^5^^.. ^ \T V^ s^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 11.25 Uil2i 125 £? 1^ 12.0 ■■■! u 1^ A. sir jiT'^ «>* ^ (meaning "CON- TINUED'.'), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever appiies. Un des symboles suivints apparaftra sur la derniAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — ^ tignifie "A SUIVRE". le symbols y signifie "FIN". re Meps. plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent Atre filmAs A des taux de rAduction diff Arents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA. il est filmA A partir de I'angle supArieur geuche. de gauche A droite. et de haut en bas. en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants iilustrent la mAthode. errata d to It le pelure. ;on A 1 2 3 W( 1 2 3 4 5 6 (^C ^ ZwifrU^ f^z i:K^yc/u^e^e -v.X-'^^v^^ »-£^t_/^^*»t-«./l-*-'l,^ II ^, V 'f ,u^^> HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS Of LOUISIANA, XUBKAODIO TBANBLATIONS OV MANT RARE AND VALUABLE DOCUMENTS BBLATINO TO IBS NATURAL, CIVII^ AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF THAT STATE, OOUFILED WITH HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES, AND AN INTRODUCTION, ay "^ B. F. FRENCH, Member cf the Louisiana Historical Society; of the American Association for the Advancement of Science ; Honorary Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Corresponding Member cf the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia ; of the Huitorical Society ot' New York ; etc , etc. PART IV. REDFIELD, CLINTON HALL, NEW YORK. 1852. I DISCOTERY AND EXPLORATION OF THK MISSISSIPPI VALLEY: WITH THE OKIGINAL NAERATIYES OF MAEQUETTE, ALLOUEZ, MEMBRE, HENNEPIN, AND ANASTASE DOUAY. m JOHN GILMARY SHEA. vrrra a facsdiilb of the nkwlt-discovkred map of marqitkitk. REDFIELD, CLINTON HALL, NEW YORK. 1852. 32410 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, By J. a KEDFIELD, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the Southern District of New York. STIREOTVPED BY C. C. 8AVA0X, 13 Chiunbcn Stmt, N. T. TO J A RED SPARKS, LL.D. PEE8IDENT OF HABVABD UNIVEE8ITY, ^liifi Mmt ifl inmM, AS A MAEK OF PERSONA. AEGAED, By the Authob. -./ "■ . *■ PREFACE. It has long been a desideratum to liave in English the early narratives of the discovery and exploration of the Mis- sissippi. Marqnette'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 pro- served, as it came from the hand of the great explorer. These published from original manuscripts, and accompanied by the narratives of the missionaries in La Salle's expedition, are now first presented in an accessible shape, and complete the annals of the exploration. The life of Marquette, and the history of the exploration itself, are the result of many years study of the early Spanish and French authorities, both printed and manuscript, some of which have never before been consulted. Besides my own researches, I have been aided by those of the President of St. Mary's College, and of the Hon. James Viger, of Montreal, and I trust that the volume will be found to be as faithful as the subject is interesting. New York, Sept., 1852. J. G. S. 1 1 1 1 li.i I'm !ii 1 , I i| CONTENTS. History of tho Discovery of the Miaoissippi Valley faoi vU life of Father James Marquette, of the Society of Jesus, first explorer of the Mississippi xli Notice on the sieur Jolliet Ixxix Notice on Father Claudius Dablon 2 Voyages and Discoveries of Father James Marquette, of the Society of Je- sus, in 1673, and the following years 8 Notice on Father Claude AUouez 67 Narrative of a Voyage made to the Illinois, by Father Claude Allouez 67 Bibliographical Xotice of the Etabliuement de la Foi of Father Christian le Clercq, Recollect 78 Narrative of La Salle's first attempt to explore the Mississippi, by Father le Clercq 88 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 Februory, 1680, to June, 1681, by Father Membr6 147 Narrative of La Salle's Voyage down the Mississippi, by the same 16S Account of La Snlle's Attempt to reach the Mississippi by sea, by Father Christian le Clercq 185 Narrative of La Snlle's Attempt to ascend the Mississippi, in 1687, by Father Anastasius Douay ig7 Spanish account of the Destruction of La Salle's Fort in Texas 208 Appendix. Recit des Voyages et des d£couvertes du P. Jacques Marquette, Ac 281 Unfinished Letter of Father James Marquette, containing his last journal . . 268 La Salle's Patent of Nobility 266 La Salle's Second Commission 267 Comparative Table of the names on the Map published by Thevenot, and Marquette's real Map 268 AOt Vll tie , . xU . .Ixxix • • 2 le- • • 8 • • «7 • • • t1 lie • • • 78 rle • • • 88 • ■ • 99 tin. 107 • • • 147 .to • • • 147 . • • 165 bhei 185 Iher • • 107 • • . 208 . 281 il. . 268 1 • • . 266 ■ • • . 267 and HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. ON glancing at a map of America, we are at onco struck by the mighty river Mississippi, which, with its count- less branches, gathers the waters of an immense valley, and rolls its accumulated floods to the gulf of Mexico, affording a line of uninteri'upted 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 unap- preciated : yet so, in fact, it was. Columbus himself entered the gulf of Mexico, but the southern coast only was explored by the discoverer of the New World. By whom the northern shore was first explored we do not know ; but it is laid down with considerable accu- racy in an edition of Ptolemy printed at Venice in 1613. This map is the more remarkable as the delta of a river cor- responding 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 i- Hi ; 'I 1 ;i. 1,1 !< -1 I'l H! viii HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERT completely examined by Garay in 1618. Three years later, a map was drawn up by the arbitrator app 'nted 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, Eio 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 adven- turous attempts they were, and give the time that hue of chivalry which almost makes us forget the crimes which marked it — crime^ magnified and distorted indeed by for- eign writers, but still coolly and ( spassionately examined crimes that we must condemn.f It ^as the last age of the political freedom, of the nicely-poise balance between the * Tlicse facts and the iliaps are to be foxmd in a ■wrecks of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca," printed f ington, in 1851, for Geo. W. Riggs, jr. The tram f It is not so much the cruelty horc as th( our modern taste. That was an age of cruelty guerilla wars with tiie early Moors, was necessu. - English Tersion of the "Ship- private distribution at Wash- tor is Mr. Buckingham Smith, v^antonness of it that shocks The Spaniard, from his long a man used to blood: and wlien 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 th'^m, unable to retaliate on the church property of their antagonists who had none, vented their rnge on their spoilers themselves. In countries where the advocate* of th? 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 mighi 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 the- ory on it In this nge, and from this very cruelty, the English and French navies rose; both were in their origin piratical flotillas, which lived by plunder- ing 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 theii 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." ^ OP THE MISSISSIPPI BIVER. ix i I i ruler and the ruled. Not j'et 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 pow- ers 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 discov- ery by land and sea, to favor individuality of character, and ena- ble some highly-gifted mind to develop noble germs drawn from the depth of feeling. They err," says Humboldt, " who be- lieve that the Spanish adventurers were incited by mere love of gold and religious fanaticism. Perils always exalt the po- etry 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 nov- elty and surprise." Leon, Cordova, and Ayllon, had successively found death on the shores of Florida ; but the si^rit of the age was not damped : in 1528, Pamphilus de Narvaez undertook to con- quer and colonize the whole northern coast of the gulf. He landed, and, after long and fruitless marches, returned to the coast, and in wretched boats endeavored to reach Tampico. Almost all perished : storms, disease, and famine, swept them * Mariana's De Rege Tyranno was written for a Spanish prince. I ;3! Hi 111 I' I iii I HI ii ' 1^ It ' li'.t X HISTORY OF THE DISCOVEKT 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 medicine- men of the tribes through which they passed, and, with as little difficulty as the Indian jugglers, established their repu- tation. With lives thus guarded by superstitious awe, they rambled across to the gulf of California, traversing the bison- plains and the adobe towns of the half-civilized natives of New Mexico, perched on their rocky heights. De Vaca is the first known to have traversed our territory from sea to sea. In this long wandering, he inust 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 afi^ected, 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 Yttca's nnrrntive in Spanish is in Barcin's collection, and in French in that of Ternaux-Compans. OF TUB MISSISSIPPI RIVER. from Culiacan, and crossing the desert wastes, reached the Colorado; but after gazing from a commanding height en 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 tlie na- tives had refused him entrance, and actually cut off his negro guide and a large party of friendly Indians. Friar Mark, on bis return, raised the hopes of the Spanish authorities still higher, and his statements, apparently true in themselves, were so understood by the excited imaginations of all, as to leave impressions far from the reality. An ideal kingdom rose into existence, and a new expedition was projected. This reached the valley of the Mississippi ; but before we trace its course, we must go back to the Atlantic expedition of 1539.* It was commanded by the successful Ferdinand de Soto, who had risen by the conquest of Peru to rank and wealth, aud 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 proceed- ing westward and turning slightly northeast to Hurripacuxi — after striking westward to Eteocale, whose heroes wore (the natives said) helmets of burnished gold — after carrying, by stubborn fight, the gallant town of Napetuca — after pressing or. through Ivetachuco, fired like another Moscow by its dauntless people — after reaching Anaica Apalache, — ho sent Maldonado back to Havana, with orders to meet him in six months at the mouth of the Mississippi.! * The narrative of Friar Mark is in the Appendix to the Narrative of Cnsta- fledo de Najera, published by Ternaux. It deserves to be read, for it is not bo much a fiction as is generally supposed. f Historical Coll. of Louisiana, vol. ii., p. 99. .III 1' II i! ;. "|| lIlM 'Mil I ! '8; ( I ' Ml III zu s HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERT Here began his second campaign ; lured by the glittering promises of an Indian guide, he marched to the northeast, crossing the Altamaha, and perhaps entered the territory of Carolina, a land full of remembrances of Ayllon. Weaiy with a march of twelve himdred 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 Cha- laques, with a heavy heart, for it was poor in maize. At last he reached a great river by the western coni*se, 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 cnrrent, crossing as villages invited him, he reached Mavila to waste the lives and property of his men in a terrible contest with the gigan- tic Tnscalosa, the chieftain of the land. Here 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 win- tered there, although they, too, burned their village in which the invaders were quartered ; thence he marehed 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 Hio del Espiritu Santo. It was the Mississippi. Here all doubt vanislies. 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 co.uld not be discerned whether he was a man or no. The * Historical Coll. of Louisiana, vol. ii., p. 101. k OF THE MISSISSIPPI BIYER. xm 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."* And the inhabitants were not un- worthy 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 feathera, with shields in their hands, wherewith they de- fended the rowel's 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 can- opy 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 gov- erned the other people. From the frequent mention of the river in Biedma's nar- rative we may infer that allusion to it was suppressed, or at most, mysteriously made by De Vaca, and that it was sup- posed 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 west- ern side some twenty or thirty miles, as modern investiga- tors tell us, below the mouth of tl)e Arkansas.f 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. 6L XIV HISTORY OF TUB DI8C0VEKT H I f m Ii!5 "i lljtl ■ \t (i;i for a considerable distance ; but fur other than commercial or colonial projects filled the mind of De Soto ; he stood hj what he knew an outlet to the sea, a great artery of the con- tinent, but his splendid array had dwindled down, and the rich realm of De Vaca had not yet rewarded his many toils. Nerved by despair, ho 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 Ooligoa 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 Yicanque also on the Arkansas, and wintering there, descend- ed it in the spring of 1542 to die on the banks of the Missis- sippi ; after having thus explored the valley of the Arkansas, and examined its inhabitants, who, from the scanty notices we Itave, 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'CullocKa Reaearchet, pp. 629, 631, cited by Bancroft ■S ■§ OF THE MISSISSIPPI BIVEB. XV lam expelled or exterminated when the country was ultimately explored by the French. Nazacahoz, in the province of Gu- asco, was the most westerly town in their march. Here they found turquoises, pottery, and cotton mantles from New Mex- ico, 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, be- cause 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 xri HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY i| I I'll! 1 many dangers and hardships, the survivors coasting along reached Tampico, " whereat the viceroy and all the inhabi- tants of Mexico wondered," says the chronicle.* Such is, in brief, the history of the Mississippi as explored by Do Soto, and his successor, Muscoso, the first who sailed "Down the great river to the opening gulf." The account they gave received additional confirmation from the second expedition of Father Mark's from the Pacific coast. This expedition commanded by Coronado, and guided by the adventurous missionary, reached and took Cibola, which proved of little value. Ascending the Colorado, the com- mander left its valley and crossed the Rio Grande in search ofQuivira; a faithless guide promised him gold in all abun- dance, 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 run- away slave ; but neither trusted the accounts which he re- ceived 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 tho lords sat at the stern under a canopy ."f 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 Flori- da del Inca, is a romance. I Castanedo de Nagera in Ternanx, p. 11, OF THE MISSISSIPPI EIVKB. xvil follow ninety days without leaving inhabited country. They added that the first village was called llaxa, 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 wo 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 na- tivcs.f In consequence of this and other disastera the king, iu 1557, ordered the reduction of Florida, and an army of 1,600 men was fitted out two yeare after under Don Tristan de Luna, who carried with him every survivor of any expe- dition 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.:}: 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 Domin- icans. 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 Enmyo Crono adann, X It must be the Napetuca of the Portuguese relation. For De Luna, see JSHs. CVott. 1569. B xviii HISTORY OF THE DI800VEBT I f m \ will "'Ml! ,1; 1 l> I , 1 im |M then at war with the Napochles (probftbly the Natcliez), who lay on the Ochcchiton, 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 liead as chief of Coosa never went before, on a gallant Arabian steed, with a negro groom at his horse's head. Defeating the ene- my, 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 adventur- ers and missionaries. Eevolts 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 establisliment 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.f A work published in 1630,:}: has indeed an account of a Portuguese captain, Vincent Gonzalez, who is said to liave sailed up a large river between Apalaclie and Tainpico, and to have approached quite near the kingdom of Qnivira, 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 Enmyo Chronologko, p. 170 ; and tit Bonilla Torquemada, vol. iii., p. 868. 1 1 have seen this fnct stated, but oaa not now state the work. I Benavides Memorial. OF THE MISSISSIPPI RTVEB. XIS branches equal in size to the finest rivers of Spain, to bo nearly a league wide and perfectly navigable, it is laid down on maps as an insignificant stream, often not even distin- guighed by its name of Ecpiritu 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 Mis- sissippi, 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 friai*8, and while he entered the Seneca country with his Huron allies, the intrepid Father Le Carou had ascended the Ottawa and reached the banks of Lake Huron. Subsequently others joined him there ; they invited the Jesuits to aid them, and the tribes in the peninsula were visited from Detroit to Niagara, and from Lake Nipissing to Montreal. The capture of Canada by the English, in 1629, defeated any further missionary efforts for a time; but it was restored in 1632, and the Jesuits sent out to continue the mis- sions alone. They "now became the first discoverere of the greater part of the interior of this continent. They were the first Europeans who formed a settlement on the coast of Mjvine, and among the first to reach it from the St. Lawrence. They, it was, who thoroughly explored the Saguenay, dis- coverer! Lake St. John, and led the way overland from Que- bec to Hudson's bay. It is to one of them that we owe the discovery of tlie rich and inexhaustible salt springs of Onon- * An English voyni»e np in 1648, or thereabouts, and a Spanish one up into New York hy 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 improbable, and Indian report seems to fix one somewhere near 1669. See Sparks^s Life of La Salle, Life of Marquette, DentofCa Neio-York. zx lIISTOnY OF TIIK DISCOVERT ^lli 'II 1 1 I.', I diiga. Witliin ten yenrs of their Bccond nnlvnl, tliey hftd completed the oxnmiiu\tion of tlie country from Lake Superior to the gulf, and founded several villages of Christian neo- phytes on the borders of the upper hikes. While the inter- course of the Dutch was yet confined to the Indians in tho vicinity of Fort Orange, and five years before Elliott of New- England had addressed a single word to the Indians within six miles of Boston liarbor tlie French missionaries planted the cross at Sanlt Ste. Marie, whence they looked down on tho Sioux country and the valley of tho 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 dnties 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 lustory of the French colonies, they are a source Buch as no other part of the country possesses. For our pres- ent purpose, they have been itivaluable; 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,f the interpreter of the colony had struck west of the * O'Cnllnghnn, Jesuit Relntions. f As we nre perlinps the first to ndvnnoo tlie elaim of tlie sieur Nicolet, it mny not be amiss to ^'we n menger sketch of n mnn too mucli unknown, though he occupied nn inipoptant place in the early history of Cnnadn. ITc cnme out to Cn!in<1a in 161S, and was never from that time unemployed. Almost immedi- ately after his comiiitr, he was sent to tlie plniidcrinf; Ilonqueronons, or Indians of the island, ahove the Chaudiere falls on the Ottawa. ITore he remained two years, often suffering from huncer and their hrntnlity, hut finally acquired a great knowledge of the Al<;onquin. After this, he was sent with four hundred Al.roiiquins to make pence with the Iroquois, and completely succeeded in his mission, lie was then for eight or nine years stationed anions; the Nii-issings, an 1 became almost as Indian as they. After the restoration of Canada to France, f 1 OF THE MISSl§§Tri>I UIVEB. XXI HuronB, and, roacliing tlic last limit of the Algonquins, found himself among the Ouinipeguu (Winnobagoes), " a people called 80, because they came from a distant sea, but whom some French erroneously called Puants," says this early ac- count. 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 sienr Nicolet who had pene- trated furthest into those distant countries, avers that had he Bailed three days more on a great river which flows from that lake [Green bay], he would have found the sea." This shows tlmt Nicolet like De Luna^s lieutenant mistook for the sea, the Indian term Great Water^ applied to the Mississippi. It is certain then, that to Nicolet is due the credit of having been the first to reach the waters of the Mississippi. The hope of reaching the Pacific now aroused the courage of the mission- aries, some fathers invited by the Algonquins were to be sent to " those men of the other sea," but, adds Vimont prophet- ically, " Perhaps this voyage will be reserved for one of lis who have some little knowledge of the Algonquin."* lie was made interpreter and commissary of the colony, wliich office lie filled till he was sent, about 1630, 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 ho ascended the Fox river to the Wisconsin. Re- turning to Quebec, he succeeded Olivier as commissary, and retained this office till his death. In 1C41, we find him with F. Rngueneau, negotiating a peace with the Iroquois, at Three-Rivers. In 1 642, sent from Quebec to Three-Rivers, to rescue a poor Abennqui from the hands of some pngnn Algonquins, he set out in a small boat on the Slst of October, at sunset with Savigni, but a storm came on, and their little craft capsized near Sillery. Savigni swam to the shore, Ni- colet, unable to swim, sank to rise no more. Thus perished, in a work of Chris- tian charity, the sicur Nicolet^ the first Frenchman who reached the waters of the Mississippi. See Rel. 1639-40, p. 135. He!, 1640-'41, ch. ix. liel. 1642-4.% p. 8. CreitxtM, p. 359. * Rel. 1639-40. pp. 132, 135, Ac. Tlie Lac dcs Puans is laid down on Chani- plain'g map of 1C32 ; but in all probability, only from report, as it is placed m\, ,'^' li m I'l.i iii !''tii xxu HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERT In 1641, two Jesuits from the Huron mission, the illustrious Isaac Jognes and Charles Eaymbout 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 tho missionaries had to abandon all hopes of extending to the west. The war proved fatal to the allies of the French ; by 1650, all Upper Canada was a desert, and not a mission, not a single Indian was to be found, where bat 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 tho pastor and his flock; six missionary fathers had fallen by the hands of the Iroquois, another had been fearfully mutil- ated 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 Gro- seilles 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 ti- dings 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 pur- suing Iroquois. " It was a beautiful river," writes the an- nalist, "large, broad, and deep, which would bear comparison, they say, with on*' St. Lawrence." On its banks they found the AbimiSec, the Ilinois of later days. north of Lake Superior, unless it is meant for Lake Winnipeg, Trhicb, lite Green bay, got its name from the Algonquin epithet for the Dacotahs, as com- ing from the Pacific. * Jiel. 1642, p. 166. OF THE MISSISSIPPI BIVEB. XXUL From other quarters, too, they began to hear of this great river. Tht, missionaries on the Saguenay heard of the Win- nipegouek, and their bay whence three seas could be reached, the nortli, the south, and the west.* The missionaries in New York saw Iroquois war-parties set out against the Ontoa- gannha 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 mis- sionaries judged must be the gulf of Mexico, or that of Cali- fornia.f 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, undeter- red 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 • ^^^- 1659-'60, p. 61. f Jiel. 1661-'62, p. 9. X See Jjis letter in liel. 1663-'64, ch. i. Recent publications have put a Jesuit rcission on the lake, and even on the Mississippi, as early as 1653; but the Rela- tions 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 Ciercq. Tlie 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 let- ter to or from F. I.ouis de Guerre, or Charles Droeoux, or any act of theirs at Tamaroa during the period in question, or any manuscript of the I7th century showing their existence there. XXIV HISTORY OF THE DISCOVEET • Hi" ,;i"''' .f"! 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. Tiie distingnished Father Dablon was sent out as superior of the Ottawa missions. A station among the Illinois was determined npon, Father Marquette named to begin it, and the study of the Illinois language actually begun by that missionary. From the accounts of a young man who was his master in that language, he formed new conjectures as to its mouth, and was apparently the first who heard of the Missouri. As to his intended voyage, he says, " If the In- dians 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."f 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 * Rei. leee-'eT, p. loe. t Rel. 1669-*70, p. 15Y. OF THE MISSISSIPPI SIVEB. XXV e great ns, and ■:' nd more it out as ) Illinois ;| begin it, ?gun by lan wlio i cturcs as •d of the M f the In- W ak their m !an with M )\V8 some y others ; r to open awaited complete 669, left nger and ng to the ebagoes, ril, 1670, > rapids, a river jearch of ^er. He s carried ling (our 0, p. 157. M Lake Michigan). After consoling them as ho conld, he ex- plained the object of his coming, and after given them his firet 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 Missis- sippi, 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 Al- louez, he returned to Green bay, and as early as September, in the same year, both were again at Maskoutens.f Father Dablon had meanwhile been named superior-gen- eral of the Canada missions, and seems to have taken the more interest in the exploring of the Mississippi by the Wis- consin, 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. ]669-'70, p. 92. f Jiel. 1670 -'71, p. 169. At the time of drawing my notice on F. Allouez, p. 67 post, I hnd 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 1G70, and twice overthrew the idol at Kaka- lin 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 archa!ology he calls {he fictions of their oicn religion. Allouez is the first to use a term at all like Michigan for the lake, and confirms my con- jecture of the identity of the Maskoutens and Assistagueronons, XXVI IIISTOKY or THE DISCO V KEY ii': 1^;!:'!^ I*, !'i sent back to the missionary the pictures wliich lie liad given them. Stratagem enabled thein to neutralize the advaiitage which firearms gave their enemies; the Ilnrons 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, lie ac- companied 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. Father Dablon published the Relations of 1670-'71, and its map of Lake Superior. In his description of the map he at once alludes to the Mississippi. "To the south flows tlie great river, which they call the Missisipi, which can have its mouth only in the Florida sea, more than four hundred leagues from here."f Farther on he says, "I deem it proper to set down here all we have learnt of it. It seems to en- circle ail 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.:}: 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 ap- * Rel. 1670-'71, p. 147. f -R"^- 1670-'7l, p. 89. \ There is probably a misprint, here, and it should be, " we have some kdowI- edge" or else he held a theory that every sea must have its great river. OF THE MISSISSIPPI EIVER. ZXYU ad given il vantage Ottawas jfore tlie 3 terrible iing thus ^e flocks, n, he ac- btless, a in, again nglits. I, and its lap he at lows the !an have hundred it proper ms to en- g to the the Red have no 1 empty this river from its , as they ver, that , without I parts to lie about ;in to ap- . 89, >me Knowl- r. 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 Kadouessi 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.! As the war seemed an obstacle to so hazardous an undertaking, the missionaries, it would appear, urged the French court to set ^n foot an ex- pedition. Marquette held himself in readiness to leave Mac- kinaw 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 dis- covery 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 • liel. 1670-"71, p. 176. t Mem. of Frontenac, N. Y. Paiis Doc., vol. i., p. 274. X Ibid, vol. i., p. 267. xxviii HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERT iMIIIi ,|"11. ,'" t>iii Hill for the service to send the sienr JoUiet to discover the south sea by the Maskoutens country, and the great river Missis- sippi, which is believed to empty in the California sea. lie is a man of experience in this kind of discovery, and has al- ready been near the great river, of which he promises to see the month."* 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 Il- linois. 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 reach- ing the Mississippi. What was his joy when on the very festival dearest to his heart, that of the Immaculate Concep- tion, Jolliet arrived bearing the letters of his superiors which bid him embark at last, in his company to carry out the de- sign so long, and so fondly projected. "The long-expecled 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 assi- duity to the poor wrecks of Hurons, whom he planted near abundant fisheries, on the cold extremity of Michigan, en- tered, with equal humility, upon a career which exposed his life to perpetual danger, and by its rrjnlts affected the des- tiny of nations."! The winter was spent in preparation, in studying over all that had yet been learned of the great river, in gathering around them every Indian wanderer, and amid the tawny group drawing their first rude map of the Mississippi, and the water courses that led to it. And on this first map traced • Mem. ofFrontenac, N. Y. Paris Doc., vol i., p. 274. f Bancroft OF THE MlSSISSirn RIVER. XXIX doubtless kneeling on the groniid they set down the names of each tribe they were to pass, each important point to be met. The discovery was dangerous, but it was not to be rash ; nil was the result of calm, cool investigation, and n^'ver was chance less concerned than in the discovery of the Missis- sippi. In the spring they embarked at Mackinaw in two frail bark canoes, each with his paddle in hand, and full of hope, they soon plied them merrily over the crystal waters of the lake. All was new to Marquette, and he descriUes as ho went along the Menonionies, 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 watei-s, which great as the distance was, connected them with Que- bec and their countrymen ; they knelt on the shore to offer, by a new devotion, their lives, their honor, and their under- taking, 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-bara. No sound broke the stillness, no human form appeared, and at last, after sailing seven days, on the 17th of June, they happily glided into the great river. Joy that could find no utterance in words filled the grateful heart of Marquette. The broad river of the Conception, as he named it, now lay before them, stretching away hundreds of miles to an un- known 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 travei-sing the river, and monstrous fish appeared in its waters. But they ]>rnceeded on their way amid this solitude, frightful by its utter absence XXX HISTORY OP THE DISCOVEIIT I'ii Bull 4: of man. Descending still furtlier, they came to the land of the bison, or pisikiou, wlilch, 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 JoUiet and the mis- sionary leaving their five men in the canoes, followed a little beaten path to discover who the tribe might be. They trav- elled on in silence almost to the cabin-doors, when they halted, and with a loud hallao proclaimed their coming. Three vil- lages lay before them ; the first, roused by the cry, poured forth its motley group, which halted at the sight of the new- comers, and the well-known dress of the missionary. Old men carne slowly on, step by measured step, bearing alotl the all-mysterious calumet. All was silence ; they stood at last before the two Europeans, and Marquette asked, "Who are you ?" " We are Illinois," was the answer, which dis- pelled 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 tender- ly 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 visi- tants 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 cata- ract, 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 ics muddy waters the trees which it had rooted up in its impetuous course. Already had the missionaries hcnrd of OF THK MlSSISSiri'I KIVKU. XXXI )e land of icame sole 3appeared. ints on the »d tho mis- red a little They trav- bey halted, Three vil- ry, poured f the new- ary. Old aring aloft }y stood at :ed, "Who which dis- hrill to the 'j last amid so tender- a, and the eir canoes, lavdy visi- 1 renewed ing a high its nigged glity cata- ver, as the 5 untamed nrrying in d np in its i heiu-d of the river running to tho west urn sea to be reached by the branches of the Mississippi, and Marquette, now better in- formed, fondly hoped to reach it one day by the Missouri. But now their course lay south, and passing a dangerous eddy, the demon of the western Indians, they marked the "Waboukigou, or Ohio, the river of the Shawnees, and still holding on their way, came to the warm land of the cane, and the country which the musquitoes might call their own. While enveloped in their sails as a shelter from them, they came upon a tribe who invited tlieni to the shore. They were wild wanderers, for they had guns bought of Catholic Euro- peans 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 ob- stacle, 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- zxxii HISTORY OF TIIK PISCOVKRY i-'..iii I i. tl , I, "; \% %,l|i * !il,,;l ish points ; tliey luiglit by proceeding full into their hands. Tliey resolved to return. Thus fur only Marquette traced the map, and he put down the names of other tribes of Avhich they heard. Of these in the Atotchasi, Matora, and Papi- haka, vo 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 Akcnseaon the 17th of July to return. Passing the Missouri aguiji, they entered the Il- linois, and meeting the friendly Kaekaskias at its upper portage, were led by them in a kind of triumph to Lake Mich- igan, 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 Franco, *'je richest, most fertile, and accessible terri- tory in the new world. Marquette, whose health had been severely tried in this voyage, remained at St. Francis to re- cruit 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 np a journal and map of his voyage, set out (probably in the spring) for Que- bec, to report to the governor of Canada the result of his ex- pedition, 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 BIVEB. xxxiii cir hands, traced the s of which and Papi- ioYoas and l>ichc8, are 7th of July ired the II- its npper Lake Mich- struct them 1 the outer St. Francis m it. g-projected eted in the hich threw ssible terri- hnd been ancis to re- niissionary nsel praise. ournal and g) for Que- t of his ex- ubtless the 10 Illinois. 3ntrea1, his , losing all nto he had le Peenis to 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 JoUiet's arrival at Quebec* The loss of Jolliet's narrative and map now gave the highest importance to those * As Frontenno's memoir completely refutes the assertion of Hennepin, that Jolliet made no report to the governjnent, and is a monument of no little im- portance, 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. " QURBKC LE 14 NOVRMB., 1674. "§ VI. Retour du Sr. Joliet de son voyage h la d6couverte de la mer du sud. "Le Sr. Joliet que M. Talon m'a conseill6 d'envoyer &, la decouverte de la mer du sud, lorsque j'arrivai de France, en est de retour depuis trois mois et a d6- couvert des pays admirables et unc navigation si aisie par les belles rivitires qu'il a trouv^es 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 d' r ' iiil' HI' lii'i I!!/' !!!!!ii J »"< ii'i iiliiillilJij ii;iii|liii| P!li I LIFE OF FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE, OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, FIRST EXPLORER OF THE MISSISSIPPI NEAR a little branch of the river Oise, in the department of Aisne, the traveller finds perched on the mountain- side 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 rac'j. 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- "•'^ xiii LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. m,r.-M: E|l '"'111! \i"H' 1':illl||ji(;| i.'!;-'; il»i ■ " i I'l, Ml. ' i''i ii'ii zling wars of France. Our own republic is not without its obligations to the valor of the Marquettes, three of whom died Lere m the French army during the Hevolutionary war. Yet not their liigh antiquity nor their reckless valor would ever have given the name of Marquette to fame ; the un- sought 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 eveiy 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 ex- plorer of the Mississippi. Born at the ancient seat of his family, in the year 1637, be was, through his pious mother Eose de la Salle, allied to the venerable John Baptist de la Salle, the founder of the insti- tute 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 liim 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 So- ciety of Jesus, as he did in the year 1654. When the two * ])«vi8me Ilistoire de la Ville de Laon. A member of his family, Francis Marquette, founded similar schools for girls, in 1685, and the religious were com- monly called Soeurs Marquette. fty pedestal lave honored rinected with , the first ex- ear 1637, he allied to the of the insti- hools, whose the poor had systems of )ra his pious m, generous, vhich makes 3ut a mother Y- in this world inter the So- ben the two family, Francis ?iou8 were com- years of self study and examination had passed away, lie was as is usual with the young Jesuits, employed in teaching or study, and twelve years glided away in the faithful per- formance 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 con- tained 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 Que- bec, 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 afiairs 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. Jos. xUv LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. n'""iii i I . il ■:l ,. Ill il'i'ii rj;"i!ii'!"'i. i"''i. iiitii catheclml and seiiunary 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 pen- etrate 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 Raym- baut 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 AUouez was there exploring parts which no white man had yet visited, and as he saw a wide field opening before his view, earnestly im- ploring a new missionary reinforcement. Such was the Ottawa mission ; but there were others also. Father Jogues thus associated with the earliest western dis- coveries, 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 west- em New York. A mission was established the next year, and the missionaries explored the whole state from the Hud- ;:iiii|i LIFE OF FATHER MARQUKTTE. xlv le war with perity of the last brought Y dQ Tracy, ) solicitude; ^hed to pen- [lot be. As I, an Ottawa lard, one of ered by the ise the cross and Raym- )re it on to ' projects for died in the v'mg Indian, jz was there lited, and as irnestly im- others also, tvestern dis- idening the the bounds was a land lessively by confirmed !r Simon le unt of west- next year, n the Ilwd- ■Si. son to the Niagara; but a sudden change took place — a plot was funned against the French colony at Onoiulngii, luul this first mission was crushed in its infancy, after a brief existence of three years. The war which ensued made Caiiiula itself tremble, and a new mission in New York was nut 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-pnrties 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 Iro- quois abnost outnumber the rest of their countrymen. Another great mission of tlie 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 resi- dence of several zealous men. Besides these were the missions of the wandering Algon- quins of the river, which centred at Slllery and Three Rivers, but had been almost entirely destroyed by the Iroqiiois after the destruction of the Huron missions and depopuhition 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 tlie Esquimaux of Labrador, to the Micmac of Nova Scotia, came to trade with the French. Here, then, a missionary was always found to instruct them as nmcli as time permitted, and when foiuid sntfioiently acquainted with the K.niir I II inii! 