For the country of the north is the most ungrateful country in
the world, since, in many places, you would not find a bird to
hunt; still, blueberries are gathered there in the months of
August and September....
The Chiripinons, or Assiniboines, sow wild rice in their
marshes, which they afterwards gather, but they can only
transport it home during the period of navigation(1)....
The Kiristinons, who often frequent the shores of Lake Superior
and of the great rivers, where the elk are most commonly to be
found(2)....
The savages, called Sauteurs, [Chippewas] are on the south of
Lake Superior....
They have for neighbors and friends the Sioux, upon whose
limits they hunt, when they wish....
Advancing to the north, towards the entry of the Wisconsin, the
winter is extremely cold and long. It is there that the beavers
are the best, and the country where hunting lasts the longest
during the year....
They take, also, in winter, from under the ice, in marshes
where there is much mud and little water, a certain root; ...
but it is only found in _Louisianne_, fifteen leagues [4½
miles] above the entry of the Wisconsin. The savages name this
root, in their language, Pokekoretch....
But the tribes the furthest advanced in the north, as far as
the latitude of the Wisconsin, do not have these medlars, and
those who are yet further, want also the nuts similar to the
ones of France....
For this country [of the savages of the prairies] is entirely
plains; there are only some islands [oases] where it is their
custom to camp to dry their meat....
When the Ottowas had scattered towards the lakes [to
Mechingan(3)], the Sauteurs and the Missisakis fled to the
north, and then to _Kionconan_(4), for want of hunting; and
the Ottowas, fearing they were not strong enough to resist the
incursions of the Iroquois, who were informed of the place
where they had made their establishment, took refuse on the
Mississippi, called at present the _Louisianne_. They ascended
this river to twelve leagues, or about [33 miles] from the
Wisconsin, where they found another river that is called
[river] of the Ioways(5). They followed it to its source, and
there met nations who received them cordially. But, in all the
extent of country which they overran, having seen no place
proper to establish themselves, by reason that there was no
wood there at all, and that prairies and level plains were all
that appeared, although buffaloes and other animals were there
in abundance, they returned upon their steps by the same route;
and, after having once more reached the _Louisianne_, they
ascended higher.
They were not there long without scattering, going from one
side to another for hunting: I speak of a portion, only, of
their people, whom the Sioux met and led to their villages, ...
and then returned them to the rest.
The Ottowas and Hurons received them very well in their turn,
without, however, making them any great presents. The Sioux
having arrived at home with some little matters that they had
received from the Ottowas, divided portions of them with the
other villages, their allies, and gave to the ones, hatchets,
and to others, knives or awls. All these villages sent deputies
to the Ottowas(6)....
The Sioux received the Ottowas and Hurons in the best manner,
wherever they went.... The Ottowas at last resolved to choose
the island called Bald, [_Pelee_] to settle on; where they were
several years in repose. They often received there the visit of
the Sioux....
The Hurons, having so much audacity that they imagined the
Sioux were incapable of resisting them without fire-arms
and weapons of iron, conspired with the Ottowas to make war
upon them, in order to drive them from their country, so as
to be able to spread themselves more, to procure means of
subsistence. The Ottowas and the Hurons joined together and
marched against the Sioux. They believed that as soon as
they would appear, the others would fly; but they were much
deceived, for their attacks were sustained, and they were
even repulsed; and if they had not retreated, would have been
entirely defeated by the great number of people who came from
the other allied villages to the assistance of the Sioux. They
were pursued to their settlement, where they were obliged to
make a hasty fort, which, however, was sufficient to cause the
Sioux to retire;—not daring to storm it.
The continual inroads that the Sioux made upon them constrained
them to fly(7). They had known of a river called the Black
River. This they entered; and, having arrived where it takes
its source, the Hurons found there a place fit to fortify
themselves in, and to establish their village. The Ottowas,
however, pushed beyond, and reached Lake Superior, where they
fixed their home at _Chagouamikon_. The Sioux, seeing their
enemies fled, remained in peace, without following them any
more. But the Hurons were not content to stop there; they
sent some parties against them, which, however, making little
impression, drew frequent incursions on the part of the Sioux,
and caused them to quit their fort to join the Ottowas at
_Chagouamikon_, with a great loss of their people. So soon as
they arrived there, they thought of forming a war party of one
hundred men to go against the Sioux, and to revenge themselves
for their former defeats.
