Voyages of Samuel De Champlain Volume I Part 18

ENDNOTES:

165. They entered the lake on St. Peter's day, the 29th of June, and, for this reason doubtless, it was subsequently named Lake St. Peter, which name it still retains. It was at first called Lake Angouleme--_Vide_ marginal note in Hakluyt. Vol. III. p. 271. Laverdiere cites Thevet to the same effect.

166. From the point at which the river flows into the lake to its exit, the distance is about twenty-seven miles and its width about seven miles.

Champlain's distances, founded upon rough estimates made on a first voyage of difficult navigation, are exceedingly inaccurate, and, independent of other data, cannot be relied upon for the identification of localities.

167. The author appears to have confused the relative situations of the two rivers here mentioned. The smaller one should, we think, have been mentioned first. The larger one was plainly the St Francis, and the smaller one the Nicolette.

168. This would seem to be the _Baie la Vallure_, at the southwestern extremity of Lake St. Peter.

169. The author here refers to the islands at the western extremity of Lake St. Peter, which are very numerous. On Charlevoix's Carte de la Riviere de Richelieu they are called _Isles de Richelieu_. The more prominent are Monk Island, Isle de Grace, Bear Island. Isle St Ignace, and Isle du Pas. Champlain refers to these islands again in 1609, with perhaps a fuller description--_Vide_ Vol. II. p. 206.

170. The Richelieu, flowing from Lake Champlain to the St. Lawrence. For description of this river, see Vol. II. p. 210, note 337. In 1535 the Indians at Montreal pointed out this river as leading to Florida.-- _Vide Brief Recit_, par Jacques Cartier, 1545, D'Avezac ed.

171. The Hurons, Algonquins, and Montagnais were at war with the Iroquois, and the savages a.s.sembled here were composed of some or all of these tribes.

172. The rapids in the river here were too strong for the French barque, or even the skiff, but were not difficult to pa.s.s with the Indian canoe, as was fully proved in 1609.--_Vide_ Vol. II. p. 207 of this work.

173. The course of the Richelieu is nearly from the south to the north.

174. The rapids of Chambly.

175. Lake Champlain, discovered by him in 1609.--_Vide_ Vol. II. ch. ix.

176. Lake George. Champlain either did not comprehend his Indian informants, or they greatly exaggerated the comparative size of this lake.

177. The Hudson River--_Vide_ Vol. II. p. 218, note 347.

CHAPTER VIII.

ARRIVAL AT THE FALL.--DESCRIPTION OF THE SAME AND ITS REMARKABLE CHARACTER.--REPORTS OF THE SAVAGES IN REGARD TO THE END OF THE GREAT RIVER.

Setting out from the River of the Iroquois, we came to anchor three leagues from there, on the northern sh.o.r.e. All this country is low, and filled with the various kinds of trees which I have before mentioned.

On the first day of July we coasted along the northern sh.o.r.e, where the woods are very open; more so than in any place we had before seen. The soil is also everywhere favorable for cultivation.

I went in a canoe to the southern sh.o.r.e, where I saw a large number of islands, [178] which abound in fruits, such as grapes, walnuts, hazel-nuts, a kind of fruit resembling chestnuts, and cherries; also in oaks, aspens, poplar, hops, ash, maple, beech, cypress, with but few pines and firs.

There were, moreover, other fine-looking trees, with which I am not acquainted. There are also a great many strawberries, raspberries, and currants, red, green, and blue, together with numerous small fruits which grow in thick gra.s.s. There are also many wild beasts, such as orignacs, stags, hinds, does, bucks, bears, porcupines, hares, foxes, bearers, otters, musk-rats, and some other kinds of animals with which I am not acquainted, which are good to eat, and on which the savages subsist. [179]

We pa.s.sed an island having a very pleasant appearance, some four leagues long and about half a league wide. [180] I saw on the southern sh.o.r.e two high mountains, which appeared to be some twenty leagues in the interior.

[181] The savages told me that this was the first fall of the River of the Iroquois.

On Wednesday following, we set out from this place, and made some five or six leagues. We saw numerous islands; the land on them was low, and they were covered with trees like those of the River of the Iroquois. On the following day we advanced some few leagues, and pa.s.sed by a great number of islands, beautiful on account of the many meadows, which are likewise to be seen on the mainland as well as on the islands. [182] The trees here are all very small in comparison with those we had already pa.s.sed.

We arrived finally, on the same day, having a fair wind, at the entrance to the fall. We came to an island almost in the middle of this entrance, which is a quarter of a league long. [183] We pa.s.sed to the south of it, where there were from three to five feet of water only, with a fathom or two in some places, after which we found suddenly only three or four feet. There are many rocks and little islands without any wood at all, and on a level with the water. From the lower extremity of the above-mentioned island in the middle of the entrance, the water begins to come with great force.

