Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/historicalwritin01mars Mhtmkal ^ttm. Ho. 15. \'j*<- ^^^^^f-:^ THE HISTORICAL WRITINGS OF THK LATX / Orsamus Hf Marshall Relating to the Early History of the West With an Introduction bt WILLIAM L. STONE. ALBANY, N. T. JOEL MUNSELL'S SONS, 82 STATE ST. MDCCCLXXXVII. >f>> ^ ^ D •^0 f^ ^ \ \ ,\ fy ^S'i, CONTENTS. I^TTEODUCTIOiSr Short Sketch 01" the Indian Teibes which dwelt on the Borders of the Great Lakes ----- Champlain's Expedition against the Onondagas in 1615 - Replt to Dr. Shea and Gen. Clark - . - - Champlain's Astrolabe The Building and Voyage of the Griffon in 1679 Expedition of the Marquis de Nonvillb against the Senegas in 1687 - - La Salle's First Visit to the Niagara Frontier in 1669 De Celoron's Expedition to the Ohio in 1749 Historical Sketches of the Niagara Frontier - History of the New York Charter 1664-74 - Early Notices of the Copper Regions - . . Index Reruji --._...-- Appendix — Biographical Notices of Mr. Marshall; and THE tributes PAID TO HIS MEMORY BY THE BuFFALO Hist. Soc, Buffalo Bar, etc., etc. Index IX 1 19 43 67 73 123 187 237 275 321 333 345 469 489 /? *i INTRODUCTOEY NeXE. A few words are perhaps necessary in explanation of some of the references to be found in the Index Rerum. Dr. Peter Wilson a Cayuga chief, and Nathaniel T. Strong a Seneca chief who are often referred to, were educated Indians, who resided upon the Cattaragus Reservation, and were in frequent cor- respondence with Mr. Marshall upon Indian matters. Seneca White was a half breed, son of John White a white chief, a white captive, adopted by the Indians. He died at an advanced age in 1864. Conjockety was a descendant of the Kah-kwas, and lived for many years upon Conjockety creek near Buffalo. He died in 1866 upwards of 100 years old. Blacksmith, occasionally referred to, was a celebrated chief who resided on the Tonawanda Reservation. He spoke only in his native tongue and all information obtained from him was through an in- terpreter. Ely Parker, Nicholas H. Parker, M. B. Pierce, Moses Stevenson, and others to whom reference is occasionally made, were all well educated representative Indians, with whom Mr. Marshall had fre- quent interviews, and occasional correspondence. Ely Parker became well known during the war of the Rebellion as Gen. Grant's chief of staff. Yin INTJR OB TIC TOR Y NO TE. Rev. Asher Wright and Mrs. Wright were for many years mis- sionaries among the Senecas upon tlie Cattaraug'us Reservation, Mr. \\'' right died in 1875, and his widow survived liim about ten years, continuing her missionary work until her death. Mr. Wright translated the four Gospels into Seneca, and Mrs, Wright published a collection of Seneca hymns. Both were thoroughly versed in the Seneca tongue, and their letters are often referred to in the Index. The Paris and London " Xotes " and " Mems " of which mention is frequently made, consist of manuscript notes and memoranda made by Mr. Marshall from manuscript maps, journals, etc., found in the Paris and London libraries, during a trip to Europe in the year 1877. There are undoubtedly, eri-ors and probably erroneous citations in the " Index Rerum." It has been impossible to verify them all, and some confusion may arise out of the fact that the particular editions of the " Relation of the Jesuits," to which reference is often made are not always given ; but it must be borne in mind that the " Index " was compiled by Mr. Marshall for his private use, with no expectation of its publication, and it is included in the present collection solely in the hope that it may be of some assist- ance to those who are working in the same iield of historical re- searcli to which Mr. Marshall's labors were directed. Charles D. Marshall. INTRODUCTION. His walk through life was marked by every grace; His soul sincere, his friendship void of guile. Long shall remembrance all his virtues trace, And fancy picture his benignant stnile." N the summer of 1860, feeling diffident in regard to the merits of mj unfinished Life of Sir William Johnson, I sent a few of its chapters to Orsamus H, Marshall, of Buffalo (to whom I was at the time a perfect stranger, though, of course, he was not un- known to mej, with the request that he would kindly examine the manuscript, and give me his opinion as to the advisability of its publication. His letter in reply was so kind and so full of genial encouragement — as well as that of Mr. Francis Parkman, of Boston, to whom I had also written — that the work was completed and given to the public. This was the beginning of a friendship terminated only by the recent and lamented death of Mr. Marshall. The niche which this christian gentleman filled in the social, literary and business world, and the fact that he has left a wide circle of friends to whom his name is en- deared by many tender and pleasing recollections, seem to X INTRODUCTION. justify me in introducing to the reader tliose of his works which commend themselves more particularfy to every lover of American history. Mr. Marshall has deservedly won high rank as an his- torical writer, and in his own particular province stands, perhaps, without a rival. What the term genre expresses as applied to paintings, may with equal force be used to illustrate the character of his writings. He chose chiefly for his subjects the aboriginals of Western New York, and the early explorers — subjects fraught with all the elements of picturesque romance, and the attractiveness which sur- rounds narratives of adventure and personal prowess \ and the results of his fidelity in searching for original authori- ties, and in clearing from false exaggeration and obscurity the real story, are presented in a style always, agreeable, and with a minuteness of detail which has given to his many historical monographs and contributions to magazine literature an authoritative value. The old documents, ''crisp with age and covered with the dust of centuries," which he has collected, and for the first time turned to account in the matter of verification and illustration, take us behind the scenes and show us the wires, which, pulled by Louis XIV. and his ministers, made their puppets in the New World dance. For many years it seems to have been taken for granted that America had no unwritten history; and the inertness, consequent upon this belief, had the natural efiect to per- INTRODUCTION'. ■ xi petuate the impression by preventing any effort to gather up and prefjerve the records of the past. This apathy has now been succeeded by a zeal as ardent as it has hitherto been cold. Nearly every State has a society devoted to putting into durable form for posterity its history ; and many counties have^ likewise, organizations for preserving local history which turn their knowledge over to the larger societies of their respective states. Of these, the Historical Societies of New York, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and Pennsylvania are especially active ; and it is astonishing to see the vast amount of valuable information thus garnered, which, otherwise, would have been irretrievably lost. Nor is this thirst for historical re- search confined to public bodies. In several of our large cities clubs of a few wealthy individuals have been formed for the purpose of reprinting old and rare books and manu- scripts. The benefits of these organizations are many. Persons of bibliographical tastes are enabled to procure, at a comparatively moderate price, valuable and otherwise in- accessible works; the development of the typographical art is stimulated ; and rare and priceless manuscripts that have lain in musty garrets, a prey to the rats, and which ultimately must have been destroyed, are put into such a shape as will ensure them from perishing. When in Paris a few years ago Mr. Marshall spent much of his time in going through the archives containing remnants of the doings of the French government in Canada in connection with Indian XII INTR OD UGTIOK affairs. It was his opinion that those archives contained a wonderful amount of valuable material which would never be utilized until some one was paid to go there and collect it. Indeed, the amount of invaluable manuscripts which at the present time, are stowed away in old chests and trunks and consigned to garrets and barns as lumber, can scarcely be realized by those who have not made the subject a study. Mr, Marshall's numerous addresses before the Buffalo and other historical societies and his published writings have done much toward creating this recent taste for his- torical studies. His paper entitled " Champlain's Expe- dition against the Onondagas in 1615," which appeared as the leading article in the first issue of the " Magazine of American History" in January, 1877, was charmingly as well as ably written and attracted wide attention. Chief among his other works, which have also reached a large community of appreciative readers, may be mentioned the " Expedition of the Marquis de Nonville, in 1687, against the Senecas," issued by the New York Historical Society in vol. II of its new series ; the " Expedition of De Celoron to the Ohio in 1749 ; " " La Salle's first visit to the Senecas in 1699 " (privately printed in pamphlet form in 1874) ; "The Building and the Voyage of the Grl^on in 1679; " read before, and published by, the Buffalo Historical Society and " Historical Sketches of the Niagara Frontier," also iread before and j^ublished by the same Society, the dis-^ INTR OB UCTION. xni tinguishing feature of each being the picturesque beauty with which dry historical facts are adorned, while truth is strictly preserved. Indeed, the notion of the old school of historians that history, to be correct, must necessarily be dull, has of late years been gradually passing away. Among American writers who have aided materially in bringing about this change, Bancroft, Parkman, Prescott and Marshall are preeminent. The stern pioneer warrior, with arquebus and mail, the friars with their rosaries and peaked hoods, the plumed Indian with tomahawk and gayly decorated quiver, pass before us, as we read Mr. Marshall's pages, like figures in the glittering pageant of a night ; and were it not for the carefully collected foot-notes, which afford a sure test of the accuracy of the text, we should often think it a dream of romance rather than a chapter of stern history. The period partially covered by Mr. Marshall's writings, like those of Mr. Parkman, is one of unique interest. Of the influences which were at work in founding New France, and of the facts themselves, comparatively little is known. It has been the generally received impression that the halo of romance surrounding the pioneers of the New World has been the result of this uncertainty, which a more accurate knowledge would at once dissipate. Parkman and Marshall, however, prove the contrary to be the case, ^nd clearly show that the facts, when carefully studied, XIV INTRODUCTION. increase, rather than diminish, in picturesque charm and coloring. France — a century later than England — was just emerging from the bondage of feudalism. The tiers eto.t was struggling into life, and the free burgesses were gradually forcing the nobility, under the pleasure-loving Louis XIII., to relinquish their grasp upon their baronial rights and privileges. At this point the discovery of the New World seemed to show a way of escape ; and under the guise of traffic and adventure, feudalism sought to en- graft upon new stock that which was fast withering upon the old. Some of the attempts and trials, the successes and failures, the sulferings and daring, which ensued while the experiment was in progress, are clearly shown by Mr. Marshall. Especially is this the case in "The Building and Voyage of the Griffon^ The story of her voyage covers the early and dangerous explorations of La Salle, La Motte and Father Hennepin. " The humble pioneer of the vast fleets of our modern lake commerce," as Mr. Marshall happily expresses it, '- now spread her sails to the auspicious breeze and commenced her perilous voyage. The vast inland seas, over which she was about to navigate, had never been explored, save by the canoe of the Indian, timidly coasting along their shores. Without chart to warn of hidden danger, she boldly plowed her way." The vessel was driven by violent gales north-westerly, and at length anchored in the calm waters of the bay of Missil- limakinac. " Here," continues our author, " the voyagers INTR OB UCTION. xt found a settlement composed of Hurons, Ottawas and a few Frenchmen. A bark-covered chapel bore the emblem of the cross, erected over a mission planted by the Jesuits. Like a dim taper, it shone with feeble light in a vast wil- derness of Pagan darkness." Gladly would we accompany Mr. Marshall in his delineation of the career of La Salle, as that adventurous personage, with his companions, Hen- nepin, Tonty, La Mofcte and other kindred spirits, follows in, and widens the track of his predecessor, Marquette 5 but our limits forbid, and as after an hour spent in rapt admiration of some magnificent creation of an artist's pencil we fain would linger, bat are compelled to turn away, comforting ourselves with the intention of soon coming again, so we must be content with his closing para- graph. The vessel, it appears, was finally lost — not the only disaster, but simply one of a series v/hich befell this enterprising explorer — " yet his iron will was not subdued nor his impetuous ardor diminished. He continued to prosecute his discoveries under the most disheartening reverses, with a self-reliance and energy that never faltered. He was equal to every situation, whether sharing the luxuries of civilized life or the privations of the wilderness ; whether contending with the snows of a Canadian winter or the burning heats of Texas ; whether paddling his canoe along the northern lakes or seeking by sea for the mouth of the Mississippi. His eventful life embodied the elements XVI INTROJDUGTION. of a grand epic poem, full of romantic interest and graphic incident; alternating in success and failure, and culmina- ting in a tragic death." In Mr. Marshall's volumes, likewise, we catch full glimpses of the self-sacrificing devotion of the followers of Loyola in carrying out the work left by Champlain. We see them now pulling with strong arms their frail bark canoes against the rapids of the Canadian rivers, and again, elevating the Host before some sylvan altar— the brawny forms of the Indian braves bent in rapt surprise at the strange rite. To all persons interested in the vindica- tion of the character of our aboriginals these writings peculiarly appeal. Mr. Marshall brought to his researches a benevolent nature, sympathizing with the Indians in all their misfortunes, and a fondness for traditions, which is the more interesting, as he had been brought into personal contact with their prominent leaders (Red Jacket, for example) . Seen through the vista of prejudice the Indian, whom our ancestors first encountered, is more or less a , hideous creature of cruelty ; and the Puritan exile, while he calmly burns out the tongue of a Quaker for a religious difference holds up to pious horror the savage who scalps the white ravisher of his wife ! The late CoL Wm. L. Stone and Mr. Schoolcraft were the pioneers in hewing down the prejudices that had grown up around the Indian character : they show conclusively that whenever the aboriginals were treated simply as fellow-men they never failed to show II^TB OD UCTION. xvii appreciation of it by their conduct. The first act of the savages of Eastern Massachusetts upon the arrival of the Mayflower was to tender her passengers presents of maize ; and not until their claims to kind treatment were ignored and themselves wantonly spurned (when the immediate danger to the colonists of starvation was over) did they raise the defiant war-whoop against the white strangers. And when, in the severe winter of 1678, La Motte and Hennepin, after following for five weary days an Indian trail through the frost-bound wilderness, and sleeping at night in the open air without shelter, reached the village of the Senecas, they were received by that nation, as we are told by Mr. Marshall, " with marked consideration and conducted to the cabin of their principal chief, where the young men bathed their travel-worn feet and annointed them with bear's oil." In fact, we do not remember an instance where the whites encountered the Indians for the first time on the shores of this continent, in which they were not treated with kindness and hospitality : as it is with nations, so is it the case with individuals ; and the great influence of William Penn, Sir William Johnson and Les- carbot over the terrible yet fickle Iroquois, which has always been regarded as so extraordinary, arose simply from the fact that they knew the magic of kindness and its potency over all, but especially over the red men of the forest.