Rice County, Minnesota - Chapter 5: Nicholas Peerot, Founder of First Post on Lake I'erin, 1882

Chapter 5: Nicholas Peerot, Founder of First Post on Lake I'erin

£&rly Life. - Searches for Copper. - Interpreter at Sault St. Marie, Employed by La Salle. - Bmlds Stocltade at Lake Pepin. - Hostile Indians Reliulced. - A Silver Ostensorium Given to a Jesuit Chapel. - Perrot in the Rattle against Senecas, in New York. - Second Visit to Sioux Country. - Taking Possession by "Proces Verbal." - Discovery of Lead Mines. - Attends Council at Montreal. - Establishes a Post near Detroit, in Michigan. - Perrot's Death, and his Wife.

Nicholas Perrot, sometimes written Pere, was one of the most energetic of the class in Canada known as "coureurs des bois," or forest rangers. Born in 1644, at an early age he was identified with the f nr trade of the great inland lakes. As early as 1665, he was among the Outagamies [Foxes], and in 1667 was at Green Bay. In 1669, he was appointed by Talon to go to the lake region in search of copper mines. At the formal taking possession of that country in the name of the King of Prance, at Sault St. Marie, on the 14th of May, 1671, he acted as interpreter. In 1677, he seems to have been employed at Port Prontenac. La Salle was made very sick the ne.xt year, from eating a salad, and one Nicholas Perrot, called Joly Ca?ur (Jolly Soul) was suspected of havuig mingled poison with the food. After this he was associated with Du Lutli in the execution of two Indians, as we have seen. In 16X4, he was appointed by I)e la Barre, the tJovernor of Canada, as Commandant fur the West, and left Montreal with twenty men. Arriving at (ireen Bay in AVisconsin, some Indians told him that they had visited countries toward the setting sim, where they obtained the blue and green stones suspended from tlieir ears and noses, and that they saw horses and men like Frenchmen, probably the Spaniards of New Mexico ; and others said that they had obtained hatchets from persons who lived in a house that walked on the water, near the uiouth of the river of the Assiniboines, alluding to the English estabhshed at Hudson's Bay. Proceeding to the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin, thirteen Ilurons Wfrt^ met, who were bitterly opposed to the establishment of a post near the Sioux. After the

Mississippi was readied, a party of Winnebagoes was employed to notify the tribes of Northern Iowa that the French had ascended the river, and wished to meet them. It was further agreed that prairie fires would be kindled from time to time, so that the Indians could follow the French.

After entering Lake Pepin, near its mouth, on the east side, Perrot found a place suitable for a post, where there was wood. Tlie stockade was built at the foot of a bluff beyond which was a large prairie. La Potherie makes this statement, which is repeated by Penicaut, who writes of Lake Pepin : " To the right and left of its shores there are also prairies. In that on the right on the bank of the lake, there is a fort, which was built by Nicholas Pen'ot, whose nimieityet[1700] bears."

Soon after he was established, it was announced that a band of Aiouez [loways] was encamped above, and on the way to visit the post. The French ascended in canoes to meet them, but as they drew nigh, the Indian women ran up the bluffs, and hid in the woods ; but twenty of the braves mustered courage to advance and greet Perrot, and bore him to the chief's lodge. The chief, bending over Perrot, began to weep, and allowed the moisture to fall upon his visitor. After he had exhausted himself, tlio principal men of the party repeated the slabbering process. Then buffalo tongues were boiled in an earthen pot, and after being cut into small pieces, the chief took a piece, aiul, as a mark of respect, placed it in Perrot's mouth.

At the end of the beaver hunt, the Ayoes [loways] came to the post, but Perrot was absent ^^siting the Nadouaissioux. and they sent a chief to notify him of their arrival. Four Illinois met him on the way, and were anxious for the return of foiu' children held by the French. When the

Jexplobebs And Pi0Neeb8 Of Minnesota

Sioux, who were at war with the Illinois, perceived them, they wished to seize their canoes, but the Prench vo^'ageurs who were giiardins; them, pushed into the middle of the river, and the French at the post coming to their assistance, a reconciliation was effected, and four of the Sioux took the Illinois upon their shoulders, and bore them to the shore.

