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Voyages of Samuel de Champlain V3

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112. _Blues_. _Vide antea_, note 101.

113. This significant name is given with reference to their mode of
dressing their hair.

114. Blueberries, _Vaccinium Canadense_.

115. _De cuir beullu_, for _cúir bouilli_, literally "boiled leather."

116. The shields of the savages of this region may have been made of the
hide of the buffalo, although the range of this animal was far to the
northwest of them. Champlain saw undoubtedly among the Hurons skins of
the buffalo. _Vide postea_, note 180.

117. Lake Huron is here referred to.

118. The greatest length of Lake Huron on a curvilinear line, between the
discharge of St Mary's Strait and the outlet, is about 240 miles; its
length due north and south is 186 miles, and its extreme breadth about
220 miles. _Bouchette_.

119. Coasting along the eastern shore of the Georgian Bay, when they
arrived at Matchedash Bay they crossed it in a southwesterly course
and entered the country of the Attigouautans, or, as they are
sometimes called, the Attignaouentans. _Relation des Jésuites,_ 1640,
p. 78. They were a principal tribe of the Hurons, living within the
limits of the present county of Simcoe. It is to be regretted that the
Jesuit Fathers did not accompany their relations with local maps by
which we could fix, at least approximately, the Indian towns which
they visited, and with which they were so familiar. For a description
of the Hurons and of their country, the origin of the name and other
interesting particulars, _vide Pere Hierosine Lalemant, Relation des
Jésuites_, 1639, Quebec ed. p. 50.

120. _Sitrouilles_ for _citrouilles_. _Vide_ Vol II. p. 64, note 128.

121. _Herbe au soleil_. The sunflower of Northeast America, _Helianthus
multiflorus_. This species is found from Quebec to the Saskatchewan, a
tributary of Lake Winnipeg. _Vide Chronological History of Plants_, by
Charles Pickering, M.D., Boston, 1879. p. 914. Charlevoix, in the
description of his journey through Canada in 1720, says: "The Soleil
is a plant very common in the fields of the savages, and which grows
seven or eight feet high. Its flower, which is very large, is in the
shape of the marigold, and the seed grows in the same manner. The
savages, by boiling it, draw out an oil, with which they grease their
hair." _Letters to the Dutchess of Lesdiguieres_, London, 1763, p. 95.

122. _Vignes_ Probably the frost grape, _Vitis cordifolia_.

123. _Prunes_. The Canada plum, _Prunus Americana_.

124. _Framboises_. The wild red raspberry, _Rubus strigosus_.

125. _Fraises_. The wild strawberry, _Fragaria Virginiana_. _Vide
Pickering Chro. Hist. Plants_, p. 771.

126. _Petites pommes sauuages_. Probably the American crab-apple, _Pyrus
coronaria_.

127. _Noix_ This may include the butternut and some varieties of the
walnut. _Vide_ Vol. I. p. 264.

128. Doubtless the May-apple, _Podophyllum peltatum_. In the wilds of
Simcoe this fruit may have seemed tolerable from the absence of others
more desirable. Gray says, "It is slightly acid, mawkish, eaten by
pigs and boys." _Cf. Florula Bostioniensis_, by Jacob Bigelow,
M.D. Boston, 1824, pp. 215, 216.

129. _Les Chesnes, ormeaux, & heslres_. For oaks see Vol I. p. 264. Elms,
plainly the white elm, _Ulmus Americana_, so called in
contradistinction to the red or slippery elm, _Ulmus fulva_. The
savages sometimes used the bark of the slippery elm in the
construction of their canoes when the white birch could not be
obtained. _Vide Charlevoix's Letters_, 1763, p. 94. For the beech, see
Vol. I. p. 264.

130. _Perdrix_. Canada Grouse, _Tetrao Canadensis_, sometimes called the
Spruce Partridge, differing from the partridge of New England, which
is the Ruffed Grouse, _Bonasa umbellus_. This latter species is,
however, found likewise in Canada.

