Paint Township (part 1 of 14)

Topography

The reader will have a better understanding of the manner in \/hieh the territory, herein treated of, was discovered and snbsequentlv occupied, if reference is made, in the outset, to some of its more important topographical featui-es.

Indeed, it would be an nnsatisfaetory task to try to follow the routes of early travel, or to undertake to pursue the devions wanderings of the aboriginal tribes, or trace the advance of civilized society into a country, without some preliminary knowledge of its topography.

Looking upon a map of Korth America, it is observed that westward of the Alleghany Mountains the waters are divided into two great masses; the one composed of waters flowing into the great northern lakes, is, by the river St. Lawrence, carried into the Atlantic Ocean; the other, collected by a multitude of streams spread out like a vast net over the surface of more than twenty states and several territories, is gathered at last into the Mississippi River, and thence discharged into the Gulf of Mexico.

As it was by the St. Lawrence River, and the great lakes connected with it, that the northwest territory was discovered, and for many years its trade mainly carried on, a more minute notice of this remarkable water communication will not be out of place., Jacques Cartier, a French navigator, having sailed from St. Malo, entered, on the 10th of August, 1535, the Gulf which he liad explored the year before', and named it the St. Lawrence, in memory of the holy martyr whose feast is celebrated on that day. This name was subsequently extended to the river. Previous to this it was called the River of Canada, the name given l)y the Lidians to the whole country. The drainage of the St. Lawrence and the lakes extends through fourteen degrees of longitude, and covers a distance of over two thousand miles. Ascending this river, we behold it flanked with bold crags and sloping hillsides; its current hesetAvith rapids and studded with a thousand islands; combining scenery of marvelous beauty and grandeur. Seven hundred and fifty miles above its mouth, the channel deepens and the shores recede into an expanse of water known as Lake Ontario.

Passing westward on Lake Ontario one hundred and eighty miles a second river is reached. A few miles above its entry into the lake, the river is thrown over a ledge of rock into a yawning chasm, one hundred and fifty feet below ; and, amid the deafening noise and clouds of vapor escaping from the agitated waters is seen the great Falls of Niagara. At Buttalo, twenty-one miles above the falls, the shores of Niagara River recede and a second great inl and sea is formed, having an average breadth of forty miles and a length of two hundred and forty miles. This is Lake Erie. The name has been variously spelt, - Earie, Herie, Erige and Erike. It has also borne the nameof Conti. Father Hennepin says: " The Ilurons call it Lake Erige, or Erike, that is to say, the Lake of the Cat, and the inhabitants of Canada have softened the word to Erie;" vide "A New Discovery of a vast Country in America.'' p. 77 ; Xondon edition, 1698.

Hennepin's derivation is substantially followed by the more accurate and accomplished historian. Father Charlevoix, who, at a later period, in 1721, in writing of this lake uses the following words : " The name it bears is that of an Indian nation of the Huron language, which was formerly settled on its banks and who have been entirely destroyed by the Iroquois. Erie in that language signifies cat, and in some accounts this nation is called the cat nation." He adds : " Some modern maps have given Lake Erie the name of Conti, but with no better success than the names of Conde, Tracy and Orleans which have been given to Lakes Huron, Superior and Michigan."

At the upper end of Lake Erie, to the southward, is Maumee Bay, of which more hereafter; to the northward the shores of the lake again approach each other and form a channel known as the River Detroit, a French word signifying a straight or narrow passage. Northward some twenty miles, and above the city of Detroit, the river widens into a small body of water called Lake St, Clair. The name as now written 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." Northward some twelve miles across this lake the laiul again encroaches upon and contracts tlie waters within another narrow bound known as the Strait of St. Clair. Passing up this strait, northward about forty miles, Lake Huron is reached. It is two hundred and fifty miles long and one hundred and ninety miles wide, including Georgian Bay on the east, and its whole area is computed to be about twenty-one thousand square miles. Its magnitude fully justified its early name. La Merdouce, the Fresh Sea, on account of its extreme vastness. . The more popular name of Huron, wliich has survived all others, was given to it from the great Huron nation of Indians who formerly inhabited the country lying to the eastward of it. Indeed, many of the early French writers call it Lac des Hurous, that is. Lake of the Hurons. It is so laid down on the maps of Hennepin, La Hontan, Charlevoix and Colden in the volumes before quoted.

Going northward, leaving the Straits of Mackinaw, through which Lake Michigan discharges itself from the west, and the chain of Manitoulin Islands to the eastward, yet another river, the connecting link between Lake Huron and Superior, is reached. Its current is swift, and a mile below Lake Superior are the Falls, where the water leaps and tumbles down a channel obstructed by boulders and shoals, where, from time immemorial, the Indians of various tribes have "resorted on account of the abundance of fish and the ease with which they are taken. Previous to the year 1670 the river was called the Sault, that is, the rapids, or falls. In this year Fathers Marquette and Dablon founded here the mission of " St. Marie du Sault " (St. Mary of the Falls), from which the modern name of the river, St. Mary's, is derived. Kecently the United States have perfected the ship canal cut in solid rock, around the falls, through which the largest vessels can now pass, from the one lake to the other.

Lake Superior, in its greatest length, is three hundred and sixty miles, with a maximum breadth of one hundred and forty, the largest of the five great American lakes, and the most extensive body of fresh water on the globe. Its form has been poetically and not inaccurately described by a Jesuit Father, Avhose account of it is preserved in the Relations for the years 1669 and 1670 : " This lake has almost the form of a bended bow,iind in length is more than 180 leagues. The southern shore is as it were the cord, the arrow being a long strip of land [Keweenaw Point] issuing from the southern coast and running more than 80 leagues to the middle of the lake." A glance on tlie map will show the aptness of the comparison. The name Superior was given to it by the Jesuit Fathei's, "in conse- quel ice of its being above that of Lake Huron. It was also called Lake Tracy, after Marquis De Tracy, Avho was governor-general of Canada from 1663 to 1665. Father Claude Allouez, in his " Journal of Travels to the Country of the Ottawas," preserved in the Relations for the 3'ears -1666, 1667, says: "After passing through the St. Mary's River we entered the upper lake, which will hereafter bear the name of Monsieur Tracy, an acknowledgment of the obligation under which the people of this country are to him." The good father, however, was mistaken ; the name Tracy only apjjears on a few ancient maps, or is perpetuated in rare volumes that record the almost forgotten labors of the zealous Catholic missionaries; while the earlier name of Lake " Superior " is familiar to every schoolboy who has thumbed an atlas.

At the western exti-emity of Lake Superior enter the Rivers Bois- Brule and St. Louis, the upper tributaries of which have their sources on the northeasterly slope of a water-shed, and approximate very near the head-waters of the St. Croix, Prairie and Savannah Rivers, which, issuing from the opposite side of this same ridge, flow into the Upper Mississippi.

The upper portions of Lake Huron, Michigan, Green Bay, with their indentations, and the entire coast line, with the islands eastward and westward of the Straits of Mackinaw, are all laid down with quite a degree of accuracy on a map attached to the Relations of the Jesuits for the years 1670 and 1671, a copy of which is contained in Bancroft's History of the United States, showing that the reverend fathers were industrious in mastering and preserving the geographical features of the wilderness they traversed in their holy calling.

Lake Michigan is the only one of the five great lakes that lays wholly within the United States, - the other four, with their connecting rivers and straits, mark the boundary between the Dominion of Canada and the United States. Its length is 320 miles; its average breadth 70, with a mean depth of over 1,000 feet. Its area is some 22,000 square miles, being considerably more than that of Lake Huron and less than that of Lake Superior.

Michigan was the last of the lakes in order of discovery. The Hurons, christianized and dwelling eastward of Lake Huron, had been driven from their towns and cultivated fields by the Iroquois, and scattered about Mackinaw and the desolate coast of Lake Superior beyond, whither they were followed by their faithful pastors, the Jesuits, who erected new altars and gathered the remnants of their stricken followers about them; all this occurred before the fathers had acquired any definite knowledge of Lake Michigan. In their mission work for the year 16G6, it is referred to "as the Lake Illinouek, a great lal^e adjoining, or between, the lake of the Hurons and that of Green Bay, that had not [as then] come to their knowledge." In the Relation for the same year, it is referred to as " Lake Uleaouers," and Lake lUinioues, as yet unexplored, though much smaller than Lake Huron, and that the Outagamies [the Fox Lidians] call it Maehi-hi-gan-ing." Father Hennepin says : " The lake is called by the Lidians, 'Illinouek,' and by the French, 'lUinois,'" and that the "Lake Illinois, iu the native language, signiiies the 'Lake of Men." He also adds in the same paragraph, that it is called by the Miamis, " Mischigonong, that is, the great lake." Father Marest, in a letter dated at Kaskaskia, Illinois, IS'ovember 9, 1712, so often referred to on account of the valuable historical matter it contains, contracts the aboriginal name to Michigan, and is, perhaps, the first author who ever spelt it in the way that has become universal. He naively says, " that on the maps this lake has the name, without any authority, of the ^ Lake of the Illinois,' since the Illinois do not dwell in its neighborhood."