An order having been received from Denonville, Governor of Canada, to bring the Miami?, and other tribes, to the rendezvous at Niagara, to go on an expedition against the Senecas, Perrot entrusting the post at Lake Pepin to a few Frenchmen, visited the Miamis, who were dwelling below on the Mississippi, and with no guide but Indian camp fires, went sixty miles into the country beyond the river.

Upon his return, he perceivea a great smoke, and at first thought that it was a war party proceeding to the Sioux country. Ft)rtunately he met a Maskouten chief, who had been at the post to sec him, and he gave the intelligence, that the Outagamies [Foxes], Kikapous [Kickapoos], and Mascoutechs [Maskoutens], and others, from the region of Green Bay, had determined to pillage the post, kill the French, and then go to war against the Sioux. Hurrying on, he readied the fort, and learned that on that very d;iy three spies had been there and seen that there were only SIX Frenchmen in charge.

The next day two more spies appeared, but Perrot had taken the precaution to put loaded guns at the door of each hut, and caused his men frequently to change their clothes. To the query, '- IIuw many French were thereV"' the reply was given, " Forty, and that more were daily expected, who had been on a builalo hunt, and that the guns were well loaded and knives well sharpened." They were then told to go back to their camp and bring a chief of each nation represented, and that if Indians, in large numbers, came near, they would be lired at. In accordance with this message six chiefs presented themselves. After their bows and arrows were taken away they were invited to Perrot 's cabin, who gave something to eat and tobacco to smoke. Looking at Perrot "s loaded guns they asked, '- If he was afraid of his children?" He replied, he was not. They continued, "Yon are displeased." Tie answered, " I have good reason to be. The Spirit has warned me of your designs; you will take my things away and put me in the kettle, and proceed against the Nadouaissioux, The Spirit told me to be on my guard, and he would help me." At this they were astonished, and confessed that an attack was meditated. That night the chiefs slept in the stockade, and early the next morning a part of the hostile force was encamped in the vicinity, and wished to trade. Perrot had now only a force of fifteen men, and seizing the chiefs, he told them he would break their heads if they did not disperse the Indians. One of the chiefs then stood up on the gate of the fort and said to the warriors, " Do not advance, young men, or you are dead. The Spirit has warned ^letaminens [PerrotJ of your designs." They followed the advice, and afterwards Perrot presented them with two guns, two kettles, and some tobacco, to close the door of war against the Nadouaissioux, and the chiefs were all permitted to make a brief visit to the post.

Returning to Green Bay in 1686, he passed much time in collecting allies for the expedition against the Iroquois in Kew York. During this year he gave to the Jesuit chapel at Depere, five miles above Green Bay, a church utensil of silver, fifteen inches high, still in existence. The standard, nine inches in height, supports a radiated circlet closed with glass on both sides an<l surmmnited with a cross. This vessel, weighuig about twenty ounces, was intended to show the consecrated wafer of the mass, and is called a soleil, monstrance, or ostensoriimi.

During the spring of IBs; I'errot, with J)e Liith and Tonty, was witli the Indian allies and tlie Fren(;h in the expedition against the Senecas of the (tenesseo Yalley in Xew York.

The next year Denonville, Governor of Canada, again sent Terrot with forty rrcnchmen to tlie Sionx who, says Potheric, " were very distant, and wlio would not trade witli ns as easily as the other tribes, the Outagamis [Foxes] having boasted of having cut off the passage tliereto."