'Im ''., m\ i! |ill|| •I' ,. !!li ilk lin''-""!!!!.:! «■;,,, ii-i i! ■ 'I ■ ,1 ;'ii 'i'lii! \m xlvi LIFK OF FATIIKll MAKtilMinK. mysteries of our fiiitli,to baptize tlieni. The Christian Indian always repaired to this jiost to fulfil the obligations of tho church, to lay down the burthen of sin, to receive the bread of life, and then depart for tho 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 ; tho country was to be traversed in every direction to carry tho light of faith from cabin to cabin, to exhort, instruct, confirm. These adventur- ous expeditions through parts still a wilderness, are full of in- terest, 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 vas 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, liis leisure hours were of course devoted to the exercise of his ministry, and here he remained until April, 1668, when the first proj- ect 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 Al- gonquin, and thus fitted for his new mission, he letl 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 Nt'zperces came at last, bearing Father Nicholas Louis, the conq>aiiion of Allonez, and with * Jdiir. Slip. Jfs, I LIFE OF FATIIKR MARQUETTE. xlvii ristinn Iiidinn Rations of tlio ivo the bread his calendar nd holidays; I prayers and ade was over, try was to be of faith from ese adventur- are full of in- i early notices Saguenay to reached Lake and courage, ince destined, arious tribes, him starting iguage under k1, liis leisure his ministry, the first proj- epare for the then called, ge of the Al- 3ft Quebec on iitreal, where I to bear him last, bearing lez, and with :-4 them Father Marquette embarked. The jonniey up the Ot- tawa river, and through French river to Luke Huron, and then across that inland sea to Sault St. Mary's, lias 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 L'oquois had driven to the extremity of the lake, were now returning to their former abodes. New missions were thus required, and it was resolved to erect two, one at Sault St. Mary's, the other in Green Bay. The former was assigned to Father Marquette, and planting his cabin at the foot of the rapid on the American side, he began his mis- sionary 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 la- bor 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 AUouez departed for Green Bay, and a missionary was to be sent to Lapointe to continue the dis- Jiel. 1668-69, p. 102. lil'iN, ^"ii 'id ;||,... t" '1!' r"'iii'"'p"i '^'iC'i'ltliiiHI t '"hi.i'^'i, 'i|. Ih (•t ipi'iiil ]!l xlviii LIFE OF FATIIKR MARQUETTE. lieartenin■*;■ I tunicd 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 sui-viving years on the ground hallowed by the blood of Duniel, Brebeuf, Lalemant, Gamier, and Chaba- nel, 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 Ilurons 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 Fi'ench called Ilurons and the English "Wyandots, are a nation of the same stock as the Iro- quois.* 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 Tionon- tates, whooG luxuriant fields of tobacco, won them from 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 lan- guage and that of the Ilurons, were called by the latter Atti- wandaronk, 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 Fran- ciscan missionaries attempted the conversion of the Hurons. * Chnmplnin (Ed. 1613, p. 238), calls the Hurons les bons Troquois, as dis- tinguished from the other Yroquois enemies. I'M ;!,!' lliiir .1 r I ir""ii II ;: I ll!i;|ll!!.i ''V I till III I! liiill ■ ^ m |i! I'lii iiiii Lillilil! i 11 ■<> , i UK, ii^lilllii^ii ^^iiililllr 111 i:ill| ill' IIP' F' li! Ill' • 1.0 III > .11 , .' III! iX LIFE OF FATHER MARQTTETTB Father Joseph Le Cnron, 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 mis- sions to the Civpucliis, but, on their recommendation, commit- ted it to the Jesuits alone. Brebeuf, for the second time, reached Upper Canada, and labored zealously on till the Hu- ron nation was annihilated by the Iroquois. Twenty-one mis- sionaries at different times came to share his toils, and of these eight like himself perished by hostile hands, martyrs to their faith and zeal, a nobler body of heroes than any other part of our country can boast. On the deaths of Brebeuf and Gamier, in 1650, the ruin of the Hurons and Petuns was con- summated . The survivors fled and blended into one tribe, Boon divided into two great parties, one composed entirely of Christians, repairing to Quebec to settle on Orleans island, whose descendants are still lingering at Lorette ; the other, part Christians, part pagans, fled at last to Mackinaw, but pursued constantly by the Iroquois, they next settled on some islands at the mouth of Green Bay, where they seem to have been in Menard's time; later still, after roaming to the lodges of the Sioux on the Mississippi, they came to pitch their cabins by the mission cross planted by Allouez, at Chegoime- gon,* and here Marquette had found them. Such is the tale of their wanderings, till the period of our narrative.f • Rel. 167l-'72. f Their aubseqnent wnnderinga are to Detroit, Sandusty, and at last to Indian territory, where the descendnnts of Marquette's flock still exist, the smallest but wealthiest band of deported Indians. LIFE OF FATIIKR MARQUETTK. hi nission, "win years other I fjiith. The to aid them, rorward with Hurons and sir prospects ida, in 1620. Canada mis- sion, commit- second time, 1 till the IIii- enty-one mis- toils, and of Is, martyrs to jan any other Brebenf and ;nns was con- ;o one tribe, id entirely of eans island, B ; the other, ackinaw, but tied on some seem to have to the lodges pitch their vt Chegoime- jh is the tale ve.f At last to Indian the smallest but Mackinaw, where they now rested, was indeed a bloak 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 tho waters teemed with fish, and the very danger and hardehijJH of their capture gave it new zest. Besides this, it was a centnil point \ for trade, and so additionally recommended to the Huron, : who still, as of old, sought to advance his worldly jjvospects 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 labora 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 firet year have reached us; he wrote no letters to recount his wanderings,* but of the second year we are better informed. An unpub- , lished manuscript gives us the following letter addressed to ^^ Father Dablon : — I " Rev. Father : — % "The Hurons, called Tionnontateronnons or Petun nation, ^who compose the mission of St. Ignatius at Michiliinakinong Ibegan last year near the chapel a fort enclosing all their » Rel. U10-'1\, p. 144. - V W-" 1«» Xll LIFE OF FATITKR MARQUKTTK. „•■'.>. hinii liii, I'li'iiiiiii fi;iiiiiiiiiiiiiil cabins. Tliey have come re^nlarly to prnyers, and liavo lis- tened more readily to tlio inatnictions I gave them, consent- ing to what I required to prevent their disorders and ahom- inable customs. We must liave ]>atience 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 Outaonasinogaux have joined them. Some of these came from the mission of St. Francis Xavier, where Father Andre wintered with them last year; they are quite changed from what I saw them at Lapointe ; the zeal and patience of that missionary have gained to the faith those hearts which seemed to us most averse to it. They now wish to be Christians ; they bring their children to the chapel to be baptized, and come regu- larly to prayers. " Having been obliged to go to St. Marie du Sault with Father AUouez last summer, the Ilurons 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 assem- bled at chapel, some coming even from their fields, which are at a very considerable distance. " I went readily to their pumpkin-feast, where I instructed them, and invited them to thank God, who gave them food in plenty, while other tribes that had not yet embraced Christianity, were actually struggling with famine. I ridi- culed dreams, and urged those wlio had beeji baptized to ac- it' LITK OF FATIIiai MAnQUKTTK. If Mil ind Imvo li8- om, conscnt- B and al)om- th untutored icestora Imvc jins in which ficltlo minds, li their hearts hree hundred inagaux liave mission of St. id with them I saw thcra at Bsionary liave led to us most 3 ; tliey bring id come regu- du Sault with to the chapel een there, the mted the days [\s to be back ; ival all assem- fields, which re I instructed ;ave them food yet embraced mine. I ridi- bnptized to ac- # -/#. knowledge Him, whose adopted chihlrcn they were. Tlioso who gave the feast, though still idolaters, ep<.ko in high terms of Christianity, and openly made the sign of the cross boforo all present. Some young men, whom they had tried by ridi- cule to prevent from doing it, persevered, and make the sign of the cross in the greatest assemblies, even when I am not present. "An Indian of distinction among the Ilurons, having in- vited me to a feast where the chiefs were, called them sev- erally by name and told them that lie wished to declare his thoughts, that all might know it, namely, that ho 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 as- sembly, 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 noL have supposed that Indians could have given so exact an account of all that had happened in the course of their life ; but it was seriously done, as some took two weeks to examine themselves. Since then, I have perceived a marked change, ■¥"Pi liliiliil ;:1 II. nKl ,l .„, I, nil I i|llllil|; .:! iiiPiiiiiiii!ifii«ii ^^'ifciiiililliiiiiiil ''iij, iiii jti !''h |iH !,lil;! i'i|iiii|i ip. mill iiii'ililii I nil I ti r '. liii,,, 'ii"'lili( Ixiv LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. SO that tliey will not go even to ovdinary feasts without ask- ing my permission. " I have this year baptized twenty-eight children, one of which had be^n brought from Ste. Marie du Sault, without liaving 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 instruct- ing 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 niglit. 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, dally 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 tlie studies of riper yeare, 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 re- 3fS. Eel. 16'72-'78. M 'h LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. Ixv without ask- Idren, one of Sault, without lenry Nouvel t my knowing svhile instruct- J Indians, one tized. I went Some of the n. These are lake us esteem mission, where ;er disposed to I am ready, issionary to go south sea who our great God talented, yet ibjected to the ition of others, labors which. Id in the eyes are the test of ' years, no less the baptismal hat sacrament aged but re- penting sinner. To him the salvation of a single soul was more grand and noble than the conquest of an empire, and thns 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 con- veyance, doubtless, brouglit him back the assurance that his prayers liad been heard, that the government had at last re- solved to net in the matter, and that he was the missionary selected to accompany the expedition. His heart exulted at tlie prospect, tliough he foresaw the danger to which he was exposed, a health already shaken by his toils and baidships, 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 gloi'ous martyrdom while opening the way to future heralds of the cross, buoyed him up, though in his hu- mility 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 anxi- ety 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 L river." The winter was spent in the necessary arrangements, regu- llating the affaire 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 Ilillllllll I Ill, i::-!:: , ,..; i!:!i:i „' i imm ii!:'M i"ili!li lllli! '■ 'iliilH ini||J||iil|||i| till 'ill! III!! "ii '11 ]xvi LIFE OF FATIIEU MARQUETTE. form. At last, on the 17ih of May, 1673, they embarked in two canoes at Mackinaw, and proceeded to Green Bay, whence ascending the Fox river they at last reached the Wisconsin by its portage, and glided down to the Mississippi. We need not here detail this remarkable voyage, the first down the great river, as his whole narrative is contained in the volume. Sufficient to say, that with JoUiet he descended to the Arkansas, and having thns ascertained the situation of the mouth, and the perfect navigability of the river, reas- cended it as far as the mouth of the Ilinois, into which they turned, and by a portage reached Lake Michigan, and in Sep- tember 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 missionarj', he yielded to their earnest entreaties, and promised to return and begin a niis- Bion among them.* He 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 es- tablishment of the Ilinois mission ; and as his liealth was now restored, he set out on the 25th of October, 1674, for Kaskas- kia. 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 winch nearly intersects the peninsula, where a portage was made to the lake. This was the route now taken by Mar- * See his nnrrotive in ihia volume. .)i|i| jiii'i ^ LIFE OF FATFIKR MARQUETTE. XVll ley emliaiked o Green Bay, t reached the he Mississippi, yage, the first is contained in ; he descended he sitnation of he river, reas- nto which they an, and in Sep- in Green Bay. 3 of the Ilinois, edge, as lie left ia tribe of the ois, and having yielded to their id begin a niis- 5reen Bay, but by disease, and of the following he transmitted Mississippi, and he return of the rders for the es- hcalth was now )74, for Kaskas- last along to the the little bay a portage was taken by Mar- 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, embarking only at the rivers. lie represents the navigation of the lake as easy ; " there being," says lie, " no portiige to make, and the Ian ''ng easy, provided you do not persist in sailing when the w. ds and waves are hiorji," The soil except in the prairies was poor, but the chase was abundant, and tliey were thus well supplied. In spite of all his courage, he was at last unable to proceed; hj tlie 23d of November his malady had returned, and though he continued to advance, exposed to the cold and snows, when he reached Ciiicago river on the 4th of December, he found the river closed, and himself too much reduced to be able to attempt that winter march by land. There was no alterna- tive but to winter there alone, and accordingly instructing hia Indian companions as far as time allowed, they went th^sir way, and he remained with his two men at the po'^age. "Within fifty miles of them were two other Frenchmen, trap- pers 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 bag- gage, fearing that he might sufi\;r from want. The good mis- sionary, charmed at their solicitude, sent to reassure them on ^hat head, although he was tv.rced to tell them that if his mal- idy continued, he would find it difficult to visit them even in the spring. * Alarmed at this, the sachema of the tribe assembled and deputed tliree to visit the blackgown, bearing three sacks of torn, dried meat and pumpl . i i 1 111 I Jj r'i| li'i iiiiiiij iillilii; 1 '""'ill ijiiiiiiji iiiiil' ''''lili 'ii liiih li,|llli!l„;;| Hii l'.<.lli Ixviii LIFE OF FATHKB MARQUETTE. first, to rtialie him a mat; second, to ask Lim for powder; third, to prevent his being liungry ; fourth, to get some mer- chandise. "I answered them," says Marquette in his last letter, " firet, 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 Mianiis; third, that we did not fear famine; fourth, that I would encourage the French to bring them merchandise, and that they must make reparation to the traders there for the beads taken from them, while the surgeon was with me." The missionary then gave them some axes, knives, and trinkets, in return for their pres- ents, and as a mark of his gratitude for their coming twenty leagues to visit him. Before he dismissed them, he promised to make every effort to I'each the village, were it l)ut for a few days. " On this," says he, " they bid me tsike heart an ' 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 Lnmaculate, and with his two companions began a novena in her honor, Nor was his trust belied ; God heard his prayer, his illness ceased, and though still weak, he gradually gained strengtli, and when the opening of the river and the consequent iimii- dation compelled them to remove, he again resumed his long interrupted voyage to Kaskaskia, then on the upper waters of the Illinois river. During this painful wintering, which for all his expres- sions of comfort, was one of great hardship and suffering, liis hours were chiefly S|»ent in ])r»yor. Convinced that the term of his existence was drawing rai)idly to a flns»>, be consecrated pr LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. Ixix n for powder; get some mer- stte in hi8 last spealcing of the powder, as we cause I did not ; third, that we encourage the they must make ike)i fiom them, cmary then gave •n for their pres- i- coming twenty em, he proniised e it but fi»r a few ce heart at) ' stay to remain a lung ps. is destined goal ■ionary turned to gin Immacuhvte, na in her honor. nsiyer, his iUness gained strengtli, consequent inuii- i-esumed his long the upper waters or all his expres- and Huffering, liis ced that the term jse, he consecrated 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 ob- ject, he convoked a general assembly in the open prairie on Maunday-Thursday, and raising a rustic altar, adorned it with pictures of the blessed Yirgin, 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 fol- lowing days renewed his separate instructions. After cele- brating the great festival of Easter, his malady began to ap- pear once more, and he felt that the period granted to his 1 earnest prayei-s was ended. The sole object to which he had for years directed all the aspirations of his heart was now at- Jtained. He 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. ¥% I'Kii: uif iiiii-., , ' I ■ ii: \hn. ;i I.; Ill ■ 'I ill'' lit: 1:1 il^ T' |in!|!j |i!"!'|!!i iliililiililiiiiill ^}'^^\m% iiii 'liill ii!ni to rely with confidence on the protecin^n 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 pi'o- nouncing 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, inter- rupted 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 com- panions, 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 connnitted 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 ex- plorer of the Mississippi, on Saturday, the 18th of May, 1675. He was of a cheerful, joyous disposition, playful even in his manner, and universally beloved. His letters show him to us a man of education, close observation, sound sense, strict integrity, a freedom from exaggeration, and yet a vein of humor which here and there breaks out, in spite of all liis self-command. But all these qualities are little compared to his zeal as a missionary, to his sanctity as a man. His holiness drew on him in life the veneration of all around him, and the lapse of years has not even now destroyed it in the descendants of those who knew him.* In one of his sanctity, we naturally * It leil 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. „^' Riiili) i;|„iiii||,!||ili| |P». Jl ,M m !ii;i;i ,1 I/If I'll,,, m i Ni ,:.m '%1 " ' lil H lllllll .,|i!l'l llrll nil' 1 m IIHlllli |J;Ni!l!i!lili> jlnij|jj|i""l:|| (|llljj,i|pl"lNiJi S'l }i, i'llili iiii!l|i| :'l:;,!'i Ml, nil j 1 XXll 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, cliarac- teristic of him. The privilege which the church honors under the title of the Immaculate Conception, was the constant ob- ject of his thoughts; from his earliest youth, he daily recited the little ofiice 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, lie 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 bis 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 be 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 MARQUETTK. 1«t» XXUl )f tho Savior, of purity, and ideed, cliarac- i honors under e constant ob- e daily recited m, and fasted i-y, a variety of r his devotions he discovered sion, he gave it it is said, ever rords, " Blessed 3d np his dying e that she had t. lly chose as the le years for the nk in paganism ribes of varied a knowledge of ioke with ease; I less perfectly, isired, more like ideed, a striking id the wretched companions, the Sancian. ing ground near 8 grave showed on knew it, and ery anniversary 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, pro- ceeded on its way; the missionary thus accomplishing in death the voyage which life had not enabled him to terminate. A paity 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 aspi- rations to heaven ; in the church a pall had been arranged in the usual form for a cofiin, and beneath it was placed the little box of bark, which was next, after a solemn service, deposited in a little vault in the middle of the church, " where," says our chronicler, " he reposes as the guardian- angel of our Ottawa missions." There he still reposes, for I find no trace of any subsequent removal ; vague tradition, like that of his death as given by Charlevoix and others, would indeed still place him at the mouth of his river ; but it is certain that he was transferred to the church of old Mackinaw, in 1677. This church was, as I judge from a manuscript Relation (1675), erected subsequent to the departure of Marquette from Mackinaw, and probably about 1674. The founding of the post of Detroit drew from Mackinaw the Christian Hurons and Ottawas, and the place became deserted. Despairing of being able to produce any good among the few pagan Indians, and almost as pagan coureurs-de-bois who still lingered there, the missionaries re- solved to abandon the post, and set fire to their church in or Ixxiv LIFR OF FATHKll MAUQUETTE. :!li I 11 M IUj I""!, .1 "II imv I! :i m "■"lii;f:';i| i!!i:"""ii jiiiiii|||';.9 'liiiilS' •' ■»!l!!;i""| iMM,,l'""""'ii ' ll'!''i., lilllf l|i!!!l:i ■!iii % :,;,i jMMhN al)ont the year 1700. Aiioflior wns piibeequontl}' erected, but this too litis long since tlisaj^peuied.* Tlie history of his narrative and mnp nro almost as curious as that of his body. We have seen that he transmitted copies to his superior, and wont to his last mission. Fjontenac had promised to send a copy to the government, and in all proba- bility ho did. At this moment the ])ublication of the Jesuit Relations ceases ; tliongh not from choice on tlieir jiart as the manuscript of the year lG72-'73 prepared for the press by Father Dablon, still exists ; it could ni-t have been fiom any difficidty on the part of the printer, as the announcement of the expedition to the Mississippi would have given it circula- tion, even though the journal itself were reserved for the next year. To the French government then we must attribute the non-publication of farther relations, the more so, as they neg- lected to produce the mirrative of Marquette in their posses- sion. 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 im- portance of this, he issued a new volume in 1681, called Re- ceuil do 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 Lft Ilontan there is a plnn of Mnckinnw, with the site of the ohurcl> in wliich Miirqiiotte wns buried. As to its fidelity, I can not speak; but with that of ndlin ill 1744, showiii<:; the sitws of the second church at old Mnekinnw, oiid the third one in new Mackinaw, the place of the original one, and of Marquette's grave, may perhaps be determined. 44: I LIFE OF FATHER MARQUKTTE. Ixxv )' erected, but oBt nn curious niitted ciipics 'ronti'iuic lincl I ill all proba- i of tlio Jesuit sir jiart as tlio tlie press by )een iVoin any lounccment of veu it circula- i\ for the next ,t attribute the ■), as tlioy neg- n their posses- t oblivion, bad i'enot who had with the im- ;81, called Ke- ler Marquette le Mississippi, cript like that e the cause of have assumed, and occasional nd. The map e hand-writing te of the church in euk; hut with that old Mnckinnw, nixl iind of Marquette's of Father Marquette, that it is not probable that it was taken from it. With greater likelihood wo may believe it to bo JoUiut's map drawn from recollection, which Frontenac, as his despatch tells us, transmitted to Franco in 1G74. If this 1)0 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 Mi8si8sii)pi, "It was impossible to construct it, without having seen the principal objects delineated ;" and he adds, "It should bo kept in mind that this map was published at Paris, in the year IGSl, and consequently the year before the discoveries of La Sallo on the Mississippi, and that no intelligence re- specting tlie country it represents, could liavc 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 oc- curs, and describes what ho sees without embellisliment or display. He writes as a scliolar, and as a man of careful ob- servation and practical sense. There is no tendency to exag- gerate, 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 tlie 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'ftllt''e, and chemin du retour. Tlie latter is incorrect, but it came from his en- deavor 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 miiill ,!lllll!i' lll.l, yi ii'iti, iiiiip ili' II ^n,(jt ^ ,."«'1!2 Ixxvi MFIC OF FATIIKR MAKQUKTTK. but in Lo Clercq and those whom he cites, in the second Hennepin, in Jontel, in all in fact, except the faithful Tonty, the nairativo of Maiqnctte is derided, called a fable, or nar- rative of a piete!ided voyage ; and one actually goes so far as to say that, sailing np the river with the book in his hand, ho 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 MisBi88ii)pi, no discovery prior to that of La Salle is men- tioned. Even Harris, who cites Marquette by name as descri- bing the calumet, and calls him a man of good sense and fair cluiracter, does not give him due credit as the first explorer.* " Indeed the services and narrative wonld hardly have es- caped from oblivion, .had not Charlevoix brought them to light in his great work on Canada, nearly seventy years after the events.''! As to tlie 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 pub- lication prior to La Salle's voyage, wo ueed 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 "eaching the Mississippi at all, though they are forced to admit it. * Vol ii., p. 351. On the preceding pnge he has a summary, but just condem- nation of Hennepin and Lahontan. f And even he misdates the time of its piiblication. Thevenot's edition, of which Harvard possesses a copy, was issued in 1681, not 1687. ^^ LIFE OF FATIIKU MAUliLirriE. Ixxvii the second Ithful Tonty, 'able, or nar- ^oes BO far rb his liand, he jessary result it writers in woiks on tho 5allo is men- itne as deecri- enso and fair rst explorer.* irdly have es- ight them to ty years after •ly refuted by cription de la ereq (p. 364), ow the mouth > his work (p. e was on the roe of its pub- nly weigh the in Marquette 1 of partisans, quette of the iigh they are but just condem- trenot's edition, of Meanwhile one of the copies, after liuving bet-n pivpared for publication by Father Claude Dablon, snperinr of the mission, with the introductory and 8Ui)pluuu;ntary mattt-r in the form in which wo now give it, lay unnotici-d and un- known in the archives of the Jesuit college at Queln'c. It did not even fall into the hands of Father Cluulevuix when collecting material for his history, for he seems to liavo nuulo little research if any into the manuscripts at the culloge of Quebec. A few years after the publication of his work, Canada fell into the hands of Knghind, ajul the Jesuits and Recollects, as religious orders, were condemned, the reception of new members being positively forbidden. The membera of each order now formed Toiitintj*, the whole property, on the death (»f the last survivor, to go to the British government, or to the law knows whom, if t^ituated in the United States. The last survivor of the Jesuits, Father Cazot, after behold- ing that venerable institution, the college of Quebec closed for want of professors, and Canada deprived of its oidy 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 nuide a selection, un- fortunately too moderate and too I'npid, and these paj^ers he deposited in the Hotel Dieu, or hospital at Quebec, an insti- tution destined to remain, as the nuns who directed it had not fallen imder the ban (»f the government. They continued in their hands from shortly before 1800 till* 1844, when the faithful guardians of the trust presented them to the Rev. F. Martin, one of the Jesuit fathers who returned in 1842 to the scene of the labore and sacrifices of their society. On the p'""ll' Ixxviii LIFE OF FATIIKU MAKQUKTTE. ifi»li liili! III?'!]''''" i "' . Jill .:'i: application of Mv. B. F. Frencli to jmblisli the narrative of Marquette in his Historical Collections, and apply the pro- ceeds, and such other sums as might be received, to the erec- tion of a monument to the great discoverer of the Mississippi, the manuscript journal and map were committed to the hands of the writer of these sketches. This narrative is a very small quarto, written in a very clear hand, with occasional corrections, comprising in all, sixty pages. Of these, thirty-seven contain his voyage down the Mississippi, which is complete except a hiatus of one leaf in the chapter on the calumet; the rest are taken up with the account of his secoiid voyage, death and burials, and the voyage of Father Allouez. The last nine lines on page 60, are in the hand-writing of Father Dablon, and were written .•'s late as 1678. With it were found the original map in the hand-writing of Father Marquette, as published now for the first time, and a letter begun but never ended by him, addressed to Father Dablon, containing a journal of the voyage on which he died, beginning with the twenty sixth of October, (1674), and run- ning down to the sixth of April. The endorsements on it, in the same hand as the direction ascribe, the letter to Father Marquette; and a comparison between it, the written parts of the map, and a signature of his found in a parish register at Boucherville, would alone, without any knowledge of its history, estal)lish tlie authenticity of the map and l':•"»< -^ lii[||iiiilr'"i !i 'lllliMlnir mliM!;;!;! I m bH'ii Ixxx NOTICE ON THE 6IEUK JOLLIET. to France, lie, doubtless, e5 pected 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 re- warded as if in mockery with an island in the gulf of St. Lawrence. This was Anticosti, and here JoUiet 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 emi)loyment of the government, rendering essential services in the west. Two years after his island was taken by the English fleet, and he himself, with liis wife and mother-in-law, probably while attempting to reach Quebec, fell into the hands of Phipps, the English commander. His vessel and property were a total loss, but his liberty he recovered when the Eng- lish retired from the walls of Quebec. Of his subsequent history there are but occasional traces, and we know only that he died some years prior to 1737. Authorities: Charlevoix, La Jlontan, vol. i., p. 323; ii., p. 10. MS. Journal of the Superior of the Jesuits. BouchctC s Topograph, Die. Canada. Titles: .^n- ticosti and Jolliet. '% to carry out some extent side by more 5sippi was re- e gulf of St. )t built a fort trade. They smolument to fields. Thus government, English fleet, law, probably the hands of and property vhen the Eng- asional traces, )r to 1737. 10. MS. Journal ada. Titles: -4n- RELATION OF THE VOYAGES, DISCOVERIES, AND DEATH, Of FATHER JAMES MAIiQUETTE, THE SUBSEQUENT VOYAGES OF FATHER CLAUDIUS ALLOUEZ, FATHER CLAUDIUS DABLON, SUPERIOR OF THE MI88IONS OK THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, IN NEW FRANCE. ir: \ PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION IN 1678. ■| m ii" ,1' '^i NOTICE ON FATHER DABLON. iu. liHTl! ' !l • y:il ii!"l!| lip 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 1C58. Three years after, he and the hardy Druilletcs attempted to reach Hudson's bay, by the Saguenay, but wore arrested at the sources of the Nekouba by Iroquois war-parties. In 1068, he followed Fatlier Marquette to Lake Superior, became superior of the Ottawa mission, founded Sault St. Mary's, visited Green bay, and reached tlie Wisconsin with Alloucz. then returned to Quebec to assume his post as superior of all the Canada mis- sions. 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 pub- lished the Relations of 1670-'7l, and '72, with their accurate map of Lake Superior, and prepared for press those of 1672-73 and 1073-79, which still re- main in manuscript, and the following narratives of Marquette and Allouez. Tlie period of his death is unknown. His writings are the most valuable collection on the topography of the north- west, which have come down to our days. I .-.'V :l!!ll!^, Hll ii.ii fj'i' THE VOYAGES AND DISCOVERIES )N. j9 immediately sent i\ of absence till the tlie hardy Druilletcs 'ore arrested at the he followed Father wa mission, founded jonsin with Allouez. all the Canada mis- , certainly till 1693, following year. As ee to their extension, ilarquelte. He piih- jurate mop of Lake ?3-79, -which still re- rquette and Allouez. jgraphy of the norlli- OF FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE, IN THE VALLEY OF THE Mi^SSISSIPPL CHAPTER I. OF THE FIRST VOYAGE MADE BY FATHER MARQUETTE TOWARD NEW MEXICO, ASD HOW THE DESIGlf WAS CONCEIVED. FATHER Marquette had long projected this enter- prise, 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 him- iself, as it were, at the door of these new nations, when, in L670, he was laboring at the mission of Lapointe du St. Jlsprit,* which is at the extremity of the upper Lake of the >ttawa8. He even saw at times many of those new tribes, joncerning whom he gathered all the information that he sould. This induced him to make several efforts to undor- Eike the enterprise, but always in vain; he had even given * This place is now called simply Lapointe, ns the lake is called Superior, etaiuing only the first word of its former name, Lao Superieur aux Outaoiiacs, I'llHl » 'i^li'iftl \l' '■ i'»Mi, 1 \f .-■ l.lk Mjm 11- [«|y "111' j i::4i„.ii|;,,i.iiii!|; !' I'll I'l »'»»lr!l!l" ifftllljjJilllll'liit "illi! kl!i ill "I il ii''iii!,lii;ii 4 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. up all hopes of succeeding, when the Almighty presented him the following opportunity : — In 1673, thfi Comte de Frontenac,* our governor and Mr. Talon then our intend ant, knowing the importance of this discovery, either to seek a passage from hero to the China sea by the river which empties into the California or Red 8ea,f or to verify what was atterward said of the two king- doms of Theguaio and Quivira, which border on Canada, and where gold mines are, it is said abundant,:}: these gentlemen, * Louis de Buade, Conito de Frontennc, succeeded M. de Courcelles in the gov- ernment of Canada, in 1672. M. Talon, the wise and energetic inlendant 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 administra- tion of Frontenac is signalized by the first exploration of the Mississippi by Mar- quette and Jr'lyet, 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-Inbtated 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 tl e consolidation of Frencli power in North America. — F. \ The gulf of California was called by the Spaniards Mar de Cortes, u/ more commonly Mar Bermejo, from its resemblance in shape and color to the Rod eea. Gomara His de las Indias, p. 12. Cluvier Introductio. Venegas Ilis- toria de la California. Clavigero, Storia della California, p. 29. In ignorance of this fact, the French translated Bermejo by Vermeille, and English writers Vermillion. J Theguaio, or commonly Tiguex, and sometimes apparently Tejns, and Qui- vira, were two kingdoms as to which the imagination of the Hpnniards, and oape- cially of the Mexicans, had become so aroused that Feijoo in his Toatro Critico includes them in the category of fabled lands, St. Brandon's Isle, the Eldorado, Ac, 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 fi."«t made known by the attempt of a Franciscan missionary to reach the rich coun- tries of the interior which had been spoken of by Cnljeza de Vaea. Tlie mission- ary in question. Fray Mare, 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 shoAved that he limi been mistaken, and none but hardy missionaries sought to penetrate to the fabled e:. ;hty presented emor and Mr. )rtance of this ) to the China ifomia or Red the two king- m Canada, and ese gentlemen, Burcelles in the gov- itic inlendant of the ;he discovery of the ■ontennc, laid before and the administra- Mississippi by Mar- 1 by tlie subsequent vhile his companion, St. Anthony's falls, ■m had expired, and it he was afterward ge of seventy-seven, nini&tration may be ■ica.— F. r de Cortes, vj** more id color to the Red ctio. Venegas His- 59. In ignorance of ind English writers ntly Tejas, and Qui- Rpaniards, and cspc- in his Tcatro Critico 's Isle, the Eldorado, uivira mentioned by the country north of ind Texas, were fi."«t reach the rich ooun- Vaca. Tlie mission- d the Gila, and from ly gave credit to the showed that ho Imd enetrate to the fallccl DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 5 I say, both at tlie same time selected for the enterprise the Siour Jollyet, whom they deemed competent fur so great a design, wishing to see Father Marquette accompany him.* They were not mistaken in their choice of the Slenr Jollyet, for he was a young man, born in this country, and emlowed with every quality that could be desired in such an enterprise. He possessed experience and a knowledge of the languages of the Ottawaf 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. He ac- cordingly 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 harbor-— his canoe having upset below the Saut St. Louis, near Mon- treal, 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. Tlie belief cf its mineral wealth was, however, too deeply rooted to be easily shaken, and the discovery of California's resources in our days lins justi- fied it, and nhowu thot Talon in seeking to reach California from Canada, ottempted no ciumcrical project * It woiiM Rc iii by tliia wording that Marquette was not officially chosen for the expedition. The troubles at the time between the civil and eeclesinstical 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 im- portant that he sliould be one of the party. Tliat his account alone survived, and that it was published in his name, was something neither expected nor intended by any of (liose concerned, as M. Jollyet had prepare 1 an account of the expedi- tion, the loss of wliich, as stated in the text, alone raised thejourniil of Father Marquette to its present degree of importance. (In 1680, the French govern- ment rewarded the Sieur Jollyet for this eminent service by n grant of the island of Anticosti, in the gulf of St Lawrence ; and, in 1607, by the scignory of Jollyet in Beauce coimty, Canada, which is now the property of I lie Hon. T. Taschereau, one of the judges of the court, of King's bench.) f The Ottawas, or Outaouacs, were first called by tlie French, Clicveux Re- levfis, and ploced on Great Manitouline.—CArt/n;)/«fw, 262, Sffjnrd, Jul. Their Indian name is then given in the form, Andatahouats. Tlie earli.r .Icsuit Uola< |m'*'I»I, h''*> '" if I '"',.-K!i,| ji.' lili ip'!*i*, I' i9h-, ,„ "■ MlhiiiHiil. ■■'0 i|:!!!!i;:.^fe' .iiftil||i!:ii!|iii;!:ii"'"|liiilj '^|;fi,;;i!.„„;;,|;' NARRATIVE OF FATUER MARQUETTE. SECTION I. DEPAHTURE OF FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE FOR THE DISCOfERY OF THE (iREAT RIVER, CALLED BY THE INDIANS MlSSISlPt, WHICH LEADS TO NEW MEXICO. The day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Vir- gin, whom I had alwaj's 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 ordere of the Comte de Fron- tenac, 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 accom- plished, 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 coll them Ondatawawak, and Bressani, Ondawawat. Under the form Outa- ouacs (Uttawax), it was applied as a general term to all the Algonquin tribes on Lake Superior and Michigan who traded with the French. Tlie English in the same way applied to them the name of the tribe which they called ChippewayR, and the Frencli, Outehibouec, which is still more diversified by the new spelling Ojibwa, introduced by Schoolcraft. * The name of this river is derived from the Algonquin language one of tli« original tongues of our continent It was spoken by every tribe from the Chesa- peake to the gulf of St. Lawrence, and running westward to the Mississippi and Lake Superior. The Abn.ikis, Montagnnis, Algonquins proper, Ottnwns, Nipis- sings, Nezporces, Illinois, Miamis, Sacs, Foxes, Mohegnns, Delawaros, Slinwnflos 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 IIuron-Troquois langii(iehv\vnros, Slmwiiflos England, nil spoken in this vast strip of he Ilurons, Pctuns, Tlie word Missis- Sepe, a river. The were embarking on a voyage the duration of which we could not foresee. Indian com, 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 cour- age, 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 haz- ardous, it should not be foolhardy : for this reason we gathered all possible information from Indians who had frequented those parts, and even from their accounts traced a map of all the new co'Vutry, marking down tlie rivers on which we were to sail, the names of the nations and places through which former is variously pronounced Missil, or Mich'd, as in Michilimackinac ; Michi, as in Michigan ; Mmii, as in Missouri ; and Missi, as in Mississippi. The word Sipi may bo considered as the English pronunciation, derived through the medium of the French, of Sfpe, and nffords an instance of an Indian term of much melody, being corrupted by Europeans, into one that has a harsh and hissing sound. — F. * Tlie 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 tribos. The Canadian canoe made use of in this expedition, was built of birch-bark, cedar splints, and ribs of spruce roots, covered with yellow j)ine 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 thoy were used in subse- quent 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 l^that name. (Charlevoix.) The mission was subsequently on the south, if we I'credit Charlevoix's maps, and finally on the island of that name. ,,.,,, R I '■'.