de ce que vous nous visitez.
Apres que nous eusmes pris place, on nous fit la civilit× ordinaire du pays, qui est de nous presenter le calumet; il ne faut pas le refuser, si on ne veut passer pour ennemy, ou du moins pour in-civil, pourveu qu'on fasse semblant de fumer, c'est assez; pendant que tous les anciens petunoient apres nous pour nous honorer, on vient nous inviter de la part du grande capitaine de tous les Ilinois de nous transporter en sa Bourgade, ou il vouloit tenir conseil avec nous. Nous y allames en bonne compagnie, car tous ces peuples, qui n'avoient jamais veu de frangois chez eux ne se lassoient point de nous regarder, ils se couchoient sur l'herbe le long des chemms, ils nous devancoient, puis ils retournoient sur leurs pas pour nous venir voir encor. Tout cela se faisoit sans bruit et avec les marques d'un grand respect qu'ils avoient pour nous.
Estant arrivez au Bourg du grand Capitaine, nous le vismes a l'entr×e de sa cabanne, au milieu de deux vielliards, tout trois debout et nud tenant leur calumet tourn× vers le soleil, il nous harangua en peu de motz, nous f×licitant de nostre arriv×e, il nous pr×senta en-suitte son calumet et nous fit fumer, en mesme temps que nous entrions dans sa cabanne, o� nous receumes toutes leurs caresses ordinaires.
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Voyant tout le monde assembl× et dans le silence, je leur parlay par quattre presents que je leur fis, par le premier je leur disois que nous marchions en paix pour visiter les nations qui s'etoient sur la riviere jusqu'a la mer; par le second je leur declaray que Dieu qui les a cr×es avoit piti× d'eux, puisqu'apres tant de temps qu'ils l'ont ignor×, il vouloit se faire connoistre a tous ces peuples, que j×stois envoy× de sa part pour ce dessein, que c'estoit a eux a le reconnois-tre et a luy obeir, Par le troisi×me que le grand capitaine des fran-qois leur faisoit syavoir que c'estoit luy qui mettoit la paix partout et qui avoit dompt× l'lroquois. Enfin par le quatri×me nous les prions de nous donner toutes les connoissances qu'ils avoient de la mer, et des nations par lesquelles nous devions passer pour y arriver.
Quand jeu finy mon discour, le capitaine se leva, et tenant le main sur la teste d'un petit esclave qu'il nous vouloit donner il par la ainsi. le te remercie Robe Noire, et toy francois (s'addressant a M.Jollyet), de ce que vous prenez tant de peine pour nous venir visiter, jamais la terre n'a est× si belle ny le soleil si ×clatant qu'au-jourdhui; jamais notre riviere n'a est× si calme, n'y si nette de rocbers que vos canotz ont enlev×es en passant, jamais nostre petun n'a eu si bon gout, n'y nos bleds n'ont paru si beau que nous les voions maintenant. Voicy mon fils que je te donne pour te faire connoistre mon coeur, je te prie d'avoir piti× de moy et de toute ma nation, c'est toy qui connoist le grand Genie qui nous a tous fails, c'est toy qui luy parle et quy escoute sa parole, demande luy qu'il me donne la vie et la sant× et vient demeurer avec nous, pour nous le faire con-noistre. Cela dit il mit le petit esclave proche de nous,et nous fit un second present, qui estoit un calumet tout mysterieux, dont ils font plus d'estat que d'un esclave; il nous t×moignoit par ce present. L'es-time qu'il faisoit de monsieur nostre gouverneur, sur le recit que nous luy en avions fait; et pour un troisieme il nous prioit de la part de toute sa nation, de ne pas passer oultre, a cause des grands dangers ou nous nous exposions.
Je r×ponrlis que je ne craignois point la mort, et que je n'estimois point de plus grand bonheur que de perdre la vie pour la gloire de Celuy que a tout fait. C'est ce que ces pauvres peuples ne peuvent comprendre.
Le conseil fut suivy d'un grand festin qui consistoit en quattre metz, qui'l fallut prendre avec toutes leurs facons, le premier service fut un grand plat de bois plein de sagamit×, c'est-a-dire de farine de bled d'inde qu'on fait bo�illur avec de l'eau qu'on assaisonne de graisse.
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Le maistre des ceremonies avec une cuillier pleine de sagamit× me la presenta a la bouche par trois ou 4 fois, comme on feroit a un petit enfant, il fit le mesme a M. Jollyet. Pour second mets il fit paroistre un second plat oש il y avoit trois poissons, il en prit quelques morceaux pour en oster les arestes, et ayant souffl× dessus pour les rafraichir, il nous les mit a la bouche, comme l'on donneroit la besch×e a un oyseau. On apporte pour troisi×me service un grand chien, qu on venoit de tuer, mais ayant appris que nous n'en mangions point, on le retira de devant nous. Enfin le 4e fut une pi×ce de boeuf sauvage, dont on nous mit a la bouche les morceaux les plus gras.Apres ce festin il fallut aller visiter tout le village, qui est bien compos× de 300 cabannes. Pendant que nous marchions par les rues, un prateur haranguoit continuellement pour obliger tout le monde a nous voir, sans nous estre importuns; on nous presentoit partout des ceintures, des jartieres et autres ouvrages faits de poil d'ours et de boeuf et teins en rouge, en jaune, et en gris, ce sont toutes les raretez qu'ils ont; commes elles ne sont pas bien considerbles, nous ne nous en chargeames point.
Nous couch×mes dans la cabane du capitaine etle lendemain nous prismes cong× de luy, promettant de repasser par son bourg dans quatre lunes. II nous conduisit jusqua nos canotz avec pres de 600 personnes qui nous vlrent embarquer, nous donnant toutes les marques qu'ils pouvoient de la joye que notre visite leur avoit caus×e. Je m'engageay en mon particulier, en leur disant adieu que je vien drois I'an prochain demeurer avec eux pour les instruire. Mais avant que de quitter le pays des llinois, il est bon que je rapporte ce que j'ay reconnu de leurs coust�mes et facons de faire.
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Section VI. — Du Naturel des llinois, de leurs Meurs, et de leurs Coustumes, de l'estime qu'ils Ont pour le Calumet ou Pipe a Prendre du Tabac et de la Danse qu'ils Font en son Honneur.
Qui dit llinois, c'est comme qui diroit en leur langue les hommes, comme si les autres sauvages, aupres d'euxne passoient que pour des bestes, aussi faut il advo�er qu'ils ont un air d'humanit× que nous n'avons pas remarqu× dans les autres nations que nous avons ve�es sur nostre route. Le peu de s×jour que jay fait parmy eux ne m'a pas permis de prendre toutes les connoissances que j'aurois souhait×; de toutes leurs facons de faire voicy ce que j'en ay remarqu×.
Ils sont divis×s en plusieures bourgades dont quelquesunes sont ass×s ×loign×es de celle dont nous parlons qui s'appelle Peo�area, c'est ce qui met de la difference en leur langue, laquello universalle-ment tient de l'allegonquin de sorte que nous nous entendions facile-ment les uns les autres. Leur naturel est doux et traitable, nous l'avons experiment× dans la reception qu'il nous ont faitte. Ils ont plusieurs femmes dont ils sont extremement jaloux, ils les veillent avec un grand soin et ils leur couppent le nez ou les oreilles quand elles ne sont pas sages, j'en ay veu plusieures qui portoient les marques de ieurs desordres. Ils ont le corps bien fait, ils sont lestes et fort adroits a tirer de l'arc et de la fl×che. Ils se servent aussi des fusils qu'ils acheptent des sauvages nos alli×s qui ont commerce avec nos francois; ils en usent particulierement pour donner l'epouvante par ie bruit et par la fum×e a leurs ennemys qui n'en n'ont point l'usage et n'en ont jamais veu pour estre trop ×loign× vers le couchant. Ils sont belliqueux et se rendent redoutables aux peuples ×loign×s du sud et de l'o�est, oש ils vent faire des esclaves, desquels ils se servent pour trafiquer, les vendant cberement a d'autres nations, pour d'autres marchandises. Ces sauvages si ×loignes chez qui ils vont en guerre n'ont aucune connoissance d'Europeans; ils ne savent ce que c'est ny de fer ny de cuivre et n'ont que des couteaux de pierre. Quand les llinois partent pour aller on guerre, il faut que tout le bourg en soit adverty par le grand cry qu'ils font a la porte de leurs cabanes, le soir et le matin avant que de partir. Les capitaines
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se distinguent des soldats par des escharpes rouges qu'ils portent, elles sont faittes de crin d'ours et du poil de boeufs sauvages avec assez d'industrie; ils se peignent le visage d'un rouge de sanguine, dont ily a grande quantit× a quelques journ×es du bourg. Ils vivent de chasse qui est abondante en ce pays et de bled d'inde dont ils font tousjour une bonne recolte, aussi n'ont ils jamais souffert de famine, ils sement aussi des febves et des melons qui sont excellentz, surtout ceux qui ont la graine rouge, leurs citrouilles ne sont pas des meilleures, ils les font secher au soleil pour les manger pendant l'hyver et le primptemps. Leur cabanes sont fort grandea, elles sont couvertes et pave×s de nattes failtes de joncs: ils trouvent toutes leur vaiselle dans le bois et leurs cuilliers dans la teste de bosufs dont ils savent si bien accommoder le crane qu'ils s'en servent pour manger ais×ment leur sagamit×.Ils sont liberaux dans leurs maladies, et croyent que les medica-mens qu'on leur donne, operent a proportion des presents qu'ils auront fais au m×decin. Ils n'ont que des peaux pour habitz, les femmes sont tousjours vestiies fort modestement et dans une grande bien seance au lieu que les homines ne se mettent pas en peine de se couvrir. Je ne scais par quelle superstition quelques Ilinois, aussi bien que quelques Nadouessi, estant encore jeunes prennent l'habit des femmes qu'ils gardent toute leur vie. II y a du mystere; car il ne se marient jamais, et font gloire de s'abaisser a faire tout ce que font les femmes; ils vont pourtant en guerre, mais ils ne peuvent se servir que de la mass�e, et non pas de l'arc ny de la fl×che qui sont les armes propres des hommes, ils assistant a toutes les jongleries et aux danses s×£lemnelles qui se font a l'honneur du calumet, ils y chantent mais ils n'y peuvent pas danser, ils sont ap-pell×s aux conseils, ou l'on ne peut rien decider sans leurs advis; enfin par le profession qu'ils font d'une vie extresordinaire, ils pas-sent pour des manitous, c'est-adire pour des Genies ou des personnes de consequence.
II ne reste plus qu'a parler du calumet. II n'est rien parmy eux ny de plus mysterieux ny de plus recommandable, on ne rend pas tant d'honneur aux couronnes et aux sceptres des Roys qu'ils luy en ren-dent; il semble estre le dieu de la paix et de la guerre, l'arbitre de la vie et de la mort. C'est assez de le porter sur soy et de le faire voir pour marcher en assurance au milieu des ennemys, qui dans le fort du combat mettent bas les armes quand on le montre. C'est pour cela que les Ilinois m'en donnerent un pour me servir de sauvegarde parmy toutes
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les nations, parlesquelles je devois passer dans mon voyage. Il ya un calumet pour la paix et un pour la guerre, qui ne sont distingue que par la couleur des plumages dontz ils sont orn×s. (Le Rouge es marque de guerre), ils s'en servent encor pour terminer leur differ ents, pour affermir leurs alliances et pour parler aux estrangers.La danse du calumet, qui est fort celebre parmy ces peuples, ne se fait que pour des sujets considerables; quelque fois c'est pour affermir la paix ou se re�nir pour quelque grande guerre; c'est d'autres fois pour une rejo�issance publique, tantost on en fait honneur a une nation qu'on invite d'y assister, tantost ils sen servent a la reception de quelque personne considerable comme s'ils vouloient luy donner le divertissement du Bal ou de la Comede; l'hyver la cere-monie se fait dans une cabane, l'Est× c'est en raze campagne. La place ×tant choisie, on l'environne tout a l'entour d'arbres pour mettre tout le monde a i'ombre de leurs fe�illages, pour se d×fendre des chaleurs du soleil; on ×tend une grande natte de joncs peinte de diverses couleurs au milieu de la place; elle sert comme de tapis pour mettre dessus avec honneur le Dieu de celuy qui fait la Dance; car chacun a le sien, qu'ils appellent leur manitou, c'est un serpent ou un oyseau, ou chose semblable qu'ils ont resv× en dormant et en qui ils mettent tout leur confiance pour le succez deleur guerre, de leur pesche et de leur chasse; pres de ce manitou et a sa droite, on met le calumet en l'honneur de qui se fait la feste et tout a l'entour on fait comme une troph×e et on ×stend les armes dont se servent les guerriers de ces nations, scavoir la massue, la hache d arme, l'arc, le carquois et les fleches.