"Wlien Perrot arrived at ^lackinaw, tlie tribes of that region were much excited at tlie hostility of tlie Outagamis [Foxes] toward the Sautenrs [Cliippeways]. As soon as Perrot and his party readied Green Bay a deputation of the Foxes sought an interview. He told them that he had nothing to do with this quarrel with the t!hippeways. In justification, they said that a party of their young men, in going to war against the Xadouaissioux, had found a young man and three Chippeway gii'ls.

Perrot was silent, and continued his journey towards the Nadouaissioux. Soon he was met by live chiefs of the Foxes in a canoe, who begged him to go to their village. Perrot consented, and when he went into a chiefs lodge they placed before him broiled venison, and raw meat for the rest of the French. He refused to eat because, said he, "that meat did not give him any spirit, but he would take some when the Outagamis [Foxes] were moi'e reasonable." He then chided them for not having gone, as requested by the (iovernor of Canada, to the Detroit of Lake Erie, and during the absence of the French tigliting witli the Chippeways. Having ordered tliem to go on their beaver hunt and only light against tlie Iroquois, he left a few Frenchmen to trade and proceeded on his journey to the Sioux couiit ry . Arriving at the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin lUvers they were impeded by ice, but wiUi tlie aid of some Pottawattomies they transported tlieir goods to the "Wisconsin, which they found no longer frozen. The Chippeways were iufornied that their daughters had been taken from tlie Foxes, and a deputation came to take tlieni bac-k. but being attacked by the Foxes, wlio did not know their errand, they fled without securing the three girls. Perrot then ascended the

As soon as the rivers were navigable, tlie Nadouaissioux came down and escorted Perrot to one of their villages, where he was welcomed with niiicli entliusiasm. He was carried upon a lieaver robe, followed by a long line of warriors, earh iieariiig a pipe, and singing. After taking liinianiiuid the village, lie was borne to the chief's lodge, when several came in to weep over 'lis head, witli the same tenderness that tlie Ayoes ( loways) did, when Perrot several years before arrived at Lake Pepin. " These weepings," says an old clironicler " do not weaken tlieir souls. They are very good warrims, and reported the bravest in that region. They are at war with all the tribes at present except the Saulteurs [Cliippeways] aiiG Ayoes [loways], and even with these they have quarrels. At the break of day the Nadouaissioux liatlie, even to the youngest. Tliey have very line forms, but the women are not comely, and they look upon them as slaves. They are jealous and suspicious about them, and lliey are the cause of quarrels and blood-shedding.

"The Sioux are very dextrous with their canoes, and they fight unto deatli if surrounded, Tlieir country is full of swamps, which shelter them in summer from lieing molested. One must be a Nadouaissioux, to find tlie way to tlieir villages."

While Perrot was absent in Xew York, fighting the Seuecas, a Sioux chief knowing tliat few Frenchmen were left at Lake I'epiu, came witli one hundred warriors, and endeavored to jiillage it. Of this complaint was made, and tlie guilty leader was near being put to deatli by his associates. Amicable relations having been formed, preparations were made by Perrot to return to his post. As they were going away, one of tlie Frenchmen complained tliat a box of his goods had been stolen. Perrot ordered a voyageur to bring a cup of water, and into it he poured some brandy. He tlien addressed the Indians iuid told them he would dry up their marshes if tlie goods were not restored ; and then he set on fire the liiaudy in tlie cup, Tlie savages were astonished and terrified, and supposed that he possessed supernatural powers ; and in a little the goods

Hxplorebs And Pionjeijrs Of Minnesota

The Toxes, wliile Perrot was in the Sioux coinitry, changed their village, and settled on the Mississippi. Coming up to visit Perrot, they asked him to establish friendly relations between them and the Sioux. At the time some Sioux were at the post trading furs, and at first they supposed the French were plotting with the Foxes. Perrot, however, eased them by presenting the calumet and saying that the French considered the Outagamis [Foxes] as brothers, and then adding: "Smoke in my pipe; this is the manner with which Onontio [Governor of Canada] feeds his children." The Sioux replied that they wished the Foxes to smoke first. This was reluctantly done, and the Sioux smoked, but would not conclude a definite peace until they consulted their chiefs. This was not concluded, because Perrot, before the chiefs came down, received orders to return to Canada.

