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Relation of the voyages, discoveries, and death, of Father James Marquette, and the subsequent voyages of Father Claudius Allouez,Relation of the Voyages, Discoveries, and Death, of Father James Marquette, and the Subsequent Voyages of Father Claudius Allouez
RELATION
OF THE
VOYAGES, DISCOVERIES, AND DEATH,
OF
FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE,
AND
THE SUBSEQUENT YOYAGES OF FATHER CLAUDIUS ALLOUEZ,
BY /
FATHER CLAUDIUS DAELON,
SUPERIOR OF THE MISSIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, IN NEW FRANCE.
PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION IN 1678.
r
NOTICE ON FATHER DABLON.
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ira/'^rWil
Father Claudius Dablon came to Canada in 1655, and was immediately sent to Onondaga, where he continued with but one short interval of absence till the mission was broken up in 1658. Three years after, he and the hardy Druilletes attempted to reach Hudson's bay, by the Saguenay, but were arrested at the sources of the Nekouba by Iroquois war-parties. In 1668, he followed Father Marquette to Lake Superior, became superior of the Ottawa mission, founded Sault St. Mary's, visited Green bay, and reached the Wisconsin with Allouez, then returned to Quebec to assume his post as superior of all the Canada missions. This office he held with intervals for many years, certainly till 1693, and he was still alive, but not apparently superior in the following year. As the head of the missions, he contributed in no small degree to their extension, and above all, to the exploration of the Mississippi, by Marquette. He published the Relations of 16*70 '71, and "72, with their accurate map of Lake Superior, and prepared for press those of 16*72 "73 and 1673-79, which still remain in manuscript, and the following narratives of Marquette and Allouez. The period of his death is unknown.
His writings are the most valuable collection on the topography of the northwest, which have come down to our days.
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(1. if
THE
VOYAGES AND DISCOVERIES
OF
FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE,
IN
THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
CHAPTER I.
OF THE FIRST VOYAGE MADE BY FATHER MARQUETTE TOWARD NEW MEXICO, AND HOW THE DESIGN WAS CONCEIVED.
F ATHEE Maequette had long projected this enterprise, impelled by his ardent desire of extending the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and of making him known and adored by all the nations of that country. He beheld himself, as it were, at the door of these new nations, when, in 1670, he was laboring at the mission, of Lapointe du St. Esprit,* which is at the extremity of the upper Lake of the Ottawas. He, even saw at times many of those new tribes, concerning whom he gathered all the information that he could. This induced him to make several efforts to undertake the enterprise, but always in vain; he had even given
* This place is now called simply Lapointe, as the lake is ealled Superior, retaining only the first word of its former name, Lac Supérieur aux Outaoûaes.
il \
4 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
up all hopes of succeeding, when the Almighty presented him the following opportunity : ¦
In 1673, the Comte de Frontenac,* our governor and Mr. Talon then our intendant, knowing the importance of this discovery, either to seek a passage from here to the China sea by the river which empties into the California or Red sea,f or to verify what was afterward said of the two kingdoms of Theguaïo and Qiiivira, which border on Canada, and where gold mines are, it is said abundant,:); these gentlemen,
* Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, succeeded M. de Courcelles in the gov-ernment of Canada, in 1672. M. Talon, the wise and energetic intendant of the colony, seeing the advantages to be derived to France from the discoverv of the Mississippi river, immediately, on the arrival of Comte de Frontenac, laid before him his plan for exploring that river, which was adopted, and the administration of Frontenac is signalized by the first exploration of the Mississippi by Marquette and Jollyet, between the Wisconsin and Arkansas, and by the subsequent voyage of La Salle, who continued the survey to the gulf, while his companion, Hennepin, visited the portion between the Wisconsin and St. Anthony's falls. But before the return of La Salle, Comte de Frontenae's terra had expired, and he was, in 1682, succeeded by M. Lefebore de la Barre. But he was afterward re-instated governor of Canada in 1689, and died at the age of seventy-seven. He was a brave and ambitious man, and to his wise administration may be attributed the consolidation of French power in North America. F.
f The gulf of California was called by the Spaniards Mar de Cortes, or more commonly Mar Bermejo, from its resemblance in shape and color to the Red sea. Gomara His de las Indias, p. 12. Cluvier Introductio. Venegas His-toria de la California. Clavigero, Storia della California, p. 29. In ignorance of this fact, the French translated Bermejo by Vermeille, and English writers Vermillion.
\ Theguaïo, or commonly Tiguex, and sometimes apparently Tejas, and Qui-vira, were two kingdoms as to which the imagination of the Spaniards, and especially of the Mexicans, had become so aroused that Feijoo in his Teatro Critico includes them in the category of fabled lands, St. Brandon's Isle, the Eldorado, &c, although he admits that he hesitated as he found Quivira mentioned by every geographer. These two kingdoms which lay east of the country north of the river Gila, and are probably the present New Mexico and Texas, were fi.-«t made known by the attempt of a Franciscan missionary to reach the rich countries of the interior which had been spoken of by Cabeza de Vaca. The missionary in question, Fray Mare, a native of Nice in Italy, crossed the Gila, and from the well-built houses and cotton dresses of the people, easily gave credit to the accounts of more wealthy tribes. A subsequent expedition showed that he had been mistaken, and none but hardy missionaries sought to penetrate to the fabled
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 5
I say, both at the same time selected for the enterprise the Sieur Jollyet, whom they deemed competent for so great a design, wishing to see Father Marquette accompany him.*
They were not mistaken in their choice of the Sieur Jollyet, for he was a young man, born in this country, and endowed with every quality that could be desired in such an enterprise. He possessed experience and a knowledge of the languages of the Ottawaf country, where he had spent several years ; he bad the tact and prudence so necessary for the success of a voyage equally dangerous and difficult ; and, lastly, he had courage to fear nothing where all is to be feared. He accordingly fulfilled the expectations entertained of him, and if, after having passed through dangers of a thousand kinds, he had not unfortunately been wrecked in the very harbor his canoe having upset below the Saut St. Louis, near Montreal, where he lost his men and papers, and only escaped by a kind of miracle with his life the success of his voyage had left nothing to be desired.
land. The belief of its mineral wealth was, however, too deeply rooted to be easily shaken, and the discovery of California's resources in our days has justified it, and shown that Talon in seeking to reach California from Canada, attempted no chimerical project.
* It would seem by this wording that Marquette was not officially chosen for the expedition. The troubles at the time between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities will account for this, while the researches made by Marquette as to the river, and his knowledge of the Indians and their dialects, rendered it important that he should be one of the party. That his account alone survived, and that it was published in his name, was something neither expected nor intended by any of those concerned, as M. Jollyet had prepared an account of the expedition, the loss of which, as stated in the text, alone raised the journal of Father Marquette to its present degree of importance. (In 1680, the French government rewarded the Sieur Jollyet for this eminent service by a grant of the island of Anticosti, in the gulf of St. Lawrence ; and, in 1697, by the seignory of Jollyet, in Beauee county, Canada, which is now the property of the Hon. T. Taschereau, one of the judges of the court of King's bench.)
f The Ottawas, or Outaouaes, were first called by the French, Cheveux Relevés, and placed on Great Manitonline. Champlain, 262, Siynrd, 201. Their Indian name is then given in the form, Andatahouats. The earlier Jesuit Rela-
, II
NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
SECTION I.
DEPARTURE OF FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT RIVER, CALLED BY THE INDIANS MISSISIPI, WHICH LEADS TO NEW-MEXICO.
The day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Yir-gin, whom I had always invoked since I have been in this Ottawa country, to obtain of God the grace to be able to visit the nations on the river Missisipi,* was identically that on which M. Jollyet arrived with orders of the Comte de Frontenac, our governor, and M. Talon, our intendant, to make this discovery with me. I was the more enraptured at this good news, as I saw my designs on the point of being accomplished, and myself in the happy necessity of exposing my life for the salvation of all these nations, and particularly for the Ilinois, who had, when I was at Lapointe du St. Esprit, very earnestly entreated me to carry the word of God to their country.
We were not long in preparing our outfit, although we
.tions call them Ondatawawak, and Bressani, Ondawawat. Under the form Outa-oùacs (Uttawax), it was applied as a general terra to all the Algonquin tribes on Lake Superior and Michigan who traded with the French. The English in the same way applied to them the name of the tribe which they called Chippeways, and the French, Outchibouec, which is still more diversified by the new spelling Ojibwa, introduced by Schoolcraft.
* The name of this river is derived from the Algonquin language one of the original tongues of our continent It was spoken by every tribe from the Chesapeake to the gulf of St. Lawrence, and running westward to the Mississippi and Lake Superior. The Abnakis, Montagnais, Algonquins proper, Ottawas, Nipis-eings, Nezperces, Illinois, Miamis, Sacs, Foxes, Mohegans, Delawares, Shawnees and Virginia Indians, as well as the minor tribes of New England, all spoken dialects of this widespread language. The only exception in this vast strip of territory, was the Huron-Iroquois language, spoken by the Hurons, Petuns, Neuters, and Iroquois, which is distinct from the Algonquin. The word Mississippi is a compound of the word Missi, signifying great, and Se.pe, a river. The
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 7
were embarking on a voyage, the duration of which we could not foresee. Indian corn, with some dried meat, was our whole stock of provisions. With this we set out in two bark canoes,* M. Jollyet, myself, and five men, firmly resolved to do all and suffer all for so glorious an enterprise.
It was on the 17th of May, 1673, that we started from the mission of St. Ignatius at Michilimakinac,f where I then was. Our joy at being chosen for this expedition roused our courage, and sweetened the labor of rowing from morning till night. As we were going to seek unknown countries, we took all possible precautions, that, if our enterprise was hazardous, it should not be foolhardy : for this reason we gathered all possible information from Indians who had frequented those parts, and even from their accounts traced a map of all the new country, marking down the rivers on which we were to sail, the names of the nations and places through which
former is variously pronounced Missil, or Michil, as in Michilimackinac ; Mlchi, as in Michigan ; Missu, as in Missouri ; and Missi, as in Mississippi. The word Sipi may be considered as the English pronunciation, derived through the medium of the French, of Sepe, and affords an instance of an Indian term of much melody, being corrupted by Europeans, into one that has a harsh and hissing sound. F.
* The two frail canoes which bore these adventurous travellers from the snows of Canada to the more genial clime of the Arkansas, were constructed entirely different from those wood canoes with which the Indians navigated the Hudson, and the Delaware, and which we still occasionally see in use among our western tribes. The Canadian canoe made use of in this expedition, was built of birch-bark, cedar splints, and ribs of spruce roots, covered with yellow pine pitch, so light and so strong, that they could be carried across portages on the shoulders of four men, and paddled at the rate of four miles per hour in smooth water. For river navigation, where there are no rapids or portages, nothing could be better adapted for explorations; and they were used in subsequent expeditions to explore the Missouri, St. Peter's, Columbia, and Mackenzie rivers. F.
f This is not the island, but the point north of it in the present county of that name. (Charlevoix.) The mission was subsequently on the south, if we credit Charlevoix's maps, and finally on the island of that name.
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8
NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
we were to pass, the course of the great river, and what direction we should take when we got to it.
Above all, I put our voyage under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, promising her, that if she did us the grace to discover the great river, I would give it the name of Conception ; and that I would also give that name to the first mission which I should establish among these new nations, as I have actually done among the Ilinois.*
SECTION II.
THE FATHER VISITS BY THE WAY THE WILD-OATS TRIBES. WHAT THESE WILD OATS ARE. HE ENTERS THE BAY OF THE FETID. SOME PARTICULARS AS TO THIS BAY. HE REACHES THE FIRE NATION.
"With all these precautions, we made our paddles play merrily over a part of Lake Huron and that of the Ilinois into the Bay of the Fetid.
The first nation that we met was that of the Wild Oats.f I entered their river to visit them, as we have preached the
* The name which the pious missionary gave to the Mississippi, is found only here, and on the accompanying map, which corresponds perfectly with his narrative. The name of the Immaculate Conception, which he gave to the mission among the Kaskaslrias, was retained as long as that mission lasted, and is now the title of the church in the present town of ICaskaslda. Although his wish was not realized in the name of the great river, it has been fulfilled in the fact that the Blessed Virgin, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, has been chosen by the prelates of the United States assembled in a national council, as the patroness of the whole country, so that not only in the vast valley of the Mississippi, but from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the Blessed Virgin Immaculate is as dear to every American Catholic, as is Our Lady of Guadaloupe to our Mexican neighbors.
\ This plant, the Zizania Aquatica, of Linn., is perennial and forms the principal food of most of the northwestern tribes. It is called in English, wild rice ; and in French, Folles-Avoine, or wild oats. It was first accurately described in the Bel. 1662-63, apparently from Ménard's Letters. The tribe here alluded to are the Oumalouminik, Malhominies or Menomonees, whose river still shows their locality. Bel 1672-73. MS. ._..^ '
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
9
gospel to these tribes for some years past, so that there are many good Christians among them.
The wild oats, from which they take their name, as they are found in their country, are a kind of grass which grows spontaneously in little rivers with slimy bottoms, and in marshy places ; they are very like the wild oats that grow up among our wheat. The ears are on stalks knotted at intervals ; they rise above the water about tbe month of June, and keep rising till they float about two feet above it. The grain is not thicker than our oats, but is as long again, so that the meal is much more abundant.
The following is the manner in which the Indians gather it and prepare it for eating. In the month of September, which is the proper time for this harvest, they go in canoes across these fields of wild oats, and shake the ears on their right and left into the canoe as they advance ; the grain falls easily if it is ripe, and in a little while their provision is made. To clear it from the chaff, and strip it of a pellicle in which it is enclosed, they put it to dry in the smoke on a wooden lattice, under which they keep up a small fire for several days. When the oats are well dried, they put them in a skin of the form of a bag, which is then forced into a hole made on purpose in the ground ; they then tread it out so long and so well, that the grain being freed from the chaff is easily winnowed ; after which they pound it to reduce it to meal, or even unpounded, boil it in water seasoned with grease, and in this way, wild oats are almost as palatable as rice would be when not better seasoned. j%
I informed these people of the Wild Oats of my design of going to discover distant nations to instruct them in the mysteries of our Holy Religion ; they were very much surprised, and did their best to dissuade me. They told me, that I
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10
NARRATIVE OF FATIIKK MARQUETTE.
would meet nations that never spare strangers, but tomahawk them without any provocation ; that the war which had broken out among various nations on our route, exposed us to another evident danger that of being killed by the war-parties which are constantly in the field ; that the Great Eiver is very dangerous, unless the difficult parts are known; that it was full of frightful monsters who swallowed up men and canoes together; that there is even a demon there who can be heard from afar, who stops the passage and engulfs all who dare approach ; lastly, that the heat is so excessive in those countries, that it would infallibly cause our death.
