Voyages of Samuel De Champlain Volume III Part 12

136. _Flamens_. The Dutch were at this time on the Hudson, qengaged in the fur trade with the savages. _Vide History of the State of New York_ by John Romeyn Brodhead, New York, 1853. pp. 38-65. _History of New Netherland_ or _New York under the Dutch_, by E. B. O'Callaghan, New York, 1846, pp. 67-77.

137. Their enemies were the Iroquois.

138. _Chouontouarouon_, another name for _Entouhoronon_.

139. Lake Couchiching, a small sheet of water into which pa.s.s by a small outlet the waters of Lake Simcoe.

140. Lake Simcoe. Laverdiere says the Indian name of this lake was _Ouentaronk_, and that it was likewise called _Lac aux Claies_.

141. etienne Brule. _Vide postea_, p. 208.

142. _Dans ces lacs_. From Lake Chouchiching, coasting along the northeastern sh.o.r.e of Lake Simcoe, they would make five or six leagues in reaching a point nearest to Sturgeon Lake.

143. Undoubtedly Sturgeon Lake.

144. From their entrance of Sturgeon Lake to the point where they reached Lake Ontario, at the eastern limit of Amherst Island, the distance is, in its winding and circuitous course, not far from Champlain's estimate, viz. sixty-four leagues. That part of the river above Rice Lake is the Otonabee; that below is known as the Trent.

145. _Grues_ The white crane, _Grus America.n.u.s_ Adult plumage pure white _Coues's Key to North American Birds_, Boston, 1872, p 271 Charlevoix says, "We have cranes of two colors, some white and others _gris de lin_," that is a purple or lilac color. This latter species is the brown crane, _Grus Canadensis_. "Plumage plumbeous gray." _Coues_.

_Vide Charlevoix's Letters_, London. 1763, p 83.

146. The lat.i.tude of the eastern end of Amherst Island is about 44 11'.

147. This traverse, it may be presumed, was made by coasting along the sh.o.r.e, as was the custom of the savages with their light canoes.

148. It appears that, after making by estimate about fourteen leagues in their bark canoes, and four by land along the sh.o.r.e, they struck inland. Guided merely by the distances given in the text, it is not possible to determine with exactness at what point they left the lake. This arises from the fact that we are not sure at what point the measurement began, and the estimated distances are given, moreover, with very liberal margins. But the eighteen leagues in all would take them not very far from Little Salmon River, whether the estimate were made from the eastern end of Amherst Island or Simcoe Island, or any place in that immediate neighborhood. The natural features of the country, for four leagues along the coast north of Little Salmon River, answer well to the description given in the text. The chestnut and wild grape are still found there. _Vide MS. Letters of the Rev. James Cross, D.D., LL.D., and of S.Z. Smith, Esq._, of Mexico, New York.

149. Lake Ontario, or Lake of the Entouhonorons, is about a hundred and eighty miles long, and about fifty-five miles in its extreme width.

150. The river here crossed was plainly Oneida River, flowing from Oneida Lake into Lake Ontario. The lake is identified by the islands in it.

Oneida Lake is the only one in this region which contains any islands whatever, and consequently the river flowing from it must be that now known as Oneida River.

151. For the probable site of this fort, see Vol. I. p. 130, note 83.

152. They were of the tribe called Carantouanais. _Vide antea_, note 134.

153. This was in the month of October.

154. _Et apres auoir trauerse le bout du lac de laditte isle_. From this form of expression this island would seem to have been visited before.

But no particular island is mentioned on their former traverse of the lake. It is impossible to fix with certainty upon the isiand referred to. It may have been Simcoe or Wolf Island, or some other.

155. Probably Cataraqui Creek. _Vide_ Vol. I. p. 136.

156. Perhaps Loughborough Lake, or the system of lakes of which this is a part.

157. _Cygnes_, swans. Probably the Trumpeter Swan, _Cygnus buccinator_.

They were especially found in Sagard's time about Lake Nip.i.s.sing.

"Mais pour des Cignes, qu'ils appellent _Horhev_, il y en a princ.i.p.alement vers les Epicerinys." _Vide Le Grand Voyage av Pays des Hurons_ par Fr. Gabriel Sagard, Paris, 1632, p. 303.

158. _Grues blanches_. _Vide antea_, n. 145.

159. _Houstardes_. _Vide antea_, note 32.

160. _Mauuis_, Song-Thrush. Doubtless the Robin, _t.u.r.dus migratorius_.

161. _Allouettes_, larks. Probably the Brown Lark, _Anthus ludovicia.n.u.s_.

Found everywhere in North America.

162. _Becca.s.sines_. Probably the American Snipe, _Gallinago Wilsonii_.

163. _Oyes_, geese. The common Wild Goose, _Branta Canadensis_, or it may include all the species taken collectively. For the several species found in Canada, _vide antea_, note 32.

164. _Les loups_. The American Wolf, _Lupus occidentalis_.

165. The thirty-eight days during which they were there would include the whole period from the time they began to make their preparations on the 28th of October on the sh.o.r.es of Lake Ontario till they began their homeward journey on the 4th of December. _Vide antea_, p. 137; _postea_, p. 143.