About this time, in the presence of Father Joseph James ^Slarest, a Jesuit missionary, 15oisguillot, a trader on the Wisconsin and Mississippi, Le Sueur, who afterward built a post below the Saint Croix Itiver, about nine miles from Hastings, the following document was prepared:

" Nicholas Perrot, commanding for the King at the post of the Nadouessioux, commissioned by the Alarqiiis Denonville, Go\'ernor and Lieutenant Governor of all New France, to manage the interests of commerce among all the Indian tribes and people of the Bay des Puants [Green Bay], Nadouessioux, Mascoutens, and other western nations of the Upper Mississippi, and to take possession in the King's name of all the places where he has heretofore been and whither he will go:

" We this day, the eighth of ilay, one thousand six hundred and eighty-nine, do, in tlie presence of the Reverend Father Marest, of the- Society of Jesus, Missionary among the Nadouessioux, of Monsieur de Boisgiiillot, commanding the French in the neighborliood of the Ouiskonche, on the Mississippi, Augustin Legardeur, Esquire, Sieur de Canmout, and of Messieurs Le Sueiu", Ilebert, Lemire and Blein.

" Declare to all whom it may concern, that, being come from the Bay des Puants, and to the Lake of the Ouiskonches, we did transport ourselves to the country of the Nadouessioux, on the border of the river St. Croix, and at the mouth of the river St. Pierre, on the bank of which were the Mantautans, and further up to the interior, as far as the Menehokatonx [Med-ay-wah-kawntwawn], with whom dwell the majority of the Songeskitons [Se-see-twawnsj and other Nadouessioux who are to the northwest of the lilississippi, to take possession, for and in the name of the King, of the countries and rivers inhabited by the said tribes, and of which they are proprietors. The present act done in our presence, signed with our hand, and subscribed."

The three Chippeway girls of whom mention has been made were still with the Foxes, and Perrot took them with him to ilackinaw, upon his return to Canada.

While there, the Ottawas held some prisoners upon an island not far from the mainland. The Jesuit Fathers went over and tried to save the captives from harsh treatment, but were unsuccessful. The canoes appeared at length near each other, one man paddling in each, while the warriors were answering the shouts of the prisoners, who each held a white stick in his hand. As they neared the shore the chief of the party made a speech to the Indians who lived on the shore, and givhig a history of the campaign, told them that they were masters of the prisoners. The warriors then came on land, and, according to custom, abandoned the spoils. An old man then ordered nine men to conduct the prisoners to a separate place. The women and the young men formed a line with big sticks. The young prisoners soon foiuid their feet, but the old men were so badly used they spat blood, and they were condemned to be burned at the Mamilion.

The Jesuit Fathers and the French officers were much embarrassed, and feared that the Iro- (juois would complain of the little care which had been used to prevent cruelty.

Perrot, in this emergency, walked to the place where the prisoners were singing the death dirge, in expectation of being burned, and told them to sit down and be silent. A few Ottauwaws rudely told them to sing on, but Perrot forbade. He then went back to the Council, where the old men bad rendered judgment, and ordered one prisoner to be burned at Mackinaw, one at Sault St. Marie and another at Green Bay. Undaunted he spoke as follows : "I come to cut the strings of the dogs. I will not sulftT llii'in to be eaten . I have pity on them, since my Father, Onontio, has comnumded me. You Oulaoiiaks [Oltawaws] are like tame bears, who will not reco{,'iii/.e them who hasliriiimiit tlicm up. Yon have forgotten Onontio's in-otet-tion. When he iisks your obedience, yon want to rule over hini, and eat the flesh of those children he does not wish to give to you. Take care, tliat, if oyu swallow them, Onontio will tear them with violence from between your teeth. I speak as a brother, and I think I am showing pity to your children, by cutting the bonds of your prisoners."