I thanked them for their kind advice, but assured them that I could not follow it, as the salvation of souls was concerned ; that for them, I should be too happy to lay down my life ; that I made light of their pretended demon, that we would defend ourselves well enough against the river-monsters ; and, besides, we should be on our guard to avoid the other dangers with which they threatened us. After having made them pray and given them some instruction, I left them, and, embarking in our canoes, we soon after reached the extremity of the Bay of the Fetid, where our Fathers labor successfully in the conversion of these tribes, having baptized more than two thousand since they have been there.
This bay bears a name which has not so bad a meaning in the Indian language, for they call it rather Salt Bay than Fetid Bay, although among them it is almost the same, and this is also the name which they give to the sea. This induced us to make very exact researches to discover whether there were not in these parts some salt springs, as there are among the Iroquois, but we could not find any.*
* The tribe called by the French, Puants, were the Ouenibegouc, our Winne-bagoes. Kel. 1672-"73. MS. Delà Potherie, vol. ii., p. 48. In the Relation of
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
11
We accordingly concluded that the name has been given on account of the quantity of slime and mud there, constantly exhaling noisome vapors which cause the loudest and longest peals of thunder that I ever heard.
The bay is about thirty leagues long, and eight wide at its mouth; it narrows gradually to the extremity, where it is easy to remark the tide which has its regular flow and ebb, almost like that of the sea. This is not the place to examine whether they are real tides, whether they are caused by the winds, or by some other age ; whether there are winds, out-riders of the moon, or attached to her suite, who consequently agitate the lake and give it a kind of flow and ebb, whenever the moon rises above the horizon. "What I can certainly aver is, that when the water is quite tranquil, you can easily see it rise and fall with the course of the moon, although I do not deny that this movement may be caused by distant winds,
1636, they are called Aweatsiwaenrrhonons, which, as the termination shows was their name among the Hurons. Cltarlevoix, on what ground I know not, calls them Otehagras. As Marquette justly remarks, their name signified salt, rather than Fetid, and they are undoubtedly the Gens de mer discovered by the adventurous Nicolet three hundred leagues west of the Hurons, several years prior to his death, in 1642. Rel. 1642-43, p. 8. Indeed, the dislike of the Indians to salt was so great, that they confounded the two terms. When Father Le Moyne visited Otiondaga, he heard of a spring in which there was a devil that made it fetid; it was, in fact, a salt spring. So too the accounts of the death of the heroic missionaries Brebeuf and Lalemant shows that the Iro-quois detected in the flesh of the latter, who had recently left European food, traces of salt which they disliked, and they showed their disgust in the additional torture they inflicted. All this establishes the identity of the terms fetid and salt, and confirms what is stated in the Relation of 1653-'54, and by Bressani in his Breve Relatione, that the Winnebagoes were so called, because they came from the fetid water or ocean, which was then said to be nine days' journey to the west. In point of fact, the Winnebagoes are a branch of the Dahcota family, which advancing further east than the rest, became cut off from them and surrounded by Algonquins. Hence, the very name comes in to confirm the philological researches which connect them with the Tartars. The bay called formerly Baie des Puants, or La Grande Baie, has now become Green Bay, and the town of that name is near the site of the old mission of St. Francis Xavier, founded in 1670.-
12
NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
which pressing on the centre of the lake, make it rise and fall on the shore in the way that meets our eyes.*
We left this bay to enter a riverf emptying into it. It is very beautiful at its mouth, and flows gently; it is full of bustards, duck, teal, and other birds, attracted by the wild oats of which they are very fond ; but when you have advanced a little up this river, it becomes very difficult, both on account of the currents and of the sharp rocks which cut the canoes and the feet of those who are obliged to drag them, especially when the water is low. For all that we passed the rapids safely, and as we approached Machkontens, the Fire nation, I had the curiosity to drink the mineral waters of the river which is not far from this town. I also took time to examine an herb, the virtue of which an Indian, who possessed the secret, had, with many ceremonies, made known to Father Alloues. Its root is useful against the bite of serpents, the Almighty having been pleased to give this remedy against a poison very common in the country. It is very hot, and has the taste of powder when crushed between the teeth. It must be chewed and put on the bite , of the serpent. Snakes have such an antipathy to it, that they fly from one rubbed with it. It produces several stalks about a foot long, with pretty long leaves, and a white flower, much like the gillyflower.^ I put some into my
* The last opinion now prevails, and the tides of the lake which have been so much discussed, are now ascribed to the action of the winds, although Charle-Toix supposed it was owing to the springs at the bottom of the lakes, and to the shock of their currents, with those of the rivers, which fall into them from all sides, and thus produce those intermitting motions.
f The Fox river, of Green bay, is about 2(10 miles in length. The portage between the head waters of this river and the Wisconsin (Meskonsing), is over a level plain, and during high water, canoes frequently pass over the lowest parts of the prairie from one river to the other. F.
\ This plant is called by the French "Serpent-a-Sonnettes," and is an infallible remedy against the poison of snakes. The root is commonly reduced to a
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
13
canoe to examine it at leisure, while we kept on our way toward Maskoutens, where we arrived on the 7th of June.
SECTION III.
DESCRIPTION OF THE VILLAGE OF MASKOUTENS. WHAT TRANSPIRED BETWEEN THE FATHER AND THE INDIANS. THE FRENCH BEGIN TO ENTER A SEW AND UNKNOWN COUNTRY, AND REACH THE MISSIStPL
Here we are then at Maskoutens. This word in Algonquin, may mean Fire nation,* and that is the name given to them. This is the limit of the discovei'ies made by the French, for they have not yet passed beyond it.
This town is made up of three nations gathered here, Mi-amis, Maskoutens, and Kikabous. The first are more civil, liberal, and better made; they wear two long ear-locks, which give them a good appearance ; they have the name of being warriors and seldom send out war parties in vain ; they
powder, which the Indians chew, or make a poultice of, which prevents the poison from taking effect. It may be taken in water with the same effect. It has a nauseous smell, and is always avoided by snakes. If two or three drops are put into a snake's mouth, it immediately dies. F.
* Father Marquette who was a good Algonquin scholar, does not speak positively as to the meaning of Maskoutens, though from his use of the common interpretation, he evidently favored it. Charlevoix, indeed, treats this as an error, and says, that Mascoutenee means a prairie, but on the meaning of an Indian name a traveller is more apt to err than one habituated to the country and its dialects. Certain it is that, from the earliest times, there dwelt on Lake Michigan a tribe known to the Indians of Canada by the name of Fire Indians. Their Huron name was Asistagueronons, from asista (fire). They lay beyond the Puants, says the early historian, Brother Sagard (p. 201). Under the same name, Atsistaehronons, they are mentioned by Father Brebeuf (Rel. 1640-'41, p. 48,) as the enemies of the tribes called by the French the Neutral Nation, who lay chiefly north of Lake Erie, between Ontario and Lake St. Clair. Now as the peninsula between Detroit and Lake Michigan was not inhabited by any Indian tribe, the Assistae must have dwelt beyond Lake Michigan, in the territory where we afterward find a tribe called by the Algonquins, Maskoutench, or Nation of Fire.
f I
14
NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
are very docile, listen quietly to what you tell them, and showed themselves so eager to hear Father Allouez when he was instructing them, that they gave him. little rest, even at night. The Maskoutens and Kikabous are ruder and more like peasants, compared to the others.
// As bark for cabins is rare in this country, they use rushes, which serve them for walls and roof, but which are no great shelter against the wind, and still less against the rain when it falls in torrents. The advantage of this kind of cabins is that they can roll them up, and carry them easily where they like in hunting-time. /'
When I visited them, I was extremely consoled to see a beautiful cross planted in the midst of the town, adorned with several white skins, red belts, bows and arrows, which these good people had offered to the Great Manitou (such is the name they give to God) to thank him for having had pity on them during the winter, giving them plenty of game when they were in greatest dread of famine.
I felt no little pleasure in beholding the position of this town ; the view is beautiful and very picturesque, for from the eminence on which it is perched, the eye discovers on every side prairies spreading away beyond its reach, interspersed with thickets or groves of lofty trees.* The soil is very good, producing much corn; the Indians gather also quantities of plums and grapes, from which good wine could be made, if they chose.
No sooner had we arrived that M. Jollyet and I assembled the sachems ; he told them that he was sent by our governor to discover new countries, and I, by the Almighty, to illumine them with the light of the gospel ;f that the Sovereign Master of our
* This narrative abounds with sketches of scenery and Indian localities that ¦would grace the artist's pencil. F.
f The missionaries were careful to avoid all appearance of a worldly or na-
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
15
lives wished to be known by all nations, and that to obey his will, I did not fear death, to which I exposed myself in such dangerous voyages ; that we needed two guides to put us on our way, these, making them a present, we begged them to grant us. This they did very civilly, and even proceeded to speak to us by a present, which was a mat to serve us as a bed on our voyage.
The next day, which was the tenth of June, two Miamis whom they had given us as guides, embarked with us, in the sight of a great crowd, who could wonder enough to see seven Frenchmen alone in two canoes, dare to undertake so strange and so hazardous an expedition.
We knew that there was, three leagues from Maskoutens, a river emptying into the* Missisipi ; we knew too, that the point of the compass we were to hold to reach it, was the west-southwest ; but the way is so cut up by marshes and little lakes, that it is easy to go astray, especially as the river leading to it is so covered with wild oats, that you can hardly discover the channel. Hence, we had good need of our two guides, who led us safely to a portage of twenty-seven hundred paces, and helped us to transport our canoes to enter this river, after which they returned, leaving us alone in an unknown country, in the hands of Providence.
We now leave the waters which flow to Quebec, a distance of four or five hundred leagues, to follow those which will
henceforth lead us into strange lands.
Before embarking, we
all began together a new devotion to the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, which we practised every day, addressing her par-
tional mission. Most of those in our northern parts were French ; but though they planted the cross on many a mountain and valley, history can not tell us the place where they carved the "Lilies of the Bourbons." In fact, they never did.
* Father Marquette, however, never uses the article with Missisipi, Pekita-noui, and other names of rivers.
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NAEEATIVE OF FATHEE MAEQUETTE.
ticular prayers to put under her protection both our persons and the success of our voyage. Then after having encouraged one another, we got into our canoes. The river on which we embarked is called Meskousing ; it is very broad, with a sandy bottom, forming many shallows, which render navigation very difficult. It is full of vine-clad islets. On the banks appear fertile lands diversified with wood, prairie, and hill. Here you find oaks, walnut, whitewood, and another kind of tree with branches armed with long thorns. We saw no small game or fish, but deer and moose* in considerable numbers.
Our route was southwest, and after sailing about thirty leagues, we perceived a place which had all the appearances of an iron mine, and in fact, one of our party who had seen some before, averred that the one we had found was very good and very rich. It is covered with three feet of good earth, very near a chain of rock, whose base is covered with fine timber. After forty leagues on this same route, we reached the mouth of our river, and finding ourselves at 42-|° E"., we safely entered the Missisipif on the 17th of June, with a joy that I can not express.
* The French word here is vaches, which has been generally translated bison, or buffalo. This is clearly a mistake ; they had not yet reached the buffalo ground and the missionary afterward describes the animal when he meets it. The animal called by the Canadian French, vache sauvage, was the American elk, or moose. Rel. 1656-'57. Boucher, Hist. Nat. Canada. Nat. Hist, of N. Y., Art. "Moose." Boucher expressly states, that buffaloes were found only in the Ottawa country, that is, in the far west, while the vache sauvage, or orignal, and ane sauvage, or caribou, were seen in Canada.
f This latitude is nearly correct. Prairie du Chien is in north latitude 43° 3'. The mouth of the Wisconsin or, as he writes it, Meskousing, is distant one hundred and eighty miles from the portage. Above this it can be ascended ninety miles, and is then connected by short portages with the Ontonagon and Montreal rivers of Lake Superior. The Wisconsin country was subsequently inhabited by the Sacs and Foxes, but they were afterward driven away by the Chippeways and French. F.
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 17
SECTION IV.
OF THE GREAT RIVER CALLED MISSISIPI. ITS MOST STRIKING PECULIAR!-TIES. VARIOUS ANIMALS, AND PARTICULARLY THE PISIKIOUS OR WILD CATTLE.-THEIR FORM AND DISPOSITION. THE FIRST IL1N0IS VILLAGES REACHED BY THE FRENCH.
Heke then we are on this renowned river, of which I have endeavored to remark attentively all the peculiarities. The Missisipi river has its source in several lakes* in the country of the nations to the north ; it is narrow at the mouth of the Miskousing; its current, which runs south, is slow and gentle ; on the right is a considerable chain of very high mountains, and on the left fine lands ; it is in many places studded with islands. On sounding, we have found ten fathoms of water. Its breadth is very unequal: it is sometimes three quarters of a league, and sometimes narrows in to three a/rpents (220 yards). We gently follow its course, which bears south and southeast till the forty-second degree. Here we perceive that the whole face is changed ; there is now almost no wood or mountain, the islands are more beautiful and covered with finer trees ; we see nothing but deer and moose, bustards and wingless swans, for they shed their plumes in this country. From time to time we meet monstrous fish, one of which strack so violently against our canoe, that I took it for a large tree about to knock us to pieces.f Another time we perceived on the water a monster with the head of a tiger, a pointed snout like a wild-cat's, a beard and ears erect, a
* It would appear from this remark, that the source of the Mississippi river which ia now ascertained to be in Itasea lake, and more than three thousand miles from the gulf of Mexico, was then perfectly well-known to the northwestern tribes. F.
f This was probably the cat fish of the Mississippi (Silurus Mississippiensis). They sometimes grow enormously large, and strike with great force any object that comes in their way. F.
