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Voyages of Samuel de Champlain V3

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On the 7th I went to explore a little river, along which the savages
sometimes go to war, and which flows into the fall of the river of the
Iroquois. [11] It is very pleasant, with meadow land more than three
leagues in circuit, and much arable land. It is distant a league from the
great fall, and a league and a half from Place Royale.

On the 9th our savage arrived. He had gone somewhat beyond the lake, which
is ten leagues long, and which I had seen before. [12] But he met no one,
and they were unable to go any farther, as their canoe gave out, which
obliged them to return. They reported that after passing the fall they saw
an island, where there was such a quantity of herons that the air was
completely filled with them. There was a young man belonging to Sieur de
Monts named Louis, who was very fond of the chase. Hearing this, he wished
to go and satisfy his curiosity, earnestly entreating our savage to take
him to the place. To this the savage consented, taking also a captain of
the Montagnais, a very respectable person, whose name was _Outetoucos_. On
the following morning Louis caused the two savages to be called, and went
with them in a canoe to the island of the herons. This island is in the
middle of the fall. [13] Here they captured as many herons and other birds
as they wanted, and embarked again in their canoe. Outetoucos, contrary to
the wish of the other savage, and against his remonstrances, desired to
pass through a very dangerous place, where the water fell more than three
feet, saying that he had formerly gone this way, which, however, was
false. He had a long discussion in opposition to our savage, who wished to
take him on the south side, along the mainland, [14] where they usually go.
This, however, Outetoucos did not wish, saying that there was no danger.
Our savage finding him obstinate yielded to his desire. But he insisted
that at least a part of the birds in the canoe should be taken out, as it
was overloaded, otherwise he said it would inevitably fill and be lost. But
to this he would not consent, saying that it would be time enough when they
found themselves in the presence of danger. They accordingly permitted
themselves to be carried along by the current. But when they reached the
precipice, they wanted to throw overboard their load in order to escape. It
was now, however, too late, for they were completely in the power of the
rapid water, and were straightway swallowed up in the whirlpools of the
fall, which turned them round a thousand times. For a long time they clung
to the boat. Finally the swiftness of the water wearied them so that this
poor Louis, who could not swim at all, entirely lost his presence of mind,
and, the canoe going down, he was obliged to abandon it. As it returned to
the surface, the two others who kept holding on to it, saw Louis no more,
and thus he died a sad death. [15] The two others continued to hold on to
the canoe. When, however, they were out of danger, this Outetoucos, being
naked and having confidence in his swimming powers, abandoned it in the
expectation of reaching the shore, although the water still ran there with
great rapidity. But he was drowned, for he had been so weakened and
overcome by his efforts that it was impossible for him to save himself
after abandoning the canoe. Our savage Savignon, understanding himself
better, held firmly to the canoe until it reached an eddy, whither the
current had carried it. Here he managed so well that, notwithstanding his
suffering and weariness, he approached the shore gradually, when, after
throwing the water out of the canoe, he returned in great fear that they
would take vengeance upon him, as the savages do among themselves, and
related to us this sad story, which caused us great sorrow.

On the next day I went in another canoe to the fall, together with the
savage and another member of our company, to see the place where they had
met with their accident, and find, if possible, the remains. But when he
showed me the spot, I was horrified at beholding such a terrible place, and
astonished that the deceased should have been so lacking in judgment as to
pass through such a fearful place, when they could have gone another way.
For it is impossible to go along there, as there are seven or eight
descents of water one after the other, the lowest three feet high, the
seething and boiling of the water being fearful. A part of the fall was all
white with foam, indicating the worst spot, the noise of which was like
thunder, the air resounding with the echo of the cataracts. After viewing
and carefully examining this place, and searching along the river bank for
the dead bodies, another very light shallop having proceeded meanwhile on
the other bank also, we returned without finding anything.

* * * * *

CHAMPLAIN'S EXPLANATION OF THE ACCOMPANYING MAP.

LE GRAND SAULT ST. LOUIS.