131. _Lapins_. The American hare, _Lepus Americanus_.

132. _Cerises petites_. Reference is evidently here made to the wild red
cherry, _Prunus Pennsylvanica_, which is the smallest of all the
native species. _Cf_. Vol. I. p. 264.

133. _Merises_. The wild black cherry, _Prunus serotina_.

134. The Carantouanais. _Vide Carte de la Nouvelle France_, 1632, _also_
Vol. I. p. 304. This tribe was probably situated on the upper waters
of the Susquehanna, and consequently south of the Five Nations,
although we said inadvertently in Vol. I. p. 128 that they were on the
west of them. General John S. Clark thinks their village was at
Waverly, near the border of Pennsylvania In Vol. I. p. 143. in the
13th line from the top, we should have said the Carantouanais instead
of _Entouhonorons_.

135. The Entouhonorons were a part, it appears, of the Five Nations.
Champlain says they unite with the Iroquois in making war against all
the other tribes except the Neutral Nation. Lake Ontario is called
_Lac des Entouhonorons_, and Champlain adds that their country is near
the River St. Lawrence, the passage of which they forbid to all other
tribes. _Vide_ Vol. I. pp. 303, 304. He thus appears to apply the name
_Iroquois_ to the eastern portion of the Five Nations, particularly
those whom he had attacked on Lake Champlain; and the Huron name,
_Entouhonorons_, to the western portion. The subdivisions, by which
they were distinguished at a later period, were probably not then
known, at least not to Champlain.

136. _Flamens_. The Dutch were at this time on the Hudson, qengaged in the
fur trade with the savages. _Vide History of the State of New York_ by
John Romeyn Brodhead, New York, 1853. pp. 38-65. _History of New
Netherland_ or _New York under the Dutch_, by E. B. O'Callaghan, New
York, 1846, pp. 67-77.

137. Their enemies were the Iroquois.

138. _Chouontouaroüon_, another name for _Entouhoronon_.

139. Lake Couchiching, a small sheet of water into which pass by a small
outlet the waters of Lake Simcoe.

140. Lake Simcoe. Laverdière says the Indian name of this lake was
_Ouentaronk_, and that it was likewise called _Lac aux Claies_.

141. Étienne Brûlé. _Vide postea_, p. 208.

142. _Dans ces lacs_. From Lake Chouchiching, coasting along the
northeastern shore of Lake Simcoe, they would make five or six leagues
in reaching a point nearest to Sturgeon Lake.

143. Undoubtedly Sturgeon Lake.

144. From their entrance of Sturgeon Lake to the point where they reached
Lake Ontario, at the eastern limit of Amherst Island, the distance is,
in its winding and circuitous course, not far from Champlain's
estimate, viz. sixty-four leagues. That part of the river above Rice
Lake is the Otonabee; that below is known as the Trent.

145. _Gruës_ The white crane, _Grus Americanus_ Adult plumage pure white
_Coues's Key to North American Birds_, Boston, 1872, p 271 Charlevoix
says, "We have cranes of two colors, some white and others _gris de
lin_," that is a purple or lilac color. This latter species is the
brown crane, _Grus Canadensis_. "Plumage plumbeous gray." _Coues_.
_Vide Charlevoix's Letters_, London. 1763, p 83.

146. The latitude of the eastern end of Amherst Island is about 44° 11'.

147. This traverse, it may be presumed, was made by coasting along the
shore, as was the custom of the savages with their light canoes.

148. It appears that, after making by estimate about fourteen leagues in
their bark canoes, and four by land along the shore, they struck
inland. Guided merely by the distances given in the text, it is not
possible to determine with exactness at what point they left the
lake. This arises from the fact that we are not sure at what point the
measurement began, and the estimated distances are given, moreover,
with very liberal margins. But the eighteen leagues in all would take
them not very far from Little Salmon River, whether the estimate were
made from the eastern end of Amherst Island or Simcoe Island, or any
place in that immediate neighborhood. The natural features of the
country, for four leagues along the coast north of Little Salmon
River, answer well to the description given in the text. The chestnut
and wild grape are still found there. _Vide MS. Letters of the
Rev. James Cross, D.D., LL.D., and of S.Z. Smith, Esq._, of Mexico,
New York.