" The day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, ndiom I had always invoked, since I have been in this Ottawa country, to obtain of God the grace to be able to visit the nations on the River Mississippi, was identically that on which M. Joliet arrived with orders of the Comte de Frontenac, our governor, and M. Talon, our intendant, to make this discovery with me. I was the more enraptured at this good news, as I saw my designs on the point of being accomplished, and myself in the happy necessity of exposing my life for the salvation of all these nations, and particularly for the Illinois, who had, when I was at Lapointe du Esprit, very earnestly entreated me to carry the word of God to their country."

"We were not long in preparing our outfit, although we were embarking on a voyage the duration of which we could not foresee. Indian corn, with some dried meats, was our whole stock of provisions. With this we set out in two bark canoes, M. Joliet, myself and five men, firmly resolved to do all and suffer all for so glorious an enterprise."

" Our joy at being chosen for this expedition roused our courage and sweetened the labor of rowing from morning to night. As we were going to seek unknown countries, we took all possible precautions that, if our enterprise was hazardous, it should not be foolhardy. For this reason we gathered all possible information from the Indians who had frequented those parts, and even from their accounts, traced a map of all the new country, marking down the rivers on which we were to sail, the names of the nations and places through which we were to pass, the course of the Great River, and what dii-cction we should take when we got to it."

"Above all, I put our voyage under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, promising her that, if she did us the grace to discover the Great River, I would give it the name of the concep- tiou ; and that I would also give that name to the first mission I should establish among these new nations, as I have actually done among the Illinois."

Alter some days they reached an Indian village, and the journal proceeds : " Here we are, then, at the Maskoutens. This word, in Algonquin, may mean Fire Nation, and that is the name given to them. This is the limit of discoveries made by the French, for they have not yet passed beyond it. This town is made up of three nations gathered he^e, Miamis, Maskoutens, and Kikabous. As bark for cabins, in this country, is rare, they use rushes, which serve them for walls and roofe, but wliich afford them no protectioL against the wind, and still less against the rain when it falls in torrents. . The advantage of this kind of cabin is that they can roll them up and carry them easily where they like in hunting time."

" I felt no little pleasure in beholding the position of this town. The view is beautiful and very picturesque, for, from the eminence on which it is perched, the eye discovers on every side prairies spreading away beyond its reach, interspersed with thickets or groves of trees. The soil is very good, producing much corn. The Indians gather also quantities of plums and grapes, from which good wine could be made if they choose.^'

" No sooner had we arrived than M. Joliet and 1 assembled the Sachems. He told them that he was sent by our governor to discover new countries, and I by the Almighty to illumine them with the light of the gospel; that the Sovereign Master of our lives wished to be known to 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 on our voyage."

" The next day, which was the 10th of June, two Miamis whom they had given us as guides, embarked with us in the sight of a great crowd, who could not wonder enough to see seven Frenchmen, alone in two canoes, dare to undertake so strange and so hazardous an expedition."

" We knew that there was, three leagues from Maskoutens, a fiver emptying into the Mississippi. We knew, too, that the point of the compass we were to hold to reach it was the west-southwest, but the way is so cut up with marshes and little lakes that it is easy to go astray, especially as the river leading to it is so covered with wild oats that you can liardlj discover the channel ; hence we had need of our two guides, who led us safely to a portage of twentyseven hundred paces and helped us transport our canoes to enter this river, after which they returned, leaving us alone in an unknown country in the hands of Providence."

" "We now leave the waters which flow to Quebec, a distance of four or five hundred leagues, to follow those which will henceforth lead us into strange lands."

" 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 rich and very good. After forty leagues on this same route we reached the mouth of our river, and finding ourselves at forty-two and a half degrees north, we safely entered the Mississippi on the 17th of June, with a joy that I can not express."

" Having descended as far as 41° 28', following the same direction, we find that turkeys have taken the place of game, and pisikious (buffalo) or wild cattle that of other beasts."

"At last, on the 25th of June, we perceived foot-prints 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 leadto some Indian village we resolved to go and reconnoitre. We accordingly left our two canoes in charge of our people, cautioning them to beware of a surprise; then M. Joliet and I undertook this rather hazardous discovery for two single men, who thus put themselves at the mercy of an unknown and barbarous people. We followed the little path in silence, and having advanced about two leagues we discovered a village on the banks of the river, and two others on a hill half a league from the former. Then, indeed, we recommended ourselves to God with all our hearts, and having implored his help we passed on undiscovered, and came so near that we even heard the Indians talking. We then deemed it time to a^inounce ourselves, as we did, by a cry which we raised with all our strength, and then halted, without advancing any farther. At this cry the Indians rushed out of their cabins, and having probably recognized us as French, especially seeing a black gown, or at least having no reason to distrust us, seeing we were but two and had made known our coming, they deputed four old men to come and speak to us. Two carried tobacco-pipes, well adorned and trimmed with many kinds of feathers. They marched slowly, lift- ing their pipes toward the sun as if offering tliem to it to smoke, but yet without uttering a single word. They were a long time coming the little way from the village to us. Having reached us at last, they stopped to consider us attentively."

" I now took courage, seeing these ceremonies, which are used by them only with friends, and still more on seeing them covered with stuff's, which made me judge them to be allies. I, therefore, spoke to them first, and asked them who they were. They answered that they were Illinois, 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 all called in this country calumets, a woi*d that is so much in use that I shall be obliged to employ it in order to be understood, as I shall have to speak of it frequently."

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

" 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 harani^ued us in a few words.

to congratulate us on our arrival, and then presented us his calumet and made us smoke ; at the same time we entered his cabin, where we received all their usual greetings. Seeing all assembled and in silence, I spoke to them by four presents which I made. By the first, I said that we marched in peace to visit the nations on the river to the sea ; by the second, I declared to them that God, their creator, had pity on them, since, after their having been so long ignorant of Him, he wished to become known to all nations ; that I was sent on His behalf with this design ; that it was for them to acknowledge and obey him ; by the third, that the great chief of the French informed them that he spread peace everywhere, and had overcome the Iroquois ; lastly, by the fourth, we begged them to give us all the information they had of the sea, and of nations through which we should have to pass to reach it.

" When I had finished my speech, the sachem rose, and laying his hand on the head of a little slave whom he was about to give us, sj)oke thus : ' I thank thee, Black-gown, and thee. Frenchman,' addressing M. JoUyet, ' for taking so much pains to come and visit us. l!^ever has the earth been so beautiful, nor the sun so bright, as to-day ; never has our river been so calm, nor so free from rocks, which your canoes have removed as they passed ; never has our tobacco had so fine a flavor, nor our corn appeared so beautiful as we behold it to-day. Here is my son that I give thee that thou mayest know my heart. I pray thee 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 life and health, and come and dwell with us that we may know Him.' Saying this, he placed the little slave near us and made us a second present, an all mysterious calumet, which they value more than a slave. By this present he showed us his esteem for our governor, after the account 'we had given of him. By the third, he begged us, on behalf of his whole nation, not to proceed farther on account of the great dangers to which we exposed ourselves.

" I replied that I did not fear death, and that I esteemed no happiness greater than that of losing my life for the glory of Him who made us all. But this these poor people could not understand. The council was followed by a great feast which consisted of four courses, which we had to take with all their ways. The first course was a great wooden dish full of sagamity - that is to say, of Indian meal boiled in water and seasoned with grease. The master of ceremonies, with a spoonful of sagamity, presented it three or four times to my moTitli, as we would do with a little child ; he did the same to M. Jollyet. For the second course he brought in a second dish containing three fish ; he took some pains to remove the bones, and having blown upon it to cool it, put it in my mouth as we would food to a bird. For the third course they produced a large dog which they had just killed, but, learning that we did not eat it, withdrew it. Finally, the fourth course was a piece of wild ox, the fattest portions of which were put into our mouths.