ï
".' I
" ¦'! 1 h !
if .
18
NAEEATIVE OF FATHER MAEQTJBTTE.
grayish head and neck all Hack.* We saw no more of them. On casting our nets, we have taken sturgeon and a very extraordinary kind of fish ;f it resembles a trout with this difference, that it has a larger mouth, but smaller eyes and snout. Near the latter is a large bone, like a woman's busk, three fingers wide, and a cubit long ; the end is circular and as wide as the hand. In leaping out of the water the weight of this often throws it back.
Having descended as far as 41° 28', following the same direction, we find that turkeys have taken the place of game, and the pisikious,^: or wild cattle, that of other beasts. "We
* Probably an American tiger-cat, the "pichou du mid" of Kalm. They differ from those of Africa and South America, because they have no spots. F.
f The "polyodon spatula? of Linn. It is now very rare, and but seldom found in the Mississippi. It is also called by the French, "le spatule." F.
£ This animal was first made known by Coronado's expedition to Cibola, in 1540. That commander proceeded as far as the Rio Grande from the gulf of California^ in search of the realms of Quivira. His greatest discovery was that of the bison plains, and this peculiarly American animal. From the first object of his expedition Cibola., a town on the Gila, the animal received among Spanish writers the same name. Boucher, in his natural history of Canada, calls it the buffalo, and Father Marquette, who was the first Frenchman to reach the bison range, gives here its Indian name pisikiou, but I do not find that the name was ever adopted. The term wild-cattle, b ufs sauvages, was generally used by the French, as buffalo, was later by the English settlers, till the term bison, used by Pliny, was applied exclusively to this specie3. The buffalo has a clumsy gait like the domestic ox. Unlike the ox, however, it exhibits no diversity of color, being a xmiform dark brown, inclining to dun. It is never spotted with black, red, or white. It has short, black horns, growing nearly straight from the head, and set, at a considerable distance apart. The male has a hunch upon its shoulders covered with long flocks of shaggy hair, extending to the top of the head from which it falls over the eyes and horns, giving him a very formidable appearance. The hoofs are cloven like those of the cow. The tail is naked, toward the end, where it is tufted, in the manner of the lion. The Indians employ both the rifle and the arrow to hunt it, and in the prairies of Missouri and Arkansas, they pursue them on horseback; but on the upper Mississippi, where they are destitute of horses, they make use of several ingenious stratagems. One of the most common of these, is the method of hunting them with fire. The buffaloes have a great dread of fire, and retire toward the centre of the prairie as they see it approach, then being pressed together in great numbers, the Indians rush in with their arrows and musketry, and slaughter immense numbers in a few
I I
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
19
call them wild cattle, because they are like our domestic cattle ; they are not longer, but almost as big again, and more corpulent ; our men having killed one, three of us had considerable trouble in moving it. The head is very large, the forehead flat and a foot and a half broad between the horns, which are exactly like those of our cattle, except that they are black and much larger. Under the neck there is a kind of large crop hanging down, and on the back a pretty high hump. The whole head, the neck, and part of the shoulders, are covered with a great mane like a horse's ; it is a crest a foot long, which renders them hideous, and falling over their eyes, prevents their seeing before them. The rest of the body is covered with a coarse curly hair like the wool of our sheep, but much stronger and thicker. It falls in summer, and the skin is then as soft as velvet. At this time the Indians employ the skins to make beautiful robes, which they paint of various colors ; the flesh and fat of the Pisikious are excellent, and constitute the best dish in banquets. They are very fierce, and not a year passes without their killing some Indian. "When attacked, they take a man with their horns, if they can, lift him up, and then dash him on the ground, trample on him, and kill him. "When you fire at them from a distance with gun or bow, you must throw yourself on the ground as soon as you fire, and hide in the grass ; for, if they perceive the one who fired, they rush on him and attack him. As their feet are large and rather short, they do not
hours. Few animals of the American forest contribute more to the comforts of savage life. The skin is dressed to supply them with clothing and blankets, The tallow is an article of commerce. The tongue is a delicate article of food, and the flesh, when dried after their manner, serves them for bread and meat The buffalo is generally found between 31° and 49° north latitude, and west of the Mississippi. South of 31° north latitude, the buffalo is not found ; but its place is supplied in Mexico by the wild-ox, without a huneh, which is considered of European origin.
20
NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
I t
generally go very fast, except when they are irritated. They are scattered over the prairies like herds of cattle. I have seen a band of four hundred.
We advanced constantly, but as we did not know where we were going, having already made more than a hundred leagues without having discovered anything but beasts and birds, we kept well on our guard. Accordingly we make only a little fire on the shore at night to prepare our meal, and after supper keep as far off from it as possible, passing the night in our canoes, which we anchor in the river pretty far from the bank. Even this did not prevent one of us being always as a sentinel for fear of a surprise.
Proceeding south and south-southwest, we find ourselves at 41° north ; then at 40° and some minutes, partly by southeast and partly by southwest, after having advanced more than sixty leagues since entering the river, without discovering anything.
At last, on the 25th of June, we perceived footprints of men by the water-side, and a beaten path entering a beautiful prairie. "We stopped to examine it, and concluding that it was a path leading to some Indian village, we resolved to go and reconnoitre ', we accordingly left our two canoes in charge of our people, cautioning them strictly to beware of a surprise ; then M. Jollyet and I undertook this rather hazardous discovery for two single men, who thus put themselves at the discretion of an unknown and barbarous people. We followed the little path in silence, and having advanced about two leagues, we discovered a village on the banks of the river, and two others on a hill, half a league from the former.*
* These villages are laid down on the map on the westerly side of the Mississippi, and the names of two are given, Peonarea and Moingwena, whence it is generally supposed that the river on which they lay, is that now called the Des-moines. The upper part of that river still bears the name Moingonan, while the
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
21
Then, indeed, we recommended ourselves to God, with all our hearts ; and, having implored his help, we passed on undiscovered, and came so near that we even heard the Indians talking. We then deemed it time to announce ourselves, as we did by a cry, which we raised with all our strength, and then halted without advancing any further. At this cry the Indians rushed out of their cabins, and having probably recognised us as French, especially seeing a black gown,* or at least having no reason to distrust us, seeing we were but two, and had made known our coming, they deputed four old men to come and speak with us. Two carried tobacco-pipes well-adorned, and trimmed with many kinds of feathers. They marched slowly, lifting their pipes toward the sun, as if offering them to him to smoke, but yet without uttering a single word. They were a long time coming the little way from the village to us. Having reached us at last, they stopped to consider us attentively. I now took courage, seeing these ceremonies, which are used by them only with friends, and still more on seeing them covered with stuffs, which made me judge them to be allies. I, therefore, spoke to them first, and asked them, who they were ; " they answered that they were Ilinois and, in token of peace, they presented their pipes to smoke. They then invited us to their village where all the tribe awaited us with impatience. These pipes for smoking are called in the country calumets,f a word that is so much in use, that I shall be obliged to employ it in order to be understood, as I shall have to speak of it frequently.
latitude of the mouth seems to establish the identity. It must, however, be admitted that the latitude given at that day differs from ours generally from SO' to a degree, as we see in the case of the Wisconsin and Ohio. This would throw Moingwena somewhat higher up.
* This is the well-known Indian name for the Jesuits.
f We are probably indebted to Father Marquette for the addition to onr language of this word.
22
HAEEATIVE OF FATHEK MARQTTETTE.
SECTION V. HOW THE ILINOIS RECEIVED THE FATHER IN THEIR VILLAGE.
At the door of the cabin in which we were to be received, was an old man awaiting us in a very remarkable posture ; which is their usual ceremony in receiving strangers. This man was standing, perfectly naked, with his hands stretched out and raised toward the sun, as if he wished to screen himself from its rays, which nevertheless passed through his fingers to his face. "When we came near him, he paid na this compliment : " How beautiful is the sun, O Frenchman, when thou comest to visit us !, All our town awaits thee, and thou shalt enter all our cabins in peace." He then took us into his, where there was a crowd of people, who devoured us with their eyes, but kept a profound silence. We heard, however, these words occasionally addressed to us : " Well done, brothers, to visit us !"
As soon as we had taken our places, they showed us the usual civility of the country, which is to present the calumet. You must not refuse it, unless you would pass for an enemy, or at least for being impolite. It is, however, enough to pretend to smoke. "While all the old men smoked after us to honor us, some came to invite us on behalf of the great sachem of all the Ilinois to proceed to his town, where he wished to hold a council with us. "We went with a good retinue, for all the people who had never seen a Freshman among them could not tire looking at us : they tlJPr themselves on the grass by the wayside, they ran aipad, then turned and walked back to see us again. All this was done without noise, and with marks of a great respect entertained for us.
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
23
Having arrived at the great sachem's town, we espied him at his cabin-door, between two old men, all three standing naked, with their calumet turned to the sun. He harangued us in few words, to congratulate us on our arrival, and then presented us his calumet and made us smoke ; at the same time we entered his cabin, where we received all their usual greetings. Seeing all assembled and in silence, I spoke to them by four presents which I made : by the first, I said that we marched in peace to visit the nations on the river to the sea : by the second, I declared to them that God their Creator had pity on them, since, after their having been so long ignorant of him, he wished to become known to all nations ; that I was sent on his behalf with this design ; that it was for them to acknowledge and obey him : by the third, that the great chief of the French informed them that he spread peace everywhere, and had overcome the Iroquois. Lastly, by the fourth, we begged them to give us all the information they had of the sea, and of the nations through which we should have to pass to reach it.
When I had finished my speech, the sachem rose, and laying his hand on the head of a little slave, whom he was about to give us, spoke thus : " I thank thee, Blackgown, and thee, Frenchman," addressing M. Jollyet, " for taking so much pains to come and visit us ; never has the earth been so beautiful, nor the sun so bright, as to-day ; never has our river been so calm, nor so free from rocks, which your canoes have removed as they passed ; never has our tobacco had so fine a flavor, nor our corn appeared so beautiful as we behold it today. Here is my son, that I give thee, that thou mayst know my heart. I pray thee to take pity on me and all my nation. Thou knowest the Great Spirit who has made us all ; thou Bpeakest to him and hearest his word : ask him to give me
NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
life and health, and come and dwell with us, that we may know him." Saying this, he placed the little slave near us and made us a second present, an all-mysterious calumet, which they value more than a slave ; by this present he showed us his esteem for our governor, after the account we had given of him; by the third, he begged us, on behalf of his whole nation, not to proceed further, on account of the great dangers to which we exposed ourselves.
I replied, that I did not fear death, and that I esteemed no happiness greater than that of losing my life for the glory of Him who made all. But this these poor people could not understand.
The council was followed by a great feast which consisted of four courses, which we had to take with all their ways ; the first course was a great wooden dish full of sagamity, that is to say, of Indian meal boiled in water and seasoned with grease. The master of ceremonies, with a spoonful of sagamity, presented it three or four times to my mouth, as we would do with a little child ; he did the same to M. Jollyet. For the second course, he brought in a second dish containing three fish ; he took some pains to remove the bones, and having blown upon it to cool it, put it in my mouth, as we would food to a bird ; for the third course, they produced a large dog,* which they had just killed, but learning that we did not eat it, it was withdrawn. Finally, the fourth course was a piece of wild ox, the fattest portions of which were put into our mouths.
After this feast we had to visit the whole village, which
* The dog among all Indian tribes is more valued and more esteemed than by any people of the civilized world. When they are killed for a feast, it is considered a great compliment, and the highest mark of friendship. If an Indian sees fit to sacrifice his faithful companion to give to his friend, it is to remind him of the solemnity of his professions. F.
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
25
consists of full three hundred cabins. "While we marched through the streets, an orator was constantly haranguing, to oblige all to see us without being troublesome ; we were everywhere presented with belts, garters, and other articles made of the hair of the bear and wild cattle, dyed red, yellow, and gray. These are their rareties ; but not being of consequence, we did not burthen ourselves with them.
We slept in the sachem's cabin, and the next day took leave of him, promising to pass back through his town in four moons. lie escorted us to our canoes with nearly six hundred persons, who saw us embark, evincing in every possible way the pleasure our visit had given them. On taking leave, I personally promised that I would return the next year to stay with them, and instruct them. But before leaving the Ilinois country, it will be well to relate what I remarked of their customs and manners.
SECTION VI.
CHARACTER OF THE ILINOIS THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. THEIR ESTEEM OF THE CALUMET, OR TOBACCO-PIPE, AND THEIR VANCE IN ITS HONOR.
To say Ilinois is, in their language, to say " the men," as if other Indians compared to them were mere beasts. And it must be admitted that they have an air of humanity* that
* "The Ilinois," as described by Father Marest in a letter to Father Germon, from the village "of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin, Cas-casquias, November 9, 1712," "are much less barbarous than the other Indians. Christianity, and their intercourse with the French, have by degrees somewhat civilized them. This is particularly remarked in our village, of which the inhabitants are almost all Christians, and has brought many French to establish themselves here, three of whom we have recently married to Ilinois women. These Indians are not at all wanting in wit; they are naturally curious, and are able to use raillery in a very ingenious way. The chase and war are the sole occupa-
r ':'.
11 1
if, i
!
26 NAKKATIVE OF FATHER MAKQTJETTE.
we had not remarked in the other nations that we had seen on the way. The short stay I made with them did not permit
tions of the men, while the rest of the labor falls upon the women and girls. They are the persons who prepare the ground for sowing, do the cooking, pound the corn, build the wigwams, and carry them on their shoulders in their journeys. These wigwams are constructed of mats made of platted reeds, which they have the skill to sew together in such a way that the rain can not penetrate them when they are new. Besides these tilings, they occupy themselves in manufacturing articles from buffaloes' hair, and in making bands, belts, and sacks; for the buffaloes here are very different from our cattle in Europe. Besides having a large hump on the back by the shoulders, they are also entirely covered with a fine wool, which our Indians manufacture instead of that which they would procure from sheep, if they had them in the country.
