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.
Letter to the Comte de Toulouse
(January 20, 1723)
Charlevoix, Pierre de in: Ministere des Colonies,
Nouvelle France, "Postes des Pays de l'ouest,"
Vol. 16, Folio 102 and in English Translation
of Margry, Vol. 6, pp. 527-534.
I.
Father Charlevoix,
who was commissioned to make inquiry
as to the means of discovering the Western Sea,
reports on his journey.
_____________
To His Serene Highness the Comte de Toulouse.
|
Paris, 20th of January, 1723. |
Monseigneur,
In obedience to the order with which I was honoured, nearly three years ago, to proceed to the chief posts in North America and make inquiries concerning the Western Sea, I embarked at the beginning of July 1720 on the King's storeship 'Le Chameau', which was bound for Quebec, and I arrived there at the end of September.
As it was too late in the season to go any further, I was obliged to pass the winter at that town; but I spared no pains to obtain information as to the object of my quest from such voyageurs as I was able to find. I prosecuted the same inquiries on the coast, at Three Rivers and at Montreal, to which places I travelled over the ice in the month of March; but my efforts met with no great success, for the Canadians travel without taking much trouble to acquire information as to the countries (page 528) they traverse. It is even necessary to be somewhat on one's guard with them; for, as they are sometimes ashamed at being unable to give any account of what they have seen, they do not hesitate to substitute fabrications, which they concoct very well, for the truth which they do not know.
To return to my journey: as soon as ever the River St. Lawrence was open, I set out on my journey up it. It was at the end of April, 1721; I passed Fort Catarocouy, crossed Lake Ontario, made the portage of Niagara, to avoid that famous Fall, and went by Lake Erie to Detroit. From there I went up Lake Huron to Michillimakinac, whence I accompanied M. de Montigny to the Bay des Puans,1 where he was going as commandant. I stayed there a few days, and I had no reason to regret having gone to that post. It was there that I understood the importance of going to Lake Superior, and I returned to Michillimakinac to make arrangements to do so.
On my arrival, I heard that M. de la Noue, who had been commandant for several years at Camanistigouya on the north of Lake Superior, had just left for Montreal. I decided to hasten after him, and I overtook him at dawn the next day; but I obtained nothing from him beyond the confirmation of what the Sieur Pachot had already told me,- that, beyond the Brochet tribe, there was another which was not far from the sea; he had with him an Indian belonging to that tribe, but he had been taken prisoner when very young, and could give no account of anything. He had also had some shells, but they had been stolen from him.
I returned to Michillimakinac for the third time; and, as it was too late in the season to venture on going to Lake Superior, I made arrangements,- as I had the honour of informing Your Serene Highness,- to do so the following year. I gave some useful notes to M. de Saint-Pierre, who is in command at Chagouamigon, where the Sioux go from time to time, who had come to receive the sacrament at Easter at Michillimakinac. I requested M. des Chaillons, who was going to succeed M. de La Noue at Camanistigouya, to follow up what his predecessor had begun. I induced a Canadian who knows the Sioux language, who was going to pass the winter with M. de Saint-Pierre, to go to the Sioux and ascertain whether they were still disposed to listen to a missionary, in case it should be thought desirable to send them one. I then spent some time in questioning Father Marest, a former missionary, who was with the Scioux for some time, and a few Voyageurs who seemed to me better informed. After that, I embarked for Saint Joseph River, which is at the end of Lake Michigan.
At that post I found a missionary and some Indians, who were of some use to me; and, after being detained there by illness for six weeks, I took my way to Louisiana by the Theakiki, which I descended from its source to where, joining the River of the Illinois, it falls into the Mississippi. After going about forty leagues on that great river, I came to the Cascasquias, where I remained for a month.
There are a number of Canadians there who have travelled about for a long time, mostly on the Missouri, and I conversed with them all at great length; but I found so many contradictions in their tales that I did not think I ought to place much (page 530) reliance upon them, except in so far as I found them in accord with what I had been told elsewhere.
When I left Paris, I was assured that I should find at the Illinois post orders for them to arrange for the rest of my journey down to the sea. Those orders had not come; and M. de Boisbriant did not think fit to take upon himself this expense, which would have been a very small matter to him but was nevertheless one of some importance to our missionaries, who insisted on defraying it. With the assistance they gave me, I went slowly but safely down to New Orleans, meeting with no trouble from the Chikachas, who killed two Canadians who came after me, though they had much better arms and a stronger escort than I had.
I remained only a fortnight at New Orleans and then continued my journey down the Mississippi in company with M. de Pauger, King's engineer, and we took soundings together at the bar and over the whole mouth of the river. We then went by sea to Biloxi at the beginning of February, 1722, where an illness which lasted six weeks made me totally unable to go back up the Mississippi, in accordance with my first plan.
Accordingly, I sought some other way; and at about the end of March, I embarked on one of the Company's store-ships which was going to the island of San Domingo, where I hoped to find boats for Quebec, and to get there while there was still time to go to Lake Superior. But the ship was wrecked at the cape of Florida, and thus I lost my second resource. We took fifty days to return to Biloxi where, if I had fallen in with a ship ready to set sail for Cape Francois, I could still have reached Quebec before the autumn; I should have passed the winter there and, (page 531) the next summer, I should have made the journey I had planned.