It is to be remarked that the country where they are [the
Sioux] is nothing but lakes and marshes, filled with wild
rice, separated, the ones from the others, by little tongues
of land, which, at the most, from one lake to the other, are
but thirty to forty steps, and, in many cases, only five to
six or a little more. These lakes, or marshes, contain fifty
or more leagues square, [19 or 20,000 square miles] and are
divided by no river but the _Louisianne_, which has its
bed in the middle, and into which a part of their waters is
emptied. Others fall into the river of _Sainte Croix_, which is
situated, in respect to them, to the north-east, and flows near
them. Finally, the other marshes and lakes, situated to the
west of the river of Saint Peter, throw themselves similarly
into it. Thus, the Sioux are inaccessible in that marshy
country, and cannot be destroyed there, but by enemies having
canoes, like themselves, to follow them; for, in these places,
there are only five or six families together, which form a
hamlet, or a kind of small village; and all the others are in
the same way, at a certain distance, in order to be ready to
help each other at the first alarm. If any one of these little
villages is attacked, the enemy can hurt it but slightly; for
all the neighbors assemble at once, and give prompt assistance
where it is needed. The way they have of navigating these lakes
is to strike into their [rice] fields with their canoes, and,
carrying them from lake to lake, they force the flying enemy to
turn round. Thus, they can go from one to another, till they
have passed them all, and have arrived at the main land.
The hundred Hurons became entangled in the middle of these
marshes, without canoes, where they were discovered by some
Sioux, who hastened to give a general alarm. This nation [the
Sioux] was numerous, scattered through all the extent of the
marshes where they were gathering wild rice which is the grain
of this people, and tastes better than rice.
More than three thousand Sioux approached, from all sides, and
invested the Hurons, ... of all this party but one escaped(8).
...
The Hurons, seeing that they were so weak in numbers, concluded
not to seek for revenge any more, but lived peaceably at
Chagouamikon for many years. During all this time, they were
not molested by the Sioux, who only applied themselves to
making war on the Kiristinons, the Assiniboines, and all the
other nations of the north, whom they have much injured, and by
whom they have, on their part, been decimated....
Father Menard, who had been appointed missionary to the
Ottowas, [in 1660, and who went to them], accompanied by some
Frenchmen that were going to traffic with that nation, was
abandoned by all who were with him, except one, who rendered
to him, to the last, all the services and assistance that he
stood in need of. The Father followed the Ottawas to the lake
of the Illinois, and in their flight to _Louisianne_, as far
as to above the Black River. There it was that this missionary
had but one Frenchman for companion, and where all the rest
had left him. This Frenchman, I say, followed carefully the
route of the Ottawas, and made his portages in the same places
that they had;—never leaving the same river that they were on.
He found himself, one day [August, 1661], in a rapid that was
carrying him away in his canoe. The Father, to relieve him,
disembarked from his own, but did not take the proper road to
come to him; he entered one that had been made by animals; and
desiring to return to the right one, became embarrassed in a
labyrinth of trees and was lost. The Frenchman, after having
ascended the rapid, with a great deal of trouble, waited for
the good Father, and as he did not come, concluded to search
for him. He called his name in the woods with all his strength,
for several days, but in vain. However, he met, in the way, a
Sauk who was carrying the camp kettle of the missionary; and
who told him news of him. He informed him that he had found his
track a long way on, in the woods, but that he had not seen the
Father himself. He told him, too, that he had found the traces
of several others going towards the Sioux. He even said that he
thought the Sioux might have killed him, or taken him prisoner.
Indeed, several years afterwards, there were found amongst this
nation his breviary and cassock, which they exposed at their
ceremonies, making offerings to them of their food....
... to hunt in the direction of the Sioux; for _Chagouamikon_
is only fifty to sixty leagues [138 to 166 miles] distant from
them, going across the country in a direct line....
... They gave him, for second. M. du Lhut, whom he sent word
to [1684] at _Kamalastiguoia_, at the further side of Lake
Superior, where was his post(9)....
I was sent to this bay [Green Bay, post of St. Francois
Xavier], charged with the commission to have chief command
there, and in the most distant countries on the side of the
west, and even in any that I might discover [1685]....
I had no sooner arrived in the places where I was to command,
than I received orders from M. Denonville to return, with all
the Frenchmen that were with me.
... At that time, I was in the country of the Sioux, where the
freezing [of the streams] had broken all our canoes; I was
compelled to stay there during the summer [1686]....
I went by land to the Miamis, who were about sixty leagues
[165½ miles] from my post [in the country of the Sioux], and
returned from them the same way that I had gone....
Some days after, I went across the country to the Bay [Green]
with two Frenchmen. I met, continually, with those who showed
me the best road, and treated me very well(10).
§ 3. Extracts from the notes to the “Memoire sur les moeurs &c.”
(1) “Assinipoualaks, or _warriors of the rock_, now Assiniboines, a Sioux
tribe, which, towards the commencement of the seventeenth century, having
quarrelled with the rest of the nation, was obliged to secede, and took
refuge amongst the rocks (assin) of the Lake of the Woods.”
(2) “The Kilistinons lived upon the banks of Lake Alimbegong, between
Lake Superior and Hudson’s Bay.”
(3) “_Mechingan_—eastern Wisconsin and north-western Michigan.”
(4) “_Kionconan_—Kewenaw of the American maps.“ [Pronounced by the modern
Chippewas It is like _Ke-wa-yo-nahn-ing_.—E. F. Ely.]