"The women, thus occupied and depressed by their daily toils, are more docile to the truths of the gospel. This, however, is not the ease at the lower end of the Missisipi, where the idleness which prevails among persons of that sex gives opportunity for the most fearful disorders, and removes them entirely from the way of safety.
" It would be difficult to say what is the religion of our Indians. It consists entirely in some superstitions with which their credulity is amused. As all their knowledge is limited to an acquaintance with brutes, and to the necessities of life, it is to these things also that all their worship is confined. Their medicinemen, who have a little more intellect than the rest, gain their respect by their ability to deceive them. They persuade them that they honor a kind of spirit, to whom they give the name of Manitou, and teach them that it is this spirit which governs all things, and is master of life and of death. A bird, a buffalo, a bear, or rather the plumage of these birds, and the skin of these beasts such is their manitou. They hang it up in their wigwams, and offer to it sacrifices of dogs and other animals.
" The braves carry their manitous in a mat, and unceasingly invoke them to obtain the victory over their enemies. Their medieine-men have in like manner recourse to their manitous when they compose their remedies, or when they attempt to cure the diseased. They accompany their invocations with chants, and dances, and frightful contortions, to induce the belief that they are inspired by their manitous ; and at the same time they thus aggravate their diseases, so that they often cause death. During these different contortions, the medicineman names sometimes one animal, and sometimes another, and at last applies himself to suck that part of the body in which the sick person perceives the pain. After having done so for some time, he suddenly raises himself and throws out to him the tooth of a bear, or of some other animal, which he had kept concealed in his mouth. 'Dear friend,' he cries, 'you will live. See what it was that was killing you!' After which he says, in applauding himself: 'Who can resist my manitou ? Is he not the one who is the master of life ?' If the patient happens to die, he immediately has some deceit ready prepared, to ascribe the death to some other cause which took place after he had left the sick man. But if, on
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 27
me to acquire all the information I would have desired. The following is what I remarked in their manners.
the contrary, he should recover his health, it is then that the medicine-man receives consideration, and is himself regarded as a manitou; and after having well rewarded his labors, they procure the best that the village produces to regale him.
" The influence which these kinds of jugglers have places a great obstacle in the way of the conversion of the Indians. By embracing Christianity, they expose themselves to their insults and violence. It is only a month ago that a young Christian girl experienced this treatment. Holding a rosary in her hand, she was passing before the wigwam of one of these impostors. He had imagined that the sight of a similar chaplet had caused the death of his father ; and being transported with fury, he took his gun, and was on the point of firing at this poor neophyte, when he was arrested by some Indians who happened to be present
"I can not tell you how many times I have received the like insults from them, nor how many times I should have expired under their blows, had it not been for the particular protection of God, who has preserved me from their fury. On one occasion, among others, one of them would have split my head with hi» hatchet, had I not turned at the very time that his arm was raised to strike me. Thanks to God, our village is now purged from these impostors. The care which we have ourselves taken of the sick, the remedies we have given them, and which have generally produced a cure, have destroyed the credit and reputation of these medicine-men, and forced them to go and establish themselves elsewhere.
"There are, however, some among them who are not so entirely brutal, and with whom we can sometimes talk, and endeavor to disabuse them of the vain confidence they have in their manitous ; but it is not ordinarily with much success. A conversation which one of our fathers had with one of these medicinemen will enable you to understand the extent of their obstinacy on this point, and also what ought to be the condescension of a missionary in attempting even to refute opinions as extraordinary as those with which they are here met.
"The French had established a fort on the river Ouabache: they asked for a missionary, and Father Mermet was sent to them. This father thought that he should also labor for the conversion of the Mascoutens, who had formed a settlement on the banks of the same river, a tribe of Indians who understood the Ilinois language, but whose extreme attachment to the superstitions of their medicine-men rendered them exceedingly indisposed to listen to the instructions of the missionary.
"The course which Father Mermet took was, to confound in their presence one of their medicine-men, who worshipped the buffalo as his grand manitou. After having insensibly led him to confess that it was not by any means the buffalo which he worshipped, but a manitou of the buffalo, which is under the earth which animates all the buffaloes, and which gives life to their sick he asked him whether the other beasts, as the bears, for example, which his comrades worshipped, were not equally animated by a manitou which is under the earth.
f1 ¦
28
KAKEATIVE OF FATHER MAKQUETTE.
f ' li
hf
They are divided into several villages, some of which are quite distant from that of which I speak, and which is called
'Certainly,' replied the medicine-man. 'But if this be so,' said the missionary, 'then men ought also to have a manitou which animates them.' 'ISTothing can be more certain,' said the medicine-man. 'That is sufficient for me,' replied the missionary, 'to convict you of having but little reason on your side; for if man who is on the earth be the master of all the animals if he kills them, if he eats them then it is necessary that the manitou which animates the men should also be the master of all the other manitous. Where is, then, your wisdom, that you do not invoke him who is the master of all the others!' This reasoning disconcerted the medicine-man, but this was the only effect which it produced, for they were not less attached than before to their ridiculous superstitions.
"At that same time a contagious disease desolated their village, and each day carried off many of the Indians : the medicine-men themselves were not spared, and died like the rest. The missionary thought that he would be able to win their confidence by his attention to the care of the sick, and therefore applied himself to it without intermission ; but his zeal very often came near costing him his life. The services which he rendered to them were repaid only by outrages. There were even some who proceeded to the extremity of discharging their arrows at him, but they fell at his feet ; it may be that they were fired by hands which were too feeble, or because God, who destined the missionary for other labors, had wished to withdraw him at that time from their fury. Father Mer-met, however, was not deterred from conferring baptism on some of the Indians, who requested it with importunity, and who died a short time after they had received it.
" Nevertheless, their medicine-men removed to a short distance from the fort, to make a great sacrifice to their manitou. They killed nearly forty dogs, which they carried on the tops of poles, singing, dancing, and making a thousand extravagant gestures. The mortality, however, did not cease, for all their sacrifices. The chief of the medicine-men then imagined that their manitou, being less powerful than the manitou of the French, was obliged to yield to him. In this persuasion he many times made a circuit around the fort, crying out with all his strength: '"We are dead; softly, manitou of the French, strike softly do not kill us all!' Then, addressing himself to the missionary: 'Cease, good manitou, let us live; you have life and death in your possession: leave death give us life !' The missionary calmed him, and promised to take even more care of the sick than he had hitherto done ; but notwithstanding all the care he could bestow, more than half in the village died.
"To return to our Ilinois: they are very different from these Indians, and also from what they formerly were themselves. Christianity, as I have already said, has softened their savage customs, and their manners are now marked by a sweetness and purity which have induced some of the French to take their daughters in marriage. We find in them, moreover, a docility and ardor for the practice of Christian virtues. The following is the order we observe each day in our mission: Early in the morning .we assemble the catechumens at the church, where they have prayers, they receive instructions, and chant some can-
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 29
Peôuarea. This produces a diversity in their language which in general has a great affinity to the Algonquin, so that we
tides. When they have retired, mass is said, at which all the Christians assist, the men placed on one side and the women on the other ; then they have prayers, which are followed by giving them a homily, after which each one goes to his labor. We then spend our time in visiting the sick, to give them the necessary remedies, to instruct them, and to console those who are laboring under any affliction.
"After noon the catechising is held, at which all are present, Christians and catechumens, men and children, young and old, and where each, without distinction of rank or age, answers the questions put by the missionary. As these people have no books, and are naturally indolent, they would shortly forget the principles of religion if the remembrance of them was not recalled by these almost continual instructions. Our visits to their wigwams occupy the rest of the day.
"In the evening, all assemble again at the church, to listen to the instructions which are given, to say prayers, and to sing some hymns. On Sundays and festivals we add to the ordinary exorcises, instructions which are given after the vespers. The zeal with which these good neophytes repair to the church at all such hours is admirable : they break off from their labors, and run from a great distance, to be there at the appointed time. They generally end the day by private meetings which they hold at their own residences, the men separately from the women, and there they recite the rosary in alternate choirs, and chant the hymns, until the night is far advanced. These hymns are their best instructions, which they retain the more easily, since the words are set to airs with which they are acquainted, and which please them.
" They often approach the sacraments, and the custom among them is to confess and to communicate once in a fortnight. We have been obliged to appoint particular days on which they shall confess, or they would not leave us leisure to discharge our other duties. These are the Fridays and Sundays of each week, when we hear them, and on these days we are overwhelmed with a crowd of penitents. The care which we take of the sick gains us their confidence, and it is particularly at such times that we reap the fruits of our labors. Their docility is then perfect, and we have generally the consolation of seeing them die in great peace, and with the firm hope of being shortly united to God in heaven.
"This mission owes its establishment to the late Father Gravier. Father Marquette was, in truth, the first who discovered the Missisipi, about thirty-nine years ago ; but, not being acquainted with the language of the country, he did not remain. Some time afterward he made a second journey, with the intention of fixing there his residence, and laboring for the conversion of these people ; but death, which arrested him on the way, left to another the care of accomplishing this enterprise. This was Father Allouez, who charged himself with it. He was acquainted with the language of the Oumiamis, which approaches very nearly to that of the Ilinois. He, however, made but a short sojourn, having the idea while there that he should be able to accomplish more in a different country, where indeed he ended his apostolic life.
30
NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
I'1 3
I , V
easily understood one another. They are mild and tractable in their disposition, as we experienced in the reception they
"Thus Father Gravier is the one who should properly be regarded as the founder of the mission to the Ilinois. He first investigated the principles of their language, and reduced them to grammatical rules, so that we have since only been obliged to bring to perfection what he began with so great success. This missionary had at first much to suffer from their medicine-men, and his life was exposed to continual dangers ; but nothing repulsed him, and he surmounted all these obstacles by his patience and mildness. Being obliged to depart to Michilimakinac, his mission was confided to Father Bineteau and Father Pinet. In. company with these two missionaries I labored for some time, and after their death remained in sole charge of all the toilsome duties of the mission, until the arrival of Father Mermet. My residence was formerly in the great village of the Peouarias, where Father Gravier, who had returned thither for the second time, received a wound which caused his death. * * *
"After having remained eight days at the mission of St. Joseph, I embarked with my brother in his canoe, to repair together to Michilimakinac. The voyage was very delightful to me, not only because I had the pleasure of being with a brother, who is very dear, but also because it afforded me an opportunity of profiting for a much longer time by his conversation and example.
"It is, as I have said, more than a hundred leagues from the mission of St. Joseph to Michilimakinac We go the whole length of Lake Michigan, which on the maps has the name, without any authority, of 'the lake of the Ilinois,' since the Ilinois do not at all dwell in its neighborhood. The stormy weather delayed us, so that our voyage took seventeen days, though it is often accomplished in less than eight.
"Michilimakinac is situated between two great lakes, into which other lakes and many rivers empty. Therefore it is that this village is the ordinary resort of the French, the Indians, and almost all those engaged in the fur-trade of the country. The soil there is far inferior to that among the Ilinois. During the greater part of the year one sees nothing but fish, and the waters which are so agreeable during the summer render a residence there dull and wearisome during the winter. The earth is entirely covered with snow from All-Saints' day even to the month of May.
"The character of these Indians partakes of that of the climate under which they live. It is harsh and indocile. Religion among them does not take deep root, as should be desired, and there are but few souls who from time to time give themselves truly to God, and console the missionary for all his pains. For myself, I could not but admire the patience with which my brother endured their failings, his sweetness under the trial of their caprices and their coarseness, his diligence in visiting them, in teaching them, in arousing them from their indolence for the exercises of religion, his zeal and his love, capable of inflaming their hearts, if they had been less hard and more tractable; and I said to myself that 'success is not always the recompense of the toils of apostolic men, nor the measure of their merit.'
" Having finished all our business during the two months that I remained with
DISCOVERIES IN" THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
31
gave Ti8. They have many wives, of whom they are extremely jealous ; they watch them carefully, and cut off their
my brother, it became necessary for us to separate. As it was God who ordered this separation, he knew how to soften all its bitterness. I departed to rejoin Father Chardon, with whom I remained fifteen days. lie is a missionary full of zeal, and who has a rare talent for acquiring languages. lie is acquainted with almost all those of the Indians who are on these lakes, and has even learned that of the Ilinois sufficiently to make himself understood, although he lias only seen some of those Indians accidentally, when they came to his village ; for the Pouteautamis and the Ilinois live in terms of friendship, and visit each other from time to time. Their manners, however, are very different : those are brutal and gross, while these, on the contrary, are mild and affable.
"After having taken leave of the missionary, we ascended the river St. Joseph to where it was necessary to make a portage, about thirty leagues from its mouth. The canoes which are used for navigation in this country are only of bark, and very light, although they carry as much as a large boat. When the canoe has carried us for a long time on the water, we in our turn carry it on the land, over to another river ; and it was thus that we did in this place. We first transported all there was in the canoe toward the source of the river of the Ilinois, which they call Haukiki ; then we carried thither our eanoe, and after having launched it, we embarked there to continue our route. We were but two days making this portage, which is one and a half leagues in length. The abundant rains which had fallen during this season had swelled our little rivers, and freed us from the currents which we feared. At last we perceived our own agreeable country, the wild buffaloes and herds of stags wandering on the borders of the river ; and those who were in the canoe took some of them from time to time, which served for our food.
"At the distance of some leagues from the village of the Peouarias, many of these Indians came to meet me, to form an escort to defend me from hostile parties of warriors who might be roaming through the forest; and when I approached the village, they sent forward one of their number to give notice of my arrival. The greater part ascended to the fort, which is situated on a rock on the banks of the river, and, when I entered the village, made a general discharge of their guns in sign of rejoicing. Their joy was, indeed, pictured plainly on their countenances, and shone forth in my presence. I was invited, with the French and the Ilinois chiefs, to a feast which was given to us by the most distinguished of the Peouarias. It was there that one of the principal chiefs addressed me in the name of the nation, testifying to me the deep grief they felt at the unworthy manner in which they had treated Father Gravier, and conjured me to forget it, to have pity on them and their children, and to open to them the gate of heaven, which they had closed against themselves.