" We took leave of our Illinois about the end of June, and embarked in sight of all the tribe, who admire our little canoes, having never seen the like.

"As we were discoursing,* while sailing gently down a beautiful, still, clear water, we heard the noise of a rapid into which we were about to fall. I have seen nothing more frightful ; a mass of large trees, entire, with branches - real floating islands - came rushing^ from the mouth of the river Pekitanoiii, so impetuously that we could not, without great danger, expose ourselves to pass across. The agitation was so great that the water was all muddy and could not get clear.

"After having made about twenty leagues due south, and a little less to the southeast, we came to a river called Ouabouskigou, the mouth of which is at 36 deg. north. This river comes from the country on the east inhabited by the Chaouanons, in such numbers that they reckon as many as twenty-three villages in one district, and fifteen in another, lying quite near each other. They are by no means warlike, and are the people the Iroquois go far to seek in order to wage an unprovoked war upon them ; and as these poor people cannot defend themselves they allow themselves to be taken and carried off like sheep, and, innocent as they are, do not fail to experience the barbarity of the Iroquois, who burn them cruelly.

"Having arrived about half a league from Akansea (Arkansas Eivei-^, we saw two canoes coming toward us. The commander was standmg up, holding in his hand a calumet, with which he made signs according to the custom of the country. He approached us, singing quite agreeably, and invited us to smoke, after which he presented us some sagamity and bread made of Indian corn, of which we ate a little. We fortunately found among them a man who understood Illinois much better than the man we brought from Mitchigameh. By means of him, I first spoke to the assembly by ordinary presents. They admired what I told them of God and the mysteries of our holy faith, and showed a great desire to keep me with them to instruct them.

" "VVe then asked them what they knew of the sea. They replied that we were only ten days' journey from it (we could have made the distance in five days) ; that they did not know the nations who inhabited it, because their enemies prevented their commerce with those Europeans; that tlie Indians with fire-arms whom we. had met were their enemies, who cut off the passage to the sea, and prevented their making the acquaintance of the Europeans, or having any commerce with them ; that, besides, we should expose ourselves greatly by passing on, in consequence of the continual war parties that their enemies sent out on the river ; since, being armed and used to war, we could not, without evident danger, advance on that river which they constantly occupy. *

"In the evening the sachems lield a secret council on the design of some to kill us for plunder, but the chief broke up all these schemes, and sending for us, danced the calumet in our presence, and then, to remove all fears, presented it to me.

"M. Jollyet and I held another council to deliberate on what we should do, whether we should push on, or rest satisfied with the discovery that we had made. After having attentively considered that we were not far from the Gulf of Mexico, the basin of which is 31 deg. 40 min. north, and we at 33 deg. 40 min,; so that we could not be more than two or three days' journey off ; that the Mississippi undoubtedly had its mouth in Florida or the Gulf of Mexico, and not on the east in Virginia, whose sea-coast is at 34 deg. 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 clear that we were not in a condition to resist Indians allied to Europeans, numerous and expert in the use of fire-arms, who continually infested the lower part of the river. Lastly, we had gathered all the information that could be desired from the expedition. All these reasons induced us to return. This we announced to the Indians, and after a day's rest prepared for it.

"After a month's navigation down the Mississippi, 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 Akansea on the 17th of July, to retrace our steps. We accordingly ascended the Mississippi, which gave us great trouble to stem its currents. We left it, indeed, about tlie 38th degree, to enter another river (the Illinois), which greatly shortened our way, and brought us, with little trouble, to the lake of the Illinois.

"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 Illinois town called Kaskaskia, composed of seventy -four cabins ; they received us well, and compelled me to promise them to return and instruct them. One of the chiefs of this tribe, with his young men, escorted us to the Illinois Lake, whence at last we returned in the close of September to the Bay of the Fetid (Green Bay), 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. I was three days announcing the faith in their cabins, after which, as we were embarking, they brought me, on the water's edge, a dying child, which I baptized a little before it expired, by an admirable providence for the salvation of that innocent soul."

Count Frontenac, writing from Quebec to M. Colbert, Minister of the Marine, at Paris, under date of November 14, 1674, announces that " Sieur Joliet, whom Monsieur Talon advised me, on my arrival from France, to dispatch for the discovery of the South Sea, has returned three months ago. He has discovered some very fine countries, and a navigation so easy through beautiful rivers he has found, that a person can go from Lake Ontario in a bark to the Gulf of Mexico, there being only one carrying place (around Niagara Falls), where Lake Ontario communicates with Lake Erie. I send you by my secretary the map which Sieur Joliet has made of the great river he has discovered, and the observations he has been able to recollect, as he lost all his minutes and journals in the shipwreck he suffered within sight of Montreal, where, after having completed a voyage of twelve hundred leagues, he was near being drowned, and lost all his papers and a little Indian whom he brought from those countries. These accidents have caused me great regret."

Louis Joliet, or Jolliet, or Jollyet, as the name is variously spelled, was the son of Jean Joliet, a wheelwright, and Mary d'Abancour. He was born at Quebec in the year 1645. Having finished his studies at the Jesuit college, he determined to become a member of that order, and with that purpose in view, took some of the minor orders of the society in August, 1662. He completed his studies in 1666, but during this time his attention had become interested in Indian affairs, and he laid aside all thoughts of assuming the " black go^vn." That he acquired great ability and tact in managing the savages, is apparent from the fact of his having been selected to discover the South Sea by the way of the Mississippi. The map which he drew from memory, and which was forwarded by Count Frontenac to France, was afterwards attached to Marquette's Journal, and was published by Therenot at Paris in 1681. Sparks, in his "Life of Marquette," copies this maji, and ascribes it to his hero. This must be a mistake, since it differs quite essentially from Marquette's map, which has recently been brought to public notice by Dr. Shea.

Joliet's account of the voyage, mentioned by Frontenac, is published in Hennepin's " Discovery of a Yast Country in America." It is very meagre, and does not present any facts not covered by Marquette's narrative.

In 1680 Joliet was appointed hydrographer to the king, and many well-drawn maps at Quebec show that his office was no sinecure. Afterward he made a voyage to Hudson's Bay in the interest of the king, and as a reward for the faithful performance of his duty, he was granted the Island of Anticosti, which on account of the fisheries and Indian trade Avas at that time very valuable. After this he signed himself Joliet d'Anticosty. In the year 1697 he obtained the seigniory of Joliet on the river Etchemins, south of Quebec. M. Joliet died in 1701, leaving a wife and four children, the descendants of whom are living in Canada still possessed of the seigniory of Joliet, among whom are Archbishop Taschcreau of Quebec and Archbishop Tache of Red River.

Mount Joliet on the Desplaines River, above its confluence with the Kankakee and the city of Joliet in the county of Will, perpetuate the name of Joliet in the state of Illinois.

Jacques Marquette was born in Laon, France, in 1637. His was the oldest and one of the most respectable citizen families of the place. At the age of seventeen he entered the Society of Jesus ; received orders in 1666 to embark for Canada, arriving at Quebec in September of the same year. For two years he remained at Three Rivers, studying the different Indian dialects under Father Gabriel Druillentes. At the end of that period he received orders to repair to the upper lakes, which he did, and established the mission of Sault Ste.

Death Of Marquette

Marie. The following year Dablon arrived, having been appointed Superior of the Ottawa missions. Martpiette then went to the " Mission of the IIol}^ Ghost " at the western extremity of Lake Superior. Here he remained for two years, and it was his accounts, forwarded from this place, that caused Frontenac and Talon to send Jolict on his voyage to the Mississippi. The Sioux having dispersed the Algonquin tribes at Lapointe, the, latter retreated eastward to Mackinaw ; Marquette followed and founded there the Mission of St. Ignatius. Here he remained until Joliet came in 1673, with orders to accompany him on his voyage of discovery down the Mississippi. Upon his return, Marquette i-emained at Mackinaw until October, 1674, when he received orders to carry out his pet project of founding the "Mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin" among the Illinois. He immediately set out, but owing to a severe dysentery contracted the year previous, he made but slow ftrogress. However, he reached Chicago Creek December 4, where, growing rapidly worse, he was compelled to winter. On the 29th of the fol- . lowing March he set out for the Illinois town, on the river of that name. He succeeded in getting there on the 8th of April. Being cordially received by the Indians, he was enabled to realize his long deferred and much cherished project of establishing the " Mission of the Immaculate Conception." Believing that his life was drawing to a close, he endeavored to reach Mackinaw before his death should take place. But in this hope he was doomed to disappointment ; by the time he reached Lake Michigan " he was so weak that he had to be carried like a child." One Saturday, Marquette and his two companions entered a small stream - which still bears his name - on the eastern side of Lake Michigan, and in this desolate spot, virtually alone, destitute of all the comforts of life, died James Marquette. His life-long wish to die a martyr in the holy cause of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin was granted. Thus passed away one of the purest and most sacrificing servants of God ; one of the bravest and most heroic of men.

