302 SHEA, JOHN GILMARY. Discovery and
Exploration of The Mississippi Valley, with
the original narratives of Marquette, Allouez, Membr6, Hennepin, and Anastase
Douay, and a fac-simile of the original map
of Marquette. Svo. cl map.   pp. 348. N.
Y., 1853. Scarce.                   $7.00
A volume of rare interest to those concerned to
know the history of this great western land.




















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DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION
OF THE
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY:
WITH
THE ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF MARQUETTE,
ALLOUEZ, MEMBRE, HENNEPIN, AND
ANASTASE DOUAY.
BY
JOHN GILMARY SHEA.
WITH A FACSIMILE OF THE NEWLY-DISCOVERED MAP OF MARQUETTE.
REDFIELD,
CLINTON HALL, NEW  YORK.
1852.




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852,
BY J. S. REDFIELD,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the
Southern District of New York.
STEREOTYPED BY C. C. SAVAGE,
13 Chambers Street, N. Y.




TO
JARED SPARKS, LL.D
PRESIDENT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY,
hiis Bnhlm ims infsrribrh,
AS A MARK OF PERSONAL REGARD,
BY THE AUTHOR.








PREFACE.
IT has long been a desideratum to have in English the
early narratives of the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi. Marquette's map and voyage have indeed appeared,
but the narrative varies in no small degree from the authentic
manuscript, and the map is not at all a copy of that still preserved, as it came from the hand of the great explorer.
These published from original manuscripts, and accompanied
by the narratives of the missionaries in La Salle's expedition,
are now first presented in an accessible shape, and complete
the annals of the exploration.
The life of Marquette, and the history of the exploration
itself, are the result of many years study of the early Spanish
and French authorities, both printed and manuscript, some of
which have never before been consulted.
Besides my own researches, I have been aided by those of
the President of St. Mary's College, and of the Hon. James
Viger, of Montreal, and I trust that the volume will be found
to be as faithful as the subject is interesting.
NEW YORK, Sept., 1852.                     Jo G. S.




CONTENTS.
History of the Discovery of the Mississippi Valley................... PAGE vii
Life of Father James Marquette, of the Society of Jesus, first explorer of the
M isississippi....................................................  xli
Notice on the sieur Jolliet......................................l. xxix
Notice on Father Claudius Dablon................................   2
Voyages and Discoveries of Father James Marquette, of the Society of Jesus, in  1613, and the following years..............................  3
Notice on Father Claude Allouez.....................................  67
Narrative of a Voyage made to the Illinois, by Father Claude Allouez.....  67
Bibliographical Notice of the Etablissement de la Foi of Father Christian le
Clereq, Recollect............................................. 8
Narrative of La Salle's first attempt to explore the Mississippi, by Father le
Clercq....................................................... 83
Bibliographical Notice of the Works of Father Louis Hennepin.........  99
Narrative of a Voyage to the Upper Mississippi, by Father Louis Hennepin. 107
Notice on Father Zenobius Membr6................................... 147
Narrative of the Adventures of La Salle's Party, from February, 1680, to
June, 1681, by  Father Membr6..................................  147
Narrative of La Salle's Voyage down the Mississippi, by the same......... 165
Account of La Salle's Attempt to reach the Mississippi by sea, by Father
Christian le Clercq............................................. i85
Narrative of La Salle's Attempt to ascend the Mississippi, in 1687, by Father
Anastasius Douay..............................................  197
Spanish account of the Destruction of La Salle's Fort in Texas............ 208
APPENDIX.
Recit des Voyages et des dccouvertes du P. Jacques Marquette, &c........ 231
Unfinished Letter of Father James Marquette, containing his last journal.. 258
La Salle's Patent of Nobility........................................ 265
La Salle's Second Commission.................................... 267
Comparative Table of the names on the Map published by Thevenot, and
Marquette's real Map......................................  268




HEISTORY
OF THE
DISCOVERY      OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
TN glancing at a map of America, we are at once struck
by the mighty river Mississippi, which, with its countless branches, gathers the waters of an immense valley, and
rolls its accumulated floods to the gulf of.exico, affording a
line of uninterrupted communication for thousands of miles,
which has in our day peopled its banks with flourishing
towns and cities. So large a stream, so important a means
of entering the heart of the continent, could not, it would be
supposed, long remain unknown —or, known, remain unappreciated: yet so, in fact, it was.
Columbns himself entered the gulf of Mexico, but the
southern coast only was explored by the discoverer of the
New World. By whom the northern shore was first explored
we do not know; but it is laid down with considerable accuracy in an edition of Ptolemy printed at Venice in 1513.
This map is the more remarkable as the delta of a river corresponding to the Mississippi is traced upon it more distinctly
than in the maps of the next century. Several adventurers
now sailed along the northern or Florida shore, till it was




Viii                HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
completely examined by Garay in 1518.            Three years later,
a map was drawn up by the arbitrator appointed to decide
between the claims of rival discoverers, and on it we find the
Mississippi again traced      on the part assigned as peculiarly
Garay's, and on it the name it subsequently bore, Rio del
Espiritu Santo, or River of the Holy Ghost.*
Several expeditions were now fitted out to explore and
reduce the realms of Florida.        Brilliant, daring, and adventurous attempts they were, and give the time that hue of
chivalry which almost makes us forget the crimes which
marked it-crimes, magnified and distorted indeed by foreign writers, but still coolly and dispassionately examined
crimes that we must condemn.t          It was the last age of the
political freedom, of the nicely-poised balance between the
* These facts and the maps are to be found in an English version of the "Shipwrecks of Alvar Nufiez Cabeza de Vaca," printed for private distribution at Washington, in 1851, for Geo. W. Riggs, jr. The translator is Mr. Buckingham Smith.
f It is not so much the cruelty here as the wantonness of it that shocks
our modern taste. That was an age of cruelty. The Spaniard, from his long
guerilla wars With the early Moors, was necessarily a man used to blood: and
when the Reformation came, and the new religionists sprang at the rich plunder
of the churches, those who adhered to old ideas clung to them with desperation;
and when deprived of them, unable to retaliate on the church property of their
antagonists who had none, vented their rage on their spoilers themselves. In
countries where the advocates of the new ideas had not entered, the example of
what had occurred elsewhere taught the old-idea party to prevent their entrance
at all hazard, if they wished to worship at the shrines raised by their ancestors.
Had they been angels, they might have been mild; but they were men, and
necessarily cruel, and the retaliations were so too. The sixteenth century, then,
is marked by constant scenes of blood, not only in America, but in Europe, and
only bigots would attempt to represent any one case as isolated and build a theory on it.  In this age, and from this very cruelty, the English and French
navies rose; both were in their origin piratical flotillas, which lived by plundering the Spanish main and the rich argosies which were crossing to Cadiz.
Even these bore a religious appearance, for the mariners, not only of England
but of France, at the time professed a horror of the religion of the Spaniard,
equalled only by their love for his gold. In fact, it is not easy to express now
all that a Spaniard, on terra firma or the Spanish main, comprised in that fearful
word "herege."




OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.            ix
ruler and the ruled. Not yet had the world been startled by
the extremes of a claim of divine right in the person of the
monarch, and annual revolutions in the name of the people.
The Spaniard was the freest man in Europe: the various powers of the state, still unbroken, maintained on each other that
salutary check which prevents all tyranny. The time was
yet when the tutor of the heir-apparent of the Spanish crown
could inculcate on his pupil the doctrine that a tyrant might
be put to death; while, at the same time, the people were
taught that religion required their obedience to the ruling
powers, with submission and support from which only extreme
cases could absolve them.*
Besides this, " many circumstances concurred at this epoch
of overwrought excitement, violence, and a mania for discovery by land and sea, to favor individuality of character, and enable some highly-gifted mind to develop noble germs drawn from
the depth of feeling. They err," says Humboldt, " who believe that the Spanish adventurers were incited by mere love
of gold and religious fanaticism. Perils always exalt the poetry of life; and besides, this remarkable age, unfolding as it
did new worlds to men, gave every enterprise and the natural
impressions awakened by distant travels, the charm of novelty and surprise."
Leon, Cordova, and Ayllon, had successively found death
on the shores of Florida; but the spirit of the age was not
damped: in 1528, Pamphilus de Narvaez undertook to conquer and colonize the whole northern coast of the gulf. HIe
landed, and, after long and fruitless marches, returned to the
coast, and in wretched boats endeavored to reach Tampico.
Almost all perished: storms, disease, and famine, swept them
* Mariana's De Rege Tyranno was written for a Spanish prince,




X               HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
away, and the coast was whitened with their bleaching
bones. A few with Cabeza de Vaca were thrown on an
island on the coast of Mississippi. After four years' slavery,
De Vaca escaped and struck inland with four companions.
Taken for supernatural beings, they became the medicinemen of the tribes through which they passed, and, with as
little difficulty as the Indian jugglers, established their reputation. With lives thus guarded by superstitious awe, they
rambled across to the gulf of California, traversing the bisonplains and the adobe towns of the half-civilized natives of
New Mexico, perched on their rocky heights. De Vaca is the
first known to have traversed our territory from sea to sea.
In this long wandering, he must have reached and crossed
the Mississippi; but we in vain examine his narrative for
something to distinguish it from any other large river that he
met. He remains then in history, in a distant twilight, as
the first European known to have stood on the banks of the
Mississippi, and to have launched his boat upon its waters;
but his " shipwrecks" shed no new light on its history.*
When he and his companions suddenly appeared amid
their countrymen in Mexico, their strange accounts, and an
air of mysterious secresy which they affected, gave a new
impulse to the adventurous spirit of the age. In the spring
of 1539, two attempts were made to reach the realm in the
interior, which De Vaca had protested to be "the richest
country in the world."  One of these expeditions started from
the Pacific, the other from the Atlantic. The former was led
by the Franciscan friar Mark, a native of Nice in Italy, who,
burning with a desire of conquering for Christ the many
tribes within, set out with a negro companion of De Vaca's
* De Vaca's narrative in Spanish is in Barcia's collection, and in French in
that of Ternaux-Compans.




OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.              Xi
from Culiacan, and crossing the desert wastes, reached the
Colorado; but after gazing from a commanding height on the
embattled towers of.Cibola, with its houses rising story above
story, and its gateways so well glazed that they seemed
masses of turquoise, returned with baffled hopes, for the natives had refused him entrance, and actually cut off his negro
guide and a large party of friendly Indians. Friar Mark, on
his return, raised the hopes of the Spanish authorities still
higher, and his statements, apparently true in themselves, were 
so understood by the excited imaginations of all, as to leave
impressions far from the reality. An ideal kingdom rose into
existence, and a new expedition was projected. This reached
the valley of the Mississippi; but before we trace its course,
we must go back to the Atlantic expedition of 1539.7
It was commanded by the successful Ferdinand de Soto,
who had risen by the conquest of Peru to rank and wealth,
and was now governor of the rich island of Cuba. With a
force far superior to any that had yet landed on the continent,
he entered Florida, and, with his gallant array, struck into
the unknown interior. The Mississippi, under the name of
Espiritu Santo, was not unknown to him; for, after proceeding westward and turning slightly northeast to Hurripacuxiafter striking westward to Eteocale, whose heroes wore (the
natives said) helmets of burnished gold-after carrying, by
stubborn fight, the gallant town of Napetuca- after pressing
on through Ivetachuco, fired like another Moscow by its
dauntless people- after reaching Anaica Apalache,-he
sent Maldonado back to Havana, with orders to meet him in
six months at the mouth of the' ississippi.t
* The narrative of Friar Mark is in the Appendix to the Narrative of Castafiedo de Najera, published by Ternaux. It deserves to be read, for it is not so
much a fiction as is generally supposed.
t Historical Coll. of Louisiana, vol. ii., p. 99.




Xii            HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
Here began his second campaigng; lured by the glittering
promises of an Indian guide, he marched to the northeast,
crossing the Altamaha, and perhaps entered the territory of,
Carolina, a land full of remembrances of Ayllon.  Weary
with a march of twelve hundred miles, his men were fain to
settle there; but no, on they must go, and turning northward,
he traversed unconsciously the golden sands of the Chalaques, with a heavy heart, for it was poor in maize. At last.he reached a great river by the western course, and with his
mind still full of great hopes from the river of Espiritu Santo,
he took the Coosa for the Mississippi, and traced it to its
source," then following down its gentle.current, crossing as
villages invited him, he reached Mavila to waste the lives
and property of his men in a terrible contest with the gigantic Tuscalosa, the chieftain of the land. Iere any but the
resolute Soto would have renounced his schemes, and joined
his vessels in Pensacola bay; but no, though winter was
coming on, he marched north, fighting his way across river
after river to the heart of the Chickasaw country, and wintered there, although they, too, burned their village in which
the invaders were quartered; thence he marched northwest
to the country of the Alibamons, who threw up a palisade
entrenchment to prevent his passage. With considerable
loss De Soto carried it, and captured corn enough to carry
him across the desert land to Quizquiz, and here at last he
really came to the long-sought Rio del Espiritu Santo. It
was the Mississippi. Here all doubt vanishes. Listen to the
characteristic description of the most detailed narrative.
"The river," says the unknown Portuguese, "was almost
half a league broad; if a man stood still on the other side, it
could not be discerned whether he was a man or no. The
* Historical Coll, of Louisiana, vol. ii., p. 101.




OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.          xlii
river was of great depth, and of a strong current; the water
was always muddy; there came down the river continually
many trees and timber, which the force of the water and
stream brought down."y And the inhabitants were not unworthy of the great river.  "The cacique came with two
hundred canoes full of Indians with their bows and arrows,
painted, with great plumes of white and many-colored
feathers, with shields in their hands, wherewith they defended the rowers on both sides, and the men of war stood
from the head to the stern, with their bows and arrows in
their hands. The canoe wherein the cacique sat, had a canopy over the stern, and he sat beneath it, and so were the
other canoes of the principal Indians. And from under the
canopy where the chief man sat, he commanded and governed the other people.
From the frequent mention of the river in Biedma's narrative we may infer that allusion to it was suppressed, or at
most, mysteriously made by De Vaca, and that it was supposed to be the key to his land of gold. Certain it is, that
their hopes seem here to brighten; they build boats, the first
European craft to traverse the river, and crossed to the western side some twenty or thirty miles, as modern investigators tell us, below the mouth of the Arkansas.t
The country now reached by the Spaniards, was one of
large and populous towns, well defended by walls and
towers, pierced with regular loop-holes, and surrounded by
well-made ditches. De Soto ascended the river, and striking
on a higher, drier, and more champaign country than he had
yet seen, proceeded onward to Pacaha, a place it would not
be easy now to locate. The Mississippi was thus explored
* Historical Coll. of Louisiana, vol. ii., p. 168.
f See the opinions collected in Bancroft, vol. i., p. 51.




xiv            HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
for a considerable distance; but far other than commercial
or colonial projects filled the mind of De Soto; he stood by
what he knew an outlet to the sea, a great artery of the continent, but his splendid array had dwindled down, and the
rich realm of De Vaca had not yet rewarded his many toils.
Nerved by despair, he marched northeast till he found himself
among the wandering Indians of the plains, with their portable
cabins. This was his highest point, and could not have been
far from the Missouri. He then turned southwest again to the
Arkansas, at the large town of Quigata, to seek guides to lead
them to the southern sea; but Coligoa beyond the mountains
tempted him to the northwest again; yet Coligoa ill-repaid their
toil; it was poorer than the well-built towns they had left
behind. Striking west and southwest again, he seems to have
once more reached the Arkansas at Cayas, and ascended it
to the town of Tanico, with its lake of hot water and saline
marshes. Turning then to the south and east, he again reached
Vicanque also on the Arkansas, and wintering there, descended it in the spring of 1542 to die on the banks of the Mississippi; after having thus explored the valley of the Arkansas,
and examined its inhabitants, who, from the scanty notices
we lave, seem quite different from those afterward found
there, and apparently an offshoot of the New Mexican tribes.*
De Soto was now dead, the expedition was abandoned,
the only object was to leave the fatal country.  Muscoso,
their new leader, despaired of reaching the gulf by the
Mississippi, and struck westward in hopes of reaching New
Spain, as De Vaca had done. In this western march of over
seven hundred miles, he explored a considerable part of the
valley of the Red river, passing by the tribes which were not
* In confining these rambles of De Soto to the valley of the Arkansas, I am
not alone; see M'Culloch's Researches, pp. 529, 531, cited by Bancroft.




OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.          XV
expelled or exterminated when the country was ultimately
explored by the French. Nazacahoz, in the province of Guasco, was the most westerly town in their march. Here they
found turquoises, pottery, and cotton mantles fiomn New Mexico, and even an Indian woman who had escaped from the
Pacific expedition, of which we shall next speak. From her
statement, and the account given by the Indians of the large
river of Daycao to the west, they marched ten days more,
and crossing this river, probably the Pecos branch of the Rio
Grande, found themselves in the country of the roving tribes.
Disheartened at the prospect before him, Muscoso returned
to the Mississippi, and ascending above Guachoya where De
Soto had died, entered at Aminoya, and working up all their
chains and iron into nails, began to build vessels to navigate
the Mississippi. The place where these first brigantines
were built, has not been clearly settled, its Indian name
Aminoya has left no trace. Here " seven brigantines were
constructed, well made, save that the planks were thin, because the nails were short, and were not pitched, nor had
any decks to keep the water from coming in. Instead of
decks, they laid planks, whereon the mariners might run to
trim their sails, and the people might refresh themselves
above and below." They were finished in June, and "it
pleased God that the flood came up to the town to seek the
brigantines, from whence they carried them by water to the
river." Thus three hundred and twenty-two Spaniards sailed
from Minoya on the 2d of July, 1543, and passing Guachoya,
were attacked by the people of Quigalta, who pursued them
for many days, and did considerable harm to the little fleet.
At last, however, on the eighteenth day they reached the
gulf of Mexico, after having sailed, as they computed, two
hundred and fifty leagues down the river. Thence, after




Xvi             HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
many dangers and hardships, the survivors coasting along
reached Tampico, whereat the viceroy and all the inhabitants of Mexico wondered," says the chronicle.*
Such is, in brief, the history of the Mississippi as explored
by De Soto, and his successor, Muscoso, the first who sailed
"Down the great river to the opening gulf."
The account they gave received additional confirmation
from the second expedition of Father Mark's from the Pacific
coast. This expedition commanded by Coronado, and guided
by the adventurous missionary, reached and took Cibola, which
proved of little value. Ascending the Colorado, tile commander left its valley and crossed the Rio Grande in search
of Quivira; a faithless guide promised him gold in all abundance, and others as faithless now led him up and down the
prairies watered by the upper branches of the Arkansas and
Platte. He was thus on the upper waters of the former river,
in 1542, at the time when Muscoso heard of him by his runaway slave; but neither trusted the accounts which he received and they did not meet. At Tiguex before lie reached
the Rio Grande, Coronado had found a "Florida Indian"
whose description of the Mississippi tallies quite well with
with that of the gentleman of Elvas.  "'This river in his
country," he said," was two leagues wide, and that they found
fish in it as large as horses, and that they had on it canoes
which could hold twenty rowers on each side: and that the
lords sat at the stern under a canopy."t At the Rio Grande,
too, Coronado heard from the Querechos, or roving Indians
of the plains, "that marching toward the rising sun, he
should meet a very great river, the banks of which he could
* For an account of De Soto's expedition, see Biedma's narrative, and that of
the gentleman of Elvas, in Historical Collections of Louisiana, vol. ii. La Florida del Inca, is a romance.
f Castanedo de Nagera in Ternaux, p. P7.




OF TIIE MISSISSISPPI RIVER.        xSii
follow ninety days without leaving inhabited country. They
added that the first village was called I-Iaxa, that the river
was more than a league wide, and that there was a great
number of canoes."*
Such clear accounts of a great river, which the party of
De Soto had found navigable for at least a thousand miles,
would naturally have drawn attention to it; but we find no
notice of any Spanish vessels entering the river to trade in
furs or slaves, or simply to explore. Accident occasionally
brought some to its banks, but these visits are few and brief,
and they led to no result. Thus, in 1553, a rich argosy from
Vera Cruz, after stopping at Havana, was wrecked on the
Florida coast, and a few survivors reached Tampico by land,
escaping from the constant and terrible attacks of the natives.t In consequence of this and other disasters the king,
in 1557, ordered the reduction of Florida, and an army of
1,500 men was fitted out two years after under Don Tristan
de Luna, who carried with him every survivor of any expedition or shipwreck in Florida, who could be found.
De Luna reached St. Mary's bay in safety, and had sent
back two vessels to announce his arrival in Florida, when a
sudden storm came on, and all his vessels were dashed to
pieces. Thus left in as miserable a state as any shipwrecked
party before, Tristan was not disheartened; he advanced to
an Indian town Nanipacna, which had been taken and
wasted by De Soto.4 Hearing very flattering accounts of the
rich country of Coosa, he despatched a party of two hundred
there, under his sargente mayor accompanied by two Dominicans. The party reached Coosa in safety, entered into an
alliance offensive and defensive with the cacique, who was
* Castanedo de Nagera in Ternaux, p. 117.  f Ensayo Crono, ad ann.
t It must be the Napetuca of the Portuguese relation, For -e Luuna, see Enst.
Cron. 1559.
B




Xviii          HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
then at war with the Nap6chies (probably the Natchlez), who
lay on the Ochechiton, or great water, which the Spaniards
took to be the sea. An expedition was soon set on foot
against the Natchez, and the cacique went at the head as
chief of Coosa never went before, on a gallant Arabian steed,
with a negro groom at his horse's head. Defeating the enemy, they reached the Ochechiton which proved to be a
mighty river, the Rio del Espiritu de Santo, in other words,
the Mississippi, thus reached again by the Spanish adventurers and missionaries. Revolts had meanwhile arisen in De
Luna's camp, and vessels soon came to bear the survivors
back to Mexico, and none now looked in hope to that fatal
quarter.
The entrance of some missionaries into New Mexico in
1580, though fatal to themselves, led to new expeditions, and
to the final establishment of Spanish colonies there; here as
before, they heard continually of the Mississippi, or Rio
Grande del Espiritu Santo, and some seem actually to have
reached it; but no steps were taken to explore it, and the Rio
Grandee is so called merely because some one mistook it for
the great river of De Soto.t
A work published in 1630,4 has indeed an account of a
Portuguese captain, Vincent Gonzalez, who is said to have
sailed up a large river between Apalache and Tampico, and
to have approached quite near the kingdom of Quivira, but
though this is supposed by the author to be the Espiritu
Santo, the notice is too vague to found any inference.
The Mississippi was now forgotten, and although explored
for at least a thousand miles, known to have at least two
* See Ensayo Chronologico, p. 1P0; and tit Bonilla Torquemada, vol. ii., p. 358.
f I have seen this fact stated, but can not now state the work.
t Benavides Memorial.




OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.            XiX
branches equal in size to the finest rivers of Spain, to be
nearly a league wide and perfectly navigable, it is laid down
on maps as an insignificant stream, often not even distinguished by its name of Espiritu Santo, and then we are left to
conjecture what petty line was intended for the great river
of the west.*
The Spaniards had thus abandoned the valley of the Mississippi, and a few years after the French at the north began
to hear of it, and it was finally reached and explored by the
Jesuit missionaries, the great pioneers of the north and west.
Quebec was founded by Champlain, in 1608. He was soon
joined by Recollect fiiars, and while he entered the Seneca
country with his Huron allies, the intrepid Father Le Caron
had ascended the Ottawa and reached the banks of Lake
Huron. Subsequently others joined him there; they invited
the Jesuits to aid them, and the tribes in the peninsula were
visited from Detroit to Niagara, and fiom Lake Nipissing to
Montreal. The capture of Canada by the English, in 1629,
defeated any further missionary efforts for a time; but it was
restored in 1632, and the Jesuits sent out to continue the missions alone. They "6 now became the first discoverers of the
greater part of the interior of this continent. They were the
first Europeans who formed a settlement on the coast of
Maine, and among the first to reach it from the St. Lawrence.
They, it was, who thoroughly explored the Saguenay, discoveredl Lake St. John, and led the way overland from Quebec to TIudson's bay. It is to one of them that we owe the
discovery of the rich and inexhaustible salt springs of Onon* An English voyage up in 1648, or thereabouts, and a Spanish one up into
New York by the Mississippi and Ohio, in 1669, have found advocates; but I
confess my skepticism. That a ship may have occasionally entered the Delta,
is not improballe, and Indian report seems to fix one somewhere near 1669.
See Sparks's Life of La Salle, Life of.larquette, Denton's New-York.




XX                HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
daga.   Within ten years of their second arrival, tiey had
completed the examination of the country from Lake Superior
to the gulf, and founded several villages of Christian neophytes on the borders of the upper lakes.      While the intercourse of the Dutch was yet confined to the Indians in the
vicinity of Fort Orange, and five years before Elliott of NewEngland had addressed a single word to the Indians within
six miles of Boston harbor the French missionaries planted
the cross at Sault Ste. Marie, whence they looked down on
the Sioux country and the valley of the Mississippi.         The
vast unknown west now opened its prairies before them.
" Fortunately the early missionaries were men of learning
and observation.    They felt deeply the importance of their
position, and while acquitting themselves of the duties of
their calling, carefully recorded the progress of events around
them."*    Year after year these accounts reached Europe,
and for a long time were regularly issued from      the press, in
the same epistolary form in which they were written.
In the history of the French colonies, they are a source
such as no other part of the country possesses.    For our present purpose, they have been invaluable; from       them  we can
trace step by step, the gradual discovery of the Mississippi.
As early as 1639, the adventurous and noble hearted sieur
Nicolet,t the interpreter of the colony had struck west of the
* O'Callaghan, Jesuit Relations.
j As we are perhaps the first to advance the claim of the sieur Nicolet, it
may not be amiss to give a meager sketch of a man too much unknown, though
he occupied an important place in the early history of Canada. He came out to
Canada in 1618, and was never from that time unemployed. Almost immediately after his coming, he was sent to the plundering Honqueronons, or Indians
of the island, above the Chaudiere falls on the Ottawa. Here he remained two
years, often suffering fiom hunger and their brutality, but finally acquired a
great knowledge of the Algonquin. After this, he was sent with four hundred
Alronquins to make'peace with the Iroquois, and completely succe'ded in his
mission. iHe was then for eight or nine years stationed among the NiissPings,
and became' almostl as Indian as they. After the restoration of Canada to France,




OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER,                    Xxi
Hlurons, and, reaching the last limit of the Algonquins, found
himself among the      Ouinipegou     (Winnebagoes), "a people
called so, because they came from a distant sea, but whom
some French erroneously called Puants," says this early account. Like the NadSeSis they spoke a language distinct from
the Huron and Algonquin. With these Nicolet entered into
friendly relations, and exploring Green bay, ascended Fox
river to its portage, and embarked on a river, flowing west;
and says Father Vimont, " the sieur Nicolet who had penetrated furthest into those distant countries, avers that had he
sailed three days more on a great river which flows from that
lake [Green bay], he would have found the sea."         This shows
that Nicolet like De Luna's lieutenant mistook for the sea, the
Indian term    Great Wcter, applied to the Mississippi.        It is
certain then, that to Nicolet is due the credit of having been
the first to reach the waters of the Mississippi.     The hope of
reaching the Pacific now aroused the courage of the missionaries, some fathers invited by the Algonquins were to be sent
to " those men of the other sea," but, adds Vimont prophetically, " Perhaps this voyage will be reserved for one of us
who have some little knowledge of the Algonquin."*
he was made interpreter and commissary of the colony, which office he filled till
he was sent, about 1639, to Green Bay, and the Men of the sea, where he met
an assembly of four or five thousand men, and concluded peace with them. It
must have been at this time that he ascended the Fox river to the Wisconsin. Returning to Quebec, he succeeded Olivier as commissary, and retained this office
till his death. In 1641, we find him with F. Ragueneau, negotiating a peace
with the Iroquois, at Three-Rivers. In 1642, sent fiom Quebec to Three-Rivers,
to rescue a poor Abenaqui from the hands of some pagan Algonquins, he set out
in a small boat on the 31st of October, at sunset with Savigni, but a storm came
on, and their little craft capsized near Sillery. Savigni swam to the shore, Nicolet, unable to swim, sank to rise no more. Thus perished, in a work of Christian charity, the sieur Nicolet, the first Frenchman who reached the waters of
the Mississippi. See Rel. 1639-'40, p. 135. Rel. 1640-'41, ch. ix. Rel. 1642-'43,
p. 8. Creuxius, p. 359.
* Rel. 1639-'40, pp. 132, 135, &e. The Lac des Puans is laid down on Champlain's map of 1632; but in all probability, only from report, as it is placed




X11l           HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
In 1641, two Jesuits from the Huron mission, the illustrious
Isaac Jogues and Charles Raymbout were actually sent to
Sault St. Mary's, and they too heard of the Sioux and the river
on which they lay, and they burned to enter those new realms
and speak that language yet unknown, which fell so strangely
on their ears now used to Huron and Algonquin sounds.*
The next year the Iroquois war broke out in all its fury;
and the missionaries bad to abandon all hopes of extending
to the west. The war proved fatal to the allies of the French;
by 1650, all Upper Canada was a desert, and not a mission,
not a single Indian was to be found, where but a few years
before the cross towered in each of their many villages, and
hundreds of fervent Christians gathered around their fifteen
missionaries. The earth still reeked with the blood of the
pastor and his flock; six missionary fathers had fallen by
the hands of the Iroquois, another had been fearfully mutilated in their hands. But scarce was there a ray of peace
when the survivors, were again summoned to the west. A
field opened on Lake Superior. Father Garreau was sent in
1656, but was killed ere he left the St. Lawrence. De Groseilles and another Frenchman, more fortunate, wintered on
the shores of the lake in 1658; they too visited the Sioux, and
from the fugitive Hurons among them heard still clearer tidings of a great river on which they had struck, as, plunging
through unknown wood and waste, over cliffs and mountains,
they had sought to escape the destructive hand of the pursuing Iroquois. "It was a beautiful river," writes the annalist,' large, broad, and deep, which would bear comparison,
they say, with our St. Lawrence." On its banks they found
the Abimi8ec, the Ilinois of later days.
north of Lake Superior, unless it is meant for Lake Winnipeg, which, like
Green bay, got its name from the Algonquin epithet for the Dacotahs, as coming from the Pacific.              * Rel. 1642, p. 166.




OF THE MIISSSSIPPI RIVER.                Xxiii
From other quarters, too, they began to hear of this great
river.  The missionaries on the Saguenay heard of the Winnipegouek, and their bay whence three seas could be reached,
the north, the south, and    the west.*    The missionaries in
New York saw Iroquois war-parties set out against the Ontoagannha whose towns " lay on a beautiful river [Ohio], which
leads to the great lake as they called the sea, where they
traded with Europeans, who pray to God as we do, and have
rosaries and bells to call men to prayers."    This sea the missionaries judged must be the gulf of Mexico, or that of California.t
Meanwhile Menard, an old Huron missionary, proceeded,
in 1660, to Lake Superior, and founded an Ottawa mission
on the southern shore.     He, too, heard of the Mississippi,
and had resolved to reach the nations on its banks, undeterred by the difficulties of the way; but a work of charity
called him to another quarter, and a death in the wilderness
arrested his projects, before which one of half his years
would have recoiled.:
His successor, Father Allouez, also heard of the great river,
" which empties," says he, "as far as I can conjecture, into
the sea by Virginia." He heard, too, of the Ilimouek, and
the Nadouessiouek; and here, for the first time, we find the
* Rel. 1659-'60, p. 61.                     f Rel. 1661-'62, p. 9.
t See his letter in Rel. 1663-'64, ch. i. Recent publications have put a Jesuit
mission on the lake, and even on the Mississippi, as early as 1653; but the Relations have not the slightest allusion to the fact, and speak of Menard as the first.
The Jesuits named as being concerned, are not mentioned either in the journal
of the superior of the mission, nor in any printed Relations, nor in Ducreux, nor
in Le Clercq. The fact of a missionary at Tamaroa prior to Marquette's voyage,
is perfectly irreconcilable with the Relations, and if established, would destroy
their authority. In this view, I will pay the most exorbitant price for any letter to or from F. Louis de Guerre, or Charles Drocoux, or any act of theirs at
Tamaroa during the period in. question, or any manuscript of the 17th century
showing their existence there.




XX1V           HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
river bear a name. "They live," says he, "on the great
river called Messipi."'*
The western mission now received new accessions, and
their hopes of entering the great river became more and more
sanguine. The distinguished Father Dablon was sent out as
superior of the Ottawa missions. A station among the Illinois
was determined upon, Father Marquette named to begin it,
and the study of the Illinois language actually begun by
that missionary. From  the accounts of a young man who
was his master in that language, he formed new conjectures as
to its mouth, and was apparently the first who heard of the
Miissouri. As to his intended voyage, lie says, "If the Indians who promise to make me a canoe do not break their
word, we shall go into this river as soon as we can with
a Frenchman and this young man given me, who knows some
of these languages, and has a readiness for learning others;
we shall visit the nations that inhabit them in order to open
the passage to so many of our fathers, who have long awaited
this happiness.  This discovery will give us a complete
knowledge of the southern or western sea."t
Meanwhile Allouez, on the 3d of November, 1669, left
Sault St. Mary's to visit Green bay; with great danger and
hardship he reached it, and spent the winter preaching to the
Pottawatomies, Menomonees, Sacs, Foxes, and Winnebagoes,
whom he found mingled there. On the 16th of April, 1670,
he began to ascend Fox river, and passing two rapids,
reached Winnebago lake, and crossing it, came to a river
" from a wild-oat lake."  He was now, however, in search of
the Outagamis, or Foxes, and turned up their river. He
found them dejected by the loss of several families carried
off by the Senecas on the banks of Lake Machihiganing (our
* Rel. 1666-'67, p. 106.            RBel. 1669-'70, p. 157.




OF THE MISSISSIPPI REVER.                XXV
Lake Michigan).     After consoling them   as he could, he explained the object of his coming, and after given them his
first general instruction in Christianity, sailed down their
river again, and continued to the town of the Machkoutench,
whom, says he, the Hurons call Assistaectaeronnous, or Fire
nation. To reach them, he traversed the lake or marsh at the
head of the Wisconsin, for they lay on that river.   " It was,"
he says," a beautiful river running southwest without any
rapid.   It leads," he says, further on, "to the great river
named Messi-sipi, which is only six days' sail from     here."
Thus had Allouez at last reached the waters of the Mississippi, as Nicolet had done thirty years before.*
There was now no difficulty in reaching it; an easier way
lay open than that from Chagoimegon. Father Dablon
wished himself to visit the spot, and in company with Allouez, he returned to Green bay, and as early as September,
in the same year, both were again at Maskoutens.t
Father Dablon had meanwhile been named superior-general of the Canada missions, and seems to have taken the
more interest in the exploring of the Mississippi by the Wisconsin, as the projected Illinois mission of Father Marquette
was, for a time at least, defeated. The peace on which they
relied was suddenly destroyed; the Sioux provoked by the
rash insolence of the Hurons and Ottawas, declared war, and
* Rel. 1669-70, p. 92.
B Rel. 1670 —'71, p. 169. At the time of drawing my notice on F. Allouez, p. 67
post, I had some doubts as to these visits of Allouez and Dablon. The former,
Allouez, is the first missionary who reached the waters of the Mississippi; he
twice ascended the Fox river in 1670, and twice overthrew the idol at Kakalin rapid. Fortunately Mr. Squier knows but little of the French missionaries
at the north, or he would not have called the good fathers infamous for thus
unseating the sacred object of the worship of the aborigines to substitute what
with whimsical archeology he calls thefictions of their own religion. Allouez is
the first to use a term at all like Michigan for the lake, and confirms my conjecture of the i lentity of the Maskoutens and Assistagueronons.




Xxvi            HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
sent back to the missionary the pictures which he had given
them. Stratagem enabled them to neutralize the advantage
which firearms gave their enemies; the Hurons and Ottawas
were completely defeated, and fugitives already before the
face of the Iroquois, they now fled again from a more terrible
foe in the west. All hopes of his Illinois mission being thus
dashed, the dejected Marquette followed his fugitive flocks,
and as the Ottawas proceeded apart to Manitoulin, he accompanied the Hurons to Mackinaw.*     Here, doubtless, a
hope of reaching the Mississippi by the Wisconsin, again
roused him, as we soon find it the burthen of his thoughts.
Fattier Dablon published the Relations of 1670-'71, and its
map of Lake Superior. In his description of the map he at
once alludes to the Mississippi. "To the south flows the
great river, which they call the Missisipi, which can have
its mouth only in the Florida sea, more than four hundred
leagues from here."t Further on he says, "I deem it proper
to set down here all we have learnt of it. It seems to encircle all our lakes, rising in the north and running to the
south, till it empties in a sea, which we take to be the Red
sea (gulf of California), or that of Florida; as we have no
knowledge of any great rivers in those parts which empty
into those two seas.t Some Indians assure us that this river
is so beautiful that more than three hundred leagues from its
mouth, it is larger than that which flows by Quebec, as they
make it more than a league wide. They say, moreover, that
all this vast extent of country is nothing but prairies, without
trees or woods, which obliges the inhabitants of those parts to
use turf and sun-dried dung for fuel, till you come about
twenty leagues from the sea. Here the forests begin to apk Rel. 1670-'71, p. 147.      ~ Rel. 1670-'1, p. 89.
t There is probably a misprint here, and it should be, "we have some Knowledge" or else he held a theory that every sea must have its great river.




OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.         XXVii
pear again. Some warriors of this country (Maskoutens), who
say that they have descended that far, assure us that they
saw men like the French, who were splitting trees with long
knives, some of whom had their house on the water, thus
they explained their meaning, speaking of sawed planks and
ships, They say besides, that all along this great river are
various towns of different nations, languages, and customs,
who all make war on each other; some are situated on the
river side, but most of them inland, continuing thus up to the
nation of the Nadouessi who are scattered over more than a
hundred leagues of country."*
The course of the Mississippi, its great features, the nature
of the country, were all known to the western missionaries and
the traders, who alone with them carried on the discovery of
the west. Among the latter was Jolliet, who in his rambles
also penetrated near the Mississippi.t As the war seemed
an obstacle to so hazardous an undertaking, the missionaries,
it would appear, urged the French court to set on foot an expedition. Marquette held himself in readiness to leave Mackinaw at the first sign of his superior's will, and at last on the
4th of June, 1672, the French minister wrote to Talon, then
intendant of Canada: "As after the increase of the colony,
there is nothing more important for the colony than the discovery of a passage to the south sea, his majesty wishes you
to give it your attention.": Talon was then about to return
to France, but recommended Jolliet to the new governor
Frontenac, who had just arrived. The latter approved the
choice, and Jolliet received his proper instructions from the
new intendant.   The Chevalier de Grand Fontaine," writes
Frontenac, on the 2d of November, " has deemed expedient
* Rel. 1670-'71, p. 175.
f Mern. of Frontenac, N. Y. Paris Doe., vol. i., p. 274.  Ibid, vol. i., p. 267.




XXviii         HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
for the service to send the sieur Jolliet to discover the south
sea by the Maskoutens country, and the great river Mississippi, which is believed to empty in the California sea. He
is a man of experience in this kind of discovery, and has already been near the great river, of which he promises to see
the mouth.5'*
Of the missionaries, two seemed entitled to the honor of
exploring the great river, Allouez, the first to reach its waters,
and Marquette named for some years missionary to the Illinois. The latter was chosen, and since his departure from
Chegoimegon, he had constantly offered up his devotions to
the blessed Virgin Immaculate, to obtain the grace of reaching the Mississippi. What was his joy when on the very
festival dearest to his heart, that of the Immaculate Conception, Jolliet arrived bearing the letters of his superiors which
bid him embark at last, in his company to carry out the design so long, and so fondly projected.
"The long-expected discovery of the Mississippi was now
at hand, to be accomplished by Jolliet of Quebec, of whom
there is scarce a record but this one excursion that gives him
immortality and by Marquette, who, after years of pious assiduity to the poor wrecks of Hurons, whom he planted near
abundant fisheries, on the cold extremity of Michigan, entered, with equal humility, upon a career which exposed his
life to perpetual danger, and by its results affected the destiny of nations."t
The winter was spent in preparation, in studying over all
that had yet been learned of the great river, in gathering
around them every Indian wanderer, and amid the tawny
group drawing their first rude map of the Mississippi, and
the water courses that led to it. And on this first map traced
* Miem. of Frontenac, N. Y. Paris Doc., vol. i., p. 2"4.  - Bancroft.




OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.          XXix
doubtless kneeling on the ground they set down the names of
each tribe they were to pass, each important point to be met.
The discovery was dangerous, but it was not to be rashl; all
was the result of calm, cool investigation, and never was
chance less concerned than in the discovery of the Mississippi.
In the spring they embarked at Mackinaw in two frail
bark canoes, each with his paddle in hand, and full of llope,
they soon plied them merrily over the crystal waters of the
lake. All was new to Marquette, and he describes as he
went along the Menomonies, Green bay, and Maskoutens,
which he reached on the 7th of June, 1673. He had now
attained the limit of former discoveries, the new world was
before them; they looked back a last adieu to the waters,
which great as the distance was, connected them with Quebec and their countrymen; they knelt on the shore to offer,
by a. new devotion, their lives, their honor, and their undertaking, to their beloved mother the Virgin Mary Immaculate;
then launching on the broad Wisconsin, sailed slowly down
its current amid its vine-clad isles, and its countless sand-bars.
No sound broke the stillness, no human form appeared, and
at last, after sailing seven days, on the 17th of June, they
happily glided into the great river. Joy that could find no
utterance in words filled the grateful heart of Mlarquette.
The broad river of the Conception, as he named it, now lay
before them, stretching away hundreds of miles to an unknown sea. Soon all was new; mountain and forest had
glided away; the islands, with their groves of cotton-wood,
became more frequent, and moose and deer browzed on the
plains; strange animals were seen traversing the river, and
monstrous fish appeared in its waters. But they pi)oceeded
on their way amid this solitfude, frightful by its utter absence




XXX            HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
of man. Descending still further, they came to the land of
the bison, or pisikiou, which, with the turkey, became sole
tenants of the wilderness; all other game had disappeared.
At last, on the 25th of June, they descried foot-prints on the
shore. They now took heart again, and Jolliet and the missionary leaving their five men in the canoes, followed a little
beaten path to discover who the tribe might be. They travelled on in silence almost to the cabin-doors, when they halted,
and with a loud hallao proclaimed their coming. Three villages lay before them; the first, roused by the cry, poured
forth its motley group, which halted at the sight of the newcomers, and the well-known dress of the missionary. Old
men came slowly on, step by measured step, bearing aloft
the all-mysterious calumet. All was silence; they stood at
last before the two Europeans, and Marquette asked, " Who
are you?"l "We are Illinois," was the answer, which dispelled all anxiety from the explorers, and sent a thrill to the
heart of Marquette; the Illinois missionary was at last amid
the children of that tribe which he had so long, so tenderly yearned to see.
After friendly greetings at this town of Pewaria, and the
neighboring one of Moing-wena, they returned to their canoes,
escorted by the wondering tribe, who gave their hardy visitants a calumet, the safeguard of the West. With renewed
courage and lighter hearts, they sailed on, and passing a high
rock with strange and monstrous forms depicted on its rugged
surface, heard in the distance the roaring as of a mighty cataract, and soon beheld Pekitanoui, or the muddy river, as the
Algonquins call the Missouri, rushing like some untamed
monster into the calm and clear Mississippi, and hurrying in
with its muddy waters the trees which it, liad rooted up in its
impetuous course. Already had thee niissionaries heard of




OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.        XXxi
the river running to the western sea to be reached by the
branches of the Mississippi, and Marquette, now better informed, fondly hoped to reach it one day by the Missouri.
But now their course lay south, and passing a dangerous
eddy, the demon of the western Indians, they marked the
Waboukigou, or Ohio, the river of the Slawnees, and still
holding on their way, came to the warm land of the cane,
and the country which the musquitoes might call their own.
While enveloped in their sails as a shelter from them, they
came upon a tribe who invited them to the shore. They were
wild wanderers, for they had guns bought of Catholic Europeans to the east.
Thus far all had been friendly, and encouraged by this
second meeting, they plied their oars anew, and amid groves
of cotton-wood on either side, descended to the 33d degree,
where, for the first time, a hostile reception seemed promised
by the excited Metchigameas. Too few to resist, their only
hope on earth was the mysterious calumet, and in heaven the
protection of Mary, to whom they sent up those fervent
prayers, which none but one who has called on her in the
hour of need can realize. At last the storm subsided, and
they were received in peace; their language formed an obstacle, but an interpreter was found, and after explaining the
object of their coming, and announcing the great truths of
Christianity, they embarked for Akamsea, a village thirty
miles below on the eastern shore.
Here they were well received, and learned that the mouth
of the river was but ten days sail from this village; but they
heard, too, of nations there trading with Europeans, and of
wars between the tribes, and the two explorers spent a night
in consultation. The Mississippi, they now saw, emptied into
the gulf of Mexico, between Florida and Tampico, two Span



xxxii          HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
ish points; they might by proceeding fall into their hands.
They resolved to return. Thus far only Marquette traced the
map, and he put down the names of other tribes of which
they heard. Of these in the Atotchasi, Matora, and Papihaka, we recognise Arkansas tribes; and the Akoroas and
Tanikwas, Pawnees and Omahas, Kansas and Apiches, are
well known in after days.
They accordingly set out from Akensea on the 17th of July
to return. Passing the Missouri again, they entered the Illinois, and meeting the fiiendly Kaskaskias at its upper
portage, were led by them in a kind of triumph to Lake Michigan, for Marquette had promised to return and instruct them
in the faith. Sailing along the lake, they crossed the outer
peninsula of Green bay, and reached the mission of St. Francis
Xavier, just four months after their departure from it.
Thus had the missionaries achieved their long-projected
work. The triumph of the age was thus completed in the
discovery and exploration of the Mississippi, which threw
open to France, the richest, most fertile, and accessible territory in the new world. Marquette, whose health had been
severely tried in this voyage, remained at St. Francis to recruit his strength before resuming his wonted missionary
labors, for he sought no laurels, he aspired to no tinsel praise.
Jolliet, who had, like Marquette, drawn up a journal and
map of his voyage, set out (probably in the spring) for Quebee, to report to the governor of Canada the result of his expedition, and took with him an Indian boy, doubtless the
young slave given them by the great chief of the Illinois.
Unfortunately, while shooting the rapids above Montreal, his
canoe turned, and~he barely escaped with his life, losing all
his papers and his Indian companion. What route he had
followed from Mackinaw, we do not know; but he seems to




OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.                   XXXiil
have descended by Detroit river, Lake Erie, and Niagara, as
Frontenac announcing his return to the government in
France, says, "he has found          admirable countries, and        so
easy a navigation by the beautiful river which he found, that
from Lake Ontario and Fort Frontenac, you can go in barks
to the gulf of Mexico, there being but one discharge to be
made at the place where Lake Erie falls into Lake Ontario."
Separated as he was from        Marquette, and deprived of his
papers by the accident, Jolliet drew up           a narrative of his
voyage from recollection, and also sketched a map which
Frontenac transmitted to France in November, 1674, three
months after Jolliet's arrival at Quebec.*       The loss of Jolliet's
narrative and map now gave the highest importance to those
* As Frontenac's memoir completely refutes the assertion of Hennepin, that
Jolliet made no report to the government, and is a monument of no little importance, as substantiating the voyage of Marquette and Jolliet we insert it in
the original, from vol. i., p. 258, of the Paris Documents at Albany.
" QUEBEC LE 14 NOVEMB., 1674.
" VI. Retour du Sr. Joliet de son voyage a la d6couverte de la mer du sud.
"Le Sr. Joliet que M. Talon m'a conseille d'envoyer a la decouverte de la mer
du sud, lorsque j'arrivai de France, en est de retour depuis trois mois et a d6couvert des pays admirables et une navigation si aisie par les belles rivieres qu'il
a trouvees que du lac Ontario et du fort Frontenac on pourrait aller en barque
jusque dans le golfe du Mexique, n'y ayant qu'une seule decharge a faire dans
l'endroit ou le Lac Erie tombe dans le Lac Ontario.
"Ce sont des projets a quoi l'on pourra travailler lorsque la paix sera bien
stablie et quand il plaira an roi de pousser ces d6couvertes.
"Ii a ete jusqu'a dix journees du golfe du Mexique et croit que les rivieres qle
du cote de l'ouest tombent dans la grande riviere qu'il a trouv6e, qui va du nau
S... et qu'on trouveroit des communications d'eaux qui meneroient a la mer
Vermeille et de la Californie.
"Ie vous envoie par mon secretaire la carte qu'il en a faite et les remarques
dont il s'est pu. souvenir, ayant perdu tous ses memoires et ses journaux dans la
naufrage qu'il fit a la vue de Montreal, ou il pensa se noyer, apres avoir fait un
voyage de douze cents lieues et perdit tous ses papiers et un petit sauvage qu'il
ramenoit de ces pays la.
"I1 avoit laisse6 dans le Lac Superieur au Sault Ste. Marie chez les Peres des
copies de ses journaux, que nous ne saurions avoir que I'annee prochaine, par ou
vous apprendrez plus de particularit6s de cette d6couverte, dont il s'est tres bien
acquitt6.                                                IFRONTENAC."
a




XXxiv           HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
in the hands of the missionaries; these Frontenac promised
to send, and Father Marquette, as we find by his autograph
letter, transmitted copies to his superior at his request, prior
to October; and the French government was, undoubtedly,
possessed, in 1675, of Marquette's journal and map, and fully
aware of the great advantage to be derived from the discoveries made, either for communicating direct with France
from Illinois, or of seeking the nearest road to the gulf of California and the Pacific, by the western tributaries of the Mississippi.  "These," says Frontenac, "are projects we can
take in hand when peace is well established, and it shall
please his majesty to carry out the exploration."
The court allowed the whole affair to pass unnoticed. Marquette's narrative was not published, and the Jesuit Relations
apparently prohibited; so that it would not, perhaps, have
seen the light to our days, had not Thevenot obtained a copy
of the narrative and a map which he published in 1681.5
France would have derived no benefit from this discovery,
but for the enterprise and persevering courage of Robert
Cavalier de la Salle. When Jolliet passed down Lake Ontario, in 1674, he stopped at Fort Frontenac where La Salle
was then commander under Frontenac. He was thus one of
the first to know the result of Jolliet's voyage, and, perhaps,
was one of the few that saw his maps and journal which
were lost before he reached the next French post. At the
time it does not seem to have made much impression on La
Salle; his great object then was to build up a fortune, and
the next year he obtained a grant of Fort Frontenac and the
monopoly of the lake trade and a patent of nobility.  His
plans failed, and instead of acquiring wealth, he found himself embarrassed by immense debts. He now looked for
* There is a copy of this original edition in the library of Harvard College.
An exact copy was printed by Mr. Rich, a few years ago.




OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.         XXXV
some new field, and by reading the accounts of the Spanish
adventurers, seems to have been the first to identify the great
river of Marquette, and Jolliet with the great river of De
Soto. The vast herds of bison seemed to him to afford an
easy means of realizing all that he could hope, by enabling
him to ship from the banks of the Missouri and Illinois direct
to France by the gulf of Mexico, cargoes of buffalo-skins and
wool. In 1677, he repaired again to France, and by the help
of Frontenac's recommendation, obtained a patent for his discovery, and a new monopoly in the following May, and by
September was in Canada with Tonty and a body of mechanics and mariners, with all things necessary for his expedition. The plan traced by Jolliet in Frontenac's despatch
of 1674, seems to have been followed by him without further
investigation. As it would be necessary to unload at the
falls of Niagara, the Onghiara, of the old missionaries, he resolved to build a new fort there, and construct vessels above
the cataract to ply on the upper lakes, and thus connect his
trading-houses on the Mississippi with Fort Frontenac, his
chief and most expensive establishment. Such was his celerity that, by the 5th of December, the first detachment of his
party entered the Niagara river, and a site was soon selected
for a fort, and for the construction of a vessel above the falls.
Difficulties with the Senecas finally compelled him to relinquish the fort, and a mere shed or storehouse was raised.
The vessel, however, went on, and he at last saw it glide
down into the rapid current of Niagara in August, 1679, amid
the admiring crowd of Indians who had gathered around the
French.
There was now no obstacle to his further progress, but we
must here regret that lie had not studied former discoveries
more narrowly. One o(f lis clear and comprehensive mind




XXXVi           HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
would have seized at once the great western branch of the
Mississippi, already known to the missionaries and the Iroquois. By his present plans he had to build one vessel above
the falls of Niagara, and a second on the Illinois river; one
on the Ohio, so easily reached by the Alleghany would have
carried him to the gulf, and he would tllus have avoided the
various troubles which so long retarded his reaching the
mouth of the Mississippi. He sailed to Green bay, but found
that he had arrayed against him all the private traders of
the west, by sending men to trade, contrary to his patent,
which expressly excepted the Ottawa country. Of this he
soon felt the effects, his men began to desert, and to crown
all his misfortunes, his new vessel, the Griffin, was lost on her
way back to Niagara. Before this catastrophe he had set out
to descend Lake Michigan. I-e built a kind of fort at the
mouth of the St. Joseph's and sounded its channel, and, at
last, in December, proceed to enter the Kankakee, a )branch
of the Illinois, by a portage fiom the St. Joseph's. Disheartened by the desertion and disaffection of his men, and by the
want of all tidings of his vessel, lie began the erection of
Fort Crevecoeur, and of a vessel near the Illinois camp below
Lake Peoria. The vessel he had finally to abandon for want
of proper materials to complete it, and he set out almost
alone for Fort Frontenac by land, after sending Father Hennepin to explore the Illinois to its mouth. That missionary
went further; voluntarily or as a prisoner of the Sionx, he
seems to have ascended as far as St. Anthony's falls, which
owe their name to him. His exploration of the Mississippi
between the Illinois river and St. Anthony's falls, took place
in 1680, between the months of March and September, when,
delivered by De Luth, lie returned to Mackinaw, and thence
in the spring almost direct to Quelec anad Europe.  By




OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.       XXXV~i
1683, he published, at Paris, an account of his voyage
under the title of Description de la Louisiane, which after
the Relations, and Marquette's narrative, is the next work
relative to the Mississippi, and contains the first printed description of that river above the mouth of the Wisconsin,
from actual observation.
La Salle returned to Illinois in 1681, and, to his surprise,
found his fort deserted. He soon after met the survivors of
his first expedition at Mackinaw, and set about new preparations for his great work. In January, 1682, he was again
with his party at the extremity of Lake Michigan, and entering the Chicago river, followed the old line of Father Marquette, reached Fort Creveceur once more, and at last began
in earnest his voyage down the Mississippi. He had abandoned the idea' of sailing down in a ship, and resolved to go
in boats, ascertain accurately the position of its mouth, and
then return to France and sail direct with a colony for the
mouth, and ascend to some convenient place. On the 6th of
February, the little expedition, apparently in three large
boats or canoes, conducted by La Salle and his lieutenants,
Tonty and Dautray, with Father Zenobius Membre, as their
chaplain, and Indians as hunters and guides, entered the
wide waters of the Mississippi, which henceforward, in the
narratives of La Salle's companions assumes the name of
Colbert. They passed the mouth of the muddy Missouri,
and further on, the deserted village of the Tamaroas, and
next the Ohio, where the marshy land began that prevented
their landing. Detained soon after by the loss of one of his
men, La Salle encamped on the bluff, and fell in with some
Chickasaws, then proceeding on, at last, on the 3d of March,
was roused by the war-cries, and the rattling drums of an
Arkansas village. He had reached the limit of Jolliet's




XXXVii        HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY
voyage; henceforward, he was to be the first French explorer. Warlike as the greeting was, La Salle soon entered
into friendly relations with them, and several days were
spent in their village. Here a cross was planted with the
arms of the French king, and the missionary endeavored, by
interpreters and signs to give some idea of Christianity.
On the 17th, La Salle embarked again, and passing two
more Arkansas towns, reached the populous tribe of the Taensas, in their houses of clay and straw, with roofs of cane,
themselves attired in mantles, woven of white pliant bark,
and showing Eastern reverence for their monarch, who in
great ceremony visited the envoys of the French.
Pursuing his course, the party next came to the Natchez,
where another cross was planted, and visiting the Koroas
proceeded on till the river divided into two branches. Following the westerly one, they sailed past the Quinipissas,
and the pillaged town of another tribe, till they reached
the delta, on the 6th of April. La Salle and his two lieutenants, each taking a separate channel, advanced, full of hope 
the brackish water, growing salter as they proceeded, being
a sure index of the sea, which they reached at last on the 9th
of April, 1682, sixty-two days after their entering the Mississippi.
The French had thus, at last, in the two expeditions of
Jolliet and La Salle, completely explored the river from the
falls of St. Anthony to the gulf of Mexico. La Salle now
planted a cross with the arms of France amid the solemn
chant of hymns of thanksgiving, and in the name of the
French king took possession of the river, of all its branches,
and the territory watered by them; and the notary drew up
an authentic act, which all signed with beating hearts, and
a leaden plate with the arms of France, and the names of




OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.           XXXix
the discoverers was amid the rattle of musketry deposited in
the earth.
La Salle now ascended again to Illinois, and despatched
Father Zenobius Membr6 to France to lay an account of his
voyage before the government. IHe sailed from Quebec on
the 15th of November with Frontenac, and the course of the
Mississippi was known in France before the close of 1682.*
The next year La Salle himself reached France, and set
out by sea to reach the mouth of the Mississippi; he never
again beheld it; but Tonty seeking him, had again descended
to the mouth, and it was soon constantly travelled by the adventurous trader, and still more adventurous missionary. A
Spanish vessel under Andrew de Pcs, entered the mouth soon
after; but, on the 2d of March, 1699, the Canadian Iberville,
more fortunate than La Salle, entered it with Father Anastasius Douay, who had accompanied that unfortunate adventurer on his last voyage.t  Missionaries from Canada soon
came to greet him, and La Sueur ascended the Mississippi to
St. Peter's river, and built a log fort on its blue-earth tributary.
Hienceforward all was progress; we might now trace the
labors of those who explored each mighty tributary, and watch
the progress of each rising town; we might follow down the
first cargo of wheat, or look with the anxiety of the day at
the first crop of sugar and of cotton; but this were to write
the history of the Mississippi valley, and we undertook only
that of its discovery.  Our work is done. We turn now to
trace the life of its first French explorers.
* The works on La Salle's voyages, besides Hennepin already noticed, are,
1. Etablisscment de la Foi, &c., par le P. Chretien Le Clercq, Paris, 1691. 2. Der
nieres decouvertes, &c., par le Chev. de Tonty, Paris, 1697. 3. Journal HIistorique,
&c., par M. Joutel, Paris, 1713.
f HiEtorical Collections of Louisiana, vol. iii., p. 14.








LIFE
OF
FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE,
OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS,
FIRST EXPLORER OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
N EAR a little branch of the river Oise, in the department
of Aisne, the traveller finds perched on the mountainside the small but stately city of Laon. Strong fortifications
without, and a vast cathedral within, show that in former
days it was one of those cities which were constantly replete
with life and movement in the endless contests between noble
and noble, and not unfrequently between the suzerain himself
and his more powerful vassal.
The most ancient family in this renowned city, is that of
Marquette, and in its long annals we find the highest civic
honors borne almost constantly by members of that illustrious
race. It already held an important place in the reign of Louis
the young, and its armorial bearings still commemorate the
devotedness of the sieur James Marquette, sheriff of Laon, to
the cause of his royal master, the unfortunate John of France,
in 1360.
A martial spirit has always characterized this citizen
family, and its members have constantly figured in the daz



xlii           LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
zling wars of France. Our own republic is not without its
obligations to the valor of the Marquettes; three of whom died
here in the French army during the Revolutionary war.
Yet not their high antiquity nor their reckless valor would
ever have given the name of Marquette to fame; the unsought tribute which it has acquired among us, is due to the
labors of one who renounced the enjoyments of country and
home to devote his days to the civilization and conversion of
our Indian tribes; who died in the bloom of youth, worn
down by toil, in a lonely, neglected spot, whose name every
effort was made to enshrine in oblivion, but who has been at
last, by the hand of strangers, raised on a lofty pedestal
among the great, the good, and the holy, who have honored
our land; the family is known to us only as connected with
Father James Marquette of the Society of Jesus, the first explorer of the Mississippi.
Born at the ancient seat of his family, in the year 1637, he
was, through his pious mother Rose de la Salle, allied to the
venerable John Baptist de la Salle, the founder of the institute known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools, whose
services in the cause of gratuitous education of the poor had
instructed thousands before any of the modern systems of
public schools had been even conceived.*  From his pious
mother the youthful Marquette imbibed that warm, generous,
and unwavering devotion to the mother of God, which makes
him so conspicuous among her servants. None but a mother
could have infused such a filial affection for Mary.
At the age of seventeen his heart, detached from this world
and all its bright allurements, impelled him to enter the Society of Jesus, as he did in the year 1654. When the two
* Devisme Histoire de la Ville de Laon. A member of his family, Francis
Marquette, founded similar schools for girls, in 1685, and the religious were commonly called Sceurs Marquette.




LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.           xliii
years of self study and examination had passed away, he was
as is usual with the young Jesuits, employed in teaching or
study, and twelve years glided away in the faithful performance of the unostentatious duties assigned him.  No
sooner, however, was he invested with the sacred character
of the priesthood, than his ardent desire to become in all
things an imitator of his chosen patron, St. Francis Xavier,
induced him to seek a mission in some land that knew not
God, that he might labor there to his latest breath, and die
unaided and alone.
The province of Champagne in which he was enrolled contained no foreign mission: he was transferred to that of
France, and, in 1666, sailed for Canada. On the 20th of
September he landed, buoyant with life and health, at Quebec, and amid his brethren awaited the new destination on
which his superiors should decide."
The moment of his arrival was one of deep interest in the
religious history of a colony, which had in its early settlement
so nobly represented the purest Catholicity, neither hampered
by civil jealousy, nor unhearted by the cold and selfish policy
of a pagan age. The halcyon days of the Canadian church
were passing away, but God had raised up one to guide and
guard his church, that is, in fact, his poor and little ones, in
the coming struggle with worldliness and policy. This was
Francis de Laval, who landed at Quebec in 1659, with the
title of bishop of Petrea, and vicar apostolic of New France.
Gradually he gathered around him a few secular priests and
began to settle the ecclesiastical affairs of the French posts,
till then mere missions in the hands of the Jesuits. At the
period of Marquette's arrival, he had already begun to see his
diocese assume a regular shape. his clergy had increased, his
* Jour. Sup. Jes.




xliv          LIFE OF FATIER MARQUETTE.
cathedral and seminary were rapidly rising. The war with
the Iroquois which had so long checked the prosperity of the
colony, and the hopes of the missionaries, was at last brought
to a successful issue by the efforts of the viceroy de Tracy,
and a new field was opened for the missions.
These had always been an object of his deep solicitude;
the wide west especially was a field which he sighed to penetrate himself, cross in hand, but this could not be. As
early as 1660, from the new impulse thus given, an Ottawa
mission was resolved upon, and the veteran Menard, one of
the last survivors of the old Huron mission, cheered by the
parting words of his holy bishop, embarked to raise the cross
of Sault St. Mary's, which his companions Jogues and Raymbaut had planted twenty years before. He bore it on to
Keweena bay in Lake Superior, and while full of projects for
reaching the Sioux on the upper Mississippi, died in the
woods, a victim to famine or the hatchet of the roving Indian.
At the time of Marquette's arrival, Father Allouez was there
exploring parts which no white man had yet visited, and as
he saw a wide field opening before his view, earnestly imploring a new missionary reinforcement.
Such was the Ottawa mission; but there were others also.
Father Jogues thus associated with the earliest western discoveries, had penetrated into New York, and reddening the
Mohawk with his life's blood, brought it within the bounds
of catholicity. From this moment New York was a land
which each missionary ambitioned; visited successively by
two more as prisoners, their sufferings and blood confirmed
the title of the missionaries, and, in 1654, Father Simon le
Moyne visited Onondaga, and gave the first account of western New York. A mission was established the next year,
and the missionaries explored the whole state from the Hud



LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE,           xlv
son to the Niagara; but a sudden change took place -a plot
was formed against the French colony at Onondaga, and this
first mission was crushed in its infancy, after a brief existence
of three years. The war which ensued made Canada itself
tremble, and a new mission in New York was not even
thought of; the attempt to renew that in Michigan is, indeed,
one of the hardiest undertakings in the annals of the Jesuit
missions, and a noble monument of their fearless zeal. But
now the tree of peace was planted, the war-parties had
ceased, and missionaries hastened to the Iroquois cantons,
which, for nearly twenty years, were to be so well instructed
in the truths of Christianity, that even now the catholic Iroquois almost outnumber the rest of their countrymen.
Another great mission of the time was that of the Abnakis,
in Maine, founded by Druillettes in 1647, and continued by
him at intervals until it became at last the permanent residence of several zealous men.
Besides these were the missions of the wandering Algonquins of the river, which centred at Sillery and Three Rivers,
but had been almost entirely destroyed by the Iroquois after
the destruction of the Huron missions and depopulation of
Upper Canada.   These expiring missions the Jesuits still
maintained; but another and a harder field was that of the
Montagnais, of which Tadoussac was the centre. Here at the
mouth of that strange river, the Saguenay, which pours its
almost fathomless tide into the shallower St. Lawrence, is the
oft-mentioned post of Tadoussac. For a few weeks each year,
it was a scene of busy, stirring life; Indians of every petty
tribe from the Esquimaux of Labrador, to the Micinac of
Nova Scotia, came to trade with the French. Here, then, a
missionary was always found to instruct them as muclh as time
permitted, and when found sufficiently acquainted with the




xlvi           LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
mysteries of our faith, to baptize them. The Christian Indian
always repaired to this post to fulfil the obligations of the
church, to lay down the burthen of sin, to receive the bread
of life, and then depart for the wilderness with his calendar
and pin to be able to distinguish the Sundays and holydays;
and thus amid the snows and crags join in the prayers and
devotions of the universal church. When the trade was over,
a new field lay before the missionary; the country was to be
traversed in every direction to carry the light of faith from
cabin to cabin, to exhort, instruct, confirm. These adventurous expeditions through parts still a wilderness, are full of interest, and, strange as it may seem, are rife with early notices
of our western country; they reached from the Saguenay to
Hudson's bay, and stretching westward, almost reached Lake
Superior.
This mission required one full of life, zeal, and courage,
and to it Father Marquette was in the first instance destined.
The Montagnais was the key language to the various tribes,
and as early as the tenth of October,* we find him starting
for Three Rivers to begin the study of that language under
Father Gabriel Druilletes. While thus engaged, his leisure
hours were of course devoted to the exercise of his ministry,
and here he remained until April, 1668, when the first project was abandoned, and he was ordered to prepare for the
Ottawa mission, as that of Lake Superior was then called.
He had by this time acquired also a knowledge of the Algonquin, and thus fitted for his new mission, he left Quebec on
the 21st of April with three companions for Montreal, where
he was to await the Ottawa flotilla, which was to bear him
westward.   A party of Nezperc6s came at last, bearing
Father Nicholas Louis, the companion of Allouez, and with
* Jour. Sup. Jes.




LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.           xlvii
them Father Marquette embarked. The journey up the Ottawa river, and through French river to Lake Iuron, and
then across that inland sea to Sault St. Mary's, has been too
often and too vividly described to need repetition here. Its
toil and danger are associated with the accounts of all the
early Huron missionaries.
When he reached Lake Superior, Marquette found that the
tribes whom fear of the Iroquois had driven to the extremity
of the lake, were now returning to their former abodes. New
missions were thus required, and it was resolved to erect two,
one at Sault St. Mary's, the otller in Green Bay. The former
was assigned to Father Marquette, and planting his cabin at
the foot of the rapid on the American side, he began his missionary career. Here, in the following year, he was joined
by Father Dablon, as superior of the Ottawa missions, and
by their united exertion, a church was soon built; and thus,
at last, a sanctuary worthy of the faith raised at that cradle
of Christianity in the west.
The tribes to which he ministered directly here were all
Algonquin, and numbered about two thousand souls. They
showed the greatest docility to his teaching, and would all
gladly have received baptism, but caution was needed, and
the prudent missionary contented himself for a time with
giving them clear, distinct instructions, and with efforts to root
out all lurking superstitions, conferring the sacrament only on
the dying. The missionary's first lesson was, " to learn to labor and to wait."*
His stay at the Sault among the Pahwitting-dach-irini,
Outchibous, Maramegs, &c., was not, however, to be of long
duration. Father Allouez departed for Green Bay, and a
missionary was to be sent to Lapointe to continue the dis* Rel. 1668-'69, p. 102.




Xlviii         LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
heartening labors of that ungrateful field. Marquette was
chosen. Without repugnance he set out for his new station
in the autumn of 1669. We can not better depict his labors
than by inserting at length the letter descriptive of his mission, which he addressed to Father Francis Le Mercier, the
superior of the missions in the following year.
"REVEREND FATHER,
" THE PEACE OF CHRIST.t
I am obliged to render you an account of the mission of
the Holy Ghost among the Ottawas, according to the orders I
received from you and again from Father Dablon on my arrival here, after a month's navigation on snow and through ice
which closed my way, and kept me in constant peril of life.
"Divine Providence having destined me to continue the
mission of the Holy Ghost begun by Father Allouez, who had
baptized the chiefs of the Kiskakonk, I arrived there on the
thirteenth of September, and went to visit the Indians who
were in the clearings which are divided into five towns. The
Hurons to the number of about four or five hundred, almost
all baptized, still preserve some little Christianity. A number of the chiefs assembled in council, were at first well
pleased to see me; but I explained that I did not yet know
their language perfectly, and that no other missionary was
coming, both because all had gone to the Iroquois, and because Father Allouez, who understood them perfectly, did
not wish to return that winter, as they did not love the prayer.enough. They acknowledged that it was a just punishment,
and during the winter held talks about it, and resolved to
amend, as they tell me.
f For the benefit of investigators of manuscripts I would remark that these
words, or the letters P. C. and a cross at the top of the page, are alone almost
sufficient to show a paper to be written by one of the Jesuit missionaries.




LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.            xlix
"The nation of the Outaouaks Sinagaux is far from the
kingdom of God, being above all other nations addicted to
lewdness, sacrifices, and juggleries.  They ridicule the
prayer, and will scarcely hear us speak of Christianity.
They are proud and undeveloped, and I think that so little
can be done with this tribe, that I have not baptized healthy
infants who seem likely to live, watching only for such as are
sick. The Indians of the Kinouche tribe declare openly that
it is not yet time. There are, however, two men among them
formerly baptized. One now rather old, is looked upon as a
kind of miracle among the Indians, having always refused to
marry, persisting in this resolution in spite of all that had
been said. He has suffered much even fiom his relatives,
but he is as little affected by this as by the loss of all the
goods which he brought last year fiom the settlement, not
having even enough left to cover him. These are hard trials
for Indians, who generally seek only to possess much in this
world. The other, a new-married young man, seems of another nature than the rest. The Indians extremely attached
to their reveries had resolved that a certain number of young
women should prostitute themselves, each to choose such
partner as she liked. No one in these cases ever refuses, as
the lives of men are supposed to depend on it. This young
Christian was called; on entering the cabin he saw the orgies
which were about to begin, and feigning illness immediately
left, and though they came to call him back, he refused to
go. His confession was as prudent as it could be, and I wondered that an Indian could live so innocently, and so nobly
profess himself a Christian. His mother and some of his
sisters are also good Christians. The Ottawas, extremely superstitious in their feasts and juggleries, seem hardened to the
instructions given them, yet they like to have their children
D




1               LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
baptized. God permitted a woman to die this winter in her
sin; her illness had been concealed from me, and I heard it
only by the report that she had asked a very imlproper dance
for her cure. I immediately went to a cabin where all the
chiefs were at a feast, and some Kiskakonk Christians among
them. To these I exposed the impiety of the woman and her
medicine-men, and gave them proper instructions.   I then
spoke to all present, and God permitted that an old Ottawa
rose to advise, granting what I asked, as it made no matter,
he said, if the woman did die. An old Christian then rose
and told the nation that they must stop the licentiousness of
their youth, and not permit Christian gills to take part in such
dances. To satisfy the woman, some child's play was substituted for the dance; but this did not prevent her dying before
morning. The dangerous state of a sick young man caused
the medicine-men to proclaim that the devil must be invoked
by extraordinary superstitions. The Christians took no part.
The actors were these jugglers and the sick man, who was
passed over great fires lighted in every cabin. It was said
that he did not feel the heat, although his body had been
greased with oil for five or six days. Men, women, and children, ran through the cabins asking as a riddle to divine
their thoughts, and the successful guesser was glad to give
the object named. I prevented the abominable lewdness so
common at the end of these diabolical rites. I do not think
they will recur, as the sick man died soon after.
"The nation of Kiskakons,e which for three years refused
to receive the gospel preached tlem by Father Allonez, re* Father Allouez, in the Relation of 1668-'69, does not use the term Kiskalkon
He calls them Queues coupes, and states that they had formerly lived on Lake
Huron, where they had been visited by the old Huron missionaries, and had been
first visited by Menard on Lake Superior. I add this to my subsequent note on
them, as it may throw some new light on their original position.




LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.            1l
solved, in the fall of 1668, to obey God. This resolution was
adopted in full council, and announced to that father who
spent four winter months instructing them. The chiefs of the
nation became Christians, and as Father Allonez was called
to another mission, he gave it to my charge to cultivate, and
I entered on it in September, 1669.
All the Christians were then in the fields harvesting their
Indian corn; they listened with pleasure when I told them
that I came to Lapointe for their sake and that of the Iurons; that they never should be abandoned, but be beloved
above all other nations, and that they and the French were
one. I had the consolation of seeing their love for the prayer
and their pride in being Clhristians. I baptized the new-born
infants, and instructed the chliefs whom I found well-disposed. The head-chtief having allowed a dog to be hung on
a pole near his cabin, which is a kind of sacrifice the Indians
make to the sun, I told him that this was wrong, and he
went and threw it down.
" A sick man instructed, but not baptized, begged me to
grant him that favor, or to live near him, as lie did not wish
medicine-men to cure him, and that he feared the fires of
hell. I prepared hiim for baptism, and firequently visited his
cabin. His joy at tlis partly restored his lealth; he thanked
me for my care, and soon after saying tlat I had recalled
him to life, gave me a little slaves he had brought from the
Ilinois two or three months before.'L One evening, wlhile in the cabin of the Christian where I
sleepl, I taughlt him to pray to his guardian-angel, and told
him soine stories to shlow hin thle assistance thley give us, especially w]henl in danger of offending God.'Nowr,' said he,'I know the invisil)le h1and that struck me when, since my
baptism, I was going to comnmit a sin, and the voice that bid




lii           LIFE OF FATHER M ARQUETTE.
me remember that I was a Christian; for I left the companion
of my guilt without committing the sin.'  He now often
speaks of devotion to the angels, and explains it to the other
Indians.
-" Some young Christian women are examples to the tribe,
and are not ashamed to profess Christianity. Marriages
among the Indians are dissolved almost as easily as they are
made, and then it is no dishonor to marry again. Hearing
that a young Christian woman abandoned by her husband
was in danger of being forced to marry by her family, I encouraged her to act as a Christian; she has kept her word.
Not a breath has been uttered against her. This conduct,
with my remonstrances, induced the husband to take her
back again at the close of winter, since which time she has
come regularly to the chapel, for she was too far off before.
She has unbosomed her conscience to me, and I admired
such a life in a young woman.
" The pagans make no feast without sacrifices, and we have
great trouble to prevent them. The Christians have now
changed these customs, and to effect it more easily, I have
retained some, suppressing only what is really bad. The
feast must open with a speech; they then address God, asking him for health and all they need, as they now give food
to men. It has pleased God to preserve all our Christians in
health except two children whom they tried to hide, and for
whom a medicine-man performed his diabolic rites, but they
died soon after my baptizing them.
Having invited the Kiskakons to come and winter near the
chapel, they left all the other tribes to gather around us so as
to be able to pray to God, be instructed, and have their
children baptized. They call themselves Christians; hence,
in all councils and important affairs, I address them, and




LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.          liii
when I wish to show them that I really wish what I ask, I
need only address them as Christians; they told me even
that they obeyed me for that reason. They have taken the
upper hands and control the three other tribes. It is a great
consolation to a missionary to see such pliancy in savages,
and thus live in such peace with his Indians, spending the
whole day in instructing them in our mysteries, and teaching
them the prayers. Neither the rigor of the winter, nor the
state of the weather, prevents their coming to the chapel;
many never let a day pass, and I was thus busily employed
from morning till night, preparing some for baptism, some for
confession, disabusing others of their reveries. The old men
told me that the young men had lost their senses, and that I
must stop their excesses. I often spoke to them of their
daughters, urging them to prevent their being visited at
night. I knew almost all that passed in two tribes near us,
but though others were spoken of, I never heard anything
against the Christian women, and when I spoke to the old
men about their daughters, they told me that they prayed to
God. I often inculcated this, knowing the importunities
to which they are constantly exposed, and the courage they
need to resist. They have learned to be modest, and the
French who have seen them, perceive how little they resemble the others, from whom they are thus distinguished.
"One day instructing the old people in my cabin, and
speaking of the creation of the world, and various stories from
the Old Testament, they told me what they had formerly believed, but now treat as a fable. They have some knowledge
of the tower of Babel, saying that their ancestors had related
that they had formerly made a great house, but that a violent
wind had thrown it down. They now despise all the little
gods they had before they were baptized: they often ridicule




liv            LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
them, and wonder at their stupidity in sacrificing to these
subjects of their fables.
"I baptized an adult after a long trial. Seeing his assiduity at prayer, his frankness in recounting his past life, his
promises especially with regard to the other sex, and his assurance of good conduct, I yielded to his entreaty. He has
persevered, and since his return from fishing, comes regularly
to chapel. After Easter, all the Indians dispersed to seek
subsistence; they promised me that they would not forget
the prayer, and earnestly begged that a father should come in
the fall when they assemble again. This will be granted,
and if it please God to send some father, he will take my
place, while I, to execute the orders of our father superior,
will go and begin my Ilinois mission.
" The Ilinois are thirty days' journey by land from Lapointe
by a difficult road; they lie south-southwest of it. On the
way you pass the nation of the Ketchigamins, who live in
more than twenty large cabins; they are inland, and seek to
have intercourse with the French, from whom they hope to
get axes, knives, and ironware. So much do they fear them
that they unbound from the stake two Ilinois captives, who
said, when about to be burned, that the Frenchman had declared he wished peace all over the world. You pass then to
the Miamiwek, and by great deserts reach the Ilinois, who
are assembled chiefly in two towns, containing more than
eight or nine thousand souls. These people are well enough
disposed to receive Christianity. Since Father Allouez spoke
to them at Lapointe, to adore one God, they have begun to
abandon their false worship, for they adored the sun and
thunder. Those seen by me are of apparently good disposition; they are not night-runners like the other Indians. A
man kills his wife, if he finds her unfaithful; they are less




LIFE OF FATIER MARQUETTE.            Iv
prodigal in sacrifices, and prpmise me to embrace Christianity, and do all I require in their country. In this view,
the Ottawas gave me a young man recently come fiom their
country, who initiated me to some extent in their language
during the leisure given me in the winter by the Indians at
Lapointe. I could scarcely understand it, though there is
something of the Algonquin in it; yet I hope by the help of
God's grace to understand, and be understood if God by his
goodness leads me to that country.' No one must hope to escape crosses in our missions, and
the best means to live happy is not to fear them, but in the
enjoyment of little crosses, hope for others still greater. The
Ilinois desire us, like Indians, to share their miseries, and
suffer all that can be imagined in barbarism. They are lost
sheep to be sought amid woods and thorns, especially when
they call so piteously to be rescued from the jaws of the
wolf. Such really can I call their entreaties to me this winter. They have actually gone this spring to notify the old
men to come for me in the fall.
"' The Ilinois always come by land. They sow maize which
they have in great plenty; they have pumpkins as large as
those of France, and plenty of roots and fruit. The chase is
very abundant in wild-cattle, bears, stags, turkeys, duck, bustard, wild-pigeon, and cranes. They leave their towns at
certain times every year to go to their hunting-grounds together, so as to be better able to resist, if attacked. They believe that I will spread peace everywhere, if I go, and then
only the young will go to hunt.
" When the Ilinois come to Lapointe, they pass a large
river almost a league wide. It runs north and south, and so
far that the Ilinois, who do not know what canoes are, have
never yet heard of its mouth; they only know that there are




Ivi           LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
very great nations below them, some of whom raise two
crops of maize a year. East-south-east of the country is a nation they call Chawanon, which came to visit them last summer. The young man given me who teaches me the language saw them; they wear beads, which shows intercourse
with Europeans; they had come thirty days across land before reaching their country. This great river can hardly
empty in Virginia, and we rather believe that its mouth is in
California. If the Indians who promise to make me a canoe
do not fail to keep their word, we shall go into this river as
soon as we can with a Frenchman and this young man given
me, who knows some of these languages, and has a readiness
for learning others; we shall visit the nations which inhabit
it, in order to open the way to so many of our fathers, who
have long awaited this happiness. This discovery will give
us a complete knowledge of the southern or western sea.
" Six or seven days below the Ilois (sic) is another great
river (Missouri), on which are prodigious nations, who use
wooden canoes; we can not write more till next year, if God
does us the grace to lead us there.
The Ilinois are warriors; they make many slaves whom
they sell to the Ottawas for guns, powder, kettles, axes, and
knives. They were formerly at war with the Nadouessi, but
having made peace some years since, I confirmed it, to facilitate their coming to Lapointe, where I am going to await
them, in order to accompany them to their country.
The Nadouessi are the Iroquois of this country beyond Lapointe, but less faithless, and never attack till attacked. They
lie southwest of the mission of the Holy Ghost, and are a
great nation, though we have not yet visited them, having
confined ourselves to the conversion of the Ottawas. They
fear the Frenchman, because he brings iron into their coun



LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.           llii
try. Their language is entirely different from the Huron and
Algonquin; they have many towns, but they are widely scattered; they have very extraordinary customs; they principally adore the calumet; they do not speak at great feasts,
and when a stranger arrives, give him to eat with a wooden
fork as we would a child. All the lake tribes make war
on them, but with small success; they have false oats, use
little canoes, and keep their word strictly. I sent them a
present by an interpreter, to tell them  to recognise the
Frenchman everywhere, and not kill him or the Indians in
his company; that the black-gown wished to pass to the
country of the Assinipoiiars, to that of the Kilistinaux; that
he was already at Outagamis, and that I was going this fall
to the Ilinois, to whom they should leave a free passage.
They agreed; but as for my present waited till all came from
the chase, promising to come to Lapointe in the fall, to hold
a council with the Ilinois and speak to me. Would that all
these nations loved God, as much as they fear the French!
Christianity would soon flourish.
"The Assinipoiiars, whose language is almost that of the
Nadouessi, are toward the west from the mission of the Holy
Ghost; some are fifteen or twenty days off on a lake where
they have false oats and abundant fishery.  I have heard
that there is in their country a great river running to the
western sea, and an Indian told me that at its mouth he saw
Frenchmen, and four large canoes with sails.*'The Kilistinaux are a nomad people, whose rendezvous
we do not yet know. It is northwest of the mission of the
Holy Ghost; they are always in the woods, and live solely
by their bow. They passed by the mission where I was last
fall in two hundred canoes, coming to buy merchandise and
* This is not the first indication of the Columbia.




Iviii         LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
corn, after which they go to winter in the woods; in the
spring I saw them again on the shore of the lake."*
Such is the substance of his letter as it has reached us, and
shows us the hopes which Marquette entertained of reaching
in the fall of that year, the Ilinois mission to which he had
been appointed and for which he was now prepared by his
knowledge of their language. If the Sioux and Ilinois met
him at Lapointe in the fall, nothing was concluded; and the
missionary did not begin his overland journey to the lodges
of the Ilinois. It is not, however, probable that the meeting
took place; for early in the winter the Sioux, provoked by
the insolence of the Iturons and Ottawas, declared war, and
first sent back to the missionaries the pious pictures which he
had sent them as a present. Their war parties now came on in
their might, and the Indians of Lapointe trembled before the
fierce Dahcotah with his knives of stone stuck in his belt, and
in his long, black hair. In the spring both HIuron and Ottawa resolved to leave so dangerous a neighborhood; the
latter were the first to launch upon the lake, and they soon
made their way to Ekaentouton island. Father Marquette,
whose missionary efforts had been neutralized by the unsettled state of his neophytes, and the concentration of their
thoughts on the all-engrossing war, was now left alone with
the H-urons. With both he had more to suffer than to do;
and now he was at last compelled to leave Lapointe, and turn
his back on his beloved Ilinois to accompany his HIurons in
their wanderings and hardships. The remnant of a mighty
nation resolved once more to commit themselves to the waves
and seek a new home: with their faithful missionary they all
embarked in their frail canoes, and now for the first time
* Rel. 1669'-70, Ottawa part.




LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.             lix
turned toward their ancient home. Fain would they have
revisited the scenes of Huron power, the land of the fur-lined
graves of their ancestors; fain too would the missionary have
gone to spend his surviving years on the ground hallowed by
the blood of Daniel, Brebeuf, Lalemant, Garnier, and Chabanel, but the power of the Iroquois was still too great to justify
the step, and the fugitives remembering the rich fisheries of
Mackinaw, resolved to return to that pebbly strand.
But who, the reader may ask, were the Hurons with whom
the missionary's career seems thus linked, yet who at first
were not the special object of his care. It is a tale worthy
of an historian.
The Wendats, whom the French called Hurons and the
English Wyandots, are a nation of the same stock as the Iroquois.?  They were one of the first tribes known to the
French, to whom they always remained closely united. They
were a trading people, and their many fortified towns lay in
a very narrow strip on Georgian Bay, a territory smaller than
the state of Delaware. Between the west and southwest lay
in the mountains the kindred tribe of the industrious Tionontates, whose luxuriant fields of tobacco, won them fiom the
early French the name of Petuns, while south of both, from
Lake St. Claire to Niagara and even slightly beyond were the
allied tribes, which from the connection between their language and that of the Hurons, were called by the latter Attiwandaronk, but Neutral by the French, from their standing
aloof in the great war waged by the Iroquois against the
Hurons and Algonquins.
No sooner had the French founded Quebec than the Franciscan missionaries attempted the conversion of the Hurons.
* Champlain (Ed. 1613, p. 238), calls the Hurons les bons Yroquois, as distinguished from the other Yroquois enemies.




lIX  ~     LIFE OF FATHER MARQTUETTE
Father Joseph Le Caron, the founder of that mission, win
tered among them in 1615, and in subsequent years other
recollects did their best to prepare them for the faith. The
Jesuits were at last called in by the recollects to aid them,
and laboring together in harmony, they looked forward with
sanguine hope to the speedy conversion of the Hurons and
Neuters, for they, too, were visited, when all their prospects
were blasted by the English conquest of Canada, in 1629.
On its restoration the French court offered the Canada missions to the Capucins, but, on their recommendation, committed it to the Jesuits alone. Brebeuf, for the second time,
reached Upper Canada, and labored zealously on till the Huron nation was annihilated by the Iroquois. Twenty-one missionaries at different times came to share his toils, and of
these eight like himself perished by hostile hands, martyrs to
their faith and zeal, a nobler body of heroes than any other
part of our country can boast. On the deaths of Brebeuf and
Garnier, in 1650, the ruin of the Hurons and Petuns was consummated. The survivors fled and blended into one tribe,
soon divided into two great parties, one composed entirely of
Christians, repairing to Quebec to settle on Orleans island,
whose descendants are still lingering at Lorette; the other,
part Christians, part pagans, fled at last to Mackinaw, but
pursued constantly by the Iroquois, they next settled on some
islands at the mouth of Green Bay, where they seem to have
been in Menard's time; later still, after roaming to the lodges
of the Sioux on the Mississippi, they came to pitch their
cabins by the mission cross planted by Allouez, at Chegoimegon,* and here Marquette had found them. Such is the tale
of their wanderings, till the period of our narrative.t
* Ret. 1671-'72.
fJ Their subsequent wanderings are to Detroit, Sandusky, and at last to Indian
territory, where the descendants of Marquette's flock still exist, the smallest but
wealthiest band of deported Indians.




LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.             1xi
Mackinaw, where they now rested, was indeed a bleak
spot to begin a new home; it was a point of land almost
encompassed by wind-tossed lakes, icy as Siberian waters.
The cold was intense, and cultivation difficult; but the waters
teemed with fish, and the very danger and hardships of their
capture gave it new zest. Besides this, it was a central point
for trade, and so additionally recommended to the Huron,
who still, as of old, sought to advance his worldly prospects
by commerce.
Stationed in this new spot, Father Marquette's first care was
to raise a chapel. Rude and unshapely was the first sylvan
shrine raised by catholicity at Mackinaw; its sides of logs, its
roof of bark had nothing to impress the senses, nothing to win
by a dazzling exterior the wayward child of the forest; all
was as simple as the faith he taught. Such was the origin
of the mission of St. Ignatius, or Michilimackinac, already in
a manner begun the previous year by missionary labors on
the island of that name.*  The Hurons soon built near the
chapel a palisade fort, less stout and skilful indeed than the
fortresses found in among their kindred Iroquois by Cartier
and Champlain, but in their declining state sufficient for their
defence.
No details of Marquette's labors during the first year have
reached us; he wrote no letters to recount his wanderings,but of the second year we are better informed. An unpublished manuscript gives us the following letter addressed to
Father Dablon:"REV. FATHER:-'The Hurons, called Tionnontateronnons or Petun nation,
who compose the mission of St. Ignatius at Michilianakinong
began last year near the chlapel a fort enclosing all their
*.el, 1670-'71, p. 144.




lxii          TIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
cabins. They have come regularly to prayers, and have listened more readily to the instructions I gave them, consenting to what I required to prevent their disorders and abominable customs. We must have patience with untutored
minds, who know only the devil, who like their ancestors have
been his slaves, and who often relapse into the sins in which
they were nurtured. God alone can fix these fickle minds,
and place and keep them in his grace, and touch their hearts
while we stammer at their ears.
" The Tionnontateronnons number this year three hundred
and eighty souls, and besides sixty Outaonasinagaux have
joined them. Some of these came fiomn the mission of St.
Francis Xavier, where Father Andre wintered with them
last year; they are quite changed fiom what I saw them at
Lapointe; the zeal and patience of that missionary have
gained to the faith those hearts which seemed to us most
averse to it. They now wish to be Christians; they bring
their children to the chapel to be baptized, and come regularly to prayers.
"Having been obliged to go to St. Marie du Sault with
Father Allouez last summer, the Hurons came to the chapel
during my absence as regularly as if I had been there, the
girls singing what prayers they knew. They counted the days
of my absence, and constantly asked when I was to be back;
I was absent only fourteen days, and on my arrival all assembled at chapel, some coming even firom their fields, which
are at a very considerable distance.
" I went readily to their pumplkin-feast, where I instructed
them, and invited them to thlank God, who gave them food
in plenty, while other tribes that had not yet embraced
Christianity, were actually str',lggling withl famine. I ridiculed drleanls, and Irged tiose Nwhlo lfad bIeen baptized to ac



LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.          1]iii
knowledge Him, whose adopted children they were. Those
who gave the feast, though still idolaters, spoke in high terms
of Christianity, and openly made the sign of the cross before
all present. Some young men, whom they had tried by ridicule to prevent fiom doing it, persevered, and make the sign
of the cross in the greatest assemblies, even when I am not
present.
"An Indian of distinction among the Hurons, having invited me to a feast where the chiefs were, called them severally by name and told them that he wished to declare his
thoughts, that all might know it, namely, that he was a
Christian; that he renounced the god of dreams and all their
lewd dances; that the black-gown was master of his cabin;
and that for nothing that might happen would he forsake his
resolution. Delighted to hear this, I spoke more strongly
than I had ever yet done, telling them that my only design
was to put them in the way of heaven; that for this alone I
remained among them; that this obliged me to assist them
at the peril of my life. As soon as anything is said in an assembly, it is immediately divulged through all the cabins,
as I saw in this case by the assiduity of some in coming
to prayers, and by the malicious efforts of others to neutralize
my instructions.
"Severe as the winter is, it does not prevent the Indians
from coming to the chapel. Some come twice a day, be the
wind or cold what it may. Last fall I began to instruct some
to make general confessions of their whole life, and to prepare
others who had never confessed since their baptism. I would
not have supposed that Indians could have given so exact an
account of all that had happened in the course of their life;
but it was seriously done, as some took two weeks to examine
themselves. Since tlen, I have perceived a marked change,




lxiv          LIFE OF FI-THER MARQUETTE.
so that they will not go even to ordinary feasts without asking my permission.
" I have this year baptized twenty-eight children, one of
which had been brought from Ste. Marie du Sault, without
having received that sacrament as the Rev. F. Henry Nouvel
informed me, to put me on my guard. Without my knowing
it, the child fell sick, but God permitted that while instructing in my cabin two important and sensible Indians, one
asked me, whether such a sick child was baptized. I went
at once, baptized it, and it died the next night. Some of the
other children too are dead, and now in heaven. These are
the consolations which God sends us, which make us esteem
our life more happy as it is more wretched.
"This, rev. father, is all I give about this mission, where
minds are now more mild, tractable, and better disposed to
receive instructions, than in any other part. I am ready,
however, to leave it in the hands of another missionary to go
on your order to seek new nations toward the south sea who
are still unknown to us, and to teach them of our great God
whom they have hitherto unknown.""
Such was the laborious post to which this talented, yet
humble missionary condemned himself, daily subjected to the
caprices of some, the insults and petty persecution of others,
looking only to another world for the reward of labors which,
crowned with the most complete success, would in the eyes
of the world seem unimportant; but " motives are the test of
merit," and convinced by the studies of riper years, no less
than by the early teachings of a mother, that the baptismal
promises were a reality, he sought to open by that sacrament
the doors of bliss to the dying infant, or more aged but reMS Rt. 16^72-'3.




LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.           1XV
penting sinner. To him the salvation of a single soul was
more grand and noble than the conquest of an empire, and
thus borne up, he labored on.
This letter of which the date is not given, nor the closing
words, must have been written in the summer of 1672, and
transmitted to Quebec by the Ottawa flotilla. The same conveyance, doubtless, brought him back the assurance that his
prayers had been heard, that the government had at last resolved to act in the matter, and that he was the missionary
selected to accompany the expedition. His heart exulted at
the prospect, though he foresaw the danger to which he was
exposed, a health already shaken by his toils and hardships,
a difficult and unknown way, the only nation known-the
fierce Dahcotah —now hostile to the French and their allies,
with many another tribe noted in Indian story for deeds of
blood, closed up their path.  But this did not alarm him.
The hope of a glorious martyrdom while opening the' way to
future heralds of the cross, buoyed him up, though in his humility he never spoke of martyrdom. To him it was but "a
death to cease to offend God."
This now engrossed his thoughts, and he waited with anxiety the coming of Jolliet, named to undertake the expedition.
At last he arrived, and by a happy coincidence on the feast
of the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin, " whom,"
says the pious missionary, "I had always invoked since my
coming to the Ottawa country, in order to obtain of God the
favor of being able to visit the nations on the Missisipi
river."
The winter was spent in the necessary arrangements, regulating the affairs of his mission, which he left, it would seem,
in the hands of Father Pierson, and in drawing up the maps
and statements which Indian narrators could enable them to
E




IXVi           LIFE OF FATHIER MARQUETTE.
form. At last, on the 17th of May, 1673, they embarked
in two canoes at Mackinaw, and proceeded to Green Bay,
whence ascending tlle Fox river they at last reached the
Wisconsin by its portage, and glided down to the Mississippi.
We need not here detail this remarkable voyage, the first
down the great river, as his whole narrative is contained in
the volume. Sufficient to say, that with Jolliet he descended
to the Arkansas, and having thus ascertained the situation of
the mouth, and the perfect navigability of the river, reascended it as far as the mouth of the Ilinois, into which they
turned, and by a portage reached Lake Michigan, and in September arrived without accident at the mission in Green Bay.
In this voyage he twice met the Peoria tribe of the Ilinois,
and baptized one dying child at the water's edge, as he left
them finally. He also passed the Kaskaskia tribe of the
same nation on the upper waters of the Ilinois, and having
been already named an Ilinois missionary, he yielded to their
earnest entreaties, and promised to return and begin a mission among them.   Hie had now reached Green Bay, but
his health had given way; he was prostrated by disease, and'was not completely restored before the close of the following
summer. By the Ottawa flotilla of that year he transmitted
to his superior copies of his journal down the Mississippi, and
doubtless the map which we now publish. The return of the
fleet of canoes brought him the necessary orders for the establishment of the Ilinois mission; and as his health was now
restored, he set out on the 25th of October, 1674, for Kaskaskia. The line of travel at that time was to coast along to the
mouth of Fox river, then turn up as far as the little bay
which nearly intersects the peninsula, where a portage was
made to the lake. This was the route now taken by Mar* See his narrative in this volume.




LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.          Ixvii
quette with two men to aid him, accompanied by a number
of Pottawotamies and Illinois. Reaching the lake, the canoes
coasted along slowly, the missionary often proceeding on foot
along the beautiful beach, embalrking only at the rivers. He
represents the navigation of tile lake as easy; " there being,"
says lie, "no portage to make, and the landing easy, provided
you do not persist in sailing when the winds and waves are
higll."  Tlle soil except in the prairies was poor, but the
chase was abundant, and they were thus well supplied.
In spite of all hIis courage, lie was at last unable to proceed;
by the 23d of November his malady had returned, and though
he continued to advance, exposed to the cold and snows, when
he reached Chlicago river on the 4th of December, he found
the river closed, and himnself too much reduced to be able to
attempt that winter march by land. There was no alternative but to winter there alone, and accordingly instructing his
Indian companions as far as time allowed, they went their
way, and lie remained with his two men at the portage.
Within fifty miles of them were two other Frencihmen, trappers and traders, one of whom was a surgeon at least in name,
and still nearer an Illinois village. The former had prepared
a cabin for the missionary, and one came now to visit him,
being informed of his ill health; the Indians who had also
heard it, wished to send a party to carry him and all his baggage, fearing that lie might suffer from want. The good missionary, charmed at their solicitude, sent to reassure them on
that head, although lie was forced to tell them that if his malady continued, le would find it difficult to visit them even in
the spring.
Alarmed at this, tihe sachems of the tribe assembled and
deputed three to visit the blalkgown, bearing three sacks of
corn,, dried meat and pmlltkillns, and twelve beaver-sikins;




lxviii         LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
first, to make him a mat; second, to ask him for powder;
third, to prevent his being hungry; fourth, to get some merchandise. "I answered them," says Marquette in his last
letter, " first, that I came to instruct them by speaking of the
prayer; second, that I would not give them powder, as we
endeavor to make peace everywhere, and because I did not
wish them to begin a war against the Miamis; third, that we
did not fear famine; fourth, that I would encourage the
French to bring them merchandise, and that they must make
reparation to the traders there for the beads taken from them,
while the surgeon was with me." The missionary then gave
them some axes, knives, and tlinkets, in return for their presents, and as a mark of his gratitude for their coming twenty
leagues to visit him. Before lie dismissed them, he promised
to make every effort to reach the village, were it but for a few
days. "On this," says he, "they bid me take heart and stay
and die in their country, as I had promised to remain a long
time," and they returned to their winter-camps.
Despairing now of being able to reach his destined goal
without the interposition of Heaven, the missionary turned to
the patroness of his mission, the blessed Virgin Immaculate,
and with his two companions began a novena in her honor.
Nor was his trust belied; God heard his prayer, his illness
ceased, and though still weak, lie gradually gained strength,
and when the opening of the river and the consequent inundation compelled them to remove, lie again resumed his long
interrupted voyage to Kaskaskia, then on the upper waters
of the Illinois river.
During this painful wintering, which for all his expressions of comfort, was one of great hardship and suffering, his
hours were chiefly spent in prayer. Convinced that the term
of his existence was drawing rapidly to a close, he consecrated




LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.           lxix
this period of quiet to the exercises of a spiritual retreat, in
which his soul overflowed with heavenly consolations, as
rising above its frail and now tottering tenement, it soared
toward that glorious home it was so soon to enter.
The journal of his last voyage* comes down to the sixth of
April, when the weather arrested his progress; two days
after he reached Kaskaskia, where he was received as an
angel from heaven. It was now Monday in holy week, and
he instantly began his preliminary instructions, assembling
for that purpose the chiefs and old men, and going from
cabin to cabin where new crowds constantly gathered. When
he had thus prepared all to understand his meaning and object, he convoked a general assembly in the open prairie on
Maunday-Thursday, and raising a rustic altar, adorned it
with pictures of the blessed Virgin, under whose invocation
he had placed his new mission; he turned to the assembled
chiefs and warriors, and the whole tribe seated or standing
around, and by ten presents declared the object of his
coming, and the nature of the faith he bore, explaining the
principal mysteries of religion, and especially the mystery of
redemption, the incarnation and death of the Son of God,
which the church then commemorated. He then celebrated
mass for the first time in his new mission, and during the following days renewed his separate instructions. After celebrating the great festival of Easter, his malady began to appear once more, and he felt that the period granted to his
earnest prayers was ended. The sole object to which he had
for years directed all the aspirations of his heart was now attained. Ile had actually begun his Illinois mission; he had
given them the first rudiments of instruction in public and in
private; he had twice in their midst offered up the adorable
* Printed in the appendix of this volume.




lxX            LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
sacrifice; there was no more to be asked on earth; he was
content to die.
In hopes of reaching his former mission of Mackinaw to
die with his religious brethren around him, fortified by the
last rites of the church, he set out escorted to the lake by the
Kaskaskias, to whom he promised that he, or some other missionary should soon resume his labors.
He seems to have taken the way by the St. Joseph's river,
and reached the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, along which
he had not yet sailed. His strength now gradually failed,
and he was at last so weak that he had to be lifted in and
out of his canoe when they landed each night. Calmly and
cheerfully he saw the approach of death, for which he prepared by assiduous prayer; his office he regularly recited to
the last day of his life; a meditation on death, which he had
long since prepared for this hour, he now made the subject
of his thoughts; and as his kind but simple companions
seemed overwhelmed at the prospect of their approaching
loss, he blessed some water with the usual ceremonies, gave
his companions directions how to act in his last moments, how
to arrange his body when dead, and to commit it to the earth,
with the ceremonies he prescribed. He now seemed but to
seek a grave; at last perceiving the mouth of a river which
still bears his name, he pointed to an eminence as the place
of his burial.
His companions, Peter Porteret and James —, still hoped
to reach Mackinaw, but the wind drove them back, and they
entered the river by the channel, where it emptied then, for
it has since changed. They erected a little bark cabin, and
stretched the dying missionary beneath it, as comfortably as
their want permitted them. Still a priest, rather than a man,
he thought of his ministry, and, for the last time, heard the




LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.            Ixxi
confessions of his companions, and encouraged them to rely
with confidence on the protection of God, then sent them to
take the repose they so much needed.  When he felt his
agony approaching he called them, and taking his crucifix
from around his neck, he placed it in their hands, and pronouncing in a firm voice his profession of faith, thanked the
Almighty for the favor of permitting him to die a Jesuit, a
missionary and alone. Then he relapsed into silence, interrupted only by his pious aspirations, till at last, with the
names of Jesus and Mary on his lips, with his eyes raised as
if in ecstacy above his crucifix, with his face all radiant with
joy, he passed from the scene of his labors to the God who
was to be his reward. Obedient to his directions his companions, when the first outbursts of grief were over, laid out
the body for burial, and to the sound of his little chapel-bell,
bore it slowly to the point which he had pointed out. Here
they committed his body to the earth, and raising a cross
above it, returned to their now desolate cabin.
Such was the edifying and holy death of the illustrious explorer of the Mississippi, on Saturday, the 18th of lMay, 1675.
He was of a cheerful, joyous disposition, playful even in his
manner, and universally beloved. His letters show him to
us a man of education, close observation, sound sense, strict
integrity, a freedom from exaggeration, and yet a vein of
humor which here and there breaks out, in spite of all his
self-command.
IBut all these qualities are little compared to his zeal as a.
missionary, to his sanctity as a man. His holiness drew on
him in life the veneration of all around him, and the lapse of
years has not even now destroyed it in the descendants of
those who knew him.@  In one of his sanctity, we naturally
* It led to the romantic tales which have even found their way into sober
history. The missionaries in the west now hear the same account as that which
Charlevoix believed and inserted.




lxxii         LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
find an all-absorbing devotion to the mother of the Savior,
with its constant attendants, an angelical love of purity, and
a close union of the heart with God. It is, indeed, cllaracteristic of him. The privilege which the church honors under
the title of the Immaculate Conception, was the constant object of his thoughts; from his earliest youth, he daily recited
the little office of the Immaculate Conception, and fasted
every Saturday in her honor. As a missionary, a variety of
devotions directed to the same end still show his devotions
and to her he turned in all his trials. When he discovered
the great river, when he founded his new mission, he gave it
the name of the Conception, and no letter, it is said, ever
came from his hand that did not contain the words, " Blessed
Virgin Immaculate," and the smile that lighted up his dying
face, induced his poor companions to believe that she had
appeared before the eyes of her devoted client.
Like St. Francis Xavier, whom he especially chose as the
model of his missionary career, he labored nine years for the
moral and social improvement of nations sunk in paganism
and vice, and as he was alternately with. tribes of varied
tongues, found it was necessary to acquire a knowledge of
many American languages; six he certainly spoke with ease;
many more he is known to have understood less perfectly.
His death, however, was as he had always desired, more like
that of the apostle of the Indies; there is, indeed, a striking
resemblance between their last moments, and the wretched
cabin, the desert shore, the few destitute companions, the
lonely grave, all harmonize in Michigan and Sancian.
He was buried as he had directed on a rising ground near
the little river, and a cross raised above his grave showed
to all the place of his rest. The Indians soon knew it, and
two years after his death, and almost on the very anniversary




LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.          lxxiii
his own flock, the Kiskakons, returning from  their hunt
stopped there, and with Indian ideas, resolved to disinter
their father, and bear his revered bones to their mission. At
once they did so; the bones were placed in a neat box of
bark, and the flotilla now become a funeral convoy, proceeded on its way; the missionary thus accomplishing in
death the voyage which life had not enabled him to terminate.
A party of Iroquois joined them, and as they advanced to
Mackinaw, other canoes shot out to meet them with the two
missionaries of the place, and there upon the waters rose the
solemn De Profundis, continued till the body reached the land.
It was then borne to the church with cross, and prayer, and
tapers burning like his zeal, and incense rising like his aspirations to heaven; in the church a pall had been arranged in
the usual form for a coffin, and beneath it was placed the
little box of bark, which was next, after a solemn service,
deposited in a little vault in the middle of the church,
"where," says our chronicler, "he reposes as the guardianangel of our Ottawa missions."
There he still reposes, for I find no trace of any subsequent
removal; vague tradition, like that of his death as given by
Charlevoix and others, would indeed still place him at the
mouth of his river; but it is certain that he was transferred
to the church of old Mackinaw, in 1677. This church was, as
I judge from a manuscript Relation (1675), erected subsequent
to the departure of Marquette from Mackinaw, and probably
about 1674. The founding of the post of Detroit drew from
Mackinaw the Christian Hurons and Ottawas, and the place
became deserted. Despairing of being able to produce any
good among the few pagan Indians, and almost as pagan
coureurs-de-bois who still lingered there, the missionaries resolved to abandon the post, and set fire to their church in or




Ixxiv          LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
about the year 1706. Another was subsequently erected, but
this too has long since disappeared.The history of his narrative and map are almost as curious
as that of his body. We have seen that he transmitted copies
to his superior, and went to his last mission. Frontenac had
promised to send a copy to the government, and in all probability he did. At this moment the publication of the Jesuit
Relations ceases; though not from choice on their part as the
manuscript of the year 1672-'73 prepared for the press by
Father Dablon, still exists; it could not have been from any
difficulty on the part of the printer, as the announcement of
the expedition to the Mississippi would have given it circulation, even though the journal itself were reserved for the next
year. To the French government then we must attribute the
non-publication of further relations, the more so, as they neglected to produce the narrative of Marquette in their possession. The whole might have fallen into perfect oblivion, had
not the narrative come into the hands of Thevenot who had
just published a collection of travels; struck with the importance of this, he issued a new volume in 1681, called Receuil de Voyages, in which the journal of Father Marquette
as commonly known, appeared with a map of the Mississippi.
The narrative is evidently taken from a manuscript like that
in my hands, in the writing of which I can see the cause of
some of the strange forms which Indian names have assumed.
The opening of the narrative was curtailed, and occasional
omissions made in the beginning, few at the end. The map
is so different from that which still exists in the hand-writing
* In La Hontan there is a plan of Mackinaw, with the site of the church in
which Marquette was buried. As to its fidelity, I can not speak; but with that
of Bellin in 1744, showing the sites of the second church at old Mackinaw, andl
the third one in new Mackinaw, the place of the original one, and of Marquette's
grave, may perhaps be determined.




LIFE OF FATIER MARQTJETTE.              1XXV
of Father Marquette, that it is not probable that it was
taken firom it. With greater likelihood we may believe it to
be Jolliet's map drawn from   recollection, which Frontenac,
as his despatch tells us, transmitted to France in 1674. If
this be so, it has a new value as an original map, and not a
blundering copy.    Sparks, in his life of Father Marquette,
observes truly of this first-published map of the Mississippi,
It was impossible to construct it, without having seen the
principal objects delineated;" and he adds, "It should be
kept in mind that this map was published at Paris, in the
year 1681, and consequently the year before the discoveries
of La Salle on the Mississippi, and that no intelligence respecting the country it represents, could have been obtained
from any source subsequently to the voyage of Marquette."*
Of the narrative itself, he says, "It is written in a terse,
simple, and unpretending style.   The author relates what occurs, and describes what he sees without embellishment or
display. iHe writes as a scholar, and as a man of careful observation and practical sense. There is no tendency to exaggerate, nor any attempt to magnify the difficulties he had to
encounter, or the importance of his discovery. In every point
of view, this tract is one of the most interesting of those,
which illustrate the early history of America."
In spite of all this it was overlooked and nearly forgotten;
all the writers connected with La Salle's expedition except
the first edition of Hennepin, published in 1683, speak of
Jolliet's voyage as a fiction. Marquette they never mention;
* The map in Thevenot had an addition of the editor in the words chemin de
l'allee, and chemin du retour. The latter is incorrect, but it came from his endeavor to make Father Marquette meet the Peorias on his return. He did not
know that the villages went into a body to hunt, and that the two explorers
might thus have met them below the Ilinois river, or on it. Other errors on the
map are easily rectified. The change of the letter gives us Misscousing, Cach.
kachkia, Demon (des monts), Pewarea, Allini-wek, &c.




1XXVi          LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
but in Le Clelrcq and those whom he cites, in the second
Hennepin, in Joutel, in all in fact, except the faithful Tonty,
the narrative of Marquette is derided, called a fable, or narrative of a pretended voyage; and one actually goes so far as
to say that, sailing up the river with the book in his hand, he
could not find a word of truth in it. As a necessary result
of these assertions which few examined, most writers in
France and elsewhere passed over it, and in works on the
Mississippi, no discovery prior to that of La Salle is mentioned. Even Harris, who cites Marquette by name as describing the calumet, and calls him a man of good sense and fair
character, does not give him due credit as the first explorer.*
"Indeed the services and narrative would hardly have escaped from  oblivion, had not Charlevoix brought them  to
light in his great work on Canada, nearly seventy years after
the events."t
As to the charges themselves, they are clearly refuted by
Frontenac's despatches. Hennepin, in his Description de la
Louisiane, (p. 13), and F. Anastasius in Le Clercq (p. 364),
admit that Jolliet descended the Mississippi below the mouth
of the Missouri. Membre evidently alludes to his work (p.
259). Thus even his maligners admit that he was on the
river, and without the despatches, without the force of its publication prior to La Salle's voyage, we need only weigh the
respective writers by their works.  We find in Marquette
simple narrative, in the others, the declamation of partisans,
and the disposition to deprive Jolliet and Marquette of the
honor of reaching the Mississippi at all, though they are
forced to admit it.
* Vol ii., p. 351. On the preceding page he has a summary, but just condemnation of Hennepin and Lahontan.
f And even he misdates the time of its publication. Thevenot's edition, of
which Harvard possesses a copy, was issued in 1681, not 1687.




LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.         lxxvii
Meanwhile one of the copies, after having been prepared
for publication by Father Claude Dablon, superior of the
mission, with the introductory and supplementary matter in
the form in which we now give it, lay unnoticed and unknown in the archives of the Jesuit college at Quebec. It
did not even fall into the hands of Father Charlevoix when
collecting material for his history, for he seems to have made
little research if any into the manuscripts at the college of
Quebec.  A few years after the publication of his work,
Canada fell into the hands of England, and the Jesuits and
Recollects, as religious orders, were condemned, the reception
of new members being positively forbidden. Tie members
of each order now formled Tontints, the whole property, on the
death of the last survivor, to go to the British government,
or to the law knows whom, if situated in the United States,
The last survivor of the Jesuits, Father Cazot, after beholding that venerable institution, thle college of Quebec closed
for want of professors, and Canada deprived of its only and
Northern America of its oldest collegiate seat of learning,
felt at last that death would soon close with him the Society
of Jesus in Canada. A happy forethought for the historic
past induced him to wish to commit to other than to state
hands, some objects and documents regarded as relics by the
members of his society. Of these he made a selection, unfortunately too moderate and too rapid, and these papers he
deposited in the Hotel Dieu, or hospital at Quebec, an institution destined to remain, as the nuns who directed it had
not fallen under tile ban of the government. They continued
in their hands from shortly before 1800 till 1844, wien the
faithful guardians of the trust presented them to the Rev. F.
Martin, one of the Jesuit fathers who returned in 1842 to the
scene of the labors and sacrifices of their society. On the




lxxviii        LIFE OF FATHER MAARQUETTE.
application of Mr. B. F. French to publish the narrative of
Marquette in his -Iistorical Collections, and apply tile proceeds, and such otler sums as might be received, to tihe erection of a monument to the great discoverer of the Mississippi,
the manuscript journal and map were committed to the hands
of the writer of these sketches.
This narrative is a very small quarto, written in a very
clear hand, with occasional corrections, comprising in all,
sixty pages. Of these, thirty-seven contain his voyage down
the Mississippi, which is complete except a hiatus of one leaf
in the chapter on the caliumet; the rest are taken up with the
account of his second voyage, death and burials, and the
voyage of Father Allouez. Tlhe last nine lines on page 60,
are in the hand-writing of Father Dablon, and were written
as late as 1678.
With it were found the original map in the hand-writing
of Father Marquette, as published now for the first time, and
a letter begun but never ended by him, addressed to Father
Dablon, containing a journal of tile voyage on which he died,
beginning with the twenty-sixth of October, (1674), and running down to the sixth of April. The endorsements on it,
in the same hand as the direction ascribe, the letter to
Father Marquette; and a comparison between it, the written
parts of tle map, and a signature of his found in a parish
register at Boucherville, would alone, witlout any knowledge
of its history, establish the authlenticity of thle map and letter.




NOTICE ON THIE SIEUR JOLLIET.
AFrTR so extended a notice on Father Marquette, it would
seem unjust to say nothing of his illustrious companion in his
great voyage. It would be doubly interesting to give a full
account of Jolliet, as lie was a native of the country, but unfortunately our materials are scanty and our notices vague.
Neither his birthplace nor its epoch has, as far as the
present writer knows, been ascertained. His education he
owed to the Jesuit college of Quebec, where, unless I am
mistalen, he was a class-mate of the first Canadian who was
advanced to the priesthood. Jolliet was thus. connected with
the Jesuits, and apparently was an assistant in thle college.
After leaving them, lie proceeded to tlhe west to seek his fortune in the fur-trade. I-ere lie was always on terms of intimacy with the missionaries, and acquired tlhe knowledge and
experience which induced tlhe government to select him as
the explorer of tlhe Mlississippi.
This choice was most agreeable to the missionaries, and he
and Marquette iminmortalized tlieir names.  They explored
the great river, and settled all doubts as to its course. On
his return Jolliet lost all his papers in thle rapids above Montreal, and could make but a verbal report to tlhe governmnent.
This, however, lie reduced to writing, and accompanied with
a map drawn from recollection. On tle transmission of these




1XXX           NOTICE ON THE SIETJR JOLLIET.
to France, lie, doubtless, expected to be enabled to carry out
such plans as he had conceived, and to profit to some extent
by his great discovery. But he was thrown aside by more
flattered adventurers. The discoverer of Mississippi was rewarded as if in mockery with an island in the gulf of St.
Lawrence. This was Anticosti, and here Jolliet built a fort
and a dwelling for his family, and houses for trade. They
were not, however, destined to be a source of emolument to
him. His labors were devoted also to other fields. Thus
we find him, in 1689, in the employment of the government,
rendering essential services in the west.
Two years after his island was taken by the English fleet,
and he himself, with his wife and mother-in-law, probably
while attempting to reach Quebec, fell into the hands of
Phipps, the English commander. His vessel and property
were a total loss, but his liberty lie recovered when the English retired fiom the walls of Quebec.
Of his subsequent history there are but occasional traces,
and we know only that he died some years prior to 1737.
Authoiities: Charlevoix, La IHontan, vol. i., p. 323; ii., p. 10. MS. Journal
of the Superior of the Jesuits. Bouchctt's Topograph. Die. Canada. Titles: An.
ticosti and Jolliet.




RELATION
OF THE
VOYAGES, DISCOVERIES, AND DEATH,
OF
FATER JAMES f AR Q UETTE,
AND
THE SUBSEQUENT VOYAGES OF FATHER CLAUDIUS ALLOUEZ,
BY
FATHER CLAUDIUS DABLON,
SUPERIOR OF THE MISSIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, IN NEW FRANCEF
PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION IN 1678.




NOTICE ON FATHER DABLON.
FATHER CLAUDIUS DABLON came to Canada in 1655, and was immediately sent
to Onondaga, where he continued with but one short interval of absence till the
mission was broken up in 1658. Three years after, he and the hardy Druilletes
attempted to reach Hudson's bay, by the Saguenay, but were arrested at the
sources of the Nekouba by Iroquois war-parties. In 1668, he followed Father
Marquette to Lake Superior, became superior of the Ottawa mission, founded
Sault St. Mary's, visited Green bay, and reached the Wisconsin with Allouez.
then returned to Quebec to assume his post as superior of all the Canada missions. This office he held with intervals for many years, certainly till 1693,
and he was still alive, but not apparently superior in the following year. As
the head of the missions, he contributed in no small degree to their extension,
and above all, to the exploration of the Mississippi, by Marquette. He published the Relations of 1670-'71, and'72, with their accurate map of Lake
Superior, and prepared for press those of 1672-'73 and 1673-'79, which still remain in manuscript, and the following narratives of Marquette and Allouez.
The period of his death is unknown.
His writings are the most valuable collection on the topography of the northwest, which have come down to our days.




THE
VOYAGES AND DISCOVERIES
OF
FA THER JAA XES MAR Q UETTE,
IN
THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
CHAPTER I.
OF THE FIRST VOYAGE MADE BY FATHER MARQUETTE TOWARD NEW
MEXICO, AND HOW THE DESIGN WAS CONCEIVED.
F   ATHER    MARQvETTE had long projected this enterprise, impelled by his ardent desire of extending the
kingdom of Jesus Christ, and of making him known and
adored by all the nations of that country. He beheld himself, as it were, at the door of these new nations, when, in
1670, he was laboring at the mission of Lapointe du St.
Esprit,' which is at the extremity of the upper Lake of the
Ottawas. He even saw at times many of those new tribes,
concerning whom he gathered all the information that he
could. This induced him to make several efforts to undertake the enterprise, but always in vain; he had even given
* This place is now called simply Lapointe, as the lake is called Superior,
retaining only the first word of its former name, Lac Superieur aux Outaoilacs.




4              NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
up all hopes of succeeding, when the Almighty presented
him  the following opportunity:In  1673, the Comte de Frontenac,         our governor and Mr.
Talon then our intendant, knowing          the importance of this
discovery, either to seek a passage from         here to the China
sea by the river which empties into the California or Red
sea,t or to verify what was afterward said of the two kingdoms of Theguaio and Quivira, which border on Canada, and
where gold mines are, it is said abundant,4 these gentlemen,
* Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, succeeded M. de Courcelles in the government of Canada, in 1672. M. Talon, the wise and energetic intendant of the
colony, seeing the advantages to be derived to France from the discovery of the
Mississippi river, immediately, on the arrival of Comte de Frontenac, laid before
him his plan for exploring that river, which was adopted, and the administration of Frontenac is signalized by the first exploration of the Mississippi by Marquette and Jollyet, between the Wisconsin and Arkansas, and by the subsequent
voyage of La Salle, who continued the survey to the gulf, while his companion,
Hennepin, visited the portion between the Wisconsin and St. Anthony's falls.
But before the return of La Salle, Comte de Frontenac's term had expired, and
he was, in 1682, succeeded by M. Lefebore de la Barre. But he was afterward
re-instated governor of Canada in 1689, and died at the age of seventy-seven.
He was a brave and ambitious man, and to his wise administration may be
attributed the consolidation of French power in North America.-F.
+ The gulf of California was called by the Spaniards Mar de Cortes, or more
commonly Mar Bermejo, from its resemblance in shape and color to the Red
sea. Gomara His de las Indias, p. 12.  Cluvier Introductio.  Venegas Historia de la California. Clavigero, Storia della California, p. 29. In ignorance of
this fact, the French translated Bermejo by Vermeille, and English writers
Vermillion.
t Theguaio, or commonly Tiguex, and sometimes apparently Tejas, and Quivira, were two kingdoms as to which the imagination of the Spaniards, and especially of the Mexicans, had become so aroused that Feijoo in his Teatro Critico
includes them in the category of fabled lands, St. Brandon's Isle, the Eldorado,
&c., although he admits that he hesitated as he found Quivira mentioned by
every geographer. These two kingdoms which lay east of the country north of
the river Gila, and are probably the present New Mexico and Texas, were first
made known by the attempt of a Franciscan missionary to reach the rich countries of the interior which had been spoken of by Cabeza de Vaca. The missionary in question, Fray Marc, a native of Nice in Italy, crossed the Gila, and from
the well-built houses and cotton dresses of the people, easily gave credit to the
accounts of more wealthy tribes. A subsequent expedition showed that he had
been mistaken, and none but hardy missionaries sought to penetrate to the fabled




DISCOVERIES IN TIE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.                  5
I say, both at the same time selected for the enterprise the
Sieur Jollyet, whom      they deemed competent for so great a
design, wishing to see Father Marquette accompany him.l.
They were not mistaken in their choice of the Sieur Jollyet,
for he was a young man, born in this country, and endowed
with every quality that could be desired in such an enterprise.
He possessed experience and a knowledge of the languages of
the Ottawat country, where he had spent several years; he
had the tact and prudence so necessary for the success of a
voyage equally dangerous and difficult; and, lastly, he had
courage to fear nothing where all is to be feared.            Ile accordingly fulfilled the expectations entertained         of him, and
if, after having passed through dangers of a thousand kinds,
he had not unfortunately been wrecked in the very harborhis canoe having     upset below the Saut St. Louis, near Montreal, where he lost his men and papers, and            only escaped
by a kind of miracle with his life-the success of his voyage
had left nothing to be desired.
land. The belief of its mineral wealth was, however, too deeply rooted to be
easily shaken, and the discovery of California's resources in our days has justified it, and shown that Talon in seeking to reach California from Canada,
attempted no chimerical project.
* It would seem by this wording that Marquette was not officially chosen for
the expedition. The troubles at the time between the civil and ecclesiastical
authorities will account for this, while the researches made by Marquette as to
the river, and his knowledge of the Indians and their dialects, rendered it important that he should be one of the party. That his account alone survived, and
that it was published in his name, was something neither expected nor intended
by any of those concerned, as M. Jollyet had prepared an account of the expedition, the loss of which, as stated in the text, alone raised the journal of Father
Marquette to its present degree of importance. (In 1680, the French government rewarded the Sieur Jollyet for this eminent service by a grant of the
island of Anticosti, in the gulf of St. Lawrence; and, in 1697, by the seignory of
Jollyet, in Beauce county, Canada, which is now the property of the HIon. T.
Taschereau, one of the judges of the court of King's bench.)
j The Ottawas, or Outaouacs, were first called by the French, Cheveux Releves, and placed on Great Manitou:line. —fchamplain, 262, Sefqard,'2)1(. Their
Indian name is then given in the form, Andatahouats. The earlier Jcesuit Rela



6             NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
SECTION        I.
DEPARTURE OF FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF THE
GREAT RIVER, CALLED BY THE INDIANS MISSISIPI, WHICH LEADS TO NEW
MEXICO.
THE day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, whom I had always invoked since I have been in this
Ottawa country, to obtain of God the grace to be able to visit
the nations on the river Missisipi,* was identically that on
which M. Jollyet arrived with orders of the Comte de Frontenac, our governor, and M. Talon, our intendant, to make
this discovery with me.     I was the more enraptured at this
good news, as I saw my designs on the point of being accomplished, and myself in the happy necessity of exposing my
life for the salvation of all these nations, and particularly for
the Ilinois, who had, when I was at Lapointe du St. Esprit,
very earnestly entreated me to carry the word of God to their
country.
We were not long in preparing our outfit, although we
tions call them Ondatawawak, and Bressani, Ondawawat. Under the form Outaoiuacs (Uttawax), it was applied as a general term to all the Algonquin tribes on
Lake Superior and Michigan who traded with the French. The English in the
same way applied to them the name of the tribe which they called Chippeways,
and the French, Outchibouec, which is still more diversified by the new spelling
Ojibwa, introduced by Schooleraft.
* The name of this river is derived from the Algonquin language one of the
original tongues of our continent. It was spoken by every tribe from the Chesapeake to the gulf of St. Lawrence, and running westward to the Mississippi and
Lake Superior. The Abnakis, Montagnais, Algonquins proper, Ottawas, Nipissings, Nezperces, Illinois, Miamis, Sacs, Foxes, Mohegans, Delawares, Shawnees
and Virginia Indians, as well as the minor tribes of New England, all spoken
dialects of this widespread language. The only exception in this vast strip of
territory, was the Huron-Iroquois language, spoken by the Hurons, Petuns,
Neuters, and Iroquois, which is distinct from the Algonquin. The word Mississippi is a compound of the word Missi, signifying great, and Sepe, a river. The




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 
were embarking on a voyage the duration of which we could
not foresee. Indian corn, with some dried meat, was our
whole stock of provisions.     With this we set out in two bark
canoes,* M. Jollyet, myself, and five men, firmly resolved to
do all and suffer all for so glorious an enterprise.
It was on the 17th of May, 1673, that we started from         the
mission of St. Ignatius at Michilimakinac,t where I then was.
Our joy at being chosen for this expedition roused our courage, and sweetened the labor of rowing from morning till
night. As we were going to seek unknown countries, we
took all possible precautions, that, if our enterprise was hazardous, it should not be foolhardy: for this reason we gathered
all possible information from      Indians who had fiequented
those parts, and even from their accounts traced a map of all
the new country, marking down the rivers on which we were
to sail, the names of the nations and places through which
former is variously pronounced Missil, or Michil, as in Michilimackinac; Michi,
as in Michigan; fissu, as in Missouri; and Alissi, as in Mississippi. The word
Sipi may be considered as the English pronunciation, derived through the
medium of the French, of Sepe, and affords an instance of an Indian term of
much melody, being corrupted by Europeans, into one that has a harsh and
hissing sound.-F.
* The two frail canoes which bore these adventurous travellers from the
snows of Canada to the more genial clime of the Arkansas, were constructed
entirely different from those wood canoes with which the Indians navigated the
Hudson, and the Delaware, and which we still occasionally see in use among
our western tribes. The Canadian canoe made use of in this expedition, was
built of birch-bark, cedar splints, and ribs of spruce roots, covered with yellow
pine pitch, so light and so strong, that they could be carried across portages on
the shoulders of four men, and paddled at the rate of four miles per hour in
smooth water. For river navigation, where there are no rapids or portages,
nothing could be better adapted for explorations; and they were used in subsequent expeditions to explore the Missouri, St. Peter's, Columbia, and Mackenzie
rivers.-F.
f This is not the island, but the point north of it in the present county of
that name. ((harlevoix.) The mission was subsequently on the south, if we
credit Charlevoix's maps, and finally on the island of that name.




8              NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
we were to pass, the course of the great river, and what direction we should take when we got to it.
Above all, I put our voyage under the protection of the
Blessed Virgin Immaculate, promising her, that if she did us
the grace to discover the great river, I would give it the
name of Conception; and that I would also give that name
to the first mission which I should establish among these new
nations, as I have actually done among the Ilinois.*
SECTION        II.
THE FATHER VISITS BY THE.WAY THE WILD-OATS TRIBES.-WHAT THESE
WILD OATS ARE.-HE ENTERS THE BAY OF THE FETID.-SO-ME PARTICULARS
AS TO THIS BAY-HE REACHES THE FIRE NATION.
WITH all these precautions, we made our paddles play
merrily over a part of Lake Huron and that of the Ilinois
into the Bay of the Fetid.
The first nation that we met was that of the Wild Oats.t
I entered their river to visit them, as we have preached the
* The name which the pious missionary gave to the Mississippi, is found only
here, and on the accompanying map, which corresponds perfectly with his narrative. The name of the Immaculate Conception, which he gave to the mission
among the Kaskaskias, was retained as long as that mission lasted, and is now
the title of the church in the present town of Kaskaslia. Although his wish
was not realized in the name of the great river, it has been fulfilled in the fact
that the Blessed Virgin, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, has been
chosen by the prelates of the United States assembled in a national council, as
the patroness of the whole country. so that not only in the vast valley of the
Mississippi, but from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the Blessed Virgin Immaculate is
as dear to every American Catholic, as is Our Lady of Guadaloupe to our Mexican neighbors.
f This plant, the Zizania Aquatica, of Linn., is perennial and forms the principal food of most of the northwestern tribes. It is called in English, wild rice;
and in French, Folles-Avoine, or wild oats. It was first accurately described in the
Rel. 1662-'63, apparently from Menard's Letters. The tribe here alluded to are
the Oumalouminik, Malhominies or Menomonees, whose river still shows their
locality. —Rel. 1672-'3. MS.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.      9
gospel to these tribes for some years past, so that there are
many good Christians among them.
The wild oats, from which they take their name, as they are
found in their country, are a kind of grass which grows spontaneously in little rivers with slimy bottoms, and in marshy
places; they are very like the wild oats that grow up among
our wheat. The ears are on stalks knotted at intervals; they
rise above the water about the month of June, and keep rising
till they float about two feet above it. The grain is not
thicker than our oats, but is as long again, so that the meal is
much more abundant.
The following is the manner in which the Indians gather it
and prepare it for eating. In the month of September, which
is the proper time for this harvest, they go in canoes across
these fields of wild oats, and shake the ears on their right
and left into the canoe as they advance; the grain falls easily
if it is ripe, and in a little while their provision is made. To
clear it from the chaff, and strip it of a pellicle in which it is
enclosed, they put it to dry in the smoke on a wooden lattice,
under which they keep up a small fire for several days.
When the oats are well dried, they put them in a skin of the
form of a bag, which is then forced into a hole made on
purpose in the ground; they then tread it out so long and so
well, that the grain being freed from the chaff is easily winnowed; after which they pound it to reduce it to meal, or
even unpounded, boil it in water seasoned with grease, and
in this way, wild oats are almost as palatable as rice would be
when not better seasoned.
I informed these people of the Wild Oats of my design of
going to discover distant nations to instruct them in the mysteries of our Holy Religion; they were very much surprised,
and did their best to dissuade me. They told me, that I




10          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
would meet nations that never spare strangers, but tomahawk
them without any provocation; that the war which had
broken out among various nations on our route, exposed us
to another evident danger-that of being killed by the warparties which are constantly in the field; that the Great
River is very dangerous, unless the difficult parts are known;
that it was full of frightful monsters who swallowed up men
and canoes together; that there is even a demon there who
can be heard from afar, who stops the passage and engulfs
all who dare approach; lastly, that the heat is so excessive in
those countries, that it would infallibly cause our death.
I thanked them for their kind advice, but assured them
that I could not follow it, as the salvation of souls was concerned; that for them, I should be too happy to lay down
my life; that I made light of their pretended demon, that
we would defend ourselves well enough against the rivermonsters; and, besides, we should be on our guard to avoid
the other dangers with which they threatened us. After
having made them pray and given them some instruction, I
left them, and, embarking in our canoes, we soon after reached
the extremity of the Bay of the Fetid, where our Fathers
labor successfully in the conversion of these tribes, having
baptized more than two thousand since they have been there.
This bay bears a name which has not so bad a meaning
in the Indian language, for they call it rather Salt Bay
than Fetid Bay, although among them it is almost the same,
and this is also the name which they give to the sea. This
induced us to make very exact researches to discover
whether there were not in these parts some salt springs, as
there are among the Iroquois, but we could not find any.'
* The tribe called by the French, Puants, were the Ouenibegouc, our Winnebagoes. Rel. 1672-'73. MS. Dela Potherie, vol. ii., p. 48. In the Relation of




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.                 11
We accordingly concluded that the name has been given on
account of the quantity of slime and mud there, constantly
exhaling noisome vapors which cause the loudest and longest
peals of thunder that I ever heard.
The bay is about thirty leagues long, and eight wide at its
mouth; it narrows gradually to the extremity, where it is easy
to remark the tide which has its regular flow and ebb, almost
like that of the sea. This is not the place to examine whether
they are real tides, whether they are caused by the winds, or
by some other age; whether there are winds, out-riders of
the moon, or attached to her suite, who consequently agitate
the lake and give it a kind of flow and ebb, whenever the
moon rises above the horizon. What I can certainly aver is,
that when the water is quite tranquil, you can easily see it
rise and fall with the course of the moon, although I do not
deny that this movement may be caused by distant winds,
1636, they are called Aweatsiwaenrrhonons, which, as the termination shows
was their name among the Hurons. Charlevoix, on what ground I know not,
calls them Otchagras. As Marquette justly remarks, their name signified salt,
rather than Fetid, and they are undoubtedly the Gens de mer discovered by the
adventurous Nicolet three hundred leagues west of the Hurons, several years
prior to his death, in 1642.-Rel. 1642-'43, p. 8. Indeed, the dislike of the Indians to salt was so great, that they confounded the two terms. When Father
Le Moyne visited Onondaga, he heard of a spring in which there was a devil
that made it fetid; it was, in fact, a salt spring. So too the accounts of the
death of the heroic missionaries Brebeuf and Lalemant shows that the Iroquois detected in the flesh of the latter, who had recently left European food,
traces of salt which they disliked, and they showed their disgust in the additional
torture they inflicted. All this establishes the identity of the terms fetid and
salt, and confirms what is stated in the Relation of 1653-'54, and by Bressani in
his Breve Relatione, that the Winnebagoes were so called, because they came
from the fetid water or ocean, which was then said to be nine days' journey to
the west. In point of fact, the Winnebagoes are a branch of the Dahcota family,
which advancing further east than the rest, became cut off from them and surrounded by Algonquins. Hence, the very name comes in to confirm the philological researches which connect them  with the Tartars.  The bay called
formerly Baie des Puants, or La Grande Baie, has now become Green Bay, and
the town of that name is near the site of the old mission of St. Francis Xavier,
founded in 1670.




12            NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
which pressing on the centre of the lake, make it rise and fall
on the shore in the way that meets our eyes."
We left this bay to enter a rivert emptying into it. It is
very beautiful at its mouth, and flows gently; it is full of
bustards, duck, teal, and other birds, attracted by the wild
oats of which they are very fond; but when you have advanced a little up this river, it becomes very difficult, both
on account of the currents and of the sharp rocks which cut
tie canoes and the feet of those who are obliged to drag
them, especially when the water is low. For all that we
passed the rapids safely, and as we approached Machkoutens,
the Fire nation, I had the curiosity to drink the mineral
waters of the river which is not far from this town.     I also
took time to examine an herb, the virtue of which an Indian,
who possessed the secret, had, with many ceremonies, made
known to Father Allones.       Its root is useful against the
bite of serpents, the Almighty having been pleased to give
this remedy against a poison very common in the country,
It is very hot, and has the taste of powder when crushed between the teeth.    It must be chewed and put on the bite
of the serpent.   Snakes have such an antipathy to it, that
they fly fiom  one rubbed with it.   It produces several stalks
about a foot long, with pretty     long leaves, and a white
flower, much like the gillyflower.:      I put some into my
* The last opinion now prevails, and the tides of the lake which have been so
much discussed, are now ascribed to the action of the winds, although Charlevoix supposed it was owing to the springs at the bottom of the lakes, and to the
shock of their currents, with those of the rivers, which fall into them from all
sides, and thus produce those intermitting motions.
f The Fox river, of Green bay, is about 260 miles in length. The portage
between the head waters of this river and the Wisconsin (Meskonsing), is over a
level plain, and during high water, canoes frequently pass over the lowest parts
of the prairie from one river to the other.-F.; This plant is called by the French "Serpent-a-Sonnettes," and is an infallible remedy against the poison of snakes. The root is commonly reduced to a




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.               13
canoe to examine it at leisure, while we kept on our way toward Maskoutens, where we arrived on the 7th of June.
SECTION III.
DESCRIPTION OF THE VILLAGE OF MASKOUTENS.- WHAT TRANSPIRED BETWEEN THE FATHER AND THE INDIANS.-THE FRENCH BEGIN TO ENTER A
NEW AND UNKNOWN COUNTRY, AND REACH THE MISSISIPL
HERE we are then at Maskoutens.           This word in Algonquin, may mean Fire nation,* and that is the name given to
them.    This is the limit of the discoveries made by the
French, for they have not yet passed beyond it.
This town is made up of three nations gathered here, Miamis, Maskoutens, and Kikabous.         The first are more civil,
liberal, and better made; they wear two long ear-locks,
which give them a good appearance; they have the name of
being warriors and seldom send out war parties in vain; they
powder, which the Indians chew, or make a poultice of, which prevents the poison
from taking effect. It may be taken in water with the same effect. It has a
nauseous smell, and is always avoided by snakes. If two or three drops are
put into a snake's mouth, it immediately dies.-F.
* Father Marquette who was a good Algonquin scholar, does not speak positively as to the meaning of Maskoutens, though from his use of the common
interpretation, he evidently favored it. Charlevoix, indeed, treats this as an
error, and says, that Mascoutenec means a prairie, but on the meaning of an Indian name a traveller is more apt to err than one habituated to the country and
its dialects. Certain it is that, from the earliest times, there dwelt on Lake
Michigan a tribe known to the Indians of Canada by the name of Fire Indians.
Their Huron name was Asistagueronons, from asista (fire). They lay beyond the
Puants, says the early historian, Brother Sagard (p. 201). Under the same
name, Atsistaehronons, they are mentioned by Father Brebeuf (Rel. 1640-'41,
p. 48,) as the enemies of the tribes called by the French the Neutral Nation, who
lay chiefly north of Lake Erie, between Ontario and Lake St. Clair. Now as the
peninsula between Detroit and Lake Michigan was not inhabited by any Indian
tribe, the Assistae must have dwelt beyond Lake Michigan, in the territory
where we afterward find a tribe called by the Algonqmns, Maskoutench, or
Nation of Fire.




14          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MAQUETTE.
are very docile, listen quietly to what you tell them, and
showed themselves so eager to hear Father Allouez when he
was instructing them, that they gave him little rest, even at
night. The Maskoutens and Kikabous are ruder and more
like peasants, compared to the others.
As bark for cabins is rare in this country, they use rushes,
which serve them for walls and roof, but which are no great
shelter against the wind, and still less against the rain when
it falls in torrents. The advantage of this kind of cabins is
that they can roll them up, and carry them easily where they
like in hunting-time.
When I visited them, I was extremely consoled to see a
beautiful cross planted in the midst of the town, adorned
with several white skins, red belts, bows and arrows, which
these good people had offered to the Great Manitou (such is
the name they give to God) to thank him for having had
pity on them during the winter, giving them plenty of game
when they were in greatest dread of famine.
I felt no little pleasure in beholding the position of this
town; the view is beautiful and very picturesque, for from
the eminence on which it is perched, the eye discovers on
every side prairies spreading away beyond its reach, interspersed with thickets or groves of lofty trees.* The soil is
very good, producing much corn; the Indians gather also
quantities of plums and grapes, from which good wine could
be made, if they chose.
No sooner had we arrived that M. Jollyet and I assembled the
sachems; he told them that he was sent by our governor to discover new countries, and I, by the Almighty, to illumine them
with the light of the gospel;t that the Sovereign Master of our
* This narrative abounds with sketches of scenery and Indian localities that
would grace the artist's pencil.-F.
t The missionaries were careful to avoid all appearance of a worldly or na



DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        15
lives wished to be known by all nations, and that to obey his
will, I did not fear death, to which I exposed myself in such
dangerous voyages; that we needed two guides to put us on
our way, these, making them a present, we begged them to
grant us. This they did very civilly, and even proceeded to
speak to us by a present, which was a mat to serve us as a
bed on our voyage.
The next day, which was the tenth of June, two Miamis
whom they had given us as guides, embarked with us, in the
sight of a great crowd, who could wonder enough to see
seven Frenchmen alone in two canoes, dare to undertake so
strange and so hazardous an expedition.
We knew that there was, three leagues from Maskoutens, a
river emptying into the* Missisipi; we knew too, that the point
of the compass we were to hold to reach it, was the west-southwest; but the way is so cut up by marshes and little lakes,
that it is easy to go astray, especially as the river leading
to it is so covered with wild oats, that you can hardly discover
the channel. Hence, we had good need of our two guides,
who led us safely to a portage of twenty-seven hundred paces,
and helped us to transport our canoes to enter this river,
after which they returned, leaving us alone in an unknown
country, in the hands of Providence.
We now leave the waters which flow to Quebec, a distance
of four or five hundred leagues, to follow those which will
henceforth lead us into strange lands. Before embarking, we
all began together a new devotion to the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, which we practised every day, addressing her partional mission. Most of those in our northern parts were French; but though
they planted the cross on many a mountain and valley, history can not tell us
the place where they carved the "Lilies of the Bourbons." In fact, they never
did.
* Father Marquette, however, never uses the article with Missisipi, Pekitanoii, and other names of rivers.




16            NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
ticular prayers to put under her protection both our persons
and the success of our voyage. Then after having encouraged one another, we got into our canoes. The river on
which we embarked is called Meskousing; it is very broad,
with a sandy bottom, forming many shallows, which render
navigation very difficult. It is full of vine-clad islets. On the
banks appear fertile lands diversified with wood, prairie, and
hill.  Here you find oaks, walnut, whitewood, and another
kind of tree with branches armed with long thorns. We saw
no small game or fish, but deer and moose* in considerable
numbers.
Our route was southwest, and after sailing about thirty
leagues, we perceived a place which had all the appearances
of an iron mine, and in fact, one of our party who had seen
some before, averred that the one we had found was very
good and very rich.     It is covered with three feet of good
earth, very near a chain of rock, whose base is covered with
fine timber. After forty leagues on this same route, we
reached the mouth of our river, and finding ourselves at 42~~
N., we safely entered the Missisipit on the 17th of June, with
a joy that I can not express.
* The French word here is vaches, which has been generally translated bison, or
buffalo. This is clearly a mistake; they had not yet reached the buffalo ground
and the missionary afterward describes the animal when he meets it. The
animal called by the Canadian French, vache sauvage, was the American elk, or
moose. —el. 1656-'57. Boucher, Hist. Nat. Canada.-Nat. Hist. of N. Y., Art.
"Moose." Boucher expressly states, that buffaloes were found only in the
Ottawa country, that is, in the far west, while the vache sauvage, or orignal, and
ane sauvage, or caribou, were seen in Canada.
f This latitude is nearly correct. Prairie du Chien is in north latitude 43~ 3'.
The mouth of the Wisconsin or, as he writes it, Meskousing, is distant one
hundred and eighty miles from the portage. Above this it can be ascended ninety
miles, and is then connected by short portages with the Ontonagon and Montreal rivers of Lake Superior. The Wisconsin country was subsequently inhabited by the Sacs and Foxes, but they were afterward driven away by the
Chippeways and French.-F.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.         17
SECTION IV.
OF THE GREAT RIVER CALLED MISSISIPI.-ITS MOST STRIKING PECULIARITIES.-VARIOUS ANIMALS, AND PARTICULARLY THE PISIKIOUS OR WILD
CATTLE.-THEIR FORM AND DISPOSITION.-THE FIRST ILINOIS VILLAGES
REACHED BY THE FRENCH.
HERE then we are on this renowned river, of which I
have endeavored to remark attentively all the peculiarities.
The Missisipi river has its source in several lakes* in the
country of the nations to the north; it is narrow at the mouth
of the Miskousing; its current, which runs south, is slow and
gentle; on the right is a considerable chain of very high mountains, and on the left fine lands; it is in many places studded
with islands. On sounding, we have found ten fathoms of
water. Its breadth is very unequal: it is sometimes three
quarters of a league, and sometimes narrows in to three ar~pents
(220 yards). We gently follow its course, which bears south
and southeast till the forty-second degree. Here we perceive
that the whole face is changed; there is now almost no wood
or mountain, the islands are more beautiful and covered with
finer trees; we see nothing but deer and moose, bustards and
wingless swans, for they shed their plumes in this country.
From   time to time we meet monstrous fish, one of which
struck so violently against our canoe, that I took it for a large
tree about to knock us to pieces.t Another time we perceived on the water a monster with the head of a tiger, a
pointed snout like a wild-cat's, a beard and ears erect, a
* It would appear from this remark, that the source of the Mississippi river
which is now ascertained to be in Itasca lake, and more than three thousand
miles from the gulf of Mexico, was then perfectly well-known to the northwestern tribes.-F.
j This was probably the cat fish of the Mississippi (Silurus Mississippiensis).
They sometimes grow enormously large, and strike with great force any object
that comes in their way. -F.
2




18             NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
grayish head and neck all black.* We saw no more of them.
On casting our nets, we have taken sturgeon and a very extraordinary kind of fish;t it resembles a trout with this difference, that it has a larger mouth, but smaller eyes and snout.
Near the latter is a large bone, like a woman's busk, three
fingers wide, and a cubit long; the end is circular and as
wide as the hand. In leaping out of the water the weight of
this often throws it back.
Having descended as far as 41~ 2S', following the same
direction, we find that turkeys have taken the place of game,
and the pisikious,: or wild cattle, that of other beasts. We
* Probably an American tiger-cat, the "pichou du.sud" of Kalm. They differ
from those of Africa and South America, because they have no spots.-F.
t The "polyodon spatula" of Linn. It is now very rare, and but seldom found
in the Mississippi. It is also called by the French, "le spatule."-F.
t This animal was first made known by Coronado's expedition to Cibola, in
1540. That commander proceeded as far as the Rio Grande from the gulf of
California, in search of the realms of Quivira. His greatest discovery was that
of the bison plains, and this peculiarly American animal. From the first object
of his expedition Cibola, a town on the Gila, the animal received among Spanish writers the same name. Boucher, in his natural history of Canada, calls it
the buffalo, and Father Marquette, who was the first Frenchman to reach the
bison range, gives here its Indian name pisikiou, but I do not find that the name
was ever adopted. The term wild-cattle, boeufs satvages, was generally used
by the French, as buffalo, was later by the English settlers, till the term bison,
used by Pliny, was applied exclusively to this species. The buffalo has a clumsy
gait like the domestic ox. Unlike the ox, however, it exhibits no diversity of
color, being a uniform dark brown, inclining to dun. It is never spotted with
black, red, or white. It has short, black horns, growing nearly straight from
the head, and set at a considerable distance apart. The male has a hunch upon
its shoulders covered with long flocks of shaggy hair, extending to the top of the
head from which it falls over the eyes and horns, giving him a very formidable appearance. The hoofs are cloven like those of the cow. The tail is naked,
toward the end, where it is tufted, in the manner of the lion. The Indians employ'both the rifle and the arrow to hunt it, and in the prairies of Missouri and Arkansas, they pursue them on horseback; but on the upper Mississippi, where they are
destitute of horses, they make use of several ingenious stratagems. One of the
most common of these, is the method of hunting them with fire. The buffaloes
have a great dread of fire, and retire toward the centre of the prairie as they see it
approach, then being pressed together in great numbers, the Indians rush in
with their arrows,and musketry, and slaughter immense numbers in a few




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.           19
call them  wild cattle, because they are like our domestic
cattle; they are not longer, but almost as big again, and more
corpulent; our men having killed one, three of us had considerable trouble in moving it. The head is very large, the
forehead flat and a foot and a half broad between the horns,
which are exactly like those of our cattle, except that they are
black and much larger..Under the neck there is a kind of
large crop hanging down, and on the back a pretty high
hump. The whole head, the neck, and part of the shoulders,
are covered with a great mane like a horse's; it is a crest a
foot long, which renders them hideous, and falling over their
eyes, prevents their seeing before them.     The rest of the
body is covered with a coarse curly hair like the wool of our
sheep, but much stronger and thicker. It falls in summer,
and the skin is then as soft as velvet.  At this time the Indians
employ the skins to make beautiful robes, which they paint
of various colors; the flesh and fat of the Pisikious are excellent, and constitute the best dish in banquets. They are
very fierce, and not a year passes without their killing some
Indian. When attacked, they take a man with their horns,
if they can, lift himup, and then dash him on the ground,
trample on him, and kill him.    When you fire at them from
a distance with gun or bow, you must throw        yourself on
the ground as soon as you fire, and hide in the grass; for, if
they perceive the one who fired, they rush on him and attack
him.   As their feet are large and rather short, they do not
hours. Few animals of the American forest contribute more to the comforts
of savage life. The skin is dressed to supply them with clothing and blankets,
The tallow is an article of commerce. The tongue is a delicate article of food.
and the flesh, when dried after their manner, serves them for bread and meat.
The buffalo is generally found between 31~ and 49~ north latitude, and west
of the Mississippi. South of 31~ north latitude, the buffalo is not found; but its
place is supplied in Mexico by the wild-ox, without a hunch, which is considered
of European origin.




