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Pictures and Illustrations.
Pipe and Tomahawk Dance (Ojibwa)
Site of Perrot's Fort, 1685-1686
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Introduction.
By Claude Charles Le Roy, Bacqueville de la Potherie
The second volume of the above work is here presented for the first time in English translation, partly in full and partly in synopsis -- the latter indicated by bracketed paragraphs.
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Chapters I-VII
[These chapters, up to page 60, are devoted to an account of the beliefs, customs, mode of life, etc., of the Indian tribes then known to the French of Canada, with an enumeration of those peoples, and brief mention of the first acquaintance of the French with those who lived east of Lake Huron. Most of this is so similar to Perrot's account that to translate it here would be useless repetition. Accordingly, the narrative begins at page 60, with the tribes which properly are included within the field of the present work.]
The Sauteurs, who live beyond the Missisakis, take their name from a fall of water which forms the discharge of Lake Superior into Lake Huron, through extensive rapids of which the ebullitions are extremely violent. Those people are very skilful in a fishery which they carry on there, of fish which are white, and as large as salmon.
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cascades, into which they cast a net277
seek their food in Lake Huron during the winter; the others have gone away to two localities on Lake Superior, in order to live on the game which is very abundant there. Those who left their natal soil made an alliance with the Nadouaissioux, who were not very solicitous for the friendship of any one whomsoever; but because they could obtain French merchandise only through the agency of the Sauteurs, they made a treaty of peace with the latter by which they were mutually bound to give their daughters in marriage on both sides. That was a strong bond for the maintenance of entire harmony.The Nadouaissioux, who have their village on the upper Missisipi about the latitude of 46°,
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their territory and their hunting-grounds with the Sauteurs. The abundance of beaver and deer made the latter gradually forget their native land. They spent279
the winter in the woods to carry on their hunting; and in the spring they visit Lake Superior, on the shore of which they plant corn and squashes. There they spend the summer in great peace, without being disturbed by any neighbor, although the Nadouaissioux are at war with the people of the north. The Sauteurs are neutral; and the tribe that goes to war always takes care beforehand that there is no Sauteur [involved in it]. Their harvest being gathered, they return to their hunting-grounds.Those who have remained at the Saut, their native country, leave their villages twice a year. In the month of June they disperse in all directions along Lake Huron, as also do the Missisakis and the Otter People.
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small islands abounding in blueberries. While there they gather sheets of bark from the trees for making their canoes and building their cabins. The water of the lake is very clear, and they can see the fish in it at a depth of twenty-five feet. While the children are gathering a store of blueberries, the men are busy in spearing sturgeon. When the grain [that they have planted] is nearly ripe, they return home. At the approach of winter they resort to the shores of the lake to kill beavers and moose, and do not return thence until the spring, in order to plant their Indian corn.Such is the occupation of those peoples, who could live in great comfort if they were economical; but all the savages, especially all the Sauteurs, are so fond of eating that they take little heed for the morrow, and there are many of them who die of hunger. They never lay by anything whatever; if any food remains, it is because they have not been able to eat all of it in the day. They are even so proud, when some stranger comes among them, as to give him even the last morsel of food, in order to make it appear that they are not in poverty; but they do not hesitate to complain of hunger when they see Frenchmen whom they know to be well supplied with provisions. The Sauteurs were redoubtable to their enemies. They were the first to defeat the Irroquois, who to the number of a hundred warriors came to take possession of one of their villages. Hearing
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of the enemy's march, fifty Sauteur fighting men went to meet them who, under the cover of a very dense fog, entirely defeated them, although their young men gave way [in the battle], and only thirty men remained; and they had for arms only arrows and tomahawks, while the Irroquois relied much on their firearms. The Sauteurs dealt quite heavy blows on the Nadouaissioux when those tribes were at war; but since the peace was made the bravest warriors are dead, and the rest have degenerated from the valor of their ancestors, and devote themselves solely to the destruction of wild animals.The Hurons, Outaoüaks, Cinagos, Kiskakons, and Nansouaketons usually make their abode at Michilimakinak,
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for these they reserve the slenderest provision of grain, and sell the rest at a high price.Michilimakinak, which is three hundred and sixty leagues from Quebec, is the general meeting-place for all the French who go to trade with stranger tribes; it is the landing-place and refuge of all the savages who trade their peltries. The savages who dwell there do not need to go hunting in order to obtain all the comforts of life. When they choose to work, they make canoes of birch-bark, which they sell two at three hundred livres each. They get a shirt for two sheets of bark for cabins. The sale of their French strawberries and other fruits produces means for procuring their ornaments, which consist of vermilion and glass and porcelain beads. They make a profit on everything. They catch whitefish, herring, and trout four to five feet long. All the tribes land at this place, in order to trade their peltries there. In summer the young men go hunting, a distance of
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thirty to forty leagues, and return laden with game; in autumn they depart for the winter hunt (which is the best [time of the year] for the skins and furs), and return in the spring laden with beavers, pelts, various kinds of fat, and the flesh of bears and deer. They sell all of which they have more than enough. They would be exceedingly well-to-do if they were economical; but most of them have the same traits as the Sauteurs.The Hurons are more provident; they think of the future, and they support their families. As they are sober, it is seldom that they suffer from poverty. This tribe is very politic, treacherous in their actions, and proud in all their behavior; they have more intellect than all the other savages. The Hurons are liberal; they show delicacy in their conversation, and they speak with precision. The others try to imitate them. They are insinuating, and are seldom cheated by any person whatsoever in any of their undertakings. The Outaoüaks, who are their neighbors, have imitated their customs and their rules of conduct; these people were at first very rude, but by intercourse with the Hurons they have become much more intelligent. They have imitated the valor of the latter, and have made themselves feared by all the tribes who are their enemies, and looked up to by those who are their allies.
Michilimakinak, according to the old men, is the place where Michapous sojourned longest. There is a mountain on the shore of the lake which has the shape of a hare; they believe that this was the place of his abode, and they call this mountain Michapous.
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there, as they say, that he showed men how to make fishing-nets, and where he placed the most fish. There is an island, two leagues from the shore, which is very287
lofty; they say that he left there some spirits, whom they call Imakinagos. As the inhabitants of this island are large and strong, this island has taken its name from those spirits; and it is called Michilimakinak, as who should say Micha-Imakinak -- for in the Outaoüak language micha means "great," "stout," and "much." This place is a strait, which separates Lake Huron from Mecheygan, otherwise "Lake of the Illinois." The currents which come and go in this strait form a flow and ebb, which is not regular, however. These currents flow so rapidly that when the wind blows all the nets which are stretched [in the stream] are torn out or destroyed; and in high winds ice-floes have been seen to move against the currents, as swiftly as if they had been swept along by a torrent.When the savages of those regions make a feast of fish, they invoke those spirits, who they say live under this island-thanking them for their liberality, and entreating them to take care always of their families; and asking them to keep their nets from harm and to preserve their canoes from surging waves. Those who are present at this feast utter, all together, [a long drawn]
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Ho! which is a giving of thanks; they are very exact in offering this prayer. Our Frenchmen have made so much sport of this custom that they do not venture to practice it openly in the presence of our people; but it is always noticed that they mutter something between their teeth which resembles the prayer that they offer to these spirits of the island.From this strait, which is five leagues long, one goes to the Lake of the Islinois, known under the name of Mecheygan, which is the route by which one reaches the Islinois, who are in possession of the most beautiful regions that can be seen [anywhere]. This lake is one hundred and eighty leagues long by thirty wide. Its shores are sandy; usually that on the north side is followed to reach the Bay of Puans.
This bay takes its name from the Ouénibegons,
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word] which means Puans [i.e., "stinkards"]. This name is explained less disagreeably in the language of the savages, for they call it the "salt-water bay" rather than the "bay of stinkards" -- although among them those terms mean almost the same thing. They also give the same name to the sea, a fact which has occasioned290
very careful search to be made in order to ascertain if there are not in those quarters some salt-water springs, such as there are among the Iroquois; but thus far nothing of this sort has been found. It is believed that this name was given to the bay on account of the quantities of mud and mire which are encountered there [along its shores?], from which continually arise unwholesome vapors, which cause the most terrible and frequent thunders that can be heard [anywhere]. In this bay is observed a regular rise and fall of the waters, almost like that of the sea. I will gladly leave to the philosophers the inquiry whether these tides are occasioned by the winds, or by some other cause; and whether there are winds which are precursors of the moon, and attached to its retinue, which consequently agitate this lake and produce its flow and ebb whenever the moon rises above the horizon. What we can say with certainty is, that when the water is very calm, it is easily seen to rise and fall according to the course of the moon -- although it is not denied that these movements might be caused by winds that are far away, and which, by pressure on the middle of the lake, cause the waters along its shores to rise and fall in the manner which is visible.This bay is forty leagues in depth; its width at the entrance is eight or ten leagues, gradually diminishing
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until at the farthest end it is but two leagues wide. The mouth is closed by seven islands, which must be doubled in voyaging to the Islinois. The bay is on the northwestern side of the lake, and extends toward the southwest; at the entrance is a small village, composed of people gathered from various nations -- who, wishing to commend themselves to their neighbors, have cleared some lands there, and affect to entertain all who pass that way. Liberality is a characteristic greatly admired among the savages; and it is the proper thing for the chiefs to lavish all their possessions, if they desire to be esteemed. Accordingly, they have exerted themselves to receive strangers hospitably, who find among them whatever provisions are in season; and they like nothing better than to hear that others are praising their generosity.The Pouteouatemis, Sakis, and Malhominis
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there; and there are four cabins, the remains of the Nadouaichs, a tribe which has been entirely destroyed293
by the Iroquois. In former times, the Puans were the masters of this bay, and of a great extent of adjoining country. This nation was a populous one, very redoubtable, and spared no one; they violated all the laws of nature; they were sodomites, and even had intercourse with beasts. If any stranger came among them, he was cooked in their kettles. The Malhominis were the only tribe who maintained relations with them, [and] they did not dare even to complain of their tyranny. Those tribes believed themselves the most powerful in the universe; they declared war on all nations whom they could discover, although they had only stone knives and hatchets. They did not desire to have commerce with the French. The Outaouaks, notwithstanding, sent to them envoys, whom they had the cruelty to eat. This crime incensed all the nations, who formed a union with the Outaouaks, on account of the protection accorded to them by the latter under the auspices of the French, from whom they received weapons and all sorts of merchandise. They made frequent expeditions against the Puans, who were giving them much trouble; and then followed civil wars among the Puans -- who reproached one another for their ill-fortune, brought upon them by the perfidy of those who had slain the envoys, since the latter had brought them knives, bodkins, and many other useful articles, of which they had had no previous knowledge. When they found that they were being vigorously attacked, they were compelled to unite all their forces in one village, where they numbered four or five thousand men; but maladies wrought among them more devastation than even the war did, and the exhalations from the rotting corpses caused great mortality. They could not bury the dead, and were soon reduced to fifteen hundred men. Despite all these misfortunes, they sent a party of five294
hundred warriors against the Outagamis, who dwelt on the other shore of the lake;295
while making that journey, by a tempest which arose. Their enemies were moved by this disaster, and said that the gods ought to be satisfied with so many punishments; so they ceased making war on those who remained. All these scourges, which ought to have gone home to their consciences, seemed only to increase their iniquities. All savages who have not yet embraced the Christian faith have the notion that the souls of the departed, especially of those who have been slain, can not rest in peace unless their relatives avenge their death; it is necessary, therefore, to sacrifice victims to their shades, if their friends wish to solace them. This belief, which animated those barbarians, inspired in them an ardent desire to satisfy the manes of their ancestors, or to perish utterly; but, seeing that this was impossible for them, they were obliged to check their resentment -- they felt too humiliated in the sight of all the nations to dare undertake any such enterprise. The despair, the cruel memory of their losses, and the destitution to which they were reduced, made it still more difficult for them to find favorable opportunities for providing their subsistence; the frequent raids of their enemies had even dispersed the game; and famine was the last scourge that attacked them.Then the Islinois,
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these unfortunates, sent five hundred men, among whom were fifty of the most prominent persons in their nation, to carry them a liberal supply of provisions. Those man-eaters received them at first with the utmost gratitude; but at the same time they meditated taking revenge for their loss by the sacrifice which they meant to make of the Islinois to the shades of their dead. Accordingly, they erected a great cabin in which to lodge these new guests. As it is a custom among the savages to provide dances and public games on splendid occasions, the Puans made ready for a dance expressly for their guests. While the Islinois were engaged in dancing, the Puans cut their bow-strings, and immediately flung themselves upon the Islinois, massacred them, not sparing one man, and made a general feast of their flesh; the enclosure of Winnebago Wigwams299
that cabin, and the melancholy remains of the victims, may still be seen. The Puans rightly judged that all the nations would league themselves together to take vengeance for the massacre of the Islinois and for their own cruel ingratitude toward that people, and resolved to abandon the place which they were occupying. But, before they took that final step, each reproached himself for that crime; some dreamed at night that their families were being carried away, and others thought that they saw on every side frightful spectres, who threatened them. They took refuge in an island, which has since been swept away by the ice-floes.The Islinois, finding that their people did not return, sent out some men to bring news of them. They arrived at the Puan village, which they found abandoned; but from it they descried the smoke from the one which had just been established in that island. The Islinois saw only the ruins of the cabins, and the bones of many human beings which, they concluded, were those of their own people. When they carried back to their country this sad news, only weeping and lamentation were heard; they sent word of their loss to their allies, who offered to assist them. The Puans, who knew that the Islinois did not use canoes, were sure that in that island they were safe from all affronts. The Islinois were every day consoled by those who had learned of their disaster; and from every side they received presents which wiped away their tears. They consulted together whether they should immediately attempt hostilities against their enemies. Their wisest men said that they ought, in accordance with the custom of their ancestors, to spend one year, or even more, in mourning, to move the Great Spirit; that he had chastised them because they had not offered enough sacrifices to him; that
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he would, notwithstanding, have pity on them if they were not impatient; and that he would chastise the Puans for so black a deed. They deferred hostilities until the second year, when they assembled a large body of men from all the nations who were interested in the undertaking; and they set out in the winter season, in order not to fail therein. Having reached the island over the ice, they found only the cabins, in which there still remained some fire; the Puans had gone to their hunt on the day before, and were traveling in a body, that they might not, in any emergency, be surprised by the Islinois. The army of the latter followed these hunters, and on the sixth day descried their village, to which they laid seige. So vigorous was their attack that they killed, wounded, or made prisoners all the Puans, except a few who escaped, and who reached the Malhominis' village, but severely wounded by arrows.The Islinois returned to their country, well avenged; they had, however, the generosity to spare the lives of many women and children, part of whom remained among them, while others had liberty to go whither they pleased. A few years ago, they [the Puans] numbered possibly one hundred and fifty warriors. These savages have no mutual fellow-feeling; they have caused their own ruin, and have been obliged to divide their forces. They are naturally very impatient of control, and very irascible; a little matter excites them; and they are great braggarts. They are, however, well built, and are brave soldiers, who do not know what danger is; and they are subtle and crafty in war. Although they are convinced that their ancestors drew upon themselves the enmity of all the surrounding nations, they cannot be humble; on the contrary, they are the first to affront those who are with them. Their women are extremely
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laborious; they are neat in their houses, but very disgusting about their food. These people are very fond of the French, who always protect them; without that support, they would have been long ago utterly destroyed, for none of their neighbors could endure them on account of their behavior and their insupportable haughtiness. Some years ago, the Outagamis, Maskoutechs, Kikabous,The Pouteouatemis are their neighbors; the behavior of these people is very affable and cordial, and they make great efforts to gain the good opinion of persons
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who come among them. They are very intelligent; they have an inclination for raillery; their physical appearance is good; and they are great talkers. When they set their minds on anything, it is not easy to turn them from it. The old men are prudent, sensible, and deliberate; it is seldom that they undertake any unseasonable enterprise. As they receive strangers very kindly, they are delighted when reciprocal attentions are paid to them. They have so good an opinion of themselves that they regard other nations as inferior to them. They have made themselves arbiters for the tribes about the bay, and for all their neighbors; and they strive to preserve for themselves that reputation in every direction.303
course caused among them jealousy and divorce; for their families are scattered to the right and to the left along the Méchéygan [i.e., Lake Michigan]. With a view of gaining for, themselves special esteem, they make presents of all their possessions, stripping themselves of even necessary articles, in their eager desire to be accounted liberal. Most of the merchandise for which the Outaoüas trade with the French is carried among these people.The Sakis have always been neighbors of the Pouteouatemis, and have even built a village with them. They separated from each other some years ago, as neither tribe could endure to be subordinate; this feeling is general among all the savages, and each man is master of his own actions, no one daring to contradict him. These peoples are not intelligent, and are of brutal nature and unruly disposition; but they have a good physique, and are quite good-looking for savages; they are thieves and liars, great chatterers, good hunters, and very poor canoemen.