«■ Ill"-,, ii j:iil!i fill 'I ,,|'.M ■ ml.} 4, 'M , I. Shi, i'" 'l;i.i:ir|l|il!ll''"i'|i|j'h i%:-"p, ',1 :• feirii''''"i-'!l!''i| If!! !!S ;;.;:*! |«iiii:|jiiiii;;!p'''i*iijl I :■'""•!:'- 'I . i!,'i|'l'"i|, F.,'|l| iii||Hiiii!|||j|ill!| III i A- ':\>''' f'- iSm 9 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. we were to pnss, the coiu-ae of the great river, and what direc- tion we phould take M'hen we got to it. AboTe all, I put our voyage under the protection of the Blessed Virjin 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 FAT'lER nSITS BY THE IVAY THE tyiLD-OATS TRIBES.— WHAT THESE WILD OATS ARE.— HE ENTERS THE BAY OF THE FETID.— SOME 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 Hinois into the Bay of the Fetid. The first nation that we met was that of the Wild Oats.f 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, -wliich corresponds perfectly with his nar- rative. The name of the Immaculate Conception, which he gave to the mistiion among the Knskaskias, was retained as long as that mission lasted, and is nov the title of the church in the present town of Kaskaskia. Although his wish woa 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 Mexi- can neighbors. f Tliis plant, the Zizania Aqxiatica, of Linn., is perennial and forms the prin- cipal food of most of the northwestern tribes. It ia 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 I^etters. The tribe here alluded to are the Oumalouminik, Malhominies or Menomonees, whose river still showB their locality.— i2c/. 1672-73. MS. DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLET. nd wbat direc* tection of the it if she did us d give it the ive that name ong these now lois.* 1ES.-WHAT THKSE OME PARTICULARS ' paddles play of the Ilinoia be Wild Oats.t e preached the ssippi, is found only rfectly with his nar- ! gave to the mistiion n lasted, and is now Although his •wish 1 fulfilled in the fact Conception, has been I national council, as lie vast valley of the Virgin Immaculate ia laloupe to our Mexi- I and forms the prin- n English, wild rice; ately described in the e here alluded to are Lver still showe their 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 spon- taneously in little rivere with slimy bottoms, and in marshy places ; they are very like the wild oats tliat 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 tin 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 chatf, 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 win- nowed ; 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 mys- teries of our Holy Keligion ; they were very much surprised, and did their best to dissuade me. They told me, that I ^ ^^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 li&iai 125 u& I £ U£ 12.0 IL25 II 1.4 1.6 6" HiotDgraphic Sciences Corporation 91 WIST MAIN STRif T WiBSTM.N.Y. MSM (716)873-4503 '^ 10 NARRATIVE OF FATIIKR MARQUETTE. mm iff iHH! i;i;;„ I would meet nations that never spare strangers, but tomahawk them without any provocation ; that the war wliicli had broken out among various nations on our route, exposed us to another evident danger — that of being killed by the war- parties which are constantly in the field; that the Great River is very dangerous, unless the difficult parts are known; that it was full of frightful monstera who swallowed up men and canoes together ; that thore 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 con- cerned ; that for them, I should be too happy to lay down my life ; that I made light of their pretended demon, that we would defend ourselves well enough against the river- monstere ; 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 instniction, 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 convereion of these tribes, having baptized more than two thousand since they have been there. This bay beara 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 Winne- bagoes. Rel. 1672-'?3. MS. Dela Potherie, vol. ii., p. 48. In the Relation of DISCOVERIES m 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 vapore which cause the loudest and longest peals of thvmdcr 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 agitato 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, tliey are called Aweatsiwaenrrhonons, which, as tlie 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. — Ret. 1642-'43, p. 8. Indeed, the dislike of the In- dians 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 Iro- quois detected in the flesh of the latter, who had recently left European food, traces of salt whicl. '! mm mm !!!!ili|jMi!^H! i|iiii;l|i"""|iH|| f& ||Hllll|J'||illli l!:il!!l ^l|i!il liiii I ll!'lllK I.I I 'till 12 KABBATIVE OF FATHER HARQUETTB. 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 riverf emptying into it. It is very beautiful at its month, 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 ad- vanced a little up this river, it becomes very difficult, both on account of the currents and .of the sharp rocks which cut the 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 Alloues. 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 ]X)wder when crushed be- tween the teeth. It must be chewed and put on the bite of the 8ei*pent. Snakes have such an antipathy to it, that they fly from 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 pnt 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 Cliarle- Toix supposed it was owing to the springs at the bottom of the lakes, and to the ehock of their currents, with those of the rivers, which fall into them from all •ides, 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 parte of the prairie from one river to the other. — F. I This plant is called by the French " Serpent-d-Sonnettes," and is an infal* lible remedy against the poison of snakes. The root is commonly reduced to a M;,'!;!S BISOOyEBIBS IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 13 rise and fall ito it. It is it is full of by the wild ou have ad- iflScult, both [S which cut ged to drag all that we lachkontens, the mineral town. I also jh an Indian, nonies, made I against the eased to give the country, n crushed be- t on the bite hy to it, that several stalks and a white ome into my rhieh have been so m , although Chorle- e lakes, and to the -j.^ into them from all 5th. The portage (konsing), is over a er the lowest parts 1," and is an infal- nonly reduced to » i^ canoe to examine it at leisure, while we kept on our way to- ward Maskoutens, where we arrived on the 7th of June. -? SECTION III. DEtCBIPTIOS OF THE VtLLAOE OF MASKOUTENS.- WHAT TRANSPIRED BE- TWEEN THE FATHER AND THE INDIANS.— THE FRENCH BEGIN TO ENTER A SEW AND UNKNOWN COUNTRY, AND REACH THE MISSISIPI. Hebe we are then at Maskoutens. This word in Algon- quin, 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. Mi- amis, 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 posi- tively aa to the meaning of Maskoutens^ though from hie use of the common interpretation, he evidently favored it Charlevoix, indeed, treats this as an error, and says, that Mascouteneo means a prairie, but on the meaning of an In- dian 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 IndiansL Their Huron name was Asistagueronons, from asitta (fire). They lay beyond the Puants, says the early historian. Brother SagaM (p. 201). Under the same name, Atsistaehronons, they are mentioned by lather 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 Algonquinii^ Maekoutench, or Nation of Fire. KABBATIYE OF FATHER MABQUETTE. !! ; '-m m 'pm I w f "'|i|i' ■ '"'■II r"'t!ii''' i:,:.L tijl ''M-iIm' H^ : 'i '"I'! llrilH'i ' liliiililill! li liiiii •pii !! Ill-will are very docile, listen quietly to what you tell them, and Bhowed themselves so eager to hear Father AUouez 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, inter- spersed with thickets or groves of lofty trees.* The soil is very [^'ood, producing much com; the Indians gather also quantities of plums and grapes, from which good wine could be made, if they chose. • Ko sooner had we arrived that M. Jollyet and I assembled the sachems ; he told them that he was sent by our governor to dis- cover new countries, and I, by the Almighty, to illumine them with the light of the gospel ;f that the Sovereign Master of our * This narrative abounds with sketches of scenery and Indian localities that wonid grace the artist's pencil. — ^F. f The missionaries were careful to avoid all appearance of a worldly or na- DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 18 e of B worldly or na- 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. "VVe 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-south- west ; but the way is so cut up by marshes and little lakes, .that it is easy to go astray, especially as the river leading ho it is so covered with wild oats, that you can hardly discover fthe 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 I henceforth lead us into strange lands. Before embarking, we I all began together a new devotion to the Blessed Virgin Im- I maculate, which we practised every day, addressing her par- [tional mission. Most of those in our northern parts were French; but though Ithey planted the cross on many a mountain and valley, history can not tell us |ihe place where they carved the "Lilies of the Bourbons." In fact, they never fdid. * Father Marquette, however, never uses the article with Missisipi, Fekita- Inoai, and other names of rivers. if ,ii-Pir lllirn jM ' '!iii^' i, i,."M,ii|, i| ,i.'M 1 ■ ' i'!"'iii,i .(11111) Willi '■'■'■' |!lll|lj|l^'.i,,|:BH.i.i iii||j!|iiiiiiii|iiiii m i'iiiiiliipiii ii'^i;'' !!":■;:' J I'll:; 16 NABRATTVE OF FATHEB UABQUETTB. ticular prayers to put under her protection both our persons and the success of our voyage. Then after having en- couraged one another, we got into our canoes. The river on which we embarked is called M eskonsing ; it is very broad, with a sandy bottom, forming many shallows, which render navigation very difiScnlt. It is full of vine-clad islets. On the banks appear fertile lands divereified 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 Missisipif on the 17th of June, with a joy that I can not express. * The French word here is vachea, which has been generally translated bison, or buifalo. 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 aauvage, was the American elk, or moose.— i2«/. ICSB-'ST. 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, at orignal, and ane sauvage, or caribou, were seen in Canada. f Tliis latitude is nearly correct Prairie du Chien is in north latitude 48" S'. 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 utiles^ and is then connected by short portages with the Onttmagon and Mon- treal rivers of Lake Superior. The Wisconsin country was subsequently in- habited by the Sacs and Foxes, but they were afterward driven away by the Chippewaya and French. — ^F. "■m I'f- ii».i BISOOVEBIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 17 1. SECTION IV. OF THE OREAT JtlVER CALLED MISSISIPI.—JTS MOST STRIKIIfO PECVLIARt. TtEa.^ VARIOUS ANIMALS, AND PARTICULARLY THE PISIKIOUS OR WILD CATTLE.-THBIR FORM AND DISPOSITtONr-THB FIRST ILINOIS VILLAOES 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 mount- ains, 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 arpenta (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 ; ther > vow almost no wood or mountain, the islands are more beau: '.ful 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.f Another time we per- ceived 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 north- western tribes. — ^F. f This wos probably the cat fish of the Mississippi {Silurus Mississippiensit). They sometimes grow enormously large, and strike with great force any object that comes in their way. •— F. 2 '■";i;:ll5ll'li liiijiiii ■"''■' ■'■• I ,ii#ii:iii L'|l|ll||, !•'■ ""'I m f lIlLlli), . MM,„1 l!;,,,,,; ii'Mlllll M'Uh i^ iiiiiy'jjiiiiiin iHlllillipnl! i-iiife.)' %m " ' If i.,:i,r iii; lilil' r NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUBTTB. grayish head and neck all black.^ Wo saw no more of them. On casting our nets, we have taken sturgeon and a very extra- ordinary kind of fish ;t it resembles a trout with this differ- ence, 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° 28', 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 "pickou du tttd" of Kalm. They differ from those of Africa and South America, because they have no spots. — F. f The "polyodon ipattUa" of Linn. It is now very rare, and but seldom found in the Mississippi. It is also called by the French, "le »patule." — F. \ This animal was first made known by Coronado's expedition to Cibola, in 1640. That commander proceeded as far as the Rio Grande from the gulf of California, in search of the realms of Quivirn. His greatest discovery was tlint of the bi»on plains, and this peculiarly American animal. From the first object of his expedition Cibola, a town on the Gilo, the animal received among Span- ish 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-cnttle, bmifg Muvaget, 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 shoggy hair, extending to the top of the head from which it falls over the eyes and horns, giving him a very formida- ble appearance. Tlie 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. Tlie Indians employ both the rifle and the arrow to hunt it, and in the prairies of Missouri and Arkan- sas, they pursue them on horseback ; but on the upper Mississippi, where they are destitute of horses, they make use of several ingenious strati^ems. 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 fev hi 0| ol Pi ^' ol DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. * ff, lore of them, a very extra- ti this differ- 38 and snout. 8 husk, three cular and as the weight of jving the same jlace of game, ir heasts. We Kalm. They differ [10 spots. — ^F. id but seldom found ie."— F. sdition to Cibola, in lo from the gulf of i discovery was that from the first object iccived among Span- y of Canada, calls it ichmnn to reach the )t find that the name •was generally used |9, till the term bison, buffalo has a clumsy nbite no diversity of is never spotted -with nearly straight from mle has a hunch upon idingtothetopofthe ; him a very formida- ,w. The tail is naked, Tlie Indians employ of Missouri and Arkan- iissippi, where they are Tatagems. One of the ithfire. Thebuffalo« the prairie as they see it rs, tlie Indians rush in jnse numbers in a few call them wild cattle, hecause 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 con- siderable 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 excel- lent, and constitute the best dish in banquets. They are very fierce, and not a year passes without their killing some Indian. When attacked, they take a man with their horns, if they can, lift him up, and then dash him on the ground, trample on him, and kill him. When you fire at them from a distance with gun or bow, you must throw yourself on, the ground as soon as you fire, and hide in the grass ; for, if they perceive the one who fired, they rush on him and attack him. As their feet are large and rather short, they do not hours. Few animals of the American forest contribute more to the comforts of sav^e life. The skin is dressed to supply them with clothing and blankets, I The tallow is an article of commerce. The tongue is a delicate article of food. I and the flesh, when dried after their manner, serves them for bread and meat |The buffalo is generally found between ni" and 49" north latitude, and west I of the Mississippi South of 81"» north latitude, the buffalo is not found ; but its J place is supplied in Mexico by the wild-ox, without a hunch, which is considered 'Tf, of European origin. 90 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. |MI| llll' ' .HItlH ml" V'""- ' iiiiil piiiiiii il'!7 I ,!:i 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 26th 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 xof our people, cautioning them strictly to beware of a surprise; then M. Jollyet and I undertook this rather hazardous dis- covery 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 othere on a hill, half a league from the former.* * These villages are laid down on the map on the westerly eide of the Missis- sippi, and the names of two ore given, Peouorea and Moingwena, whence it ia generally supposed that the river on which they lay, is that now called the Des- moiues. The upper part of that river still bears the name Moingonan, while the rU^'; o: la ra a M DUOOTERneS IN THK MI88I88IPPI VALLEY. 21 Then, indeed, we recommended ourselves to God, with all our hearts ; and, having implored his help, we passed on un- discovered, and came bo 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 distnist 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, see- ing 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 an- swered 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 calumetB,f a word that is BO 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 ad- mitted 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 Hoingwena somewhat higher up. * This is the well-known Indian name for the Jesuits. f We are probably indebted to Father Marquette for the addition to otir language of this word. fOh. ii'iil!:!!^'- Pi ii!i!i,;j|ff'"iiii|' 32 ITABBATIVS OF FATHEB MABQUBTTE. SECTION V. BOW THE ILHTOia RBCJBiyHD THE FATHER tlf THEIR VILLAOE. 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 usnal ceremony in receiving strangere. This man was standing, perfectly naked, with his hands stretched out and raised toward the sun, as if he wished to screen him- self from its rays, which nevertheless passed through his fingers to his face. When we c lie near him, he paid us this compliment : " How beautiful s the sun, O Frenchman, when thou comest to visit us ! All ur town awaits thee, and thou shalt enter all our cabins in p \ce." He then took us into his, where there was a crowd :' people, who devoured us with their eyes, but kept a prof* nd silence. We heard, however, these words occasionally .ddressed to us : " Well done, brothers, to visit us I" 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 pre- tend to smoke. While all the old men smoked after us to honor us^ some came to invite us on behalf of the great sa- chem 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 them- selves on the grass by the wayside, they ran ahead, then turned and walked back to see us again. AH this was done without noise, and with marks of a great respect entertained for us. DISOOTEEIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 28 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 fii-st, 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 Crea- tor 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 hirn : 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 lay- ing 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 paina 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 re- moved as they passed ; never has our tobacco had so fine a flavor, nor our com appeared so beautiful as we behold it to- day. Here is my son, that I give thee, that thou mayst know my heart. I pray thee to take pity on me and all my nation. Thou knowest the Great Spirit who has made us all ; thou speakest to him and hearest his word : ask him to give me 'liiJ'i ih [■:.!^; 1 t (I'hJ n" I l"i,. f' iii'iii f illM i;ii|i{i l|iill|| li k'm j'""flli!!|lllii!!i I iillllii V .lltlllilii,. '"If" '""ii|i!;'>:!t| ii!||;wi!ii i! ill -III!'! i'ill 24 NABBATIVE OF FATHER MABQUBTTB. life and health, and come and dwell with us, that we may know him." Saying this, he placed tne 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, ho begged us, on behalf of his whole nation, not to proceed further, on account of the great dangera 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 sa- gamity, 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 contain- ing 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 jnst 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 ony 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 hia friend, it is to remind him of the solemnity of his professions. — ^F. DISC0VEKIE8 IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 25 bat we may ave near us lus calumet, present he 5 account we on behalf of icount of the esteemed no the glory of )le could not ich consisted 1 their ways; lagamity, that seasoned with )Oonfiil of ea- mouth, as we to M. JoUyet. dish contain- he bones, and mouth, as we ly produced a irning that we fourth course hich were put village, which ore esteemed than ed for a feast, it is friendship. If an his friend, it is to 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 conse- quence, 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 bis 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 pewonally 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. ■st^ SECTION VI. CHARACTER OP THE ILINOIS.— THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.— THEIR ES. TEEM OP 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 Gei^ mon, from the village "of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Yii^in, Cas* casquias, November 9, 1*712," "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 inhab- itants are almost all Christians, and has brought many French to establish them- selves here, three of whom we have recently married to ninois women. These < Indians are not at all wanting in wit ; they are naturally curious, and are able ' Co use raillery in a very ingenious way. Hie chase and war are the sole oconpa- I,('i>!i| 1 ' ,.-. i' 'li 11(1 ii; *!,. .0 ;'i .1 Im '""I, I.!'; i;^(: ! ! ;:r lil .,iii!''^:il'i""')ii ri ,i.r.„,|. , Il' ii''''!flii|ljj||iiiii!i lillll'illii iiiiiihii I ^'.i'l "■""iii-,ii 26 NABBATIVE OF FATHER MASQTTETTE. 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 tlie 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 tilings, they occupy themselves in manufac- turing articles from buffaloes' hair, and in making bands, belts, and sacks; for the buffaloes here ore very different from our cattle in Europe. Besides having a large hump on the back by tlie shoulders, they are also entirely covered with a fine wool, which our Indians manufacture instead of that which they would procure from sheep, if they had them in the country. "Tlie women, thus occupied and depressed by their daily toils, are more do- cile to the truths of the gospel. This, however, is not the case at the lower eud of the Missisipi, where the idleness which prevails among persons of that sex gives opportunity for the most fearful disorders, and removes them entirely frou the way of safety. " It would be difficult to say what is the religion of our Indians. It consbts 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 mediclDe- men, who have a little more intellect than the rest, gain their respect by their ability to deceive them. They persuade them that they honor a kind of spirit to whom they give the name of Manitou, and teach them that it is this spirit which governs all things, and is master of life and of death. A bird, a buffalo, a bear, or rather the plumage of these birds, and the skin of these beasts — such is their manitou. They hang it up in their wigwams, and offer to it sacriiie(j of dogs and other animals. "The braves carry their manitous in a mat, and unceasingly invoke them to obtain the victory over their enemies. Tlieir medicine-men have in like manner recourse to their manitous when they compose their remedies, or when thej attempt to cure the diseased. Tliey accompany their invocations with chanU 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, io 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 ou! to him the tooth of a bear, or of some other animal, which he had kept conceaieii in his mouth. 'Dear friend,' he cries, 'you will live. See what it was that wai killing you!' After which he says, in applauding himself: 'Who can resist roj manitou? Is he not the one who is the master of life!' If the patient happeni to die, he immediately hos some deceit ready prepared, to ascribe the death tt aome other cause which took place after he had left the aiok mas. But i( oi wm 'ill DISOOVEBIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI TALLBT. 27 it we had seen did not permit len and girls. They 5 cooking, pound the rfl in their journeja eds, -which they ha\c 1 not penetrote thorn leroselves in manufac belts, and sacks; for •ope. Besides having entirely covered IS ilh hat which they would lily toils, are more do- . case at the lower eml ng persons of that sex ,ves them entirely from ur Indians. It consists is amused. As all their ad to the necessities o( iflned. Their medicine- a their respect by their J honor a kind of spirit >m that it is this spirit eath. Abird,abuffaK itt of these beasts— sucli and offer to it sacrificej ceasingly invoke them to men have in like manner . remedies, or when tfoj invocations with chant\ ief that they are inspire! ggravate their diseascM contortions, the medicin. lother.andatlastappV person perceives the pma ,68 himself and throws Off lichhehadkeptconceaW See what it was that ^ai mself: 'Who can resist m; iV If the patient happen! red, to ascribe the death t* [ttheMckmau. ButH* me to acquire all the information I would have desired. The [following is what I reraai'ked in their manners. ithe contrary, he should recover his health, it is then that the medicine-man re- eives consideration, and is himself regarded as a manitou ; and after having rell rewarded his labors, they procure the best that the village produces to Iregale him. " The influence which these kinds of jugglers have places a great obstacle in lie way of the conversion of the Indiana By embracing Christianity, they ox- ose themselves to their insults and violence. It is only a month ago that a ^oung Christian girl experienced this treatment. Holding a rosary in her hand, lie was passing before the wigwam of one of these impostors. He hod imagined liat the sight of a similar chaplet had caused the death of his father; and be- Dg transported with fury, he took his gun, and was on the point of firing at liis poor neophyte, when he was arrested by some Indians who happened to be l^resent " I can not tell you how many times I have received the like insults from bem, nor how many times I should have expired under their blows, had it not sen for the particular protection of God, who has preserved me from their fury. )n one occasion, among others, one of them would have split my head with his fttchet, had I not turned at the very time that his arm was raised to strike me. Iiauks to God, our village is now purged from these impostors. Tlie care which have ourselves taken of the sick, the remedies we have given them, and liich have generally produced a cure, have destroyed the credit and reputation these medicine-men, and forced them to go and establish themselves else- liere. ' "Tliere are, however, some among them who are not so entirely brutal, and |th whom we can sometimes talk, and endeavor to disabuse them of the vain iifidence they have in their manitous; but it is not ordinarily with much suc- A conversation which one of our fathers liad with one of these medicine- In will enable you to understand the extent of their obstinacy on this point, also what ought to be the condescension of a missionary in attempting even itt refute opinions as extraordinary as those with which they are here met **Thc French had established a fort on the river Ouabache: they asked for a miltoionary, and Father Mermet was sent to them. This father thought that i^i- should also labor for the conversion of the Mascoutens, who had formed n lement on the banks of the same river, a tribe of Indians who understood the language, but whose extreme attachment to the superstitions of their licine-men rendered them exceedingly indisposed to listen to the instructions lie missionary. lie course which Father Mermet took was, to confound in their presence I of their medicine-men, who worshipped the buffalo as his grand manitou. ' having insensibly led him to confess that it was not by any means the buf- Fhich he worshipped, but a manitou of the buffalo, which is under the earth liich animates all the buffaloes, and which gives life to their sick — he asked rhether the other beasts, as the bears, for example, which his comrades ipped, were not equally animated by a manitou which is under the earth. mi. li NARBATITE OF FATHER MABQUETTB. !||l|^!f |ii'Dii< , iiriiil ""I 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 mon 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 I' 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 wore even some who proceeded to the extremity of discharging their ar- rows at him, but they fell at his feet ; it mny 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 Mer met, however, was not deterred from conferring baptism on some of the Indians, who requested it with importunity, and who died a short time ofter 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 ex- travagant gestures. The mortality, however, did not cease, for all their sacri- fioea The chief of the medicine-men then imagined that their manitou, being less powerful than the manitou of the French, was obliged to yield to him. In this persuasion he many times made a circuit around the fort^ crying out with all his strength: 'We are dead; softly, manitou of the French, strike softly— do not kill us all 1' Then, addressing himself to the missionary : ' Cease, good manitou, let us live; you have life and death in your possession: leave death— give us life I' 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 olso 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. S9t Peduaroa. This produces a diversity in their language which in general has a great affinity to the Algonquin, so that wo tides. When they have retired, moss is said, at which oil the Christians assist, the men placed on one side and the women on the other; then they have pray- ers, which are followed by giving them a homily, after which each one guus to his labor. We then spend our time in viajting the sick, to give them the necessory 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 dis- tinction 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 e.\orcises, 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 rim 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 ore set to airs with which they are acquainted, and which please them. "lliey often approach the sacraments, and the custom among them is to con- fess and to communicate once in a fortnight We have been obliged to appoint particular days on which they shoU 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 n crowd of penitents. The core which we take of the sick goins us their confidence, and it is particulorly 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 ia 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, ond laboring for the conversion of these people; but death, which arrested him on the way, left to another the care of accom- plishing this enterprise. This was Father Allouez, who chained himself with it Ho was acquainted with the language of the Oumiamis, which approaches very nearly to that of the Ilinois. He, however, made but a short sojourn, hav- ing the idea while there that he should be able to accomplish more in a diflferent country, where bdeed he ended his apostolic life. IM 'T^: •'*, iiff«^;!; 'I Liili'ii i;l'5!!l!!ii: |j»i.!|l^;&iiiiis I f'^Lip ;;; I, ".IJrl.iii, .jHI'ltpi > 80 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. easily undorskood ono another. They are mild and tractable in their disposition, as we experienced in the reception they "Thus Father Oravier is the one who should properly be regarded as the founder of the mission to tlie Ilinois. Ho 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 ho begnn 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 Mich* ilimakinac, 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 Gravicr, 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 nt all dwell in its neighborhood. The stormy weather delayed us, so that our voyage took seventeen days, though it is often accom- plished 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 du- ring 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 ihey 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 in- dolence 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 meaaure of their merit' "Having finished all our business during the two months that I remained with DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. at I remained vith gave us. They have many wives, of whom they are ex- tremely jealous ; they watch them carefully, and cut off their my brother, it become necesgnry 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 Chordon, with whom I renioined fifteen days. He is a missionary full of seal, and who has a rare talent for acquiring languages. Ho 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, altliough 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, ore very different: those are brutal and gross, while these, on the contrary, are mild and affable. "After hiving token leave of the missionary, we ascended the river St Joseph to where ic was necessary to moke 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 trans- ported all there was in the canoe toward the source of the river of the Ilinois, which tiiey call Ilaukiki ; 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 agreea- ble 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 Peouarios, many of these Indians came to meet me, to form an escort to defend me from hostile par- ties of warriors who might be roaming through the forest ; and when I ap- proached 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 dis- charge 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 dis- tinguished of the Peouarios. It was there that one of the principal chiefs ad- dressed me in the name of the nation, testifying to me the deep grief they felt at the unworthy nionner in which they hod treated Father Gravier, and conjured me to forget it, to hove 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 an- swered 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 ex- eursion to my mission, I should come to fix my residence in the midst of them, ffS^f'^ 88: NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. '!'• il I K, ij«..^ ' t'iil "ii'^lr mm ''"■ felill'tlPi f«ll|;||««WlllH., H ^ nose or ears when they do not behave well ; I saw several who bore tiic? 'nr.rks of their infidelity. They are well-formed, nim- ble, 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 war- like 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 instructionB to return into the wny of snlvation, from which they had perhnps wandered. At these words the chief uttered a loud cry of joy, and each one with emulation testified his gratitude. During two days that I remained in the village, I said mass in public, and discharged all the duties of a missionary. " It was toward the end of August that I embarked to return to my mission of the Coscnsquias, distant a hundred and fifty leagues from the village of the Peouarias. During the first day of our departure, wo found a canoe of the Scioux, broken in some places, which had drifted away, and we saw an encamp ment 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 hnd 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 princi- pally 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 miich dexterity and swiftness, that their canoes seem to Hy on the water. After having examined all things with attention, we con- cluded that these Indians had struck their intended blow, and were retiring: we, however, kept on our guard, and advanced with great caution, that wo 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 licalth, after live months' absence." — Kip's Jcnuit Mm. * 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 m THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 99 iron or copper, and Imvo nothing but stone knives. "When the Ilinols set out on a war party, the whole vilh\ge is noti- fied by a loud cry made at the door of their huts the morn- ing and evening before they set out. The chiefs are dis- tinguished from the soldiers by their wearing a soarf * inge- niously 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 villagcf They live by game, wliich is abundant in this country, and on Indian corn, of which they always gather a good crop, so that they have never suifered 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 * Tlie 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 Imir braided in Agnres with shells, beads, the. Belts of deer and buifalo skins are also worn. These belts are worn over the left shoulder, and passed around the waist> cnditig 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 thc>msclT«» with the formidable bow and arrow, war-club, and scalping-knifo. — P. \ The custom of painting their bodies is characteristic of all savage tribes. The native Britons, Germans, and Scandinavians, formerly pmotised it. Tlic 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. Wk^en they go to war, they paint themselves red; when they mourn for their friendis or rel- atives, with black ; at other times they cover their face and body with a variely of fantastic colors, which they are very skilful in mixing. — ^F» 3 U) i' llttiil .!(»* v ' ' ^ »{im 48 NAKKATIVE OF FATIIKU MAKQUKTTi:. could not, without evident dunger, udvance on that river which thoy constantly occupy. During this converse, tiiey kept continually bringing us in wooden dishes of sagnujity, Indian com whole, or pieces of dog-flesh; the wliole 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 tljo wild-cattle, for fear of their enemies. It is true, they liavo 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 largo earthern i)otf,* whicli are very well made ; they Imve also plates of baked earth, which they em- ploy for various purposes. The men go naked, and wear their hair short; they have the n>se and ears })ierced, and beads hanging from them. The women are dressed in wretched skins ; they braid their hair in two plaits, which falls behind their eai*s ; they have no ornaments to decorate their persons. Their banquets are without any ceremonies ; they serve their meats in large dishes, and everyone 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 onoient arts of this country. Tlie southern tribes pnrticularly excelled in the manufneture 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 VALLET. 49 only by the rain which falls oftonor thon in summor * "We oat no fruit thero but watermelons ; if they knew how to culti- vate tiioir ground, they might have plenty of all kinds. In the evening the sachems held a secret council on the de- sign of some to kill us for plunder, but the chief broke up all these scheincfl, and sending for us, danced the calumet in our presence, in the maimer I have described above, as a mark of perfect assurance ; and then, to remove all fears, presented it to mo. M. JoUyet and I held another council to deliberate on what we should do, whether we should push on, or rest satis- fied with the discovery that we had made. After having at- tentively considered that we were not far from the gulf of Mexico, the basin of which is 31° 40' north, and we at 33° 40', so that we could not be more than two or three days journey off; that the Missisipi undoubtedly had its mouth in Florida or the gulf of Mexico, and not on the east, in Virginia, whose seacoast is at 34° north, which we had passed, without having as yet reached the sea, nor on the western side in California, because that would require a west, or west- southwest course, and we had always been going south. We considered, moreover, that we risked losing the fruit of this voyage, of which we could give no information, if we should throw ourselves into the hands of the Spaniards, who would undoubtedly, at least, hold us as prisoners. Besides, it was * Marquette had now descended to genial cUmes, "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 on 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; bat when they came is a problem which can not be so eoaily solved. — ^F. 4 •bJkA' rN 50 NABHATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. "■, !'