20          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
generally go very fast, except when they are irritated. They
are scattered over the prairies like herds of cattle. I have
seen a band of four hundred.
We advanced constantly, but as we did not know where we
were going, having already made more than a hundred
leagues without having discovered anything but beasts and
birds, we kept well on our guard. Accordingly we make
only a little fire on the shore at night to prepare our meal,
and after supper keep as far off from it as possible, passing
the night in our canoes, which we anchor in the river pretty
far from the bank. Even this did not prevent one of us being
always as a sentinel for fear of a surprise.
Proceeding south and south-southwest, we find ourselves at
41~ north; then at 40~ and some minutes, partly by southeast
and partly by southwest, after having advanced more than
sixty leagues since entering the river, without discovering
anything.
At last, on the 25th of June, we perceived footprints of men
by the water-side, and a beaten path entering a beautiful
prairie. We stopped to examine it, and concluding that it
was a path leading to some Indian village, we resolved to go
and reconnoitre; we accordingly left our two canoes in charge
of our people, cautioning them strictly to beware of a surprise;
then M. Jollyet and I undertook this rather hazardous discovery for two single men, who thus put themselves at the
discretion of an unknown and barbarous people. We followed
the little path in silence, and having advanced about two
leagues, we discovered a village on the banks of the river,
and two others on a hill, half a league from the former.*
* These villages are laid down on the map on the westerly side of the Mississippi, and the names of two are given, Peouarea and Moingwena, whence it is
generally supposed that the river on which they lay, is that now called the Desmoines. The upper part of that river still bears the name Moingonan, while the




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        21
Then, indeed, we recommended ourselves to God, with all
our hearts; and, having implored his help, we passed on undiscovered, and came so near that we even heard the Indians
talking. We then deemed it time to announce ourselves, as
we did by a cry, which we raised with all our strength, and
then halted without advancing any further. At this cry the
Indians rushed out of their cabins, and having probably
recognised us as French, especially seeing a black gown,*
or at least having no reason to distrust us, seeing we were but
two, and had made known our coming, they deputed four old
men to come and speak with us. Two carried tobacco-pipes
well-adorned, and trimmed with many kinds of feathers.
They marched slowly, lifting their pipes toward the sun, as if
offering them to him to smoke, but yet without uttering a
single word. They were a long time coming the little way
from  the village to us. Having reached us at last, they
stopped to consider us attentively. I now took courage, seeing these ceremonies, which are used by them     only with
friends, and still more on seeing them  covered with stuffs,
which made me judge them to be allies. I, therefore, spoke
to them first, and asked them, who they were; "they answered that they were Ilinois and, in token of peace, they
presented their pipes to smoke. They then invited us to their
village where all the tribe awaited us with impatience. These
pipes for smoking are called in the country calumets,t a word
that is so much in use, that I shall be obliged to employ it in
order to be understood, as I shall have to speak of it frequently.
latitude of the mouth seems to establish the identity. It must, however, be admitted that the latitude given at that day differs from ours generally from 30' to
a degree, as we see in the case of the Wisconsin and Ohio. This would throw
Moingwena somewhat higher up.
* This is the well-known Indian name for the Jesuits.
+ We are probably indebted to Father Marquette for the addition to our
language of this word




22          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
SECTION V.
HOW THE ILINOIS RECEIVED THE FATHER IN THEIR VILLAGE.
AT the door of the cabin in which we were to be received,
was an old man awaiting us in a very remarkable posture;
which is their usual ceremony in receiving strangers. This
man was standing, perfectly naked, with his hands stretched
out and raised toward the sun, as if he wished to screen himself from its rays, which nevertheless passed through his
fingers to his face. When we came near him, he paid us
this compliment: " How beautiful is the sun, 0 Frenchman,
when thou comest to visit us! All our town awaits thee, and
thou shalt enter all our cabins in peace." He then took us
into his, where there was a crowd of people, who devoured
us with their eyes, but kept a profound silence. We heard,
however, these words occasionally addressed to us: "Well
done, brothers, to visit us!"
As soon as we had taken our places, they showed us the
usual civility of the country, which is to present the calumet.
You must not refuse it, unless you would pass for an enemy,
or at least for being impolite. It is, however, enough to pretend to smoke. While all the old men smoked after us to
honor us, some came to invite us on behalf of the great sachem of all the Ilinois to proceed to his town, where he
wished to hold a council with us. We went with a good
retinue, for all the people who had never seen a Frenchman
among them could not tire looking at us: they threw themselves on the grass by the wayside, they ran ahead, then
turned and walked back to see us again. All this was done
without noise, and with marks of a great respect entertained
for us.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    23
Having arrived at the great sachem's town, we espied him
at his cabin-door, between two old men, all three standing
naked, with their calumet turned to the sun. He harangued
us in:few words, to congratulate us on our arrival, and then
presented us his calumet and made us smoke; at the same
time we entered his cabin, where we received all their usual
greetings. Seeing all assembled and in silence, I spoke to
them by four presents which I made: by the first, I said that
we marched in peace to visit the nations on the river to the
sea: by the second, I declared to them that God their Creator had pity on them, since, after their having been so long
ignorant of him, he wished to become known to all nations;
that I was sent on his behalf with this design; that it was for
them to acknowledge and obey him: by the third, that the
great chief of the French informed them that he spread peace
everywhere, and had overcome the Iroquois. Lastly, by the
fourth, we begged them to give us all the information they
had of the sea, and of the nations through which we should
have to pass to reach it.
When I had finished my speech, the sachem rose, and laying his hand on the head of a little slave, whom he was about
to give us, spoke thus: "I thank thee, Blackgown, and thee,
Frenchman," addressing M. Jollyet, " for taking so much pains
to come and visit us; never has the earth been so beautiful,
nor the sun so bright, as to-day; never has our river been so
calm, nor so free from rocks, which your canoes have removed as they passed; never has our tobacco had so fine a
flavor, nor our corn appeared so beautiful as we behold it today. HIere is my son, that I give thee, that thou mayst know
my heart. I pray thee to take pity on me and all my nation.
Thou knowest the Great Spirit who has made us all; thou
speakest to him and hearest his word: ask him to give me




24          -NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
life and health, and come and dwell with us, that we may
know him." Saying this, he placed the little slave near us
and made us a second present, an all-mysterious calumet,
which they value more than a slave; by this present he
showed us his esteem for our governor, after the account we
had given of him; by the third, he begged us, on behalf of
his whole nation, not to proceed further, on account of the
great dangers to which we exposed ourselves.
I replied, that I did not fear death, and that I esteemed no
happiness greater than that of losing my life for the glory of
Him who made all. But this these poor people could not
understand.
The council was followed by a great feast which consisted
of four courses, which we had to take with all their ways;
the first course was a great wooden dish full of sagamity, that
is to say, of Indian meal boiled in water and seasoned with
grease. The master of ceremonies, with a spoonful of sagamity, presented it three or four times to my mouth, as we
would do with a little child; he did the same to M. Jollyet.
For the second course, he brought in a second dish containing three fish; he took some pains to remove the bones, and
having blown upon it to cool it, put it in my mouth, as we
would food to a bird; for the third course, they produced a
large dog,* which they had just killed, but learning that we
did not eat it, it was withdrawn. Finally, the fourth course
was a piece of wild ox, the fattest portions of which were put
into our mouths.
After this feast we had to visit the whole village, which
* The dog among all Indian tribes is more valued and more esteemed than
by any people of the civilized world. When they are killed for a feast, it is
considered a great compliment, and the highest mark of friendship. If an
Indian sees fit to sacrifice his faithful companion to give to his fiiend, it is to
remind him of the solemnity of his professions.-F.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.           25
consists of full three hundred cabins. While we marched
through the streets, an orator was constantly haranguing, to
oblige all to see us without being troublesome; we were
everywhere presented with belts, garters, and other articles
made of the hair of the bear and wild cattle, dyed red, yellow,
and gray. These are their rareties; but not being of consequence, we did not burthen ourselves with them.
We slept in the sachem's cabin, and the next day took
leave of him, promising to pass back through his town in four
moons. He escorted us to our canoes with nearly six hundred
persons, who saw us embark, evincing in every possible way
the pleasure our visit had given them. On taking leave, I
personally promised that I would return the next year to stay
with them, and instruct them. But before leaving the Ilinois
country, it will be well to relate what I remarked of their
customs and manners.
SECTION VI.
CHARACTER OF THE ILINOIS.-THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.-THEIR ES.
TEEM OF THE CALUMET, OR TOBACCO-PIPE, AND THEIR DANCE IN ITS
HONOR.
To say Ilinois is, in their language, to say " the men," as
if other Indians compared to them were mere beasts. And
it must be admitted that they have an air of humanity" that: "The Ilinois," as described by Father Marest in a letter to Father Germon, from the village "of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin, Cascasquias, November 9, 1712," "are much less barbarous than the other Indians.
Christianity, and their intercourse with the French, have by degrees somewhat
civilized them. This is particularly remarked in our village, of which the inhabitants are almost all Christians, and has brought many French to establish themselves here, three of whom we have recently married to Ilinois women. These
Indians are not at all wanting in wit; they are naturally curious, and are able
to use raillery in a very ingenious way. The chase and war are the sole occupa



26              NARRATIVE OF FATHEE        MARQUETTE.
we had not remarked in the other nations that we had seen
on the way.     The short stay I made with them       did not permit
tions of the men, while the rest of the labor falls upon the women and girls. They
are the persons who prepare the ground for sowing, do the cooking, pound the
corn, build the wigwams, and carry them on their shoulders in their journeys.
These wigwams are constructed of mats made of platted reeds, which they have
the skill to sew together in such a way that the rain can not penetrate them
when they are new. Besides these things, they occupy themselves in manufacturing articles from buffaloes' hair, and in making bands, belts, and sacks; for
the buffaloes here are very different from our cattle in Europe. Besides having
a large hump on the back by the shoulders, they are also entirely covered with
a fine wool, which our Indians manufacture instead of that which they would
procure from sleep, if they had them in the country.
"The women, thus occupied and depressed by their daily toils, are more docile to the truths of the gospel. This, however, is not the case at the lower end
of the Missisipi, where the idleness which prevails among persons of that sex
gives opportunity for the most fearful disorders, and removes them entirely from
the way of safety.
"It would be difficult to say what is the religion of our Indians. It consists
entirely in some superstitions with which their credulity is amused. As all their
knowledge is limited to an acquaintance with brutes, and to the necessities of
life, it is to these things also that all their worship is confined. Their medicinemen, who have a little more intellect than the rest, gain their respect by their
ability to deceive them. They persuade them that they honor a kind of spirit,
to whom they give the name of Manitou, and teach them that it is this spirit
which governs all things, and is master of life and of death. A bird, a buffalo,
a bear, or rather the plumage of these birds, and the skin of these beasts —such
is their manitou. They hang it up in their wigwams, and offer to it sacrifices
of dogs and other animals.
"The braves carry their manitous in a mat, and unceasingly invoke them to
obtain the victory over their enemies. Their medicine-men have in like manner
recourse to their manitous when they compose their remedies, or when they
attempt to cure the diseased. They accompany their invocations with chants,
and dances, and frightful contortions, to induce the belief that they are inspired
by their manitous; and at the same time they thus aggravate their diseases, so
that they often cause death. During these different contortions, the medicine-.man names sometimes one animal, and sometimes another, and at last applies
himself to suck that part of the body in which the sick person perceives the pain.
After having done so for some time, he suddenly raises himself and throws out
to him the tooth of a bear, or of some other animal, which he had kept concealed
in his mouth.'Dear friend,' he cries,'you will live. See what it was that was
killing you!' After which he says, in applauding himself:'Who can resist my
manitou? Is he not the one who is the master of life?' If the patient happens
to die, he immediately has some deceit ready prepared, to ascribe the death to
some other cause which took place after he had left the sick man. But if, on




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.                 27
me to acquire all the information I would have desired. The
following is what I remarked in their manners.
the contrary, he should recover his health, it is then thatthe medicine-man receives consideration, and is himself regarded as a manitou; and after having
well rewarded his labors, they procure the best that the village produces to
regale him.
"The influence which these kinds of jugglers have places a great obstacle in
the way of the conversion of the Indians. By embracing Clristianity, they expose themselves to their insults and violence. It is only a month ago that a
young Christian girl experienced this treatment. Holding a rosary in her hand,
she was passing before the wigwam of one of these impostors. He had imagined
that the sight of a similar chaplet had caused the death of his father; and being transported with fury, he took his gun, and was on the point of firing at
this poor neophyte, when he was arrested by some Indians who happened to be
present.
"I can not tell you how many times I have received the like insults from
them, nor how many times I should have expired under their blows, had it not
been for the particular protection of God, who has preserved me from their fury.
On one occasion, among others, one of them would have split my head with his
hatchet, had I not turned at the very time that his arm was raised to strike me.
Thanks to God, our village is now purged from these impostors. The care which
we have ourselves taken of the sick, the remedies we have given them, and
which have generally produced a cure, have destroyed the credit and reputation
of these medicine-men, and forced them to go and establish themselves elsewhere.
"There are, however, some among them who are not so entirely brutal, and
with whom we can sometimes talk, and endeavor to disabuse them of the vain
confidence they have in their manitous; but it is not ordinarily with much success. A conversation which one of our fathers had with one of these medicinemen will enable you to understand the extent of their obstinacy on this point,
and also what ought to be the condescension of a missionary in attempting even
to refute opinions as extraordinary as those with which they are here met.
"The French had established a fort on the river Ouabache: they asked for a
missionary, and Father Mermet was sent to them. This father thought that
he should also labor for the conversion of the Mascoutens, who had formed a
settlement on the banks of the same river, a tribe of Indians who understood the
Ilinois language, but whose extreme attachment to the superstitions of their
medicine-men rendered them exceedingly indisposed to listen to the instructions
of the missionary.
"The course which Father Mermet took was, to confound in their presence
one of their medicine-mcn, who worshipped the buffalo as his grand manitou.
After having insensibly led him to confess that it was not by any means the buffalo which he worshipped, but a manitou of the buffalo, which is under the earth
-which animates all the buffaloes, and which gives life to their sick-he asked
him whether the other beasts, as the bears, for example, which his comrades
worshipped, were not equally animated by a manitou which is under the earth.




28             NARRATIVE OF FATTIER MARQUETTE.
They are divided into several villages, some of which are
quite distant from that of which I speak, and which is called'Certainly,' replied the medicine-man.'But if this be so,' said the missionary,'then men ought also to have a manitou which animates them.' —'Nothing can
be more certain,' said the medicine-man.'That is sufficient for me,' replied the
missionary,'to convict you of having but little reason on your side; for if man
who is on the earth be the master of all the animals-if he kills them, if he eats
them-then it is necessary that the manitou which animates the men should
also be the master of all the other manitous. Where is, then, your wisdom, that
you do not invoke him who is the master of all the others?' This reasoning
disconcerted the medicine-man, but this was the only effect which it produced,
for they were not less attached than before to their ridiculous superstitions.
"At that same time a contagious disease desolated their village, and each day
carried off many of the Indians: the medicine-men themselves were not spared,
and died like the rest. The missionary thought that he would be able to win
their confidence by his attention to the care of the sick, and therefore applied
himself to it without intermission; but his zeal very often came near costing him
his life. The services which he rendered to them were repaid only by outrages.
There were even some who proceeded to the extremity of discharging their arrows at him, but they fell at his feet; it may be that they were fired by hands
which were too feeble, or because God, who destined the missionary for other
labors, had wished to withdraw him at that time from their fury. Father Mermet, however, was not deterred from conferring baptism on some of the Indians,
who requested it with importunity, and who died a short time after they had
received it.
"Nevertheless, their medicine-men removed to a short distance from the fort,
to make a great sacrifice to their manitou. They killed nearly forty dogs, which
they carried on the tops of poles, singing, dancing, and making a thousand extravagant gestures. The mortality, however, did not cease, for all their sacrifices. The chief of the medicine-men then imagined that their manitou, being
less powerful than the manitou of the French, was obliged to yield to him. In
this persuasion he many times made a circuit around the fort, crying out with
all his strength:'We are dead; softly, manitou of the French, strike softlydo not kill us all' Then, addressing himself to the missionary:'Cease, good
manitou, let us live; you have life and death in your possession: leave deathgive us life!' The missionary calmed him, and promised to take even more care
of the sick than he had hitherto done; but notwithstanding all the care he could
bestow, more than half in the village died.
"To return to our Ilinois: they are very different from these Indians, and also
from what they formerly were themselves. Christianity, as I have already said,
has softened their savage customs, and their manners are now marked by a
sweetness and purity which have induced some of the French to take their
daughters in marriage. We find in them, moreover, a docility and ardor for the
practice of Christian virtues. The following is the order we observe each day
in our mission: Early in the morning we assemble the catechumens at the
church, where they have prayers, they receive instructions, and chant some can



DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.                 29
Peouarea. This produces a diversity in their language which
in general has a great affinity to the Algonquin, so that we
tides. When they have retired, mass is said, at which all the Christians assist,
the men placed on one side and the women on the other; then they have prayers, which are followed by giving them a homily, after which each one goes to his
labor. We then spend our time in visiting the sick, to give them the necessary
remedies, to instruct them, and to console those who are laboring under any
affliction.
"After noon the catechising is held, at which all are present, Christians and
catechumens, men and children, young and old, and where each, without distinction of rank or age, answers the questions put by the missionary. As these
people have no books, and are naturally indolent, they would shortly forget the
principles of religion if the remembrance of them was not recalled by these
almost continual instructions. Our visits to their wigwams occupy the rest of
the day.
"In the evening, all assemble again at the church, to listen to the instructions
which are given, to say prayers, and to sing some hymns. On Sundays and
festivals we add to the ordinary exercises, instructions which are given after
the vespers. The zeal with which these good neophytes repair to the church at
all such hours is admirable: they break off from their labors, and run from a
great distance, to be there at the appointed time. They generally end the day
by private meetings which they hold at their own residences, the men separately
from the women, and there they recite the rosary in alternate choirs, and
chant the hymns, until the night is far advanced. These hymns are their best
instructions, which they retain the more easily, since the words are set to airs
with which they are acquainted, and which please them.
"They often approach the sacraments, and the custom among them is to confess and to communicate once in a fortnight. We have been obliged to appoint
particular days on which they shall confess, or they would not leave us leisure
to discharge our other duties. These are the Fridays and Sundays of each week.
when we hear them, and on these days we are overwhelmed with a crowd of
penitents. The care which we take of the sick gains us their confidence, and it
is particularly at such times that we reap the fruits of our labors. Their docility
is then perfect, and we have generally the consolation of seeing them die in
great peace, and with the firm hope of being shortly united to God in heaven.
"This mission owes its establishment to the late Father Gravier.  Father
Marquette was, in truth, the first who discovered the Missisipi, about thirty-nine
years ago; but, not being acquainted with the language of the country, he did
not remain. Some time afterward he made a second journey, with the intention
of fixing there his residence, and laboring for the conversion of these people;
but death, which arrested him on the way, left to another the care of accomplishing this enterprise.  This was Father Allouez, who charged himself with
it. He was acquainted with the language of the Oumiamis, which approaches
very nearly to that of the Ilinois. He, however, made but a short sojourn, having the idea while there that he should be able to accomplish more in a different
country, where indeed he ended his apostolic life.




30              NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
easily understood one another.        They are mild and tractable
in their disposition, as we experienced in the reception they
"Thus Father Gravier is the one who should properly be regarded as the
founder of the mission to the Ilinois. Hie first investigated the principles of their
language, and reduced them to grammatical rules, so that we have since only
been obliged to bring to perfection what he began with so great success. This
missionary had at first much to suffer from their medicine-men, and his life was
exposed to continual dangers; but nothing repulsed him, and he surmounted all
these obstacles by his patience and mildness. Being obliged to depart to Michilimakinac, his mission was confided to Father Bineteau and Father Pinet. In
company with these two missionaries I labored for some time, and after their
death remained in sole charge of all the toilsome duties of the mission, until the
arrival of Father Mermet. My residence was formerly in the great village of
the Peouarias, where Father Gravier, who had returned thither for the second
time, received a wound which caused his death. * * *
"After having remained eight days at the mission of St. Joseph, I embarked
with my brother in his canoe, to repair together to Michilimakinac. The voyage
was very delightful to me, not only because I had the pleasure of being with a
brother, who is very dear, but also because it afforded me an opportunity of
profiting for a much longer time by his conversation and example.
"It is, as I have said, more than a hundred leagues from the mission of St.
Joseph to Michilimakinac. We go the whole length of Lake Michigan, which
on the maps has the name, without any authority, of' the lake of the Ilinois,'
since the Ilinois do not at all dwell in its neighborhood. The stormy weather
delayed us, so that our voyage took seventeen days, though it is often accomplished in less than eight.
" Michilimakinac is situated between two great lakes, into which other lakes
and many rivers empty. Therefore it is that this village is the ordinary resort
of the French, the Indians, and almost all those engaged in the fur-trade of the
country. The soil there is far inferior to that among the Ilinois. During the
greater part of the year one sees nothing but fish, and the waters which are so
agreeable during the summer render a residence there dull and wearisome during the winter. The earth is entirely covered with snow from All-Saints' day
even to the month of May.
"The character of these Indians partakes of that of the climate under which
they live. It is harsh and indocile. Religion among them does not take deep
root, as should be desired, and there are but few souls who from time to time
give themselves truly to God, and console the missionary for all his pains. For
myself, I could not but admire the patience with which my brother endured
their failings, his sweetness under the trial of their caprices and their coarseness,
his diligence in visiting them, in teaching them, in arousing them from their indolence for the exercises of religion, his zeal and his love, capable of inflaming
their hearts, if they had been less hard and more tractable; and I said to myself
that success is not always the recompense of the toils of apostolic men, nor the
measure of their merit.'
" Having finished all our business during the two months that I remained with




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.                  31
gave us.     They have many wives, of whom              they   are extremely jealous; they watch them         carefully, and cut off their
my brother, it became necessary for us to separate. As it was God who ordered
this separation, he knew how to soften all its bitterness. I departed to rejoin
Father Chardon, with whom I remained fifteen days. He is a missionary full of
zeal, and who has a rare talent for acquiring languages. He is acquainted with
almost all those of the Indians who are on these lakes, and has even learned
that of the Ilinois sufficiently to make himself understood, although he has only
seen some of those Indians accidentally, when they came to his village; for the
Pouteautamis and the Ilinois live in terms of friendship, and visit each other
from time to time. Their manners, however, are very different: those are brutal
and gross, while these, on the contrary, are mild and affable.
"After having taken leave of the missionary, we ascended the river St. Joseph
to where it was necessary to make a portage, about thirty leagues from its mouth.
The canoes which are used for navigation in this country are only of bark, and
very light, although they carry as much as a large boat. When the canoe has
carried us for a long time on the water, we in our turn carry it on the land,
over to another river; and it was thus that we did in this place. We first transported all there was in the canoe toward the source of the river of the Ilinois,
which they call Haukiki; then we carried thither our canoe, and after having
launched it, we embarked there to continue our route. We were but two days
making this portage, which is one and a half leagues in length. The abundant
rains which had fallen during this season had swelled our little rivers, and freed
us from the currents which we feared. At last we perceived our own agreeable country, the wild buffaloes and herds of stags wandering on the borders
of the river; and those who were in the canoe took some of them from time
to time, which served for our food.
"At the distance of some leagues from the village of the Peouarias, many of
these Indians came to meet me, to form an escort to defend me from hostile parties of warriors who might be roaming through the forest; and when I approached the village, they sent forward one of their number to give notice of
my arrival. The greater part ascended to the. fort, which is situated on a rock
on the banks of the river, and, when I entered the village, made a general discharge of their guns in sign of rejoicing. Their joy was, indeed, pictured plainly
on their countenances, and shone forth in my presence. I was invited, with the
French and the Ilinois chiefs, to a feast which was given to us by the most distinguished of the Peouarias. It was there that one of the principal chiefs addressed me in the name of the nation, testifying to me the deep grief they felt
at the unworthy manner in which they had treated Father Gravier, and conjured
me to forget it, to have pity on them and their children, and to open to them
the gate of heaven, which they had closed against themselves.
"For myself, I returned thanks to God, from the bottom of my heart, that I
thus saw that accomplished which I had desired with the utmost ardor. I answered them, in a few words, that I was touched with their repentance; that I
always regarded them as my children; and that after having made a short excursion to my mission, I should come to fix my residence in the midst of them,




32             NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
nose or ears when they do not behave well; I saw several who
bore the marks of their infidelity. They are well-formed, nimble, and very adroit in using the bow and arrow; they use guns
also, which they buy of our Indian allies who trade with the
French; they use them especially to terrify their enemies by
the noise and smoke, the others lying too far to the west, have
never seen them, and do not know their use. They are warlike and formidable to distant nations in the south and west,
where they go to carry off slaves, whom they make an article
of trade, selling them at a high price to other nations for
goods.*
The distant nations against whom they go to war, have no
knowledge of Europeans; they are acquainted with neither
to aid them by my instructions to return into the way of salvation, from which
they had perhaps wandered. At these words the chief uttered a loud cry of joy,
and each one with emulation testified his gratitude. During two days that I
remained in the village, I said mass in public, and discharged all the duties of a
missionary.
"It was toward the end of August that I embarked to return to my mission
of tile Cascasquias, distant a hundred and fifty leagues from the village of the
Peouarias. During the first day of our departure, we found a canoe of the
Scioux, broken in some places, which had drifted away, and we saw an encampment of their warriors, where we judged by the view there were at least one
hundred persons. We were justly alarmed, and on the point of returning to
the village we had left, from which we were as yet but ten leagues' distance.
"These Scioux are the most cruel of all the Indians, and we should have been
lost if we had fallen into their hands. They are great warriors, but it is principally upon the water that they are formidable. They have only small canoes
of bark, made in the form of a gondola, and scarcely larger than the body of a
man, for they can not hold more than two or three at the most. They row on
their knees, managing the oar now on one side and now on the other; that is,
giving three or four strokes of the oar on the right side, and then as many on
the left side, but with so much dexterity and swiftness, that their canoes seem to
fly on the water. After having examined all things with attention, we concluded that these Indians had struck their intended blow, and were retiring:
we, however, kept on our guard, and advanced with great caution, that we
might not encounter them. But when we had once gained the Missisipi, we
sped on by dint of rowing. At last, on the 10th of September, I arrived at my
dear mission, in perfect health, after five months' absence."- Kip's Jesuit Miss.
* It would appear from this remark, that a traffic in Indian slaves was carried
on extensively at a very early period, by the aborigines of North America.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.               33
iron or copper, and have nothing but stone knives.           When
the Ilinois set out on a war party, the whole village is notified by a loud cry made at the door of their huts the morning and evening before they set out. The chiefs are distinguished from the soldiers by their wearing a scarf* ingeniously made of the hair of bears and wild oxen. The face
is painted with red lead or ochre, which is found in great
quantities a few days' journey from their village.t       They live
by game, which is abundant in this country, and on Indian
corn, of which they always gather a good crop, so that they
have never suffered by famine. They also sow beans and
melons, which are excellent, especially those with a red seed.
Their squashes are not of the best; they dry them in the sun,
to eat in the winter and spring.
Their cabins are very large; they are lined and floored
with rush-mats.     They make all their dishes of wood, and
their spoons of the bones of the buffalo, which they cut so
well, that it serves them to eat their sagamity easily.
They are liberal in their maladies, and believe that the
medicines given them      operate in proportion to the presents
they have made the medicine-man.           Their only clothes are
* The scarf or belt has always formed a part of the costume of chiefs. Among
the tribes of the west it is generally made of long hair braided in figures with
shells, beads, &c. Belts of deer and buffalo skins are also worn. These belts
are worn over the left shoulder, and passed around the waist, ending in a
long fringe. In addition to the scarf, they likewise adorn themselves with arm,
knee, and wrist bands; knee-rattles made of deer-hoofs, and arm themselves
with the formidable bow and arrow, war-club, and scalping-knife.-F.
f The custom of painting their bodies is characteristic of all savage tribes. The
native Britons, Germans, and Scandinavians, formerly practised it. The savage
tribes of North and South America continue the custom to the present day, with
a view of rendering themselves more attractive to their friends, or more terrible
to their enemies. The substances usually employed are ochres, clays, native
oxydes of iron, and other minerals, the production of their country. When they
go to war, they paint themselves red; when they mourn for their friends or relatives, with black; at other times they cover their face and body with a variety
of fantastic colors, which they are very skilful in mixing.-F.
3




34           NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
skins; their women are always dressed very modestly and
decently, while the men do not take any pains to cover themselves. Through what superstition I know not, some Ilinois,
as well as somne Nadouessi, while yet young, assume the female dress, and keep it all their life. There is some mystery
about it, for they never marry, and glory in debasing themselves to do all that is done by women:* yet they go to war,
though allowed to use only a club, and not the bow and arrow, the peculiar arm  of men; they are present at all the
juggleries and solemn dances in honor of the calumet; they
are permitted to sing, but not to dance; they attend the
councils, and nothing can be decided without their advice;
finally, by the profession of an extraordinary life, they pass
for manitous (that is, for genii), or persons of consequence.
It now only remains for me to speak of the calumet, than
which there is nothing among them  more mysterious or more
esteemed. Men do not pay to the crowns and sceptres of
kings the honor they pay to it: it seems to be the god of
peace and war, the arbiter of life and death. Carry it about
you and show it, and you can march fearlessly amid enemies,
who even in the heat of battle lay down their arms when it is
shown. Hence the Ilinois gave me one, to serve as my safeguard amid all the nations that I had to pass on my voyage.
There is a calumet for peace, and one for war, distinguished
only by the color of the feathers with which they are adorned,
red being the sign of war. They use them    also for settling
dispute, strengthening alliances, and speaking to strangers.t
a Others!repreent this custom to have been to satisfy that unnatural lust
which dishonored all paganism, from the vaunted Trajan to the lowest savage.
See Hennepir's account of this custom in his "Voyage en un pays plus grand
que rEurope entre mer glaciale, et le Nouveau Mexique."
f The ealumet of peace is adorned with the feathers of the white eagle; and
the bearer of it ~may go.everywhere without fear, because it is held sacred by all
tribes. —F




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.            35
It is made of a polished red stone, like marble, so pierced
that one end serves to hold the tobacco, while the other is
fastened on the stem, which is a stick two feet long, as thick
as. a common cane, and pierced in the middle; it is ornamented with the head and neck of different birds of beautiful
plumage; they also add large feathers of red, green, and
other colors, with which it is all covered. They esteem it
particularly because they regard it as the calumet of the sun;
and, in fact, they present it to him to smoke when they wish
to obtain calm, or rain, or fair weather. They scruple to
bathe at the beginning of summer, or to eat new fruits, till
they have danced it. They do it thus:The calumet dance* which is very famous among these
Indians, is performed only for important matters, sometimes
to strengthen a peace or to assemble for some great war; at
other times for a public rejoicing; sometimes they do this
honor to a nation who is invited to be present; sometimes
they use it to receive some important personage, as if they
wished to give him the entertainment of a ball or comedy.
In winter the ceremony is performed in a cabin, in summer
in the open fields. They select a place, surrounded with
trees, so as to be sheltered beneath their foliage against the
heat of the sun. In the middle of the space they spread out
a large party-colored mat of rushes; this serves as a carpet,
on which to place with honor the god of the one who gives
the dance; for every one has his own god, or manitout as
* Besides the calumet dance, these tribes have a great variety of other dances,
wholly of their own invention. Twenty-one of these are still in use among the
southwestern Indians, to each of which there is a history attached; and many
of them, without doubt, have been handed down from generation to generation
until their origin is even lost in tradition.-F.
{ Manitou is a word employed to signify the same thing by all Indians from
the gulf of Mexico to the arctic regions. In the Indian language it signifies
"spirit." They have good and bad manitous, great and small manitous; a manitou for every cave, water-fall, or other commanding object in nature, and gene



36            NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
they call it, which is a snake, a bird, or something of the
kind, which they have dreamed in their sleep, and in which
they put all their trust for the success of their wars, fishing,
and hunts.   Near this manitou and at its right, they put the
calumet in honor of which the feast is given, making around
about it a kind of trophy, spreading there the arms used by
the warriors of these tribes, namely, the war-club, bow, hatchet,
quiver, and arrows.
Things being thus arranged, and the hour for dancing
having arrived, those who are to sing take the most honorable
place under the foliage.    They are the men and the women
who have the finest voices, and who accord perfectly. The
spectators then come and take their places around under the
branches; but each one on arriving must salute the manitou,
which he does by inhaling the smoke and          then puffing it
from  his mouth upon it, as if offering incense.       Each one
goes first and takes the calumet respectfully, and supporting
it with both hands, makes it dance in cadence, suiting himself to the air of the song; he makes it go through various
figures, sometimes showing it to the whole assembly by turning it from side to side.
After this, he who is to begin the dance appears in the
midst of the assembly, and goes first; sometimes he presents
it to the sun, as if he wished it to smoke; sometime he inrally make offerings at such places. Their bad manitou answers to our devil.
All Indians are more or less superstitious, and believe in miraculous transformations, ghosts, and witchcraft. They have jugglers and prophets who predict
events, interpret dreams, and perform incantations and mummeries.  In the
true acceptation of the term, the Indians have a religion, for they believe
in a great spirit who resides in the clouds, and reigns throughout the earth.
The French missionaries have been the most successful in planting Christianity
among them; but in general, they prefer "to follow the religion of their fathers." The savage mind, habituated to sloth, is not easily roused into a state
of moral activity, and therefore, in general, they are incapable of embracing and
understanding the sublime truths and doctrines of the evangelical law.-F.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.     37
dines it to the earth; and at other times he spreads its wings
as if for it to fly; at other times, he approaches it to the mouths
of the spectators for them to smoke, the whole in cadence.
This is the first scene of the ballet.
The second consists in a combat, to the sound of a kind of
drum, which succeeds the songs, or rather joins them, harmonizing quite well. The dancer beckons to some brave to
come and take the arms on the mat, and challenges him to
fight to the sound of the drums; the other approaches, takes
his bow and arrow, and begins a duel against the dancer who
has no defence but the calumet. This spectacle is very pleasing, especially as it is always done in time, for one attacks,
the other defends; one strikes, the other parries; one flies, the
other pursues; then he who fled faces and puts his enemy to
flight. This is all done so well with measured steps, and the
regular sound of voices and drums, that it might pass for a
very pretty opening of a ballet in France.
The third scene consists of a speech delivered by the holder
of the calumet, for the combat being ended without bloodshed,
he relates the battles he was in, the victories he has gained;
he names the nations, the places, the captives he has taken,
and as a reward, he who presides at the dance presents him
with a beautiful beaver robe, or something else, which he
receives, and then he presents the calumet to another, who
hands it to a third, and so to all the rest, till all having done
their duty, the presiding chief presents the calumet itself to
the nation invited to this ceremony in token of the eternal
peace which shall reign between the two tribes.
The following is one of the songs which they are accustomed to sing; they give it a certain expression, not easily
represented by notes, yet in this all its grace consists:"Ninahani ninahani, ninahani,
Naniongo."




38           NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
We take leave of our Ilinois about the end of June, at
three o'clock in the afternoon, and embark in sight of all the
tribe, who admire our little canoes, having never seen the like.
We descend, following the course of the river, toward another called Pekitanoiii,  which empties into the Missisipi,
coming from the northwest, of which I have something considerable to say, after I have related what I have remarked
of this river.
Passing by some pretty high rocks which line the river, I
perceived a plant which seemed to me very remarkable. Its
root is like small turnips linked together by little fibres, which
had the taste of carrots. From this root springs a leaf as wide
as the hand, half of a finger thick with spots in the middle; from this leaf spring other leaves like the sockets of
chandeliers in our saloons. Each leaf bears five or six bellshaped yellow flowers.t  We found abundance of mulberries,
as large as the French, and a small fruit which we took at
first for olives, but it had the taste of an orange, and another
as large as a hen's egg; we broke it in half and found two
separations, in each of which were encased eight or ten seed
shaped like an almond, which are quite good when ripe.: The
tree which bears them has, however, a very bad smell, and
its leaf resembles that of the walnut. There are also, in the
prairies, fruit resembling our filberts, but more tender; the
leaves are larger, and spring from a stalk crowned at the top
with a head like a sunflower, in which all these nuts are
neatly arranged; they are very good cooked or raw.l
* The name here given by Marquette, Pekitanoiii, that is, muddy water, prevailed till Marest's time, (1712). A branch of Rock river is still called Pekatonica.
The Recollects, called the Missouri, the river of the Ozages.
t Probably the Cactus opuntia, several species of which grow in the western
states.-F.
t Probably the Diospyros virginiana, or persimon-tree.
Q Probably the Castanea pumila, or chincapin.-F.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MSISSIPSSIPI VALLEY.            39
As we coasted along rocks frightful for their height and
length, we saw two monsters painted on one of these rocks,
which startled us at first, and on which the boldest Indian
dare not gaze long.    They are as large as a calf, with horns
on the head like a deer, a fearful look, red eyes, bearded like
a tiger, the face somewhat like a man's, the body covered with
scales, and the tail so long that it twice makes the turn of the
body, passing over the head and down between the legs, and
ending at last in a fish's tail. Green, red, and a kind of black,
are the colors employed.    On the whole, these two monsters
are so well painted, that we could not believe any Indian to
have been the designer, as good painters in France would find it
hard to do as well; besides this, they are so high upon the rock
that it is hard to get conveniently at them to paint them. This
is pretty nearly the figure of these monsters, as I drew it off.*
As we were discoursing of them, sailing gently down a
beautiful, still, clear water, we heard the noise of a rapid into
which we were about to fall. I have seen nothing more frightful; a mass of large trees, entire, with branches, real floating
islands, came rushing from the mouth of the river Pekitanoii,
so impetuously, that we could not, without great danger,
expose ourselves to pass across.    The agitation was so great
that the water was all muddy and could not get clear.
Pekitanoiit is a considerable river which coming from
* The drawing of these figures by Marquette is lost. "The painted monsters,"
says Stoddard, " on the side of a high perpendicular rock, apparently inaccessible to man, between the Missouri and Ilinois, and known to moderns by the
name of Piesa, still remain in a good degree of preservation."
{ Father Marquette had now reached the junction of the Missouri and the
Mississippi, in latititude north 38~ 50'. "The Achelous and Teliboas," says
Stoddard, "are insignificant rivers when compared with the Mississippi and
Missouri; yet Thucydides and Xenophon exerted all their powers to render them
immortal. The two great rivers of the west furnish themes still more pregnant
with the sublime and beautiful. The great length of them, the variety of scenery
as they roll among mountains, or over extensive plains, at once charm the senses




40            NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
very far in the northwest, empties into the Missisipi.   Many
Indian towns are ranged along this river, and I hope, by its
means, to make the discovery of the Red, or California sea.
We judged by the direction the Missisipi takes, that if
it keeps on the same course it has its mouth in the gulf of
Mexico; it would be very advantageous to find that which
leads to the South sea, toward California and this, as I said,
I hope to find by Pekitanoiii, following the account which the
Indians have given me; for from them I learn that advancing
up this river for five or six days, you come to a beautiful
prairie twenty or thirty leagues long, which you must cross to
the northwest.   It terminates at another little river on which
you can embark, it not being difficult to transport canoes over
so beautiful a country as that prairie.  This second river runs
southwest for ten or fifteen leagues, after which it enters a
small lake, which is the source of another deep river, running
to the west where it empties into the sea." I have hardly
any doubt that this is the Red sea, and I do not despair of
one day making the discovery, if God does me this favor and
grants me health, in order to be able to publish the gospel to
all the nations of this new world who have so long been
plunged in heathen darkness.
Let us resume our route after having escaped as best we
could, the dangerous rapid caused by the obstacle of which
I have spoken.
and warm the imagination. The facilities they yield to commerce, the superfluous wealth of twenty states conveyed to the ocean, the variety of climates, soils,
and productions on their borders, the mineral and other subterranean riches of the
soil, seem to be designed by Heaven to impress us with their importance and sublimity."
* Marquette was right in his conjecture, as topographical surveys have since
determined, that the gulf of California might be reached by the Platte which is
one of the tributaries of the Missouri. The head waters of the Platte almost interlock with the head waters of the Colorado, which latter river flows into the
Red sea, or gulf of California, as here stated by Marquette.-F.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.             41
SECTION VII.
NEW COUNTRIES DISCOVERED BY THE FATHER.-VARIOUS PARTICULARS.MEETING WITH SOME INDIANS-FIRST TIDINGS OF THE SEA AND OF EUROPEANS.-GREAT DANGER AVOIDED BY THE CALUMET.
AFTER having made about twenty leagues due south, and
a little less to the southeast, we came to a river called Ouaboukigou,* the mouth of which is at 36~ north.        Before we
arrived there, we passed by a place dreaded by the Indians,
because they think that there is a manitou there, that is, a
demon who devours all who pass, and of this it was, that they
had spoken, when they wished to deter us from         our enterprise. The devil is this-a small bay, full of rocks, some
twenty feet high, where the whole current of the river is
whirled; hurled back against that which follows, and checked
by a neighboring island, the mass of water is forced through
a narrow channel; all this is not done without a furious combat of the waters tumbling over each other, nor without a
great roaring, which strikes terror into Indians who fear
everything. It did not prevent our passing and reaching
8ab8kig8.   This river comes from     the country on the east,
inhabited by the people called Chaouanons,t in such numbers
* The Ohio, or beautiful river, as that Iroquois name signifies. The name
given by Marquette, became finally Ouabache, in our spelling Wabash, and is
now applied to the last tributary of the Ohio. The letter used a few lines lower
down for ou, is the Greek contraction, and was used by the missionaries to expless a peculiar Indian sound, which we have often represented by W.
t The Chawanons have become by our substitution of sh, Shawnees. I find
the name Chaoiianong in the Relation 1671-'72, as another name for the people
called Ontoiiagannha, which is defined in the Relation of 1661-'62, to mean
"where they do not know how to speak." This is not then their name, and
the name Chaoiianong probably came through the western Algonquins, and was
usually translated by the French the Chats, or Cat tribe. I am strongly inclined to think them identical with the tribe called, by the Huron missionaries,
while that nation stood, the Erieehonons, or Cats (Rel. 1640-'41). This tribe




42             NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
that they reckon as many as twenty-three villages in one district, and  fifteen in another, lying quite near each other;
they are by no means warlike, and are the people the Iroquois go far to seek in order to wage an unprovoked war upon
them; and, as these poor people can not defend themselves,
they allow themselves to be taken and carried off like sheep,
and innocent as they are, do not fail to experience, at times,
the barbarity of the Iroquois, who burn them       cruelly.
A little above this river of which I have just spoken, are
cliffs where our men perceived        an iron   mline, which they
deemed very rich; there are many veins, and a bed a foot
thick.    Large   masses are    found   combined     with  pebbles.
There is also there a kind of unctuous earth of three colors,
purple, violet, and red,* the water in which it is washed becomes blood-red. There is also a very heavy, red sand; I
put some on a paddle, and it took the color so well, that the
then occupied western New York, except a little strip on the Niagara river,
where there were three or four villages of Attiwandaronk, or Neuters. Morgan
in his League of the Iroquois, indeed, thinks the Neuters to be Cats; but as the
Neuters were incorporated into the Iroquois (Rel. 1655, &c.), under the name
of Atirhagenret, or Rhagenraka (Rels. 1671,'73,'4), while the Eries were gradually expelled; it seems more probable that they retired from their lake to the
Ohio, thence to the Tennessee, and turning south, came up again to Pennsylvania.
During this period, being known chiefly through Algonquins tribes, they were
called by an Algonquin word for the animal of which they bore the name. De
Laet giving the names of the tribes from the mouth of the Delaware to Lake Erie,
puts the Sawanos one of those nearest the Senecas and the lake; and this name
differs from the later French name only in the aspirate, frequently omitted and
expressed at random by the same writer, as we find Afissilimalkinac, and Michilimackinac, Maskoutens and Machkoutens, Kaskaskia and Kachkachkia. This will
I think, justify our supposing the Eries, Shawnees, Chaouanons, Ontoiiagannha,
Sawanas, to be the same unfortunate tribe whom the Iroquois so perseveringly
followed. Much confusion has been of late years occasioned by writers utterly
unfamiliar with the language, religion, or writings of the early French missionaries. This has gone so far, that in Schoolcraft's ponderous work on the History,
Condition, and Progress of the Indian Tribes, we are asked, at p. 560, whether
the Eries were the Neuters 
* This has always been a favorite spot for the resort of Indians to obtain different colored clays with which they paint themselves.-F.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        43
water did not efface it for fifteen days that I used it in rowing.
Here we began to see canes, or large reeds on the banks
of the river; they are of a very beautiful green; all the knots
are crowned with long, narrow, pointed leaves; they are very
high, and so thick-set, that the wild cattle find it difficult to
make their way through them.
Up to the present time we had not been troubled by musquitoes, but we now, as it were, entered their country.*  Let
me tell you what the Indians of these parts do to defend
themselves against them. They raise a scaffolding, the floor
of which is made of simple poles, and consequently a mere
grate-work to give passage to the smoke of a fire which they
build beneath. This drives off the little animals, as they can
not bear it. The Indians sleep on the poles, having pieces of
bark stretched above them to keep off the rain. This scaffolding shelters them too from the excessive and insupportable heat of the country; for they lie in the shade in the
lower story, and are thus sheltered from the rays of the sun,
enjoy the cool air which passes freely through the scaffold.
With the same view we were obliged to make on the water
a kind of cabin with our sails, to shelter ourselves from the
musquitoes and the sun. While thus borne on at the will of the
current, we perceived on the shore Indians armed with guns,
with which they awaited us. I first presented my feathered
calumet, while my comrades stood to arms, ready to fire on
the first volley of the Indians. I hailed them in Huron, but
they answered me by a word, which seemed to us a declaration of war. They were, however, as much frightened as our* Marquette had now reached the country of the warlike Chicachas, whose
territory extended several hundred miles along the banks of the Mississippi, and
far to the eastward, where they carried on a traffic with tribes who traded with
Europeans.-F.




44:          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
selves, and what we took for a signal of war, was an invitation
to come near, that they might give us food; we accordingly
landed and entered their cabins, where they presented us
wild-beef and bear's oil, with white plums, which are excellent. They have guns, axes, hoes, knives, beads, and double
glass bottles in which they keep the powder. They wear
their hair long and mark their bodies in the Iroquois fashion;
the head-dress and clothing of their women were like those
of the Huron squaws.
They assured us that it was not more than ten days' journey
to the sea; that they bought stuffs and other articles of Europeans on the eastern side; that these Europeans had rosaries
and pictures; that they played on instruments; that some
were like me, who received them well. I did not, however,
see any one who seemed to have received any instruction
in the faith; such as I could, I gave them      with some
medals.*
This news roused our courage and made us take up our
paddles with renewed ardor. We advance then, and now
begin to see less prairie land, because both sides or the river
are lined with lofty woods. The cotton-wood, elm and whitewood, are of admirable height and size. The numbers of wild
cattle we heard bellowing, made us believe the prairies near.
We also saw quails on the water's edge, and killed a little
parrot with half the head red, the rest, with the neck, yellow,
and the body green. We had now descended to near 33~
north, having almost always gone south, when on the water's
* The missionary gives no name to this tribe or party, but from their dress
and language, apparently of the Huron-Iroquois family, they may have been a
Tuscarora party, and referred to the Spaniards of Florida with whom they
traded in trinkets for skins. That they were not dwellers on the Mississippi
seems probable, from the fact that they were spoken of, not by the next tribe,
but by those lower down, whom they had doubtless reached on some other
foray.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.           45
edge we perceived a village called Mitchigamea.*     We had
recourse to our patroness and guide, the Blessed Virgin Immaculate; and, indeed, we needed her aid, for we heard fiom
afar the Indians exciting one another to the combat by continual yells. They were armed with bows, arrows, axes, warclubs, and bucklers, and prepared to attack us by land and
water; some embarked in large wooden canoes, a part to ascend
the rest to descend the river, so as to cut off our way, and
surround us completely. Those on shore kept going and
coming, as if about to begin the attack.  In fact, some young
men sprang into the water to come and seize my canoe, but
the current having compelled them to return to the shore, one
of them threw his war-club at us, but it passed over our heads
without doing us any harm.     In vain I showed the calumet,
and made gestures to explain that we had not come as enemies. The alarm continued, and they were about to pierce
us from all sides with their arrows, when God suddenly
touched the hearts of the old men on the water-side, doubtless at the sight of our calumet, which at a distance they had
not distinctly recognised; but as I showed it continually, they
were touched, restrained the ardor of their youth, and two of
the chiefs having thrown their bows and quivers into our
canoe, and as it were at our feet, entered and brought us to
the shore, where we disembarked, not without fear on our
part.  We had at first to speak by signs, for not one under* The Mitchigameas were a warlike tribe, and lived on a lake of that name
near the river St Francis. They finally became fused into the Ilinois nation,
as Charlevoix assures us in his journal, where he makes them inhabitants of the
villages of the Kaskaskias, in 1721. This brings them near the part which had
but shortly before taken the name of Michigan, given also to the lake which the
Jesuits called Lake Ilinois. The name Michigan may come from them, though
I am informed by the Rev. Mr. Pierz, an Ottawa missionary, that Mitchikan,
meaning a fence, was the Indian of Mackinaw, and the name under the form
Machihiganing was used some years prior by Allouez.-Rel. 69, 70.




46            NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
stood a word of the six languages I knew; at last an old man
was found who spoke a little Ilinois.
We showed them by our presents, that we were going to the
sea; they perfectly understood our meaning, but I know not
whether they understood what I told them        of God, and the
things which concerned their salvation. It is a seed cast in
the earth which will bear its fruit in season. We got no
answer, except that we would learn all we desired at another
great village called Akamsea, only eight or ten leagues
farther down the river. They presented us with sagamity
and fish, and we spent the night among them, not, however,
without some uneasiness.
SECTION        VIII.
RECEPTION GIVEN TO THE FRENCH IN THE LAST OF THE TOWNS WHICH
THEY SAW.-MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THESE SAVAGES.-REASONS FOR
NOT GOING FUR THER.
WE embarked next morning with our interpreter, preceded
by ten Indians in a canoe.       Having arrived about half a
league from Akamsea* (Arkansas), we saw two canoes coming
* It is probable that Akamsea was not far from the Indian village of Guachoya, where De Soto breathed his last, one hundred and thirty years before; and
Mitchigamea, the village of Aminoya, where Alvarado de Moscoso built his fleet
of brigantines to return to Mexico. The historian of that expedition, says "The
same day we left Aminoya (July 2d, 1543), we passed by Guachoya, where the
Indians tarried for us in their canoes." The Spaniards were attacked in descending the river by powerful fleets of Indian canoes, and lost in one of these
engagements the brave John de Guzman and eleven men. In sixteen days they
reached the mouth of the Mississippi, and on the 10th September, 1543, the remnant of this once splendid expedition reached Mexico. It must have been, therefore, at or near the mouth of the Arkansas, and not Red river, where De Soto
died, otherwise it would not have taken Moscoso one half of the time to reach
the gulf of Mexico from the latter river, which is but three hundred and fifty
miles from the gulf,-F.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MSISSISSIPPI VALLEY.  47
toward us. The commander was standing up holding in his
hand the calumet, with which he made signs according to the
custom of the country; he approached us, singing quite
agreeably, and invited us to smoke, after which he presented us some sagamity and bread made of Indian corn, of
which we ate a little. Hie now took the lead, making us
signs to follow slowly. Meanwhire they had prepared us a
place under the war-chiefs' scaffold; it was neat and carpeted with fine rush mats, on which they made us sit down,
having around us immediately the sachems, then the braves,
and last of all, the people in crowds. We fortunately
found among them a young man who understood Ilinois
much better than the interpreter whom we had brought
from Mitchigamea. By means of him I first spoke to the
assembly by the ordinary presents; they admired what
I told them of God, and the mysteries of our holy faith,
and showed a great desire to keep me with them to instruct
them.
We then asked them what they knew of the sea; they replied that we were only ten days' journey from it (we could
have made this distance in five days); that they did not know
the nations who inhabited it, because their enemies prevented
their commerce with those Europeans; that the hatchets,
knives, and beads, which we saw, were sold them, partly by
the nations to the east, and partly by an Ilinois town four
days' journey to the west; that the Indians with fire-arms
whom we had met, were their enemies who cut off their passage to the sea, and prevented their making the acquaintance
of the Europeans, or having any commerce with them; that,
besides, we should expose ourselves greatly by passing on, in
consequence of the continual war-parties that their enemies
sent out on the river; since being armed and used to war, we




48          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
could not, without evident danger, advance on that river
which they constantly, occupy.
During this converse, they kept continually bringing us in
wooden dishes of sagamity, Indian corn whole, or pieces of
dog-flesh; the whole day was spent in feasting.
These Indians are very courteous and liberal of what they
have, but they are very poorly off for food, not daring to go
and hunt the wild-cattle, for fear of their enemies. It is
true, they have Indian corn in abundance, which they sow
at all seasons; we saw some ripe; more just sprouting, and
more just in the ear, so that they sow three crops a year.
They cook it in large earthern pots,* which are very well
made; they have also plates of baked earth, which they employ for various purposes. The men go naked, and wear
their hair short; they have the nose and ears pierced, and
beads hanging from them. The women are dressed in
wretched skins; they braid their hair in two plaits, which falls
behind their ears; they have no ornaments to decorate their
persons. Their banquets are without any ceremonies; they
serve their meats in large dishes, and every one eats as much
as he pleases, and they give the rest to one another. Their
language is extremely difficult, and with all my efforts, I
could not succeed in pronouncing some words. Their cabins,
which are long and wide, are made of bark; they sleep at
the two extremities, which are raised about two feet from the
ground. They keep their corn in large baskets, made of
cane, or in gourds, as large as half barrels. They do not
know what a beaver is; their riches consisting in the hides
of wild cattle. They never see snow, and know the winter
* Indian pottery is one of the most ancient arts of this country. The southern
tribes particularly excelled in the manufacture of various articles for household
use, which, in form and finish, were not unlike the'best remains of Roman
art —F.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.          49
only by the rain which falls oftener than in summer.* We eat
no fruit there but watermelons; if they knew how to cultivate their ground, they might have plenty of all kinds.
In the evening the sachems held a secret council on the design of some to kill us for plunder, but the chief broke up all
these schemes, and sending for us, danced the calumet in our
presence, in the manner I have described above, as a mark
of perfect assurance; and then, to remove all fears, presented
it to me.
M. Jollyet and I held another council to deliberate on
what we should do, whether we should push on, or rest satisfied with the discovery that we had made. After having attentively considered that we were not far from the gulf of
Mexico, the basin of which is 31~ 40' north, and we at 330
40', so that we could not be more than two or three days
journey off; that the Missisipi undoubtedly had its month
in Florida or the gulf of Mexico, and not on the east, in
Virginia, whose seacoast is at 34~ north, which we had passed,
without having as yet reached the sea, nor on the western
side in California, because that would require a west, or westsouthwest course, and we had always been going south. We
considered, moreover, that we risked losing the fruit of this
voyage, of which we could give no information, if we should
throw ourselves into the hands of the Spaniards, who would
undoubtedly, at least, hold us as prisoners.  Besides, it was
* Marquette had now descended to genial climes, "that knew no winter, but
rains, beyond the bound of the Huron and Algonquin tribes," to tribes that
claimed descent from the Aztecs, and who still probably spoke a Mexican dialect
which compelled Marquette to employ an interpreter. The few words which
have been recorded of the Arkansas tribes by early travellers, and the similarity
of their institutions and customs to Mexican tribes, seem likewise to confirm
their origin. That they came from Mexico by the Rio Colorado and headwaters
of the Platte or Arkansas rivers to the Mississippi, is not at all improbable; but
when they came is a problem which can not be so easily solved. —F.
4




50             NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
clear, that we were not in a condition to resist Indians allied
to Europeans, numerous and expert in the use of fire-arms,
who continually infested the lower part of the river. Lastly,
we had gathered all the information that could be desired
from the expedition.* All these reasons induced us to resolve to return; this we announced to the Indians, and after
a day's rest, prepared for it.
SECTION        IX.
RETURN OF THE FATHER, AND THE FRENCH BAPTISM OF A DYING CHILD.
AFTER a month's navigation down the         Missisipi, from the
42d to below the 34th degree, and after having published the
gospel as well as I could to the nations I had met, we left the
village of Akamsea on the 17th of July, to retrace our steps.
We accordingly ascended the Missisipi, which gave us great
trouble to stem   its currents.t   We left it indeed, about the
38th degree, to enter another river, which greatly shortened
* The great object was to discover where the river emptied, and this did not
require further progress. Marquette's voyage indeed settled it so completely,
that we find no more hopes expressed of reaching the Pacific by the Mississippi
The missionary's fears of the Spaniards were not unnatural, as New Mexico was
the avowed object of the expedition, and the authorities there would certainly
have prevented their return, for fear of opening a path to French encroachment.
t The Mississippi is remarkable for its great length, uncommon depth, and
the muddiness and salubrity of its waters after its junction with the Missouri.
Below this river the banks present a rugged aspect; the channel is deep and
crooked, and often winds from one side of the river to the other. The strength
and rapidity of its current are such in high water, that before steam was used,
it could not be stemmed without much labor and waste of time. At high water
the current descends at the rate of five or six miles an hour, and in low water
at the rate of two or three miles only. Between the Arkansas and the Delta
the velocity of the current is diminished nearly one third; and from this to the
sea, about one half. In 1727, it took Father du Poisson, missionary to the Arkansas, to make a voyage from New Orleans to that mission, including some
stoppages, from the 25th May to the 7th July.-F.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.              51
our way, and brought us, with little trouble, to the lake of
the Ilinois.*
We had seen nothing like this river for the fertility of
the land, its prairies, woods, wild cattle, stag, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parrots, and even beaver; its
many little lakes and rivers. That on which we sailed, is
broad, deep, and gentle for sixty-five leagues.       During the
spring and part of the summer, the only portage is half a
league.
We found there an Ilinois town        called Kaskaskia, composed of seventy-four cabins; they received us well, and
compelled me to promise to return and instruct them. One
of the chiefs of this tribe    with   his young    men, escorted
us to the Ilinois lake, whence at last we returned in the close
of September to the bay of the Fetid, whence we had set out
in the beginning of June.
Had all this voyage caused but the salvation of a single
soul, I should deem all my fatigue well repaid, and this I
have reason to think, for, when I was returning, I passed by
the Indians of Peoria.t     I was three days announcing the
faith in all their cabins, after which as we were embarking,
they brought me on the water's edge a dying child, which I
* Lake Michigan was so called for a long time, probably from the fact that
through it lay the direct route to the Ilinois villages, which Father Marquette
was now the first to visit.  Marest erroneously treats the name as a mistake
of geographers, and is one of the first to call it Michigan. The river which Marquette now ascended has been more fortunate, it still bears the name of Ilinois.
I Unfortunately he does not tells us where he met these roving Peorians, who
thus enabled him to keep his promise to resist them. As they have left their
name on the Ilinois river, he may have found them there, below the Kaskaskias
who, no less erratic, left their name to a more southerly river, and to a town at
its mouth, on the Mississippi. It must then be borne in mind that Marquette's
Peoria, and his and Alloues' town of Kaskaskia are quite different from the present
places of the name in situation. The Ilinois seemed to have formed a link between the wandering Algonquin and the fixed Iroquois; they had villages like
the latter, and though they roved like the former, they roved in villages.




52             NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
baptized a little before it expired, by an admirable Providence
for the salvation of that innocent soul.t
t The following table of distances offer the best means of forming some idea
of the whole distance passed over by M. Jollyet and Father Marquette:
Miles.
From the mission of St. Ignac to Green bay about.............  218
From Green bay (Puans) up Fox river to the portage.........  175
From the portage down the Wisconsin to the Mississippi........  175
From the mouth of the Wisconsin to the mouth of the Arkansas.. 1,087
From the mouth of the Arkansas to the Ilinois river...........  547
From the mouth of the Ilinois to the Chicago.................  305
From the Chicago to Green bay, by the lake shore............ 260
2767
Sparks Life of Marquette.




CHAPTER II.
NARRATIVE OF THE SECOND VOYAGE MADE BY FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE
TO THE ILINOIS TO CARRY THE FAITH TO THEM, AND THE GLORIOUS DEATH
OF THE SAME FATHER IN THE LABORS OF HIS MISSION.
SECTION       I.
THE FATHER SETS OUT A SECOND TIME FOR THE ILINOIS.-HE ARRIVES
THERE IN SPITE OF HIS ILLNESS AND FOUNDS THE MISSION OF THE CON~
CEP TION.
F   ATHER JAMES MARQUETTE having promised the Ilinois,
called Kaskaskia, to return among them to teach them
our mysteries, had great difficulty in keeping his word.
The great hardships of his first voyage had brought on a dysentery, and had so enfeebled him, that he lost all hope of undertaking a second voyage.     Yet, his malady having given
way and almost ceased toward the close of summer in the following year, he obtained permission of his superiors to return
to the Ilinois to found that noble mission.*
* By his last journal, which we publish entire from his autograph, we learn
that Father Marquette was detained at the mission of St. Francis Xavier, in Green
bay, during the whole summer of 1674. Recovering in September, he drew up
and sent to his superiors, copies of his journal down the Mississippi, and having
received orders to repair to the Ilinois, set out, on the 25th of October, with two
men named Pierre Porteret and Jacques ---. They crossed the peninsula
which forms the eastern side of Green bay, and began to coast along the shore
of Lake Michigan, accompanied by some Ilinois and Pottawatomies. They advanced but slowly by land and water, frequently arrested by the state of the
lake. On the 23d of November, the good missionary was again seized by his
malady, but he pushed on, and by the 4th of December, had reached the
Chicago, which connects by portage with the Ilinois. But the river was now




54:            NARRATIVE OF FATHERI MARQUETTE.
He set out for this purpose in the month of November,
1674, from   the Bay of the Fetid, with two men, one of whom
had already made that voyage with him. During a month's
navigation on the Ilinois lake, he was pretty well; but as
soon as the snow began to fall, he was again seized with the
dysentery which forced him to stop in the river which leads
to the Ilinois. There they raised a cabin and spent the winter in such want of every comfort that his illness constantly
increased; he felt that God had granted him            the grace he
had so    often   asked, and     he even plainly     told   his  companions so, assuring them that he would die of that illness, and on that voyage. To prepare his soul for its departure, he began that rude wintering by the exercises of
St. Ignatius,* which, in spite of his great bodily weakness, he
frozen, and though they attempted to proceed, the pious missionary submitted
to the necessity, and deprived even of the consolation of saying mass on his
patronal feast, the Immaculate Conception, resolved at last, on the 14th, to winter at the portage, as his illness increased. His Indian companions now left
him, and though aided by some French traders, he suffered much during the following months. Of this, however, he says nothing. "The Blessed Virgin Immaculate," says his journal, "has taken such care of us during our wandering,
that we have never wanted food; we have lived very comfortably; my illness
not having prevented my saying mass every day." How little can we realize
the faith and self-denial which could give so pleasant a face to a winter passed
by a dying man in a cabin open to the winds. The Ilinois aware of his presence
so near them, sent indeed; but so gross were their ideas of his object, that they
asked the dying missionary for powder and goods. "I have come to instruct
you, and speak to you of the prayer," was his answer. "Powder, I have not;
we come to spread peace through the land, and I do not wish to see you at war
with the Miamis." As for goods, he could but encourage the French to continue
their trade. Despairing at last of human remedies, the missionary and his two
pious companions began a novena, or nine days' devotion to the Blessed Virgin Immaculate. From its close he began to gain strength, and when the freshet compelled them to remove their cabin, on the 29th of March he set out again on his
long interrupted voyage, the river being now open; his last entry is of the 6th
of April, when the wind and cold compelled them to halt. He never found time
to continue his journal; and his last words are a playful allusion to the hardships undergone by the traders, in wvhich he sympathized, while insensible of his
own.
* These are a series of meditation on the great truths of religion —the object




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.       55
performed with deep sentiments of devotion, and great heavenly consolation; and then spent the rest of his time in colloquies with all heaven, having no more intercourse with earth,
amid these deserts, except with his two companions whom he
confessed and communicated twice a week, and exhorted as
much as his strength allowed. Some time after Christmas,
in order to obtain the grace not to die without having taken
possession of his beloved mission, he invited his companions
to make a novena in honor of the Immaculate Conception of
the Blessed Virgin. Contrary to all human expectation he was
heard and recovering found himself able to proceed to the
Ilinois town as soon as navigation was free; this he accom.
plished in great joy, setting out on the 29th of March. He
was eleven days on the way, where he had ample matter for
suffering, both from his still sickly state, and fiom the severity and inclemency of the weather.
Having at last reached the town on the Sth of April, he
was received there as an angel from heaven; and after having
several times assembled the chiefs of the nation with all the
old men (anciens),* to sow in their minds the first seed of the
gospel; after carrying his instructions into the cabins, which
were always filled with crowds of people, he resolved to speak
to all publicly in general assembly, which he convoked in
the open fields, the cabins being too small for the meeting. A
beautiful prairie near the town was chosen for the great council; it was adorned in the fashion of the country, being spread
with mats and bear skins, and the father having hung on cords
some pieces of India taffety, attached to them four large pictures
of man's creation, the work of his redemption, and the means of attaining the
former by participating in the latter. To spend a number of days in revolving
these serious thoughts is called making a retreat.
* I have my doubts whether anciens, in these French accounts, does not mean
sachems, the rulers of the tribe.




56          NARRATIVE OF FATHIER MARQUETTE.
of the Blessed Virgin, which were thus visible on all sides. The
auditory was composed of five hundred chiefs and old men,
seated in a circle around the father, while the youth stood
without to the number of fifteen hundred, not counting women
and children, who are very numerous, the town being composed of five or six hundred fires.
The father spoke to all this gathering, and addressed them
ten words by ten presents which lie made them;* he explained to them tile principal mysteries of our religion, and
the end for which he had come to their country; and especially he preached to them Christ crucified, for it was the
very eve of the great day on which he died on the cross for
them, as well as for the rest of men. He then said mass.
Three days after, on Easter Sunday, things being arranged
in the same manner as on Thuisday, he celebrated the
holy mysteries for the second time, and by these two sacrifices, the first ever offered there to God, he took possession
of that land in the name of Jesus Christ, and gave this mission the name of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed
Virgin.
He was listened to with universal joy and approbation by
all this people, who earnestly besought him to return as soon
as possible among them, since his malady obliged him to
leave them. The father, on his part, showed them the affection he bore them, his satisfaction at their conduct, and gave
his word that he or some other of our fathers would return to
continue this mission so happily begun. This promise he repeated again and again, on parting with them to begin his
* Words addressed to Indians, when not accompanied by a wampum belt,
were considered unimportant; and the missionary who first announced the gospel in a village, always spoke by the belt of the prayer, which he held in his
hand, and which remained to witness his words when the sound had died
away.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    57
journey. He set out amid such marks of friendship from
these good people, that they escorted him with pomp more
than thirty leagues of the way, contending with one another
for the honor of carrying his little baggage.
SECTION II.
THE FATHER IS COMPELLED TO LEAVE HIS ILINOIS MISSION.-HIS LAST
ILLNESS.-HIS PRECIOUS DEATH AMID THE FORESTS.
AFTER the Ilinois had taken leave of the father, filled with
a great idea of the gospel, he continued his voyage, and soon
after reached the Ilinois lake, on which he had nearly a hundred leagues to make by an unknown route, because he was
obliged to take the southern [eastern] side of the lake, having gone thither by the northern [western]. His strength,
however, failed so much, that his men despaired of being
able to carry him alive to their journey's end; for, in fact,
he became so weak and exhausted, that he could no longer
help himself, nor even stir, and had to be handled and carried like a child.
He nevertheless maintained in this state an admirable equanimity, joy, and gentleness, consoling his beloved companions,
and encouraging them to suffer courageously all the hardships
of the way, assuring them that our Lord would not forsake
them when he was gone. During this navigation he began
to prepare more particularly for death, passing his time in
colloquies with our Lord, with His holy mother, with his angel-guardian, or with all heaven. He was often heard pronouncing these words: " I believe that my Redeemer liveth,"
or, " Mary, mother of grace, mother of God, remember me."
Besides a spiritual reading made for him every day, he tow



58          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
ard the close asked them to read him his meditation on the
preparation for death, which he carried about him: he recited
his breviary every day; and although he was so low, that
both sight and strength had greatly failed, he did not omit it
till the last day of his life, when his companions induced him
to cease, as it was shortening his days.
A week before his death, he had the precaution to bless
some holy water, to serve him during the rest of his illness,
in his agony, and at his burial, and he instructed his companions how to use it.
The eve of his death, which was a Friday, he told them, all
radiant with joy, that it would take place on the morrow.
During the whole day he conversed with them about the
manner of his burial, the way in which he should be laid out,
the place to be selected for his interment; he told them how
to arrange his hands, feet, and face, and directed them to
raise a cross over his grave. He even went so far as to enjoin
them, only three hours before he expired, to take his chapelbell, as soon as he was dead, and ring it while they carried
him to the grave. Of all this he spoke so calmly and collectedly, that you would have thought that he spoke of the death
and burial of another, and not of his own.
Thus did he speak with them as they sailed along the lake,
till, perceiving the mouth of a river, with an eminence on the
bank which he thought suited for his burial, he told them that
it was the place of his last repose. They wished, however, to
pass on, as the weather permitted it, and the day was not far
advanced; but God raised a contrary wind, which obliged
them to return and enter the river pointed out by Father
Marquette.*
* A marginal note says, "This river now bears the father's name." It was
indeed long called Marquette river, but from recent maps the name seems to




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.      59
They then carried him ashore, kindled a little fire, and
raised for him a wretched bark cabin, where they laid him as
little uncomfortably as they could; but they were so overcome
by sadness, that, as they afterward said, they did not know
what they were doing.
The father being thus stretched on the shore, like St.
Francis Xavier, as he had always so ardently desired,
and left alone amid those forests-for his companions were
engaged in unloading-he had leisure to repeat all the
acts in which he had employed himself during the preceding
days.
When his dear companions afterward came up, all dejected,
he consoled them, and gave them hopes that God would take
care of them after his death in those new and unknown countries; he gave them his last instructions, thanked them for
all the charity they had shown him during the voyage, begged
their pardon for the trouble he had given them, and directed
them also to ask pardon in his name of all our fathers and
brothers in the Ottawa country, and then disposed them to
receive the sacrament of penance, which he administered to
them for the last time; he also gave them a paper on which
he had written all his faults since his last confession, to be
given to his superior, to oblige him to pray more earnestly for
him. In fine, he promised not to forget them in heaven, and
as he was very kind-hearted, and knew them to be worn out
with the toil of the preceding days, he bade them go and take
a little rest, assuring them that his hour was -not yet so near,
but that he would wake them when it was time, as in fact he
did, two or three hours after, calling them when about to
enter his agony.
have been forgotten. Its Indian name is Notispescago, and according to others,
Aniniondibeganining. It is a very small stream, not more than fifteen paces.
long, being the outlet of a small lake, as Charlevoix assures us.




60         NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
When they came near he embraced them for the last time,
while they melted in tears at his feet; he then asked for the
holy water and his reliquary, and taking off his crucifix
which he wore around his neck, he placed it in the hands of
one, asking him to hold it constantly opposite him, raised before his eyes; then feeling that he had but a little time to
live, he made a last effort, clasped his hands, and with his
eyes fixed sweetly on his crucifix, he pronounced aloud his
profession of faith, and thanked the Divine Majesty for the
immense grace he did him in allowing him to die in the society of Jesus; to die in it as a missionary of Jesus Christ,
and above all to die in it, as he had always asked, in a
wretched cabin, amid the forests, destitute of all human aid.
On this he became silent, conversing inwardly with God;
yet from time to time words escaped him: " Sustinuit anima
mea in verba ejus," or " Mater Dei, memento mei," which
were the last words he uttered before entering on his agony,
which was very calm and gentle.
He had prayed his companions to remind him, when they
saw him about to expire, to pronounce frequently the names
of Jesus and Mary. When he could not do it himself, they did
it for him; and when they thought him about to pass, one cried
aloud Jesus Maria, which he several times repeated distinctly, and then, as if at those sacred names something had appeared, to him, he suddenly raised his eyes above his crucifix,
fixing them apparently on some object which he seemed to
regard with pleasure, and thus with a countenance all radiant
with smiles, he expired without a struggle, as gently as if he
had sunk into a quiet sleep.
His two poor companions, after shedding many tears over
his body, and having laid it out as he had directed, carried
it devoutly to the grave, ringing the bell according to his




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.            61
injunction, and raised a large cross near it to serve as a mark
for passers-by.
When they talked of embarking, one of them, who for
several days had    been overwhelmed with sadness, and so
racked in body by acute pains that he could neither eat nor
breathe without pain, resolved, while his companion was preparing all for embarkation, to go to the grave of his good
father, and pray him to intercede for him with the glorious
Virgin, as he had promised, not doubting but that he was
already in heaven.   He accordingly knelt down, said a short
prayer, and having respectfully taken some earth from       the
grave, he put it on his breast, and the pain immediately
ceased; his sadness was changed into a joy, which continued
during the rest of his voyage.
SECTION       III.
WHAT OCCURRED IN THE TRANSPORT OF THE BONES OF THE LATE FATHER
MARQUE TTE, WHICH WERE TAKEN UP ON THE 19TH OF MAY, 1677, THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH TWO YEARS BEFORE-SKETCH OF HIS VIRTUES.
GOD did not choose to suffer so precious a deposite to remain
unhonored and forgotten amid the woods.          The Kiskakon
Indians,* who, for the last ten years, publicly professed Christi* Of the Kiskakons little more is known than is here stated. They are, I
think, first mentioned in a letter of F Allouez, in the Relation 1666-'67. The
name Kiskakon given in this narrative, and the Relation of 1673-'79 is, I suppose, the longer name Kichkakoueiac of the Relation of 1672-'73, which places
them at that time near Sault St. Mary's, the Hurons being then alone at Mackinac. The last Relation (1673-'79) states their number then at 1,300, all Christians; they subsequently appear in collision with the Iroquois, but are soon lost
sight of; if they have disappeared from the nations, it was not in their infidelity;
many, we may trust, were faithful to the graces they received, and if they have
melted away before our encroachments, it is a reason why we should bless the
men who sought to save their souls without caring whether a century later any




62           NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
anity in which they were first instructed by Father Marquette, when stationed at Lapointe du Saint Esprit at the extremity of Lake Superior, were hunting last winter on the
banks of Lake Ilinois; and as they were returning early in
spring, they resolved to pass by the tomb of their good
father, whom they tenderly loved; and God even gave them
the thought of taking his remains and bringing them to our
church at the mission of St. Ignatius, at Missilimakinac, where
they reside.
They accordingly repaired to the spot and deliberated together, resolved to act with their father, as they usually do
with those whom they respect; they accordingly opened the
grave, unrolled the body, and though the flesh and intestines
were all dried up, they found it whole without the skin being
in any way injured. This did not prevent their dissecting it
according to custom; they washed the bones, and dried them
in the sun, then putting them neatly in a box of birch bark,
they set out to bear them to the house of St. Ignatius.
The convoy consisted of nearly thirty canoes in excellent
order; including even a good number of Iroquois who had joined
our Algonquins to honor the ceremony. As they approached
our house, Father Nouvel, who is superior, went to meet them
with Father Pierson,* accompanied by all the French Indians
of the place, and having caused the convoy to stop, made the
ordinary interrogations to verify the fact, that the body which
would exist to show the endurance of their labors. It has been justly remarked
of the catholic missions that, " they ended only with the extinction of the tribe."
* Father Nouvel was the Ottawa, and Father Pierson the Huron missionary.
Each nation had its village apart, at a distance of three quarters of a league from
each other. The church here spoken of was built apparently in 1674, while
F. Marquette was there (Rel. 16'72-273, and 167 3-'79); it lay nearest the Huron village, which Hennepin thus describes: "It is surrounded with palisades twentyfivefeet high, and situated near a great point of land opposite the island of
Missilimakinac."-.Description de la Louisiane, p. 62.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    63
they bore was really Father Marquette's. Then, before landing, he intoned the "De Profundis" in sight of the thirty
canoes still on the water, and of all the people on the shores;
after this the body was carried to the church, observing all
that the ritual prescribes for such ceremonies. It remained
exposed under a pall stretched as if over a coffin all that day,
which was Whitsun-Monday, the 8th of June; and the next
day, when all the funeral honors had been paid it, it was deposited in a little vault in the middle of the church, where he
reposes as the guardian angel of our Ottawa missions. The
Indians often come to play on his tomb, and to say no more,
a young woman df about nineteen or twenty, whom the late
father had instructed and baptized last year, having fallen
sick, asked Father Nouvel to bleed her, and give her some
remedies; but in place of medicine he bade her go for three
days and say a pater and ave on the tomb of Father Marquette.
She did so, and before the third day, was entirely cured without bleeding or other remedies.
Father James Marquette, of the province of Champagne,
died at the age of thirty-eight, of which he had spent twenty-one
in the society, namely twelve in France, and nine in Canada.
He was sent to the missions of the upper Algonquins, called
Ottawas, and labored there with all the zeal that could be expected in a man who had taken St. Francis Xavier as the model
of his life and death. He imitated that great saint, not only in
the variety of the barbarous languages which he learned, but
also by the vastness of his zeal which made him bear the faith
to the extremity of this new world, nearly eight hundred
leagues from here, in forests where the name of Jesus had
never been announced.
He always begged of God to end his days in these toilsome
missions, and to die amid the woods like his beloved St.




64         NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
Francis Xavier, in utter want of everything. To attain this
he daily employed the merits of Christ and the intercession
of the Immaculate Virgin, for whom his devotion was equally
rare and tender.
By such powerful mediators, he obtained what he so earnestly asked, since he had the happiness to die like the apostle
of the Indies, in a wretched cabin on the banks of Lake
Ilinois, forsaken by all.
We could say much of the rare virtues of this generous missionary, of his zeal which made him carry the faith so far, and
announce the gospel to so many nations unknown to us; of
his meekness which endeared him to every one, and which
made him all to all-French with the French, Huron with
the Hurons, Algonquin with the Algonquins; of his childlike candor in discovering his mind to his superiors, and
even to all persons with an ingenuousness that gained all
hearts, of his angelic purity and continual union with God.
But his predominant virtue was a most rare and singular
devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and especially to the mystery
of the Immaculate Conception; it was a pleasure to hear him
preach or speak on this subject. Every conversation and letter of his contained something about the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, as he always styled her. From the age of nine, he
fasted every Saturday; and from his most tender youth began
to recite daily the little office of the Conception, and inspired
all to adopt this devotion. For some months before his death,
he daily recited, with his two men, a little chaplet of the Immaculate Conception, which he had arranged in this form; after
the creed, they said one " Our Father and hail Mary," then
four times these words: "H ail daughter of God the Father,
hail mother of God the Son, hail spouse of the Holy Ghost,
hail temple of the whole Trinity, by thy holy virginity and




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.     65
immaculate conception, 0 most pure Virgin, cleanse my flesh
and my heart. In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost," and last of all the "Glory be to the
Father," &c., the whole being thrice repeated.
He never failed to say the mass of the Conception, or at
least the collect, whenever he could; he thought of nothing
else scarcely by night or by day, and to leave us an eternal
mark of his sentiments, he gave the name of the Conception
to the Ilinois mission.
So tender a devotion to the mother of God, deserved some
singular grace, and she accordingly granted him the favor he
had always asked, to die on a Saturday;* and his two companions had no doubt that she appeared to him at the hour of
his death when, after pronouncing the names of Jesus and
Mary, he suddenly raised his eyes above his crucifix, fixing
them on an object which he regarded with such pleasure, and
a joy that lit up his countenance; and they, from that moment, believed that he had surrendered his soul into the hands
of his good mother.
One of the last letters which he wrote to the superior of the
missions before his great voyage, will be a sufficient instance
of his sentiments. It began thus:-' The Blessed Virgin Immaculate has obtained for me the
grace to arrive here in good health, and resolved to correspond to God's designs upon me, since he has destined me to
the voyage to the south. I have no other thought than to do
what God wills. I fear nothing; neither the Nadouessii, nor
the meeting of nations alarms me. One of two things must
come: either God will punish me for my crimes and omissions, or else he will share his cross with me (for I have not
* In the devotions of catholics, Saturday among the days of the week, like
May among the months, is especially set apart to honor her whom Jesus loved
and honored as a mother.
5




66         NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
borne it yet since I have been in this country, though, perhaps, it has been obtained for me by the Blessed Virgin Immaculate), or perhaps death to cease to offend God. For this
I will endeavor to hold myself ready, abandoning myself entirely in his hands. I pray your reverence not to forget me,
and to obtain of God, that I may not remain ungrateful for
the favors he heaps upon me."
There was found among his papers a book entitled, "The
Conduct of God toward a Missionary," in which he shows the
excellence of that vocation, the advantages for self-sanctification to be found in it, and the care which God takes of his
gospel-laborers. This little work shows the spirit of God by
which he was actuated.