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Les choses estant ainsi dispos×es ot l'heure de la dance appro-chant, ceux qui sont nommez pour chanter prennent la place la plus honorable sous les fe�illages; ce sont les hommes et les fernmes qui ont les plus belles voix, et qui s'accordent parfaitement bien ensemble; toutle monde vient ensuitte se placer en rond sous les branches, mais chacun en arrivant doit saliier le manitou, ce qu'il fait en petu-nant et jettant de sa bouche la fumee sur luy comme s'il luy pre-sentoit de l'encens; chacun va d'abord avec respect prendre le calumet et le soutenant des deux mains, il le fait dancer en cadence, s'accordant bien avec l'air des chansons; il luy fait faire des figures bien differentes, tantost il le fait voir a toute l'assembl×e se tournant de cot× et d'autre; apres cela, celuy qui doit commencer la dance paroist au milieu de I'assembl×e et va d'abord et tantost il le presente au soleil, comme s'il le vouloit faire fumer, tantost il l'incline vers la terre, d'autrefois il luy estend les aisles comme pour voler, d'autres fois il l'approche de la bouche des assistans, afinqu'ils fument, le tout en cadence, et c'est comme la premiere scene du Ballet.
La seconde consiste en un combat qui se fait au son d'une espece de tambour, qui succede aux chansons, ou mesme qui s'y joignant s'accordent fort bien ensemble; le Danseur fait signe a quelque guerrier de venir prendre les armes qui sont sur la natte et linvite a se battre au son des tambours; celuyci s'approche, prend Fare et la fleche, avec la hache d'armes et commence le d�el centre l'autre, qui n'a point d'autre defense que le calumet. Ce spectacle est fort agreable, surtout les faisant tousjours en cadence, carl'un attaque, l'autre se defend, l'un porte des coups, l'autre les pare, l'un fuit, Pautre le poursuit et puis celuy qui fuyoit tourne visage et fait fiiyr son ennemy, ce qui se passe si bien par mesure et a pas comptez et au son regl× des voix et des tambours, que cela pourroit passer pour une assez belle entr×e de Ballet en France.
La troisieme scene consiste en un grand discours que fait celuy qui tient le calumet, car le combat estant fini sans sang repandu, il raconte les batailles o'u il s'est trouv×, les victoires qu'il a remportees, il nomme les nations, les lieux et les captifs qu'il a faitz, et pour recompense celuy qui preside a la danse luy fait present d'une belle robe de castor ou de quelque autre chose et l'ayant receu il va presenter le calumet a un autre, celuyci a un troisieme, et ainsi de tous les autres, jusqu'aceque tous ayant fait leur devoir, le President fait present du calumet mesme a la nation qui a est× invit×e a cette ceremonie,pour marque de la paix eternelle qui seraentro les deux peuples.
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Voicy quelqu'une des chansons qu'ils ont coustume de chanter, ils leur donnent un certain tour qu'on ne peut assez exprimer par la notte, qui neamoins en fait toute la grace.
Section VII.
Nous prenons cong× de nos Ilinois sur la fin de Juin vers les trois heures apres midy, nous nous embarquons a lave�e de tous ces peuples qui admiroient nos petits canotz, n'en ayant jamais veu de semblables.
Nous descendons suivant le courant de la rivi×re appell×e Pekit-ano�i, qui se decharge dans Missisipi venant du Nordoiiest, de la quelle j'ay quelque chose de considerable × dire apres que j'auray raconte ce que j'ay remarqu× sur cette riviere. Passant proche des rochers assez hautz qui bordent la riviere j'apperceu un simple qui m'a paru fort extraordinaire. La racine est semblable a des petitz naveaux attachez les uns aux autres par des petitz filetz qui ont le gout de carote; de cette racine sort une feuille large comme la main, espaisses d'un demi doigt avec des taches au milieu; de cette feuille naissent d'autres feuilles resemblables aux plaques qui servent de flambeaux dans nos sales et chasque feuille porte cinq ou six fleurs jaunes en forme de clochettes.
Nous trouvames quantit× de meures aussi grosses que celle de France, et un petit fruict que nous prismes d'abord pour des olives, mais il avoit le gout d'orange et un aultre fruict gros comme un oeuf de poule, nous le fendismes en deux et parurent deux separations, dans chasqu'une desquelles il y a 8 ou 10 fruicts enchass×z, ils ont la figure d'amande et sont fort bons quand ils sont meurs; l'arbre neamoins qui les porte a tres mauvaise odeur et sa feuille ressemble a celle de noyer, il se trouve aussi dans les prairies un fruit semblable a des noisettes mais plus tendre: les feuilles sont fort grandes et viennent d'une tige au bout de laquelle est une teste semblable a celle d'un tournesol, dans laquelle toutes ces noisettes sont propre-ment arrang×es, elles sont fort bonnes et cuites et crues.
Comme nous cottoions des rochers affreux pour leur haulteur et pour leur longeur, nous vismes sur un de ses rochers deux monstres
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en peinture qui nous firent peur d'abord et sur lesquels les sauvages les plus hardys n'osent pas arrester longtemps les yeux ; ils sont gros comme un veau; ils ont des cornes en teste commes des chevreils; un regard affreux, des yeux rouges, une barbe comme d'un tygre, la face a quelque chose de l'homme, le corps couvert d'×cailles et la queue si longue qu'elle fait tout le tour du corps passant par dessus la teste et retournant entre les jambes elle se termine eu queue de poisson. Le vert le rouge et le noirastre sont les trois couleurs qui le composent; au reste ces 2 monstres sont si bien peint que nous ne pouvons pas croire qu'aucun sauvage en soil l'autheur, puisqueles bons peintres en France auroient peine a si bien faire, veuque d'ailleurs ils sont si hauts sur le rocher qu'il est difficile d'y alteindre commod×ment pour les peindre. Voicy apeupres la figure de ces monstres comme nous l'avons contretir×e.Comme nous entretenions sur ces monstres, voguant paisiblement dans une belle eau claire et dormante nous entendisme le bruit d'un rapide, dans lequel nous allions tomber. Je n'ay rien veu de plus affreux, un ambaras de gros arbres entiers, de branches, d'isletz flotans, sortoit de l'embouchure de la riviere Pekitano�i avec tant d'im-petuosit× qu'on ne pouvoit s'exposer a passer au travers sans grand danger. L'agitation estoit telle que l'eau en estoit toute boueuse et ne pouvoit s'×purer. Pekitano�i est une riviere considerable qui venant d'assez loing du cost× du noro�est, se d×charge dans Mis-sisipi, plusieurs Bourgades de sauvages sont plac×es le long de cette riviere et jespere par son moyen faire la d×couverte de la mer Vermeille ou de Californie.
Nous jugeons bien par le rund de vent que tient Missisippi, si elle continue dans la mesme route, qu'elle a sa d×charge dans le golphe mexique; il seroit bien advantageux de trouver celle qui conduit a la mer du sud, vers la Californie et c'est comme j'ay dit ce que j'espere de rencontrer par Pekitanoui, suivant le rapport que m'en ont fait les sauvages, desquels j'ay appris qu'en refoulant cette riviere pendant 5 ou 6 journ×es on trouve une belle prairie de 20 ou 30 lie�es de long, il faul la traverser allant au noro�est, elle se termine a une autre petite riviere, sur laquelle on peut s'embarquer, n'×tant pas bien difficile de transporter les canotz par un si beau pays telle qu'est cette prairie. Cette 2de riviere a son cours vers le souro�est pendant 10 ou 15 lieues, apres quoy elle entre dansun petit lac, que est la source d'une autre riviere profonde, laquelle va au couchant, ou elle se jette dans la mer. Je ne doubte presque point que co ne soit la Mer Vermeille,
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et je ne desespere pas d'en faire un jour la d×couverte, si Dieu m'en fait la grace etme donne la sante affin de pouvoir publier l'Evangile a tous les peuples de ce nouveau monde, qui ont croupi si longtemps dans les tenebres de l'infidelit×.Reprenons nostre route apres nous estre eschap× comme nous avons pu de ce dangereux rapide caus× par l'ambaras dont j'ay parl&eacyte;.
Section VIII. — Des Nouveaux Pays que le Pere D×couvrc. — Diverses particularit×s. — Rencontre de Quelques Sauvages: Premieres Nouvelles de la Mer et des Europeans. — Grand Danger Evit× par le Moyen du Calumet.
Apres avoir fait environ 20 lie�es droit au sud et un peu moins an sudest nous nous trouvons a une riviere nomin×e Ouaboukigou dont l'embouchure est par les 36 degrez d'×levation. Avant que d'y arriver nous passons par un lieu redoutable aux sauvages parcequ'ils estiment qu'il y a un manitou, c'est a dire un demon qui devore les passans et c'est de quoy nous menacoient les sauvages qui nous vouloient d×tourner de nostre enterprise. Voicy ce demon, c'est une petite anse de rochers haulte de 20 pieds ou se d×gorge tout le courant de la riviere lequel estant repouss× contre celuy qui le suit et arrest× par une isle qui est proche, est contraint de passer par un petit canal, ce qui ne se fait pas sans un furieux combat de toutes ces eaux qui rebroussent les uns sur autres et sans un grand tintamarre qui donne de la terreur a des sauvages qui craignent tout, mais cela ne nous emp×che point de passer et d'arriver a ouaboukigou. Cette riviere vient des terres du levant ou sont les peuples qu'on appelle Chaouanons, en si grand nombre, qu'en un quartier on compte jusqua 23 villages et 15 enun aultre, assez proches les uns des aultres; ils ne sont nullement guerriers, et ce sont les peuples que les Iroquois vont chercher si loing pour leur faire la guerre sans aucun sujet, et parceque ces pauvres gens ne scavent pas se deffendre, ils se laissent prendre et emmener comme des trouppeaux, et tout innocents qu'ils sont, ils ne laissant pas de ressentir quelque fois la barbarie des Iroquois qui les bruslent cruellement.
Une peu au dessus de cette riviere dont ie viens de parler sont des falaises ou nos francois ont apperceu une mine de fer, qu'ils
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jugent tres abondante, il y en a plusieures veines et un lit d'un pied de hauteur; on en voit de gros morceaux liez avec des cailloux. Il s'y trouve d'une terre grasse de trois sortes de couleurs, de pourpre de violet et des Rouges. L'eau dans laquelle on la lave prend la couleur de sang. II y a aussi d'un sable rouge fort pesant. J'en mis sur un aviron qui en prit la couleur si fortement, que l'eau ne la put effacer pendant 15 jours que je m'en servois pour nager.C'est icy que nous commencons a voir des Cannes ou gros roseaux qui sont sur le bord de la riviere, elles ont un vert fort agreable, tous les noeuds sont couronn×z de feuilles longues, estroittes et point�es, elles sont fort hautes et en si grande quantit× que les boeufs sauvages ont peine de les forcer.