"For myself, I returned thanks to God, from the bottom of my heart, that I thus saw that accomplished which I had desired with the utmost ardor. I answered them, in a few words, that I was touched with their repentance ; that I always regarded them as my children ; and that after having made a short excursion to my mission, I should come to fix my residence in the midst of them,
32
NABBATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
nose or ears when they do not behave well ; I saw several who bore the marks of their infidelity. They are well-formed, nimble, and very adroit in using the bow and arrow ; they use guns also, which they buy of our Indian allies who trade with the French ; they use them especially to terrify their enemies by the noise and smoke, the others lying too far to the west, have never seen them, and do not know their use. They are warlike and formidable to distant nations in the south and west, where they go to carry off slaves, whom they make an article of trade, selling them at a high price to other nations for goods.*
The distant nations against whom they go to war, have no knowledge of Europeans ; they are acquainted with neither
to aid them by my instructions to return into the way of salvation, from which they had perhaps wandered. At these words the chief uttered a loud cry of joy, and each one with emulation testified his gratitude. During two days that I remained in the village, I said mass in public, and discharged all the duties of a missionary.
"It was toward the end of August that I embarked to return to my mission of the Caseasquias, distant a hundred and fifty leagues from the village of the Peouarias. During the first day of our departure, we found a canoe of the Scioux, broken in some places, which had drifted away, and we saw an encampment of their warriors, where we judged by the view there were at least one hundred persons. We were justly alarmed, and on the point of returning to the village we had left, from which we were as yet but ten leagues' distance.
"These Scioux are the most cruel of all the Indians, and we should have been lost if we had fallen into their hands. They are great warriors, but it is principally upon the water that they are formidable. They have only small canoes of bark, made in the form of a gondola, and scarcely larger than the body of a man, for they can not hold more than two or three at the most. They row on. their knees, managing the oar now on one side and now on the other; that is, giving three or four strokes of the oar on the right side, and then as many on the left side, but with so much dexterity and swiftness, that their canoes seem to fly on the water. After having examined all things with attention, we concluded that these Indians had struck their intended blow, and were retiring: we, however, kept on our guard, and advanced with great caution, that we might not encounter them. But when we had once gained the Missisipi, we sped on by dint of rowing. At last, on the 10th of September, I arrived at my dear mission, in perfect health, after five months' absence." Kip's Jesuit Miss,
* It would appear from this remark, that a traffic in Indian slaves was carried on extensively at a very early period, by the aborigines of North America.
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
33
iron or copper, and have nothing but stone knives. When the Ilinois set out on a war party, the whole village is notified by a loud cry made at the door of their huts the morning and evening before they set out. The chiefs are distinguished from the soldiers by their wearing a scarf* ingeniously made of the hair of bears and wild oxen. The face is painted with red lead or ochre, which is found in great quantities a few days' journey from their village.f They live by game, which is abundant in this country, and on Indian corn, of which they always gather a good crop, so that they have never suffered by famine. They also sow beans and melons, which are excellent, especially those with a red seed. Their squashes are not of the best ; they dry them in the sun, to eat in the winter and spring.
Their cabins are very large ; they are lined and floored with rush-mats. They make all their dishes of wood, and. their spoons of the bones of the buffalo, which they cut so well, that it serves them to eat their sagamity easily.
They are liberal in their maladies, and believe that the medicines given them operate in proportion to the presents they have made the medicine-man. Their only clothes are
* The scarf or belt has always formed a part of the costume of chiefs. Among the tribes of the west it is generally made of long hair braided in figures with shells, beads, &a. Belts of deer and buffalo skins are also worn. These belts are worn over the left shoulder, and passed around the waist, ending in a long fringe. In addition to the scarf, they likewise adorn themselves with arm, knee, and wrist bands ; knee-rattles made of deer-hoofs, and arm themselves with the formidable bow and arrow, war-club, and scalping-knife. F.
f The custom of painting their bodies is characteristic of all savage tribes. The native Britons, Germans, and Scandinavians, formerly practised it. The savage tribes of Novth and South America continue the custom to the present day, with, a view of rendering themselves more attractive to their friends, or more terrible to their enemies. The substances usually employed are ochres, clays, native oxydes of iron, and other minerals, the production of their country. "\Jfhen they go to war, they paint themselves red ; when they mourn for their friends or relatives, with black ; at other times they cover their face and body «ritU a variety of fantastic colors, which they are very skilful in mixing. F.
3
K
IV"
34 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
skins ; their women are always dressed very modestly and decejgay, while the men do not take any pains to cover them-selvës/NThrough what superstition I know not, some Ilinois, as well as some Nadouessi, while yet young, assume the female dress, and keep it all their life. There is some mystery about it, for they never marry, and glory in debasing themselves to do all that is done by women :* yet they go to war, though allowed to use only a club, and not the bow and arrow, the peculiar arm of men ; they are present at all the juggleries and solemn dances in honor of the calumet; they are permitted to sing, but not to dance ; they attend the councils, and nothing can be decided without their advice ; finally, by the profession of an extraordinary life, they pass for manitous (that is, for genii), or persons of consequence. V It now only remains for me to speak of the calumet, than which there is nothing among them more mysterious or more esteemed. Men do not pay to the crowns and sceptres of kings the honor tkey pay to it : it seems to be the god of peace and war, the arbiter of life and death. Carry it about you and show it, and you can march fearlessly amid enemies, who eyen in tke heat of battle lay down their arms when it is shown. Hence the IliEois gave me one, to serve as my safeguard amid all the nations that Ï had to pass on my voyage. There is a calumet for peace, and one for war, distinguished only by the color of the feathers wi-tfe which they are adorned, red being the sign of war. They use them also for settling disputes, gtrengthening alliances, and speaking to strangers.f
* Others represent :this custom to have been to .satisfy that unnatural lust «which dishonored all paganism, from the vaunted Trajan to the lowest savage. See Henncpin's aeeount of this custom in his " Voyage en un pays plus grand qac l'Europe entre nier glaciale, et le Nouveau Mexique."
f The calnmet eî peace is adorned with the feathers of the white eagle; and the bearer of it may go everywhere without fear, because it is held eaered by all iribes. F.
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
35
f
It is made of a polished red stone, like marble, so pierced that one end serves to hold the tobacco, while the other is fastened on the stem, which is a stick two feet long, as thick as a common cane, and pierced in the middle ; it is ornamented with the head and neck of different birds of beautiful plumage ; they also add large feathers of red, green, and other colors, with which it is all covered. They esteem it particularly because they regard it as the calumet of the sun ; and, in fact, they present it to him to smoke when they wish to obtain calm, or rain, or fair weather. They scruple to bathe at the beginning of summer, or to eat new fruits, till they have danced it. They do it thus :
The calumet dance* which is very famous among these Indians, is performed only for important matters, sometimes to strengthen a peace or to assemble for some great war ; at other times for a public rejoicing; sometimes they do this honor to a nation who is invited to be present; sometimes they use it to receive some important personage, as if they wished to give him the entertainment of a ball or comedy. In winter the ceremony is performed in a cabin, in summer in the open fields. They select a place, surrounded with trees, so as to be sheltered beneath their foliage against the heat of the sun. In the middle of the space they spread out a large party-colored mat of rashes ; this serves as a carpet, on which to place with honor the god of the one who gives the dance ; for every one has his own god, or manitouf as
* Besides the calumet dance, these tribes nave a great variety of other dances, wholly of their own invention. Twenty-one of these are still in use among the southwestern Indians, to each of which there is a history attached ; and many of them, without doubt, have been handed down from generation to generation until their origin is even lost in tradition. F.
f Manitou is a word employed to signify the same thing by all Indiana from the gnlf of Mexico to the arctic regions. In the Indian language it signifies "spirit" They have good and bad manitous, great and small manitous; a manitou for every cave, water-fall, or other commanding object in nature, and gene-
36
NAKKATIVE OF FATHER MAKQTJETTE.
they call it, which is a snake, a bird, or something of the kind, which they have dreamed in their sleep, and in which they put all their trust for the success of their wars, fishing, and hunts. Near this manitou and at its right, they put the calumet in honor of which the feast is given, making around about it a kind of trophy, spreading there the arms used by the warriors of these tribes, namely, the war-chib, bow, hatchet, quiver, and arrows.
Things being thus arranged, and the hour for dancing having arrived, those who are to sing take the most honorable place under the foliage. They are the men and the women who have the finest voices, and who accord perfectly. The spectators then come and take their places around under the branches ; but each one on arriving must salute the manitou, which he does by inhaling the smoke and then puifing it from his mouth upon it, as if offering incense. Each one goes first and takes the calumet respectfully, and supporting it with both hands, makes it dance in cadence, suiting himself to the air of the song ; he makes it go through various figures, sometimes showing it to the whole assembly by turning it from side to side.
After this, he who is to begin the dance appears in the midst of the assembly, and goes first ; sometimes he presents it to the sun, as if he wished it to smoke ; sometime he in-
rally make offerings at such places. Their bad manitou answers to our devil. All Indians are more or less superstitious, and believe in miraculous transformations, ghosts, and ¦witchcraft. They have jugglers and prophets "who predict events, interpret dreams, and perform incantations and mummeries. In the true acceptation of the term, the Indians have a religion, for they believe in a great spirit who resides in the clouds, and reigns throughout the earth. The French missionaries have been the most successful in planting Christianity among them; but in general, they prefer "to follow the religion of their fathers." The savage mind, habituated to sloth, is not easily roused into a state of moral activity, and therefore, in general, they are incapable of embracing and understanding the sublime truths and doctrines of the evangelical law. F.
DISCOVEKIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
37
clines it to the earth ; and at other times he spreads its wings as if for it to fly ; at other times, he approaches it to the mouths of the spectators for them to smoke, the whole in cadence. This is the first scene of the ballet.
The second consists in a combat, to the sound of a kind of drum, which succeeds the songs, or rather joins them, harmonizing quite well. The dancer beckons to some brave to come and take the arms on the mat, and challenges him to fight to the sound of the drums ; the other approaches, takes his bow and arrow, and begins a duel against the dancer who has no defence but the calumet. This spectacle is very pleasing, especially as it is always done in time, for one attacks, the other defends ; one strikes, the other parries ; one flies, the other pursues ; then he who fled faces and puts his enemy to flight. This is all done so well with measured steps, and the regular sound of voices and drums, that it might pass for a very pretty opening of a ballet in France.
The third scene consists of a speech delivered by the holder of the calumet, for the combat being ended without bloodshed, he relates the battles he was in, the victories he has gained ; he names the nations, the places, the captives he has taken, and as a reward, he who presides at the dance presents him with a beautiful beaver robe, or something else, which he receives, and then he presents the calumet to another, who hands it to a third, and so to all the rest, till all having done their duty, the presiding chief presents the calumet itself to the nation invited to this ceremony in token of the eternal peace which shall reign between the two tribes.
The following is one of the songs which they are accustomed to sing ; they give it a certain expression, not easily represented by notes, yet in this all its grace consists :
"Ninahani, ninahani, ninahani, Naniongo."
38
KAKKATIVE OF FATHER HAKQUETTE.
.11
ill't.
We take leave of our Ilinois about the end of June, at three o'clock in the afternoon, and embark in sight of all the tribe, who admire our little canoes, having never seen the like.
We descend, following the course of the river, toward another called Pekitanoiii,* which empties into the Missisipi, coming from the northwest, of which I have something considerable to say, after I have related what I have remarked of this river.
Passing by some pretty high rocks which line the river, I perceived a plant which seemed to me very remarkable. Its root is like small turnips linked together by little fibres, which had the taste of carrots. From this root springs a leaf as wide as the hand, half of a finger thick with spots in the middle ; from this leaf spring other leaves like the sockets of chandeliers in our saloons. Each leaf bears five or six bell-shaped yellow flowers.f We found abundance of mulberries, as large as the French, and a small fruit which we took at first for olives, but it had the taste of an orange, and another as large as a hen's egg ; we broke it in half and found two separations, in each of which were encased eight or ten seed shaped like an almond, which are quite good when ripe.:): The tree which bears them has, however, a very bad smell, and its leaf resembles that of the walnut. There are also, in the prairies, fruit resembling our filberts, but more tender ; the leaves are larger, and spring from a stalk crowned at the top with a head like a sunflower, in which all these nuts are neatly arranged ; they are very good cooked or raw.|
* The name here given by Marquette, Pekitanoiii, that is, muddy water, prevailed til Marest's time, (1712). A branch of Rock river is still called Pekatoniea. The Recollects, called the Missouri, the river of the Ozages.
\ Probably the Cactus opuntia, several species of which grow in the western states. F.
\ Probably the Diospyros virginiana, or persimon-tree.
I Probably the Oastanea pumila, or chincapin. F.
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
39
As we coasted along rocks frightful for their height and length, we saw two monsters painted on one of these rocks, which startled us at first, and on which the boldest Indian dare not gaze long. They are as large as a calf, with horns on the head like a deer, a fearful look, red eyes, bearded like a tiger, the face somewhat like a man's, the body covered with' scales, and the tail so long that it twice makes the turn of the body, passing over the head and down between the legs, and ending at last in a fish's tail. Green, red, and a kind of black, are the colors employed. On the whole, these two monsters are 80 well painted, that we could not believe any Indian to have been the designer, as good painters in France would find it hard to do as well ; besides this, they are so high upon the rock that it is hard to get conveniently at them to paint them. This is pretty nearly the figure of these monsters, as I drew it off.*
As we were discoursing of them, sailing gently down a beautiful, still, clear water, we heard the noise of a rapid into which we were about to fall. I have seen nothing more frightful; a mass of large trees, entire, with branches, real floating islands, came rushing from the mouth of the river Pekitanoui, so impetuously, that we could not, without great danger, expose ourselves to pass across. The agitation was so great that the water was all muddy and could not get clear.
Pekitanoiiif is a considerable river which coming from
* The drawing of these figures by Marquette is lost "The painted monsters," says Stoddard, "on the side of a high perpendicular rock, apparently inaccessible to man, between the Missouri and Ilinois, and known to moderns by the name of Piesa, still remain in a good degree of preservation."
f Father Marquette had now reached the junction of the Missouri and the Mississippi, in latititude north 38° BO'. "The Achelous and Teliboas," says Stoddard, "are insignificant rivers when compared with the Mississippi and Missouri ; yet Thucydides and Xenophon exerted all their powers to render them immortal. The two great rivers of the west furnish themes still more pregnant with the sublime and beautiful. The great length of them, the variety of scenery as they roll among mountains, or over extensive plains, at once charm the senses
40
NARRATIVE OF FATHER MAEQTJETTE.
i;J
i ' 'I
very far in the northwest, empties into the Missisipi. Many Indian towns, are ranged along this river, and I hope, by its means, to make the discovery of the Red, or California sea.
