THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and
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
standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather,
indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was
published.
News of the Exploration Sent by a
Recollet
August 14, 1682
Ministere des Colonies. fonds Moreau St. Mery. Cod. Louisiane, 1682-1723
and in English Translation of Margry,
microfilm, vol. 2, pp. 206-208.
pp. 206, 207, 208.
VII.
News of the success of the exploration
sent by a Recollet
|
|
Isle Sainte - Bonaventure, |
The Reverend Father Superior sends me word that he has just received a letter from Father Zenobe, in which he informs him that they have at last succeeded in the exploration they intended to carry out, and have gone right down to the sea.
On the 19th of October 1681 he arrived in the country of the Miami tribe, where he waited for M. de La Salle, who joined him there on the 16th of December. They left on the 1st of January 1682, and went along the River of the Illinois, which they found frozen. They dragged their canoes, six in number, and their baggage for about sixty leagues, after which they found the river navigable, as the frost lasts only six weeks there.
They then went down in canoes to the River Colbert or Mississippi; but, as they made short stages, living entirely by their hunting, and as moreover the drifting ice stopped them for some time, they did not get further than a hundred leagues along the river up to the beginning of March, setting up, in all the villages the emblems of Jesus Christ and the arms of our King. Making longer journeys, they came on the 13th of March to the Akansa tribe where they at once made a fort. The place, which has a population of from fifteen to twenty thousand souls, was thrown into confusion; but presents pacified them, and they welcomed our men with more charity than Christians would have shown. These people are orderly, well-mannered and as tractable as could be. They, and the other tribes they found in the course of the 300 leagues to the sea, have temples, they show great submission to the king who governs them absolutely, and have officers of all kinds, almost as in our provinces in France. They are so diffident that, even in the largest villages, they were several days before they ventured to enter M. de La Salle's hut, remaining quietly at the door. Throughout all their journey, they have done them no wrong, in anything. After they had set up the Cross and arms of the King, which the inhabitants of Akansa received with every token of pleasure, they made a palisade round them, and they went and worshipped God there.
Our men continued their journey and went on down the same river, past three other villages of the same tribe, where they did the same thing. From there, after five days' journey, they came to the Taenza, with two guides and interpreters from the Akansa. These two tribes have joined together against twenty others. When I have heard details concerning these tribes, I will write and tell you about them.
From there, after one day's journey, they came to the Tiroas, who live on some mountains and were very well received there. One day further on they found the Omats, another tribe; and from there, after ten days' journey, passing several other tribes, numerous and distinct from one another, they arrived in safety, on the 7th of April, at the sea, where the mouth of the river is almost like that of the River St. Lawrence.
There they set up the emblems of Jesus Christ and the King's arms; and, having given thanks to God, they left on the 10th of April. They passed by the same places again, and reached the Akansas on the 7th of May.
M. de La Salle was taken seriously ill there; but be was out of danger by the 3rd of June, though even then he was unable to bear travelling in a canoe.
The countries they traversed produce fruit of all kinds in great abundance. Corn ripens in fifty days. The beans and Indian corn were ripe among the Keroas at the end of April. The lands there bear two crops a year. There are reeds, laurels, palm-trees and forests of mulberry trees, from which our men ate fruit every day from the middle of April, and a great quantity of tame and wild beasts.
That is the summary which our Father Superior tells me he has received. The wind has changed, and they are pressing me to embark.
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