(5) “The Iowas, neighbors and allies of the Sioux, dwelt between the
44th and 45th degrees of north latitude, twelve days’ journey beyond
the Mississippi: that they very likely belonged to the latter nation,
is shown by the name of _Nadouessioux Maskoutens_, or _Nadouessioux
of the prairies_, that the Algonquins had given them; for _Maskoute_,
[Mush-ku-day,] the root of _Maskoutens_, signifies _land destitute of
trees_, or _prairie_.”
(6) “We know indeed that two Frenchmen visited, in 1659, the forty Sioux
villages without crossing, or even seeing, the Mississippi, of which they
have only spoken from hearsay, and from the descriptions that the Hurons
of Black River gave them of it. The villages belonged, then, all to the
eastern portion of the Sioux territory, situated on this side of the
river; that is to say, in the half of the country really occupied by this
nation. It may, however, be that in the infant Mississippi, disguised,
too, under a Sioux name, our two travelers did not recognize the large
and powerful river that the Hurons told them of under its Algonquin
title. In this case, they must have been, though without their knowledge,
the first to see again in the seventeenth century, the Mississippi,
discovered in the sixteenth by Ferdinand de Soto.” ... “One of these
travelers was called Des Groseillers, and lived many months with the
Sioux. This we gather from the following passage of the M. S. Journal
of the Jesuits of Quebec, (Aug., 1660).... “The Ottowas arrived on the
19th.... There were three hundred of them. Des Groseillers was in their
company; he had gone to them the year before.... Des Groseillers has
wintered with the nation of the Ox [_nation du boeuf_], which he makes to
be 4,000 men. They are the sedentary Nadouesserons’ (Sioux of the East).”
(7) “From the commencement of 1660, the Ottowas inhabited Chegoimegon
Point [Shah-gah-wah-mik-ong—Ely], as well as the islands adjacent to it
on the southern shore of Lake Superior. The Hurons, at that time, were
in hiding near the sources of the Black River, at six days distance (40
or 50 leagues), from the same lake, and at seven or eight from Green
Bay. The two peoples were visited, in 1659, by two French traders, who,
penetrating beyond, made alliance with the Sioux. It is then between
the years 1657 [at which time the Hurons and Ottowas were living in
Mechingan,] and 1660, that the events described by Perrot must have taken
place; that is, from the flight of these tribes to the Mississippi,
up to their first troubles with the Sioux, which were followed by a
new migration—that was not their last one.” ... “In reckoning at forty
or fifty leagues the six days journey that separated the residence of
the Hurons from Lake Superior, I have only applied the rule given in
the _Relation_ of 1658 by Father Dreuillettes; ‘You will see also,’
he writes, ‘the new roads to go to the sea of the north, ... with the
distance of the places, according to the days travel that the savages
have made, which I put at fifteen leagues a day in descending, on
account of the rapidity of the waters, and at seven or eight leagues in
ascending.’” [The common league of France is equal to 2.76 miles.]
(8) “This disastrous expedition following the arrival of the Hurons at
Chegoimegon, it could not, consequently, have taken place before 1662.
On the other hand, it preceded, by many years perhaps, the visit that
the Chief of the Sinagaux Ottowas paid the Sioux in 1665 or 1666; it is
then very likely that the defeat of the Hurons by the Sioux occurred in
one of the two years, 1662 or 1663.” ... “Two reasons have impelled me to
place in 1665-1666, the arrival of the Sioux prisoners at Chegoimegon,
followed by their return to their country with the chief of the Sinagaux
and the four Frenchmen of whom Perrot speaks. The first is that, in this
year, the Sioux very certainly visited the Point of the Holy Spirit; the
second, that, according to the account of these events, as it is given
by our author, four or five years at least, had passed away between this
visit and the abandoning of Chegoimegon, in 1670-71, by the Hurons and
the Ottowas.”
(9) “_Kalamalastigouia_—an application of DuLhut, made in 1693, in
which he solicits the concession of this post, gives the name as
_Kamanastigouian_.”
(10) “Perrot, who was recalled in 1685, from the country of the Sioux,
received, four years later, express orders to take possession of it in
the name of the king, as seen in the following document: ...
“‘_Nicolas Perrot, commandant pour le roi au poste des Nadouesioux ...
declarons a tous qu’il appartiendra etre venus a la baye des Puants et
au lac des Outagamis, rivieres des dits Outagamis et Maskoutins, riviere
de l’Ouiskonche et celle de Mississippi, nous etre transportes au pays
des Nadouesioux, sur le bord de la riviere de Sainte Croix, a l’entree
de la riviere de Saint Pierre, sur laquelle etaient les Mantantons,
et, plus haut dans les terres, au nord-est du Mississippi, jusqu aux
Menchokatouches, chez lesquels habitent la plus grande partie des
Songeskitoux et autres Nadouesioux qui sont au nord-est du Mississippi,
pour et au nom du Roy, prendre possession des terres et rivieres ou les
dites nations habitent, et desquelles elles sont proprietaires ... fait
au poste Saint-Antoine le dit jour et an que dessus_’”—[le 8 Mai 1689.]
See Neills’ History of Minnesota, pages 143 to 145, for _translation_ of
this “deed” in full.