149. Lake Ontario, or Lake of the Entouhonorons, is about a hundred and
eighty miles long, and about fifty-five miles in its extreme width.

150. The river here crossed was plainly Oneida River, flowing from Oneida
Lake into Lake Ontario. The lake is identified by the islands in it.
Oneida Lake is the only one in this region which contains any islands
whatever, and consequently the river flowing from it must be that now
known as Oneida River.

151. For the probable site of this fort, see Vol. I. p. 130, note 83.

152. They were of the tribe called Carantouanais. _Vide antea_, note 134.

153. This was in the month of October.

154. _Et après auoir trauersé le bout du lac de laditte isle_. From this
form of expression this island would seem to have been visited before.
But no particular island is mentioned on their former traverse of the
lake. It is impossible to fix with certainty upon the isiand referred
to. It may have been Simcoe or Wolf Island, or some other.

155. Probably Cataraqui Creek. _Vide_ Vol. I. p. 136.

156. Perhaps Loughborough Lake, or the system of lakes of which this is a
part.

157. _Cygnes_, swans. Probably the Trumpeter Swan, _Cygnus buccinator_.
They were especially found in Sagard's time about Lake Nipissing.
"Mais pour des Cignes, qu'ils appellent _Horhev_, il y en a
principalement vers les Epicerinys." _Vide Le Grand Voyage av Pays des
Hurons_ par Fr. Gabriel Sagard, Paris, 1632, p. 303.

158. _Gruës blanches_. _Vide antea_, n. 145.

159. _Houstardes_. _Vide antea_, note 32.

160. _Mauuis_, Song-Thrush. Doubtless the Robin, _Turdus migratorius_.

161. _Allouettes_, larks. Probably the Brown Lark, _Anthus ludovicianus_.
Found everywhere in North America.

162. _Beccassines_. Probably the American Snipe, _Gallinago Wilsonii_.

163. _Oyes_, geese. The common Wild Goose, _Branta Canadensis_, or it may
include all the species taken collectively. For the several species
found in Canada, _vide antea_, note 32.

164. _Les loups_. The American Wolf, _Lupus occidentalis_.

165. The thirty-eight days during which they were there would include the
whole period from the time they began to make their preparations on
the 28th of October on the shores of Lake Ontario till they began
their homeward journey on the 4th of December. _Vide antea_, p. 137;
_postea_, p. 143.

166. The author here refers to the chief D'Arontal, whose guest he
was. _Vide antea_, 137. Cf. also Quebec ed. 1632, p. 928.

167. _Trainees de bois_, a kind of sledge. The Indian's sledge was made of
two pieces of board, which, with his stone axe and perhaps with the
aid of fire, he patiently manufactured from the trunks of trees. The
boards were each about six inches wide and six or seven feet long,
curved upward at the forward end and bound together by cross pieces.
The sides were bordered with strips of wood, which served as brackets,
to which was fastened the strap that bound the baggage upon the
sledge. The load was dragged by a rope or strap of leather passing
round the breast of the savage and attached to the end of the sledge.
The sledge was so narrow that it could be drawn easily and without
impediment wherever the savage could thread his way through the
pathless forests.

The journey from their encampment northeast of Kingston on Lake
Ontario to the capital of the Hurons was not less in a straight line
than a hundred and sixty miles. Without a pathway, in the heart of
winter, through water and melting snow, with their heavy burdens, the
hardship and exhaustion can hardly be exaggerated.

168. Namely at Cahiagué. In the issue of 1632, Champlain says they arrived
on the 23d day of the month. _Vide_ Quebec ed, p. 929. Leaving on the
4th and travelling nineteen days, as stated above, they would arrive
on the 23d December.