^ ^ In this connection, a pleasing incident may very appropriately be mentioned. On June 16th, 1885, the Senecas met at Versailles, xYiii INTR OD UCTION. "The Niagara 'Frontier," not only embraces sketches of a section of country whose interest is enhanced by the events of the war of 18 1 2^ but is a successful attempt to rescue from oblivion and illustrate historically some of the Indian, French and English names which have been apjDlied to the most prominent localities on that frontier. This paper is characterized by the same agree- able style, joined to historical accuracy, which runs throughout the series ; and with a similar conclusive way in which the writer, in his ^' Expedition of Cham- plain," established to the satisfaction of so thorough a N. Y., jind, partly as a delicate recognition of his father's kindly feeling towards the Indians, adopted Mr. Charles D. Marshall into their nation as a brother. On this occasion after a few graceful and appropriate words of introduction by William C. Bryant — him- self a Seneca by adoption — a large circle was formed, in the centre of which the chiefs of the several tribes of the Seneca nation ranged themselves in two parallel lines. The candidate, Charles D. Mar- shall, was then led forward, and presented to a venerable gray haired chief, Solomon O. Bail, a grandson of the famous Cornplanter. The old man grasped the aspirant for adoption by the hand and made a long speech in the Seneca tongue, I'eciting the virtues of Mr. Mar- shall and his worthy sire. Mr. Marshall was then led up and down between the two lines of braves, his conductor chanting a wierd and not unmusical air, while the remainder of the Indians sounded a gutteral chorus resembling the bark of a dog or the howl of a wolf, finishing with a wild whoop. Mr. Marshall was then declared duly installed as a member of the Wolf clan and was christened " Gaih- wa-gwin-ni-uh," the translation of which is '" The Truth." At the close, the newly-made Indian shook hands with all his brethren and exchanged fraternal vows. INTB OB UGTION. xix writer as Parkman, the site of the battle between Cham- plain and the Onondagas, he settles the question of the original Indian name of the Falls of Niagara. The orig- inal name of the Niagara river as pronounced by the Neutral Nation was On-gui-aah ; by the Mohawks NyaTi- ga-ra ; and by the Senecas Nijali-mali. In 1657, the name appeared on Samson's map of Canada spelled Ongiara ; and in 1688 it made its first appearance as Niagara on Coronelli's map, published in Paris But this final spelling was not reached until the word, as Dr. O'Callaghan in- forms us, had been spelled in thirty-nine different ways. The word itself is probabl}^ derived from the Mohawks, through whom the French had their first intercourse with the Iroquois. The Mohawks say the word means '' Neck *' in allusion to its connecting the two lakes. Sir William Johnson writing in 1771 to Arthur Lee of Virginia (secre- tary of the Philosophical Society) states that " oga " or " aga" is an inflection or termination in the Iroquois dialect signifying " the inhabitants of." ^ Hence Niagara "the people of the Neck." The word Niagara has therefore no reference to the cataract, which is supposed by many still to bear the original Indian ^ I am aware that some writers differ from me in regard to the meaning of the termination " aga." I consider, however, that Sir William Johnson, living among the Mohawks at the time he wrote, and having exceptional means of information, and being moreover, himself a man of uncommonly keen observation — is a far rnore re- liable authority on this point than any modern writer, XX INTE OB UGTION. name. Nor, indeed, does it appear that those tribes, dwel- liner around the falls at the time of the discovery, knew them by any distinctive name. After the discovery, how- ever, as we here learn from Mr. Marshall, " the Senecas appear to have given it the name of ^ Det-gah-slioJi-ses,' signifying ' the place of the High Fall.' They never call it Niagara, nor by any similar term, neither does that word signify in their language, ^ thunders of waters,' as affirmed by Schoolcraft." Indeed, it has been too much the habit of some of our American writers upon the aboriginals, either to substitute a theory of their own in relation to the meaning of certain Indian names, or to announce a thing as a fact before having sufficiently investigated the subject. Schoolcraft is not the only author who has fallen into this error. Cooper, also, in one of his Leather Stocking tales has originated a mistake in this way in writing of Lake George — the original Indian name of which is An-dia-roc-te — giving the manufactured one Horicon, which by some has been imagined to mean ** Clear or Silvery Water," as the original name. Tijis, as in the case of Mr. Schoolcraft's definition of Niagara, is certainly poetic but has not the merit of historical truth which is of much more importance. The thanks of his countrymen should be given Mr. Marshall for his pains- taking efforts in putting into imperishable form the early history of a national curiosity in which Americans justly take great pride. INTR OB VGTION. xxi In this sketch, also, we again meet with La Salle, as, in his brigantine of ten tons, he doubles the point where Fort Niagara now stands and anchors in the sheltered waters of that river. As his vessel entered that noble stream the grateful Franciscans chanted the Te Deum Laudamus. ^' The strains of that ancient hymn," says Mr. Marshall, " as they rose from the deck of the adventurous bark, and echoed from shore and forest, must have startled the watch- ful Senecas with the unusual sound, as they gazed upon their strange visitors. Never before had white men as- cended the river. On its borders the wild Indian still contended for supremacy with the scarce wilder beasts of the forest. Dense woods overhung the shore, except at the site of the present fort or near the portage above, where a few temporary cabins sheltered some fishing parties of the Senecas. All was yet primitive and unex- plored." In the "Niagara Frontier," allusion is made to the origin of the name of Buffalo. Its first occurrence, we here learn, is in the narrative of the captivity of the Gilbert family among the Senecas in 1780-81.. It next appears in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, held by Timothy Pickering. The Rev. Mr. Kirkland, in his journal of a visit to the Senecas in 1788, also speaks of their "Village on the Bufi^ilo " ; and from that time the word seems to have come into general use. The Holland Land Company endea- vored to supplant it with the term of " New Amsterdam," XXII INTR OB UCTION. but the early village fathers of the town, with unusual good sense, rejected] the substitute, together with ^the foreign names which the same company had imposed upon the streets.^ The chief characteristic of Mr. Marshall was conscien- tiousness. Thisltrait was prominent in his daily life, in his business relations, and in his literary work, Wliat he published was written with the greatest care, and not until he had thoroughly and exhaustively examined his subject from every stand point. " When Mr. Marshall," remarked a friend shortly after his decease, " asserted a thing, it was useless to look ftirther," In his historical studies, his legal training was of great assistance to him in sifting conflict- ing testimony, and aiming at a just estimate of the facts. He often hesitated, even after long and patient investiga- tion, in giving his views to the public, fearful lest he might unwittingly give currency to error. " I have learned sorrowfully," he once wrote to me in a half- playful vein, " that man is mortal ; and I am very sorry to say it, he is totally depraved. I cannot, therefore, lean on any one, and I do not exclude myself in that list. I assure you I am groping in the dark, lacking confidence in the records of the past, and feeling no certainty that any fact is really the unadulterated truth." Hence, when Mr. Marshall ^ It would seem, however, that they were not so successful in getting rid of the foreign " signs " in that city, as is evident to any one passing down its " Main " street ! INJROBUCTION. xxm stated a thing as a fact, the reader felt that the author narrated what he, at least, believed to be true ; and to this circumstance, as well as to the charm of his style, is to be ascribed the respect in which he is held as a writer. Thus much regarding Mr. Marshall's literary labors ; but our feelings prompt us to pursue him into the recesses of private life. The repository of numerous and important trusts, his integrity was above suspicion. Esteemed for no extrinsic circumstances but for his own individual worth, his virtues were many, and they of the most lovely character. In fine, he was one of the few of whom it can be said he was greatly beloved in life and deeply regretted in death. His intimate personal friend, Mr. Wm. C. Bryant, in his remarks before the Buffalo Bar, called together to do honor to Mr. Marshall's memory, said : '• He sustained all the relations of Ufe with exceeding grace and rare dignity ; judicious, loving, kind, he had a heart open as day to melting charity. He was the typical American gentle- man — dignified without haughtiness, courteous but not subservient, with winning graciousness of manner and ob- servant of all the sweet humanities — a loving heart in a manly bosom." Restful be the sleep of this inmate of the tomb, and green be the sod over his mortal remains ! " Sure the last end Of the good man is peace — how calm his exit ! Night dews fall not more gently to the ground: XXIV mTEODUGTlON. Nor weary worn out winds expire so soft ! Behold him in the evening tide of life ! . A life well spent, whose early care it was — His riper years should not upbraid his green: By un perceived degrees he wears away — Yet, like the sun, seems larger at his setting ! " William L. Stone. Jersey Gity Heights, Jan. 15, 1887. A SKETCH OF SOME OF THE INDIAN TRIBES WHICH FOEMERLY DWELT ON THE BORDERS OF THE GREAT LAKES. ^ HE broad and extensive valley drained by the lakes which pour their tribute to the ocean through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is, in many respects, a region of no common interest. It embraces an area of more than half a million of square miles, abounding in fertile soil, possessing a salu- ^ This sketch originally formed the preface to a lecture upon the Franciscan and|Jesuit Missions in North America, delivered by Mr. Marshall before the " Young Men's Association" of Buffalo, Feb. 9th, 1849. It is placed in this position as forming an appropriate Introduction to the events which are narrated in the succeeding papers. Mr. Marshall, through this paper, was one of the first to call attention to the early Jesuit Missions as an interesting field for historical investigation ; and when it is remembered what paucity of material was at hand at the time it was written, the labor and patience bestowed upon it, as well as the accuracy of its statements, must appear in the highest degree creditable to the author. This sketch is not printed in full in the present volume, for the reason that Mr. Marshall seems to have drawn on it for some of his sub- sequent papers, which are now given in full. — Ed. 2 INDIAJSr TMIBES brious climate, and diversified with sublime and pic- turesque scenery. From its source to its outlet, this immense chain of seas and connecting straits, affording an inland navigation of upwards of two thousand miles in extent, may be re- garded as a continuous river, expanding at intervals into broad and beautiful lakes. The interesting region which borders these unrivalled channels of communication, is destined at no distant day, to teem with a dense population fostered by the influ- ence of free institutions and enriched by the successful pursuits of agriculture and commerce. The rapid increase of its own population and the un- ceasing tide of emigration, which is flowing up the valley will soon subdue its remaining forests, establish and occupy its marts of commerce, and outstrip in its career of pros- perity the less favored portions of the older world. It is not alone in reference to its geographical features, its favored position, or its future prospects, that this region abounds in interest. It has a history. And al- though its annals when compared with those of the eastern continent are of but recent date, still, to us the mists of a venerable antiquity have already settled upon the events connected with its discovery, its early settlement, and the toils and privations of those intrepid adventurers, who first explored its wilds ; contended with the native tenants of its forests; and cleared the way for the advanc- ing footsteps of a more favored race. OF THE GREAT LAKES. 3 The recent researches of geology discover in the up- heaved strata of this so-called new continent, evidences of an older formation than any visible in the other hemis- phere. The antiquarian, as he excavates the mounds, and sur- veys the remains, which are scattered over our western valleys, meets with relics of a remote antiquity, and me- morials of a populous race, advanced in civilization, who, "Heaped with long toil the earth, while yet the Greek *' Was hewing the Pentelicus to forms of symmetry, " And rearing on its rocks the glittering Parthenon." The various tribes of aboriginal inhabitants, which were found in possession of this country at its discovery, ex- hibited a diversity of institutions, customs and language, which could only have resulted from a separation at a period far remote in their history. Nothing here is new, but the race that has acquired dominion over these territories. The English, on landing in James River and at Ply- mouth, met a people which spoke a language kindred to that of the tribes which greeted the Dutch at Manhattan and the French on the St. Lawrence. All these were but branches of that Algonquin family whose domains ex- tended from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and from the home of the Cherokee in the South to the frozen regions of the North. Almost in the centre of this extensive region, scattered along the borders of the lakes and surrounded on all 4 INDIAN TRIBES sides by this Algonquin race, dwelt a group of tribes, speaking dialects of a common language, different from that of the former and to whom modern ethnographers have applied the term of " Huron-Iroquois." They have been sub-divided by French writers into six families, called Iroquois, Hurons, Tobacco Nation, Neutral Nation, Eries and Andastes, all resembling each other in customs, government and language. That they all at no very remote period, formed but one people, there can be but little doubt. When or how they became disunited, is now beyond historical research. The Iroquois have a tradition of the era of their con- federacy or reunion, but we have not even that dim and uncertain light to tell us the circumstances under which the parent tribe was broken into fragments. The location of the five nations, whose territories extended longitudinally through our State, is well known to all. Their history possesses for us a peculiar and local interest. Less than two hundred years ago they claimed and exercised exclusive dominion over the north- ern and western parts of our State, and their prowess was felt from the walls of Quebec to the prairies of Illinois, and from the Mexican Gulf to the sterile regions washed by Hudson's Bay. The term " Iroquois " by which they are known to the French, is a sobriquet, derived from two words, one being that with which they always conclude their harangues, and analagous to the word " dixi " of the Latins, and the OF THE GREAT LAKES. 5 other an exclamation, which if in good humor, they pro- nounce rapidly, but if sorrowful in a drawling tone. The name by which they are known among themselves signifies " a perfect house " in allusion to their strong and well compacted confederacy. This they compared to a '•' Long House," the eastern door of which opened on the Hudson and the western on Lake Erie, the former being guarded by the Mohawks and the latter by the Senecas. As early as the year 1654, the application of this name was illustrated by a Mohawk chief who complained in a speech to the Governor of Canada, because the embassy which the Jesuit LeMoyne had just undertaken to the Onondagas had not first visited the Mohawks " Is it not," " said he, by the door of a house that you should enter ? It is not by the chimmey or the roof, unless you wish to steal or surprise the inmates. " The five Iroquois nations form but one house. We kindle but one fire, and have always lived under one roof. Why then do you not enter by the door, which is in the lower story of the house. It is by the Mohawks you should commence. You wish to enter by the chimney, commencing with the Onondagas. Have you no fear that the smoke will blind you, our fire not being extinguished ? Are you not afraid of falling, there being nothing substan- tial to support you ?" The French called the Mohawks and Oneidas the "lower Iroquois," and the Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas the " upper," in allusion to their geographical position. 6 INDIAN TRIBES It was to this distinction that the Mohawk probably alluded, when he spoke of his tribe as constituting the lower story of the Long House. We feel a still greater interest in the history of the Seneca branch of this once powerful confederacy. Their council fire burned for a long time on the confines of our city [Buffalo]. They were the most numerous, warlike and fierce of all the tribes, and numbered among their sachems and warriors, some of the most distinguished in aboriginal annals. Their early history has never been written, and probably never can be. Facts are now so blended with tradition, that no research nor investigation can separate them. The old men of the nation, those links which connected the past with the present, and from whom much might have been gathered as to the origin and history of their race, have passed away, and the nation itself, before the lapse of not many years, will share the fate of those numerous tribes, which have been exterminated by its prowess. Civilization will rescue their hunting grounds from the dominion of nature, their rude wigwams will give place to the dwellings of the white man, and the plough will soon obliterate all evidence of their occupancy, as it turns the soil which covers their graves, and levels their rude mounds and trenches, by some supposed to be the relics of a still older race. The Hurons were located on the eastern shore of the lake which bears their name. Their villages were clustered around the head of Gloucester bay, on the OF THE GREAT LAKES. 7 waters of the Matchedas, and in the neighborhood of Lake Simcoe. This region was early known to the French by the name of the " Huron country " and has been the scene of the self-denying toil, sufferings and martyrdom of many a devoted Jesuit. The term " Huron " is not of Indian origin. It was first applied to that people by the French, and originated by way of burlesque from a word the latter frequently used, when they saw for the first time, the cropped and bristling hair of the Hurons. Their frightful appearance provoked the exclamation " quelles hures" what heads ! a term which settled into " Hurons," and became their ordinary appellation. When first visited by the white man in 1609, they were found to be subdivided into four distinct tribes or clans, living in twenty villages containing about thirty thousand souls. At this time they were at war with the Iroquois, who even then were called their " ancient enemies " and hostilities continued to prevail between them for nearly forty years with scarcely any intermission. The Hurons were enabled to maintain their position until the year 1649, when the Iroquois invaded their country with a large army during the false security afforded by deep snows and a severe winter, fell upon them unawares, mas- sacred great numbers, destroyed their villages and laid waste their country. The Hurons never recovered from the effects of this invasion, but deserted their homes and sought protection among the French, or refuge in the islands of Lake Huron. A few, in their extremity, fled to 8 INDIAN TBIBES the villages of the Tobacco nation, but the fugitives and the people which gave them shelter, were alike com- pelled to abandon all to their victorious enemies. The details of their overthrow fully appears in the part which the Jesuits acted and suffered in the bloody tragedy. The Tobacco nation just alluded to, were so called from the abundance of that herb which was found in their country at its first exploration. They lived south-weat of the Hurons, occupying the borders of the same lake. The Neutral nation had their council fires in the ex- tensive peninsula north of our lake and along both borders of the Niagara. They claimed for their hunting grounds the territory lying west of the Genesee, and extending northward to the Hurons. Few details exist respecting this peculiar people, who, before the Senecas wrested from them the soil we now occupy, reared their dwellings, pur- sued their game and lived in innocent neutrality in these regions now swarming with the population and sprinkled with the abodes of the white man. Champlain mentioned their existence as early as 1616. He noticed some of their peculiarities and expressed a strong desire to explore their country. According to the estimation of the Jesuits, they num- bered twelve thousand souls in 1641, and could furnish four thousand warriors, notwithstanding, for three years previous they had been wasted by war, famine and pes- tilence. Although the French applied to them the name of " neuter," it was only an allusion to their neutrality be- OF THE GREAT LAKES. 