A. Small place that I had cleared up.
B. Small pond.
C. Small islet, where I had a stone wall made.
D. Small brook, where the barques are kept.
E. Meadows where the savages stay when they come to this region.
F. Mountains seen in the interior.
G. Small pond.
H. Mont Royal.
I. Small brook.
L. The fall.
M. Place on the north side, where the savages transfer their canoes by
land.
N. Spot where one of our men and a savage were drowned.
O. Small rocky islet.
P. Another islet where birds make their nests.
Q. Heron island.
R. Another island in the fall.
S. Small islet
T. Small round islet.
V. Another islet half covered with water.
X. Another islet, where there are many river birds.
Y. Meadows.
Z. Small river.
2. Very large and fine islands.
3. Places which are bare when the water is low, where there are great
eddies, as at the main fall.
4. Meadows covered with water
5. Very shallow places.
6. Another little islet.
7. Small rocks.
8. Island St. Hélène.
9. Small island without trees.
oo. Marshes connecting with the great fall.

ENDNOTES:

4. This journey of eight leagues would take them as far as the Lake of Two
Mountains.

5. This little river is mentioned by Champlain in his Voyage of 1603,
Vol. I. p. 268. It is represented on early maps as formed by two small
streams, flowing, one from the north or northeastern, and the other from
the southern side of the mountain, in the rear of the city of Montreal,
which unite some distance before they reach the St. Lawrence, flowing
into that river at Point Callières. These little brooks are laid down on
Champlain's local map, _Le Grand Sault St. Louis_, on Charlevoix's
_Carte de l'Isle de Montréal_, 1744, and on Bellin's _L'Isle de
Montréal_, 1764; but they have disappeared on modern maps, and probably
are either extinct or are lost in the sewerage of the city, of which
they have become a part. We have called the stream formed by these two
brooks, note 190, Vol. I., _Rivière St. Pierre_. On Potherie's map, the
only stream coming from the interior is so named. _Vide Histoire de
L'Amerique_ par M. de Bacqueville de la Potherie, 1722, p. 311. On a map
in Greig's _Hochelaga Depicta_, 1839, it is called St. Peter's River.
The same stream on Bouchette's map, 1830, is denominated Little River.
It seems not unlikely that a part of it was called, at one time, Rivière
St. Pierre, and another part Petite Rivière.

It is plain that on this stream was situated the sixty acres of cleared
land alluded to in the text as formerly occupied by the savages.

It will be remembered that seventy-six years anterior to this, in 1535,
Jacques Cartier discovered this place, which was then the seat of a
large and flourishing Indian town. It is to be regretted that Champlain
did not inform us more definitely as to the history of the former
occupants of the soil. Some important, and we think conclusive, reasons
have been assigned for supposing that they were a tribe of the Iroquois.
Among others may be mentioned the similarity in the construction of
their towns and houses or cabins, the identity of their language as
determined by a collation of the words found in Cartier's journal with
the language of the Iroquois; and to these may be added the traditions
obtained by missionaries and others, as cited by Laverdière, to which we
must not, however, attach too much value. _Vide Laverdière in loco_.
While it seems probable that the former occupants were of the Iroquois
family, it is impossible to determine whether on retiring they joined
the Five Nations in the State of New York, or merged themselves with the
Hurons, who were likewise of Iroquois origin.

6. I am unable to identify this plant. Its climbing propensity and the
color of its fruit suggest _Rhus radicans_, but in other respects the
similarity fails.

7. _Cerfs, Daims, Cheureuls, Caribous_. Champlain employs the names of the
different species of the Cerf family as used in Europe; but as our
species are different, this use of names creates some confusion. There
were in Canada, the moose, the caribou, the wapiti, and the common red
deer. Any enumeration by the early writers must include these, under
whatever names they may be described. One will be found applying a name
to a given species, while another will apply the same name to quite a
different species. Charlevoix mentions the orignal (moose) caribou, the
hart, and the roebuck. Under the name _hart_, he probably refers to the
wapiti, _elaphus Canadensis_, and _roe-buck_, to the common red deer,
_Cervus Virginianus_. _Vide Charlevoix's Letters to the Dutchess of
Lesdiguieres_, 1763, pp. 64-69, also Vol. I. of this work, p. 265.