.■;'■ ; Its I'. 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 he desired from the expedition.^ All these reasons induced us to re- solve 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 PRFjNCH BAPTISM OF A DYINO 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.f We left it indeed, about the 38th degree, to enter another river, which greatly shortened * The great object wa8 to discover -whets the river emptied, and this did noi require further progress. Marquette's voyage indeed settled it so completelj, 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 f The Mississippi is remarkable for its great length, uncommon depth, and the muddiness and salubrity of its waters after ite 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 1*72*7, it took Father du Poisson, missionary to the Ar- kansas, to make a voyage from New Orleans to that mission, inelading somft •toppages, from the 26th May to the "^th July.— F. DISOOVEBIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI TALLBT. 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, wild- cats, 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 Easkaskia, com- posed 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-f 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 in * 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 Mar- quotte now ascended has been more fortunate, it still bears the name of Ilinois. f 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 AUo'ues' town of Kaskaskia are quite different from the present places of the name in situation. The Ilinois seemed to have formed a link be- tween the wandering Algonquin and the fixed Iroquois; they had villages like the latter, and though they roved like the former, they roved in Tillages. 58 KARBATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. baptized a little before it expired, by an admirable Providence for the salvation of that innocent soul.f f The following table of distances offer the best means of forming some idea of the whole distance passed over hj M. Jollyet and Father Marquette :— Milei. From the mission of St Ignac to Green hay about 218 From Green bay (Puans) up Fox river to the portage 176 From the portage down the Wisconsin to the Mississippi 116 Fromthemouthof the Wisconsin to the mouth of the Arkansas. . 1,087 From the mouth of the Arkansas to the Ilinois river '. ... 647 From the mouth of the Ilinois to the Chicago 806 From the Chicago to Green bay, by the lake shore 260 ! 2767 SparKa lAfe of Marqwtte. . t v^kfS. ■:■ -a CHAPTER II. tTAKRATIVB OP THE SECOtfD yOYAOB SfADE BY FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE TO THE ILINOtS TO CARRY THE FAITH TO THEM, ASD THE GLORIOUS DEATH OF THE SAME FATHER Iff THE LABORS OF HIS MlSSIOtf. SECTION I. THE FATHER SETS OUT A SECOND TIME FOR THE ILINOIS.—HE ARRIVES THERE lit SPITE OF HIS ILLNESS AND FOUNDS THE MISSION OP THE CON- CEPTION. FATHEiv James Marquette having promised the Ilinoia, 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 dys- entery, and had so enfeebled him, that he lost all hope of un- deiliaking a second voyage. Yet, his malady having given way and almost ceased toward the close of summer in the fol- lowing 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 26th 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 Foltawatomies. They ad- vanced 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 piished on, and by the 4th of December, had reached the Chicago, which connects by portage with the Ilinois. But the river was now ■r *-."' "i u NABBATITB OF FATHER MABQUETTE. I, ¥,.l 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 win- ter in such want of every comfort that his illness constantly increased ; he felt that God had granted him the grace he jiad so often asked, and he even plainly told his com- panions so, assuring them that he would die of that ill- ness, and on that voyage. To prepare his soul for its de- parture, he began that rude wintering by the exercises of St. Ignatius,* which, in spite of his great bodily weakness, ho frozen, and though they attempted to proceed, the pious missionary submitted to the necessity, and deprived even of the consolation of saying mass on bis patronal feast, the Immaculate Conception, resolved at last, on the 14th, to win- ter at the portage, as bis illness increased. His Indian companions now left him, and though aided by some French traders, he suffered much during the fol- lowing months. Of this, however, he says nothing. "The Blessed Virgin Im- maculate," 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 Bo 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 Miami&" 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 noveno, or nine days' devotion to the Blessed Virgin Im- maculate. From its close he began to gain strength, and wher. the freshet com- pelled them to remove their cabin, on the 29th of March he set out again on hia 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 Ho never found time to continue his journal ; and his last words are a playful allusion to the hard- ships undergone by the traders, in which 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 heav- enly consolation ; and then spent the rest of his time in collo- quies 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 from the sever- ity and inclemency of the weather. Having at last reached the town on the 8th of April, he was received there as an angel from heaven ; and after having several times assembled the chiefs of the nation with all the old men (anciens),* to sow in their minds the firet 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 coun- cil ; 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 reTolving these serious thoughts is called making a retreat * I have my doubts whether atusieni, in these French accounts^ does not mean tachemi^ the rulers of the tribe. 56 NABBATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. I"! of the Blessed Virgin, wliicli were thus visible on all sides. The auditory was compov^ed 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 com- posed of five or six hundred fires. The father spoke to all this gathering, and addressed them ten words by ten presents which he made them ;* he ex- plained to them the principal mysteries of our religion, and the end for which he had come to their country ; and es- pecially 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 Thursday, he celebrated the holy mysteries for the second time, and by these two sac- rifices, the first ever offered there to God, he took possession of that land in the name of Jesus Christ, and gave this mis- sion 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 hirn to leave them. The father, on his part, showed them the affec- tion 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 re- peated again and again, on parting with them to begin his IWI; fl" • Words addrcRsed to Indians, -when not accompanied by a wampum belt, were considered unimportant; and the missionary wlio first annotmced the gos- pel 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 oway. DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI YALLET. 6T 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 COMPELLkD TO LEAVE HIS ILINOIS MISSIOir.—HlS 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 hun- dred leagues to make by an unknown route, because he was obliged to take the southern [eastern] side of the lake, hav- ing 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 b*^ handled and car- ried like a child. He nevertheless maintained in this state an admirable equa- nimity, 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 an- gel-guardian, or with all heaven. He was often heard pro- nouncing 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- I I ! Wmi I '.13' 58 NABRATIVB OF FATHER MARQUETTE. ard the cloee 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, ho 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, ho 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 compan- ions 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 houre before he expired, to take his chapel- bell, as soon as he was dead, and ring it while they carried him to the grave. Of all this he spoke so calmly and collect- edly, 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, "Tliis river now bears the fs.ther's name." It waa indeed long called Marquette river, but from recent maps the name seems to DIS0OVERIK8 IN THE MI88I88IPPI VALLKT. 0ft 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 aft^er his death in tl. ^e new and unknown coun- tries ; he gave tbem 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 othens Aniniondibeganining. It is a very small stream, not more than fifteen paces long, being the outlet of a small lake, as Charlevoix assures us. eo NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTB. 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 cruciiSx which he wore around his neck, he placed it in the hands of one, asking him to hold it constantly opposite him, raised be- fore his eyes ; then feeling that he had but a little time to live, he made a last effoii;, 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 so- ciety 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, meiuento mei," which were the last words he uttered before entering on his agony, which was veiy 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 Maiia, which he several times repeated distinct- ly, and then, as if at those sacred names something had ap- peared 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 DI80OVBRIE8 IK TRl! UISSISSIPPI VALLET. 61 injunction, and raised a large cross near it to serve as a mark for passers-by. "Wlien 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 pre- paring all for embarkation, to go to the grave of his good father, and pray him to intercede for him with the glorions 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 OCCVnRED IV THE TRANSPORT OF THE BONES OP THE LATE PATHEH MARQUETTE, WHICH WERE TAKEN VP ON THE 19 TH OF MAY, 16T7, THE ANNt VERSARY OP HIS DEATH TWO YEARS BEFORE.— SKETCH OP HIS VIRTVES. 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 Eiskakons little more is known than is here stated. They ar^ 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 1678-79 is, I sup- pose, 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 Mack- inac. The last Relation (1673-79) states their number then at 1,300, all Chris- tians; 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 trusty 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 f 62 NABBATIVE OF FATUEB IIABQUETTE. \l anity in which thoy were first instructed by Father Mar- quette, when stationed at Lapointe du Saint Esprit at the ex- tremity 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 to- gether, 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. Tlie church here spoken of was built apparently in 1674, while F. Marquette was there {Eel. 1672-78, and 1673-79) ; it lay nearest the Huron vil- lage, which Hennepin thus describes: "It b surrounded with palisades twenty- five feet high, and situated near a great point of land opposite the island of Missilimakinac." — Description de la Louiaiane, p. 62. i''':! im DI80OVERIE8 IN THE MI88ISSIP1>I TALLBT. 68 they bore was really Father Marquette's. Then, before land- ing, 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 Juno ; and the next day, when all the funeral honors had been paid it, it was de- posited in a little vault in the middle of the church, where be reposes as the guardian angel of our Ottawa missions. The Indians often come to pray on his tomb, and to say no more, a young woman of about nineteen or twenty, whom the late father had instructed and baptized last year, having fallen sick, asked Father Nouvel to bleed her, and give her some remedies ; but in place of medicine he bade her go for three days and say a pater and ave on the tomb of Father Marquette. She did so, and before the third day, was entirely cured with- out bleeding or other remedies. Father James Marquette, of the province of Champagne, died at the age of thu-ty-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 ex- pected 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. rlvf: ' '" •' ' 'ii'j?'''! u NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQTJETTB. ' i ',M^'t' ,^W(f^i Li $1 m 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 earn- estly asked, since ho 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 mis- sionary, 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 child- like 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 let- ter of his contained something about the Blessed Virgin Im- maculate, 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 Im- maculate Conception, which he had arranged in this form ; after the creed, they said one " Our Father and hail Mary," then four times these words : " Hail daughter of God the Father, hail mother of God the Son, hail spouse of the Holy Ghost, hail temple of the whole Trinity, by thy holy virginity and DI800VEBIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 65 immaculate conception, O most pure Virgin, cleanse my flesh and my heart. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," and last of all the " Gloiy 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 com- panions 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 mo- ment, 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 amve here in good health, and resolved to corre- spond 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 omis- sions, 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. 66 NASBATIVE OF FATHER ICABQXrETTI!. borne it yet since I have been in this country, though, per- haps, it has been obtained for me by the Blessed Virgin Im- macalate), or perhaps death to cease to offend God. For this I will endeavor to hold myself ready, abandoning myself en- tirely 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 sanctifica- tion 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. 11 }% ir M NARRATIVE All ] ■ or A VOYAGE MADE TO THE ILINOIS, BT FATHER CLAUDE ALLOTJEZ* SECTION I. VA.TBEB. ALLOUEZ SETS OUT ON THE ICE.— A YOUNO XAN KILLED BY A BEAR.—VENOEANCE TAKEN.— VARIOUS CURIOSITIES ON THE WAY. WHILE preparing for my departure, as the weather was not yet suitable, I made some visits in the bay where I baptized two sick adults, one of whom died next day ; the other lived a month longer ; he was a poor old man, who * 't Father Claude AUouez, has imperishablj 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 dis- play the learning and refinement which show in some the greatness of their sac- rifice ; 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 mis- sion. An entry in his journal has been preserved, in which, under the date of March 3d, 1667, 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 solici- ted, 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 V. Si' 68 NABBATIVE OF FATHER ALLOUEZ. I being decrepit and half deaf, was the langhing stock and out- cast 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 Fronce 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 Bafely at Quebec. Selected for the Algonquin missions, he soon after began the study of the Indian languages. In the following year he sow 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 1600, he saw his predecessor, the fear- less Rene Menard, depart for a distint 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 AUouez' desires. Destined to it in 1664, he reached Mon- treal, but the Ottawas had not come there as la^e 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 orrive; 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 mo- tives. On the Tth of August, the flotilla finally storted, and Allouez, after much suffering and ill-treatment, dauntlessly struggled on, and, by the first of Septem- ber, 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 fraU 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 shiv- ered 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 (OjibVa, or Chippeway) village of Chegoimegon. Here, in October, rose his chapel, dedi- cated 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 re- nunciation 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 rem- nants of a once powerful tribe, but now like the Huron, Christians and fugitives bo- DISOOVEBIES m THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 69 out ; he did him the grace to enrol him among his children hy 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 unnp- palled by aught, Allouez hastened to their relief. Scarcely had he reached Chegoi- megon again, in 1667, when a flotilla was about starting for Quebec; he em- barked 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 witit tiie aid he needed. Father Louis Nicholas), and a lay brother set out with hitn. Once in the west, he resumed his toils, as though returned from a voyage of pleasure, and st.'uggled 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 Kiver to Maskoutens to preach to the Moskoutcns, 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 fol- lowing 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 Gamier. La Mothe, La Salle's lieutenant, had even required the Seneca sachems to cause the latter to leave the lodge at a conference be- tween them. Allouez cared not to meet, in anger. La Salle, whom he had doubt- less known in France before, when he was a Jesuit like himself; he therefore re- turned to his missions in Wisconsin to wait till the mind of the gifted but irri- table 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 Dinois again in 1684, with ml 70 KABBATIVE OF FATHES ALLOUEZ. In another visit which I made to the nation of the Onta- gamies (Foxes), I baptized six children almost all at the point of death. I was much consoled to see a marked change in the mind of these people ; God visits them by his scourges to render them more docile to our instructions. After these excursions, the time being proper for departing, I embarked about the close of October, 1676, in a canoe with two men to endeavor to go and winter with the Dinois ; 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 'i very extraordinary kind of navigation, for instead of putting tiie 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 Pouteoiitamis, 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 oif my way to go and console them. They told me that the beare get fat in the fall and re- main so, and even grow fatter during the whole winter, al- though 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 ninois, but left for Mackinaw on the arrival of F. Anastasius Douay, and M. Gavelier, 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 Relatiotu from 1668-'fl4 to 1671-"72; MS. Rel. 16'72-'78, 1673-'79, 1678; MSS. of a Jesuit^ in 1690; Joutel and Tontj^s journals published in JKst. Coll, ot Zouitiana. DISOOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. n 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 discov- ered 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 aifliction ; 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 pa- tron 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. 72 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 Bide 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 instnic- tions 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, in- clining to black, and sometimes bo liquid that it flows in a stream down tbe rides of this rock. — ^F. DISOOVBBIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 19 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 hand- somely 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 pre- tend 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 ac- company 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 neph- ews, 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 our- selves, and we soon after reached his village. Hi w KARBATIVE OF FATHER ALLOUBZ. SECTION II. 11 *i' f FATHER ALLOVEZ ARRIVES AT THE lUNOIS T0WS.—DE8CBIPTI0S OF IT jUTD THE COUNTRY.— THE FAITH PROCLAIMED TO ALL THESE NATIONS. In spito 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 Mar- quette 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 at- tentively to my whole discourse, and thanked me for the trouble I took for their salvation. I found this village mucli 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 situ- ated 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 Eoskaskias (40"* 42') would bring it near Roekfort^ 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 firea, which, at the rate of four fires to a cabin, gives one hundred to one hundred and fifty cabins, with a population of two thousand men, besides women and children. Father Alloues visiting it now in 1677, is very exact, and gives the number of cabins as three DISOOVEBIES IK THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 75 These Indians are in character hardy, prond, and valiant. They are at war with eight or nine tribes ; th«^y do not use fire-arms, as they find them too awkward, and too slow; they carry them, however, when they march against nations unacquainted with their use, to terrify them by the noise, and thus rout them. They ordinarily carry only the war- club, bow, and a quiver full of arrows, which they discharge so adroitly and quickly, that men armed with guns, have hardly time to raise them to the shoulder. They also carry a large buckler made of skins of wild cattle ; which is arrow-proof, and covers the whole body. They have many wives, of whom they are extremely jeal- ous, 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 MembrS eetimates 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 Lettrea Hdifiantes, 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 ho 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 Christiana, ^t (I ■ 1 .1 n NARRATIVE OF FATHER ALLOUEZ. ft^ [ S 'ft i* 1' t /^A^i 'Ijll » :$ ^ kind of tiger, and other animals, of whieli they reckon twenty- two kinds, and forty kinds of game and birds. In the lower pftrt of the river there are, I am told, salt springs, from which tbey 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 wliat I did for Christianity. As I had but little time to remain, having come only to ac- quire the necessary information for the perfect establishment of a mission, I innnediately set to work to give all the instruc- tion I could to these eight different nations, by whom, by the help of God, I made myself suflSciently 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 bo 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. DIB0OVERIK8 IN THE MtB8I88IPri VALLEY. 11 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 ex- pect ; 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 AUouez set out to return to this mission, and to remain there two years in suc- cession, to labor more solidly for the conversioi\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."* * The concluding paragraph of this narrative is in the handwriting of Father CSaude Dablon, the superior of the missions at the time. U ii ra* m j}'' ' rr '^'dm ■ A iti BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE "ETABLISSEMENT PE LA FOI," BY FATHER CHRISTIAN LE CLERCQ, RECOLLECT. m Tms curious and now rare work is the source whence all the following narra- tives, except Hennepin's, are drawn. It was published at Paris, by Aimnble Auroj, in 1691, with the following very comprehensive title: "First Establish- ment 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, accom- plished under the Direction of the late Monsieur de la Salic, 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, Gov- ernor and Lieutenant-Gcneral of New France, by Father Christian le Clercq, Recollect Missionary of the Province of St Anthony of Padua, in Arthois, and Warden of the Recollects of Lens." Of Father le Clercq, under whose name the work is thus published, we know little beyond what we glean from this work, and from his Relation de Gaspesic. He was a zealous and devout missionary on the wild coast of Gasp^, where he lived in roost cordial and friendly relations with the neighboring Jesuit mission- aries, especially with Father Bigot, who speaks of him in the highest terms, as le Clercq did of him and his labors, Do was the first novice of the province to which be belonged, and one of the first religious sent by it to Canada, in 1676. After spending five years as missionary at Isle Perc^e and Gasp^, he returned to Europe, was concerned in the establishment of a church and mission at Montreal, resumed for a time his missionary career, and was subsequently em- ployed as superior in France. His Relation de Ga»pem is a description of his own field and his own labors; the Etablittement assumes to be a general history of religion in Canada, and of La Salle's voyage^ 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 con- tains much historical information, especially with respect to La Salle, being the NOTICE ON FATHER LE OLEBCQ. 19 first printed account of his voyage down the Mississippi, and his lust fatal at- tempt 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 authen- ticity of the Relation of 1626, ascribed to F. Charles Lalemant The ground uf 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 lost 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 Belation, 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 be- lieve 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 con- tradicts the Etablissement pointedly in several places, says that it was com- posed 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 pub- lished by Father Valentine le Roux, under the borrowed name of le Clercq ; and he chaises that the so-called narrative of Membr^ in the work, is really a tran- script of the journal of his great voyni^e down the Mississippi, a copy of which he had left in le Roux's hands at Qii bee. At a still later date, when all had become calm, Charlevoix states it as a common impression that Frontenac him- self had a considei*able 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 irrefrogably 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 La- val seeing the injury done to the Indians by the sale of liquor, had pronounced ecclesiastical censures against those who carried on the nefarious trafiic : his clergy, and especially the Jesuits, sided with him and his successor entirely on this pointy as being better able from daily intercourse to see the ruin of the na- tive tribes by the use of spirituous liquors. But if the ecclesiastical authoritiea 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 an- tagonists. 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 proventing 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- :s;l >'** r^ 1 'Sf^ f^ ^ ':l!Oiiii "U 80 NOTICE ON FATHER LE OLERCQ. , III 'm,' Fviii Bity of taverns there, as Montreal was full of them. In this brand" war, the Jesuits being in charge of the missions, were chiefly attacked, and soon after a new chaise was made against them perscnally. 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 peifect conisct The missionaries convinced that Indians living among the whit 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 tliere were, indeed, children of Christian Ilurons, who could bo 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 ]>uerility 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; bnt even for these we must go elsewhere for a cle i'. 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 injus- tice 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 ■'f 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 Cana- dian 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 ii^ K .1 **>i'lp« 4 'Wi 82 KOTIOi: ON FATHBB LE OLKROQ. n as the title Btates, 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 Rec- ollects should have been at the time under some prejudice is natural, owing to their position, and allowance is made for that, as we must daily make for those who can not judge of an individual without some attack on the church to which he belongs. Fortunately for all, the Recollects were soon relieved from their false position by the settlement of the disputes, and without attempting new Indian missions, labored for the good of the colony with a zeal beyond all praise. Chosen almost always as chaplains to the troops and forts, they were to be found at every French post, and thus became the earliest pastors of some of our western towns. Like the Jesuits, they were a second time excluded from lan&ia, by the English on their conquest in the last century, and the last sur- vivor 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. i'. ... NARRATIVE OF THE FIRST ATTEMPT BY M. CA YELIER DE LA SALLE TO EXPLORE THE MISSISSIPPI. DRAWN UP FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS OF FATHER ZENOBIUS MEMBR^, A RECOLLECT BY FATHER CHRETIEN LECLERCa r'.. V.}. THE Sieur Robert Cavelier de la Salle, a native of Bouen, 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 religion* order, and entered the Society of Jesus. After passing ten years^ however, teach- ing 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 seclu- sion from the world had, perhaps, but too well fitted him for conceiving vast projects, but totally disqualified him for their successful conduct ; the minute detuls, 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 Frontenao ; 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. Hia m:i 84 NABBATIYE OF FATUEB MEMBBE. PI enterprising, prudent, and moral, had been for some years in Canada, and had already, under the administration of De Oourcelles and Talon, shown his great abilities for discoveries. M. de Fyontenac selected him to command Fort Frontenac, •where he was nearly a year, till coming to France in 1676, 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 In- dian villages, and of supporting there, at his own expense, a sufficient garrison, and Eecollect missionaries. ideas now took a new turn, Jolict 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 tlie buffalo plains and France by the Mississippi and gulf, with- out 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 tlie other extreme of the French colony, tlie island of Anti- costi, and La Salle, who liad secured Frontenac's favor, obtained a royal patent, •uch as he desired. It was, however, provided, " that he carry on no trade what- ever 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.) Tlie privote 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, ho abandoned his first plan of de- scending the jSIississippi 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 sen. 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 lie reached on the 9th of April, thus crowning the work of the former explorers, and with Hennepin'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 un- guccessful 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 diflicultics and disasters. He rose above every adversity, unshaken and undiscouraged, ever ready to make the worse the DISCOTEBIES IN THB MISSISSIPPI VALLKT. Monsieur de la Salle returned to Canada and fulfilled these conditions completely ; a fort with four bastions was built at the entrance of the lake on the northern side at the end of a basin, where a considerable fleet of large vessels might be sheltered from the winds. This fort enclosed that built by Monsieur de Frontenac. He also gave us a piece of ground fifteen arpents in front, by twenty deep, the donation being accepted by Monsieur de Frontenac, syndic of our mission. It would be difficult to detail the obstacles he had to en> counter, raised against him daily in the execution of his plans, 60 that he found less opposition in the savage tribes whom he was always able to bring into his plans. Monsieur de Fron- tenac went up there every year, and care was taken to assem- ble 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 Christi- anity, which was the principal object of the new establish- ment.* 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 Iro- better 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 estab- lishments at Quebec, Isle Perc^e, and Fort Frontenac, they were registered at the sovereign council of Quebec, and Monsieur de la Salle built, at his own ex- pense, 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 bouse and appendages, completed by the exertions of Father Joseph Denis." % s^i 86 KABBATIVE OF FATHEB MEMBBB. >'• qnoia 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 Eng- lish, they announced the faith to the Etchemins, and other In- dian nations that came to trade at Loup river, where the or- dinary post of the mission was ; our missions of St. John's Kiver, Beaubassin, Mizamichis, Nipisignit, Bietigouche, and Isle Perc^e, were similarly supported — we continued to labor for the conversion of the Indians of those vast countries com- prized 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 Hud- son'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'Hi- berville, 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 IK THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. •sr The unwearied charity of those illustrious missionaries ad- vanced their labore with much more success during the pres- ent 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 Condc (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 diflferent nations, whence we may form an idea of the la- bors 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 diflferent 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, plant- ing the arms of his majesty in several nations on the right and left, where the misf lonaries still make every eflfbrt to in- troduce 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.* iff,., 'nVfits ''^J w „* * The promise of a general account of discoveriea 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 yeors prior to the coming of Frontenac ; that on accurate map had been published by them, in 1672; 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 Allouei 'H'/IM^ NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBR^. in I I bhall hereafter limit myself to publish the great dis- coveries made by order of the king, under the command of M. do 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 sup- ported 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 Mis- flisipi, 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 ho elsewhere ridicules ; the voyage of Joliet he must have heard of during his residence in Canada, and known as well as Hen- nepin who refers to it in his first work, even if we are to suppose liim never to have read the work of )iis fellow-missionary, or Thevenot's edition of Father Mar- quette's journal. In his eagerness to ascribe no discovery to the Jesuits, he ao- tually sends Du Luth to Lake Issati before any of the missionaries. Was he there before Hennepin ? * Tliis 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 seriefe of worka on La Salle, Hennepin's "Description de la Louisane" (Paris, 1684), of which the printing was completed January 5th, 1683, that is but a few days after Mem- brfi's arrival with the account of La Salle's voyage, the prior voyage of Joliet ia 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 execu- tion of his orders ; he then represented to him that Fort Frontenac gave him great opportunities for making discoveries with our Recollects ; that his princi- pal 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 •upport 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 un- dergone 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. . . DISOOYEBIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 80 and favored by letters from the count do Frontenac, obtained of the court necessary powera 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 after- ward 80 courageously and faithfully seconded him in all his designs. Ho had also with him thirty men — pilots, sailors, carjjenters, 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 al- ready, and where Fathers Louis Hennepin, Zenobius Mem- br6, 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 Val- entine le Roux, commissary provincial, and superior of the mission. The sieur de la Salle soon followed them, the Al- mighty 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 ad- vanced a season, prevented their reaching Niagara river be- fore 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 sienr de la Salle intended to raise a i NARBATTVB OF FATUEtt MKMBRE. nmRI fort, and build a bark above Niagara fulle, whonce the St. Lawrence {Le Fleuvc) communicates with Lake Conty (Erie), and Lake Frontonac (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 Niag- ara, might excite some jealousy among the Iroquois who dwell in the neighborhood of the great lake. The sieur de la Ballo, 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 con- cert lasted some time. The sieur do la Salle also sent many canoes to trade north and south of the lake among these tribes. Meanwhile, as certain peraons 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 ho had to be sat- isfied 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 ii canoes, as far as the Dinois to prepare him the way, till his barque building at Niagara was completed. It was perfectly ready in tho month of An- gust, 1679. '-' DnooTEBinti nf ths missmsifpi tallet. 91 Tho father commissary bad 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 MembrS, and Melithon Watteaux, the latter to re- main at Niagara, and make it his mission, while Father Luke should remain at the fort. The three former accordingly embarked on the 7th of Au- gust, with Monsieur do 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 tho 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 curi'ent 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 oflfer 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, 80 that one would think that the ancient Eomans, princes and nobles would have made them as many villas. The soil is everywhere equally fertile. A A: k 92 NABBATTVB OF FATHER MEMBRR. ^.1 «: Tlie sienr do la Salle having entered Lake Conty on the 7th, crossed it in three days, and on the 10th reached the strait (Detroit), by which he entered Lake Orleans. The voyage was interrupted by a storm as violent as could be met in the open sea ; our people lost all hope of escape ; but a vow which they made to St. Anthony, of Padua, the patron of mariners, delivered them by a kind of miracle, so that, after long making head against the wind, the vessel on the 27th reached Missilimakinak, which is north of the strait, by which we go from Lake Orleans to Lake Dauphin. "No " :sel8 had yet been seen sailing on the lakes ; yet an enterprise which should have been sustained by all well- meaning persons, for the glory of God, and the service of the king, had produced precisely the opposite feelings and effects, which, had been already communicated to the Hurons, the Outaoiiats of the island and the neighboring nation?, 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 ordera ; 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 ar- rived pretty safely at the Bay of the Fetid (Green bay), at the entrance of Lake Dauphin, forty leagues from Missili- makinak. Would to God that the sieur de la Salle had con- tinued 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 Hiatorieal ColltC' Horu of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 86. DISCOYEBIES 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 Mianiis (St. Joseph's), where they arrived on the first of November. This place had been ap- pointed 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 dc 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. ;b much as they deemed necessary for their subsistence. "> \f t 94 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRW, They left it on the Ist of January, 1680, aiid by the 4th, were thirty leagues lower down amid the Ilinois camp ; they were encamped on both sides of the river, which is very nar- row 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 interinipted by accumulations of floating ice from above. Our people had been assured that the Ilinois had been ex- cited 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 underetand each other, they asked our French- men, 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 belov, the camp. The Indians alarmed and intimidated by this bold conduct (although tbey were several thousand against a handful), im- DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 96 mediately presented three calumets ; our people at the same time presented theira, 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 com 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 s'eur 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 ho 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 Mi- amis. He cabaled even the whole night, speaking of the sieur de la VrWe as an intriguer, a friend of the Iroquois, comii.g 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 In- dians 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 chie& -1 .. ,m ^.ij 96 NABBATIVE OF FATHER MEMBBfi. m to him particularly by some present, learned from him the Bubject of this change. His address soon dispelled all these suspicions, but did not prevent six of his men, already tam- pered 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 bieur 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 Crevecojur, on accomit of the many disap- pointments he had experienced, but which never shook his firm resolve. The fort was well advanced, and the little ves- Bel 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 sert on to meet her, and foreseeing the disastrous consequences of the probable loss of his vessel, his courage rose above the difficul- ties of so long and painful a journey. As he had chosen Father Louis, and as the latter had of- fered to continue the discovery toward the north, by ascend- ing 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 Ci'evecoeur un the 29th of February, 1630, with two men well armed and equip- ped, who had besides twelve hundred livree in goods, which make a good passport. The enterprise was great and hardy, l„ DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 97 although it did not equal the great zeal of the intrepid mis- sionaiy who undertook and continued it with all the firmness, constancy, and edification, which can be desired, amid incon- ceivable toils. Although the discovery had already been pushed four or five hundred leagues into Louisiana,* from Fort Frontenac to Fort Crevecoeur; 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 advan- tageous. I have hitherto given only a short abridgment of the Eola- tions which Father Zenobius Membre gives of the commence- ment 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.f 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 Jlinois country was visited by traders before Marquette's second voyage to it, and was perfectly known ; Al- louez, 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. T i m m^ hang them lishei how< zeal I shrin posit LeC gobi Th and seve; pub into beer Frei 1 an com 171i his by toi ver niai mu( km of a dat of] doii et BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OP THE WORKS OF FATHER LOUIS HENNEPIN, A RECOLLECT OF THE PROVINCE OF ST. ANTHONY, IN ARTOIS. Ws have already in the notice on Le Clercq alluded to the uncertainty trliich 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 pub- lishers, 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 bo guilty ol acts which he would personally shrink from doing, and in tliis 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, publislied 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 subneque'^'^y in Dutch, English, Italian, and Spanish, and if I am not mistaken in German ; ntKl in a large class of writers is quoted with the commendation. It was, howt^ver, soon attacked. The editor of JouteJ, in 1713, calls it in question; but he was too ignorant of Canadian history to give his charge any weight. Severer strictures were passed upon it by Harris, and by Kalm, the celebrated Swedish traveller. Harris says, in vol. ii., p. 350, "As to the accounts of La Hontan, and Father Hennepin, they have been formerly very much admired, yet we are now well satisiied that they are rather ro- mances 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 man- kind." 