9 tween the Hurons and the Iroquois. These contending nations traversed the territories of the Neutral nation in their wars against each other, and if, by chance, they met in the wigwams or villages of this people, they were forced to restrain their animosity and to separate in peace. Notwithstanding this neutrality, they waged cruel wars with other nations, toward whom they exercised cruelties even more inhuman than those charged upon their savage neighbors. The early missionaries describe their customs as similar to those of the Hurons, their land, as producing Indian corn, beans and squashes in abundance, their rivers as abounding in fish of endless variety, and their forests as filled with animals yielding the richest furs. They exceeded the Hurons in stature, strength and symmetry of form, and wore their dress with a superior grace. They regarded their dead with peculiar afiection, and hence arose a custom which is worthy of notice, and ex- plains the origin of the numerous burial mounds which are scattered over this vicinity. Instead of burying the bodies of their deceased friends, they deposited them in houses or on scaffolds erected for the purpose. They col- lected the skeletons from time to time and arranged them in their dwellings, in anticipation of the feast of the dead, which occurred once in ten or twelve years. On this occasion the whole nation repaired to an appointed place, each family, with the greatest apparent affection, bringing 10 INDIAN TRIBES the bones of their deceased relatives enveloped in the choicest furs. After many superstitious ceremonies were performed, these remains were deposited with war-like im- plements and domestic utensils in a large pit and covered with earth. One of these receptacles can now be seen near the head of Tonawanda island, and was recently opened by Mr. Squier, the author of the volume on the antiquities of the Mississippi valley, recently published by the Smithsonian Institute. Nothing was found within it but bones and fragments of pottery. Another may be seen a short distance east of our city, north of the Seneca road, and not far beyond the bridge over the Buffalo creek. It still forms a perceptible ele- vation above the level of the surrounding field. An Irish emigrant has chosen the site for his humble dwelling, little supposing the hillock which determined his choice to be a charnel house, filled with the bones of an extinct race. Many similar tunnels may be found in other parts of the reservation, all knowledge of the origin of which is disclaimed by the Senecas. While the Neutral nation were thus inhabiting these regions, they were embroiled in a war with the Iroquois, and soon shared the fate of the Hurons. La Fiteau, on the authority of Father Gamier, relates that the quarrel originated in a challenge sent by the Senecas to the Neutral nation and accepted by the latter, and the statement seems to be confirmed by Seneca tradition. OF THE GREAT LAKES. \\ Another account, written in 1648, the year after the occurrence, states that a Seneca, on his return from a foray against the Tobacco nation, was overtaken and killed in the Neutral territory, before he had reached the sanctuary of a dwelling. This afforded a pretext for the subsequent movements of the Senecas. They sent a party of three hundred men, who in apparent friendship visited one of the villages of the Neutral nation and were re- ceived with the usual hospitality. They were distributed among the different dwellings, and, at a concerted signal, commenced an indiscriminate slaughter of the whole population. From this time the war raged between the two nations with great severity. In the autumn of 1650, and spring of 1651, two frontier villages of the Neutral nation, one of which must have been located in this vicinity, were sacked and destroyed. The largest contained more than sixteen hundred men. All the old men and children who were unable to follow the Senecas on their return, were put to death, and the others were held in captivity. This was the last and decisive blow. Famine soon destroyed those spared by the Senecas. The country of the Neutral nation was devastated, and their council fires were put out forever. Those, who were taken prisoners lived for a long time in Gannogarae, a Seneca village east of the Genesee river, where they were found by Father Fremin in 1669, eighteen years after their capture. 12 INDIAN TRIBES Of the Eries, little is known except their location and extermination by the Iroquois. They were called the " Cat nation " by the French, from the abundance of wild cats found in their country. They were not visited by the Jesuits but according to all the early and most reliable French authorities, they lived within the bounds of the present State of Ohio, and near the western extremity of Lake Erie. The earliest notice of this people that I have met with, is contained in the Jesuit Relation for the year 1635. Father Le Jeune enumerates them in a catalogue of those nations that were accessible to the Jesuits acquainted with the Huron tongue. Father Ragueneau, in writing from the Huron country in 1648, states that "south of the Neuter nation is a great lake, almost two hundred leagues in circumference called Erie, into which is discharged the ' Fresh sea or Lake Huron.' " " This Lake Erie," he continues, "is pre- cipitated by a cataract of frightful height, into a third lake, called Ontario, and by us St. Louis. This Lake Erie was heretofore inhabited on its southern borders by a certain people called the Cat nation, who have been obliged to withdraw into the interior to avoid their enemies. They are a sedentary people. They till the soil and speak the Huron tongue." A subsequent writer describes their country as " very temperate, having little snow or ice in winter." A party of Eries visited the Seneca villages east of the Genesee in 1653, on an embassy of peace. OF THE QBE A T LAKES. \ 3 By some accident a Seneca was killed by one of the Eries. This so offended the Senecas, that they put all the ambassadors to death except five who escaped to their own country. At this period the Eries constituted a powerful nation, and could bring two thousand warriors into the field. A few Hurons, who, after their dispersion by the Iroquois, had found refuge among the Eries, encouraged their ani- mosity against the Five Nations, and incited them to re* venge the murder of their ambassadors. An expedition was accordingly sent into the country of the Senecas which destroyed one of their villages. A victorious band of Senecas, returning with their spoils from the shores of Lake Huron, was intercepted by the Eries and their rear guard, consisting of eighty chosen men, was put to death. The Iroquois were now filled with no little apprehen- sion at the prospect of war with so powerful an adver- sary, and the energies of the whole confederacy were aroused. A detachment of eighteen hundred men was equipped and secretly despatched on an expedition against the enemy. No sooner had they appeared among the Eries, than the greatest consternation ensued. Their villages were abandoned to the assailants, who vigorously pursued the fugitives. The Eries, with over two thousand warriors, besides women and children, being hotly pressed by the enemy during a flight of five days, at length en- trenched themselves in a fort of palisades. As the pursuers 14 INDIAN TBIBE8 approached, two of their chiefs disguised themselves in French clothing to frighten the Eries, and advised them to surrender. " The Master of life fights for us," said the chiefs," and you are lost if you resist." " Who is the master of life ? " replied the Eries. " We know of none but our right arms and our hatchets." The assault commenced ; the palisades were attacked on all sides, and the contest continued for a long time with great vigor on both sides. The Iroquois, having used every exertion to carry the fort by storm without success, their warriors being killed as fast as they approached, at length resorted to strategem. They converted their canoes into shields, and advancing under their protection succeeded in reaching the foot of the entrenchment. Using their canoes for ladders, they climbed the palisades in face of the enemy, who, having exhausted their munitions of war, and being intimidated by the boldness of the Iroquois, fled in every direction. The assailants made an indiscriminate slaughter of men, women and children, and rioted in the blood of their victims. A few fugitive Eries, about three hundred in number, having collected together and recruited their energies, retraced their steps in hopes of surprising the enemy on their return. The pla i was well conceived, but badly executed. The first shout of the Iroquois dispersed them, never again to rally. OF THE GREAT LAKES. 16 The loss of the victors in this expedition was very severe, but their prisoners more than supplied it. The embarrassments attending so great a number of wounded and captives, detained them nearly two months in the country of the enemy. The Eries were thus swept from existence. We hear no more of them as a distinct nation, and no memorial of the race exists save the lake which now bears their name. " Ye say they all have passed away, " That noble race and brave, " That their light canoes have vanished " From off the crested wave. " That mid the forest where they roamed, '* There rings no hunter's shout, " But their name is on our waters, " And ye may not loash it outy EXPLANATION. The map prefixed is a photo-lithographic fac-simile of the original which accompanies the edition of the Voyages of Cham- plain in New France, printed at Paris, in 1682. The numbers 89, 90, 93 appear in the original, and are thus ex- plained in a table annexed : 89. Village renferme de 4 pallisades ou le Sieur de Champlain fut a la guerre centre les Antouhonorons, ou il fut pris plusieurs prisonniers suavages. Translation: Village enclosed within 4 palisades, where the Sieur de Champlain was dui-ing the war upon the Antouhonorons, and where numerous savages were made prisoners. 90.' Sault d'eau au bout du Sault Sainct Louis fort hault oil plusieurs sortes de poissons descendans s'estourdissent. Translation: A waterfall of considerable height, at the end of the Sault St. Louis, where several kinds of fish are stunned in their descent. 93, Bois des Chastaigniers ou il y a forces chastaignes sur le bord du lac S. Louis et quantite de prairies, vignes et noyers. Translation: Woods of chestnut trees, with abundance of chest- nuts and extensive meadow lands, with vines and walnut trees on the border of Lake St. Louie. CHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE ONON- DAGAS IN 1615. N the year 1615, there dwelt on the south-eastern shore of Lake Huron, between Lake Simcoe and the Georgian Bay, a nation of Indians who were called in their own language, " Wen- dats," or " Wyandots," and by the French " Hurons." There is no record of their having been visited by the white man prior to the above date. In the same year^ the Sieur de Champlain, the Father of French colonization in America, who had entered the St. Lawrence in 1603 and founded Quebec five years later, ascended the river Ottawa as far as the Huron country — Le Caron, the Fran- ciscan, having preceded him by a few days only. These adventurous pioneers were seeking, in their respective spheres, and by concurrent enterprises, the one to explore the western portions of New France, and the other to establish missions among the North American Indians. The Hurons and their Algonkin allies who dwelt on the Ottawa, being at that time engaged in a sanguinary war with the confederated Iroquois tribes south of Lake On- tario, persuaded Champlain to join them in an expedition 20 GHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION which they were projecting into the territories of their enemy. The combined forces set out from Ca-i-ha-gu6, the chief town of the Hurons, situated between the river Severn and Matchedash Bay, on the first day of Sep- tember, 1615.^ Crossing Lake Simcoe in their bark canoes, they made a short portage to the headquarters of the river Trent, and descended in its zigzag channel into Lake Ontario. Passing from island to island in the group which lies in the eastern extremity of that lake, they safely reached its southern shore, and landed in the present State of New York. Concealing their canoes in the adjacent woods, they started overland for their Iroquois enemies. In an account of this expedition, read before the New York Historical Society in March, 1849, and published in its Proceedings for that year,^ I endeavored to establish the precise point where the invaders landed, the route which they pursued, and the position of the Iroquois fort which they besieged. The fact that Champlain had, at that early day, visited the central part of the State of New York, seemed to have been overlooked by all pre- vious writers, and was deemed to be an interesting topic for historical investigation. Taking for my guide the ''edition of Champlain's works pubUshed in 1632, the only one then accessible,^ I became satisfied on a careful study ^ Champlain's voyages. Edition of 1632, p. 251. ^ Proceedings for 1849, p. 96. ^ The first account of the expedition was published in 1619. AGAINST THE ONOKBAGAS. 21 of the text alone, the map being lost, that the expedition landed at or near Point de Traverse, now called " Stony Point," in Jefferson county, and from thence proceeded in a southerly direction, and after crossing the Big and Little Sandy creeks and Salmon and Oneida rivers, reached the Iroquois fort en Onondaga Lake. I fully stated these con- clusions in the communication above referred to, and they were approved and adopted by several of our American historians.^ Other writers, however, of equal note and authority, locate the fort as far west as Canandaigua lake.^ In view of these considerations, I have been led to re- examine the subject, aided by additional sources of infor- mation, particularly by the late Abbe Laverdieres recent edition of all of Champlain's works. My present purpose is to state, briefly, the result of that re-examination, and the additional grounds upon which I adhere to my former conclusions, I will first, for convenient reference, give a literal translation of that part of Champlain's narrative which relates to the question. It is taken from the edition of 1619, which differs in a few unimportant particulars from that of 1632. After describing the voyage until their embarkation near the eastern end of Lake Ontario, ^ Brodhead's History of New York, Vol. I, p. 69; Clark's History of Onondaga, Vol. I, p. 253 ; Shea's edition of Charlevoix's Few France, Vol. II, p. 28, note. "^ O'Calla.a^han's Doc. Hist, of New York, Vol. Ill, p. 10, note ; Ferland's Cours D'Histoire du Canada, p. 175; Parkman's Pioneers of New France, p. 373; Laverdiere's Works of Champlaiu, p. 528, note. 22 GHAMPLAIN'8 EXPEDITION a synopsis of which has already been given, our historian says : — ^ " We made about fourteen leagues in crossing to the other side of the Lake, in a southerly direction, towards the territories of the enemy. The Indians concealed all their canoes in the woods near the shore. We made by land about four leagues, over a sandy beach, where I noticed a very agreeable and beautiful country, traversed by many small streams, and two small rivers which empty into the said Lake. Also many ponds and meadows, abounding in an infinite variety of game, numerous vines, and fine woods, a great number of chest- nut trees, the fruit of which was yet in its covering. Although very small, it was of good flavor. All the canoes being thus concealed, we left the shore of the Lake, which is about eighty leagues long and twenty-five wide, the greater part of it being inhabited by Indians along its banks, and continued our way by land about twenty- five or thirty leagues. During four days we crossed numerous streams and a river issuing from a Lake which empties into that of the Entoulwnorons. This Lake, which is about twenty-five or thirty leagues in circum- ference, contains several beautiful islands, and is the place where our Iroquois enemies catch their fish, which are there in great abundance. On the 9th of October, our people being on a scout, encountered eleven Indians whom they took prisoners, namely, four women, three ^ Laverdi^re's Champlain, p. 526. AGAINST THE ONONJDAGAS. 23 boys, a girl, and three men, who were going to the fishery, distant four leagues from the enemies' fort. * * The next day, about three o'clock in the afternoon, we arrived before the fort. * * * Their village was enclosed with four strong rows of interlaced palisades, composed of large pieces of wood, thirty feet high, not more than half a foot apart and near an unfailing body of water. * * * We were encamped until the 16th of the month. * * * As the five hundred men did not arrive,^ the Indians decided to leave by an immediate retreat, and began to make baskets in which to carry the wounded, who were placed in them doubled in a heap, and so bent and tied as to render it impossible for them to stir, any more than an infant in its swaddling clothes, and not without great suffering, as I can testify, having been carried several days on the back of one of our Indians, thus tied and imprisoned, which made me lose all patience. As soon as I had strength to sustain myself, I escaped from this prison, or to speak plainly, from this hell. " The enemy pursued us about half a league, in order to capture some of our rear guard, but their efforts were useless and they withdrew. * * * * The retreat was very tedious, being from twenty -five to thirty leagues, and greatly fatigued the wounded, and those who carried them, though they relieved each other from time to time. ^ A reinforcement they were expecting from the Carantouanais, who lived on the sources of the Susquehanna. 24 CHAMPLAIN'B EXPEDITION On the 18th considerable snow fell which lasted but a short time. It was accompanied with a violent wind, which greatly incommoded us. Nevertheless we made such progress, that we reached the banks of the Lake of the Entouhonorons, at the place where we had concealed our canoes, and which were found all whole. "We were apprehensive that the enemy had broken them up."^ I will now proceed to examine the reasons which have been assigned in favor of locating the Iroquois fort on or west of Canandaigua Lake. They are • three-fold, and founded on the following assumptions : 1st. That the Entoulionorons, whose territory was invaded, were the Senecas, then residing on the west of Canandaigua Lake.^ 2d. That the route, as laid down on the map of Cham- plain, which is annexed to the edition of 1632, indicates that the fort was on Canandaigua Lake, or on a tribu- tary of the Genesee river, and consequently in the Seneca country.^ 3d. That the distances traveled by the expe- dition, as stated by Champlain, prove that the extreme point he reached must have been in the Seneca country.'* I will notice these propositions in their order. 1st. In regard to the identity of the Entouhonorotis with the ' Champlaia's Voyages, Ed. 1632, Part I., pp. 254-263. Laver- diere's Reprint of the Narrative of 1619, pp. 38-48. * Laverdiere's Champlain, Vol. i, p. 521, n. i. Parkman's Pioneers, p. 373, n. ^ O'Callaghan, in Doc. Hist. K Y., Vol. i, p. 10, n. Parkman's Pioneers, p. 373. * Laverdiere's Champlain, Vol. i, p. 518, n. A GAINST THE ONONDA GAS. 25 Senecas. One of the arguments urged in favor of this identity is based on the similarity of name, the Senecas being called " Sonontoerrhonons " by the Hurons. But the latter called the Onondagas " OnontaerrJionons," which bears quite as strong a resemblance to Entouhonorons as the name they applied to the Senecas. It may be stated here that O'Callaghan, Parkman, Ferland, and Laverdiere, each called the tribe in question " Entouhoro;io?zs." whereas, Cham plain, in all the editions of his works, refers to them invariably as " Entouho?ioro>i5." He never calls them " ^niouhoronons " in his text. On the map annexed to the edition of 1632, they are named " Anioworonons'' but in the iyidex to the map, " Antowhonoromy^ It must, therefore, have been from the map, and not from the text, that the word " Entouhoronons " was derived. The other name, as uniformly given by Champlain in his text, we must assume to be correct, in preference to the solitary entry on the map.