The biographical sketch of Joliet has been collated from a number of reliable authorities, and is believed truthful. Our notice of Father Marquette is condensed from his life as written by Dr. Shea, than whom there is no one better qualified to perform the task.

Chapter Iii Explorations By La Salle

The success of the French in their plan of colonization was so great, and the trade with the savages, exchanging fineries, guns, knives, and more than all, spirituous liquors for valuable furs, yielded such enormous profits that impetus was given to still greater enterprises. They involved no less than the hemming in of the British colonies along the Atlantic coast, and a conquest of the rich mines in Mexico from the Spanish. Tliese jjurposes are boldly avowed in a letter of M. Talon, the king's enterprising intendant at Quebec in 1671, and also in the declarations of the great Colbert at Paris, " I am," says M. Talon, in his letter to the king referred to, "no courtier, and assert, not througha mere desire to please the king, nor without just reason, that this portion of the French monarchy will become something grand. What I discover around me makes me foresee this, and those colonies of foreign nations so long settled on the seaboard already tremble with fright, in view of what his majesty has accomplished here in the interior. The measure adopted to confine them within narrow limits, by taking possession, which I have caused to be effected, do not allow them to spread, without subjecting themselves at the same time to be treated as usurpers, and have war waged against them. This in truth is what by all their acts they seem to greatly fear. They already know that your name is spread abroad among the savages throughout all those countries, and that they regard your majesty alone as the arbitrator of peace and war; they detach themselves insensibly from other Europeans, and excepting the Iroquois, of whom I am not as yet assured, we can safely promise that the others will take up arms whenever we please." " The principal result," says La Salle, in his memoir at a later day, " expected from the great labors and perils which I underwent in the discovery of the Mississippi, was to satisfy the wish expressed to me by the late Monsieur Colbert, of finding a port where the French might establish themselves and harass the Spaniards in those regions from Avhence they derive all their wealtlL The place I propose to fortify lies sixty leagues above the mouth of the river Colbert {i. e. Mississippi) in the Gulf of Mexico, and possesses all the advantages foi' siicli a purpose which can be wished for, both on account of its excellent position and the favorable disposition of the savages wlio live in that part of the country."

La Salle was born, of a distinguished family, at Kouen, France. He was consecrated to the service of God in early life, and entered the Society of Jesus, in which he remained ten years, laying the foundation of moral principles, regular habits and elements of science that served him so well in his future arduous undertakings. Like many other young men having plans of useful life, he thought Canada would offer better facilities to develop them than the cramped and lixed society of France. He accordingly left his home, and reached Montreal in 1666. Being of a resolute and venturesome disposition, he found employment in making explorations of the country about the lakes. He soon became a favorite of Talon, the intendant, and of Frontenac, the governor, at Quebec. He was selected by the latter to take command of Fort Frontenac, near the present city of Kingston, on the St. Lawrence River, and at that time a dilapidated, wooden structure on the frontier of Canada. He remained in Canada about nine years, acquiring a knowledge of the country and particularly of the Indian tribes, their manners, habits and customs, and winning the confidence of the French authorities. He returned to France and presented a memoir to the king, in which he urged the necessity of maintaining Fort Frontenac, which he offered to restore with a structure of stone ; to keep there a garrison equal to the one at Montreal ; to employ as many as fifteen laborers during the first year ; to clear and till the land, and to supply the surrounding Indian villages with Recollet missionaries in furtherance of the cause of religion, all at his own expense, on condition that the king would grant him the right of seigniory and a monopoly of the trade incident to it. He further petitioned for title of nobility in consideration of voyages he had already made in Canada at his own expense, and which had resulted in the great benefit to the king's colony. The king heard the petition graciously, and on the 13tli May, 1675, granted La Salle and his heirs Fort Frontenac, with four leagues of the adjacent country along tlie lakes and rivers above and below the foi't and a half a league inward, and the adjacent islands, with the right of hunting and fishing on Lake Ontario and the circumjacent rivers. On the same day, the king issued to La Salle letters patent of nobility, having, as the king declares, been informed of the worthy deeds performed by the people, either in reducing or civilizing the savages or in defending themselves against their frequent insults, especially those of the Iroquois ; in de- spising the greatest dangers in order to extend the king's name and empire to the extremity of that new world ; and desiring to reward tliose who have thus rendered themselves most eminent ; and wishing to treat most favorably Robert Cavalier Sieur de La Salle on account of the good and laudable report that has been rendered concerning his actions in Canada, the king does ennoble and decorate with the title of nobility the said cavalier, together with his wife and children. He left France with these precious documents, and repaired to Fort Frontenac, where he performed the conditions imposed by the terms of his titles.

He sailed for France again in 1677, and in the following year after he and Colbert had fully matured their plans, he again petitioned the king for a license to prosecute further discoveries. The king granted his request, giving him a permit, under date of May 12, 1678, to endeavor to discover the western part of New France ; the king avowing in the letters patent that " he had notliing more at heart tlian the discovery of that country where there is a prospect of finding a way to penetrate as far as Mexico," and authorizing La Salle to prosecute discoveries, and construct forts in such places as he might think necessary, and enjoy there the same monopoly as at Fort Frontenac - all on condition that the enterprise should be prosecuted at La Salle's expense, and completed within five years ; that he should not trade with the savages, who carried their peltries and beavers to Montreal ; and that the governor, intendant, justices, and other officers of the king in Kew France, should aid La Salle in his enterprise. Before leaving France, La Salle, through the Prince de Conti, was introduced to one Henri de Tonti, an Italian by birth, who for eight years had been in the French service. Having had one of his hands shot off while in Sicily, he repaired to France to seek other employment. It was a most fortunate meeting. Tonti - a name that should be prominently associated with discoveries in this part of America - became La Salle's companion. Ever faithful and courageous, he ably and zealously furthered all of La Salle's plans, followed and defended him under the most discouraging trials, with an unselfish fidelity that has few parallels in any age.

Sup]ilied with this new grant of enlarged powers, La Salle, in company with Tonti - or Tonty, as Dr. Sparks says he has seen the name written in an autograph letter - and thirty men, comprising pilots, sailors, carpenters and other mechanics, with a supply of material necessary for the intended exploration, left France for Quebec. Here the party were joined by some Canadians, and the whole force was sent forward to Fort Frontenac, at the outlet of Lake Ontario, since this fort had been granted to La Salle. He had, in conformity to the terms of his letters patent, greatly enlarged and strengthened its defenses.

La Stille brought up the St. Lawrence to Fort Frontenac the anchors, cordage and other material to be used in the vessel which he designed to construct above the Falls of Niagara for navigating the western lakes. He already had three small vessels on Lake Ontario, which he had piade use of in a coasting trade with the Indians. One of these, a brigantine of ten tons, was loaded with his effects ; his men, including Fathers Gabriel, Zenobius Membre and Hennepin, who were, as Father Zenobia declares, commissioned with care of the spiritual direction of the expedition, were placed aboard, and on the 18th of N^ovember the vessel sailed westward for the Niagara River. They kept the northern shore, and run into land and bartered for corn with the Iroquois at one of their villages, situated where Toronto, Canada, is located, and for fear of being frozen up in the river, which here empties into the lake, had to cut the ice from about their ship. Detained by adverse winds, they remained here until the wind was favorable, when they sailed across the end of the lake and found an anchorage in the mouth of Niagara River on the 6th of December. The season was far advanced, and the ground covered with ^now a foot deep. Large masses of ice were floating down the river endangering the vessel, and it was necessary to take measures to give it security. Accordingly the vessel was hauled with cables up against the strong current. One of the cables broke, and the vessel itself came very near being broken to pieces or carried away by the ice, which was grinding its way to the open lake. Finally, by sheer force of human strength, the vessel was dragged to the shore, and moored with a strong hawser under a protecting cliff out of danger from the floating ice. A cabin, protected with palisades, for shelter and to serve as a magazine to store the supplies, was also constructed. The ground was frozen so hard that it had to be thawed out with boiling water before the men could drive stakes into it.