His bolihiess had the desired effect. The prisoners were released, and two of them were sent with him to JNhintreal, to be returned to the Iroquois.

On tlie 22nd of May, 1600, with one liuudred and forty-three voyageurs and si.x Indians, Perrot left Montreal as an escort of Sieur de Louviguy La Porte, a half-pay captain, appointed to succeed Durantaye at Mackinaw, by Frontenac, the new Governor of Canada, who in October of the previous year had arrived, to take the place of Denonville.

Perrot, as he approached Mackinaw, went in advance to notify the French of the coming of the commander of the post. As he came in sight of the settlement, he hoisted the white flag with the lleur de lis and the voyageurs shouted, " Long live the king! " Louvigny soon appeared and was received by one huudi-ed '' coureur des bois "' under arms.

From Mackinaw, Perrot proceeded to Green Bay, and a party of Miamis there begged him to make a trading establishment on the Mississippi towards the Ouiskonsing (Wisconsin.) The chief made him a present of a piece of lead from a mine which he had found in a small stream ^\-hich flows into the Mississippi. PeiTot promised to visit him within twenty days, and the chief then returned to his village below the d'Ouiskonche (iAVsconsm) Eiver.

Having at length reached his post on Lake Pepm, he was informed that the Sioux were forming a large war party against the Outagamis (Foxes) and other allies of the French. He gave notice of his arrival to a party of about four hundred Sioux who were on the Jlississippi.

They arrested the msssengers and came to the post for the puri)ose of pimidcr. Perrot asked them why tliey acted in lliis manner, and said that the Foxes, Miamis, Kickapoos, Illinois, and Maskoutens had united in a war party against them, but tliat he had iiersuaded them to give it up, and now he wished them to return to their families and to their beaver. The Sioux declared that they had started on the war-path, and that they were ready to die. After they had traded their furs, they sent for Perrot to come to their camp, and begged that he would not hinder them from searching for their foes. Perrot tried to dissuade them, but they insisted that the Spirit had given them men to eat, at three days' journey from the post Then more powerful influences were used. After giving them two kettles and some merchandise, Poerrt spoke thus: " I love your life, and I am sure you will be defeated. Your Evil Spirit has deceived you. If yon kill the Outagamis, or their allies, you must strike me first; if you kill them, you kill me just the same, for I hold them under one wing and you under the other." After this he extended the calumet, which they at first refused; but at length a chief said he was right, and, making invocations to the sun, wished Perrot to take him back to liis arms. This was granted, on condition that he would give up his weapons of war. The chief tlien tied them to a pole in the centre of the fort, turning them toward the sun. He then persuaded the other chiefs to give up the expedition, and, sending for Perrot, he placed the calumet before him, one end in the earth and the other on a small forked twig to hold it firm. Then he took from his own sack a ])air of his cleanest moccasins, and taking off Perrofs shoes, put on these. After he had made him eat, presenting the calumet, he said: " AVe listen to you now. Do for us as you do for our enemies, and prevent them from killing us, and we will separate for the beaver hunt. The sun is the witness of our obedience."

After this, Perrot descended the Mississippi and revealed to the Maskoutens, who had come to meet him, how he had pacified the Sionx. He, about this period, in accordance with his promise, visited the lead mines. He found the ore almndant " but the lead hard to work because it lay between rocks which required blowing up. It had very Little dross and Avas easily melted."

Penicaut, who ascended the Mississippi in 1700, wrote tliat twenty leagues below the Wisconsin, on both sides of the Mississippi, were mines of lead called " Nicolas Perrot's."' Early French maps indicate as the locality of lead mines the site of modern towns, Galena, in Illinois, and Dubuque, in Iowa.