169. Probably the 4th of January.

170. Father Joseph Le Caron had remained at Carhagouha, during the absence
of the war party in their attack upon the Iroquois, where Champlain
probably arrived on the 5th of January.

171. In the issue of 1632, the arrival of Champlain and Le Caron is stated
to have occurred on the 17th of January. This harmonizes with the
correction of dates in notes 169, 170.

The Huron name of the Petuns was _Tionnontateronons_, or
_Khionontateronons_, or _Quieunontateronons_. Of them Vimont says,
"Les Khionontateronons, qu'on appelle la nation du Petun, pour
l'abondance qu'il y a de cette herbe, sont eloignez du pays des
Hurons, dont ils parlent la langue, enuiron douze ou quinze lieues
tirant à l'Occident." _Vide Relation des Jésuites_, 1640, p. 95;
_His. Du Canada_, Vol. I. p. 209. Sagard.

For some account of the subsequent history of the Nation de Petun,
_vide Indian Migration in Ohio_, by C. C. Baldwin, 1879, p. 2.

172. It was of great importance to the Indians to select a site for their
villages where suitable wood was accessible, both for fortifying them
with palisades and for fuel in the winter. It could not be brought a
great distance for either of these purposes. Hence when the wood in
the vicinity became exhausted they were compelled to remove and build
anew.

173. That is to say like the Hurons.

174. The Nation Neutre was called by the Hurons _Attisandaronk_ or
_Attihouandaron_. _Vide Relation des Jésuites_, 1641, p. 72;
_Dictonaire de la Langue Huronne_, par Sagard, a Paris, 1632.
Champlain places them, on his map of 1632, south of Lake Erie. His
knowledge of that lake, obtained from the savages, was very meagre as
the map itself shows. The Neutres are placed by early writers on the
west of Lake Ontario and north of Lake Erie _Vide Laverdière in loco_,
Quebec ed., p. 546; also, _Indian Migration in Ohio_, by C. C.
Baldwin, p. 4. They are placed far to the south of Lake Erie by
Nicholas Sanson. _Vide Cartes de l'Amerique_, 1657.

175. The Cheveux Relevés are represented by Champlain as dwelling west of
the Petuns, and were probably not far from the most southern limit of
the Georgian Bay. Strangely enough Nicholas Sanson places them on a
large island that separates the Georgian Bay from Lake Huron. _Vide
Cartes de l'Amerique_ par N. Sanson, 1657.

176. _Atsistaehronons, ou Nation du Feu_. Their Algonquin name was
Mascoutins or Maskoutens. with several other orthographies. The
significance of their name is given by Sagard as follows: Ils sont
errans, sinon que quelques villages d'entr'eux fement des bleds
d'Inde, et font la guerre à vne autre Nation, nommée _Assitagueronon_,
qui veut dire gens de feu: car en langue Huronne _Assista_ signifie du
feu, et _Eronon_, signifie Nation. _Le Grand Voyage du Pays des
Hurons_, par Gabriel Sagard, a Paris, 1632, p. 78. _Vide Relation des
Jésuites_, 1641, p 72; _Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi
Valley_, by John Gilmary Shea, p. 13; _Indian Migration in Ohio_, by
C. C. Baldwin, pp 9, 10; Discovery of the _Northwest by John Nicolet_,
by C. W. Butterfield, p. 63; _L'Amerique en Plusieurs Cartes_, par
N. Sanson, 1657.

177. _Pisierinii_, the Nipissings. This relates to those Nipissings who had
accompanied Champlain on the expedition against the Iroquois, and who
were passing the winter among the Hurons. He had expected that they
would accompany him on explorations on the north of them. But arriving
at their encampment, on his return from the Petuns and Cheveux
Relevés, he learned from them of the quarrel that had arisen between
the Algonquins and the Hurons.