^ It is supposed by some that the edition of 1632, which contains the map, and is composed of his previous publica- tions, was not the work of Champlain, and never passed ^ Laverdi^re's Champlain, Vol. 2, p. 1392. ^If it be assumed that the terminations '''• ronons " and " norons " are identical, and mere suflfixes, signifying, in the Huron language, "people," see Father Bruya's Mohawk Dictionary, p. 18, then, if those terminations are dropped from each of the three words, they will respectively become " sbnontoe^'' " onontae^'' and " entouho,''^ and represent the names of the places where those nations resided. Now it cannot be said that there is any stronger resemblance between sonontoe and entouho, than between onontae and entouho. 4 26 CHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION under his personal supervision. It is asserted that it was compiled by his publisher, Claude Collet,^ to whose care- lessness the error in the name, as contained on the map, may be attributed. There was no map annexed to the edition of 1619, and the one which accompanied that of 1632 was not constructed until seventeen years after the date of the expedition, as appears from a memorandum on its face. It may not have been compiled from authentic data. One of the discrepancies between it and the text is its location of the " Antouoronons,'' not at the Iroquois fort, but a long distance west of it, thus making a distinc- tion between them and the Iroquois who were listing at the fort that is wholly unwarranted by anything con- tained in the narrative. It is also worthy of note, that the map is not once referred to by Ghamplain in his text. Not only was it constructed after all his narratives were written, but the index to it was evidently added by some other hand. Another argument urged in favor of the identity of the Entouhonorons with the Senecas has been drawn from the existence of a nation, called by Champlain " GJiountouarouoii,'' which is undoubtedly a misprint for " Ghonontouarononr^ They are described as living be- tween the Hurons of Canada, and the Garantouanais (or ^ Harrisse, Bibliograpbie de la N. France, p. 66. See also Xaverdi^re's Champlain, pp. 637-8. 'Shea's Charlevoix, Vol. 2, p. 28, n. The letters "n" and "u" occur frequently in Indian names, and it is quite difficult to dis- tinguish the one from the other in manuscript. Their being often mistaken for each other occasions numerous typographical errors. AGAINST THE ONONBAGAB. 21 Andastes), on the Susquehanna.^ Champlain says that, " in going from the one to the other, a grand detour is necessary, in order to avoid the Ghonontouaronons, which is a very strong nation."^ From the name and location, they can be no other than the Senecas. The Abbe Laverdiere assumes that the Ghouontouar- (mons and Entouhonorons are one and the same people.'* This cannot be true, for Champlain mentions them both in almost the same sentence, and gives to each their re- spective names, without a hint of their identity.* Indeed, Laverdiere, in support of his theory, is obliged to interpo- late a word in the text of Champlain, which is entirely superfluous.^ The identity of the Entouhonorons with the Senecas, rather than with the Onondagas, cannot therefore be established by any supposed similarity of name. 2d. The next in order for consideration, is the route pursued by the expedition, and the site of the Iroquois fort, as they are indicated on the map. A slight examination of the annexed facsimile of that portion of the original map, which relates to this expedi- tion, will show it to be wholly unreliable as a guide in any investigation of Champlain's route. It is incorrect in ' Jesuit Relation for 1648. Quebec Reprint, pp. 46-48. * Laverdiere's Champlain, p. 522. ^ Laverdiere's Champlain, p. 521, note i. ■^Laverdi^re's Champlain, p. 909-910. 'Laverdiere's Champlain, p. 522, note i. 28 GHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION most of its details. Although the original exhibits the general outlines of Lakes Ontario and Huron, Lake Erie is almost entirely ignored, an irregular strait, bearing little resemblance to it, being substituted. Lake Ontario, as shown by the facsimile is erroneously represented as containing several islands scattered along its northern and southern shore, and the Niagara river as running due east into its westernmost extremity. The Great Falls are located at the very mouth of the river. Everything is distorted, and in some places it is scarcely recognizable. The supposed route of Champlain is indicated by a dotted line, which, crossing Lake Ontario along a chain of imagi- nary islands, nearly opposite the mouth of the Oswego river, strikes the southern shore at that point. All evi- dence that the expedition traversed the " sandy beach " which stretches along the Lake shore, south of Stony Point, as referred to in the text, is entirely omitted. From the mouth of the Oswego, the line pursues a southerly direction, and after crossing what appears to be the present Seneca river, and another stream, passes between two lakes directly to the Iroquois fort. This route, as thus shown by the map, is highly improbable, unnecessa- rily circuitous, and cannot possibly be reconciled with the text of Champlain.^ If the expedition had gone as far ^ In the facsimile of Champlain's map, published by Tross, in Paris, the dotted line, where it should cross Lake Ontario, as shown by the original map, is omitted. The same portion of the line is also wanting in the facsimile published by Dr. O'Callaghan, in Vol. III. of the Documentary History of New York, and by Laver- A GAINST THE ONONDA GAS. 29 west as Canandaigua lake, Champlain would have passed near to, and have become acquainted with, the existence of no less than eight of those remarkable inland sheets of water which form so conspicuous a feature in the scenery of central New York, not to mention three others a little further west. Only five lakes are indicated on the map, and none are mentioned in the narrative, except Oneida Lake and the one on which the fort was situated. They would certainly have been as worthy of description as the " sandy beach," '' the beautiful wooded country," " the numerous streams," the Oneida '•' lake and river," and " the small lake," adjacent to the Iroquois fort, which were met with on the route and noticed in the narrative. 3d. It is urged, as an additional argument against the location of the Iroquois fort in the Onondaga country, that the distance of " twenty-five or thirty leagues," stated by Champlain to have been traveled by the in- vaders after they had landed, as well in going to as in re- turning from the fort, necessarily indicates that they must have gone at least as far west as Canandaigua Lake. It may be said that in stating this distance, Champlain in- tended to exclude the " four leagues " which they traveled over " a sandy beach," immediately after they had con- cealed their canoes, thus making from twenty-nine to thirty-four leagues in all. But this cannot be a fair con- di^re, in his recent edition of Champlain's works. Tlie islands in the eastern end of Lake Ontario, as represented on the original map, are also entirely omitted oh Dr. 0'Callaghan's/ac-s^m^7e. 30 CHAMPLAIR'S EXPEDITION struction of his language. He says, " We made about fourteen leagues in crossing the lake in a southerly direc- tion. The Indians concealed all their canoes in the woods near the shore. We traveled by land some four leagues over a sandy beach." A little further on he continues : "All the canoes being concealed, we proceeded by land about twenty-five or thirty leagues during four days." He thus includes the " four leagues " in the four days' travel of " twenty-five or thirty leagues." The above construction is justified by the further state- ment, that the same distance of " twenty-five or thirty leagues" was traveled by the expedition on its return from the fort to the canoes, referring to the whole dis- tance. " The retreat," he says, " was very tedious, being from twenty-five to thirty leagues, and greatly fatigued the wounded and those who bore them, although they relieved each other from time to time." Yet this retreat must have been accomplished in two days, half the time it took to reach the fort from the landing, for he states they were encamped before the fort until the 16th of October, and reached their canoes on the IStli.-^ Charlevoix says they did not stop during their retreat^ — a physical im- possibility, certainly, if they had started from a point as far west as Canandaigua Lake. This assertion of Charle- voix does not appear to be warranted by the narrative of Champlain. ^ Laverdi^re's Champlain, p. 526. * Charlevoix's N. France, Vol. I., p. 241. Edition of 1744. A GAINST THE ONONDA GAS. 31 Those writers who, relying on the map, locate the fort on Canandaigua Lake, lose sight of the fact that it dis- charges its waters into Lake Ontario through the Clyde, Seneca and Oswego rivers, whereas the map places the fort on a stream which empties into Lake Ontario at a point much further west. In considering the question of distance, it must be borne in mind, that the attacking party was on foot, advancing cautiously towards a formid- able enemy, in a hostile and unexplored country, desti- tute of roads and abounding in dense forests, numerous rivers and miry swamps. Under such circumstances, incumbered as they were with their implements of war and other eifects, their progress must have been slow. The distances which are given by Champlain, being measured only by time, are consequently over-estimated. On their retreat, they had become more familiar with the country, and under the stimulus of an enemy in the rear, accomplished their return with much greater rapidity. From Stony Point where they landed, to Onondaga Lake, following in part the beach of Lake Ontario, is fifty-three miles, by the shortest possible line, as measured on a relia- ble map. But it would have been impossible for such an expedition to pursue so direct a course, owing to the necessity of moving circumspectly, and of seeking the most convenient and practicable route through an unknown wilderness. It would not be unreasonable to deduct at least one-fifth from the number of leagues stated by Champlain, in order to arrive at the actual air line dis- tance between the place where he landed and the Iroquois 32 GHAMPLAIWB EXPEDITION fort.^ If, therefore, we take one-fifth from twenty-seven and a half leagues, which is the mean of the two distances given by Champlain, it will leave twenty-two leagues, or fifty-three and a half miles, as the true distance, measured on an air line. As an example of over-estimates by Champlain himself, reference may be had to the width of Lake Ontario, which he says is " twenty-five leagues," an ^ Champlain's distances are stated in " leagues." Several, differ- ing in length, were used by the French, under that name. Among them were the " lieue de po&te " of 2^^ English miles ^the " lieue moyenrie " of 2^^ English miles, and the " lieue geographique " of 8^3j. English miles. It is important, in discussing this question, to determine the length of the one used by Champlain. Neither his narrative, nor feis map of 1632, affords any light on the subject. There is inscribed on a map published in Paris in 1664, entitled : " Le Canada fait par le Sr. de Champlain * * suivant les Memoires de P. du Val," a scale of Lieues Francoises chacune de 2,500 pas giomitriquesy It is fair to presume that the length of the league as given on this map is identical with the one used by Champlain. As a geometrical pace is lii^ French metres, or Sy^/^t l^nglish feet, it follows that Champlain's league must be 2^^ English miles, differing slightly from the length of the lieue de poste as above stated. This conclusion would account for the discrepancy which has arisen from calling the old French league equivalent to three English miles. The English miles, stated in the text, have been computed on the basis of two and a half to a French league. Even if there were three, it would not change the result, or carry the expedition west of Onondaga Lake. By reckoning the league as equivalent to two aifd a half miles, many supposed discrepan- cies of early French travelers in America are reconciled, and their over-estimates of distances explained. A GAINST THE ONONDA GAS. 33 excess of one-fifth.^ Also to the circumference of Oneida Lake, which he states at twenty-five or thirty leagues," an excess of one-fourth. Numerous other examples might be cited. It may be interesting, in this connection, to compare Champlain's statement with those of the Jesuit Dablon, who traveled twice over the same route in 1655 and 1656, under much more favorable circumstances for correctly estimating the distances. He informs us that, in company with Father Chaumonot, he left Montreal on the 7th day of October, 1655, for the Onondaga country, and reached " Otihatangue '' (the mouth of Salmon river) by canoe on the 29th of the same month.^ That he landed the next day, and prepared to go on foot to Onondaga. That on the first day of November, after going '•'Jive good leagues" he encamped for the night on the banks of a small stream. Early the next day he continued his journey for " six or seven leagues and encamped for the night in the open air. On the third, before sunrise, he resumed his way, and reached " Tethiroguen" which he describes as " a river which issues from Lake Qoienho" (Oneida Lake), and " re- markable as a rendezvous for a great number of fishermen." Here he passed the night in an Indian cabin. The distance traveled this day is not stated, but we may assume it to have been six leagues, which is about the average of the other days. On the fourth he went " about six leagues" ^ Laverdi^re's Champlain, p. 527. * Relation of 1656, p. V. Quebec edition. 34 CRAMFLAIN'S EXPEDITION and passed the night in an "open country," ''four leagues,'' from Onondaga. On the fifth of November he reached the latter place,^ having spent five days in traveling from the mouth of Salmon river, a distance, according to the narra- tive, of twenty-seven and a- half leagues. Inasmuch, how- ever, as the Iroquois fort is claimed to have been on Onon- daga Lake, five leagues north of the ancient village of • Onondaga,^ which the Jesuit reached on the fifth of November, the said five leagues should, for the purpose of comparison with Champlain, be deducted from the above twenty-seven and a-half leagues. To the resulting differ- ence should be added, for the same reason, six and a-half leagues, being the distance from Stony Point to the mouth of the Salmon river, thus making, from the said Point to the fort, according to the Jesuit narrative, twenty-nine and a-half leagues, which is a little short of the extreme distance of thirty leagues stated by Champlain. Leaving Ghaumonot at Onondaga, Dablon set out on his return to Quebec on the second day of March, 1656,^ over nearly the same route, and traveled that day five leagues. On the third he rested on account of the rain. On the fourth he traveled six leagues to Oneida Lake. Fearing to venture on the thin ice, he spent the next day on its banks. On the sixth, it was sufiiciently frozen to enable him to cross at a point where the lake was a league and ^ Onondaga was situated a few miles south of the present city of Syracuse. * Jesuit Relation for 1657, p. 14. Quebec edition. ^ Jesuit Relation for 1656, p. 35. Quebec edition. A GAINST THE ONONDA GAS. 35 a-half broad. He reached the mouth of Salmon river on the eighth, a little before noon, consummg m travel, ex- elusive of detentions, four and a-half days. The rate of progress, after crossing Oneida Lake, is not given, but estimating six leagues as an average day's travel, would make twenty-six leagues from the Onondaga village to the mouth of Salmon river. After allowing the same deduc- tions and additions as in the case of his previous trip it would leave twenty-seven and a-half leagues, which is the mean of the two distances stated by Champlam. By thus comparing Champlain's estimates with those of the Jesmt, it will be readily seen that the expedition of the former could not possibly have extended west of Onondaga Lake. Having thus examined the reasons which have been urged in favor of locating the fort in question on Seneca territory, founded on the similarity between the names which the Hurons bestowed on the Iroquois and the Jin- touhonorons, and also the reasons for such location, based on the course of the " dotted line " laid down on Cham- plain's map, between the point where he landed and the said fort, and on the distances which Champlam states were traveled by him, between the same pomts,it now remains to state and consider the objections which exist against placing the location of the fort as far west as the Seneca country. 1st The actual distance between the place of landing and the foot of Canandaigua Lake, measured on the shortest possible line, is ninety-six miles, or thirty-eight and a.half leagues. It would be absurd, however, to 36 CHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION suppose that the expedition could have followed so direct a course. On the contrary, in accomplishing the distance to the fort, it must have passed over, as stated on a pre- vious page, at least one-fifth more than a straight line between the said points. This fact, without allowing anything for Champlain's over-estimate, would, in case the objective point were Canandaigua Lake, make the distance actually traveled at least forty-six leagues, or not less than one hundred and fifteen miles. If, as is claimed by some the fort were still further west, on a tributary of the Genesee,-^ it would add several leagues more to the diffi- culty. 2d. The design of the expedition was to attack an Iroquois tribe living south of Lake Ontario. The assail- ants were the Hurons, living on the eastern shore of the lake which bears their name. They started from their principal village, which was situated west of Lake Simcoe, on the borders of the Huron country nearest to the Iro- quois.^ Now, if it were their object to attack the Senecas, the shortest and most feasible route to reach them would have been either in a southerly direction around the western extremity of Lake Ontario, through the territory of the friendly Neuter nation, who then lived on both sides of the Niagara, or by canoe directly across the lake, or by coasting along its western shore, landing, in either case, * Laverdi^re's Cham plain, p. 528, note i. * Jesuit Relation, 1640, p. 90, Quebec edition. Laverdi^re's Cham- plain, p. 518, note i. AGAINST THE ONONDAGAS. 37 near the mouth of the Genesee river. The fact that the expedition chose the circuitous and toilsome route by the river Trent, through crooked lakes and torturous channels, involving numerous portages, and traveled eastward for the entire length of Lake Ontario, crossing its eastern extremity in search of an enemy on its south side, affords a strong presumption that the enemy thus sought was located near that eastern extremity. 3d. If the object were to attack the Senecas, the Hurons and their allies would hardly have chosen a route which would separate them so far from their canoes, at the risk of being out- flanked by the watchful and kindred Iroquois tribes whom they must pass on the way. After crossing the eastern end of Lake Ontario, it would have been much less hazard- ous and fatiguing to have coasted along its southern shore to Irondequoit bay, from whence the Senecas could easily be reached, as they were by Gallin^e in 1669, and by De Nonville in 1687. Having examined the arguments which have been urged in favor of the location of the Iroquois fort in the country of the Senecas, and noticed a few of the principal objec- tions against it, some of the affirmative proofs, establishing its site on or near Onondaga Lake, remain to be con- sidered, A careful examination of Champlain's narrative will show that, as before stated, he must have landed on what has been designated as " Pointe de Traverse " or " Stony Point," ^ in Jefferson county. It is the nearest and most feasible landing from the islands which are 38 CHAMPLAIN' 8 EXPEDITION grouped in the eastern extremity of Lake Ontario, and along which the expedition undoubtedly passed before reaching its southern shore .