I was, however, unable to leave Biloxi until the latter end of June. We took sixty-four days to get to San Domingo; and so, as the season for going to Canada was over; there was no other course open to me but to return to France. On the way to San Domingo we touched at Havana. I intended to visit Mathieu Sagesan there, the famous adventurer whose narrative I had the honour of laying before your SErene Highness; but the Spanish Governor, to whom I went to ask permission for our ship to enter the harbour, to take in water and purchase some stores of which we were in the greatsest need, not only refused that permission, but did not even allow me time to look for my traveller.
That, Monseigneur, is a brief account of my journey, and the following shews, in a few words, the information I have gathered from it concerning the Western Sea; I shall take the liberty of laying before Your Serene Highness in another memorandum, an accurate description of the countries I traversed and the observations I have made on all that I saw, provided that you approve of my doing so.
I. It appears certain that, from 40o north latitude and even further south as far as 50o, the western lands extend down to the sea, in some parts nearer Louisiana and at others further off. Two slaves belonging to the Panis tribe, questioned separately, stated that they got there after a journey of three months; the whole village took to flight before a party of their enemies. It was about the equinox: the country from which these Indians started is at about 43o, and the course they took was continually west. The sea will also be found to the west and south-west from the Lake of the Assiniboils, which is at 50o, as (page 532) far as we can judge. It can scarcely be doubted that the Sioux have the sea to the west of them; as to that, we have the unanimous opinion of a very large number of Indians. All who have heard of the country of the Assiniboils have been surprised to learn that the climate there is much more temperate than in Canada, although it is much further north; does that not indicate the proximity of the sea?
II. There is little room for doubt that, to the west of the Sioux there are Indians, who are said by some to be Illinois and by others Miamis; but this difference of opinion does not in any way throw doubt upon the truth of the fact. These two tribes are probably of the same origin, and their languages have much in common with one another. The tradition among the Illinois of Canada is that these Western Illinois or Miamis are near to the sea.
III. Most of those who have discovered the Western Sea have seen Europeans there, or have found traces of them; I was assured that two priests had made their appearance at the Lake of the Assiniboils. They speak of two kinds of Frenchmen (the Indians call all, who are not of their colour, Frenchmen),- one white, well-built and like us in every way; the other black, hairy and wearing long beards. Some add that these two different nations make war upon one another.
IV. Many Indians,- like Miamis, Illinois, Sioux, Missourites and others,- state that, at the watershed of the Mississippi, the Missouri and the River Saint Pierre, you find rivers which run to the west; the best guides and those from whom we shall (page 533) obtain more certain information are the Aiouez and the Sioux. These two tribes trade with each other; and a missionary among the Sioux, as soon as he became able to make himself understood, would very soon obtain information as to all we wish to know; moreover we are not without Sioux and Miami interpreters, and those two languages will take one everywhere.
My intention with regard to my return to Quebec, Monseigneur,- if all the ways of getting there had not been closed against me,- I was to remain at Lake Superior as long as might have been necessary for me to obtain certain news from the Sioux; and, if it had appeared to me practicable, to put myself in the hands of any of them who would consent to take me to the sea.
To find out who the Europeans are, whom the Indians have seen near the Western Sea, it would be necessary to obtain Spanish maps. I have been told that there is on in the Escurial of all the Spanish Indies, and that it is unique.
You know better than anyone else, Monseigneur, what should be thought of the account given in a Spanish book, the translation of which into bad French by the author himself is dedicated to Your Serene Highness, namely, that a ship which set out from the west coast of Mexico was forced by a stormy wind from the south-west to run up beyond California to 48o north latitude; the currents carried him, in spite of his efforts to avoid it, into a strait which he was obliged to follow, and, after going constantly N. E., he found himself in a few days to the north of Newfoundland, whence he crossed to Scotland and from there went to Lisbon,- all this in so short a time that his whole voyage from Mexico to Portugal occupied only three months.
It is certain that the late M. d'Iberville always had it in his mind to attempt to discovery of the Western Sea by Hudson's Bay. An officer of the navy, with whom I made all my journeys in Canada, who was almost always with M. d'Iberville on his cruises in the north, regarded that as the safest and shortest way. The Sieur Jeremie, who was in command at Port Nelson, told me that he had sent to the Lake of the Assiniboils, from which the River Bourbon issues; that some silver was brought to him from there, and that he was assured that the lake is in a very fine country.
If Your Serene Highness still intends that this matter should be followed up, I should be glad to have the honour of telling him my opinion, when he wishes, as to the route that would have to be followed and the other means of carrying out this enterprise successfully.
|
Charlevoix. |
___________________________________
1. This post, which has several tribes of Indians in its vicinity, including the Renards, Maskoutins and Kikapous who are very difficult to control, needs a Commandant with capacity, experience, firmness and determination, who has gained credit in war. The Sieur de Montigny possesses all these qualities, and there is no officer in Canada better fitted for this appointment, which he so worthily holds. (Extract from a letter from Vaudreuil, 20th October 1722.)
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