NARRATIVE
OF
A VOYAGE MADE TO THE ILINOIS,
BY
FA THER CLA UDE ALLO UEZ.*
SECTION        I.
FATHER ALLOUEZ SETS OUT ON THE ICE.-A YOUNG IMAN KILLED BY A
BEAR.-VENGEANCE TAKEN.-VARIOUS CURIOSITIES ON THE WAY.
W      HILE preparing for my departure, as the weather was
not yet suitable, I made some visits in tile bay where
I baptized two sick adults, one of whom died next day; the
other lived a month longer; he was a poor old man, who
* "Father Claude Allouez, has imperishably connected his name with the
progress of discovery in the west," says Bancroft. Unhonored among us now,
he was not inferior in zeal or ability to any of the great missionaries of his time.
He is not, indeed, encircled with that halo of sanctity which characterizes the
first Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries of New France, nor do his writings display the learning and refinement which show in some the greatness of their sacrifice; but, as a fearless and devoted missionary, one faithful to his high calling,
a man of zeal and worth, he is entitled to every honor. No record tells us the
time or place of his birth. We meet him first as a Jesuit, seeking a foreign mission. An entry in his journal has been preserved, in which, under the date of
March 3d, 1657, he expresses his rapture on receiving permission to embark for
Canada. That he was not led by any erroneous idea of the field which he solicited, we know by his own words. He sought only to labor and suffer; man can
not command results, nor will his reward depend upon them. "To convert our
barbarians, or savages, of Canada," says he, "we need work no miracle but that




68               NARRATIVE OF FATHER ALLOUEZ.
being decrepit and half deaf, was the laughing stock and outcast of all, even of his children; but God did not cast him
of doing them good, and suffering without complaint, except to God, regarding
ourselves as useless servants."
He sailed from France with two lay brothers in the vessel which took out the
new governor Viscount d'Argenson, in 1658, and by the eleventh of July arrived
safely at Quebec. Selected for the Algonquin missions, he soon after began the
study of the Indian languages. In the following year he saw two of his order,
Garreau and Druilletes, embark for Lake Superior, where Father Jogues and
Father Raymbault had planted the cross seventeen years before, to continue the
interrupted work; but one was killed, the other abandoned near Montreal.
When made superior at Three-Rivers, in 1660, he saw his predecessor, the fearless Rene Menard, depart for a distant goal, to die amid the rocks and woods
of the Menominee, on his way to Green Bay. This field of toil and danger
was still the object of Allouez' desires. Destined to it in 1664, he reached Montreal, but the Ottawas had not come there as late as usual. He had now
to wait another year; but, with him, time rolled not away in idleness; a
thorough Algonquin, not unacquainted with Iroquois, objects of zeal were
everywhere to be found. On the 14th of May, 1665, he again left Quebec to
meet them; the "Angels of the upper Algonquins" at last arrive; for so in'his desire does he call the brutal men whose cruel treatment of the previous
missionaries would have appalled any heart not borne up by supernatural motives. On the 7th of August, the flotilla finally started, and Allouez, after much
suffering and ill-treatment, dauntlessly struggled on, and, by the first of September, was at Sault St. Mary's. Thrice had the Jesuits taken possession of that
spot in the name of catholicity; it was not now to be a permanent centre. He
did not stop here; he explored, in his frail canoe, the whole southern shore of
the vast upper lake, whose icy waters contrast so strangely with the fantastic
scenery of the shore, still marked by the traces of that terrible fire which shivered its crags into a thousand forms, and poured the molten copper over them as
if in mockery and sport. His first mission was at the Outchibouec (Ojibwa, or
Chippeway) village of Chegoimegon.  Here, in October, rose his chapel, dedicated to the Holy Ghost. Some Hurons and the Algonquin converts of Menard
were already there; to increase the number of the faithful, Allouez entered the
arena to struggle till death, with the wild superstition of the Ottawa. Ten or
twelve lake tribes were assembled at once in council at the spot. Pottawatomies,
Sacs, Foxes, and even Ilinois, swelled the numbers of those who gathered around
that lone cross of the wilderness, with nations from the western sea, Dahcotahs,
Assiniboins and Winnebagoes, with their Tartar dialect and thought. To all
these he announced the intolerant faith of the cross, which required a total renunciation of their traditions, an unreserved acceptance of its dogmas. Each
tribe departed with this first glimpse of truth, prepared to receive a clear
development as time went on. And now came tidings that touched the heart of
Allouez; on a lake north of Superior, were gathered some Nipissings, sad remnants of a once powerful tribe, but now like the Huron, Christians and fugitives be



DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.                  69
out; he did him      the grace to enrol him      among his children
by baptism, and to receive him into heaven, as I have every
reason to believe.
fore the face of the Iroquois. Menard died while seeking the Huron; but unappalled by aught, Allouez hastened to their relief. Scarcely had he reached Chegoimegon again, in 1667, when a flotilla was about starting for Quebec; he embarked to secure companions, and explain to his superiors the vastness of the
new field which he had seen, and of the still greater, but untried one which lay
along the mighty "Mes-sipi."  On the 4th of August he reached that city, the 6th
embarked again for the west with the aid he needed. Father Louis Nicholas, and a
lay brother set out with him. Once in the west, he resumed his toils, as though
returned from a voyage of pleasure, and struggled on another year at the lake.
Then joined by Marquette and later by Dablon, he hastened to a new field. He
mounted Fox river and laid the foundation of the mission of St. Francis Xavier.
In 1671, the great council of the French commander, with the Indians, required
the presence of the missionaries, and especially of Allouez, at the Sault St. Mary's
as interpreters. Nouvel was now superior of the western missions, and from him
they received a new impulse. Of the three missionary stations now established, the'Sault, Mackinaw, and Green Bay, the last was given to Allouez. In 1672, aided
by F. Andre, he instructed the Foxes and Fire nation, and again ascended Fox
River to Maskoutens to preach to the Maskoutens, Miamis, Kikapoos, and Ilinois,
assembled there. As he descended, he threw down a rude, unshapely rock,
honored at Kakaling by the adoration of the benighted Indian. The next year
he was stationed at St. James, or Maskoutens, where he planted the cross as the
limit of his discoveries and labors. They were not grateful for his toil, while
superstition, and indifference almost neutralized his efforts. With the Fox and
Pottawatomi, he was more successful. In the following years, he was assisted
by F. Silvy and F. Bonneault, and met with greater consolations.
On the death of Marquette, he was appointed to the Ilinois mission, and we
now publish for the first time, the account of his journey. This visit was in 1676.
Two years afterward, he repaired to it once more, and remained till the following year, when on learning the approach of La Salle, he retired, as that
great traveller had conceived a strong prejudice against him, in consequence of
some correspondence between him and his fellow missionary on the Seneca
country, Father Garnier. La Mothe, La Salle's lieutenant, had even required
the Seneca sachems to cause the latter to leave the lodge at a conference between them. Allouez cared not to meet, in anger, La Salle, whom he had doubtless known in France before, when he was a Jesuit like himself; he therefore returned to his missions in Wisconsin to wait till the mind of the gifted but irritable explorer should recover from its false impressions. Unfortunately it proved
the reverse, if some accounts are to be credited; La Salle implicated him in some
efforts made by the western traders to excite the Ilinois against him. To clear
Father Allouez of this charge, we need no better proof than the friendly relations
between him and Tonty, than whom there was surely no man more faithful to
the interest and honor. of La Salle. Allouez went to Ilinois again in 1684, with




70             NARRATIVE OF FATHER ALLOUEZ.
In another visit which I made to the nation of the Outagamies (Foxes), I baptized six children almost all at the point
of death. I was much consoled to see a marked change in
the mind of these people; God visits them by his scourges to
render them more docile to our instructions.
After these excursions, the time being proper for departing,
I embarked about the close of October, 1676, in a canoe with
two men to endeavor to go and winter with the Ilinois; but I
had not got far when the ice prevented us, so early had the
winter set in. This obliged us to lie to and wait till it was
strong enough to bear us; and it was only in February that we
undertook a very extraordinary kind of navigation, for instead
of putting the canoe in the water, we put it on the ice, on
which a favorable wind carried it along by sails, as if it was
was on water. When the wind failed us, instead of paddles,
we used ropes to drag it as horses do a carriage. Passing
near the Poiiteoiitamis, I learned that a young man had been
lately killed by the bears. I had previously baptized him at
Lapointe du St. Esprit, and was acquainted with his parents;
this obliged me to turn a little off my way to go and console
them. They told me that the bears get fat in the fall and remain so, and even grow fatter during the whole winter, although they do not eat as naturalists have remarked. They
Durantaye, when he probably remained for some time. He was there in 1687,
when the survivors of La Salle's last expedition reached Fort St. Louis, in
Ilinois, but left for Mackinaw on the arrival of F. Anastasius Douay, and M.
Cavelier, in consequence of their false report that La Salle was still alive.
Father Allouez, however, still clung to his beloved Ilinois mission, which events
had thus strangely disturbed; and I am inclined to think, from a deed which
fell into my hands, that he was at Fort St. Louis, in the winter of 1689. If so, it
was his last visit. A letter dated in August, 1690, details the virtues of the
great and holy missionary of the west. He had gone to receive the reward of
his labors.
The authorities for his life are the superior's journal, the Relations from
1663-'64 to 161-'72; MS. Rel. 16I2-'73, 1673-'79, i678; MSS. of a Jesuit, in
1690; Joutel and Tonty's journals published in Hist. Coll. of Louisiana.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    71
hide in hollow trees, especially the females, to bring forth
their young, or else they lie on fir branches which they tear
off on purpose to make a bed on the snow, which they do not
leave all winter, unless discovered by the hunters, and their
dogs trained to this chase. This young man having discovered one hidden in some fir-branches, fired all the arrows of
his quiver at him. The bear feeling himself wounded,
but not mortally, rose, rushed upon him, clawed off his scalp,
and tearing out his bowels, scattered him all in pieces around.
I found his mother in deep affliction; we offered up together
prayers for the deceased, and though my presence had at
first redoubled her grief, she wiped away her tears, saying
for consolation: "Paulinus is dead; that good Paulinus
whom thou didst always come to call to prayer."
Then to avenge, as they said, this murder, the relatives and
friends of the deceased made war on the bears while they
were good-that is, during the winter; for in summer they
are lean, and so famished, that they eat even toads and snakes.
The war was so vigorous, that in a little while they killed
more than five hundred, which they shared with us, saying
that God had given them into our hands, to make them atone
for the death of this young man who had been so cruelly
treated by one of their nation.
Twelve leagues from the Poiiteaoiiatami town we entered
a very deep bay, whence we transported our canoe across the
wood to the great lake of the Ilinois [Michigan]. This portage
was a league and a half. On the eve of St. Joseph, the patron of all Canada, finding ourselves on the lake, we gave it
the name of that great saint, and shall henceforth call it Lake
St. Joseph. We accordingly embarked on the 23d of May,
and had much to do with the ice, through which we had to
break a passage. The water was so cold, that it froze on our
oars, and on the side of the canoe which the sun did not reach.




T72.         NARRATIVE OF FATHER ALLOUEZ.
It pleased God to deliver us from the danger we were in on
landing, when a gust of wind drove the cakes of ice on one
side of our canoe, and the other on the ice which was fast to
the shore. Our great trouble was, that the rivers being still
frozen, we could not enter them till the 3d of April. We
consecrated that which we at last entered in holy week by
planting a large cross on the shore, in order that the Indians,
who go there in numbers to hunt-either in canoes on the
lake, or on foot in the woods-might remember the instructions we had given them on that mystery, and that the sight
of it might excite them to pray. The next day we saw a rock
seven or eight feet out of water, and two or three fathoms
around, and called it the Pitch rock. In fact, we saw the
pitch running down in little drops on the side which was
warmed by the sun. We gathered some, and found it good
to pitch our canoes, and I even use it to seal my letters.*
We also saw, the same day, another rock, a little smaller,
part in and part out of water; the part washed by the water
was of a very bright and clear red. Some days after, we
saw a stream running from a hill, the waters of which seemed
mineral; the sand is red, and the Indians said it came from a
little lake where they have found pieces of copper.
We advanced coasting always along vast prairies that
stretched away beyond our sight; from time to time we saw
trees, but so ranged that they seemed planted designedly to
form alleys more agreeable to the sight than those of orchards.
The foot of these trees is often watered by little streams,
where we saw herds of stags and does drinking and feeding
quietly on the young grass. We followed these vast plains
* An American mineral, resembling asphaltum. It is of a brown color, inclining to black, and sometimes so liquid that it flows in a stream down the
sides of this rock.-F.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   73
for twenty leagues, and often said, " Benedicite opera Domini
Domino."
After making seventy-six leagues on Lake St. Joseph, we
at last entered the river which leads to the Ilinois. I here
met eighty Indians of the country, by whom I was handsomely received. The chief advanced about thirty steps to
meet me, holding in one hand a firebrand and in the other a
feathered calumet. As he drew near, he raised it to my
mouth, and himself lit the tobacco, which obliged me to pretend to smoke. He then led me into his cabin, and, giving
me the most honorable place, addressed me thus:" Father! take pity on me: let me return with thee, to accompany thee and lead thee to my village; my meeting with
thee to-day will be fatal to me, unless I profit by it. Thou
bearest to us the gospel and the prayer: if I lose the occasion
of hearing thee, I shall be punished by the loss of my nephews, whom thou seest so numerous, but who will assuredly be
defeated by the enemy. Embark, then, with us, that I may
profit by thy coming into our land."
With these words he embarked at the same time as ourselves, and we soon after reached his village.




"~74       NARRATIE OF FATHER ALLOUEZ.
SECTION II.
PFATHER ALLOUEZ ARRIVES A T THE ILINOlS TOWN.-DESCRIPTION OF IT AND
THE COUNTRY.-THE FAITH PROCLAIMED TO ALL THESE NATIONS.
IN spite of all our efforts to hasten on, it was the 27th
of April, before I could reach Kachkachkia, a large Ilinois
town. I immediately entered the cabin where Father Marquette had lodged, and the sachems with all the people being
assembled, I told them the object of my coming among them,
namely, to preach to them the true, living, and immortal
God, and his only Son, Jesus Christ. They listened very attentively to my whole discourse, and thanked me for the
trouble I took for their salvation.
I found this village much increased since last year. It was
before composed of only one nation, the Kachkachkia. There
are now eight; the first having called the others who dwelt
in the neighborhood of the Missipi. You could not easily
form an idea of the number of Indians who compose this town;
they are lodged in three hundred and fifty-one cabins, easily
counted, for they are mostly ranged on the banks of the river.
The place which they have selected for their abode is situated at 40~ 42'; it has on one side a prairie of vast extent,
and on the other an expanse of marsh which makes the air
unhealthy, and often loaded with mists; this causes much
sickness and frequent thunder. They, however, like this post,
because from it they can easily discover their enemies.*
* This and the position assigned to the town of the Kaskaskias (40~ 42') would
bring it near Rockfort, making allowance for the old latitude. When Father
Marquette first visited it, he found seventy-four cabins: this was in 1673. The
next year it had increased to five or six hundred fires, which, at the rate of
four fires to a eabin, gives one hundred to one hundred and fifty cabins, with
a population of two thousand men, besides women and children. Father Allouez
visiting it now in 1617,, is very exact, and gives the number of cabins as three




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.               75
These Indians are in character hardy, proud, and valiant.
They are at war with eight or nine tribes; they do not use
fire-arms, as they find     them   too awkward, and too slow;
they carry them, however, when they march against nations
unacquainted with their use, to terrify them by the noise,
and thus rout them. They ordinarily carry only the warclub, bow, and a quiver full of arrows, which they discharge so
adroitly and quickly, that men armed with guns, have hardly
time to raise them to the shoulder.      They also carry a large
buckler made of skins of wild cattle; which is arrow-proof,
and covers the whole body.
They have many wives, of whom they are extremely jealous, leaving them on the least suspicion. The women usually
behave well, and are modestly dressed, though the men are
not, having no shame of their nakedness.
They live on Indian corn, and other fruits of the earth,
which they cultivate on the prairies, like other Indians. They
eat fourteen kinds of roots which they find in the prairies;
they made me eat them; I found them good and very sweet.
They gather, on trees or plants, fruits of forty-two different
kinds, which are excellent; they catch twenty-five kinds of
fish, including eels. They hunt cattle, deer, turkeys, cats, a
hundred and fifty-one. In 1680, the Recollect Father Membre estimates the
population of the great village at seven or eight thousand, in four or five hundred
cabins-this did not include the Kaskaskias, whom he seems to place on the
Chicago river. Hennepin, at the same time, estimates it at " four hundred and
sixty cabins, made like long bowers, covered with double mats of flat rushes, so
well sowed as to be impenetrable to wind, snow, and rain. Each cabin has four
or five fires, and each fire one or two families."-(p. 137.) It would seem, then,
that Bancroft rejects too lightly the estimate given by Father Rale, in the Lettres
Edifiantes, where he estimates their number at three hundred cabins, each of
four or five fires, and two families to a fire. When their decadence began, they
disappeared with great rapidity. Charlevoix, in 1721, makes their number then
to have been very inconsiderable, although he gives no estimate of the population
of the Illinois, who still formed five distinct villages. At present, the remnant
of the tribe does not comprise a hundred souls, yet all who remain are Christians.




~76      NARRATIVE OF FATHER ALLOUEZ.
kind of tiger, and other animals, of which they reckon twentytwo kinds, and forty kinds of game and birds. In the lower
part of the river there are, I am, told, salt springs, from which
they make salt; I can not speak from my own experience.
They assure me, too, that there are quarries near their town
of slate as fine as ours. I have seen here, as in the Ottawa
country, copper, found here as elsewhere, on the banks of the
river in lumps. They tell me too, that there are rocks of
pitch like that I saw on the banks of Lake St. Joseph. The
Indians cut it and find silvery veins, which, when pounded,
give a fine red paint. They also find other veins, from which
the pitch runs; when thrown in the fire, it burns like ours.
This is all that I could remark in this country, during the
short stay I made there. I will now tell what I did for
Christianity.
As I had but little time to remain, having come only to acquire the necessary information for the perfect establishment
of a mission, I immediately set to work to give all the instruction I could to these eight different nations, by whom, by the
help of God, I made myself sufficiently understood.
I would go to the cabin of the chief of the particular tribe
that I wished to instruct, and there preparing a little altar with
my chapel ornaments, I exposed a crucifix, before which I
explained the mysteries of our faith. I could not desire a
greater number of auditors, nor a more favorable attention.
They brought me their youngest children to be baptized, those
older, to be instructed. They repeated themselves all the
prayers that I taught them. In a word, after I had done the
same in all the eight nations, I had the consolation of seeing
Christ acknowledged by so many tribes, who needed only
careful cultivation to become good Christians. This we hope
to give hereafter, at leisure.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.      77
I laid the foundation of this mission by the baptism of
thirty-five children, and a sick adult, who soon after died, with
one of the infants, to go and take possession of heaven in the
name of the whole nation. And we too, to take possession
of these tribes in the name of Jesus Christ, on the 3d of May,
the feast of the Holy Cross, erected in the midst of the town
a cross twenty-five feet high, chanting the Vexilla Regis in
the presence of a great number of Ilinois of all tribes, of
whom I can say, in truth, that they did not take Jesus Christ
crucified for a folly, nor for a scandal; on the contrary, they
witnessed the ceremony with great respect, and heard all that
I said on the mystery with admiration. The children even
went to kiss the cross through devotion, and the old earnestly
commended me to place it well so that it could not fall.
The time of my departure having come, I took leave of all
these tribes, and left them in a great desire of seeing me as
soon as possible, which I more willingly induced them to expect; as, on the one hand, I have reason to thank God for
the little crosses he has afforded me in this voyage, and on
the other, I see the harvest all ready and very abundant.
The devil will, doubtless, oppose us, and perhaps will, for the
purpose, use the war which the Iroquois seek to make on the
Ilinois. I pray our Lord to avert it, that so fair a beginning
be not entirely ruined.
"The next year, namely, 1678, Father Allouez set out to
return to this mission, and to remain there two years in succession, to labor more solidly for the conversion of these tribes.
We have since learned that the Iroquois made an incursion
as far as there, but were beaten by the Ilinois. This will go
far to enkindle the war between these nations, and do much to
injure this mission, if God does not interpose."5
* The concluding paragraph of this narrative is in the handwriting of Father
Claude Dablon, the superior of the missions at the time.




BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE
OF
THE "ETABLISSEMENT DE LA FOI,"
BY
FATHER CHRISTIAN LE CLERCQ, RECOLLECT.
THis curious and now rare work is the source whence all the following narratives, except Hennepin's, are drawn. It was published at Paris, by Aimable
Auroy, in 1691, with the following very comprehensive title: "First Establishment of the Faith in New France, containing the Publication of the Gospel, the
History of the French Colonies, and the famous Discoveries from the Mouth of
the St. Lawrence, Louisiana, and the River Colbert, to the Gulf of Mexico, accomplished under the Direction of the late Monsieur de la Salle, by Order of the
King, with the Victories gained in Canada, by the Arms of his Majesty over the
English and Iroquois, in 1690. Dedicated to M. de Comte de Frontenac, Governor and Lieutenant-General of New France, by Father Christian le Clercq,
Recollect Missionary of the Province of St. Anthony of Padua, in Arthois, and
Warden of the Recollects of Lens."
Of Father le Clercq, under whose name the work is thus published, we know
little beyond what we glean from this work, and from his Relation de Gaspesic.
He was a zealous and devout missionary on the wild coast of Gaspe, where he
lived in most cordial and friendly relations with the neighboring Jesuit missionaries, especially with Father Bigot, who speaks of him in the highest terms, as
le Clercq did of him and his labors. He was the first novice of the province to
which be belonged, and one of the first religious sent by it to Canada, in 16'75.
After spending five years as missionary at Isle Percee and Gasp6, he returned
to Europe, was concerned in the establishment of a church and mission at
Montreal, resumed for a time his missionary career, and was subsequently employed as superior in France. His Relation de Gaspesie is a description of his
own field and his own labors; the Etablissement assumes to be a general history
of religion in Canada, and of La Salle's voyages, as tending to the establishment
of missions. How far it realizes the promise of the title-page, we shall soon see.
Had this work been a mere satirical pamphlet, we could at once understand
it, and give it its proper value; but in this light it can not be regarded; it contains much historical information, especially with respect to La Salle, being the




NOTICE ON FATHER LE CLERCQ.                        79
first printed account of his voyage down the Mississippi, and his last fatal attempt. A striking feature in the work is its literary skepticism, as to a great
mass of early works on Canada, and the similar doubts raised subsequently as
to the Etablissement itself. Le Clercq, or the real author, doubts the authenticity of the Relation of 1626, ascribed to F. Charles Lalemant. The ground of
this doubt is completely destroyed by the title of one of the chapters in Sagard's
larger work; the doubt has, however, been raised within the last few years by
men of research, though probably from want of a close study of the doubting
humor of the author. Having thus thrown a slur on the first Relation, he next
brings the whole forty volumes of Relations, from 1632 to 1672, into the same
category, because, forsooth, from his high respect for the Jesuits, he can not believe they ever wrote them; and, finally, Father Marquette's published journal,
which is, however, never ascribed to him, is treated as an imposture, and his
voyage as pretended, on every possible occasion.
This wholesale skepticism almost entitles him to a place with the celebrated
Father Hardouin, who believed all the Greek and Latin classics to be forgeries.
In a work like this, intended to show the validity of Marquette's claim, we
must examine these doubts, and the person who makes them. Joutel, who contradicts the Etablissement pointedly in several places, says that it was composed on false relations, and thus gives some force to a charge brought in 1697,
by the strange Hennepin, who asserts broadly that the Etablissement was published by Father Valentine le Roux, under the borrowed name of le Clercq; and
he charges that the so-called narrative of Membr6 in the work, is really a transcript of the journal of his great voyage down the Mississippi, a copy of which
he had left in le Roux's hands at Quebec. At a still later date, when all had
become calm, Charlevoix states it as a common impression that Frontenac himself had a considerable hand in it. When with all this we remember that the
first published narrative of Tonty is regarded as spurious, and that Mr. Sparks
has irrefragably shown Hennepin's later works to be mere romances and literary
thefts; the whole series of works relative to La Salle seems drawn up or
moulded to suit some party views, and to unravel the whole, we must examine
what parties at the time agitated Canada. We find immediately that the civil
and ecclesiastical authorities were then completely at variance, chiefly from two
causes: The first was what may be called the brandy war, in which Bishop Laval seeing the injury done to the Indians by the sale of liquor, had pronounced
ecclesiastical censures against those who carried on the nefarious traffic: his
clergy, and especially the Jesuits, sided with him and his successor entirely on
this point, as being better able from daily intercourse to see the ruin of the native tribes by the use of spirituous liquors. But if the ecclesiastical authorities
pronounced censures, the civil officers were not slow in taking up most curious
modes of revenge; and ridicule, above all, was brought to play upon their antagonists. So far had public opinion become vitiated, that in a memoir drawn
up apparently by the intendant Duchesneau with regard to the Indian village
of Caughnawaga, the writer addressing the French court, deemed it necessary
to defend the Jesuit missionaries against the charge of preventing the erection
of any tavern on their lands at Laprairie, in the vicinity of their Indian village!
The only defence made is more curious; it admits the fact, but denies the neces



80                NOTICE ON FATHER LE CLEECQ.
sity of taverns there, as Montreal was full of them. In this brandy war, the
Jesuits being in charge of the missions, were chiefly attacked, and soon after a
new charge was made against them personally. 2. Frontenac especially insisted
that Indian villages apart would never result in civilizing the natives; his plan
was a complete fusion of the two races, by bringing them into perfect contact.
The missionaries convinced that Indians living among the whites were irrecoverably lost, adhered pertinaciously to their original system of separate villages
and gradual advancement. Frontenac's theory is much upheld by the Etablissement, and many arguments are adduced in favor of this plan which is assumed
to be that of the early Recollects; but he startles us not a little, and somewhat
unseats our gravity, when he tells us that it had been carried out with perfect
success in the neighboring English and Dutch colonies; though, unfortunately,
he does not tell us what New York or New England half-breed village resulted
from the union.
But to return to ancient politics. Religion was at that time upheld by popular opinion; a man in rank or office had to practise his religious duties; indeed, he never thought of not doing so. Now these duties in the catholic
church are something very positive indeed, and many in Canada found themselves under ecclesiastical censures for trading in liquor with the Indians, and
saw no other alternative but that of renouncing a lucrative traffic, unless, indeed they could find more lenient confessors. A party now called for the return
of the Recollects as earnestly as they had opposed it, when they deemed them
too expensive. Le Clercq states this ground of recall without a word of censure; the Recollects returned, became the fashionable confessors, and were
stationed at trading points. In this way they became involved in existing disputes, and favored by and favoring Frontenac, found themselves arrayed in a
manner against the rest of the clergy. A general charge made about the time
seems to have been, that the Jesuits had really made no discoveries, and no
progress in converting the natives. With this as a principle, it would not do to
allow the discovery of the Mississippi to be ascribed wholly or in part to one of
the missionaries of that society; hence a work dedicated to Frontenac must naturally be a eulogy of his ideas and his friends, and a well-directed attack on
his enemies. It must be, and be expected to be, a party affair. When then we
attack this work, it will be simply as to these matters; in an historical point of
view, as faithful to the documents on which it professes to be founded, it has, I
believe, never been called in question. It is a well-written history of the Recollect missions and La Salle's voyages, the rest is satire.
The work itself consists of three parts: the first in substance an abridgment
of Sagard, for the first period of French rule in Canada, down to the capture of
Quebec by 1629, contains some new facts derived from manuscripts, and especially from those of the great le Caron, the founder of the Huron missions.
The English carried off both the Recollects and the Jesuits whom they had invited to aid them; but as the restoration of Canada was expected, both prepared for a speedy return. For some reason, however, the French government
determined to send out another missionary body, and offered Canada to the
Capuchins, like the Recollects, a branch of the great Franciscan order. The
Capuchins, however, declined it, and recommended the Jesuits, who were ac



NOTICE ON FATHER LE CLERCQ.                        81
cordingly sent, and the Recollects excluded. This was their first grief, and the
volume before us details their unavailing efforts to return, and the suspicions
entertained of opposition, or at least of lukewarmness, on the part of the Jesuits.
They are, indeed, exculpated, but the charge is constantly renewed. With this
on his heart, le Clercq proceeds to the second part, that of the Jesuit missions:
and here he doubts the authenticity of all their Relations, and treats the missions they describe as chimerical. In this pretended account of the progress
of Christianity during the period in question, there is no historical order preserved, no mention is made of the Huron missions, their rise and fall with the
nation, and the death of the various missionaries whose last moments are a sufficient proof of their sincerity in the accounts which they had given. Of the
Algonquin and Montagnais missions, and their almost entire destruction by sickness and war, no notice is taken; and what is said of the Iroquois is so garbled,
that it were better unsaid.
No missionary ever could have written this part; or, if he did, he must be
content to rank below Hennepin. One instance will show the spirit of this portion. Speaking of the mission in New-York, in 1655-'58, he mentions the fact
that Menard, at Cayuga, baptized four hundred; and adds, "Christianity must
have advanced each year by still more happy and multiplied progress, and consequently all these people must be converted." Then, as he finds the mass of the
Iroquois in 1690, as we find them in 1850, pagans, he concludes that the accounts of the missions are false. Now, in the first place, the period of missionary effort in New York embraces only the periods from 1655 to 1658, and
from 1667 to 1685; in all, not more than twenty years, with a few visits at intervals before and after these dates; in 1690, there was no missionary in New
York save Father Milet, who had just been dragged to Oneida as a prisoner
taken at Fort Frontenac. And as to baptisms, no fact is more clearly stated in
early writers, the Relations, and all others, than this, that the baptisms were
chiefly those of dying children and adults. Among the Iroquois there were,
indeed, children of Christian Hurons, who could be baptized in health, but only
there. Hence the baptisms gave a very slight increase to the number of living
neophytes, and in time of epidemics, a very great number might be baptized,
and yet the church lose in point of numbers. To begin then by assuming that
400 baptisms gave as many living members, and that ten times as many gave
4,000 is a puerility in one who is not much acquainted with the matter, but a
gross deceit in one who is.
The second part then is not to be considered as historical; it notices, indeed,
the coming of the Ursuline and Hospital nuns, of the Sulpitians and the bishop;
but even for these we must go elsewhere for a clear account.
The third part stands on a different footing; it is mainly historical, and
though marked by the prevailing prejudice, and as we shall show by gross injustice to Marquette and Joliet, is, undoubtedly, the best account of La Salle's
voyages, and, for some parts, the only one we have. It is, too, an account of
the rise and progress of the second Recollect missions, in a very brief form,
which, with the mass of manuscripts of the time, gives rich materials for Canadian history. All that relates to La Salle is given in the present volume, for
the first time, we believe, in English. The remaining portion of Le Clercq is,
6




82                NOTICE ON FATHER LE CLERCQ.
as the title states, an account of the defeat of the English at Quebec, in 1690,
by Frontenac, who had returned the previous year.
Compelled by a love of truth to be somewhat severe on both le Clercq and
Hennepin, we would by no means seem to reflect generally on the Recollects of
Canada. the latter committed his forgeries when cast off by his province, the
former was not, I believe, the author of the objectionable parts in the work
that bears his name; that two hands were employed in it, will I think, appear
to any one who will read it over attentively several times. That all the Recollects should have been at the time under some prejudice is natural, owing to
their position, and allowance is made for that, as we must daily make for those
who can not judge of an individual without some attack on the church to which
he belongs. Fortunately for all, the Recollects were soon relieved from their
false position by the settlement of the disputes, and without attempting new
Indian missions, labored for the good of the colony with a zeal beyond all
praise. Chosen almost always as chaplains to the troops and forts, they were
to be found at every French post, and thus became the earliest pastors of some
of our western towns. Like the Jesuits, they were a second time excluded fiom
Canada by the English on their conquest in the last century, and the last survivor has long since descended to the grave. A few names, and a church that
bears their name, are almost all that recall to the traveller the labors and merits
of the children of St. Francis.




NARRATIVE
OF THE FIRST ATTEMPT BY
T. CA VELIER DE LA SALLE
TO
EXPLORE THE MISSISSIPPI.
DRAWN UP FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS OF FATHER ZENOBIUS MEMBRE, A
RECOLLECT BY FATHER CHRETIEN LECLERCQ.
T    HE   Sienr Robert Cavelier de la Salle, a native of Rouen,
of one of the most distinguished families there, a man of
vast intellect, brought up for literary pursuits," capable and
learned in every branch, especially in mathematics, naturally
* La Salle, in early life, resolved to consecrate himself to God in a religious
order, and entered the Society of Jesus. After passing ten years, however, teaching and studying in their colleges, he left them —for what reason is not now
known —and came to Canada to build up his fortunes, for he had lost his
inheritance by the unjust provisions of the French law. His previous seclusion from the world had, perhaps, but too well fitted him for conceiving vast
projects, but totally disqualified him for their successful conduct; the minute
details, the cautious choice of men, the constant superintendence required
in a large establishment, were foreign to his character, and we shall, in the
result, see in this the cause of all his misfortunes. Like many others, he
thought of finding a way to China, and began some enterprise which resulted
only in giving the name of Lachine to his trading-post near Montreal. The fur
trade was the great means of wealth, and he next conceived the plan of a large
trading monopoly on Lake Ontario, to be centred at Fort Frontenac; from that
moment, however, he raised against him all the individual traders in the Indian
country, and he was soon aware that this was no speedy road to wealth. His




84               NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
enterprising, prudent, and moral, had been for some years in
Canada, and had already, under the administration of De
Courcelles and Talon, shown his great abilities for discoveries.
Ml. de Frontenac selected him        to command Fort Frontenac,
where he was nearly a year, till coming to France in 1675, he
obtained of the court the government and property of the lake
and its dependencies, on condition of building there a regular
stone fort, clearing the ground, and making French and Indian villages, and of supporting there, at his own expense, a
sufficient garrison, and Recollect missionaries.
ideas now took a new turn, Joliet had returned to Canada, after exploring the
Mississippi with Marquette, far enough to verify the supposition that it emptied
into the gulf of Mexico. His accounts of the buffalo country, induced La Salle
to believe that a very lucrative trade in their skins and wool might be opened
directly between the buffalo plains and France by the Mississippi and gulf, without carrying them through Canada. To secure this was now his object. Joliet,
who seems not to have been favored, was rewarded with a grant, not on the river
he had explored, but at the other extreme of the French colony, the island of Anticosti, and La Salle, who had secured Frontenac's favor, obtained a royal patent,
such as he desired. It was, however, provided, " that he carry on no trade whatever with the Indians called Ottawas, and others who bring their beaver-skins
and other peltries to Montreal," while to him and his company, the privilege of
the trade in buffalo skins was granted.-(Vol. i., p. 35.) The private traders who
had already visited the Illinois country, considered his including it in his grant
as unjustifiable, and both in the west and at Quebec opposed him in every way,
monopolies having always been objects of dislike. A variety of circumstances
defeated his first plan in the Illinois country, in 1680, and no new discovery
having been made by himself or Hennepin, he abandoned his first plan of descending the Mississippi in a vessel, and sailing thence to the isles, and resolved to
examine the mouth in boats, and acquire such a knowledge of its position as
would enable him to reach it direct from France by sea. He accordingly sailed
down in 1682, and following the course of Marquette and Joliet, reached their
furthest station on the 3d of March, then passing on, explored the river to the
gulf, which he reached on the 9th of April, thus crowning the work of the
former explorers, and with iennepin's voyage, tracing its whole course from the
falls of St. Anthony to the sea. In pursuance of his plan he returned to France,
and attempted to reach it by sea, but missed the mouth, and landing in Texas,
perished in an attempt to reach the Illinois country by land. As a great but unsuccessful merchant, vast and enterprising in his plans, though unfitted by early
associations from achieving them, he presents one of the most striking examples
of calm and persevering courage amid difficulties and disasters. He rose above
every adversity, unshaken and undiscouraged, ever ready to make the worse the




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.            85
Monsieur de 1a Salle returned to Canada and fulfilled these
conditions completely; a fort with four bastions was built at
the entrance of the lake on the northern side at the end of a
basin, where a considerable fleet of large vessels might be
sheltered from the winds. This fort enclosed that built by
Monsieur de Frontenac.     He also gave us a piece of ground
fifteen arpents in front, by twenty deep, the donation being
accepted by Monsieur de Frontenac, syndic of our mission.
It would be difficult to detail the obstacles he had to encounter, raised against him daily in the execution of his plans,
so that he found less opposition in the savage tribes whom he
was always able to bring into his plans. Monsieur de Frontenac went up there every year, and care was taken to assemble there the chiefs and leading men of the Iroquois nations,
great and small; maintaining by this means alliance and
commerce with them, and disposing them to embrace Christianity, which was the principal object of the new establishnent.*
My design being to treat of the publication of the faith to
that prodigious quantity of nations who are comprised in the
dominions of the king, as his majesty has discovered them,
we shall continue our subject by those which were made
during the rest of the present epoch in all parts of New France.
While the reverend father Jesuits among the southern Irobetter fortune. His life by Sparks, is one of the most valuable contributions to
the early history of America.
* Le Clercq, p. 119. The subsequent pages, down to page 131, relate to the
religious affairs of the colony. The only reference to La Salle, is this on p. 127:
" Our reverend fathers having obtained of the king letters-patent for our establishments at Quebec, Isle Percee, and Fort Frontenac, they were registered at
the sovereign council of Quebec, and Monsieur de la Salle built, at his own expense, a house on the land he had given us near the fort, in which a chapel
was made. A fine church was afterward added, adorned with paintings and
necessary vestments —also, a regular house and appendages, completed by the
exertions of Father Joseph Denis."




86:NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
quois on the upper part of the river had the honor of bearing
the gospel to the nations bordering on those tribes; the peace
between the two crowns of France and England giving them
free access everywhere, without being traversed by the English, they announced the faith to the Etchemins, and other Indian nations that came to trade at Loup river, where the ordinary post of the mission was; our missions of St. John's
River, Beaubassin, Mizamichis, Nipisiguit, Ristigouche, and
Isle Percee, were similarly supported -we continued to labor
for the conversion of the Indians of those vast countries comprized under the name of Acadia, Cape Breton and the
great bay (gulf of St. Lawrence).
In the time of M. de Courcelles and Talon, the discoveries
were pushed toward the north bay (Hudson's), of which
something was known from two or three previous attempts.
The sieur de St. Simon was chosen for the expedition, with
the reverend father Albanes (Albanel), a Jesuit.  By the
maps of the country it is easy to see what difficulties had to
be surmounted, how much toil and hardship undergone, how
many falls and rapids to be passed, and portages made, to
reach by land these unknown parts and tribes, as far as Hudson's bay or strait. M. de Frontenac was in Canada on the
return of the party in 1672. This discovery thenceforward
enabled them to push the mission much further to the north,
and draw some elect from those distant nations to receive the
first rudiments of Christianity, until in 1686, the victorious
arms of the king, under the guidance of M. de Troye, D'iiberville, Ste. Helaine, and a number of brave Canadians, by
order of the marquis d'Enonville, then governor-general of
the country, conquered those northern parts where, as the
French arms are still gloriously maintained, the zeal of the
Jesuit fathers is employed in publishing the gospel.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.           8T
The unwearied charity of those illustrious missionaries advanced their labors with much more success during the present epoch, among the Ottawa nations, seconded by the great
zeal of Frontenac's protection, and the ascendant which the
wisdom of the governor had acquired over the savages. A
magnificent church, furnished with the richest vestments, was
built at the mission of St. Mary's of the sault; that of the bay
of the Fetid (Green bay), and Michilimakinak island, were
more and more increased by the gathering of Indian tribes.
The missions around Lake Conde (Superior) further north, were
also increased. This lake alone is one hundred and fifty miles
long, sixty wide, and about five hundred in circuit, inhabited
by different nations, whence we may form an idea of the labors of the missionaries in five or six establishments. Finally,
in the last years of M. de Frontenac's first administration,
Sieur du Luth, a man of talent and experience opened a way
to the missionaries and the gospel in many different nations
turning toward the north of that lake, where he even built a
fort. He advanced as far as the lake of the Issati, called
Lake Buade, from the family name of M. de Frontenac, planting the arms of his majesty in several nations on the right
and left, where the missionaries still make every effort to introduce.Christianity, the only fruit of which indeed consists
in the baptism   of some dying children, and in rendering
adults inexcusable at God's judgment by the gospel preached
to them.*
* The promise of a general account of discoveries made, and his praise of the
Jesuit missionaries in the preceding pages, must excite contempt when we find
them a mask for falsehood and concealment. Nothing here would lead the reader
to suppose that Father Allouez and other missionaries had explored the country
around Lake Superior for seven years prior to the coming of Frontenac; that an
accurate map had been published by them, in 167 2; that Father Marquette, after
many disappointments, at last, with Joliet, descended the Mississippi far enough
to be certain as to the sea into which it emptied. Yet the discoveries of Allouez




88               NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
I shall hereafter limit myself to publish the great discoveries made by order of the king, under the command of
M. de Frontenac and the direction of M. de la Salle, as being
those which promised the greatest fruits for the establishment
of the faith, if in course of time they are resumed and supported as they deserve.
The sieur de la Salle having completed the construction of
Fort Frontenac, and greatly advanced the establishment of
French and Indian settlements, was induced, by the report
of many tribes, to believe that great progress could be made
by pushing on the discoveries by the lakes into the river Missisipi, which he then supposed to empty into the Red sea
(gulf of California).*    He made a voyage to France in 1677,
and the map are in the Relations which he elsewhere ridicules; the voyage of Joliet
he must have heard of during his residence in Canada, and known as well as Hennepin who refers to it in his first work, even if we are to suppose him never to
have read the work of his fellow-missionary, or Thevenot's edition of Father Marquette's journal. In his eagerness to ascribe no discovery to the Jesuits, he actually sends Du Luth to Lake Issati before any of the missionaries. Was he
there before Hennepin?
* This assertion seems perfectly gratuitous, and is not justified by the letters
patent to La Salle. Joliet's return set the matter at rest, and left no doubt as
to its emptying into the gulf In this work, indeed, Marquette is never mentioned,
and Joliet's voyage decried, if not denied; but in the first of the series of works
on La Salle, Hennepin's " Description de la Loouisane" (Paris, 1684), of which the
printing was completed January 5th, 1683, that is but a few days after Membre's arrival with the account of La Salle's voyage, the prior voyage of Joliet is
admitted, and La Salle's object thus stated: "Toward the end of the year 1678
(1677), the sieur de la Salle came to France to report to M. Colbert the execution of his orders; he then represented to him that Fort Frontenac gave him
great opportunities for making discoveries with our Recollects; that his principal design in building the fort had been to continue these discoveries in rich,
fertile, and temperate countries, where commerce in the skins and wool of the
wild cattle, called by the Spaniards Cibola, might establish a great trade, and
support powerful colonies; that, however, as it would be difficult to bring
these buffalo-hides in canoes, he prayed M. Colbert to grant him a commission to
go and discover the mouth of the great river Mechasipi, on which vessels might
be built to come to France; and that, considering the great expense he had undergone in building and supporting Fort Frontenac, he would be pleased to
grant him an exclusive privilege of trading in buffalo-skins, of which he brought
one as a sample, and his request was granted."-P. 14.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MIISSSSIPPI VALLEY.    89
and favored by letters from the count de Frontenac, obtained
of the court necessary powers to undertake and carry out this
great design at his own expense.
Furnished with these powers, he arrived in Canada toward
the close of September, 1678, with the sieur de Tonty, an
Italian gentleman, full of spirit and resolution, who afterward so courageously and faithfully seconded him in all his
designs. He had also with him thirty men —pilots, sailors,
carpenters, and other mechanics, with all things necessary
for his expedition. Some Canadians having joined him, he
sent all his party in advance to Fort Frontenac, where Father
Gabriel de la Ribourde, and Father Luke Buisset were already, and where Fathers Louis Hennepin, Zenobius Membre, and Melithon Watteau, now repaired. They were all
three missionaries of our province of St. Anthony of Padua,
in Artois, as well as Father Luke Buisset, his majesty having
honored the Recollects with the care of the spiritual direction
of the expedition by express orders addressed to Father Valentine le Roux, commissary provincial, and superior of the
mission. The sieur de la Salle soon followed them, the Almighty preserving him from many perils in that long voyage
from Quebec, over falls and rapids to Fort Frontenac, where
he arrived at last, much emaciated. Deriving new strength
from his great courage, he issued all his orders and sent off
his troop in a brigantine for Niagara with Father Louis, on
the 18th of November.
The navigation, in which they had to encounter many
dangers and even disasters crossing the great lake in so advanced a season, prevented their reaching Niagara river before the 5th of December. On the sixth, they entered the
river, and the following days, by canoe and land, advanced
to the spot where the sieur de la Salle intended to raise a




90           NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
fort, and build a bark above Niagara falls, whence the St.
Lawrence (Le Fleuve) communicates with Lake Conty (Erie),
and Lake Frontenac (Ontario), by the said falls and river,
which is, as it were, the strait of communication.
A glance at the map will show that this project with that
of Fort Frontenac, and the fort he was about to build at Niagara, might excite some jealousy among the Iroquois who
dwell in the neighborhood of the great lake. The sieur de la
Salle, with his usual address, met the principal chiefs of those
tribes in conference, and gained them so completely that they
not only agreed to it, but even offered to contribute with all
their means to the execution of his design. This great concert lasted some time. The sieur de la Salle also sent many
canoes to trade north and south of the lake among these tribes.
Meanwhile, as certain persons traversed with all their
might the project of the sieur de la Salle, they insinuated
feelings of distrust in the Seneca Iroquois as the fort building
at Niagara began to advance, and they succeeded so well
that the fort became an object of suspicion, and the works
had to be suspended for a time, and he had to be satisfied with a house surrounded by palisades. The sieur
de la Salle did not fail to give prompt orders; he made
frequent voyages from Fort Frontenac to Niagara, during
the winter on the ice, in the spring with vessels loaded with
provisions. In all the opposition raised by those envious of
him, fortune seemed to side with them against him; the pilot
who directed one of his well-loaded barks, lost it on Lake
Frontenac. When the snow began to melt, he sent fifteen of
his men to trade on the lake in canoes, as far as the Ilinois to
prepare him the way, till his barque building at Niagara was
completed.  It was perfectly ready in the month of August, 1679.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    91
The father commissary had started some time before from
Quebec for the fort, to give the orders incumbent on his office,
and put in force those expedited in the month of July, by
which Father Gabriel was named superior of the new
expedition, to be accompanied by Father Louis Hennepin,
Zenobius Membr6, and Melithon Watteaux, the latter to remain at Niagara, and make it his mission, while Father Luke
should remain at the fort.
The three former accordingly embarked on the 7th of August, with Monsieur de la Salle and his whole party in the
vessel, which had been named the Griffin in honor of the arms
of Monsieur de Frontenac. Father Melithon remained at the
house at Niagara, with some laborers and clerks. The same
day they sailed for Lake Conty, after passing contrary to all
expectations the currents of the strait. This was due to the
resolution and address of the sieur de la Salle, his men
having before his arrival used every means to no purpose.
It appeared a kind of marvel, considering the rapidity of the
current in the strait, which neither man nor animal, nor any
ordinary vessel can resist, much less ascend.
The map will show that from this place you sail up Lake
Conty (Erie), to Lake Orleans (Huron), which terminates in
Lake Dauphin (Michigan); these lakes being each a hundred,
or a hundred and twenty leagues long, by forty or fifty wide,
communicating with one another by easy channels and straits,
which offer vessels a convenient and beautiful navigation.
All these lakes are full of fish; the country is most finely
situated, the soil temperate, being north and south, bordered
by vast prairies, which terminate in hills covered with vines,
fruit-trees, groves, and tall woods, all scattered here and there,
so that one would think that the ancient Romans, princes and
nobles would have made them as many villas. The soil is
everywhere equally fertile.




92           NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
The sieur de la Salle having entered Lake Conty on the
7th, crossed it in three days, and on the 10th reached the
strait (Detroit), by which he entered Lake Orleans. The
voyage was interrupted by a storm as violent as could be
met in the open sea; our people lost all hope of escape; but
a vow which they made to St. Anthony, of Padua, the patron
of mariners, delivered them by a kind of miracle, so that,
after long making head against the wind, the vessel on the
27th reached Missilirakinak, which is north of the strait, by
which we go from Lake Orleans to Lake Dauphin.
No vessels had yet been seen sailing on the lakes; yet an
enterprise which should have been sustained by all wellmeaning persons, for the glory of God, and the service of the
king, had produced precisely the opposite feelings and effects,
which had been already communicated to the Hurons, the
Outaoiiats of the island and the neighboring nations, to make
them ill affected. The sieur de la Salle even found here the
fifteen men, whom he had sent in the spring, prejudiced
against him, and seduced from his service; a part of his
goods wasted, far from having proceeded to the Ilinois to
trade according to their orders; the sieur de Tonty, who was
at their head, having in vain made every effort to inspire
them with fidelity.*
At last he weighed anchor on the 2d of September, and arrived pretty safely at the Bay of the Fetid (Green bay), at
the entrance of Lake Dauphin, forty leagues from Missilimakinak. Would to God that the sieur de la Salle had continued his route in the vessel. His wisdom could not foresee
the misfortunes which awaited him; he deemed proper to
send it back by the same route to Niagara, with the furs al* La Salle's sending them was a violation of his patent.-See Historical Collections of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 35.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.     93
ready bought, in order to pay his creditors. He even left in
it a part of his goods and implements, which were not easy to
transport. The captain had orders to return with the vessel
as soon as possible, and join us in the Ilinois.
Meanwhile, on the 18th of September, the sieur de la Salle
with our fathers and seventeen men, continued their route in
canoes by Lake Dauphin, from   the Pouteotatamis to the
mouth of the river of the Miamis (St. Joseph's), where they
arrived on the first of November. This place had been appointed a rendezvous for twenty Frenchmen, who came by
the opposite shore, and also for the sieur de Tonty, who had
been sent by the sieur de la Salle to Missilimakinak on another
expedition.
The sieur de la Salle built a fort there to protect his men
and property against any attack of the Indians; our religious
soon had a bark cabin erected to serve as a chapel, where
they exercised their ministry for French and Indians until
the third of December, when leaving four men in the fort,
they went in search of the portage which would bring them
to the Seignelay (Ilinois), which descends to the Missisipi.
They embarked on this river to the number of thirty or forty,
by which after a hundred, or a hundred and twenty leagues
sail, they arrived toward the close of December, at the largest
Ilinois village, composed of about four or five hundred cabins,
each of five or six families.
It is the custom of these tribes at harvest-time to put
their Indian corn in caches, in order to keep it for summer,
when meat easily spoils, and to go and pass the winter in
hunting wild cattle and beaver, carrying very little grain.
That of our people had run short, so that passing by the
Ilinois village, they were obliged, there being no one there,
to take some Indian corn. as much as they deemed necessary
for their subsistence.




94           NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
They left it on the 1st of January, 1680, and by the 4th,
were thirty leagues lower down amid the Ilinois camp; they
were encamped on both sides of the river, which is very narrow there, but soon after forms a lake about seven leagues
long, and about one wide, called Pimiteoui, meaning in their
language that there are plenty of fat beasts there. The sieur
de la Salle estimated it at 33~ 45'. It is remarkable, because
the Ilinois river, which for several months in winter is frozen
down to it, never is from this place to the mouth, although
navigation is at times interrupted by accumulations of floating
ice from above.
Our people had been assured that the Ilinois had been excited and prejudiced against them. Finding himself then in
the midst of their camp, which lay on both sides of the river,
at a narrow pass, where the current was hurrying on the
canoes faster than they liked, the sieur de la Salle promptly
put his men under arms, and ranged his canoes abreast so
as to occupy the whole breadth of the river, the canoes
nearest the two banks, in which were the sieur de Tonty, and
the sieur de la Salle, were not more than half a pistol-shot
from the shore. The Ilinois, who had not yet discovered the
little flotilla ranged in battle order, were alarmed; some ran
to arms, others fled in incredible confusion. The sieur de la
Salle had a calumet of peace, but would not show it, not liking
to appear weak before them. As they were soon so near that
they could understand each other, they asked our Frenchmen, who they were. They replied that they were French,
still keeping their arms ready, and letting the current bear
them down in order, because there was no landing place till
below the camp.
The Indians alarmed and intimidated by this bold conduct
(although they were several thousand against a handful), im



DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    95
mediately presented three calumets; our people at the same
time presented theirs, and their terror changing to joy, they
conducted our party to their cabins, showed us a thousand
civilities, and sent to call back those who had fled. They
were told, that we came only to give them a knowledge of
the true God, to defend them against their enemies, to bring
them arms and other conveniences of life. Besides presents
made them, they were paid for the Indian corn taken at their
village; a close alliance was made with them, the rest of the
day being spent in feasts and mutual greetings.
All the sieur de la Salle's intrepidity and skill were needed
to keep the alliance intact, as Monsoela, one of the chiefs of the
nation of Maskoutens came that very evening to traverse it.
It was known that he was sent by others than those of his
nation; he had even with him some Miamis, and young men
bearing kettles, knives, axes, and other goods. He had been
chosen for this embassy rather than a Miami chief, to give
more plausibility to what he should say, the Ilinois not having
been at war with the Maskoutens, as they had with the Miamis. He cabaled even the whole night, speaking of the
sieur de la Salle as an intriguer, a friend of the Iroquois,
coming to the Ilinois only to open the way to their enemies,
who were coming on all sides with the French to destroy
them; he made them presents of all that he had brought, and
even told them that he came on behalf of several Frenchmen
whom he named.
This council was held at night, the time chosen by the Indians to transact secret business. This embassador retired
the same night, so that the next day the Ilinois chiefs were found
completely changed, cold and distrustful, appearing even to
plot against our Frenchmen, who were shaken by the change,
but the sieur de la Salle, who had attached one of the chiefs




96           NARRATIVE OF FATIIER MEMBRE.
to him particularly by some present, learned from him the
subject of this change. His address soon dispelled all these
suspicions, but did not prevent six of his men, already tampered with and prejudiced at Michilimakinak, from deserting
that very day.
The sieur de la Salle not only reassured that nation, but
found means in the sequel, to disabuse the Maskoutens and
Miamis, and to form an alliance between them and the Ilinois
which lasted as long as the sieur de la Salle was in the
country.
With this assurance the little army, on the 14th of January,
1680, the floating ice from above having ceased, repaired to
a little eminence, a site quite near the Ilinois camp where the
Sieur de la Salle immediately set to work to build a fort,
which he called Crevecour, on account of the many disappointments he had experienced, but which never shook his
firm resolve. The fort was well advanced, and the little vessel already up to the string-piece by the first of March, when
he resolved to proceed to Fort Frontenac. There were four
or five hundred leagues to go by land, but not finding his
brigantine, the Griffin, return, nor those he had sent on to
meet her, and foreseeing the disastrous consequences of the
probable loss of his vessel, his courage rose above the difficulties of so long and painful a journey.
As he had chosen Father Louis, and as the latter had offered to continue the discovery toward the north, by ascending the Missisipi, the sieur de la Salle reserving to himself
its continuation in canoe by descending till he found the sea,
Father Louis set out in canoe from Fort Crevecceur on the
29th of February, 1680, with two men well armed and equipped, who had besides twelve hundred livres in goods, which
make a good passport. The enterprise was great and hardy,




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.          97
although it did not equal the great zeal of the intrepid missionary who undertook and continued it with all the firmness,
constancy, and edification, which can be desired, amid inconceivable toils.
Although the discovery had already been pushed four or
five hundred leagues into Louisiana,* from Fort Frontenac to
Fort Crevecoaur; this great march can be considered only
as a prelude and preparation for enterprises still more vast,
and an entrance to be made in countries still more advantageous.
I have hitherto given only a short abridgment of the Relations which Father Zenobius Membre gives of the commencement of this enterprise.  Father Louis, whom we see starting
for the upper Missisipi has published a description of the
countries which he visited and into which he carried the
gospel. I therefore refer my reader to it without repeating it
here.-' We have then only to describe what is most essential
and important in this discovery conducted by the personal
labors of the sieur de la Salle, in the subsequent years.
* In fact no discovery had been made; the Ilinois country was visited by
traders before Marquette's second voyage to it, and was perfectly known; Allouez, too, was there shortly before this, as La Salle himself states.
f We prefer to interrupt Le Clercq's narrative here, and insert the account
published by Father Louis Hennepin, in 1684.
7








BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE
OF
THE WORKS OF FATHER LOUIS HENNEPIN,
& RECOLLECT OF THE PROVINCE OF ST. ANTHONY, IN ARTOIS.
WE have already in the notice on Le Clercq alluded to the uncertainty which
hangs around many of the works connected with the history of La Salle. In
them, however, it was a question as to authorship, alterations made by publishers, or the influence of party spirit in the original writers; against Hennepin,
however, there is a still heavier charge. A good man may be so blinded by party
zeal as to be unjust to others, and be guilty of acts which he would personally
shrink from doing, and in this case we must, to attain the truth, realize fully the
position of the antagonistic parties at the time. Such is peculiarly the case with
Le Clercq, as we have shown, and in judging the work, we have endeavored to
go back to his own period.
The charge against Hennepin is, that he was vain, conceited, exaggerating,
and even mendacious. To weigh so serious an accusation, we shall examine his
several volumes, which, however, as will be seen, resolve themselves into two,
published at an interval of fourteen years. It is the more necessary to enter
into a full discussion of his merits as few works relative to America have
been more widely spread than that of Hennepin. Published originally in
French, it appeared subsequently in Dutch, English, Italian, and Spanish, and if
1 am not mistaken in German; and in a large class of writers is quoted with the
commendation.   It was, however, soon attacked.  The editor of Joutel, in
1i13, calls it in question; but he was too ignorant of Canadian history to give
his charge any weight. Severer strictures were passed upon it by Harris, and
by Kalm, the celebrated Swedish traveller. Harris says, in vol. ii., p. 350, "As
to the accounts of La Hontan, and Father Hennepin, they have been formerly
very much admired, yet we are now well satisfied that they are rather romances than relations, and that their authors had their particular schemes so
much in view, that they have made no scruple of abusing the confidence of mankind." In this country, within the last few years a more thorough examination
of authorities has consigned Hennepin,* La Hontan, and Lebeau, to that amiable
class who seem to tell truth by accident and fiction by inclination. The works
of Hennepin are, I. Description de la Louisiane, nouvellement d6couverte au sudoiiest de la nouvelle France, par ordre du roy. Avec carte du pays, les moeurs
et la mani8redevivre dessauvages, dedi6e a sa Majest6, par le R. P. Loiis Hen* N. A. Review for January, 1845, Spark's Life of La Salle.




100                  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.
nepin, Missionare Recollet et Notaire Apostolique, pp. 312, and 107 Paris.
Auroy, 1684.
Charlevoix takes exception to the title of this work on the ground that he
misapplies the name Louisiana, but in fact Illinois, from La Salle's time, was included under that name. The title is, however, false in the words " newly discovered to the southwest of Canada," as no new discovery had been made in
that direction, and the whole volume can show nothing in the way of new exploration, beyond what had already been published in Europe, except of
so much of the Mississippi as lies between the Wisconsin river and the falls of
St. Anthony, which he was the first European to travel. But let us enter on the
volume itself, which, apart from any intrinsic faults, possesses considerable value,
as being the first published, and by far the fullest account of La Salle's first expedition. Such it pretends to be, and accordingly opens with an account of that
adventurer's project of reaching China, his attempt with some Sulpitians, in
1669, and his establishment at Fort Frontenac. Hennepin introduces himself to
us, for the first time, on page twelve, as having established a mission at that
fort with Father Luke Buisset; then mentions Joliet's voyage down the Mississippi as far as the Illinois (Indians), which he represents as the work of La Salle's
enemies. Then follow the latter's voyage to France, in 1617, his return the next
year with an order for the author to accompany him in his discoveries, and his
own voyage to Fort Frontenac, which he details as though it were his first
trip to that place. At Fort Frontenac La Salle's expedition begins, and our author relates all that happened with great detail, and a vast profusion of nautical
expressions, down to the building of Fort Crevecoeur, and his own departure
from it, February 29th, 1680. His journal from this point being given in the
present volume, we need not analyze it further than to say, that being sent to
explore the Illinois to its mouth, in the Mississippi (p. 184), he reached that point
on the 8th of March (192), and after being detained there by floating ice till the
12th, continued his route, traversing and sounding the river. Then follows, not
a journal of his voyage, but a geographical description of the upper Mississippi,
from the Illinois river to Mille lake and the Sioux country. After this description, he resumes his journal and tells us (p. 206), that he was taken by the Indians
on the eleventh of April, after having sailed two hundred leagues (p. 218), from
the Illinois (Indians). He was taken by them to their villages, relieved by de
Luth in July, and returned to Mackinaw by way of the Wisconsin and Green
bay. Thence, in the spring, he proceeded to the Seneca country, Fort Frontenac and MontreaL  His work contains, besides the journal given, only some
account of the party he left at Fort Crevecceur, from letters he saw at Quebec,
and of La Salle's descent to the gulf from others received by him in France.
This is followed by an account of the manners of the savages (p. 107).
Taking this volume by itself, the reader is struck by the unclerical character
of the writer, his intense vanity and fondness for exaggeration. The manner in
which he rises in importance, is truly amusing; not only does he, to all appearance, make himself the superior of the little band of missionaries in La Salle's
expedition, but even a kind of joint commander with La Salle himself. Take as
a specimen the following passage, which we select the more readily, as it bears on
his voyage to the Mississippi Fort Crevecceur was almost built, the Dauphin had




THE WORKS OF FATHER         -IENNEPIN.              101
sent no tidings of her voyage, the men were discontented and mutinous, all was
dark and gloomy around the exploring party in Illinois. "We must remark,"
says Hennepin, "that the winter in the Ilinois country is not longer than that in
Provence; but, in 1679, the snow lasted more than twenty days, to the great
astonishment of the Indians who had never seen so severe a winter, so that the
sieur de la Salle and I beheld ourselves exposed to new hardships that will appear incredible to those who have no experience of great voyages and new
discoveries. Fort Crevecmcur was almost completed, the wood was all prepared
to finish the bark, but we had not cordage, nor sails, nor iron enough; we received no tidings of the bark we had left on Lake Dauphin, nor of those sent to
find what had become of her; meanwhile the sieur de la Salle saw that summer
was coming on, and that, if he waited some months in vain, our enterprise would
be retarded one year, and perhaps two or three, because being so far from Canada, he could not regulate affairs, nor have the necessary articles forwarded.
In this extremity we both took a resolution as extraordinary as it was difficult
to execute, I to go with two men in unknown countries where we are every moment in great danger of death, and he on foot to Fort Frontenac more than five
hundred leagues distant. We were then at the close of winter, which had been,
as we have said, as severe in America as in France; the ground was still covered with snow, which was neither melted nor able to bear a man in snowshoes.
He had to carry the usual equipment in such cases, that is, a blanket, pot, axe,
gun, powder, and lead, with dressed skins to make Indian shoes, which last only
a day, French shoes being of no use in the western countries. Besides, he had to
resolve to pierce through thickets, march through marshes and melting snow,
sometimes waist high, for whole days, at times with nothing to eat, because he
and his three companions could not carry provisions, being compelled to rely for
subsistence on what they killed with their guns, and to expect to drink only the
water they found on the way. Finally he was exposed every day, and especially
every night, to be surprised by four or five nations at war with each other, with
this difference that the nations through which he had to pass all know the
French, while those where I was going had never seen Europeans. Yet all
these difficulties did not astound him any more than. myself; our only difficulty
was to find some of our men stout enough to accompany us and prevent the rest
already much shaken from deserting on our departure." This is a remarkable
passage, and has struck almost every writer on La Salle as their accounts often
seem inspired by this graphic sketch of Hennepin. It is.more than we said at
first: Hennepin is here even greater than La Salle in the resolution he took at
this trying crisis. After this we expect to see the two commanders depart on
their dangerous expeditions, we run over the succeeding pages, the highflown
language cools down, and we come to some details of La Salle's appointment of
Tonty to command, which, are followed by these matter-of-fact words, completely destroying the delusion created by the preceding passage.
"He begged me to take the trouble to go and discover in advance the route
he would have to take as far as the river Colbert on his return from Canada,
but as I had an abscess in my mouth which had suppurated constantly for a
year and a half, 1 showed my repugnance, and told him that I needed to go back
to Canada to have medical treatment. He replied, that if I refused this voyage,




102                 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.
he would write to my superiors that I would be the cause of the failure of our
new missions; the reverend father Gabriel de la Ribourde, who had been my
novice master, begged me to go, telling me, that if I died of that infirmity, God
would one day be glorified by my apostolic labors.'True, my son,' said that
venerable old man, whose head was whitened with more than forty years' austere
penance,'you will have many monsters to overcome, and precipices to pass, in
this enterprise which requires the strength of the most robust; you do not know
a word of the language of these tribes whom you are going to endeavor to gain
to God, but take courage, you will gain as many victories as you have combats.'
Considering that this father had at his age been ready to come to my aid in the
second year of our new discoveries, with the view of announcing Christ to unknown tribes, and that this old man was the only male descendant and heir of
his father's house, for he was a Burgundian of rank, I offered to make the
voyage and endeavor to make the acquaintance of the tribes among whom I
hoped soon to establish myself, and preach the faith. The sieur de la Salle
showed me his satisfaction, gave me a calumet of peace, and a canoe with two
men, one of whom was called the Picard du Gay, who is now at Paris, and the
other, Michael Ako; the latter he intrusted with some merchandise fit to make
presents, and worth ten or twelve thousand livres; and to myself he gave ten
knives, twelve awls, a little roll of tobacco to give to the Indians, about two
pounds of white and black beads, a little package of needles, declaring that he
would have given me more, if he could. In fact, he is quite liberal to his friends.
Having received the blessing of the reverend father Gabriel, and taken leave of
the sieur de la Salle, and embraced all the party who came down to see us off,
Father Gabriel concluding his adieu with the words,'Viriliter age et confortetur
cor tuum,' we set out from Fort Crevecceur on the 29th of February," &c.
Can anything be more striking than the difference of these two accounts; in
one he seems a leader, in the other, a reluctant member of the expedition?
But La Salle is not the only one sacrificed to his vanity. Delivered by de
Luth from his Sioux captivity, he seems to lay that officer under great obligations to him, and disposes of him so summarily, that the name of de Luth, after
being only three times mentioned, disappears from his pages, and he seems to be
the commander of the united parties. He passes by one Jesuit mission at Greenbay without mentioning its existence, winters at another at Mackinaw, not only
without uttering a word to induce us to suppose a missionary there, but actually
using expressions which give us the idea that he was the only missionary to be
found in all those parts, to minister to the Christians and instruct the heathen.
When he leaves Mackinaw, in April, 1681, our Recollect rises still higher in importance; he is fired at the wrongs of an Ottawa chief, and apparently considering it beneath him to look for La Salle, or give him any account of the expedition on which he had been sent, proceeds to the Seneca country, convenes a
council, compels that haughty tribe to make amends to the injured Ottawa, and
returns to Fort Frontenac, after this somewhat curious proceeding in a good friar
who never meddled in civil affairs, as some other people did. He crowns the whole
by telling us at the close of the volume, that La Salle descended to the gulf, " as l
had made peace with the nations of the north and northwest, five hundred leagues
up the river Colbert, who made war on the Ilinois and southern tribes."




THE WORKS OF FATHER HENNEPIN.                     103
This is enough to show to what extent even then he pushed his self-glorification. As to the object of his expedition, we are completely in the dark; we
can not tell whether he was sent to explore the Illinois to its mouth, or to open
intercourse with some tribe or tribes, where it was intended to begin a mission.
At all events, he says nothing of having been sent up the Mississippi; but whatever was his mission, he seems to have so well avoided La Salle, that they never
met again. Hennepin hastened back to France, and by the 3d of September,
1682, had the royal permission to print his work, which issued from the press on
the 5th of January, 1683, though most copies have on the titlepage the date
1684. He was then for a time, it would seem, at Chateau Cambrensis, till ordered by his superiors to return to America; this he refused, and was in consequence compelled to leave France. Falling in with Mr. Blaithwait, secretary of
war to William III., he passed to the service of the English king, as a Spanish
subject, by permission of his own sovereign and his clerical superiors, as he
avers. He assumed a lay dress in a convent at Antwerp, and proceeding to
Utrecht, published in 1697, a new work entitledII. "Nouvelle description d'un tres grand pays situ6 dans l'Amerique entre le
nouveau Mexique et la mer glaciale," reprinted the next year as "Nouvelle Decouverte d'un pays plus grandque l'Europe," a translation of which appeared in
England, in 1699, entitled: "A new discovery of a vast country in America, extending above four thousand miles between New France and New Mexico."
This work begins with his own personal history, and from it we derive the
following data for a life of this worthy, should any one deem it worth while to
attempt it. He was born at Ath, in Hainault, and feeling a strong inclination to
retire from the world, entered the order of St. Francis. He was soon seized
with a desire of rambling; and while studying Dutch at Ghent, was strongly
tempted to go to the East Indies, but was appeased by a tour through the Franciscan convents of Italy and Germany, back to Hainault, where, for a whole
year, he was compelled to discharge the ministry. This year of permanent residence in one spot seems to have been an epoch in his erratic life. He next
roamed to Artois, thence set out to beg at Calais, returned by Dunkirk to Dies,
and after sauntering through several Dutch towns, spent eight months at Maestricht, in the care of an hospital, where acquiring some military ardor, he was
next an army chaplain at the battle of Senef (1674), immediately after which
he was sent to Rochelle to embark for Canada. A convent life was, it is clear,
irksome to him, and how little he was sensible of the dignity of the priesthood,
either before God or man, we may judge by this extraordinary admission: "I
used oftentimes to skulk behind the doors of victualling houses, to hear the seamen give an account of their adventures..... This occupation was so agreeable to me, that [despite, he tells us, the nausea caused by their smoking] I spent
whole days and nights at it without eating." Arrived in Canada, lie preached
the Advent and Lent to the hospital nuns at Quebec, being chosen by Bishop
Laval, whose favor he had secured on the voyage by a display of zeal which by
a train of incidents drew on him all La Salle's enmity. This brings him to 1676,
when after rambling around Quebec, as far as Three-Rivers, he was sent to Fort
Frontenac, with Father Buisset to direct the Indians gathered there. This now
became the centre of new rambles, which he extended to the cantons of the




104                  BIBLIOGRAPIIICAL NOTICE.
Five Nations, visiting Onondaga, Oneida, and the Mohawk, in the last of which
while entertained by the Jesuit missionary (probably Father Bruyas), he copied
his Iroquois dictionary, for in this work, as if to spite his former friends, he mentions those missionaries in several places with terms of praise. He then visits
Albany, and though entreated by the Dutch to stay, returned to Fort Frontenac.
In 1678, he went down to Quebec, and soon after his arrival received orders to
join La Salle's expedition. From this point his journal rolls on as in the "Description de la Louisiane," down to the 12th of March, 1680, till which day he
was detained by the floating ice, but here a new scene breaks on the startled
reader: Hennepin tells us, that he actually went down the Mississippi to the
gulf, but had not published the fact to avoid the hostility of LaSalle. Amazed at
so unexpected a revelation, we read on carefully, but find that he waited till the
twelfth, yet started on the eighth, being consequently in two places at once,
each moment during those four days; thus aided, he reached the mouth of the
Mississippi by the twenth-fifth, or at most, twenty-sixth of March, after celebrating, on the 23d of March, the festival of Easter which, unfortunately for his
accuracy, fell that year on the 21st of April, as he himself knew, for in his
former work (p. 242), he states that he reached the Issati village about Easter,
which, in his loose style, means some days after it. But to return to his voyage
down, achieved in thirteen, or at most, eighteen days; he planted a cross and
wished to wait a few days to make observations, but his men refused, and he
was compelled to embark again. They did wait, however, some days it seens,
for he started only on the first of April; by the twenty-fourth, he had reached
and left the Arkansas, as he tells us in two different places (pp. 129, 137), and
ascending toward the Illinois, advanced only by night for fear of a surprise by
the French of Fort Cr5vecceur. By the twelfth of the same month of April,
being twelve days before he reached the Arkansas, he was taken by the Sioux a
hundred and fifty leagues above the mouth of the Illinois, making all that distance from the gulf in eleven days, and the distance from the Arkansas, in considerably less than no time at all.
From  this point, it continues with but occasional variations, as in the Description de la LoUisiane, except that de Luth appears more frequently down to
their ascending the Wisconsin.
The second part, or second volume, contains an account of La Salle's last
voyage, in which Father Anastasius is frequently cited; the subsequent part,
from page 49 to 151, treats of the manners, and customs of the Indians, and
their conversion, and then follows an account of the capture of Quebec, in 1628,
by the English, and of the early Recollect missions.
Two things in this volume at once meet us, the horrible confusion of dates,
and the utter impossibility of performing the voyages in the times given.
These objections were made at the time, but were stoutly met by Hennepin, although the former seems not to have been much attended to by him. He gives
us, however, a dissertation on the variation of the needle, and the difference of
time in Europe and America, which had confused him somewhat in his ideas,
and prevented his accuracy in that point. As to the impracticability of the matter, he denies it, averring that he had time enough and to spare, as a bark canoe
can, if necessary, go ninety miles a day up stream!




THE WORKS OF FATHER IIENNEPIN.                      105
But a heavier charge was made when his new work was compared to the
Etablissement de la Foi; his new journal down was but a set of scraps from that
of Father Membrd, and the reader may verify the truth of this charge by examining the parallel passages given by the accurate and judicious Sparks, in his life
of La Salle, or by comparing Membre's journal in this volume with the English
Hennepin, or even with the abridgment of it in vol. i., of Historical Collections
of Louisiana. I-Iennepin admits the similarity, and accuses le Clercq or le Roux,
whom he asserts to be the real author, of having published as Membre's, his,
I-ennepin's journal, which he had lent to le Roux, at Quebec. Let us hear his
own words: "But if I do not blame Father le Clercq for the honorable mention
he makes of his relative (Membre), I think everybody will condemn him for his
concealing the name of the author he has transcribed, and thereby attributing to
himself (? Membre or le Clercq), the glory of my perilous voyage. This piece of
injustice is common enough in this age."
Sparks, who has the honor of having completely exposed Hennepin, and "the injustice common in that age," which induced Hennepin, le Clercq, Douay, Joutel,
and others, to endeavor to rob Marquette of the glory due to his perilous voyage,
shows this pretext of Hennepin to be groundless. We might stop to examine it,
if only here he had copied le Clercq; but, on examination, we find that almost
all the additional matter in the Nosuvelle Deecouverte is drawn from the Etablissement de la Foi, and almost literally. This is the case with the whole second
part, where, though he cites Father Anastasius, he copies the remarks of the
author of the Etablissement. What relates to the Indians is full of extracts from
the latter work, and the capture of Quebec, and the early missions are mere
copies. In the edition of 1720, which Charlevoix calls the second, and, perhaps,
in some previous edition the amount of stolen matter is still larger; but some
was of such a nature as to bring ecclesiastical censure on the work. For, strange
as it may seem, Hennepin residing unfrocked in Holland, the flatterer and pensioner of William Ill., seems to have remained a Catholic and Franciscan to the
last; at least I have seen nothing to establish the contrary. Had interest or
ambition been his only motive, he would certainly have thrown off both titles
at a time when the frenzy of religious animosity possessed the English public.
But while doing him this justice, that he does not seem to have been led by
interest or ambition of place, while admitting that many of his descriptions are
graphic, and to some extent reliable, we say all that can be said in his favor.
Where in the main fact he is supported by others, we have followed him with
caution in details, but we must admit that the charges brought against him are
too well substantiated to allow us hesitate as to his character.
A question still remains as to what he really did do on leaving Fort Crevecceur. In his first work, as we have already remarked, he states that lie was
sent to explore the Illinois to its mouth, or to visit some tribes where a mission
was to be established; and he tells us that he had some design of going down
the Mississippi to the gulf, but he nowhere says that he ascended it before he
was taken. In the last, he was sent to the Mississippi, and the tribes on it to
get the friendship of the nations inhabiting its banks, and as he tells us he went
down. In both, at a very late period, he tells us that La Salle promised to send
him further supplies at the mouth of the Wisconsin.




