Superior, and the outlet for Lake Nipigon. Its region, until the
building of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, was almost as wild and
unknown as when visited by the French explorers in the seventeenth
century. Perrot mentions this river and lake in his _Mémoire_ (1658);
and Duluth (1684) wrote to De la Barre of the “fort which I have
constructed near the River à la Maune, at the bottom [the north end of
Lake Alemipigon,” as a barrier to the English trade from Hudson Bay.
In 1687, Duluth’s brother traded with fifteen hundred Indians in the
Lake Nipigon region. The furs from this district were especially rich
and valuable, and the trading post on the lake appears to have been
maintained throughout the French occupation. La Vérendrye was
commandant here in 1728, when he became fired by the reports of the
savage Ochagach, with zeal for Western exploration. See _Northern and
Western Boundaries of Ontario_ (Toronto, 1878), pp. 68–80.
In 1757, Bougainville describes this post as follows: “Les Népigons, a
post established to the north of Lake Superior; the commandant is its
farmer and pays for that privilege about 4,000 francs; it includes the
Lake à la Carpe.... The post produces generally every year from eighty
to one hundred bundles of fur.” After the British occupation the
productiveness of the region declined. Duncan Cameron says that when
he first went to this country (1785), the whole district produced but
fifty-six packs of fur, although it had no opposition from Hudson Bay,
and part of the Lake Winnipeg department was included in the Nipigon
district. See Cameron, “The Nipigon Country,” in Masson, _Bourgeois_,
ii, pp. 231–300. The North West Company considered this to be its
territory, but later the Hudson’s Bay Company built a post at Red
Rock, near the mouth of the river—now a station on the Canadian
Pacific Railway. The Hudson’s Bay Company still maintains a wintering
post, known as Poplar Lodge, on the east shore of Lake Nipigon. See
Canadian Bureau of Mines _Report_, 1901, p. 212. The Nipigon River is
now noted as a fisherman’s paradise. For a description of the route
from the mouth of the river to the lake, see Canadian Geological
Survey _Report_, 1867–69, p. 336.—ED.
Footnote 55:
This is the game of lacrosse, a modification of which has become the
Canadian national game. For an historical account of this game, see
_Jesuit Relations_, x, pp. 326–328; Henry’s _Travels_ (Bain’s ed.), p.
77; Masson, _Bourgeois_, ii, pp. 337, 338.—ED.
Footnote 56:
For a similar game with slight modifications, see Masson, _Bourgeois_,
ii, p. 340.—ED.
Footnote 57:
Mr. Shaw was an independent trader, father of Angus Shaw, partner and
agent of the North West Company.—ED.
Footnote 58:
This is a citation from the _New Discovery_ of Hennepin, who gives the
first account of the tribe, apparently a branch of the Sioux, whose
custom of weeping he so fully describes in connection with his
captivity among the Issati Indians.—ED.
Footnote 59:
The early cradles of the Chippewa Indians are described in more detail
by Grant, “The Sauteux Indians,” in Masson, _Bourgeois_, ii, pp. 322,
323.—ED.
Footnote 60:
This is true not only of the St. Croix River (Wisconsin) Chippewas,
but of nearly all the tribe up to the present time. The “woods Indian”
north of Lake Superior is usually a Chippewa (Ojibwa), and a large
portion of those under the care of the Canadian government are still
hunters. The Canadian Department of Indian Affairs, in its _Report_
for 1900, represents the modern Ojibwa as little changed, except from
general inability to obtain liquor as freely as in the olden days of
the fur-trade.—ED.
Footnote 61:
For the hereditary enmity between the Chippewas and the Sioux, and the
particularly fierce encounters of this period, see Warren, “History of
the Ojibways,” in _Minnesota Historical Collections_, v, pp. 72, 95,
222–241.—ED.