The Malhominis are no more than forty in number;
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they raise a little Indian corn, but live upon game and sturgeons; they are skillful navigators. If the Sauteurs are adroit in catching the whitefish at the Sault, the Malhominis are no less so in spearing the sturgeon in their river. For this purpose they use only small canoes, very light, in which they stand upright, and in the middle of the current spear the sturgeon with an iron-pointed pole; only canoes are to be seen, morning and evening. They are good-natured people, not very keen of intellect; selfish to the last degree, and consequently characterized by a sordid avarice; but they are brave warriors.All these tribes at the bay are most favorably situated; the country is a beautiful one, and they have fertile fields planted with Indian corn. Game is abundant at all seasons, and in winter they hunt bears and beavers; they hunt deer at all times, and they even fish for wildfowl. I will explain my remark; in autumn there is a prodigious abundance of ducks, both black and white, of excellent flavor, and the savages stretch nets in certain places where these fowl alight to feed upon the wild rice. Then advancing silently in their canoes, they draw them up alongside of the nets, in which the birds have been caught. They also capture pigeons in their nets, in the summer. They make in the woods wide paths, in which they spread large nets, in the shape of a bag, wide open, and attached at each side to the trees; and they make a little hut of branches, in which they hide. When the pigeons in their flight get within this open space, the savages pull a small cord which is drawn through the edge of the net, and thus capture sometimes five or six hundred birds in one morning, especially in windy weather.
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fish for sturgeon, and for herring in the autumn; and in winter they have fruits. Although their rivers are deep, they close the stream with a sort of hurdle, leaving open places through which the fish can pass; in these spaces they set a sort of net which they can cast or draw in when they please; and several small cords are attached, which, although they seem to close the opening, nevertheless afford passage to the fish. The savages are apprised of the entrance of the fish into the net by a little bell which they fasten on the upper part of it;306
and acorns; accordingly, the peoples of the bay can live in the utmost comfort.The Mantouechs,
Chapter VIII
[Summary of pages 81-85: The Iroquois had always, since the first coming of the French to Canada, been hostile to the Algonkin tribes, and were continually making raids on them; the latter were from the outset friendly to the French, who "needed those people, in order to maintain themselves at Quebec," and both accordingly rendered aid to each other against the Iroquois, the common enemy. But in 1665 arrived a new viceroy of the French possessions in America, Marquis de Tracy; he brought not only new colonists for Canada, but a regiment of French regular troops, with whom he was able to send a powerful punitive expedition against the Iroquois in their own country -- inflicting so severe chastisement on them that he compelled them to sue for
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peace. Two years later (after the viceroy's return to France) two of his relatives and another French officer were wantonly slain by the treacherous Iroquois while out hunting. The governor, M. de Courcelles, at once threatened them with war unless they delivered up the murderer; they were alarmed at this, and sent forty of their warriors with Agariata, who had slain the Frenchmen. This man, notwithstanding the entreaties and lamentations of his followers, was hanged in their presence -- a punishment which they had never before seen; and the Iroquois were so terrified that they maintained peace with the French until 1683, when war again broke out.]All the Outaouak peoples were in alarm. While we were waging war with the Iroquois, those tribes who dwelt about Lake Huron fled for refuge to Chagoüamikon, which is on Lake Superior; they came down to Montreal only when they wished to sell their peltries, and then, trembling [with dread of the enemy]. The trade was not yet opened with the Outaouaks. The name of the French people gradually became known in that region, and some of the French made their way into those places where they believed that they could make some profit; it was a Peru for them. The savages could not understand why these men came so far to search for their worn-out beaver robes; meanwhile they admired all the wares brought to them by the French, which they regarded as extremely precious. The knives, the hatchets, the iron weapons above all, could not be sufficiently praised; and the guns so astonished them that they declared that there was a spirit within the gun, which caused the loud noise made when it was fired. It is a fact that an Esquimau from Cape Digue, at 60° latitude, in the strait of Hudson Bay, displayed so
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much surprise to me when he saw a godeSieur Perot has best known those peoples; the governors-general of Canada have always employed him in all their schemes; and his acquaintance with the savage tongues, his experience, and his mental ability have enabled him to make discoveries which gave opportunity to Monsieur de la Salle to push forward all those explorations in which he achieved so great success. It was through his agency that the Mississippi became known. He rendered very important services to the
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Colony, made known the glory of the king [of France] among those peoples, and induced them to form an alliance with us. On one occasion, among the Pouteouatemis, he was regarded as a god. Curiosity induced him to form the acquaintance of this nation, who dwelt at the foot of the Bay of Puans. They had heard of the French, and their desire to become acquainted with them in order to secure the trade with them had induced these savages to go down to Montreal, under the guidance of a wandering Outaouak who was glad to conduct them thither. The French had been described to them as covered with hair (the savages have no beards), and they believed that we were of a different species from other men. They were astonished to see that we were made like themselves, and regarded it as a present that the sky and the spirits had made them in permitting one of the celestial beings to enter their land. The old men solemnly smoked a calumet and came into his presence, offering it to him as homage that they rendered to him. After he had smoked the calumet, it was presented by the chief to his tribesmen, who all offered it in turn to one another, blowing from their mouths the tobacco-smoke over him as if it were incense. They said to him: "Thou art one of the chief spirits, since thou usest iron; it is for thee to rule and protect all men. Praised be the Sun, who has instructed thee and sent thee to our country." They adored him as a god; they took his knives and hatchets and incensed them with the tobacco-smoke from their mouths; and they presented to him so many kinds of food that he could not taste them all. "It is a spirit," they said; "these provisions that he has not tasted are not worthy of his lips." When he left the room, they insisted on carrying him upon their shoulders; the way over which he passed was made clear; they did [not]310
dare look in his face; and the women and children watched him from a distance. "He is a spirit," they said; "let us show our affection for him, and he will have pity on us." The savage who had introduced him to this tribe was, in acknowledgment thereof, treated as a captain. Perot was careful not to receive all these acts of adoration, although, it is true, he accepted these honors so far as the interests of religion were not concerned. He told them that he was not what they thought, but only a Frenchman; that the real Spirit who had made all had given to the French the knowledge of iron, and the ability to handle it as if it were paste. He said that that Spirit, desiring to show his pity for his creatures, had permitted the French nation to settle in their country in order to remove them from the blindness in which they had dwelt, as they had not known the true God, the author of nature, whom the French adored; that, when they had established a friendship with the French, they would receive from the latter all possible assistance; and that he had come to facilitate acquaintance between them by the discoveries of the various tribes which he was making. And, as the beaver was valued by his people, he wished to ascertain whether there were not a good opportunity for them to carry on trade therein.At that time there was war between that tribe and their neighbors, the Malhominis. The latter, while hunting with the Outagamis, had by mistake slain a Pouteouatemi, who was on his way to the Outagamis. The Pouteouatemis, incensed at this affront, deliberately tomahawked a Malhomini who was among the Puans. In the Pouteouatemi village there were only women and old men, as the young men had gone for the first time to trade at Montreal; and there was reason to fear that
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the Malhominis would profit by that mischance. Perot, who was desirous of making their acquaintance, offered to mediate a peace between them. When he had arrived within half a league of the [Malhomini] village, he sent a man to tell them that a Frenchman was coming to visit them; this news caused universal joy. All the youths came at once to meet him, bearing their weapons and their warlike adornments, all marching in file, with frightful contortions and yells; this was the most honorable reception that they thought it possible to give him. He was not uneasy, but fired a gun in the air as far away as he could see them; this noise, which seemed to them so extraordinary, caused them to halt suddenly, gazing at the sun in most ludicrous attitudes. After he had made them understand that he had come not to disturb their repose, but to form an alliance with them, they approached him with many gesticulations. The calumet was presented to him; and, when he was ready to proceed to the village, one of the savages stooped down in order to carry Perot upon his shoulders; but his interpreter assured them that he had refused such honors among many tribes. He was escorted with assiduous attentions; they vied with one another in clearing the path, and in breaking off the branches of trees which hung in the way. The women and children, who had heard "the spirit" (for thus they call a gun), had fled into the woods. The men assembled in the cabin of the leading war chief, where they danced the calumet to the sound of the drum. He had them all assemble next day, and made them a speech in nearly these words: "Men, the true Spirit who has created all men desires to put an end to your miseries. Your ancestors would not listen to him; they always followed natural impulses alone, without remembering that they had312
their being from him. He created them to live in peace with their fellow-men. He does not like war or disunion; he desires that men, to whom he has given reason, should remember that they all are brothers, and that they have only one God, who has formed them to do only his will. He has given them dominion over the animals, and at the same time has forbidden them to make any attacks on one another. He has given the Frenchmen iron, in order to distribute it among those peoples who have not the use of it, if they are willing to live as men, and not as beasts. He is angry that you are at war with the Pouteouatemis; even though it seemed that they had a right to avenge themselves on your young man who was among the Puans, God is nevertheless offended at them, for he forbids vengeance, and commands union and peace. The sun has never been very bright on your horizon; you have always been wrapped in the shadows of a dark and miserable existence, never having enjoyed the true light of day, as the French do. Here is a gun, which I place before you to defend you from those who may attack you; if you have enemies, it will cause them terror. Here is a porcelain collar, by which I bind you to my body; what will you have to fear, if you unite yourselves to us, who make guns and hatchets, and who knead iron as you do pitch? I have united myself with the Pouteouatemis, on whom you are planning to make war. I have come to embrace all the men whom Onontio ["Monsieur de Coursel" -- La Potherie], the chief of all the French who have settled in this country, has told me to join together, in order to take them under his protection. Would you refuse his support, and kill one another when he desires to establish peace between you? The Pouteouatemis are expecting many articles suited to war313
from the hands of Onontio. You have been so evenly matched [with them; but now] would you abandon your families to the mercy of their [fire] arms, and be at war with them against the will of the French? I come to make the discovery of [new] tribes, only to return here with my brothers, who will come with me among those people who are willing to unite themselves to us. Could you hunt in peace if we give [weapons of] iron to those who furnish us beaver-skins? You are angry against the Pouteouatemis, whom you regard as your enemies, but they are in much greater number than you; and I am much afraid that the prairie people will at the same time form a league against you."The Father of the Malhomini who had been murdered by the Pouteouatemis arose and took the collar that Perot had given him; he lighted his calumet, and presented it to him, and then gave it to the chief and all who were present, who smoked it in turn; then he began to sing, holding the calumet in one hand, and the collar in the other. He went out of the cabin while he sang, and, presenting the calumet and collar toward the sun, he walked sometimes backwards, sometimes forward; he made the circuit of his own cabin, went past a great number of those in the village, and finally returned to that of the chief. There he declared that he attached himself wholly to the French; that he believed in the living Spirit, who had, in behalf of all the spirits, domination over all other men, who were inferior to him; that all his tribe had the same sentiments; and that they asked only the protection of the French, from whom they hoped for life and for obtaining all that is necessary to man.