Although we had a very favorable wind, yet we could not, in spite of all our efforts, advance much. Still, we pa.s.sed this island at the entrance of the fall. Finding that we could not proceed, we came to anchor on the northern sh.o.r.e, opposite a little island, which abounds in most of the fruits before mentioned. [184] We at once got our skiff ready, which had been expressly made for pa.s.sing this fall, and Sieur Du Pont Grave and myself embarked in it, together with some savages whom we had brought to show us the way. After leaving our barque, we had not gone three hundred feet before we had to get out, when some sailors got into the water and dragged our skiff over. The canoe of the savages went over easily. We encountered a great number of little rocks on a level with the water, which we frequently struck.

There are here two large islands; one on the northern side, some fifteen leagues long and almost as broad, begins in the River of Canada, some twelve leagues towards the River of the Iroquois, and terminates beyond the fall. [185] The island on the south sh.o.r.e is some four leagues long and half a league wide. [186] There is, besides, another island near that on the north, which is perhaps half a league long and a quarter wide. [187]

There is still another small island between that on the north and the other farther south, where we pa.s.sed the entrance to the fall. [188] This being pa.s.sed, there is a kind of lake, in which are all these islands, and which is some five leagues long and almost as wide, and which contains a large number of little islands or rocks. Near the fall there is a mountain, [189]

visible at a considerable distance, also a small river coming from this mountain and falling into the lake. [190] On the south, some three or four mountains are seen, which seem to be fifteen or sixteen leagues off in the interior. There are also two rivers; the one [191] reaching to the first lake of the River of the Iroquois, along which the Algonquins sometimes go to make war upon them, the other near the fall and extending some feet inland. [192]

On approaching this fall [193] with our little skiff and the canoe, I saw, to my astonishment, a torrent of water descending with an impetuosity such as I have never before witnessed, although it is not very high, there being in some places only a fathom or two, and at most but three. It descends as if by steps, and at each descent there is a remarkable boiling, owing to the force and swiftness with which the water traverses the fall, which is about a league in length. There are many rocks on all sides, while near the middle there are some very narrow and long islands. There are rapids not only by the side of those islands on the south sh.o.r.e, but also by those on the north, and they are so dangerous that it is beyond the power of man to pa.s.s through with a boat, however small. We went by land through the woods a distance of a league, for the purpose of seeing the end of the falls, where there are no more rocks or rapids; but the water here is so swift that it could not be more so, and this current continues three or four leagues; so that it is impossible to imagine one's being able to go by boats through these falls. But any one desiring to pa.s.s them, should provide himself with the canoe of the savages, which a man can easily carry. For to make a portage by boat could not be done in a sufficiently brief time to enable one to return to France, if he desired to winter there. Besides this first fall, there are ten others, for the most part hard to pa.s.s; so that it would be a matter of great difficulty and labor to see and do by boat what one might propose to himself, except at great cost, and the risk of working in vain. But in the canoes of the savages one can go without restraint, and quickly, everywhere, in the small as well as large rivers. So that, by using canoes as the savages do, it would be possible to see all there is, good and bad, in a year or two.

The territory on the side of the fall where we went overland consists, so far as we saw it, of very open woods, where one can go with his armor without much difficulty. The air is milder and the soil better than in any place I have before seen. There are extensive woods and numerous fruits, as in all the places before mentioned. It is in lat.i.tude 45 deg. and some minutes.

Finding that we could not advance farther, we returned to our barque, where we asked our savages in regard to the continuation of the river, which I directed them to indicate with their hands; so, also, in what direction its source was. They told us that, after pa.s.sing the first fall, [194] which we had seen, they go up the river some ten or fifteen leagues with their canoes, [195] extending to the region of the Algonquins, some sixty leagues distant from the great river, and that they then pa.s.s five falls, extending, perhaps, eight leagues from the first to the last, there being two where they are obliged to carry their canoes. [196] The extent of each fall may be an eighth of a league, or a quarter at most. After this, they enter a lake, [197] perhaps some fifteen or sixteen leagues long. Beyond this they enter a river a league broad, and in which they go several leagues. [198] Then they enter another lake some four or five leagues long.