Footnote 62:
Indian slavery among the French was first practiced in the Illinois
country, and (1709) was authorized by edict for Canada. Slavery was
abolished for Upper Canada in 1793; and by 1800 had ceased in Lower
Canada. See Lafontaine, “L’ésclavage en Canada,” Montreal Historical
Society _Proceedings_, 1858; Canadian Institute _Transactions_,
1889–90 (Toronto, 1891); and _Proceedings_, 1897, p. 19.—ED.
Footnote 63:
In the language of James Bain, Jr., librarian of the Toronto Public
Library, “Long is the most indefinite of travellers, and English names
of lakes and rivers unstable.” It seems an almost hopeless task to
localize several of his geographical names by the aid of modern maps.
As a matter of fact this part of Northwestern Ontario from Lake
Nipigon to Lake Abittibi is still almost _terra incognita_. For the
best current maps and descriptions, see Canadian Department of the
Interior _Report_, 1890, part v; also Ontario Bureau of Mines
_Report_, 1900.—ED.
Footnote 64:
Lake Savanne lies northwest of Lake Nipigon, on a tributary of the
Albany River. A brief account of a voyage thither is given by Duncan
Cameron, in Masson, _Bourgeois_, ii, p. 271. Cameron also says that
four out of eight traders starved there in one year (_ibid._, p.
242).—ED.
Footnote 65:
Long was the first to apply the word “totamism” to that system of
beliefs and family relationships, now recognized as the basis of
primitive society. The theory of clan relationships, as expressed by
totems, was first developed by M’Lennan in a series of articles
published in the _Fortnightly Review_, 1869–71. On the general theory,
see Lang, _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_ (London, 1887), i, pp. 58–81.
On the totemism of the American Indian there is a large literature.
The following are useful: Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes of the United
States_ (Philadelphia, 1851–57); Brinton, _Myths of New World_
(Philadelphia, 3d ed., 1896).—ED.
Footnote 66:
This was the grant made to Sir William Johnson in 1760, of sixty-six
thousand acres, now within Little Falls Township on the Mohawk River.
The grant was confirmed by the crown in 1769, and Johnson Hall, a
large portion of which is still standing, was built thereupon. See
vol. i of this series, p. 88, note 48.—ED.
Footnote 67:
Henry says, “In North America there is no _partridge_; but the name is
given to more than one species of grouse.” This was probably the
_Canace_ or _Dendragapus Canadensis_, black or spotted grouse.—ED.
Footnote 68:
The loup-cervier is the Canadian lynx; the beaver eater, the wolverine
(_gulo luscus_), or “carcajou.” For a description of the latter, see
Martin, _Castorologia_, pp. 147–151.—ED.
Footnote 69:
The grizzly bear (_ursus ferox_), was first adequately identified and
described by Lewis and Clark. See Thwaites’s ed. of _Original Journals
of Lewis and Clark_ (New York, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1904).—ED.
Footnote 70:
Dobbs, _Account of the Countries adjoining Hudson’s Bay_ (London,
1744), gives a map of these regions “as described by Joseph La France,
a French Canadese Indian, who Traveled thro those Countries and Lakes
for 3 years from 1739 to 1742,” on which he places “Ouassi Indians”
between the Michipicoten and Nipigon rivers on the north shore of Lake
Superior. He also says (p. 32), “There are two Indian Nations upon
this North Coast, the Epinette ... and the Ouassi, both tribes of the
Sauteurs.” The tribe designated by this term seems to have disappeared
in the nineteenth century.—ED.
Footnote 71:
The Rat Indians are those of Rat Portage, on the Lake of the Woods,
apparently a branch of the Chippewas. Their name is taken from the
muskrat (_ondatra zibethicus_). See Coues, _Henry-Thompson Journals_
(New York, 1897), i, p. 26.—ED.
Footnote 72:
On Indian medicine-men and their skill as physicians, see Brinton,
_Myths of the New World_, pp. 304–328; and _Jesuit Relations_, index,
caption “Medicine-men.” See also Hoffman, “The Midewinin of the
Ojibwa,” United States Bureau of Ethnology _Report_, 1885–86.—ED.