^ It is well known that from the earliest times the Indians and voyageurs, as they crossed the Lake in rough weather, availed themselves of the protection of those islands. They form a continuous chain, stretching from shore to shore, embracing the Inner Ducks, Outer Ducks, Great Galloo, Little Galloo, Calf and Stony Islands. The distances between them are unequal, in no case exceeding seven miles. The ex- pedition could not easily have landed directly upon the point in question, as it presents a perpendicular rocky bluff, washed at its base by the lake, and forms a bold and in- surmountable barrier for some distance in either direction. By passing around the northern extremity of the point, now called " six town point," a safe and sheltered bay is accessible, at the bottom of which is the present harbor of Henderson. This convenient and secluded position was undoubtedly chosen by Champlain and his com- panions as a favorable point for leaving and concealing their canoes.^ Having accomplished their debarkation, the invaders followed, for four leagues in a southerly ^ Champlain says, " There were large, fine islands on the pas- sage." — Laverdiere's Champlain, p. 526. * A natural landing place of rock formation, existed there in olden time, known as the " Indian Wharf." A trail or portage road, 300 rods long, led from the landing to Stony Creek. See French's N. Y. State Gazetteer, p. 358. MS. letter of the Hon. Wm. C. Pierre- pont, of Pierrepont manor, to the author. AGAIlSrST THE ONONDAGAS. 39 direction, the sandy beach which still borders the lake as far south as Salmon river. It is about six and a-half leagues from Stony Point to that river. The many small streams and ponds mentioned by Champlain can easily be identified by the aid of a correct map. The '' two small rivers" are undoubtedly those now known as the Big Sandy creek and Salmon river. The invaders were four days from the time of their landing in reaching the Iroquois fort. The narrative states that after passing the two small rivers above mentioned, " they crossed another issuing from a lake, which empties into that of the Entou- honoronsr^ This undoubtedly refers to Oneida river and Lake. " This Lake," says the narrative, " is about twenty-five or thirty leagues in circumference,^ contains beautiful islands, and is the place where the Iroquois catch their fish, which are there in abundance." After crossing Oneida river, the scouts encountered and cap- tured a party of Iroquois, " going to the ^fishery, distant four leagues from the enemy s fort." This locates the fort four leagues south of the outlet of Oneida Lake. The latter point was always a noted resort for Salmon fishery in the early history of the country. It is so referred to in one of Dablons Journals above quoted, and in many other early narratives. The expedition must have met the party of Iroquois, which included women and children, not far from the fishery and the village, which were only about four ^ Lake Ontario. * These dimensions, are, as usual, over- stated. 40 CHAMPLAIN'8 EXPEDITION leagues or ten miles apart. They were probably going from the latter to the former. This was on the 9th of October. On the next day, at 3 P. m., they reached the fort. It would have required two or three days more time, and sixty miles more of hard marching, to have arrived at Canandaigua Lake. It is impossible, from the meagre details given by Champlain, to ascertain the precise locality of the fort. He places it near a small lake, and there is no site more probable, nor one which corresponds in more particulars to Champlain's description, than the banks of Onondaga Lake. The late Joshua V. H. Clark, author of the " History of Onondaga," states that traces of an ancient Indian fortification were discovered by the first settlers, on the east side of that lake, near the present village of Liverpool. These may have been the remains of the fort in question. There is reason to believe that Monsieur Dupuis and his companions, including several Jesuit missionaries, occupied the same locality in 1656. It is described by the Jesuits^ as a beautiful, convenient and advantageous eminence, overlooking Lake Gannentaa (Onondaga Lake) and all the neighboring country, and ^ On the first settlement of the country, the outlines of a fortifica- tion at this point were plainly visible, of which a sketch was made in 1797, by Judge Geddes, then Deputy Surveyor General of New York. A copy is given in the second volume of Clark's Onondaga, page 147. A spring exists, at the present time, near the site of the fort, called Gannentaa Spring. AGAIN8T THE ONONDAGAS. 41 abounding in numerous fresh water springs.^ Its dis- tance from the chief village of the Onondagas, where burned from time immemorial the ancient council fire of the Iroquois Confederacy, is stated to be four leagues, which would indicate that its location must have been near Liverpool. It is also supposed that the Count de Fwntenac en- camped in the same place, when he invaded the Onondaga country in 1696, and that Col. Van Schaick occupied the identical ground while on his expedition against the Onondagas in 1779.^ It was a position which undoubtedly commended itself to the sagacious Iroquois as eminently suitable for a defensive structure, and was thus early used for that purpose. In the discussion of this question, I have endeavored fully and fairly to present the points, and to give due force to the arguments which have been urged in favor of the identity of the Entouhonorons with the Senecas, and of the location of the Iroquois fort in the territory of the latter. It is submitted that the weight of testimony is decidedly, if not conclusively, against those propositions, and that we must look on the banks of the Onondaga Lake, in the heart of the central canton of the great Iroquois Confederacy, for the site of that rude fortification which, more than two centuries and a half ago, so bravely ^Relation 1657, p. 14. Quebec edition. * Clark's Onondaga, Vol. I, p. 256. 6 42 CHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION' and successfully resisted the allied Hurons and Algonkins of the north-west, aided by Champlain and his firearms, and after repeated assaults and a siege of several days compelled the assailants to abandon the enterprise, and retreat ignominiously from the Iroquois country. CHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION OF 1615. REPLY TO DR. SHEA AND GENERAL CLARK. ^ HE first number of this magazine (Jan., 1877) contains an article on the Expedition of Cham- plain against the Onondagas, in 1615. It was founded on a communication read before the New York Historical Society in March, 1849, in which I had discussed the evidences which exist as to the route of the expedition, and the site of the Iroquois fort which it besieged. My position having been questioned by several eminent historians, who claimed a more western location for the fort, the main object of my last article was to fortify my former conclusions. In it I endeavored to trace Cham- plain's route across Lake Ontario to its south shore, and from thence to his objective point. While my location of the fort in the Onondaga, rather than the Seneca country, has generally been approved, some difference of opinion is entertained as to its exact site, as well as to the precise route by which it was reached. 1 First published in the " Magazine of American History,'^ Aug., 187 S.— Ml. 44 GHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION General James S. Clark, of Auburn, in a paper read before the Buffalo and New York Historical Societies, and Georges Geddes, Esq., of Camillus, in an article in the last September number of this magazine, Yol. I, p 521, while they agree that the site was in the Onondaga country, dissent from my views in other particulars. Dr. John Gilmary Shea, in a recent article in the Penn Historical Magazine, Vol. II., p. 102, coincides in the main with Gen- eral Clark. I am glad that a writer of Dr. Shea's ability has taken the field. I have read his .paper attentively, and fail to see that it has disproved any of my main positions. It may be proper to state that General Clark's address, thus reviewed and endorsed by Dr. Shea, has never been published. It was delivered before the above societies during my absence in Europe. Since my return, I have endeavored, without success, to obtain a copy. I can only judge of its contents from the references in Dr. Shea's re- view. That the general is accurately quoted therein, may be inferred from his having reproduced the article, with verbal corrections, in an Auburn journal. In a published address, delivered last September before the Pioneers' Association at Syracuse, General Clark stated the conclusions to which his investigations had led him, but gave no facts or arguments to support them. In doing so, he used the following emphatic language : " I claim especially to understand the record of Cham- plain by following his narrative verbatim et literatim^ and accepting his estimates of distances, his map and illustra- GHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION' 45 tions. I stand on no uncertain ground. I understand this question thoroughly. I know that I am right. I desire no misunderstanding on this question. I take the affirmative and throw down the gauntlet to all comers ; and if any choose to enter the list, I have the most un- bounded confidence that it will not be me that will be borne from the field discomfited. I identify the site as certainly as any gentleman present can identify his wife at the breakfast table after ten years of married life," etc., etc. It is to be regretted that General Clark has not accom- panied his challenge, so forcibly stated, with the proofs and reasons on which he relies. The public could then judge whether such historians as O'Callaghan, Parkman, Broadhead, Laverdiere and his neighbor Geddes are, as he asserts, mistaken in their conclusions. It is quite evident that General Clark is an enthusiast in his Study of Abo- riginal History. A certain amount of zeal may be desir- able in the investigation of such subjects, but conscientious convictions, however decidedly entertained, are not always in harmony with just conclusions. It is only by patient and candid investigation, by comparing, weighing and sift- ing the evidence, that historical truth can be elicited. I will consider in their order : First. The authenticity and accuracy of the map. Second. The starting point of the Expedition on Lake Ontario. Third. The route across the lake. Fourth. The landing on the south shore. Fifth. The march on the beach. • Sixth. The inland route to the fort. Seventh. The location of the fort. 46 GHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION The authenticity and accuracy of the map. — In order to account for the many manifest discrepancies between Champlain's text of 1619 and the map annexed to the edition of 1632, I suggested that the map and the latter edition were not the work of Champlain and never passed under his personal supervision. I gave my reasons for this opinion on pages 5 and 6, Vol. I, of this magazine. Dr. Shea replies to this, that " the map is evidently Champlain's, and he was too good a hydrographer for us to reject his map as a guide for parts he actually visited." This, however, is assuming the authenticity of the map, the very point in issue, without noticing the objections I advanced. If the map were actually constructed by Cham- plain, it is of course competent evidence, without however being conclusive where it differs from the text. It is not possible, however, to reconcile the two. Where they dis- agree, one or the other must yield, and in accordance with well settled rules of evidence, the text must govern. The most competent critics who have examined the edition of 1632, to which alone the map is annexed, in- cluding Laverdiere, Margry and Harrisse, agree that it bears internal evidence of having been compiled, by a foreign hand, from the various editions previously pub- lished. No map accompanied the original narrative of the expedition, published in 1619. I claim that by inspection and comparison with reliable topographical maps of the country traversed by Cham- plain, no ingenuity can torture the dotted line on the chart into an accurate representation of the route he CHAMPLAIN'8 EXPEDITION 47 pursued, as described in his text. The discrepancies will be indicated, as the various points on the route are passed in review. I trust my readers will follow my argument with the Cham plain fac-dmile, which is annexed to my article in Vol. I of this magazine, and a reliable chart of the easterly end of Lake Ontario. All my measurements are taken from the Lake Survey Charts, recently published by the United States Government, and the most reUable maps attainable of Jefferson, Oswego, Onondaga and Madison counties. The starting point. — The narrative states that the expedition descended what is now known as Trent River, which empties into Lake Ontario, and after short days' journeys, reached the border of Lake Ontario. It then proceeds. I give the original French, as Champlain's works are quite rare, and a copy from the edition of 1619, modernizing the old French orthography : " ou etans, nous fimes la traverse en I'un des bouts, tirant a I'orient, qui est I'entree de la grande riviere St. Laurens, par la hauteur de quarante-trois degres de latitude, oil il y a de belles iles fort grandes en ce passage." Where then was the starting point of the expedition ? Gen. Clark says "Kingston." Dr. Shea says, "from a peninsula beyond (east of?) Quint6 Bay, on the north shore," agreeing with Gen. Clark that it must have been at Kingston. There is some confusion among geographers as to the extent of Quinte Bay. Some represent it as reaching to Kingston. 48 GSAMPLAIN'ti EXPEDITION Quints Bay proper, according to the best authorities, extends no farther eastward than the eastern extremity of Prince Edward Peninsula, called Point Pleasant. It is often called the River Trent, being as it were an exten- sion of that stream. Champlain evidently considered, and correctly so, that when he had passed Point Pleasant, he had arrived at the Lake. He says that the river he descended " forms the passage into the lake," and a little farther on " we traveled by short days' journeys as far as the border of Lake Ontario, where having arrived, we crossed," &c. Having fixed the starting point at Kingston, Gen. Clark claims that from thence he " ran east a distance not given, thence southerly to a point fourteen leagues (35 miles) from the commencement of the River St. Lawrence." Champlain says, the crossing embraced fourteen leagues. How the starting point at Kingston, much less the ex- tension of the route eastward from Kingston, is "recon- ciled with the map," does not appear. I claim the starting point to have been opposite the eastern end of Point Pleasant, and in this I am sustained by both map and text. According to the text, the crossing began as soon as they reached the lake, and that occurred when they passed out of the river (or bay) at Point Pleasant. Champlain does not say that they went an inch east of that Point. I quite agree with Dr. Shea's translation of the words " tirant a I'orient," and of the passage in which it occurs. Those words have no reference to the direction GHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION. 49 pursued by Champlain but to the end of the lahe which he crossed. " Having arrived at the borders of the lake, we crossed," he says, " one of its extremities which, extending eastward, forms the entrance of the great River St. Lawrence, in 43 degrees of latitude, where there are very large beautiful islands on the passage." I suggested this interpretation some months ago to the Superintendent of the translation of Champlain's Voyages of 1603, 1613 and 1619, now being made for the Prhice Society. I am inclined to be- lieve that General Clark's extension of the route east- ward to Kingston, originated in a mistranslation of those words. His construction of the route certainly requires- " tirant a V orient" to refer to the direction pursued by Cham- plain, which is in conflict with Dr. Shea's translation,, while the route I propose is in entire harmony with it. Dr. Shea further says, " That Champlain was actually at the head of the St. Lawrence, of which he gives the latitude, seems almost certain. For one who had founded a trading settlement on the lower river, the examination and exact locating of the head of the river, when he was so near it, seem imperatively demanded." It must be remembered, however, that Champlain was on a war expedition, aided by only a few of his own countrymen, with several hundred Huron and Algonkin warriors, approaching a hostile country. Under such circumstances he would hardly have gone so far east, and so much out of his way, to make geographical or hydro- 7 50 CHAMPLAIN'8 EXPEDITION. graphical observations, either during a cautious approach or a hurried retreat. Although Champlain gives the latitude of the entrance of the river, instead of that furnishing an argument in favor of his having been there, its effect is directly the reverse, for the latitude which he records at forty-three degrees is quite erroneous, and would place the entrance as far south as Syracuse. The true latitude is 44° 6', a difference of over a degree. A gross error for a Captain in the French marine to make from actual observation. The route across the lake. — If I am right in j5xing the starting point opposite Point Pleasant, it would follow, both from the text and the map, that the route extended southerly, between that point and Amherst Island, to the False Ducks, and along the Main Duck, Galloo, and Stony Islands, which stretch across the lake in the direction of Stony Point. That this was the course pursued may be inferred from the following considerations : First. On examining the Champlain map, the line in- dicating the route starts from the northern shore of the lake, and passes directly south between Point Pleasant and the first island easterly therefrom, which would cor- respond with Amherst Island. The next island on the map east of Amherst Island would correspond with Simcoe Island, and the next, lying in the entrance of the river, would correspond with Wolf or Long Island. These three islands constitute all that are represented on the map as lying in the east end of the lake, except those along which I claim that the expedition crossed. GHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION. 51 Now if, as claimed by General Clark, the crossing was along Simcoe, Wolf and Grenadier Islands, which closely hug the eastern shore of the lake, then those islands would have been so represented on the map. The chain of islands along which they did pass, as shown by the dotted line, are laid down at some distance from the eastern shore. If it be claimed that the map refers to the inner ones lying close to the eastern shore, then the outer chain, equally conspicuous and in plain sight of the others, are not represented at all. To a party crossing the outer or western chain, the islands lying in-shore would scarcely be distinguishable from the adjacent land, while the outer chain, with nothing behind them but the open lake, could easily be seen from the inner islands. I am aware that the dotted line on the map exhibits a general southerly course, but the expedition, following the islands indicated by me, fulfills the conditions of the text, by cross- ing from the north to the south side of the lake, and for nelrly a third of the way on a due south course. The map is on an exceedingly small scale, rudely drawn and nowhere preserves with any accuracy the points of com- pass in representing either the crossing of the lake, or the inland route as claimed by General Clark. Where the map and text are irreconcilable, the former must be rejected. It could not be expected that a chart, 33 inches long by 20 inches wide, embracing a territory extending from Newfoundland to Lake Superior, and from the frozen ocean to the Carolinas, could exhibit a route like that traveled by Champlain, on a scale of sixty miles to the inch, without presenting numerous discrepancies. 