In August, U393, Jibout two hundred Frenchmen from ilackinaw, with delegates from the tribes of the West, arrived at Montreal to attend a grand council called by Governor Frontenac, and among these was Perrot.

gave the Indians a great feast, after which they and the traders began to return to the wilderness. Perrot was ordered by Frontenac to establish a new post for the Miamis in Michigan, in the neighborhood of the Kalamazoo River.

Two years later he is present again, in xlugust, at a council in Montreal, then returned to the West, and in 1609 is recalled from Green Bay. In 1701 he was at Montreal acting as interpreter, and appears to have died before 1718: his wife was Madeline Eaclos, and his residence was in the Seigneury of Becancourt, not far from Three Kivers, on the St. Lawrence.

Lt lioiitan, a Gascon by Birth. - Early Life. - Description of Kux and Wisconsin Rivers - IiH'.ian Kcast. - Alleged Ascent of Long River. - Bobc Kxposes tile Deception. - Route to the Pacific.

The Travels'" of Baron La Ildntuii appearetl in ^V. I). 1703, both at London and at Ila.ane. and were as saleable and readal lie as tliose of Hennepin, which were on the counters of booksellers at the same time.

La Hontan, a Gascon liy birth, and in style of writing, when about seventeen years of age, arrived in Canada, in 1683, as a private soldier, and was with Gov. De la Barre in his expedition of 1684, toward Niagara, and was also in the Viattle near Rochester, Xew York, in 1087, at which ])u Luth and Perrot, explorers of Minnesota, were present.

In 1688 lie appears to have been sent to Fort St. Joseph, which was built by l)u Lutli, on the St. Clare Elver, near the site of Fort (iratiot, Michigan. It is possiljle that he may have accc mipanied Perrot to Lake Pepin, who came aliout this time to reoccnpy his old post.

From the following extracts it will be seen that his style is graphic, and that he probably had been in 1688 in the valley of the Wisconsin, ^Vt Mackinaw, after his return from his pretended voyage of the Long River, he writes:

" I left here on the 24th September, with my men and five Outaouas, good hunters, whom I have before mentioned to you as luuing been of good service to me. All my brave men being provided with good canoes, filled with provisions and ammunition, to.getber with goods for the Indian trade, I took advantage of a north wind, and in three days entered the Bay of tlie Pouleouatamis, distant from here about forty leagues. The entrance to the bay is full of islands. It is ten leagues wide and twenty-five in length.

" On the 29th we entered a river, which is (juite deep, whose waters are so affected by the lake that they often rise and fall three feet in twelve

Lours. Tills is an observation that I made during these three or four days that I passed here. The Sakis, the Poutonatamis, ami a few of the Malominis have their villages on the border of this river, and the Jesuits have a house there. In the place there is carried on fpiite a commerce in furs and Indian corn, which the Indians traflic with the ' coiu'eurs des bois" that go and come, for it is their nearest and most convenient passage to the Mississippi.

The lands here are very fertile, anil produce, almost without culture, the wheat of our Europe, peas, beans, and any (iiiaiitity of fruit imknown in France.

" The moment I landed, the warriors of three nations came by turns to my cabin to entertaui me with the pipe and chief dance ; the first in proof of peace and friendship, the second to indicate their esteem and consideration for me. In return. I gave them several yards of tobacco, and beads, with which they trimmeil their capots. The next morning, I was asked as a guest, to one of the feasts of this nation, and after having sent my dishes, which is the custom, I went towards noon. They began to compliment me of my arrival, and after hearing them, they all, one after the other, i)egan to sing and dance, in a manner that I will detail to you when I have more leisure. These songs antl dances lasted two hours, and were seasoned with whoops of joy, and iiuiblilcs that they have woven into their ridiculous niusiiiiie. Then the captives waited upon us. The whole troop were seated in the Oriental custom, Kach one had his portion before him, like our monks in their refectories. They commenced by placing four dishes before me. The first consisted of two white fish simply boiled in water. The second was chopped meats with tlie boiled tongue of a bear ; the third a beaver's tail, all roasted. They made me drink also of a synip, mixed with water, made out of the maple tree. The feast lasted two hours, after which, I requested a chief of the nation to sing for me ; for it is tlie custom, wlien we have business with them, to employ an uiferior for self in all the ceremonies they perform. I gave him several pieces of tobacco, to oblige liim to keep the party till dark. The next day and the day following, I attended the feasts of the other nations, where I observed the same formalities."