Footnote 73:
According to Count Andrani of Milan, who was at Grand Portage in 1791,
each pack was valued at £40 sterling, making the total value of Long’s
first season nearly $28,000. On the expenses of such an outfit, see
_Canadian Archives_, 1888, p. 69.—ED.
Footnote 74:
This is not the river now known as Pic River, which is east of Pays
Plat, but one of the shorter streams between this and Nipigon River,
probably the one now called Gravel River.—ED.
Footnote 75:
For the difficulties of this passage from Pays Plat to Nipigon, see
the account of the building of this section of the Canadian Pacific
Railroad, in Ingersoll, _Canadian Guide-Book_ (New York, 1892), ii,
pp. 29, 30.—ED.
Footnote 76:
For this lake, see Cameron, “Nipigon Country,” Masson, _Bourgeois_,
ii, pp. 242, 244.—ED.
Footnote 77:
For a brief description of the process of making a birch bark canoe,
see McKinney, _Tour of the Lakes_ (Baltimore, 1827), p. 319.—ED.
Footnote 78:
Scuttaywabo is rum or brandy. See Long’s Chippewa vocabulary, at the
end of the present volume.—ED.
Footnote 79:
Tripe de roche is a lichen, which Henry calls _waac_ in Chippewa. See
Henry, _Travels_ (Bain ed.), pp. 214, 215.—ED.
Footnote 80:
On the subject of justice in the forest, as exercised by the British
companies, see Bancroft, _Northwest Coast_, i, pp. 538–542.—ED.
Footnote 81:
Fort Albany was built by the Hudson’s Bay Company in the seventeenth
century. It was in a sheltered inlet, forty yards from the borders of
James Bay on the south side of Albany River. In 1686 it was attacked
and captured by Troyes’s expedition; and Iberville re-christened the
post, Fort Ste. Anne. It remained in French hands until 1693, when
retaken by the English, who never again lost it, although besieged by
the French in 1704. The later fort was built on Factory Island, in the
mouth of the river, about two and one-half miles from the old fort on
the mainland.—ED.
Footnote 82:
Joseph Robson went out to Hudson Bay in 1733, as a stone-mason, and
was employed in the construction of Fort Churchill. He appears to have
had disagreements with the governor, and returned to England in 1736.
In 1744, he was again sent out as surveyor and superintendent of
buildings at York factory, and explored the Nelson River. Returning to
England in 1747, he testified on behalf of the Company in 1749, before
the House of Commons committee; but some years later published a work,
_An Account of Six Years’ Residence in Hudson’s Bay_ (London, 1752),
in which he animadverts against the treatment of servants and Indians
by the Company’s governors. Long attempts to controvert him in this
paragraph; but on p. 170 he uses his testimony in favor of the
management of the Company.—ED.
Footnote 83:
For the history of the formation of the North West Company, see
preface, _ante_, p. 16.—ED.
Footnote 84:
The Cristinaux (Kiristinou, Killistinoe) Indians, now known as Crees,
are Algonquian tribes who have always been associated with the
Assiniboins (Assinipoils), a Siouan tribe derived early from the
Yankton Dakotas. Their habitat has been the wilderness between Lake
Superior and Hudson Bay, and the land to the west as far as the
Assiniboin and Saskatchewan rivers. They were well known to the early
French explorers (see _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, xvi), and
were the chief Indians with whom the Hudson’s Bay Company traded. They
still number over twelve thousand. See Henry, _Travels_ (Bain ed.), p.
249.—ED.
Footnote 85:
This was the work of Edward Umfreville, _Present State of Hudson’s
Bay_ (London, 1790), written with a view of opposing the continuance
of the Company’s charter, and exposing the practices of the officers.
Umfreville had been in the service of the Company from 1771 to
1782.—ED.
Footnote 86:
On this subject of courtship and marriage, see also Grant, “Sauteux
Indians,” in Masson, _Bourgeois_, ii, pp. 319–321.—ED.