106                   BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.
In neither have we any journal of his voyage up the river; the geographical
description is not that of a traveller ascending, as he describes first what he saw
last; and though voyaging with Sioux, gives the Wisconsin the same name as
Mafrquette, who reached it through the Outagamis. What then did he do between March 12th, and April 12th? This must remain a mystery. That he
went down to the gulf, is too absurd to be received for a moment; that he went
up is nowhere asserted by him, and is, I think, very doubtful. For my own
part, I should rather believe that he was taken in an attempt to descend, or in
some way acting contrary to the directions of La Salle. His evident avoiding
of the latter is suspicious, and shows that he could not give a satisfactory account of his proceedings; for wintering at Mackinaw, he must have known that
La Salle had passed out to rejoin them at Fort Crevecceur, and that his own
companions had been compelled to leave the fort, and were then at Green bay.*
Then, too, as to his description of the upper Mississippi, I am inclined to think
it due to de Luth, who, as le Clercq tells us, was the first to reach the lake of
the Issatis, and open the way to the missionaries; this seems more probable as in
his last work Hennepin attacks de Luth, and endeavors to destroy the credit, as
though de Luth could and, perhaps, did tell another story. It will, therefore,
be a matter of interest to learn whether any reports of his are still to be found,
as the mere fact of Hennepin's attacking him gives them considerable value.
In the meantime Hennepin's account of the upper Mississippi must stand as
first published, though we can not tell how much of it he really saw; standing
on its own merits, it is an account which the first American explorers of the
upper river compared as they went along, and found sufficiently accurate in one
who could only guess at the various distances which he had to mention. As a
valuable paper connected with the discoveries of the Mississippi, we insert it
here, regretting our inability to give in justice a more flattering portrait of the
writer.
Hennepin left Mackinaw on Easter week, 1681 (April 6-13), and F. Membre arrived there on
the 13th of June, and La Salle from Illinois, about the fifteenth. On Vol. I., p. 59, of this series,
there is a typographical error Fete Dieu, in October, should be Octave of Corpus Christi, being
that year June 13th.




NARRATIVE
OF THE VOYAGE
TO    THE     UPPER        MISSISSIPPI,
BY
FATHER LO UIS IHENNEP IN.
FROM HIS "DESCRIPTION DE LA LOUISIANE," PRINTED AT PARIS, IN 1683.
Wl     E set out from Fort Crevecceur the 29th of February,
1680, and    toward   evening, while descending      the
Seignelay [Ilinois], we met on the way several parties of
Islinois* returning to their village in their periaguas or gondolas, loaded with meat. They would have obliged us to
return, our two boatmen were even shaken, but as they would
have had to pass by Fort Crevecceur, where our Frenchmen
would have stopped them, we pursued our way the next day,
and my two men afterward confessed the design which they
had entertained.t
* We have retained Hennepin's orthography of proper names throughout this
narrative.
tF Hennepin's party, according to his account, consisted of himself and two
men, Anthony Auguelle, commonly called the Picard du Gay, and Michael Ako.
The latter was intrusted by La Salle with the goods, and is probably the sieur
Dacan of some other writers, as Mr. Sparks informs me, that he saw manuscripts
in which it was written d'Acau. Hennepin in the preface to the first part of the
English volume, charges La Salle with having maliciously caused the death of
one of his two companions, meaning Ako, as he represents the other to be alive.




108         NARRATIVE OF FATHER IENNEPIN.
The river Seignelay on which we were sailing, is as deep
and broad as the Seine, at Paris, and in two or three places
widens out to a quarter of a league. It is lined with hills,
whose sides are covered with fine large trees. Some of these
hills are half a league apart, leaving between them a marshy
strip often inundated, especially in the spring and fall, but
producing, nevertheless, quite large trees.  On ascending
these hills, you discover prairies further than the eye can
reach, studded at intervals, with groves of tall trees, apparently planted there intentionally. The current of the river
is not perceptible, except in time of great rains; it is at all
times navigable for large barks about a hundred leagues, from
its mouth to the Islinois village, whence its course almost always runs south by southwest.
On the 7th of March, we found, about two leagues
from its mouth, a nation called Tamaroa, or Maroa, composed of two hundred familes.   They would have taken
us to their village west of the river Colbert (Mississippi),
six or seven leagues below the mouth of the river Seignelay; but oar two canoemen, in hopes of still greater gain,
preferred to pass on, according to the advice I then gave
them. These last Indians seeing that we carried iron and
arms to their enemies, and unable to overtake us in their
periaguas, which are wooden canoes, much heavier than our
bark ones, which went much faster than their boats, despatched
their young men after us by land, to pierce us with their arrows at some narrow part of the river, but in vain; for soon
after discovering the fire made by these warriors at their
ambuscade, we crossed the river at once, and gaining the
other side, encamped in an island, leaving our canoe loaded
and our little dog to wake as, so as to embark with all speed,
should the Indians attempt to surprise us by swimming across.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   109
Soon after leaving these Indians, we came to the mouth of
the River Seignelay, fifty leagues distant from Fort Crevecceur, and about a hundred from the great Islinois village. It
is between 36~ and 37~ N. latitude, and consequently one
hundred and twenty or thirty leagues from the gulf of Mexico.
In the angle formed on the south by this river, at its mouth,
is a flat precipitous rock, about forty feet high, very well suited
for building a fort. On the northern side, opposite the rock,
and on the west side beyond the river, are fields of black
earth, the end of which you can not see, all ready for cultivation, which would be very advantageous for the existence of
a colony.
The ice which floated down from the north kept us in this
place till the 12th of March, when we continued our route,
traversing the river and sounding on all sides to see whether
it was navigable. There are, indeed, three islets in the middle, near the mouth of the river Seignelay, which stop the
floating wood and trees from the north, and form several large
sand-bars, yet the channels are deep enough, and there is
sufficient water for barks; large flat-boats can pass there at
all times.
The River Colbert runs south-southwest, and comes from
the north and northwest; it runs between two chains of
mountains, quite small here, which wind with the river, and
in some places are pretty far from the banks, so that between
the mountains and the river, there are large prairies, where
you often see herds of wild cattle browsing. In other places
these eminences leave semi-circular spots covered with grass
or wood. Beyond these mountains you discover vast plains,
but the more we approach the northern side ascending, the
earth became apparently less fertile, and the woods less beautiful than in the Islinois country.




110            NARRATIVE OF FATHER IENNEPIN.
This great river is almost everywhere a short league in
width, and in some place, two or three; it is divided by a
number of islands covered with trees, interlaced with so many
vines as to be almost impassable.       It receives no considerable river on the western side except that of the Otontenta,*
and another, St. Peter's,t which comes fiom        the west northwest, seven or eight leagues from St. Anthony of Padua's
falls.
On the eastern side you meet first an inconsiderable river
(Rock river), and then further on another, called by the Indians Onisconsin, or Misconsin, which comes from           the east
and east-northeast. Sixty leagues up you leave it, and make
a portage of half a league to reach the Bay of the Fetid (Puants)
by another river which, near its course, meanders most curiously. It is almost as large as the river Seignelay, or Ilinois,
and empties into the river Colbert, a hundred leagues above
the river Seignelay.:
* This would seem the Desmoines, the largest south of St. Peter's, but the Iowa
is not much inferior, and would better suit his description as being near half
way between the Illinois and Lake Pepin. The name, too, would induce us to
put it higher, as he doubtless means the tribe called by Membr6 Anthoutantas, and
by Marquette on his map, Otontanta, the same as the former, if u and n are
transposed.
f The St. Peter's river flows through the centre of the Sioux territories, and is
a magnificent river. It was visited by Le Sueur, the French geologist, as early as
1688 (Hist. Coll. La., vol. iii.), and is very correctly described by him. It is remarkable for its mineral deposites, and the variety of clays found on its banks,
which are employed by the Indians in painting their faces and bodies. Its waters
are transparent, hence the Indian name of wate-paw-mene-saute, or clear water
river. The Minokantongs, or people of the waters, are located about its mouth,
and the Yengetongs, and the Sissitongs, inhabit the upper part of it (Schoolcraft); their principal traffic is in buffalo-robes. The numerical strength of the
Sioux nation is now estimated at about twenty-two thousand.-F
i It must have been just here that he was taken by the Sioux, if he sailed up
the Mississippi before his capture, for he had gone two hundred leagues after
leaving the Illinois, who were one hundred leagues from the mouth of their river,
and the other one hundred would bring him to the Wisconsin; though if he
counts the hundred on the Illinois from the village proper, and not from the




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.            111
Twenty-four leagues above, you come to the Black river
called by the Nadouessious, or Islati Chabadeba, or Chabaaudeba, it seems quite       inconsiderable.   Thirty leagues
higher up, you find the lake of Tears (Lake Pepin), which
we so named, because some of the Indians who had taken us,
wishing to kill us, wept the whole night, to induce the others to
consent to our death.     This lake which is formed by the
River Colbert, is seven leagues long, and about four wide;
there is no considerable current in the middle that we could
perceive, but only at its entrance and exit.*     Half a league
below the lake of Tears, on the south side, is Buffalo river, full
of turtles. It is so called by the Indians on account of the
numbers of buffalo (bwotfs) found there.     We followed it for
ten or twelve leagues; it empties impetuously into the river
Colbert, but as you ascend it, it is constantly calm    and free
from rapids. It is skirted by mountains, far enough off at
times to form prairies.   The mouth is wooded both sides, and
is full as large as that of the Seignelay.
Forty leagues above is a river full of rapids (St. Croix), by
which, striking northwest, you can reach Lake Cond6 (Superior), that is, as far as Nimissakouat river, which empties
into the lake. This first river is called Tomb river, because the
camp, we must go thirty leagues further, above Black river. But if captured
here, how could it have taken the Indians, rowing from morning till night, nineteen days to reach St. Anthony's falls?
* This beautiful sheet of water is an expansion of the Mississippi river, six
miles below the Sioux village of Talangamanae, and one hundred below the falls
of St. Anthony. It is indented with several bays and prominent points which
serve to enhance the beauty of its scenery. A few miles below this lake, on the
west bank of the Mississippi, are the remains of one of the most interesting and
extensive of those ancient circumvallations, which are spread over the valley of
the Mississippi. It was first described by Carver, in 1768.-F.
j This is probably the St. Louis which, on the map of the Jesuit Relation of
16O0-'71 (Bancroft, vol. iii.), is marked as the way to the Sioux, sixty leagues
west, being nearly the distance here given by Hennepin between Millelacs and
Lake Superior.




112           NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN.
Issati left there the body of one of their warriors, killed by a
rattlesnake.  According to their custom, I put a blanket on the
grave, which act of humanity gained me much importance by
the gratitude displayed by the deceased's countrymen, in a
great banquet which they gave me in their country, and to
which more than a hundred Indians were invited.
Continuing to ascend the Colbert ten or twelve leagues
more, the navigation is interrupted by a fall, which I called
St. Anthony of Padua's, in gratitude for the favors done
me by the Almighty through the intercession of that great
saint, whom we had chosen patron and protector of all our
enterprises. This fall is forty or fifty feet high, divided in
the middle by a rocky island of pyramidal form.*    The high
mountains which skirt the river Colbert last only as far as
the river Onisconsin, about one hundred and twenty leagues;
at this place it begins to flow from the west and northwest,
without our having been able to learn from the Indians, who
have ascended it very far, where it rises. They merely told
us that twenty or thirty leagues below (dessons), there is a
second fall, at the foot of which are some villages of the
prairie people, called Thinthonha, who live there a part of the
year. Eight leagues above St. Anthony of Padua's falls on
the right, you find the Issati or Nadoussion river (Rurn river),
with a very narrow mouth, which you can ascend to the north
for about seventy leagues to Lake Buade or Issati (Mille
lake), where it rises. We called this St. Francis river. This
* These celebrated falls, now no longer beyond the pale of civilization, have
been much better described by modern travellers. Schooleraft places them
fourteen miles below the confluence of the Mississawgaeigon, or Rum river. The
village of St. Anthony with its schools and its churches now occupies the east
bank of the river at the head of the cataract. The scenery is picturesque and
beautiful, but presents none of that majesty and grandeur which belong to the
cataract of Niagara. The Indian name of these falls in the Sioux language, is
Owah-menah, or the falling water.-F.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.  113
last lake spreads out into great marshes, producing wild-rice,
like many other places down to the extremity of the Bay of the
Fetid. This kind of grain grows wild in marshy places: it
resembles oats, but tastes better, and the stems are longer as
well as the stalk. The Indians gather it when ripe. The
women tie several stalks together with white wood bark to
prevent its being all devoured by the flocks of duck and teal
found there. The Indians lay in a stock for part of the year,
to eat out of the hunting season.
Lake Buade, or Lake of the Issati (Mille lake), is about
seventy leagues west of Lake Conde; it is impossible to go
from one to the other on account of the marshy and quaggy
nature of the ground; you might go, though with difficulty
on the snow in snowshoes; by water it is a hundred and fifty
leagues, on account of the many detours to be made, and
there are many portages. From Lake Conde, to go conveniently in canoe, you must pass by Tomb river, where we found
only the bones of the Indian whom I mentioned above, the
bears having eaten the flesh, and pulled up poles which the
deceased's relatives had planted in form of a monument. One
of our boatmen found a war-calumet beside the grave, and an
earthen pot upset, in which the Indians had left fat buffalo
meat, to assist the departed, as they, say, in making his journey to the land of souls.
In the neighborhood of Lake Buade are many other lakes,
whence issue several rivers, on the banks of which live the
Issati, Nadouessans, Tinthonha (which means prairie-men),
Chongaskethon, Dog, or Wolf tribe (for chonga among these
nations means d   o( or wolf), and other tribes, all which we
comprise under the name Nadonessiou. These Indians number eight or nine thousand warriors, very brave, great runners, and very good bowmen. It was by a part of these tribes
8




114         NIARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN
that I and our two canoemen were taken in the following
way:We scrupulously said our morning and evening prayers
every day on embarking, and the Angelus at noon, adding
some paraphrases on the Response of St. Bonaventure in honor
of St. Anthony of Padua. In this way we begged of God to
meet these Indians by clay, for when they discover people at
night, they kill them as enemies, to rob those whom they
murder secretly of some axes or knives which they value more
than we do gold and silver; they even kill their own allies,
when they can conceal their death, so as afterward to boast
of having killed men, and so pass for soldiers.
We had considered the river Colbert with great pleasure,
and without hinderance, to know whether it was navigable
up and down: we were loaded with seven or eight large
turkeys, which multiply of themselves in these parts. We
wanted neither buffalo nor deer, nor beaver, nor fish, nor
bear meat, for we killed those animals as they swam across
the river.
Our prayers were heard when, on the 11th of April, 1680,
about two o'clock in the afternoon, we suddenly perceived
thirty-three bark canoes, manned by a hundred and twenty
Indians, coming down with extraordinary speed, to make
war on the Miamis, Islinois, and Maroa. These Indians surrounded us, and while at a distance, discharged some arrows
at us; but as they approached our canoe the old men seeing
us with the calumet of peace in our hands, prevented the
young men from killing uis. These brutal men leaping from
their canoes, some on land, others into the water with fiightful cries and yells, approached us, and as we made no resistance, being only three against so great a number, one of
them wrenched our calumet from our hands, while our canoe




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   11
and theirs were tied to the shore. We first presented them a
piece of French tobacco, better for smoking than theirs, and
the eldest among them uttered the words Miamiha, Miamiha.
As we did not understand their language, we took a little
stick, and by signs which we made on the sand, showed them
that their enemies, the Miamis whom they sought, had fled
across the river Colbert to join the Islinois; when they saw
themselves discovered and unable to surprise their enemies,
three or four old men, laying their hands on my head, wept in
a lugubrious tone. With a wretched handkerchief I had left,
I wiped away their tears, but they would not smoke our
peace-calumet.  They made us cross the river with great
cries, which all shouted together with tears in their eyes;
they made us row before them, and we heard yells capable
of striking the most resolute with terror. After landing our
canoe and goods, part of which had been already taken, we
made a fire to boil our kettle; we gave them two large
wild turkeys that we had killed. These Indians having called
an assembly to deliberate what they were to do with us; the
two head-chiefs of the party approaching, showed us, by
signs, that the warriors wished to tomahawk us. This compelled me to go to the war chiefs with one of my men,
leaving the other by our property, and throw into their midst
six axes, fifteen knives, and six fathom of our black tobacco,
then bowing down my head, I showed them, with an axe, that
they might kill us, if they thought proper. This present appeased many individual members, who gave us some beaver
to eat, putting the three first morsels in our mouth according
to the custom of the country, and blowing on the meat which
was too hot, before putting their bark dish before us, to let us
eat as we liked; we spent the night in anxiety, because before retiring at night, they had returned us our peace-calumet.




116         NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN.
Our two boatmen were, however, resolved to sell their lives
dearly, and to resist if attacked; their arms and swords were
ready. As for my own part, I determined to allow myself
to be killed without any resistance, as I was going to announce to them a God, who had been falsely accused, unjustly
condemned, and cruelly crucified, without showing the least
aversion to those who put him to death. We watched in turn
in our anxiety so as not to be surprised asleep.
In the morning, April 12th, one of their captains named
Narrhetoba, with his face and bare body smeared with paint,
asked me for our peace-calumet, filled it with tobacco of his
country, made all his band smoke first, and then all the
others who plotted our ruin. He then gave us to understand
that we must go with them to their country, and they all
turned back with us; having thus broken off their voyage, I
was not sorry in this conjuncture to continue our discovery
with these people.
But my greatest trouble was, that I found it difficult to say
my office before these Indians, many seeing me move my
lips said, in a fierce tone, Ouackanche; and as we did not
know a word of their language, we believed that they were
angry at it. Michael Ako, all out of countenance, told me,
that if I continued to say my breviary we should all three be
killed, and the Picard begged me at least to pray apart, so
as not to provoke them. I followed the latter's advice, but
the more I concealed myself, the more I had the Indians at
my heels, for when I entered the wood, they thought I'was
going to hide some goods under ground, so that I knew not
on what side to turn to pray, for they never let me out of
sight. This obliged me to beg pardon of my two canoemen,
assuring them that I could not dispense with saying my office,
that if we were massacred for that, I would be the innocent




DISOOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.  117
cause of their death, as well as of my own. By the word
Ouakanche, the Indians meant that the book I was reading
was a spirit; but by their gesture they nevertheless showed a
kind of aversion, so that to accustom them to it, I chanted the
litany of the Blessed Virgin in the canoe with my book open.
They thought that the breviary was a spirit which taught me
to sing for their diversion, for these people are naturally fond
of singing.
The outrages done us by these Indians during our whole
route was incredible, for seeing that our canoe was much
larger and more heavily laden than theirs (for they have only
a quiver full of arrows, a bow, and a wretched dressed skin,
to serve too as a blanket at night, for it was still pretty cold
at that season, always going north), and that we could not go
faster than they, they put some warriors with us to help us
row, to oblige us to follow them. These Indians sometimes
make thirty or forty leagues, when at war and pressed for
time, or anxious to surprise some enemy. Those who had
taken us were of various villages and of different opinions as
to us; we cabined every night by the young chief who had
asked for our peace-calumet, and put ourselves under his protection; but jealousy arose among these Indians, so that the
chief of the party named Aquipaguetin, one of whose sons
had been killed by the Miamis, seeing that he could not
avenge his death on that nation as he had wished, turned all
his rage on us. lie wept through almost every night him he
had lost in war, to oblige those who had come out to avenge
him, to kill us and seize all we had, so as to be able to persue his enemies; but those who liked European goods were
much disposed to preserve us, so as to attract other Frenchmen there and get iron, which is extremely precious in their
eyes; but of which they knew the great utility only when




118         NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN.
they saw one of our French boatmen kill three or four bustards or turkeys at a single shot, while they can scarcely kill
only one with an arrow. In consequence, as we afterward
learned, that the words Manza Ouackange, mean "iron that
has understanding," and so these nations call a gun which
breaks a man's bones, while their arrows only glance through
the flesh they pierce, rarely breaking the bones of those whom
they strike, and consequently producing wounds more easily
cured than those made by our European guns, which often
cripple those whom they wound.
We had some design of going to the mouth of the river
Colbert, which more probably empties into the gulf of Mexico
than into the Red sea; but the tribes that seized us, gave us
no time to sail up and down the river.
We had made about two hundred leagues by water since
leaving the Islinois, and we sailed with the Indians who took
us during some nineteen days, sometimes north, sometimes
northwest, according to the direction which the river took.
By the estimate which we formed, during that time (depuis
cetemps la), we made about two hundred and fifty leagues,
or even more on Colbert river; for these Indians row in
great force, from early in the morning till evening, scarcely
stopping to eat during the day. To oblige us to keep up with
them, they gave us every day four or five men to increase the
crew of our little vessel, which was much heavier than theirs.
Sometimes we cabined when it rained, and when the weather
was not bad, we slept on the ground without any shelter; this
gave us all time to contemplate the stars and the moon when
it shone. Notwithstanding the fatigue of the day, the youngest of these Indian warriors danced the calumet to four or
or five of their chiefs till midnight, and the chief to whom
they went, sent a warrior of his family in due ceremony to




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    119
those who sang, to let them in turn smoke his war-calumet,
which is distinguished from the peace-calumet by different
feathers. The end of this kind of pandemonium was terminated every day by two of the youngest of those who had had
relations killed in war; they took several arrows which they
presented by the points all crossed to the chiefs, weeping bitterly; they gave them to them to kiss. Notwithstanding the
force of their yelling, the fatigue of the day, the watching by
night, the old men almost all awoke at daybreak for fear of
being surprised by their enemies. As soon as dawn appeared
one of them gave the cry, and in an instant all the warriors
entered their bark canoes, some passing around the islands in
the river to kill some beasts, while the most alert went by
land, to discover whether any enemy's fire was to be seen.
It was their custom always to take post on the point of some
island for safety sake, as their enemies have only periaguas,
wooden canoes, which can not go as fast as they do, on account of their weight. Only northern tribes have birch to
make bark canoes; the southern tribes who have not that
kind of tree, are deprived of this great convenience, which
wonderfully facilitates the northern Indians in going from
lake to lake, and by all rivers to attack their enemies, and
even when discovered, they are safe if they can get into their
canoes, for those who pursue them by land, or in periaguas,
can not attack or pursue them quickly enough.
During one of these nineteen days of painful navigation,
the chief of the party by name Aquipaguetin, resolved to halt
about noon in a large prairie; having killed a very fat bear,
he gave a feast to the chief men, and after the repast all the
warriors began to dance. Their faces, and especially their
bodies, were marked with various colors, each being distinguished by the figure of different animals, according to his




120         IARRATTIE OF FATHER HENNEPIN.
particular taste or inclination; some having their hair short
and full of bear oil, with white and red feathers; others besprinkled their heads with the down of birds which adhered
to the oil. All danced, with their arms akimbo, and struck
the ground with their feet so stoutly as to leave the imprint
visible. While a son, master of ceremonies, gave each in
turn the war-calumet to smoke, he wept bitterly. The father
in a doleful voice, broken with sighs and sobs, with his whole
body bathed in tears, sometimes addressed the warriors,
sometimes came to me, and put his hands on my head, doing
the same to our two Frenchmen, sometimes he raised his eyes
to heaven and often uttered the word Louis, which means
sun, complaining to that great luminary of the death of his
son. As far as we could conjecture this ceremony tended
only to our destruction; in fact, the course of time showed us
that this Indian had often aimed at our life; but seeing the
opposition made by the other chiefs who prevented it, he
made us embark again, and employed other trickery to get
by degrees the goods of our canoemen, not daring to take
them openly, as he might have done, for fear of being accused
by his own people of cowardice, which the bravest hold in
horror.
This wily savage had the bones of some important deceased
relative, which he preserved with great care in some skins
dressed and adorned with several rows of black and red por.
cupine quills; from time to time he assembled his men to
give it a smoke, and made us come several days in succession to cover the deceased's bones with goods, and by a present wipe away the tears he had shed for him, and for his own
son killed by the Miamis. To appease this captious man, we
threw on the bones several fathoms of French tobacco, axes,
knives, beads, and some black and white wampum bracelets.




DISCOVERIES IN TIHE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.  121
In this way the Indian stripped us under pretexts, which we
could not reproach him with, as he declared that what he
asked was only for the deceased, and to give the warriors.
In fact, he distributed among them all that we gave him.
By these feints he made us believe that being a chief, he took
nothing for himself, but what we gave him of our own accord.
We slept at the point of the lake of Tears, which we so
called from the tears which this chief shed all night long, or
by one of his sons, whom he caused to weep when tired himself, in order to excite his warriors to compassion, and oblige
them to kill us and pursue their enemies to avenge his son's
death
These Indians at times sent their fleetest by land to chase
the buffalo on the water side; as these animals crossed the
river, they sometimes killed forty or fifty, merely to take the
tongue, and most delicate morsels, leaving the rest with
which they would not burthen themselves, so as to go on
more rapidly. We sometimes indeed eat good pieces, but
without bread, wine, salt, or other seasoning. During our
three years' travels we had lived in the same way, sometimes
in plenty, at others compelled to pass twenty-four hours, and
often more, without eating; because in these little bark canoes
you can not take much of a load, and with every precaution
you are, for most part of the time, deprived of all necessaries
of life. If a religious in Europe underwent many hardships and labors, and abstinences like those we were often
obliged to suffer in America, no other proof would be needed
for his canonization. It is true that we do not always merit
in such cases and suffer only because we can not help it.
During the night some old men came to weep piteously,
often rubbing our arms and whole bodies with their hands,
which they then put on our head. Besides being hindered




122         NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN.
from sleeping by these tears, I often did not know what to
think, nor whether these Indians wept because some of their
warriors would have killed us, or out of pure compassion at
the ill treatment shown us.
On another occasion, Aquipaguetin relapsed into his bad
humor: he had so gained most of the warriors, that one day
when we were unable to encamp near our protector Narhetoba, we were obliged to go to the very end of the camp, the
Indians declaring that this chief insisted positively on killing
us. We accordingly drew from a box twenty knives and
some tobacco, which we angrily flung down amid the malcontents; the wretch regarding all his soldiers one after another hesitated, asking their advice, either to refuse or take
our present; and as we bowed our head and presented him
with an axe to kill us, the young chief who was really or pretendedly our protector took us by the arm, and all in fury led
us to his cabin. One of his brothers taking some arrows,
broke them all in our presence, showing us by this action,
that he prevented their killing us.
The next day they left us alone in our canoe, without putting in any Indians to help us, as they usually did; all remained behind us. After four or five leagues sail another
chief came'to us, made us disembark, and pulling up three
little piles of grass, made us sit down; he then took a piece
of cedar full of little round holes in one of which he put a
stick, which he spun round between his two palms, and in
this way made fire to light the tobacco in his great calumet.
After weeping some time, and putting his hands on my head,
he gave me his peace-calumet to smoke, and showed us that
we should be in his country in six days.
Having arrived on the nineteenth day of our navigation
five leagues below St. Anthony's falls, these Indians landed




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   123
us in a bay and assembled to deliberate about us. They distributed us separately, and gave us to three heads of families
in place of three of their children who had been killed in war.
They first seized all our property, and broke our canoe to
pieces, for fear we should return to their enemies. Their own
they hid in some alders to use when going to hunt; and
though we might easily have reached their country by water,
they compelled us to go sixty leagues by land, forcing us to
march from daybreak to two hours after nightfall, and to
swim over many rivers, while these Indians, who are often of
extraordinary height, carried our habit on their head; and
our two boatmen, who were smaller than myself, on their
shoulders, because they could not swim as I could. On
leaving the water, which was often full of sharp ice, I could
scarcely stand; our legs were all bloody from the ice which
we broke as we advanced in lakes which we forded, and as
we eat only once in twenty-four hours, some pieces of meat
which these barbarians grudgingly gave us, I was so weak
that I often lay down on the way,-resolved to die there, rather
than follow these Indians who marched on and continued
their route with a celerity which surpasses the power of the
Europeans. To oblige us to hasten on, they often set fire to
the grass of the prairies where we were passing, so that we
had to advance or burn. I had then a hat which I reserved
to shield me from the burning rays of the sun in summer, but
I often dropped it in the flames which we were obliged to
cross.
As we approached their village, they divided among them
all the merchandise of our two canoemen, and were near killing each other for our roll of French tobacco, which is very
precious to these tribes, and more esteemed than gold among
Europeans. The more humane showed by signs that they




124         NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN.
would give many beaver-skins for what they took. The reason of the violence was, that this party was made up from
two different tribes, the more distant of whom, fearing lest
the others should retain all the goods in the first villages
which they would have to pass, wished to take their share in
advance. In fact, some time after they offered peltries in
part payment; but our boatmen would not receive them, until
they gave the full value of all that had been taken. And
in course of time I have no doubt they will give entire satisfaction to the French, whom they will endeavor to draw
among them to carry on trade.
These savages also took our brocade chasuble, and all the
articles of our portable chapel, except the chalice, which they
durst not touch; for seeing that glittering silver gilt, they closed
their eyes, saying that it was a spirit which would kill them.
They also broke a little box with lock and key, after telling
me, that if I did not break the lock, they would do so themselves with sharp stones; the reason of this violence was that
from time to time on the route, they could not open the box
to examine what was inside, having no idea of locks and
keys; besides, they did not care to carry the box, but only
the goods which were inside, and which they thought considerable, but they found only books and papers.
After five days' march by land, suffering hunger, thirst, and
outrages, marching all day long without rest, fording lakes
and rivers, we descried a number of women and children
coming to meet our little army. All the elders of this nation
assembled on our account, and as we saw cabins, and bundles
of straw hanging from the posts of them, to which these
savages bind those whom they take as slaves, and burn them;
and seeing that they made the Picard du Gay sing, as he
held and shook a gourd full of little round pebbles, while his




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.       125
hair and face were filled with paint of different colors, and a
tuft of white feathers attached to his head by the Indians, we
not unreasonably thought that they wished to kill us, as they
performed many ceremonies, usually practised, when they
intend to burn their enemies. The worst of it was, too, that
not one of us three could make himself understood by these
Indians; nevertheless, after many vows, which every Christian would make in such straits, one of the principal Issati
chiefs gave us his peace-calumet to smoke, and accepted the
one we had brought. He then gave us some wild rice
to eat, presenting it to us in large bark dishes, which the Indian women had seasoned with whortleberries, which are
black grains which they dry in the sun in summer, and are
as good as currants. After this feast, the best we had had for
seven or eight days, the heads of families who had adopted
us, instead of their sons killed in war, conducted us separately
each to his village, marching through marshes knee deep in
water, for a league, after which the five wives of the one who
called me Mitchinchi, that is to say, his son, received us in
three bark canoes, and took us a short league from our starting place to an island where their cabins were.
On our arrival, which was about Easter, April 21st, 1680,*
one of these Indians who seemed to me decrepit, gave me a
large calumet to smoke, and weeping bitterly, rubbed my
head and arms, showing his compassion at seeing me so fatigued that two men were often obliged to give me their
hands -to help me to stand up. There was a bearskin near
the fire, on which he rubbed my legs and the soles of my feet
with wild-cat oil.
* This is somewhat vague; Easter Sunday, in 1680, fell on the 21st of April;
he was taken on the 11th of April, travelled nineteen days in canoe, and five by
land, which brings him to the 5th of May. He perceived this afterward, and in
the English edition, he says, that he arrived some time in May; but he there
falls into a worse error by putting Easter back to the 23d of March.




126         NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN.
Aqlipaguetin's son, who called me his brother, paraded
about with our brocade chasuble on his bare back, having
rolled up in it some dead man's bones, for whom these people
had a great veneration. The priest's girdle made of red and
white wool, with two tassels at the end, served him for suspenders, carrying thus in triumph what he called Pere Louis
Chinnien, which means " the robe of him who is called the
sun." After these Indians had used this chasuble to cover
the bones of their dead, they presented it to some of their
allies, tribes situated about five hundred leagues west of their
country, who had sent them an embassy and danced the
calumet.
The day after our arrival, Aquipaguetin, who was the head
of a large family, covered me with a robe made of ten large
dressed beaver-skins, trimmed with porcupine quills. This Indian showed me five or six of his wives, telling them, as I
afterward learned, that they should in future regard me as
one of their children. HIe set before me a bark dish full of
fish, and ordered all those assembled, that each should call
me by the name I was to have in the rank of our near relationship; and seeing that I could not rise from the ground
but by the help of two others, he had a sweating cabin made,
in which he made me enter naked with four Indians. This
cabin he covered with buffalo-skins, and inside he put stones
red to the middle.  He made me a sign to do as the
others before beginning to sweat, but I merely concealed my
nakedness with a handkerchief. As soon as these Indians
had several times breathed out quite violently, he began to
sing in a thundering voice, the others seconded him, all putting their hands on me, and rubbing me, while they wept
bitterly. I began to faint, but I came out, and could scarcely
take my habit to put on. When he had made me sweat thus
three times a week, I felt as strong as ever.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.  127
I often spent sad hours among these savages; for, besides
their only giving me a little wild rice and smoked fish roes
five or six times a week, which they boiled in earthen pots,
Aquipaguetin took me to a neighboring island with his wives
and children to till the ground, in order to sow some tobacco
seed, and seeds of vegetables that I had brought, and which
this Indian prized extremely. Sometimes he assembled the
elders of the village, in whose presence he asked me for a
compass that I always had in my sleeve; seeing that I made
the needle turn with a key, and believing justly that we
Europeans went all over the habitable globe, guided by this
instrument, this chief, who was very eloquent, persuaded his
people that we were spirits, and capable of doing anything
beyond their reach. At the close of his address, which was
very animated, all the old men wept over my head, admiring
in me what they could not understand. I had an iron pot
with three lion-paw feet, which these Indians never dared
touch, unless their hand was wrapped up in some robe. The
women hung it to the branch of a tree, not daring to enter the
cabin where it was. I was some time unable to make myself
understood by these people, but feeling myself gnawed by
hunger, I began to compile a dictionary of their language by
means of their children, with whom I made myself familiar,
in order to learn.
As soon as I could catch the word Taketchiabihen, which
means in their language, " How do you call that," I became,
in a little while, able to converse with them on familiar things.
At first, indeed, to ask the word run in their language, I had
to quicken my steps from one end of their large cabin to the
other. The chiefs of these savages seeing my desire to learn,
often made me write, naming all the parts of the human body,
and as I would not put on paper certain indelicate words, at




128         NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN.
which they do not blush, it afforded them an agreeable
amusement. They often put me questions, but as I had to
look at my paper, to answer them, they said to one another:
" When we ask Pere Louis [for so they had heard our two
Frenchmen call me], he does not answer us; but as soon as
he has looked at what is white [for they have no word to say
paper], he answers us, and tells us his thoughts; that white
thing," said they, " must be a spirit which tells Pere Louis
all we say." They concluded that our two Frenchmen were
not as great as I, because they could not work like me on
what was white. In consequence the Indians believed that
I could do everything; when the rain fell in such quantities
as to incommode them, or prevent their going to hunt, they
told me to stop it; but I knew enough to answer them by
pointing to the clouds, that he was great chief of heaven, was
master of everything, and that they bid me to do, did not
depend on me.
These Indians often asked me how many wives and children I had, and how old I was, that is, how many winters,
for so these nations alway count. These men never illumined
by the light of a faith were surprised at the answer I made
them; for pointing to our two Frenchmen whom I had then
gone to visit three leagues from our village, I told them that
a man among us could have only one wife till death; that as
for me, I had promised the Master of life to live as they saw
me, and to come and live with them to teach them that he
would have them be like the French; that this great Master
of life had sent down fire from heaven, and destroyed a nation given to enormous crimes, like those committed among
them. But that gross people till then, lawless and faithless,
turned all I said into ridicule. " How," said they, " would you
have those two men with thee have wives? Ours would not




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.  129
live with them, for they have hair all over the face, and we
have none there or elsewhere." In fact, they were never better pleased with me, than when I was shaved; and from a
complaisance certainly not criminal, I shaved every week.
All our kindred seeing that I wished to leave them, made a
packet of beaver-skins worth six hundred livres among the
French. These peltries they gave me- to induce me to remain among them, to introduce me to strange nations that
were coming to visit them, and in restitution of what they had
robbed me of; but I refused these presents, telling them that
I had not come among them to gather beaver-skins, but only
to tell them the will of the great Master of life, and to live
wretchedly with them, after having left a most abundant country. " It is true," said they, "that we have no chase in this
part, and that thou sufferest, but wait till summer, then we
will go and kill buffalo in the warm country." I should have
been satisfied had they fed me as they did their children,
but they eat secretly at night unknown to me. Although
women are, for the most part, more kind and compassionate
than men, they gave what little fish they had to their children, regarding me as a slave made by their warriors in their
enemies' country, and they reasonably preferred their children's lives to mine.
There were some old men who often came to weep over
my head in a sighing voice, saying, "Son," or "Nephew, I
feel sorry to see thee without eating, and to learn how badly
our warriors treated thee on the way; they are young braves,
without sense, who would have killed thee, and have robbed
thee of all thou hast. IHadst thou wanted buffalo or beaverrobes, we would wipe away thy tears, but thou wilt have
nothing of what we offer thee."
Ouasicoud6, that is, the Pierced-pine, the greatest of all the
9




130          NARRATIVE OF FATHER l ENNEPIN.
Issati chiefs, being very indignant at those who had so maltreated us, said, in open council, that those who had robbed
us of all we had, were like hungry curs that stealthily snatch
a bit of meat from the bark dish, and then fly; so those who
had acted so toward us, deserved to be regarded as dogs,
since they insulted men who brought them iron and merchandise, which they had never had; that he would find
means to punish the one who had so outraged us. This is
what the brave chief showed to all his nation, as we shall see
hereafter.
As I often went to visit the cabins of these last nations, I
found a sick child, whose father's name was Mamenisi; having
a moral certainty of its death, I begged our two Frenchmen
to give me their advice, telling them I believed myself
obliged to baptize it. Michael Ako would not accompany
me, the Picard du Gay alone followed me to act as sponsor,
or rather as witness of the baptism.*  I christened the child
Antoinette in honor of St. Anthony of Padua, as well as from
the Picard's name which was Anthony Auguelle. He was a
native of Amiens, and a nephew of Mr. de Cauroy, procurator-general of the Premonstratensians, both now at Paris.
Having poured natural water on the head of this Indian
child, and uttered these words: " Creature of God, I baptize
thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost," I took half an altar cloth which I had wrested
from the hands of an Indian who had stolen it from me, and
put it on the body of the baptized child; for as I could not
say mass for want of wine and vestments, this piece of linen
could not be put to a better use, than to enshroud the first
Christian child among these tribes. I do not know whether the
* This a curious affair, a missionary consulting two canoemen as to the expediency of conferring a sacrament.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.     131
softness of the linen had refreshed her, but she was the next
day smiling in her mother's arms, who believed that I had
cured her child, but she died soon after to my great consolation.
During our stay among the Issati or Nadouessiou, we saw
Indians who came as embassadors from about five hundred
leagues to the west. They informed us that the Assenipoualacs* were then only seven or eight days distant to the northeast of us; all the other known tribes on the west and northwest inhabit immense plains and prairies abounding in buffalo
and peltries, where they are sometimes obliged to make fires
with buffalo dung for want of wood.
Three months after, all these nations assembled, and the
chiefs having regulated the places for hunting the buffalo,
they dispersed in several bands so as not to starve each other.
Aquipaguetin, one of the chiefs who had adopted me as his
son, wished to take me to the west with about two hundred
families; I made answer that I awaited spirits (so they called
Frenchmen), at the river Oiiisconsin, which empties into the
river Colbert, who were to join me to bring merchandise, and
that if he went that way, I would continue with him; he
would have gone but for those of his nation. In the beginning
of July, 1680, we descended in canoe southward with the
great chief named Ouasicoude, that is to say, the Pierced-pine,
with about eighty cabins, composed of more than a hundred
and thirty families, and about two hundred and fifty warriors.
Scarcely would the Indians give me a place in their little
fleet, for they had only old canoes. They went four leagues
lower down to get birch bark to make some more. Having
made a hole in the ground to hide our silver chalice and our
* This name, Assenipoualak, has now been softened to Assiniboin; it is the
Algonqnin epithet for a large branch of the Dahcotah family, long hostile to
the Sioux, written also simply Poualak.




132         NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIiN.
papers till we returned from the hunt, and keeping only our
breviary, so as not to be loaded, I stood on the bank of a lake
formed by the river we had called St. Francis, and stretched
out my hand to the canoes as they rapidly passed in succession; our Frenchmen also had one for themselves, which the
Indians had given them; they would not take me in, Michael
Ako saying that he had taken me long enough to satisfy him.
I was hurt at this answer, seeing myself thus abandoned by
Christians, to whom I had always done good, as they both
often acknowledged; but God having never abandoned me
in that painful voyage, inspired two Indians to take me in
their little canoe, where I had no other employment than to
bale out with a little bark tray the water which entered by little
holes. This I did not do without getting all wet. This boat
might, indeed, be called a death-box, from its lightness and
fragility. These canoes do not generally weigh over fifty
pounds; the least motion of the body upsets them, unless you
are long habituated to that kind of navigation. On disembarking in the evening, the Picard, as an excuse, told me
that their canoe was half rotten, and that, had we been three
in it, we should have run a great risk of remaining on the
way. In spite of this excuse I told him, that being Christians, they should not act so, especially among Indians, more
than eight hundred leagues from the French settlements;
that if they were well received in this country, it was only
in consequence of my bleeding some asthmatic Indians, and
my giving them some orvietan and other remedies which I
kept in my sleeve, and by which I had saved the lives of
some Indians bit by rattlesnakes, and because I had neatly
made their tonsure, which Indian children wear to the age
of eighteen or twenty, but have no way of making except by
burning the hair with red-hot flat stones. I reminded them




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   133
that by my ingenuity I had gained the friendship of these
people, who would have killed us or made us suffer more,
had they not discovered about me those remedies which they
prize, when they restore the sick to health. However, the
Picard only, as he retired to his host's, apologised to me.
Four days after our departure for the buffalo hunt, we
halted eight leagues above St. Anthony of Padua's falls on
an eminence opposite the mouth of the river St. Francis;
here the Indian women made their canoe frames while waiting for those who were to bring bark to make canoes. The
young men went to hunt stag, deer, and beaver, but killed so
few animals for such a large party, that we could very rarely
get a bit of meat, having to put up with a broth once in every
twenty-four hours. The Picard and myself went to look for
haws, gooseberries, and little wild fruit, which often did us
more harm than good; this obliged us to go alone, as Michael
Ako refused, in a wretched canoe to Ouisconsin river, which
was more than a hundred leagues off, to see whether the sieur
de la Salle had sent to that place a reinforcement of men,
with powder, lead, and other munitions, as he had promised
us on our departure from the Islinois."
The Indians would not have suffered this voyage, had not
one of the three remained with them; they wished me to
stay, but Michael Ako absolutely refused. Our whole stock
was fifteen charges of powder, a gun, a wretched earthern
pot which the Indians had given us, a knife, and a beaverrobe, to make a journey of two hundred leagues, thus abandoning ourselves to Providence. As we were making the
portage of our canoe at St. Anthony of Padua's falls, we perceived five or six of our Indians who had taken the start;
* This is the first we hear of this promise, or of La Salle's having sent him to
the Wisconsin, or given him a rendezvous there.




134         NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN.
one of them was up in an oak opposite the great fall weeping
bitterly, with a well-dressed beaver robe, whitened inside and
trimmed with porcupine quills which he was offering as a
sacrifice to the falls, which is in itself admirable and frightful. I heard him while shedding copious tears say as he
spoke to the great cataract: "Thou who art a spirit, grant
that our nation may pass her quietly without accident, may
kill buffalo in abundance, conquer our enemies, and bring in
slaves, some of whom we will put to death before thee; the
Messenecqz (so they call the tribe named by the French
Outouagamis), have killed our kindred, grant that we may
avenge them." In fact, after the heat of the buffalo-hunt,
they invaded their enemies, killed some, and brought others
as slaves. If they succeed a single time, even after repeated
failures, they adhere to their superstition. This robe offered
in sacrifice served one of our Frenchmen, who took it as we
returned.
A league below St. Anthony of Padua's falls, the Picard
was obliged to land and get his powder-horn which he had
left at the falls. On his return, I showed him a snake about
six feet long crawling up a straight and precipitous mountain
and which gradually gained on some swallows' nests to eat
the young ones; at the foot of the mountain, we saw the
feathers of those he had apparently eaten, and we pelted him
down with stones.
As we descended the river Colbert, we found some of our
Indians cabined in the islands, loaded with buffalo-meat;
some of which they gave us. Two hours after landing,
fifteen or sixteen warriors of the party whom we had left
above St. Anthony of Padua's falls, entered tomahawk in
hand, upset the cabins of those who had invited us, took all
the meat and bear-oil that they found, and greased them



DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   135
selves from head to foot; we at first took them to be enemies,
but one of those who called himself my uncle, told me, that
having gone to the buffalo-hunt before the rest, contrary to
the maxims of the country, they had a right to strip them,
because they put the buffaloes to flight before the arrival of
the mass of the nation.
During sixty leagues that we sailed down the river, we
killed only one deer, swimming across, but the heat was so
great that the meat spoiled in twenty-four hours. This made
us look for turtles, which we found hard to take, as their hearing is acute, and the moment they hear the least noise, they
jump quickly into the water. We, however, took one much
larger than the rest, with a thinner shell and fatter meat.
While I tried to cut off his head, he all but cut off one of my
fingers. We had drawn one end of our canoe ashore, when
a gust of wind drove it into the middle of the great river;
the Picard had gone with the gun into the prairie to try and
kill a buffalo; so I quickly pulled off our habit, and threw it
on the turtle with some stones to prevent its escaping, and
swam after our canoe which went very fast down stream, as
the current there was very strong. Having reached it with
much difficulty, I durst not get in for fear of upsetting it, so
I either pushed it before me, or drew it after me, and so little
by little reached the shore about one eighth of a league from
the place where I had the turtle. The Picard finding only
our habit, and not seeing the canoe, naturally believed that
some Indian had killed me. He retired to the prairie to look
all around whether there were no people there. Meanwhile
I remounted the river with all diligence in the canoe, and
had just put on my habit, when I saw more than sixty buffalo crossing the river to reach the south side; I pursued the
animals, calling the Picard with all my might; he ran up at




136        NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN.
the noise and had time to enter the canoe, while the dog
which had jumped into the water had driven them into an
island. Having given them chase here, they were crossing
back when he shot one, which was so heavy that we could
get it ashore only in pieces, being obliged to cut the best
morsels, while the rest was in the water. As it was almost
two days since we had eaten, we made a fire with the driftwood we found on the sand; and while the Picard was
skinning the animal, I cooked the morsels of the fat meat in
our little earthern pot; we then eat it so eagerly that we both
fell sick, and had to stay two days in the island to recover.
We could not take much of the meat, our canoe was so small,
and besides the excessive heat spoiled it, so that we were all
at once deprived of it, as it was full of worms; and when we
embarked in the morning, we did not know what we would
eat during the day. Never have we more admired God's
providence than during this voyage, for we did not always
find deer, and could not kill them when we would; but the
eagles, which are very common in these vast countries, sometimes dropped from their claws bream, or large carp, which
they were carrying to their nests. Another time we found
an otter on the bank of the river Colbert eating a large fish,
which had, running from the head, a kind of paddle or beak,
five fingers broad and a foot and a half long, which made our
Picard say, that he thought he saw a devil in the paws of
that otter: but his fright did not prevent our eating the monstrous fish which we found very good.
While seeking the Ouisconsin river, Aquipaguetin, that
savage father, whom I had left, and whom I believed more
than two hundred leagues off, suddenly appeared with ten
warriors, on the 11th of July, 1680. We believed that he
was coming to kill us, because we had left him, with the




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.  137
knowledge, indeed, of the other Indians, but against his will.
He first gave us some wild-rice, and a slice of buffalo-meat
to eat, and asked whether we had found the Frenchmen who
were to bring us goods; but not being satisfied with what we
said, he started before us, and went to Ouisconsin to try and
carry off what he could from the French; this savage found
none there, and rejoined us three days after. The Picard
had gone in the prairie to hunt, and I was alone in a little
cabin on the bank of the river, which I had made to screen
us from the sun, with a blanket that an Indian had given me
back. Aquipaguetin seeing me alone came up, tomahawk in
hand: I laid hold of two pocket-pistols, which the Picard
had got back from the Indians, and a knife, not intending to
kill my pretended Indian father, but only to frighten him,
and prevent his crushing me, in case he had that intention.
Aquipaguetin reprimanded me for exposing myself thus to the
insults of their enemies, saying that I should at least take the
other shore to be more in safety. He wished to take me
with him, telling me that he was with three hundred hunters,
who killed more buffalo than those to whom I had abandoned
myself. I would have done well to follow his advice, for the
Picard and myself ascending the river almost eighty leagues
way, ran great risk of perishing a thousand times.
We had only ten charges of powder which we were obliged
to divide into twenty to kill wild-pigeons, or turtle-doves; but
when these at last gave out we had recourse to three hooks,
whlich we baited with bits of putrid barbels dropped by an
eagle. For two whole days we took nothing, and were thus
destitute of all support when, during night prayer, as we were
repeating these words addressed to St. Anthony of Padua,
"Pereunt pericula, cessat et necessitas," the Picard heard a
noise, left his prayers, and ran to our hooks which he drew




138         NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN.
from the waters with two barbels so large that I had to go
and help him. Without cleaning these monstrous fish we cut
them in pieces, and roasted them on the coals, our only little
earthen pot having been broken. Two hours after night, we
were joined by Mamenisi, the father of the little Indian girl
that I had baptized before she died; he gave us plenty of
meat.
The next day the Indians whom we had left with Michael
Ako, came down from Buffalo river with their flotilla of
canoes loaded with meat. Aquipaguetin had, as he passed,
told how exposed the Picard and I were on our voyage, and
the Indian chiefs represented to us the cowardice of Michael
Ako, who had refused to undertake it, for fear of dying by
hunger. If I had not stopped him, the Picard would have
insulted him.
All the Indian women hid their stock of meat at the mouth
of Buffalo river, and in the islands, and we again went down
the Colbert about eighty leagues to hunt with this multitude
of canoes; fiom time to time the Indians hid their canoes
on the banks of the river and in the islands; then struck in to
the prairies seven or eight leagues beyond the mountains,
where they took, at different times, a hundred and twenty
buffaloes. They always left some of their old men on the
tops of the mountains to be on the lookout for their enemies.
One day when I was dressing the foot of one who called himself my brother, and who had run a splinter deep into his
foot, an alarm was given in the camp, two hundred bowmen
ran out; and that brave Indian, although I had just made a
deep incision in the sole of his foot to draw out the wood,
left me and ran even faster than the rest, not to be deprived
of the glory of fighting, but instead of enemies, they found
only a herd of about eighty stags, who took flight. The




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   139
wounded man could scarcely regain the camp. During this
alarm, all the Indian women sang in a lugubrious tone. The
Picard left me to join his host, and I remaining with one called
Otchimbi, had to carry in the canoe an old Indian woman of
over eighty. For all her great age, she threatened to strike
with her paddle three children who troubled us in the middle
of our canoe. The men treated me well enough, but as the
meat was almost entirely at the disposal of the women, I was
compelled, in order to get some, to make their children's tonsures, about as large as those of our religious, for these little
savages wear them to the age of fifteen or sixteen, and their
parents make them with red hot stones.
We had another alarm in our camp: the old men on duty
on the top of the mountains announced that they saw two
warriors in the distance; all the bowmen hastened there with
speed, each trying to outstrip the others; but they brought
back only two of their own women, who came to tell them
that a party of their people were hunting at the extremity of
Lake Conde (Superior), had found five spirits (so they call
the French); who, by means of a slave, had expressed a wish
to come on, knowing us to be among them, in order to find
out whether we were English, Dutch, Spaniards, or Frenchmen being unable to understand by what roundabout we had
reached those tribes.
On the 25th of July, 1680, as we were ascending the river
Colbert after the buffalo-hunt, to the Indian villages we met
the sieur de Luth, who came to the Nadouessious, with five
French soldiers; they joined us about two hundred and
twenty leagues distant from the country of the Indians who
had taken us;* as we had some knowledge of their language,
* This would make his meeting with de Luth take place some time below
the Illinois, according to his description of the river. In the English edition,




140          NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN.
they begged us to accompany them    to the villages of those
tribes, to which I readily agreed, knowing that these Frenchmen had not approached the sacraments for two years. The
sieur de Luth, who acted as captain, seeing me tired of tonsuring the children, and bleeding asthmatic old men to get a
mouthful of meat, told the Indians that I was his elder brother,
so that, having my subsistence secured, I labored only for the
salvation of these Indians.
We arrived at the villages of the Issati on the 14th of August, 1680. I there found our chalice and books which I had
hidden in the ground; the tobacco which I had planted, had
been choked by the weeds; the turnips, cabbages, and other
vegetables were of extraordinary size. The Indians durst not
eat them. During our stay, they invited us to a feast where
there were more than a hundred and twenty men all naked.
The first chief, a relative of the one whose body I had covered
with a blanket, brought me a bark dish of food which he put
on a buffalo-robe, dressed, whitened, and trimmed with porcupine quills on one side, and the curly wool on the other.
He afterward put it on my head, saying: " He whose body
thou didst cover, covers thine; he has borne tidings of thee
to the land of souls. Brave was thy act in his regard; all
the nation praises thee for it." IHe then reproached the sieur
du Luth, for not having covered the deceased's body, as I did.
He replied that he covered only those of captains like himself; but the Indian answered,"Pere Louis is a greater captain than thou for his robe (meaning our brocade chasuble),
doubtless, for good reasons, he says, one hundred and twenty which would bring
it just below the Wisconsin. If de Luth came by way of Lake Superior, it is
not easy to see how he met them so far down, or how after descending the Mississippi he needed the aid of Hennepin in ascending. This officer who figured
considerably in the affairs of Canada, was captain in the marines, and was commander of Fort Frontenac, in 1696.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   141
which we have sent to our allies, who dwell three moons
from this country, is more beautiful than that which thou
wearest."
Toward the end of September, having no implements to
begin an establishment, we resolved to tell these people, that
for their benefit, we would have to return to the French settlements.*  The grand chief of the Issati, or Nadouessiouz,
consented, and traced in pencil on a paper I gave him, the
route we should take for four hundred leagues. With this
chart, we set out, eight Frenchmen, in two canoes, and descended the rivers St. Francis and Colbert. Two of our men
took two beaver-robes at St. Anthony of Padua's falls, which
the Indians had hung in sacrifice on the trees.
We stopped near Ouisconsin river to smoke some meat;
three Indians coming from the nations we had left, told us
that their great chief named Pierced-pine, having heard that
one of the chiefs of the nation wished to pursue and kill
us, had entered his cabin and tomahawked him, to prevent
his pernicious design. We regaled these three Indians with
meat, of which we were in no want then.
Two days after, we perceived an army of one hundred and
forty canoes, filled with about two hundred and fifty warriors; we thought that those who brought the preceding
news were spies, for instead of descending the river on leaving us, they ascended to tell their people; however, the
chiefs of the little army visited us and treated us very kindly,
and the same day descended the river as we did to the Ouisconsin. We found that river as wide as the Seignelay (Illinois), with a strong current. After sailing up sixty leagues,
we came to a portage of half a league, which the Nadouessiouz chiefs had marked for us; we slept there to leave marks
* Here, a la Hennepin, de Iuth is merged in the we.




142          NARRATIVE OF FATTHER HENNEPIN.
and crosses on the trunks of the trees.*  The next day we
entered a river which winds wonderfully, for after six hours
sailing, we found ourselves opposite the place where we
started. One of our men wishing to kill a swan on the wing,
capsized his canoe, fortunately not beyond his depth.
We passed four lakes, two pretty large, on the banks of
which the Miamis formerly resided, we found Maskoutens,
Kikapous, and Outaougamy there, who sow Indian corn for
their subsistence. All this country is as fine as that of the
Islinois.
We made a portage at a rapid called Kakalin, and after
about four hundred leagues sail from our leaving the country
of the Issati, and Nadcouessiouz, we arrived safely at the extremity of the bay of the Fetid, where we found Frenchmen
trading contrary to orders with the Indians. They had some
little wine in a tin flagon, which enabled me to say mass; I
had then only a chalice and altar stone; but Providence supplied me with vestments, for some Islinois flying from the
tyranny of the Iroquois, who had destroyed a part of their
nation, took the vestments of the chapel of Father Zenobius
Membre, Recollect, who was with the Islinois in their flight.
They gave me all they took, except the chalice, which they
promised to give back in a few days for a present of tobacco.
I had not celebrated mass for over nine months for want of
wine; I had still some hosts.  We remained two days to
rest, sing the Te Deum, high mass, and preach. All our
Frenchmen went to confession and communion, to thank
God for having preserved us amid so many wanderings and
perils.
One of our Frenchmen gave a gun for a canoe larger than
* This was the same route that Marquette took going down. See his description. The Kakalin rapid had been previously visited and explored by Allouez,
and mentioned in the Rel., 1669-'70.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.         143
ours, with which, after sailing a hundred leagues, we reached
Missilimackinac, where we were obliged to winter. To employ the time usefully, I preached every holyday, and on the
Sundays of Advent and Lent.*       The Ottawas and Hurons
were often present, rather from curiosity than from any inclination to live according to the Christian maxims. These
last Indians said, speaking of our discovery, that they were
men, but that we Frenchmen were spirits, because, had they
gone so far, the strange nations would have killed them, while
we went fearlessly everywhere.
During the winter, we took whitefish in Lake Orleans
(Huron), in twenty or twenty-two fathoms water. They served
to season the Indian corn, which was our usual fare. Fortytwo Frenchmen trading there with the Indians begged me to
give them all the cord of St. Francis, which I readily did,
making an exhortation at each ceremony.
We left Missilimackinac in Easter week, 1681, and were
obliged to drag our provisions and canoes on the ice, more
than ten leagues on Lake Orleans; having advanced far
enough on this fresh-water sea, and the ice breaking, we embarked after Low Sunclay, which we celebrated, having some
little wine which a Frenchman had fortunately brought, and
which served us quite well the rest of the voyage. After a
hundred leagues on Lake Orleans, we passed the strait (Detroit), for thirty leagues and Lake St. Clare,t which is in the
middle and entered Lake Conty, where we killed, with sword
* In the English edition he tells us that he enjoyed, during the winter, the
hospitality of Father Pierson, a Jesuit and a fellow-townsmen of his own, whom
he eulogizes there, but passes over in perfect silence here. What was his reason
in each case? In neither he mentions the church at Green bay.
t This name is commonly written St. Clair, but this is incorrect; we should
either retain the French form Claire, or take the English Clare. It received its
name in honor of the founder of the Franciscan nuns, from the fact that La Salle
reached it on the day consecrated to her.




144         NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN.
and axe, more than thirty sturgeon whichl came to spawn on
the banks of the lake..On the way we met an Ottawa chief
called Talon, six persons of whose family had died of starvation, not having found a good fishery or hunting-ground.
This Indian told us that the Iroquois had carried off a family
of twelve belonging to his tribe, and begged us to deliver
them, if yet alive.
We sailed along Lake Conty, and after a hundred and
twenty leagues we passed the strait of the great falls of Niagara and Fort Conty, and entering Lake Frontenac, coasted
along the southern shore. After thirty leagues from Lake
Conty, we reached the great Seneca village about Whitsunday, 1681. We entered the Iroquois council and asked them,
why they had enslaved twelve of our Ottawa allies, telling
them that those whom they had taken, were children of the
governor of the French, as well as the Iroquois, and that by
this violence, they declared war on the French. To induce
them to restore our allies, we gave them two belts of wampum.
The next day the Iroquois answered us by two belts, that
the Ottawas had been carried off by some mad young warriors; that we might assure the governor of the French, that
the Iroquois would hearken to him in all things; that they
wished to live with Onontio like real children with their
father (so they call the governor of Canada), and that they
would restore those whom they had taken.
A chief named Teganeot, who spoke for his whole nation
in all the councils, made me a present of otter and beaverskins, to the value of over twenty-five crowns. I took it with
one hand, and gave it with the other to his son, telling him
that I gave it to him to buy goods of the other Frenchmen;
that as for us, Barefeet, as the Iroquois called us, we would




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    145
not take beaver or peltries; but that I would report their
friendly feeling to the governor of the French. This Iroquois
chief was surprised at my refusing his present, and told his
own people that the other French did not do so. We took
leave of the chief men, and after sailing forty leagues on the
lake, reached Fort Frontenac, where the dear Recollect Father
Luke was greatly surprised to see me, as for two years it had
been reported that the Indians had hung me with our Franciscan cord. All the inhabitants, French and Indians, whom
we had gathered at Fort Frontenac, welcomed me with extraordinary joy at my return; the Indians calling me Atkon,
and putting their hand to their mouth, which means, Barefeet
is a spirit to have travelled so far. At the mouth of Lake
Frontenac the current is strong, and the more you descend
the more it increases; the rapids are frightful. In two days
and a half we descended the river St. Lawrence so rapidly
that we reached Montreal (sixty miles from the fort), where
the count de Frontenac, governor-general of allNew France
then was. This governor received me as well as a man of
his probity can receive a missionary. As he believed me
killed by the Indians, he was for a time thunderstruck, believing me to be some other religious.  He beheld me
wasted, without a cloak, with a habit patched with pieces of
buffalo-skin. He took me with him for twelve days to recover, and himself gave me the meat I was to eat, for fear I
should fall sick by eating too much after so long a diet. I
rendered him an exact account of my voyage, and represented to him the advantage of our discovery.*
* Of course the English edition says, nothing about this exact account, nor
tells how he concealed the truth and avoided questions.
10








NARRATIVE
OF THE ADVENTURES OF
LA SALLE'S PARTY AT FORT CREVECCEUR, IN ILINOIS,
FROM FEBRUARY, 1680, TO JUNE, 1681, BY
FATHER ZENOBIUS JEMBRE, RECOLIECT.
FATHER LOUIS (HENNEPIN) having set out on the
29th of February, 1680, the sieur de la Salle left the
sieur de Tonty as commander of Fort Crevecceur with ammunitions, and provisions, and peltries, to pay the workmen
* If the projects of La Salle had raised up against him pertinacious enemies,
they nevertheless drew around him a few faithful and devoted friends, and none
more conspicuous than the excellent missionary whose journals we here insert.
The amiable Father Membre is the name under which all seem to delight in presenting him to us, so much were they touched by his goodness of heart. Were
it prudent to credit Hennepin's last work for anything new, we might say, that
Membr6 was born at Bapaume, a small fortified town, now in France, but then
in the Spanish Netherlands, and that he was a cousin of Father Christian le
Clercq, who published his journals in the "Etablissement de la Foi." It was
probably on entering the Recollect convent in Artois, where he was the first novice
in the new province of St. Anthony, that he assumed the name of Zenobius.
With his cousin le Clercq, he was the first sent by that province to Canada
where he arrived in 1675, from which time till that of his departure for Frontenac, in September, 1678, he was probably employed at the convent of Quebec, as
his name does not appear in any of the neighboring parish registers examined to
obtain his autograph. From Fort Frontenac he accompanied La Salle to Niagara,
Mackinaw, and, at last, to Fort Creveceur, in Illinois. Here he was left by that
commander with Tonty and Father Gabriel de la Rebourde, with whom on the
inroad of the Iroquois and flight of the Illinois, he endeavored to reach Green




148              NARRATTVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
as agreed, and merchandise to trade with and buy provisions
as we needed them, and having lastly given orders as to what
was to be done in his absence, set out with         four Frenchmen
and an Indian     on the 2d of March, 1680.          lie arrived    on
the 11th at the great Ilinois village where I then was, and
thence, after twenty-four hours' stay, he continued          his route
Bay. Father Gabriel perished on the way by the hand of the Kikapoos; the
survivors were hospitably received by the Jesuits at Green Bay, where they
wintered, and in the spring proceeded to Mackinaw with Father Enjalran.
Here La Salle soon joined them, and Membre, after a voyage to Fort Frontenac,
and probably to Montreal, with that commander in the spring of 1681, descended
the Mississippi with him to the gulf, and on their return proceeded at his request
to France in 1682, to lay before the government the result of the expedition.
He left a journal of his voyage at Quebec; but, as he declined communicating it
to the new governor, De la Barre, the latter, in his report to the home governmnent, throws imputations on any account of the missionary, which must, however, be ascribed only to bias and dissatisfaction. After fulfilling his mission at
court, Father Membre became warden of the recollects at Bapaume, and
remained so till he was appointed at La Salle's request, superior of the missionaries who were to accompany his expedition by sea. Father Membrd reached
Texas in safety, and though nearly drowned in the wreck of one of the vessels,
was left by La Salle in good health at Fort St. Louis, in January, 1687, intending
as soon as possible to begin a mission among the friendly Cenis, with Father
Maximus le Clereq. The colony was, however, cut to pieces by the Indians, for,
when in 1689, a party of Spaniards set out to expel the French as intruders, all
was silent as they drew near; to their horror they found on reaching it nothing
but dead bodies within and without: priest and soldier, husband and wife, old
and young, lay dead before them, pierced with arrows, or crushed with clubs!
Touched with compassion, the Spaniards committed their remains to a common
grave, and retired.  Here Father Membre perished, but earth has no record.of the day. He was not, apparently, a man of refined education, nor is this a
reproach, as his order was not intended to direct colleges and seats of learning,
but to preach to the poor and lowly. But though his journal is often involved
and obscure, it bears intrinsic marks of fidelity, and shows him to have been
less prejudiced than many of his companions. Fitted rather for the quiet diree*tion of a simple flock, his zeal could not bear up against the hardships and barrenness of an Indian mission for which no previous training or associations had
fitted him, while his many wanderings tended still more to prevent his usefulness. His only permanent mission was in Illinois, where he labored assiduously
with Father Gabriel from March to September, 1680, notwithstanding the repugnance which he felt for the. ungrateful field. They are, accordingly, after
the Jesuits, Marquette, and Allouez, the first missionaries of Illinois, and worthy:of a distinguished place in her annals, and of the noble eulogy of Mr. Sparks, on;the missionaries of New France.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   149
on foot over the ice to Fort Frontenac. From our arrival at
Fort Crevecoeur on the 14th of January past, Father Gabriel,
our superior, Father Louis, and myself, had raised a cabin in
which we had established some little regularity, exercising
our functions as missionaries to the French of our party, and
the Ilinois Indians who came in crowds. As by the end of
February I already knew a part of their language, because I
spent the whole of the day in the Indian camp, which was but
half a league off, our father superior appointed me to follow
when they were about to return to their village. A chief named
Oumahouha had adopted me as his son in the Indian fashion
and M. de la Salle had made him presents to take care of
me. Father Gabriel resolved to stay at the fort with the sieur
de Tonty and the workmen; this had been, too, the request of
the sieur de la Salle who hoped that by his credit and the
apparent confidence of the people in him, he would be able
to keep them in order, but God permitted that the good intentions in which the sieur de la Salle thought he left them,
should not last long. On the thirteenth, he himself had met
two of his men whom he had sent to Missilimakinac to meet
his vessel, but who had got no tidings of it. He addressed
them to the sieur de Tonty; but these evil disposed men caballed so well, that they excited suspicion and dissatisfaction
in most of those there, so that almost all deserted, carrying
off the ammunition, provisions, and all that was in the store.
Two of them who were conducting Father Gabriel to the
Ilinois village where M. de Tonty had come on a visit, abandoned the good father at night in the middle of the road, and
spiked the guns of the sieur de Boisrondet, and the man
called Lesperance, who were in the same canoe, but not in
their plot. They informed the sieur de Tonty who, finding
himself destitute of everything, sent four of those who re



150          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBEE.
mained by two different routes to inform the sieur de la
Salle.
The perfidious wretches assembled at the fort which the
sieur de la Salle had built at the mouth of the Myamis' river,
demolished the fort, carried off all that was there, and as we
learned some months after, went to Missilimackinac, where
they seized the peltries belonging to the sieur de la Salle,
and left in store there by him.
The only great Ilinois village being composed of seven or
eight thousand souls, Father Gabriel and I had a sufficient
field for the exercise of our zeal, besides the few French who
soon after came there. There are, moreover, the Mliamis situated southeast by south of the bottom of Lake Dauphin, on
the borders of a pretty fine river, about fifteen leagues inland
at 41~ N.; the nation of the Maskoutens and Outagamies,
who dwell at about 43~ N., on the banks of the river called
Melleoki (Milwauki), which empties into Lake Dauphin, very
near their village; on the western side the KIikapous and the
Ainoves (lowas), who form two villages; west of these last,
above the river Checagoumemant, the village of the Ilinois
Cascaschia, situated west of the bottom of Lake Dauphin, a
little southwest at about 41~ N.; the Anthoutantas* and
Maskoutens, Nadouessions, about one hundred and thirty
leagues from the Ilinois, in three great villages built near a
river which empties into the river Colbert on the west side,
above that of the Ilinois, almost opposite the mouth of the
Miskoncing in the same river. I might name here a number
of other tribes, with whom we had intercourse, and to whom
French coureurs-de-bois, or lawfully sent, rambled while I
was with the Ilinois, under favor of our discovery.
The greater part of these tribes, and especially the Ilinois,
* The Otontantas of Marquette's real map.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.           151
with whom I have had intercourse, make their cabins of
double mats of flat rushes sewed together. They are tall of
stature, strong, and robust, and good archers; they had as
yet, no firearms; we gave them       some.   They are, wandering, idle, fearful, and desolate, almost without respect for
their chiefs, irritable, and thievish. Their villages are not
enclosed with palisades, and being too cowardly to defend
them, they take to flight at the first news of a hostile army.
The richness and fertility of the country gives them fields
everywhere. They have used iron implements and arms
only since our arrival. Besides the bow, they use in war a
kind of short pike, and wooden maces.*       Hermaphrodites are
numerous.    They have many wives, and often take several
sisters that they may agree better; and yet they are so jealous that they cut off their noses on the slightest suspicion.
They are lewd, and even unnaturally so, having boys dressed
as women, destined for infamous purposes. These boys are
employed only in women's work, without taking part in the
chase or war. They are very superstitious, although they
have no religious worship. They are, besides, much given
to play, like all the Indians in America, that I am able to
know.t
As there are in their country many serpents, these Indians
know herbs much superior to our orvietan and theriaque, for
* All agree in the great skill of the Illinois bowmen, and even as late as
1692-'3, when Rale was with them, they had not yet begun to use guns.
t Neither Marquette nor Allouez first, nor Membre and Douay, afterward,
allude to the mode of burial among the Illinois, which is stated by F. Rale, and
deserves to be mentioned. "Their custom," says he, "is not to bury the dead,
but to wrap them in skins, and to attach them by the head and feet to the tops
of trees." See his letter in Kip's "Jesuit Missions," p. 38. The use made of this
trait by the French poets is familiar to the readers of Delille. On the whole
however, the various descriptions of the Illinois and their country by Marquette,
Allouez, Membre, Hennepin, Douay, Ioutel, Tonty, Rale, and Marest, are remarkably alike: all but those of the two last are contained in the present series of Hist.
Collections, and these will be found in the translation of Mr. Kip, already cited.




152          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
after rubbing themselves with them, they can without fear
play with the most venomous insects, and even put them
some distance down their throat. They go perfectly naked
in summer except the feet, which are covered with shoes of
ox-hide, and in winter they protect themselves against the
cold (which is piercing in these parts though of short duration), with skins which they dress and card very neatly.
Although we were almost destitute of succor, yet the sieur
de Tonty never lost courage; he kept up his position among
the Ilinois either by inspiring them all the hopes which he
built on the sieur de la Salle's return, or by instructing them
in the use of firearms, and many arts in the European way.
As during the following summer a rumor ran that the Myamis
wished to move and join the Iroquois, he taught them how to
defend themselves by palisades, and even made them erect a
kind of little fort with intrenchments, so that, had they had a
little more courage, I have no doubt they would have been
in a position to sustain themselves.
Meanwhile, from the flight and desertion of our men about
the middle of March to the month of September, Father Gabriel and I devoted ourselves constantly to the mission. An
Ilinois named Asapista, with whom the sieur de la Salle had
contracted friendship, adopted Father Gabriel as his son, so
that that good father found in his cabin a subsistence in the
Indian fashion. As wine failed us for the celebration of the
divine mysteries, we found means, toward the close of August, to get wild grapes which began to ripen, and we made
very good wine which served us to say mass till the second
disaster, which happened a few days after. The clusters of
these grapes are of prodigious size, of very agreeable taste,
and have seeds larger than those of Europe.*
* In Brown's "History of American Trees," we fail to find any notice of the




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.       153
With regard to conversions, I can not rely on any. During
the whole time Father Gabriel unraveled their language a
little, and I can say that I spoke so as to make myself understood by the Indians on all that I wished; but there is in
these savages such an alienation from the faith, so brutal and
narrow a mind, such corrupt and antichristian morals, that
great time would be needed to hope for any fruit. It is, however, true that I found many of quite docile character. We
baptized some dying children, and two or three dying persons who manifested proper dispositions. As these people are
entirely material in their ideas, they would have submitted
to baptism, had we liked, but without any knowledge of the
sacrament. We found two who had joined us, and promised
to follow us everywhere; we believed that they would keep
their word, and that by this means we would insure their
baptisms; but I afterward felt great scruples when I learned
than an Indian named Chassagouache, who had been baptized, had died in the hands of the medicine-men, abandoned
to their superstitions, and consequently doubly a child of
hell.
During the summer, we followed our Indians in their
camps, and to the chase. I also made a voyage to the Myamis to learn something of their dispositions; thence I went
to visit other villages of the Ilinois all, however, with no great
success, finding only cause for chagrin at the deplorable state
and blindness of these nations. It is such that I can not express it fully.
Thus far we enjoyed a pretty general peace, though meanearly wine-making in the country by the catholic missionaries. They were certainly the first in the northern parts. Sagard, in his "History of Canada" (ch.
9), details the Zmodus operandi of probably the first wine-making in the country.
The Jesuit missionaries were afterward frequently compelled to do so, in order
to say mass, as we find repeated allusions to it in the Relations from Maine to
the Mississippi




154          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
while, a cruel war, which we knew not, was machinating.
While we were still at Fort Frontenac, the year before the
sieur de la Salle learned that his enemies had, to baffle his
designs, excited the Iroquois to resume their former hostilities
against the Ilinois, which had been relinquished for several
years. They sought too to draw the Myamis into the same
war. This is a tribe which formerly dwelt beyond the I1inois, as regards the Iroquois and Fort Frontenac.  They
had persuaded them to invite the Iroquois by an embassy to
join them against their common enemy; those who came to
treat of this affair with the Iroquois, brought letters from some
ill-disposed Frenchmen who had correspondents in those
tribes, for there were at that time many coureurs de bois.
The sieur de la Salle happened to be among the Senecas
when this embassy arrived; the moment seemed unfavorable,
and the erabassadors were privately warned that they risked
their lives, if they did not depart as soon as possible, the sieur
de la Salle being a friend of the Ilinois. The Myamis, however, left his former country, and came and took up a position where he is now between the Iroquois and the Ilinois.
This was afterward believed intentional, and we having to
pass through both these nations suspected by each other,
might become so to one of them who would then prevent our
progress. Monsieur de la Salle, on his arrival at the Ilinois
last year, made peace between the two nations; but as the
Indians are very inconstant and faithless, the Iroquois and
the Myamis afterward united against the Ilinois, by means
which are differently related.
Be that as it may, about the 10th of September, in the present year, 1680, the Ilinois allies of Chaouenons (Shawnees),
were warned by a Shawnee, who was returning home from
an Ilinois voyage, but turned back to advise them, that he




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.  155
had discovered an Iroquois army, four or five hundred strong,
who had already entered their territory. The scouts sent out
by the Ilinois confirmed what the Shawnee had said, adding
that the sieur de la Salle was there. For this there was no
foundation, except that the Iroquois chief had a hat and a
kind of vest. They at once talked of tomahawking us, but
the sieur de Tonty undeceived them, and to show the falsity
of the report, offered to go with the few men he had to fight
the Iroquois with them. The Ilinois had already sent out to
war the greater part of the young men, yet the next day they
took the field against the enemy, whom the /Myamis had reinforced with a great number of their warriors. This multitude
terrified the Ilinois; nevertheless, they recovered a little at
the solicitation of the sieur de Tonty and the French; they at
first mingled and wrangled, but the sieur de Tonty having
grounds to fear for the Ilinois who had almost no firearms,
offered to put matters in negotiation, and to go to the Iroquois
as a man of peace, bearing the calumet. The latter hoping
to surprise the Ilinois, and seeing their hopes baffled by the
state in which they found them resolved for battle, received
without any demur a man who came with a calumet of peace,
telling them, that the Ilinois were his brothers, friends of the
French, and under the protection of Ononto, their common father. I was beside the sieur de Tonty, when an Iroquois, whom
I had known in the Seneca village, recognised me. These
proposals for peace did not, however, please some young men
whose hands itched for fight; suddenly a volley of balls and
arrows came whizzing around us, and a young Onondaga ran
up with a drawn knife and struck M. de Tonty near the
heart, the knife fortunately glancing off a rib. They immediately surrounded him, and wished to carry him off; but
when, by his ears, which were not pierced, they saw that he




'156         NARRATIVE OF FATHER MIEMBRE.
was a Frenchman, one of the Iroquois chiefs asked loudly,
what they had meant by striking a Frenchman in that way?
that he must be spared, and drew forth a belt of wampum to
stanch the blood, and make a plaster for the wound.
Nevertheless a mad young Iroquois having hoisted the sieur
de Tonty's hat on a gun to intimidate the Ilinois, the latter
believing by this sign that Tonty was dead, we were all in
danger of losing our heads; but the Iroquois having told us
to show ourselves and stop both armies, we did so. The Iroquois received the calumet and pretended to retire; but
scarcely had the Ilinois reached his village, when the Iroquois appeared on the opposite hills.
This movement obliged the sieur de Tonty and the chiefs
of the nation to depute me to these savages to know their
reason. This was not a very agreeable mission to a savage
tribe, with arms in their hands, especially after the risk I had
already run; nevertheless, I made up my mind, and God
preserved me from all harm. I spoke with them; they treated
me very kindly, and at last told me, that the reason of their
approach was, that they had nothing to eat. I made my report to the linois, who gave them their fill, and even offered to
trade for beaver and other furs, very abundant in those parts.
The Iroquois agreed, hostages were given and received, and
I went with an Ilinois to the enemy's camp, where we slept.
The Iroquois came in greater numbers into that of the Ilinois,
and even advanced to their village, committing hostilities so
far as to disinter the dead, and destroy their corn; in a word,
seeking a quarrel, under show of peace, they fortified themselves in the village. The Ilinois, on the first announcement
of war, had made their families draw off behind a hill, to put
them out of sight, and enable them to reach the Mississippi,
so that the Iroquois found the village empty. The Ilinois




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    15T
warriors retired in troops on the hills, and even gradually dispersed, so that we seeing ourselves abandoned by our hosts,
who no longer appeared in force, and left alone exposed to
to the fury of a savage and victorious enemy, were not long
in resolving to retreat. The reverend father Gabriel, the
sieur de Tonty, the few French who were with us, and myself, began our march on the 18th of September, without provisions, food, or anything, in a wretched bark canoe, which
breaking the next day, compelled us to land about noon to
repair it. Father Gabriel seeing the place of our landing fit
for walking in the prairies and hills with little groves, as if
planted by hand, retired there to say his breviary while we
were working at the canoe all the rest of the day. We were
full eight leagues from the village ascending the river. Toward evening I went to look for the father seeing that he did
not return; all our party did the same; we fired repeatedly,
to direct him, but in vain; and as we had reason to fear the
Iroquois during the night, we crossed to the other side of the
river and lit up fires which were also useless. The next
morning at daybreak, we returned to the same side where
we were the day before, and remained till noon, making all
possible search. We entered the wood, where we found several fresh trails, as well as in the prairie on the bank of the
river. We followed them one by one without discovering
anything, except that M. de Tonty had ground to believe and
fear that some hostile parties were in ambush to cut us all off,
for seeing us take flight, the savages had imagined that we
declared for the Ilinois. I insisted on staying to wait for positive tidings; but the sieur de Tonty forced me to embark at
three o'clock, maintaining that the father had been killed by
the enemy, or else had walked on along the bank, so that following it constantly, we should at last infallibly meet him.