Jus lu'a present nous n'avions point est×z incommod×s des marin-gouins, mais nous entrons comme dans leur pays. Voicy ce que font les sauvages de ces quartiers pour s'en deffendre; ils elevent un eschaffault dont le plancher n'est fait que de perches, et par consequent est perc× a jour affinque la fum×e du feu qu'ils font dessous passe au travers et chasse ces petitz animaux qui ne la peuvent supporter, on se couche sur les perches au dessus desquelles sont des escorces estend�es contre la pluye. Cet eschaffault leur sert encor contre les chaleurs excessives et insupportables de ce pays, car on s'y met a l'ombre a l'estage d'en bas et on s'y garantit des rayons du soleil, prenant le frais du vent qui passe librement autravers de cet eschaffault.
Dans le mesme dessein nous fusmes contraints de faire sur l'eau une espece de cabane avec nos voiles pour nous mettre a couvert et des maringouins et des rayons du soleil, comme nous nous laissons aller en cet estat au gr× de l'eau, nous apperceumes a terre des sauvages armez de fusilz avec lesquels ils nous attendoient. Je leur presentay d'abord mon calumet empanach×, pendant que nos francois se mettent en deffense, et attendoient a tirer, que les sauvages; eussent fait la premiere d×charge, je leur parlay en Huron, mais ils me repondirent par un mot qui me sembloit nous declarer la guerre, ils avoient neamoins autant de peur que nous, et ceque nous prenions pour signal de guerre, estoit une invitation qu'ils nous faisoit de nous approcher, pour nous donner a manger, nous d×barquons done et nous entrons dans leur cabanes oש ils nous presente du boeuf sauvage et de l'huile d'ours, avec des prunes blanches qui sont tres excellentes. Ils ont des fusils, des haches, des ho�es, des cousteaux, de la rassade, des bouteilles de verre double ou ils mettent leur
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poudre, ils ont les cheveux longs et se marquent par le corps a la fac,on des hiroquois, les femmes sont coiff×s et vest�es a la facon des huronnes, ils nous assurerent qu'ils n'y avoit plus que dix journ×es jusqu× la mer, qu'ils acheptoient les estoffes et toutes autres mar-chandises des Europeans qui estoient du cost× de l'Est, que ces Europeans avoient des chapeletz et des images, qu'ils jo�oient des instrumentz, qu'il y en avoit qui estoient faitz comme moy et qu'ils en estoient bien receu; cependant je ne vis personne qui me parut avoir receu aucune instruction pour la foy, le leurs en donnay ceque je pus avec quelques medailles.Ces nouvelles animerent nos courages et nous firent prendre l'aviron avec une nouvelle ardeur. Nous avan£ons done et nous ne voions plus taut de prairies parceque les 2 cosl×z de la riviere sont bordez de hauts bois. Les cottonniers, les ormes et les boisblancs y sont admirables pour leur haulteur et leur grosseur. La grande quantit× de boeufs sauvages que nous entendions meugler nous fait croire que les prairies sont proches, nous voions aussi des cailles le bord de l'eau, nous avons tu× un petit perroquet qui avoit la moiti× de la teste rouge, l'autre et le col jaune et tout le corps vert. Nous estions descendus proche des 33 degrez d'eslevation ayant presque tousjour est× vers le sud, quand nous apperceumes un village sur le bord de l'eau nomm× Mitchigamea. Nous eusmes reconrs a nostre Patronne et a nostre conductrice la Ste. Vierge Immacul×e, et nous avions bien besoin de son assistance, car nous entendismes de loing les sauvages qui s'animoient au combat par leurs crys continuels, ils estoient arm×s d'arcs, de fl×ches, de haches, de mass�es et de boucliers, ils se mirent en estat de nous attaquer par terre et par eau, une partie s'embarque dans de grands canotz de bois, les uns pour monter la riviere, les autres pour la descendre, affin de noua coupper chemin, et nous envelopper de tous costez; ceux qui estoient a terre alloient et venoient comme pour commencer l'attaque. De fait de je�nes hommes se jetterent a l'eau, pour venire saiser de mon canot, mais le courant les ayant contraint de reprendre terre, un d'eux nous jetta sa mass�e qui passa par dessus nous sans nous frapper; j'avois beau montrer le calumet, et leur faire signe par gestes que nous ne venions pas en guerre, l'alarme continuoit tousjour et l'on se preparoit d×ia a nous percer de fl×ches de toutes parts, quand Dieu toucha soudainement le creur dns vieillards qui estoient sur le bord de l'eau sans doubte par la ve�e de nostre calumet qu'ils n'a-voient pas bien reconnu de loing, mais comme je ne cessois de le
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faire paroistre, ils en furent toucliez, arresterent l'ardeur de leur jeunesse et mesme deux de ces anciens ayant jettez dans nostre canot corarae a nos pieds leurs arcs et leurs carquois pour nous mettre en asseurance, ils y entrerent et nous firent approcher de terre, ou nous debarqu×mes non pas sans crainte de nostre part. II fallut au commencement parler par gestes, parceque personne n'en-tendoit rien des six langues que je scavois, il se trouva enfin un vielliard qui parloit un peu l'llinois.Nous leurs fimes paroistre par nos presens que nous allions a la mer, ils entendirent bien ce que nous leur voulions dire, mais je ne scay s'ils conceurent ce que je leurs dis de Dieu et des choses de leur salut, c'est une semence jett×e en terre qui fructifira en son temps. Nous n'eusmes point d'autre r×ponse si non que nous ap-prendrions tout ce que nous desirions d'un aultre grand village nomm× Akamsea qui n'estoit qu'a 8 ou 10 lieues plus bas, ils nous pre-senterent de la sagamit× et du poisson et nous pass×mes la nuict chez eux avec assez d'inqui×tude.
Section IX. — Reception gu'on Fait aux Francois dans la Derniere des Sourgades qu'ils Ont Ve�es. — Les Moeurs et Fa×ons de Faire de ces Sauvages. — Raisons pour ne pas Passer Outre.
Nous embarqu×mes le lendemain de grand matin avec nostre in-terprette; un canot ou estoient dix sauvages alloit un peu devant nous, estant arriv×s a une demie lie�e des Akamsea, nous vismes paroistre deux canotz qui venoient au devant de nous; celuy qui y eom-mandoit estoit debout tenant en main le calumet avec lequel il faisoit plusieurs gestes selon le coustume du pays, il vint nous joindre en chantant assez agreablement et nous donna a fumer, apres quoy il nous presenta de la sagamit× et du pain fait de bled d'inde, dont nous mangeammes un peu, ensuitte il prit le devant nous ayant fait signe de venir doucement apres luy; on nous avoit prepar× une place sous l'eschaffault du chef des guerriers. elle estoit propre et tapiss×e de belles nattes de jonc, sur lesquelles on nous fit asseoir, ayant autour de nous les anciens, qui estoient plus proches, apres les guerriers et enfin tout le peuple en foule. Nous trouvames l'a par bonlieur un
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jeune homme qui entendoit l'llinois beaucoup mieux que l'Interprette que nous avions amen× de Mitchigamea, ce fut par son moyen que je parlay d'abord a toute cette assembl×e par les presens ordinaires; ils admiroient ce que je leur disois de Dieu et des mysteres de nostre Ste foy, ils faisoient paroistre un grand desir de me retenir avec eux pour les pouvoir instruire.Nous leurs demand×mes ensuitte ce qu'ils scavoient de la mer; ils nous r×pondirent que nous n'en estions qu'a dix journ×es, nous aurions p� faire ce chemin en 5 jours, qu'ils ne connoissoient pas les nations qui l'habitoient a cause que leurs ennemys les emp×choient d'avoir commerce avec ces Europeans, que les haches, cousteaux, et rassade que nous voions leur estoient vend�es en partie par des nations de l'Est et en partie par une bourgade d'llinois plac×e a Po�est a quattre journ×es de la, que ces sauvages que nous avons rencontres qui avoient des fusils estoient leurs ennemys, lesquels leur fennoient le passage de la mer et les emp×choient d'avoir connoissance des Europeans et d'avoir avec eux aucuu commerce; qu'au reste nous nous exposions beaucoup de passer plus oultre a cause des courses continuelles que leurs ennemys font sur la riviere, qui ayant des fusils et estant fort agguerris, nous ne pouvions pas sans un danger evident avancer sur cette riviere qu'ils occupent continuellement.
Pendant cet entretien on nous apportoit continuellement × manger dans de grands platz de bois, tantost de la sagamit×, tantost du bled entier, tantost d'un morceau de chien, toute la journ×e se passa en festins.
Ces peuples sont assez officieux et liberaux de ce qu'ils ont, mais ils sont miserables pour le vivre, nosant aller a la chasse des boeufs sauvages a cause de leurs ennemys, ils est vray qu'ils out le bled d'inde en abondance, qu'ils sement en toute saison, nous en visme en mesme temps qui estoit en maturit×, d'autre qui ne faisoit que pousser et d'autre qui estoit en laict, de sorte qu'ils sement trois fois l'an. Ils le font cuire dans de grands potz de terre qui sont fort bien faits; ils ont aussi des assi×tes de terres cuitte dontz ils se servent a divers usages. Les hommes vont nuds, portent les cheveux courtz, ont le nez perc× d'ou pend de la rassade aussi bien que de leurs oreilles. Les femmes sont vest�×s de meschantes peaux, no�ent leurs cheveux en deux tresses, qu'elles jettent derriere les oreilles, et n'ont aucune raret× pour se pnrer. Leurs festins se font sans aucune ceremonie, ils presentent aux invitez de grands platz dontz chascun mange a discretion, et se donnent les restes les uns
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aux aultres. Leur langue est extremement difficile et je ne pouvois venir about d'en prononcer quelques motz, quelque effort que je pusse faire. Leurs cabanes qui sont faittes d'escorce, sont longues et larges, ils couchent aux deux bouts elevez de deux pieds de terre, ils y gardent leur bled dans de grands panniers faits de cannes, ou dans des gourdes grosses comme des demy bariques. Ils ne scavent ce que c'est que le castor, leurs richesses consistent en peaux de breufs sauvages, ils ne voient jamais de neige chez eux et ne connoissent l'hyver que par les pluyes qui y tombent plus souvent qu'en este; nous n'y avons pas mange de fruictz que des melons d'eau. S'ils scavoient cultiver leur terre ils en auroient de toutes les sortes.Le soir les anciens firent un conseil secret dans le dessein que quelque'uns avoient de nous casser la teste pour nous piller, mais le chef rompit toutes ces men×es. Nous ayant envoy× querir, pour marque de parfaitte assurance, il dansa le calumet devant nous, de la facxm, que jay descript cy dessus, et pour nous oster toute crainte, il m'en fit present.
Nous fismes M. Jolliet et moy un aultre conseil, pour deliberer sur ce que nous avions a faire, si nous pousserions oultre o'u si nous nous contenterions de la d×couverte que nous avions faite. Apres avoir attentivement consider× que nous n'estions pas loing du golphe raexique, dont le bassin estant a la haulteur de 31 degrez 60 minutes (sic), et nous nous trouvant a 33 degrez 40 minutes nous ne pouvions pas en estre eloignes plus de 2 ou 3 journ×es, qui indubitablement la riviere Missisipi avoit sa d×charge dans la floride ou golphe Mexique, n'on pas du cost× de l'est dans la Virginie, dont le bord de la mer est a 34 degrez que nous avons pass×z sans neamoins estre encor arriv×s a la mer; non pas aussi du cost× de l'o�est a la Californie, parceque nous devions pour cela avoir nostre route a l'o�est ou a l'o�est soro�est et nous l'avons tousjour en au sud. Nous consider×mes de plus que nous nous exposions a perdre le fruict de ce voyage duquel nous ne pourrions pas dormer aucune connoissance, si nous allions nous jetter entre les mains des Espagnols qui sans doubte nous auroient du moins retenus captifs. En oultre nous voyions bien que nous n'estions pas en estat de resister a des sauvages alli×s des Europeans, nombreux et expertz a tirer du fusil qui infestoient continuel-ment le bas de cette riviere. Enfin nous avions pris toutes les con-noissances qu'on peut souhaiter dans cette d×couverte. Toutes ces raisons firent conclure pour le retour, que nous declarames aux sauvages et pour lequel nous nous prepar&mes apres un jour de repos.
