Voyages of Samuel De Champlain Volume I Part 24

71. _Port Breton_, near Cap Sainct Laurent, on Isle du Cap Breton.

72. _Les Bergeronnettes_, three leagues from Tadoussac.

73. _Le Cap d'Espoir_, near Isle Percee. [58]

74. _Forillon_, at Poincte de Gaspey.

75. _Isle de Mont-real_, at the Falls of St. Louis, in the River St.

Lawrence. [59]

76. _Riuiere des Prairies_, coming from a lake at the Falls of St. Louis, where there are two islands, one of which is Montreal For several years this has been a station for trading with the savages. [60]

77. _Sault de la Chaudiere_, on the river of the Algonquins, some eighteen feet high, and descending among rocks with a great roar. [61]

78. _Lac de Nibachis_, the name of a savage captain who dwells here and tills a little land, where he plants Indian corn. [62]

79. Eleven lakes, near each other, one, two, and three leagues in extent, and abounding in fish and game. Sometimes the savages go this way in order to avoid the Fall of the Calumets, which is very dangerous. Some of these localities abound in pines, yielding a great amount of resin. [63]

80. _Sault des Pierres Calunmet_, which resemble alabaster.

81. _Isle de Tesouac_, an Algonquin captain (_Tesouac_) to whom the savages pay a toll for allowing them pa.s.sage to Quebec. [64]

82. _La Riuiere de Tesouac_, in which there are five falls. [65]

83. A river by which many savages go to the North Sea, above the Saguenay, and to the Three Rivers, going some distance overland. [66]

84. The lakes by which they go to the North Sea.

85. A river extending towards the North Sea.

86. Country of the Hurons, so called by the French, where there are numerous communities, and seventeen villages fortified by three palisades of wood, with a gallery all around in the form of a parapet, for defence against their enemies. This region is in lat.i.tude 44 deg. 30', with a fertile soil cultivated by the savages.

87. Pa.s.sage of a league overland, where the canoes are carried.

88. A river discharging into the _Mer Douce_. [67]

89. Village fortified by four palisades, where Sieur de Champlain went in the war against the Antouhonorons, and where several savages were taken prisoners. [68]

90. Falls at the extremity of the Falls of St. Louis, very high, where many fish come down and are stunned. [69]

91. A small river near the Sault de la Chaudiere, where there is a waterfall nearly twenty fathoms high, over which the water flows in such volume and with such velocity that a long arcade is made, beneath which the savages go for amus.e.m.e.nt, without getting wet. It is a fine sight. [70]

92. This river is very beautiful, with numerous islands of various sizes.

It pa.s.ses through many fine lakes, and is bordered by beautiful meadows. It abounds in deer and other animals, with fish of excellent quality. There are many cleared tracts of land upon it, with good soil, which have been abandoned by the savages on account of their wars. It discharges into Lake St. Louis, and many tribes come to these regions to hunt and obtain their provision for the winter. [71]

93. Chestnut forest, where there are great quant.i.ties of chestnuts, on the borders of Lac St Louis. Also many meadows, vines, and nut-trees. [72]

94. Lake-like bodies of salt water at the head of Baye Francois, where the tide ebbs and flows. Islands containing many birds, many meadows in different localities, small rivers flowing into these species of lakes, by which they go to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near Isle S. Jean. [73]

95. _Isle Haute_, a league in circuit, and flat on top. It contains fresh water and much wood. It is a league distant from Port aux Mines and Cap des Deux Bayes. It is more than forty fathoms high on all sides, except in one place, where it slopes, and where there is a pebbly point of a triangular shape. In the centre is a pond with salt water. Many birds make their nests in this island.

96. _La Riuiere des Algommequins_, extending from the Falls of St Louis nearly to the Lake of the Bissereni, containing more than eighty falls, large and small, which must be pa.s.sed by going around, by rowing, or by hauling with ropes. Some of these falls are very dangerous, particularly in going down. [74]

_Gens de Petun_. This is a tribe cultivating this herb (_tobacco_), in which they carry on an extensive traffic with the other tribes. They have large towns, fortified with wood, and they plant Indian corn.

