THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
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considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
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Letter: Missilimakinac, July 23, 1682
Tonti, Henri de In: Habig, Marion A., The Franciscan Pere Marquette,
Franciscan Studies, June, 1934, pp. 215-229. (Bibliotheque Nationale,
Collection Clairambault, Vol. 1016, fol. 155-168 vo.)
pp. 215, 227, 228, 229.
Missilimakinac, July 23, 1682.
I departed from the river of the Miamis(see fn. 2) on the 21st of December, and by way on the lake of the Ilinois I repaired on the 27th to the river of Chicagou,(see fn. 4) which I found frozen. After I had some sledges made, M. de la Salle joined me there on the 4th of January; and till the 27th(see fn. 5) we dragged our baggage about 80 leagues, our party numbering 23 Frenchmen, 18 Mahingans (page 216) and Abenaquis, and 10 of the latter's women and three infants. Having found free navigation at Fort Crevecoeur on the river of the Ilinois, we continued our route(see fn. 6) to the Colbert or Mississipi River, where we arrived on the 6th of February. After sailing six leagues on the 13th,(see fn. 7) we found, on our right side, a great river coming from the West, called the Missoury River; and on the 14th, six leagues from there, the village of the Tamaroa on the left side. They had all gone hunting on the Ouabache River,(see fn. 8) same side, 46 leagues from their village; then, having passed through 42 leagues of cane and swamp [noye] country, we went hunting. On the 24th the hunters reported having seen the footprints of men. Since Pierre Prudhomme, who had been hunting, failed to return, we could not but fear that he had been killed. . . .
We then renewed our alliance with the Taensa. M. de la Salle took the lead with two Loup canoes; but after he had been detained by an illness, I joined him on the 2nd of June, a hundred leagues from the river of the Ilinois. There he ordered me to go ahead to pick up (page 228) his caches among the Miamis and to come here to buy the clothes which were needed by the men who had to establish themselves among the Ilinois, where I will be in command, and by the others among the Miamis.
The Ilinois have left their village. I found there only one canoe and 4 Iroquois of Teiagon(see fn. 30) in it, who said that they had lost their belongings in a canoe which had gone adrift. They had only one gun, one hatchet and no boiler. I gave them one and some corn.(see fn. 31) When we were a journey of a day and a half from the Ouabesche,(see fn. 32) a band of 20 warriors Tamaroa, Caskia(see fn. 33) and Omissouri(see fn. 34) met us and asked us whether we had not seen a canoe. But when we told them that it was far away, they turned back and returned with us to their village, where there (page 229) are about 200 cabins.
I left Cauchois and the Sieur Dautray at the
river of the Miamis and have myself come here on the 3rd, while all the rest
have remained with M. de la Salle. He will have to come at once to descend
again, if his health permits him. . . .
_________________________
2 St. Joseph River, Michigan.
4 Des Plaines River.
5 According to the Proces Verbal in Cox, op. cit., I, 161, they reached the southern end of Lake Peoria on January 25.
6 Folio 166 begins at this place in the Paris manuscript.
7 The exploring party was detained for a whole week at the mouth of the Illinois.
8 Wabash River, meaning the Ohio River.
30 Jeiagon in the French text is an orthographical mistake; these Indians were from Teiagon (also spelled Taiaiagon) an Iroquois town not far from the present-day Toronto, Canada.
31 Folio 168vo begins here in the Paris manuscript.
32 Wabash River, that is the Ohio River. Tonti's Relation in Margry, op. cit. I, 596, expressly states that the Iroquois called this River "Oyo."
33 Kaskaskia Indians, like the Tamaroa an Illinois tribe.
34 Missouri or Osage Indians.
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