8. Lynxes, _Loups-seruiers_. The compound word _loup-cervier_ was
significant, and was applied originally to the animal of which the stag
was its natural prey, _qui attaque les cerfs_. In Europe it described
the lynx, a large powerful animal of the feline race, that might well
venture to attack the stag. But in Canada this species is not found.
What is known as the Canadian lynx, _Felis Canadensis_, is only a large
species of cat, which preys upon birds and the smaller quadrupeds.
Champlain probably gives it the name _loup-servier_ for the want of one
more appropriate. It is a little remarkable that he does not in this
list mention the American wolf, _Lupus occidentalis_, so common in every
part of Canada, and which he subsequently refers to as the animal
especially dreaded by the deer. _Vide postea_, pp. 139, 157.

9. The site of Place Royale was on Point Callières, so named in honor of
Chevalier Louis Hector de Callières Bonnevue, governor of Montreal in
1684.

10. It seems most likely that the name of this island was suggested by the
marriage which Champlain had contracted with Hélène Boullé, the year
before. This name had been given to several other places. _Vide_ Vol.
I. pp. 104, 105.

11. _Vide_ Vol. I. p. 268, note 191. _Walker and Miles's Atlas_, map 186.

12. The Lake of the Two Mountains. _Vide antea_, note 4.

13. On Champlain's local map of the Falls of St. Louis, the letter Q is
wanting; but the expression, _ceste isle est au milieu du faut_, in the
middle of the fall, as suggested by Laverdière, indicates that the
island designated by the letter R is Heron Island. _Vide postea_, R on
map at p. 18.

14. _Grand Tibie_, so in the original. This is a typographical error for
_grand terre_. _Vide_ Champlain, 1632, Quebec ed., p. 842.

15. The death of this young man may have suggested the name which was
afterward given to the fall. He was, however, it is reasonable to
suppose, hardly equal in sanctity of character to the Saint Louis of
the French. Hitherto it had been called _Le Grand Saut_. But soon after
this it began to be called _Grand Saut S. Louys_. _Vide postea_,
pp. 38, 51, 59.




CHAPTER III.

TWO HUNDRED SAVAGES RETURN THE FRENCHMAN WHO HAD BEEN ENTRUSTED TO THEM,
AND RECEIVE THE SAVAGE WHO HAD COME BACK FROM FRANCE.--VARIOUS INTERVIEWS
ON BOTH SIDES.


On the thirteenth day of the month [16] two hundred Charioquois [17]
savages, together with the captains Ochateguin, Iroquet, and Tregouaroti,
brother of our savage, brought back my servant. [18] We were greatly
pleased to see them. I went to meet them in a canoe with our savage. As
they were approaching slowly and in order, our men prepared to salute them
with a discharge of arquebuses, muskets, and small pieces. When they were
near at hand, they all set to shouting together, and one of the chiefs gave
orders that they should make their harangue, in which they greatly praised
us, commending us as truthful, inasmuch as I had kept the promise to meet
them at this fall. After they had made three more shouts, there was a
discharge of musketry twice from thirteen barques or pataches that were
there. This alarmed them so, that they begged me to assure them that there
should be no more firing, saying that the greater part of them had never
seen Christians, nor heard thunderings of that sort, and that they were
afraid of its harming them, but that they were greatly pleased to see our
savage in health, whom they supposed was dead, as had been reported by some
Algonquins, who had heard so from the Montagnais. The savage commended the
treatment I had shown him in France, and the remarkable objects he had
seen, at which all wondered, and went away quietly to their cabins,
expecting that on the next day I would show them the place where I wished
to have them dwell. I saw also my servant, who was dressed in the costume
of the savages, who commended the treatment he had received from them. He
informed me of all he had seen and learned during the winter, from the
savages.