166. The author here refers to the chief D'Arontal, whose guest he was. _Vide antea_, 137. Cf. also Quebec ed. 1632, p. 928.

167. _Trainees de bois_, a kind of sledge. The Indian's sledge was made of two pieces of board, which, with his stone axe and perhaps with the aid of fire, he patiently manufactured from the trunks of trees. The boards were each about six inches wide and six or seven feet long, curved upward at the forward end and bound together by cross pieces.

The sides were bordered with strips of wood, which served as brackets, to which was fastened the strap that bound the baggage upon the sledge. The load was dragged by a rope or strap of leather pa.s.sing round the breast of the savage and attached to the end of the sledge.

The sledge was so narrow that it could be drawn easily and without impediment wherever the savage could thread his way through the pathless forests.

The journey from their encampment northeast of Kingston on Lake Ontario to the capital of the Hurons was not less in a straight line than a hundred and sixty miles. Without a pathway, in the heart of winter, through water and melting snow, with their heavy burdens, the hardship and exhaustion can hardly be exaggerated.

168. Namely at Cahiague. In the issue of 1632, Champlain says they arrived on the 23d day of the month. _Vide_ Quebec ed, p. 929. Leaving on the 4th and travelling nineteen days, as stated above, they would arrive on the 23d December.

169. Probably the 4th of January.

170. Father Joseph Le Caron had remained at Carhagouha, during the absence of the war party in their attack upon the Iroquois, where Champlain probably arrived on the 5th of January.

171. In the issue of 1632, the arrival of Champlain and Le Caron is stated to have occurred on the 17th of January. This harmonizes with the correction of dates in notes 169, 170.

The Huron name of the Petuns was _Tionnontateronons_, or _Khionontateronons_, or _Quieunontateronons_. Of them Vimont says, "Les Khionontateronons, qu'on appelle la nation du Petun, pour l'abondance qu'il y a de cette herbe, sont eloignez du pays des Hurons, dont ils parlent la langue, enuiron douze ou quinze lieues tirant a l'Occident." _Vide Relation des Jesuites_, 1640, p. 95; _His. Du Canada_, Vol. I. p. 209. Sagard.

For some account of the subsequent history of the Nation de Petun, _vide Indian Migration in Ohio_, by C. C. Baldwin, 1879, p. 2.

172. It was of great importance to the Indians to select a site for their villages where suitable wood was accessible, both for fortifying them with palisades and for fuel in the winter. It could not be brought a great distance for either of these purposes. Hence when the wood in the vicinity became exhausted they were compelled to remove and build anew.

173. That is to say like the Hurons.

174. The Nation Neutre was called by the Hurons _Attisandaronk_ or _Attihouandaron_. _Vide Relation des Jesuites_, 1641, p. 72; _Dictonaire de la Langue Huronne_, par Sagard, a Paris, 1632.

Champlain places them, on his map of 1632, south of Lake Erie. His knowledge of that lake, obtained from the savages, was very meagre as the map itself shows. The Neutres are placed by early writers on the west of Lake Ontario and north of Lake Erie _Vide Laverdiere in loco_, Quebec ed., p. 546; also, _Indian Migration in Ohio_, by C. C.

Baldwin, p. 4. They are placed far to the south of Lake Erie by Nicholas Sanson. _Vide Cartes de l'Amerique_, 1657.

175. The Cheveux Releves are represented by Champlain as dwelling west of the Petuns, and were probably not far from the most southern limit of the Georgian Bay. Strangely enough Nicholas Sanson places them on a large island that separates the Georgian Bay from Lake Huron. _Vide Cartes de l'Amerique_ par N. Sanson, 1657.

176. _Atsistaehronons, ou Nation du Feu_. Their Algonquin name was Mascoutins or Maskoutens. with several other orthographies. The significance of their name is given by Sagard as follows: Ils sont errans, sinon que quelques villages d'entr'eux fement des bleds d'Inde, et font la guerre a vne autre Nation, nommee _a.s.sitagueronon_, qui veut dire gens de feu: car en langue Huronne _a.s.sista_ signifie du feu, et _Eronon_, signifie Nation. _Le Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons_, par Gabriel Sagard, a Paris, 1632, p. 78. _Vide Relation des Jesuites_, 1641, p 72; _Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley_, by John Gilmary Shea, p. 13; _Indian Migration in Ohio_, by C. C. Baldwin, pp 9, 10; Discovery of the _Northwest by John Nicolet_, by C. W. b.u.t.terfield, p. 63; _L'Amerique en Plusieurs Cartes_, par N. Sanson, 1657.

177. _Pisierinii_, the Nip.i.s.sings. This relates to those Nip.i.s.sings who had accompanied Champlain on the expedition against the Iroquois, and who were pa.s.sing the winter among the Hurons. He had expected that they would accompany him on explorations on the north of them. But arriving at their encampment, on his return from the Petuns and Cheveux Releves, he learned from them of the quarrel that had arisen between the Algonquins and the Hurons.