Vol. 5, p. 261
English Translation of Margry,
vol. 3.
Joutel, Henri
Narrative, 1684-1688.
pp. 70-522.
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this fort as well as Fort Frontenac.
M. Cavelier made some difficulty about taking the blacksmith as he was very necessary at the fort, and he was the man whom the Indians valued most, as he mended their guns and hatchets; but, as there was another one, although not in their service, who would work on terms, it was finally decided that the other one should go. The next thing was to prepare provisions and take some furs in order to get more provisions when we passed Mililimaquinax, and they set to work to do so as quickly as possible, and also to get the boat ready.
While we were there we had many visitors, among others the Jesuit priest, although he was still not quite well; also the chiefs of the tribes settled around the fort, of which two are Illinois, one called Casquasquia and the other Peroveria, and another the Chaohouannons, who have settled there since M. de La Salle' s exploration. There was yet another tribe about a league and a half from the fort, called the Miamis, who are settled at a place which would be a very good one for a fortified town, being on a hill steep on all sides, with the river washing it and running at the foot of the rock, as it does at Fort Saint Louis of the Illinois. Some part of all these tribes had gone with M. de Tonty to the war against the Iroquois, their common enemy; and, some of the, having returned, it was from them that we heard of the expedition against the Iroquois by the troops under the command of the Marquis d 'Enonville, Governor for the King of New France. The Iroquois, learning that the army was advancing towards their villages, left them and went and set an ambush at the place where the army was to pass, and
English Translation of Margry,
vol. 3.
Joutel, Henri
Narrative, 1684-1688.
pp. 70-522.
| 473 |
way, passing by the village of the Miamis, a distance of about a league from Fort Saint Louis; it is situated on a hill, in a very good position, where a fine town could be made, of great strength, for the place is steep all round, or could be made so, and the river flows at its foot. We went on until Thursday the 25th, when we arrived at a place called Chicagou, which, according to what we were told, has been so called on account of the quantity of garlic growing in this district, in the woods. There is a small river there, formed by the drainage from a great plain or prairie at that place, which flows straight into the lake called, as I have said elsewhere, the Lake of the Illinois or Michigan. At about three or four leagues' distance, on the other side of the great plain, the waters run into the River of the Illinois, which is formed by them, and the higher the waters, the less is the distance things have to be carried. It would appear that this place is the highest ground between the Gulf of Mexico and the River St. Lawrence, for all the streams from this district run towards the coast at one or other of those places. The more water there is in the streams, the less carrying there is to do; for, in navigating rivers of this sort, it is (sometimes) necessary to carry the canoe or boat and the baggage, and it cannot be avoided. On our arrival, we sent back the Indians the next day, otherwise they would have eaten up all our provisions, of which we had no great quantity; for they had consumed a great part of them, the rains having prevented us from getting on as fast as we could have wished. Some Frenchmen from the Fort, who had come to carry some of the things, went back with the Indians.
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Some people may say, and I have already heard it said, that they hunt oxen in
their own district; but I maintain that they do not, and that, by coming
towards the Wabash to hunt the ox; they can derive no advantage from it;
whereas, if they were settled there, they could easily bring away the hides and
tallow b y means of that river and the small ones running into it, which they
cannot do while they are in their present district, from which they have to
come a distance of 30 to 40 leagues for the hunting, in the direction of the
Wabash.
If they were settled on the Wabash, we should have a thousand good armed men, including the Illinois of the West, of whom we could make use in case of need.
When the Illinois have left their country, we shall easily get the Maskoutens and the Kikapous to occupy it. That would give us 450 good men, who are now on the streams falling into the Illinois River and the Mississippi. Their only occupation is hunting for beaver skins, which they go and sell at the Bay des Puans and in the Illinois country. They would give up hunting the beaver, as they would have no sale for the skins. I presume that Canada would have no right to send to the Illinois country, to which we should go by the Mississippi only.