52 CRAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION. They are so gross, even in those places actually visited by Champlain, that it is difficult to see how he could possibly have been its author. It was not drawn in reference to this special expedition of 1615, but to illustrate all his voyages in America. Second. Champlain says, on arriving at the northern bank of the lake, " Nous fimes la traverse " — " we crossed it." He does not intimate that he coasted along its northern border for 22 miles, and then again around its eastern shore. Effect must be given to the expression, " We crossed it." Third. Cham- plain gives the distance he consumed in crossing as four- teen leagues, or thirty-five miles. " Nous fimes environ quatorze lieues pour passer jusques a I'autre cote du lac, tirant au sud, vers les terres des ennemis," The actual distance by the way of the Ducks, Galloo, Calf and Stony Islands to Stony Point, where tliey would first reach land, is 381 miles. To Henderson Bay it is 44 miles ; to Stony Creek Cove, 42 miles ; to Little Sandy Lake, 53^ miles. The actual distance from the same starting point, via Kingston and Simcoe, Wolf, Grenadier and Stony Islands, to Little Sandy Lake, is 70 miles, and from Kingston, 48 i miles. From this it appears that the actual distances] on all the supposed routes exceed in each instance Champlain's estimate. It will be noticed, however, that the excess is the greatest on the route claimed by General Clark. The probabilities, therefore, so far as relates to the length of the crossing, as given by Champlain, are in favor of the route I have suggested. Fourth. The expedition coming CHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION. 53 from the west^ would naturally use the shortest route to reach its destination. That parties were accustomed to cross by the chain of Ducks, Galloo, Calf and Stony Islands, is substantiated by the traditions of the Canada Indians. Hence, the point on the peninsula from which they embarked, was named by the French voyageurs, Point Traverse, and is so called to this day. The islands lying along the eastern shore of the lake were used by Indians and voyageurs ascending or descending the St. Lawrence. The landing. — I suggested in my article that the ex- pedition probably landed in the secluded cove now known as Henderson Bay, sheltered by Stony Point. Not that the text or map of Champlain indicates that, or any other particular place with any certainty, but First. Because it appeared a convenient and appropriate locality. It did not seem probable that Champlain, accom- panied by so large an army, would boldly land on an enemy's shore, exposed to observation for twenty miles in two directions, with scarcely a hope of successfully con- cealing the canoes which were so essential for his return voyage. Second. Because Henderson Bay, long previous to the settlement of the country, had been a favorite land- ing place for the Indians passing to and from Canada, as is well attested by tradition. The name of " Indian Wharf" still bears witness to the fact. A portage road led from the landing to Stony Creek, called by the French the "riviere a Monsieur le Comte." That the expedition landed there, was a mere suggestion derived from the 54 CHAMPLAIR'S EXPEDITION. probabilities of the case. I do not insist upon it. In good weather an equally favorable landing could have been made in the small cove at the mouth of Stony Creek, though not so secluded from observation. It is not possi- ble, from the meagre details of the narrative, to state with any certainty, much less to prove the exact point of land- ing. That it took place at Little Sandy Lake, selected by General Clark, is not probable, and for the following reasons : Assuming for the present what I expect to prove in the sequel — that the expedition followed the sandy beach of the lake no farther south than Salmon river, where it left for the interior — we must look, according to the text of Champlain, for the following conditions between the places where he landed and where he left for the interior. The march on the beach. — Champlain says : " Les sauvages cacherent tous leurs'canauxdans les bois, proche du rivage. Nous fimes par terre quelques quatre lieues sur une plage de sable, ou je remarquai un pays fort agre- able et beau, travers6 de plusieurs petits ruisseaux, et deux petites rivieres, qui se dechargent au susdit lac, et force etangs et prairies." " The Indians concealed all their canoes in the woods near the shore. We proceeded by land about four leagues over a sandy beach, where I ob- served a very agreeable and beautiful country, intersected by many small brooks and two small rivers which empty into the said lake, and many lakelets and meadows." On referring to the map, we find it furnishes nothing in addition to the above, except it represents three small CJSAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION. 55 bodies of water as lying along the route parallel with the shore, which are undoubtedly those referred to by Cham- plain under the name of " Etangs." There are still exist- ing three such collections of water between Stony Point and Salmon river, two of which are known by the name of North and South ponds, and the largest by the name of Little Sandy Lake, The latter is about 3,000 acres in extent. Dr. Shea says : " General Clark identifies the three small lakes noted on the map, as North and South Ponds, in Jefferson county, and Little Sandy Lake." But if Champlain landed at Little Sandy Lake as claimed by General Clark, he would not have passed by North and South Ponds, as they lie north of that landing. The probabilities exist, therefore, that the landing took place farther north, and either in Henderson Bay, or at the mouth of Stony Creek, as before stated. Dr. Shea says : " Mr. Marshall holds that the expedition passed Salmon river. The next stream is Salmon Creek, which Mr. Marshall holds is the Oswego." Dr. Shea has entirely misunderstood me in this particular. I claimed that the expedition left the lake at Salmon River. I did not even name Salmon Creek, nor did I state that the ex- pedition ascended or even saw the Oswego river. I said that it crossed from the mouth of Salmon river to the outlet of Oneida Lake, and from thence passed to the fort, distant four leagues from the fishery. One reason I gave for discrediting the map was that the dotted line seemed to enter the " Oswego river," that being the only stream having numerous lakes at its sources ; 56 CHAM PLAIN' IS EXPEDITION. but I distinctly averred that such a route was " highly improbable, unnecessarily circuitous, and could not possibly be reconciled with the text of Champlain." Vol. I, p. 6 of this magazine. The inland route. — My reasons in favor of the mouth of Salmon river as the point of departure for the interior are as follows : First. It is the southernmost and last point on the lake in the direct line of travel between Stony Point and the foot of Oneida Lake. The mouth of Salmon Greek lies west of that line, requiring a detour that would increase the travel without affording any corresponding ad- vantage. Second. The mouth of Salmon river — the OtihatanguS of the early French maps — has always been a noted place in Indian history. It is mentioned on the oldest MS. maps of the Jesuit missionaries found in the French Archives at Paris. A trail is laid down on several of said maps, running direct from that point to the great fishery, called " Techiroguen." Franquelin, the celebrated geographer to Louis XIV., in his " Carte du pays des Iroquois'' of 1679, calls the trail " Ghemin de Techiroguen ci la Famine" La Famine was a name applied by the Jesuits to the mouth of the Salmon river, in allu- sion to the sufferings experienced there by Monsieur Du Puys and his companions, in July, 1656, from want of provisions. It has generally been called by later writers, " Gahihonouaghe,'' which may be a dialectical variation from OtihatanguS. A MS. map of 1679, says: "it is the place where the most of the Iroquois and Loups land to CHAMPLAIN'S EXPEBITION. 57 go on the beaver trade at New York." It is evidently an Onondaga word, and is given by Morgan as " Qd-hen-wd'- ga." It bears a strong resemblance to the name applied to the place by Pouchot and other writers. There is, therefore, little doubt but what the expedition left the lake for the interior from this well known point of de- barkation. Third. Champlain says : " Tous les canaux etans ainsi cachez, nous laissames le rivage du lac," etc. " All the canoes being thus concealed we left the border of the lake," etc. Dr. Shea thinks that the text implies that the canoes were twice concealed. I do not so under- stand it. If all were concealed on landing, there would be none left to conceal at the end of the march on the beach. The second statement, " All our canoes being thus concealed," is, therefore, but a repetition of the first expression, " The Indians concealed all their canoes in the woods near the shore." Fourth. Champlain's de- scription of his route ,after leaving the lake, is quite brief and unsatisfactory. " Nous continuames notre chemin par terre, environ 25 ou 30 lieues : Durant quatre journ^es nous traversames quantite de ruisseaux, et une riviere, procedante d'un lac qui se decharge dans celui des Entou- honorons. ' Ce lac est de I'etendue de 25 ou 30 lieues de circuit, ou ii y a de belles iles, et est le lieu oil les Iroquois ennemis font leur peche de poisson, qui est en abondance." " "We continued our way by land about 25 or 30 leagues. During four days we crossed numerous brooks and a river flowing from a lake which empties into Lake Ontario. This lake is 25 or 30 leagues in circumference, contains 58 CHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION. beautiful islands, and is the place where the hostile Iroquois catch their fish, which are in abundance." It will be noticed that no mention is made of any of the lakes which are so conspicuously laid down on the map, contiguous to the dotted line, except Oneida Lake. On the 9th of October, the Indians met and captured eleven of the enemy, who were going to the fishery, distant 4 leagues from the enemy's fort. The expedition reached the fort at 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 10th. There is nothing in the text of Champlain to indicate the site of the fort, except its situa- tion near an unfailing body of water, which Champlain calls ^^un ttangT Dr. Shea translates it " pond," that being its primitive signification. But as used by Cham- plain and other French writers of the 17th century, it has a more enlarged signification, having reference, in numerous instances, to a small lake. Those which are laid down on the Champlain map opposite the route along the sandy beach above referred to, are called " etangs " by Champlain. One of them is admitted by General Clark to be " Little Sandy Lake." Bouillet saj^s in his Dictionaire des Sciences, etc^, ^^ Etangs naturels" are small lakes of fresh water, produced by rains or springs. " Lake Pontchitrain, near New Orleans, 40 miles long by 24 broad, is called " un etang" by La Salle in 1685. There is therefore no such limitation to the meaning of the word etang, as to render it inapplicable to a lake as large as Onondaga. Champlain, having recently passed GRAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION. 59 through Lakes Huron and Ontario, would very naturally apply a diminutive term to so small a body of water. The location of the roRT.^It is utterly impossible, from the Champlain text and map, aided by the best modern charts, and an accurate knowledge of the country, to estabhsh, with any certainty, the exact position of the Iroquois fort. The location which I suggested was on or near Onondaga Lake, 4 leagues or 10 miles from the great Iroquois fishery at the foot of Oneida Lake. The limits of this article forbid my presenting at this time my reasons for this conclusion ; I will therefore confine myself to an examination of General Clark's position. He locates the fort, on Nichols Pond, in the north-east corner of the town of Fenner, in Madison county, 3 miles east of the village of Perry ville, and 10 miles by an air line, south of the east end of Oneida Lake. The following are some of the reasons suggested by Champlain's text and engraved view, against this proposed location. First. Nichols Pond is over 24 miles, measured on a direct line, from the outlet of Oneida Lake, where the expedition crossed that stream. By any route practicable in 1615, it could not have been reached by less than 30 miles travel, owing to the intervening impassable swamps. Champlain states that the fort was 4 leagues (10 miles) from the " fishery," a distance more likely to be exag- gerated than understated. Second. The expedition reached the fort at 3 p. m. on the 10th of October, the day after they had met and captured a party of Iroquois, who were on their way to the fishery. Now if the fishery referred 60 CHAMPLAIN'8 EXPEDITION. to was on Oneida Lake, and within 10 miles of Nichols Pond, it must have been directly north of the latter. How then could Champlain have met a party going north from the fort to the lake, when his course, if bound for Nichols Pond, was on a line from the west end of that lake in a direction south of east ? The lines of travel of the two parties could not have intersected. Third. Nichols Pond does not correspond in important particulars, with Champlain's engraved view of the site of the fort. I do not attach much importance to that birds- eye sketch, evidently fanciful in most respects, but as General Clark and Dr. Shea rely on its correctness, it is fair to use it in testing the soundness of their positions. The original is a well-executed copper plate line engraving, inserted in the editions of 1619 and 1632. The copies reproduced by Laverdiere, and in this Magazine (Vol. I., p. 661), are wood cuts, and do not, of course, do justice to the original. The latter represents the fortified village as bounded on two sides by two streams, emptying into the lake from elevated ground in the rear ; whereas the inlets into Nichols Pond are on opposite sides, not con- tiguous to each other. The pond is quite insignificant, scarcely an acre in extent, nearly surrounded by a marsh of perhaps four acres more, which may, in wet seasons, have formerly been overflowed. Fourth. The view re- presents the lake as much broader than the palisaded water front of the fort, and the fortified village as quite extensive, much larger than Nichols Pond could ever have been. The latter therefore fails to answer the conditions CHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION-. 61 required by the engraving. Fifth. General Clark says, that, " the fortified village on Nichols Pond was occupied from 1600 to 1630." The mean between the two happens to be the exact year of Champlain's invasion. How has General Clark ascertained those dates? How does he know that the village had not ceased to exist long anterior to Champlain's invasion ? In fixing limits to the periods of aboriginal occupancy, it would be more satisfactory to have the evidence cited. In regard to this village, if one of any considerable extent existed on Nichols Pond, all we can certainly know is, that it belonged to the Stone Age. Who can tell when its fires were first kindled — when, or how they were finally extinguished ? History, and even tradition are silent Sixth. General Clark con- cedes that the expedition was directed against, and besieged a fort of the Onondagas. Why then does he seek to locate it on a pond in the ancient territory of the Oneidas ? Seventh. The site of the fort, as claimed by General Clark, is on the water-shed between the sources of the Susquehanna and the tributaries of Oneida Lake, an elevation of nearly 1,000 feet above the latter. To reach it would have involved an ascent so difficult and toilsome for an army like Champlain's, that he would hardly have failed to notice the embarrassments in his narrative. Eighth. The siege lasted six days. If the fort had been on the heights of Fenner, a beacon light in its neighborhood could have flashed a summons to the con- federate tribes, and brought such prompt assistance that the besiegers would speedily have been attacked and over- 62 CHAMPLAIN'8 EXPEDITION. whelmed. Champlain would hardly have trusted himself so long in a hostile country, and so far from his landing. Ninth. Champlain mentions the islands in Oneida Lake. General Clark assumes the knowledge of their existence could only have been derived from their having been seen by Champlain from the hills near Nichols Pond, forgetting they are only four miles distant, and in plain sight, of the place where he crossed the Oneida outlet. Tenth. Cham- plain says they raised the siege of the fort, and began their retreat on the 16th of October, and reached their canoes on the 18th, a march quite incredible, if from so distant a point as Nichols Pond, encumbered as they were with their wounded, and impeded by a driving snow storm on the last day. Having discussed the location of the fort, aided by the text and engraved view of Champlain, let us now see what assistance can be derived from the map, claimed by General Clark and Dr. Shea to be so accurate and authentic. Whenever the text and map agree, they must be accepted as conclusive. Where they do not, and par- ticularly in those instances where the map differs from well authenticated modern surveys, I prefer to reject it, whether it was made by Champlain or not. That it does not agree in important particulars, either with the text or with the actual topography of the country, is clearly evident, as I have already shown and will now endeavor to point out more in detail. The map differs from the text, First, In landing the expedition directly at the point on the south shore of Lake Ontario, GHAMPLAIW8 EXPEDITION. 