158          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
We got, however, no tidings of him, and the more we advanced, the more this affliction unmanned us, and we supported this remnant of a languishing life by the potatoes and
garlick, and other roots, that we found by scraping the
ground with our fingers.
We afterward learned that we should have expected him
uselessly, as he had been killed soon after landing. The Kikapous, a little nation you may observe on the west, quite near
the Winnebagoes, had sent some of their youth in war-parties
against the Iroquois, but learning that the latter were attacking the Ilinois, the war-party came after them. Three braves
who formed a kind of advanced guard having met the good
father alone, although they knew that he was not an Iroquois,
killed him for all that, cast his body into a hole, and carried
off even his breviary, and diurnal, which soon after came to
the hands of a Jesuit father. -They carried off the scalp of
this holy man, and vaunted of it in their village as an Iroquois
scalp. Thus died this man of God by the hands of some mad
youths. We can say of his body what the Scripture remarks
of those whom the sanguinary Herod immolated to his fury,
" Non erat qui sepileret."  Surely he deserved a better fate,
if, indeed, we can desire a happier one before God, than to
die in the exercise of the apostolic functions, by the hands of
nations to whom we are sent by God. He had not been
merely a religious of common and ordinary virtue; it is well
known that he had in Canada, from 1670, maintained the
same sanctity of life which he had shown in France as superior, inferior, and master of novices. He had for a long time
in transports of fervor acknowledged to me the profound
grief which he felt at the utter blindness of these people, and
that he longed to be an anathema for their salvation. His
death, I doubt not, has been precious before God, and will




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.              159
one day have its effect in the vocation of these people to the
faith, when it shall please the Almighty to use his great
mercy.*
We must admit that this good old man, quite extenuated
like ourselves by want of everything, would not have been
able to support the hardships we had to go through after
that. The sieur de Tonty and de Boisrondet, and two other
Frenchmen with myself, had still eighty leagues to make to
the Pottawatamis.      Our canoe often failed us, and leaked on
all sides. After some days we had to leave it in the woods,
and make the rest of our journey by land, walking barefooted
over the snow and ice.       I made shoes for my companions
and myself, of Father Gabriel's cloak. As we had no compass, we frequently got lost, and found ourselves in the evening where we had started in the morning, with no other food
than acorns and little roots. At last, after fifteen days' march,
we killed a deer, which was a great help to us. The sieur de
* Of this estimable missionary, we know little but what was given in Hennepin.
He was, we are assured, the last scion of a noble Burgundian house, who not
only renounced his inheritance and the world, to enrol himself among the lowly
children of St. Francis, but even when advanced in life, and honored with the
first dignities of his order, sought the new and toilsome mission of Canada. He
came out among the first Recollect fathers in the summer of 1670; and, on the
return of the provincial, F. Allart to France, became commissary and first
superior of the mission, as well as confessor to Frontenac. He restored such
missions as circumstances enabled him to begin, and guided his little flock with
such moderation and skill in the troublous times on which he had fallen that he
acquired the veneration and respect of all parties. His moderation, was not, indeed, liked by all, and a few years after, F. Eustace Maupassant was sent out to
succeed him, and the venerable Ribourde was sent as missionary to Fort Frontenac, but not before he had witnessed the consecration of their church at
Quebec. He was subsequently joined by Buisset and Hennepin, and consulting
his zeal rather than his age, embarked with La Salle. The date of his death
is September 9, 1680; he was then in the seventieth year of his age, and had
spent more than forty in the religious state, and, as master of novices, trained
many to imitate his zeal and virtues. "This holy religious," with Membr6, who
was to perish in the same unknown way, are among the earliest missionaries
of Illinois.




160            NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
Boisrondet lost us, and for at least ten days, we thought him
dead. As he had a tin cup, he melted it to make balls for
his gun, which had no flint. By firing it with a coal, he
killed some turkeys, on which he lived during that time; at
last we fortunately met at the Pottawatami village, where
their chief, Onanghisse, quite well known among those nations, welcomed us most cordially.   He used to say, that he
knew   only three great captains, M. de Frontenac, M. de la
Salle, and himself. This chief harangued all his people who
contributed to furnish us food. Not one' of us could stand for
weakness; we were like skeletons, the sieur de Tonty extremely sick, but being a little recruited, I found some Indians going to the bay of the Fetid, where the Jesuits have a
house.* I accordingly set out for it, and can not express the
hardships I had to undergo on the way. The sieur de Tonty
followed us soon after with the rest. We can not sufficiently
acknowledge the charity these good fathers displayed toward
us until the thaws began, when we set out with Father Enjalran in a canoe for Missilimakinac, hoping to find news there
from Canada.
From   the Ilinois, we had always followed the route by
the north, had God permitted us to take that by the south of
Lake Dauphin, we should have met the sieur de la Salle who
was coming with well-furnished canoes from Fort Frontenac,
and had gone by the south to the Ilinois, where he expected
* This is more frank than Hennepin, who in his first edition mentions neither
those at Green Bay, nor those at Mackinaw, and would have us believe that he
was the only missionary to be found in these parts. In his last edition he
-acknowledges that he met his countryman, Father Pierson, at Mackinaw. He
must have passed Green Bay a few days before the arrival of Membr6, which was
about October 22, as Tonty seems to say (vol. i., p. 59), and Hennepin started
for Green Bay by the Wisconsin, in the close of September. They failed to meet
at Mackinaw, also, for Hennepin left it at Easter, and Membre reached only on
the octave of Corpus Christi. This will account for the silence of both as to
each other.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.  161
to find us with all his people in good order as he had left us,
when he started in the preceding year (March 2d, 1680).
This he told us himself when he arrived at Missilimakinac,
about the middle of June, when he found us a little restored
from our sufferings. I leave you to conceive our mutual joy,
damped, though it was, by the narrative he made us of all
his misfortunes, and by that we made him of our tragical adventures. He told us, that after our departure from Fort
Frontenac, they had excited his creditors before the time to
seize his property and all his effects, on a rumor which had
been spread, that he had been drowned with all his people.
He told us that his ship, the Griffin, had perished in the
lakes a few days after leaving the bay of the Fetid; that the
captain, sailors, and more than ten thousand crowns in merchandise, had been lost and never heard of. He had sent
little fleets of canoes to trade right and left on Lake Frontenac; but these wretches, he told us, had profited by the principal and the trade, without his being able to obtain any justice from those who should have rendered it, notwithstanding
all the efforts made by M. de Frontenac, the governor in his
favor; that to complete his misfortunes, a vessel coining from
France with a cargo for his account, amounting to twentytwo thousand livres, had been wrecked on St. Peter's islands
in the gulf of St. Lawrence; that canoes ascending from Montreal to Fort Frontenac loaded with goods, had been lost in
the rapids; in a word, that except the count de Frontenac,
all Canada seemed in league against his undertaking; the
men he had brought from France had been seduced from
him, some had run off with his goods to New York, and as
regarded the Canadians who had joined him, means had
been found to work upon them, and draw them from his interests.
11




162          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
Although he had left Fort Frontenac in his bark on the
23d of July, 1680, he was detained on the lake by head
winds so that he could not reach the straits of lake de Conty
till the close of August. All seemed to oppose his undertaking; embarking in the beginning of September, on Lake
de Conty, he had been detained with M. de la Forrest, his
lieutenant and all his men, at Missilimakinac, being unable
to obtain corn for goods or money; but at last, as it was absolutely necessary, he was obliged, after three weeks' stay, to
buy some for liquor, and in one day lie got sixty sacks.
He left there the 4th of October, and on the 28th of November, reached the Myamis' river, where he left a ship-carpenter and some of his people; then pushing on, reached the
Ilinois on the first of December. There he was greatly surprised to find their great village burnt and empty. The rest
of the time was spent in a journey to the Myamis' river,
where lie went to join his men forty leagues from the Ilinois.
Thence he passed to different tribes, among others to an Outagamis village, where he found some Ilinois, who related to
him the unhappy occurrences of the preceding year.
He learned, moreover, that after our flight and departure,
from the Ilinois, their warriors had returned from the Nadouessiouz, where they had been at war, and that there had
been several engagements with equal loss on both sides, and
that, at last, of the seventeen Ilinois villages, the greater part
had retired beyond the river Colbert, among the Ozages, two
hundred leagues from their country, where too a part of the
Iroquois had pursued them.
At the same time the sieur de la Salle intrigued with the
Outagami chiefs, whom he drew into his interests and those
of the Ilinois; thence he passed to the Myamis, whom he induced by presents and arguments to leave the Iroquois and




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY,    163
join the Illnois; he sent two of his men and two Abenaquis
to announce this to the Ilinois, and prevent new acts of hostility, and to recall the dispersed tribes. To strengthen both
more, he sent others with presents to the Shawnees to invite
them to come and join the Ilinois against the Iroquois, who
carried their wars even to them. All this had succeeded
when M. de la Salle left on the 22d of May, 1681, to return
to Missilimakinac, where he expected to find us.  If we
wish to settle in these parts, and see the faith make any progress, it is absolutely necessary to maintain peace and union
among all these tribes, as well as among others more remote,
against the common enemy, that is the Iroquois, who never
makes a real peace with any whom he has once beaten, or
whom he hopes to overcome by the divisions which he artfully excites, so that we should be daily exposed to routs like
that to which we were subjected last year. M. de la Salle
convinced of this necessity, has since our return, purchased
the whole Ilinois country,* and has given cantons to the Shawnees, who there colonize in large families.
The sieur de la Salle related to us all his hardships and
voyages, as well as all his misfortunes, and learned from us
as many regarding him; yet never did I remark in him the
least alteration, always maintaining his ordinary coolness and
self-possession. Any one but him would have renounced and
abandoned the enterprise; but far from that, by a firmness
of mind, and an almost unequalled constancy, I saw him
more resolute than ever to continue his work, and to carry
out his discovery. We accordingly left for Fort Frontenac,
with his whole party to adopt new measures to resume and
complete our course with the help of Heaven, in which we put
all our trust.
> See his second patent in the Appendix.








NARRATIVE
OF
LA SALLE'S VOYAGE DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI,
BY
FATHER ZENOBIU'S JIEMEBR, RECOLLECT.
LA        SALLE having arrived safely at the Miamies on
^     the 3d of November, 1681, began with his ordinary
activity and vast mind, to make all preparations for his departure. He selected twenty-three Frenchmen, and eighteen
Mohegans and Abnakis,, all inured to war.             The latter in* The Mohegans, whose name is generally translated by old French writers,
who call them "Loups," or "Wolves," were hereditary enemies of the Iroquois.
They were known to the French as early as the time of Champlain, who calls
them "3Mayganathicoise." It is needless here to follow the varieties in orthography which it underwent. The Iroquois called them "Agotsagenens" (F. Jogues'
MS.). Their relations with their European neighbors seem always to have been
friendly, and they never apparently warred on either English, Dutch, or French,
although their position between the Hudson and Connecticut exposed them to
frequent occasions of trouble. Though never really the allies of the French, the
hostility of the Iroquois to both brought them in contact, so that Mohegans frequently figure in small parties in French campaigns.
The Abnakis were a people of Maine, and like the Mohegans of the Algonquin
family. They were originally allies of the English, who called them " Taranteens,"
but the unwise policy of the New England colonies compelled them to join the
French. Their conversion to the catholic religion, which they still profess,
tended still more to embitter the colonies against them, and long and bloody
wars resulted, in which the Abnakis, forsaken by the French, were at last humbled. They now form about five villages in Maine and Canada.




166          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
sisted on taking along ten of their women to cook for them,
as their custom is, while they were fishing or hunting. These
women had three children, so that the whole party consisted
of but fifty-four persons, including the sieur de Tonty and the
sieur Dautray, son of the late sieur Bourdon, procurator-general of Quebec.
On the 21st of December, I embarked with the sieur de
Tonty and a part of our people on Lake Dauphin (Michigan),
to go toward the divine river, called by the Indians Checagou, in order to make necessary arrangements for our voyage.
The sieur de la Salle joined us there with the rest of his troop
on the 4th of January, 1682, and found that Tonty had had
sleighs made to put all on and carry it over the Chicago
which was frozen; for though the winter in these parts is
only two months long, it is notwithstanding very severe.
We had to make a portage to enter the Ilinois river,
which we found also frozen; we made it on the 21th of the
same month, and dragging our canoes, baggage, and provisions, about eighty leagues on the river Seignelay (Ilinois),
which runs into the river Colbert (Mississippi), we traversed
the great Ilinois town without finding any one there, the Indians having gone to winter thirty leagues lower down on
Lake Pimiteoui (Peoria), where Fort Cr6vecceur stands. We
found it in a good state, and La Salle left his orders here.
As from this spot navigation is open at all seasons, and free
from ice, we embarked in our canoes, and on the 6th of February, reached the mouth of the river Seignelay, at 38~
north. The floating ice on the river Colbert, at this place,
kept us till the 13th of the same month, when we set out, and
six leagues lower down, found the Ozage (Missouri) river,
coming from the west. It is full as large as the river Colbert
into which it empties troubling it so, that from the mouth of




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.       167
the Ozage the water is hardly drinkable. The Indians assure us that this river is formed by many others, and that
they ascend it for ten or twelve days to a mountain where it
rises; that beyond this mountain is the sea where they see
great ships; that on the river are a great number of large
villages, of many different nations; that there are arable and
prairie-lands, and abundance of cattle and beaver. Although
this river is very large, the Colbert does not seem augmented
by it; but it pours in so much mud, that from its mouth the
water of the great river, whose bed is also slimy, is more like
clear mud than river water, without changing at all till it
reaches the sea, a distance of more than three hundred
leagues, although it receives seven large rivers, the water of
which is very beautiful, and which are almost as large as the
Mississippi.
On the 14th, six leagues further, we found on the east the
village of the Tamaroas,* who had gone to the chase; we
left there marks of our peaceful coming, and signs of our
route, according to practice, in such voyages. We went
slowly, because we were obliged to hunt and fish almost
daily, not having been able to bring any provisions but Indian corn.
Forty leagues from Talnaroa is the river Oiiabache (Ohio),
where we stopped. From the mouth of this river you must
advance forty-two leagues without stopping, because the
banks are low and marshy, and full of thick foam, rushes and
walnut trees.
On the 24th, those whom we sent to hunt all returned but
Peter Prudhomme; the rest reported that they had seen an
* The Tamaroas or Maroas were an Illinois tribe, who long had their village
in this quarter. After their conversion to Christianity, they and the Cahokias
were under the spiritual guidance of the priests of the Seminary of Foreign Missions. At this period no missionary had reached them.




168          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MIEMBRE.
Indian trail, which made us suppose our Frenchman killed
or taken. This induced the sieur de la Salle to throw up a
fort and intrenchment, and to put some French and Indians on the trail. None relaxed their efforts till the first of
March, when Gabriel Minime and two Mohegans took two
of five Indians whom they discovered. They said, that they
belonged to the Sicacha (Chickasaw) nation, and that their
village was a day and a half off. After showing them every
kindness, I set out with the sieur de la Salle and half our
party to go there, in hopes of learning some news of Prudhomme; but after having travelled the distance stated, we
showed the Indians that we were displeased with their duplicity; they then told us frankly, that we were still three
days off. (These Indians generally count tel or twelve
leagues to a day.) We returned to the camp, and one of the
Indians having offered to remain while the other carried the
news to the village, La Salle gave him some goods, and he
set out after giving us to understand that we should meet
their nation on the bank of the river as we descended.
At last Prudhomme, who had been lost, was found on the
ninth day, and brought back to the fort, so that we set out
the next day, which was foggy. Having sailed forty leagues
till the third of March, we heard drums beating and sasacoiiest (war cries) on our right. Perceiving that it was an
Akansa village, the sieur de la Salle immediately passed
over to the other side with all his force, and in less than an
hour threw up a retrenched redoubt on a point, with palisades, and felled trees to prevent a surprise, and give the Indians time to recover confidence. He then made some of
his party advance on the bank of the river, and invite the
Indians to come to us. The chiefs sent out a periagua (these
are large wooden canoes, made of a hollow tree like little




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   169
batteaux), which came within gun-shot. We offered them
the calumet of peace, and two Indians advancing, by signs
invited the French to come to them. On this the sieur de la
Salle sent a Frenchman and two Abnakis, who were received
and regaled with many tokens of friendship. Six of the
principal mIen brought him back in the same periagua, and
came into the redoubt where the sieur de la Salle made them
presents of tobacco and some goods. On their side they
gave us some slaves, and the most important chief invited us
to go to the village to refresh ourselves, which we readily
did.
All those of the village, except the women, who had at
first taken flight, came to the bank of the river to receive us.
Here they built us cabins, brought us wood to burn, and provisions in abundance. For three days they feasted us constantly; the women now returned, brought us Indian corn,
beans, flour, and various kinds of fruits; and we, in return,
made them other little presents, which they admired greatly.
These Indians do not resemble those at the north, who are
all sad and severe in their temper; these are far better made,
honest, liberal, and gay. Even the young are so modest, that
though they had a great desire to see La Salle, they kept
quietly at the doors not daring to come in.
We saw great numbers of domestic fowls, flocks of turkeys,
tame bustards, many kinds of fruits, peaches already formed
on the trees, although it was only the beginning of March.
On the 14th of the same month, the sieur de la Salle took
possession of this country with great ceremony. He planted
a cross, and set up the king's arms, at which the Indians
showed a great joy. You can talk much to Indians by signs,
and those with us managed to make themselves a little understood in their language. I took occasion to explain some



170             NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
thing of the truth of God, and the mysteries of our redemption, of which they saw the arms.         During this time they
showed that, they relished what I said, by raising their eyes to
heaven, and kneeling as if to adore. We also saw them rub
their hands over their bodies after rubbing them           over the
cross.  In fact, on our return from       the sea, we found that
they had surrounded the cross with a palisade.         They finally
gave us provisions and men, to conduct us, and serve as interpreters with the Taensa, their allies, who are eighty leagues
distant from their village.
On the 17th we continued our route, and six leagues lower
down we found another village of the same Akansa nation,
and then another three leagues lower, the people of which
were of the same kind, and received us most hospitably.*
We gave them       presents and tokens of our coming in peace
and friendship.
On the 22d we reached       the Taensa, who dwell around a
* Amid the conflict of names to be found in early narratives, it is a relief to
meet so much uniformity relative to the Akansas. It is not, indeed, easy to recognise them in the Quigata, Quipana, Pacaha, or Cayas, of De Soto's expedition.
Marquette, in his journal, first gives the name, "Akamsea," which has remained
to this day on his map. I-e gives near them the Papikaha, and Atotchasi.
Father Membre here mentions three towns of the tribe, but does not name
them. Tonty does, and has on the Mississippi the Kappas, and inland the Toyengan or Tongenga, the Toriman, and the Osotonoy or AssotouB. The latter is,
indeed, his post, but, old deeds show a village lay opposite, which probably
gave its name. On the next expedition, Father Anastasius writes Kappa, Doginga, Toriman, and Osotteoez, which Joutel repeats, changing Doginga to Tongenga, and Osotteoez to Otsotchove. In 1721, Father Charlevoixwrites them
the Kappas, Toremans, Topingas, and Sothouis, adding another tribe, the Ouyapes, though there were still but four villages. In 1729, Father Poisson places
them all on the Arkansas-the Tourimans and Tongingas, nine leagues from
the mouth by the lower branch, the Sauthouis three leagues further, and the
Kappas still higher up.
The only material difference is in the Atotchasi, Otsotchov6, Osotteoez,
Ossotonoy, Assotou6, or Sothouis, in which, however, there is similarity enough
to establish identity. They call themselves Oguapas, and never use the term
"Arkansas."-(Nuttal.)




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    171
little lake formed in the land by the river Mississippi. They
have eight villages. The walls of their houses are made of
earth mixed with straw; the roof is of canes, which form a
dome adorned with paintings; they have wooden beds, and
much other furniture, and even ornaments in their temples,
where they inter the bones of their chiefs. They are dressed
in white blankets made of the bark of a tree which they spin;
their chief is absolute, and disposes of all without consulting
anybody.  He is attended by slaves, as are all his family.
Food is brought him outside his cabin; drink is given him in a
particular cup, with much neatness. His wives and children
are similarly treated, and the other Taensa address him with
respect and ceremony.
The sieur de la Salle being fatigued and unable to go into
the town, sent in the sieur de Tonty and myself with presents.
The chief of this nation not content with sending him provisions and other presents, wished also to see him, and accordingly, two hours before the time a master of ceremonies came,
followed by six men; he made them clear the way he was to
pass, prepare a place, and cover it with a delicately-worked
cane-mat. The chief who came some time after was dressed
in a fine white cloth, or blanket. He was preceded by two
men, carrying fans of white feathers. A third carried a copper plate, and a round one of the same metal, both highly
polished. He maintained a very grave demeanor during this
visit, which was, however, full of confidence and marks of
friendship.
The whole country is covered with palrr-trees, laurels of
two kinds, plums, peaches, mulberry, apple, and pear trees
of every kind. There are also five or six kinds of nut-trees,
some of which bear nuts of extraordinary size. They also
gave us several kinds of dried fruit to taste; we found them




172         NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
large and good. They have also many other kinds of fruittrees which I never saw in Europe; but the season was too
early to allow us to see the fruit. We observed vines already
out of blossom. The mind and character of this people appeared on the whole docile and manageable, and even capable of reason. I made them understand all I wished about
our mysteries. They conceived pretty well the necessity of
a God, the creator and director of all, but attribute this divinity to the sun. Religion may be greatly advanced among
them, as well as among the Akansas, both these nations being
half civilized.
Our guides would go no further for fear of falling into the
hands of their enemies, for the people on one shore are generally enemies of those on the other. There are forty villages on the east, and thirty-four on the west, of all of which
we were told the names.
The 26th of March resuming our course, we perceived,
twelve leagues lower down, a periagua or wooden canoe, to
which the sieur de Tonty gave chase, till approaching
the shore, we perceived a great number of Indians. The
sieur de la Salle, with his usual precaution, turned to the opposite banks, and then sent the calumet of peace by the sieur
de Tonty. Some of the chief men crossed the river to come
to us as good friends. They were fishermen of the Nachie
tribe (Natchez), enemies of the Taensa. Although their village lay three leagues inland, the sieur de la Salle did not
hesitate to go there with a part of our force. We slept there,
and received as kindly a welcome as we could expect; the
sieur de la Salle, whose very air, engaging manners, and
skilful mind, command alike love and respect, so impressed
the heart of these Indians, that they did not know how to
treat us well enough. They would gladly have kept us with




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   173
them; and even in sign of their esteem, that night informed
the Koroa,* their ally, whose chief and head men came the
next day to the village, where they paid their obeisance to
the king of the French, in the person of the sieur de la Salle,
who was well able to exalt in every quarter the power and
glory of his nation.
After having planted the king's arms under the cross, and
made presents to the Nachie, we returned to the camp the
next day with the head men of the town, and the Koroa
chief, who accompanied us to his village, situated ten leagues
below, on a beautiful eminence, surrounded on one side by
fine corn lands, and on the other by beautiful prairies. This
chief presented the sieur de la Salle with a calumet, and
feasted him and all his party. We here, as elsewhere, made
presents in return. They told us that we had still ten days
to sail to the sea.
The Sicacha (Chickasaw) whom we had brought thus far,
obtained leave to remain in the village, which we left on
Easter Sunday, the 29th of March, after having celebrated
the divine mysteries for the French, and fulfilled the duties
of good Christians. For our Indians, though of the most
advanced and best instructed, were not yet capable.
About six leagues below, the river divides into two arms,
or channels, forming a great island, which must be more than
sixty leagues long. We followed the channel on the right,
although we had intended to take the other, but passed it in a
fog without seeing it. We had a guide with us, who pointed
it out by signs; but his canoe being then behind, those in it
neglected when the Indian told them to overtake us, for we
were considerably ahead. We were informed that, on the
* Marquette's map mentions this tribe as lying inland, on the western side.
He writes it "Akoroa."




174           NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBEE.
other channel, there are ten different nations, numerous, and
well-disposed.
On the second of April, after having sailed forty leagues,
we perceived some fishermen on the bank of the river; they
took flight, and we immediately after heard sasacoiiest, that
is, war-cries, and beating of drums. It was the Quinipissa
nation. Four Frenchmen were sent to offer them the calmmet of peace, with orders not to fire; but they had to return
in hot haste, because the Indians let fly a shower of arrows
at them. Four of our Mohegans, who went soon after, met
no better welcome. This obliged the sieur de la Salle to continue his route, till two leagues lower down, we entered a village of the Tangibao,* which had been recently sacked and
plundered; we found there three cabins full of human bodies
dead for fifteen or sixteen days.
At last, after a navigation of about forty leagues, we arrived, on the sixth of April, at a point where the river divides
into three channels. The sieur de la Salle divided his party
the next day into three bands, to go and explore them. He
took the western, the sieur Dautray the southern, the sieur
Tonty, whom I accompanied, the middle one. These three
channels are beautiful and deep. The water is brackish;
after advancing two leagues it became perfectly salt, and
advancing on, we discovered the open sea, so that on the
ninth of April, with all possible solemnity, we performed the
ceremony of planting the cross and raising the arms of
France. After we had chanted the hymn of the church,
" Vexilla Regis," and the " Te Deum," the sieur de la Salle,
in the name of his majesty, took possession of that river, of
all rivers that enter it, and of all the country watered by
them. An authentic act was drawn up, signed by all of us
* Called in act of possession, " Maheouala."




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.     175
there, and amid a volley from all our muskets, a leaden plate
inscribed with the arms of France, and the names of those
who had just made the discovery, was deposited in the earth.*
The sieur de la Salle, who always carried an astrolabe, took
the latitude of the mouth. Although he kept to himself the
exact point, we have learned that the river falls into the gulf
of Mexico, between 27~ and 28~ north, and, as is thought, at
the point where maps lay down the Rio Escondido. This
mouth is about thirty leagues distant from the Rio Bravo,
(Rio Grande), sixty fiom the Rio de Palmas, and ninety or
a hundred leagues from the river Panuco (Tampico), where
the nearest Spanish post on the coast is situated. We reckoned that Espiritu Santo bay (Appalachee Bay), lay northeast of the mouth. From the Ilinois' river, we always went
south or southwest; the river winds a little, preserves to the
sea its breadth of about a quarter of a league, is everywhere
very deep, without banks, or any obstacle to navigation, although the contrary has been published.t This river is reckoned
eight hundred leagues long; we travelled at least three hundred and fifty from the mouth of the river Seignelay.
We were out of provisions, and found only some dried
meat at the mouth, which we took to appease our hunger;
but soon after perceiving it to be human flesh, we left the
rest to our Indians. It was very good and delicate. At last
on the tenth of April, we began to remount the river, living
only on potatoes and crocodiles (alligators). The country is
so bordered with canes, and so low in this part, that we could
not hunt, without a long halt. On the twelfth we slept at the
* See De la Salle's proces verbal of the taking possession of Louisiana, in the
Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 45.
j We do not know to what Father Membrd refers. Marquette's work makes
no such assertion of the Mississippi. Hennepin, indeed, says that an Illinois had
so stated before La Salle went down.-Description de la Louisiane, p. 177.




1176        NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
village of the Tangibao, and as the sieur de la Salle wished to
have corn willingly or by force... Our Abnakis perceived, on
the thirteenth, as we advanced, a great smoke near. We
thought that this might be the Quinipissa, who had fired on
us some days before; those whom we sent out to reconnoitre
brought in four women of the nation, on the morning of the
fourteenth, and we went and encamped opposite the village.
After dinner some periaguas came toward us, to brave us;
but the sieur de la Salle having advanced in person with the
calumet of peace, on their refusal to receive it, a gun was
fired which terrified these savages who had never seen firearms. They called it thunder, not understanding how a
wooden stick could vomit fire, and kill people so far off without touching them. This obliged the Indians to take flight,
although in great force, armed in their manner. At last the
sieur de la Salle followed them to the other side, and put one
woman on the shore with a present of axes, knives, and
beads, giving her to understand that the other three should
follow soon, if she brought some Indian corn. The next day
a troop of Indians having appeared, the sieur de la Salle
went to meet them, and concluded a peace, receiving and
giving hostages. He then encamped near their village, and
they brought us some little corn. We at last went up to the
village, where these Indians had prepared us a feast in their
fashion. They had notified their allies and neighbors, so
that, when we went to enjoy the banquet in a large square,
we saw a confused mass of armed savages arrive one after
another. We were, however, welcomed by the chiefs, but
having ground for suspicion, each kept his gun ready, and
the Indians seeing it, durst not attack us.
The sieur de la Salle retired with all his people, and his
hostages into his camp, and give up the Quinipissa women.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.  177
The next' morning before daybreak, our sentinel reported
that he heard a noise among the canes on the banks of the
river. The sienr Dautray said that it was nothing; but the
sieur de la Salle, always on the alert, having already heard
noise, called to arms. As we instantly heard war-cries,
and arrows were fired fiom quite near us, we kept up a
brisk fire, although it began to rain. Day broke, and after
two hours' fighting, and the loss of ten men killed on their
side, and many wounded, they took to flight, without any of
us having been injured. Our people wished to go and burn
the village of these traitors; but the sieur de la Salle prudently wished only to make himself formidable to this nation,
without exasperating it, in order to manage them in time of
need. We, however, destroyed many of their canoes. They
were near, but contented themselves with running away and
shouting. Our Mohegans took only two scalps.
We set out then the evening of the same day, the eighthteenth of April, and arrived on the first of May, at the Koroa,
after having suffered much from want of provisions. The
K1oroa had been notified by the Quinipissa, their allies, and
had, with the intention of avenging them, assembled Indians
of several villages, making a very numerous army, which appeared on the shores, and often approached us to reconnoitre.
As this nation had contracted friendship with us on our
voyage down, we were not a little surprised at the change;
but they told us the reason, which obliged us to keep on our
guard. The sieur de la Salle even advanced intrepidly, so
that the Indians durst not undertake anything.
When we passed going down, we were pretty well provided with Indian corn, and had put a quantity in cache,
pretty near their village. We found it in good condition;
and having taken it up, continued our route; but were sur12




178          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
prised to see the Indian corn at this place, which, the twentyninth of March, was just sprouting from the ground, already
fit to eat, and we then learned that it ripened in fifty days.
We also remarked other corn four inches above ground.
We set out then the same day, the first of May in the
evening, and after seeing several different nations on the following days, and renewed our alliance with the Taensa, who
received us perfectly well, we arrived at the Akansa where
we were similarly received. We left it on the eighteenth, the
sieur de la Salle went on with two canoes of our Mohegans and
pushed on to a hundred leagues below the river Seignelay,
where he fell sick. We joined him there with the rest of
the troop on the second of June. As his malady was dangerous, and brought him to extremity, unable to advance any
further, he was obliged to send forward the sieur de Tonty
for the Ilinois and Miamis, to take up our caches, and put
everything in order, appointing Tonty to command there.
But at last the malady of the sieur de la Salle, which lasted
forty days, during which I assisted him to my utmost, having
somewhat abated, we started at the close of July, by slow
journeys.' At the end of September, we reached the Miami
river, where we learned of several military expeditions made
by the sieur de Tonty after he had left us. He had left the
sieur Dautray, and the sieur Cochois among the Miamis, and
other people among the Ilinois, with two hundred new cabins
of Indians, who were going to repeople that nation. The said
sieur de Tonty pushed on to Missilimakinac, to render an account, more at hand, of our discovery to the governor, the
count de Frontenac, on behalf of the sieur de la Salle, who
prepared to retrace his steps to the sea the next spring with
a larger force, and families to begin establishments.
The river Seignelay is very beautiful, especially below the




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.     179
Ilinois (Indians), wide and deep, forming two lakes as far as
the sea (j8usqu'ca l imer), edged with hills, covered with
beautiful trees of all kinds, whence you discern vast prairies
on which herds of wild-cattle pasture in confusion. The river
often overflows, and renders the country around marshy, for
twenty or thirty leagues from the sea.*  The soil around is
good, capable of producing all that can be desired for subsistence. We even found hemp there growing wild, much
finer than that of Canada. The whole country on this river
is charming in its aspect.
It is the same with what we have visited on the river Colbert. When you are twenty or thirty leagues below the
Maroa, the banks are full of canes until you reach the sea,
except in fifteen or twenty places where there are very pretty
hills, and spacious, convenient, landing-places. The inundation does not extend far, and behind these drowned lands
you see the finest country in the world. Our hunters, French
and Indian, were delighted with it. For an extent of at least
two hundred leagues in length, and as much in breadth, as
we were told, there are vast fields of excellent land, diversified here and there with pleasing hills, lofty woods, groves
through which you might ride on horseback, so clear and
unobstructed are the paths. These little forests also line the
rivers which intersect the country in various places, and
which abound in fish. The crocodiles are dangerous here, so
much so that in some parts no one would venture to expose
himself, or even put his hand out of his canoe. The Indians
told us that these animals often dragged in their people,
where they could anywhere get hold of them.
The fields are full of all kinds of game, wild-cattle, stags,
* I can not see what he means by the term sea in these two places; unless in
the former it means the mouth, and in the latter, the bed of the river.




180           NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
does, deer, bears, turkeys, partridges, parrots, quails, woodcock, wild-pigeons, and ring-doves. There are also beaver,
otters, martens, till a hundred leagues below the Maroa, especially in the river of the Missouri, the Ouabache, that of the
Chepousseau (the Cumberland?), which is opposite it, and on
all the smaller ones in this part; but we could not learn that
there were any beavers on this side toward the sea.
There are no wild beasts, formidable to man. That which
is called Michybichy never attacks man, although it devours the strongest beasts; its head is like that of a lynx,
though much larger; the body long and large like a deer's,
but much more slender; the legs also shorter, the paws like
those of a wild-cat, but much larger, with longer and stronger
claws, which it uses to kill the beasts it would devour. It
eats a little, then carries off the rest on its back, and hides it
under some leaves, where ordinarily no other beast of prey
touches it. Its skin and tail resemble those of a lion, to
which it is inferior, only in size.
The cattle of this country surpass ours in size; their head
is monstrous, and their look frightful, on account of the long,
black hair with which it is surrounded, and which hangs below the chin, and along the houghs of this animal. It has on
the back a kind of upright crests (coste), of which that nearest the neck is longest, the others diminish gradually to the
middle of the back. The hair is fine, and scarce inferior to
wool. The Indians wear their skins which they dress very
neatly with earth, which serves also for paint. These animals are easily approached, and never fly from you; they
could be easily domesticated.
There is another little animal (the opposum) like a rat,
though as large as a cat, with silvery hair sprinkled with
black. The tail is bare, as thick as a large finger, and about




DISCOVERIES IN THE MIISSISSIPPI VALLEY.  181
a foot long; with this it suspends itself, when it is on the
branches of trees. It has under the belly a kind of pouch,
where it carries its young when pursued.
The Indians assured us that inland, toward the west, there
are animals on which men ride, and which carry very heavy
loads, they described them as horses, and showed us two feet
which were actually hoofs of horses.
We observed everywhere wood of various kinds fit for
every use; and among others the most beautiful cedars in the
world, and another kind shedding an abundance of gum, as
pleasant to burn as the best French pastilles. We also remarked everywhere, hemlocks, and many other pretty large
trees with white bark. The cotton-wood trees are large; of
these, the Indians dig out canoes forty or fifty feet long, and
have sometimes fleets of a hundred and fifty below their villages. We saw every kind of tree fit for ship-building. There
is also plenty of hemp for cordage, and tar might be made
remarkably near the sea.
You meet prairies everywhere; sometimes of fifteen or
twenty leagues front, and three or four deep, ready to receive
the plough. The soil excellent, capable of supporting great
colonies. Beans grow wild, and the stalk lasts several years,
always bearing fruit; it is thicker than an arm, and runs up
like ivy to the top of the highest trees. The peach-trees are
quite like those of France, and very good; they are so loaded
with fruit, that the Indians have to prop up those they cultivate in their clearings. There are whole forests of very
fine mulberries, of which we ate the fruit from the month
of May; many plum-trees and other fruit-trees, some known
and others unknown in Europe; vines, pomegranates, and
horse-chestnuts, are common. They raise three or four crops
of corn a year.  I have already stated that I saw some




182          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
ripe, while more was sprouting. Winter is known only by
the rains.
We had not time to look for mines; we only found coal in
several places; the Indians who had lead and copper wished
to lead us to many places, whence they take it; there are
quarries of very fine stone, white and black marble, yet the
Indians do not use it.
These tribes, though savage, seem generally of very good
dispositions, affable, obliging, and docile. They have no true
idea of religion by a regular worship; but we remarked some
confused ideas, and a particular veneration they had for the
sun, which they recognise as him who made and preserves
all. It is surprising how different their language is from that
of tribes not ten leagues off; they manage, however, to understand each; and, besides, there is always some interpreter
of one nation residing in another, when they are allies, and
who acts as a kind of consul. They are very different from
our Canada Indians in their houses, dress, manners, inclinations, and customs, and even in the form of the head, for
theirs is very flat. They have large public squares, games,
assemblies; they seem lively and active; their chiefs possess
all the authority; no one would dare pass between the chiefs
and the cane-torch which burns in his cabin, and is carried
before him when he goes out; all make a circuit around it
with some ceremony. The chiefs have their valets and officers, who follow them and serve them everywhere. They
distribute their favors and presents at will. In a word, we
generally found them to be men. We saw none who knew
firearms, or even iron or steel articles, using stone knives and
hatchets. This was quite contrary to what had been told us,
when we were assured that they traded with the Spaniards,
who were said to be only twenty-five or thirty leagues off;




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.            183
they had axes, guns, and all commqdities found in Europe.*
We found, indeed, tribes that had bracelets of real pearls;
but they pierce them when hot, and thus spoil them.        Mionsieur de la Salle brought some with him. The Indians told
us that their warriors brought them from very far, in the direction of the sea, and receive them in exchange from some
nations apparently on the Florida side.
There are many other things which our people observed on
advancing a little into the country to hunt, or which we
learned from   the tribes, through whom      we passed; but I
should be tedious were I to detail them: and, besides, the
particulars should be better known.
To conclude, our expedition of discovery was accomplished
without having lost any of our men, French or Indian, and
without anybody's being wounded, for which we were indebted to the protection of the Almighty, and the great cappacity of Monsieur de la Salle.     I will say nothing here of
conversions; formerly the apostles had but to enter a country, when on the first publication of the gospel, great conversions were seen.   I am   but a miserable sinner, infinitely destitute of the merits of the apostles; but we must also acknowledge that these miraculous ways of grace are not attached to
the exercise of our ministry; God employs an ordinary and
* Here again it is difficult to decide whether he alludes to Marquette, or some
other account that may have been given. Father Marquette found some guns
rather for show than for use in the hands of the first Illinois party, west of the
Mississippi, which Father Membre did not visit. He also met a tribe coming
from the east to war on the Mississippi tribes, also supplied with firearms,
these Father Membr6 did not meet. As to the Arkansas, Marquette states that
he found among them. knives, axes, and beads, bought from other Indian tribes
on the east, and from the Illinois. Speaking of their trade, he makes no allusion to the Spaniards, although he must have supposed that the lower tribes
traded with either Florida or Mexico. It is somewhat strange that Father
Membre, who here seems to make light of Marquette's fear of being taken, and
held a prisoner by the Spaniards, should have escaped only by a bloody death
the detention to which the survivors of Fort St. Louis were subjected.




184:        NARRATVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
common way, following which I contented myself with announcing, as well as I could, the principal truths of Christianity to the nations I met. The Ilinois language served me
about a hundred leagues down the river, and I made the rest
understand by gestures and some term in their dialect which
I insensibly picked up; but I can not say that my little efforts produced certain fruits. With regard to these people,
perhaps, some one by a secret effect of grace, has profited;
God only knows. All we have done has been to see the state
of these tribes, and to open the way to the gospel and to missionaries; having baptized only two infants, whom I saw
struggling with death, and who, in fact, died in our presence.




A C C O U N T
ACCOUNT
OF
LA SALLE'S ATTEMPT TO REACH THE MISSISSIPPI BY SEA,
AND OF THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF A FRENCH COLONY IN ST. LOUIS BAY,
BY
FATHER CHRISTIAN IE CL ERCQ.
THE first design of the sieur de la Salle had been to find
the long-sought passage to the Pacific ocean, and although the river Colbert (Mississippi) does not lead to it, yet
this great man had so much talent and courage, that he hoped
to find'it, if it were possible, as he would have done, had God
spared his life.
The Ilinois territory, and vast countries around, being the
centre of his discovery, he spent there the winter, summer,
and beginning of autumn, 1683, in establishing his posts. He
at last left Monsieur de Tonty, as commandant and resolved
to return to France to render an account of his fulfilment of
the royal orders. He reached Quebec early in November,
and Rochelle, France, on the twenty-third of December.
His design was to go by sea to the mouth of the liver Col



186         NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLERCQ.
bert, and there found powerful colonies under the good pleasure of the king. These proposals* were favorably received
by Monsieur de Seignelay, minister and secretary of state,
and superintendent of commerce and navigation in France.
His majesty accepted them and condescended to favor the
undertaking not only by new powers and commissions, which
he conferred upon him, but also by the help of vessels, troops,
and money, which his royal liberality furnished him.
The first care of the sieur de la Salle, after being invested
with these powers, was to provide for the spiritual, to
advance especially the glory of God in this enterprise. He
turned to two different bodies of missionaries, in order to obtain men able to labor in the salvation of souls, and lay the
foundations of Christianity in this savage land. He accordingly applied to Monsieur Trongon, superior-general of the
clergymen of the seminary of St. Sulpice, who willingly took
part in the work of God, and appointed three of his ecclesiastics full of zeal, virtue, and capacity, to commence these
new missions. They were Monsieur Cavelier, brother of the
sieur de la Salle, Monsieur Chefdeville, his relative, and Monsieur de Maiulle,t all three priests.
As for nearly ten years the Recollects had endeavored to
second the designs of the sieur de la Salle for the glory of
God and the sanctification of souls throughout the vast countries of Louisiana, depending on him from Fort Frontenac,
and had accompanied him on his expeditions, in which our
Father Gabriel was killed, he made it an essential point to
take some one of our fathers to labor in concert to establish
the kingdom of God in these new countries. For this purpose, he applied to the Rev. Father Hyacinth le Febvre, who
* See M. de la Salle's Memoir in Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 25.
t Called by Joutel Dainmaville. See Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. i., p.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.     18T
had been twice provincial of our province of St. Anthony, in
Artois, and was then, for the second time, provincial of that
of St. Denis in France, who, wishing to second with all his
power the pious intentions of the sieur de la Salle, granted
him the religious he asked: namely, Father Zenobius
Membr6 superior of the mission, and Fathers Maximus Le
Clercq and Anastasius Douay, all three of our province of
St. Anthony, the first having been for four years the inseparable companion of the sieur de la Salle during his discovery
on land; the second had served for five years with great edification in Canada, especially in the mission of the seven
islands, and Anticosti. Father Dennis Morguet was added
as a fourth priest; but that religious finding himself extremely sick on the third day after embarking, he was obliged to
give up and return to his province.
The reverend father provincial had informed the Congregation de propaganda fide, of this mission, to obtain necessary authority for the exercise of our ministry; he received decrees
in due form, which we will place at the end of the chapter,
not to interrupt the reader's attention here.  His holiness
Innocent XI., added by an express brief, authentic powers,
and permissions in twenty-six articles, as the holy see is accustomed to grant to missionaries whose remoteness makes it
morally impossible to recur to the authority of the ordinary.
It was granted against the opposition of the bishop of Quebec,
Cardinal d'Estrees having shown that the distance from Quebec to the mouth of the river was more than eight or nine
hundred leagues by land.*
The hopes that were then justly founded on this famous expedition, induced many young gentlemen to join the sieur de
* Similar opposition compelled the first Jesuits in Louisiana to leave soon
after their arrival with Iberville.




188         NARRATIVE OF FATH'ER LE CLERCQ.
la Salle as volunteers; he chose twelve who seemed most
resolute; among them, the sieur de Morang6, and the sieur
Oavelier, his nephews, the latter only fourteen years of age.
The little fleet was fitted out at Rochelle, to be composed
of four vessels —the Joly, a royal ship, a frigate called the
Belle, a storeship called the Aimable, and a ketch called the
St. Francis. The royal vessel was commanded by Captain
de Beaujeu, a Norman gentleman known for valor and experience, and his meritorious services; his lieutenant was M. le
chevalier d'Aire, now captain in the navy, and son of the
dean of the parliament of Metz. The sieur de IIamel, a
young gentleman of Brouage, full of fire and courage, was
ensign. Would to God the troops and the rest of the crew
had been as well chosen! Those who were appointed, while
M. de la Salle was at Paris, picked up a hundred and fifty
soldiers, mere wretched beggars soliciting alms, many too deformed and unable to fire a musket. The sieur de la Salle
had also given orders at Rochelle to engage three or four
mechanics in each trade; the selection was, however, so bad,
that when they came to the destination, and they were set to
work, it was seen that they knew nothing at all. Eight or
ten families of very good people presented themselves, and
offered to go and begin the colonies. Their offer was accepted, and great advances made to them as well as to the
artisans and soldiers.
All being ready, they sailed on the 24th of July, 1684. A
storm which came on a few days later, obliged them to put
in at Chef-de-Bois to repair one of their masts broken in the
gale. They set sail again on the 1st of August, steering for
St. Domingo; but a second storm overtook them, and dispersed them on the fourteenth of September, the Aimable
and the Belle alone remaining together, reached Petit Goave




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   189
in St. Domingo, where they fortunately found the Joly. The
St. Francis being loaded with goods and effects, and unable
to follow the others, had put in at Port de Paix, whence she
sailed after the storm was over to join the fleet at the rendezvous; but as during the night, while quite calm, the captain
and crew thinking themselves in safety, were perfectly off
their guard, they were surprised by two Spanish periaguas,
which took the ketch.
This was the first mishap which befell the voyage; a disaster which caused universal consternation in the party, and
much grief to the sieur de la Salle, who was just recovering
from a dangerous malady, which had brought him to the verge
of the grave. They stayed, indeed, some time at St. Domingo, where they laid in provisions, a store of Indian corn,
and of all kinds of domestic animals to stock the new country. M. de St. Laurent, governor-general of the Isles, Begon,
intendant, and de Cussy, governor of St. Domingo, favored
them in every way, and even restored the reciprocal understanding so necessary to succeed in such undertakings; but
the soldiers, and most of the crew, having plunged into every
kind of debauchery and intemperance, so common in those
parts, were so ruined and contracted such dangerous disorders that some died in the island, and others never recovered.
The little fleet thus reduced to three vessels, weighed anchor November 25th, 1684, and pursued its way quite successfully along the Cayman isles, and passing by the Isle of
Peace (pines), after anchoring there a day to take in water,
reached Port San Antonio, on the island of Cuba, where the
three ships immediately anchored. The beauty and allurement of the spot, and its advantageous position, induced them
to stay and even land. For some unknown reason the Spaniards had abandoned their several kinds of provisions, and




190         NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLERCQ.
among the rest some Spanish wine, which they took, and
after two days' repose, left to continue the voyage to the gulf
of Mexico.
The sieur de la Salle, although very clear-headed, and not
easily mislead, had, however, too easily believed the advice
given him by some persons in St. Domingo; he discovered,
too late, that all the sailing directions given him were absolutely false; the fear of being injured by northerly winds, said
to be very frequent and dangerous at the entrance of the gulf,
made them twice lie to, but the discernment and courage of
the sieur de la Salle made them try the passage a third time,
and they entered happily on the 1st of January, 1685, when
Father Anastasius celebrated a solemn mass as a thanksgiving, after which, continuing the route, they arrived in fifteen
days in sight of the coast of Florida, when a violent wind
forced the Joly to stand off, the store-ship and frigate coasting
along, the sieur de la Salle being anxious to follow the shore.
He had been persuaded at St. Domingo, that the gulfstream ran with incredible rapidity toward the Bahama channel. This false advice set him entirely astray, for thinking
himself much further north than he was, he not only passed
Espiritu Santo bay (Appalachee) without recognising it, but
even followed the coast far beyond the river Colbert, and
would even have continued to follow it, had they not perceived by its turning south, and by the latitude, that they
were more than forty or fifty leagues from the mouth, the
more so, as the river, before emptying into the gulf, coasts
along the shore of the gulf to the west, and as longitude is
unknown to pilots, it proved that he had greatly passed his
parallel lines.
The vessels at last, in the middle of February, met at
Espiritu Santo bay, where there was an almost continual




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   191
roadstead. They resolved to return whence they came, and
advanced ten or twelve leagues to a bay which they called
St. Louis bay (St. Bernard). As provisions began to fail, the
soldiers had already landed, the sieur de la Salle explored
and sounded the bay which is a league broad, with a good
bottom.  He thought that it might be the right arm of
the river Colbert. He brought the frigate in without accident on the eighteenth of February; the channel is deep, so
deep.in fact, that even on the sand bar, which in a manner
bars the entrance, there are twelve or fifteen feet of water at
low tide,.
The sieur de la Salle having ordered the captain of the
store-ship not to enter without the pilot of the frigate, in
whom he put all confidence, to unload his cannon and
water into the boats to lighten his cargo, and lastly, to follow
exactly the channel staked out; none of his orders were executed, and the faithless man, in spite of the advice given
him by a sailor who was at the main-top, to keep off, drove
his vessel on the shoals where he touched and stranded, so
that it was impossible to get off.
La Salle was on the seashore when he saw this deplorable
maneuvre, and was embarking to remedy it, when he saw a
hundred or a hundred and twenty Indians come; he had to
put all under arms, the roll of the drum put the savages to
flight; he followed them, presented the calumet of peace, and
conducted them to their camp, regaled them, and even made
them presents; and the sieur de la Salle gained them so that
an alliance was made with them; they brought meat to the
camp the following days; he bought some of their canoes,
and there was every reason to expect much from this necessary union.
Misfortune would have it that a bale of blanketing from




192           NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE.
the wreck was thrown on shore; some days after a party
of Indians seized it, the sieur de la Salle ordered his men to
get it out of their hands peaceably; they did just the contrary; the commander presented his musket as if about to
fire; this so alarmed them, that they regarded us only as
enemies.   Provoked to fury they assembled on the night
of the 6th and 7th of March, and finding the sentinel
asleep, poured in a destructive volley of arrows. Our men
ran to arms, the noise of musketry put them to flight, after
they had killed on the spot the sieurs Oris and Desloge, two
cadets volunteers, and dangerously wounded the sieur de
Moranger, lieutenant and nephew of the sieur de la Salle, and
the sieur Gaien, a volunteer. The next day they killed two
more of our men, whom they found sleeping on the shore.
Meanwhile, the store-ship remained more than three weeks
at the place of its wreck, without going to pieces, but full of
water; they saved all they could in periaguas and boats,
when a calm allowed them to reach it. One day Father Zenobius having passed in a boat, it was dashed to pieces against
the vessel by a sudden gust of wind. All quickly got on
board, but the good father who remained last to save the rest,
would have been drowned had not a sailor thrown him a
rope, with which he drew himself up as he was sinking.
At last Monsieur de Beaujeu sailed in the Joly with all
his party on the twelfth of March, to return to France,* and
the sieur de la Salle having thrown up a house with planks
and pieces of timber to put his men and goods in safety, left
a hundred men under the command of the sieur de Moranger,
* Le Clereq it will be observed, is silent as to the misunderstanding between
La Salle and Beaujeu, which is mentioned by others, and borne out by letters of
the latter. To him must in no small degree be ascribed the failure of La Salle's
attempt. For the detail of their disagreement see Sparks's excellent life of La
Salle, and Joutel's journal in Historical Collection of Louisiana.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    19S
and set out with fifty others; the sieur Cavelier and fathers
Zenobius and Maximus intending to seek at the extremity of
the bay, the mouth of the river, and a proper place to fix his
colony.
The captain of the frigate had orders to sound the bay in
boats, and to bring his vessel in as far as he could; he followed twelve leagues along the coast, which runs from southeast to northwest, and anchored opposite a point to which the
sieur Hurier gave his name; he was appointed commander
there; this post serving as a station between the naval camp,
and the one the sieur de la Salle went, on the second of April,
to form at the extremity of the bay, two leagues up a beautiful river called Cow river, from the great number of those
wild animals, they found there. Our people were attacked
there by a party of Indians, but repulsed them.
On the twenty-first, holy Saturday, the sieur de la Salle
came to the naval camp, where the next day and the three
following, those great festivals were celebrated with all possible solemnity, each one receiving his Creator. The following days all the effects, and generally all that could be of
service to the camp of the sieur de la Salle, were transferred
from those of the sieurs de Moranger and Hurier, which
were destroyed. For a month the sieur de la Salle made
them work in cultivating the ground; but neither the grain
nor the vegetables sprouted, either because they were damaged by the salt water, or because, as was afterward remarked, it was not the right season. The fort which was
built in an advantageous position, was soon in a state of defence, furnished with twelve pieces of cannon, and a magazine under ground, for fear of fire, in which all the effects were
safely deposited. The maladies which the soldiers had contracted at St. Domingo, were visibly carrying them off, and
13




194         NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLERCQ.
a hundred died in a few days, notwithstanding all the relief
afforded by broths, preserves, treacle, and wine, which were
given them.
On the 9th of August, 1685, three of our Frenchmen being
at the chase which is plentiful in these parts, in all kinds of
game and deer, were surrounded by several troops of armed
savages, but our men putting themselves on the defensive,
first killed the chief and scalped him; this spectacle terrified
and scattered the enemy, who nevertheless, some time after,
surprised and killed one of our Frenchmen.
On the thirteenth of October, the sieur de la Salle seeing
himself constantly insulted by the savages, and wishing,
moreover, to have some of their canoes by force or consent,
as he could not do without them, resolved to make open war
on them in order to bring them to an advantageous peace.
He set out with sixty men armed with wooden corslets to
protect them against arrows, and arrived where they had
gathered; in different engagements by day and night, he
put some to flight, wounded several, killed some; others were
taken, among the rest some children, one of whom a girl
three or four years old was baptized and died some days
after, as the first fruits of this mission, and a sure conquest
sent to heaven. The colonists now built houses, and formed
fields by clearing the ground, the grain sowed succeeding
better than the first. They crossed to the other side of the
bay in canoes, and found on a large river a plentiful chase,
especially of cattle and turkeys. In the fort they raised all
kinds of domestic animals, cows, hogs, and poultry, which
multiplied greatly. Lastly, the execution done among the
Indians had rendered the little colony somewhat more secure, when a new misfortune succeeded all the preceding.
The sieur de la Salle had ordered the captain of the frigate




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    195
to sound the bay carefully as he advanced, and to recall all
his men on board at nightfall; but this captain and six
of his strongest, stoutest, and ablest men, charmed with the
agreeableness of the season, and the beauty of the country,
left their canoe and arms on the sand at low-water, and advanced a gun shot on the plain to be dry; here they fell
asleep, and an Indian party espying them, surprised them,
aided by their sleep and the darkness, massacred them
cruelly, and destroyed their arms and canoe. This tragical
adventure produced the greatest consternation in the camp.
After rendering the last honors to the murdered men, the
sieur de la Salle leaving provisions for six months, set out
with twenty men and his brother, the sieur Cavelier, to seek
the mouth of the river (Mississippi) by land. The bay which
he discovered to be in latitude 270 45' N., is the outlet of a
great number of rivers, none of which, however, seemed large
enough to be an arm of the river Colbert. The sieur de la
Salle explored them in hope that a part of these rivers was
formed further up by one of the branches of the said river;
or, at least, that by traversing the country to some distance,
he would make out the course of the Missisipi. He was
longer absent than he had expected, being compelled to
make rafts to cross the rivers, and to intrench himself every
night to protect himself against attacks. The continual rains
too, formed ravines, and destroyed the roads. At last, on
the 13th of February, 1686, he thought that he had found
the river; he fortified himself there, left a part of his men,
and with nine others continued to explore a most beautiful
country, traversing a number of villages and nations, who
treated him very kindly; at last, returning to find his people,
he arrived at the general camp, on the 31st of May, charmed
with the beauty and fertility of the fields, the incredible




196         NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLEROQ.
quantity of game of every kind, and the numerous tribes he
had met on the way.
The Almighty was preparing him a still more sensible trial
than the preceding, in the loss of the frigate, his only remaining vessel in which he hoped to coast along, and then
pass to St. Domingo, to send news to France, and obtain
new succor. This sad accident happened from want of precaution on the part of the pilot. All the goods were lost irrecoverably; the vessel struck on the shore, the sailors were
drowned; the sieur de Chefdeville, the captain, and four
others, with difficulty, escaped in a canoe which they found
almost miraculously on the shore. They lost thirty-six barrels of flour, a quantity of wine, the trunks, clothes, linen,
equipage, and most of the tools. We leave the reader to imagine the grief and affliction felt by the sieur de la Salle at
an accident which completely ruined all his measures. His
great courage even could not have borne him up, had not
God aided his virtue by the help of extraordinary grace.
All these measures being thus disconcerted, and his affairs
brought to extremes, he resolved to try to reach Canada by
land; he returned some time after, and undertook a second
in which he lost his life by the cruelty of his men, some of
whom remaining faithful, continued their route and reached
France, among the rest Father Anastasius Douay. Although
the detail of his remarks was lost in his many wrecks, the
following is an abridgment of what he could gather from
them, with which, perhaps, the reader will be better pleased
than if I gave it in my own style.




NARRATIVE
OF
LA SALLE'S ATTEMPT TO ASCEND THE MISSISSIPPI IN 1687,
BY
FATHER ANASTASIUS DO UA Y, RECOLLECT.*
THE sieur de la Salle seeing no other resource for his affairs, but to go by land to the Ilinois, to be able to give
in France, tidings of his disasters, chose twenty of his best
men, including Nika, one of our Shawnee Indians, who had
constantly attended him from Canada to France, and from
France to Mexico; Monsieur Cavelier, the sieur de Moranget
and I also joined them for this great journey, for which we
made no preparation but four pounds of powder, and four of
lead, two axes, two dozen knives, as many awls, some beads,
and two kettles. After celebrating the divine mysteries in
* Of Father Anastasius Douay we know little; Hennepin makes him a native
of Quesnoy, in Hainault. He had never been in America before, but after being
connected with La Salle's expedition, from 1684 to 1688, he reached France, as
we shall see, in safety. He was, says Hennepin, vicar of the Recollects of Cambray, in 1697. Certain it is that he subsequently revisited America in 1699, with
Iberville, but we can trace him no further. A man of observation and ability,
he seems to have been quite sweeping in his charges, as we shall observe in the
course of his narrative. The only point against him besides this, which was an
excess of party feeling, was his share in the deception practised on Tonty.




198          NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY.
the chapel of the fort, and invoking together the help of
Heaven, we set out on the 22d of April, 1686, in a northeasterly direction.
On the third day we perceived in some of the finest plains
in the world a number of people, some on foot, others on
horseback; these came galloping toward us, booted and spurred, and seated on saddles. They invited us to their town,
but as they were six leagues to the northwest, out of our
route, we thanked them, after learning in conversation, that
they had intercourse with the Spaniards. Continuing our
march the rest of the day, we cabined at night in a little intrenched stockade fort, to be beyond reach of insult; this we
always after practised with good results.
Setting out the next morning, we marched for two days
through continual prairies to the river which we called Robek, meeting everywhere so prodigious a quantity of Cibola,
or wild cattle, that the smallest herds seemed to us to contain two or three hundred. We killed nine or ten in a moment, and dried a part of the meat so as not to have to stop
for five or six days. A league and a half further we met another and finer river, wider and deeper than the Seine at
Paris, skirted by some of the finest trees in the world, set as
regularly as though they had been planted by man. Among
them were many mulberry and other fruit trees. On one
side were prairies, on the other woods. We passed it on
rafts, and called it La Maligne.
Passing through this beautiful country, its delightful fields,
and prairies skirted with vines, fruit-trees, and groves, we,
a few days after, reached a river which we called Hiens,
after a German from Witternburg, who got so fast in the mud
that he could scarcely get out. One of our men, with an axe
on his back, swam over to the other side, a second followed




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   199
at once; they then cut down the largest trees, while others on
our side did the same. These trees were cut so as to fall on
each side into the river, where meeting, they formed a kind
of bridge on which we easily passed. This invention we had
recourse to more than thirty times in our journeys, finding it
surer than the Cajeu, which is a kind of raft formed of many
pieces, and branches tied together, on which we passed over,
guiding it by a pole.
Here the sieur de la Salle changed his route from northeast
to east, for reasons which he did not tell us, and which we
could never discover.
After several days' march, in a pretty fine country, crossing
ravines on rafts, we entered a much more agreeable and perfectly delightful territory, where we found a very numerous
tribe who received us with all possible friendship, even the
women coming to embrace our men. They made us sit
down on well-made mats, at the upper end, near the chiefs,
who presented us the calumet adorned with feathers of every
hue, which we had to smoke in turn. They served up to us
among other things a sagamity, made of a kind of root called
Toque, or Toquo. It is a shrub, like a kind of bramble without thorns, and has a very large root, which they wash and
dry perfectly, after which it is pounded and reduced to powder in a mortar. The sagamity has a good taste, though
astringent.  These Indians presented us with some cattleskins, very neatly dressed, to make shoes; we gave them in
exchange beads, which they esteem highly. During our stay
the sieur de la Salle so won them by his manners, and insinuated so much of the glory of our king, telling them that he
was greater and higher than the sun, that they were all ravished with astonishment.
The sieur Cavelier and I endeavored here, as everywhere




200          NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOTAY.
else, to give them some first knowledge of the true God. This
nation is call Biskatronge, but we called them the nation of
weepers,* and gave their beautiful river the same name, because at our arrival and entrance, they all began to weep bitterly for a good quarter of an hour. It is their custom when
they see any who come from afar, because it reminds them
of their deceased relatives whom they suppose on a long journey, from which they await their return. These good people,
in conclusion, gave us guides, and we passed their river in
their periaguas.
We crossed three or four others the following days, without
any incident of note, except that our Shawnee, firing at a
deer pretty near a large village, so terrified them all by the
report that they took to flight. The sieur de la Salle put all
under arms to enter the village, which consisted of three
hundred cabins. We entered the largest, that of the chief,
where we found his wife still, unable to fly from old age.
The sieur de la Salle made her understand that we came as
friends; three of her sons, brave warriors, observed at a distance what passed, and seeing us to be friendly, recalled all
their people. We treated of peace, and the calumet was
danced till evening, when the sieur de la Salle, not trusting
them overmuch, went and encamped beyond the canes, so
that, if the Indians approached by night, the noise of the
canes would prevent our being surprised.
This showed his discernment and prudence, for during the
night a band of warriors, armed with arrows, approached;
but the sieur de la Salle, without leaving his intrenchment,
threatened to thunder his guns; and in a word spoke so
bold and firmly, that he obliged them to draw off. After
* Cabeza de Vaca from the same circumstance gives a similar name to a tribe
in that quarter.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    201
their retreat the night passed off quietly, and the next day
after reciprocal marks of friendship, apparent at least on the
side of the Indians, we pursued our route to five or six
leagues beyond. Here we were agreeably surprised to find
a party of Indians come out to meet us, with ears of corn in
their hands, and a polished, honest air. They embraced us,
inviting us most pressingly to go and visit their villages; the
sieur de la Salle seeing their sincerity, agreed. Among other
things these Indians told us that they knew whites toward the
west, a cruel, wicked nation, who depeopled the country
around them. (These were the Spaniards.) We told them
that we were at war with that people; when the news of this
spread through the village called that of the Kironas, all vied
with each other in welcoming us, pressing us to stay, and go
to war with the Spaniards of Mexico. We put them off with
fair words, and made a strict alliance with them, promising
to return with more numerous troops; then after many feasts
and presents, they carried us over the river in periaguas.
As we constantly held on our way to the east, through
beautiful prairies, a misfortune befell us after three days'
march. Our Indian hunter Nika suddenly cried out with all
his might, "I am dead!" We ran up and learned that he
had been cruelly bitten by a snake; this accident stopped
us for several days. We gave him some orvietan, and applied viper's salt on the wound after scarifying it to let out
the poison and tainted blood; he was at last saved.
Some days after we had many other alarms. Having
reached a large and rapid river, which we were told ran to
the sea, and which we called Misfortune* river, we made a
raft to cross; the sieur de la Salle and Cavelier with a part
* This river differs from the Maligne, and is supposed to be the Colorado
of Texas.




202            NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY.
of our people got on; but scarcely had they got into the current, when by its violence it carried them off with incredible
rapidity, so that they disappeared almost instantly. I remained ashore with a part of our men: our hunter was absent,
having been lost for some days. It was a moment of extreme
anguish for us all, who despaired of ever again seeing our
guardian-angel, the sieur de la Salle. God vouchsafed to inspire me constantly with courage, and I cheered up those
who remained as well as I could. The whole day was spentin tears and weeping, when at nightfall we saw on the opposite brink La Salle with all his party. We now learned that
by an interposition of Providence, the raft had been stopped
by a large tree floating in the middle of the river. This gave
them a chance to make an effort and get out of the current,
which would otherwise have carried them out to sea. One
of his men sprang into the water to catch the branch of a tree,
and then was unable to get back to the raft. He was a Breton named Rut; but he soon after appeared on our side,
having swam ashore.
The night was spent in anxiety, thinking how we should
find means to pass to the other side to join the sieur de la
Salle. We had not eaten all day, but Providence provided
for us by letting two eaglets fall from a cedar-tree; we were
ten at this meal.
The next day we had to pass; the sieur de la Salle advised
us to make a raft of canes; the sieur Moranget and I, with
three others, led the way, not without danger, for we went
under every moment, and I was obliged to put our breviary
in our* cowl, because it got wet in the sleeve. The sieur
* The Franciscans were founded at a time when commerce was taking gigantic steps, and men all became inflamed with desires of rapidly acquiring wealth.
St. Francis arose to counteract this spirit so fatal to real Christianity in the
heart. Example is the easiest mode of teaching, and his poor friars rejecting




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    203
de la Salle sent two men to swim out and help us push the
canes on, and they brought us safely in. Those who remained on the other side did not at all like risking it, but
they had to do it at last, on our making show of packing up
and continuing our march without them; they then crossed
at less hazard than we.
The whole troop except the hunter being now assembled,
we for two days traversed a thick cane-brake, the sieur de
la Salle cutting his way with two axes, and the others in like
manner to break the canes. At last, on the third day, our
hunter Nika came in loaded with three dried deer, and another just killed. The sieur de la Salle ordered a discharge
of several guns to show our joy.
Still marching east, we entered countries still finer than
those we had passed, and found tribes that had nothing barbarous but the name; among others we met a very honest
Indian returning from the chase with his wife and family.
He presented the sieur de la Salle with one of his horses and
some meat, invited him and all his party to his cabin; and to
induce us, left his wife, family, and game, as a pledge, while
he hastened to the village to announce our coming. Our
hunter and a servant of the sieur de la Salle accompanied
him, so that two days after they returned to us with two
horses loaded with provisions, and several chiefs followed by
warriors very neatly attired in dressed skins adorned with
feathers. They came on bearing the calumet ceremoniously,
and met us three leagues from the village; the sieur de la
Salle was received as if in triumph, and lodged in the great
chief's cabin. There was a great concourse of people; the
young men being drawn out and under arms, relieving one
the word mine, showed in their whole deportment that contempt of wealth and
property, which seemed a comment on the words, "Blessed are the poor in
spirit."