178. Attigouantans, the principal tribe of the Hurons.

179. _Colliers de pourceline_. These necklaces were composed of shells,
pierced and strung like beads. They were of a violet color, and were
esteemed of great value. The _branches_ were strings of white shells,
and were more common and less valuable. An engraved representation may
be seen in _Histoire de L'Amérique Septentrionale_, par De la
Potherie, Paris, 1722, Tom. I. p. 334. For a full description of
these necklaces and their significance and use in their councils,
_vide Charlevoix's Letters_, London, 1763, p 132.

180. _Buffles_, buffaloes. The American Bison, _Bos Americanus_. The skins
seen by Champlain in the possession of the savages seem to indicate
that the range of the buffalo was probably further east at that period
than at the present time, its eastern limit being now about the Red
River, which flows into Lake Winnipeg. The limit of its northern range
is generally stated to be at latitude 60 degrees, but it is sometimes
found as far north as 63 degrees or 64 degrees. _Vide_ Dr. Shea's
interesting account of the buffalo in _Discovery and Exploration of
Mississippi Valley_, p. 18. The range of the Musk Ox is still farther
north, rarely south of latitude 67 degrees. His home is in the Barren
Grounds, west of Hudson Bay, and on the islands on the north of the
American Continent, where he subsists largely on lichens and the
meagre herbage of that frosty region.

181. Champlain is here speaking of the whole country of New France.

182. This sentence in the original is unfinished and defective. _Au costé
vers le Nort, icelle grande riuiere terant à l'Occident, etc_. In the
ed. 1632, the reading is _Au costé vers le nort d'icelle grande
riuiere tirant au suroust, etc_. The tranlation is according to the
ed. of 1632. _Vide_ Quebec ed., p. 941.

183. Champlain here gives the four species of the _cervus_ family under
names then known to him, viz, the moose, wapiti or elk, caribou, and
the common deer.

184. _Fouines_, a quadruped known as the minx or mink, _Mustela vison_.

185. _Martes_, weasels, _Mustela vulgaris_.

186. _The country on the north_, &c. Having described the country along the
coast of the St Lawrence and the lakes he now refers to the country
still further north even to the southern borders of Hudson's Bay
_Vide_ small map.

187. _Almouchiquois_, so in the French for Almouchiquois. All the tribes at
and south of _Chouacoet_, or the mouth of the Saco River, were
denominated Almouchiquois by the French. _Vide_ Vol II p 63, _et
passim_.

188. The country of the Attigouantans, sometimes written Attigouautans, the
principal tribe of the Hurons, used by Champlain as including the
whole, with whom the French were in close alliance, was from east to
west not more than about twelve leagues. There must have been some
error by which the author is made to say that it was _two hundred and
thirty leagues_. Laverdière suggests that in the manuscript it might
have been 23, or 20 to 30, and that the printer made it 230.

189. The author plainly means that the country of the Hurons was nearly
surrounded by the Mer Douce; that is to say, by Lake Huron and the
waters connected with it, viz., the River Severn, Lake Couchiching,
and Lake Simcoe. As to the population, compare _The Jesuits in North
America_, by Francis Parkman, LL.D., note p. xxv.

190. _Vide antea_, note 172, for the reason of these removals.

191. _Febues du Brésil_. This was undoubtedly the common trailing bean,
_Pliaseolus vulgaris_, probably called the Brazilian bean, because it
resembled a bean known under that name. It was found in cultivation in
New England as mentioned by Champlain and the early English settlers.
Bradford discoursing of the Indians, _His. Plymouth Plantation_,
p. 83, speaks of "their beans of various collours." It is possible
that the name, _febues du Brésil_, was given to it on account of its
red color, as was that of the Brazil-wood, from the Portuguese word
_braza_, a burning coal.

192. _Vide antea_, note 101.

193. _Sitrouelles_, or _citrouilles_, the common summer squash, _Cucurbita
polymorpha. Vide_ Vol. II. note 128. For figure D, _vide_ p. 116.

194. The coloring matter appears to have been derived from the root of the
bedstraw, _Galium tinctorum_. Peter Kalm, a pupil of Linnæus, who
travelled in Canada in 1749, says, "The roots of this plant are
employed by the Indians in dyeing the quills of the American
porcupines red, which they put into several pieces of their work, and
air, sun, or water seldom change this color." _Travels into North
America_, London, 1771, Vol. III. pp. 14-15.

