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.
Relation of Henri de Tonty Concerning the Exploration of La Salle from 1678 to 1683
Chicago, The Caxton Club, 1898.
pp. 57, 59, 61, 63, 65, 67.
(page 57) . . .He sent me in the Brigantine what he had been
able to find at the Fort; and Father Zenoble brought me letters in which M. de
La Salle ordered me to go to the Miamis, and there to get together as many
Frenchmen and Savages as possible. I reached the Miami on the 10th of November.
On the (page 59) 19th of December, M. de La Salle joined
me there. The river being frozen, we were obliged to wait until the 21st in the
hope that it would thaw; and, as this did not take place, we were forced to
take the lake route and to run into a certain little river called the Chicago.
From this river, a portage of a league and a half conducts us to another which
empties into the Illinois. As I found all frozen, I had sleds made to carry our
outfit.
On the 14th of January, M. de La Salle joined me and continued my sledding journey, until, arriving at the Illinois River, one of my hunters notified me that he had found the tracks of Frenchmen. Thereupon search was made, for I had sent eight men in advance to hunt; and when we had found them they joined us, increasing our number, which amounted at that time to twenty- three Frenchmen, and eighteen Mohegan or Abenake and Sokiki Savages, with ten of their women and three little children. I think, Sir, it is well that I give you the names of those who have borne the labors of so great an enterprise.
Names of the French.
|
|
M. de La Salle, Commandant for the King in this
Discovery. |
Names of the Savages.
|
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Captain Clance. |
Women.
|
|
One Huron. |
From this place, we dragged our outfit for seventy leagues,- to wit, twenty upon the Chicago River I and fifty upon the Illinois. Arriving at Fort Contrecoeur (sic), we found the river open for navigation; and our Savages having to construct some canoes of elm-bark, it was not until the 6th of February that we reached the Mississippi, which M. de La Salle named the Colbert. It is estimated to be one hundred leagues from the Illinois village, and its rhumb-line is almost constantly to the west and south-west. While our Savages were employed in canoe-building, we fell short of provisions and were compelled to throw a line into the water for catfish; one we (page 65) caught was of enormous size, furnishing enough meat for a supper for twenty-two men. Our Savages having completed their canoes, we descended the river and encountered on the right, at a distance of six leagues, a river flowing from the west into the Colbert, and apparently, as the natives reported, equal in size and importance to the Great River itself. It is called Emissourita, abounding in nations. There are even villages of Savages who make use of horses in warfare and to transport the flesh of cattle which they kill in war. Six leagues farther down, on the left, we found a village of a hundred and eighty lodges. All the inhabitants being away hunting, M. de La Salle caused signs to be made to let them know that we had passed, and we left some articles of merchandise hanging upon a stake. This village is called Tamaroa. Two leagues below we encamped to hunt, killing some roe-deer. Continuing our journey, we came, at a distance of forty leagues farther upon the left, to a river called by the Iroquois Oyo, flowing from behind the land of the Iroquois in a course of some five hundred or six hundred leagues of an inundated country, with lodges here and there upon the bank, we reached a hill on the same side, where we encamped to hunt; (page 67) but, the place being unsuitable, we descended three leagues farther...
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