He alleges that, on the 23d of October, he reached the Mississippi River, and, ascending, on tho 3d of November he entered into a river, a tributary from the west, that was almost without a current, and at its mouth filled with rushes. He then descrilies a journey of five hundred miles up this stream. He declares he fomid upon its banks three great nations, the Eokoros, Essanapes, and Gnacsitares, and because he ascended it for sixty days, he named it Long River.

For years his wondrous story was believed, and geographers hastened to trace it upon their maps. But in time the voyage up the Long River was discovered to be a fabrication. There is extant a letter of Bobe, a Priest of the Congregation of the Mission, dated Versailles, March 15, 1716, and addressed to De L'Isle, the geographer of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, which exposes the deception.

He writes: " It seems to me that you might give the name of Bourbonia to these vast countries wliich are between the Missouri, Mississippi, and the "Western Ocean. "Would it not be well to efface that great river which La Hontan says he discovered^

"All the Canadians, and even the Governor General, have told me that tliis river is unknown. If it existed, the French, wlio are on the Illinois, and at Ouabache, would luiow of it. The last volume of the ' Lettres Ediflantes' of the Jesuits, in which there is a very fine relation of the IJlinois Country, does not speak of it, any more than the letters which I received this year, which tell wonders of the beauty and goodness of tlie country. They send me some quite pretty work, made by the wife of one of the principal chiefs.

" They tell nie, that among the Scioux, of the Mlssissipi)i, there are always Frenchmen trading; that the course of the Mississippi is from nortli to west, and from west to south; that it is known that toward the source of the Mississippi there is a river ui the liighlands that leads to the western ocean; that the Indians say that they have seen bearded men with caps, who gatlier gold-dust on the seashore, but that it is very far from this coimtry, and that they pass through many nations unknown to the French.

" I have a memoir of La ilotte Cadillac, formerly Governor of Missiliniackinack, who says that if St. Peters [MiuuesotaJ Ri\'er is ascended to its source they will, according to all appearance, find in the highland another river leading to the "Western Ocean.

"For the last two years I have tormented exceedingly the Governor-General, M. Raudot, and M. Duche, to move them to discover this ocean. If I succeed, as I hope, we shall hear tidings before three years, and I shall have the pleasure and the consolation of having rendered a good service to Geography, to Rehgion and to the State."

Charlevoix, in Ms History of New France, alluding to La Ilontan's V(jyage, writes: " The voyage up the Long River is as fabulous as the Island of Barrataria, of which Sancho Panza was governor. Nevertheless, in France and elsewhere, most people have received these memoirs as the fruits of the travels of a gentleman who wrote bacUy, although quite lightly, and who had no religion, but who described pretty sincerely what he had seen. The consequence is that the compilers of historical and geographical dictionaries have almost always followed and cited them in preference to more faithful records."

"Having procured a copy of La Ilontan's book, in which there is a roughly made map of his Long River, I was struck with the resemblance of its coiu'se as laid dovni wth that of Cannon River, which I had previously sketched in my owai field-book. I soon convinced myself that the principal statements of the Baron m reference to the coimtry and the few details he gives of the physical character of the the river, coincide remarkably with what I had laid down as belonging to Cannon River. Then the lakes and swamps corresponded; traces of Indian villages mentioned by him might be foimd by a growtli of wild grass that propagates itself around all old Indian settlernents."