The Miamis, who have withdrawn from the banks of the Mississippi and gone to Chicago for the convenience of beaver-hunting, and those at Atihipi-Catouy and St. Joseph's River, would come readily and gladly to the Illinois River, where they would be united with a hundred of their own tribe who are still at Wisconsin on the Mississippi, and another hundred families who are settled at the fork of the Illinois River. That would make another 450 men, armed with guns, who would be taken from the
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beaver-trade and be set to hunt for ex-hides and the skins of roebucks, stags,
hinds and small animals; and the King would no longer have to keep a garrison
at the fort of the Miamis, 30 leagues up a river, where it has been supposed to
be necessary for protecting the wives of sixty Miamis and thirty Hurons who
went and settled there. The expense, what with sending canoes and the cost of
presents, amounts to over 1000 livres a year. We need only cease to keep a
garrison and a French commandant there, they will then move nearer to Detroit
or the Mississippi, - if not, we should abandon them, and not trouble about it.
In speaking of the Miamis, I do so after arguing the matter out with Father
Gravier, the superior of those missions, who knows them well.
By taking these Miamis, Maskoutens and Kikapous, formerly on the Mississippi, from their present stations and placing them on the Illinois River or lower down, the beaver-trade of Canada will be relieved of fifteen thousand skins a year;
The movement of the Illinois, ten thousand;
Of the Sioux, thirty thousand. Thus there is a total of fifty-five thousand beaver-skins a year which Canada would draw from these places; and if they would refrain from sending to the Renards to trade, a tribe which is actually waging war on those of the Mississippi, being.......* they formerly belonged to the Mississippi and would return there, which would further reduce the supply of beaver skins by ten thousand.
If the Sioux remain where they are, they become useless, as they are too far
away from us, and we could do no trade with them, setting aside the beaver trade.
M. Le Sueur, who knows the tribe thoroughly, is proceeding to France and will
report on
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* Word struck out in the text.
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The Sieur Perrot, who is in command at Malamek, received orders from the Comte
de Frontenac to come down here to consider the necessary means for uniting the
Miamis of those parts with those at the River St. Joseph, as it is important to
strengthen that post against any fresh attacks which the Iroquois may make upon
it; he arrived on the 14th of August with twelve canoes of Indians belonging to
various distant tribes.
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(Not found - indicated in the Index by Margry as with the booksellers
Maisomeuve & Leclerc.)
Extract from the memoir of the Chevalier de Beaurain
on Louisiana.
On the 10th of February 1702 M. Le Sueur arrived with two thousand hundredweight of blue and green earths, coming from the Sioux country . The following is an extract from the account Or his journey. It has already been stated that he arrived in the Colony, in the month of December 1699, with a party of thirty workmen; he was not able to proceed to the Tamaroas until the following June, having gone up to that time . . . leagues from the mouth of the river. He left there on the 12th of July 1700, with a felucca and two canoes manned by nineteen men.1)
On the 13th, after going six and a quarter leagues on, he stopped at the outfall of the Missouri, and six leagues further up, he left the River of the Illinois, on the east of the great river; there he met three Canadian Voyageurs, who came to join his party. They brought him a letter from Father Marest, a Jesuit, dated the 10th of July 1700, from the Mission-station of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin in the Illinois country, in the following terms:
"I have the honour of writing to warn you that the Peanquichas have been
routed by the Sioux and the Ayavois. They have combined with the Quicapous and
some Mascoutins, Renards and Metesigamias and are going to wreak their vengeance,
- not upon the Sioux, for they are too much in fear of them, - but perhaps on
the Ayavois or on the Paoutex, or, more probably, on the
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1. See Penicant's narrative, Vol . V, p. 400.
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Ozages, for these last suspect nothing, while the others are on their guard. As
you may fall in with the allied tribes, you should take precautions against any
attack from them, and prevent them from approaching you, for they are
treacherous and not to be trusted. May God accompany you in all you
undertake."