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Section X. — Retour du Pere et des Francois. — Bapteme d'un Enfant Moribond.
Apres un mois de navigation en descendant sur Missisipi depuis le 42d degr× jusqu'au 34e et plus, et apres avoir publi× l'Evangile, autant que j'ay p�, aux nations que j'ay rencontr×es nous partons le 17e Juillet du village des Akensea pour retourner sur nos pas. Nous remontons done a Missisipi qui nous donne bien de la peine a refouler ses courans, il est vray que nous le quittons vers les 38e degr× pour entrer dans une aultre riviere qui nous abbrege de beaucoup le chemin et nous conduit avec peu de peine dans le lac des Ilinois.
Nous n'avons rien veu de setnblable a cette riviere ou nous entrons pour la bont× des terres, des prairies, des bois, des boeufs, des cerfs, des chevreux, des chatz sauvages, des outardes, de cygnes, des canards, des perroquetz et mesme des castors, il y a quantit× de petitz lacs et de petites rivieres. Celle sur laquelle nous navigeons est large, profonde, paisible pendant 65 lie�es le primptemps et une partie de l'est×, on ne fait de transport que pendant une demy lie�e. Nous y trouvames une bourgade d'llinois nomin× Kaskaskia compos×e de 74 cabanes, ils nous y ont tres bien receus et m'ont oblig× de leur promettre que je retoumerois pour les instruire. Un de chefs de cette nation avec sa jeunesse nous est venu conduire jusu'au lac des Ilinois, d'ou enfin nous nous sommes rendus dans la baye des Puantz sur la fin de Septembre, d'ou nous estions partes vers le commencement de Juin.
Quand tout ce voyage n'auroit caus× que le salut d'une ame, j'estimerois toutes mes peines bien recompens×es, et c'est ce que j'ay sujet de presumer, car lorsque je retournois nous passames par les Ilinois de Peouarea, je fus trois jours a publier la foy dans toutes leurs cabanes, apres quoy comme nous nous embarquions, on m'apporte au bord de l'eau un enfant moribond que je baptisay un peu avant qu'il mourut par une providence admirable pour le salut de cette ame innocente.
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Unfinished Letter of Father Marquette to Father Claude Dablon, Superior of the Missions, Containing a Journal of His Last Visit to the Illinois.
MON REVEREND PERE —
Pax Xi: —
AYANT et×contraint de demeurer a St. Fran×ois tout l'est× a cause de quelque incommodit×. En ayant est× guery dez le mois de Septembre j'y attendois l'arriv×e de nos gens au retour de la bas pour s×avoir ce qu ie ferois pour mon hyvernement; lesquels m'apporerent les ordres pour mon hyvernement; lesquels m'apporterent les orderes pour mon vouyage a la mission de le Conception des Ilinois. Ayant satisfait aux sentiments de V.R. pour les copies de mon iournal touchant la Riviere de Missisipi je partis avec Pierre Porteret et Jacque — , le 25 Oct., 1674, sur les midy le vent nous contraignit de coucher a la sortie de la riviere ou les Pouteouatamis s'assembloient, les anciens nayant pas voulu qu'on allast du costez des Ilinois, de peur que la jeunesse amassant des robbes avec les marchandises qu'ils ont apportez de la bas, et chassant au castor ne voulut descendre le printemps qu'ils croient avoir suiet de craindre les Nadouessi.
26 Oct. Passant au village nous n'y trouvasmes plus que deux cabannes qui partoient pour aller hyverner a la Gasparde, nous apprismes que 5 canots de Pouteouatamis et 4 d'Ilinois estoient partis pour aller aux Kaskaskia.
27. Nous fusmes arrestez le matin par la pluye, nous eusmes beau temps et calme l'apresdisn×e que nous rencontrasmes dans l'ance a l'esturgeon les sauvages qui marchoient devant nous.
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28. On arrive au portage, un canot qui avoit pris le devant est cause (que) qu'on ne tue point de gibier; nous commen×ons notre portage et allons coucher de l'autre bord, ou le mauvais temps nous fist bien de la peine. Pierre n'arrive qu'a une heure de nuit s'esgarant par d'un sentier ou il n'avoit iamais est×, apres la pluye et la tonnerre, il tombe de la neige.
29. Ayant este contraint de changer de cabannage, on continue de porter les paquets, le portage a pres d'une lie�e e assez incommode en plusieurs endroits, les Ilinois a'estant assembles le soir dans notre cabanne demandent qu'on ne les quitte pas, comme nous pouvions avoir besoin d'eux et qu'ils connoissent mieux le lac que nous, on leur promet.
30. Les femmes Ilinoises achevent le matin notre portage; on est arreste pour le vent, il n'y a point de bestes.
31. On parte par un assez beau temps et l'on vieut coucher a une petite riviere. Le chemin de l'ance a l'esturgeon par terre est tres difficile, nous n'en marchions pas loing l'automne pass×e, lorsque nous entrasmes dans le bois.
Nov. 1. Ayant dit la Ste. Messe on vient coucher dans une riviere, d'ou l'on va aux Pouteouatamis par un beau chemin. Chacagouessiou Ilinois fort considere parmy sa nation, a raison en partie qu'il se mesle des affaires de la traitte arrive la nuit avec un chevreux sur son dos, dont il nours fait part.
2. La Ste. Messe dit, nous marchons toute la iourn×e par un fort beau temps, on t�e deux chats qui n'ont quasi que de la graisse.
3. Comme i'estois par terre marchant sur le beau sable tout le bordde l'eau estoit d'herbes semblables a celle qu'on pesche aux retz St. Ignace, mais ne pouvant passer une riviere, nos gens y entrent pour m'embarquer, mais on n'en put sorter a cause de la lame, tous les autres canots passent a la reserve d'un seul qui vient avec nous.
4. On est arreste. Ily a appparence qui'il y a quelque isle au large le gibier y passant le soir.
5. Nous eusmes assez de peine de sorter de la riviere sur le midy'on trouva les sauvages dans une riviere, ou ie pris occasion d'instruire les Ilinois, a raison d'un festin que Naouaskingoue venoit de faire a une peau de loup.
6. On fist une belle iourn×e, les sauvages estant a la chasse d×couvrirent quelques pistes d'hommes ce qui oblige d'arrester le lendemain.
9. On mit a terre sur les 2 heures a cause d'un beau cabannage,
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ou l'on fust arreste 5 iours, a cause de la grande agitation du lac sans aucun vent, ensuitte par la neige, qui fust le lendemain fond�e par le soleil et un vent du large.15. Apres avoir fait assez de chemin on cabanne dans un bel endroit ou l'on est arreste 3 iours Pierre raccommode le fusil d'un sau-vage, neige tonibe la nuit et fonde le iour.
20. On couche aux ecors assez mal cabannez les sauvages de-meurent derriere durant qu'on est arreste du vent 2 iours et demy Pierre allant dans le bois trouve la prairie a 20 lie�es du portage, il passe aussi sur un beau canal comme en voute, haul de la hauteur d'un homme, ou il y avoit un pied d'eau.
23. Estant embarque sur le midy nous eusmes assez de peine de gagner une riviere, le froid commenca par l'est et plus d'un pied de neige couvrit la terre qui est tousicmrs depuis demeure ou fust' arreste la 3 iours durant lesquels Pierre tua un chevreux, 3 outardes, et 3 cocqs d'inde, qui estoient fort bons, les autres passerent iusques aux prairies, un sauvage ayant descouvert quelques cabannes nous vint trouver, Jacques y alia le lendemain avec luy, 2 chasseurs me vinrent aussi voir, c'estoient des Maskoutens au nombre de 8 ou 9 cabannes, lesquelles s'esloient separez les uns des autres pour pou-voir vivre, avec. des fatigues presque impossibles a des francoisils inarchent tout l'hyver, dans des chemins tres difficiles, les terres estant pleines de ruisseaux, de petits lacs et de marests, ils sont tres mal cabannez, et mangent ou ieusuenl aelon les lieux ou ils se ren-contrent; estant arrestez par le vent nous remarquasmes qn'il y avoit de grandes battures an large on la lame brisoient continuelle-ment; ce fust la que ie sentis quelques atteintes d'un flux de ventre.
27. Nous eusmes assez de peine de sorlir de la riviere et ayant fait environ 3 Heuues nous trouvasmes les sauvages qui avoient tuez des boefs et 3 Ilinois.qui estoient venu du village, nous fusmes arrestez la d'un vent de terre, des James prodigieuses qui venoient du large, et du froid.
Decembre 1. On devance les sauvayes pour pouvoir dire la Ste. Messe.
3. Ayant dit la Ste. Messe, estant embarque nous fusmes con-traint de gagner une pointe pour pouvoir mettre a terre a cause des bourguignons.
4. Nous partismes heureusement pour venir a la reviere du portage qui estoit gelee d'un demy pied, ou il y avoit plus de neige que partout ailleurs, comme aussi plus de pistes de besies et de cocqs d'Inde.
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La navigation du lac est assez belle d'un portage a l'autre, n'y ayant aucune traverse a faire et pouvant mettre a terre partout, moyennant qu'on ne soit point opiniastre a vouloir marcher dans les lames et de grand vent. Les terres qui le bordent ne valent rien, excepte quand on est aux prairies, on trouve 8 ou 10 rivieres assez belles, la chasse du chevreux est tres belle a mesure qu'on s'esloigne des Pouteouatamis.12. Comme on commencoit hir a traisner pour approcher du portage les Ilinois ayant quittez les Pouteouatamis arriverent avec bien de la peine. Nous ne pusmes dire la Ste. Messe le iour de la Conception a cause du mauvais temps et du froid, durant notre seiour a l'entr×e de la riviere Pierre et Jacques tuerent 3 boeufs et 4 chevreux dont un courut assez loing ayant le coeur coupe en 2 on se con-tente de tuer 3 ou 4 cocqs d'inde de plusieurs qui venoient autour de notre cabanne, parcequ'ils mouro×ent quasi de faim; Jacques apporta un perdrix qu'il avoit tuez, semblable en tout a celles de France, excepte qu'elle avoit comme deux aislerons de 3 ou 4 aisles longues d'un doigt proche de la teste, dont elles couvrent les 2 costez du col ou il n'y a point de plume.
14. Estant cabannez proche le portage a 2 lieues dans la riviere nous resolusmes d'hyverner la, estant dans l'impossibilite de passer outre, estant trop embarasse, et mon incommodite ne me permettant pas de beaucoup fatiguer. Plusieurs Ilinois passerent hier pour aller porter leur pelleterie a Naouaskingoue, ausquels on donne un boeufs et un chevreux que Jacque avoit tu× le iour auparavant ie ne pense pas avoir veu de sauvage plus affam× de petun Francois qu'eux, ils vinrent ietter a nos pieds des castors pour en avoir quelque bout mais nour leur rendismes en leur en donnant quelque pipe, parceque nous n'avions pas encore conclu si nous passerions outre.
15. Chachagouessiou et les autres Ilinois nous quitterent pour aller trouver leur gen, et leur donner les marchandises qu'ils avoient apportez pour avoir leur robbes en quoy ils se gouvernent comme des traitteurset ne donnent guere plus que les Francois; ie les instruisis avant leur depart, remettant au printemps de tenir conseil quand ie serois au village; ils nous traitterent 3 belles robbes de boeuf pour une coudee de petun, lesquelles, nous ont beaucoup servi cet hyver, estant ainsi desbarassez, nous dismes la Messe de la Conception; depuis le 14 mon incommodite se tourna en flux de sang.