"We judged by the direction the Missisipi takes, that if it keeps on the same course it has its mouth in the gulf of Mexico ; it would be very advantageous to find that wThich leads to the South sea, toward California and this, as I said, I hope to find by Pekitanoiii, following the account which the Indians have given me ; for from them I learn that advancing up this river for five or six days, you come to a beautiful prairie twenty or thirty leagues long, which you must cross to the northwest. It terminates at another little river on which you can embark, it not being difficult to transport canoes over so beautiful a country as that prairie. This second river runs southwest for ten or fifteen leagues, after which it enters a small lake, which is the source of another deep river, running to the west where it empties into the sea.* I have hardly any doubt that this is the Red sea, and I do not despair of one day making the discovery, if God does me this favor and grants me health, in order to be able to publish the gospel to all the nations of this new world who have so long been plunged in heathen darkness.
Let us resume our route after having escaped as best we could, the dangerous rapid caused by the obstacle of which I have spoken.
and warm the imagination. The facilities they yield to commerce, the superfluous "wealth of twenty states conveyed to the ocean, the variety of climates, soils, and productions on their borders, the mineral and other subterranean riches of the soil, seem to be designed by Heaven to impress us -with their importance and sublimity."
* Marquette "was right in his conjecture, as topographical surveys have since determined, that the gulf of California might be reached by the Platte which is one of the tributaries of the Missouri. The head waters of the Platte almost interlock with the head waters of the Colorado, which latter river flows into the Red sea, or gulf of California, as here stated by Marquette. F.
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
SECTION VII.
NEW COUNTRIES DISCOVERED BY THE FATHER. VARIOUS PARTICULARS-MEETING WITH SOME INDIANS. FIRST TIDINGS OF THE SEA AND OF EUROPEANS. GREAT DANGER AVOIDED BY THE CALUMET.
After having made about twenty leagues due south, and a little less to the southeast, wè came to a river called Ona-boukigou,* the mouth of which is at 36° north. Before we arrived there, we passed by a place dreaded by the Indians, because they think that there is a manitou there, that is, a demon who devours all who pass, and of this it was, that they had spoken, when they wished to deter us from our enterprise. The devil is this a small bay, full of rocks, some twenty feet high, where the whole current of the river is whirled ; hurled back against that which follows, and checked by a neighboring island, the mass of water is forced through a narrow channel ; all this is not done without a furious combat of the waters tumbling over each other, nor without a great roaring, which strikes terror into Indians who fear everything. It did not prevent our passing and reaching Sab8kig8. This river comes from the country on the east, inhabited by the people called Chaouanons,f in such numbers
* The Ohio, or beautiful river, as that Iroquois name signifies. The name given by Marquette, became finally Ouabache, in our spelling Wabash, and is now applied to the last tributary of the Ohio. The letter used a few lines lower ¦ iown for ou, is the Greek contraction, and was used by the missionaries to express a peculiar Indian sound, which we have often represented by W.
¦ The Chawanons have become by our substitution of sh, Shawnees. I find the name Chaoiianong in the Relation 1671-Y2, as another name for the people called Ontouagannha, which is defined in the Relation of 1661-'62, to mean " where they do not know how to speak." This is not then their name, and the name Chaoiianong probably came through the western Algonquins, and was usually translated by the French the Chats, or Cat tribe. I am strongly inclined to think them identical with the tribe called, by the Huron missionaries, while that nation stood, the ErieehononB, or Cats (Sel. 1640-'41). This tribe
42 NAEBATIVE OF FATHEK HAKQUETTE.
that they reckon as many as twenty-three villages in one district, and fifteen in another, lying quite near each other ; they are by no means warlike, and are the people the Iroquois go far to seek in order to wage an unprovoked war upon them ; and, as these poor people can not defend themselves, they allow themselves to be taken and carried off like sheep, and innocent as they are, do not fail to experience, at times, the barbarity of the Iroquois, who burn them cruelly.
A little above this river of which I have just spoken, are cliffs where our men perceived an iron mine, which they deemed very rich ; there are many veins, and a bed a foot thick. Large masses are found combined with pebbles. There is also there a kind of unctuous earth of three colors, purple, violet, and red,* the water in which it is washed becomes blood-red. There is also a very heavy, red sand ; I put some on a paddle, and it took the color so well, that the
then occupied western New York, except a little strip on the Niagara river, where there were three or four villages of Attiwandaronk, or Neuters. Morgan in his League of the Iroquois, indeed, thinks the Neuters to be Cats; but as the Neuters were incorporated into the Iroquois (Rel. 1655, Ac), under the name of Atirhagenret, or Rhagenraka {Rels. 1671, '73, '74), while the Eries were gradually expelled; it seems more probable that they retired from their lake to the Ohio, thence to the Tennessee, and turning south, came up again to Pennsylvania. During this period, being known chiefly through Algonquins tribes, they were called by an Algonquin word for the animal of which they bore the name. De Laet giving the names of the tribes from the mouth of the Delaware to Lake Erie, puts the Sawanos one of those nearest the Senecas and the lake; and this name differs from the later French name only in the aspirate, frequently omitted and expressed at random by the same writer, as we find Missilimakinac, and Michili-inackinac, Maskoutens and Machkoutens, Kaskaskia and Kachkachkia. This will 1 think, justify our supposing the Eries, Shawnees, Chaouanons, Ontouagannha, Sawanas, to be the same unfortunate tribe whom the Iroquois so perseveringly followed. Much confusion has been of late years occasioned by writers utterly unfamiliar with the language, religion, or writings of the early French missionaries. This has gone so far, that in Sehoolcraft'3 ponderous work on the History, Condition, and Progress of the Indian Tribes, we are asked, at p. 560, whether the Eries were the Neuters!
* This has always been a favorite spot for the resort of Indians to obtain different colored clays with which they paint themselves. F.
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
43
water did not efface it for fifteen days that I used it in rowing.
Here we began to see canes, or large reeds on the banks of the river ; they are of a very beautiful green ; all the knots are crowned with long, narrow, pointed leaves ; they are very high, and so thick-set, that the wild cattle find it difficult to make their way through them.
Up to the present time we had not been troubled by mus-quitoes, but we now, as it were, entered their country.* Let me tell you what the Indians of these parts do to defend themselves against them. They raise a scaffolding, the floor of which is made of simple poles, and consequently a mere grate-work to give passage to the smoke of a fire which they build beneath. This drives off the little animals, as they can not bear it. The Indians sleep on the poles, having pieces of bark stretched above them to keep off the rain. This scaffolding shelters them too from the excessive and insupportable heat of the country ; for they lie in the shade in the lower story, and are thus sheltered from the rays of the sun, enjoy the cool air which passes freely through the scaffold.
With the same view we were obliged to make on the water a kind of cabin with our sails, to shelter ourselves from the musquitoes and the sun. "While thus borne on at the will of the current, we perceived on the shore Indians armed with guns, with which they awaited us. I first presented my feathered calumet, while my comrades stood to arms, ready to fire on the first volley of the Indians. I hailed them in Huron, but they answered me by a word, which seemed to us a declaration of war. They were, however, as much frightened as our-
* Marquette had now reached the country of the warlike Chieachas, whose territory extended several hundred miles along the banks of the Mississippi, and far to the eastward, where they carried on a traffic with tribes who traded with Europeans. F.
44 NAEEATIVE OF FATIIEE MAEQXJETTE.
selves, and what we took for a signal of war, was an invitation to come near, that they might give us food ; we accordingly landed and entered their cabins, where they presented us wild-beef and bear's oil, with white plums, which are excellent. They have guns, axes, hoes, knives, beads, and double glass bottles in which they keep the powder. They wear their hair long and mark their bodies in the Iroquois fashion ; the head-dress and clothing of their women were like those of the Huron squaws.
They assured us that it was not more than ten days' journey to the sea ; that they bought stuffs and other articles of Europeans on the eastern side ; that these Europeans had rosaries and pictures ; that they played on instruments ; that some were like me, who received them well. I did not, however, see any one who seemed to have received any instruction in the faith; such as I could, I gave them with some medals.*
This news roused our courage and made us take tip our paddles with renewed ardor. We advance then, and now begin to see less prairie land, because both sides or the river are lined with lofty woods. The cotton-wood, elm and white-wood, are of admirable height and size. The numbers of wild cattle we heard bellowing, made us believe the prairies near. We also saw quails on the water's edge, and killed a little parrot with half the head red, the rest, with the neck, yellow, and the body green. We had now descended to near 33° north, having almost always gone south, when on the water's
* The missionary gives no name to this tribe or party, but from their dress and language, apparently of the Huron-Iroquois family, they may have been a Tusearora party, and referred to the Spaniards of Florida with whom they traded in trinkets for skins. That they were not dwellers on the Mississippi seems probable, from the faet that they were spoken of, not by the next tribe, but by those lower down, whom they had doubtless reached on some other foray.
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 45
edge we perceived a village called Mitchigamea.* "We had recourse to our patroness and guide, the Blessed Virgin Immaculate; and, indeed, we needed her aid, for we heard from afar the Indians exciting one another to the combat by continual yells. They were armed with bows, arrows, axes, war-clubs, and bucklers, and prepared to attack us by land and water ; some embarked in large wood en canoes, a part to ascend the- rest to descend the river, so as to cut off our way, and surround us completely. Those on shore kept going and coming, as if about to begin the attack. In fact, some young men sprang into the water to come and seize my canoe, but the current having compelled them to return to the shore, one of them threw his war-club at us, but it passed over our heads without doing us any harm. In vain I showed the calumet, and made gestures to explain that we had not come as enemies. The alarm continued, and they were about to pierce us from all sides with their arrows, when God suddenly touched the hearts of the old men on the water-side, doubtless at the sight of our calumet, which at a distance they had not distinctly recognised ; but as I showed it continually, they were touched, restrained the ardor of their youth, and two of the chiefs having thrown their bows and quivers into our canoe, and as it were at our feet, entered and brought us to the shore, where we disembarked, not without fear on our part. We had at first to speak by signs, for not one under-
* The Mitchigameas were a warlike tribe, and lived on a lake of that name near the river St. Francis. They finally became fused into the Ilinois nation, as Charlevoix assures us in his journal, where he makes them inhabitants of the villages of the Kaskaskias, in 1721. This brings them near the part which had but shortly before taken the name of Michigan, given also to the lake which the Jesuits called Lake Ilinois. The name Michigan may come from them, though I am informed by the Rev. Mr. Pierz, an Ottawa missionary, that Mitchikan, meaning a fence, was the Indian of Mackinaw, and the name under the form Machiliiganing was used some years prior by Allouez. Itel. 69, "70.
>, r>
46 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
Btood a word of the six languages I knew ; at last an old man was found who spoke a little Ilinois.
"We showed them by our presents, that we were going to the sea ; they perfectly understood our meaning, but I know not whether they understood what I told them of God, and the things which concerned their salvation. It is a seed cast in the earth which will bear its fruit in season. "We got no answer, except that we would learn all we desired at another great village called Akamsea, only eight or ten leagues farther down the river. They presented us with sagamity and fish, and we spent the night among them, not, however, without some uneasiness.
SECTION VIII.
RECEPTION GIVEN TO THE FRENCH IN THE LAST OF THE TOWNS WHICH
THEY SAW. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THESE SAVAGES. REASONS FOR NOT GOING FURTHER.
"We embarked next morning with our interpreter, preceded by ten Indians in a canoe. Having arrived about half a league from Akamsea* (Arkansas), we saw two canoes coming
* It is probable that Akamsea was not far from the Indian village of Guacho-ya, where De Soto breathed his last» one hundred and thirty years before ; and Mitchigamea, the village of Aminoya, where Alvarado de Moseoso built his fleet of brigantines to return to Mexico. The historian of that expedition, says " The same day we left Aminoya (July 2d, 1543), we passed by Guaehoya, where the Indians tarried for us in their canoes." The Spaniards were attacked in descending the river by powerful fleets of Indian canoes, and lost in one of these engagements the brave John de Guzman and eleven men. In sixteen days they reached the mouth of the Mississippi, and on the 10th September, 1543, the remnant of this once splendid expedition reached Mexico. It must have been, therefore, at or near the mouth of the Arkansas, and not Red river, where De Soto died, otherwise it would not have taken Moseoso one half of the time to reach the gulf of Mexico from the latter river, which is but three hundred and fifty miles from the gulf. F.
DISCOVEEIES
THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
toward us. The commander was standing np holding in his hand the calumet, with which he made signs according to the custom of the country; he approached us, singing quite agreeably, and invited us to smoke, after which he presented us some sagamity and bread made of Indian corn, of which we ate a little. He now took the lead, making us signs to follow slowly. Meanwhile they had prepared us a place under the war-chiefs' scaffold ; it was neat and carpeted with fine rush mats, on which they made us sit down, having around us immediately the sachems, then the braves, and last of all, the people in crowds. We fortunately found among them a young man who understood Ilinois much better than the interpreter whom we had brought from Mitchigamea. By means of him I first spoke to the assembly by the ordinary presents ; they admired what I told them of God, and the mysteries of our holy faith, and showed a great desire to keep me with them to instruct them.
"We then asked them what they knew of the sea ; they replied that we were only ten days' journey from it (we could have made this distance in five days) ; that they did not know the nations who inhabited it, because their enemies prevented their commerce with those Europeans; that the hatchets, knives, and beads, which we saw, were sold them, partly by the nations to the east, and partly by an Ilinois town four days' journey to the west ; that the Indians with fire-arms whom we had met, were their enemies who cut oif their passage to the sea, and prevented their making the acquaintance of the Europeans, or having any commerce with them ; that, besides, we should expose ourselves greatly by passing on, in consequence of the continual war-parties that their enemies 6ent out on the river ; since being armed and used to war, we
48
NARRATIVE OF FATIIKB MAKQUETTE.
could not, without evident danger, advance on that river which they constantly occupy.