195. Père Joseph Le Caron, who had passed the winter among the Hurons.

196. _Mardi-gras_, Shrove-Tuesday, or _flesh Tuesday_, the last day of the
Carnival, the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day in Lent.

197. _Vide_ Vol. I. pp. 236-238.

198. This must have been on the 20th of May.

199. Jean d'Olbeau and the lay brother Pacifique du Plessis.

200. Joseph le Caron, who accompanied Champlain to France.




CONTINUATION OF THE VOYAGES
AND DISCOVERIES MADE IN NEW FRANCE,
BY
SIEUR DE CHAMPLAIN,
CAPTAIN FOR THE KING IN THE WESTERN MARINE,
IN THE YEAR 1618.


At the beginning of the year one thousand six hundred and eighteen, on the
twenty-second of March, I set out from Paris, [201] together with my
brother-in-law, [202] for Honfleur, our usual port of embarkation. There we
were obliged to make a long stay on account of contrary winds. But when
they had become favorable, we embarked on the large vessel of the
association, which Sieur du Pont Gravé commanded. There was also on board a
nobleman, named De la Mothe, [203] who had previously made a voyage with
the Jesuits to the regions of La Cadie, where he was taken prisoner by the
English, and by them carried to the Virginias, the place of their
settlement. Some time after they transferred him to England and from there
to France, where there arose in him an increased desire to make another
voyage to New France, which led him to seek the opportunity presented by
me. I had assured him, accordingly, that I would use my influence and
assistance with our associates, as it seemed to me that they would find
such a person desirable, since he would be very useful in those regions.

Our embarkation being made, we took our departure from Honfleur on the 24th
day of May following, in the year 1618. The wind was favorable for our
voyage, but continued so only a very few days, when it suddenly changed,
and we had all the time head winds up to our arrival, on the 3d day of June
following, on the Grand Bank, where the fresh fishery is carried on. Here
we perceived to the windward of us some banks of ice, which came down from
the north. While waiting for a favorable wind we engaged in fishing, which
afforded us great pleasure, not only on account of the fish but also of a
kind of bird called _fauquets_, [204] and other kinds that are caught on
the line like fish. For, on throwing the line, with its hook baited with
cod liver, these birds made for it with a rush, and in such numbers that
you could not draw it out in order to throw it again, without capturing
them by the beak, feet, and wings as they slew and fell upon the bait, so
great were the eagerness and voracity of these birds. This fishing afforded
us great pleasure, not only on account of the sport, but on account of the
infinite number of birds and fish that we captured, which were very good
eating, and made a very desirable change on shipboard.

Continuing on our route, we arrived on the 15th of the month off Isle
Percée, and on St. John's day [205] following entered the harbor of
Tadoussac, where we found our small vessel, which had arrived three weeks
before us. The men on her told us that Sieur des Chesnes, the commander,
had gone to our settlement at Quebec. Thence he was to go to the Trois
Rivières to meet the savages, who were to come there from various regions
for the purpose of trade, and likewise to determine what was to be done on
account of the death of two of our men, who had been treacherously and
perfidiously killed by two vicious young men of the Montagnais. These two
unfortunate victims, as the men on the vessel informed us, had been killed
while out hunting nearly two years [206] before. Those in the settlement
had always supposed that they had been drowned from the upsetting of their
canoe, until a short time before, one of the men, conceiving an animosity
against the murderers, made a disclosure and communicated the fact and
cause of the murder to the men of our settlement. For certain reasons it
has seemed to me well to give an account of the matter and of what was done
in regard to it. But it is almost impossible to obtain the exact truth in
the case, on account, not only of the small amount of testimony at hand,
but of the diversity of the statements made, the most of which were
presumptive. I will, however, give an account of the matter here, following
the statement of the greater number as being nearer the truth, and relating
what I have found to be the most probable.

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