The Pouteouatemis were very impatient to learn the fate of their people who had gone trading to Montreal;
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they feared that the French might treat them badly, or that they would be defeated by the Iroquois. Accordingly, they had recourse to Perot's guide, who was a master juggler. That false prophet built himself a little tower of poles, and therein chanted several songs, through which he invoked all the infernal spirits to tell him where the Pouteouatemis were. The reply was that they were at the Oulamanistik River,315
attacks by stealth; Perot conjectured that they were probably their own men, who were thus displaying their joy as they came near the village. In fact, a young man who had been sent out as a scout came back, in breathless haste, and reported that it was their own people who were returning. If their terror had caused general consternation, this good news caused no less joy throughout the village. Two chiefs, who had seen Perot blow into his gun at the time of the first alarm, came to let him know of the arrival of their people, and begged him always to consult his gun. All were eager to receive the fleet. As they approached, the new-comers discharged a salvo of musketry, followed by shouts and yells, and continued their firing as they came toward the village. When they were two or three hundred paces from the shore, the chief rose in his canoe and harangued the old men who stood at the water's edge; he gave an account of the favorable reception which had been accorded them at Montreal. An old man informed them, meanwhile praising the sky and the sun who had thus favored them, that there was a Frenchman in the village who had protected them in several times of danger; at this, the Pouteouatemis suddenly flung themselves into the water, to show their joy at so pleasing an occurrence. They had taken pleasure in painting [matacher] themselves in a very peculiar manner; and the French garments, which had been intended to make them more comfortable, disfigured them in a ludicrous fashion. They carried Perot with them, whether or no he would, in a scarlet blanket (Monsieur de la Salle was also honored with a like triumph at Huron Island), and made him go around the fort, while they marched in double files in front and behind him, with guns over their shoulders, often firing volleys. This cortege arrived at316
the cabin of the chief who had led the band, where all the old men were assembled; and a great feast of sturgeon was served. This chief then related a more detailed account of his voyage, and gave a very correct idea of French usages. He described how the trade was carried on; he spoke with enthusiasm of what he had seen in the houses, especially of the cooking; and he did not forget to exalt Onontio,Chapter IX
Those peoples were so delighted with the alliance that they had just made that they sent deputies in every direction to inform the Islinois, Miamis,
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Maskoutechs, and Kikabous that they had been at Montreal, whence they had brought much merchandise; they besought those tribes to visit them and bring them beavers. Those tribes were too far away to profit by this at first; only the Outagamis came to establish themselves for the winter at a place thirty leagues from the bay, in order to share in the benefit of the goods which they could obtain from the Pouteouatemis. Their hope that some Frenchmen would come from Chagouamikon induced them to accumulate as many beavers as possible. The Pouteouatemis took the southern part of the bay, the Sakis the northern; the Puans, as they could not fish, had gone into the woods to live on deer and bears. When the Outagamis had formed a village of more than six hundred cabins, they sent to the Sakis, at the beginning of spring, to let them know of the new establishment that they had formed.318
Those people had only five or six hatchets, which had no edge, and they used these, by turns, for cutting their wood; they had hardly one knife or one bodkin to a cabin, and cut their meat with the stones319
continually begging from our Frenchmen who went among them, for those savages imagined that whatever their visitors possessed ought to be given to them gratis; everything aroused their desires, and yet they had few beavers to sell. The French thought it prudent to leave to the Sakis for the winter the trade in peltries with the Outagamis, as they could carry it on with the former more quietly in the autumn.All the tribes at the bay went to their villages after the winter, to sow their grain. A dispute occurred between two Frenchmen and an old man, who was one of the leading men among the Pouteouatemis; the former demanded payment for the goods; but he did not show much inclination to pay; sharp words arose on both sides, and they came to blows. The Frenchmen were vigorously attacked by the savages, and a third man came to the aid of his comrades. The confusion increased; that Frenchman tore the pendants from the ears of a savage, and gave him a blow in the belly which felled him so rudely that with difficulty could he rise again. At the same time the Frenchman received a blow from a war-club on his head, which caused him to fall motionless. There were great disputes among the savages in regard to the Frenchman who had just been wounded, who had rendered many services to the village. There were three families interested in this contention -- those of the Red Carp, of the Black Carp, and of the Bear.
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that he would perish with the Frenchman, whom the people of the Red Carp had slain. The Saki chief, hearing the voice of his father-in-law, called his own men to arms; the Bear family did the same; and the321
wounded Frenchman began to recover consciousness. He calmed the Sakis, who were greatly enraged; but the savage who had maltreated him was compelled to abandon the village. These same Frenchmen's lives were in danger on still another occasion. One of them, who was amusing himself with some arrows, told a Saki who was bathing at the water's edge to ward off the shaft that he was going to let fly at him. The savage, who held a small piece of cloth, told him to shoot; but he was not adroit enough to avoid the arrow, which wounded him in the shoulder. He immediately called out that the Frenchman had slain him; but another Frenchman hastened to the savage, made him enter his cabin, and drew out the arrow. He was pacified by giving him a knife, a little vermilion to paint his face, and a piece of tobacco. This present was effectual; for when, at the Saki's cry, several of his comrades came, ready to avenge him on the spot, the wounded man cried, "What are you about? I am healed. Metaminens" (which means "little Indian corn" -- this name they had given to the Frenchman, who was Perot himself) "has tied my hands by this ointment which you see upon my wound, and I have no more anger," at the same time showing the present that Perot had given him. This presence of mind checked the disturbance that was about to arise.The Miamis, the Maskoutechs, the Kikabous, and fifteen cabins of Islinois came toward the bay in the following summer, and made their clearings thirty miles away, beside the Outagamis, toward the south. These peoples, for whom the Iroquois were looking, had gone southward along the Mississippi after the combat which I have mentioned.
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knives and hatchets in the hands of the Hurons who had had dealings with the French, which induced them to associate themselves with the tribes who already had some union with us. They are very sportive when among their own people, but grave before strangers; well built; lacking in intelligence, and dull of apprehension; easily persuaded; vain in language and behavior, and extremely selfish. They consider themselves much braver than their neighbors; they are great liars, employing every kind of baseness to accomplish their ends; but they are industrious, indefatigable, and excellent pedestrians. For this last reason, they are called Metousceprinioueks, which in their language means "Walkers."After they had planted their fields in this new settlement, they went to hunt cattle.
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moreover, were very boorish -- and even that they were in great danger of being plundered. The French took their departure, notwithstanding these tales, and in five days reached the vicinity of the village.324
stout young men came upon the scene; their hair was adorned with headdresses of various sorts, and their325
bodies were covered with tattooing in black, representing many kinds of figures;326
whole length with the heads of birds, flame-colored, and had in the middle a bunch of feathers colored a bright red, which resembled a great fan. As soon as he espied the leader of the Frenchmen, he presented to him the calumet, on the side next to the sun; and uttered words which were apparently addressed to all the spirits whom those peoples adore. The old man held it sometimes toward the east, and sometimes toward the west; then toward the sun; now he would stick the end in the ground, and then he would turn the calumet around him, looking at it as if he were trying to point out the whole earth, with expressions which gave the Frenchman to understand that he had compassion on all men. Then he rubbed with his hands Perot's head, back, legs, and feet, and sometimes his own body. This welcome lasted a long time, during which the old man made a harangue, after the fashion of a prayer, all to assure the Frenchman of the joy which all in the village felt at his arrival.One of the men spread upon the grass a large painted ox-skin, the hair on which was as soft as silk, on which he and his comrade were made to sit. The old man struck two pieces of wood together, to obtain fire from it; but as it was wet he could not light it. The Frenchman drew forth his own fire-steel, and immediately made fire with tinder. The old man uttered loud exclamations about the iron, which seemed to him a spirit; the calumet was lighted, and each man smoked; then they must eat porridge and dried meat, and suck the juice of the green corn. Again the calumet was filled, and those who smoked blew the tobacco-smoke into the Frenchman's face, as the greatest honor that they could render him; he saw himself smoked [boucaner] like meat, but said not a word. This ceremony ended, a skin was spread for the Frenchman's comrade. The
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savages thought that it was their duty to carry the French guests; but the latter informed the Maskoutechs that, as they could shape the iron, they had strength to walk, so they were left at liberty. On the way, they rested again, and the same honors were paid to him as at the first meeting. Continuing their route, they halted near a high hill, at the summit of which was the village; they made their fourth halt here, and the ceremonies were repeated. The great chief of the Miamis came to meet them, at the head of more than three thousand men, accompanied by the chiefs of other tribes who formed part of the village. Each of these chiefs had a calumet, as handsome as that of the old man; they were entirely naked, wearing only shoes, which were artistically embroidered like buskins;328
cadence. When they reached the Frenchmen, they continued their songs, meanwhile bending their knees, in turn, almost to the ground. They presented the calumet329
to the sun, with the same genuflexions, and then they came back to the principal Frenchman, with many gesticulations. Some played upon instruments the calumet songs, and others sang them, holding the calumet in the mouth without lighting it. A war chief raised Perot upon his shoulders, and, accompanied by all the musicians, conducted him to the village. The Maskoutech who had been his guide offered him to the Miamis, to be lodged among them; they very amiably declined, being unwilling to deprive the Maskoutechs of the pleasure of possessing a Frenchman who had consented to come under their auspices. At last he was taken to the cabin of the chief of the Maskoutechs;330
the lighted calumet was presented to him, which he smoked; and fifty guardsmen were provided for him, who prevented the crowd from annoying him. A grand repast was served, the various courses of which reminded one of feeding-troughs rather than dishes; the food was seasoned with the fat of the wild ox. The guards took good care that provisions should be brought often, for they profited thereby.On the next day, the Frenchman gave them, as presents, a gun and a kettle; and made them the following speech, which was suited to their character: "Men, I admire your youths; although they have since their birth seen only shadows, they seem to me as fine-looking as those who are born in regions where the sun always displays his glory. I would not have believed that the earth, the mother of all men, could have furnished you the means of subsistence when you did not possess the light of the Frenchman, who supplies its influences to many peoples; I believe that you will become another nation when you become acquainted with him. I am the dawn of that light, which is beginning to appear in your lands, as it were, that which precedes the sun, who will soon shine brightly and will cause you to be born again, as if in another land, where you will find, more easily and in greater abundance, all that can be necessary to man. I see this fine village filled with young men, who are, I am sure, as courageous as they are well built; and who will, without doubt, not fear their enemies if they carry French weapons. It is for these young men that I leave my gun, which they must regard as the pledge of my esteem for their valor; they must use it
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if they are attacked. It will also be more satisfactory in hunting cattle and other animals than are all the arrows that you use. To you who are old men I leave my kettle; I carry it everywhere without fear of breaking it. You will cook in it the meat that your young men bring from the chase, and the food which you offer to the Frenchmen who come to visit you." He tossed a dozen awls and knives to the women, and said to them: "Throw aside your bone bodkins; these French awls will be much easier to use. These knives will be more useful to you in killing beavers and in cutting your meat than are the pieces of stone that you use." Then, throwing to them some rassade:332
The Miamis said, by way of excuse for not having any beaver-skins, that they had until then roasted those animals.That alliance began, therefore, through the agency of Sieur Perot. A week later the savages made a solemn feast, to thank the sun for having conducted him to their village. In the cabin of the great chief of the Miamis an altar had been erected, on which he had caused to be placed a Pindiikosan. This is a warrior's pouch, filled with medicinal herbs wrapped in the skins of animals, the rarest that they can find; it usually contains all that inspires their dreams. Perot, who did not approve this altar, told the great chief that he adored a God who forbade him to eat things sacrificed to evil spirits or to the skins of animals. They were greatly surprised at this, and asked if he would eat provided they shut up their Manitous; this he consented to do. The chief begged Perot to consecrate him to his Spirit, whom he would thenceforth acknowledge; he said that he would prefer that Spirit to his own, who had not taught them to make hatchets, kettles, and all else that men need; and he hoped that by adoring him they would obtain all the knowledge that the French had. This chief governed his people as a sort of sovereign; he had his guards, and whatever he said or ordered was regarded as law.