The movements of La Salle excited, first the curiosity of the Iroquois Indians, in whose country he was an intruder, and then their jealousy became aroused as they began to fear he intended the erection of a fort. The Sieur de La Salle, says the frank and modest-minded Father Zenobe Membre, "with his usual address met the principal Iroquois chiefs in conference, and gained them so completely that they not only agreed, but offered, to contribute with all their means to the execution of his designs. The conference lasted for some time. La Salle also sent many canoes to trade north and south of the lake among these tribes." Meanwhile La Salle's enemies were busy in thwarting his plans. Thej insinuated themselves among the Indians in the vicinity of Niagara, and filled their ears with all sorts of stories to La Salle's discredit, and aroused feelings of such distrust that work on the fort, or depot for supplies, had to be suspended, and La Salle content himself with a house surrounded by palisades.

The ground was cleared away, trees were felled, and the carpenters set to work. The keel of the vessel was laid on the 26th of January, and some of the plank being ready to fasten on, La Salle drove the first spike. As the work progressed. La Salle niade several trips, over ice and snow, and later in the spring with vessels, to Fort Frontenac, to hurry forward provisions and material. One of his vessels was lost on Lake Ontario, heavily laden with a cargo of valuable supplies, through the fault or willful perversity of her pilots. The disappointment over this calamity, says Hennepin, would have dissuaded any other person than La Salle from the further prosecution of the enterprise. The men worked industriously on the ship. The most of the Iroquois having gone to war with a nation on the northern side of Lake Erie, the few remaining behind were become less insolent than before. Still they lingered about where the work was going on, and continued expressions of discontent at what the French were doing. One of them let on to be drunk and attempted to kill the blacksmith, but the latter repulsed the Indian with a piece of iron red-hot from the forge. The Indians threatened to bum the vessel on the stocks, and might have dpne so were it not constantly guarded. Much of the time the only food of the men was Indian corij and fish ; the distance to Fort Frontenac and the inclemency of the winter rendering it out of power to procure a supply of other or better provisions.

Tlie frequent alarms from the Indians, a want of wholesome food, the loss of the vessel with its promised supplies, and a refusal of the neighboring tribes to sell any more of their corn, reduced the party to sucli extremities that the ship carpenters ti-ied to run away. They were, however, persuaded to remain and prosecute their work. Two Mohegan Indians, successful hunters in La Salle's service, were fortunate enough to bring in some wild goats and other game they had killed, which greatly encouraged the workmen to go on with their task more briskly than before. The vessel was completed within six months from the time its keel was laid. The ship was gotten afloat before entirely finished, to prevent the designs of the natives to burn it. She was sixty tons burthen, and called the " Griffin," a name given it by La Salle by way of compliment to Count Frontenac, whose armorial bearing was supported by two griffins. Three guns were fired, and " Te Deums " chanted at the christening, and prayers offered up for a prosperous voyage. The air in the wild forest rung with shouts of joy ; even the Iroquois, looking suspiciously on, were seduced with alluring draughts of brandy to lend their deei)-mouthed voices to the happy occasion. The men left their cabins of bark and swung their hammocks under the deck of the ship, where they could rest with greater security from the savages than on the shore.

The Griffin, under press of a favorable breeze, and with the help of twelve men on the shore | ulling at tow-ropes, was forced up against the strong current of the Niagara river to calmer waters at the entrance of the hike. On the 7th of August, 1679, her canvas was spread, and the pilot steering by the compass, the vessel, 'with La Salle and his thirty odd companions and their effects aboard, sailed out westward upon the unknown silent waters of Lake Erie. In three days they reached the mouth of Detroit river. Father Hennepin was fairly delighted with the country along this river - it was " so well situated and the soil so fertile. Yast meadows extending back from the strait and terminating at the uplands, which were clad with vineyards, and plum and pear and other fruit-bearing trees of nature's own planting, all so well arranged that one would think they could not have been so disjDosed without the help of art. The country was also well stocked with deer, bear, wild goats, turkeys and other animals and birds, that supplied a most relishing food. The forest comprised walnut and other timber in abundance suitable for building purjDoses." So charmed was he with the prospect that he " endeavored to persuade La Salle to settle at the ' De Troit,' " it being in the midst of so many savage nations among whom a good trade could be established. La Salle would not listen to this proposal. He said he would make no settlement within one hundred leagues of Frontenac, lest other Europeans would be before them in the new country they were going to discover. " This," says Hennepin, " was the pretense of La Salle and the adventurers who were with him , for I soon discovered that their intention was to buy all the furs and skins of the remotest savages who, as they thought, did not know their value, and thus enrich themselves in one single voyage."

and topmast were blown away, giving the ship over to the mercy of the winds. There was no harbor to run into for shelter. La Salle, although a courageous man, gave way to his fears and said they all were undone. Everyone thereupon fell upon their knees to say prayers and prepare for death, except the pilot, who cursed and swore all the while at La Salle for bringing him there to perish in a nasty lake, after he had acquired so much renown in a long and successful navigation on the ocean. The storm abated, and on the 27th of August the Griffin resumed her course northwest, and was carried on the evening of the same day beyond the island of Mackinaw to Point St. Ignace, and safely anchored in a bay that is sheltered, except from the south, by the projecting mainland.

St. Ignace, or Mackinaw, as previously stated, liad become a principal center of the Jesuit missions, and it had also grown into a headquarters for an extensive Indian trade. Duly licensed traders, as well as the Coureurs do Bois - men who had run wild, as it were, and by their intercourse with the nations had thrown off all restraints of civilized life - resorted to ^ this vicinity in considerable numbers. These, lost to all sense of national pride, instead of sustaining, took every measure to thwart La Salle's plans. They, with some of the dissatisfied crew, represented to the Indians that La Salle and his associates were a set of dangerous and ambitious adventurers, who meant to engross all the trade in furs and skins and invade their liberties. These jealous and meddlesome busybodies had already, before the arrival of the G-riffin, succeeded in seducing fifteen men from La Salle's service, whom with others he had sent forward the previous spring, under command of Tonty, with a stock of merchandise ; and, instead of goiug to the tribes beyond and preparing the way for a friendly reception of La Salle, as they were ordered to do, they loitered about Mackinaw the whole summer and squandered the goods, in spite of Tonty's persistent efforts to urge them forward in the performance of their duty. La Salle sent out other parties to trade with the natives, and these went so far, and M^ere so bus}' in bartering for and collecting furs, that they did not return to Mackinaw until November. It was now getting late, and La Salle was warned of the dangerous storms that swept the lakes at the beginning of winter ; he resolved, therefore, to continue his voyage without waiting the return of his men. He weighed anchor and sailed westward into Lake Michigan as far as the islands at the entrance of Green Bay, then called the Pottawatomie Islands, for the reason that they were then occupied by bands of that tribe. On one of these islands La Salle found some of the men belonging to his advance party of traders, and who, having secured a large quantity of valuable furs, had long and impatiently waited his coming.

that already and legitimately belonged to mercliants operating at Montreal, and with which the terms of his own license prohibited his interfering. Without asking any one's advice he resolved to load his ship with furs and send it back to Niagara, and the furs to Quebec, and out of the proceeds of the sale to discharge some very pressing debts. The pilot with five men to man the vessel were ordered to pi-oceed with the Griffin to Niagara, and return with all imaginable speed and join La Salle at the mouth of the St. Joseph river, near the southern shore of Lake Michigan. The Griffin did not go to Green Bay City, as many writers have assumed in hasty perusals of the original authorities, or even penetrate the body of water known as Green Bay beyond the chain of islands at its mouth.