Twenty-Two leagues above the River of the Illinois he passed a small stream, which he called Oxen River. Nine leagues further, he left a small river on the west and met with four Canadians, who were coming down the Mississippi to go to the Illinois.
On the 30th of July, nine leagues above the river last mentioned, he fell in with seventeen Sioux in seven canoes, going to avenge the death of three Sioux, of whom one had been burned and the others killed among the Tamaroas, a few days before his arrival at their village. As he had promised the chief of the Illinois that he would pacify the Sioux who should come to fight against his tribe, he made a present of some goods to the leader of this expedition, to induce him to turn back. He told him that the King of France did not wish this river to be stained with blood any more, and had sent him to tell them that, if they obeyed his commands, all the things they needed should afterwards be given them. He replied that he accepted the present, that is, that he would do what he was told.
Between the 30th of July and the 25th of August M. Le Sueur went fifty-two leagues and a quarter, up to a small river called the River a la Mine; it comes from the north to its outfall, but doubles back to the north-east, seven leagues up on the right. There is a lead mine on a prairie, a league and a half back from the stream. This river, except for the first three
| 95 |
leagues, is navigable only when the waters are in flood, that is, from the
early spring to the month of June.
From the 25th to the 27th he went ten leagues, passing two small rivers, and discovered a lead mine; he laid in a stock of it.
From the 27th to the 30th he went eleven leagues and a half, and fell in with five Canadians, one of whom was dangerously wounded in the head. They were naked, and had no weapons except one wretched gun with five or six charges of powder and bullets. They said that they were coming down the Sioux to go to the Tamaroas, and, forty leagues higher up, they had seen nine canoes on the Mississippi in which there were ninety Indians, who had robbed them and beaten them cruelly. This party was going to fight against the Sioux; it was made up of four different tribes, - Outagamis, Saquis, Potouatamis and Puans, who live in a district eighty leages to the east of the River and from the place where M. le Sueur then was. The Canadians determined to accompany the detachment, which was thus made up of twenty-eight men. That day, he went four and a half leagues.
On the 1st of September he passed the River of the Wisconsins. It comes from
the north-east to its outfall, and turns to the east. It is half a league wide
almost throughout its course. About forty five leagues up this river, on the
right as you go up, you come to a portage over a league in length; half of this
portage is a morass. At the end of the portage, a small stream runs down into
the bay, called the Bay des Puants, inhabited by a large number of tribes which
take their furs to Canada. It was by the River of the Wisconsins that M. Le
Sueur came into the Mississippi the first time, 1683 1), on his way
to the
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1. Is there a clerical error here? Compare a petition from Le Sueur, which
will be found further on.
| 96 |
country of the Sioux, where he has lived for seven years at various times. 2)
The River Mississippi, opposite the outfall of this river, is only about an
eighth of a league broad.
From the 1st of September to the 5th he advanced fourteen leagues; that day he passed the River aux Ganots, which comes from the north east, and then the River of the Quicapons, so called from the name of a tribe which formerly dwelt on its banks .
From the 5th to the 9th he went ten leagues and a half, passing the River Cachee
and the River aux Ailes. The same day, he saw some canoes full of Indians coming
down the Mississippi; and the five Canadians recognized them as the party that
had robbed them. Sentinels were posted in the woods, for fear of a surprise
attack by land; and when they were within hail, they shouted to them that if
they came any nearer they would fire at them. They drew up along the island,
within half gun-shot range; and, shortly after, four of the most important of
the party came in a canoe and asked whether they had for gotten that they were
the brothers of the French, and with what purpose they had taken up arms when
they saw their party. M. Le Sueur replied that, after the manner in which they
had treated the five Frenchmen who were present, he had good reason to distrust
them. However, as it was essential for the security of his trading to be at
peace with all the tribes, he did not wish to punish them for the robbery, he
only added that the King, their master and his, wished that all his subjects
should use that river without being attacked by anyone, and therefore they must
take care what they did. The Indian who had delivered the message seemed confounded
and made no reply; another one
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2. See Vol. V. p. 34; 1689.