30. Jacque arriva du village des Ilinois qui n'estoit qu'a six lieues d'icy ou ils avoient faim le froid et la neige les empeschant de chasser,
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quelques uns ayant adverti la Toupine et le chirurgien que nous estions icy et ne pouvant quitter leur cabanne avoient tellement don-nez la peur aux sauvages croyant que nous aurions faim demeurant icy que Jacque eust bien de la peine d'empescher 15 jeunes gens de venir pour emporter toute nostie affaire.Janvier 16, 1675. Aussitot que les 2 francois sceurent que mon mal mempeschoit d×ller chez eux le chirurgien vint icy avec un sauvage pour nous apporter des bluets et du bled; ils ne sont que 18 lie�es d'icy dans un beau lieu de chasse, pour les bceufs et les cbev-reux et les cocqs d'inde qui y sont excellents, ills avoient aussi amassez des vivres en nous attendant; et avoient fait entendre aux sauvages que leur cabanne estoit a la Robbe noire, et on peut dire qu'ils ont fait et dit tout ce qu'on peut attendre d'eux: le chirurgien ayant icy seiourne pour faire ses devotions: j'envoiay Jacque avec luy pour dire aux Ilinois qui estoient proche de la, que mon incommodite m'empeschoit de les aller voir et que iaurois mesme de la peine d'yaller le printemps si elle continuoit.
24. Jacque retourna, avec un sac de bled et d'autres rafraichisse-ment que les Francois luy avoient donnez pour moy: il apporta aussi les langues et de la viande de deux bceufs qu'un sauvage et luy avoient tuez proche d'icy; mais toutes les bestes se sentent de mauvais temps.
26. 3 Ilinois nous apporterent de la part des Anciens 2 sacs de bled, de la viande seche, des citrouilles et 12 castors, 1°, pour me faire une natte, 2°, pour me demander de la poudre, 3°, pour que nous n'eussions faim, 4°, pour avoir quelque peu de marchandises; ie leur repondis 1nt, que i'estois venu pour les instruire, en leur parlant de la priere, &c. 2nt, que ie ne leur donnerois point de poudre, puisque nous taschions de mettre partout la paix, et que ie ne voulois qu'ils commen×assent la guerre avec les Miamis. 3nt, que nous n'appre-hendions point le faim. 4nt, que iencouragerois les franc,cois a leur apporter des marchandises, et qu'il falloit qu'ils satisfissent ceux qui estoient chez eux pour la rassade qu'on leur avoit pris, dez que le chirurgien fust party pour venir icy. Comme ils estoient venus de 20 lieu's, pour les payer do leur peine et de ce qu'ils m'avoient ap-portez ie leur donnay une hache, 2 couteaux, 3 iambettes, 10 brasses de rassade et 2 mirouirs doubles, et leur disant qui ie tascherois d'aller au village seulement pour quelques iours si mon incommodite continuoit, ils me dirent de prendre courage de demeurer et de mourir daus leur pays et qu'on leur avoit dit que i'y resterois pour longtemps.
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Fevrier 9. Depuis que nous nous sommes addresscz a la Ste. Vierge Immacul×e que nous avons commencez une neufvaine par une messe a laquelle Pierre et Jacque qui font tout ce qu'ils peu-vent pour me soulager, ont communies pour demander a Dieu la sante, mon flux de sang m'a quitte, il ne me reste qu'un foiblesse d'es-tomac, ie commence a meporter beaucoup mieux et a reprendre mes forces: il ne cabanne d'Uinois qui s'estoit rangee proche de nous depuis un mois une partie out repris le chemin des Pout et quelques uns sont encore au bord du lac ou ils attendent que la navigation soit libre, ils emportent des lettres pour nos P. P. de St. Fran×ois.
20. Nous avons eu le temps de remarquer les mareez qui vien-nent du lac lesquels haussent et baissent plusieurs fois par iour et quoyqu'il n'y paraisse aucune abry dans le lac, on a veu les glaces aller contre le vent, ces mareez nous rendoient l'eau bonne ou mau-vaisse parceque celle qui vient d'en hault coule des prairies et de petits ruisseaux, lestchevreux qui sont enquantite vers le bord du lac sont si maigres qu'on a este contraint d'en laisser quelques uns de ce qu'on avoit tuez.
Mars 23. On tue plusieurs perdrix dont il n'y a que les mals qui ayant des aislerons au col, les femelles u'en ayant point, ces perdrix sont assez bonnes mais non pas comme celle de France.
30. Le vent de nord ayant empesche le degeal jusques au 25 de Mars il commenca par un vent de sud, dez le lendemain le gibier commenqa de paroistre, on tua 30 tourtres que ie trouvay meilleures que celles de la bas, mais plus petites, tant les vieilles que les ieunes; le 28 les glaces se rompirent et s'arresterent au dessus de nous, le 29 les eaux crurent si fort que nous n'eusmes que le temps de descabanner au plutot, mettre nos affaires sur des arbres et tascher de chercher a coucher sur quelque but l'eau nous gagnant presque toute la nuit, mais ayant un peu gele et estant diminue comme nous estions aupres de nos paquets, la digue vient de se rompre et les glaces a s'escouler et parceque les eaux remontent desia nous allons nous embarquer pour continuer notre route.
La Ste. Vierge Immaculee a pris un tel soin de nous durant notre hyvernement que rien ne nous a mauque pour les vivres, ayant encore un grand sac de bled de reste, de la viande et de la graisse; nous avons aussi vescu fort doucement, mon mal ne m'ayant point empesche de dire la Ste. Messe tous les iours; nous n'avons point pu garder du caresme que les Vendredys et samedys.
31. Estant hier party nous fismes 3 lie�es dans la riviere en remontant
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sans trouver aucun portage, on traisna peut estre environ un demy arpant outre cette descharge, la riviere en a une autre par ou nous debvons descendre. Il n'y a que les terres bien hautes qui ne soient point inondeez, celle ou nous sommes a cru plus de 12 pieds a-ce fut d'icy que nous commencasmes notre portage ily a 18 mois; les outardes et les canards passent continuellement; on s'est contente de 7, les glaces qui derivent encore nous font icy demeureur ne sachant pas en quel estat est le bas de la riviere.Avril 1. Comme ie ne scais point encore si ie demeurcray cet este au village ou non a cause de mon flux de ventre, nous laissons icy une partie de ce dont nous pouvons nous passer et surtont un sac de bled, tandis qu'un grand vent de sud nous arreste, nous esperons aller demain ou sont les Francois, distant de 15 lieues d'icy.
6. Les grands vents et le froid nous empeschent de marcher. Les deux lacs par ou nous avons passez sont plains d'outardes, d'oyes, de canards, de grues et d'autres gibiers que nous ne connoissons point. Les rapides sont assez dangereux en quelques endroits, nous venons de rencontrer le chirurgien avec un sauvage qui montoit avec une canottee de pelleterie, mais le froid estant trop grand pour des per-sonnes qui sont obligez de traisner les canots dans l'eau, il vient de faire cache de son castor et retourne demain au village avec nous. Si les Frangdis ont des robbes de ce pays icy, ils ne les desrob-bent pas tant les fatigues sont grands pour les en tirer.
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La Salle's Patent of Nobility.
Donn×es × Compeigne le 13 May, 1675.
Louis, par la grace de Dieu Roy de France et de Navarre, × tous presens et × venir salut. Les Roys nos predecesseurs ayant tou-jours estim× que l'honneur etait le plus puissant motif pour porter leurs sujets aux gen×reuses actions, ils ont pris soin de reconnaitre par des marques d'honneur ceux qu'une vertu extraordinaire en avait rendu dignes, et comme nous sommes inform×s des bonnes actions que font journellement les peuples de Canada, soit en reduis-ant ou disciplinant les sauvages, soit en se defendant contre leurs frequentes insultes, et celles de Iroquois et enfin en meprisant les plus grands perils pour ×tendre jusques au bout de ce nouveau monde, nostre nom et nostre empire, nous avons estim× qu'il es-tait de nostre justice de distinguer par des recompences d'honneur ceux qui se sont le plus signal×z pour exciter les autres × meriter de semblables graces, × ces causes, desirant traiter favorablement nostre cher et bien aim× Robert Cavelier sieur de la Salle pour le bon et louable rapport qui nous a ×t× fait des bonnes actions qu'il a faite dans le pays de Canada oת il s'est estably depuis quelques ann×es et pour autres considerations × ce nous mouvans, et de notre grace speciale, pleine puissance, et autorit× royale, nous avons annobly, et par ces presentes sign×es de nostre main annoblissons, et decorons du titre et qualit× de noblesse le d. Sr. Cavalier, ensemble sa femme et enfans posterit×' et lignee tant males que femelles n×s et × naitre en loyal mariage ; Voulons et nous plait qu'en tous actes tant en jugement que dehors ils soient tenus, censes et reput×s nobles por-tant la qualite d'escuyer, et puissant parvenir × tous degr×s de chev-allerie et de gendarmerie, acquerir, tenir, et poss×der toutes sortes de
266
fiefs et seigneuries et heritages nobles de quelque titre et qualit× qu'ils soient, et qu'ils jouissent de tous honneurs, autorit×s, prerogatives, pr×eminences, privileges, franchises, exemptions et immunit×s, dont jouissent et ont accoutum× de jouir et user les autres nobles de nostre Royaume et de porter telles armes qu'elles sont cy empraintes, sans ce que pour ce le dit Robert Cavelier soit tenu nous payer, ny × nos successeurs Roys, aucune finance ni indemnit×, dont × quelque somme qu'elles se puissent monter, nous l'avons decharg×, et d×chargeons et lui avons fait et faisons don par cesdites presentes, le tout par les causes et raisons port×es en l'arrest de notre concil de cejourdhui donn× nous y etant dont copie demeurerea cy attach×e sous le contres×il de nostre chancellerie. Si donnouns en mandement a nos aim×s et feaux coners les gens tenants nostre cour de parlement de Paris, chambre des comptes, cour des aydes au dit lieu que ces presentes lettres d'annoblissement ils ayent × registrer, et du contenu en icelles fair souffrir et laisser jouir et user le dit Robert Cavelier, ses Enfans et posterit× n×s et × na×tre en loyal mariage, plenement, paisiblement et perpetuellement, cessant et faisant cesser tous troubles et empeschemens nonobstant tous Edits et declarations, arrests, reglements, et autres choses × ce contraries, aux quels nous avons derog× et derogons par ces presente car tel est notre plaisir. Et afin que ce soit chose ferme stable et × toujours, nous y avons fait mettre nostre sc×le. Donne × compeigne le 13 May, l'an de grace mil six cens soixante quinze, et de nostre regne le trente-troisieme.267
La Salle's Second Commission.
Ö° Versailles, le 14 Avril, 1684.
Louis, par la grace de Dieu Roy de France et de Nauarre, Salut. Ayant resolu de faire quelques entreprises dans l'Amerique Septemtrionale pour assujetir sons nostre domination plusieurs nations sauvages, et leur porter les lumi×res de la foy et de l'evangile, nous avons cru que nous ne pouvions faire un meilleur choix que du sieur de la Salle, pour commander en nostre nom tous les Fran×ais et sauvages qu'il employera pour l'execution des ordres dont nous l'avons charg×. A ces causes, et autres × ce nous mouvans, et ×tant d'ailleurs bien inform×z de son affection et de sa fidelit× × nostre service, Nous avons le d. Sr. de la Salle commis et ordonn×, commettons et ordonnons par ces presentes sign×es de nostre main, pour sous nostre autorit× commander tant dans les pays qui seront assujettis de nouveau sous nostre domination dans l'Amerique Septentrionale, depuis le fort St. Louis sur la Riviere des Illinois jusques × la Nouvelle Biscaye, qu'aux Fran×ois et sauvages qu'il employera dans les enterprises dont nous l'avons charg×, les faire vivre en union concorde les uns avec les autres, contenir les gens de guerre en bon ordre et police, suivant nos Reglement, ×tablir des Gouverneurs et commandans parers dans les lieux qu'il jugera × propos, jusques × cesqu' autrement par nous en ait ×t× ordonn×, maintenir le commerce et traffic, generalement faire et exercer tout ce qui pourra ×tre du fait de commandant pour nous esd. pays, et ne jouir aux pouvoirs, honneurs, autorit×s, libert×s, prerogatives pr××minences, franchises, libert×s, gages, droits, finites, proffits, revenues, et emolumens, tant qu'il nous plaira.