63 where it passed into the interior, instead of first carrying it for at least " four leagues along the sandy beach of the lake," as clearly represented by the text. Second. In representing Champlain to have landed at a stream — claimed by General Clark to be Little Salmon Creek — and to have passed directly inland from the mouth of that stream, and to have crossed it twice before reaching the fort. Third. In representing, at the sources of that creek thus crossed, three large and two small lakes, near the largest two of which the expedition passed. If, as General Clark holds, neither of those lakes is Oneida Lake, then the five lakes thus delineated on the map are not noticed in the text at all. Champlain is utterly silent in regard to them, and rightfully so, for in point of fact there are no such lakes in existence. They will be sought for in vain on any reliable map of the country. Fourth. The map differs from the text in another important par- ticular, that is, if the theory advanced by General Clark and Dr. Shea is correct. The route, as indicated on the map, after winding among those mythical lakes, and leaving the sources of the Little Salmon, passes directly by a south-westerly course to the Iroquois fort This fort is located, % the map, on the easterly end of a lake, assumed by both General Clark and Dr. Shea to be Oneida Lake, the outlet of which flows into Lake Ontario. If it is not Oneida Lake, then that lake is not represented on the map at all, unless it is one of the five imaginary lakes on the sources of the Little Salmon, which is disclaimed by General Clark. But the route of the expedition, as shown by the map, instead of cross- 64 CHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION. ing the outlet of what he claims to be Oneida Lake, as distinctly asserted by the text, does not go near it. Dr. Shea says, General Clark and Mr. Marshall agree that Champlain crossed that outlet. I certainly do, because the text asserts it. But the map contradicts it. It is for General Clark to reconcile the two. Both General Clark and Dr. Shea repudiate the map when they say, " the dotted line of the march on the map, to coincide with Champlain's text, should have continued across Oneida outlet, which it already approaches on the map." They are in error in saying that it approaches the outlet. The whole length of the lake lies between them. If the dotted line had crossed the outlet, where, on the hypo- thesis of General Clark, would it then have gone ? Fifth. If the map locates the fort at the east end of Oneida Lake, as it certainly does on the theory of General Clark, what then becomes of his location on Nichols Pond, at least 10 miles in a direct line south of that lake? Sixth. The map places the fort on a small lake, the outlet of which empties into Lake Ontario. But the waters of Nichols Pond flow into Oneida Lake, first passing through Cowasselon, Canaserago and Chittenango Creeks. How is this discrepancy reconciled ? Dr. Shea impugns the correctness of the facsimile map in one particular. He says : " In the reproduction in the magazine the dotted line goes to the town ; in the original, however, it stops before reaching the lake near which the town is placed." I do not understand the force of this criticism. Both the original dindi facsimile place the town GHAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION. 65 on the lake. The dotted line of the facsimile quite reaches the town, while that of the original falls two or three dots short of it. The line of the original is evidently intended to exhibit the route as extending to the town whether carried quite to it or not. Does Dr. Shea mean to be understood that the expedition did not reach the town by the line indicated ? The considerations which I have presented conclusively show that the map and the text are irreconcilable, and that one or the other must, in some of the particulars, be rejected. I prefer, for the reasons already stated, to be governed by the text. Yet Dr. Shea says that " General Clark seeks a theory which will reconcile the text and the map." Whether he has found it the reader can now decide. The effort to harmonize what cannot be recon- ciled has led to much of the obscurity and confusion which have involved this subject. The route of the ex- pedition, as claimed in my two articles, is certainly the most natural, the most feasible, and the most in harmony with the narrative of Champlain. No other across the lake, and inland to the fort, presents so few objections, and no other which has yet been suggested can stand the test of critical examination. As to the location of the fort, I reached the conclusion, after a careful consideration of all the data that could be obtained — a comparison of the map and text of Champlain, a study of the topography of the country, aided by the best maps attainable, and by correspondence with persons familiar with the various localities — that the objective point of the expedition, the 9 66 CRAMPLAIN'S EXPEDITION. fortified village of the Onondagas, was on the lake which bears their name. I have seen nothing in the publications of General Clark, or in the learned article of Dr. Shea, to disturb my first impressions. Certainly no other place so free from objection has been pointed out. The strong language used by General Clark in support of his views, while it is in keeping with his enthusiastic convictions, is not justi- fied by his facts or reasons. His conclusions are valuable, to the extent only in which they are sustained by reliable data. I understand that he has ready for the press, a work on the " Homes and Migrations of the Iroquois." Possibly it will contain his views more at large on the questions here discussed. Whenever any additional facts and arguments to disprove my positions are presented, I will give them a candid and careful examination. I am constrained to believe, however, that we cannot hope for any new data, but must be content to rest the case on the scanty records of Champlain, the testimony of the early travelers, and the few relics, which time has spared, of the era in which the Iroquois met and successfully resisted the firearms of the white man, in the heart of Central New York, CHAMPLAIN'S ASTROLABE. DISCOVERY OF AN ASTROLABE SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN LOST BY CHAMPLAIN IN 16 13.* SEND herewith, as requested, a photographic representation of an astrolabe found in August, 1867, on the north-east half of lot 12, second range, township of Ross, county of Renfrew, in Ontario, Canada. The instrument is supposed to have been lost by Champlain in his expedition up the Ottawa in 1613. It is made of brass, and weighs about three pounds. Its external diameter is 5;^ inches ; so that the copy is about three-fifths of the size of the original. Its thickness at the top is one-eighth, and at the bottom six sixteenths of an inch. I am indebted for the photograph, and valuable suggestions, to the courtesy of my friend Wm. Kingsford, Esq., of the Department of Public Works in Canada. Also to Dr. Tache of Ottawa. The astrolabe was found in a good state of preservation, covered with vegetation, on the old portage road, which, as a substitute for the difficult and dangerous rapids of the Ottawa, in its long detour between the present Port- Re printed from the March No. of the Ifagazine of American History for \^1^.—Ed. 68 GHAMPLAIN'S ASTROLABE. age du Fort and the upper Allumette Lake, pursues a shorter route by the way of the Muskrat and Mud Lakes. The date inscribed on the original is 1603. Each quarter of the circular limb is divided into degrees, com- mencing at the top and bottom and running each way — that is, right and left, from one to ninety. A ring, at- tached by a hinge to the zenith, served to suspend it during an observation. A moveable index, turning on the centre, carried two sights, through which the rays of the sun could freely pass when its altitude w^as taken. The astrolabe was formerly — before the invention of the Hadley quadrant — much used for astronomical purposes. A very good observation could be taken with it, if well constructed and of sufficient weight to make it steady. The proofs that the one in question belonged to Cham- plain, and was lost by him at the spot where it was found, though not conclusive, are strongly presumptive. Champlain was a captain in the French marine, and had made many voyages prior to 1613, the year in which the astrolabe is supposed to have been lost. He was the author of a treatise on navigation, in which he ad- vises navigators to become familiar with the use of the astrolabe. It is therefore quite probable that he would carry with him in his various expeditions, the kind of instrument then in use for taking observations for the latitude. It is certain, from Champlain's narrative, that he traveled over the portage road in which the astrolabe was found. He states that in ascending the Ottawa he reached the Ghaudiere Falls on the 4th, the Bapide dea CHAMPLAIN 'jS ASTB OLABE. 69 Chats on the 5tli and the island of Sainte Groix and the Portage du Fort on the 6th of June, 1613. At this latter place the old portage road above alluded to commenced, 70 CHAMPLAIN'S ASTR OLABE. and in passing over it the expedition consumed a part of the 6th and the whole of the 7th of June. It was during their march on the 7th that the astrolabe is supposed to have been dropped. In describing their difficulties on that day, Champlain says : " We were greatly troubled in making this portage, being myself loaded with three arquebuses, as many paddles, my cloak and some small articles. I encouraged my men, who were loaded yet heavier, and suffered more from the musquitoes than from their burdens." Under the circumstances thus related, it is not surprising that the overburdened party should have lost some of their valuables on the way. It further appears from the narrative, that Champlain must have had the astrolabe with him on the 30th of May and on the 4th and 6th of June, for under date of May 30th, when at the entrance of Lake St. Louis, he says : " I took the latitude of this place, and found it 45° 18'." Under date of June 4th, when at Chaudiere Falls, he says : *' I took the latitude of this place, and found it to be 45° 38'." Again on the 6th of June, when at the Portage du Fort, he says: "I took the latitude of this place, which was 46° 40'." (See Laverdiere's Champlain, Vol. I, pp. 444, 449, 451.) These three latitudes could not have been taken without the use of an instrument. The next latitude given by Champlain was that of the island Des AUumettes, a day or two after he had passed the above mentioned portage. If, however, he had lost his astrolabe, he could not have " taken " an observation, and must give it by estimation. And so he does. He CHAMPLAIN'8 ASTROLABE. 71 says : "The island is in 47 degrees of latitude." A little further on he says : " I was in 47 degrees of latitude and 296 degrees of longitude." In neither of the last two instances does he state, as he did before he lost his in- strument, "I took the latitude." The presumption is therefore strengthened that after the 7th of June, when, according to his narrative, he had passed the spot where the astrolabe was found, he was forced to estimate his latitude in consequence of the loss of that instrument. THE BUILDING AND VOYAGE OF THE GRIFFON IN 1679.' N the seventh day of August, 1679, two centuries a^o, a small vessel left her anchorage near the foot of Squaw Island, and ascended the strong rapids of the Niagara into Lake Erie. She was a peculiar craft, of foreign model, full rigged and equipped, having many of the appointments of a man-of-war. A battery of seven small cannon, with some musquetry, con- stituted her armament. A flag, bearing the device of an eagle, floated at her mast-head, and on her bow she bore a carved griffin, in honor of the arms of Count Frontenac, then Governor-General of Canada. By the aid of a strong north-east wind, she endeavored to pass up the channel between the bold bluff" now crowned by the ruins of Fort Porter, and the rocky islet, since known by the name of Bird Island. Being unable to overcome the rapid current, a dozen men were landed on the sandy beach which bordered the eastern shore, and with tow ^ This paper was originally read before the Buffalo Historical Society, Feb. 3d, 1863. Afterwards it was revised and enlarged, and, in 'its present form, was published among the collections of that Society.— ^f?. 10 74 THE BUILDING AND lines, drew her, by main force, up the stream. A group of swarthy Senecas watched her movements, shouting their admiration at the strange spectacle. When the vessel had reached the lake, the men on shore embarked — the Te Deum was chanted by the grate- ful crew — their artillery and fire-arms were discharged — and the vessel, turning her prow toward the south-west, boldly ploughed, without chart or guide, the untried waters of the lake.^ That vessel was the Griffon, and her projector and builder the adventurous Cavalier de la Salle. This distinguished explorer was born in Rouen, France, on the twenty-second day of November, 1643. Educated by the Jesuits, he became, for a short time, a member of their Order. He came to America in 1666, and soon after visited and descended the Ohio; and, as some claim, anticipated JoUiet and Marquette in the discovery of the Mississippi. His western explorations revealed the value and foreshadowed the growth of the fur trade, then dependent for transportation on the bark canoe, or the sluggish pirogue of the Indian. The discovery of an overland route to China, and the development of the copper mines of the Interior, were additional stimuli to draw him from the luxury and ease of Europe, to share in the hardships and privations of savage life among the lakes and rivers, forests and prairies of the north-west." * Hennepin, Louisiana, p. 29. Hennepin, Nouvelle D^couverte, p. 119. Margry, D^couverte, Vol. I., p. 445. VOYAGE OF THE GRIFFON. 75 Fort Frontenac was chosen as the base of his operations ; and he agreed to rebuild and maintain it at his own ex- pense, provided the French government would grant him certain exclusive privileges. These were accorded in May, 1675.^ He immediately took possession of the fort, the foundations of which had been laid by Count Frontenac two years before, and enlarged and strengthened its defences. In 1678, a brigantine of ten tons had been built for the use of the French on Lake Ontario.^ To facilitate his en- terprises further west, it became necessary for La Salle to build a larger vessel above the Cataract of Niagara. He first dispatched a party of fifteen men by canoe to the Upper Lakes, with goods of the value of six or seven thousand francs. They had orders to establish friendly relations with the Indians ; to collect provisions for the use of the contemplated expedition, and to gather furs for the return voyage.^ He also sent carpenters and other artisans, under charge of the Sieur de la Motte, to build a fort at Niagara, and the vessel above the Falls.* The chief companions he selected to aid him in these undertakings were the Chevalier Henry de Tonty, the Sieur la Motte de Lussiere, and Father Louis Hennepin. ^ Margiy, D^couv., Vol. I,, pp. 333, 437. ' Hennepin, N. D., p. 72. . ' Hennepin, La., p. 19 ; Le Clerq, Etab. de la Foi, Vol. H., p. 141. * Margiy, D^couv., Vol. L, pp. 440, 575. 76 THE BUILDING AND Tonty was a Neapolitan by birth. Having fled from the revohition of Naples, he entered the French Marine in 1668, in which he served four years. Having lost his right hand at Vintimille by the bursting of a grenade, he supplied the deficiency by a metallic arrangement covered with a glove.^ This he used with marked effect in his encounters with the Indians, and thus obtained the sobriquet of the " Iron Hand." He joined La Salle in his last voyage from France, in July, 1678,^ and faith- fully adhered to the fortunes of his chief, until the death of the latter in 1687. He was distinguished for zeal, courage and capacity. He commanded the reinforcements which were brought from the west to aid De Nonville in his expedition against the Senecas in 1687. He died at Fort St. Louis, on Mobile bay, towards the close of the year 1704. His father was the author of the financial scheme, called after him " Tontine," which was adopted in France, and subsequently introduced into America.^ La Motte de Lussi^re was a captain in the celebrated regiment of Garignan-sali^res, and accompanied La Salle on his first visit to America.* He proved in the sequel, unfaithful to his commander by adhering to his enemies.^ 1 La Potherie, Vol. II , p. 144. ** Mar^ry, D^couv., Vol. I., p. 449. ^ Margry, M^moh'es InMits, p. 3. * Hennepin, La., p. 15. » Margry, D^couv., Vol. II., p. 230. VO TA GE OF THE GRIFFON. 77 After some experience he found himself unfitted to endure the hardships of the New World, and gladly returned to civilized life.^ Louis Hennepin was a Flemish Recollect of the Fran- ciscan order, and came to America in 1675 with Bishop Laval. He established a mission at Fort Frontenac, where he remained two and a-half years. He then re- turned to Quebec, and after undergoing the necessary religious preparation, reascended the St. Lawrence to Fort Frontenac, and joined the expedition of La Salle. He was proud of his association with his distinguished chief, and devoted as much time to his service as he could well spare from the duties of his priestly office. He was am- bitious and unscrupulous, and after the death of La Salle, endeavored to appropriate some of the honors which the latter had acquired by his celebrated discoveries in the West. He published two works, one of which is styled " Description de la Louisiane," printed in 1683, and the other " A New Discovery of a Very Vast Country, Situ- ated in America, Between New Mexico and the Frozen Ocean," printed in 1698. The first is less in detail, but more reliable than the second. Its account of the build- ing and voyage of the Griffon, is, for the most part, a bold plagiarism from the official record of that enterprise, which had been communicated, either by La Salle himself, or through his instrumentality, to the French Minister of the Marine, in 1682. Nearly all of Hennepin's account is a ' Margry, D6couv., Vol. II., p. 9 ; Hennepin, N. D., p. 1Q. 78 THE BUILDING AND verbatim copy of that record ; with here and there a slight variation, occasionally relieved by an original paragraph. Twenty-one out of thirty-two pages of his " Louisiane," relating to the Griffon, are copied almost literally from the official document above referred to, now deposited among the GlairamhauU Collections, in the National Library of Paris. ^ His narrative requires close scrutiny, especially in those particulars in which he was neither actor nor eye-witness. He belonged to that class of writers, which is said to speak the truth by accident and to lie by inclination. La Salle calls him a great exag- gerator, who wrote more in conformity with his wishes than his knowledge.'^ The expedition sent forward from Fort Frontenac, was under the immediate charge of the Sieur de la Motte ; who was accompanied by Hennepin and sixteen men. They embarked on the eighteenth of November, 1678, in the brigantine before mentioned.^ The autumnal gales were then sweeping over the lake, and the cautious navigators, fearing to be driven on the south shore, avoided the usual course, and coasted timidly under shelter of the Canadian headlands. Having ad- vanced as far west as the site of Toronto, they sought refuge from a storm in the mouth of the river Humber. ^ Compare Hennepin, La., pp. 41-73, with Margry, D^couv., Vol. L, pp. 441-451. * Margry, D^couv., Vol. II., p. 259. ' Hennepin, La , p. 20. lb. p. 21. VO YA GE OF THE GRIFFON. 79 Grounding three times at the entrance, they were forced to throw their ballast overboard and to land fourteen of their crew, before the vessel could be made to float. The inhabitants of an Iroquois village near by, called Tai-ai- a-gon, were greatly surprised at their strange visitors, and generously supplied them with provisions in their ex- tremity. The vessel narrowly escaped being frozen in for the winter, and was only released by being cut out with axes. ^ On the fifth of December the wind becoming favorable, they left for the south side of the lake, riding out a boisterous night about twelve miles from the mouth of the Niagara. On the sixth of December, St. Nicholas' day, they entered what Hennepin calls " the beautiful river Niagara, into which no bark similar to ours had ever sailed."^ Religion and commerce had joined in the enterprise. The noble Ambrosian hymn " Te Deum Laudamus" arose from the deck of the gallant bark, chanted by the crew in recognition of their escape from the perils of a wintry navigation, and of their safe arrival in so desirable and commodious a harbor. Near by their anchorage were a few cabins, temporarily occupied by the Senecas for shelter during their fishing season. Our voyagers were abundantly supplied by the natives with white-fish, three hundred of which they caught in a ' Le Clerq, Etab. de la Foi, Vol. II., p. 141. ^ Hennepin, N. D., pp. 74, 75. 