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The Pouteouatemis, jealous that the French had found the way to the Miamis, secretly sent a slave to the latter, who said many unkind things about the French; he said that the Pouteouatemis held them in the utmost contempt, and regarded them as dogs. The French, who had heard all these abusive remarks, put him into a condition where he could say no more outrageous things; the Miamis regarded the spectacle with great tranquillity. When it was time to return to the bay, the chiefs sent all their young men to escort the Frenchmen thither, and made them many presents. The Pouteouatemis, having learned of the Frenchman's arrival, came to assure him of the interest they felt in his safe return, and were very impatient to know whether the tribes from whom he had come had treated him well. But when they heard the reproaches which he uttered for their sending a slave who had said most ungenerous things regarding the French nation, they attempted to make an explanation of their conduct, but fully justified the poor opinion which he already had of them. The savages have this characteristic, that they find a way to free themselves from blame in any evil undertaking, or to make it succeed without seeming to have taken part in it.
Chapter X
It was for the interest of the Pouteouatemis to keep on good terms with the French; and they had been too well received at Montreal not to return thither. Indeed, after having presented to Perot a bag of Indian corn, that he might, they said, "eat and swallow the suspicion that he felt toward them," and five beaver robes to serve as an emetic for the ill-will and vengeance which he might retain in his heart, they sent some of their people
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on a journey to Montreal. When they came in sight of Michilimakinak, which then was frequented only by them and the Iroquois, they perceived smoke. While they were trying to ascertain what this meant, they encountered two Iroquois, and saw another canoe off shore. Each party was alarmed at the other; as for the Iroquois, they took to flight, while the Pouteouatemis, plying their paddles against contrary winds, fled to their own village; they felt an extraordinary anxiety, for they knew not what measures to take for protection against the Iroquois. All the peoples of the bay experienced the same perplexity. Their terror was greatly increased when, a fortnight later, they saw large fires on the other shore of the bay, and heard many gun-shots. As a climax to their fears, the scouts whom they had sent out brought back the news that they had seen at night many canoes made in Iroquois fashion, in one of which was a gun, and a blanket of Iroquois material; and some men, who were sleeping by a fire. All those canoes came in sight the next morning, and each one fled, at the top of his speed, into the forest; only the most courageous took the risk of awaiting, with resolute air, the Iroquois in their fort, where they had good firearms. As we were at peace with the Iroquois, some of the bolder spirits among our Frenchmen offered to go to meet that so-called army, in order to learn the motive which could have impelled them to come to wage war against the allies of Onontio. They were greatly surprised to find that it was a fleet of Outaouaks, who had come to trade; these people had, while traveling across the country, built some canoes which resembled those of the Iroquois. The men whom the Pouteouatemis had seen at Michilimakinak were really Iroquois; but they had feared falling into the hands of the Pouteouatemis quite as much335
as the latter had feared them. The Iroquois, while fleeing, fell into an ambuscade of forty Sauteurs, who carried them away to the Sauteur village; they had come from a raid against the Chaouanons336
and had brought with them a captive from that tribe, whom they were going to burn. The Sauteurs set him at liberty, and enabled him to return to the bay by entrusting him to the Sakis. This man gave them marvelous notions of the South Sea, from which his village was distant only five days' journey -- near a great river which, coming from the Islinois, discharges its waters into that sea.These peoples held several councils, to deliberate whether they should go down to Montreal; they hesitated at first, because they had so few beavers. As the savages give everything to their mouths, they preferred
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to devote themselves to hunting such wild beasts as could furnish subsistence for their families, rather than seek beavers, of which there were not enough; they preferred the needs of life to those of the state. Nevertheless, they reflected that if they allowed the Frenchmen to go away without themselves going down to trade, it might happen that the latter would thereafter attach themselves to some other tribes; or, if they should afterward go to Montreal, the governor would feel resentment against them because they had not escorted these Frenchmen thither. They decided that they would go with the Frenchmen; preparations for this were accordingly made, and a solemn feast was held; and on the eve of their departure a volley of musketry was fired in the village. Three men sang incessantly, all night long, in a cabin, invoking their spirits from time to time. They began with the song of Michabous; then they came to that of the god of lakes, rivers, and forests, begging the winds, the thunder, the storms, and the tempests to be favorable to them during the voyage. The next day, the crier went through the village, inviting the men to the cabin where the feast was to be prepared. They found no difficulty in going thither, each furnished with his Ouragan and Mikouen ["his dish and spoon" -- La Potherie]. The three musicians of the previous night began to sing; one was placed at the entrance of the cabin, another in the middle, and the third at its end; they were armed with quivers, bows, and arrows, and their faces and entire bodies were blackened with coal. While the people sat in this assembly, in the utmost quiet, twenty young men -- entirely naked, elaborately painted [matachez]338
to which were attached the skins of crows, with their plumage, and gourds -- lifted from the fires ten great kettles; then the singing ceased. The first of these actors next sang his war-song, keeping time with it in a dance from one end to the other of the cabin, while all the savages cried in deep guttural tones, "Hay, hay!" When the musician ended, all the others uttered a loud yell, in which their voices gradually died away, much as a loud noise disappears among the mountains. Then the second and the third musicians repeated, in turn, the same performance; and, in a word, nearly all the savages did the same, in alternation -- each singing his own song, but no one venturing to repeat that of another, unless he were willing deliberately to offend the one who had composed the song, or unless the latter were dead (in order to exalt, as it were, the dead man's name by appropriating his song). During this, their looks were accompanied with gestures and violent movements; and some of them took hatchets, with which they pretended to strike the women and children who were watching them. Some took firebrands, which they tossed about everywhere; others filled their dishes with red-hot coals, which they threw at each other. It is difficult to make the reader understand the details of feasts of this sort, unless he has himself seen them. I was present at a like entertainment among the Iroquois at the Sault of Montreal,339
and it seemed as if I were in the midst of hell. After most of those who had been invited to this pleasant festival had sung, the chief of the feast, who had given the dance, sang a second time; and he said at the end of his song (which he improvised) that he was going to Montreal with the Frenchmen, and was on that account offering these prayers to their God, entreating him to be propitious to him on the voyage, and to render him acceptable to the French nation. The young men who had taken off the kettles took all the dishes, which they filled with food, while the three chanters [chantres de la nuit, "night-birds"] repeated their first songs, not finishing their concert until everything had been eaten -- a feat which did not take long to accomplish. An old man arose and congratulated, in the most affable manner, the chief of the feast on the project which he had formed, and encouraged the young men to follow him. All those who wished to go on the voyage laid down a stick; there were enough people to man thirty canoes. At the Sault, they joined seventy other canoes, of various tribes, all of whom formed a single fleet.These voyageurs, passing through the Nepicing [Lake], found only a few Nepicirinien
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visitors] of paying their toll, because there were some Frenchmen, whom they were therefore very willing to treat with consideration; meanwhile they entertained the latter, as they were the most prominent men in the fleet. The guests halted an entire day, in order to conform to the usual custom of the savages who accord to their allies this right of hospitality. Next day the fleet passed through the Nepicing, and on the following day they descried some people in canoes, who uttered cries for the dead. All the fleet made for the shore, in order to wait for them; they reported that the pest was making great havoc in our colony, and they said too much about it not to frighten the more credulous of the travelers, who desired to give up their voyage. The Outaouaks, who saw all the canoes of these false alarmists arrive gradually, were surprised that they were in so good condition, and that they were so laden with merchandise. The [real] motive of those people was, to obtain at a moderate price, for themselves, the peltries belonging to the others, in order to spare themselves from going out hunting; but they did not dare to disclose their design. The savages are sufficiently politic not to seem to distrust one another; and in regard to news that is announced to them they always suspend their opinions, without letting it appear that often they think the informant is not telling the truth.Le Brochet and Le Talon, two of the most prominent of the Outaouak chiefs, mistrusting that the Nepiciriniens might be longing to beguile the Kristinaux and the inland tribes, in order to plunder them or else compel them to pay the toll, inquired of some Frenchmen if there was any probability that the pest was at Montreal. The Outaouaks were undeceived. The Mississakis, the Kristinaux, and the Gens de Terre, easy to persuade,
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yielded to the opinion of the Nepiciriniens; and the coolness of their behavior was very apparent. A Nepicirinien, meanwhile, encountering a Frenchman, told him that every one was dying [in the colony]; and the Frenchman answered him jestingly: "What! the French, who are enlightened people, and who know what is suitable for the cure of every kind of disease, they are all dying; and you who are ignorant are living?" The Nepicirinien replied to him. "Our spirits have preserved us." "Your spirits," the Frenchman answered, "are incapable of that, and are no better able to do you any good. It is the God of the French who has done everything for you, and who supplies your needs, although you do not deserve it. You are liars; you are trying to deceive and abuse the people who come down the river, so as to plunder them, as you have always done. As the number of men in this fleet is so great as to hinder you from doing that, you are making them afraid, by trying to persuade them that all the French people are dying from an imaginary disease. Know that Onontio sent me a letter when I was at the bay, in which he ordered me to have all the tribes go down [to Montreal], as he wished to see them." And, drawing from his pocket an old piece of paper on which there was writing, which he feigned to be from Monsieur Coursel, he said to him: "[You may] oppose [this voyage], Nepicirinien; but if this fleet goes back I shall continue my journey;" and the Frenchman declared that he would make known to Onontio the opposition that the other had made to this fleet, and how he had hindered the accomplishment of Onontio's purpose. The Nepiciriniens disguised their knavish tricks as best they could, and said that in fact the maladies had ceased when they left [the colony].342
All those peoples went down to Montreal, where they were not very well satisfied with the trading; the great quantity of peltries caused the buyers to try to get them very cheaply. Moreover, not only had the Nepiciriniens carried away the greater part of the merchandise, but those who held the rest of it tried to make their profits from an opportunity so favorable; the savages murmured at this, and even a disturbance occurred; they cudgeled a sentinel, whose gun they took away, and broke his sword. Some chiefs, who had caused this sedition, were arrested. A number of Iroquois who had come to negotiate a peace, delighted at this hubbub, were very desirous that the minds of people should be further exasperated, so that they could secure an opportunity of coming to hostilities with those tribes; they all hastened at the report of the disturbance, and offered their services to the French. The Outaouaks, who as yet had no acquaintance with firearms, saw very plainly that they were not the stronger party. The Pouteouatemis were the most discreet, and, although they were not entangled in the midst of these troubles, they were continually dreading lest some disagreeable consequences would happen to them. As at that time a general peace with the Iroquois was being discussed, the commandant at Montreal made the Outaouaks go down to Quebec, that they might be witnesses of what should take place for the benefit of all the allied tribes. The Pouteouatemis, who had as yet visited the colony but once, were very glad at being included in this visit.