The next day I showed them a spot for their cabins, in regard to which the
elders and principal ones consulted very privately. After their long
consultation they sent for me alone and my servant, who had learned their
language very well. They told him they desired a close alliance with me,
and were sorry to see here all these shallops, and that our savage had told
them he did not know them at all nor their intentions, and that it was
clear that they were attracted only by their desire of gain and their
avarice, and that when their assistance was needed they would refuse it,
and would not act as I did in offering to go with my companions to their
country and assist them, of all of which I had given them proofs in the
past. They praised me for the treatment I had shown our savage, which was
that of a brother, and had put them under such obligations of good will to
me, that they said they would endeavor to comply with anything I might
desire from them, but that they feared that the other boats would do them
some harm. I assured them that they would not, and that we were all under
one king, whom our savage had seen, and belonged to the same nation, though
matters of business were confined to individuals, and that they had no
occasion to fear, but might feel as much security as if they were in their
own country. After considerable conversation, they made me a present of a
hundred castors. I gave them in exchange other kinds of merchandise. They
told me there were more than four hundred savages of their country who had
purposed to come, but had been prevented by the following representations
of an Iroquois prisoner, who had belonged to me, but had escaped to his own
country. He had reported, they said, that I had given him his liberty and
some merchandise, and that I purposed to go to the fall with six hundred
Iroquois to meet the Algonquins and kill them all, adding that the fear
aroused by this intelligence had alone prevented them from coming. I
replied that the prisoner in question had escaped without my leave, that
our savage knew very well how he went away, and that there was no thought
of abandoning their alliance, as they had heard, since I had engaged in war
with them, and sent my servant to their country to foster their friendship,
which was still farther confirmed by my keeping my promise to them in so
faithful a manner.

They replied that, so far as they were concerned, they had never thought of
this; that they were well aware that all this talk was far from the truth,
and that if they had believed the contrary they would not have come, but
that the others were afraid, never having seen a Frenchman except my
servant. They told me also that three hundred Algonquins would come in five
or six days, if we would wait for them, to unite with themselves in war
against the Iroquois; that, however, they would return without doing so
unless I went. I talked a great deal with them about the source of the
great river and their country, and they gave me detailed information about
their rivers, falls, lakes and lands, as also about the tribes living
there, and what is to be found in the region. Four of them assured me that
they had seen a sea at a great distance from their country, but that it was
difficult to go there, not only on account of the wars, but of the
intervening wilderness. They told me also that the winter before some
savages had come from the direction of Florida, beyond the country of the
Iroquois, who lived near our ocean, and were in alliance with these
savages. In a word, they made me a very exact statement, indicating by
drawings all the places where they had been, and taking pleasure in talking
to me about them; and for my part I did not tire of listening to them, as
they confirmed points in regard to which I had been before in doubt. After
all this conversation was concluded, I told them that we would trade for
the few articles they had, which was done the next day. Each one of the
barques carried away its portion; we on our side had all the hardship and
venture; the others, who had not troubled themselves about any
explorations, had the booty, the only thing that urges them to activity, in
which they employ no capital and venture nothing.

The next day, after bartering what little they had, they made a barricade
about their dwelling, partly in the direction of the wood, and partly in
that of our pataches; and this they said they did for their security, in
order to avoid the surprises of their enemies, which we took for the
truth. On the coming night, they called our savage, who was sleeping on my
patache, and my servant, who went to them. After a great deal of
conversation, about midnight they had me called also. Entering their
cabins, I found them all seated in council. They had me sit down near them,
saying that when they met for the purpose of considering a matter, it was
their custom to do so at night, that they might not be diverted by anything
from attention to the subject in hand; that at night one thought only of
listening, while during the day the thoughts were distracted by other
objects.

But in my opinion, confiding in me, they desired to tell me privately their
purpose. Besides, they were afraid of the other pataches, as they
subsequently gave me to understand. For they told me that they were uneasy
at seeing so many Frenchmen, who were not especially united to one another,
and that they had desired to see me alone; that some of them had been
beaten; that they were as kindly disposed towards me as towards their own
children, confiding so much in me that they would do whatever I told them
to do, but that they greatly mistrusted the others; that if I returned I
might take as many of their people as I wished, if it were under the
guidance of a chief; and that they sent for me to assure me anew of their
friendship, which would never be broken, and to express the hope that I
might never be ill disposed towards them; and being aware that I had
determined to visit their country, they said they would show it to me at
the risk of their lives, giving me the assistance of a large number of men,
who could go everywhere; and that in future we should expect such treatment
from them as they had received from us.