_Cheveux Releuez_. These are savages who wear nothing about the loins, and go stark naked, except in winter, when they clothe themselves in robes of skins, which they leave off when they quit their houses for the fields.

They are great hunters, fishermen, and travellers, till the soil, and plant Indian corn. They dry _bluets_ [75] and raspberries, in which they carry on an extensive traffic with the other tribes, taking in exchange skins, beads, nets, and other articles. Some of these people pierce the nose, and attach beads to it They tattoo their bodies, applying black and other colors. They wear their hair very straight, and grease it, painting it red, as they do also the face.

_La Nation Neutre_. This is a people that maintains itself against all the others. They engage in war only with the a.s.sistaqueronons. They are very powerful, having forty towns well peopled.

_Les Antouhonorons_. They consist of fifteen towns built in strong situations. They are enemies of all the other tribes, except Neutral nation. Their country is fine, with a good climate, and near the river St.

Lawrence, the pa.s.sage of which they forbid to all the other tribes, for which reason it is less visited by them. They till the soil, and plant their land. [76] _Les Yroquois_. They unite with the Antouhonorons in making war against all the other tribes, except the Neutral nation.

_Carantouanis_. This is a tribe that has moved to the south of the Antouhonorons, and dwells in a very fine country, where it is securely quartered. They are friends of all the other tribes, except the above named Antouhonorons, from whom they are only three days' journey distant. Once they took as prisoners some Flemish, but sent them back again without doing them any harm, supposing that they were French. Between Lac St. Louis and Sault St. Louis, which is the great river St Lawrence, there are five falls, numerous fine lakes, and pretty islands, with a pleasing country abounding in game and fish, favorable for settlement, were it not for the wars which the savages carry on with each other.

_La Mer Douce_ is a very large lake, containing a countless number of islands. It is very deep, and abounds in fish of all varieties and of extraordinary size, which are taken at different times and seasons, as in the great sea. The southern sh.o.r.e is much pleasanter than the northern, where there are many rocks and great quant.i.ties of caribous.

_Le Lac des Bisserenis_ is very beautiful, some twenty-five leagues in circuit, and containing numerous islands covered with woods and meadows.

The savages encamp here, in order to catch in the river sturgeon, pike, and carp, which are excellent and of very great size, and taken in large numbers. Game is also abundant, although the country is not particularly attractive, it being for the most part rocky.

[NOTE.--The following are marked on the map as places where the French have had settlements: 1. Grand Cibou; 2. Cap Naigre; 3. Port du Cap Fourchu; 4.

Port Royal; 5. St. Croix; 6. Isle des Monts Deserts; 7. Port de Miscou; 8.

Tadoussac; 9. Quebec; 10. St. Croix, near Quebec.]

ENDNOTES:

1. It is to be observed that some of the letters and figures are not found on the map. Among the rest, the letter A is wanting. It is impossible of course to tell with certainty to what it refers, particularly as the places referred to do not occur in consecutive order. The Abbe Laverdiere thinks this letter points to the bay of Boston or what we commonly call Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, or to the Bay of all Isles as laid down by Champlain on the eastern coast of Nova Scotia.

2. On the southern coast of Newfoundland, now known as _Placentia Bay_.

3. Point Levi, opposite Quebec.

4. The letter G is wanting, but the reference is plainly to the Straits of Belle Isle, as may be seen by reference to the map.

5. This island was somewhere between Mount Desert and Jonesport; not unlikely it was that now known as Pet.i.t Manan. It was named after Sasanou, chief of the River Kennebec. _Vide_ Vol. II. p. 58.

6. The underestimate is so great, that it is probable that the author intended to say that the length of the island is eight or nine leagues.

7. The Boyer, east of Quebec. It appears to have been named after the President Jeannin. _Vide antea_, p.112.

8. A river east of the Island of Orleans now called Riviere du Sud.

9. N is wanting.

10. A harbor at the north-eastern extremity of the island of Campobello.

_Vide_ Vol II. p. 100.

11. Q is wanting. The reference is perhaps to the islands in Pen.o.bscot Bay.