Chapter XI
The peace was made, accordingly, in 1666; and people began to enjoy this tranquillity, which enabled every one to live prosperously on his own lands, and to trade
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among our allies with safety. In truth, nothing was more melancholy than to dwell in the continual anxiety that one might have his scalp torn off at the door of his own house, or be carried away from it among those barbarians, who burned the most of their captives.It was, besides, for the interest of the colony to make known the glory of the king among all the peoples of the south, of the west, and of the north. The alliance which was beginning to gain footing could not better be strengthened than by assuring them, in their own country, of inviolable protection; and in fact, a little while after those peoples had gone back to their own country, Monsieur Talon, the intendant of Canada, sent thither in 1667 a delegate, with Sieur Perot, who was considered the most competent man to conduct this business. They set out with orders to go to take possession, in the name of the king, of all the country of the Outaouaks. The Saut de Sainte Marie, about the 46th degree of latitude, was the place where the general assemblies of all the tribes were held, and thus there was no locality where this matter could be transacted with more eclat. They spent five or six months in notifying the tribes, but none consented except the Puans. Perot decided to go among them himself; but he met Father Aloüet, a Jesuit, who had wintered there [at the Bay], with some Frenchmen, who had encountered there all possible annoyances. Those peoples had been so offended because the French at Montreal had sold them merchandise at an excessive price that, in order to recoup themselves, they sold their beaver pelts at a triple price to the Frenchmen who went among them. But Perot, without heeding the affronts that his compatriots had received from them, concluded to go there. He arrived at the bay in that same year in the month of May, and, finding that they were out fishing
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he invited them to return to their village, where he had something important to communicate to them. After they had reached the village, he explained to them the motive which had brought him among them; and they consented, without making any objection, to be present at the [ceremony of] taking possession. It was still necessary to interest the Outagamis, the Miamis, the Maskoutechs, the Kikabous, and the Islinois in the plan. The Pouteouatemis gave him an escort, because the Nadouaissioux had, several days before, [killed] twelve Maskoutechs who were fishing along their river. When he was four leagues distant from their village, he made known to them his arrival; and the chief of the Miamis immediately gave orders that his people should go in warlike array to receive Perot at a place half a league away. At once they marched, in order of battle, decked with handsome ornaments of feathers, and armed with quivers, bows, arrows, and clubs, as if they had intended to fight a battle. They all marched in single file, their clubs uplifted, and from time to time uttered yells. The Pouteouatemis, having perceived this advance, told him that the Miamis were receiving him in martial fashion, and that he must imitate them. Immediately he placed himself at their head, and they rushed upon the Miamis with their guns loaded with powder, as if to check their advance. The head of the file of Miamis passed to the left, making a circuit of five hundred paces in order to surround them, each man keeping at the same distance from those in front and behind him; the head of the file joined the rear, and the Pouteouatemis found themselves all hemmed in. The Miamis, uttering a terrible yell, suddenly came pouring upon them, firing all those arrows above their heads; and when they were almost near enough to deal each345
other blows, the Miamis came on as if to attack them with their clubs. The Pouteouatemis fired a volley from their muskets, preceded by frightful cries, over the others, and then all mingled together. Such was the reception by those peoples, who then, with the calumets, made their guests enter the village.The Frenchman went to the house of the chief of all those tribes, and the others were scattered among the houses of the Miamis. The chief of the Miamis commanded fifty warriors to act as a guard and wait upon him; and several days later entertained him with the game of crosse, in this manner.
More than two thousand persons assembled in a great plain, each with his racket; and a wooden ball, as large as a tennis-ball, was thrown into the air. Then all that could be seen was the flourishes and motion through the air of all those rackets, which made a noise like that of weapons which is heard in a battle. Half of all those savages endeavored to send the ball in the direction of the northwest, the length of the plain, and the others tried to make it go to the southeast; the strife, which lasted half an hour, was doubtful. Games of this sort are usually followed by broken heads, arms, and legs; and often persons are killed therein without any other injury occurring to them. This exercise ended, a woman came to him, in the utmost grief at the sickness of her son; and she asked the Frenchman if, since he was a spirit, he had not power to heal him. The sick man was attacked by a pain in the stomach, through having eaten too much at a feast (which is only too common among them); Perot gave him a dose of theriac.
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them that he had brought a dead person to life. The result was, that the great chief and two of the most prominent men among them came to awaken the Frenchman during the night, and made him a present of ten beaver robes, in order to induce him to give them some of this remedy. He excused himself, saying that he had very little of it, and refused the robes. Moreover, he told them that he could not do without the remedy in a voyage wherein he might encounter so many dangers, but they begged it from him even more urgently; and they asked him to permit them at least to smell it. This odor seemed to them so delightful that they believed that they would almost become immortal by rubbing the chest with this remedy. The Frenchman was compelled to accept the robes, so as not to make the chief more angry. It is their custom to make presents to those who have spirits (thus they call remedies), which they believed could not produce their effect if one refused their presents. The Frenchman therefore gave them half of the theriac that he had.It was time to return to the Pouteouatemis; the great chief, accompanied by fifty warriors, intended to go to attend this act of taking possession, but the wind grew so violent upon the lake that they were compelled to give up the voyage. The chief asked the Pouteouatemis to act and respond for him, and for the peoples who were united to his own.
All the chiefs of the bay, those of Lake Huron and Lake Superior, and the people of the north, not to mention several other tribes, came to the Saut at the end of May. These peoples being assembled, a stake was planted, and presents were made to them in behalf of his majesty. They were asked if they would acknowledge, as his subjects, the great Onontio of the French,
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our sovereign and our king, who offered them his protection; and, if they had not yet decided [to do that], never to acknowledge any other monarch than him. All the chiefs replied, by reciprocal presents, that they held nothing dearer than the alliance with the French and the special regard of their great chief, who lived beyond that great lake the ocean; and they implored his support, without which they could no longer maintain life. Sieur Perot, at the same time causing the soil to be dug into three times, said to them: "I take possession of this country in the name of him whom we call our king; this land is his, and all these peoples who hear me are his subjects, whom he will protect as his own children; he desires that they live in peace, and he will take in hand their affairs. If any enemies rise up against them, he will destroy them; if his children have any disputes among themselves, he desires to be the judge in these."The [governor's] delegate then attached to the stake an iron plate on which the arms of the king were painted; he drew up an official report of the transaction, which he made all the peoples sign [by their chiefs], who for their signatures depict the insignia of their families; some of them drew a beaver, others an otter, a sturgeon, a deer, or an elk. Other reports were drawn up, which were signed only by the Frenchmen who took part in the act. One of these was dextrously slipped between the wood and the iron plate, which remained there but a short time; for hardly had the crowd separated when they drew out the nails from the plate, flung the document into the fire, and again fastened up the arms of the king -- fearing that the written paper was a spell, which would cause the deaths of all those who dwelt in or should visit that district. The delegate had
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orders to go, after the act of taking possession, to make the discovery of a copper mine at Lake Superior, in the river Antonagan; but his conduct in this enterprise was so irregular, to use no stronger expression, that I will content myself with stating that he was sent to Cadie,The discovery of the Southern Sea was an undertaking on which Monsieur Talon had set his heart, and he cast his eyes on Sieur Joliet to make this attempt. He had traveled in the Outaouak country; and the knowledge of those regions which he already possessed was sufficient to give him enough guidance to make this discovery. His voyage was one long series of adventures, which alone would fill a volume; but, to cut the matter short, he penetrated as far as the Akancas, who dwell three hundred leagues from the mouth of the Mississippi.
The renown of the French was then made known in the most remote countries; and it was something altogether extraordinary to the peoples therein to hear frequent mention of a new nation, so opulent, from which they obtained so many advantages. What did not the Chaouanons undertake, on the mere report of the man who had been delivered from the hands of the Iroquois, and whom the Pouteouatemis sent back to his home laden with French merchandise! They knew that among those [northern] tribes there were some people
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who were called French, who had shown themselves more sociable than those of their own region, and who were furnishing all sorts of merchandise. This was enough to induce them to profit by this advantage; and forty warriors actually departed, to settle near the Pouteouatemis. During their journey they surprised some Iroquois who were going to make an attack at the Bay of Puans; and of these they killed or captured several. They passed through a village of Miamis, who welcomed them in so friendly a manner that they could not refrain from giving them their Iroquois captives. The Miamis sent these captives to the Outagamis to be eaten, in reprisal for the Iroquois having carried away, a short time before, the people of five [Miami?] cabins. The Outagamis, seeing that this conjuncture was favorable for making an exchange of captives, sent an embassy to the Iroquois.When the ambassador had crossed [Lake] Micheigan, he encountered eight hundred Iroquois who were coming as a war-party, to attack the first village that they might light upon. The Iroquois then could not forbear to calm their resentment; they promised the ambassador that from that time there would be a barrier between his people and allies, and their own; and that the river of Chigagon
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at the same time they turned their weapons against the Chaouanons.This [Iroquois] chief passed through the Miamis, the Maskoutechs, and the Kikabous, where he was received with the honors of the calumet, and loaded with presents of beaver-skins. Those peoples deputed two Miamis to accompany him on his return, in order to treat with the Iroquois for peace. He came among the Outagamis, who exerted themselves to give him proofs of their esteem; and finally he arrived at the bay, where the tribes did not fail to show him the happiness that they felt at his being one of their friends. They presented to him peltries, and two large canoes for transporting the presents which he had received on every side. The Miamis who accompanied the Iroquois followed the lake, and passed the grand Portage of Ganateitiagon, by which they reached Lake Frontenac and Kente, where there was a French mission and a large village of Iroquois.
That army of Iroquois was divided into two; six hundred went against the Chaouanons, and two hundred followed the river of Chigagon -- where they encountered some Islinois who were returning from Michilimakinak with some Outaouaks, and captured or killed nineteen of them. The Islinois, when they heard of this blow, checked their resentment; they could have gone to attack the Iroquois, but they sent to Onontio (who at
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the time was Monsieur de Frontenac, who had arrived in Canada in 1672), a package of beaver-skins, by which they made complaint that the Iroquois had violated the peace. They said that, through fear of displeasing him, they had refrained from going to find the Iroquois and fighting them; but, nevertheless, they asked him for justice. This new governor sent them a collar by Monsieur de la Forest,It is useless to make peace with the Iroquois; when they can surprise any one alone, they grant him no quarter.
Chapters XII-XIV
[SYNOPSIS: Chapter xii relates the proceedings of Chevalier de la Salle; in 1676 he visited all the great lakes except Superior, and established friendly relations with the tribes about their shores. On Lake Michigan he constructed a fort, as a center for trading with the Indians; and he shipped a large consignment of pelts to Montréal. In August, 1679, he embarked from Niagara with much merchandise, on a ship which he built there, and safely arrived at Michilimakinak. The Indians were alarmed at this success, forming the idea that if the French could come among them with ships their freedom would be in peril, and that the French would make slaves of them. They dissembled their anger, however, and plotted secretly to destroy the ship,
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kill all the French, and place themselves under the protection of the English. "They sent deputies in all haste to the Islinois, and to the tribes who dwelt along the route, to advise them to beware of the French. They sent this word to those peoples: ‘We are dead; our families and yours will be henceforth reduced to servitude by the French, who will make them cultivate the ground, and without doubt will yoke them as they do their cattle. They have come to Michilimakinak in a fort that floats on the water, which cannot be entered unless they are taken by surprise. This fort has wings, which it can [use] when it sets out to destroy any people. It is to go to the Islinois by way of the lakes, and all the French who trade here are going into their great canoe; and they will be strong enough to make slaves of us all, unless we prevent their undertaking. We are acquainted with the English, who furnish merchandise to us at a more reasonable price than the French do. The French mean to betray us, and lord it over us. These presents -- which we send you secretly, so that we may not be discovered -- are daggers for massacring all the French who are among you, and for informing you that we will do the same to those who are with us.’ The chief of the Sauteurs was more sensible than all those peoples who had sent him presents [asking him] to join that same conspiracy. His reply to them was: ‘You are children. You do not know the Englishman, who is the father of the Iroquois -- against whom Onontio our father has undertaken war, and whom he has compelled to demand peace; and what he has thus done is only to protect us from the Englishman's barbarous treatment. When you shall have carried out this reckless move which you are proposing, see if the Iroquois will not avail himself of the opportunity to satiate his fury, and his passion for353