Straightway they brought fifty castors and four strings of beads, which
they value as we do gold chains, saying that I should share these with my
brother, referring to Pont Gravé, we being present together; that these
presents were sent by other captains, who had never seen me; that they
desired to continue friends to me; that if any of the French wished to go
with them, they should be greatly pleased to have them do so; and that they
desired more than ever to establish a firm friendship. After much
conversation with them, I proposed that inasmuch as they were desirous to
have me visit their country, I would petition His Majesty to assist us to
the extent of forty or fifty men, equipped with what was necessary for the
journey, and that I would embark with them on condition that they would
furnish us the necessary provisions for the journey, and that I would take
presents for the chiefs of the country through which we should pass, when
we would return to our settlement to spend the winter; that moreover, if I
found their country favorable and fertile, we would make many settlements
there, by which means we should have frequent intercourse with each other,
living happily in the future in the fear of God, whom we would make known
to them. They were well pleased with this proposition, and begged me to
shake hands upon it, saying that they on their part would do all that was
possible for its fulfilment; that, in regard to provisions, we should be as
well supplied as they themselves, assuring me again that they would show me
what I desired to see. Thereupon, I took leave of them at daybreak,
thanking them for their willingness to carry out my wishes, and entreating
them to continue to entertain the same feelings.

On the next day, the 17th, they said that they were going castor-hunting,
and that they would all return. On the following morning they finished
bartering what little they had, when they embarked in their canoes, asking
us not to take any steps towards taking down their dwellings, which we
promised them. Then they separated from each other, pretending to go a
hunting in different directions. They left our savage with me that we might
have less distrust in them. But they had appointed themselves a rendezvous
above the fall, where they knew well enough that we could not go with our
barques. Meanwhile, we awaited them in accordance with what they had told
us.

The next day there came two savages, one Iroquet, the other the brother of
our Savignon. They came to get the latter, and ask me in behalf of all
their companions to go alone with my servant to where they were encamped,
as they had something of importance to tell me, which they were unwilling
to communicate to any Frenchmen. I promised them that I would go.

The following day I gave some trifles to Savignon, who set out much
pleased, giving me to understand that he was about to live a very irksome
life in comparison with that which he had led in France. He expressed much
regret at separation, but I was very glad to be relieved of the care of
him. The two captains told me that on the morning of the next day they
would send for me, which they did. I embarked, accompanied by my servant,
with those who came. Having arrived at the fall, we went some eight leagues
into the woods, where they were encamped on the shore of a lake, where I
had been before.[19] They were much pleased at seeing me, and began to
shout after their custom. Our Indian came out to meet me, and ask me to go
to the cabin of his brother, where he at once had some meat and fish put on
the fire for my entertainment. While I was there, a banquet was held, to
which all the leading Indians were invited. I was not forgotten, although I
had already eaten sufficiently; but, in order not to violate the custom of
the country, I attended. After banqueting, they went into the woods to hold
their council, and meanwhile I amused myself in looking at the country
round about, which is very pleasant.

Some time after they called me, in order to communicate to me what they had
resolved upon. I proceeded to them accordingly with my servant. After I had
seated myself by their side, they said they were very glad to see me, and
to find that I had not failed to keep my word in what I had promised them;
saying that they felt it an additional proof of my affection that I
continued the alliance with them, and that before setting out they desired
to take leave of me, as it would have been a very great disappointment to
them to go away without seeing me, thinking that I would in that case have
been ill disposed towards them. They said also that what had led them to
say they were going a hunting, and build the barricade, was not the fear of
their enemies nor the desire of hunting, but their fear of all the other
pataches accompanying me, inasmuch as they had heard it said that on the
night they sent for me they were all to be killed, and that I should not be
able to protect them from the others who were much more numerous; so that
in order to get away they made use of this ruse. But they said if there had
been only our two pataches they would have stayed some days longer, and
they begged that, when I returned with my companions, I would not bring any
others. To this I replied that I did not bring these, but that they
followed without my invitation; that in the future, however, I would come
in another manner; at which explanation they were much pleased.

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