During this converse, they kept continually bringing us in wooden dishes of sagamity, Indian corn whole, or pieces of dog-flesh ; the whole day was spent in feasting.
These Indians are very courteous and liberal of what they have, but they are very poorly off for food, not daring to go and hunt the wild-cattle, for fear of their enemies. It is true, they have Indian corn in abundance, which they sow at all seasons; we saw some ripe; more just sprouting, and more just in the ear, so that they sow three crops a year. They cook it in large earthem pots,* which are very well made ; they have also plates of baked earth, which they employ for various purposes. The men go naked, and wear their hair short; they have the nose and ears pierced, and beads hanging from them. The women are dressed in wretched skins ; they braid their hair in two plaits, which falls behind their ears ; they have no ornaments to decorate their persons. Their banquets are without any ceremonies ; they serve their meats in large dishes, and everyone eats as much as he pleases, and they give the rest to' one another. Their language is extremely difficult, and with all my efforts, I could not succeed in pronouncing some words. Their cabins, which are long and wide, are made of bark ; they sleep at the two extremities, which are raised about two feet from the ground. They keep their corn in large baskets, made of cane, or in gourds, as large as half barrels. They do not know what a beaver is ; their riches consisting in the hides of wild cattle. They never see snow, and know the winter
* Indian pottery is one of the most ancient arts of this country. The southern tribes particularly excelled in the manufacture of various articles for household use, ¦which, in form and finish, were not unlike the best remains of Roman art. F.
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
only by the rain which falls oftener than in summer.* "We eat no fruit there but watermelons ; if they knew how to cultivate their ground, they might have plenty of all kinds.
In the evening the sachems held a secret council on the design of some to kill us for plunder, but the chief broke up all these schemes, and sending for us, danced the calumet in our presence, in the manner I have described above, as a mark of perfect assurance ; and then, to remove all fears, presented it to me.
M. Jollyet and I held another council to deliberate on what we should do, whether we should push on, or rest satisfied with the discovery that we had made. After having attentively considered that we were not far from the gulf of Mexico, the basin of which is 31° 40' north, and we at 33° 40', so that we could not be more than two or three days journey off; that the Missisipi undoubtedly had its mouth in Florida or the gulf of Mexico, and not on the east, in Virginia, whose seacoast is at 34° north, which we had passed, without having as yet reached the sea, nor on the western side in California, because that would require a west, or west-southwest course^ and we had always been going south. "We considered, moreover, that we risked losing the fruit of this voyage, of which we could give no information, if we should throw ourselves into the hands of the Spaniards, who would undoubtedly, at least, hold us as prisoners. Besides, it was
* Marquette had now descended to genial climes, "that knew no winter, but rains, beyond the bound of the Huron and Algonquin tribes," to tribes that claimed descent from the Aztecs, and who still probably spoke a Mexican dialect which compelled Marquette to employ an interpreter. The few words which have been recorded of the Arkansas tribes by early travellers, and the similarity of their institutions and customs to Mexican tribes, seem likewise to confirm their origin. That they came from Mexico by the Eio Colorado and headwaters of the Platte or Arkansas rivers to the Mississippi, is not at all improbable ; but when they came is a problem which can not be so easily solved. F.
é
M
50
NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
clear, that we were not in a condition to resist Indians allied to Europeans, numerous and expert in the use of fire-arms, who continually infested the lower part of the river. Lastly, we had gathered all the information that could be desired from the expedition.* All these reasons induced us to resolve to return ; this we announced to the Indians, and after a day's rest, prepared for it.
1 ' M
SECTION IX.
BETJJRN OF THE FATHER, AND THE FRENCH BAPTISM OF A DYING CHILD.
After a month's navigation down the Missisipi, from the 42d to below the 34th degree, and after having published the gospel as well as I could to the nations I had met, we left the village of Akamsea on the 17th of July, to retrace our steps. We accordingly ascended the Missisipi, which gave us great trouble to stem its currents.^ We left it indeed, about the 38th degree, to enter another river, which greatly shortened
* The great object was to discover where the river emptied, and this did not require further progress. Marquette's voyage indeed settled it so completely, that we find no more hopes expressed of reaching the Pacific by the Mississippi. The missionary's fears of the Spaniards were not unnatural, as New Mexico was the avowed object of the expedition, and the authorities there would certainly have prevented their return, for fear of opening a path to French encroachment.
f The Mississippi is remarkable for its great length, uncommon depth, and the muddiness and salubrity of its waters after its junction with the Missouri. Below this river the banks present a rugged aspect ; the channel is deep and crooked, and often winds from one side of the river to the other. The strength and rapidity of its current are such in high water, that before steam was used, it could not be stemmed without much labor and waste of time. At high water the current descends at the rate of five or six miles an hour, and in low water at the rate of two or three miles only. Between the Arkansas and the Delta the velocity of the current is diminished nearly one third ; and from this to the sea, about one half. In 1*727, it took Father du Poisson, missionary to the Arkansas, to make a voyage from New Orleans to that mission, including some stoppages, from the 25th May to the 7th July. F.
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
51
our way, and brought us, with little trouble, to the lake of the Ilinois.*
We had seen nothing like this river for the fertility of the land, its prairies, woods, wild cattle, stag, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parrots, and even beaver; its many little lakes and rivers. That on which we sailed, is broad, deep, and gentle for sixty-five leagues. During the spring and part of the summer, the only portage is half a league.
We found there an Ilinois town called Kaskaskia, composed of seventy-four cabins ; they received us well, and compelled me to promise to return and instruct them. One of the chiefs of this tribe with his young men, escorted us to the Ilinois lake, whence at last we returned in the close of September to the bay of the Fetid, whence.we had set out in the beginning of June.
Had all* this voyage caused but the salvation of a single soul, I should deem all my fatigue well repaid, and this I have reason to think, for, when I was returning, I passed by the Indians of Peoria. f I was three days announcing the faith in all their cabins, after which as we were embarking, they brought me on the water's edge a dying child, which I
* Lake Michigan was so called for a long time, probably from the fact that through it lay the direct route to the Ilinois villages, which Father Marquette was now the first to visit. llarest erroneously treats the name as a mistake of geographers, and is one of the first to call it Michigan. The river which Marquette now ascended has been more fortunate, it still bears the name of Ilinois.
f Unfortunately he does not tells us where he met these roving Peorians, who thus enabled him to keep his promise to resist them. As they have left their name on the Ilinois river, he may have found them there, below the Kaskaskias who, no less erratic, left their name to a more southerly river, and to a town at its mouth, on the Mississippi. It must then be borne in mind that Marquette's Peoria, and his and Alloues' town of Kaskaskia are quite different from the present places of the name in situation. The Ilinois seemed to have formed a link between the wandering Algonquin and the fixed Iroquois ; they had villages like the latter, and though they roved like the former, they roved in villages.
52 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
baptized a little before it expired, by an admirable Providence for the salvation, of that innocent soul.f
f The following table of distances offer the best means of forming some idea of the whole distance passed over by M. Jollyet and Father Marquette :
Miles.
From the mission of St. Ignae to Green bay about............. 218
From Green bay (Puans) up Fox river to the portage.......... 176
From the portage down the Wisconsin to the Mississippi........ 175
From the mouth of the Wisconsin to the mouth of the Arkansas.. 1,087
From the mouth of the Arkansas to the Ilinois river........... 547
From the mouth of the Ilinois to the Chicago................. 305
From the Chicago to Green bay, by the lake shore............ 260
2767 Spark's Life of Marquette.
CHAPTER II.
NARRATIVE OF THE SECOND VOYAGE MADE BY FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE TO THE ILINOIS TO CAREY THE FAITH TO THEM, AND THE GLORIOUS DEATH OF THE SAME FATHER IN THE LABORS OF HIS MISSION.
SECTION I.
THE FATHER SETS OUT A SECOND TIME FOR THE ILINOIS. HE ARRIVES THERE IN SPITE OF HIS ILLNESS AND FOUNDS THE MISSION OF THE CONCEPTION.
I lATHEB, James Makqtjette having promised the Ilinois, | called Kaskaskia, to return among them to teach them our mysteries, had great difficulty in keeping his word. The great hardships of his first voyage had brought on a dysentery, and had so enfeebled him, that he lost all hope of undertaking a second voyage. Yet, his malady having given way and almost ceased toward the close of summer in the following year, he obtained permission of his superiors to return to the Ilinois to found that noble mission.*
* By his last journal, which we publish entire from his autograph, we learn that Father Marquette was detained at the mission of St. Francis Xavier, in Green bay, during the whole summer of 1674. Recovering in September, he drew up and sent to his superiors, copies of his journal down the Mississippi, and having received orders to repair to the Ilinois, set out, on the 2Sth of October, with two
men named Pierre Porteret and Jacques------------. They crossed the peninsula
which forms the eastern side of Green bay, and began to coast along the shore of Lake Michigan, accompanied by some Ilinois and Poltawatomies. They advanced but slowly by land and water, frequently arrested by the state of the lake. On the 23d of November, the good missionary was again seized by his malady, but he pushed on, and by the 4th of December, had reached the Chicago, which connects by portage with the Ilinois. But the river was novr
I
\. I
54 NAEEATIVE OP FATIIEK MARQUETTE.
He set out for this purpose in the month of November, 1674, from the Bay of the Fetid, with two men, one of whom had already made that voyage with him. During a month's navigation on the Ilinois lake, he was pretty well ; but as soon as the snow began to fall, he was again seized with the dj'sentery which forced him to stop in the river which leads to the Ilinois. There they raised a cabin and spent the winter in such want of every comfort that his illness constantly increased ; he felt that God had granted him the grace he had so often asked, and he even plainly told his companions so, assuring them that he would die of that illness, and on that voyage. To prepare his soul for its departure, he began that rude wintering by the exercises of St. Ignatius,* which, in spite of his great bodily weakness, he
frozen, and though they attempted to proceed, the pious missionary submitted to the necessity, and deprived even of the consolation of saying mass on his patronal feast, the Immaculate Conception, resolved at last, on the 14th, to winter at the portage, as his illness increased. His Indian companions now left him, and though aided by some French traders, he suffered much during the following months. Of this, however, he says nothing. "The Blessed Virgin Im-maeulate," says his journal, " has taken such care of us during our wandering, that we have never wanted food ; we have lived very comfortably; my illness not having prevented my saying mass every day." How little can we realize the faith and self-denial which could give so pleasant a face to a winter passed by a dying man in a cabin open to the winds. The Ilinois aware of his presence so near them, sent indeed ; but so gross were their ideas of his object, that they asked the dying missionary for powder and goods. " I have come to instruct you, and speak to you of the prayer," was his answer. " Powder, I have not ; we come to spread peace through the land, and I do not wish to see you at war with the Miamis." As for goods, he could but encourage the French to continue their trade. Despairing at last of human remedies, the missionary and his two pious companions began a novena, or nine days' devotion to the Blessed Virgin Immaculate. From its close he began to gain strength, and when the freshet compelled them to remove their cabin, on the 29th of March he set out again on his long interrupted voyage, the river being now open ; his last entry is of the 6th of April, when the wind and cold compelled them to halt. He never found time to continue his journal ; and his last words are a playful allusion to the hardships undergone by the traders, in which he sympathized, while insensible of his own.
* These are a series of meditation on the great truths of religion the object
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
55
performed with deep sentiments of devotion, and great heavenly consolation; and then spent the rest of his time in colloquies with all heaven, having no more intercourse with earth, amid these deserts, except with his two companions whom he confessed and communicated twice a week, and exhorted as much as his strength allowed. Some time after Christmas, in order to obtain the grace not to die without having taken possession of his beloved mission, he invited his companions to make a novena in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Contrary to all human expectation he was heard and recovering found himself able to proceed to the Ilinois town as soon as navigation was free ; this he accomplished in great joy, setting out on the 29th of March. He was eleven days on the way, where he had ample matter for suffering, both from his still sickly state, and from the severity and inclemency of the weather.
Having at last reached the town on the 8th of April, he was received there as an angel from heaven ; and after having several times assembled the chiefs of the nation with all the old men (anciens),* to sow in their minds the first seed of the gospel ; after carrying his instructions into the cabins, which were always filled with crowds of people, he resolved to speak to all publicly in general assembly, which he convoked in the open fields, the cabins being too small for the meeting. A beautiful prairie near the town -was chosen for the great council ; it was adorned in the fashion of the country, being spread with mats and bearskins, and the father having hung on cords some pieces of India taffety, attached to them four large pictures
of man's creation, the work of his redemption, and the means of attaining the former by participating in the latter. To spend a number ofjjdays in revolving these serious thoughts is called making a retreat.
* I have my doubts whether anciens, in these French accounts, does not mean sachems, the rulers of the tribe.
56
NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
of the Blessed Yirgin, which were thus visible on all sides. The auditory was composed of five hundred chiefs and old men, seated in a circle around the father, while the youth stood without to the number of fifteen hundred, not counting women and children, who are very numerous, the town being composed of five or six hundred fires.
The father spoke to all- this gathering, and addressed them ten words by ten presents which he made them ;* he explained to them the principal mysteries of our religion, and. the end for which he had come to their country ; and especially he preached to them Christ crucified, for it was the very eve of the great day on which he died on the cross for them, as well as for the rest of men. He then said mass.
Three days after, on Easter Sunday, things being arranged in the same manner as on Thursday, he celebrated the holy mysteries for the second time, and by these two sacrifices, the first ever offered there to God, he took possession of that land in the name of Jesus Christ, and gave this mission the name of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin.
He was listened to with universal joy and approbation by all this people, who earnestly besought him to return as soon as possible among them, since his malady obliged him to leave them. The father, on his part, showed them the affection he bore them, his satisfaction at their conduct, and gave his word that he or some other of our fathers would return to continue this mission so happily begun. This promise he repeated again and again, on parting with them to begin his
* Words addressed to Indians, when not accompanied by a wampum belt, ¦were considered .^Emportant ; and the missionary who first announced the gospel in a village,fiilways spoke by the belt of the prayer, which he held in his hand, and which remained to witness his words when the sound had died away.