destroying all the peoples; and if his father, who will be more partial to him than to us, will not abandon us to the kettle of the Iroquois. I know the French governor, who has never betrayed me, and I do not trust the Englishman.’ It is astonishing that Monsieur de la Sale had no knowledge of all the schemes that were plotted against him. He traded for all the peltries of those peoples, which he placed aboard his bark; and he left in the vessel only five or six Frenchmen, to whom he gave orders to return [to Niagara] with the first favorable weather; for his part, he continued his journey in canoes, in order to join the men whom he had left at the river of Saint Joseph. Hardly was the bark under sail when a storm arose, which drove it into a small bay, five or six leagues from the anchorage which it had left. The Outaouak deputies who had inveigled the Islinois into their conspiracy, returning, perceived the bark, and went on board. The pilot received them with entire good-will; but the opportunity seemed to them at the moment too advantageous to miss their stroke. They slew all the Frenchmen [footnote, "In 1679"], carried away all the goods that suited them, and burned the bark. It had cost more than forty thousand francs, [and] as much in merchandise, tools, peltries, outfit, rigging, and furniture. Monsieur de la Sale, who, after the tokens of esteem and friendship which those peoples had given him, had never suspected such perfidy, believed that his ship had been wrecked. The savages, on their part, considered themselves freed from a burden which to them seemed heavy; but they did not recognize in it their own good fortune."[Chapter xiii relates La Salle's adventures in Illinois -- his establishment on the Illinois River,
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down the Mississippi (in 1681), and return to France (1683). The Iroquois raided the Illinois country, treacherously breaking the peace they had concluded with the French and their allies; and the tribes thus wronged were consequently irritated against the French, La Salle having assured them of the good behavior of the Iroquois. At Green Bay (chapter xiv) many Indians died from the ravages of an epidemic, and the superstitious people laid the blame for this on the missionaries there, whose destruction they began to plot. A Frenchman (apparently Perrot) so successfully exerted his influence with the savages, at the same time reproaching them for the murder of some servants of the mission, that he induced them to promise that satisfaction should be made therefor, and the danger to the mission was averted. In the same winter [footnote, "In 1683"] a conference was held in the Outagami village, attended by some Frenchmen who, with some Chippewa from the Sault, had come to demand from the Outagamis satisfaction for their retention of certain captives. On this occasion, the following speech was made (again by Perrot, presumably): "Listen, Outagamis, to what I am going to tell you. I have learned that you are very desirous to eat the flesh of Frenchmen. I have come, with these young men whom you see, to satisfy you; put us into your kettles, and gorge yourselves with the meat that you have been wanting." Then, drawing his sword from his scabbard, he showed them his body, and continued: "My flesh is white and savory, but it is very salt; if you eat it, I do not think that it will pass the Adam's-apple without being vomited." The foremost war chief at once answered, "What child is there who would eat his father, from whom he has received life? Thou hast given birth to us, for thou didst bring us the355
first iron; and now thou tellest us to eat thee." The Frenchman replied to him: "Thou art right in saying that I gave thee birth; for when I came to thy village all of you were in wretched condition, like people who do not know where to halt, and who come forth from the deepest part of the earth. Now, when you are living in peace, and are enjoying the light which I have obtained for you, you are desiring to trouble the country, to kill the Sauteurs, and to bring low those whom I adopted before I did you. Vomit up your prey; give me back my body, which you wish to put into your kettle; and fear lest the fumes which will rise from it, if you cook it, will stir up vapors that will form stormy clouds which will extend over your village -- which will be in a moment consumed by the flames and lightnings that will issue from them; and these will be followed by a shower of hail, which will fall with so much violence on your families that not one of them will be safe. You forget that your ancestors and yourselves have been vagabonds until now; are you weary of living in comfort? Vomit up [your prey]. Believe your father, who will not abandon you until you compel him to do so. Listen to my words, and I will settle this unpleasant affair (which you have brought on yourselves) with the Sauteurs." Nothing more was necessary to secure the return of the captives. On another occasion, "a Saki hung up the war-kettle, against the opinion of all the chiefs of his tribe. Some of his party entered the cabin of a Frenchman, who was lying on his bed. Suspecting that they came to say adieu to him, he pretended to snore; the others waited for the moment when he could be awakened. The Frenchman, suddenly arousing, like a man who comes out of a heavy sleep, said aloud, in the Saki language, ‘The Sakis who are going to war will be356
defeated.’ Those warriors asked him what was the cause of his agitation. He told them that he had just dreamed that he saw, in the plains north of the Missisipi, on this side of the Sioux village, a camp of Nadouaissioux, in which there was a lighted fire, and a great troop of black dogs, and some white dogs. These animals, meeting there, had a fight, and the black dogs devoured the white ones, except the largest one, who remained the last one alive, and he was entirely exhausted. He said that he himself had tried to escape from their jaws, but all the black dogs rushed toward him to devour him; and the fear of being actually torn in pieces had caused him to awake, with the startled appearance which they had just remarked. This fiction had more effect than all the solicitations of those chiefs, who could not prevent this war-party, formed so unseasonably; for those young warriors went about relating the danger of the Frenchmen; they interpreted the sense [of this dream] by representing the Nadouaissioux as the black dogs, and the Sakis as the white ones; and they did not fail to say that the spirit had availed himself of the Frenchman, in this emergency, to turn them aside from an enterprise which without doubt would have been fatal to them." The rest of the chapter is occupied with an account of the expedition against the Iroquois country by Governor la Barre, evidently drawn from Perrot's relation in his Mémoire.]Chapter XV
The name of Frenchman was rendered worthy of respect in all places; and the more remote peoples who had profited by the advantages of alliance with the French experienced a great change from the former condition in which they were; when they waged war against
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some tribes who were unknown to us, they were able to end it to their own advantage by favor of the arms that they had obtained from us. The more discoveries we made, the more we desired to make. The north was known to us, and the south gradually became so; but it still remained to penetrate into the west, where, as we had knowledge, many peoples dwelt. Monsieur de la Barre in the spring [footnote, "1683"] sent twenty Frenchmen to attempt this enterprise, under the direction of Sieur Perrot, to whom he gave letters -- patent as commandant of that region. When they had gone fifty leagues from Montreal, they met some Outaouaks, who were coming down to that city; and usage demanded that travelers who met each other should land on the shore, in order to give mutual information of the news on both sides. These Outaouaks said that the Sauteur tribe had been destroyed by the Outagamis, and that they themselves were going to Onontio, their father, to ask him for [fire] arms, in exchange for peltries, in order to avenge the Sauteurs. Although those peoples might often have quarrels, it was nevertheless to the interest of the colony to prevent them from destroying one another. The commander of these twenty Frenchmen sent information of this matter to Monsieur de la Barre, who wrote to the Jesuit fathers and the commandant at Michilimakinak to prevent the Outaouaks from making any attack on the Outagamis. The Outaouaks, rightly suspecting that Monsieur de la Barre was not favorable to their designs, and that all the letters entrusted to them might furnish obstacles thereto, burned the letters, excepting the one which was addressed to Perrot, because they imagined that, as he was a friend to them, he at least would favor them in their schemes. All that they said to the Jesuits on their arrival was, that Onontio had358
[given] them the Outagamis "for broth." The very opposite was learned from the letter which Perrot received, in which Monsieur de la Barre expressly forbade that the Outaouaks should commit hostile acts against the Outagamis, and directed him to settle their dispute.A Sauteur chief had a daughter eighteen years old, who had been for a year a slave among the Outagamis, and whom he could not redeem. In this wretched situation, the dread which he felt that, if he made any attempt to demand the girl, he himself would be burned by them, took away his courage; [but now] he resolved to do it, and joined our Frenchmen. All the tribes at the bay had carried to the Outagamis a great many presents, in order to ransom this girl, but nothing had been sufficient to move them; it was even feared that she would be sacrificed to the shades of the great chief whom the Sauteurs had slain. This afflicted father found no consolation in any of the places through which he passed, because the people there told him that the Frenchmen, as they were not, like themselves, relatives of the Outagamis, could never get possession of his daughter. Perrot made him remain at the bay, for fear that the Outagamis would snatch him away from the French and put him on the gridiron. As soon as he arrived at their village they approached him, all bursting into tears, and relating to him the treachery of the Sauteurs and the Nadouaissious. They told him that their great chief had been killed in the fight, with fifty-six of their men; and that, although they had only two hundred men, they had routed the enemies, who numbered eight hundred fighting men. This discourse gave him an opportunity to speak of that girl; and, having called them to an assembly, he spoke to them as follows:
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"Old men, chiefs, and young men of the Outagamis, listen to me. I have had information that, in order to form a solid peace between the Sauteurs and Nadouaissious, through a conference which we had together, the former had invited the latter to put you and your families into their kettles. It is the Spirit who created all who has made known to us the peril in which you have been; and we have prayed him to take pity on you, asking that his almighty power may deliver you from the treachery of your enemies, who have not obtained any of your spoils, nor the scalps of your dead. He has made you masters of the field of battle; you have made prisoners of their men, and you have cut off the heads of those whom you have slain, which is the final proof of a savage's valor. You ought not to ascribe the victory to your own bravery; it is that Spirit who has fought for you whom you ought to acknowledge as your deliverer. What do you mean to do with this Sauteur girl whom you have so long kept back? Is keeping her here likely to appease your anger against her people? She belongs to me, and I demand her from you. I am your father, and it is the Spirit who has employed me to come among you, as the first Frenchman who has opened the door of your cabin. All these peoples of the bay, who are my children, are your brothers; foreseeing your refusal, they dread the evils that threaten you. Swallow your desire for vengeance, if you desire to live." While talking to them, he held his calumet in his hand; he held it to the mouth of the brother of the great chief, to have him smoke, but the latter refused it; then he presented it to others, who accepted it. Then he filled it with tobacco, and again presented it to the first man, as many as three times; but he refused it, as he had done before, which constrained Perrot to leave the room instantly, very indignant360
The Outagamis are of two lineages; those of one call themselves Renards, and the others are of the Red-earth family."You have heard your father Metaminens" (that is the name by which he was known), "who desires to give us life, and our brothers the Renards are trying to take it away from us, desiring us to be forsaken by the Spirit, to whom they refuse a slave girl. Bring me some kettles, and I will talk to them; I will prove their good-will, and I will see if they will refuse me. I have always been the prop of their village, and my father and dead brother have always exposed themselves to danger in their behalf, having lost many young men in order to defend them; if they refuse me, I will let another use my fire, and I will abandon them to the fury of their enemies."
After these kettles and some merchandise had been brought to him, he took his calumet and with a retinue of his lieutenants entered the cabin of that stubborn man, and said to him: "My comrade, behold the calumet
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of our ancestors who are dead. When any emergencies occurred in our village, they offered it to thy ancestors, who never refused it. I offer it to thee, filled with these kettles, and I entreat thee to take pity on our children, and to give that Sauteur girl to Metaminens, who has asked thee for her." The chief of the Renards smoked, and had all his relatives smoke.362
Cleanse thy mat from this filth, which will infect our land." Their fright had driven them so beside themselves, that they believed that the Spirit was going to engulf them in ruin. Onkimaoüassam himself no longer knew where he was. He was subdued, and no longer dared appear before Metaminens -- who was delighted at this fear, because he well knew that it was the certain means for his obtaining that slave quickly, without the aid of any one whatever.Onkimaoüassam went to the chief of the Red Earth, and asked him to take the girl from him, saying, "I do not dare to go before Metaminens; here is the Sauteur girl; take her." The other answered him, "It is for thee to give her up, in order that he may think that the offer comes from thee, and so not bear thee so much ill-will." Meanwhile the rain fell without ceasing; they entered the cabin of Perrot with the girl, entreating him to check this scourge which menaced them, and to prevent the Sauteurs and their allies from making war on them any longer. He returned them thanks by a present of tobacco and a kettle, at the time when he saw that very soon the rain was going to stop -- telling them that this kettle would serve them for a roof to shelter them from the rain, and that they should smoke their pipes in peace, without fearing that the Spirit would punish them. Perrot, not considering himself a sufficiently good prophet to make the rain cease, rightly judged that if he remained much longer with his prisoner the aspect of affairs might change. He took leave of them, notwithstanding the bad weather, promising them that it would clear up before he arrived at the bay. After having sent the Sauteur his daughter, he went back across the country, in order to deter the people of that tribe from attacking the Outagamis in case they had that intention.