The resolution of La Salle, taken, it seems, on the spur of the moment, to send his ship back down the lakes, and prosecute his voyage the rest of the way to the head ^f Lake Michigan in frail birchen canoes, was a most unfortunate measure. It delayed his discoveries two years, brought severe hardships upon himself and greatly embarrassed all his future plans. The Griffin itself was lost, with all her cargo, valued at sixty thousand livres. She, nor her crew, was ever heard of after leaving the Pottawatomie Islands. What became of the ship and men in charge remains to this day a mystery, or veiled in a cloud of conjecture. La Salle himself, says Francis Parkman, " grew into a settled conviction that the Griffin had been treacherously sunk by the pilot and sailors to whom he had intrusted her ; and he thought he had in after years found evidence that the authors of the crime, laden with the merchandise they had taken from her, had reached the Mississippi and ascended it, hoping to join Du Shut, the famous chief of the Coureurs de Bois, and enrich themselves by traffic with the northern tribes."

The following is substantially Hennepin's account of La Salle's canoe voyage from the mouth of Green Bay south, along the shore of Lake Michigan, past Milwaukee and Chicago, and around the southern end of the lake ; thence north along the eastern shore to the mouth of the St. Joseph river ; thence up the St. Joseph to South Bend, making the portage here to the head waters of the Kankakee ; thence down the Kankakee and Illinois through Peoria lake, with an account of the building of Fort Crevecoeur. Hennepin's narrative is full of interesting detail, and contains many interesting observations wpon the condition of country, the native inhabitants as they ap])eared nearljtwo hundred years ago. The privation and suffering to which La Salle and his party were exposed in navigating Lake Michigan at that early day, and late in tlio fall of the year, when the waters were vexed with tempestuous storms, illustrate the courage and daring of the undertaking.

Their suffering did not terminate with their voyage upon the lake. Difficulties of another kind were experienced on the St. Joseph, Kankakee and Illinois Rivers. Hennepin's is, perhaps, the first detailed account we have of this part of the " Great West," and is therefore of great interest and value on this account. l3Li3o4:92

" We left the Pottawatomies to continue our voyage, being fourteen men in all, in four canoes. I had charge of the smallest, which carried five hundredweight and two men. My companions being recently from Europe, and for that reason being unskilled in the management of these kind of boats, its whole charge fell upon me in stormy weather.

" The canoes were laden with a smith's forge, utensils, tools for carpenters, joiners and sawyers, besides our goods and arms. We steered to the south toward the mainland, from which the Pottawatomie Islands are distant some forty leagues; but about midway, and in the night time, we were greatly endangered by a sudden storm. The weaves dashed into our canoes, and the night was so dark we had great difficulty in keeping our canoes together. The daylight coming on, we reached the shore, where we remained for four days, waiting for the lake to grow calm. In the meantime our Indian hunter went in quest of game, but killed nothing other than a porcupine ; this, however, made our Indian corn more relishing. The weather becoming fair, we resumed our voyage, rowing all day and well into the night along the western coast of the Lake of the Illinois. The wind again grew too fresh, and we landed upon a rocky beach, where we had nothing to protect ourselves against a storm of snow and rain except the clothing on our persons. We remained here two days for the sea to go down, having made a little fire from wood cast ashore by the waves. We proceeded on our voyage, and toward evening the winds again forced us to a beach covered with rushes, where we remained three days ; and in the meantime our provisions, consisting only of pumpkins and Indian corn purchased from the Pottawatomies, entirely gave out. Our canoes were so heavily laden that we could not carry provisions with us, and we were compelled to rely on bartering for such supplies on our way. We left this dismal place, and after twelve leagues rowing came to another Pottawatomie village, whose inhabitants stood upon the beach to receive us. But M. La Salle refused to let anyone land, notwithstanding the severity of the weather, fear- ing some of his men might run away. We were in such great peril that La Salle flung himself into the water, after we had gone some three leagues farther, and with the aid of his three men carried the canoe of which he had charge to the shore upon their shoulders, otherwise it would have been broken to pieces by the waves. We were obliged to do the same with the other canoes. I, myself, carried good Father Gabriel upon my back, his age being so well advanced as not to admit of his venturing in the water. We took ourselves to a piece of rising ground to avoid surprise, as we had no manner of acquaintance with the great number of savages whose village was near at hand. We sent three men into the village to buy provisions, under protection of the calumet, or pipe of peace, which the Indians at Pottawatomie Islands had presented us as a means of introduction to, and a measure of safety against, other tribes that we might meet on our way."

The calumet has always been a symbol of amity among all the Indian tribes of North America, and so uniformly used by them in all their negotiations with their own race, and Euroj)eans as well ; and Father Hennepin's description of it, and the respect that is accorded to its presence, are so truthful that we here insert his account of it at length :

" This calumet," says Father Hennepin, " is the most mysterious thing among the savages, for it is used in all important transactions. It is nothing else, however, than a large tobacco pipe, made of red, black, or white stone. The head is highly polished, and the quill or stem is usually about two feet in length, made of a pretty strong reed or cane, decorated with highly colored feathers interlaced with locks of women's hair. Wings of gaudily plumaged birds are tied to it, making the calumet look like the wand of Mercury, or staff which ambassadors of state formerly carried when they went to conduct treaties of peace. The stem is sheathed in the skin of the neck of birds called ' Huars ' (probably the loon), which are as large as our geese, and spotted with white and black ; or else with those of a duck (the little wood duck, whose neck presents a beautiful contrast of colors) that make their nests upon trees, although the water is their ordinary element, and whose feathers are of many different colors. However, every tribe ornament their calumets according to their own fancy, with the feathers of such birds as they may have in their own country.

"A pipe such as I have described is a pass of safe conduct among all the allies of the tribe which has given it ; and in all embassies it is car- ried as a symbol of peace, and is always respected as such, for the savages believe some great misfortune would speedily befall them if they violated the public faith of the calumet. All their enterprises, declarations of war, treaties of peace, as well as all of the rest of their ceremonies, are sealed with the calumet. The pipe is filled with the best tobacco they have, and then it is presented to those with whom they are about to conduct an important affair ; and after they have smoked out of it the one offering it does the same. I would have perished," concludes Hennepin, " had it not been for the calumet. Our three men, carrying the calumet and being well armed, went to the little village about three leagues from the place where we landed ; they found no one at home, for the inhabitants, having heard that we refused to land at the other village, supposed we were enemies, and had abandoned their habitations. In their absence our men took some of their corn, and left instead some goods, to let them know we were neither their enemies nor robbers. Twenty of the inhabitants of this village came to our encampment on the beach, armed with axes, small guns, bows, and a sort of club, which, in their language, means a headbreaker. La Salle, with four well-armed men, advanced toward them for the purpose of opening a conversation. He requested them to come near to us, saying he had a party of hunters out who might come across them and take their lives. They came forward and took seats at the foot of an eminence where we were encamped ; and La Salle amused them with the relation of his voyage, which he informed them he had undertaken for their advantage ; and thus occupied their time until the arrival of the three men who had been sent out with the calumet ; on seeing which the savages gave a great shout, arose to their feet and danced about. We excused our men from having taken some of their com, and informed them that we had left its true value in goods ; they were so well pleased with this that they immediately sent for more corn, and on the next day they made us a gift of as much as we could conveniently find room for in our canoes.

" The next day morning the old men of the tribe came to us with their calumet of peace, and entertained us with a free offering of wild goats, which their own hunters had taken. In return, we presented them our thanks, accompanied with some axes, knives, and several little toys for their wives, with all which they were very much pleasec^

" We left this place and continued our voyage along the coast of the lake, which, in places, is so steep that we often found it difficult to obtain a landing ; and the wind was so violent as to oblige us to carry our canoes sometimes upon top of the bluff, to prevent their being clashed in pieces. The stormy weather Lasted four days, causing ns much suffering ; for every time we made the shore we had to wade in tlie water, carrying our effects and canoes upon our shoulders. The water being very cold, most of us were taken sick. Our provisions again failed us, which, with the fatigues of rowing, made old Father Gabriel faint away in such a manner that we despaired of his life. With a use of a decoction of hyacinth. I had with me, and which I found of great service on our voyage, he was restored to his senses. We had no other subsistence but a handful of corn per man every twenty-four hours, which we parched or boiled ; and, although reduced to such scanty diet, we rowed our canoes almost daily, from morning to nio-ht. Our men found some hawthorns and other wild

" Having thus refreshed ourselves, we continued our voyage directly to the southern part of the lake, every day the country becoming finer and the climate more temperate. On the 16th of October we fell in with abundance of game. Our Indian hunter killed several deer and wild goats, and our men a great many big fat turkey-cocks, with which we regaled ourselves for several days. On the 18th we came to the farther end of the lake. Here we landed, and our men were sent out to prospect the locality, and found great quantities of ripe grapes, the fruit of which were as large as damask plums. We cut down the trees to gather the grapes, out of which we made pretty good wine, which we put into gourds, used as flasks, and buried them in the sand to keep the contents from turning sour. Many of the trees here are loaded with vines, which, if cultivated, would make as good wine as any in Europe. The fruit was all the more relishing to us, because we wanted bread."