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 deeouverte au su- doiicst de la nouvelle France, par ordre du roy. Avec carte du pays, les moeurs et la mani^redevivredessauvages, dedi^e a sa Majestd, par le R. P. Louis Hen- * N. A. Review for January, 1845, Spark's Life of La Balle. K \S^ •*!*(' ■■ i. 'Ml 100 BIBLI0ORA.PHI0AL NOTICE. ^-I||*(' I , ii,.'>^M~-^^' nepin, Missionare Recollet et Notaire Apostolique, pp. 812, and 107 Paris. Aiiroy, 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 in- cluded under that name. T!ie title is, liowevcr, false in the words " newly dis- covered 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 ex- ploration, 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 ex- pedition. Such it pretends to be, and accordingly opens with an account of that adventuror's project of reaching China, his attempt with some Sulpitians, in 1G69, 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 Missis- sippi as far as the Illinois (Indians), which he represents as the work of La Salle's enemies. Then follow the latter's voyage to France, in 1677, his return the next year with an order for the author to accompany him in his discoveries, and his own voyage to Fort Frontenac, which he details ns though it were his first trip to that place. At Fort Frontenac I who made war on the Ilinois and southern tribea" THE WORKS OF FATHER HENNEPIN, 103 This is enough to show to what extent even then he pushed his scU-glorifl* cation. As to the object of his expedition, we are completely in the dark ; wo 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 what> over was his mission, he seems to have so well avoided La Salle, that they never met again. Ilennepin hastened back to France, and by the 8d of September, 1682, had the royul permission to print his work, which issued from the press on the 6th of January, 1683, though most copies have on the titlepnge the date 1684. He was then for a time, it would seem, at Chateau Combrcnsis, till or- dered by his superiors to return to America ; this he refused, and was in conse- quence compelled to leave France. Falling in with Mr. Blaithwait, secretary of war to William III., he passed to the service of the English king, as a Spanish subject, by permission of his own sovereign and his clerical superiors, as he avers. He assumed a lay dress in a convent at Antwerp, and proceeding to Utrecht, published in 1697, a new work entitled— II. "Nouvelle description d'un triis grand pays situ6 dans I'Amcrique entre le nouveau Mexique et la mer glacialo," reprinted the next year as "Nouvelle Decou- verte d'un pays plus grondque I'Europe," a translation of which appeared in England, in 1699, entitled: "A new discovery of a vast country in America, ex- tending 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 Fran- ciscan convents of Italy ond Germany, back to Hainault, where, for a whole year, he was compelled to discharge the ministry. This year of permanent resi- dence 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 Diee^ and after sauntering through several Dutch towns, spent eight months at Mae- stricht, 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 sea- men give an account of their adventures. .... Tliis occupation wos so agree- able to me, that [despite, he tells us, the nausea caused by their smoking] I spent whole days and nights at it without eating." Arrived in Canada, he preached the Advent and Lent to the hospital nuns at Quebec, being chosen by Bishop Laval, whose favor he had secured on the voyage by a display of zeal which by a train of incidents drew on him all La Salle's enmity. This brings him to 1676, when after rambling around Quebec, as far as Three-Rivers, he was sent to Fort Frontenao, 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 r\ j^ wir 1 / '"'^^vlid IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 ttA§2A |25 ■50 ^^" HH IS 1^ 12.0 It I — 11= 1-'^ < 6" ^ : > ¥• ^l 4VV A m '/ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STMET WEBSiER.N.Y. 14SS0 (716)872-4S03 Si 104 BIBLIOGBAPHICAL KOTIOB. Tire 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 men- tions 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 IfttS, 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 "De- scription de la Louislane," 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 faci to avoid the hostility of LaSalle. Amazed at 80 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 cele- brating, on the 2Sd of March, the festival of Easier which, unfortunately for his accuracy, fell that year on the 2lBt 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 oross and wished to wait a few days to make observations, but his men refused, and he was compelled to embark again. They did wait, however, some days it seems, for he started only on the first of April ; by the twenty-fourth, he had reached and left the Arkansas, as he tells us in two different places (pp. 129, 137), and ascending toward the Illinois, advanced only by night for fear of a surprise by the French of Fort Crfivecoeur. 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 dis- tance from the gulf in eleven days, and the distance from the Arkansas, in con- aiderably less than no time at all. From this pointy it continues with but occasional variations, as in the De- teription de la Louisiane, except that de Luth appears more frequently down to their ascending the Wisconsin. Tlie 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 tu 161, 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, al- though 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, wliich had confused him somewhat in his ideas, and prevented his accuracy in that point As to the impracticability of the mat- ter, he denies it, averring that he had time enough and to spare, as a bark canoe ean, if necessary, go ninety miles a day up stream I f ■.f. 't THB WORKS OF FATHEB HENNEPm. 105 But a heavier charge was made when his new work wab compared to the Utablitaement de la Foi ; his new journal down was but a set of scraps from that of Father Membre, and the reader may verify the truth of this charge by exam- ining the parallel passages given by the accurate and judicious Sparks, in his life of La Salle, or by comparing Membr^'s journal in this volume with the English Hennepin, or even with the abridgment of it in vol. i., of Histoi'ical Collections of Louisiana. Hennepin admits the similarity, and accuses le Clercq or le Roux, wliom he asserts to bo the real author, of having published as Membre's, his^ Hennepin's journal, which he had lent to le Roux, at Quebec. Let us hear hia own words: "But if I do not blame Father le Clercq for the honorable mention he makes of his relative (Membr^), I think everybody will condemn hitn for hia concealing the name of the author he has transcribed, and thereby attributing to himself (? Membr^ or le Clercq), the glory of my perilous voyage. This piece of injustice is common enough in this age." Sparks, who has thehonor of having completely exposed Hennepin, and"the in- justice common in that age," which induced Hennepin, le Clercq, Douay, Joutel, and others, to endeavor to rob Marquette of the glory duo 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 Kouvelle Decouverte is drawn from the Etahliait- ment 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 Etahlissement. What relates to the Indians is I'lIT 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 pen- sioner of William IH„ 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, tisat he does not seem to have been led by interest or ambition of place, while admitting thnt 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 thnt 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 Criive- cceur. In his first work, as we have already remarked, he states that he was sent to explore the Illinois to its mouth, or to visit some tribes where a mission was to be established ; and he tells us that he had some design of going down the Mississippi to the gulf, but he nowhere says that he ascended it before ho 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 BIBLIOGBAFHIOAL NOTIOB. In neither bare we anj Journal of his voyage np the river; the geographical description is not tliat of a traveller ascending, as be describes first what he saw last ; and though voyaging with Sioux, gives the Wisconsin the same name as Marquette, who reached it through the Outaganiis. What then did he do be- tween March 12th, and April 12th t This must remain a mystery. That he went down to the gulf, is too absurd to be received for a moment ; that he went np 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 satisfaotoiy ac- count of his proceedings; for wintering at Mackinaw, he must have known that La Salle had passed out to rejoin them at Fort Grdvecceur, 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, OS 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 sufiiciently 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. MembrC arrived there on the 13th of June, and La Salle from lUinoig, about the fifteenth. On Vol. I., p. 59, of this aeriet, there is a typographical error Fete Dieu, in October, should be Octav; of Corpus Chriiti, being that year June Uth. NARRATIVE OF THE VOTAOE TO THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI, BY FATHER LOUIS HENNEPIN. VKOVl HIS "DESCRIPTION DE LA LOUISIANE," PRINTED AT PARIS, IN 1663. WE set out from Fort Cr^vecceur 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 gon- dolas, 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 Cr^vecceur, 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.f * We have reUuned Hennepin's orthography of proper names throughout thii narrative. f Hennepin's party, according to his account, consisted of himself and two men, Anthony Auguelle, commonly called the Picard du Gay, and Michael Aka 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 Tolume, chaises La Salle with having maliciously caused the death of one of his two companions, meaning Ako, as he represents the other to be alive. «i 108 NABBATIVB OF FATHER HEXNEPm. The river Seignelay on which we were Bailing, 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, appa- rently 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 al- ways runs south by southwest. On the 7th of March, we found, about two leagues from its month, a nation called Tamaroa, or Maroa, com- posed 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 Seigne- lay; but our two canoemen, in hopes of still greater gain, preferred to pass on, according to the advice I then gave them. These last Indians seeing that we carried iron and arms to their enemies, and unable to overtake us in their periaguas, which are wooden canoes, much heavier than our bark ones, which went much faster tlian their boats, despatched their young men after us by land, to pierce us with their ar- rows 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. BISOOYEBIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 109 Soon after leaving these Indians, wjq can^e to the mouth of the River Seignelay, fifty leagues distant from Fort Or^ve- coeur, 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 yon can not see, all ready for cultiva- tion, 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 mid- dle, 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 Biver Colbert runs south-southwest, and comes from the north and northwest; it inins 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 oetween 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 beau- tiful than in the Islinois country. |! ^i no ITABBATIVB OV FATUBB nSHKBPIlf. This great river is almost everywhere a short league in width, and in some place, two or three ; it is divided hy a number of islands covered with trees, interlaced with so many vines as to be almost impassable. It receives no consider- able river on the western side except that of the Otontenta,* and another, St. Feter's,f which comes from the west north- west, seven or eight leagues from St. Anthony of Padua's falls. On the eastern side you meet first an inconsiderable river (Bock river), and then further on another, called by the In- dians 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 (Pnants) by another river which, near its course, meanders most curi- ously. 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 DeBlnoine^ the largest south of St Petei'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 pat it higher, as he doubtless means the tribe called by Membr^ Aathouiantaa, and by Marquette on his map, Otontanta, the same as the former, if m and n are tnuisposed. f The SL Peter^s river flows through the centre of the Sioux territorien^ and is a magnificent river. It was visited by Le Sueur, the fVench geologist, as early as 1688 {Hiit. Coll, La., vol. iii.X and is very correctly described by him. It is re- markable 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 •re transparent, hence the Indian name of wate-paw-men^nurate, or clear water river. The Minoknntongs, or people of the waters, are located about its mouth, and the Tengetongs, and the Sissitongs, inhabit the upper part of it (School- craft); their principal traffic is in buffalo-robes. The numerical strength of the Sioux nation is now estimated at about twenty-two thousand. — ^F X 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 lUinois, who were one hundred leagues from the month of their river, and the other one hundred would bring him to the Wisconsin; though if ha oonnts the hundred on the Dlinoia £rom the village proper, and not firom tha DISOOYBBIES IN 1BE MISSISSIPPI TALLBT. Ill Twenty-four leagues above, you come to the Black river called by the Nadouessious, or Islati Ohabadeba, or Oha- baaudeba, it seems quite inconsiderable. Thirty leagues higher up, yon 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. Tliis lake which is formed by the Biver 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 {bmufs) found there. "We followed it for ten or twelve leagues ; it empties impetuously into the river Golbert, 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 i. ! ids (St. Croix), by which, striking northwest, you can reach Lake Cond6 (Su- perior), that is, as far as Nimissakouat river,-)- which empties into the lake. This first river is called Tomb river, because the W 'i oamp, we must go thirty leagues further, above Black river. But if captured here, how could it have taken the Indians, rowing from morning till nighty nine* teen 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 1*768. — Y. f This is probably the St Louis which, on the map of the Jesuit Relation of 1670-"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. 3^. US NABBATIVK OF FATHER HENNEPm. Issati left there the body of one of their warriors, killed by a rattlesnake. According to their cnstom, 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 ine 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 8t. 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 skii*t 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 (dessous), there is a eecond 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 (Rum river), with a very narrow month, 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 civilication, have been much better described by modern travellers. Schoolcraft places them fonrteen 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 nt 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. DI8( iVrr.lKS TT TIIK ]\li-iI88IPPI VALLEY. 118 last lake spreads oiif lut m\;il marshes, producing wild-rice, like many other pi., rs 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 (MiVio lake), is about Beventy leagues west of Lake Condo ; it is impossible to go from one to the other on account of the marehy 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 conveni- ently 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 jour- ney 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 dnn; or wolf), and other tribes, all which we comprise under the name Nadonessiou. These Indians num- ber eight or nine thousand warriore, very brave, great run- ners, and very good bowmen. It was by a part of these triben 8 T' ^'^! iij!. Al^ w p** 114 KARRATTVB OF FATHER HBNNXPIIff that I and our two canoemen were taken in the following way : — We Bcrupiilonsly said our morning and evening prayers every day on embarking, and the Angelus at noon, adding Bome paraphrases on the Eesponso of St. Bonaventure in honor of St. Anthony of Padua. In tliis way we begged of God to meet these Indians by day, for when they discover people at night, they kill tliein as enemies, to rob those whom they murder secretly of sotne 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 hinderancc, to know whether it was navigable up and down : we were loaded with seven or eight largo turkeys, which multiply of themselves in these parts. "We wanted neither buffalo nor deer, nor beaver, nor fish, nor bear meat, fur 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 sur- rounded us, and while at a distance, discharged some arrows at us ; but as they approached our canoe the old men seeing us with the calumet of peace in our hands, prevented the young men from killing us. These brutal men leaping from their canoes, some on land, othera into the water with fright- ful cries and yells, approached us, and as we made no re- sistance, being only three against so great a number, one of them wrenched our calumet from our hands, while our canoe DISOOTERIKS IN THE MI88I88IPFI VALLKT. 116 and tlieira wero tied to the 8horo. Wo firet 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, wo 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 Oolbert 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 teara, 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 largo 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 warriora wished to tomahawk us. This com- pelled 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 ap- peased 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 be- fore retiring at night, they had returned us our peace-calumet. 116 NARnATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. Onr two boatmen were, however, resolved to se ' 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 an- nounce 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 tuni 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 i with tobacco of his country, made all his band smoke fii t, and then all the othera who plotted our ruin. He then gt e us to understand that we must go with them to their cc ntry, and they all turned back with us; having thus broke off their voyage, I was not sorry in this conjuncture to co inue our discovery with these people. But my greatest trouble was, that I fouu . 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 rae 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 DISCOVERIES IN THE ME(SI88IPPI VALLEY. 117 cause of their death, as well as of my own. By the word Ouakanchd, 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 mo 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 pro- tection ; but jealousy arose among these Indians, so that the chief of the party named Aquipaguetin, one of whose sons had been killed by the Miamis, seeing that he could not avenge his death on that nation as he had wished, turned all his rage on us. He wept through almost every night him he had lost in war, to oblige those who had come out to avenge him, to kill us and seize all we had, so as to be able to per^ sue his enemies ; but those who liked European goods were much disposed to preserve us, so as to attract other French- men there and get iron, which is extremely precious in their eyes ; but of which they knew the great utility only when m 118 KABBATIVE OF FATHEB HENNEFm. they saw one of our French boatmen kill three or four bus- tards 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 Onackang6, 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 Eed 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 1&), 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 cont3mplate the stars and the moon when it shone. Notwithstanding the fatigue of the day, the young- est of those 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 DISOOVEBIES m THE MISSISSIPPI YALLEY. 119 those who sang, to let them in turn smoke his war-calumet, which is distinguished from the peace-calumet by diiferent featliei's. The end of this kind of pandemonium was termin- ated 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 bit- terly ; they gave them to them to kiss. Notwithstanding the force of their yelling, the fatigue of the day, the watching by night, the old hien 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 lu 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 ac- count 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 warriora began to dance. Their faces, and especially their bodies, were marked with various colors, each being dis- tinguished by the figure of difi*er6nt animals, according to his K'tV mi >M ■<- v "* m 126 NARRATIVE OF FATHER IIENNRPIK. Aqulpaguctin's son, who called me his brotlier, pnraded nbout with our brocade chasuble on his bare back, having rolled np in it some dead man^s bones, for whom these people liad a great veneration. The priest's girdle made of red and white wool, with two tassels at the end, served him for sus- pendei's, 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 largo family, covered me with a robe made of ten large dressed beaver-skins, trimmed with porcupine quills. This In- dian showed me five or six of his wives, telling them, as I afterward learned, that they should in future regard me as one of tiieir children. He set before me a bark dish full of fish, and ordered all those assembled, that each should call me by the name I was to have in the rank of our near rela- tionship; and seeing that I could not rise from the ground but by the help of two othera, 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 othore seconded him, all put- ting 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. DIBGOVERTES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALI.ET. 127 I often spent sad honrs among tlicse savages ; for, oesides their only giving me a little wild rice and smoked fish rocs 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 Irdian prized extremely. Sometimes he assembled the eldera 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 underatand. I had an iron pot with three lion-paw feet, which these Indians never dared touQh, 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 'M* 198 KARRATIVK OP FATHER IIKNNKPIN. vrliich they do not blush, it Afforded them nn agrcoablo amusement. They often put mo qneations, but as I had to look at my paper, to answer them, thoy 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 Lidians 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 chil- dren 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 bo like the French ; that this great Master of life had sent down fire from heaven, and destroyed a na- tion 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 .i* t. DlSCOVi T'TF.S IN tiiP. MISSISSIPPI VALLKY. 120 live with tlioin, for the^- have luiir all over tlin face, and wo liave none there or elsewhere." In fact, they were never bet- ter pleased with me, than when I was bliaved ; tind from a complaisance certainly not criminal, I sluived 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 re- main among them, to introduce mo 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 coun- try. " 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 mo 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 chil- dren, regarding me as a slave made by their warriors in their enemies' country, and they reasonably preferred their chil- dren'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. Iladst thou wanted buffalo or beaver- robes, we would wipe away thy tears, but thou wilt have nothing of what we offer thee." Ouasicoud^, that is, the Fierced-pine, the greatest of all the m S««ii '^ ¥^ 'fi,'0*r 4 •'^'•S\H 180 NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. Issati chiefs, being very indignant at those who had so mal- treated U8, said, in open conncil, that those who had robbed us of all we had, were like hungry curs that stealthily snatfh 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 mer- chandise, 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. Miciiael 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, procura- tor-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 wan*; of wine and vestments, this piece of linen could not be put to a better use, than to enshroud the fii^st Christian child among these tribes. I do not know whether the * Tills a curious affair, a misBionary consulting two canoemen as to the expe- diency of conferring a sacrament DISC0VEKIE8 IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLET. 131 as to the cxpc- softness of the linen had refreslied her, bnt 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 consola- tion. During our stay among the Issati or !N^adouessiou, we saw Indians who came as embassadors from about five hundred leagues to the west. They informed us that the Assenipoua- lacs* were then only seven or eight days distant to the north- east of us ; all the other known tribes on the west and north west inhabit immense plains and prairies abounding in buffalo and peltries, where they are sometimes obliged to make fires with bufiiilo dung for want of wood. Three months after, all these nations assembled, and the chiefs having regulated the places for hunting the bufiiilo, 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-pino, 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, Assenipoimlok, has now been softened to Assiniboin; it is the Algonquin epithet for a large branch of the Dahcotah family, long hostile to the Sioux, written also simply Poualok. Mtt[ *•, b ^J^r.«r:M m 132 NARBATIVE OF FATHER I1ENNE1•1^. 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 succes- sion ; 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 can'^e, 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 disem- barking 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 Chris- tia;ns, 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 oa an eminence opposite the mouth of the river St. Francis; here the Indian women made their canoe frames while wait- ing 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 w^ith a broth once in every twenty-four houre. 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 Oiir 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 earthem pot which the Indians had given us, a knife, and a beaver- robe, to make a journey of two hundred leagues, thus aban- doning oureelves to Providence. As we were making the portage of our canoe at St. Anthony of Padua's falls, we per- ceived five or six of our Indians who had taken the start ; r\ m^ I ilSlS .('•''Nil I|H'( iniw| %;''^ift!il * 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 KABBATIVE 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 fright- ful. I heard him while shedding copious tears say as ho 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 iu 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 lauding, 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 v^ho had invited us, took all the meat and bear-oil that they found, and greased them- DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 135 selves from bead to foot ; we at first took thera to be enemies, but one of tbose who called himself my uncle, told me, tliat having gone to the buifalo-hunt before the rest, contrary to the maxims of the country, they bad a right to strip them, because they put the buffaloes to flight before the arrival of the mass of the nation. During sixty leagues tbat 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 hear- ing is acute, and the moment they hear the least noise, they jump quickly into the water. We, hov;ever, 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 ; tbe Picard had gone with the gun into the prairie to t y and kill a buffalo ; so I quickly pulled off our habit, and irew 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 duret 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 tbe canoe, naturally believed that some Indian had killed me. Ho 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 buf- falo crossing the river to reach the south side ; I pursued tl»e animals, calling the Picard with all my might ; he ran up at K MM 130 NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. the noise and bad time to enter the canoe, while the dog ■which liad 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 drift- wood 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 njt kill them when we would ; but the eagles, which are very common in these vast countries, some- times 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 df^vll in the paws of that otter : but his fright did not preveiii; our eating the mon- strous 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 oif, 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 DIS0OVKBIE8 IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLET. 187 knowledge, indeed, of the other Indians, but against his will. He first gave us some wild-rice, and a slice of buifalo-meat to eat, and asked whether we had found the Frenchmen who were to bring us gouds; but not being patisfied with what we said, he started before us, and went to Ouisconsin to try and carry off what he could from the French ; this savage found none there, and rejoined us three days after. The Picard had gone in the prairie to hunt, and I was alone in a little cabin on the bank of the river, which I had made to screen us from the sun, with a blanket that an Indian had given me back. Aquipaguetin seeing me alone came up, tomahawk in hand : I laid hold of two pocket-pistols, which the Picard had got back from the Indians, and a knife, not intending to kill my pretended Indian father, but only to frighten him, and prevent his crushing me, in case he had that intention. Aquipaguetin reprimanded me for exposing myself thus to the insults of their enemies, saying that I should at least take the other shore to be more in safety. He wished to take me with him, telling me that he was with three hundred hunters, who killed more buffalo than those to whom I had abandoned myself. I would have done well to follow his advice, for the Picard and myself ascending the river almost eighty leagues way, ran great risk of perishing a thousand times. We had only ten charges of powder which we were obliged to divide into twenty to kill wild-pigeons, or turtle-doves ; but when these at last gave out we had recourse to three hooks, which we baited with bits of putrid barbels dropped by an eagle. For two whole days we took nothing, and were thus destitute of all support when, during night prayer, as we were repeating these words addressed to St. Anthony of Padua, " Pereunt pericula, cessat et necessitas," the Picard heard a noise, left bis prayers, and ran to our hooks which he drew '%^;^0 ' im '.Mi % *1: P^m 138 NABBATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. from tlie watera with two barbels so large tliat 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 houra 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 BufiTalo river, and in the islands, and we again went down the Colbert about eighty leagues to hunt with this multitude of canoes ; from time to time the Indians hid their canoes on the banks of the river and in the islands; then struck in to the prairies seven or eight leagues beyond the mountains, where they took, at different times, a hundred and twenty buffaloes. They always left some of their old men on the tops of the mountains to be on the lookout for their enemies. One day when I was dressing the foot of one who called him- self 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 oi' fighting, but instead of enemies, they found only a herd of about eighty stags, who took flight. The DISOOYERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI TALLET. 189 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 ton- sures, 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 alann 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 French- men being unable to underatand by what roundabout wo 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 soldicre; 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, \m m ^'^ m * 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, •fi' 140 NABRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. they begged us to accompany them to the villages of those tribes, to which I readily agreed, knowing that these French- men had not approached the sacraments for two years. The sienr do Luth, who acted as captain, see'ng me tired of ton- suring the children, and bleeding asthmatic old men to get a mouthful of meat, told the Indians that I was his elder brother, 80 that, having my subsistence secured,! labored only for the salvation of these Indians. "We arrived at the villages of the Issati on tbo 14th of Au- gust, 1680. I there found our chalice and bocks 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 sat them. During our stay, they invited us to a feast whete 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 por- cupine quills on one side, and the curly wool on the other. Ho afterward put it on my heail, saying : " He whose body thou didst cover, covers thine ; he has borne tidings of thee to the land of souls. Brave was thy act in his regard ; all the nation praises thee for it." He then reproached the sieur du Luth, for not having covered the deceased's body, as I did. He replied that he covered only those of captains like him- self; but the Indian answered, "Pere Louis is a greater cap- tain 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 Mis- sissippi 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 com- mander of Fort Frontenac, in 1696. DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 141 which we have sent to our allies, who dwell throe moons from this country, is more beautiful than that which thou wearest." Toward the end of September, having no implements to begin .in establishment, we resolved to tell these people, that for their benefit, we would have to retura to the French set- tlements.* 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 de- scended the rivere 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 wo 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 war- riors; we thought that those who brought the preceding news were spies, for instead of descending the river on leav- ing 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 Ouis- consin. We found that river as wide as the Seignelay (Il- linois), with a strong current. After sailing up sixty leagues, we came to a portage of half a league, which the Nadoues- siouz chiefs had marked for us ; we slept there to leave marks * Here, a /a ^ennfpin, de Luth is mei^ed in the WA i II /'"■••itP 142 NARKATIVE OF FATIIKR IIENNKPIN. and crosses on tho trunks of the trees.* The next dny we entered a river wliich winds wonderfully, for after six hours sailing, we found ourselves opposite the place where wo 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 Outaougainy 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 lengucs sail from our leaving the country of the Issati, and Nadouessiouz, we arrived safely at the ex- tremity 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 sup- plied me with vestments, for some Islinois flying from the tyraimy of the Iroquois, who had destroyed a part of their nation, took the vestments of the chapel of Father Zenobius Membr^, Recollect, who was with the Islinois in their flight. They gave me all they took, except the chalice, which they promised to give back in a few days for a present of tobacco. I had not celebrated mass for over nine months for want of wine; I had still some hosts. We remained two days to rest, sing the Te Deum, high mass, and preach. All our Frenchmen went to confession and communion, to thank God for having preserved us amid so many wanderings and perils. One of our Frenchmen gave a gun for a canoe larger than • This wa8 the some route thnt Marquette took going down. See his descrip- tion. The Kakalin rapid had been previously visited and explored by Alloue^ and mentioned in the Jiel, 1669-70. \f^\ DI8COVKKIK8 IN THK MWSTSSirri VALI-KY. 143 onre, with which, nftcr sailing a hntulred Icngnos, wo roaclicd Misailiinnckiimc, where wo were obliged to winter. To em- ploy the timo uset'ully, I prcnched every holyday, and on tho Sundays of Advent and Lent.