[199] After reaching the end of this, they pa.s.s five other falls, [200] the distance from the first to the last being about twenty-five or thirty leagues. Three of these they pa.s.s by carrying their canoes, and the other two by dragging them in the water, the current not being so strong nor bad as in the case of the others. Of all these falls, none is so difficult to pa.s.s as the one we saw. Then they come to a lake some eighty leagues long, [201] with a great many islands; the water at its extremity being fresh and the winter mild. At the end of this lake they pa.s.s a fall, [202] somewhat high and with but little water flowing over. Here they carry their canoes overland about a quarter of a league, in order to pa.s.s the fall, afterwards entering another lake [203] some sixty leagues long, and containing very good water. Having reached the end, they come to a strait [204] two leagues broad and extending a considerable distance into the interior. They said they had never gone any farther, nor seen the end of a lake [205] some fifteen or sixteen leagues distant from where they had been, and that those relating this to them had not seen any one who had seen it; that since it was so large, they would not venture out upon it, for fear of being surprised by a tempest or gale. They say that in summer the sun sets north of this lake, and in winter about the middle; that the water there is very bad, like that of this sea. [206]

I asked them whether from this last lake, which they had seen, the water descended continuously in the river extending to Gaspe. They said no; that it was from the third lake only that the water came to Gaspe, but that beyond the last fall, which is of considerable extent, as I have said, the water was almost still, and that this lake might take its course by other rivers extending inland either to the north or south, of which there are a large number there, and of which they do not see the end. Now, in my judgment, if so many rivers flow into this lake, it must of necessity be that, having so small a discharge at this fall, it should flow off into some very large river. But what leads me to believe that there is no river through which this lake flows, as would be expected, in view of the large number of rivers that flow into it, is the fact that the savages have not seen any river taking its course into the interior, except at the place where they have been. This leads me to believe that it is the south sea which is salt, as they say. But one is not to attach credit to this opinion without more complete evidence than the little adduced.

This is all that I have actually seen respecting this matter, or heard from the savages in response to our interrogatories.

ENDNOTES:

178. Isle Plat, and at least ten other islets along the share before reaching the Vercheres.--_Vide_ Laurie's Chart.

179. The reader will observe that the catalogue of fruits, trees, and animals mentioned above, include, only such as are important in commerce. They are, we think, without an exception, of American species, and, consequently, the names given by Champlain are not accurately descriptive. We notice them in order, and in italics give the name a.s.signed by Champlain in the text.

Grapes. _Vignes_, probably the frost grape. _Vitis cordifolia_.--Pickering's _Chronological History of Plants_ p. 875.

Walnuts. _Noir_, this name is given in France to what is known in commerce as the English or European walnut, _Juglans rigia_, a Persian fruit now cultivated in most countries in Europe. For want of a better, Champlain used this name to signify probably the b.u.t.ternut, _Juglans cinerea_, and five varieties of the hickory; the s.h.a.g-bark.

_Carya alba_, the mocker-nut, _Carya tontentofa_, the small-fruited _Carya microcarpa_, the pig-nut, _Carya glatra_, bitter-nut. _Carya amara_, all of which are exclusively American fruits, and are still found in the valley of the St Lawrence.--_MS. Letter of J. M. Le Maine_, of Quebec; Jeffrie's _Natural History of French Dominions in America_, London. 1760, p.41.

Hazel-nuts, _noysettes_. The American filbert or hazel-nut, _Corylus Americana_. The flavor is fine, but the fruit is smaller and the sh.e.l.l thicker than that of the European filbert.

"Kind of fruit resembling chestnuts." This was probably the chestnut, _Caftanea Americana_. The fruit much resembles the European, but is smaller and sweeter.

Cherries, _cerises_. Three kinds may here be included, the wild red cherry, _Prunus Pennsylvanica_, the choke cherry. _Prunus Virginiana_, and the wild black cherry, _Prunus serotina_.

Oaks, _chesnes_. Probably the more noticeable varieties, as the white oak, _Quercus alba_, and red oak, Quercus _rubra_.

Aspens, _trembles_. The American aspen, _Populus tremuloides_.

Poplar, _pible_. For _piboule_, as suggested by Laverdiere. a variety of poplar.

Hops, _houblon_. _Humulus lupulus_, found in northern climates, differing from the hop of commerce, which was imported from Europe.

Ash. _fresne_. The white ash, _Fraxinus Americana_, and black ash, _Fraxinus sambucifolia_.

Maple, _erable_. The tree here observed was probably the rock or sugar maple, _Acer faccharinum_. Several other species belong to this region.

Beech, _hestre_. The American beech, _f.a.gus ferruginea_, of which there is but one species.--_Vide_, Vol. II. p. 113, note 205.

Cypress, _cyprez_.--_Vide antea_ note 35.

Strawberry, _fraises_. The wild strawberry, _Fragaria vesca_, and _Fragaria Virginiana_, both species, are found in this region.--_Vide_ Pickering's _Chronological History of Plants_, p. 873.