Footnote 87:
The British fort at Mackinac was still upon the south shore of the
strait, where Mackinaw City now stands; but the governor, Patrick
Sinclair, had already begun the erection of a new fort on the island,
to which the establishment moved in the spring of 1781. See “Story of
Mackinac,” in Thwaites’s _How George Rogers Clark won the
Northwest_.—ED.
Footnote 88:
For a contemporary account of this well-known incident, see Henry,
_Travels_, chaps. 8, 9, and 10.—ED.
Footnote 89:
The “Poes” were the Potawatomi Indians (called Poux by the French).
For their history and that of Fort St. Joseph, see vol. i of this
series, pp. 115, 117.—ED.
Footnote 90:
The Menominee Indians were called Folles-Avoines by the French, a name
by which the latter designated both the grain (_zizania aquatica_),
and this tribe of Indians whom they first found using it. They are
Algonquian in language, and were originally encountered by Nicolet
(1634) on the shores of Green Bay. This remained their habitat until
they were removed to their present reservation in Shawano County,
Wisconsin. For history of this tribe, see _Wisconsin Historical
Collections_ (especially vols. xvi and xvii); Hoffman, “Menomini
Indians,” U. S. Bureau of Ethnology _Report_, 1892–93; Jenks, “Wild
Rice Gatherers of the Upper Lakes,” _ibid._, 1897–98.
No mention of such a barbarous custom as this is made by other
writers. Long may have been misinformed.—ED.
Footnote 91:
On the cause of this action of the Indian traders, alarmed at the
reprisals being made by Spanish and Americans for the unsuccessful
attack on St. Louis by the British party from Mackinac, see _Wisconsin
Historical Collections_, vii, p. 176, _note_.
For biography of Charles Langlade, first Wisconsin settler, see
Tassé’s “Memoir,” _ibid._, pp. 123–185.—ED.
Footnote 92:
This is a somewhat confused reference to George Rogers Clark’s
occupation of the Illinois country, and alliance with the Spaniards
who controlled Louisiana. The fort here mentioned is St. Louis, for
whose early history see vol. iii of this series, André Michaux’s
_Journal_, note 138. Spaniards were incensed at the British traders’
methods in Upper Louisiana during this period.—ED.
Footnote 93:
The commandant at Mackinac was Patrick Sinclair, for whose biography
see _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, xi, p. 141, _note_. For
documents dealing with the Revolution in this region, see _ibid._, xi,
pp. 97–212; and xii, pp. 49–55.—ED.
Footnote 94:
The Outagamies, or Fox Indians (French, Renards), were first
encountered by the French on Fox River, Wisconsin. A proud and warlike
nation, they refused to yield to the French yoke. The long series of
wars waged by them with the French was a great source of weakness to
the colony of Canada, and prepared the way for its downfall. For the
documents on these wars, see _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, xvi
and xvii. Driven from their habitat in Eastern Wisconsin, about 1740,
the Foxes joined with their kindred, the Sauks, and settled on the
Mississippi, siding alternately with the British and Americans during
the wars of the Revolution and of 1812–15. One band of the Sauks
participated in the Black Hawk War (1832). At present the combined
population of the Sauks and Foxes is about four hundred, located on a
reservation in Iowa.
The Sioux were the Minnesota branch of this nation, under their chief
Wabasha, _q. v._, _post_, note 87.—ED.
Footnote 95:
Lac les Puans (Stinking Lake) was a name used by the French for Green
Bay. The origin of this term was long supposed to be either in the
ill-smelling shores or the filthy character of the native Puants (_i.
e._, Winnebagoes). In _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, xvi, p. 360,
however, an early writer testifies to the cleanliness of the Puants.