* Tho Ottawas and Ilurons were often present, ratlicr from curiosity than from any in- clination to live according to tli< Christian maxims. Theso last Indians said, speaking of our discovery, that they were men, hut that wo Frenchmen were spirits, because, had they gone so far, the strange nations would have killed them, while we went fearlessly everywhere. During the winter, wo took whitefish in Lake Orleans (Huron), in twenty or twenty-two fathoms water. They served to season tho Indian coin, whicli was our usual fare. Forty- two Frenchmen trading there with tho Indians begged me to give them all tho cord of St. Francis, which I readily did, making an exhortation at each ceremony. "We loft 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 em- barked after Low Sunday, which we celebrated, having some little wine which a Frenchman had fortunately brought, and which served us quite well the rest of the voyage. After a hundred leagues on Lake Orleans, we passed the strait (De- troit), for thirty leagues and Lake St. Clare,f which is in the middle and entered Lake Conty, where we killed, with sword [fi'ili: ■ t ,' i* M;r\iSf| 'f * In the English edition he tells us thnt lie enjoyed, during the winter, the hospitnlity of Father Piert-on, a Jesuit nnd 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. f 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. ^H'^h tf 144 NARRATIVE OF FATHER IIKNNEPIN. and axe, more tlian thirty stm-geon which came to spawn on the banks of the lake. On the way we met an Ottawa chief called Talon, six persons of whose family had died of starva- tion, 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 Niag- ara 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 Whitsun- day, 1681. Wo 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 wam- pum. The next day the Iroquois answered us by two belts, that the Ottawas had been carried off by some mad young war- riors ; that we might assure the governor of the French, that the Iroquois would hearken to him in all things ; that they wished to live with Onontio like real children with their father (so they call the governor of Canada), and that they would restore those whom they had taken. A chief named Teganeot, who spoke for his whole nation in all the councils, made me a present of otter and beaver- skins, to the value of over twenty-five crowns. I took it with one hand, and gave it with the other to his son, telling him that I gave it to him to buy goods of the other Frenchmen; that as for us, Barefeet, as the Iroquois called us, we would DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 146 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 Fnmtenac, where the dear Kecollect Father Luke was greatly surprised to see me, as for two years it had been reported that the Indians had hung me with our Fran- ciscan cord. All the inhabitants, French and Indians, whom we had gathered at Fort Frontenac, welcomed me with ex- traordinary joy at my return ; the Indians calling me Atkon, ' and putting their hand to their mouth, which means, Barefcet 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 all New France then was. This governor received me as well as a man of his probity can receive a missionary. As he believed me killed by the Indians, he was for a time thunderstruck, be- lieving 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 re- cover, and himself gave me the meat I was to eat, for fear I should fall sick by eating too much afker so long a diet. I rendered him an exact account of my voyage, and repre- sented to him the advantage of our discovery.* * Of course the English edition says, nothing about this exact acoonnlj nor tells how he concealed the truth and avoided questions. 10 .djw^j'"' i'l-'^tj ■i^y I ^^%i I c i NARRATIVE OF THE ADVENTURES OF LA SALLE'S PARTY AT FORT CREVECCEUR, IN ILINOIS, FROM FEBRUARY, 1680, TO JUNE, 1681, BY FATEEB ZEN0BIU8 MEMBRE, RECOLLECT* ^'M^hm^ ■ m .111 ^ 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 am- munitions, and provisions, and peltries, to pay the workmen * If the projects of La Salle had raised up Dgainst 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 Membr6 is the name under which all seem to delight in pre- Renting him to us, so much were thej 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 tlie Recollect convent in Artois, where he was the first novice in the new province of St Anthony, that he assumed the name of ZenobiuSk With his cousin le Gleroq, he was the first sent by that province to Canada where he arrived in 1676, from which time till that of his departure for Fronte- nac, in September, 1678, he was probably employed at the convent of Quebec, as his name does not appear in any of tlie neighboring parish registers examined to obtain his autograph. From Fort Frontenao he accompanied La Salle to Niagara, Mackinaw, and, at last, to Fort Crevec<%ur, in Illinois. Here he was left by that commander with Tonty and Father Gabriel de la Rebourde, with whom on the inroad of the Iroc[uoia and flight of the Illinois he endeavored to reach Green :"^ii !M- 1''l 148 KABBATIVE OF FAfHER MEMBBE. as agreed, and merchandise to trade with and buy provisions as we needed them, and having lastly given ordera as to what was to be done in his absence, set ont with four Frenchmen and an Indian on the 2d of March, 1680. He arrived on the 11th at the great Uinois 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 Menibr^, after a voyage to Fort Frontenao, 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 ho declined communicating it to the new governor, De la Barre, the latter, in his report to the home govern- ment, throws imputations on any account of the missionary, which raust^ how- ever, be ascribed only to bias and dissatisfaction. After fulfilling his mission at court. Father Membr4 became warden of the recollects at Bapaume, and remained so till he was appointed at La Salle's request, superior of the mission- aries who were to accompany his expedition by sea. Father Membre 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 Januaiy, 1687, intending as soon a» poiisible to begin a mission among the friendly Cenis, with Father Maximus le Olercq. 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 vrife, old and young, lay dead before them, pierced with arrows, or crushed with clubs 1 Touched with compassion, the Spaniards committed their remains to a common grave, and retired. Here Father Membr^ 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 u often involved and obscure, it bears intrinsic marks of fidelity, and shows him to have been less prejudiced than many of his oompaniona. Fitted rather for the quiet direc- tion of a simple flock, his zeal could not bear up against the hardships and bar- renness of an Indian mission for which no previous training or associations had fitted him, while his many wanderings tended still more to prevent his useful- ness. His only permanent mission was in Illinois, where he labored assiduously with Father Gabriel from March to September, 1680, notwithstanding the re- pugnance which he felt for the ungrateful field. They are, accordingly, after the Jesuits, Marquette, and Alloue^ the first missionaries of Illinois, and worthy of a distinguished place in her annale^ 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 in- tentions 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 cab- alled 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, aban- doned 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- ...M 'f irf'l*l;i| ilt mM 160 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRB. inained by two different routes to inform the sieur de la Salle. The perfidious wretches assembled at the fort which the sieur de la Salle had built at the mouth of the Myamis' river, demolished the fort, carried off all that was there, and as we learned some months after, went to Missilimackinac, where they seized the peltries belonging to the sieur de la Salle, and left in store there by him. The only great Ilinois village being composed of seven or eight thousand souls. Father Gabriel and I had a sufficient field for the exercise of our zeal, besides the few French who soon after came there. There are, moreover, the Miamis sit- uated 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, veiy neai* their village ; on the western side the Kikapous 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. DISCOVEBIBS IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 161 with whom I have had intercoureo, make tlieir cabins of double mats of flat rushes sewed together. Thoy are tall of stature, strong, and robust, and good archers ; they had as yet, no firearms ; we gave them some. They are, wander- ing, 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 thoy are so jeal- ous 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.f As there are in their country many serpents, these Indians know herbs much superior to our orviotan and theriaque, for * All agree iu the great skill of the Illinois bowmen, and even as late aa 1692-'3, when Rale was with them, they had not yet begun to use guns. f Neither Marquette nor Allouez first, nor Membr6 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 topa 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, Henuepin, Douay, loutel, Tonty, Rale, and Marest, are remark- ably alike : all but those of the two last are contained in the present series of Hist. Collectiona, and these will be found in the translation of Mr. Eip, already cited. m #11. " " ■' '!;i im 163 NARRATIVE 01 FATHER MKMBRB. 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 dura- tion), with skins which they dress and card very neatly. Although we were almost destitute of succor, yet the sieur de Tonty never lost courage ; ho 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 Ga- briel 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 winn failed us for the celebration of the divine mysteries, we found means, toward the close of Au- gust, 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't "Hiatoiy of Amerioon Treee^" we fail to find any notice of the DISCOVERIKS IN TUB MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 158 With regard to convoi-sions, I can not roly on any. During the whole time Fatlior Gabriel unraveled their language a little, and I can say that I spoke so as to make myself under- stood 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, how- ever, true that I found many of quite docile character. We baptized some dying children, and two or three dying per- sons who manifested proper dispositions. As these people are entirely material in their ideas, they would have submitted to baptism, had wo 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 Ghassagouache, who had been bap- tized, had died in the hands of the medicine-men, abandoned to their superstitions, and consequently doubly a child of bell. During the summer, we followed our Indians in their camps, and to the chase. I also made a voyage to the My- amis 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 ex- press it fully. Thus far we enjoyed a pretty general peace, though mean- early wine-making in the country by the catholic missionnrieB. They were cer- tainly the first in the northern parts. Sagard, in his " History of Canada" (ch. 9), details the modus 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 ii^ii ,rir ,KuJ: 154 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MBMBRE. while, a cruel war, which wo 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 yeare. They sought too to draw the Myamis into the same war. This is a tribe which formerly dwelt beyond the Il- inois, as regards the Iroquois and Fort Frontenac. They had persuaded them to invite the Iroquois by an embassy to join thom 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 embassadors were privately warned that they risked their lives, if they did not depari, as soon as possible, the sieiw de la Salle being a friend of the Ilinois. The Myamis, how- ever, left his former country, and came and took up a posi- tion 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 pres- ent 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 aiiny, four or five hundred strong, who had ah'eady 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 imdeceived 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 rein- forced with a great number of their warriore. 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 tho 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 tho protection of Ononto, their common fa- ther. 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 imme- diately surrounded him, and wished to carry him off; but when, by his eara, which were not pierced, they saw that he v:i m 1. ■■ti 1/ 156 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MKMDRB. was a Frenchman, one of the Iroquois chiefs asked loudly, what they had meant by striking a Frenchman in that way 1 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 sicur 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, wo did so. The Iro- quois received the calumet and pretended to retire; but scarcely had the Ilinois reached his village, when the Iro- quois 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. Thi*^ 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 Ood preserved me from all harm. I spoke with them ; they treated me very kindly, and at last told mo, that the reason of their approach was, that they had nothing to eat. I made my re- port to the Ilinois, who gave them their fill, and even offered to trade for beaver and other furs, very abundant in those parts. The Iroquois agreed, hostages were given and received, and I went with an Ilinois to the enemy's camp, where we slept. The Iroquois came in greater numbers into that of the Ilinois, and even advanced to their village, committing hostilities so far as to disinter the dead, and destroy their com ; in a word, seeking a quarrel, under show of peace, they fortified them- selves 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, 80 that the Iroquois found the village empty. The Ilinois DIS0OVERIK8 IN THB MISSISSIPPI VALLKT. 167 warriors retired in troops on the hills, and even gradually dis- persed, 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 gieur de Tonty, the few French who were with us, and my- self, began our march on the 18th of September, without pro- visions, 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. To- ward 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 sev- eral 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 pos- itive 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 fol- lowing it constantly, we should at last infallibly meet him. (,('ii \'i H%. I -■{■'■ m ;,.:.?. r^. 158 NABBATIVE OF FATHEB MEMBBE. We got, however, no tidings of him, and the more we ad- vanced, the more this affliction unmanned us, and we sup- ported this remnant of a languishing life by the potatoes and garlick, and other roots, that we found by scraping the ground with our fingere. "We afterward learned that we should have expected him uselessly, as he had been killed soon after landing. The Kik- apous, 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 attack- ing 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 supe- rior, 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 DISOOVEBIES IK THE MISSISSIPPI VALLET. 169 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 Fottawatamis. 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 com- pass, we frequently got lost, and found ourselves in the eve- ning where we had started in the morning, with no other food than acoras and little roots. At last, after fifteen days' march, we killed a deer, which was a great help to us. The sieur de 'm f^'M !* iom !;;i * 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 inlieritance 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, soi ^ht the new and toilsome mission of Canada. He came out among the first Recollect fathers in the summer of 16*70 ; 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 ho acquired the veneration and respect of all parties. His moderation, was not, in- deed, liked by all, and a few years after, F. Eustace Maupassant wos sent out to succeed him, and the venerable Ribourdo was sent as missionary to Fort Fron- tenac, 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 Menibr^, who was to perish in the same unknown way, are among the earliest missionaries of Illinoi& *ii 'k W'Hi i!M ll. """Vfl mJ 160 NABRATIVE OF FATHEB MEMBBE. Boisrondet lost us, and for at least ton days, we thought him dead. As he had a tin cup, he melted it to make balls for his gun, which had no flint. By firing it with a coal, he killed some turkeys, on which he lived during that time ; at last we fortunately met at the Pottawatami village, where their chief, Onanghissc, quite well known among those na- tions, welcomed us most cordially. He used to say, that he knew only three great captains, M. de Frontonac, 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 w^ere like skeletons, the sieur do Tonty ex- tremely sick, but being a little recruited, I found some In- dians 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 fathera displayed toward us until the thaws began, when we set out with Father Enjal- ran in a canoe for Missilimakinac, hoping to find news there f om 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. 69), 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 ChristL This will account for the silence of both aa to each other. DI8COVEEIE8 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). Tliis 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 or our tragical ad- ventures. He told us, that after our departure from Fort Frontenac, they had excited bis 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 Griflfin, 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 mer- chandise, had been lost and never heard of. He had sent little fleets of canoes to trade right and left on Lake Fron- tenac ; but these wretches, he told us, had profited by the prin- cipal and the trade, without his being able to obtain any jus- tice from those who should have rendered it, notwithstanding all the efforts made by M. de Frontenac, the governor in his favor ; that to complete his misfortunes, a vessel coming from France with a cargo for his account, amounting to twenty- two thousand livrcs, had been wrecked on St. Peter's islands in the gulf of St. Lawrence; that canoes ascending from Mon- treal 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 regai'ded the Canadians who had joined him, means had been found to work upon them, and draw them from his in- terests. 11 ■! r- mil ./.Jlr if!j ,, ^'Um ^m m m \L pis 162 NABBATIYE OF FATHER MEMBBE. 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 under- taking ; 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 ab- solutely necessary, he was obliged, after three weeks' stay, to buy some for liquor, and in one day he got sixty sacks. He left there the 4th of October, and on the 28th of No- vember, reached the Myamis' river, where he left a ship-car- penter and some of his people ; then pushing on, reached the Ilinois on the first of December. There he was greatly sur- prised to find their great village burnt and empty. The rest of the time was spent in a journey to the Myamis' river, where he went to join his men forty leagues from the Dinois. Thence he passed to difi\irent tribes, among others to an Out- agarais 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 Na- douessiouz, 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. ' f ^ 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 in- duced by presents and arguments to leave the Iroquois and it DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 163 join the Hinois ; he sent two of his men and two Abenaquis to announce this to the Hinois, and prevent new acts of hos- tility, and to recall the dispersed tribes. To strengthen both more, he sent others with presents to the Shawnees to invito them to come and join the Hinois 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 Missiliraakinac, where he expected to find us. If we wish to settle in these parta, and see the faith make any prog- ress, 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 art- fully 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 Hinois country,* and has given cantons to the Shaw- nees, 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. fVmm f^m ^■nM s\ M;^rm 1 I'yi 'i i Mi 1 I NARRATIVE hi Of LA SALLE'S VOYAGE DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI, BY FATHER ZENOBIVS MEMBBi\ RECOLLECT, <«••' .((•""''x M LA SALLE having arrived safely at the Miamies on ^ the 3d of November, 1681, began with his ordinary activity and vast mind, to make all preparations for his de- parture. 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 writen^ 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 "Mayganathicoise." It is needless here to follow the varieties in orthog- raphy 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 fre- quently 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 hum* bled. They now form about five villages in Maine and Canada. m lifi ill m m l! !!■". m 166 NABBATIVE OF FATHER MEMBBE. fiisted 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-gene- ral of Quebec. On the 2l8t 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 Checa- gou, 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 paints 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 27t;h of the same month, and dragging our canoes, baggage, and provis- ions, 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 In- dians having gone to winter thirty leagues lower down on Lake Pimiteoui (Peoria), where Fort Cr6vecoeur stands. We found it in a good state, and La Salle left his ordei*s 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 Feb- ruary, 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 TIIK MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 167 the Ozage the water is hardly drinkahlo. The Indians as- sure 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 In- dian corn. Forty leagues from Tamaroa 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 * Tlie 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 Mia- Bions. At this period no missionary had reached them. - „»"•! ' \^|**"\i M %tii "^ 108 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MKMURE. Indian trail, which nmilo us Bii]>})ose our Frenchman killed or taken. This induced the siour de la Salle to throw up a fort and intrenchment, and to put some French and In- dians on the trail. None relaxed their efforts till the firet 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 Prud- homme ; but after having travelled the distance stated, we showed the Indians that we were displeased with their du- plicity ; they then told us frankly, that we were still three days off. (These Indians generally count ten or twelve leagues to a day.) We returned to the camp, and one of the Indians having offered to remain while the other carried the news to the village, La Salle gave him some goods, and he set out after giving us to understand that we should meet their nation on the bank of the river as we descended. At last Prudhomme, who had been lost, was found on the ninth day, and brought back to the fort, so that we set out the next day, which was foggy. Having sailed forty leagues till the third of March, we heard drums beating and sasa- coiiest (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 pali- sades, and felled trees to prevent a surprise, and give the In- dians 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 DI8COVERIK8 IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 169 batteaiix), which came within gun-shot. "We offered them the cahnnot of peace, and two Indians advancing, by signs invited the French to come to them. On this the sieiir do la Salle sent a Frenchman and two Abnakis, who were received and regaled with matiy tokens of friendship. Six of the principal men brought him back in the same periagua, and came into the redoubt where the sieur de la Salle made them presents of tobacco and some goods. On their side they gave us some slaves, and the most important chief invited us- to go to the village to refresh ourselves, which we readily did. All those of the village, except the women, who had at first taken flight, came to the bank of the river to receive lis. Here they built us cabins, brought us wood to burn, and pro- visions in abundance. For three days they feasted us con- stantly ; 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 doore 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 under- stood in their language. I took occasion to explain some- 'ii^Mm^ r'"%I ii»«ti.:;,1 l'*"*'illil 1,;^'! %| 170 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBBE. thing of the tnith of God, nnd the mysteries of our redemp- tion, of which thoy 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. Wo also saw them rub their hands over their bodies after rubbing them over the cross. In fact, on our return from tlie 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 in- terpreters with the Taensa, their allies, who are eighty leagues distant from their village. On the 17th wo continued our route, and six leagues lower down we found another village of the same Aknnsa nation, nnd 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 nnnios to be found in enrly narratives, it is a relief to meet so much uniformity relntivo to the Akansns. It is not, indeed, easy to rec- ognise tlieni in the Qnigato, Quipana, Pacaha, or Cayos, of De Soto's expedition. Marquette, in liis journal, flrst gives the name, "Akamsea," which lins remained to this day on his map. lie gives near them the Papikaha, and Atotchasi. Father Memhre here mentions three towns of the tribe, but does not name them. Tonty does, and has on the Mississippi the Kappas, and inland the Toy- engan or Tongongn, the Toriman, ond the Osotonoy or A88otou6. The latter is, indeed, his post, but, old deeds show a villoge lay opposite, wliich probably gave its name. On the next expedition. Father Anastasius writes Kappa, Do- ginga, Toriman, and Osottooez, which Joutel repeats, changing Doginga to Ton- gengn, and Osottoooz to Otsotehove. In 1721, Father Charlevoix writes thera the Kappas, Toremans, Topingos, and Sothouis, adding another tribe, the Ouya- pes, tliough there were still but four villages. In 1729, Father Poisson places them all on the Arkansas — the Tourimans nnd Tongingas, nine leagues from the mouth by the lower branch, the Sauthouis three leagues further, and the Kappas still higher up. Tlie only material difference is in the Atotchasi, Otsotchov*^, Osotteoez, Ossotonoy, Assotou*^, or Sothouis, in which, however, there is similarity enough to establish identity. They call themselves Ogiiapa^ and never use the term "Arkansas."— (iVie«a/.) ' , DISCOVKRIK8 IS THE MISSISHIPl'I VALLEV. m little lako formed in tlio land by tlio river Mississippi. They have eight villages. The walls of their houses are iiiado 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, lie 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. Ilis 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 provis- ions and other presents, wished also to see him, and accord- ingly, two houre 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 cop- per plate, and a round one of the same metal, both highly polished. He maintained a very grave demeanor during this visit, which was, however, full of confidence and marks of friendship. The whole country is covered with palm-trees, laurels of two kinds, plums, peaches, mulberry, apple, and pear trees of every kind. There are also five or six kinds of nut-trees, some of which bear nuts of extraordinary size. They also gave us several kinds of dried fruit to taste ; we found them •""■• „i t '"1 ■•^i.«r: 172 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. large and good. They have also many other kinds of fruit- trees which I never saw in Europe ; but the season was too early to allow us to see the fruit. We observed vines already out of blossom. The mind and character of this people ap- peared on the whole docile and manageable, and even capa- ble of. reason. I made them underatand all I wished about our mysteries. They conceived pretty well the necessity of a God, the creator and director of all, but attribute this di- vinity 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 gene- rally enemies of those on the other. There are forty vil- lages 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 op- posite 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 !Nachi6 tribe (Natchez), enemies of the Taensa. Although their vil- lage 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. 178 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 retunied 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 (Cliickasaw) 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 Bid«. He writes it "Akoroa." I r""\i ' \, ;;,i« I'.l '■^' 174 NABBATIVE OF FATHER MEMBBE. 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 calu- met 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 con- tinue his route, till two leagues lower down, we entered a vil- lage 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 ar- rived, 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. Ho took the westeiTi, 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 Kegis," 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 poBseBsion, "Maheouala." DISOOVEBIES m THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 176 there, and amid a volley from all om' 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 ri' . i' faHs into the gulf of Mexico, between 27° and 28° north, a^.d, ae is thought, at the point where maps lay down the Rio Escondido. This mouth is about thirty leagues distant from the Eio Bravo, (Rio Grande), sixty from 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 reck- oned that Espiritu Santo btiy (Appalachee Bay), lay north- east 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 navigatioii, al- though the contrary has been published.f This river is reckoned eight hundred leagues long ; we travelled at least three hun- dred 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 cro'^'^diles (alligatoi*s). The country is BO 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 proch verbal of the taking possession ■ ' Louisiana, in the Hiit. Coll, of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 45. f We do not know to what Father Membre refers. Marquette's work makes no such assertion of the Mississippi. Hennepin, indeed, says tliat an Illinois had «o stated before La Salle went down. — Description de la Louisiane, p. 17Y. i>*« !w ''■ \ i 176 NABBATIYE OF FATHER MEMBBE. village of the Tangibao, and as the Bienr 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 fire- arms. They called it thunder, not understanding how a wooden stick could vomit fire, and kill people so far off with- out 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 u 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 amve 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 sieur Dautray said that it was nothing ; but the sieur de la Salle, always on the alert, having already heard noise, called to arms. As we instantly heard war-cries, and arrows were fired from quite near us, we kept up a brisk fire, although it began to rain. Day broke, and after two hours' fighting, and the loss of ten men killed on their side, and many wounded, they took to flight, without any of us having been injured. Our people wished to go and bum the village of these traitors ; but the sieur de la Salle pru- dently wished only to make himself formidable to this nation, without exasperating it, in order to manage them in time of need. "We, however, destroyed many of their canoes. They were near, but contented themselves with running away and shouting. Our Mohegans took only two scalps. We set out then the evening of the same day, the eighth- teenth of April, and arrived on the first of May, at the Korea, after having sufiered much from want of provisions. The Korea 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 ap- peared 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 pro- vided 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 sur- 12 li«l::i ""'-t's! II 178 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. prised to see the Indian corn at this place, which, the twenty- ninth of March, was just sprouting from the ground, already fit to eat, and we then learned that it ripened in fifty days. We also remarked other corn four inches above ground. We set out then the same day, the first of May in the evening, and after seeing se '^eral diiferent nations on the fol- lowing 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 dan- gerous, 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 ac- count, 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 fai* as the sea {juaqxCa la mer)^ edged with hills, covered with beautiful trees of all kinds, whence you discern vast prairies on which herds of wild-cattle pasture in confusion. The river ofken overflows, and rendera 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 sub- sistence. 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 Col- bert. "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 inunda- tion 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, diversi- fied 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 tte 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. ii*''i{i;iii j""»'".iiiii^BW'« iM 180 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. does, deor, bears, turkeys, partridges, parrots, quails, wood- cock, wild-pigeons, and ring-doves. Tliere are also beaver, otters, martens, till a hundred leagues below the Maroa, es- pecially in the river of the Missouri, the Ouabache, that of the Ghepousseau (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 de- vours 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 oif 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 be- low the chin, and along the houghs of this animal. It has on the back a kind of upright crests (coste), of which that near- est 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 ani- mals 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 DISOOVEBIES IK THE MISSISSIPPI VALLET. 181 a foot long ; with this it suspends itself, when it is on the hranches of trees. It has under the belly a kind of pouch, where it carries its young when puraued. 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 horaes, 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 re- marked 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 vil- lages. 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 cul- tivate 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 com a year. I have already stated that I saw some lilllllM 182 KABBATIVE OF FATHER MEMBBE. ripe, while more was sprouting. "Winter is known only by tbe rains. "We bad not time to look for mines ; we only found coal in several places ; tbe Indians wbo bad 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 tbe Indians do not use it. These tribes, though savage, seem generally of very good dispositions, affable, obliging, and docile. Tbey 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 un- derstand 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, inclina- tions, 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 w^ould dare pass between tlie 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 of- ficers, 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; 1';'*'"'^ 1) DI800VERIE8 IN THE MI88I8SIPri VALLEY. isi they had axes, guns, and all commodities found in Europe.* We found, indeed, tribes that had bracelets of real pearls ; but they pierce them when hot, and thus spoil them. Mon- sieur de la Salle brought some with him. The Indians told us that their warriora brought them from very far, in the di- rection 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 bo tedious were I to detail them : and, besides, the particulara should bo 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 in- debted to the protection of the Almighty, and the great cap- pacity of Monsieur de la Sallo. I will say nothing here of conversions ; formerly the apostles had but to enter a coim- try, when on the first publication of the gospel, great conver- sions were seen. I am but a miserable sinner, infinitely des- titute of the merits of the apostles ; but we must also acknowl- edge 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 gunB rather for sliow than for use in the hands of the first Illinois party, west of the Mississippi, which Father Meinbr6 did not visit He also met a tribe coming from the east to war on the Mississippi tribes, also supplied with firearms, these Fother Membr6 did not meet As to the Arkansas, Marquette states that he found among them, knives, axes, and beods, bought from other Indian tribfrs on the east, and from the Illinois. Speaking of their trade, he makes no allu- sion 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. ' mi IM NARRATTVi: OF FATHER MEHBRE. common woy, following which I contented myself with an- nouncing, as well as I could, the principal truths of Ghristi- anitj 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 ef- forts produced certain fruits. With regard to these people, perhaps, some one by a secret effect of grace, has profited ; Qod only knows. All we have done hos been to see the state of these tribes, and to open the way to the gospel and to mis- sionaries; having baptized only two infants, whom I saw struggling with death, and who, in fact, died in our presence. ,r^"l ACCOUNT \mi 0? LA SALLE'S ATTEMPT TO REACH THE MISSISSIPPI BY SEA, AND OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A FRENCH COLONY IN ST. LOUIS BAY, 'f*S wa FATHER CniilSTIAN LE CLERGQ. THE first design of tbe sieur de la Salle had been to find the long-sought passage to the Pacific ocean, and al- though 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, sujimer, aiKl beginning of autumn, 1683, in establishing his postfi. He at last left Monsieur de Tonty, as command pnt and resolved to return to Frtince to render an account cf his fulfilment of the royal orders. He reached Quebec early in Koveraber, and Kochelle, France, on the twenty-third of December. His design was to go by sea to the mouth of the river Col- Mlllli '4 TU '31 fir 186 NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLERCQ. bert, and there found powerful colonies under the good pleas- ure 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 ob- tain men able to labor in the salvation of souls, and lay the foundations of Christianity in this sa<^age land. He accord- ingly applied to Monsieur Tron§on, 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 ecclesi- astics full of zeal, virtue, and capacity, to commence these new missions. They were Monsieur Cavelier, brother of the sieur de la Salle, Monsieuv Chefdeville, his relative, and Mon- sieur de Maiulle,f all three priests. As for nearly ten years the Eecollects 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 coun- tries 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 pur- ix)se, he applied to the Eev. Father Hyacinth le Febvre, who * See M. de la Salle's Memoir in Ilht. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 26. f Called by Joutel Dainmaville. See Hist. Coll, of Louisiana, vol i., p. DISCOVERIES m THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. im had been twice provincial of our province of St. Anthony, in Ai'tois, and was then, for the second time, provincial of that of St. Denis in France, who, wishing to second with all hia power the pious intentions of the sieur de la Salle, granted him the religious he asked : namely. Father Zenobius Membro superior of the mission, and Fathers Maximus Le Clercq and Anastasius Douay, all three of our province of St. Anthony, the firet having been for four yeara the insepar^ able companion of the sieur de la Salle during his discovery on land ; tlie second had served for five years with great edi- fication 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 extreme- ly 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 Congrega- tion de propaganda fide, of this mission, to obtain necessary au- thority 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 ac- customed 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'Estr^es having shown that the distance from Que- bec 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 ex- pedition, induced mi.ny young gentlemen to join the sieur de * Similor opposition compelled the first Jesuits in Louisiana to leave soon after their arrival with Iberville. j:i;i;; |l«i„i;.lj* )m] '*ii "mm, w t^:^j ^ f88 ITABBATIYE OF FATHEl LE CLEBCQ. la Salle as volunteers ; he chose twelve who seemed most resolute ; among them, the sieur de Morange, and the sieur Cavelier, his nephews, the latter only fourteen years of age. The little fleet was fitted out at Rochelle, to be composed of four vessels — the Joly, a royal ship, a frigate called the Belle, a storeship called the Aimable, and a ketch called the St. Francis. The royal vessel was commanded by Captain de Beaujeu, a Norman gentleman known for valor and expe- rience, 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 Ilamel, 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 de- formed and unable to fire a musket. The sieur de la Salle had also given orders at Kochelle 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 ac- cepted, 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. Tliey set sail again on the 1st of August, steering for Si. Domingo ; but a second storm overtook them, and dis- persed them on the fourteenth of September, the Aimable and the Belle alone remaining together, reached Petit Goavo .""Ml" 1, DISOOYEBIES 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 rendez- vous ; 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 firet mishap which befell the voyage ; a dis- aster 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. Do- mingo, where they laid in provisions, a store of Indian corn, and of all kinds of domestic animals to stock the new coun- try. M. de St. Laui'ent, governor-general of the Isles, Begon, intendant, and dc Cussy, governor of St. Domingo, favored them in every way, and even restored the reciprocal under- standing so necessary to succeed in such undertakings ; but the Idiers, 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 disor- ders that some died in the island, and others never recovered. The little fleet thus reduced to three vessels, weighed an- chor November 25tli, 1684, and pursued its way quite suc- cess fully 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 allure- ment of the spot, and its advantageous position, induced them to stay and even land. For some unknown reason the Span- iards had abandoned their several kinds of provisions, and llr'lltM Silll'rv NABKATIVE OF FATHER LB CLEROQ. 