De ce faire vous avons donn× et donnons pouvoir par ces d. presentes par lesquelles mandons × tous nos d. sujets et gens de guerre de vous reconnoistre, obeir, et entendre en choses concernant le present pouvoir. Car tel est nostre plaisir.
En temoin dequoi nous avons fait mettre nostre scel secret × ces d. presentes. Donn×es × Versailles, le 14 Avril, 1684.
268
| Thevenot. | Marquette. | Usual Form. |
| Mouingwena | Moingwena | Moingonan |
| Pe-wanea | Pe-warea | Pe-oria |
| Tillini-wek | Ilinois | Alliniwek and Illinois |
| Missi-ousing | Miscousing | Wisconsin |
| Cach-ouach-wia | Kachkaskia | Kaskaskia |
| Manoutensac | Maskoutens | |
| Kamissi | Kanza | |
| Autrechaha | Ouchage | Osage |
| Ou-missouri | We-messouret | Missouri |
| Ahiahichi | Aiaichi | Ayiches |
| Tamisa | Tanik-wa | Tonica |
| Matoua | Matora | |
| Ototchassi | Atotchasi | Southouis |
| Monsouperea | Monsoupelea | |
| Wabouquigou | Wabous-quigou | Wabash |
| Kakinouba | Kakinonba | ? Kanawha |
| The following names are on Marquette alone: — | ||
| Pahoutet | ||
| Maha | Omaha | |
| Pana | ||
| Otontanta | Anthoutanta (Le Clercq) | |
| Akoroa | Koroa | |
| Papikaha | ? Quapaw | |
| Apistonga | ||
| Maroa | Tamaroa | |
| The following are on Thevenot alone: — | ||
| Kithigami, Minonk, | Aganahali, Wabunghiharea, | Taharea. |
It will be observed that on the real map the part of Michigan then unexplored, is dotted only, and that the Mississippi descends only to Akansea, the limit of his discovery.
THE END.
nts
Notes.
"QUEBEC LE 14 NOVEMB., 1674.
"§ VI. Retour du Sr. Joliet de sou voyage × la d×couverte de la mer du sud.
"Le Sr. Joliet que M. Talon m'a conseill× d'envoyer × la decouverte de la mer du sud, lorsque j'arrivai de France, en est de retour depuis trois mois et a d×couvert des pays admirables et une navigation si aisie par les belles rivieres qu'il a trouv×es que du lac Ontario et du fort Frontenae on pourrait aller en barque jusque dans le golfe du Mexique, n'y ayant qu'une seule d×charge a faire dans l'endroit ou le Lac Erie tombe dans le Lac Ontario.
"Ce sont des projets a quoi l'on pourra travailler lorsque la paix sera bien ×tablie et quand il plaira au roi de pousser ces d×couvertes.
"II a ×t×; jusqu'×dix jonrn×es du golfe du Mexique et croit que les rivi×res que du cot× de l'ouest tombent dans la grande rivi×res qu'il a trouv×e, qui va du nan et qu'on trouveroit des communications d'eaux qui meneroient × la mer Vermeille et de la Californie.
"Ie vous envoie par mon secr×taire la carte qa'il en a faite et les r×marques dont il s'est pu souvenir, ayant perdu tous ses memoires et ses journaux dans la naufrage qu'il fit × la vue de Montreal, oש il pensa se noyer, apres avoir fait un voyage de douze cents lieues et perdit tous ses papiers et un petit sauvaae qu'il ramenoit de ces pays l×.
"II avoit laisse×; dans le Lac Superienr au Sault Ste. Marie chez les Peres des copies de ses journaux, que nous ne saurions avoir que l'ann×e prochaine, par o� vous apprendrez plus de particularit×s de cette d×couverte, dont il s'est tr×s bien acquitt×.
"FRONTENAC."
"The women, thus occupied and depressed by their daily toils, are more docile to the truths of the gospel. This, however, is not the case at the lower end of the Missisipi, where the idleness which prevails among persons of that sex gives opportunity for the most fearful disorders, and removes them entirely from the way of safety.
"It would be difficult to say what is the religion of our Indians. It consists entirely in some superstitions with which their credulity is amused. As all their knowledge is limited to an acquaintance with brutes, and to the necessities of life, it is to these things also that all their worship is confined. Their medicine-men, who have a little more intellect than the rest, gain their respect by their ability to deceive them. They persuade them that they honor a kind of spirit, to whom they give the name of Manitou, and teach them that it is this spirit which governs all things, and is master of life and of death. A bird, a buffalo, a bear, or rather the plumage of these birds, and the skin of these beasts — such is their manitou. They hang it up in their wigwams, and offer to it sacrifices of dogs and other animals.
"The braves carry their manitous in a mat, and unceasingly invoke them to obtain the victory over their enemies. Their medicine-men have in like manner recourse to their manitous when they compose their remedies, or when they attempt to cure the diseased. They accompany their invocations with chants, and dances, and frightful contortions, to induce the belief that they are inspired by their manitous; and at the same time they thus aggravate their diseases, so that they often cause death. During these different contortions, the medicine-man names sometimes one animal, and sometimes another, and at last applies himself to suck that part of the body in which the sick person perceives the pain. After having done so for some time, he suddenly raises himself and throws out to him the tooth of a bear, or of some other animal, which he had kept concealed in his mouth. ‘Dear friend,’ he cries, ‘you will live. See what it was that was killing you!’ After which he says, in applauding himself: ‘Who can resist my manitou? Is he not the one who is the master of life?’ If the patient happens to die, he immediately has some deceit ready prepared, to ascribe the death to some other cause which took place after he had left the sick man. But if, on the contrary, he should recover his health, it is then that the medicine-man receives consideration, and is himself regarded as a manitou; and after having well rewarded his labors, they procure the best that the village produces to regale him.
"The influence which these kinds of jugglers have places a great obstacle in the way of the conversion of the Indians. By embracing Christianity, they expose themselves to their insults and violence. It is only a month ago that a young Christian girl experienced this treatment Holding a rosary in her hand, she was passing before the wigwam of one of these impostors. He had imagined that the sight of a similar chaplet had caused the death of his father; and being transported with fury, he took his gun, and was on the point of firing at this poor neophyte, when he was arrested by some Indians who happened to be present.
"I can not tell you how many times I have received the like insults from them, nor how many times I should have expired under their blows, had it not been for the particular protection of God, who has preserved me from their fury. On one occasion, among others, one of them would have split my head with his hatchet, had I not turned at the very time that his arm was raised to strike me. Thanks to God, our village is now purged from these impostors. The care which we have ourselves taken of the sick, the remedies we have given them, and which have generally produced a cure, have destroyed the credit and reputation of these medicine-men, and forced them to go and establish themselves elsewhere.
"There are, however, some among them who are not so entirely brutal, and with whom we can sometimes talk, and endeavor to disabuse them of the vain confidence they have in their manitous; but it is not ordinarily with much success. A conversation which one of our fathers had with one of these medicine-men will enable you to understand the extent of their obstinacy on this point, and also what ought to be the condescension of a missionary in attempting even to refute opinions as extraordinary as those with which they are here met.
"The French had established a fort on the river Ouabache: they asked for a missionary, and Father Mermet was sent to them. This father thought that he should also labor for the conversion of the Mascoutens, who had formed a settlement on the banks of the same river, a tribe of Indians who understood the Ilinois language, but whose extreme attachment to the superstitions of their medicine-men rendered them exceedingly indisposed to listen to the instructions of the missionary.
"The course which Father Mermet took was, to confound in their presence one of their medicine-men, who worshipped the buffalo as his grand manitou. After having insensibly led him to confess that it was not by any means the buffalo which he worshipped, but a manitou of the buffalo, which is under the earth — which animates all the buffaloes, and which gives life to their sick — he asked him whether the other beasts, as the bears, for example, which his comrades worshipped, were not equally animated by a manitou which is under the earth. ‘Certainly,’ replied the medicine-man. ‘But if this be so,’ said the missionary, ‘then men ought also to have a manitou which animates them.’ — ‘Nothing can be more certain,’ said the medicine-man. ‘That is sufficient for me,’ replied the missionary, ‘to convict you of having but little reason on your side; for if man who is on the earth be the master of all the animals — if he kills them, if he eats them — then it is necessary that the manitou which animates the men should also be the master of all the other manitons. Where is, then, your wisdom, that you do not invoke him who is the master of all the others?’ This reasoning disconcerted the medicine-man, but this was the only effect which it produced, for they were not less attached than before to their ridiculous superstitions.
"At that same time a contagious disease desolated their village, and each day carried off many of the Indians: the medicine-men themselves were not spared, and died like the rest. The missionary thought that he would be able to win their confidence by his attention to the care of the sick, and therefore applied himself to it without intermission; but his zeal very often came near costing him his life. The services which he rendered to them were repaid only by outrages. There were even some who proceeded to the extremity of discharging their arrows at him, but they fell at his feet; it may be that they were fired by hands which were too feeble, or because God, who destined the missionary for other labors, had wished to withdraw him at that time from their fury. Father Mermet, however, was not deterred from conferring baptism on some of the Indians, who requested it with importunity, and who died a short time after they had received it.
"Nevertheless, their medicine-men removed to a short distance from the fort, to make a great sacrifice to their manitou. They killed nearly forty dogs, which they carried on the tops of poles, singing, dancing, and making a thousand extravagant gestures. The mortality, however, did not cease, for all their sacrifices. The chief of the medicine-men then imagined that their manitou, being less powerful than the manitou of the French, was obliged to yield to him. In this persuasion he many times made a circuit around the fort, crying out with all his strength: ‘We are dead; softly, manitou of the French, strike softly — do not kill us all!’ Then, addressing himself to the missionary: ‘Cease, good manitou, let us live; you have life and death in your possession: leave death — give us life!’ The missionary calmed him, and promised to take even more care of the sick than he had hitherto done; but notwithstanding all the care he could bestow, more than half in the village died.
"To return to our Ilinois: they are very different from these Indians, and also from what they formerly were themselves. Christianity, as I have already said, has softened their savage customs, and their manners are now marked by a sweetness and purity which have induced some of the French to take their daughters in marriage. We find in them, moreover, a docility and ardor for the practice of Christian virtues. The following is the order we observe each day in our mission: Early in the morning we assemble the catechumens at the church, where they have prayers, they receive instructions, and chant some canticles. When they have retired, mass is said, at which all the Christians assist, the men placed on one side and the women on the other; then they have prayers, which are followed by giving them a homily, after which each one goes to his labor. We then spend our time in visiting the sick, to give them the necessary remedies, to instruct them, and to console those who are laboring under any affliction.
"After noon the catechising is held, at which all are present, Christians and catechumens, men and children, young and old, and where each, without distinction of rank or age, answers the questions put by the missionary. As these people have no books, and are naturally indolent, they would shortly forget the principles of religion if the remembrance of them was not recalled by these almost continual instructions. Our visits to their wigwams occupy the rest of the day.