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He informed them that he had taken the girl out of the kettle of the Renards, having delivered up his own body to their rage; that he was going to live among the Renards in order to assure them that the former tribe should not make any move [against them]; that he took care, therefore, not to act heedlessly; and that if people were indiscreet enough to try to exasperate the minds of the Renards, they would break his head. He told the Sauteur that, if he were slain by them, he might expect that the French would avenge Perrot's death on himself and on his tribe; and he gave him twelve brasses of tobacco, that he might present it to his chiefs [at home]. The chiefs at the bay were not a little surprised at the success obtained by the Frenchman; and they declared that one needed to be a spirit, like him, to obtain what all the peoples of the bay had not been able to accomplish with all their presents.The curiosity of our Frenchmen whom Monsieur de la Barre had sent out was greatly excited by all the conversations which the savages held with them. The only talk at the bay was of new tribes, who were unknown to us. Some said that they had been in a country which lay between the south and the west; and others were arriving from the latter direction, where they had seen beautiful lands, and from which they had brought stones, blue and green, resembling the turquoise,
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the French; it must be that these were the Spaniards of New Mexico. Still others said that they had traded hatchets with persons who, they said, were in a house that walked upon the water, at the mouth of the river of the Assiniboüels,All these reports aroused [the desire] to attempt some discovery of importance. The Frenchmen therefore set out from the Bay of Puans with some savages who had accompanied Islinois warriors in the west, where they had been making raids. At their arrival opposite the Miamis and Maskoutechs, they met fifty Sokokis
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la Salle in his voyage of discovery -- who, not daring to remain on the war-path of the Islinois, had retired to the bay, in order to hunt beavers there. The great chief of the Miamis, when he knew that Perrot was only three-quarters of a league from his village, came to meet him, in order to invite him to rest in his cabin. This chief told Perrot, in the midst of a feast which he made for him, that his tribe desired to settle near the Frenchman's fire, and begged him to point out to them its location. Perrot told him that he was going to establish himself on the upper Missisipi, this side of the Nadouaissious, where he would serve as a barrier to them, because he knew that they had hostilities with that people. He made presents to the Miamis, the Maskoutechs, and the Kikabouks, of twelve brasses of tobacco, and gave them some kettles. By this present he informed them that they could feel sure that those peoples would not commit any act of hostility, but that they must be cautious hereafter about raising the club against them; that they ought to fasten their hatchets to the sun, because, if they made the least hostile attack on the others, the Nadouaissious would unquestionably believe that the Miamis had settled so near to them only to render easy to their enemies the means of ruining and destroying them; that, as for the rest, if any of the Miamis wished to come to light their fire near him, he would always receive them with great pleasure. In presenting to them the two kettles, he told them that Onontio had abandoned the Islinois to the Iroquois, who would pass by way of Chigagon; and that, if the Miamis went hunting, they should do so along the Missisipi farther down, in order to avoid falling into the hands of the Iroquois.These Frenchmen again embarked with the Sokokis, and, having arrived at the portage which must be made
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in order to enter a river that falls into the Missisipi, they met thirteen Hurons who, knowing their intention of making an establishment in the Nadouaissious country, undertook to thwart it and to fight with them, so as to deprive the French of the liberty to trade, and prevent them from furnishing [fire] arms and other munitions to the Nadouaissious. The Hurons tried to get ahead of them in this voyage, but were entirely prevented from doing so, and they would have fared ill if the Sokokis had not appeased the resentment of the French. The latter continued their route until they reached the river, and there they took measures for endeavoring to discover some [new] tribes. This was an undertaking of considerable difficulty, because in that region beyond the Missisipi there are plains of vast extent, entirely uninhabited, in which only wild animals are found. It was agreed that the Puans should make the first discovery; they promised that the French should have word from them within forty days, and that, as soon as the latter perceived great fires on those plains they might be assured that a tribe had been found; and this signal was to be used by both parties. It is the custom of the peoples who inhabit this continent that, when they go hunting in spring and autumn, they light fires on those prairies, so that they can ascertain each other's location. The fire becomes so strong, especially when the wind rises, and when the nights are dark, that it is visible forty leagues away. Those plains abound with an infinite number of cattle, which are much larger than those of Europe, and are commonly called "Islinois cattle;" their hair is quite curly, and finer than silk, and hats have been made from it in France which are as handsome as those of beaver.367
of these animals they shut them in with a ring of their fires, which burn the trees, and from which the animals cannot escape. While the Puans crossed those lands, taking their course toward the west and southwest, the French ascended the river in canoes, toward the west; the latter found a place where there was timber, which served them for building a fort, and they took up their quarters at the foot of a mountain, behind which was a great prairie, abounding in wild beasts. At the end of thirty days they descried fires, which were far away; and they also lighted fires, [by which] the Puans knew that the French had established their post.About eleven days after this signal, some deputies came in behalf of the Ayoës,
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people of] their village were approaching, with the intention of settling near the French. The interview with these newcomers was held in so peculiar a manner that it furnished cause for laughter. They approached the Frenchman [i.e., Perrot], weeping hot tears, which they let fall into their hands along with saliva, and with other filth which issued from their noses, with which they rubbed the heads, faces, and garments of the French; all these caresses made their stomachs revolt. On the part of those savages there were only shouts and yells, which were quieted by giving them some knives and awls. At last, after having made a great commotion, in order to make themselves understood -- which they could not do, not having any interpreter -- they went back [to their people]. Four others of their men came, at the end of a few days, of whom there was one who spoke Islinois; this man said that their village was nine leagues distant, on the bank of the river, and the French went there to find them. At their arrival the women fled; some gained the hills, and others rushed into the woods which extended along the river, weeping, and raising their hands toward the sun. Twenty prominent men presented the calumet to Perrot, and carried him upon a buffalo-skin into the cabin of the chief, who walked at the head of this procession. When they had taken their places on the mat, this chief began to weep over Perrot's head, bathing it with his tears, and with moisture that dripped from his mouth and nose; and those who carried the guest did the same to him. These tears ended, the calumet was again presented to him; and the chief caused a great earthen pot, which was filled with tongues of buffaloes, to be placed over the fire. These were369
taken out as soon as they began to boil, and were cut into small pieces, of which the chief took one and placed it in his guest's mouth; Perrot tried to take one for himself, but the chief refused until he had given it to him, for it is their custom to place the morsels in the guest's mouth, when he is a captain, until the third time, before they offer the dish. He could not forbear spitting out this morsel, which was still all bloody (those same tongues were cooked that night in an iron pot); immediately some men, in great surprise, took their calumet, and perfumed them with tobacco-smoke. Never in the world were seen greater weepers than those peoples; their approach is accompanied with tears, and their adieu is the same. They have a very artless manner, also broad chests and deep voices. They are extremely courageous and good-hearted. They often kill cattle and deer while running after them. They are howlers; they eat meat raw, or only warm it over the fire. They are never satiated, for when they have any food they eat night and day; but when they have none they fast very tranquilly. They are very hospitable, and are never more delighted than when they are entertaining strangers.Their eagerness to obtain French merchandise induced them to go away to hunt beaver during the winter; and for this purpose they penetrated far inland. After they had ended their hunt forty Ayoës came to trade at the French fort; and Perrot returned with them to their village, where he was hospitably received. The chief asked him if he were willing to accept the calumet, which they wished to sing for him; to this he consented. This is an honor which is granted only to those whom they regard as great captains.
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some buffalo-skin, and three Ayoës stood behind him who held his body; meanwhile other persons sang, holding calumets in their hands, and keeping these in motion to the cadence of their songs. The man who held Perrot in his arms also performed in the same manner, and they spent a great part of the night in singing the calumet. They also told him that they were going to pass the rest of the winter in hunting beaver, hoping to go in the spring to visit him at his fort; and at the same time they chose him, by the calumet which they left with him, for the chief of all the tribe. The Frenchmen returned to their fort, where they found a Maskoutech and a Kikabouc, who informed them that the people of their villages had followed them; and that they were at a place eighteen leagues above there, on the bank of the river. They reported that some Frenchmen had invited the Miamis to settle at Chigagon, to which place they had gone despite the warning that had been given them, that the Iroquois were to go thither in order to descend thence against the Islinois; but that, as for their people, they had considered it more expedient to come to look for Perrot and his men, entreating the Frenchmen to direct them in what place they should light their fires. Two days later, Perrot set out with them, and the people were full of joy at seeing him; he lodged at the house of Kikirinous, the chief of the Maskoutechs, who feasted him on a large bear which the chief had caused to be boiled whole. This chief asked from him the possession of a river which watered a beautiful region that lay not far from the place where they were; and at the same time he asked for protection for all the families of their tribes, and that the Nadoiiaissioux might be kept from annoying them. [He said that] they were making a peace with the latter, the petitioner himself being its371
mediator; and assured Perrot that he would bring hither a large village of Islinois, whose promise he had obtained. Perrot hardly dared to rely upon their promise, because he knew that most of them were man-eaters, who loved the flesh of men better than that of animals.372
presented to them to give them nourishment; that he was going soon to give suck to the Nadoüaissioux; and that the latter had only to come and carry them away, if they so desired, at the very time when these people might swear to destroy them. He promised to restrain the Nadoüaissioux if the latter came in war against them, and that if they did not obey his orders he would declare himself their enemy, provided that these people did not betray him. They went hunting the rest of the winter -- for large game rather than for beaver, in order to provide food for their women and children.Some Frenchmen went to notify the Nadoüaissioux not to make any mistakes in their pursuit of game when they should encounter some Sokokis who were hunting beaver along the river. They found on the ice twenty-four canoes of Nadoüaissioux, delighted to see these Frenchmen; and the latter returned to their village to carry this news.
nts
Notes
In the Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum for 1909 (vol. xxxvi, 171, 172 is a note on this fish by David S. Jordan and B. W. Evermann, to the following effect: The common whitefish of Lake Superior is the so-called Labrador whitefish" (Coregonus labradoricus), characteristic of the Canadian lakes generally, and only this kind is found at Sault Ste. Marie; it is apparently distinct from the whitefish of Lakes Erie and Ontario. "The Lake Superior whitefish must stand as Coregonu clupeiformis; the whitefish of Lake Erie is C. albus." -- ED.
"It is well-nigh impossible to make statements of the customs and habits of these people that will be true for the entire group. Nearly all the eastern tribes and most of the southern tribes belonging to the western group raised corn; but the Dakota (except some of the eastern bands) and the Crows depended almost entirely on the buffalo and other game animals, the buffalo entering very deeply into the economic and religious life of all the tribes of this section. In the east the habitations were bark and mat wigwams, but on the plains earth lodges and skin tipis were used. Formerly they had no domestic animals except dogs, which were utilized in transporting the tipis and all other family belongings, including children; but later their places were largely taken by horses, the introduction of which constituted a new epoch in the life of all Plains tribes, facilitating their migratory movements and the pursuit of the buffalo, and doubtless contributing largely to the ultimate extinction of that animal. Taking the reports of the United States and Canadian Indian offices as a basis and making a small allowance for bands or individuals not here enumerated, the total number of Indians belonging to the Siouan stock may be placed at about 40,800. The Tutelo, Biloxi, and probably the rest of the eastern Siouan tribes were organized internally into clans with maternal descent; the Dakota, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Crow consisted of many non-totemic bands or villages, and the rest of the tribes of totemic gentes. The Siouan family is divided as follows:" 1, Dakota-Assiniboin group; 2, Dhegiha group; 3, Chiwere group; 4, Winnebago; 5, Mandan; 6, Hidatsa group; 7, Biloxi group; 8, Eastern division (of which but a few scattered remnants survive). -- J. R. SWANTON, in Handbook Amer. Indians.
"Lastly, Chakekenapok, named from chert, flint, or firestone (fire?), was the impersonation originally of winter, and in coming into this world ruthlessly caused the death of his mother." He is destroyed by his brother Nanabozho, in anger for the death of their mother, and the fragments of his body become huge rocks, and masses of flint or chert. "Before the Indians knew the art of fire-making Nanabozho taught them the art of making hatchets, lances, and arrowpoints." He dwelt with Chipiapoos in a land distant from that of men, and both were beneficent and powerful divinities. Through jealousy the evil manitos of the air, earth, and waters plotted to destroy the brothers, and succeeded in drowning Chipiapoos in one of the great lakes. Great was the wrath of Nanabozho, which was finally pacified by some of the good manitos, who initiated him into the mysteries of the grand medicine. Afterward the manitos brought back the lost Chipiapoos, but he was required to go to rule the country of the departed spirits; and Nanabozho again descended upon earth, and initiated all his human family into the medicine mysteries. He created animals for the food and raiment of men, and useful plants to cure sickness; and destroyed many ferocious monsters that would have endangered human life. Then he went to dwell on an ice-island in the far north, and placed at the four points of the compass beneficent beings who provide for man the light, "eat, rain, and snow that are needed for his welfare." -- J. N. B. HEWITT, in Handbook Amer. Indians, art. "Nanabozho."
See also the account of this tribe in Handbook of Amer. Indians, by J. O. Dorsey and Paul Radin; it describes especially their social organization and religious ceremonies. Their population is given therein as 1,063 in Nebraska and 1,270 in Wisconsin (in 1910). Dr. Radin is engaged in a careful and detailed study of this tribe for the Bureau of American Ethnology. -- ED.
Sauk (Sakis), a name derived from Osawkiwag, "people of the yellow earth" (Hewitt); they belong to the Central group of the Algonquian family. "There is no satisfactory reference to them till they are spoken of as dwelling south of the Straits of Mackinaw." Their claim, confirmed by other tribes (the Potawatomi, Ottawa, and Chippewa), is that their home was once about Saginaw Bay, from which they were driven by those tribes. "In the early part of the 18th century they were found by the French west of Lake Michigan, dwelling south of the Foxes, who were then about Green Bay . . . It is more probable that they came round Lake Michigan by way of the south. From earliest accounts it seems that the Sauk and Foxes were on very intimate terms with each other. They were probably but two divisions of the same people who had been separated by some cause, probably by defeat at the hands of their enemies." They seem to have been greatly disliked by their savage neighbors, and later by the French. They were almost always at war with the adjoining tribes, most of whom were friendly to the French; and they refused to join the military operations of the latter; "there is no doubt that these early Fox wars had a good deal to do with weakening the cause of the French in the struggle with the English to gain control of the continent." In the latter part of the eighteenth century the Sauk and Foxes were "living together practically as one people, and occupying an extensive territory in what is now southern Wisconsin, northwestern Illinois, and northeastern Missouri."
A Sauk band wintering near St. Louis made an agreement (about 1804.) "by which the Sauk and Foxes were to relinquish all claim to their territory in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Missouri;" but those tribes were only angered by this transaction, and the Foxes were so incensed at the Sauk that they gradually withdrew from them and moved over the Mississippi into their hunting grounds in Iowa. "Other agreements were entered into with the three divisions of these people before the treaty of 1804 was finally carried out. Out of all this, in connection with the general unrest of the tribes of this region, rose the so-called Black Hawk War. It is customary to lay the cause of this conflict to the refusal of the Sauk to comply with the terms of agreement they had entered into with the government with reference particularly to the lands on Rock River in Illinois." Their hostilities with the whites were short and unequal; they were defeated, and sought refuge among the Foxes in Iowa. This result was partly due to tribal jealousies; the Winnebago delivered up Black Hawk to the government authorities and the Potawatomi deserted to the side of the whites. "This conflict practically broke the power of the Sauk and Foxes. They united again in Iowa, this time to avenge themselves against the Sioux, Omaha, and Menominee, whom they chastised in lively fashion, but not enough to satisfy their desires. So constantly harassed were the Sioux that they finally left Iowa altogether, and the Menominee withdrew northward where they continued to remain. In 1837 the Sauk and Foxes made the last of their various cessions of Iowa lands, and were given in exchange a tract across the Missouri in Kansas. Here they remained practically as one people for about twenty years." But they were separated by internal dissensions, due largely to the Sauk leader Keokuk, and lived in separate villages. About 1858 most of the Foxes removed to Iowa; they finally found a place on Iowa River, near Tama City, where they bought a small tract of land, to which additions have been made at various times, until now they hold over 3,000 acres in common. "They have nothing more to do with the Sauk politically. In 1867 the Sauk ceded their lands in Kansas and were given lands in exchange in Indian Territory. In 1889 they took up lands in severally and sold the remainder to the government. The total number of the Sauk is fewer than 600, of whom about 100 are in Kansas and Nebraska, and about 500 in Oklahoma. The Foxes in Iowa number about 350." -- WILLIAM JONES, in Handbook Amer. Indians.