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 absolute- ly 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 Ist of January, 1685, when Father Anastasius celebrated a solemn mass as a thanksgiv- ing, after whi-jh, continuing the route, they arrived in fifteen days in sight of the coast of Florida, when a violent wind forced the Joly to stand off, the store-ship and frigate coasting along, the sieur de la Salle being anxious to follow the shore. He had been persuaded at St. Domingo, that the gulf- stream ran with incredible i-apidity toward the Bahama chan- nel. This false advice set hirn 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 per- ceived by its turning soutli, 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, mot at Espiritu Santo bay, where there was an almost continual iit^RI DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 101 roadstead. They resolved to return whence they came, and advanced ten or twelve leagues to a hay 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 acci- dent 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 ligliten his cargo, and lastly, to follow exactly the channel staked out ; none of his orders were exe- cuted, 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 ofi'. 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 neces- sary union. Misfortune would have it that a bale of blanketing from \0M ■Mm mil ii' "1 -r' •""*'"!'V:^;J; l;l.|., if-hl ilit |i III! 192 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. the Wi'eck* was thrown on shore ; some days after a party of Indians seized it, the rHeur de la Salle ordered his men to get it out of their hands peaceably ; they did just the con- trary ; 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 witck, 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 Ze- nobius having passe i 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 Clercq it will be observed, is silent as to the misunderstanding between La Salle and Beanjeu, 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 Balle, and Joutel's journal in Historical Collection of Louisiana. DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 193 and set out with fifty others ; the sieur Cavelier and fathera Zenobius and Maximus intending to seek at the extremity of the bay, the mouth of the river, and a proper place to fix bis 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 fol- lowed twelve leagues along the coast, which runs from south- east to northwest, and anchored opposite a point to which the sieur Hurler 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 beauti- ful 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 thu.e following, those great festivals were celebrated with all por.si- ble solemnity, each one receiving his Creator. The follow- ing days all the effects, and generally all that could be of service to tl e (jamp of the sieur de la Salle, were transferred from those of the sieurs de Morangcr and Hurler, which were destroyed. For a month the sieur de la Salle made them work in cultivating the gi-ound ; but neither the grain nor the vegetables sprouted, either because they were dam- aged by the salt water, or because, as was afterward re- marked, it was not the right season. The fort which was built in an advantageous position, was soon in a state of de- fence, furnished with twelve pieces of cannon, and a maga- zine under ground, for fear of fire, in which all the efiects were safely deposited. The maladies which the soldiere had con- tracted at St. Domingo, were ^ islbly carrying them off, and • m lii'»:,; ll««"li||i!,l,1';J;i(| ilriiiiiii 'i'Hi 'IM 194 NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLERCQ. a hundred died in a few days, notwithstanding all the relief aiforded by broths, preserves, treacle, and wine, which were given tbem. 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 suiTounded 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. Laetlj'^, the execution done among the Indians had rendered the little colony somewhat more se- cure, when a new misfortune succeeded all the preceding. The sieur de la Salle had ordered the captain of the frigate DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSirPI VALLEY. 195 to Bound 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 ad- vanced 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 tie la Salle leaving provisions for b'x months, set out with twenty men and his brother, the sieur Cavelier, to seek the mouth A the river (Mississippi) by land. The bay which he discovered to be in latitude 27° 45' N., is the outlet of a great number of rivere, 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 rivere 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 waa 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 Slst of May, charmed with the beauty and fertility of the fields, the incredible .;: 'V«< ,i»iiiih •1!:,l! \im 196 NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE OLEROQ. quantity of game of every kind, and the numerous tribes he had met on the way. The Ahnighty was prepaving him a still more sensible trial than the preceding, in the loss of the friga e, his only re- maining vessel in which he lioped 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 pre- caution on the part of the pilot. All the goods were lost irre- coverably ; the vessel struck on the shore, the sailors wore 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 bar- rels of flour, a quantity of wine, the trunks, clothes, linen, equipage, and most of the tools. We leave the reader to im- agine 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 afiaira thought 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. ,1 \] NARRATIVE OF 'II iii!i|jif I m ""'ir'" flifi '•- . LA SALLE'S ATTEMPT TO ASCEND THE MISSISSIPPI IN 1687, BY "■* FATHER ANASTASIU8 DO UA F, RECOLLECT.'^ THE sieur de la Salle seeing no other resource for his af- fairs, 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 Annstosius 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 1C88, he reached France, as wo shall see, in safety. He was, says Hennepin, vicar of the Recollects of Cam- bray, 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. n ' IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) &c // // IX) 1.25 ISilM lai u m 14.0 V] <^ 7 f 7 ^V^v Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WCST MAIM STRiET WEBSTEII,N.Y. 14SS0 (716) 872-4503 ^ L1>' w>sy <^ V 198 NABBATIYE OF FATHEB DOUAT. the chapel of the fort, and invoking together the help of Heaven, we set out on the 22d of April, 1686, in a north- easterly 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 spur- red, 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 converaation, that they had intercourse with the Spaniards. Continuing our march the rest of the day, we cabined at night in a little in- trenched stockade fort, to be beyond reach of insult ; this we always tfter practised with good results. Setting out the next morning, we marched for two days through continual prairies to the river which we called Eo- bek, meeting everywhere so prodigious a quantity of Cibola, or wild cattle, that the smallest herds seemed to us to con- tain two or three hundred. We killed nine or ten in a mo- ment, 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 an- other and finer river, wider and deeper than the Seine at Paris, skirted by some of the finest trees in the world, set as regularly as though they had been planted by man. Among them were many mulberry and other fruit trees. On one side were prairies, on the other woods. We passed it on rafts, and called it La Maligne. Passing through this beautiful country, its delightful fields, and prairies skirted with vines, fruit-trees, and groves, we, a few days after, reached a river which we called Hiens, after a German from Wittemburg, who got so fast in tho mud that he could scarcely get but. One of our men, with an axe on his back, swam over to the other side, a second followed DISOOVEBIES m THS MISSISSIPPI YALLET. 199 at once ; they then cut down the largest trees, while others on onr 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 per- fectly 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 Toqu6, or Toquo. It is a shrub, like a kind of bramble with- out thorns, and has a veiy large root, which they wash and dry perfectly, after which it is pounded and reduced to pow- der in a mortar. The sagamity has a good taste, though astringent. These Indians presented us with some cattle- skins, very neatly dressed, to make shoes ; we gave them in exchange beads, which they esteem highly. During our stay the sieur de la Salle so won them by his manners, and insinu- ated 80 much of the glory of our king, telling them that he was greater and higher than the sun, that they were all rav- ished with astonishment. The sienr Cavelier and I endeavored here, as everywhere 200 NABBATITE OF FATHEB DOUAT. else, to give them some first knowledge of the trne God. This nation is call Biskatrong^, but we called them the nation of weepers,* and gave their beautiful river the same name, be- cause at our arrival and entrance, they all began to weep bit- terly 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 jour- ney, 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 imder 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 imderatand that we came as friends ; three of her sons, brave warriors, observed at a dis- tance what passed, and seeing us to be friendly, recalled all their people. "Wo 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 om' being surprised. This showed his discernment and prudence, for during the night a band of warriore, 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 flrmly, that he obliged them to draw off. After * Cabeza de Yaca from the same oiroumstanoe gives a similar name to a tribe in that quarter. DISOOVEBIES IN THE UISSISSIPFI TALLET. 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 panned onr ronte to five or six leagues heyond. 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 cniel, 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 Kika suddenly cried out with all his might, " I am dead 1" 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 ap- plied 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 imil'iiw l„HlJ * ThiB river differs from the Maligne, and is supposed to be the C9lorado olTezaa 202 NABBATIVE OF FATHER IX)UAT. of our people got on ; but scarcely had they got into the cur- rent, when by its violence it carried them off with incredible rapidity, so that they disappeared almost instantly. I re- mained 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 in- spire me constantly with courage, and I cheered up those who remained as well as I could. The whole day was spent in tears and weeping, when at nightfall we saw on the oppo- site 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 Bre- ton named But; 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 ':his 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 othere, led the way. not without danger, for we went under every moment, and I was obliged to put ov/t breviary in our* cowl, because it got wet in the sleeve. The sieur * Hie Franciscans were founded at a time when commerce was taking gigan- tic steps, and men all became inflamed with desires of rapidly acquiring wealth. 8t 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 DISOOYEBIES IK THE MISSISSIPPI VALLET. 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 re- mained 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 an- other 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 bar- barous 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 Bpirit." m 'M 204 KABBATIVE OP FATHER DOTJAT. another night and day, and besides loading us with presents and all kinds of provisions. Nevertheless, the sieur de la Salle fearing lest some of his party might go after the women, encamped three leagues from the village. Here we remained three or four days, and bought horses and all that we needed. This village, that of the Coenis, is one of the largest and most populous that I have seen in America. It is, at least, twenty leagues long, not that it is constantly inhabited, but in hamlets of ten or twelve cabins, forming cantons each with a different name. Their cabins are fine, forty or fifty feet high, of the shape of bee-hives. Trees are planted in the ground, and united above by the branches, which are cov- ered 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 Ccenis many things which undoubt- edly 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 Kome, ex- empting the Spaniards in Mexico from fasting during sum- mer. Horses are common, they gave them to us for an axe ; one Ooenis offered me one for our cowl, to which he took a fancy. They have intercourse with the Spaniards through the Choiimans, 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 Span- iards, of whom they gave us so natural a description, that we no longer had any doubts on the point, although the Span- iards had not yet undertaken to come to their villages, their DISOOVEBIES IN THB MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 206 warriors merely joining the Choiiraans 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 ad- miration 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 vic- tories 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 j,^ 7. They expressed very naturally the ceremonies of mass, ol j 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 pur- sued our route through the Nassonis, crossing a large river which intersects the great Coenis village. These two nations are allies, and have nearly the same character and customs. Four or five leagues from there, we had the mortification 206 NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAT. to 8eo 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 re- lapses, 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 de- serted. In so distressing a crisis the sieur de la Salle re- 'solved to retrace his steps to Fort Louis ; all agreed and we straightway resumed our route, during which nothing hap- pened worth note ; but that, as we repassed th : Maligne, one of our men was caiTied 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 im- aginable 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 diflScult to find in history courage more intrep- id 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, Ill; A fm\ DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 2or 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 Span- iards. The fort is built on a little eminence which runs north and Bouth ; 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 horees 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 Kecollects, 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 es- tablishment 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 ,ii«iiii r''|i| 208 NARBATITE 07 FATHEB DOUAT. of his intentions. Would to God that all had persevered in these sentiments ! lie completed the fortification of a great enclosure, encircling all the habitations and the fort, after which ho chose twenty men, the sieur Gavelier, his brother, the sieurs Moranget and Cavelior, his nephews, with the sieur Joutcl,^ pilot and myself. After public prayers we set out on the 7th of January, 1687.t * Joutel was not in the previons exoursion of the Ceniai of which the miuion- ary's is the only Account f The fnto of the pnrtj left in the fort is involved in some obscurity ; it is cer- tain 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 Ensoyo Cronologico of Barcia (p. 294), is as follows: — In the month of January, 1080, Don Alonso de Leon set out from the province of Qnoguila (Coahuila), with some horses, inarching north of the sea, crossing great mountains, and the river which runs near Valladolid, and those of Sauceda, Nasos, Salinas, the river Florido, and others, to Caovil, a Spanish town in Now Mexico, which is also called Calhuila ; he then turned to his right, and crossing the Rio Brovo (which is also called Del Norte, or Rio Verde, and rises in the loke 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 mony estuaries and several lorge rivers flowed into it Tlie French called it St Louis Bay. He arrived at the fort which Bobert 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 neighbor- hood 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 BO 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 wheth- er the French had given any cause ; nor did he deem it prudent to examine (he DISCOVERIES m THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 209 The very firet day wo met an army of Bahamos going to war with tho Ei'igoanna ; the siour do hi Salle made an al- IndJans more closely, ns ho tavr by their looks tliat, were ho not accompanied by io well-appointed and well-nrined a body of cavalry, prepared to meet tliem, thoy woiiM have closed the tragedy with tho Spaniards. At tho close of May Tonty knew it, being then ono day's march from the Palaquesones : ho states that tho French of Fort St. Louis, being unable to keep together, had either mixed with tho Indians, or started for Frencli posts, and that, without examining further, ho returned to Illinois. In order to deliver tlie flvo Frenchmen who wore among tho Tejas, Don Alonso accepted tho proposal mado to inform them. Ho accordingly wrote to them in French, by means of an interpreter, telling them, with many kind expressions, that, having heard of tho shipwreck, and peril of their companions, ho hnd come by order of tho viceroy of New Spain, to deliver them from tho slavery of thoso ■avnges, and save their lives; that lie regretted extremely his liaving known tho misfortune of their companions so late, ns 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 hitn, ho would free them, and treat tlicm 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 bo buried ; this tho Spaniards did, weeping over this catastrophe, ond misfortune, and praying most earnestly for tho salvation of their souls. This sliowi* how ill-informed ho was, who edited Joutel's account of La Salle's voyage, when he says, at tho end, that when La Salle's death was known by the Spaniards, thoy sent a party who carried off the garrison of Fort St. Louis, and then put them to 'loath, 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 tho province where the five Frenchmen were ; when they hod road it, their opinions ns 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 tho Spaniards, who now called them to do the same with them. "For why," they added, "can wo expect a better fate, did we come into this country to do them any good f 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 ond pirates." James Grollet, and John Larchevdque, of Bordeaux, endeavored to moderate their comrades' fears, saying that, "if the Spaniards hod killed the French, the Indians of the country put to flight will relate tho 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 usurpotion 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 i-i.:. 210 NABRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAT. liance with them. He wished also to treat wit . the Quinete, who fled at our approach; hut having overtaken them hy means of our horses, we treated them so kindly that they promised an inviolable peace. The fourth day, three leagues further to the northeast, we came to the first Cane river. Our route lay through prairies, with scattered groves ; the soil is so good that the grass grows ten or twelve feet high. There are on this river many popu- lous villages ; we visited only the Quaras and the Anachore- mas. In the same direction, three leagi 'S further, we came to the second Cane river, inhabited by iiflferent tribes ; here we found fields of hemp. And how much better," said they, "live among Chi among these savages, exposed to the whim of their < doning their salvation. If we were to invite the Sp assurance of life, would we butcher them, without their destruction ? No. Why then should we pr be uulike ours?" Finding, however, that the i obstinate the others became, Grollet and Larchevdque 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 ond 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 Missis- sippi, 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 else- where acquired, they saw the great injury to be done to New Spain by tJiis project of the French, already, though unsuccessfully, attempted. Tlie viceroy asked Don Andres de Pes to go to Spain, to represent the danger, and the great advantage of fortifying Pensacola. Don Andres, having obtained the necessary instructions, set out with the two Frenchmen, and embarking at Vera Cru;^ reached Cadiz safely on the 9ia of December. tians, even as slaves, than lelty, and risking, or aban- iards, and they came under .leir giving fresh cause for ime tiiat their feelings will ■•e they argued, the more DISC0VEBIE8 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 Eobec river, passing through prairies, and over three or four rivera, 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 pres- ents and Christian instruction, a thing they do not get from the Spaniards. Continuing our route, we crossed great prairies to the Ma- ligne. This deep river, where one of our men had been de- voured 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 turn- ing north-northeast, we had to cross a number of little rivers and ravines, navigable in winter and spring. The land is di- versified with prairies, hills, and numerous springs. Here we * Joutel says they merely heard of the Canohatino, and calls them afterward enemies of the Cenis. fi'lii'l '.I'Wiil :;:il K 212 NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY. found three large villages, the Taraha, Tyakappan, and Falona, who have horaes. 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 coun- try full of game, after all the party had recruited and lived for several days on every kind of good meat, sent the sieur Moranget, his lackey Saget, and seven or eight of his people, to a place where our hunter, the Shawnee Nika, had left a quantity of buffalo meat (boeuf) to dry, so as not to be obliged to stop so often to hunt. The wisdom of Monsieur de la Salle had not been able to foresee the plot which .some of his people would make to slay his nephew, as they suddenly resolved to do, and actual- ly 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 unhap- py 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 Chou- mans, the friends of the Spaniards. DISC0VEEIE8 IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 213 with tliis murder, formed a design of attempting their com- mander'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, be took two Indians and set out. All the way he conversed with me of matters of piety, grace, and predestination ; expatiating on all his ob- ligations to God for having sa-ad 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 80 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 oc- cupy my thoughts, penetrated with grief at so cruel a spec- tacle, 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 NABEATIVE OP FATHER DOUAT. devotions just before we started ; be bad still time to recapit- ulate a part of bis life, and I gave bim absolution. Dnring bis last moments be elicited all tbe acts of a good Christian, grasping my band at every word I suggested, and especially at that of pardoning bis enemies. Meanwbile bis murderers, as mucb alarmed as I, began to strike tbeir breasts, and de- test their blindness. I could not leave tbe spot wben be bad expired without having buried bim as well as I could, after which I raised a cross over his grave.* Thus died our wise commander, constant in adversity, in- trepid, generous, engaging, dexterous, skilful, capable of everything. He who for twenty years bad softened the fierce temper of countless savage tribes, was massacred by the bands of bis own domestics, whom he bad loaded with cares- ses. He died in the prime of life, in tbe midst of his course and labors, without having seen tbeir success. Occupied with these thoughts, which he bad himself a thousand times suggested to us, while relating tbe events of tbe new discoveries, I unceasingly adored the inscrutable de- signs of God in this conduct of bis providence, uncertain still what fate be reserved for us, as our desperadoes plotted noth- ing less than our destruction. We at last entered the place where Monsieur Cavelier was ; tbe assassins entered the cabin unceremoniously, and seized all that was there. I bad ar- rived a moment before them ; I bad no need to speak, for as soon as be beheld my countenance all bathed in teai-s, the fiieur Cavelier exclaimed aloud, "Ah I my poor brother is dead!" This holy ecclesiastic, whose virtue has been so often tried in tbe apostolic labors of Canada, fell at once on bis knees, his nephew, tbe sieur Cavelier, myself, and some * This and the circumstances of Moranget's death, are denied by Joutel iu Sitt. Coll. of Lmiaiana, vol. L DISCOVERIES m THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 215 others did the same, to prepare to die the same death, but the wretches touched by some sentiments of compaseion 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 Cojnis. Accordingly, after marching together for several days, crossing rivei's and rivers, everywhere treated by these wretches as servants, having nothing but what they left, we reached the tribe with- out accident. Meanwhile the justice of God accomplished the punish- ment of these men, in default of human justice. Jealousy and desire of command arose between Iliens 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 exhor- tation on the festival, at which they seemed affected, and re- solved to confess ; but this did not last. Those who most re- gretted the murder of their commander and leader, had sided with Hiens who, seizing his opportunity two days' after. Bought 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 ""\ H«f f) \M 216 17ABBATIVE OF FATHER DOITAT. of Jesns 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 French- man 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 Coenis where they had re- solved 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 Ccenis, 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 jmy our way. "We stopped at the Nassonis to celebrate the octave of Corpus Christi. They spoke to us daily of the cruelty of the Span- iards to the Americans, and told us that twenty Indian na- tions 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 dif- ferent 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. 168. With Grol- let 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 Crono- logico. DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 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 Naansi, 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 ihe 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, calume^dances, and other public re- joicings, 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, ser- pents, and other animals. This afforded us an opportunity to * These were, doubtless, the Caddoes, a tribe which is not yet extinct. Ac- cording to Joutel, Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 168, the tribe consisted of fuur allied villages, Assony, ^athosos, Nachitos, and Cadodaquio. Tonty de- scribes them as forming three villages, Cadodaquis, Nachitoches, and Ifasoui, all on the Red river, and speaking the same language. Two of these tribes, the Nasoui and Nacliitochcs bear a strong resemblance to the tribes found by Mus- coso, the successor of De Soto, in the same vicinity, and called by Biedma, Nis- sione {Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. iii., p. 10*7), and by the gentleman of Elvas, Nissoone and Naquiscoza, while the Daycao,aa their river is called, is not incom- patible with Gado-Dac[uio. — Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. iiL, p. 201. !,r<"!*'*'llil|>l Hi J l!i* ill m V iiiii :« 226 NAERATIVE OF FATHER DOUAT. 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 de- scending 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 fift}' 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 Ili- nois route acros" 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 un- known 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 rivei-s entering larger ones, everywhere navigable, and free from rapids. On these rivers are forests fnll of every kind of trees, so distributed that you can everywhere ride through on horseback. The chase is so abundant and easy, especially for wild- cattle, that herds of thousands are discovered; there are deer and other animals of the stag kind in numbers, as well as DI8COVEBIE8 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 ^o left more than two hundred. The rivers are unusually abundant in all kinds of fish, so much 80 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, tobac- co, 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 prod- ucts, and silk roay soon be. The valley of the Mississippi owes the introduc- tion 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 mis- sionaries 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 in- tercourse 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, en- abled France for some time to carry on a very lucrative trade with China. Mm i !;■! , ml 'm\ m m ill! m m nil' m II i:iiiii(i2 Mi. 228 NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAT. quantity of wool which the cattle of the countiy 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 search- ing for the treasures of this countiy : 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, abound- ing 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 fur- nish 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 wo re- marked good dispositions for the faith ; they are docile, char- itable, 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 chiefs cabin. They pray for half an hour, especially at sunrise ; they send him the first whiff of their pipes, and then send one to each of the four cardinal points. I left St. Louis bay on the second voyage to remain among the Coenis and begin a mission there. Here Father Zenobius was to join me, to visit the neighboring tribes while awaiting from France a greater number of gospel laborers, but the melancholy death of the sieur de la Salle having compelled DISCOVEBIES m THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 229 me to proceed, Father Zenobius no donbt went there to meet me, and is, perhaps, there yet with Father Maximus (le Glercq), having left M. de Ohefdeville 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 Glercq, is a faithful extract of what Father Anastasius could remember of his toilsome voyage. He left the Hinois in the spring of 1688, with M. Cavelier, his nephew, the sieur Joustel, and an Indian now domiciled near Versailles. They arrived at Quebec on the 27th of July, and sailed for France on the 20th of August, where, God enabling them to be still together, after having passed through so many perils, they presented on account of all to the ate mar- quis of Seignelay. iWli I'**; I ! " ],.■■■>.. ''I M' ^'A Ji I I, m m !l mil m fi i| mil ] d( V( II le ei et lu et (1( C ni le oi; REGIT DES VOYAGES ET DES DECOUVERTES DU P. JACQUES MARQUETTE, DE LA COMPAGNIE DE JESUS EN L'ANNEE 1073. ET AUX SUIVANTES. CHAPITEE P"^ Du Premier Voyage qu'afait le P. Marquette vera le Nouveau Mexique et ecm- ment s'en estfonni le dessein. IL y avoit longtemps que le Pere premeditoit cette entreprise, porte d'lm tres ardent desir d'estendre le Royaume de J. Ch. et de le faire connoistre et adorer par tous les peuples de ce pays. II se voioit comme a la porte de ces nouvelles nations, lorsque des I'annee 1670, il travailloit en la nnission de lapointe du St. Esprit qui est a I'exlremite du lac Superieur aux Outaoiiacs, il voioit mesme quel- quefoia plusieurs de ces nouveaux peuples, desquels il prenoit toutes les connoissances quil pouvoil, c'est ce qui luy a fait faire plusieurs efforts pour commencer cette entreprise, mais tousiour inutilement, et mesme il avoit perdu I'esperance d'en venir about lorsque Dieu luy en fit naistre cette occasion. En I'annee 1673, M. Le Comte de Frontenac nostre gouverneur, et M. Talon alors nostre Intendant, connoissant I'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 Califor- nie, 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 Ton tient que les mines d'or sont abondantes, ces Messieurs, dis- f''l;il l!!ll| jiilii Nil i! ii I 1 il [mil li'.'^i hilf m 'iiii-f-iiir "I Sir 1P'!1' III J m ■m 232 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. ie, nommercnt 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 homine natif de ce pays, qui a pour un tcl des- sein tous les advantages qu'un pent souhaiter : II a I'experience et la Connoissance des Langues du Pays des Outaoiiacs, ou il a passe plusieurs annees, il a la conduitte ct la sagcsse qui sont les princi- pales parties pour faire reussir un voyage egalement dangereux et difficile. Eniln il a le courage pour ne rien apprehender, ou tout est a craindre, aussi a-t-il remply I'attente qu'on avoit de luy, et si apres avoir passe niille sortos de dangers, il ne fut venu malheur- eusement faire nauffrage auport, son canot ayant tpurne au dessoubs du Saidt de St. Loiiys proche de Montreal, ou il a perdu et ses homines et ses papiers, et d'ou il n'a eschape que par une espece de miracle, il ne lassoit rien a souhaiter au succcz de son voyage. SECTION I. Depart du P. Jacques Marqtiette pour la decmiverte de la grande Riviere appellee par les sauvages Missidpi qai conduit au Nauveau Mexique. Le jour de I'lmmaculee Conception de la Ste. Vierge, que javois tousjcur 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. JoUyet avec les ordres de M. le corate de Frontenac nostre gouvemeur 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 mes sur 3 cnnots d'ecorce, M.JoUyet et moy avec 5 hommes, bien resolus a lout faire et a tout soufTrir pour une si glorieuse enterprise. Ce fut done le I7e 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 e?:pedition animoit nos courages et nous rondoit agreables les peines que nous avions a ramer depuis le matin jusqu'au soir ; et parceque nous alliens cher- cher des pays inconnus, nous apportammes toutes les precautions que nous pOmes, aflinque si nostre entreprise estoit hazardeuse elle ne fut pas temeraire ; pour ce sujet nous primes toutes les connois* sances que nous p6mes des sauvages qui avoient frequente ces en- droicts 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 do la grande riviere, et quels rund devenl nous devions tenir quand nous y serious. Surtout je mis nostre voyage soubs la protection de la Ste. Vierge Immaculee, luy promettant que si elle nous faisoit la grace de de- couvrir la grande riviere, je luy donnerois le nom de la Conception et que je ferois aussi porter ce nom a la premiere mission que j'etablyrois chez ces nouveaux peuples, ce que j'ay fait de vray chez les Ilinois. SECTION II. Ze Fere vitite en passant les Peuples de la folic avoine; Ce queerest que cette folle avoine. 11 entre dans la haye des Puants, quelqves particularitez de cette baye, il arrive a la nation dufeu. Avec toutes ces precautions nous faisons joiier joyeusement les nvirons, sur une partie du Lac Huron, et celuy des Ilinois, et dans la baye des Puans. Le premiere nation que nous rencontrJlmes, fut celle de la folle avoine. I'entray dans leur riviere pour aller visiter ces peuples aus quels nous avons presche I'Evangile depuis plusieurs annees, aussi 86 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 Il II iii'ti l:.„l'" B':' f ill ill! a:. jil;:j f ii'r, '!" l|li::iii ';,,i;ii 1' 1 lllllj; ( : mKMIi. I 11 II I 1 284 KABBATIYE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. petites rivieres dont le fond est de vase, est dans les lieux mares- ageux ; elle est bien semblable a la foUe avoine qui croit parmy nos bleds. Les epics sont sur des tuyeaux novics d'espace en espace, ils sortent de I'eau vers le mois de juin et vont tousjour montant jusqu'- acequils surnagent de deux pieds environ ; Le grain n'est pas plus gros que celuy de nos avoines, mais il est une fois plus long, aussi la farine en est elle bien plus abondante. Voicy comme les sauvages la cueillent et la preparent pour la manger. Dans le mois de Sep- tembre qui est le terns propro pour cette recolte, ils vont en canot au travers de ces champs de folle avoine, ils en socoiieit les espies de part et d'autre dans le canot, a mesure qu'ils avancent ; le grain tombe aisement sil est meur, et en peu de temps «>>; en font leur pro- vision. Mais pour le nettoyer de la paille et le depouiller d'une pellicule dans laquelle il est enferm^, ils le mettent secher a la fumee, sur un gril de bois soubs lequel ils entretiennent un petit feu, pendant quelques jours, et lorsque I'avoine est bien seche, ils la mettent dans une Peau en forme de pouche, laquelle ils enfoncoul dans un trou fait a ce dessein en terre, puis ils la pillent avec les pieds, tant et si fortement que le giuin s'estant separc de la paille, ils le vannent tres ais6ment,, apres quoy ils le pillent pour le reduire en farine ; or mesme 3ans etre pille ils le font cuire dans I'eau, qu'ils assaisonnent avec de la graisse et de cette fa9on on trouve la folle avoine presque aussi delicate, qu'est le ris, quand on n'y met pas de meilleur assaisonnement. Je racontay a ces peuples de la folle avoine, le dessein que j'avois d'aller decouvrir ces nations esloignees pour les pouvoir instruire des mysteres de nostre Ste. Religion : ils en furent ex^remement surpris, et firent tous leur possible pour m'en dissiiader; ils mn representerent que je rencontrerois des Nations qui ne pardonnent jamais aux estrangers ausquels ils cassent la teste sans aucun sujet; que la guerre qui estoit allumee entre divers peuples qui estoicnt sur nostre Route nous exposoit a un autre danger manifesto 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 eiTroyables, 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, eniin que les chaleurs sont si excessives en ces pays la qu'elles nous causeroient la mort infaillible- ment. DIBOOVEBIES IN TUE MIS8ISSIPFI VALLEY. ii Je les remerciay de ces bona advis qu'ils me donnoU, maia jo 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, quo je me moquois de ce demon pretendu, que nous nous deflfenderions bien de ces monstres marins, et qu'au resto nous nous tienderions sur nos gardes pour eviter les autres dangers dont ils nous mena^oient. Apres les avoir fait prior Dieu et leur avoir donnu quelque Instruc- tion, je me separay d'eux, et nous estant embarquez sur nos canots nous arriv^mes 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. Cotte baye porte un nom qui n'a pas une si mauvaise signification en la langue des sauvages, car ils Tappellent plustost la baye sallce que la Baye des Puans, quoyque parmy eux ce soit presque le mes- me, 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 liiroquois ; 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 Tonner- res, quo j'aye iamais entendu. La Baye a environ trente lioiies de profondeur et huict de large en son commencement ; elle va tousjour so retrecissant jusques dans le fond, ou il est aise de remarquer la maree qui a son flux et reflux regie 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-coureurs de la Lune et attachez a sa suitte.lesquelspar conse- quent agitent le lac et luy donnent comme son flux et reflux toutes les fois que la Lune monte sur I'horison. Ce que je peux dire de certain est que quand I'eau est bien calme, on la voit aisement montcr 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 crois- sent 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 coulo douce- ment ; elle est pleine d'outardes, de Canards, de cercelles et d'autres oyseaux qui y sont attirez pur la folic avoine, dont ils sont fort frians, fml I I ViMi i'lp !iii!::i ''"'I l\ I ,,.!lHt::'l \nJ iii ,,j 1 iiiiiiini :i|||ll.iiSl 1'' '/ i m 286 NARRATIVE OF FATIIKtt MARQUETTE. mais quand on a un pen nvancu clans cette riviere, on la trom'o trea diHicile, tnnt a cau80 des cournnts quo dos HochoH aOil^tes, qui coup- pent lea canots et les picds de ceux qui sonl obligds de les traisner, surtout quand les eaux sont bnHHCs. Nous frnnchtmes pourtant heureusement ces rapidcset en approchant do MachkouteuH, lo nation du feu.jeula curiosito de boire des eaux mineralles de la riviere qui n'ost pas loing de cette bourgade, je pris aussi le temps de recon- noistre un simple qu'un sauvage qui en scait le secret a enseignd au P. Alloiies avec bcaitcoup 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. Ella est fort chaude, et elle a un gout de poudre qunnd on I'escrase sous la dent ; il faut la mascher et la mettre sur la piquurro du serpent, qui en a uno si grande horreur, qu'il s'enfuit mesme de celuy.qui s'en est frott6, elle produit plusieurs tiges, hautes d'un pied, dont la feuille est un peu longue et la fleur blanche et beaucoup seinblablo a la giroilce. J'en mis dans mon canot pour Texaminer a loisir pendant que nous avan- cions tousjour vers Maskoutens, ou nous arrivumes le 7 de Juin. SECTION III. Deteription de la Bourgade de Maskoutenn, Cequi iy paita entre le Pere et les aauvagea ; Leu Frarifoia commenccnt d'entrer dan$ un Payt nouveau et inconnu et arrivent a Miasispi, 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 lis n'ont point encore passe plus avant. Ce Bourg est compose de trois sortes de Nations qui 8*y sc^it ramassees, des Miamis, des Maskoutens, et des Kikabous. Les pre- miers 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 deciles, ils escoutent paisiblement ce qu'on leur dit et ont paru si avides d'entendre le P. Alloiies quand il les instruisoit, qu'ils luy donnoient peu de repos, mesme pendant la nuict. Les Maskoutens et les Kikabous sont plus grossiers et ,i"tri DISCOVERIES IN THE MI88I88IPPI VALLEY. 