204          NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY.
another night and day, and besides loading us with presents
and all kinds of provisions. Nevertheless, the sieur de la
Salle fearing lest some of his party might go after the women,
encamped three leagues from the village. Here we remained
three or four days, and bought horses and all that we needed.
This village, that of the Ccenis, is one of the largest and
most populous that I have seen in America. It is, at least,
twenty leagues long, not that it is constantly inhabited, but
in hamlets of ten or twelve cabins, forming cantons each with
a different name. Their cabins are fine, forty or fifty feet
high, of the shape of bee-hives. Trees are planted in the
ground, and united above by the branches, which are covered with grass. The beds are ranged around the cabin,
three or four feet from the ground; the fire is in the middle,
each cabin holding two families.
We found among the Co3nis many things which undoubtedly came from the Spaniards, such as dollars, and other
pieces of money, silver spoons, lace of every kind, clothes and
horses. We saw, among other things, a bull from Rome, exempting the Spaniards in Mexico from fasting during summer. Horses are common, they gave them to us for an axe;
one Coenis offered me one for our cowl, to which he took a
fancy.
They have intercourse with the Spaniards through the
Chouimans, their allies, who are always at war with New
Spain. The sieur de la Salle made them draw on bark a
map of their country, of that of their neighbors, and of the
river Colbert, or Mississippi, with which they are acquainted.
They reckoned themselves six days' journey from the Spaniards, of whom they gave us so natural a description, that we
no longer had any doubts on the point, although the Spaniards had not yet undertaken to come to their villages, their




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   205
warriors merely joining the Choiimans to go war on New
Mexico. The sieur de la Salle, who perfectly understood the
art of gaining the Indians of all nations, filled these with admiration at every, moment.  Among other things he told
them, that the chief of the French was the greatest chief in
the world, as high as the sun, and as far above the Spaniard
as the sun is above the earth. On his recounting the victories of our monarch, they burst into exclamations, putting
their hand on their mouth as a mark of astonishment. I
found them very docile and tractable, and they seized well
enough what we told them of the truth of a God.
There were then some Choiimans embassadors among
them, who came to visit us; I was agreeably surprised to see
them make the sign of the cross, kneel, clasp their hands,
raise them from time to time to heaven. They also kissed
my habit, and gave me to understand that men dressed like
us instructed tribes in their vicinity, who were only two days'
march from the Spaniards, where our religious had large
churches, in which all assembled to pray. They expressed
very naturally the ceremonies of mass, one of them sketched
me a painting that he had seen of a great lady, who was
weeping because her son was upon a cross. He told us that
the Spaniards butchered the Indians cruelly, and finally that
if we would go with them, or give them guns, they could
easily conquer them, because they were a cowardly race, who
had no courage, and made people walk before them with a
fan to refresh them in hot weather.
After remaining here four or five days to recruit, we pursued our route through the Nassonis, crossing a large river
which intersects the great Ccenis village. These two nations
are allies, and have nearly the same character and customs.
Four or five leagues from there, we had the mortification




206           NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY.
to see that four of our men had deserted under cover of night,
and retired to the Nassonis; and, to complete our chagrin,
the sieur de la Salle and his nephew, the sieur de Moranget,
were attacked with a violent fever, which brought them to
extremity. Their illness was long, and obliged us to make a
long stay at this place, for when the fever, after frequent relapses, left them at last, they required a long time to recover
entirely.
The length of this sickness disconcerted all our measures,
and was eventually the cause of the last misfortunes which
befell us. It kept us back more than two months, during
which we had to live as we could; our powder began to run
out; we had not advanced more than a hundred and fifty
leagues in a straight line, and some of our people had deserted. In so distressing a crisis the sieur de la Salle resolved to retrace his steps to Fort Louis; all agreed and we
straightway resumed our route, during which nothing happened worth note; but that, as we repassed the Maligne, one
of our men was carried off with his raft by a crocodile of
prodigious length and bulk.
After a good month's march, in which our horses did us
good service, we reached the camp on the 17th of October, in
the same year, 1686, where we were welcomed with all imaginable cordiality; but, after all, with feelings tinged alike
with joy and sadness, as each related the tragical adventures
which had befallen both since we had parted.
It would be difficult to find in history courage more intrepid or more invincible than that of the sieur de la Salle; in
adversity he was never cast down, and always hoped with
the help of Heaven to succeed in his enterprises, despite all
the obstacles that rose against it.
He remained two months and a half at Saint Louis bay,




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    207
and we visited together all the rivers which empty into it.
To my own knowledge, I am sure that there are more than
fifty, all navigable, coming from the west and northwest; the
place where the fort stands is somewhat sandy; everywhere
else the ground is good. On every side we saw prairies on
which the grass is, at all seasons of the year, higher than
wheat with us. Every two or three leagues is a river skirted
with oaks, thorn, mulberry, and other trees. This kind of
country is uniform till within two days' march of the Spaniards.
The fort is built on a little eminence which runs north and
south; it has the sea on the southwest, vast prairies to the
west, and on the southwest two small lakes, and woods a
league in circuit; a river flows at its foot. The neighboring
nations are the Quoaquis, who'raise Indian corn, and have
horses cheap, the Bahamos, and the Quinets, wandering tribes
with whom we are at war. During this time, the sieur de la
Salle forgot nothing to console his little infant colony, in
which the families began to increase by births. He advanced
greatly the clearing of land, and the erection of buildings;
the sieur de Chefdeville, priest, the sieur Cavelier, and we
three Recollects, laboring in concert for the edification of the
French, and of some Indian families who withdrew from the
neighboring nations to join us. During all this time the sieur
de la Salle did his utmost to render the Indians less hostile;
peace with them being of the utmost consequence for the establishment of the colony.
At last Monsieur de la Salle resolved to resume his Ilinois
voyage, so necessary for his plans; he made an address full
of eloquence, with that engaging way so natural to him; the
whole colony was present, and were almost moved to tears,
persuaded of the necessity of his voyage, and the uprightness




208               NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY.
of his intentions.   Would to God that all had persevered in
these sentiments!     Ie completed the fortification of a great
enclosure, encircling all the habitations and the fort, after
which he chose twenty men, the sieur Cavelier, his brother,
the sieurs Moranget and        Cavelier, his nephews, with        the
sieur Joutel,*  pilot and myself.     After public prayers we set
out on the 7th of January, 1687.t
* Joutel was not in the previous excursion of the Cenis, of which the missionary's is the only account.
f The fate of the party left in the fort is involved in some obscurity; it is certain that they were killed by the Indians. The period of this disaster seems to
have been some time after La Salle's departure. The Spanish account of the
fate of La Salle's colony in Texas, from  the Ensayo Cronologico of Barcia
(p. 294), is as follows:In the month of January, 1689, Don Alonso de Leon set out from the province of
Quaguila (Coahuila), with some horses, marching north of the sea, crossing great
mountains, and the river which runs near Valladolid, and those of Sauceda, Nasas,
Salinas, the river Florido, and others, to Caovil, a Spanish town in New Mexico,
which is also called Calhuila; he then turned to his right, and crossing the Rio
Bravo (which is also called Del Norte, or Rio Verde, and rises in the lake of the
Canibas) below Fort St. John, he entered the province of the Quelanhubeches
and Bahamos Indians, and in the interior of the country, came in his opinion to
the bay, called St. Bernard's; it had many estuaries and several large rivers
flowed into it. The French called it St. Louis Bay. He arrived at the fort which
Robert de la Salle had built with palisades, and ship timbers: he reconnoitred
it, and found nothing there but the dead bodies of some foreigners, inside and
outside the fort, killed by arrows and blows, and eighteen iron cannon on navy
gun carriages.
The destruction he witnessed excited his greatest compassion, and, as the
novelty of Don Alonso's squadron had congregated many Indians, he asked them
the motive of that deed, but the Indians, who had perpetrated it, pretended not
to understand his signs, and showed by others that, if any one knew the whole
matter, it would be five companions of the deceased, who were sick, in the
province of the Tejas, a hundred leagues distant; that they would go and inform
them; and. although Don Alonso ascertained that the Indians of the neighborhood had conspired and put to death all the French, reserving only two children,
burning the powder, destroying the arms, and carrying off all they could, and
then celebrating the victory in all their towns with great feastings and dances
they constantly denied having any hand in the slaughter.
Such was the end of Fort St. Louis, which cost the unhappy Robert de la Salle
so much toil and anxiety. Don Alonso could not then ascertain whether there
had been any motive for this cruelty, beyond the hatred of the Indians, or whether the French had given any cause; nor did he deem it prudent to examine the




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.               209
The very first day we met an army of Bahamos going to
war with the Erigoanna; the sieur de la Salle made an alIndians more closely, as he saw by their looks that, were he not accompanied by
so well-appointed and well-armed a body of cavalry, prepared to meet them,
they would have closed the tragedy with the Spaniards.
At the close of May Tonty knew it, being then one day's march from the
Palaquesones: he states that the French of Fort St. Louis, being unable to keep
together, had either mixed with the Indians, or started for French posts, and that,
without examining further, he returned to Illinois.
In order to deliver the five Frenchmen whq were among the Tejas, Don Alonso
accepted the proposal made to inform them. He accordingly wrote to them in
French, by means of an interpreter, telling them, with many kind expressions,
that, having heard of the shipwreck, and peril of their companions, he had come
by order of the viceroy of New Spain, to deliver them from the slavery of those
savages, and save their lives; that he regretted extremely his having known the
misfortune of their companions so late, as to have been unable to come more
speedily, and prevent the murders which the Indians had perpetrated on them;
that if they chose to come to him, he would free them, and treat them as became
a Christian and a gentleman.
Four Indians carried this letter, and during the few days that it took them to
return, Don Alonso ordered the French to be buried; this the Spaniards did,
weeping over this catastrophe, and misfortune, and praying most earnestly for
the salvation of their souls. This shows how ill-informed he was, who edited
Joutel's account of La Salle's voyage, when he says, at the end, that when La
Salle's death was known by the Spaniards, they sent a party who carried
off the garrison of Fort St. Louis, and then put them to death, thus defrauding
Don Alonso and his soldiers of the meed their piety deserved, by so ungrateful
and notorious a falsehood.
The Indians arrived, with letter, in the province where the five Frenchmen
were; when they had read it, their opinions as to it were divided. Three said
that they could not believe that the Indians had killed their companions, and
destroyed the fort; that it must have been the Spaniards, who now called them
to do the same with them. "For why," they added, "can we expect a better
fate, did we come into this country to do them any good? If they do not treat
us as usurpers of territories they have occupied this many years, for having
come now, without any ground, to despoil them and excite the Indians, by peace
and war, against them, endeavoring to make them out horrible and abominable,
by pretending cruelties, inventing tyrannies, and describing slaughters that
never took place, at least they will treat us as robbers and pirates."
James Grollet, and John Larcheveque, of Bordeaux, endeavored to moderate
their comrades' fears, saying that, "if the Spaniards had killed the French, the
Indians of the country put to flight will relate the story, and will not confirm
the bearers of the letter, and its contents; that they did not, and could not have
anything to do with usurpation of countries, nor piracies, as a body of soldiers
coming with their officers, would always go where their king sends them, and
that the greatest evil would be, that they would be sent prisoners to Mexico.
14




210               NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY.
liance with them.      He wished also to treat with the Quinets,
who fled at our approach; but having            overtaken    them   by
means of our horses, we treated          them   so kindly that they
promised an inviolable peace.
The fourth day, three leagues further to the northeast, we
came to the first Cane river. Our route lay through prairies,
with scattered groves; the soil is so good that the grass grows
ten 1   twelve feet high.     There are on this river many popuious villages; we visited only the Quaras and the Anachoremas.
In  the same direction, three leagues further, we came to
the second Cane river, inhabited by different tribes; here
we found fields of hemp.
And how much better," said they, "live among Christians, even as slaves, than
among these savages, exposed to the whim of their cruelty, and risking, or abandoning their salvation. If we were to invite the Spaniards, and they came under
assurance of life, would we butcher them, without their giving fresh cause for
their destruction? No. Why then should we presume that their feelings will
be unlike ours?" Finding, however, that the more they argued, the more
obstinate the others became, Grollet and Larcheveque came with the four Indians
without any suspicion.
They all reached Don Alonso, who ordered the Indians to be rewarded for
their diligence, and the two Frenchmen to be supplied with necessary food and
clothing. Following his instructions, he questioned them on different points, and
taking them into his company, returned to Quaguila by May without meeting
any accident on the way.
He informed the viceroy of all that he had seen, observed, or discovered, and
sent him Grollet and Larcheveque, directing those who conducted them to treat
them well. They arrived and delivered the viceroy the letters of Don Alonso.
Before interrogating the Frenchmen at all, he summoned Don Andres de Pes, as
a person so well informed in the matter, and then, in the presence of both the
Frenchmen, stated La Salle's voyage in search of the mouth of the river Mississippi, his landing in St. Bernard's Bay, the building of the fort, the reason of
their being among the Tejas, and other matters.
By the letters and statements made by Don Alonso, and the information elsewhere acquired, they saw the great injury to be done to New Spain by this
project of the French, already, though unsuccessfully, attempted. The viceroy
aslred Don Andres de Pes to go to Spain, to represent the danger, and the great
advantage of fortifying Pensacola. Don Andres, having obtained the necessary
instructions, set out with the two Frenchmen, and embarking at Vera Cruz,
reached Cadiz safely on the 9tlh of December.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   211
Five leagues further, we passed the Sandy river, so called
from the sandy strip along it, though all the rest is good land
and vast prairies.
We marched seven or eight leagues to Robec river, passing
through prairies, and over three or four rivers, a league from
one another. Robec river has many populous villages, where
the people have a language so guttural, that it would require
a long time to form ourselves to it. They are at war with the
Spaniards, and pressed us earnestly to join their warriors;
but there was no hope of keeping us. We stayed, however,
five or six days with them, endeavoring to gain them by presents and Christian instruction, a thing they do not get from
the Spaniards.
Continuing our route, we crossed great prairies to the Maligne. This deep river, where one of our men had been devoured by a crocodile, comes from a great distance, and is
inhabited by forty populous villages, which compose a nation
called the Quanoatinno; they make war on the Spaniards,
and lord it over the neighboring tribes. We visited some of
these villages; they are a good people, but always savage,
the cruelty of the Spaniards rendering them still more fierce.
As they found us -of a more tractable nature, they were
charmed with our nation; but after these mutual presents,
we had to part. They gave us horses cheap, and carried us
over their river in hide canoes.
In the same direction, after four leagues of similar land,
extremely fertile, we crossed Hiens river on rafts; then turning north-northeast, we had to cross a number of little rivers
and ravines, navigable in winter and spring. The land is diversified with prairies, hills, and numerous springs. Here we
* Joutl says they merely heard of the Canohatino, and calls them afterward
enemies of the Cenis.




212           NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUJAY.
found three large villages, the Taraha, Tyakappan, and
Palona, who have horses. Some leagues further on, we came
to the Palaquesson* composed of ten villages, allies of the
Spaniards.
After having passed these nations, the most disheartening
of all our misfortunes overtook us. It was the murder of
Monsieur de la Salle, of the. sieur de Moranget, and of some
others. Our prudent commander finding himself in a country full of game, after all the party had recruited and lived
for several days on every kind of good meat, sent the sieur
Moranget, his lackey Saget, and seven or eight of his people,
to a place where our hunter, the Shawnee Nika, had left a
quantity of buffalo meat (bceuf) to dry, so as not to be
obliged to stop so often to hunt.
The wisdom of Monsieur de la Salle had not been able to
foresee the plot which some of his people would make to
slay his nephew, as they suddenly resolved to do, and actually did on the 17th of March, by a blow of an axe, dealt by
one whom charity does not permit me to name (Liotot). They
also killed the valet of the sieur de la Salle, and the Indian
Nika, who, at the risk of his life, had supported them for
more than three years. The sieur de Moranget lingered for
about two hours, giving every mark of a death precious in
the sight of God, pardoning his murderers, and embracing
them; and making acts of sorrow and contrition, as they
themselves assured us, after they recovered from their unhappy blindness. He was a perfectly honest man, and a good
Christian, confessing every week or fortnight on our march.
I have every reason to hope that God has shown him mercy.
The wretches resolved not to stop here; and not satisfied
* According to Joutel, Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 147. Palaquechaune
was an Indian, whose tribe were allies of the Cenis, and who knew the Choumans, the friends of the Spaniards.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   213
with this murder, formed a design of attempting their commander's life, as they had reason to fear his resentment and
chastisement. We were full two leagues off; the sieur de la
Salle, troubled at the delay of the sieur de Moranget and his
people, from whom he had been separated now for two or
three days, began to fear that they had been surprised by the
Indians. Asking me to accompany him, he took two Indians
and set out. All the way he conversed with me. of matters
of piety, grace, and predestination; expatiating on all his obligations to God for having saved him from so many dangers
during the last twenty years that he had traversed America.
He seemed to me peculiarly penetrated with a sense of God's
benefits to him. Suddenly I saw him plunged into a deep
melancholy, for which he himself could not account; he was
so troubled that I did not know him any longer; as this state
was far from being usual, I roused him from his lethargy.
Two leagues after we found the bloody cravat of his lackey;
he perceived two eagles flying over his head, and at the same
time discovered some of his people on the edge of the river,
which he approached, asking them what had become of his
nephew. They answered us in broken words, showing us
where we should find him. We proceeded some steps along
the bank to the fatal spot, where two of these murderers were
hidden in the grass, one on each side with guns cocked; one
missed Monsieur de la Salle, the one firing at the same time
shot him in the head; he died an hour after, on the 19th of
March, 1687.
I expected the same fate, but this danger did not occupy my thoughts, penetrated with grief at so cruel a spectacle, I saw him fall a step from me, with his face all full of
blood; I watered it with my tears, exhorting him, to the best
of my power, to die well. He had confessed and fulfilled his




214           NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOOUAY.
devotions just before we started; he had still time to recapitulate a part of his life, and I gave him absolution. Daring
his last moments he elicited all the acts of a good Christian,
grasping my hand at every word I suggested, and especially
at that of pardoning his enemies. Meanwhile his murderers,
as much alarmed as I, began to strike their breasts, and detest their blindness. I could not leave the spot when he had
expired without having buried him as well as I could, after
which I raised a cross over his grave.*
Thus died our wise commander, constant in adversity, intrepid, generous, engaging, dexterous, skilful, capable of
everything. He who for twenty years had softened the fierce
temper of countless savage tribes, was massacred by the
hands of his own domestics, whom he had loaded with caresses. He died in the prime of life, in the midst of his course
and labors, without having seen their success.
Occupied with these thoughts, which he had himself a
thousand times suggested to us, while relating the events of
the new discoveries, I unceasingly adored the inscrutable designs of God in this conduct of his providence, uncertain still
what fate he reserved for us, as our desperadoes plotted nothing less than our destruction. We at last entered the place
where Monsieur Cavelier was; the assassins entered the cabin
unceremoniously, and seized all that was there. I had arrived a moment before them; I had no need to speak, for as
soon as he beheld my countenance all bathed in tears, the
sieur Cavelier exclaimed aloud, "Ah! my poor brother is
dead!"  This holy ecclesiastic, whose virtue has been so
often tried in the apostolic labors of Canada, fell at once on
his knees, his nephew, the sieur Cavelier, myself, and some
* This and the circumstances of Moranget's death, are denied by Joutel in
Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. i




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   215
others did the same, to prepare to die the same death, but
the wretches touched,by some sentiments of compassion at
the sight of the venerable old man, and besides half penitent
for the murders they had committed, resolved to spare us, on
condition that we should never return to France; but as they
were still undecided, and many of them wished to return
home, we heard them often say, that they must get rid of us;
that otherwise we would accuse them before the tribunals, if
we once had them in the kingdom.
They elected as chief the murderer of the sieur de la Salle
(Duhaut), and, at last, after many deliberations, resolved to
push on to that famous nation of the Ccenis. Accordingly,
after marching together for several days, crossing rivers and
rivers, everywhere treated by these wretches as servants,
having nothing but what they left, we reached the tribe without accident.
Meanwhile the justice of God accomplished the punishment of these men, in default of human justice. Jealousy
and desire of command arose between Hiens and the sieur de
la Salle's murderer; each one of the guilty band sided on
one side or the other. We had passed the Coenis, after some
stay there, and were already at the Nassonis, where the four
deserters, whom I mentioned in the first expedition, rejoined
us. On the eve of Ascension seeing all together, and our
wretches resolved to kill each other, I made them an exhortation on the festival, at which they seemed affected, and resolved to confess; but this did not last. Those who most regretted the murder of their commander and leader, had sided
with Hiens who, seizing his opportunity two days' after,
sought to punish crime by crime. In our presence he shot
the murderer of La Salle through the heart with a pistol; he
died on the spot, unshriven, unable even to utter the names




216           NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY.
of Jesus and Mary. Another who was with Hiens, shot the
murderer of the sieur de Moranget (Liotot), in the side with
a musket-ball. He had time to confess, after which a Frenchman fired a blank cartridge at his head; his hair, and then
his shirt, and clothes, took fire and wrapped him in flames,
and in this torment he expired. The third author of the plot
and murder fled; Hiens wished to make way with him, and
thus completely avenge the death of the sieur de la Salle,
but the sieur Joutel conciliated them, and it stopped there.*
By this means Hiens remained chief of the wretched
band; we had to return to the Ccenis where they had resolved to settle, not; daring to return to France for fear of
punishment.
A Ccenis army was ready to march against the Kanoatino,
a hostile tribe, cruel to their enemies, whom they boil alive;
the Ccenis took our Frenchmen with them, after which Hiens
pressed us strongly to remain with them, but we would not
consent. Six of us, all French, accordingly set out from the
Coenis, among whom were the sieurs Cavelier, uncle and
nephew, and the sieur Joutel. They gave us each a horse,
powder and lead, and some goods to pay our way. We
stopped at the Nassonis to celebrate the octave of Corpus
Christi. They spoke to us daily of the cruelty of the Spaniards to the Americans, and told us that twenty Indian nations were going to war against the Spaniards, inviting us to
join them, as we would do more with our guns than all their
braves with their warclubs and arrows; but we had very different designs. We only took occasion to tell them that we
came on behalf of God to instruct them in the truth and save
* This was Larcheveque, Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 158. With Grollet who had deserted from La Salle on his first excursion, he surrendered to a
Spanish party under Don Alonzo de Leon. See extract from the Ensayo Cronelogico.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEYo          217
their souls. In this we spent ten or twelve days, till the 3d
of June, the feast of St. Anthony of Padua whom      the sieur
de la Salle had taken as patron of his enterprise.
Having received two Indians to guide us, we continued our
way north-northeast, through the finest country in the world;
we passed four large rivers and many ravines, inhabited by
many different nations; we reconnoitred the Haquis on the
east, the Nabiri, and Tlaansi, all numerous tribes at war with
the Ccenis, and at last, on the 23d of June, we approached
the Cadodacchos.*     One of our Indians went on to announce
our coming; the chiefs and youth whom       we met a league
from  the village, received us with the calumet, which they
gave us to smoke; some led our horses by the bridle, others
as it were, carried us in triumph, taking us for spirits and
people of another world.
All the village being assembled, the women, as is their
wont, washed our head and feet with warm water, and then
placed us on a platform covered with a very neat, white mat;
then followed banquets, calumet-dances, and other public rejoicings, day and night. The people knew the Europeans
only by report; like other tribes through which we had
passed, they have some very confused ideas of religion and
adore the sun; their gala dresses bear two painted suns; on
the rest of the body are representations of buffalo, stags, serpents, and other animals. This afforded us an opportunity to
* These were, doubtless, the Caddoes, a tribe which is not yet extinct. According to Joutel, Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 168, the tribe consisted of
four allied villages, Assony, Nathosos, Nachitos, and Cadodaquio. Tonty describes them as forming three villages, Cadodaquis, Nachitoches, and Nasoui,
all on the Red river, and speaking the same language. Two of these tribes, the
Nasoui and Nachitoches bear a strong resemblance to the tribes found by Muscoso, the successor of De Soto, in the same vicinity, and called by Biedma, Nissione (Hist. Coll. of Lozisianae, vol. iii., p. 10i), and by the gentleman of Elvas,
Nissoone and Naquiscoza, while the Daycao, as their river is called, is not incompatible with Cado-Daquio. —Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. iii., p. 201.




218           NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY.
give them some lessons on the knowledge of the true God,
and on our principal mysteries.
At this place it pleased God to traverse us by a tragical
accident. The sieur de Marne, in spite of all that we could
say, went to bathe on the evening of the 24th, the younger
sieur Cavelier accompanied him to the river side, quite near
the village; de Marne sprang into the water and instantly
disappeared. It was an abyss where he was in a moment
swallowed up. A few hours after his body was recovered
and brought to the chief's cabin; all the village mourned his
death with all ceremony; the chief's wife herself neatly
wound him in a beautiful cloth, while the young men dug
the grave which I blessed the next day, when we buried him
with all possible solemnity. The Indians admired our ceremonies, from which we took occasion to give them some instruction during the week that we remained in this fatal
place. Our friend was interred on an eminence near the village, and his tomb surrounded by a palisade, surmounted
by a large cross, which we got the Indians to raise, after
which we started on the 2d of July.
This tribe is on the banks of a large river, on which lie
three more famous nations, the Natchoos, the Natchites, the
Ouidiches, where we were very hospitably received. From
the Ccenis river, where we began to find beaver and otter,
they became very plentiful as we advanced. At the Ouidiches, we met three warriors of two tribes called the Cahinnio
and the Mentous, twenty-five leagues further east-northeast,
who had seen Frenchmen. They offered to guide us there,
and on our way we passed four rivers on rafts. We were
received with the calumet of peace, and every mark of joy
and esteem.*  Many of these Indians spoke to us of a great
* Joutel calls this village Cahaynahoua. See Joutel's journal published in
French's Historical Collections of Louisiana, vol. i., pp. 85-193.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   219
captain, who had only one arm (this was Monsieur de Tonty),
whom they had seen, and who told them that a greater captain than he would pass through their village; this was Monsieur de la Salle.
The chief lodged us in his cabin, from which he made his
family retire. We were here regaled for several days on
every kind of meat; there was even a public feast, where the
calumet was danced for twenty-four hours, with songs made
for the occasion, which the chief intoned with all his might,
treating us as people of the sun, who came to defend them
from their enemies by the noise of our thunder. Amidst
these rejoicings the younger Cavelier fired his pistol three
times, crying "Yive le roi," which the Indians repeated
loudly, adding, "Vive le soleil."  These Indians have prodigious quantities of beaver and otter skins, which could be
easily transported by a river near the village; they wished to
load our horses with them, but we refused, to show our disin
terestedness; we made them presents of axes and knives, and
set out with two Cahinnio to act as guides, after having received embassies from the Analao and Tanico, and other
tribes to the northwest and southeast. It was delightful to
traverse for several days the finest country, intersected by
many rivers, prairies, little woods, and vine-clad hills. Among
others, we passed four large navigable rivers, and at last,
after a march of about sixty leagues, we reached the Osotteoez,
who dwell on a great river which comes from the northwest,
skirted by the finest woods in the world. Beaver and otterskins, and all kinds of peltries, are so abundant there, that
being of no value they burn them in heaps. This is the
famous river of the Achansa, who here form several villages.
At this point we began to know where we were, and finding
a large cross, bearing below the royal arms, with a French



220           NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY.
looking house, our people discharged their guns; two Frenchmen at once came forth, and the one in command, by name
Couture, told us that the sieur de Tonty had stationed them
there to serve as an intermediate station to the sieur de la
Salle, to maintain the alliance with those tribes, and to shield
them against attacks by the Iroquois. We visited three of
these villages, the Torimans, the Doginga, and the Kappa;
everywhere we had feasts, harangues, calumet-dances, with
every mark of joy; we lodged at the French house, where
the two gentlemen treated us with all desirable hospitality,
putting all at our disposal. Whenever any affairs are to be
decided among these nations, they never give their resolution
on the spot; they assemble the chiefs and old men, and deliberate on the point in question. We had asked a periagua
and Indians to ascend the river Colbert, and thence to push
on to the Ilinois by the river Seignelay, offering to leave them
our horses, powder, and lead; when the council was held, it
was said that they would grant us the periagua, and four Indians to be selected, one from each tribe, in token of a more
strict alliance. This was faithfully executed, so that we dismissed our Cahinnio with presents, which perfectly satisfied
them.
At last, after some time stay, we embarked on the 1st of
August, 1687, on the river Colbert, which we crossed the
same day in our periagua forty feet long; but as the current
is strong, we all landed to make the rest of our journey on
foot, having left our horses and equipage at the Akansa.
There remained in the canoe only the sieur Cavelier whose
age, joined to the hardships he had already undergone on the
way, did not permit him to accomplish on foot the rest of our
course (at least four hundred leagues), to the Ilinois. One
Indian was in the canoe to perch it along, one of his com



DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.    221
rades relieving him from time to time. As for the rest of us,
we used the periagua only when necessary to cross some dangerous passages or rivers. All this was not without much
suffering; for the excessive heat of the season, the burning
sand, the broiling sun, heightened by a want of provisions for
several days, gave us enough to endure.
We had already travelled two hundred and fifty leagues
across the country from St. Louis bay, viz.: one hundred
leagues to the Ccenis (sixty north-northeast, the last forty eastnortheast); from the Ccenis to the Nassonis, twenty-five to
the east-northeast; from the Nassonis to the Cadodacchos,
forty to the north-northeast; from the Cadodacchos to the
Cahinnio and Mentous, twenty-five to the east-northeast;
from the Cahinnio to the Akansa, sixty to the east-northeast.
We then continued our route, ascending the river through
the same places which the sieur de la Salle had previously
passed when he made his first discovery, of which I have
heard him frequently speak, except that we went to the Sicacha, where he had not been. The principal village is twentyfive leagues east of the Akansa. This nation is very numerous; they count at least four thousand warriors, have an
abundance of every kind of peltry. The chiefs came several
times to offer us the calumet, wishing to form an alliance
with the French and put themselves under their protection,
offering even to come and dwell on the river Oiiabache (Ohio)
to be nearer to us.
This famous river is full as large as the river Colbert, receiving a quantity of others by which you can enter it. The
mouth, where it empties into the river Colbert, is two hundred leagues from the Akansa, according to the estimate of
the sieur de la Salle, as he often told me; or two hundred and
fifty, according to Monsieur de Tonty, and those who accom



222          NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY.
panied him in his second voyage to the sea, not that it is that
distance in a straight line across the prairies, but following
the river which makes great turns, and winds a great deal,
for by land it would not be more than five days' good march.
We crossed the Oiiabache then on the 26th of August, and
found it full sixty leagues to the mouth of the river Ilinois,
still ascending the Colbert. About six leagues above this
mouth, there is on the northwest the famous river of the Massonrites or Osages, at least as large as the river into which it
empties; it is formed by a number of other known rivers,
everywhere navigable, and inhabited by many populous
tribes; as the Panimaha who had but one chief and twentytwo villages, the least of which has two hundred cabins; the
Paneassa, the Pana, the Paneloga, and the Matotantes, each
of which, separately, is not inferior to the Panimaha. They
include also the Osages who have seventeen villages on a
river of their name, which empties into that of the Massourites, to which the maps have also extended the name of
Osages. The Akansas were formerly stationed on the upper
part of one of these rivers, but the Iroquois drove them out
by cruel wars some years ago, so that they, with some Osage
villages, were obliged to drop down and settle on the river
which now bears their name, and of which I have spoken.
About midway between the river Oiiabache and that of the
Massourites is Cape St. Anthony. It was to this place only
and not further that the sieur Joliet descended in 1673; they
were there taken, with their whole party, by the Mansopela.
These Indians having told them that they would be killed if
they went further; they turned back, not having descended
lower than thirty or forty leagues below the mouth of the
Ilinois' river.
I had brought with me the printed book of this pretended




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.            223
discovery, and I remarked all along my route that there was
not a word of truth in it.  It is said that he went as far as the
Akansa, and that he was obliged to return for fear of being
taken by the Spaniards; and yet the Akansa assured us that
they had never seen any Europeans before Monsieur de la
Salle.  It is said that they saw    painted monsters that the
boldest would have difficulty to look at, and that there was
something supernatural about them.        This frightful monster
is a horse painted on a rock with matachia,* and some other
wild beasts made by the Indians.       It is said that they can
not be reached, and yet I touched them        without difficulty.
The truth is that the Miamis, pursued by the MIatsigamea,
having been drowned in the river, the Indians ever since
that time present tobacco to these grotesque figures whenever
they pass, in order to appease the manitou.
I would    not be inclined to think     that the sieur Joliet
avowed the printed account of that discovery which is not, in
fact, under his name, and was not published till after the first
discovery made by the sieur de la Salle. It would be easy
to show that it was printed only on false memoirs, which the
author, who had never been on the spot, might have followed
in good faith.t
* An old term for paint used by the Indians.
f In this short passage a heavy charge is brought against the narrative of
Father Marquette, although it is amusing to see how they all, in denying it,
seem to have dreaded to mention his name, as though his injured spirit would
have been evoked by the word.
As Father Anastasius says expressly, that there is not a word of truth in it,
we may examine the grounds which he adduces.
1st. It was not published till after the discovery made by La Salle. This is
incorrect. Thevenot published Marquette's journal from a mutilated copy, in
1681, and La Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi only in April, 1682,
while his discovery was not known in France before January, 1683.
2d. The Arkansas said that they had never seen any European before La
Salle. Making every allowance for the difficulty of conversing with a tribe
whose language was utterly unknown to him, and admitting the fact, it remains




224               NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY.
At last, on the 5th of September, we arrived at the mouth
of the Ilinois' river, whence they reckon at least a hundred
leagues to Fort Crevecoeur, the whole route presenting a very
easy navigation.      A  Shawnee named        Turpin, having       perto show that the Arkansas whom he met, were the same as those visited by
Marquette. This does not appear to be certain, as they were on different sides
of the Mississippi.
8d. The painted rock, of which he exaggerates and refutes Marquette's account. Now, though Father Anastasius had the book of the pretended discov.
ery in his hand, he did not read it carefully. Marquette describes a rock above
the mouth of the Missouri, Anastasius saw another below the mouth, and half
way between it and the Ohio, and, as it did not answer Marquette's account,
there is not a word of truth in his book! Joutel, whose work appeared only in
1713, avoid this difficulty, whether conscious of Douay's error, we do not know.
From the words of Father Anastasius, I am inclined to think, that they never
saw Marquette's rock; but deceived by Thevenot's map which gives a figure
and the word Manitou at the place below the Missouri, which Marquette mentions as the demon of the Illinois, mistook it for the painted rock. Here as
Father Anastasius tells, some Indians actually perished, and their countrymen
supposing them engulfed by some demon, propagated the belief in the existence of one there. This worshipping of rapids was common, and several cases
are mentioned in the narratives of the time. As to the exaggerations made of
Marquette's account, a moment's examination will show that he represented
the figures he saw as terrible to superstitious Indians, and so high up on the rock
that it was not easy to get up there to paint them. His estimate of the skill displayed is, indeed, too high; but there is nothing, beyond this, strange in his account.
4th. Last of all, comes his positive assertion that Marquette and Joliet went
only as far as Cape St. Anthony,thirty or forty leagues below the mouth of the
Illinois. For this he gives no authority; but it may be inferred that he found
the Mansopelas there, and from his little knowledge of the Indians, concluded
that being there, in 1687, they must have been there in 1673, and consequently,
that Marquette went no further.
Enough, however, is here admitted to convict the author of the Etablissement
de la Foi of injustice to Marquette, whom he never names, but who, even by
their own statements, descended the Mississippi to the Mansopelas, many years
before La Salle's expedition. Yet in the previous part of the work no mention
at all is made of this voyage, and no opportunity passed to treat it as pretended
in the accounts of their own.
Joutel, whose narrative was published subsequently to this, mentions (See
Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 182) Father Marquette, and though he saw
nothing extraordinary in the painted figures, does not make any of the charges
here brought by his companion on the voyage whom he contradicts directly on
two other points.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   225
ceived us from his village, ran on to the fort to carry the
news to the sieur de Belle Fontaine, the commander, who
would not credit it; we followed close on the Indian, and
entered the fort on the 14th of September. We were conducted to the chapel where the Te Deum was chanted in
thanksgiving, amid the noise and volleys of the French and
Indians who were immediately put under arms. The sieur
de Tonty, the governor of the fort, had gone to the Irocquois
to conciliate the minds of those Indians, we, nevertheless, received a very cordial welcome; the commandant neglecting
nothing to show his joy at our arrival, to console us in our
misfortunes, and restore us after our hardships.
Although the season was advanced, we had, nevertheless,
set out in hopes of reaching Quebec soon enough to sail to
France; but head-winds having detained us a fortnight at
the entrance of Lake Dauphin, we had to give it over and winter at the fort, which we made a mission till the spring of 1688.
The sieur de Tonty arrived there at the beginning of winter with several Frenchmen; this made our stay much more
agreeable, as this brave gentleman was always inseparably
attached to the interests of the sieur de la Salle, whose lamentable fate we concealed from him, it being our duty to
give the first news to the court.
He told us that, at the same time that we were seeking the
river Missisipi by sea, he had made a second voyage, dcescending the river with some French and Indians to the
mouth, hoping to find us there; that he remained there a
week, visited all the remarkable points, and remarked that
there was a very fine port with a beautiful entrance, and wide
channel; and, also, places fit for building forts, and not at
all inundated as he had supposed, when he descended the
first time with the sieur de la Salle; adding, that the lower
15




226          NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY.
river is habitable and even inhabited by Indian villages; that
ships can ascend the river a hundred leagues above the gulf;
that, besides the tribes which he had discovered when descending the first time, he had seen several others on the
second, as the Picheno, the Ozanbogus, the Tangibao, the
Otonnica, the Mausopelea, the Mouisa, and many others
which I do not remember.
Oar conversations together confirmed me in the opinion of
the sieur de la Salle, that St. Louis bay could not be more
than forty or fifty leagues from the mouth of one of the arms
of the river Colbert in a straight line, for though we struck
that river only at the Akansa, it was because we took the Ilinois route across the country, God having led us through
these parts to enable us to discover all those tribes which
dwell there.
I had remarked one hundred and ten populous nations on
my route, not including a great many others of which I heard
in those through which we passed, who knew them either in
war, or in trade. The greatest part of these tribes are unknown to Europeans.
These are the finest and most fertile countries in the world;
the soil, which there produces two crops of every kind of
grain a year, being ready to receive the plough. From time
to time there are vast prairies where the grass is ten or twelve
feet high at all seasons; at every little distance there are
rivers entering larger ones, everywhere navigable, and free
from rapids. On these rivers are forests full of every kind of
trees, so distributed that you can everywhere ride through on
horseback.
The chase is so abundant and easy, especially for wildcattle, that herds of thousands are discovered; there are deer
and other animals of the stag kind in numbers, as well as




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.            227
turkeys, bustards, partridges, parrots, rabbits, and hares.
Poultry are common there, and produce at all seasons, and
swine several times a year, as we observed at the settlement
where we left more than two hundred.
The rivers are unusually abundant in all kinds of fish, so
much so that we took them at the foot of the fort with our
hands, without basket or net. Our people one day took away
from the Indians a fish-head which was alone a load for a
man.    No settler arriving in the country will not find at first
enough to support plenteously a large family, or will not, in
two years time be more at his ease than in any place in
Europe. I have already remarked that horses for every use
are there very common, the Indians thinking themselves well
paid when they get an axe for a horse.
The commerce might be very great there in peltries, tobacco, and cotton.   Hemp grows very fine; and as the fields
are full of mulberry-trees which also line the rivers, silk
might be raised in abundance. Sugar-canes would succeed
there well, and could be easily got by trade with the West
Indies, as the Europeans nations have done in Terra-firma,
where they are neighbors to Louisiana.* Besides, the great
* These observations from which Coxe (Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. iii., pp.
262-'65), doubtless, took a hint, entitle Father Douay to the credit of pointing
out sources of wealth to Louisiana. Cotton and sugar are already staple products, and silk may soon be. The valley of the Mississippi owes the introduction of the sugar-cane to the Catholic missionaries, for the Jesuits brought in
some plants from which the colony was supplied, after they had shown in their
gardens at New Orleans how successfully it could be raised. The same missionaries were also the first to raise wheat in Illinois, and engage others to do
so; as one of their lay-brothers was the first to work the copper-mine of Lake
Superior, to make articles for the church of Sault St. Mary's. In the east they
deserve no less a place even in commercial history; they not only called the
attention of New York to her salt-springs, and brought about a commercial intercourse between the French of Canada, and the English and Dutch in their
colonies, but, by showing the identity of our ginseng with that of Tartary, enabled France for some time to carry on a very lucrative trade with China.




228           NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY.
quantity of wool which the cattle of the country are loaded,
the vast prairies everywhere afford means of raising flocks of
sheep, which produce twice a year.
The various accidents that befell us, prevented our searching for the treasures of this country: we found lead quite
pure, and copper ready to work. The Indians told us that
there were rivers where silver mines are found: others wished
to conduct us to a country known to the Spaniards, abounding in gold and silver mines. There are also some villages
where the inhabitants have pearls, which they go to seek on
the seacoast and find, they say, in oysters.
We found few nations within a hundred and fifty or two
hundred leagues of the sea, who are not prejudiced against
the Spaniards on account of their great cruelty. These tribes
are all populous; and there is one which, in war, would furnish as many as five thousand men.
The shortness of our stay among these tribes gave us no
time to lay solid foundations of Christianity; but we remarked good dispositions for the faith; they are docile, charitable, susceptible of good impressions; there is even some
government and subordination, savage though it always be.
By the help of God, religion might make progress there.
The sun is their divinity, and they offer it in sacrifice the best
of their chase in the chief's cabin. They pray for half an
hour, especially at sunrise; they send him the first whiff of
their pipes, and then send one to each of the four cardinal
points.
I left St. Louis bay on the second voyage to remain among
the Cconis and begin a mission there. Here Father Zenobius
was to join me, to visit the neighboring tribes while awaiting
from France a greater number of gospel laborers, but the
melancholy death of the sieur de la Salle having compelled




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.   229
me to proceed, Father Zenobius no doubt went there to meet
me, and is, perhaps, there yet with Father Maximus (le
Clercq), having left M. de Chefdeville at the mission in the
fort, to which he was destined at our departure. There were
there nine or ten French families, and, besides, several of our
people had gone to get and had actually married Indian
women to multiply the colony.  What has befallen them
since, I do not know.
This, adds le Clercq, is a faithful extract of what Father
Anastasius could remember of his toilsome voyage. He left
the Ilinois in the spring of 1688, with M. Cavelier, his
nephew, the sieur Joistel, and an Indian now domiciled near
Versailles. They arrived at Quebec on the 27th of July, and
sailed for France on the 20th of August, where, God enabling
them to be still together, after having passed through so
many perils, they presented on account of all to the late marquis of Seignelay.








DES            E    DE DECOUVERTES
DES VOYAGES ET DES DECOUVERTES
DU
P. JACQ UES W ARQ UETTE,
DE LA COMPAGNIE DE JESUS EN L'ANNEE 1673, ET AUX SUIVANTES.
CHAPITRE         I'n
Du Premier Voyage qu'a fait le P. Mcarquette vers le Nouveau Mexique et comment s'en estforme le dessein.
IL y avoit longtemps que le Pere premeditoit cette entreprise,
porte d'un tres ardent desir d'estendre le Royaume de J. Ch. et
de le faire connoistre et adorer par tons les peuples de ce pays. II se
voioit comme a la porte de ces nouvelles nations, lorsque des l'annee
1670, il travailloit en la mission de lapointe du St. Esprit qui est a
1'extremite du lac Superieur aux Outaoiiacs, il voioit mesme quelquefois plusieurs de ces nouveaux peuples, desquels il prenoit toutes
les connoissances quil pouvoit, c'est ce qui luy a fait faire plusieurs
efforts pour commencer cette entreprise, mais tousiour inutilement,
et mesme il avoit perdu l'esperance d'en venir about lorsque Dieu
luy en fit naistre cette occasion.
En l'annee 1673, M. Le Comte de Frontenac nostre gouverneur,
et M. Talon alors nostre Intendant, connoissant l'importance de cette
decouverte, soit pour chercher un passage d'icy jusqu'a la mer de la
Chine, par la riviere qui se decharge a la mer Vermeille au Californie, soit qu'on voulu s'asseurer de ce qu'on a dit du depuis, touchant
les 2 Royaumes de Theguaio et de Quivira, limitrophes du Canada,
ou l'on tient que les mines d'or sont abondantes, ces Messieurs, dis



232          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
ie, nommerent en mesme temps pour cette entreprise le sieur Jolyet
quils jugerent tres propres pour un si grand dessein, estant bien aise
que le P. Marquette fut de le partie.
11 ne se tromperent pas dans le choix quils firent du sieur Jolyet,
car c'estoit un jeune hommne natif de ce pays, qui a pour un tel dessein tons les advantages qu'on pent souhaiter: I1 a l'experience et
la Connoissance des Langues du Pays des Outaoiiacs, ou il a passe
plusieurs annees, il a la conduitte et la sagesse qui sont les principales parties pour faire reussir un voyage egalement dangereux et
difficile. Enfin il a le courage pour ne rien apprehender, ou tout
est a craindre, aussi a-t-il remply lattente qu'on avoit de luy, et si
apres avoir passe mille sortes de dangers, il ne fut venu malheureusement faire nauffrage auport, son canot ayant tourne au dessoubs
du Sault de St. Loiiys proche de Montreal, ou il a perdu et ses
hommes et ses papiers, et d'ou il n'a eschape que par une espece de
miracle, il ne lassoit rien a souhaiter au succez de son voyage.
SECTION      I.
Depart du P. Jacques Marquette pour la decouvcrte de la grande Riviere appellee
par les sauvages Missisipi qai conduit au Nouveau Mexique.
LE jour de l'Immaculee Conception de la Ste. Vierge, que javois
tousjour invoque depuisque je suis en ce pays des Outaoiiacs, pour
obtenir de Dieu la grace de pouvoir visiter les nations qui sont sur
la riviere de Missis-pi, fut justement celuy auquel arriva M. Jollyet
avec les ordres de M. le comte de Frontenac nostre gouverneur et
de M. Talon nostre Intendant, pour faire avec moy cette decouverte.
Je fus d'autant plus ravy de cette bonne nouvelle, que je voiois que
mes desseins alloient etre accomplis et que je me trouvois dans une
heureuse necessite d'exposer ma vie pour le salut de tous ces peuples
et particulierement pour les Ilinois qui m'avoient prie avec beaucoup
d'instance lorsque j'estois a la pointe du St. Esprit de leur porter
chez eux la parole de Dieu.
Nous ne fusmes pas long temps a preparer tout nostre equippage
quoyque nous nous engageassions en un voyage dont nous ne pouvions
pas prevoir la duree; du Bled d'Inde avec quelque viande boucanee
furent toutes nos provisions, avec lesquelles nous nous embarquam



DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.         233
rzes sur 2 canots d'ecorce, M.Jollyet et moy avec 5 homines, bien
resolus a tout faire et a tout souffrir pour une si glorieuse enterprise.
Ce fut donc le 17e jour de May, 1673, que nous partimes de la
mission de St. Ignace a Michilimackinac, ou j'estois pour lors; la
joye que nous avions d'etre choisis pour cette expedition animoit nos
courages et nous rendoit agreables les peines que nous avions a
ramer depuis le matin jusqu'au soir; et parceque nous allions chercher des pays inconnus, nous apportammes toutes les precautions
que nous pumes, affinque si nostre entreprise estoit hazardeuse elle
ne fut pas temeraire; pour ce sujet nous primes toutes les connoissances que nous puimes des sauvages qui avoient frequente ces endroicts la et mesme nous tracames sur leur raport une carte de tout
ce nouveau pays, nous y fimes marquer les rivieres sur lesquelles
nous devions naviger, les noms des peuples et des lieux par lesquels
nous devions passer, le cours de la grande riviere, et quels rund
devent nous devions tenir quand nous y serions.
Surtout je mis nostre voyage soubs la protection de la Ste. Vierge
Immaculee, luy promettant que si elle nous faisoit la grace de decouvrir la grande riviere, je luy donnerois le nom de la Conception
et que je ferois aussi porter ce nom a la premiere mission que
j'etablyrois chez ces nouveaux peuples, ce que j'ay fait de vray chez
les Ilinois.
SECTION       II.
Le Pere visite en passant les Peuples de la folle avoine; Ce que c'est que cette
folle avoine. 11 entre dans la baye des Puants, quelques particularitez de cette
baye, il arrive a la nation dufeu.
AVEC toutes ces precautions nous faisons joiier joyeusement les
avirons, sur une partie du Lac Huron, et celuy des Ilinois, et dans la
bave des Puans.
Le premiere nation que nous rencontrames, fut celle de la folle
avoine. I'entray dans leur riviere pour aller visiter ces peuples aus
quels nous avons presche l'Evangile depuis plusieurs annees, aussi
se trouve-t-il parmy eux plusieurs bons Chrestiens.
La folle avoine dont ils portent le nom, parcequelle se trouve sur
leurs terres est une sorte d'herbe qui croit naturellement dans les




234          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
petites rivieres dont le fond est de vase, est dans les lieux maresageux; elle est bien semblable a la folle avoine qui croit parmy nos
bleds. Les epics sont sur des tuyeaux noiies d'espace en espace, ils
sortent de l'eau vers le mois de juin et vont tousjour montant jusqu'acequils surnagent de deux pieds environ; Le grain n'est pas plus
gros que celuy de nos avoines, mais il est une fois plus long, aussi la
farine en est elle bien plus abondante. Voicy comme les sauvages
la cueillent et la preparent pour la manger. Dans le mois de Septembre qui est le tems propre pour cette recolte, ils vont en canot au
travers de ces champs de folle avoine, ils en secoiient les espics de
part et d'autre dans le canot, a mesure qu'ils avancent; le grain
tombe aisement sil est meur, et en peu de temps ils en font leur provision. Mais pour le nettoyer de la paille et le depouiller d'une
pellicule dans laquelle il est enferme, ils le mettent s6cher a la
fuimee, sur un gril de bois soubs lequel ils entretiennent un petit feu,
pendant quelques jours, et lorsque l'avoine est bien seche, ils la
mettent dans une Peau en fortne de pouche, laquelle ils enfoncent
dans un trou fait a ce dessein en terre, puis ils la pillent avec les
pieds, tant et si fortement que le grain s'estant separ6 de la paille,
ils le vannent tres aisement, apres quoy ils le pillent pour le reduire
en farine; or mesme sans etre pille ils le font cuire dans l'eau,
qu'ils assaisonnent avec de la graisse et de cette faqon on trouve la
folle avoine presque aussi delicate, qu'est le ris, quand on n'y met
pas de meilleur assaisonnement.
Je racontay a ces peuples de la folle avoine, le dessein que j'avois
d'aller decouvrir ces nations esloignees pour les pouvoir instruire
des mysteres de nostre Ste. Religion: ils en furent extremement
surpris, et firent tous leur possible pour m'en dissuader; ils me
representerent que je rencontrerois des Nations qui ne pardonnent
jamais aux estrangers ausquels ils cassent la teste sans a.ucun sujet;
que la guerre qui estoit allume entre divers peuples qui estoient sur
nostre Route nous exposoit a un autre danger manifeste d'estre tuez
par les bandes de guerriers qui sont tousjours en campagne; que la
grande riviere est tres dangereuse, quand on n'en scait pas les
Endroicts difficiles, qu'elle estoit pleine de monstres effroyables, qui
devoroient les hommes et les canots tout ensemble; qu'il y a mesme
un demon qu'on entend de fort loing qui en ferme le passage et qui
abysme ceux qui osent en approcher, enfin que les chaleurs sont si
excessives en ces pays la qu'elles nous causeroient la mort infailliblement.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        235
Je les remerciay de ces bons advis qu'ils me donnoit, mais je leur
dis que je ne pouvois pas les suivre, puisqu'il s'agissoit du salut des
ames pour lesquelles je serois ravy de donner ma vie, que je me
moquois de ce demon pretendu, que nous nous deffenderions bien de
ces monstres marins, et qu'au reste nous nous tienderions sur nos
gardes pour eviter les autres dangers dont ils nous menacoient.
Apres les avoir fait prier Dieu et leur avoir donne quelque Instruction, je me separay d'eux, et nous estant embarquez sur nos canots
nous arrivames peu de temps apres dans le fond de la Baye des
Puantz, ou nos Peres travaillent utilement a la conversion de ces
peuples, en ayant baptise plus de deux mille depuis qu'ils y sont.
Cette baye porte un nom qui n'a pas une si mauvaise signification
en la langue des sauvages, car ils l'appellent plustost la baye sall6e
que la Baye des Puans, quoyque parmy eux ce soit presque le mesme, et c'est aussi le nom qu'ils donnent a la mer; cequi nous a fait
faire de tres exactes recherches pour decouvrir s'il n'y avoit pas en
ces quartiers quelques fontaines d'eau sallee, comme il y en a parmy
les hiroquois; mais nous n'en avons pas trouve nous jugeons done
qu'on luy a donne ce nom a cause de quantite de vase et de Boiie,
qui s'y rencontre, d'ou s'eslevent continuellement de meschantes
vapeurs qui y causent les plus grands et les plus continuels Tonnerres, que j'aye iamais entendu.
La Baye a environ trente lieiies de profondeur et huict de large
en son commencement; elle va tousjour se retrecissant jusques dans
le fond, ou il est aise de remarquer la maree qui a son flux et reflux
regle presque comme celuy de la Mer. Ce n'est pas icy le lieu
d'examiner si ce sont des vrayes marees; si elles sont causees par
les vents ou par quelqu'autre principe; s'il y a des vents qui sont les
avant-coureurs4 de la Lune et attachez a sa suitte, lesquels par consequent agitent le lac et luy donnent comme son flux et reflux toutes
les fois que la Lune monte sur l'horison. Ce que je peux dire de
certain est que quand l'eau est bien calme, on la voit aisement monter
et descendre suivant le cours de la lune, quoyqne je ne nie pas que
ce mouvement ne puisse estre cause par les ventz qui sont bien
eloignez et qui pesant sur le milieu du lac font que les bords croissent et decroissent de la faqon qui paroit a nos yeux.
Nous quittames cette baye pour entrer dans la riviere qui s'y
decharge; elle est tres belle en son embouchure et coule doucement; elle est pleine d'outardes, de Canards, de cercelles et d'autres
oyseaux qui y sont attirez par la folle avoine, dont ils sont fort frians,




236          NARRATIVE OF FATTHER MARQUETTE.
mais quand on a un peu avance dans cette riviere, on la trouve tres
difficile, tant a cause des courants que des Roches affilees, qui couppent les canots et les pieds de ceux qui sont obliges de les traisner,
surtout quand les eaux sont basses.  Nous franchimes pourtant
heureusement ces rapideset en approchant de Machkoutens, le nation
du feu, jeula curiosite de boire des eaux mineralles de la riviere qui
n'est pas loing de cette bourgade, je pris aussi le temps de reconnoistre un simple qu'un sauvage qui en scait le secret a enseigne au
P. Alloiies avec beaucoup de ceremonies. Sa racine sert contre la
morsure des serpents, Dieu ayant voulu donner ce remede contre un
venin qui est tres frequent en ces pays. Elle est fort chaude, et
elle a un gout de poudre quand on l'escrase sous la dent; il faut la
mascher et la mettre sur la piquurre du serpent, qui en a une si
grande horreur, qu'il s'enfuit mesme de celuy,qui s'en est frotte, elle
produit plusieurs tiges, hautes d'un pied, dont la feuille est un peu
longue et la fleur blanche et beaucoup semblable a la giroflee. J'en
mis dang mon canot pour l'examiner a loisir pendant que nous avancions tousjour vers Maskoutens, ou nous arrivames le 7 de Juin.
SECTION       III.
Description de la Bourgade de Maskoutens, Cequi s'ypassa entre le Pere et les
sauvages; Les Franpois commencent d'entrer dans un Pays nouveau et inconnu
et arrivent a JMissispi.
Nous voicy rendus a Maskoutens. Ce mot en Algonquin peut
signifier, nation du feu; aussi est ce le nom qu'on luy a donne.
C'est ici le terme des decouvertes qu'ont fait les Fran9ois, car ils
n'ont point encore passe plus avant.
Ce Bourg est compose de trois sortes de Nations qui s'y sont
ramassees, des Miamis, des Maskoutens, et des Kikabous. Les premiers sont les plus civils, les plus liberaux, et les mieux faitz; ils
portent deux longues moustaches sur les oreilles, qui leur donnent
bonne grace, ils passent pour les guerriers, et font rarement des
parties sans succez; ils sont fort dociles, ils escoutent paisiblement
ce qu'on leur dit et ont paru si avides d'entendre le P. Alloies quand
il les instruisoit, qu'ils luy donnoient peu de repos, mesme pendant
la nuict. Les Maskoutens et les Kikabous sont plus grossiers et




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        237
semblent etre des paysantz en comparaison des autres. Comme les
Escorces a faire des cabannes sont rares en ce pays la, ils se servent de joncs qui leur tiennent lieu de murailles et de couvertures,
mais qui ne les deffendant pas beaucoup des vents, et bien moins des
pluyes quand elles tombent en abondance. La commodite de ces
sortes de cabannes est qu'ils les mettent en pacquetz et les portent
aisement ou ils veulent pendant le temps de leur chasse.
Lorsque je les visitay,je fus extremnment console de veoir une
belle croix plantee au milieu du bourg et ornee de plusieurs peaux
blanches, de ceintures rouges d'arcs et de fleches que ces bonnes gens
avoient offertz au grand Manitou (c'estlenom qu'ils donnent a Dieu),
pour le remercier de ce qu'il avoit eu pitie d'eux pendant l'hyver,
leur donnant une chasse abondante, lorsqu'ils apprendoient le plus la
famine.
Je pris plaisir de veoir la situation de cette bourgade, elle est belle
et bien divertissante; car d'une eminence, sur laquelle elle est
placee, on decouvre de toutes parts des prairies a perte de vetie,
partagees par des bocages ou par des bois de haute futaye. La
terre y est tres bonne et rend beaucoup de bled d'inde; les sauvages
ramassent quantite de prunes et de raisins, dont on pourroit faire
beaucoup de vin si l'on vouloit.
Nous ne fumes pas plustost arrivez que nous assemblames les
anciens M.Joelyet etmoy, il leur dit qu'il estoit envoye de la part de
monsr. nostre gouverneur pour decouvrir de nouveaux pays et moi
de la part de Dieu pour les esclairer des lumieres du St. Evangile;
qu'au reste le maistre souverain de nos vies vouloit estre connu de
toutes les nations, et que pour obeir a ses volontes, je ne craignois
pas la mort a la quelle je m'exposois dans des voyages si perilleux;
que nous avions besoin de deux guides pour nous mettre dans nostre
route; nous leur times un present, en les priant de nous les accorder, ce qu'ils firent tres civilement et mesme voulurent aussi nous
parler par un present qui fut une nate pour nous servir de lit pendant
tout nostre voyage.
Le lendemain qui fut le dixieme de Juin, deux Miamis qu'on
nous donna pour guides s'embarquerent avec nous, a la veue d'un
grand-monde qui ne pouvoit assez s'estonner de veoir sept franqois,
seuls et dans deux canotz oser entreprendre une expedition si extresordinaire et si hazardeuse.
Nous scavions qu'a trois lieis de Maskoutens estoit une riviere
qui se decharge dans Missispi; nous scavions encor que le rund de




238          NARREATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
vent que nous devions tenir pour y arriver estoit l'ouest sorofest,
mais le chemin est partage de tant de marais et de petitz lacs, qu'il
est aise de s'y egarer d'autant plus que la riviere qui y mene est si
chargee de folle avoine, qu'on a peine a en reconnoistre le canal;
c'est en quoy nous avions bien besoin de nos deux guides, aussi
nous conduisirent ils heureusement jusqua un portage de 2,700 pas et
nous aiderent a transporter nos canotz pour entrer dans cette riviere,
apres quoy ils s'en retournerent nous laissant seuls en ce pays inconnu, entre les mains de la providence.
Nous quittons done les eaux qui vont jusqua Quebeq a 400 ou 500
lieues d'icy pour prendre celles qui nous conduiront desormais dans
les terres estrangeres. Avant que de nous y embarquer, nous commencames tous ensemble une nouvelle devotion a la Ste. Vierge Immaculee que nous pratiquames tous les jours, luy addressant des
prieres particulieres pour mettre sous sa protection et nos personnes
et le succez de nostre voyage et apres nous estre encourages les uns
les autres nous montons en canot.
La riviere sur laquelle nous nous embarquames s'appelle Meskousing. Elle est fort large, son fond est du sable, qui fait diverses
battures lesquelles rendent cette navigation tres difficile; elle est
pleine d'isles couvertes de vignes; sur les bords paroissent de bonnes
terres, entremeslees de bois, de prairies et de costeaux, on y voit
des chesnes, des noiers, des bois blancs et une autre espece d'arbres,
dontz les branches sont armees de longues espines. Nous n'avons
vu ni gibier ni poisson, mais bien des cleyreuils et des vaches en
assez grande quantite. Nostre route estoit au suroiiest et apres
avoir navige environ 30 lieies, nous apperceutmes un endroit qui
avoit toutes les apparences de mine de fer, et de fait un de nous qui en
a veu autrefois assure que celle que nous avons trouve est fort bonne
et tres abondante; elle est couverte de trois pieds de bonne terre,
assez proche d'une chaine de rocher, dont le bas est plein de fort
beau bois. Apres 40 lieies sur cette mesme route nous arrivons a
l'embouchure de nostre riviere et nous trouvant a 42 degrez et demy d'eslevation, nous entrons heureusement dans Misissipi le 17e
Juin avec une joye que je ne peux pas expliquer.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.          239
SECTION       IV.
De la grande Jlivicre appelee Missisipi, ses plus notables particularites.-De
divers animazux et particzliercment les Pisikious ou boezfs sauvages, ler fiSgure
et leur naturel. —Des premiers villages des Ilinois ou les Francois arrivent.
Nous voyla donc sur cette riviere si renommee dont lay tache
d'en remarquer attentivement toutes les singularites; la riviere de
Missisipi tire son origine de divers lacs qui sont dans le pays des
peuples du nord; elle est estroitte a sa decharge de Miskous.  Son
courant qui porte du coste du sud est lent et paisible. A la droitte
on voist une grande chaisne de montagnes fort hautes et a la gauche
de belles terres; elle est coupee d'isles en divers endroictz. En
sondant nous avons trouves dix brasses d'eau, sa largeur est fort
inegale, elle a quelquefois trois quartz de lieties, et quelquefois elle
se retressit jusqua trois arpens. Nous suivons doucement son cours,
qui va au sud et au sudest jusqu'aux 42 degres d'elevation.  C'est
icy que nous nous appercevons bien qu'elle a tout chang6 de face.
I1 n'y a presque plus de bois ny de montagnes, les isles sont plus
belles et couvertes de plus beaux arbres; nous ne voions que des
chevreils et des vaches, des outardes et des cygnes sans aisles, parcequ'ils quittent leurs plumes en ce pays. Nous rencontrons de
temps en temps des poissons monstrueux, un desquels donna si rudement contre nostre canot, que je cru que c'estoit un gros arbre qul
l'alloit mettre en pieces. Une autrefois nous apperceumes sur l'eau
un monstre qui avoit une teste de tigre, le nez pointu comme celuy
d'un chat sauvage, avec la barbe et des oreilles droittes elevees en
haut, la teste estoit grize et le col tout noir, nous n'en vismes pas
davantage.  Quand nous avons jette nos retz a l'eau nous avons pris
des esturgeons et une espece de poisson fort extresordinaire, il ressemble a la truitte avec cette difference, qu'il a la gueule plus grande,
il a proche du nez (qui est plus petit aussi bien que les yeux) une
grande areste, comme un bust de femme, large de trois doigts, long
d'une coudee, aubout de laquelle est un rond large comme la main,
Cela l'oblige souvent en saultant hors de l'eau de tomber en derriere.
Estant descendus jusqua 41 degres 28 minuittes suivant le mesme
rund, nous trouvons que les cocs d'inde ont pris la place du gibier et
les pisikious ou bieufs sauvages celles des autres bestes.




240          NARRATIVE OF FATIHER MARQUETTE.
Nous les appelons bceufs sauvages parcequ'ils sont bien semblables
a nos bceufs domestiques, ils ne sont pas plus longs, mais ils sont
pres d'une fois plus gros et plus corpulentz; nos gens en ayant tue
un, trois personnes avoient bien de la peine a le remiier. Ils ont la
teste forte grosse, le front plat et large d'un pied et demy entre les
comes qui sont entierement semblables a celles de nos boeufs, mais
elles sont noires et beaucoup plus grande. Ils ont sous le col comrme
une grande falle, qui pend en bas et sur le dos une bosse assez
elevee. Toute la teste, la col et une partie des espaules sont couvertz d'un grand crin comme celuy des chevaux, c'est une hure longue
d'un pied, qui les rend hideux et leur tombant sur les yeux les
empeche de voire devant eux. Le reste du corps est revetu d'un
gros poil frise a peu pres come celuy de nos moutons, mais bien
plus fort et plus espais, il tombe en este et la peau devient douce
comme du velours. C'est pourlors que les sauvages les employent
pour s'en faire de belles Robbes qu'ils peignent de diverses couleurs;
la chair et la graisse des pisikious est excellente et fait le meilleur
mets des festins. Aureste ils sont tres mechants et il ne se passent
point d'annee qu'ils ne tuent quelque sauvage; quand on vient les
attaquer, ils prennent s'ils peuvent un homme avec leurs comes,
I'enlevent en l'air, puis ils le jettent contre terre, le foulent des pieds et
le tuent. Si on tire de loing sur eux ou de l'arc au du fusil, il faut si
tost apres le coup se jetter a terre et se cacher dans l'herbe, car s'ils
apercoivent celuy qui a tire, ils courent apres et le vont attaquer.
Comme ils ont les pieds gros et assez courtz, ils ne vont pas bien
viste pour l'ordinaire, si ce n'est lorsqu'ils sont irritez. Ils sont
espars dans les prairies comme des troupeaux; j'en ay veu une bande
de 400.
Nous avancons tousjours mais comme nous ne sgavions pas ou
nous allions ayant fait deia plus de cent lieies sans avoir rien decouvert que des bestes et des oyseaux nous nous tenons bien sur nos
gardes; c'est pourquoy nous ne faisons qu'un petit feu a terre sur le
soir pour preparer nos repas et apres souper nous nous en eloignons
le plus que nous pouvons et nous allons passer la nuict dans nos
canotz que nous tenons a l'ancre sur la riviere assez loing des bords;
ce qui n'empeche pas que quelqu'un denons ne soit tousjour en sentinelle de peur de surprise, Allant par le sud et le sud suroiiest nous
nous trouvons a la hauteur de 41 degrez et jusqua 40 degrez quelques
minutes en partie par sudest et en partie par le suroiiest apres avoir




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.       241
avanc6 plus de 60 lieiies depuis nostre entree dans la Riviere sans
rien decouvrir.
Enfin le 25e Juin nous aperceitmes sur le bord de l'eau des pistes
d'hommes, et un petit sentier assez battu, qui entroit dans une belle
prairie. Nous nous arrestames pour l'examiner, et jugeant que
cestoit un chemin qui conduisoit a quelque village de sauvages, nous
primes resolution de l'aller reconnoistre: nous laissons done nos
deux canotz sous la garde de nos gens, leur recommandant bien de
ne se pas laisser surprendre, apres quoy M. Jollyet et moy entreprimes cette decouverte assez hazardeuse pour deux hoommes seuls
qui s'exposent a la discretion d'un peuple barbare et inconnu. Nous
suivons en silence ce petit sentier et apres avoir fait environ 2lie(ies,
nous d6couvrimes un village sur le bord d'une riviere,et deux autres
sur un costeau escarte du premier d'une demi lieie Ce fut pour lors
que nous nous recommandhmes, a Dieu de bon c(eur et ayant implore son secours nous passames outre sans etre decouverts et nous
vinsmes si pres que nous entendions mesme parler les sauvages.
Nous crumes done qu'il estoit temps de nous decouvrir, ce que nous
fismes par un cry que nous poussames de toutes nos forces, en nous
arrestant sans plus avancer. A ce cry les sauvages sortent promptement de leurs cabanes et nous ayant probablement reconnus pour
franqois, surtout voyant une robe noire, ou du moins n'ayant aucun
suject de deffiance, puisque nous n'estions que deux hommes, et que
nous les avions advertis de nostre arrivee, ils deputerent quattre vielliards, pour nous venir parler, dontz deux portoient des pipes a prendre du tabac, bien ornees et empanachees de divers plumages, ils
marchoient a petit pas, et elevant leurs pipes vers le soleil, ils sembloient luy presenter a fumer, sans neamoins dire aucun mot. Ils
furent assez long temps a faire le peu de chemin depuis leur village
jusqu'a nous. Enfin nous ayant abordes, ils s'arresterent pour nous
considerer avec attention; je me rassuray, voyant ces ceremonies,
que ne se font parmy eux qu'entre amys, et bien plus quand je les vis
couvertz d'estoffe, jugeantparlaqu'ils estoient de nos alliez. Je leur
parlay donc le premier et je leur demanday, qui ils estoient, ils me
repondirent qu'ils estoient Ilinois et pour marque de paix ils nous
presenterent leur pipe pour petuner, ensuitte ils nous inviterent
d'entrer dans leur village, ou tout le peuple nous attendoit avec impatience. Ces pipes a prendre du tabac s'appellent en ce pays des
calumetz; ce mot sy est mis tellement en usage, que pour estre entendu je seray oblige de m'en servir ayant a en parler biena des, fbis.
16




242          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
SECTION       V.
Comment les llinois receurent le Pere dans leur Bourgade.
A LA porte de la cabane ou nous devious estie receus, estoit un
vielliard qui nous attendoit dans une posture assez surprenante, qui est
la ceremonie qu'ils gardeit quand ils recoivent des estrangers.  Cet
homme estoit debout et tout nud,tenant ses mains estendus et levees
vers le soleil, comme s'il eut voulu se deffendre de ses rayons, lesquels neamoins passoient sur son visage entre ses doigts; quand
nous fusmes proches de luy, il nous fit ce compliment; que le soleil
est beau, francois, quand tu nous viens visiter, tout nostre bourg
t'attend, et tu entreras en paix dans toute nos cabanes. Cela dit, il
nous introduisit, dans la sienne, ou. il y avoit une foule de monde qui
nous devoroit des yeux, qui cependant gardoit un profond silence,
on entendoit neamoins ces paroles qu'on nous addressoit de temps en
temps et d'une voix basse, que voyla qui est bien, mes freres, de ce
que vous nous visitez.
Apres que nous eusmes pris place, on nous fit la civilite ordinaire
du pays, qui est de nous presenter le calumet; il ne faut pas le
refuser, si on ne veut passer pour ennemy, ou du moins pour incivil, pourveu qu'on fasse semblant de fumer, c'est assez; pendant
que tons les anciens petunoient apres nous pour nous honorer, on
vient nous inviter de la part du grande capitaine de tons les Ilinois
de nous transporter en sa Bourgade, ou il vouloit tenir conseil avec
nous. Nous y allames en bonne compagnie, car tous ces peuples,
qui n'avoient jamais veu de francois chez eux ne se lassoient point
de nous regarder, ils se couchoient sur l'herbe le long des chemins,
ils nous devancoient, puis ils retournoient sur leurs pas pour nous
venir voir encor. Tout cela se faisoit sans bruit et avec les marques
d'un grand respect qu'ils avoient pour nous.
Estant arrivez au Bourg du grand Capitaine, nous le vismes a
l'entree de sa cabanne, au milieu de deux vielliards, tout trois debout
et nud tenant leur calumet tourne vers le soleil, il nous harangua en
pen de motz, nous felicitant de nostre arrivee, il nous presenta ensuitte son calumet et nous fit fumer, en mesme temps que nous
entrions dans sa cabanne, ou nous receumes toutes leurs caresses
ordinaires.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        243
Voyant tout le monde assemble et dans le silence, je leur parlay
par quattre presents que je leur fis, par le premier je leur disois que
nous marchions en paix pour visiter les nations qui s'etoient sur la
riviere jusqu'a la mer; par le second je leur declaray que Dieu qui
les a crees avoit pitie d'eux, puisqu'apres tant de temps qu'ils l'ont
ignore, il vouloit se faire connoistre a tons ces peuples, que jestois
envoye de sa part pour ce dessein, que c'estoit a' eux a le reconnoistre et a luy obeir, Par:le troisieme que le grand capitaine des franqois leur faisoit scavToir que c'estoit luy qui mettoit la paix partout et
qui avoit dompte l'Iroquois. Enfin par le quatrieme nous les prions
de nous donner toutes les connoissances qu'ils avoient de la mer, et
des nations par lesquelles nous devions passer pour y arriver.
Quand jeu finy mon discour, le capitaine se leva, et tenant le main
sur la teste d'un petit esclave qu'il nous vouloit donner il par la
ainsi. Ie te remercie Robe Noire, et toy franqois (s'addressant a
M.Jollyet), de ce que vous prenez tant de peine pour nous venir
visiter, jamais la terre n'a este si belle ny le soleil si eclatant qu'aujourdhui; jamais notre riviere n'a este si calme, n'y si nette de
rochers que vos canotz ont enlevees en passant, jamais nostre petun
n'a eu si bon gout, n'y nos bleds n'ont paru si beau que nous les
voions maintenant. Voicy mon fils que je te donne pour te faire connoistre mon c(,ur, je te prie d'avoir pitie de moy et de toute ma nation,
c'est toy qui connoist le grand Genie qui nous a tous faits, c'est toy
qui luy parle et quy escoute sa parole, demande luy qu'il me donne
la vie et la sante et vient demeurer'avec nous, pour nous le faire connoistre.  Cela dit il mit le petit esclave proche de nous,et nous fit un
second opresent, qui estoit un calumet tout mysterieux, dont ils font
plus d'estat que d'un esclave; il nous temoignoit par ce present l'estime qu'il faisoit de monsieur nostre gouverneur, sur le recit que nous
luy en avions fait; et pour un troisieme il nous prioit de la part de
toute sa nation, de ne pas passer oultre, a cause des grands dangers
fous nous nos exposions.
Je repondis que je ne craignois point la mort, et que je n'estimois
point de plus grand bonheur que de perdre la vie pour la gloire de
Celuy que a tout fait. C'est ce que ces pauvres peuples ne peuvent
comprendre.
Le conseil fut suivy d'un grand festin qui consistoit en quattre
metz, qui'l fallut prendre avec toutes leurs facons, le premier service
fut un grand plat de bois plein de sagamite, c'est-a-dire de farine de
bled d'inde qu'on fait botiillur avec de l'eau qu'on assaisonne de graisse.