"In the evening, all assemble again at the church, to listen to the instructions which are given, to say prayers, and to sing some hymns. On Sundays and festivals we add to the ordinary exercises, instructions which are given after the vespers. The zeal with which these good neophytes repair to the church at all such hours is admirable: they break off from their labors, and run from a great distance, to be there at the appointed time. They generally end the day by private meetings which they hold at their own residences, the men separately from the women, and there they recite the rosary in alternate choirs, and chant the hymns, until the night is far advanced. These hymns are their best instructions, which they retain the more easily, since the words are set to airs with which they are acquainted, and which please them.
"They often approach the sacraments, and the custom among them is to confess and to communicate once in a fortnight. We have been obliged to appoint particular days on which they shall confess, or they would not leave us leisure to discharge our other duties. These are the Fridays and Sundays of each week, when we hear them, and on those days we are overwhelmed with a crowd of penitents. The care which we take of the sick gains us their confidence, and it is particularly at such times that we reap the fruits of our labors. Their docility is then perfect, and we have generally the consolation of seeing them die in great peace, and with the firm hope of being shortly united to God in heaven.
"This mission owes its establishment to the late Father Gravier. Father Marquette was, in truth, the first who discovered the Missisipi, about thirty-nine years ago; but, not being acquainted with the language of the country, he did not remain. Some time afterward he made a second journey, with the intention of fixing there his residence, and laboring for the conversion of these people; but death, which arrested him on the way, left to another the care of accomplishing this enterprise. This was Father Allouez, who charged himself with it. He was acquainted with the language of the Oumiarnis, which approaches very nearly to that of the Ilinois. He, however, made but a short sojourn, having the idea while there that he should be able to accomplish more in a different country, where indeed he ended his apostolic life.
"Thus Father Gravier is the one who should properly be regarded as the founder of the mission to the Ilinois. He first investigated the principles of their language, and reduced them to grammatical rules, so that we have since only been obliged to bring to perfection what he began with so great success. This missionary had at first much to suffer from their medicine-men, and his life was exposed to continual dangers; but nothing repulsed him, and he surmounted all these obstacles by his patience and mildness. Being obliged to depart to Michilimakinac, his mission was confided to Father Bineteau and Father Pinet. In company with these two missionaries I labored for some time, and after their death remained in sole charge of all the toilsome duties of the mission, until the arrival of Father Mermet. My residence was formerly in the great village of the Peouarias, where Father Gravier, who had returned thither for the second time, received a wound which caused his death. * * *
"After having remained eight days at the mission of St. Joseph, I embarked with my brother in his canoe, to repair together to Michilimakinac. The voyage was very delightful to me, not only because I had the pleasure of being with a brother, who is very dear, but also because it afforded me an opportunity of profiting for a much longer time by his conversation and example.
"It is, as I have said, more than a hundred leagues from the mission of St. Joseph to Michilimakinae. We go the whole length of Lake Michigan, which on the maps has the name, without any authority, of ‘the lake of the Ilinois,’ since the Ilinois do not at all dwell in its neighborhood. The stormy weather delayed us, so that our voyage took seventeen days, though it is often accomplished in less than eight.
"Michilimakinac is situated between two great lakes, into which other lakes and many rivers empty. Therefore it is that this village is the ordinary resort of the French, the Indians, and almost all those engaged in the fur-trade of the country. The soil there is far inferior to that among the Ilinois. During the greater part of the year one sees nothing but fish, and the waters which are so agreeable during the summer render a residence there dull and wearisome during the winter. The earth is entirely covered with snow from All-Saints' day even to the month of May.
"The character of these Indians partakes of that of the climate under which they live. It is harsh and indocile. Religion among them does not take deep root, as should be desired, and there are but few souls who from time to time give themselves truly to God, and console the missionary for all his pains. For myself, I could not but admire the patience with which my brother endured their failings, his sweetness under the trial of their caprices and their coarseness, his diligence in visiting them, in teaching them, in arousing them from their indolence for the exercises of religion, his zeal and his love, capable of inflaming their hearts, if they had been less hard and more tractable; and I said to myself that ‘success is not always the recompense of the toils of apostolic men, nor the measure of their merit.’
"Having finished all our business during the two months that I remained with my brother, it became necessary for us to separate. As it was God who ordered this separation, he knew how to soften all its bitterness. I departed to rejoin Father Chardon, with whom I remained fifteen days. He is a missionary full of zeal, and who has a rare talent for acquiring languages. He is acquainted with almost all those of the Indians who are on these lakes, and has even learned that of the Ilinois sufficiently to make himself understood, although he has only seen some of those Indians accidentally, when they came to his village; for the Pouteautamis and the Ilinois live in terms of friendship, and visit each other from time to time. Their manners, however, are very different: those are brutal and gross, while these, on the contrary, are mild and affable.
"After having taken leave of the missionary, we ascended the river St. Joseph to where it was necessary to make a portage, about thirty leagues from its mouth. The canoes which are used for navigation in this country are only of bark, and very light, although they carry as much as a large boat. When the canoe has carried us for a long time on the water, we in our turn carry it on the land, over to another river; and it was thus that we did in this place. We first transported all there was in the canoe toward the source of the river of the Ilinois, which they call Haukiki; then we carried thither our canoe, and after having launched it, we embarked there to continue our route. We were but two days making this portage, which is one and a half leagues in length. The abundant rains which had fallen during this season had swelled our little rivers, and freed us from the currents which we feared. At last we perceived our own agreeable country, the wild buffaloes and herds of stags wandering on the borders of the river; and those who were in the canoe took some of them from time to time, which served for our food.
"At the distance of some leagues from the village of the Peouarias, many of these Indians came to meet me, to form an escort to defend me from hostile parties of warriors who might be roaming through the forest; and when I approached the village, they sent forward one of their number to give notice of my arrival. The greater part ascended to the fort, which is situated on a rock on the banks of the river, and, when I entered the village, made a general discharge of their guns in sign of rejoicing. Their joy was, indeed, pictured plainly on their countenances, and shone forth in my presence. I was invited, with the French and the Ilinois chiefs, to a feast which was given to us by the most distinguished of the Peouarias. It was there that one of the principal chiefs addressed me in the name of the nation, testifying to me the deep grief they felt at the unworthy manner in which they had treated Father Gravier, and conjured me to forget it, to have pity on them and their children, and to open to them the gate of heaven, which they had closed against themselves.
"For myself, I returned thanks to God, from the bottom of my heart, that I thus saw that accomplished which I had desired with the utmost ardor. I answered them, in a few words, that I was touched with their repentance; that I always regarded them as my children; and that after having made a short excursion to my mission, I should come to fix my residence in the midst of them, to aid them by my instructions to return into the way of salvation, from which they had perhaps wandered. At these words the chief uttered a loud cry of joy, and each one with emulation testified his gratitude. During two days that I remained in the village, I said mass in public, and discharged all the duties of a missionary.
"It was toward the end of August that I embarked to return to my mission of the Cascasquias, distant a hundred and fifty leagues from the village of the Peouarias. During the first day of our departure, we found a canoe of the Scioux, broken in some places, which had drifted away, and we saw an encampment of their warriors, where we judged by the view there were at least one hundred persons. We were justly alarmed, and on the point of returning to the village we had left, from which we were as yet but ten leagues' distance.
"These Scioux are the most cruel of all the Indians, and we should have been lost if we had fallen into their hands. They are great warriors, but it is principally upon the water that they are formidable. They have only small canoes of bark, made in the form of a gondola, and scarcely larger than the body of a man, for they can not hold more than two or three at the most. They row on their knees, managing the oar now on one side and now on the other; that is, giving three or four strokes of the oar on the right side, and then as many on the left side, but with so much dexterity and swiftness, that their canoes seem to fly on the water. After having examined all things with attention, we concluded that these Indians had struck their intended blow, and were retiring: we, however, kept on our guard, and advanced with great caution, that we might not encounter them. But when we had once gained the Missisipi, we sped on by dint of rowing. At last, on the 10th of September, I arrived at my dear mission, in perfect health, after five months' absence." — Kip's Jesuit Miss.
Spark's Life of Marquette.
Miles.
From the mission of St. Ignac to Green bay about
218
From Green bay (Puans) up Fox river to the portage
175
From the portage down the Wisconsin to the Mississippi
175
From the mouth of the Wisconsin to the mouth of the Arkansas
1,087
From the mouth of the Arkansas to the Illinois river
547
From the mouth of the Illinois to the Chicago
305
From the Chicago to Green bay, by the lake shore
260
2767
He sailed from France with two lay brothers in the vessel which took out the new governor Viscount d'Argenson, in 1658, and by the eleventh of July arrived safely at Quebec. Selected for the Algonquin missions, he soon after began the study of the Indian languages. In the following year he saw two of his order Garreau and Druilletes, embark for Lake Superior, where Father Jogues and Father Raymbault had planted the cross seventeen years before, to continue the interrupted work; but one was killed, the other abandoned near Montreal. When made superior at Three-Rivers, in 1660, he saw his predecessor, the fearless Rene Menard, depart for a distant goal, to die amid the rocks and woods of the Menominee, on his way to Green Bay. This field of toil and danger was still the object of Allouez' desires. Destined to it in 1664, he reached Montreal, but the Ottawas had not come there as late as usual He had now to wait another year; but, with him, time rolled not away in idleness; a thorough Algonquin, not unacquainted with Iroquois, objects of zeal were everywhere to be found. On the 14th of May, 1665, he again left Quebec to meet them; the "Angels of the upper Algonquins" at last arrive; for so in his desire does he call the brutal men whose cruel treatment of the previous missionaries would have appalled any heart not borne up by supernatural motives. On the 7th of August, the flotilla finally started, and Allouez, after much suffering and ill-treatment, dauntlessly struggled on, and, by the first of September, was at Sault St. Mary's. Thrice had the Jesuits taken possession of that spot in the name of catholicity; it was not now to be a permanent centre. He did not stop here; he explored, in his frail canoe, the whole southern shore of the vast upper lake, whose icy waters contrast so strangely with the fantastic scenery of the shore, still marked by the traces of that terrible fire which shivered its crags into a thousand forms, and poured the molten copper over them as if in mockery and sport. His first mission was at the Outchibouec (Ojibwa, or Chippeway) village of Chegoimegon. Here, in October, rose his chapel, dedicated to the Holy Ghost. Some Hurons and the Algonquin converts of Menard were already there; to increase the number of the faithful, Allouez entered the arena to struggle till death, with the wild superstition of the Ottawa. Ten or twelve lake tribes were assembled at once in council at the spot. Pottawatomies, Sacs, Foxes, and even Hinois, swelled the numbers of those who gathered around that lone cross of the wilderness, with nations from the western sea, Dahcotahs, Assiniboins and Winnebagoes, with their Tartar dialect and thought. To all these he announced the intolerant faith of the cross, which required a total renunciation of their traditions, an unreserved acceptance of its dogmas. Each tribe departed with this first glimpse of truth, prepared to receive a clear development as time went on. And now came tidings that touched the heart of Allouez; on a lake north of Superior, were gathered some Nipissings, sad remnants of a once powerful tribe, but now like the Huron, Christians and fugitives before
the face of the Iroquois. Menard died while seeking the Huron; but unappalled by aught, Allouez hastened to their relief. Scarcely had he reached Chegoimegon again, in 1667, when a flotilla was about starting for Quebec; he embarked to secure companions, and explain to his superiors the vastness of the new field which he had seen, and of the still greater, but untried one which lay along the mighty "Mes-sipi." On the 4th of August he reached that city, the 6th embarked again for the west with the aid he needed. Father Louis Nicholas, and a lay brother set out with him. Once in the west, he resumed his toils, as though returned from a voyage of pleasure, and struggled on another year at the lake. Then joined by Marquette and later by Dablon, he hastened to a new field. He mounted Fox river and laid the foundation of the mission of St. Francis Xavier. In 1671, the great council of the French commander, with the Indians, required the presence of the missionaries, and especially of Allouez, at the Sault St. Mary's as interpreters. Nouvel was now superior of the western missions, and from him they received a new impulse. Of the three missionary stations now established, the Sault, Mackinaw, and Green Bay, the last was given to Allouez. In 1672, aided by F. Andr×, he instructed the Foxes and Fire nation, and again ascended Fox River to Maskoutens to preach to the Maskoutens, Miamis, Kikapoos, and Ilinois, assembled there. As he descended, he threw down a rude, unshapely rock, honored at Kakaling by the adoration of the benighted Indian. The next year he was stationed at St. James, or Maskoutens, where he planted the cross as the limit of his discoveries and labors. They were not grateful for his toil, while superstition, and indifference almost neutralized his efforts. With the Fox and Pottawatomi, he was more successful. In the following years, he was assisted by F. Silvy and F. Bonneault, and met with greater consolations.