237 aemblent etro ilea paysantz en cninparaison iIoh autroH. Coinmu los Escorces a faire dcM cabannos soiit rnrca en co pays In, ila hv Her- vent do joncs qui lour tionnont lieu de inurnilloH et do couvorturcH, mais qui ne les deiTendant pas benucoup doa veiita, ot bien mollis dos pluyes quand olles tombniit on abundance. La comniudiui do com sortes de cabannes est qu'llM lea incttenl on pacquetz et lea purtent aisomont ou ils voulcnt pendant lo tomps do lour chasse. Lorsque je les visitay.jo fus «\tremement conaolo de veoir une belle croix phintuo au milieu du bourg et orii6e de plusieurs penux blancbus, de ceinturca rouges d'nrcs ot do flochcs quo cos bonnea ^ens avoicnt uilertz au grand Manitou (c'ostlenum qu'ila donnunt a Diou), pour le romercior de cc qifil avoit ou pitio d'eux pendant I'liyver, lour dunnant une chasso abundanto, lursqu'iia approndoient lo plua la famine. Je pris plaiair de veoir la situation de cette bourgade, elle est belle et bion divertissante ; car d'uno oinincnco, sur laquelle olio est placce, on decouvre do toutcs parts dos prairies a porto do veiie, partageea par des bocages ou par des bois do haute futaye. La terro y est tros bonne ot rend bcaucoup do bled d'inde ; les sauvnges ramassent quantite de prunes et do raisins, dont on pourroit faire beaucoupdo vin ai Ton vouloit. Nous ne fumes pas plustost arrivoz quo nous assembl^mes les anciens M. Joelyet etmoy, il lour dit qu'il estoit envoye de la part de raonsr. nostre gouverneur pour dccouvrir de nouvoaux pays et moi de la part de Dieu pour les esclairer des lumieres du St. Evangile ; qu'au resie 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 inort a la quelle je m'exposois dans des voyages si perilleux ; que nous avions besoin de deux guides pour nous mettre dans nostre route ; nous leur fimes un present, en les priant de nous les accor- der, CO qu'ils firent tres civilement et mesme voulurent aussi nous parlor par un present qui fut uno nato pour nous servir de lit pendant tout nostre voyage. Le lendomain 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 fran9ois, seuls et dans deux canotz oser entreprendre une expedition si ex- tresordinaire et si hazardeuse. Nous scavions qu'a trois lieiis de Maskoutens estoit une riviere qui se d^charge dans Missispi ; nous scavions encor que le rund de li I ,1'' ill' 1 itT'i H nil;'' I ,n.LL ' '''"''(jll "■'I / iiliiii 238 NAEBATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. vent que nous devions tenir pour y arriver estoit I'ouest soroiiest, 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 tblle 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 p<.)ur entrer dans celte riviere, apres quoy ils s'en retournerent nous laissant seuls en ce pays in- connu, entre les mains de la providence. Nous quittons done les eaux qui vont jusqua Quebeq a 400 ou 500 licues d'icy pour prendre celles qui nous conduiront desormais dans les terres estrangeres. Avant que de nous y embarquer, nous com- menQames tous ensemble une nouvelle devotion a la Ste. Vierge Ira- maculee 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 embarqudmes s'appelle Mes- kousing. Elle est fort large, son fond est du sable, qui fait diverses battures lesquelles rendent cette navigation tres difficile ; elle est pleine d'isles couvertes de vignes ; sur les bords paroissent de bonnes terres, 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 chevreuils et des vaches en assez grande quantite. Nostre route estoit au suroiiest et apres avoir navige environ 30 lieiies, nous apperceiimes 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 lieiies sur cette mesme route nous arrivons a I'embouchure de nostre riviere et nous trouvant a 42 degrez et de- my d'eslevation, nous entrons heureusement dans Misissipi le 17® Juin avec une joye que je ne peux pas expliquer. i!"f'l DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 239 SECTION IV. De la grande Riviere appcUe Missisipi, les plus notables particularitts. — De divers animavx et particuliercmenf. hs Pisikious ou boevfs sauvages, leiir figure et leur naturcl. — Des premiers villages des llinois on les Francois arrivent. Nous voyla done sur cette riviere si renommee dont iay 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 fori inegale, elle a quelquefois trois quartz de lieiies, et quelquefois elle se retressit jusqua trois arpens. Nous suivons doucement son cours, qui va au sud et au sud est jusqu'aux 42 degres d'elevation, C'est icy que nous nous appercevons bien qu'elle a tout change de face. II n'y a presque plus de bois ny de montagnes, les isles sont plus belles et couvertes de plus beaux arbres ; nous ne voions que des chevreils et des vaches, des outardes et des cygnes sans aisles, par- cequ'ils quittent leurs plumes en ce pays. Nous rencontrons de temps en temps des poissons monstrueux, un desquels donna si rude- ment conlre nostre canot, que je crd que c'estoit un gros arbre qui I'alloit mettre en pieces. Une autrefois nous apperceumes sur I'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 I'eau nous avons pris des esturgeons et une espece de poisson fort extresordinaire, il res- semble a la truitte avec cette difference, qu'il a la gueule plus grande, il a proche du nez (qui est plus petit aussi bien que les yeux) une grande areste, comme un bust de femme, large de trois doigts, long d'une coudee, aubout de laquelle est un rond large comme la main, Cela I'oblige souvent en saultant hors de I'eau de tomber en derriere. Estant descendus jusqua 41 degres 28 minuittes suivant le mesmo rund, nous trouvons que les cocs d'inde ont pris la place du gibier et les pisikious ou bceufs sauvages celles des autres bestes. i" m ill l!ii;F iiiiiiit,ii m iipimt !!"!4| III! m ,■''1,' m\ "';"'L !]ICi[M i^"''ii lil, t 240 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. Nous les appelons boeufs sauvages parcequ'ils sont bien semblables a nos boeufs domestiques, ils ne sont pas plus longs, mais ils sont pres d'une fois plus gros et plus corpulentz ; nos gens en ay ant Hue un, trois personnes avoient bien de la peine a le remiier. lis 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 comme line grande falle, qui pend en bas et sur le dos une bosse assez elevee. Toute la teste, la col et une partie des espaules sont cou- vertz d'un grand crin comme celuy des chevaux, c'est une hure longue d'un pied, qui les rend liideux 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 tor.ibe en este et la peau devient douce comme du velours. C'est pourlors que les sauvages les employent pour s'en faire de "chiles 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 mediants et il ne se passent point d'annee qu'ils ne tuent quelque sauvage ; quand on vient les attaquer, ils prennent e'ils peuvent un homme avec leurs cornes, I'enlevent en I'air, puis ils le jettent centre terre, le foulent des pieds et le tuent. Si on tire de loing sur eux ou de Tare au du fusil, il faut si tost apres le coup se jetter a terre et se cacher dans I'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 I'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 s§avions pas oil nous alliens ayant fait deia plus de cent lieiies sans avoir rien de- couvert que des bestes et des oyseaux nous nous tenons bien sur nos gardes ; c'est pourquoy nous ne faisons qu'un petit feu a terre sur le soir pour preparer nos repas et apres souper nous nous en eloignons le plus que nous pouvons et nous allons passer la nuict dans nos canotz que nous tenons a I'ancre sur la riviere assez loing des bords ; ce qui n'empeche pas que quelqu'un denous ne soit tousjour en sen- tinelle de peur de surprise, AUant par le sud et le sud suroiiest nous nous trouvons a la hauteur de 41 degrez et jusqua40 degrez quelques minutes en partie par sudest et en partie par le suroiiest apres avoir Il'll ::tl| DISCOVEBIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 241 avance plus de 60 lieiies depuis nostre entree dans la Riviere sans rien decouvrir. Enfin le 25e Juin nous apercetimes sur le bord de I'eau des pistes d'hommes, et un petit sentier assez battu, qui entroit dans une belle prairie. Nous nous arrestames pour I'examiner, et jugeant que cestoit un cliemin qui conduisoit a quelque village de sauvages, nous primes resolution de I'aller reconnoistre : nous laissons done nos deux canotz sous la garde de nos gens, leur recommandant bien de ne se pas laisser surprendre, apres quoy M. Jollyet et moy entre- prlines cette decouverte assez hazardeuse pour deux homnies seuls qui s'exposent a la discretion d'nn peuple barbare et inconnu. Nous suivons en silence ce petit sentier et apres avoir fait environ 2 lieiies, nous decouvrimes un village sur le bord d'une riviere, et deux autres sur un costeau escarle du premier d'une demi lieiie Ce fut pour lors que nous nous recommanddmes, a Dieu de bon cceur et ayant ini- plore son secours nous pass&mes outre sans etre dccouverts 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 fisme' par un cry que nous poussames de toutes nos forces, en nous arrestant sans plus avancer. A ce cry les sauvages sortent prompte- ment de leurs cabanes et nous ayant probablement reconnus pour fran^ois, surtout voyant une robe noire, ou du moins n'ayant aucun suject de defliance, puisque nous n'estions que deux hommes, et que nous les avions advertis de nostre arrivee, ils deputerent quattre viel- liards, pour nous venir parler, dontz deux portoient des pipes a pren- dre du tabac, bien ornees et empanachees de divers plumages, ils marchoient a petit pas, et elevant leurs pipes vers le soleil, ils sem- bloient luy presenter a fumer, sans neamoins dire aucun mot. Ils furcnt 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, jugeant par laqu'ils estoient de nos alliez. Je leur parlay done 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, ensuitle ils nous inviterent d'entrer dans leur village, oil tout le peuple nous attendoit avec im- patience. Ces pipes a prendre du tabac s'appellent en ce pays des calumetz ; ce mot sy est mis tellement en usage, que pour estre en- tendu je seray oblige de m'en servir ayant a en parler bien des fois. him "'hi ' i, III! Iili I''' jiiiiit;i! I' 1,1 MIt lilil' 1 'U . ii;iiifjf| in, J'' I'll ; [l|'M 242 NABBATIVB OF FATHER MABQUETTB. SECTION V. Comment Us llinois receurent le Pere dant leur Bourgade, A LA porte de la cabane od nnus devions estie receus, estoit un vielliard qui nous attendoit dans une posture assez surprenante, qui est la cereinonie qu'ils gardent quand ils recoivent des estrangers. Get homme estoit debout et tout nud, tenant ses mains estendus et levees vers le soleil, comme s'il eut voulu se deflendre de ses rayons, les- quels neamoins passoient sur son visage entre ses doigts ; quand nous fusmes proches de luy, il nous fit ce compliment ; que le soleil est beau, fran9ois, quand tu nous viens visiter, tout nostre bourg t'attend, et tu entreras en paix dans toute nns 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 vent passer pour ennemy, ou du moins pour in- civil, pourveu qu' gouins, mais nous entrons comme dans leur pays. Voicy ce que font les sauvages de ces quartiers pour s'en deffendre ; ils elevent un es- chafTault 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 estendiies centre la pluye. Get eschaffault leur sert encor centre les chaleurs excessives et insupportables de ce pays, car on s^ met a I'ombre a I'estage d'en bas et on s'y garantit des rayons du Boleil, prenant le frais du vent qui passe librement autravers de cet eschafTauU. Dans le mesme dessein nous fusmes contraints de faire sur I'eau une espece de cabane avec nos voiles pour nous mettre a convert et des maringouins et des rayons du soleil, comme nous nous laissons aller en cet estat au gre de I'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 frantjois se mettent en deffense, et attendoient 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 faisoU de nous approcher, pour nous donner a manger, nous debarquons done et nous entrons dans leur cabanes oil ils nous presente du boeuf sauvage et de I'huile d'ours, avec des prunes blanches qui sont tres excellentes. Ils ont des fusils, des haches, des hoiies, des coust- eaux, de la rassade, des bouteilles de verre double ou ils mettent leur DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 253 poudre, ils ont les cheveux longs et se marquent par le corps a la fa9on lies hiroquois, les femmes sont coifTes et A'estiies a la fa^uii des huronnes, ils nous assurerent qu'ils n'y avoit plus que dix journees jusqua la mer, qu'ils acheptoient les estofTes et toutes autres mar- chandises des Europeans qui estoient du coste de I'Est, que ces Europeans avoient des chapeletz et des images, qu'ils joiinient 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 Toy, le leurs en donnay ceque je pts avec quelques medailles. Ces nouvelles animerent nos courages et nous firent prendre I'aviron avec une nouvelle ardeur. Nous avan^ons done et nous ne voions plus tant de prairies parceque les 2 coslez de la riviere sont bordez de hauts bois. Les cottonniers, les ormes et les hoisblancs y sont admirables pour leur haulteur et leur grosseur. La grande quanlite de boeufs sauvages que nous entendions meugler nous fait croire que les prairies sont proclies, nous voions aussi des cailles le bord de I'eau, nous avons tue un petit perroquet qui avoit la moiti^ de la teste rouge, I'antre et le col jaune et tout le corps vert. Nous estions descendus proche des 33 degrez d'eslevation ayant presque tuusjour este vers le sud, quand nous apperceumes un village sur le bord de I'eau nomme Mitchigamea. Nous eusmes recours a nostre Patronne et a nostre conductrice la Sle. Vierge Immaculee, et nous avions bien besuii de son assistance, car nous entendismes de loing les sauvages qni ^animoient au combat par leurs crys continu- els, ils estoient armes d'arcs, de Arches, de baches, de massiies et de boucliers, ils se mirent en estat de nous attaquer par terre ct 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 tons costez ; ceux qui es- toient a terre alloient et vcnoient comme pour commencer I'uttaque. De fait de jeunes hommes se jetterent a I'eau, pour venire saiser de men canot, mais le courant les ayant contraint de reprendre terre, un d'eux nous jetta sa massiie qui passa par dessus nous sans nous frapper ; j'avots beau montrer le calumet, et leur faire signe par gestes que nous ne venions pas en guerre, I'alarme continuoit tousjuur et Ton se preparoit deia a nous percer de filches de toutes parts, quand Dieu toucha soAdainement le cceur dos vieillards qui estoient sur le bord de I'ohu sans doubte par la veiie de nostre calumet qu'ils n'n- yu^ent nas bien reconnu de luing, mais comme je ne ccssois do le ilir 254 NARRATIVE OF FATIIKR MARQUETTK. faire paroistre, ils en furent touchez, arresterent I'ardeur de leur jeunesse et meame deux de ces aiiciens ayant jettez dans nostre canot comme a nos pieds leurs arcs et leurs carqtiuis pour nous mettre en asseurance, ils y entrerent et nous iirent approcher de terre, ou nous debarquames non pas sans crainte de nostre part. II fallut au commencement parlcr par gestes, parceque personne n'en- tendoit rien des six langues que je scavois, 11 se trouva enfin un vielliard qui parloit un peu I'llinois. Nous leurs fimes paroistre par nos presens que nous alliens a la mer, ils entendirent bien ce que nous leur voulions dire, mais je ne scay s'ils con9eurent 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 ap- prendrions tout ce que nous desirions d'un aultre grand village nom- m^ Akamsea qui n'estoit qu'a 8 ou 10 lieiies plus bas, ils nous pre- senterent de la sagamite ct du poisson et nous passames la nuict chez eux avec asscz d'inquietude. SECTION IX. Reception qrion fait aux Franrois dans la derniere des Bourgades qu'iU ont veiies. — Les mwurs et fagons defairc de ces sauvages. — Raisons pour ne pat passer outre. Nous embarquames le lendemain de grand matin avec nostre in- tcrprette ; un canot ou estoient dix sauvages alloit un peu devant nous, estant arrives a une demie lieiie des Akamsea, nous vismes pa- roistre deux canotz qui venoient au devant de nous ; celuy <\\\\ y com- mandoit estoit debout tenant en main le calumet avec lequel il faisoit plusieurs gestes scion 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, ensnitle il prit le devant nous ayant fait signe de venir doucement apres luy ; on nous avoit prepare une place sous I'eschuffault du chef des guerriers, elle estoit propre et tnpissee de belles nattes de jimc, sur losquelles on nous fit asseoir, ayant autour de nous les anciens, qui estoient pins proclies, apres les puerriers et enfin tout le peuple en foule. Nous trouvftmes Ta par bontieur .un DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 255 jedne hoinme qui entendoit I'llinois beaucoup mieux que I'liiterprette que nous avions amene de Mitchigainea, ce fut par son moyen que je parlay d'aburd a toute cette asseniblee par les presens urdinaires ; ils admiroient ce que je leur disois de Dien et des mysteres de nostra Ste foy, ils faisoient paroistre un grand desir de me retenir avec eux pour les pouvoir instruire. Nous leurs demandames ensuitte ce qii'ils scavoient de la mer ; ils nous repondirent que nous n'en estions qu'a dix joiirnees, nous aurions pA faire ce chemin en 5 jours, qu'iis ne connoissoient pas les nations qui I'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 na- tions de I'Est et en partie par une bourgade d'llinois placee a I'oiiest 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 connoissiince des Europeans et d'avoir avec eux aucuri commerce ; qu'au resle 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'iis 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 morceau de chien, toute la journee se passa en festins. Ces peuples sont assez ofRcieux et liberaux de ce qu'iis ont, mais ils sont miserables pour le vivre, nosant aller a lachasse des boeufs sauvages a cause de leurs ennemys, ils est vray qu'iis ont le bled d'inde en abondancc, qu'iis 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'iis sement trois fois Pan. lis 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 derriero les oreilles, et n'ont aucune rarete pour se parer. Leurs festins se font sans aucune ceremonie, ils prcsentent aux invitez de grands platz dontz chascun mange a discretion, et se donnent les restcs les uns |,!": 256 NABBATIVB OF FATHKR MARQUETTE. aux aultres. Leur languc est extremement difficile et je ne pnuvois vcnir about d'en prononccr quelques motz, quelque effort que je pusse faire. Leurs cabanes qui sont faittes d'escorce, sunt loiigues et larges, ils cuuchent aux deux bouts elevez do deux picds de terre, ils y gardent leur bled dans de grands panniers faits de Cannes, ou dans des gourdes grosses comme des demy bariques. lis ne scavent ce que c'est que le castor, leurs richesses consistent en peaux de b(Pufs sauvages, ils ne voient jamais de neige chez eux et ne con- noissent I'hyver que par les pluyes qui y tombent plus souvent qu'en est^ ; nous n'y avons pas mange de fruictz que des melons d'eau. S'ils scavoient cultiver leur terre ils en auroient de toutes les sortes. Le S'tir 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, poui' marque de parfaitte assurance, il dansa le calumet devant nous, do la fagon, que jay descript cy dessus, et pour nous oster toule crainte, il m'en fit present. Nous fismes M. Jolliet et moy un aullre 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 considerc 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 Mex- ique, n'on pas du coste de Test dans la Yirginie, 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 I'oiiest a la Californie, parceque nous devions pour cela avoir nostre route a Toiiest ou a Poiiest soroiiest et nous I'avons tousjour en au sud. Nous consider- 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 Euro- peans, nombreux et expertz a tirer du fusil qui infestoiont continuel- ment le bas de cette riviere. Enfin nous avions pris toutes les con- noissances qu'on pent souhaiter dans cette decouverte. Toutes ces raisons firent conclure pour le retour, que nous declarames aux 8au« vages et pour lequel nous nous prepardtnes apres un jour de repos. DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLET. 257 SECTION X. I Retour du Pere et dct Fratifois. — Bapteme d'un enfant moribond, Apres un mois de navigation en descendant sur Missisipi depuis le 42"* degre jusqu'au 34® et plus, et apres avoir publie I'Evangile, autant que j'ay pu, aux nations que j'ny rencontrees nous partons le 17° Juillet du village des Akensea pour retourner sur nos pas. Nous remontons done a Missisipi qui nous donne bien de la peine a refouler ses courans, il est vray quo nous le quittons vers les 38e degre pour entrer dans une aultre riviere qui nous abbrege de beau- coup le cherain 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, def. 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 sur laquelle nous navigeons est large, profonde, paisible pendant 65 lieiies le primplemps et une partie de Teste, on ne fait de transport que pendant une demy lieiie. Nous y trouvames une bourgade d'llinois nomme Kaskaskia com- posee 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 ju- su'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'es- timerois 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 PeSarea, je fus trois jours a publier la foy dans toutes leurs cabanes, apres quoy comme nous nous embarquions, on m'ap- porte au bord de I'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 I' 111:1 i m ^^ii m UNFINISHED LETTER OF FATHER MARQUETTE TO FATHER CLAUDE DABLON, SUPERIOR OF THE MISSIONS^ CONTAINING A JOURNAL OF HIS LAST VISIT TO THE ILINOIS. MoN Reverend Pere — Pax X« :— Ay ANT et6 contraint de demeiirer a St. Franqois tout l'est6 a cause de quelque incommodite. En ayant este guery dez le mois de Sep- tembre j'y attendois I'arrivee de nos gens au retour de la bas pour 89avoir ce qu ie ferois pour mon hyvernement ; lesquels m'apporter- ent les ordres pour mon voyage a la mission de le Conception des Ilinois. Ayant satisfait aux sentiments de Y. R. pour les copies de mon ioumal 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 Ptite8atamis 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 ap- prismes que 5 canots de PBtetiatamis et 4 d'llinois estoient partis pour aller aux Kaskaskia. 27. Nous fusmes arrestez le matin par la pluye, nous eusmes beau temps et calme I'apresdisnce que nous rencontrasmes dans Tanco a Pesturgeon les sauvages qui marchoient devant nous. 1)1 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 comnien9ons notre portage et allons coucher de Tautre bord, ou le mauvais temps nous fist bien de la peine. Pierre n'arrive qu'a une heure dv nuit s'es- garant par d'un sentier ou il n'avoit iamais este, apres lu 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 lieiie 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 connoisseut 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 I'on vieut coucher a une petite riviere. Le chemin do I'ance a I'esturgeon par terre est tres difficile, nous n'en marchions pas loing Tautomne passee, lorsque nous entrasmes dans le bois. Nov. 1. Ayant dit la Ste. Messe on vient coucher dans une riviere, d'ou Ton va aux PSteSatamis par un beau chemin. Chachag8essi8 Ilinois fort considere parmy sa nation, a raison en partie qu'il se mesle des affaires de la traitte arrive la nuit avec un chevreux sur son dns, dont il nous fait part. 2. La Ste. Messe dit, nous marchons toute la iournee par un fort beau temps, on tiie deux chats qui n'ont quasi que de la graisse. 3. Comme i'estois par terre marchant sur le beau sable tout le bordde I'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, tons 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 NatiaskingfcSe venoit de faire a une peau de loup. 6. On fist une belle iournee, les sauvages estant a la chasse de- couvrirent quelques pistes d'hommes ce qui oblige d'arrester le len- demain. 9. On mit a terre sur les 2 heures a cause d'un beau cabannage, I'll I M 260 NARRATIVE OF FATIIKB MARQUETTE. ou Ton fust arreste 5 iours, a cause de la grande agitation du lac sans aucun vent, ensuitte par la neige, qui fust le lendemain fondue par le soleil et un vent du large. 15. Apres avoir fait assez de chemin on cabanne dans un bel en- droit ou Ton est arreste 3 iours Pierre raccommode le fusil d'un sau* vage, neige tonibe la nuit et fonde le iour. 20. On couche aux ecors assez mal cabannez les sauvages de- meurent derriere durant qu'on est arreste du vent 2 iours et demy Pierre allant dans le bois trouve la prairie a 20 lieiies du portngo, il passe aussi sur un beau canal comme eji voute, liaut de la hauteur d'un homme, ou il y avoit un pied d'eau. 23. Estant cmbarque sur le midy nous eusmcs assez de peine de gagner une riviere, le froid commenga par Test et plus d'un pied de neige couvrit la terre qui est tuusiours depuis demeure ou fust arreste la 3 iours durant lesquels Pierre tua un chevreux, 3 outardes, et 3 cocqs d'inde, qui estoient fort bons, les autres passerent iusques aux prairies, un sauvage ayant descouvcrt quelquos cabaiines nous vint trouver, Jacques y alia le lendemnin avec luy, 2 chasseurs me vinrent aussi voir, c'estoient des Masktitens au nombre de 8 ou 9 cabannes, lesqueljes s'estoient separoz les uns des autres pour pou- voir vivre, avec des fatigues presque impossibles a des frangois ils marchent tout I'hyver, dans des chemins tres diflficiles, les lerres estant pleines de ruisseaux, de petits lacs et de ma rests, ils sont tres mal cabannez, et mangent ou ieusnenl seloii les lieux ou ils sc ren- contrent ; estant arrestez par le vent nous remarquasmes qu'il y avoit de graiides battures au large uu la lame hrisoieiit continuelle- ment ; ce fust la que ie setitis quelques atteintes d'un flux de ventre. 27. Nous eusmes assez de peine de sorlir de la riviere et ayant fait environ 3 lieiies nous trouv^asmes les sauvages qui avoient tuez des boBufs et 3 llinois qui estoif'iit vi-uu du village, nous fusnies ar- restez la d'un vent de terre, des lames prodigieuses qui venoient du large, et du froid. Decembre 1. On devance les sauvages pour pouvoir dire la Ste. Mcsse. 3. Ayant dit la Ste. Messe, estant emharque nous fusmes con- traint de gagner une pointe pour pouvoir mettre n terre a cause des bourguignons. 4. Nous partismes heiireusement pnnr venir a la riviere dn portage ^ui estoil gelee d'un dei)iy pit'd, ou il y avoit plus de neige que par- lout ailleurs, comme aus«i plus de pistes de b«*8tps et de cocqs d'ln- DISCOVERreS IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 2C1 >is ils ortago je par- 8 fl'In- de. La navigation du lac est assez belle d'un portage a I'autre, n'y ayant aucuno traverse a faire ct pouvant mettre a terre partout, moyennant qu'on ne soit point opiniastre a vouloir marcher dans lea 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 chaise du chevreux est tres belle a mesure qu'on s'esloigne des PtiteHatamis. 12. Comme on commenqoit hir a traisner pour approcher du portage les Ilinois ayant quiltez 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 I'entree de la riviere Pierre et Jacques tuerent 3 boeufs et 4 chev- reux dont un courut assez loing ayant le coeur coupe en 2 on se con- tente de tuer 3 ou 4 cocqs d'inde de plusieurs qui venoient autour de notre cabanne, parcequ'ils mouroient quasi de faim ; Jacques ap- porta un perdrix qu'il avoit tuez, semblable en tout a celles de France, excepte qu'elle avoit comme deux aislerons de 3 ou 4 aisles longues d'un doigt proche de la teste, dont elles couvrent les 2 costez du col ou il n'y a point de plume. M. Estant cabannez proche le portage a 2 lieues dans la riviere nous resolusmes d'hyverner la, estant dans Timpossibilite de passer outre, estant trop embarasse, et mon incommodite ne me pennettant pas de boaucoup fatiguer. Plusieurs Ilinois passerent hier pour aller porter leur pelleterie a Na8asking8e, ausquels on donne un bceufs et un chevreux que Jacque avoit tuc le iour auparavant ie ne pense pas avoir veu de sauvage plus afTame de petun Francois qu'eux, ils vin- rent 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 ap- portez 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 au printemps de tenir conseil quand ie serois au village ; ils nous traitterent 3 belles robbes de boeuf pour une coudee de petun, lesquelles, nous ont beaucoup servi cet hyver, estant ainsi desbarassez, nous dismes la Messe de la Conception ; depuis le 14 mon incommodite se tourna en flux de sang. 30. Jacque arriva du village des Ilinois qui n'estoit qu'a six lieues d'icy ou ils avoient faim le froid et la neige les emp eschant de chas- 262 NABBATIYE OF FATUEB MABQUETTE. ser, quelques una ayant adverti la Toupine et le chirurgien que nous estions icy et ne pouvant quitter leur cabanne avoient tellement don- nez la peur aux sauvages croyant que nous aurions faiin demeurant icy que Jacque eust bien de la peine d'empescher 15 jeunes gons de venir pour emporter toute nostie affaire. Janvier 16, 1675. Aussitot que les 2 fran9oi8 sceurent que mon mal mempeschoit d^Lller ckez eux le chirurgien vint icy avec un sauvage pour nous apporter des bluets et du bled ; ils ne sent que 18 lieiies d'icy dans un beau lieu de chasse, pour les boeufs et les chev- reux et les cocqs d'inde qui y sont excellents, ills avoient aussi amas- sez des vivres en nous attendant ; et avoient fait entendre aux sau- vages que leur cabanne estoit a la Robbe noire, et on pent dire qu'ils ont fLit et dit tout ce qu'on pent attendre d'eux : le chirurgien ayant icy seioume pour faire ses devotions : j'envoiay Jacque avec luy pour dire aux Ilinois qui estoient proche de la, que mon incommodite m'empeschoit de les aller voir et que iaurois mesme de la peine d'yaller le printemps si elle continuoit. 24. Jacque retourna, avec un sac de bled et d'autres rafraichisse- ment que les Francois luy avoient donnez pour moy : il apporta aussi les langues et de la viande de deux bcpufs qu'un sauvage et luy avoient tuez proche d*icy ; mais toutes les bestes se sentent de mauvais temps. 26. 3 Ilinois nous apporterent de la part des Anciens 2 sacs de bled, de la viande seche, des citrouilles et 12 castors, 1°, pour me faire une natte, 2°, pour me demander de la poudre, 3", pour que nous n'eussions faim, 4°, pour avoir quelque peu de marchandises ; ie leur repondis 1"S que i'estois venu pour les instruire, en leur parlant de la priere, &c. 2"^ que ie ne leur donnerois point de poudre, puisque nous taschions de mettre partout la paix, et que ie ne voulois qu'ils commen9assent la guerre avec les Miamis. 3"^ que nous n'appre- hendions point le faim. 4°^ que iencouragerois les fran9cois 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 lieiis, pour les payer do leur peine et de ce qu'ils m'avoient ap- portez ie Jeur donnay une hache, 2 couteaux, 3 iambettes, 10 brasses de rassade et 2 mirouirs doubles, et leur disant qui ie tascherois d'al- ler 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. WSCOVKItrES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 268 Fevrier 9. Depuis que nous nous sommes addresscz a la Ste. Vierge Immaculee que nous avons commencez une neufvaino par tine messe a laquelle Pierre et Jacque qui font tout ce qu'ils peu- vent pour me soulager, ont comniunics pour demander a Dieu la sante, mon flux de sang m'a quitte, il ne me rcste qu'un foiblesso d'es- tomac, ie commence a meporter beaucoup mieux ct a reprendre mcs forces : il ne cabanne d'llinois qui s'estoit rangee proche de nous depuis un mois une partie out repris le chemin des PUt et quelques uns sont encore au bord du lac ou ils attendant que la navigation soit libre, ils emportent des lettres pour nos P. P. de St. Francois. 20. Nous avons eu le temps de remarquer les mareez qui vien- nent du lac lesquels haussent et baissent plusieurs fois par iour et quoyqu'il n'y paraisse aucune abry dans le lac, on a veu les glaces aller contre le vent, ces mareez nous rendoient I'eau bonne ou mau* vaisse parceque celle qui vient d'en hault coule des prairies ct 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 femellcs 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 do Mars il commen9a par un vent de sud, dez le lendemain le gibier commenqa de paroistre, on tua 30 tourtres que ie trouvay meilleures que celles de la bas, mais plus petites, tant les vieilles que les ieunes ; le 28 les glaces se rompirent et s'arresterent au dessus de nous, le 29 les eaux crurent si fort que nous n'eusmes que le temps de descabanner au plutot, mettre nos affaires sur des arbres et tascher de chercher a coucher sur quelque but I'eau nous gagnant presque toute la nuit, mais ayant un peu gele et estant diminue com- me 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 aliens 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 en- core 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 lieiies dans la riviere en re- S64 KABBATIYB OF FATHER MARQUETTB. 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. II n'y a que les terres bien hautes qui ne soient point inondeez, celle ou nous sommes a cru plus do 12 pieds a-ce fut d'icy que nous commen^aHmes notre portage ily a 18 mois; les outardes et les canards passent continuellement ; on ■'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 demeuroray 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 surtoiit un sac de bled, tandis qu'un grand vent de sud nous arreste, nous esperons allerdemain ou sunt les Fran9oi8, distant de 15 lieues d'icy. 6. Les grands vents et le froid nous empeschent de marcher. Les deux lacs par ou nous avons passex soiit plains d'oiitardes, d'oyes, de canards, de grues et d'autres gibiers que nous ne connoissons point. Les rapides sont assez dangereux en quelques endroits, nous venons de rencontrer le chirurgien avec un sauvage qui montoit avec une canottee de pelleterie, mais le froid estant trop grand pour des per- sonnes qui sont obligez de traisner les canots dans I'cau, il vient de faire cache de son castor et retourne demain au village avec nous. Si les Frangois ont des robbes de ce pays icy, ils ne les desrob- bent pas tant les fatigues sont grands pour les on titer. LA SALLE'S PATENT OF NOBILITY. (Paris Doo. in Secy's. Office, Albany, vol. ii. pp. 8-11,) Donn6es i, Compeigne le 13 May, 1675. Louis, par la grace de Dieu Roy de France et de Navarre, k tous presons et ii venir saint. Les Roys nos predecesscurs ayant tou- jours estinie que I'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 inform^s des bonnes actions que font journelleraent les peuples de Canada, soit en reduiso ant ou disciplinant les sauvages, soit en se defendant contre leurs frequentes insultes, et celles de Iroquois et enfin en meprisant les plus grands perils pour ^tendre jusques au bout de ce nouveau monde, nostre nom et nostre empire, nous avons estime qu'il es- tait de nostre justice de distinguer par des recompences d'honneur ceux qui se sont le plus signalez pour exciter les autres 4 meriter de semblables graces, a ces causes, desirant traiter favorablement nos- ire 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 do Canada oil il s'est estably depuis quelques ann6es et pour autres considerations si ce nous mouvans, et de notre grace speciale, pleine puissance, et autorite royale, nous avons annobiy, et par ces presentes signees de nostre main annoblissons, et decorons dii litre et qualite de noblesse le d. Sr. Cavalier, ensemble sa femme et enfans posterite et lignee tant males que femelles nes et iL naitre en loyal mariage ; Voulons et nous plait qu'en tous actes tar'. en jugement que dehors ils soient tenus, censes et reputes nobles pov - tant la qualite d'escuyer, et puissant parvenir k tous degres de chev- allerie et de gendarmerie, acquerir, tenir, et posseder toutes sortes dc 266 LA. SALLE'8 patent OP NOBILITT. fiefs et seigneuries et heritages nobles de quelque litre et qualite qu'ils soient, et qu'ils jouissent de tons honneurs, autorites, prerog- atives, preeminences, privileges, franchises, exemptions et immu- nites, dont jouissent et ont accoutume de jouir et user les autres nobles de nostre Royaume et de porter tolles armes qu'elles sont cy empraintes, sans ce que pour ce le dit Robert Cavelier soil tenu nous payer, ny a nos successeurs Roys, aucune finance ni indemnite, dont a quelque somme qu'elles se puissent monter, nous I'avons decharge, et dechargeons et lui avons fait et faisons don par cesdites presentes, le tout par les causes et raisons portees en I'arrest de notre concil de cejourdhui donne nous y etant dont copie demeurera cy attaches sous le contreseil de nostre chancellerie. Si donnouns en mande- ment a nos aimes et feaux con*" 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 k 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 k toujours, nous y avons fait mettre nostre sc6l. Donne a compeigne le 13 May, Tan de grace mil six cens soixante quinze, et de nostre regne le trento- troisieme. ' / LA. BALLETS PATENT OF NOBIUTT. 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 ot de Nauarre, Salut. Ayant resolu de faire quelques entreprises dans I'Amerique Septen- trionale pour assujetir sons nostra domination plusieurs nations sauvages, et leur porter les lumi^res de la foy et de I'evangile, nous avons cru que nous ne pouvions faire un meilleur choix que du sieur de la Salle, pour coinm-under en nostre noin tous les Fran9ais et sauvages qu'il employera pour I'execution des ordres dont nous I'avons charge. A ces causes, et autres k 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, com- mettons et ordonnons par ces presentes signees de nostre main, pour sous nostre auiorite commander tant dans les pays qui seront assu- jettis de nouveau sous nostre domination dans I'Amerique Septen* trionale, depuis le fort St. Louis sur la Riviere des Illinois jusques ill la Nouvelle Biscaye, qu'aux Fran9ois et sauvages qu'il employera dans les entreprises dont nous I'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, ^tablir des Gouverneurs et commandans par«" dans les lieux qu'il jugera a pro- pos, jusques a cesqu' autrement par nous en ait ete ordonnd, main- tenir 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, libert^s, prerogatives preemin< ences, franchises, libertes, gages, droits, finites, proffits, revenues, et emolumens, tant qu'il nous plaira. De ce faire vous avons donne et donnons pouvoir par ces d. pre- sentes par lesquelles mandons a tous nos d. sujets et gens de guerre de vous reconnoistre, obeir, et entendre en choses concernant le pre* sent pouvoir. Car tel est nostre plaisir. En temoin dequoi nous avons fait mettre nostre seel secret i ces d. presentes. Donnees d Versailles, lo 14 Avril, 1684. COMPARATIVE TABLE Of the Names on the Mwp published hy Thevenotj as Mar- quette\ and on his lieal Map annexed* Tkevmot. Marquette. Uttual Form. Mouingwena Moingwena Moingonan Pe-wanea Pe-warea Pe-oria Tillini-wek Ilinois AUiniwek and Illinois Missi-ousing Miscousing Wisconsin Cach-ouach-wia Kachkaskia Kaskaskia Manoutensac Maskoutens Kamissi Kanza Autrechaha Ouchage Osage Ou-mis80uri 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. AP/S '3^ Ji^ THE END. > ' X i I H>ui. l^^S* T' FAC SIMILE MISSISSIPPI o» io li FATHER MARQUET-^t at 1 1 Hi tnin of hij, \:n\i ^^ from t/ifOriuiii(i^ preieiied (t/ St Uit/yy Cdlhm MONTH£AL . ./4 i^ f^- (' ^J 3'^ 11 CAN A WAHA 07«"V ,\1 / (MM //.M.^iU^/c LAr * i!.i;,:,.:3i:^f-":r<:;3:r'' KACHKMhA K t3 /»3 PA Wi^-*^'! '^^ V<:A46« I o KACIlKKJuj, A 3s? MARt)A .?s '-^ (* >^ 38 ^7 Jf 'i (11 PArJA OlUNTflNTA ^ m U M MIASM An KANJA AH o 2 r*. c^ 113 HCNCJJo'KlV fl ToTc HA Si m/\i qua A] 4KO/tOA ^U KAcilKKfi^j^ ^ -tS^^ ^0^' ^ f^orjsypfr^l^f:^ AlAICHI .P5 fi A jj' / N FLofilOE )o ■-i-"«^-='-'<: KACItKKfi^ji ^ •=V' = .:^J *::*■;:- i-_- • - -7- ' 11^ ^^^ MAJlOA Ct'fA\/A.NO}\r ^ Ui <^ cd UJ ..: -; "■ "^ ■•"'■ ■'■''■" • .h *-^ \r ' , :\,: Vi uJ KAKlrvoN y/i s 2 M ATA HAL i. < D K ^ ^ J5 ^''/JTo/v..^ n.ofiioE ...,-(f. I^LDRIDE. JA- ?o