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
5T
journey. He set out amid such marks of friendship from these good people, that they escorted him with pomp more than thirty leagues of the way, contending with one another for the honor of carrying his little baggage.
SECTION II.
THE FATHER IS COMPELLED TO LEAVE HIS ILINOIS MISSION. HIS LAST ILLNESS. HIS PRECIOUS DEATH AMID THE FORESTS.
Aftek the Ilinois had taken leave of the father, filled with a great idea of the gospel, he continued his voyage, and soon after reached the Ilinois lake, on which he had nearly a hundred leagues to make by an unknown route, because he was obliged to take the southern eastern side of the lake, having gone thither by the northern western . His strength, however, failed so much, that his men despaired of being able to carry him alive to their journey's end ; for, in fact, he became so weak and exhausted, that he could no longer help himself, nor even stir, and had to be handled and carried like a child.
He nevertheless maintained in this state an admirable equanimity, joy, and gentleness, consoling his beloved companions, and encouraging them to suffer courageously all the hardships of the way, assuring them that our Lord would not forsake them when he was gone. During this navigation he began to prepare more particularly for death, passing his time in colloquies with our Lord, with His holy mother, with his angel-guardian, or with all heaven. He was often heard pronouncing these words : " I believe that my Redfigmer liveth," or, " Mary, mother of grace, mother of God, reinènaber nie." Besides a spiritual reading made for him every day, he tOw-
58
NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
ard the close asked them to read him his meditation on the preparation for death, which he carried about him : he recited his breviary every day ; and although he was so low, that both sight and strength had greatly failed, he did not omit it till the last day of his life, when his companions induced him to cease, as it was shortening his days.
A week before his death, he had the precaution to bless some holy water, to serve him during the rest of his illness, in his agony, and at his burial, and he instructed his companions how to use it.
The eve of his death, which was a Friday, he told them, all radiant with joy, that it would take place on the morrow. During the whole day he conversed with them about the manner of his burial, the way in which he should be laid out, the place to be selected for his interment; he told them how to arrange his hands, feet, and face, and directed them to raise a cross over his grave. He even went so far as to enjoin them, only three hours before he expired, to take his chapel-bell, as soon as he was dead, and ring it while they carried him to the grave. Of all this he spoke so calmly and collectedly, that you would have thought that he spoke of the death and burial of another, and not of his own.
Thus did he speak with them as they sailed along the lake, till, perceiving the mouth of a river, with an eminence on the bank which he thought suited for his burial, he told them that it was the place of his last repose. They wished, however, to pass on, as the weather permitted it, and the day was not far advanced ; but God raised a contrary wind, which obliged them to return and enter the river pointed out by Father Marquette.*
* A marginal note says, "This river now bears the father's name." It was indeed long called Marquette river, but from recent maps the name seems to
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLET.
59
They then carried him ashore, kindled a little fire, and raised for him a wretched bark cabin, where they laid him as little uncomfortably as they could ; but they were so overcome by sadness, that, as they afterward said, they did not know what they were doing.
The father being thus stretched on the shore, like St. Francis Xavier, as he had always so ardently desired, and left alone amid those forests for his companions were engaged in unloading he had leisure to repeat all the acts in which he had employed himself during the preceding days.
When his dear companions afterward came up, all dejected, he consoled them, and gave them hopes that God would take cai'e of them after his death in those new and unknown countries ; he gave them his last instructions, thanked them for all the charity they had shown him during the voyage, begged their pardon for the trouble he had given them, and directed them also to ask pardon in his name of all our fathers and brothers in the Ottawa country, and then disposed them to receive the sacrament of penance, which he administered to them for the last time ; he also gave them a paper on which he had written all his faults since his last confession, to be given to his superior, to oblige him to pray more earnestly for him. In fine, he promised not to forget them in heaven, and as he was very kind-hearted, and knew them to be worn out with the toil of the preceding days, he bade them go and take a little rest, assuring them that his hour was not yet so near, but that he would wake them when it was time, as in fact he did, two or three hours after, calling them when about to enter his agony.
have been forgotten. Its Indian name is Notispescago, and according to others, Aniniondibeganining. It is a very small stream, not more than fifteen paces long, being the outlet of a small lake, as Charlevoix assures us.
I 11
i
1
i
A
'i'
¦ i
" -! i
)
60
NAEEATIVE OF FATHEE MAEQUETTE.
"When they came near he embraced them for the last time, while they melted in tears at his feet ; he then asked for the holy water and his reliquary, and taking off his crucifix which he wore around his neck, he placed it in the hands of one, asking him to hold it constantly opposite him, raised before his eyes ; then feeling that he had but a little time to live, he made a last effort, clasped his hands, and with his eyes fixed sweetly on his crucifix, he pronounced aloud his profession of faith, and thanked the Divine Majesty for the immense grace he did him in allowing him to die in the society of Jesus ; to die in it as a missionary of Jesus Christ, and above all to die in it, as he had always asked, in a wretched cabin, amid the forests, destitute of all human aid.
On this he became silent, conversing inwardly with God ; yet from time to time words escaped him : " Sustinuit anima mea in verba ejus," or " Mater Dei, memento mei," which were the last words he uttered before entering on his agony, which was very calm and gentle.
He had prayed his companions to remind him, when they saw him about to expire, to pronounce frequently the names of Jesus and Mary. When he could not do it himself, they did it for him ; and when they thought him about to pass, one cried aloud Jesus Maria, which he several times repeated distinctly, and then, as if at those sacred names something had appeared to him, he suddenly raised his eyes above his crucifix, fixing them apparently on some object which he seemed to regard with pleasure, and thus with a countenance all radiant with smiles, he expired without a struggle, as gently as if he had sunk into a quiet sleep.
His two poor companions, after shedding many tears over his body, and having laid it out as he had directed, carried it devoutly to the grave, ringing the bell according to his
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
61
injunction, and raised a large cross near it to serve as a mark for passers-by.
"When they talked of embarking, one of them, who for several days had been overwhelmed with sadness, and so racked in body by acute pains that he could neither eat nor breathe without pain, resolved, while his companion was preparing all for embarkation, to go to the grave of his good father, and pray him to intercede for him with the glorious Virgin, as he had promised, not doubting but that he was already in heaven. He accordingly knelt down, said a short prayer, and having respectfully taken some earth from the grave, he put it on his breast, and the pain immediately ceased ; his sadness was changed into a joy, which continued, during the rest of his voyage.
SECTION III.
WHAT OCCURRED IN THE TRANSPORT OF THE BONES OF THE LATE FATHER MARQUETTE, WHICH WERE TAKEN UP ON THE 19TH OF MAY, 1677, THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH TWO YEARS BEFORE. SKETCH OF HIS VWTUES.
God did not choose to suffer so precious a deposite to remain unhonored and forgotten amid the woods. The Eskakon Indians,* who, for the last ten years, publicly professed Christi-
* Of the Kiskakons little more is known than is here stated. They are, I think, first mentioned in a letter of F Allouez, in the Relation 1666-67. The name Kiskakon given in this narrative, and the Relation of 1673 "79 is, I suppose, the longer name Kichkakoueiac of the Relation of 1672-7S, which places them at that time near Sault St. Mary's, the Hurons being then alone at Mack-inac. The last Relation (1673-79) states their number then at 1,300, all Christians; they subsequently appear in collision with the Iroquois, but are soon lost sight of; if they have disappeared from the nations, it was not in their infidelity; many, we may trust, were faithful to the graces they received, and if they haye melted away before our encroachments, it is a reason why we should bless the men who sought to save their souls without caring whether a century later any
62
NAKEATIVE OF FATHER MAKQTJETTE.
I h
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anity in which they were first instructed by Father Marquette, when stationed at Lapointe du Saint Esprit at the extremity of Lake Superior, were hunting last winter on the banks of Lake Ilinois ; and as they were returning early in spring, they resolved to pass by the tomb of their good father, whom they tenderly loved ; and God even gave them the thought of taking his remains and bringing them to our church at the mission of St. Ignatius, at Missilimakinac, where they reside.
They accordingly repaired to the spot and deliberated together, resolved to act with their father, as they usually do with those whom they respect ; they accordingly opened the grave, unrolled the body, and though the flesh and intestines were all dried up, they found it whole without the skin being in any way injured. This did not prevent their dissecting it according to custom ; they washed the bones, and dried them in the sun, then putting them neatly in a box of birch bark, they set out to bear them to the house of St. Ignatius.
The convoy consisted of nearly thirty canoes in excellent order ; including even a good number of Iroquois who had joined our Algonquins to honor the ceremony. As they approached our house, Father Nouvel, who is superior, went to meet them with Father Pierson,* accompanied by all the French Indians of the place, and having caused the convoy to stop, made the ordinary interrogations to verify the fact, that the body which
would exist to show the endurance of their labors. It has been justly remarked of the catholic missions that, " they ended only with the extinction of the tribe." * Father Nouvel was the Ottawa, and Father Pierson the Huron missionary. Each nation had its village apart, at a distance of three quarters of a league from each other. The church here spoken of was built apparently in 1674, while F. Marquette was there (Mel. 1672-73, and 1673-79) ; it lay nearest the Huron village, which Hennepin thus describes: "It is surrounded with palisades twenty-five feet high, and situated near a great point of land opposite the island of Missilimakinac." Description de la Louisiane, p. 62.
DISCOVEKIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
63
they bore was really Father Marquette's. Then, before landing, he intoned the " De Profundis" in sight of the thirty canoes still on the water, and of all the people on the shores ; after this the body was carried to the church, observing all that the ritual prescribes for such ceremonies. It remained exposed under a pall stretched as if over a coffin all that day, which was Whitsun-Monday, the 8th of June ; and the next day, when all the funeral honors had been paid it, it was deposited in a little vault in the middle of the church, where he reposes as the guardian angel of our Ottawa missions. The Indians often come to pray on his tomb, and to say no more, a young woman of about nineteen or twenty, whom the late father had instructed and baptized last year, having fallen 6ick, asked Father Nouvel to bleed her, and give her some remedies ; but in place of medicine he bade her go for three days and say a pater and ave on the tomb of Father Marquette. She did so, and before the third day, was entirely cured without bleeding or other remedies.
Father James Marquette, of the province of Champagne, died at the age of thirty-eight, of which he had spent twenty-one in the society, namely twelve in France, and nine in Canada. He was sent to the missions of the upper Algonquins, called Ottawas, and labored there with all the zeal that could be exr pected in a man who had taken St. Francis Xavier as the model of his life and death. He imitated that great saint, not only in the variety of the barbarous languages which he learned, but also by the vastness of his zeal which made him bear the faith to the extremity of this new world, nearly eight hundred leagues from here, in forests where the name of Jesus had never been announced.
He always begged of God to end his days in these toilsome missions, and to die amid the woods like his beloved St.
il
64 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
Francis Xavier, in utter want of everything. To attain this he daily employed the merits of Christ and the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin, for whom his devotion was equally rare and tender.
By such powerful mediators, he obtained what he so earnestly asked, since he had the happiness to die like the apostle of the Indies, in a wretched cabin on the banks of Lake Uinois, forsaken by all.
"W"e could say much of the rare virtues of this generous missionary, of his zeal which made him carry the faith so far, and announce the gospel to so many nations unknown to us ; of his meekness which endeared him to every one, and which made him all to all French with the French, Huron with the Hurons, Algonquin with the Algonquins ; of his childlike candor in discovering his mind to his superiors, and even to all persons with an ingenuousness that gained all hearts, of his angelic purity and continual union with God.
But his predominant virtue was a most rare and singular devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and especially to the mystery of the Immaculate Conception ; it was a pleasure to hear him preach or speak on this subject. Every conversation and letter of his contained something about the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, as he always styled her. From the age of nine, he fasted every Saturday ; and from his most tender youth began to recite daily the little office of the Conception, and inspired all to adopt this devotion. For some months before his death, he daily recited, with his two men, a little chaplet of the Immaculate Conception, which he had arranged in this form ; after the creed, they said one " Our Father and hail Mary," then four times these words : " Hail daughter of God the Father, hail mother of God the Son, hail spouse of the Holy Ghost, hail temple of the whole Trinity, by thy holy virginity and
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
65
immaculate conception, O most pure Virgin, cleanse my flesh and my heart. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," and last of all the "Glory be to the Father," &c, the whole being thrice repeated.
He never failed to say the mass of the Conception, or at least the collect, whenever he could ; he thought of nothing else scarcely by night or by day, and to leave us an eternal mark of his sentiments, he gave the name of the Conception to the Ilinois mission.
So tender a devotion to the mother of God, deserved some singular grace, and she accordingly granted him the favor he had always asked, to die on a Saturday ;* and his two companions had no doubt that she appeared to him at the hour of his death when, after pronouncing the names of Jesus and Mary, he suddenly raised his eyes above his crucifix, fixing them on an object which he regarded with such pleasure, and a joy that lit up his countenance ; and they, from that moment, believed that he had surrendered his soul into the hands of his good mother.
One of the last letters which he wrote to the superior of the missions before his great voyage, will be a sufficient instance of his sentiments. It began thus :
" The Blessed Virgin Immaculate has obtained for me the grace to arrive here in good health, and resolved to correspond to God's designs upon me, since he has destined me to the voyage to the south. I have no other thought than to do what God wills. I fear nothing ; neither the Nadouessii, nor the meeting of nations alarms me. One of two things must come : either God will punish me for my crimes and omissions, or else he will share his cross with me (for I have not
* In the devotions of catholics, Saturday among the days of the week, like May among the months, is especially set apart to honor her whom Jesus loved and honored as a mother.
5
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NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQTTETTE.
borne it yet since I have been in this country, though, perhaps, it has been obtained for me by the Elessed Yirgin Immaculate), or perhaps death to cease to offend God. For this I will endeavor to hold myself ready, abandoning myself entirely in his hands. I pray your reverence not to forget me, and to obtain of God, that I may not remain ungrateful for the favors he heaps upon me»."
There was found among his papers a book entitled, "The Conduct of God toward a M*sionary," in which he shows the excellence of that vocation, jjie advantages for self-sanctifica-tion to be found in it, and the care which God takes of his gospel-laborers. This little work shows the spirit of God by which he was actuated. ,
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