Other travelers besides Hennepin, passing this locality at an eai'ly day, also mention the same fact. It would seem, therefore, that Lake Michigan had the same modifying influence upon, and equalized the temperature of, its eastern shore, rendering it as famous for its wild fruits and grapes, two hundred years ago, as it has since become noted for the abundance and perfection of its cultivated varieties.

" Our men discovered prints of men's feet. The men were ordered to be upon guard and make no noise. In spite of this precaution, one of our men, finding a bear upon a tree, shot him dead and dragged him into camp. La Salle was very angry at this indiscretion, and, to avoid surprise, placed sentinels at the canoes, under which our effects had been put for protection against the rain. There was a hunting party of Fox Indians from the vicinity of Green Bay, about one hundred and twenty in number, encamped near to us, who, having heard the noise of the gun of the man who shot the bear, became alarmed, and sent out some of their men to discover wlio we were. These spies, creeping upon tlieir bellies and observing great silence, came in the night-time and stole the coat of La Salle's footman and some goods secreted under the canoes. The sentinel, hearing a noise, gave the alarm, and we all ran to our arms. On being discovered, and thinking our numbers were greater than we really were, they cried out, in the dark, that they were friends. We answered, friends did not visit at such unseasonable hours, and that their actions were more like those of robbers, who designed to plunder and kill us. Their headsman replied that they heard the noise of our gun, and, as they knew that none of tlie neighboring tribes possessed firearms, they supposed we were a war party of Iroquois, come with the design of murdering them ; but now that they learned we were Frenchmen from Canada, whom they loved as their own brethren, they would anxiously wait until daylight, so that they could smoke out of our calumet. This is a compliment among the savages, and the highest mark they can give of their affection.

" We appeared satisfied with their reasons, and gave leave to four of their old men, only, to come into our camp, telling them we would not permit a greater number, as their young men were much given to stealing, and that we would not suffer such indignities. Accordingly, four of their old men came among us ; we entertained them until morning, when they departed. After they were gone, we found out about the robbery of the canoes, and La Salle, well knowing the genius of the savages, saw, if he allowed this affront to pass without resenting it, that we would be constantly exposed to a renewal of like -indignities. Therefore, it was resolved to exact prompt satisfaction. La Salle, with four of his men, went out and captured two of the Indian hunters. One of the prisoners confessed the robbery, with the circumstances connected with it. The thief was detained, and his comrade was released and sent to his band to tell their headsman that the captive in custody would be put to death unless the stolen property were returned.

" The savages were greatly perplexed at La Salle's peremptory message. They could not comply, for they had cut up the goods and coat and divided among themselves the pieces and the buttons ; they therefore resolved to rescue their man by force. The next day, October 30, they advanced to attack us. The peninsula we were encamped on was separated from the forest where the savages lay by a little sandy plain, on which and near the wood were two or three eminences. La Salle determined to take possession of tlie most prominent of these elevations, and detached five of his men to occupy it, following himself, at a short distance, with all of his force, every one having rolled their coats about the left arm, which was held up as a protection against the arrows of the savages. Only eight of the enemy had firearms. The savages were frightened at our advance, and their young men took behind the trees, but their captains stood their ground, while we moved forward and seized the knoll. I left the two other Franciscans reading the usual prayers, and w^ent about among the men exhorting them to their duty; I had been in some battles and sieges in Europe, and was not afraid of these savages, and La Salle was highly pleased with my exhortations, and their influence upon his men. When I considered what might be the result of the, quarrel, and how much more Christian-like it would be to prevent the effusion of blood, and end the difficulty in a friendly manner, I went toward the oldest savage, who, seeing me unarmed, supposed I came with designs of a mediator, and received me with civility. In the meantime one of our men observed that one of the savages had a piece of the stolen cloth wrapped about his head, and he went up to the savage and snatched the cloth away. This vigorous action so much terrified the savages that, although they were near six score against eleven, they presented me with the pip^ of peace, which I received. M. La Salle gave his word that they might come to him in security. Two of their old men came forward, and in a speech disapproved the conduct of their young men ; that they could not restore the goods taken, but that, having been cut to pieces, they could only return the articles which were not spoiled, and pay for the rest. The orators presented, with their speeches, some garments made of beaver skins, to appease the wrath of M. La Salle, who, frowning a little, informed them that while he designed to wrong no one, he did not intend others should affront or injure him ; but, inasmuch as they did not approve what their young men had done, and were willing to make restitution for the same, he would accept their gifts and become their friend. The conditions were fully complied with, and peace happily concluded without farther hostility.

" The day was spent in dancing, feasting and speech-making. The chief of the band had taken particular notice of the behavior of the Franciscans. ' These gray-coats,' said the chief of the Foxes, ' we value very much. They go barefooted as well as we. They scorn our beaver gowns, and decline all other presents. They do not carry arms to kill us. They flatter and make much of our children, and give them knives and other toys without expecting any reward. Those of our tribe who have been to Canada tell us that Onontio (so they call the Governor) loves them very much, and that the Fathers of the Gown have given up all to come and see us. Therefore, you who are captain over all these men, be pleased to leave with us one of thes3 gray-coats, whom we will conduct to our village when we shall have killed wliat we design of the buffaloes. Tliou art also master of these warriors ; remain with us, instead of going among the Illinois, who, already advised of your coming, are resolved to kill you and all of your soldiers. And how can yon resist so powerful a nation V

" The day November 1st we again embarked on the lake, and came to the mouth of the river of the Miamis, which comes from the southeast and falls into tlie lake."

Much confusion has arisen because, at different periods, the name of " Miami " has been applied to no less than five different rivers, viz. : The St. Joseph, of Lake Michigan ; the Maumee, often designated as the Miami of the Lakes, to distinguish it from the Miami which falls into the Ohio River below Cincinnati ; then there is the Little Miami of the Ohio emptying in above its greater namesake ; and finally the Wabash, which with more propriety bore the name of the " River of the Miamis." The French, it is assumed, gave the name " Miami " to the river emptying into Lake Michigan, for the reason that there was a village of that tribe on its banks before and at the time of La Salle's first visit, as already noted on page 24. The name was not of long duration, for it was soon exchanged for that of St. Joseph, by which it has ever since been known. La Hontan is the last authority who refers to it by the name of Miami. Shortly after the year named, the date being now unknown, a Catholic mission was established up the river, and, Charlevoix says, about six leagues below the portage, at South Bend, and called tlie Mission of St. Joseph ; and from this circumstance, we may safely infer, the river acquired the same name. It is not known, either, by whom the Mission of St. Joseph was organized ; very probably, however, by Father Claude Allouez. This good .man, and to Avhose writings the people of the West are so largely indebted for many valuable historical reminiscences, seems to have been forgotten in the respect that is showered upon other more conspicuous though less meritorious characters. The Mission of tlie Immaculate Conception, after Marquette's death, remained unoccupied for the space of two years, then Claude Jean AUouez received orders to proceed thither from the Mission of St. James, at the town of Maskoutens, on Fox River, Wisconsin. Leaving in October, 1676, on account of an exceptionally early winter, he was compelled to delay his journey until tlie following February, when he again started ; reaching Lake Michigan on the eve of St. Joseph, he called the lake after this saint. Embarking on the lake on the 23d of March, and coasting along the western shore, after numerous delays occasioned by ice and storm, he arrived at Chicago River. lie tlien made the portage and entered the Kaskaskia vilhige, which was probably near Peoria Lake, on the 8th of April, 1677. The Indians gave him a very cordial reception, and flocked from all directions to the town to hear the " Black Gown " relate the trnths of Christianity. For the glorification of God and the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, Allouez "erected, in the midst of the village, a cross twenty-five feet high, chanting the Yexilla Regis in the presence of an admiring and respectful throng of Indians ; he covered it with garlands of beautiful flowers." Father Allouez did not remain but a short time at the mission ; leaving it that spring he returned in 1678, and continued there until La Salle's arrival in the winter of 1679-80. The next suceeding decade Allouez ]>assed either at this mission or 'at the one on St. Joseph's River, on the eastern side of Lake Michigan, where he died in 1690. Bancroft says : " Allouez has imperishably connected his name with the progress of discovery in the West ; unhonored among us now, he was not inferior in zeal and ability to any of the great missionaries of his time."