It appears that the original Algonquian name for these people, who are
an offshoot from the Sioux, was Ouinepeg, a word which has come down
to us in two forms—Winnipeg and Winnebago. The meaning of _Ouinepeg_
was, “men of (or from) the fetid (or bad-smelling) water.” It is
probable that these people may at one time have lived near a sulphur
spring or on the shore of a salt lake. The earliest French inferred
that the allusion was to the ocean; hence Nicolet’s appearance among
the Winnebagoes on Green Bay (1634) attired as a mandarin, under the
apprehension that these “Men of the Sea”—as they were called in some
of the earlier French accounts—were Chinamen. Herein we have an
illustration of the tenacity of the old theory that America was but an
outlying portion of Asia. La Salle’s post at La Chine, near Montreal,
which was so nicknamed because some thought it to be on the road to
China, is another case in point. When the “Men of the Sea” were
discovered to be ordinary Indians, their Algonquian appellation
_Ouinepeg_ was translated by the French into a less complimentary
term, “Puants” (Stinkards). Given the name, the reputation of
uncleanliness soon followed. The _Jesuit Relations_ frequently
mentioned the matter; but by the time of the missionaries the old term
of “Men of the Sea” appears to have been forgotten. See _Wisconsin
Historical Collections_, xvi, p. 3, _note_, for citations; also
Thwaites, _Stories of the Badger State_ (New York, 1900), p. 30, for
brief recital of the case—ED.
Footnote 96:
The Foxes had been largely won to the American interest by the efforts
of Godefroy Linctot, Sr., their trader at Prairie du Chien, and the
emissaries of George Rogers Clark from the Illinois country.
Wabasha was a famous Sioux chief, first mentioned by the French
commandant in 1740. Being devoted to the British side, he was
dignified with the title of “general,” and was received with honors of
war at Mackinac. He also visited Quebec several times, and was
decorated by the British officials. His village was near the present
site of Winona, Minnesota. A son of the same name participated in the
War of 1812–15. The French called both these chiefs, “La Feuille.”—ED.
Footnote 97:
On the origin of this term for Americans (Great Knives, Long Knives,
or Big Knives, indifferently) see Thwaites, _Daniel Boone_ (New York,
1902), p. 111, _note_.—ED.
Footnote 98:
This must mean seven days’ journey either from Mackinac or Green Bay,
for Prairie du Chien is situated at the confluence of the Wisconsin
with the Mississippi. On the early settlement of Prairie du Chien,
which was named for a chief of the Fox tribe called “Chien,” see
_Wisconsin Historical Collections_, ix, pp. 282–302.—ED.
Footnote 99:
Lake Temiscaming lies near the source of the Ottawa River, on the
boundary between Quebec and Ontario. The savages near here were
wandering tribes of rude Algonkins, who traded indifferently with
Canada or Hudson Bay.—ED.
Footnote 100:
Tadoussac, at the entrance of the Saguenay River, is one of the oldest
trading stations on the St. Lawrence, having been founded before
Quebec. It was the site of an early Jesuit mission begun before 1642.
A church built for the mission (1747–50), is still standing.—ED.
Footnote 101:
The mission colony of the Hurons at Lorette was established by the
Jesuits on their seigniory in 1673. There is still a settlement of
these Indians near this place.—ED.
Footnote 102:
For biographical sketch of Robert Rogers, see vol. i, Croghan’s
_Journals_, note 61. Long here refers to his work, _Concise Account of
North America_ (London, 1765).—ED.
Footnote 103:
Henry Home, Lord Kames, a famous Scotch jurist, published _Sketches of
History of Man_ (Edinburgh, 1774).—ED.
Footnote 104:
The Montagnais Indians—so called from their habitat, the mountainous
country north and east of Quebec—were an Algonquian tribe, much in
contact with the French colonists. They still roam through their
ancient territory, hunting and fishing, and acting as guides to
scientific and sporting parties. They have a reservation on Lake St.
John.—ED.
Footnote 105:
Chicoutimi, at the head of navigation of Saguenay River, was early
settled, a mission church being built there in 1726. It has but
recently become a place of importance, being not only the chief
trading station for the entire Saguenay region, where settlement has
commenced to be permanent, but the seat of large salmon fisheries and
of extensive wood-pulp mills; small ocean vessels are now laden with
pulp at Chicoutimi docks, carrying the product to English, French, and
American ports.—ED.