244          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
Le maistre des ceremonies avec une cuillier pleine de sagamite me
la presenta a la bouche par trois ou 4 fois, comme on feroit a un petit
enfant, il fit le mesme a M. Jollyet. Pour second mets il fit paroistre un second plat ou il y avoit trois poissons, il en prit quelques
morceaux pour en oster les arestes, et ayant souffle dessus pour les
rafraichir, il nous les mit a la bouche, comme l'on donneroit la
beschee a un oyseau. On apporte pour troisieme service un grand
chien, qu on venoit de tuer, mais ayant appris que nous n'en mangions
point, on le retira de devant nous. Enfin le 4efut une piece de
beuf sauvage, dont on nous mit a la bouche les morceaux les plus
gras.
Apres ce festin il fallut aller visiter tout le village, qui est bien
compose de 300 cabannes. Pendant que nous marchions par les
rues, un orateur haranguoit continuellement pour obliger tout le
monde a nous voir, sans nous estre importuns; on nous presentoit
partout des ceintures, des jartieres etautres ouvrages faits de poil
d'ours et de b(euf et teins en rouge, en jaune, et en gris, ce sont
toutes les raretez qu'ils ont; commes elles ne sont pas bien considerbles, nous ne nous en chargeames point.
Nous couchames dans la cabane du capitaine etle lendemain nous
prismes cong6 de luy, promettant de repasser par son bourg dans
quatre lunes. II nous conduisit jusqua nos canotz avec pres de 600
personnes qui nous virent embarquer, nous donnant toutes les
marques qu'ils pouvoient de la joye que notre visite leur avoit causee.
Je m'engageay en mon particulier, en leur disant adieu que je vien
drois l'an prochain demeurer avec eux pour les instruire. Mais
avant que de quitter le pays des llinois, il est bon que je rapporte ce
que j'ay reconnu de leurs coustames et fagons de faire.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        245
SECTION      VI.
Du naturel des Ilinois, de leurs mcurs, et de leurs coustumes, de'estimc qu'ils ont
pour le Calumet ou pipe a prendre du Tabac et de la danse qu'ils font en son
konneur.
QuI dit Ilinois, c'est comme qui diroit en leur langue les
hommes, comme si les autres sauvages, aupres d'euxne passoient que
pour des bestes, aussi faut il advouier qu'ils ont un air d'humanit6
que nous n'avons pas remarqu6 dans les autres nations que nous
avons veiies sur nostre route. Le peu de sejour que jay fait parmy
eux ne m'a pas permis de prendre toutes les connoissances que
j'aurois souhaite; de toutes leurs fagons de faire voicy ce que j'en
ay remarque.
Ils sont divises en plusieures bourgades dont quelquesunes sont
asses eloignees de celle dont nous parlons qui s'appelle Peoiiarea,
c'est ce qui met de la difference en leur langue, laquelle universallement tient de l'allegonquin de sorte que nous nous entendions facilement les uns les autres. Leur naturel est doux et traitable, nous
l'avons experimente dans la reception qu'il nous ont faitte. Ils ont
plusieurs femmes dont ils sont extremementjaloux, ils les veillent avec
un grand soin et ils leur couppent le nez ou les oreilles quand elles
ne sont pas sages, j'en ay ven plusieures qui portoient les marques de
leurs desordres. Ils ont le corps bien fait, ils sont lestes et fort
adroits a tirer de l'arc et de la flche. Ils se servent aussi des fisils
qu'ils acheptent des sauvages nos allies qui ont commerce avec nos
francois ils en usent particulierement pour donner l'epouvante par
le bruit et par la fumee a leurs ennemys qui n'en n'ont point lusage
et n'en ont jamais veu pour estre trop eloigne vers le couchant. Ils
sont belliqueux et se rendent redoutables aux peuples eloignes du
sud et de l'ofiest, ou ils vent faire des esclaves, desquels ils se servent pour trafiquer, les vendant cherement a d'autres nations, pour
d'autres marchandises. Ces sauvages si eloignes chez qui ils vont
en guerre n'ont aucune connoissance d'Europeans; ils ne savent ce
que c'est ny de fer ny  de cuivre et n'ont que des couteaux de
pierre. Quand les Ilinois partent pour aller on guerre, il faut que
tout le bourg en soit adverty par le grand cry qu'ils font a la porte
de leurs cabanes, le soir et le matin avant que de partir.  Les capi



246          NARRATIVE OF FATIER MARQUETTE.
taines se distinguent des soldats par des escharpes rouges qu'ils portent, elles sont faittes de crin d'ours et du poil de bReufs sauvages
avec assez d'industrie; ils se peignent le visage d'un rouge de sanguine, dont ily a grande quantit6 a quelques journ6es du bourg. Ils
vivent de chasse qui est abondante en ce pays et de bled d'inde dont
ils font tousjour une bonne recolte, aussi n'ont ils jamais souffert de
famine, ils sement aussi des febves et des melons qui sont excellentz, surtout ceux qui ont la graine rouge, leurs citrouilles ne sont
pas des meilleures, ils les font secher au soleil pour les manger
pendant l'hyver et le primptemps. Leur cabanes sont fort grandes,
elles sont couvertes et pavees de nattes faittes de joncs: ils trouvent
toutes leur vaiselle dans le bois et leurs cuilliers dans la teste de
boeufs dont ils savent si bien accommoder le crane qu'ils s'en servent
pour manger aisement leur sagamite.
Ils sont liberaux dans leurs maladies, et croyent que les medicamens qu'on leur donne, operent a proportion des presents qu'ils
auront fais au medecin. Ils n'ont que des peaux pour habitz, les
femmes sont tousjours vestues fort modestement et dans une grande
bien seance au lieu que les hommes ne se mettent pas en peine de
se couvrir. Je ne scais par quelle superstition quelques Ilinois,
aussi bien que quelques Nadoiiessi, estant encore jeunes prennent
Phabit des femmes qu'ils gardent toute leur vie. I1 y a du mystere 
car ii ne se marient jamais,et font gloire de s'abaisser a faire tout
ce que font les femmes; ils vont pourtant en guerre, mais ils ne
peuvent se servir que de la massie, et non pas de l'arc ny de la
fleche qui sont les armes propres des hommes, ils assistent a toutes
les jongleries et aux danses solemnelles qui se font al'honneur du
calumet, ils y chantent mais ils n'y peuvent pas danser, ils sont appelles aux conseils, ou l'on ne peut rien decider sans leurs advis;
enfin par le profession qu'ils font d'une vie extresordinaire, ils passent pour des manitous, c'est-adire pour des Genies ou des personnes
de consequence.
I1 ne reste plus qu'a parler du calumet. 11 n'est rien parmy eux ny
de plus mysterieux ny de plus recommandable, on ne rend pas tant
d'honneur aux couronnes et aux sceptres des Roys qu'ils luy en rendent; il semble estre le dieu de la paix et de la guerre, l'arbitre de la
vie et de la mort. C'est assez de le porter sur soy et de le faire voir pour
marcher en assurance au milieu des ennemys, qui dans le fort du combat mettent bas les armes quand on le montre. C'est pour cela que les
Ilinois m'en donnerent un pour me servir de sauvegarde parmy toutes




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        247
les nations, parlesquelles je devois passer dans mon voyage. II ya un
calumet pour la paix et un pour la guerre, qui ne sont distingue que
par la couleur des plumages dontz ils sont ornes. (Le Rouge est
marque de guerre), Ils s'en servent encor pour terminer leur differ
ents, pour affermir leurs alliances et pour parler aux estrangers.*  II
est compose d'une pierre rouge polie comme du marbre et percee
d'une telle faqon qu'un bout sert a recevoir le tabac et l'autre s'enclave dans le manche, qui est un baston de deux pieds de long, gros
comme une canne ordinaire et percee par le milieu; il est embelly
de la teste et du eol de divers oyseaux, dont le plumage est tres
beau;   its y ajoutent aussi de grandes plumes rouges, vertes et
d'autres couleurs, dont il est tout empanache; ils en font estat particulierement, parcequ'ils le regardent comme le calumet du soleil;
et de fait its le luy presentent pour fumer quand ils veulent obtenir
du calme, ou de la pluye ou du beau temps. Ils font scrupule de
se baigner au commencement de l'Este, ou de manger des fruits
nouveaux qu'apres l'avoir dance. En voicy la faqon.
La danse du calumet, qui est fort celebre parmy ces peuples, ne
se fait que pour des sujets considerables; quelque fois c'est pour affermir la paix ou se reiunir pour quelque grande guerre; c'est d'autres fois pour une rejofiissance publique, tantost on en fait honneur a
une nation qu'on invite d'y assister, tantost ils sen servent a la reception de quelque personne considerable comme s'ils vouloient luy
donner le divertissement du Bal ou de la Comede; l'hyver la ceremonie se fait dans une cabane, l'Este c'est en raze campagne. La
place etant choisie, on l'environne tout a l'entour d'arbres pour
mettre tout le monde a l'ombre de leurs feiiillages, pour se defendre
des chaleurs du soleil; on etend une grande natte de joncs peinte
de diverses couleurs au milieu de la place; elle sert comme de
tapis pour mettre dessus avec honneur le Dieu de celuy qui fait la
Dance; car chacun a le sien, qu'ils- appellent leur manitou, c'est un
serpent ou un oyseau, ou chose semblable qu'ils ont resve en dormant et en qui ils mettent tout leur confiance pour le succez deleur
guerre, de leur pesche et de leur chasse; pres de ce manitou et a sa
droite, on met le calumet en l'honneur de qui se fait la feste et tout
a l'entour on fait comme une trophee et on 6stend les armes dont se
servent les guerriers de ces nations, sgavoir la massfie, la hache
d arme, lare, le carquois et les fleches.
* From this to the next star is from Thevenot




248          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
Les choses estant ainsi disposees et l'heure de la dance approchant, ceux qui sont nommez pour chanter prennent la place la plus
honorable sous les feiiillages; ce sont les hommes et les femmes qui
ont les plus belles voix, et qui s'accordent parfaitement bien ensemble; tout le monde vient ensuitte se placer en rond sous les branches,
mais chacun en arrivant doit salier le manitou, ce qu'il fait en petunant et jettant de sa bouche la fumee sur luy comme s'il luy presentoit de l'encens; chacun va d'abord avec respect prendre le calumet et le soutenant des deux mains, il le fait dancer en cadence,
s'accordant bien avec l'air des chansons; il luy fait faire des figures
bien differentes, tantost il le fait voir a toute l'assemblee se tournant
de cote et d'autre; apres cela, celuy qui doit commencer la dance
paroist au milieu de l'assemble et va d'abord et tantost il le presente
au soleil, comine s'il le vouloit faire fumer, tantost il l'incline vers la
terre, d'autrefois il luy estend les aisles comme pour voler, d'autres
fois il l'approche de la bouche des assistans, afinqu'ils fument, le
tout en cadence, et c'est comme la premiere scene du Ballet.
La seconde consiste en un combat qui se fait au son d'une espece
de tambour, qui succede aux chansons, ou mesme qui s'y joignant
s'accordent fort bien ensemble; le Danseur fait signe a quelque
guerrier de venir prendre les armes qui sont sur la natte et'invite
a se battre au son des tambours; celuyci s'approche, prend l'arc et
la fleche, avec la hache d'armes et commence le duel contrel'autre,
quin'a point d'autre defense que le calumet. Ce spectacle est fort
agreable, surtout les faisant tousjours en cadence, carl'un attaque,
l'autre se defend, l'un porte des coups, l'autre les pare, l'un fuit,'autre
le poursuit et puis celuy qui fuyoit tourne visage et fait fiyr son ennemy, ce qui se passe si bien par mesure et a pas comptez et an son
regle des voix et des tambours, que cela pourroit passer pour une
assez belle entree de Ballet en France.
La troisieme scene consiste-en un grand discours que fait celuy
qui tient le calumet, car le combat estant fini sans sang repandu, il
raconte les batailles o'u il s'est trouve, les victoires qu'il a remportees,
il nomme les nations, les lieux et les captifs qu'il a faitz, et pour recompense celuy qui preside a la danse luy fait present d'une belle
robe de castor ou de quelque autre chose et l'ayant receu il va presenter le calumet a un autre, celuyci a un troisieme, et ainsi de tous
les autres, jusqu'aceque tous ayant fait leur devoir, le President fait
present du calumet mesme a la nation qui a est6 invitee a cette ceremonie, pour marque de la paix eternelle qui sera entro les deux peuples.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        249
Voicy quelqu'une des chansons qu'ils ont coustume de chanter, ils
leur donnent un certain tour qu'on ne peut assez exprimer par la
notte, qui neamoins en fait toute la grace.
"Ninahani, ninahani, ninahani, naniongo."
SECTION       VII.
Nous prenons conge de nos Ilinois sur la fin de Juin vers les trois
heures apres midy, nous nous embarquons a laveiie de tous ces
peuples qui admiroient nos petits canotz, n'en ayant jamais veu de
semblables.
Nous descendons suivant le courant de la riviere appellee Pekitanoiii, qui se decharge dans Missisipi venant du Nordoiest, de la
quelle j'ay quelque chose de considerable a dire apres que j'auray
raconte ce que j'ay remarque sur cette riviere.*  Passant proche des
rochers assez hautz qui bordent la riviere j'apperceu un simple qui
m'a paru fort extraordinaire.  La racine est semblable a des petitz
naveaux attachez les uns aux autres par des petitz filetz qui ont
le gout de carote; de cette racine sort une feuille large comme la
main, espaisses d'un demi doigt avec des taches au milieu; de cette
feuille naissent d'autres feuilles resemblables aux plaques qui servent
de flambeaux dans nos sales et chasque feuille porte cinq ou six
fleurs jaunes en forme de clochettes.
Nous trouvames quantite de meures aussi grosses que celle de
France, et un petit fruict que nous prismes d'abord pour des olives,
mais il avoit le gout d'orange et un aultre fruict gros comme un ceuf
de poule, nous le fendismes en deux et parurent deux separations,
dans chasqu'une desquelles il y a 8 ou 10 fruicts enchassez, ils ont
la figure d'amande et sont fort bons quand ils sont meurs; l'arbre
neamoins qui les porte a tres mauvaise odeur et sa feuille ressemble
a celle de noyer, il se trouve aussi dans les prairies un fruit semblable a des noisettes mais plus tendre: les feuilles sont fort grandes
et viennent d'une tige au bout de laquelle est une teste semblable a
celle d'un tournesol, dans laquelle toutes ces noisettes sont proprement arrangees, elles sont fort bonnes et cuites et crues.
Comnlne nous cottoions des rochers affreux pour leur haulteur et
pour leur longeur, nous vismes sur un de ses rochers deux monstres




250          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
en peinture qui nous firent peur d'abord et sur lesquels les sauvages
les plus hardys n'osent pas arrester longtemps les yeux; ils sont gros
comme un veau; ils ont des comes en teste commes des chevreils;
un regard affreux, des yeux rouges, une barbe comme d'un tygre, la
face a quelque chose de l'homme, le corps couvert d'ecailles et la
queie si longue qu'elle fait tout le tour du corps passant par dessus
la teste et retournant entre les jambes elle se termine eu queue de
poisson. Le vert le rouge et le noirastre sont les trois couleurs qui
le composent; au reste ces 2 monstres sont si bien peint que ious ne
pouvons pas croire qu'aucun sauvage en soit l'autheur, puisqueles
bons peintres en France auroient peine a si bien faire, velque d'ailleurs ils sont si hauts sur le rocher qu'il est difficile d'y atteindre
commodement pour les peindre. Voicy apeupres la figure de ces
monstres comme nous l'avons contretiree.
Comme nous entretenions sur ces monstres, voguant paisiblement
dans une belle eau claire et dormante nous entendisme le bruit d'un
rapide, dans lequel nous allions tomber. Je n'ay rien veu de plus
affreux, un ambaras de gros arbres entiers, de branches, d'isletz fiotans, sortoit de l'embouchure de la riviere Pekitano(ii avec tant d'impetuosit6 qu'on ne pouvoit s'exposer a passer au travers sans grand
danger.  L'agitation estoit telle que l'eau en estoit toute boueuse
et ne pouvoit s'epurer. Pelitanouii est une riviere considerable qui
venant d'assez loing du coste du noroiiest, se decharge dans Missisipi, plusieurs Bourgades de sauvages sont placees le long de cette
riviere et jespere par son moyen faire la decouverte de la mer Vermeille ou de Californie.
Nous jugeons bien par le rund de vent que tient Missisippi, si elle
continue dans la mesme route, qu'elle a sa decharge dans le golphe
mexique; il seroit bien advantageux de trouver celle qui conduit a la
mer du sud, vers la Californie et c'est comme j'ay dit ce que j'espere
de rencontrer par Pekitanoui, suivant le rapport que m'en ont fait les
sauvages, desquels j'ay appris qu'en refoulant cette riviere pendant 5
ou 6 journees on trouve une belle prairie de 20 ou 30 lieiies de long,
il faut la traverser allant au norouiest, elle se termine a une autre
petite riviere, sur laquelle on peut s'embarquer, n'etant pas bien difficile de transporter les canotz par un si beau pays telle qu'est cette
prairie. Cette 2de riviere a son cours vers le souroiest pendant 10 ou
15 lieies, apres quoy elle entre dans un petit lac, que est la source d'une
autre riviere profonde, laquelle va au couchant, ou elle se jette dans
la mer. Je ne doubte presque point que ce ne soit la Mer Vermeille,




DISCOVERIES IN TIlE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        251
et je ne d6sespere pas d'en faire un jour la decouverte, si Dieu m'en
fait la grace etme donne la sante affin de pouvoir publier l'Evangile
a tous les peuples de ce nouveau monde, qui ont croupi si longtemps
dans les tenebres de l'infidelite.
Reprenons nostre route apres nous estre eschape comme nous
avons pu de ce dangereux rapide cause par l'ambaras dont j'ay parle.
SECTION       VIII.
Des nouveaux pays que le Pere decouvrc.-D)iverses particularites. —Rncnontre
de quelques sauvages: premieres nouvelles de la Mer et des Europeans.-Grand
danger evite par le moyeni du calumet.
APRES avoir fait environ 20 liedes droit au sud et un peu moins an
sudest nous nous trouvons a une riviere nommee Ouaboukigou dont
l'embouchure est par les 36 degrez d'elevation.  Avant que d'y
arriver nous passons par un lieu redoutable aux sauvages parcequ'ils
estiment qu'il y a un manitou, c'est a dire un demon qui devore les
passans et c'est de quoy nous menaeoient les sanvages qui nous
vouloient detourner de nostre enterprise. Voicy ce demon, c'est une
petite anse de rochers haulte de 20 pieds ou se degorge tout le
courant de la riviere lequel estant repouss6 contre celuy qui le suit
et arreste par une isle qui est proche, est contraint de passer par un
petit canal, ce qui ne se fait pas sans un furieux combat de toutes ces
oaux qui rebroussent les uns sur autres et sans un grand tintamarre
qui donne de la terreur a des sauvages qui craignent tout, mais cela
ne nous empeche point de passer et d'arriver a 8abykigS.  Cette
riviere vient des terres du levant ou sont les peuples qu'on appelle
Chaoiianons, en si grand nombre, qu'en un quartier on compte jusqua
23 villages et 15 enun aultre, assez proches les uns des aulties; ils
ne sent nullement guerriers, et ce sont les peuples que les Iroquois
vont chercher si loing pour leur faire la guerre sans aucun sujet, et
parceque ces pauvres gens ne scavent pas se deffendre, ils se laissent prendre et emmener comme des trouppeaux, et tout innocents
qu'ils sont, ils ne laissant pas de ressentir quelque fois la barbarie
des Iroquois qui les bruslent cruellement.
Une peu au dessus de cette riviere dont ie viens de parler sont
des falaises ou nos franqois ont apperceu une mine de fer, qu'ils




252          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
jugent tres abondante, il y en a plusieures veines et un lit d'un pied
de hauteur; on en voit de gros morceaux liez avec des cailloux. I1
s'y trouve d'une terre grasse de trois sortes de couleurs, de pourpre
de violet et des Rouges. L'eau dans laquelle on la lave prend la
couleur de sang. Il y a aussi d'un sable rouge fort pesant. J'en mis
sur un aviron qui en prit la couleur si fortement, que l'eau ne la put
effacer pendant 15 jours que je m'en servois pour nager.
C'est icy que nous commencons a voir des cannes ou gros roseaux
qui sont sur le bord de la riviere, elles ont un vert fort agreable, tous
les nweuds sont couronn6z de feiiilles longues, estroittes et pointues,
elles sont fort hautes et en si grande quantite que les bceufs sauvages
ont peine de les forcer.
Jus lu'a present nous n'avions point estez incommodes des maringouins, mais nous entrons comme dans leur pays. Voicy ce que font
les sauvages de ces quartiers pour s'en deffendre; ils elevent un eschaffault dont le plancher n'est fait que de perches, et par consequent
est perce a jour affinque la fumee du feu qu'ils font dessous passe
au travers et chasse ces petitz animaux qui ne la peuvent supporter,
on se couche sur les perches au dessus desquelles sont des escorces
estendies contre la pluye. Cet eschaffault leur sert encor contre
les chaleurs excessives et insupportables de ce pays, car on s'y
met a l'ombre a l'estage d'en bas et on s'y garantit des rayons du
soleil, prenant le frais du vent qui passe librement autravers de cet
eschaffault.
Dans le mesme dessein nous fusmes contraints de faire sur l'eau
une espece de cabane avec nos voiles pour nous mettre a couvert et
des maringouins et des rayons du soleil, comme nous nous laissons
aller en cet estat au gre de l'eau, nous apperceumes a terre des
sauvages armez de fusilz avec lesquels ils nous attendoient. Je leur
presentay d'abord mon calumet empanache, pendant que nos francois
se mettent en deffense, et attendolent a tirer, que les sauvages;
eussent fait la premiere decharge, je leur parlay en Huron, mais ils
me repondirent par un mot qui me sembloit nous declarer la guerre,
ils avoient neamoins autant de peur que nous, et ceque nous prenions
pour signal de guerre, estoit une invitation qu'ils nous faisoit de
nous approcher, pour nous donner a manger, nous debarquons done
et nous entrons dans leur cabanes ou ils nous presente du bceuf
sauvage et de l'huile d'ours, avec des prunes blanches qui sont tres
excellentes. Ils ont des fusils, des haches, des hoies, des cousteaux, de la rassade, des bouteilles de verre double ou ils mettent leur




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        253
poudre, ils out les cheveux longs et se marquent par le corps a la
facon des hiroquois, les femmes sont coiffes et vestiies a la facon des
huronnes, ils nous assurerent qu'ils n'y avoit plus que dix journees
jusqua la mer, qu'ils acheptoient les estoffes et toutes autres marchandises des Europeans qui estoient du coste de l'Est, que ces
Europeans avoient des chapeletz et des images, qu'ils joiioient des
instrumentz, qu'il y en avoit qui estoient faitz comme moy et qu'ils
en estoient bien receu; cependant je ne vis personne qui me parut
avoir receu aucune instruction pour la foy, le leurs en donnay ceque
je pus avec quelques medailles.
Ces nouvelles animerent nos courages et nous firent prendre
l'aviron avec une nouvelle ardeur. Nous avanqons donc et nous ne
voions plus tant de prairies parceque les 2 costez de la riviere sent
bordez de hauts bois. Les cottonniers, les ormes et les boisblancs
y sont admirables pour leur haulteur et leur grosseur. La grande
quantit6 de boeufs sauvages que nous entendions meugler nous fait
croire que les prairies sont proches, nous voions aussi des cailles
le bord de l'eau, nous avons tue un petit perroquet qui avoit la
moitie de la teste rouge, P'antre et le col jaune et tout le corps vert.
Nous estions descendus proche des 33 degrez d'eslevation ayant
presque tousjour este vers le sud, quand nous apperceumes un village
sur le bord de l'eau nomme Mitchigamea. Nous eusmes recours a
nostre Patronne et a nostre conductrice la Ste. Vierge Immaculee, et
nous avions bien besoin de son assistance, car nous entendismes de
loing les sauvages qui s'animoient au combat par leurs crys continuels, ils estoient armes d'arcs, de fleches, de haches, de massies et
de boucliers, ils se mirent en estat de nous attaquer par terre et par
eau, une partie s'embarque dans de grands canotz de bois, les uns
pour monter la riviere, les autres pour la descendre, affin de nous
coupper chemin, et nous envelopper de tous costez; ceux qui estoient a terre alloient et venoient coinme pour commencer l'attaque.
De fait de jeunes hommes se jetterent a l'eau, pour venire saiser de
mon canot, mais le courant les ayant contraint de reprendre terre, un
d'eux  nous jetta sa. massie qui passa par dessus nous sans nous
frapper; j'avois beau montrer le calumet, et leur faire signe par gestes
que nous ne venions pas en guerre, l'alarme continuoit tousjour et
lon se preparoit deia a nous percer de fltches de toutes parts, quand
Dieu toucha soAdainement le coeur dos vieillards qui estoient sur le
bord de l'eau sans doubte par la veiie de nostre calumet qu'ils n'avoient pas bien reconnu de loing, mais comme je ne cessois de le




254          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
faire paroistre, ils en furent touclez, arresterent l'ardeur de leur
jeunesse et mesme deux de ces anciens ayant jettez dans nostre
canot comme a nos pieds leurs arcs et leurs carquois pour nous
mettre en asseurance, ils y entrerent et nous firent approcher de
terre, ou nous debarquames non pas sans crainte de nostre part. I1
fallut au commencement parler par gestes, parceque personne n'entendoit rien des six langues que je scavois, il se trouva enfin un
vielliard qui parloit un peu l'llinois.
Nous leurs fines paroistre par nos presens que nous allions a la
mer, ils entendirent bien ce que nous leur voulions dire, mais je ne
scay s'ils congeurent ce que je leurs dis de Dieu et des choses de
leur salut, c'est une semence jettee en terre qui fructifira en son
temps. Nous n'eusmes point d'autre reponse si non que nous apprendrions tout ce que nous desirions d'un aultre grand village nomme Akamsea qui n'estoit qu'a 8 ou 10 lieiies plus bas, ils nous presenterent de la sagamite et du poisson et nous passames la nuict
chez eux avec assez d'inquietude.
SECTION      IX.
Reception qu'on fait aux Franfois dans la derniere des Bourgades qu'ils ont
veuies.-Lces mceurs et facons defaire de ces sauvages.-Raisons pour ne pas
passer outre.
Nous embarquames le lendemain de grand matin avec nostre interprette; un canot ou estoient dix sauvages alloit un peu devant
nous, estant arrives a une demie lieie des Akamsea, nous vismes paroistre deux canotz qui venoient au devant de nous; celuy qui y commandoit estoit debout tenant en main le calumet avec lequel il faisoit
plusieurs gestes selon le coustume du pays, il vint nous joindre en
chantant assez agreablement et nous donna a fumer, apres quoy il
nous presenta de la sagamite et du pain fait de bled d'inde, dont nous
mangeammes un peu, ensuitte il prit le devant nous ayant fait signe
de veriir doucement apres luy; on nous avoit prepare uie place sous
l'eschaffault du chef des guerriers. elle estoit propre et tapisse de
belles nattes de jonc, sur lesquelles on nons fit asseoir, ayant autour
de nous les anciens, qui estoient plus proches, apres les guerriers et
enfin tout le peuple en foule. Nous trouvalmes l'a par bonheur un




DISCOVERIES IN THEA MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.      255
jeune homme qui entendoit l'Ilinois beaucoup mieux que l'Interprette
que nous avions amene de Mitchigamea, ce fut par son moyen que je
parlay d'abord a toute cette assemblee par les presens ordinaires; ils
admiroient ce que je leur disois de Dieu et des mysteres de nostre
Ste foy, ils faisoient paroistre un grand desir de me retenir avec eux
pour les pouvoir instruire.
Nous leurs demandames ensuitte ce qu'ils scavoient de la mer;
ils nous r6pondirent que nous n'en estions qu'a dix journees, nous
aurions pit faire ce chemin en 5 jours, qu'ils ne connoissoient pas les
nations qui l'habitoient a cause que leurs ennemys les empechoient
d'avoir commerce avec ces Europeans, que les haches, cousteaux, et
rassade que nous voions leur estoient vendiies en partie par des nations de PEst et en partie par une bourgade d'Ilinois placee a l'otiest
a quattre journees de la, que ces sauvages que nous avons rencontres
qui avoient des fusils estoient leurs ennemys, lesquels leur fermoient
le passage de la mer et les empechoient d'avoir connoissance des
Europeans et d'avoir avec eux aucun commerce; qu'au reste nous
nous exposions beaucoup de passer plus oultre a cause des courses
continuelles que leurs ennemys font sur la riviere, qui ayant des fusils
et estant fort agguerris, nous ne pouvions pas sans un danger evident
avancer sur cette riviere qu'ils occupent continuellement.
Pendant cet entretien on nous apportoit continuellement a manger
dans de grands platz de bois, tantost de la sagamite, tantost du bled
entier, tantost d'un rnorceau de chien, toute la journee se passa en
festins.
Ces peuples sont assez officieux et liberaux de ce qu'ils ont, mais
ils sont miserables pour le vivre, nosant aller a la chasse des boeufs
sauvages a cause de leurs ennemys, ils est vray qu'ils ont le bled
d'inde en abondance, qu'ils sement en toute saison, nous en visme
en mesme temps qui estoit en maturite, d'autre qui ne faisoit que
pousser et d'autre qui estoit en laict, de sorte qu'ils sement trois fois'an. Ils le font cuire dans de grands potz de terre qui sont fort bien
faits; ils ont aussi des assietes de terres cuitte dontz ils se'servent
a divers usages. Les hommes vont nuds, portent les cheveux
courtz, ont le nez perce d'ou pend de la rassade aussi bien que de
leurs oreilles.  Les femmes sont vestiies de meschantes peaux,
noiient leurs cheveux en deux tresses, qu'elles jettent derriere les
oreilles, et n'ont aucune rarete pour se parer. Leurs festins se font
sans aucune ceremonie, ils presentent aux invitez de grands platz
dontz chascun mange a discretion, et se donnent les restes les uns




256          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
aux aultres. Leur langue est extremement difficile et je ne pouvois
venir about d'en prononcer quelques motz, quelque effort que je
pusse faire. Leurs cabanes qui sont faittes d'escorce, sont longues
et larges, ils couchent aux deux bouts elevez de deux pieds de terre,
ils y gardent leur bled dans de grands panniers faits de cannes, ou
dans des gourdes grosses comme des demy bariques. Ils ne scavent
ce que c'est que le castor, leurs richesses consistent en peaux de
bceufs sauvages, ils ne voient jamais de neige chez eux et ne connoissent l'hyver que par les pluyes qui y tombent plus souvent qu'en
este; nous n'y avons pas mang6 de fruictz que des melons d'eau.
S'ils scavoient cultiver leur terre ils en auroient de toutes les sortes.
Le soir les anciens firent un conseil secret dans le dessein que
quelque'uns avoient de nous casser la teste pour nous piller, mais
le chef rompit toutes ces menees. Nous ayant envoye querir, pour
marque de parfaitte assurance, il dansa le calumet devant nous, do
la faqon, que jay descript cy dessus, et pour nous oster toute crainte,
il m'en fit present.
Nous fismes M. Jolliet et moy un aultre conseil, pour deliberer sur
ce que nous avions a faire, si nous pousserions oultre o'u si nous nous
contenterions de la decouverte que nous avions faite. Apres avoir
attentivement consider6 que nous n'estions pas loing du golphe
mexique, dont le bassin estant a la haulteur de 31 degrez 60 minutes
(sic), et nous nous trouvant a 33 degrez 40 minutes nous ne pouvions
pas en estre eloignes plus de 2 ou 3 journees, qui indubitablement la
riviere Missisipi avoit sa decharge dans la floride ou golphe Mexique, n'on pas du coste de l'est dans la Virginie, dont le bord de la
mer est a 34 degrez que nous avons passez sans neamoins estre encor
arrives a la mer; non pas aussi du coste de l'oiest a la Californie,
parceque nous devions pour cela avoir nostre route a l'oiiest ou a
loiiest soroiiest et nous l'avons tousjour en au sud. Nous considerr
ames de plus que nous nous exposions a perdre le fruict de ce voyage
duquel nous ne pourrions pas donner aucune connoissance, si nous
allions nous jetter entre les mains des Espagnols qui sans doubte nous
auroient du moins retenus captifs. En oultre nous voyions bien que
nous n'estions pas en estat de resister a des sauvages allies des Europeans, nombreux et expertz a tirer dlu fusil qui infestoient continuelment le bas de cette riviere. Enfin nous avions pris toutes les connoissances qu'on peut souhaiter dans cette decouverte. Toutes ces
raisons firent conclure pour le retour, que nous declarames aux sauvages et pour lequel nous nous preparames apres un jour de repos.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        257
SECTION       X.
Retour du Pere et des Franpois.-Baptene d'un enfant moribond.
APRES un mois de navigation en descendant sur Missisipi depuis
le 42d degre jusqu'au 34e et plus, et apres avoir publie l'Evangile,
autant que j'ay pu, aux nations que j'ay rencontrees nous partons le
17e Juillet du village des Akensea pour retourner sur nos pas.
Nous remontons donc a Missisipi qui nous donne bien de la peine a
refouler ses courans, il est vray que nous le quittons vers les 38e
degre pour entrer dans une aultre riviere qui nous abbrege de beaucoup le chemin et nous conduit avec peu de peine dans le lac des
Ilinois.
Nous n'avons rien veu de semblable a cette riviere ou nous entrons
pour la bonte des terres, des prairies, des bois, des bceufs, des cerfs,
des chevreux, des chatz sauvages, des outardes, de cygnes, des
canards, des perroquetz et mesme des castors, il y a quantite de
petitz lacs et de petites rivieres. Celle.,ur laquelle nous navigeons
est large, profonde, paisible pendant 65 lieiies le primptemps et une
partie de l'este, on ne fait de transport que pendant une demy lieuie.
Nous y trouvames une bourgade d'Ilinois nomme Kaskaskia composee de 74 cabanes, ils nous y ont tres bien receus et m'ont oblige
de leur promettre que je retournerois pour les instruire. Un de
chefs de cette nation avec sa jeunesse nous est venu conduire jusu'au lac des Ilinois, d'ou enfin nous nous sommes rendus dans la
baye des Puantz sur la fin de Septembre, d'ou nous estions partes
vers le commencement de Juin.
Quand tout ce voyage n'auroit cause que le salut d'une ame, j'estimerois toutes mes peines bien recompensees, et c'est ce que j'ay
sujet de presumer, car lorsque je retournois nous passames par les
Ilinois de Pe8area, je fus trois jours a publier la foy dans toutes
leurs cabanes, apres quoy comme nous nous embarquions, on m'apporte au bord de l'eau un enfant moribond que je baptisay un peu
avant qu'il mourut par une providence admirable pour le salut de
cette ame innocente.
17




UNFINISHED LETTER OF FATHER MARQETETTE
TO FATHER CLAUDE DABLON, SUPERIOR OF THE MISSIONS,
CONTAINING A
JOtJRNAL OF HIS LAST VISIT TO THE ILINOIS.
MON REVEREND PEREPax Xi:AYANT ete contraint de demeurer a St. Franqois tout l'este a cause
de quelque incommodite. En ayant este guery dez le mois de Septembre j'y attendois l'arrivee de nos gens au retour de la bas pour
sqavoir ce qu ie ferois pour mon hyvernement; lesquels m'apporterent les ordres pour mon voyage a la mission de le Conception des
Ilinois. Ayant satisfait aux sentiments de V. R. pour les copies de
mon iournal touchant la Riviere de Missisipi je partis avec Pierre
Porteret et Jacque -, le 25 Oct., 1674, sur les midy le vent nous
contraignit de coucher a la sortie de la riviere ou les PSte8atamis
s'assembloient, les anciens n'ayant pas voulu qu'on allast du costez
des Ilinois, de peur que la jeunesse amassant des robbes avec les
marchandises qu'ils ont apportez de la bas, et chassant au castor ne
voulut descendre le printemps qu'ils croient avoir suiet de craindre
les Nad8essi.
26 Oct. Passant au village nous n'y trouvasmes plus que deux
cabannes qui partoient pour aller hyverner a la Gasparde, nous apprismes que 5 canots de PSteSatamis et 4 d'Ilinois estoient partis
pour aller aux Kaskaskia.
27. Nous fusmes arrestez le matin par la pluye, nous eusmes beau
temps et calme l'apresdisnee que nous rencontrasmes dans l'ance a'esturgeon les sauvages qui marchoient devant nous.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        259
28. On arrive au portage, un canot qui avoit pris le devant est
cause (que) qu'on ne tue point de gibier; nous commencons notre
portage et allons coucher de l'autre bord, ou le mauvais temps nous
fist bien de la peine. Pierre n'arrive qu'a une heure de nuit s'esgarant par d'un sentier ou il n'avoit iamais este, apres la pluye et la
tonnerre, il tombe de la neige.
29. Ayant este contraint de changer de cabannage, on continue de
porter les paquets, le portage a pres d'une lieie et assez incommode
en plusieurs endroits, les Ilinois s'estant assembles le soir dans notre
cabanne demandent qu'on ne les quitte pas, comme nous pouvions
avoir besoin d'eux et qu'ils connoissent mieux le lac que nous, on
leur promet.
30. Les femmes Ilinoises achevent le matin notre portage; on est
arreste par le vent, il n'y a point de bestes.
31. On parte par un assez beau temps et l'on vieut coucher a une
petite riviere. Le chemin de I'ance a l'esturgeon par terre est tres
difficile, nous n'en marchions pas loing l'automne passee, lorsque
nous entrasmes dans le bois.
Nov. 1. Ayant dit la Ste. Messe on vient coucher dans une riviere,
d'ou l'on va aux PSteSatamis par un beau chemin. ChachagSessi8
llinois fort considere parmy sa nation, a raison en partie qu'il se
mesle des affaires de la traitte arrive la nuit avec un chevreux sur
son dos, dont il nous fait part.
2. La Ste. Messe dit, nous marchons toute la iournee par un fort
beau temps, on tue deux chats qui n'ont quasi que de la graisse.
3. Comme i'estois par terre marchant sur le beau sable tout le
bordde l'eau estoit d'herbes semblables a celle qu'on pesche aux retz
St. Ignace, mais ne pouvant passer une riviere, nos gens y entrent
pour m'embarquer, mais on n'en put sorter a cause de la lame, tous
les autres canots passent a la reserve d'un seul qui vient avec nous.
4. On est arreste. Ily a apparence qu'il y a quelque isle au large
le gibier y passant le soir.
5. Nous eusmes assez de peine de sorter de la riviere sur le
midy'on trouva les sauvages dans une riviere, ou ie pris occasion
d'instruire les Ilinois, a raison d'un festin que Na8askingSe venoit de
faire a une peau de loup.
6. On fist une belle iournee, les sauvages estant a la chasse decouvrirent quelques pistes d'hommes ce qui oblige d'arrester le lendemain.
9. On mit a terre sur les 2 heures a cause d'un beau cabannage,




260          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
ou l'on fust arreste 5 iours, a cause de la grande agitation du lac
sans aucun vent, ensultte par la neige, qui fust le lendemain fondie
par le soleil et un vent du large.
15. Apres avoir fait assez de chemin on cabanne dans un bel endroit ou l'on est arreste 3 iours Pierre raccommode le fusil d'un sauvage, neige tombe la nuit et fonde le iour.
20. On couche aux ecors assez mal cabannez les sauvages demeurent derriere durant qu'on est arreste du vent 2 iours et demy
Pierre allant dans le bois trouve la prairie a 20 lieies du portage, il
passe aussi sur un beau canal comme en voute, haut de la hauteur
d'un homme, ou il y avoit un pied d'eau.
23. Estant embarque sur le midy nous eusmes assez de peine de
gagner une riviere, le froid commenca par lest et plus d'un pied de
neige couvrit la terre qui est tousiours depuis demeure on fust
arreste la 3 iours durant lesquels Pierre tua un chevreux, 3 outardes,
et 3 cocqs d'inde, qui estoient fort bons, les autres passerent iusques
aux prairies, un sauvage ayant descouvert quelques cabannes nous
vint trouver, Jacques y alla le lendempin avec luy, 2 chasseurs me
vinren:t aussi voir, c'estoient des Mask8tens au nombre de 8 ou 9
cabannes, lesquelles s'estoient separez les uns des autres pour pouvoir vixre, avec des fatigues presque imnpossibles a des francois ils
marchent tout l'hyver, dans des chemins tres difficiles, les terres
estant pleines de ruisseaux, de petits lacs et de marests, ils sont tres
mal cabannez, et mangent ou ieustnent selon les lieux ou ils se rencontrent; estant arrestez par le vent nous remarquasmes qu'il y
avoit de grandes battures an large oln l  lanme brisoient continuellement; ce fust la que ie seritis quelqnes atteintes d'un flux de ventre.
27. Nous eusmes assez (de peine de sortir (de la riviere et ayant
fait environ 3 lieties nous trotivnlsmes les sauvages qui avoient tuez
des bmeufs et 3 Ilinois qui estoietnt vtnru ld village, nous fusmes arrestez la d'un vent de terre, des lames prodigieuses qui venoient du
large, et du froid.
Decembre 1. On devaince les snuvages pour pouvoir dire la Ste.
Mcsse.
3. Ayant dit la Ste. Meosse, estant emharque nous fusmes contraint de gagner llne pointae -,!pur )pouvoir mettre a terre a cause des
bourguignons.
4. Nous partistmes ]heotu!:ug'"eornct, plur venlir a a1 riviere du portage
tui estoit gelee (P1'iI <1e.!  i.. on;1 il v ivoit p!lus de neige que partout ailleurs, conr, w;,  -:  li,'  pisT!  (s'   he)-tes  et de  cocqs d'In



DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.        261
de. La navigation du lac est assez belle d'un portage a l'autre,
n'y ayant aucune traverse a faire et pouvant mettre a terre partout,
moyennant qu'on ne soit point opiniastre a vouloir marcher dans les
lames et de grand vent. Les terres qui le bordent ne valent rien,
excepte quand on est aux prairies, on trouve 8 ou 10 rivieres assez
belles, la chasse du chevreux est tres belle a mesure qu'on s'esloigne
des PeteSatamis.
12. Comme on commenqoit hir a traisner pour approcher du
portage les Ilinois ayant quittez les P8te8atamis arriverent avec
bien de la peine. Nous ne pusmes dire la Ste. Messe le iour de la
Conception a cause du mauvais temps et du froid, durant notre seiour
a l'entree de la riviere Pierre et Jacques tuerent 3 beufs et 4 chevreux dont un courut assez loing ayant le cceur coupe en 2 on se contente de tuer 3 ou 4 cocqs d'inde de plusieurs qui venoient autour
de notre cabanne, parcequ'ils mouroient quasi de faim; Jacques apporta un perdrix qu'il avoit tuez, semblable en tout a celles de France,
excepte qu'elle avoit comme deux aislerons de 3 on 4 aisles longues
d'un doigt proche de la teste, dont elles couvrent les 2 costez du col
ou il n'y a point de plume.
14. Estant cabannez proche le portage a 2 lieues dans la riviere
nous resolusmes d'hyverner la, estant dans l'impossibilite de passer
outre, estant trop embarasse, et mon incommodite ne me permettant
pas de beaucoup fatiguer. Plusieurs Ilinois passerent hier pour aller
porter leur pelleterie a Na8asking8e, ausquels on donne un boeufs et
un chevreux que Jacque avoit tu6 le iour auparavant ie ne pense pas
avoir veu de sauvage plus affame de petun Francois qu'eux, ils vinrent ietter a nos pieds des castors pour en avoir quelque bout mais
nour leur rendismes en leur en donnant quelque pipe, parceque nous
n'avions pas encore conclu si nous passerions outre.
15. Chachag8essi8 et les autres Ilinois nous quitterent pour aller
trouver leur gens, et leur donner les marchandises qu'ils avoient apportez pour avoir leur robbes en quoy ils se gouvernent comme des
traitteurs et ne donnent guere plus que les Francois; ie les instruisis
avant leur depart, remettant an printemps de tenir conseil quand ie
serois au village; ils nous traitterent 3 belles robbes de bceuf pour
une coudee de petun, lesquelles, nous ont beaucoup servi cet hyver,
estant ainsi desbarassez, nous dismes la Messe de la Conception;
depuis le 14 mon incommodite se tourna en flux de sang.
30. Jacque arriva du village des Ilinois qui n'estoit qu'a six lieues
d'icy ou ils avoient faim le froid et la neige les empeschant de chas



262          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
ser, quelques uns ayant adverti la Toupine et le chirurgien que nous
estions icy et ne pouvant quitter leur cabanne avoient tellement donnez la peur aux sauvages croyant que nous aurions faim demeurant
icy que Jacque eust bien de la peine d'empescher 15 jeunes gens de
venir pour emporter toute nostie affaire.
Janvier 16, 1675. Aussitot que les 2 francois sceurent que mon
mal mempeschoit daller chez eux le chirurgien vint icy avec un
sauvage pour nous apporter des bluets et du bled; ils ne sont que 18
lieies d'icy dans un beau lieu de chasse, pour les boeufs et les chevreux et les cocqs d'inde qui y sont excellents, ills avoient aussi amassez des vivres en nous attendant; et avoient fait entendre aux sauvages que leur cabanne estoit a la Robbe noire, et on peut dire qu'ils
ont fait et dit tout ce qu'on peut attendre d'eux: le chirurgien ayant
icy seiourne pour faire ses devotions: j'envoiay Jacque avec luy
pour dire aux Ilinois qui estoient proche de la, que mon incommodite
m'empeschoit de les aller voir et que iaurois mesme de la peine
d'yaller le printemps si elle continuoit.
24. Jacque retourna, avec un sac de bled et d'autres rafraichissement que les Franqois luy avoient donnez pour moy: il apporta
aussi les langues et de la viande de deux bceufs qu'un sauvage et
luy avoient tuez proche d'icy; mais toutes les bestes se sentent de
mauvais temps.
26. 3 Ilinois nous apporterent de la part des Anciens 2 sacs de
bled, de la viande seche, des citrouilles et 12 castors, 1t, pour me
faire une natte, 2~, pour me demander de la poudre, 30, pour que nous
n'eussions faim, 4~, pour avoir quelque peu de marchandises; ie leur
repondis lnt, que i'estois venu pour les instruire, en leur parlant de la
priere, &c. 2nt, que ie ne leur donnerois point de poudre, puisque
nous taschions de mettre partout la paix, et que ie ne voulois qu'ils
commengassent la guerre avec les Miamis. 3t, que nous n'apprehendions point le faim. 4nt, que iencouragerois les franqcois a leur
apporter des marchandises, et qu'il falloit qu'ils satisfissent ceux qui
estoient chez eux pour la rassade qu'on leur avoit pris, dez que le
chirurgien fust party pour venir icy. Comme ils estoient venus de
20 lieus, pour les payer de leur peine et de ce qu'ils m'avoient apportez ie leur donnay une hache, 2 couteaux, 3 iambettes, 10 brasses
de rassade et 2 mirouirs doubles, et leur disant qui ie tascherois d'aller au village seulement pour quelques iours si mon incommodite
continuoit, ils me dirent de prendre courage de demeurer et de
mourir daus leur pays et qu'on leur avoit dit que i'y resterois pour
longtemps.




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.       263
Fevrier 9. Depuis que nous nous sommes addressez a la Ste.
Vierge Immacule   que nous avons commencez une neufvaine par
une messe a laquelle Pierre et Jacque qui font tout ce qu'ils peuvent pour me soulager, out communies pour demander a Dieu la
sante, mon flux de sang m'a quitte, il ne me reste qu'un foiblesse d'estomac, ie commence a meporter beaucoup mieux et a reprendre mes
forces: ii ne cabanne d'Ilinois qui s'estoit rangee proche de nous
depuis un mois une partie out repris le chemin des PSt et quelques
uns sont encore au bord du lac ou ils attendent que la navigation
soit libre, ils emportent des lettres pour nos P. P. de St. Fran9ois.
20. Nous avons eu le temps de remarquer les mareez qui viennent du lac lesquels haussent et baissent plusieurs fois par iour et
quoyqu'il n'y paraisse aucune abry dans le lac, on a veu les glaces
aller contre le vent, ces mareez nous rendoient 1'eau bonne ou mauvaisse parceque celle qui vient d'en hault coule des prairies et de
petits ruisseaux, lestchevreux qui sont enquantite vers le bord du lac
sont si maigres qu'on a este contraint d'en laisser quelques uns de
ce qu'on avoit tuez.
Mars 23. On tue plusieurs perdrix dont il n'y a que les mals qui
ayant des aislerons au col, les femelles u'en ayant point, ces perdrix
sont assez bonnes mais non pas comme celle de France.
30. Le vent de nord ayant empesche le degeal jusques au 25 de
Mars il commenca par un vent de sud, dez le lendemain le gibier
commenca de paroistre, on tua 30 tourtres que ie trouvay meilleures
que celles de la bas, mais plus petites, tant les vieilles que les
ieunes; le 28 les glaces se rompirent et s'arresterent au dessus de
nous, le 29 les eaux crurent si fort que nous n'eusmes que le temps
de descabanner au plutot, mettre nos affaires sur des arbres et
tascher de chercher a coucher sur quelque but 1'eau nous gagnant
presque toute la nuit, mais ayant un peu gele et estant diminue comme nous estions aupres de nos paquets, la digue vient de se rompre
et les glaces a s'escouler et parceque les eaux remontent desia nous
allons nous embarquer pour continuer notre route.
La Ste. Vierge Immaculee a pris un tel soin de nous durant notre
hyvernement que rien ne nous a mauque pour les vivres, ayant encore un grand sac de bled de reste, de la viande et de la graisse;
nous avons aussi vescu fort doucement, mon mal ne m'ayant point
empesche de dire la Ste. Messe tous les iours; nous n'avons point
pu garder du caresme que les Vendredys et samedys.
31. Estant hier party nous fismes 3 lieues dans la riviere en re



264          NARRATIVE OF FATHER MAIRQJETTE.
montant sans trouver aucun portage, on traisna peut estre environ
un demy arpant outre cette descharge, la riviere en a une autre
par ou nous debvons descendre. 11 n'y a que les terres bien hautes
qui ne soient point inondeez, celle ou nous sommes a cru plus de
12 pieds a-ce fut d'icy que nous commencasmes notre portage ily a
18 mois; les outardes et les canards passent continuellement; on
s'est contente de 7, les glaces qui derivent encore nous font icy
demeureur ne sachant pas en quel estat est le bas de la riviere.
Avril 1. Comme ie ne scais point encore si ie demeurcray cet
este au village ou non a cause de mon flux de ventre, nous laissons
icy une partie de ce dont nous pouvons nous passer et surtout un sac
de bled, tandis qu'un grand vent de sud nous arreste, nous esperons
aller demain ou sont les Francois, distant de 15 lieues d'icy.
6. Les grands vents et le froid nous empeschent de marcher. Les
deux lacs par ou nous avons passez sont plains d'outardes, d'oyes, de
canards, de grues et d'autres gibiers que nous ne connoissons point.
Les rapides sont assez dangereux en quelques endroits, nous venons
de rencontrer le chirurgien avec un sauvage qui montoit avec une
canottee de pelleterie, mais le froid estant trop grand pour des personnes qui sont obligez de traisner les canots dans l'eau, il vient de
faire cache de son castor et retourne demain au village avec nous.
Si les Francois ont des robbes de ce pays icy, ils ne les desrobbent pas tant les fatigues sont grands pour les en tirer.




LA SALLE'S PATENT OF NOBILITY.
(Paris Doe. in Secy's. Office, Albany, vol. ii. pp. 8-11,)
Donnees a Compeigne le 13 May, 1675.
Louis, par la grace de Dieu Roy de France et de Navarre, a tous
presens et a venir saltit. Les Roys nos predecesseurs ayant toujours estime que l'honneur etait le plus puissant motif pour porter
leurs sujets aux genereuses actions, ils ont pris soin de reconnaitre
par des marques d'honneur ceux qu'une vertu extraordinaire en
avait rendu dignes, et comme nous sommes informes des bonnes
actions que font journellement les peuples de Canada, soit en reduisant ou disciplinant les sauvages, soit en se defendant contre leurs
frequentes insultes, et celles de Iroquois et enfin en meprisant les
plus grands perils pour etendre jusques au bout de ce nouveau
monde, nostre nom  et nostre empire, nous avons estime qu'il estait de nostre justice de distinguer par des recompences d'honneur
ceux qui se sont le plus signalez pour exciter les autres a meriter de
semblables graces, a ces causes, desirant traiter favorablement nostre cher et bien aime Robert Cavelier sieur de la Salle pour le bon et
louable rapport qui nous a ete fait des bonnes actions qu'il a faite
dans le pays de Canada ou il s'est estably depuis quelques annees et
pour autres considerations a ce nous mouvans, et de notre grace
speciale, pleine puissance, et autorite royale, nous avons annobly, et
par ces presentes signees de nostre main annoblissons, et decorons
du titre et qualite de noblesse le d. Sr. Cavalier, ensemble sa
femme et enfans posterite et lignee tant males que femelles nes et a
naitre en loyal mariage; Voulons et nous plait qu'en tous actes tant
en jugement que dehors ils soient tenus, censes et reputes nobles portant la qualite d'escuyer, et puissant parvenir a tous degres de chevallerie et de gendarmerie, acquerir, tenir, et posseder toutes sortes de




266            LA SALLE'S PATENT OF NOBILITY.
fiefs et seigneuries et heritages nobles de quelque titre et qualite
qu'ils soient, et qu'ils jouissent de tons honneurs, autorites, prerogatives, preeminences, privileges, franchises, exemptions et immunites, dont jouissent et ont accoutume de jouir et user les autres
nobles de nostre Royaume et de porter telles armes qu'elles sont cy
empraintes, sans ce que pour ce le dit Robert Cavelier soit tenu nous
payer, ny a nos successeurs Roys, aucune finance ni indemnite, dont
a quelque somme qu'elles se puissent monter, nous l'avons decharge,
et dechargeons et lui avons fait et faisons don par cesdites presentes,
le tout par les causes et raisons portees en l'arrest de notre concil de
cejourdhui donne nous y etant dont copie demeurera cy attachee
sous le contreseil de nostre chancellerie.  Si donnouns en mandement a nos aimes et.feaux coners les gens tenants nostre cour de
parlement de Paris, chambre des comptes, cour des aydes au dit lieu
que ces presentes lettres d' annoblissement ils ayent a registrer, et
du contenu en icelles faire souffrir et laisser jouir et user le dit Robert
Cavelier, ses Enfans et posterite nes et a naitre en loyal mariage,
pleinement, paisiblement et perpetuellement, cessant et faisant cesser
tous troubles et empeschemens nonobstant tous Edits et declarations,
arrests, reglemens, et autres choses a ce contraries, aux quels nous
avons deroge et derogons par ces presente car tel est notre plaisir.
Et afin que ce soit chose ferme stable et a toujours, nous y avons
fait mettre nostre scel. Donne a compeigne le 13 May, l'an de
grace mil six cens soixante quinze, et de nostre regne le trentotroisieme.




LA SALLE S PATENT OF NOBILITY.            267
LA SALLE'S SECOND COMMISSION.
(Same vol., p. 275.)
A Versailles, le 14 Avril, 1684.
Louis, par la grace de Dieu Roy de France et de Nauarre, Salut.
Ayant resolu de faire quelques entreprises dans l'Amerique Septentrionale pour assujetir sons nostre domination plusieurs nations
sauvages, et leur porter les lumieres de la foy et de l'evangile, nous
avons cru que nous ne pouvions faire un meilleur choix que du sieur
de la Salle, pour conmnander en nostre nom tous les Fran9ais et
sauvages qu'il employera pour l'execution des ordres dont nous
I'avons charge. A ces causes, et autres a ce nous mouvans, et etant
d'ailleurs bien informez de son affection et de sa fidelite a nostre
service, Nous avons le d. Sr. de la Salle commis et ordonne, commettons et ordonnons par ces presentes signees de nostre main, pour
sous nostre autorite commander tant dans les pays qui seront assujettis de nouveau sous nostre domination dans l'Amerique Septentrionale, depuis le fort St. Louis sur la Riviere des Illinois jusques A
la Nouvelle Biscaye, qu'aux Francois et sauvages qu'il employera
dans les entreprises dont nous l'avons charge, les faire vivre en
union et concorde les uns avec les autres, contenir les gens de
guerre en bon ordre et police, suivant nos Reglement, etablir des
Gouverneurs et commandans parers dans les lieux qu'il jugera a propos, jusques a cesqu' autrement par nous en ait ete ordonne, maintenir le commerce et traffic, generalement faire et exercer tout ce qui
pourra etre du fait de commandant pour nous esd. pays, et en jouir
aux pouvoirs, honneurs, autorites, libertes, prerogatives preeminences, franchises, libertes, gages, droits, finites, proffits, revenues, et
emolumens, tant qu'il nous plaira.
De ce faire vous avons donn6 et donnons pouvoir par ces d. presentes par lesquelles mandons a tous nos d. sujets et gens de guerre
de vous reconnoistre, obeir, et entendre en choses concernant le present pouvoir. Car tel est nostre plaisir.
En temoin dequoi nous avons fait mettre nostre seel secret a ces
d. presentes. Donnees a Versailles, le 14 Avril, 1684.




COMPARATIVE TABLE
Of the Names on the Jfap published by Thlevenot, as Mfarquette's, and on his -Real Xap annexed.
Thevenot.           Marquette.            Usual Form.
Mouingwena          Moingwena            Moingonan
Pe-wanea            Pe-warea              Pe-oria
Tillini-wek         Ilinois              Alliniwek and Illinois
Missi-ousing        Miscousing           Wisconsin
Cach-ouach-wia      Kachkaskia           Kaskaskia
Manoutensac         Maskoutens
Kamissi             Kanza
Autrechaha          Ouchage              Osage
Ou-missouri         We-messouret         Missouri
Ahiahichi           Aiaichi               Ayiches
Tamisa              Tanik-wa             Tonica
Matoua              Matora
Ototchassi          Atotchasi            Southouis
Monsouperea         Monsoupelea
Wabouquigou         Wabous-quigou        Wabash
Kakinouba           Kakinonba? Kanawha
The following names are on Marquette alone:Pahoutet
Maha                                      Omaha
Pana
Otontanta           Anthoutanta (Le Clercq)
Akoroa              Koroa
Papikaha? Quapaw
Apistonga
Maroa                                    Tamaroa
The following are on Thevenot alone: —
Kithigami, Minonk, Aganahali, Wabunghiharea, Taharea.
It will be observed that on the real map the part of Michigan then
unexplored, is dotted only, and that the Mississippi descends only
to Akansea, the limit of his discovery.
THE END.




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"A timely publication is this volume. A more charming companion (in the shape of a book) can
scarcely be found for the summer holydays."-New York Tribune.
" They are amusing sketches, gay and sprightly in their character, exhibiting great facility of conposition, and considerable powers of satire."-Hartford Courant.
" There is a brilliant play of fancy in' Lillian,' and a moving tenderness in' Josephine,' for which it
would be hard to find equals. We welcome this first collected edition of his works."-Albany Express.
" As a writer of vers de societe he is pronounced to be without an equal among English authors." —
Syracuse Daily Journal.
" The author of this volume was one of the most fluent and versatile English poets that have shone in
the literary world within the last century. His versification is astonishingly easy and airy, and his
imagery not less wonderfully graceful and aerial."-Albany State Register.
LAYS OF THE SCOTTISH CAVALIERS.
By WILLIAM       E. AYTOUN, Professor of Literature         and Belles-Lettres in the
University of Edinburgh, and Editor of Blackwood's Magazine.                 One vol.,
12mo., price one dollar.
" Since Lockhart and Macauley's ballads, we have had no metrical work to be conpared in spirit,
vigor, and rhythm with this. These ballads imbody and embalm the chief historical incidents of Scottish history-literally in' thouahts that breathe and words that burn.' They are full of lyric energy
graphic description, and genuine feeling:" —Home Journal.
" The fine ballad of'Montrose' in this collection is alone worth the price of the book."-Boston
Transcript.
"These strains belong to stirring and pathetic events, and until poetic descriptions of them shall be
disregarded, we think Mr. Aytoun's productions well calculated to maintain a favorite place in public
estimation."-Literary Gazette.
" Chosen from the ample range of Scottish history, clear in feeling, simple and direct in expression,
and happily varied and variable in measure, they will. we are contfident, outlive many, if not all, of
his more pretensions and ornamented contemporaries."-Literary World.
THE BOOK OF BALLADS.
By BON GAULTIER.         One volume. 12mo., price, seventy-five cents.
"Here is a book for everybody who loves classic fun. It is made up of ballads of all sorts, each a
capital parody upon the style of some one of the best lyric writers of the time from the thundering
versification of Lockhart and Macaulay to the sweetest and simpl.st stlrain or Wordsworth and Tennyson. The author is one of the first scoholars, and one of the most filished writers of the day, and this
production is but the frolic of his genius in play-titne."-Coturier 4 Enqi.irer.
"We do not kuow to whom belongs this non de plule, but he is er tainly a humorist of no common
power." —Providen ce JoterT al.
" Bon Gaultier's Book of Ballads, is simply the wittiest mad best thing of the kind since the Rejected
Addresses. Its parodies of Lockhlart (in the Spanish Ballads), of'l'Tilnson (his lovely sing-song puer.
ilities), of Macaulay (the sounl1ingr Iloman strnin), of Mo.se (the putt  oetical'). re wi   doe th a dozen others, in various ways. aly,f thett  equal to the famous Crabbe, utld Scott, and Coleridge of the reascending Drur y-. ne." —Literary World.




REDFIELD'S NEW       AND    POPULAR    PUBLICATIONS.                 3
LYRA, AND OTHER POEMS.
By ALICE CAREY. In one volume, 12mo, cloth, price 75 cts.
"Whether poetry he defined as the rhythmical creation of beauty, as passion or eloquence in harnonious numbers, or as thought and feeling manifested by processes of the imagination, Alice Carey
s incontestably and incomparably the first living American poetess-fresh, indigenous, national-rich
)eyond precedent in suitably and sensuous imagery-of the finest and highest qualities of feeling and
such powers of creation as the Almighty has seen fit to bestow but rarely or in far-separated coun-;ries."-Boston Transcript.
" The genuine inspiration of poetic feeling,...replete with tenderness and beauty, earnestness and
truthful simplicity, and all the attributes of a powerful imagination and vivid fancy. We know of no
superior to Miss Carey among the female authors of this country." —N. Y. Journal of Commerce.
"Alice Carey's book is full of beautiful thoughts: there is draught after draught of pure pleasure
For the lover of sweet, tender fancies, and imagery which captivates while it enforces truth."-New
York Courier and Inquirer.
"' Lyra and other Poems,' just published by Redfield, attracts everywhere, a remarkable degree of
attention. A dozen of the leading journals, and many eminent critics, have pronounced the authoress
the greatest poetess living."-New York Mirror.
CLO VERNOOK;
Or, Recollections of our Neighborhood in the West.         By ALICE CAREY.        Illustrated by DARLEY.       One vol., 12mo, price $1.00.     (Fourth edition.)
" In this volume there is a freshness which perpetually charms the reader. You seem to be made
free of western homes at once."-Old Colony Memorial.
"' They bear the true stamp of genius-simple natural, truthful-and evince a keen sense of the hu
mor and pathos, of the comedy and tragedy, of life in the country."-J. G. Whittier.
" Alice Carey has perhaps the strongest imagination among the women of this country. Her wri
tings will live longer than those of any other woman among us."-American Whig Review.
Miss Carey's sketches are remarkably fresh and exquisite in delicacy, humor, and pathos. She is
booked for immortality."-Home Journal.
DREAM-LAND BY DAY-LIGHT.
A Panorama of Romance.         By CAROLINE CHESEBRO'.         Illustrated by DARLEY.
One vol., 12mo., price $1.25. (Second edition.)
"We find in this volume unmistakeable evidences of originality of mind, an almost superfluous
depth of reflection for the department of composition to which it is devoted, a rare facility in seizing
the multiform aspects of nature, and a still rarer power of giving them the form and hue of imagination, without destroying their identity." —Harper's Magazine.
"These simple and beautiful stories are all highly endued with an exquisite perception of natural
beauty, with which is combined an appreciative sense of its relation to the highest moral emotions."Albany State Register.
" Gladly do we greet this floweret in the field of our literature, for it is fragrant with sweet and
bright with hues that mark it to be of Heaven's own planting."-Courier and Enquirer.
"There is a depth of sentiment and feeling not ordinarily met with, and some of the noblest faculties and affections of man's nature are depicted and illustrated by the skilful pen of the authoress."Churchman.
ISA, A PILGRIMAGE.
By CAROLINE CHESEBRO'.          One volume, 12mo, price, $1.00.        Second edition.
"The Pilgrimage is fraught throughout with scenes of thrilling interest-romantic, yet possessing a
naturalness that seems to stamp them as real; the style is flowing and easy, chaste and beautiful."Troy Daily Times.
"Miss Chesebro' is evidently a thinker-she skims not the mere surface of life, but plunges boldly
into the hidden mysteries of the spirit, by which she is warranted in making her startling revelations
of human passion."-Christian Freeman.
"There conies out in this book the evidence of an inventive mind, a cultivated taste, an exquisite
sensibility, and a deep knowledge of human nature."-Albany Argus.
"There is no one who will doubt that this.is a courageous and ablework, displaying genius and depth
of feeling, and striking at a high and noble aim."-N. Y. Evangelist.
" There is a fine vein of tenderness running through the story, which is peculiarly one of passion
and sentiment."-Arthur's Home Gazette.




4                REDFIELD'S NEW        AND    POPULAR     PUBLICATIONS.
LADIES OF THE COVENANT:
Memoirs of Distinguished Scottish Female Characters, embracing the Period of
the Covenant and the Persecution.         By Rev. JAMES ANDERSON.           One vol.,
12mo, price $1.25.
" It is written with great spirit and a hearty sympathy, and abounds in incidents of more than a romantic inierest, while the type of piety it discloses is the noblest and most elevated."-N. Y. Evangelist.
" It is a record which, while it confers honor on the sex, will elevate the heart, and strengthen it to
the better performances of every duty."-Religious Herald. (Va.)
"It is a book of great attractiveness, having not only the freshness of novelty, but every element of
historical intercst."-Courier 4- Enqutrer.
"The author delineates with great fidelity the struggles and sufferings of the noble female worthies
of Scotland in the cause of civil and religious liberty. It is refreshing to read these actual and heroic
lives of Christian women in both the higher and lower walks of life."-Prairie Herald.
CHARACTERS IN THE GOSPEL,
Illustrating Phases of Character at the Present Day.          By Rev. E. H. CHAPIN,
One vol., 12mo., price 50 cents. (Second edition.)
"As we read his pages, the reformer, the sensualist, the skeptic, the man of the world, the seeker,
the sister of charity and of faith, stand out from the Scriptures, and join themselves with our own living world."-Christian Enquirer.
" Mr. Chapin has an easy, graceful style, neatly touching the outlines of his pictures, and giving great
consistency and beauty to the whole. The reader will find admirable descriptions, some most wholesome lessons, and a fine spirit."-New York Evangelist.
-' The work is done with a skilful hand, and in a style attractive and impressive. The book furnishes
not only agreeable, but very useful and instructive reading."-Boston Traveller.
"We commend this volume to those who imagine that the teachings of the pulpit are nothing if not
dull. Its brilliant vivacity of style forms an admirable combination with its soundness of thought and
depth of feeling."-Tribune.
LECTURES AND MISCELLANIES.
BY HENRY      JAMES.     One vol., 12mo., cloth, price $1.25.
" A series of essays by one of the most generous thinkers and sincere lovers of truth in the country.
He looks at society from an independent point of view, and with the noblest and most intelligent sym.
pathy." —Home Journal.
"this is the production of a mind richly endowed of a very peculiar mould. All will concede
to him the merit of a vigorous and brilliant intellect."-Albany Argus.
" A perusal of the essays leads us to think, not merely because of the ideas which they contain,
but more because the ideas are earnestly put forth, and the subjects discussed are interesting and
important to every one.'- Worcester National Egis.
" They have attracted much attention both here and in Europe, where the author is considered as
holding a distinctive and prominent position in the school of modern philosophy."-Albany Atlas.
" The writer wields a masterly and accurate pen, and his style is good."-Boston Olive Branch.
"It will have many readers, and almost as many admirers."-N. Y. Times.
THE STUDY OF WORDS.
By   Archdeacon RICHARD C. TRENCH.             One vol., 12mo., price 75 cts.'"He discousres in a truly learned and lively manner upon the original unity of language, and the
origin, dleriv;tion, and history of words, with their morality and separate spheres of meaning."Evenitng Po':t.
('l'his is a noble tribute to the divine faculty of speech. Popularly written, exact in its learning,
and poetic in it" vision. it is a hook at once for the scholar and the general reader."-N. Y. Evangelist.
" It is ut-',of this most striking and original phlllications of the day, with nothinr oi hardness, dull.
ness, or ldrvn'".is about it, Ibut altogethei frlesh. lively. and entertanininr."-Boston Esvening Traveller.
"Thi- vliin will b o foundl exceedingly uePful, not alone for what it teaches. but as a stimulus to
thought;il,i stn lv, mind opitning wi(de a slggestive field for uleasing and beneficial investigation."Troy Dail 7?;,^Ies.




REDFIELD'S NEW        AND   POPULAR     PUBLICATIONS.                   5
THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE.
Complete in Three Volumes, with a Portrait; a Memoir by James Russell
Lowell, and an Introductory Essay by N. P. Willis. Edited by Rufus W.
Griswold, D. D.      12mo, price $4.00.
"Poe's writings are distinguished for vigorous and minute analysis, and the skill with which he has
employed the strange fascination of mystery and terror. There is an air of reality in all his narrations
-a dwelling upon particulars, and a faculty of interesting you in them, such as is possesed by few
writers except those who are giving their own individual experiences."-Philadelphia Ledger.
"We need not say that these volumes will be found rich in intellectual excitements, and abounding
in remarkable specimens of vigorous, beautiful, rnd highly suggestive composition; they are all that
remains to us of a man whose uncommon genius it would be folly to deny."-N-ewYork Tribvue.' Mr. Poe's intellectual character-his genius-is stamped upon all his productions, aind we shall
place these, his works, in the library among those books not to be parted with."-N. Y. Corn. Advert'r.
"We feel, however, that these productions will live. They bear the stamp of true genius; and if
their reputation begins with a'fit audience though few,' the circle will be constantly widening, and
they will retain a prominent place in our literature." —Rev. Dr. Kip.
TALES AND TRADITIONS OF HUNGARY.
By THERESA PULSZKY, with a Portrait of the Author.               One vol., price $1.25.
The above contains, in addition to the English publication, a NEW PREFACE, and TALES, now first
printed from the manuscript of the Author, who has a direct interest in the publication.
"Strikinaly illustrative of the manners and customs that have prevailed in different periods of her
history, it is written with graceful yet dignified freedom."-Albany Argus.
"'The stories are of a wild and fanciful character, which will cause them to be read with interest by
all, while they really throw light upon the early history and manners of Hungary."-Alnbany Express.
"Some of them are exceedingly beautiful, and indicate the character and habits of thought of the
people better than anything we have seen."-N 0. Journal and Courier.' This work claims more attention than is ordinarily given to books of its class. The tales contain
highly suggestive illustrations of national literature and character."-London Examiner.
THE CAVALIERS OF ENGLAND;
Or, the Times of the Revolutions of 1642 and 1688.               By HENRY WILLIAM
HERBERT.       One vol., 12mo, price $1.25.
" They are graphic stories, and in the highest degree attractive to the imagination as well as instructive, and can not fail to be popular."-Cosmmercial.
"These tales are written in the popular author's best style, and give us a vivid and thrilling idea of
the customs and influences of the chivalrous age."-Christian Freeman.
"His narrative is always full of great interest; his descriptive powers are of an uncommon order;
the romance of history loses nothing at his hands; he paints with the power, vigor, and effect of a
master."-The Times.
" They bring the past days of old England vividly before the reader, and impress upon the mind with
indelible force, the living images of the puritans as well as the cavaliers, whose earnest character and
noble deeds lend such a lively interest to the legends of the times in which they lived and fought, loved
and hated, prayed and revelled."-Newark Daily.
THE KNIGHTS OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND SCOTLAND.
By HENRY WILLIABI HERBERT.              One vol., 12mo, price $1.25.
" They are partly the romance of history and partly fiction, forming, when blended, portraitures
valuable from the correct drawing of the times they illustrate, and interesting from their romance."Albany Knickerbocker.
" They are spirit-stirring productions, which will be read and admired by all who are pleased with
historical tales written in a vigorous, bold, and dashing style."-Boston Journal.
"These legends of love and chivalry contain some of the finest tales which the graphic and
powerful pen of Herbert has yet given to the lighter literature of the day."-Detroit Free Press.
" Mr. Herbert has a quick and accurate eye for the picturesque features of the romantic past. He
pursues the study of history with the soul of the poet, and skilfully availing himself of the most striking traditions and incidents, has produced a series of fascinating portraitures. Whoever would obtain
a vivid idea of the social and domestic traits of France and Great Britain in the olden time, should not
fail to read the life-life descriptions of this volume."-Harper's Magazine.




6                REDFIELD S NEW        AND   POPULAR      PUBLICATIONS.
NAPIER'S PENINSULAR WAR.
History of the Wrar in the Peninsula, and in the           South of France, from      the
Year 1807 to 1814.      BY W. F. P. NAPIER, C.B., Col. 43d Reg., &c.             Complete in one vol., 8vo, price $3.00.
"Napier's history is regarded by the critics as one of the best narratives that has recently been
written. His style is direct, forcible, and impetuous, carrying the reader along often in spite of himself, through scenes of the most stirring interest and adventures full of excitement.'-Eve7?ing Mirror.
"The Literature of War has not received a more valuable augmentation this century than Col. Napier's
justly celebrated work. Though a gallant combatant in the field, he is an impartial historian."-Tr ibuze.
"Napier's History, in addition to its superior literary merits, and truthful fidelity, presents strong
claims upon the attention of all American citizens; because the author is a large-souled philanthropist
and an inflexible enemy to ecclesiastical tyranny and secular despots."-Post.
" The excellency of Napier's History results from the writer's happy talent for impetuous, straightforward. soul-stirring narrative and picturing forth of characters. The military manceuvre, march,
and fiery onset, the whole whirlwind vicissitudes of the desperate fight, he describes with dramatic
force."-Merchants' Magazine.
GRISCOM ON VENTILATION.
The Uses and Abuses of Air: showing its Influence in Sustaining Life, and Producing Disease, with Remarks on the Ventilation of Houses, and the best
Methods of Securing a Pure and Wholesome Atmosphere inside of Dwellings,
Churches, Shops, &c. By JOHN H. GRISCOM, M. D. One vol. 12mo, $1.00.
" This comprehensive treatise should be read by all who wish to secure health, and especially by
those constructing churches, lecture-rooms, school-houses, &c.-It is undoubted, that many diseases
are created and spread in consequence of the little attention paid to proper ventilation. Dr. G. writes
knowingly and plainly upon this all-important topic."-Newark Advertiser.
"The whole book is a complete manual of the subject of which it treats; and we venture to say
that the builder or contriver of a dwelling, school-house, church, theatre, ship, or steamboat, who neglects to inform himself of the momentous truths it asserts, commits virtually a crime against society
and his fellow-creatures."-N. Y. Metropolis.
"' When shall we learn to estimate at their proper value, pure water and pure air, which God provided for man before he made man, and a very long time before he permitted the existence of a doctor? We commend the Uses and Abuses of Air to our readers, assuring them that they will find it to
contain directions for the ventilation of dwellings, which every one who values health and comfort
should put in practice."-N. Y. Dispatch.
BRONCHITIS, AND KINDRED DISEASES.
In language adapted to common readers.          By W. W. HALL, M. D.            One vol.
12 mo, price $1.00.
"It is written in a plain, direct, common-sense style, and is free from the quackery which marks
many of the popular medical books of the day. It wilt prove useful to those who need it."-Ch. Herald.
"Those who are clergymen, or who are preparing for the sacred calling, and public speakers generally, should not fail of securing this work."-Ch. Ambassador.
" It is full of hints on the nature of the vital organs, and does away with much superstitious dread in
regard to consumption."-Greene County Whig.
"This work gives some valuable instruction in regard to food and hygienic influences."- Nashua
Oasis.
REICHENBACH ON DYNAMICS.
Physico-Physiological Researches on the Dynamics of Magnetism, Electricity,
Heat, Light, Crystallization, and Chemism, in their relation to Vital Force:
By Baron CHARLES VON REICHENBACH.                 With the Addition of a Preface
and Critical Notes, by JOHN ASHBURNER, M. D. With all the Plates. In
one Volume, 12mo, 456 pp.         Price, $1.25.
"This book is a vaiuable addition to scientific knowledge upon subjects that have been involved in
obscurity and mysticism. Charlatans have so long availed themselves of a slight knowledge of the
phenomena of magnetism for mercenary purposes, that discredit has been thrown upon the whole
subject, and men of science have been deterred from pursuing, or at least from publishing their researches. The work before us gives the result of a vast number of experiments conducted with great
philosophical acumen, testing the truth of both modern theories and ancient superstitions. Phenomena attributed in past ages to a supernatural agency, and by the superficial skepticism of later times dismissed as mere impostures, are in many instances traced with great clearness to natural and explicable causes. It requires, and is eminently worthy of an attentive perusal."-City Item.




REDFIELD'S NEW        AND   POPULAR     PUBLICATIONS.                  7
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY.
MEN OF THE TIME
OR SKETCHES OF LIVING NOTABLES,
AUTHORS            ENGINEERS       eS   PHILANTHROPISTS
ARCHITECTS          JOURNALISTS          PREACHERS
ARTISTS            MINISTERS             SAVANS
COMPOSERS          MONARCHS              STATESMEN
DEMAGOGUES          NOVELISTS            TRAVELLERS
DIVINES             POLITICIANS          VOYAGERS
DRAMATISTS             POETS                 WARRIORS
In One Vol., 12mo, containing nearly Nine Hundred Biographical Sketches,
PRICE $1.50.
"I am glad to learn that you are publishing this work. It is precisely that kind of information that
every public and intelligent man desires to see, especially in reference to the distinguished men of
Europe, but which I have found it extremely difficult to obtain."-Extract from a Letter of the President
of the United States to the publisher.
" It forms a valuable manual for reference, especially in the American department, which we can
not well do without; we commend it to the attention of our' reading public.' "-Trib7une.
" It is a book of reference which every newspaper reader should have at his elbow-as indispensable
as a map or a dictionary-and from which the best-informed will derive instruction and pleasure."Evangelist.
" This book therefore fills a place in literature; and once published, we do not see how any one
could do without it."-Albany Express.
"It is evidently compiled with great care and labor, and every possible means seems to have been
used to secure the highest degree of correctness. It contains a great deal of valuable information, and
is admirable as a book of reference."-Albany Argus.
"For a book of reference, this volume will recommend itself as an invaluable companion in the
library, office, and studio."-Northern, Budget.
" We know of no molre valuable book to authors, editors, statesmen, and all who would be' up with
the time,' than this."-Spirit of the Times.
"Men of all nations, creeds and parties, appear to be treated in a kindly spirit. The work will be
found a useful supplement to the ordinary biographical dictionaries."- Commercial Advertiser.
" The value of such a work can scarcely be over-estimated. To the statesman and philanthropist,
as well as the scholar and business man, it will be found of great convenience as a reference book, and
must soon be considered as indispensable to a library as Webster's Dictionary."-Lockport Courier.
"It is a living, breathing epitome of the day, a directory to that wide phantasmagoria we call the
world."- Wall Street Journal.
THE MASTER BUILDER;
Or, Life in the City.       By DAY KELLOGG         LEE, author of "( Summerfield, or
Life on the Farm." One vol., 12mo, price $1.00.
"He is a powerful and graphic writer, and from what we have seen of the pages of the' Master
Builder,' it is a romance of excellent aim and success."-State Register.
" The' Master Builder' is the master production. It is romance into which is instilled the reality of
life: and incentives are put forth to noble exertion and virtue. The story is pleasing-almost fascinating; the moral is pure and undefiled."-Daily Times.
"Its descriptions are, many of them, strikingly beautiful; commingling in good proportions, the witty,
the grotesque, the pathetic, and the heroic. It may be read with profit as well as pleasure."-Arg7us.
"The work will commend itself to the masses, depicting as it does most graphically the struggles
and privations which await the unknown and uncared-for Mechanic in his journey through life. It is
what might be called a romance, but not of love, jealousy and revenge order."-Locklport Courier.
HAGAR, A STORY OF TO-DAY.
By ALICE CAREY, author of 4" Clovernook,"           " Lyra, and Other Poems," &c.
One vol., 12mo, price $1.00.
"'Hagar' is destined to have a greatrun among the readers of romantic fiction; in its kind, it is the
book of the season; and it has the merit of conveying, with a fearful impressiveness, a lesson in morals
as just and as striking as the speculation and tendencies of the tinme have made it necessary."-Home
Journzal.
" The story is written in a beautiful style, and is worthy of being read in every well-regulated domestic circle, for while it calls up the finer feelinas of the soul, it guides the reader to the superior
blessings of a reliance on Divine Providence."-Brooklyn Journal.




8                REDFIELD'S NEW       AND POPULAR       PUBLICATIONS.
SORCERY AND MAGIC;
Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, from the most authentic Sources.          By THOMAS WRIGHT, A. 51. &c. One vol., 12mo, price 1.25.
" We have no hesitation in pronouncing this one of the most interesting works which has for a long
time issued from the press."-Albany Express.' The narratives are intensely interesting, and the more so, as they are evidently written by a mun
whose object is simply to tell the truth, and who is not himself bewitched by any favorite theory."New York Recorder.
"The range of information in the book is extraordinarily wide, and it is popularly set forth throughout, without a touch o' pedantry or a dull page." —Examiner.
"Mr. Wright must have devoted much reading and research to produce so comprehensive a view
of sorcery and magic, not only in England and Scotland, but in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, and New England."-Literary Gazette.
THE NIGHT-SIDE OF NATURE:
Or Ghosts and Ghost-Seers.       By CATHERINE CROWE.          One vol., 12mo.
"'This book treats of allegorical dreams, presentiments, trances, apparitions, troubled spirits, haunted
houses, etc., and will be read with interest by many because it comes from a source laying claim to
considerable talent, and is written by one who really believes all she says, and urges her reasonings
with a good deal of earnestness "-Albnay Argus.
" This queer volume has excited considerablle attention in England. It is not a catchpenny affair, but
is an intelligent inquiry into the asserted facts respectina ghosts and apparitions, and a psychological
discussion upon the reasonalleness of a belief in their existence."-Boston Post
" This is not only a curious but also a very able work. It is one of the most interesting hooks of the
season-albeit the reader's hair will occasionally rise on end as he turns over the pages, especially if
he reads alone far into the night."-Zion's iHerald.
THE CELESTIAL TELEGRAPH:
Or, Secrets of the WVorld to Come, revealed through Magnetism; wherein the
Existence, the Form, and the Occupations of the Soul, after its Separation from
the Body, are proved by Many Years' Experiments, by the Means of eight
Ecstatic Somnambulists, who had eighty Perceptions of thirty-six Deceased
Persons of various Conditions.       A description of them, their Conversation,
etc., with Proofs of their Existence in the Spiritual World.         By L. ALP,1.
CAHAGNET.      In one volume, 12mo, 410 pp.       Price $1.25.;' Mr. Cahagnet has certainly placed the human race under a vast debt of obligation to himself, by
the vast amount of information vouchsafed respecting our hereafter. What we have read in this
volume has exceedingly interested us in many ways and for many reasons-chiefly, perhaps, because.
we have perused it as we would any other able work of fiction. As a work of imagination, it is almost incomparable. Some of the revelations are as marvellous and interesting as those, or that, of
Poe's M. Valdemar. We commend this work to lovers of the wild and incredible in romance."Ontario Repository.
STILLING'S PNE UMA TOLOG Y.
Theory of Pneumatology; in Reply to the Question, What ought to be believed
or disbelieved concerning Presentiments, Visions, and Apparitions, according
to Nature, Reason, and Scripture.      By Doct. JOHANN HEINRICH JUNG-STILLING.   Translated from the German, with copious Notes, by SAMUEL JACIsoN.   Edited by Rev. GEORGE BUSH. In one vol., 12mo, 300 pp.             Price $1,
"We have in'the course of the discussion, a philosophical account of the magnetic influence, as
showing the influence of mind upon mind, as well as of various other analogous subjects. The array
of facts brought forward by the author is curious, and the work will interest any one who is engaged
in studying the different phases of the human mind."-State Register.