" We had appointed this place (the mouth of the St. Joseph) for our rendezvous before leaving the outlet of Green Bay, and expected to meet the twenty men we had left at Mackinaw, who, being ordered to come by the eastern coast of the lake, had a much shorter cut than we, who came by the western side ; besides this, their canoes were not so heavily laden as ours. Still, we found no one here, nor any signs that they had been here before ns.

" It was resolved to advise M. La Salle that it was imprudent to remain here any longer for the absent men, and expose ourselves to the hardships of winter, when it would be doubtful if we could find the Illinois in their villages, as then they would be divided into families, and scattered over the country to subsist more conveniently. We further represented that the game might fail us, in which event we must certainly perish with hunger ; whereas if we went forward, we would find enough corn among the Illinois, who would rather supply fourteen men than thirty-two with provisions. We said further that it would be quite impossible, if we delayed longer, to continue the voyage until the winter was over, because the rivers would be frozen over and we could not make use of our canoes. Notwithstanding these reasons, M. La Salle thought it necessary to remain for the rest of the men, as we would be in no condition to appear before the Illinois and treat with them with onr present small force, whom they would meet with scorn. That it would be better to delay our entry into their country, and in the meantime try to meet with some of their nation, learn their language, and gain their good will by presents. La Salle concluded his discourse with the declaration that, although all of his men might run away, as for himself, he would remain alone with his Indian hunter, and find means to maintain the three missionaries - meaning me and my two clerical brethren. Having come to this conclusion, La Salle called his men together, and advised them that he expected each one to do his duty ; that he proposed to build a fort here for the security of the ship and the safety of our goods, and ourselves, too, in case of any disaster. None of us, at this time, knew that our ship had been lost. The men were quite 'dissatisfied at La Salle's course, but his reasons therefor were so many that tliey yielded, and agreed to entirely follow his directions.

" Just at the mouth of the river was an eminence with a kind of plateau, naturally fortified. It was quite steep, of a triangular shape, defended on two sides by the river, and on the other by a deep ravine whicli the water had washed out. We felled the trees that grew on this hill, and cleared from it the bushes for the distance of two musket shot. We began to build a redoubt about forty feet long by eighty broad, with great square pieces of timber laid one upon the other, and then cut~ a great number of stakes, some twenty feet long, to drive into the ground on the river side, to make the fort inaccessible in that direction. We were employed the whole of the month of November in this work, which was very fatiguing - having no other food than the bears our savage killed. These animals are here very abundant, because of the great quantity of grapes they find in this vicinity. Their flesh was so fat and luscious that our men grew weary of it, and desired to go themselves and hunt for wild goats. La Salle denied them that liberty, which made some murmurs among the men, and they went unwillingly to their work. These annoyances, with the near approach of winter, together with the apprehension that his ship was lost, gave La Salle a melancholy which he resolutely tried to, but could not, conceal.

" We made a hut wherein we performed divine service every Sunday ; and Father Gabriel and myself, who preached alternately, carefully selected such texts as were suitable to our situation, and fit to inspire us with courage, concord, and brotherly love. Our exhortations produced good results, and deterred our men from their meditated desertion. "We sounded the mouth of the river and found a sand-bar, on which we feared our expected ship might strike ; we marked out a cliannel through which the vessel might safely enter by attaching buoys, made of inflated bear-skins, fastened to long poles driven into the bed of the lake. Two men were also sent back to Mackinac to await there the return of the ship, and serve as pilots.

" M. Tonti arrived on the 20th of ISTovember with two canoes laden with stags and deer, which were a welcome refreshment to our men. He did not bring more than about one-half of his men, having left the rest on the opposite side of the lake, within three days' journey of the fort. La Salle was angry with him on this account, because he was afraid the men would run away. Tonti's party informed us that the Griffin had not put into Mackinaw, according to orders, and that they had heard nothing of her since our departure, although they had made inquiries of the savages living on the coast of the lake. This confirmed the suspicion, or rather the belief, that the vessel had been cast away. However, M. La Salle continued work on the building of the fort, which was at last completed and called Fort Miamis.

" The winter was drawing nigh, and La Salle, fearful that the ice would interrupt his voyage, sent M. Tonti back to hurry forward the men he had left, and to command them to come to him immediately ; but, meeting with a violent storm, their canoes were driven against the beach and broken to pieces, and Tonti's men lost their guns ancF equipage, and were obliged to return to us overland. A few days after this all our men arrived except two, who had deserted. We prepared at once to resume our voyage, rains having fallen that melted the ice and made the rivers navigable.

" On the 3d of December, 1679, we embarked, being in all thirtythree men, in eight canoes. We left the lake of the Illinois and went up the river of the Miamis, in which we liad previously made soundings. We made about five and twenty leagues southward, but failed to discover the place where we were to land, and cany our canoes and eifects into the river of the Illinois, which falls into that of the Meschasipi, that is, in the language of the Illinois, the great river. We had already gone beyond the place of the portage, and not knowing where we were, we thought proper to remain there, as we were expecting La Salle, who had taken to, the land to view the country. We stayed here quite a while, and La Salle failing to appear, I went a distance into the woods with two men, who fired oif their guns to notify him of the place where we were. In the meantime two other men went higher up the river, in canoes, in search of him. We all returned toward evening, having vainly endeavored to find him. The next day I went up the river myself, but hearing nothing of him, I came l)a"ck, and found our men very much perplexed, fearing he was lost. However, about four o'clock in the afternoon M, La Salle returned to us, having his face and hands as black as pitch. He carried two beasts as big as muskrats, whose skin was very fine and like ermine. He had killed them w^ith a stick as they hung by their tails to the branches of the trees.

" He told us that the marshes he had met on his way had compelled him to bring a large compass ; and that, being much delayed by the snow, which fell very fast, it was past midnight before he arrived upon the banks of the river, where he fired his gun twice, and hearing no answer, he concluded that we had gone higher up the river, and had, therefore, marched that way. He added that, after three hours' march, he saw a fire upon the hill, whither he went directly and hailed us several times ; but hearing no reply, he approached and found no person near the fire, but only some dry grass, upon which a man had laid a little while before, as he conjectured, because the bed was still warm. He sup2)osed that a savage had been occupying it, who fled upon his approach, and was now hid in ambuscade near by. La Salle called out loudly to him in two or three languages, saying that he need not be afraid of him, and that he was agoing to lie in his bed. La Salle received no answer. To guard against surprise. La Salle cut bushes and placed them to obstruct the way, and sat down by the fire, the smoke of which blackened his hands and face, as I have already observed. Having warmed and rested himself, he laid down under the tree upon the dry grass the savage had gathered and slept well, notwithstanding the frost and snow. Father Gabriel and I desired him to keep with his men, and not to expose himself in the future, as the success of our enterprise depended solely on him, and he promised to follow our advice. Our savage, who remained behind to hunt, finding none of us at the portage, came higher up the river, to where we were, and told us we had missed the place. We sent all the canoes back under his charge except one, which I retained for M. La Salle, who was so weary that he was obliged to remain there that night. I made a little hut with mats, constructed with marsh rushes, in which we laid down together for the night. By an unhappy accident our cabin took fire, and we were very near being burned alive after we had gone to sleep."

Here follows Hennepin's description of the Kankakee portage, and of the marshy grounds about the headwaters of the stream, as already quoted on page 24.

" Having passed through the marshes, we came to a vast prairie, in which nothing grows but grasses, which were at this time dry and burnt, because the Miamis set the grasses on lire every year, in hunting for wild oxen (buffalo), as I shall mention farther on. We found no game, which was a disappointment to us, as our provisions had begun to fail. Our men traveled about sixty miles without killing anything other than a lean stag, a small wild goat, a few swan and two bustards, which were but a scanty subsistence for two and thirty men. Most of the men were become so weary of this laborious life that, were it practicable, they would have run away and joined the savages, who, as we inferred by the great iires which we saw on the prairies, were not very far from us. There must be an innumerable quantity of wild cattle in this country, since the ground here is everywhere covered with their horns. The Miamis hunt them toward the latter end of autumn."