On the death of Marquette, he was appointed to the Ilinois mission, and we now publish for the first time, the account of his journey. This visit was in 1676. Two years afterward, he repaired to it once more, and remained till the following year, when on learning the approach of La Salle, he retired, as that great traveller had conceived a strong prejudice against him, in consequence of some correspondence between him and his fellow missionary on the Seneca country, Father Garnier. La Mothe, La Salle's lieutenant, had even required the Seneca sachems to cause the latter to leave the lodge at a conference between them. Allouez cared not to meet, in anger, La Salle, whom he had doubtless known in France before, when he was a Jesuit like himself; he therefore returned to his missions in Wisconsin to wait till the mind of the gifted but irritable explorer should recover from its false impressions. Unfortunately it proved the reverse, if some accounts are to be credited; La Salle implicated him in some efforts made by the western traders to excite the Ilinois against him. To clear Father Allouez of this charge, we need no better proof than the friendly relations between him and Tonty, than whom there was surely no man more faithful to the interest and honor of La Salle. Allouez went to Ilinois again in 1684, with
Durantaye, when he probably remained for some time. He was there in 1687, when the survivors of La Salle's last expedition reached Fort St. Louis, in Ilinois, but left for Mackinaw on the arrival of F. Anastasius Douay, and M. Cavelier, in consequence of their false report that La Salle was still alive. Father Allouez, however, still clung to his beloved Ilinois mission, which events had thus strangely disturbed; and I am inclined to think, from a deed which fell into my hands, that he was at Fort St. Louis, in the winter of 1689. If so, it was his last visit. A letter dated in August, 1690, details the virtues of the great and holy missionary of the west He had gone to receive the reward of his labors.
The authorities for his life are the superior's journal, the Relations from 1663-'64 to 167l-'72; MS. Rel. 1672-'73, 1673-'79, 1678; MSS. of a Jesuit, in 1690; Joutel and Tonty's journals published in Hist. Coll. of Louisiana.
The Abnakis were a people of Maine, and like the Mohegans of the Algonquin family. They were originally allies of the English, who called them "Taranteens," but the unwise policy of the New England colonies compelled them to join the French. Their conversion to the catholic religion, which they still profess, tended still more to embitter the colonies against them, and long and bloody wars resulted, in which the Abnakis, forsaken by the French, were at last humbled. They now form about five villages in Maine and Canada.
The only material difference is in the Atotchasi, Otsotchov×, Osotteoez, Ossotonoy, Assotou×, or Sothouis, in which, however, there is similarity enough to establish identity. They call themselves Oguapas, and never use the term "Arkansas." — (Nuttal.)
In the month of January, 1689, Don Alonso de Leon set out from the province of Quaguila (Coahuila), with some horses, marching north of the sea, crossing great mountains, and the river which runs near Valladolid, and those of Sauceda, Nasas, Salinas, the river Florido, and others, to Caovil, a Spanish town in New Mexico, which is also called Calhuila; he then turned to his right, and crossing the Rio Bravo (which is also called Del Norte, or Rio Verde, and rises in the lake of the Canibas) below Fort St. John, he entered the province of the Quelanhubeches and Bahamos Indians, and in the interior of the country, came in his opinion to the bay, called St. Bernard's; it had many estuaries and several large rivers flowed into it. The French called it St. Louis Bay. He arrived at the fort which Robert de la Salle had built with palisades, and ship timbers: he reconnoitred it, and found nothing there but the dead bodies of some foreigners, inside and outside the fort, killed by arrows and blows, and eighteen iron cannon on navy gun carriages.
The destruction he witnessed excited his greatest compassion, and, as the novelty of Don Alonso's squadron had congregated many Indians, he asked them the motive of that deed, but the Indians, who had perpetrated it, pretended not to understand his signs, and showed by others that, if any one knew the whole matter, it would be five companions of the deceased, who were sick, in the province of the Tejas, a hundred leagues distant; that they would go and inform them; and although Don Alonso ascertained that the Indians of the neighborhood had conspired and put to death all the French, reserving only two children, burning the powder, destroying the arms, and carrying off all they could, and then celebrating the victory in all their towns with great feastings and dances they constantly denied having any hand in the slaughter.
Such was the end of Fort St. Louis, which cost the unhappy Robert de la Salle so much toil and anxiety. Don Alonso could not then ascertain whether there had been any motive for this cruelty, beyond the hatred of the Indians, or whether the French had given any cause; nor did he deem it prudent to examine the Indians more closely, as he saw by their looks that, were he not accompanied by so well-appointed and well-armed a body of cavalry, prepared to meet them, they would have closed the tragedy with the Spaniards.
At the close of May Tonty knew it, being then one day's march from the Palaquesones: he states that the French of Fort St. Louis, being unable to keep together, had either mixed with the Indians, or started for French posts, and that, without examining further, he returned to Illinois.
In order to deliver the five Frenchmen who were among the Tejas, Don Alonso accepted the proposal made to inform them. He accordingly wrote to them in French, by means of an interpreter, telling them, with many kind expressions, that, having heard of the shipwreck, and peril of their companions, he had come by order of the viceroy of New Spain, to deliver them from the slavery of those savages, and save their lives; that he regretted extremely his having known the misfortune of their companions so late, as to have been unable to come more speedily, and prevent the murders which the Indians had perpetrated on them; that if they chose to come to him, he would free them, and treat them as became a Christian and a gentleman.
Four Indians carried this letter, and during the few days that it took them to return, Don Alonso ordered the French to be buried; this the Spaniards did, weeping over this catastrophe, and misfortune, and praying most earnestly for the salvation of their souls. This shows how ill-informed he was, who edited Joutel's account of La Salle's voyage, when he says, at the end, that when La Salle's death was known by the Spaniards, they sent a party who carried off the garrison of Fort St. Louis, and then put them to death, thus defrauding Don Alonso and his soldiers of the meed their piety deserved, by so ungrateful and notorious a falsehood.
The Indians arrived, with letter, in the province where the five Frenchmen were; when they had read it, their opinions as to it were divided. Three said that they could not believe that the Indians had killed their companions, and destroyed the fort; that it must have been the Spaniards, who now called them to do the same with them. "For why," they added, "can we expect a better fate, did we come into this country to do them any good? If they do not treat us as usurpers of territories they have occupied this many years, for having come now, without any ground, to despoil them and excite the Indians, by peace and war, against them, endeavoring to make them out horrible and abominable, by pretending cruelties, inventing tyrannies, and describing slaughters that never took place, at least they will treat us as robbers and pirates."
James Grollet, and John Larcheveque, of Bordeaux, endeavored to moderate their comrades' fears, saying that, "if the Spaniards had killed the French, the Indians of the country put to flight will relate the story, and will not confirm the bearers of the letter, and its contents; that they did not, and could not have anything to do with usurpation of countries, nor piracies, as a body of soldiers coming with their officers, would always go where their king sends them, and that the greatest evil would be, that they would be sent prisoners to Mexico.
And how much better," said they, "live among Christians, even as slaves, than among these savages, exposed to the whim of their cruelty, and risking, or abandoning their salvation. If we were to invite the Spaniards, and they came under assurance of life, would we butcher them, without their giving fresh cause for their destruction? No. Why then should we presume that their feelings will be unlike ours?" Finding, however, that the more they argued, the more ' obstinate the others became, Grollet and Larcheveque came with the four Indians without any suspicion.
They all reached Don Alonso, who ordered the Indians to be rewarded for their diligence, and the two Frenchmen to be supplied with necessary food and clothing. Following his instructions, he questioned them on different points, and taking them into his company, returned to Quaguila by May without meeting any accident on the way.
He informed the viceroy of all that he had seen, observed, or discovered, and sent him Grollet and Larcheveque, directing those who conducted them to treat them well. They arrived and delivered the viceroy the letters of Don Alonso. Before interrogating the Frenchmen at all, he summoned Don Andres de Pes, as a person so well informed in the matter, and then, in the presence of both the Frenchmen, stated La Salle's voyage in search of the mouth of the river Mississippi, his landing in St. Bernard's Bay, the building of the fort, the reason of their being among the Tejas, and other matters.
By the letters and statements made by Don Alonso, and the information elsewhere acquired, they saw the great injury to be done to New Spain by this projeet of the French, already, though unsuccessfully, attempted. The viceroy asked Don Andres de Pes to go to Spain, to represent the danger, and the great advantage of fortifying Pensacola. Don Andres, having obtained the necessary instructions, set out with the two Frenchmen, and embarking at Vera Cruz, reached Cadiz safely on the 9th of December.
As Father Anastasius says expressly, that there is not a word of truth in it, we may examine the grounds which he adduces.
1st. It was not published till after the discovery made by La Salle. This is incorrect. Thevenot published Marquette's journal from a mutilated copy, in 1681, and La Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi only in April, 1682, while his discovery was not known in France before January, 1683.
2d. The Arkansas said that they had never seen any European before La Salle. Making every allowance for the difficulty of conversing with a tribe whose language was utterly unknown to him, and admitting the fact, it remains to show that the Arkansas whom he met, were the same as those visited by Marquette. This does not appear to be certain, as they were on different sides of the Mississippi.
3d. The painted rock, of which he exaggerates and refutes Marquette's account. Now, though Father Anastasius had the book of the pretended discovery in his hand, he did not read it carefully. Marquette describes a rock above the mouth of the Missouri, Anastasius saw another below the mouth, and half way between it and the Ohio, and, as it did not answer Marquette's account, there is not a word of truth in his book! Joutel, whose work appeared only in 1713, avoid this difficulty, whether conscious of Douay's error, we do not know. From the words of Father Anastasius, I am inclined to think, that they never saw Marquette's rock; but deceived by Thevenot's map which gives a figure and the word Manitou at the place below the Missouri, which Marquette mentions as the demon of the Illinois, mistook it for the painted rock. Here as Father Anastasius tells, some Indians actually perished, and their countrymen supposing them engulfed by some demon, propagated the belief in the existence of one there. This worshipping of rapids was common, and several cases are mentioned in the narratives of the time. As to the exaggerations made of Marquette's account, a moment's examination will show that he represented the figures he saw as terrible to superstitions Indians, and so high up on the rock that it was not easy to get up there to paint them. His estimate of the skill displayed is, indeed, too high; but there is nothing, beyond this, strange in his account.
4th. Last of all, comes his positive assertion that Marquette and Joliet went only as far as Cape St. Anthony, thirty or forty leagues below the mouth of the Illinois. For this he gives no authority; but it may be inferred that he found the Mansopelas there, and from his little knowledge of the Indians, concluded that being there, in 1687, they must have been there in 1673, and consequently, that Marquette went no further.
Enough, however, is here admitted to convict the author of the Etablissement de la Foi of injustice to Marquette, whom he never names, but who, even by their own statements, descended the Mississippi to the Mansopelas, many years before La Salle's expedition. Yet in the previous part of the work no mention at all is made of this voyage, and no opportunity passed to treat it as pretended in the accounts of their own.
Joutel, whose narrative was published subsequently to this, mentions (See Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 182) Father Marquette, and though he saw nothing extraordinary in the painted figures, does not make any of the charges here brought by his companion on the voyage whom he contradicts directly on two other points.