The Sauk and Foxes were concerned in the so-called "Black Hawk War" of 1832, occasioned by what they considered a fraudulent treaty and cession of their lands and villages in Iowa to white men; they were defeated, and transported to Kansas. Driven by homesickness, the Foxes made their way back to Iowa, and settled on the banks of the Iowa, near the present Tama City; and gradually they have acquired there some 3,000 acres of land, on which they live in considerable comfort and prosperity. For a minute and admirable study of this people, their mode of life, their customs and beliefs, see the valuable monograph written by Miss Mary Alicia Owen (who for many years has been personally and intimately acquainted with this tribe), "The Folk-Lore of the Musquakie Indians" (London, 1904), which forms vol. li of the publi cations of the British Folk-lore Society. To that society Miss Owen presented a large and valuable collection made by her, of beadwork and ceremonial implements obtained from the Foxes; the book is illustrated with plates (some being colored facsimiles) showing the designs in their beadwork. -- ED.
Cape "Digue" is Cape Diggs, at the northeast comer of Hudson Bay. -- ED.
"An American Indian clan or gens is an intertribal exogamic group of persons either actually or theoretically consanguine, organized to promote their social and political welfare, the members being usually denoted by a common class name derived generally from some fact relating to the habitat of the group or to its usual tutelary being. In the clan lineal descent, inheritance of personal and common property, and the hereditary right to public office and trust are traced through the female line, while in the gens they devolve through the male line. Clan and gentile organizations are by no means universal among the North American tribes; and totemism, the possession or even the worship of personal or communal totems by individuals or groups of persons, is not an essential feature of clan and gentile organizations . . . Consanguine kinship among the Iroquoian and Muskhogean tribes is traced through the blood of the woman only, and membership in a clan constitutes citizenship in the tribe, conferring certain social, political, and religious privileges, duties, and rights that are denied to aliens. By the legal fiction of adoption the blood of the alien might be changed into one of the strains of Iroquoian blood, and thus citizenship in the tribe could be conferred on a person of alien lineage." The primary social unit among these peoples is the family, comprising all the male and female progeny of a woman and of all her female descendants in the female line and of such other persons as may be adopted into this group; its head is usually the eldest woman in it. It may be composed of one or more firesides, and one or more families may (and usually do) constitute a clan; and all its land is the exclusive property of its women. Among the rights and privileges of the clans arc: the right to a common clan name (which is usually that of an animal, bird, reptile, or natural object that may formerly have been regarded as a guardian deity); representation in the tribal council; its share in the communal property of the tribe; protection by the tribe; certain songs and religious observances; clan councils; adoption of aliens; a common burying-ground; the election or impeachment of chiefs by its women; a share in the religious ceremonies and public festivals of the tribe; etc. Their duties: the obligation not to marry within the clan; that of redeeming the life of a clan member which has become forfeited for homicide; to aid and defend fellow-members, and to avenge their deaths; to replace by other persons their clansmen lost or killed. "Clans and gentes are generally organized into phratries and phratries into tribes. Usually only two phratries are found in the modern organization of the tribes . . . One or more clans may compose a phratry. The clans of the phratries are regarded as brothers one to another and cousins to the other members of the phratry, and are so addressed . . . The phratry is the unit of organization of the people for ceremonial and other assemblages and festival, but as a phratry it has no officers; the chiefs and elders of the clans composing it serve as its directors. The government of a clan or gens seems to be developed from that of the family group, and in turn gives rise to the tribal government; and a confederation, such as the Iroquois League, is governed on the same principle. -- J. N. B. HEWITT, in Handbook Amer. Indians.
"Vases have been found in the mounds of the middle Mississippi Valley showing the human face with tattoo marks, some of the designs combining geometric and totemic figures. As tattooing gave a permanent line, it served a different purpose from decoration by paint. Among men it marked personal achievement, some special office, symbolized a vision from the supernatural powers, or served some practical purpose [as sometimes a mark on the arm for the purpose of measuring]. Among women the tattooing was more social in its significance," and the designs used therein are closely connected with those employed in pottery and basket-work. "The Chippewa sometimes resorted to tattooing as a means of curing pain, as the toothache. The process of tattooing was always attended with more or less ceremony; chants or songs frequently accompanied the actual work, and many superstitions were attached to the manner in which the one operated upon bore the pain or made recovery. Most tribes had one or more persons expert in the art who received large fees for their services." Among the Plains tribes steel needles were used; before these were introduced, sharp flints served the purpose. "The dyes injected to give color to the design varied in different parts of the country." -- ALICE C. FLETCHER, in Handbook Amer. Indians.
Among the arts practiced by Indian women was that of embroidery worked with quills, usually those of the porcupine, sometimes those of bird feathers; "in both cases the stiffness of the quill limits freedom of design, making necessary straight lines and angular figures. The gathering of the raw materials, the hunting of porcupines or the capture of birds, was the task of the men, who also in some tribes prepared the dyes. Sorting and coloring the quills, tracing the design on dressed skin or birchbark, and the embroidering were exclusively the work of women." The dyes, which varied in different parts of the country, were compounded variously of roots, whole plants, and buds and bark of trees. The quills were usually steeped in concoctions of these until a uniform color was obtained -- red, yellow, green, blue, or black." The porcupine quills were always flattened for this work, by pressing the edge between the forefinger and thumb-nail. The designs were drawn or painted on the skin or bark by means of a sort of stencil pattern, drawn on skin, bark, or paper, and cut through to form the stencil. "A woman who was skilled or had a natural gift for drawing would copy a design by the freehand method, except that she had first made some measurements in order that the pattern should be in its proper place and proportions. Some even composed designs, both the forms and the arrangement of colors, and worked them out as they embroidered. Among most tribes the awl was the only instrument used in quill-working; but the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux, the principal quillworking tribes, had a specially shaped bone for flattening, bending, and smoothing." -- JAMES MOONEY.
"All designs in quillwork were made up of wide or narrow lines, each composed of a series of upright stitches lying close together . . . The stems of pipes were decorated with fine flattened quills, closely woven into a long and very narrow braid, which was wound about the wooden stem. Different colors were sometimes so disposed along the length of these braids that when they were wound around the stem they made squares or other figures . . . Porcupine quills were employed for embroidery from Maine to Virginia and west to the Rocky Mountains north of the Arkansas River. "Quills seem to have been an article of barter; hence their use was not confined to regions where the animal abounded. This style of decoration was generally put on tobacco and tinder bags, workbags, knife and paint-stick cases, cradles, amulets, the bands of burden straps, tunics, shirts, leggings, belts, arm and leg bands, moccasins, robes, and sometimes on the trappings of horses. All such objects were of dressed skin. Receptacles and other articles made of birch bark also were frequently embroidered with quills. Nearly every tribe has its peculiar cut for moccasins, often also its special style of ornamentation, and these were carefully observed by the workers. The dress of the men was more ornate than that of the women, and the decorations the women put on the former were generally related to man's employments -- hunting and war. The figures were frequently designed by the men, and a man very often designated what particular figure he desired a woman to embroider on his garment. Some designs belonged exclusively to women; there were, moreover, some that were common to both sexes. The decorative figures worked on the garments of children not infrequently expressed a prayer for safety, long life, and prosperity, and usually were symbolic. There was considerable borrowing of designs by the women through the medium of gifts exchanged between tribes during ceremonial observances or visits, and thus figures that were sacred symbols in some tribes came to be used merely as ornaments by others. Some of the designs in quillwork were undoubtedly originated by men, while others were invented by women. These were frequently credited to dreams sent by the spider, who, according to certain tribal mythic traditions, was the instructor of women in the art of embroidery. Technical skill as well as unlimited patience was required to make even, smooth, and fine porcupine quill-work, and proficiency could be acquired only by practice and nice attention to details. The art seems to have reached its highest development among those tribes where the food supply was abundant and the men were the principal providers -- conditions that made it possible for the women to have the leisure necessary for them to become adept in the working of quills. This art, which formerly flourished over a wide area, is rapidly dying out. It is doubtful whether any woman at the present day could duplicate the fine embroidery of a hundred years ago." -- ALICE C. FLETCHER, in Handbook Amer. Indians.
Beads, of many kinds and materials, formed a valued class of ornaments among the Indians. "All were made from mineral, vegetal, or animal substances; and after the discovery the introduction of beads of glass or porcelain, as well as that of metal tools for making the old varieties, greatly multiplied their employment." They were of many sizes and shapes -- round, tubular, or flat; and some of the cylinders were several inches long. Seeds, nuts, and sections of stems and roots were used as beads; but "far the largest share of beads were made from animal materials -- shell, bone, horn, teeth, claws, and ivory." In their manufacture much taste and manual skill were developed. They were used for personal adornment in many forms and combinations, and formed a prominent feature in the embellishment of ceremonial costumes; and were "attached to bark and wooden vessels, matting, basketry, and other textiles. They were woven into fabrics or wrought into network . . . They were also largely employed as gifts and as money, also as tokens and in records of hunts or of important events, such as treaties. They were conspicuous accessories in the councils of war and peace, in the conventional expression of tribal symbolism, and in traditional story-telling, and were offered in worship. They were regarded as insignia of functions, and were buried, often in vast quantities, with the dead." In the eastern part of Canada and the United States beads were largely made from shells. "In the north small white and purple cylinders, called wampum, served for ornament and were used in elaborate treaty belts and as a money standard, also flat disks an inch or more in width being bored through their long diameters. The Cherokee name for beads and money is the same. Subsequently imitated by the colonists, these beads received a fixed value. The mound-builders and other tribes of the Mississippi Valley and the Gulf States used pearls, and beads of shells, seeds, and rolled copper. Canine teeth of the elk were most highly esteemed, recently being worth fifty cents to one dollar each. They were carefully saved, and a garment covered with them was valued at as much as six hundred or eight hundred dollars . . . After the colonization cradles and articles of skin were profusely covered with beadwork replete with symbolism." -- OTIS T. MASON, in Handbook Amer. Indians.
"The true needle with an eye was extremely rare among the Indians, the awl being the universal implement for sewing. The needle and needle-case came to be generally employed only after the advent of the whites, although bone needles three to five inches long are common in Ontario and the Iroquois area of New York." -- WALTER HOUGH, in Handbook Amer. Indians.
Cadillac says in his "Relation of Missilimakinak" (1718), section v: "The post of Chicagou comes next. The name means Riviére de l'ail [Garlic River], because it produces that plant in very great quantities, wild and without cultivation." This may refer to the wild garlic (AIlium); but some writers suppose it to mean skunk-cabbage (Symplocarpus fœtidus). -- ED.
"Loups" was the French translation of "Mahican" (both meaning "wolf"), the name of an Algonquian tribe closely connected with the Delawares; they dwelt on both sides of the upper Hudson River, and eastward into Massachusetts -- in which locality those converted to the Christian faith were known as Stockbridges, their descendants now living in Wisconsin. With this exception, the Mahican have lost their tribal identity. -- ED.
The Iowa are one of the southwestern Siouan tribes, of the Chiwere group (see note 202), and of Winnebago origin (see note 207). "Iowa chiefs informed Dorsey in 1883 that their people and the Oto, Missouri, Omaha, and Ponca ‘once formed part of the Winnebago nation;’" and the traditions of those tribes relate that at an early period they all came with the Winnebago from their common home north of the great lakes -- the Winnebago stopping on the shore of Lake Michigan, attracted by the abundance of fish, while the others continued southwestward to the Mississippi River. Here the Iowa separated from the main group, and received their name of Pahoja ("Gray Snow"); and near the mouth of Rock River seem to have halted for a time. Thence they moved, successively, up the Mississippi through Iowa to southwestern Minnesota; through Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri; and thence to Missouri River, opposite Fort Leavenworth, where they were living in 1848. In 1824 they ceded all their lands in Missouri, and in 1836 were assigned a reservation in northeastern Kansas; thence a part of the tribe moved later to another tract in Central Oklahoma, which by agreement in 1890 was allotted to them in severally. Their numbers have varied greatly at different times; in 1760 they were estimated at 1,100 souls, and in 1804 at 800 (a smallpox epidemic having ravaged the tribe the year before); in 1829, at 1,000, and in 1843 at 470. In 1905 the number in Kansas was 225, and in Oklahoma 89. The Iowa appear to have been cultivators of the soil at an early date, and had a reputation for great industry; also they hunted the buffalo, and made and sold the "redstone" (catlinite) pipes. -- J. O. DORSEY and CYRUS THOMAS, in Handbook Amer. Indians.