80 THE B UILDING AND single cast of the net. Such unusual luck was ascribed to the auspicious arrival of " the great wooden canoe."^ A party was now organized for exploring the river above the Falls, in search of a suitable site for building the projected ship. On the seventh of December, Hen- nepin, with five companions, ascended two leagues in a bark canoe, as far as the Mountain Ridge. Here their progress was arrested by the rapids which rush with im- petuous force from the gorge above ; and they landed on the Canadian shore. Prosecuting their search on foot, they ascended what are now known as Queenston Heights, and followed the river for three leagues, until they reached the mouth of the Chippewa Creek. This stream is de- scribed by Hennepin as emptying into the Niagara from the west, a league above the great Fall. Being unable to find any land suitable for their purpose, they encamped for the night, first clearing away a foot of snow, before their fire could be kindled. On their return the next day, herds of deer and flocks of wild turkeys met them on the way, giving promise of abundant game for the subsistence of the party during their contemplated sojourn on the Niagara.^ On the eleventh of December, they celebrated the first mass ever said in the vicinity. The next three days were passed at Niagara, the wind being too unfavorable for the bark to ascend the river. ' Hennepin, La., p. 23. * Hennepin, IST. D., p. 76. VOYAGE OF THE G BIFF ON. 81 On the fifteenth, Hennepin took the helm, and with the aid of three men towing on shore, reached the foot of the rapids, and moored the bark to the American shore, below the precipitous cliffs of the Mountain Ridge. They employed the seventeenth and the two following days in constructing a cabin on the site of Lewiston, to serve as a storehouse for the use of the expedition. They were obliged to thaw the frozen ground with boiling water before the palisades could be driven. On the twentieth, and the next three days, the ice came down the rapids with such force, and in such quan- tities, as to threaten the safety of their bark. To guard against the danger, the carpenters, under the direction of La Motte, made a capstan, with which they endeavored to draw the vessel into a ravine ; but the strain on the cable broke it three times. They finally passed it around the hull, and succeeded, with ropes attached, in hauling her to a place of safety.^ A further advance by vessel or canoe having been checked by the rapids, a portage around the Falls must now be made. Hennepin's reconnoissance, as before seen, had proved the one on the Canadian side to be unsuitable. It now remained to explore the other. Before doing so, it became necessary to consult La Salle, who had not yet arrived from Fort Frontenac, and also to conciliate the neighboring Sene.cas. The preparations made by La Salle to build a fort at the mouth of the Niagara, and a ^ Hennepin, N. D., pp. 11, IS. Margiy, D^couv., Vol. II., p. 8. 11 82 THE B UILBINa AND vessel above the Falls, on the territory claimed by the Senecas, had aroused the jealousy of that proud people. Attempts had been made, with some success, to propitiate those residing in the small village on the western bank of the river near its mouth ,^ It was deemed expedient, however, to send an embassy to their capital beyond the Genesee, before proceeding with the enterprise ; and to negotiate, with the usual presents, for the required permis- sion. Hennepin, never idle, was busy in the construction of a bark chapel for Divine service, when La Motte invited him to join in the proposed embassy. As the friar had ingratiated liimself with the Iroquois, and possessed some knowledge of their language, his co-operation was deemed important. At first he feigned reluctance to go, but finally consented.^ Leaving a portion of their party at the foot of the Mountain Ridge, La Motte and Hennepin, with four French companions, left on Christmas day, 1678. Thus, in mid- winter, with blankets, warm clothing and moccasins for protection, they boldly plunged into the depths of the cheerless forest. The distance to the Seneca village was estimated at thirty-two leagues, or about eighty miles. Five hundred pounds of merchandise for Indian presents, and some sacks of parched corn, were distributed among the party. Their provisions were in- creased on the way by an occasional deer, and a few black ^ Hennepin, N. D., p. 78. * Hennepin, N. D., p. 79. Margry, Decouv., Vol. I., p. 443. VO YA GE OF THE GRIFFON. 83 squirrels procured by the Indians. For five weary days they followed the Indian trail through the frost-bound wilderness; sleeping at night in the open air, without shelter, except what chance afforded. On the last day of December, they reached Tagaron- dies, the great village of the Senecas, situated on what has since been known as Boughton Hill, near Victor, in Ontario county.^ They were received by the Senecas with marked con- sideration, and conducted to the cabin of their principal chief, where they became objects of curiosity to the women and children. The young men bathed their travel-worn feet, and anointed them with bear's oil. The next day, being the first of the year, Hennepin celebrated mass, and preached the mysteries of his faith to the mixed assembly of French and Indians. Fathers Julien Gamier and Peter Raffeix, two Jesuit missionaries, were found residing in the village at the time of their visit. The former was the first Jesuit ordained in Canada, and the last missionary of that order among the Senecas.^ He commenced his labors among the Oneidas in 1668, at the age of twenty-five, and in the same year visited the Onondagas and Cayugas. In 1669 he had charge of the Seneca mission of St. Michael, and the following year that of St. James. In 1671 he con- ^ N. Y. Hist. Collections, second series, Vol. II., p. 160. * Shea's Catholic Missions, p. 294, n. 84 THE B UILDING AND ducted the three missions among that people.^ He died at Quebec in February', 1730, having devoted upwards of sixty years to his missionary work. He was acquainted with the Algonquin language, but better versed in Huron and Iroquois.^ His companion, Raflfeix, joined him in the Seneca country in 1G72. He was chaplain in the expe- dition of Courcelles against the Mohawks, in 1666.^ He was soon after chosen for missionary work among the Cayugas, and labored among them and the Senecas until 1680. The writer can find no later notice of him than 170B, at which time he was living at Quebec.'^ After Hennepin had concluded his religious services, the grand council was convened. It was composed of forty-two of the elders among the Senecas. Their tall forms were completely enveloped in robes made from the skins of the beaver, wolf and black squirrel. With calu- met in mouth, these grave councillors took their seats on their mats, with all the stateliness and dignity of Venetian senators. At the opening of the council. La Motte, suspecting Father Garnier of hostility to La Salle, objected to his presence. At the request of the Senecas he withdrew. Hennepin, considering this as an affront to his cloth, re- ' Jesuit Relation, Quebec, ed. 1668, p. 17; 1669, p. 12 ; 1670, pp. 69-78; 1671, p. 20; 1666, p. 9. ^ Jesuit Rel., ed. 1666, p. 6 ; Parkman's Jesuits, p. 54. * lb., ed. 1666, p. 9. * Shea's Catholic Missions, p. 294, n. VO YA GE OF THE GRIFFON. 85 tired with him. La Salle was ever suspicious of the Jesuits; believing them to be opposed to his enterprises, and inclined to influence the Indians against him. The council was informed, through Brassart, the inter- preter, that the French had come to visit them on the part of Onontio. their governor, and to smoke the calumet on their mats ; that the Sieur de la Salle was about to build a great wooden canoe above the Falls, in which to bring merchandise from Europe by a more convenient route than the rapids of the Saint Lawrence ; that by this mpans the French would be able to undersell the English of Boston, and the Dutch of New York.^ This speech was accompanied with four hundred pounds weight of presents, consisting of hatchets, knives, coats, and a large necklace of blue and white shells. Portions of these were handed over at the end of each proposition. This mode of treating with the Indians by bribing their chiefs, has, unfortunately, continued to the present day. Among other inducements, J.a Motte promised to fur- nish for the convenience of their whole nation, a gunsmith and blacksmith, to reside at the mouth of the Niagara, for the purpose of mending their guns and hatchets. Several coats and pieces of fine cloth, iron, and European mer- chandise of great rarity among the Indians, and of the value of four hundred francs, were added, as weighty reasons, to influence them in favor of the French. " The 1 Alluding to the plan of La Salle to send merchandise to the Niagara by the way of the Mississippi and the lakes. 86 THE B UILDING AND best arguments in the world," says Hennepin, " are not listened to by the natives, unless accompanied with pre- sents." 1 On the next day, the Senecas answered the speech of La Motte, sentence by sentence, and responded by presents. As aids to the memory, they used small wooden sticks which the speaker took up, one by one, as he replied, seratim, to the several points in the speech of the day previous. Belts of wampum, made of small shells strung on fine sinews, were presented after each speech, followed by the exclamation " Ni-a-oua^' signifying approval, from the whole assembly. This, however, proved an insincere response in the present instance ; for La Motte, with his specious reasoning made no impression on these shrewd children of the forest. They knew that the English and Dutch had greater facilities than the French for supply- ing them with merchandise, and could outbid the latter in trading for their furs. They received the offered presents with apparent acquiescence, and after the cus- tomary salutations, the council broke up. Before it ended, two prisoners of war, who had been taken near the borders of Virginia, were brought in ; one of whom, out of compliment to their guests, was put to death with tortures, such as Indians only in their savage state can invent and inflict. The French, unable to bear the sight, and willing to testify their abhorrence of the cruelty, withdrew from the scene. So the embassy left for their quarters on the banks of the Niagara ; which they ^ Hennepin, N. D., p. 85. VOYAGE OF THE GRIFFON. 87 reached on the fourteenth of January, 1679, thoroughly exhausted with their toilsome expedition. They were in some measure solaced on their arrival, with the abund- ance of white-fish, just then in season. The water m which they were boiled, thickened into jelly, remmded them of the savory soups to which they had been ac- customed in their father-land.^ The side of the Niagara on which the vessel for use on the Upper Lakes could be most conveniently built, was as yet undetermined. The Canadian side had been ex- amined, as already noticed, and found unsatisfactory. Historians have widely differed, not only as to the one finally selected, but also as to the precise pomt where the keel of the historic bark was laid. The solution of these questions involves interesting topographical investigations. Governor Cass, in his address before the Historical Society of Michigan, maintains that " the Qnffon was launched at Erie."^ Schoolcraft says, "near Buffalo. Bancroft, in the first edition of his History of the Umted States, says, "at the mouth of the Tonewanda creek. Dr Sparks, in his " Life of La Salle," says, " at Chippewa creek, on the Canadian side of the river ;"^ and his 1 Hennepin, N. D., pp., V8-91. » Hennepin, N. D., p. 75. » Historical Discourse at Detroit, p. U. * Tour to the Lakes, p. 33. « History of the United States, Vol. HI., p. 162. •^ Life of La Salle, p. 21. 88 THE B TJILBING AND opinion was followed by Parkman in his " Life of Pontiac,"^ and more recently by Doctor Abbott, in his " Adventures of La Salle. "^ What is still more remarkable and inex- cusable, the new History of the United States, bearing the endorsement of the late William Cullen Bryant, states that the Griffon was built at Fort Frontenac, which it locates on Lake Erie ! Such is history. Li an article published August 22d, 1845, in the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, the writer claimed that the vessel was built at the mouth of the Cayuga creek. Since that publication, Mr. Bancroft, in later editions of his History," and Mr. Parkman, in his more recent works,^ have accepted Cayuga creek as the true site of the dock. As some doubts, however, still exist, and erroneous locations continue to be repeated, the subject has been re- examined in the light of the evidence afforded by the valuable documents lately published by Mr. Margry, under the auspices of the American Congress, and with the aid of other historical material recently discovered. The portage around the Falls, and the site of the dock, must, necessarily, have been on the same side of the river. The American portage would naturally be chosen as the ^ Parkman's Life of Pontiac, first ed., p. 52. ' Abbott's Adventures of La Salle, p. 98. ^Vol. IIL, p. 162, sixteenth ed. * Discovery of the Great "W est, p. 133. Life of Pontiac, sixth ed., Vol. I., p. 58. VO TA GE OF THE GRIFFON. 89 shortest and most feasible route; its length being two and a-half miles less than the Canadian, owing to the con- figuration of the river. That the French actually used the American side during and subsequent to the building of the Oriffon, clearly appears from the testimony of Hennepin and La Hontan. In his notice of the point where the river issues from the mountain gorge between Lewiston and Queenston, Hennepin mentions a " great rock " which rose to a con- siderable height above the water, " three fathoms from the Canadian shore." Also " three mountains " on the American side, " opposite the great rock."^ In describing his return from his western discoveries, after the loss of the Griffon, Hennepin says, " we carried our canoe from the great Fall of Niagara to the foot of the three mountains, which are two leagues below, and opposite the great rock."^ This locates the portage used by Hennepin, on the American side. The Baron La Hontan, who visited the Falls in 1688, only nine years after the Oriffon was built, says, in his ^' Voyages to North America," published in 1 703, " I went up the Niagara three leagues from its mouth, to the end of navigation. We were obliged to carry our canoe from a league and a-half below the Falls, to a-half a league above them. We ascended the three mountains ' Hennepin, N. D., pp. 45, 11, 113, 452. ' Hennepin, N. D., p.>56. 12 90 THE B UILDING AND before finding the way smooth and level."^ On the map which accompanies his travels, La Hontan places the " three mountains " unmistakably on the American side of the river, just south of the site of Lewiston. From the preceding quotations, it is evident that the " great rock," is referred to as on the west or Canadian side, and the " three mountains " on the opposite or American side of the Niagara. This " great rock " was long a conspicuous object near the shore ; and can still be seen under the western end of the old Suspension bridge, the ruins of which now span the river at that point. Within the memory of the early settlers, boats could readily pass between the rock and the adjacent bank. The debris from the precipice above, thrown down in the construction of the bridge, has nearly filled the intervening space. Hennepin describes the rock as very high ;^ but time, and the action of the ever- flowing current, have reduced its dimensions, and settled it in its river bed. It still lifts its dark head above the surrounding waters, an abiding witness of the accuracy of this part of the Franciscan's narrative, and perpetuates his memory under the name of " Hennepin's Rock." The " three mountains " on the American side can easily be recognized in the lofty ridge, composed of three terraces, caused by the geological formation of the bank, which rises four hundred feet above the surface of the La Hontan's Voyages, Eng. ed., Vol. I., p. 81. Hennepin, N. D., p. 452. VO TA GE OF THE GRIFFON. 91 river. The ravine into which the brigantine was drawn by La Motte, to protect it from the ice, as before stated, is plainly to be seen near the foot of the Mountain Ridge, on the American side of the river, a short distance above Lewiston. This ravine, in the absence of any on the Canadian side, proves the site of the palisaded storehouse, and the commencement of the portage, to have been on the eastern side. The proofs establishing the particular site where the vessel was built, will now be considered. Hennepin describes the portage as passing over beautiful meadows, and through groves of scattered oaks and pine. "We went," says he, "two leagues above the great Fall of Niagara, and there built some stocks for the construction of the vessel needed for our voyage. We could not have chosen a more convenient place. It was near a river which empties into the strait between Lake Erie and the great Fall."^ Two leagues above the Falls would be about five miles. At that distance we find the Cayuga creek, a stream which answers perfectly to Hennepin's description. Oppo- site its mouth, an island of the same name lies parallel with the shore, about a mile long, and two or three hundred yards wide. It is separated from the main- land by a narrow branch of the river, called by the early inhabitants, " Little Niagara ;" wide and deep enough to float a vessel of the tonnage of the Qriffon. Into this ^ Hennepin, N. D., p. 94. 92 TBE BUILDING AND channel and opposite the middle of the island, the Cayuga creek empties. On the main shore, just above the mouth of the creek, and under shelter of the island, is a favora- ble site for a ship yard. So eligible is the position, that it was selected by the United States government, in the early part of the present century, as a suitable point for building one or more vessels for the transportation of troops and supplies to the western posts. For that reason it was known in early times, as the " old ship-yard ;" and local traditions have been preserved in the memory of the early pioneers, of its anterior occupancy, for the same purpose, by the French.^ Investigation among the archives of the MinisQre de la Marine in Paris, have brought to light the existence of three manuscript maps, nearly cotemporaneous with the construction of the Griffon. The first two were made by Jeau Baptiste Louis Franquelin, Hydrographer to Louis XIV., and the predecessor of Louis JoUiet in that office. The earliest of the three is a map of North America, purporting to have been " drawn in 1688, by order of the Governor and Intendant of New France, from sixteen years observations of the author." It is five feet long, and three feet wide. Lakes Ontario and Erie, with the adjacent country, are, for that early day, remarkably well delineated. The Niagara river and Falls are distinctly represented, with a portage road around the latter, on the American side. A fac-simile of that portion of the map ^ Marshall's Niagara Frontier, p. 30. VO YA GE OF THE GRIFFON. 93 which embraces the Niagara river, reproduced from a care- ful tracing over the original, is given on the following page. Its most interesting feature is the design of a cabin, on the eastern side of the river, midway between the two lakes, with this inscription : " Gahane ou le S^ de la Salle a fait /aire U7ie barque." (Cabin where the Sieur de la Salle caused a bark to be built.)