Footnote 106:
After leaving Lake St. John, Long followed its sources westward, and
portaged over the Height of Land into the present Northeast
Territory—a region now nearly as unknown and unexplored as it was
then. Modern maps are not helpful regarding Long’s route.—ED.
Footnote 107:
The true rattlesnake (_crotatus horridus_) is not found in Canada. The
one here alluded to is the _caudisona tergemina_. The age is not
indicated by the number of the rattles. The black water snake was
probably the _tropidonatus sipedon_, which feeds on fish, and is an
expert swimmer, although not a true water snake. The “turkey snake”
cannot be identified.—ED.
Footnote 108:
This was the expedition of La Pérouse, who in the summer of 1782
captured Fort Prince of Wales and York factory. See Wilson, _The Great
Company_ (Toronto, 1899), pp. 320–326.—ED.
Footnote 109:
Lake George was originally named Lac du St. Sacrement, by the Jesuit
missionary and martyr Isaac Jogues, who was there in 1646. On his
expedition of 1755, Sir William Johnson changed the name in honor of
his king. Lakes George and Champlain were of strategic importance in
all the French wars, and that of the Revolution. Fort George was a
small post on an eminence a half mile southeast of Fort William Henry,
built in 1759 after the destruction of the latter. Abandoned
temporarily during Burgoyne’s invasion, the garrison were surprised
and captured by Carleton (October, 1780), and the fortification
destroyed. New York State has appropriated the land around the ruins
of this fort for Fort George Battle Park.—ED.
Footnote 110:
For a description of the road from St. Johns on the Richelieu River,
at the outlet of Lake Champlain—where the French built a fort in
1748—to La Prairie on the St. Lawrence, see Kalm, _Travels in North
America_ (London, 2nd ed., 1772), ii, pp. 219–223.—ED.
Footnote 111:
Crown Point, called by the French Pointe au Chevalure (scalp point),
was fortified by the latter nation in 1731, as their advanced post
(Fort St. Frédéric) on the northern frontier. During the French and
Indian War it was twice attacked by the English; but the French
retained possession until Amherst’s expedition (1759), when Fort St.
Frédéric was abandoned and destroyed. Amherst began here extensive
fortifications, the ruins of which still exist. Crown Point was
captured by the Americans in 1775, and restored to the British in
1776. After 1780 it was dismantled and fell into decay, so that Long
could have found but deserted quarters at this place.—ED.
Footnote 112:
This incident indicates the low state of the credit of the United
States. Congress passed the act for the relief of this Indian, April
8, 1785, as follows: “On report of a committee, consisting of Mr.
Howell, Mr. Long, and Mr. Holton, to whom was referred a petition of
John Vincent, an Indian of the Huron tribe, _Resolved_, That in
consideration of the faithful services of John Vincent, an Indian of
the Huron tribe, in the course of the late war, he be allowed and paid
by the commissioners of the treasury, the sum 100 dollars.—_Journals
of Congress_ (Philadelphia, 1801), x, p. 82.—ED.
Footnote 113:
Hendrick was the well-known Mohawk chief, born about 1680, whose
friendship for the English and especially for Sir William Johnson kept
his tribe firm in the English alliance during the French wars.
Hendrick lived at Canajoharie in the Mohawk Valley. At the Albany
Conference (1754), he was one of the most prominent negotiators; but
was killed in the battle of Lake George the following year.—ED.
Footnote 114:
Schenectady boats were long, narrow, flat-bottoms, propelled by small
and ungainly sails, or by iron-shod poles. They were so named from
being first built at Schenectady, and were much used in the shallow
water navigation of Western New York and the Upper St. Lawrence.—ED.
Footnote 115:
The Canadian government was at this period granting large areas of
land north of the St. Lawrence, and of Lake Ontario, to the Loyalists
of the United States, who were removing thither. Two hundred acres
were given to each settler; and higher amounts, according to rank, to
those who had served in the British army. See Canniff, _History of the
Settlement of Upper Canada_ (Toronto, 1869).—ED.
Footnote 116: