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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/firstvisitofdelaOOmars 
 
DE LA SALLE 
 
 AMONG THE 
 
 SENECAS, 
 
 IN 
 
 1669. 
 
'sU^tr s£e^ f 
 
 

 
 nT\ 
 
 / 
 
In the City of Rouen, the ancient Capital of Nor- 
 mandy, almost under the shadow of its renowned Cathe- 
 dral, was born, on the 22d day of November 1643, 
 Robert Cavelier de La Salle. 
 
 Descended from an honorable parentage, he received, 
 under the care of the Jesuits, all the advantages of a 
 liberal education, and for a brief period was enrolled as 
 a member of their Order. 
 
 When he left them on the death of his Father, it was 
 without fortune, for by his connection with their Society, 
 he had forfeited all claim to the parental heritage. 
 
 With no resources save his indomitable energy and 
 scientific accomplishments, and no apparent induce- 
 ments except the love of adventure and a desire to visit 
 an elder brother then resident in Canada, he embarked for 
 the New World in 1666, where he founded near Mon- 
 treal, the village of "La. Chine." 
 
 Increased attention has within the last few years, been 
 directed to his researches and explorations on this Con- 
 tinent. 
 
 The recent discovery of various manuscripts relating 
 to his explorations along our Northern Lakes and 
 Western Rivers as far as the Gulf of Mexico, has 
 awakened a fresh interest in this subject. A large mass 
 of new material is now in the possession of Mr. Pierre 
 Margry, of Paris, for the publication of which $10,000 
 has recently been appropriated by an Act of our Con- 
 
gress, procured by the joint efforts of some of the most 
 eminent of our American Historians, aided by our own 
 and other Historical Societies. 
 
 While on a recent visit to Paris, I was enabled, through 
 the courtesy of Mr. Margry, to examine his rare collec- 
 tions, and can testify to their value and importance. 
 
 The proposed publication will embrace several 
 volumes of original material. 
 
 Three will be devoted to the discoveries and explora- 
 tions of La Salle, and one to each of the following 
 subjects : 
 
 The Pioneers of the Mississippi. 
 
 Le Moyne D'Iberville, First Royal Governor of 
 Louisiana. 
 
 Le Moyne de Bienville, Second Ruyal Governor of 
 Louisiana, 
 
 Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, Third Royal Governor 
 of Louisiana. 
 
 The Chain of Western Posts, and 
 
 The Indians. Making in all ten volumes. 
 
 They will be issued under a contract, which has been 
 concluded between Mr. Margry and the Joint Library 
 Committee of Congress. The first volume is nearly 
 ready for the press, and will be looked for with much 
 interest by students of American history. 
 
 Mr. Margry has been engaged, for many years, in col- 
 lecting the material for this publication, his official con- 
 nection with the Department of the Ministere de la 
 Marine, in Paris, having afforded him special facilities 
 for the undertaking. 
 
 Among his collections, I found an unpublished manu- 
 script journal, copied from the original in the Biblio- 
 
thcque Nationale, in Paris, giving an account of an expe- 
 dition undertaken by La, Salle and two Sulpician Mis- 
 sionaries into the country of the Senecas, more than 
 200 years ago. 
 
 As one of the special objects of this Society is the 
 discovery and preservation of historical material relating 
 to the settlement of Western New York, whether con- 
 fined to the pioneer enterprises of the whites, or em- 
 bracing their first intercourse and transactions with the 
 Indians, I willingly accepted the friendly offer of Mr. 
 Margiy, to furnish the extract from the journal in ques- 
 tion, a translation of which I beg leave to introduce to 
 your attention this evening, as the basis of my present 
 paper. 
 
 Aside from its intrinsic interest, it seemed to be of 
 sufficient historical importance to entitle it to a place 
 among our archives. 
 
 It describes the first visit of La Salle to Western New 
 York, made in 1669, before he had acquired the renown 
 which his subsequent adventures and explorations af- 
 fixed to his name. The people he visited were our 
 early neighbors. They met him in council, spoke the 
 same peculiar language we have so often heard in our 
 streets, and exhibited many of the customs and manners 
 which even now prevail among their descendants. 
 
 The map annexed to the journal, foims an interesting 
 illustration of the knowledge acquired by the party, of 
 the form and size of the North American Lakes during 
 their long pioneer voyage from Montreal to the Sault 
 Ste Marie. The copy which I obtained is afac simile of 
 the original, and measures <Ll feet in length, by 2\ feet 
 in breadth. It is covered with the annotations of 
 
6 
 
 Galinee, mostly inverted, so as to be read only from the 
 north side, owing to his stand point being, when he 
 drew it, on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes, look- 
 ing towards the south. It has never yet been published. 
 but will undoubtedly be reproduced among Mr. Mar- 
 gry's papers. 
 
 The missionaries attached to the expedition, were 
 Francois Dollier de Casson, and Rene de Brehart de 
 Galinee, both attached to the Order of St. Sulpice. The 
 former had been a cavalry officer under Marshal Turenne. 
 At the date of this expedition, he was about 40 years 
 old, and Superior of the Seminary belonging to his 
 Order at Montreal. He was a man of commanding 
 presence and tried courage, of which he had given 
 proofs in the campaign of Governor Courcelles against 
 the Mohawks in 1666. 
 
 His strength was so prodigious, that he was said to be 
 able to carry two men, sitting, one in each hand. 
 
 Galinee, the historian of the enterprise, was skilled in 
 the Algonkin tongue, and had no little reputation as a 
 surveyor and astronomer. He could construct a chart 
 of his travels through the wilderness, so as to be able to 
 retrace his way. 
 
 Both priests were ardent and zealous for the conver- 
 sion of the North American Indians to the Roman faith, 
 and had long been waiting for some favorable oppor- 
 tunity, to penetrate, for that purpose, the vast and as 
 yet unexplored regions of the west. 
 
 De La Salle, then 36 years old, had resided in Canada 
 about three years, and the opportunities he had enjoyed 
 for intercourse with the Iroquois and other western 
 tribes, who were accustomed to visit Montreal for the 
 
purposes of trade, had not been neglected. From them 
 he had heard of the Ohio, the Mississippi,"' and of the 
 boundless forests and prairies- through which they flowed, 
 teeming with game and the fur bearing animals. They 
 had told him of the vast lakes, as yet unnavigated save 
 by their frail canoes, on the borders of which were in- 
 exhaustible mines, yielding the richest ores of iron and 
 copper. 
 
 His imagination kindled at the recital, and so great 
 was his ambition to accomplish his favorite object, that 
 he sold the possessions he had acquired in Canada, to 
 realize the means for defraying the expenses of an expe- 
 dition to test the truth of the Indian narrations. 
 
 Encouraged by the patronage of Courcelles the 
 Governor, and Talon the Intendant of Canada, who 
 were lavish of all except pecuniary aid, lie resolved to 
 ascend the St. Lawrence, and passing through the chain 
 of Western Lakes, to seek for the great river, that, hav- 
 ing its source in the Iroquois country, flowed, according 
 to Indian authority, into a far distant sea, and which 
 Champlain and L'Escarbot had confidently hoped might 
 be the westerly road to. China and Japan. 
 
 In the summer of 16G9, La Salle organized, with the 
 two Sulpicians, a joint expedition to accomplish their 
 several purposes — the former to prosecute his discov- 
 eries in the west, and the missionaries to baptize into the 
 Roman faith, the neophytes they should secure among 
 the sedentary and nomad tribes found in the valleys of 
 the Ohio, the Mississippi and the Lakes. 
 
 AVhen every thing was ready for a speedy departure, 
 
 *The Mississippi was alluded to by name in the Jesuit relations as early as 
 1670. Its outlet was then supposed to be in the "Florida Sea." 
 Relation 1670-1, pp. 93, 144 and 175. 
 
the unfortunate assassination of an Iroquois chief by 
 three French soldiers at Montreal, detained them fifteen 
 days, and threatened a renewal of the war which had 
 just then, happily terminated. The execution of the 
 guilty soldiers expiated their crime, and propitiated the 
 offended Iroquois. All fear of reprisals being allayed, . 
 the party left La Chine* on the 6th clay of July — La 
 Salle with 15 men in four canoes, and De Casson and 
 Galinee, with seven men in three canoes, escorted by 
 two other canoes containing a party of Senecas who had 
 been the guests of La Salle in Montreal, during the pre- 
 ceding winter. They ascended the St. Lawrence, 
 threading the intricate channels formed by the Thousand 
 islands, carrying their canoes and effects around the 
 numerous and difficult portages they met on the way, 
 and at length, after 27 days of incessant toil, in which 
 they suffered severely from disease and exposure, they 
 reached the broad expanse of Lake Ontario. Coasting 
 along its southern shore, they landed on the 10th day of 
 August, at the mouth of Irondequoit Bay, four miles 
 east of the Genesee river. This bay was, in early times, 
 the principal route by which the Senecas were ac- 
 
 *So called, perhaps in derision, from its being their supposed starting 
 point for China. Paul Le Jeune, Superior of the Jesuit missions in Canada, 
 in a letter from Quebec dated Sept. 10th, 1640, gives a curious account of an 
 attempt on the part of an Englishman, accompanied by a single servant and 
 a party of Abenaki Indians, to cross the American Continent in search of a 
 northwest passage to the sea. He arrived at Quebec on the 24th day of June 
 1640. The Governor compelled him to return to England. Relation 
 1639-40, p. 135. 
 
 It was the favorite belief of the early travelers in American, that an over- 
 land route to China was practicable. 1. Le Clercq Etablissement de la Foi, 
 p. 195. 
 
 Father Vimont says that the Jesuit " Raymbault, designed to go to China 
 across the American wilderness, but God sent 1dm on the road to heaven.' 1 '' He 
 died at the Saut de Ste. Marie, in 1641. Relation 1642-3, p. 271. 
 
9 
 
 •customed to pass between their villages and the lake. 
 There was a portage from the head of the bay, across to 
 the Genesee river, striking the latter above the falls at 
 Rochester, which afforded a much shorter and more 
 convenient route to the upper waters of the Genesee, 
 and to the sources of the Ohio, than by ascending the 
 channel through its mouth. 
 
 The bay is first noticed on the map annexed to the 
 Jesuit Relation published in 1666, and is frequently al- 
 luded to in subsequent narratives of early western ex- 
 ploration. A fort was built by the French on the sandy 
 bar at its mouth, soon after the commencement of the last 
 century, and appropriately called u Fort des Sables." 
 It does not appear to have been permanently garrisoned, 
 its site being, for a long time, debatable ground between 
 the French and the English. The latter obtained a deed 
 from the Senecas in 1741, of a parallelogram bounding 
 on the lake, embracing within its limits the whole of the 
 bay, and extending inland to the depth of thirty miles. 
 Denonville landed in the bay, and constructed on its 
 shore a defensive work for the protection of his boats, 
 when on his celebrated expedition against the Senecas 
 in 1687.* 
 
 At the date of La Salle's visit, the whole of the pre- 
 sent State of New York, was a dense and unbroken 
 wilderness, its soil untilled by the white man, and its 
 forest recesses unexplored, save by the Jesuits in their 
 
 *The Seneca name of this bay, corrupted by the English into "Ironde- 
 quoit" and "Gerundegut," furnishes an interesting illustration of the Indian 
 custom of bestowing significant names upon prominent localities. They call 
 it "O-nyiu-da-on-da-gwat," the word being compounded of "Ga-nyiu-da-eh," 
 lake, and "O-da-gwah," it turns aside. Literally, "the lake turns aside," or 
 forms a bay, an etymological compound, analagous to the English term 
 " in-let." 
 
10 
 
 missionary enterprises, and the French and Dutch, from 
 Montreal and Fort Orange, in their prosecution of the 
 fur trade. The Iroquois tribes were of a sedentary 
 character, and the alluvial bottoms within the neigh- 
 borhood and protection of their villages, yielded to 
 their rude cultivation, rich returns of maize, beans, 
 squashes and melons, furnishing ample food for their 
 subsistence."" 
 
 Their villages, four in number, were all east of the 
 Genesee River. The largest, called Ga-o-sa-eli-ga-aalt, 
 occupied what has since been known as Boughton Hill, 
 in Ontario County, just south of Victor Station, on the 
 Central Railroad, and midway between Rochester and 
 Canandaigua. The second in importance, De-yu-di-haak- 
 doh, was in a large bend of the Honeoye outlet, in 
 Livingston County, about ten miles south of Rochester. 
 The third, CM-nos-hali-geli, was nearly four miles southeast 
 of Victor, and the fourth, De-o-don-sot, five miles south- 
 east of Avon Springs, at the source of the little Conesus 
 Creek. These four villages formed, as it were, the 
 angles of a nearly right angled parallelogram, the two 
 nearest Lake Ontario being about 18 miles southerly 
 therefrom. The corresponding Mohawk names of these 
 four villages, as written by Denonville, were Gannagaro, 
 Totiakto, Gannogarae and Gannounata.f 
 
 *The Swedish, naturalist Kalm, who travelled extensively in North America 
 in 1748-9, says, that "maize, kidney Deans, pumpions, squashes, gourds, 
 " watermelons and muskmelons were cultivated by the Indians long before 
 "the arrival of Europeans." Kami's Travels, Vol. III., P. 295. Possibly 
 the seeds of some of these fruits were introduced among the natives by the 
 Jesuits, early in the 17th Century, and being found by subsequent travellers, 
 were supposed by them to be indigenous. 
 
 f See an account of the location of these villages and of their identification 
 by the author, in the second volume of the N. Y, Historical Collections, 
 second series, p. 15S. 
 
11 
 
 The earliest recorded visit made to these villages by 
 the white man, was that of Father Chaumonot, in the 
 latter part of 1656, thirteen years before the expedition 
 of La Salle.'"" 
 
 It did not result in any permanent mission among the 
 Senecas, as he remained but a short time in their coun- 
 try. The wars then raging between the Iroquois and 
 their savage neighbors, were wholly incompatible with 
 missionary enterprises. 
 
 It was not until the year 1667, that the Jesuits made 
 permanent arrangements for the culture of this new and 
 remote field. In July of that year, Fathers Fremin, 
 Pierron and Bruyas, left Quebec for the Iroquois coun- 
 try. They were detained on their way for more than a 
 month at Fort St. Anne, on the outlet of Lake Cham- 
 plain, through fear of the Mohegans, then on a raid 
 against the Mohawks. Their alarm having subsided, 
 they left the fort on the 23d of August, and arrived at 
 " Gan-cla-oua-ge," a Mohawk village which had witnessed 
 the labors and death of the Jesuit martyr Jogues, 
 twenty-one years before. Here Fremin and Pierron now 
 established themselves in their missionary work. Father 
 Bruyas passed on to Oneida, where he arrived in Sep- 
 tember, and was soon after joined by Gamier. 
 
 But another field farther west was calling for laborers, 
 and Gamier, in obedience to the summons, left for the 
 
 *Some American historians are of the opinion that Champlain, in his ex- 
 pedition against the Iroqnois in 1615, laid seige to a Seneca village then 
 ' situated on the west side of Canandaigua Lake. Doc. History of N. Y., 
 Vol. III., p. 10. Champlains works, Quebec edition, p. 528. It appears to 
 the author, on a careful examination of Champlain's journal and map, 
 that he came no further west than Onondaga Lake. Sec N. Y. Historical 
 Proceedings, 1849, p. 96. 
 
12 
 
 Central Canton of the Onondagas, where he was joined 
 by two new recruits, Millet* and Carheil, in October of 
 the following year. 
 
 Leaving Millet at Onondaga, Carheil proceeded west- 
 ward to Caynga, where he arrived in November, 1668, 
 and remained in missionaiy work for several years, but 
 was finally driven out through the influence of the 
 haughty " O-re-oua-he," otherwise called "La Grand 
 Guele." He spent sixty years of missionary life among 
 the Indians, and died in Quebec in 1726. 
 
 Missions having thus been established in the four 
 eastern Cantons of the Iroquois, the Senecas, the most 
 populous and warlike of the confederacy, desirous of 
 sharing in the same religious advantages, sent a deputa- 
 tion of their most influential chiefs to Montreal in No- 
 vember, 1668, asking the Jesuits to send missionaries to 
 their villages. 
 
 The request was promptly granted, for when was 
 such an appeal ever made to a Jesuit in vain. They 
 selected Father Fremin, who had now spent a year 
 among the Mohawks, for the new mission, and he was 
 soon on his way to the country of the fierce and haughty 
 Senecas, leaving Pierron to conduct, single handed, the 
 former mission. He arrived at " Tsonnontonan "f on 
 the first day of November, 1668, in the midst of a raging 
 epidemic, which was so destructive, that he was obliged 
 to summon Father Gamier from Onondaga to his aid. 
 
 *Millet continued at Onondaga until 1671. He was then transferred to 
 Oneida, where he remained until 1684, when he returned to Canada. He 
 was taken prisoner near Fort Frontenac by the Oneidas in 1689, but his 
 life was saved through his adoption by a squaw. He finally succeeded in 
 obtaining his release, and returned to Quebec in 1694. Father Charlevoix 
 saw him in 1722, and speaks of him in terms of the highest consideration. 
 
 f This was the general name of the Seneca country. See Appendix. 
 
13 
 
 Frerain chose for his residence the village of Gan-dow- 
 ga-rae,* x " situated on the banks of a stream now known 
 as Mud Creek, nearly four miles southeast of Victor, a 
 site which until quite recently, bore many evidences of 
 former Indian occupancy. He there founded the mis- 
 sion of St. Michael, in which he continued to labor until 
 1671. 
 
 Gamier located at the village called by the Mohawks 
 Gan-da-chi-ra-gou, described on page 10 as Ga-o-sa-eh- 
 ga-aah in Seneca, situated on what is now known as 
 Boughton Hill, where he remained until 1683. Henne- 
 pin saw him there in 1679, at the time negotiations were 
 instituted with the Senecas in behalf of La Salle, for 
 permission to build a fort or storehouse on the Niagara, 
 and a vessel above the Falls. 
 
 These missions being thus fully established, Father 
 Fremin, as Superior, called a general council of all the 
 Jesuits laboring in them, to meet at Onondaga for con- 
 sultation as to the best means for promoting their mis- 
 sionary work, or, in the language of Father Bruyas, 
 " for advancing the salvation of souls, the glory of God 
 "and the Iroquois Missions." 
 
 They assembled on the 29th day of August, 1669, in 
 full council. Fremin left the Seneca Mission of St. 
 Michael to attend the convocation on the tenth day of 
 the same month, the very day that the expedition, under 
 La Salle and the two Sulpicians, landed at Irondequoit 
 Bay, as before stated, on their way to Gannagaro, or St. 
 James, on Boughton Hill.f 
 
 The avowed object of La Salle and his companions, in 
 
 *See page 10 where it is called Gannogarae. 
 •(•Jesuit Relation 1670, p. 75, Canada Edition. 
 
14 
 
 visiting the Senecas, was to obtain a guide competent to 
 conduct them through the unknown wilderness that lay 
 between their villages and the sources of the Ohio. The 
 unfortunate absence of Fremin and Gamier at the Onon- 
 daga Council during all the time of their visit, was un- 
 doubtedly the principal cause of the failure of the expe- 
 dition, as they were the only individuals who had a 
 knowledge of the Indian language, sufficient to enable 
 them to interpret between the French and the Senecas. 
 There is good reason for the belief that they were absent 
 by design. La Salle had formerly been a member of 
 their Order, but had resigned before he . came to> 
 America, its rigid discipline and ascetic vows not har- 
 monizing with his restless ambition and love of adventure. 
 Although he was engaged for twenty years in western 
 explorations, frequently meeting the Jesuits in his 
 travels and visiting them in their missions, there is not, 
 in all the twenty volumes of their Relations published 
 during that period, a single allusion to his name or to 
 any of his discoveries. While the Griffin was building 
 at the mouth of the Cayuga Creek, La Salle was travers- 
 ing the Niagara and the borders of Lake Ontario, hold- 
 ing councils with the Senecas in the villages in which 
 the Jesuits were established, yet they omitted to record 
 in their writings, the slightest notice of his presence or 
 reference to his enterprises. There can be no satisfac- 
 tory explanation of all this, except the jealousy enter- 
 tained by the Order, of one who had withdrawn from 
 their communion, and boldly undertaken an independent 
 part in the exploration and development of a country 
 which they had appropriated as their own peculiar field 
 of labor. 
 
15 
 
 There also existed no little jealousy between the 
 Jesuits and the Sulpicians, which undoubtedly had its 
 influence in preventing the success of any enterprise in 
 which the latter were engaged. 
 
 The time chosen by La Salle and his companions was 
 deemed favorable for their visit to the Senecas, the 
 French and Iroquois being now at peace, and the Jesuits 
 established in fixed missions, in all the Cantons of the 
 Five Nations, as before stated. 
 
 These preliminary remarks, embracing a few personal 
 sketches of the leaders of the expedition, and character- 
 istics of the Indians they encountered, some notices of 
 the country into which they so boldly entered, and of 
 the missions which had already been established, are 
 deemed pertinent, as an introduction to the Journal of 
 Galinen. 
 
 In the translation which follows. I have adhered as 
 closely to the original as the obscure and antiquated 
 French in which it is written would admit. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE JOURNAL OF GALINEE. 
 
 " After thirty-five days of very difficult navigation, we 
 arrived at a small river called by the Indians " Karonta- 
 gouat,"* which is the nearest point on the lake to "Son- 
 nontouan," and about one hundred leagues southwest 
 of Montreal. I took the latitude of this place on the 
 26th of August, 1669, with my JacobstaffJ As I had a 
 very fine horizon on the north, no land, but the open 
 lake, being visible in that direction, I took the altitude 
 on that side as being; the least liable to error, 
 
 *The Mohawk name for Irondequoit Bay. 
 
 +A Jacobstaff was a rude graduated instrument with moveable indexes, 
 used before the invention of the quadrant by Hadley. 
 
16 
 
 I found the sun to be distant 33° from the zenith, to 
 which I added 10° 12' for its north declination on that 
 day. The equinoctial was found to be distant from the 
 zenith, and consequently the Arctic Pole elevated above 
 the horizon at this place, 43° 12', which is its true lati- 
 tude, and agrees quite well with the latitude which I 
 found in estimating the points of compass we had run 
 over, agreeably to the usage of sailors, who are never 
 without knowledge of their position, although destitute 
 of an instrument with which to take an observation. 
 
 We had no sooner arrived in this place than we were 
 visited by a number of Indians, who came to make us 
 small presents of Indian corn, pumpkins, blackberries 
 and whortleberries, fruits of which they had an abund- 
 ance. We made presents in return, of knives, awls, 
 needles, glass beads and other articles which they prize, 
 and with which we were well provided. 
 
 Our guides urged us to remain in this place until the 
 next day, as the chiefs would not fail to come in the 
 evening with provisions to escort us to the village. 
 
 In fact night had no sooner come, than a large troop 
 of Indians, with a number oi women loaded with pro- 
 visions, arrived and encamped near by, and made for us 
 bread of Indian corn and fruits.* They did not desire to 
 speak to us in regular council, but told us we were ex- 
 pected in the village, to every cabin of which word had 
 been sent, to gather all the old men at a council which 
 would be held for the purpose of ascertaining the object 
 of our visit. 
 
 M. Dollier, M. de La Salle and myself, consulted to- 
 
 * The Indians dry fruit in the sun and put it in their bread, cooking it in 
 the ashes. Sagard voyage, p, 327. 
 
IT 
 
 gether, in order to determine in .what manner we sliould 
 act, "what we should utter for presents, and how we 
 should give them. It was agreed that I should go to 
 the village with M. de La Salle, for the purpose of ob- 
 taining a captive taken from the nation which we de- 
 sired to visit, who could conduct us thither, and that we 
 should take with us eight of our Frenchmen, the rest to 
 remain with M. Dollier in charge of the canoes. This 
 plan was carried out, and the next day, August 12th, 
 had no sooner dawned, than we were notified by the 
 Indians that it was time to set out. We started with 
 ten Frenchmen and forty or fifty Indians, who compelled 
 us to rest every league, fearing we would be too much 
 fatigued. 
 
 About half way we found another company of Indians 
 who had come to meet us. They made us presents of 
 provisions and accompanied us to the village. 
 
 When we were within about a league of the latter, the 
 halt- were more frequent, and our company increased 
 more and more, until we finally came in sight of the 
 great village, which is in a large plain, about two leagues 
 in circumference. In "order to reach it we had to ascend 
 a small hill,* on the edge of which the village is situated. 
 
 As soon as Ave had mounted the hill, we saw a large 
 company of old men seated on the grass, waiting for us. 
 They had left a convenient place in front, in which 
 they invited us to sit down. 
 
 This we did, and at the same time an old man, nearly 
 blind, and so infirm that he could hardly support him- 
 self, arose, and in a very animated tone, delivered a 
 speech, in which he declared his joy at our arrival, that 
 
 *Xo\v Bouuhton Hill. 
 
18 
 
 we must consider the Senecas as our brothers, that they 
 would regard us as theirs, and in that relation they in- 
 vited us to enter their village, where they had prepared 
 a cabin for us until we were ready to disclose our pur- 
 pose. We thanked them for their civilities, and told 
 them through our interpreter, that we would, on the 
 next day, declare to them the object of our expedition. 
 This done, an Indian, who officiated as master of cere- 
 monies, came to conduct us to our lod^in^s. 
 
 We followed him, and he led us to the largest cabin 
 of the village, which they had prepared for our resi- 
 dence, giving orders to the women belonging to it not 
 to let us want for anything. In truth they were at all 
 times very faithful during our sojourn, in preparing our 
 food and in bringing the wood necessary to afford us 
 light at night. 
 
 This village, like all those of the Indians, is nothing 
 but a collection of cabins, surrounded with palisades 
 twelve or thirteen feet high, bound together at the top, 
 and supported at the base, behind the palisades, by large 
 masses of wood of the height of a man. The curtains 
 are not otherwise flanked, but form a simple enclosure, 
 perfectly square, so that these forts are not any protec- 
 tion. Besides this, the precaution is seldom taken to 
 place them on the bank of a stream, or near a spring, 
 but on some hill, where, ordinarily, they are quite dis- 
 tant from water. 
 
 On the evenino- of the 12th we saw all the chiefs of 
 the other villages arrive, so as to be in readiness for the 
 council which was to be held the next day. 
 
 The Seneca Nation is the most populous of all the 
 Iroquois. It comprises four villages, of which two em- 
 
19 
 
 brace about 100 cabins each, and the other two about 
 30 each, containing in all perhaps 1,000 or 1,200 men, 
 capable of bearing arms. The two larger are about six 
 or seven leagues apart, and each six or seven leagues 
 from the shore of the lake.* The land between the 
 lake and the easternmost of the larger villages to which 
 I went, consists for the most part of fine large meadows, 
 in which the grass is as tall as myself, and in places 
 where there are woods, the oaks predominate. The}' 
 are so scattered that one can easily ride among them on 
 horseback. We were told that this open country ex- 
 tends towards the east more than one hundred leagues, 
 and towards the west and south to an unknown distance, 
 especially towards the south, where prairies are found 
 without a tree for upwards of one hundred leagues. 
 The Indians who have visited those localities say they 
 produce very good fruit and Indian corn extremely 
 line. 
 
 At length, the ]3th of August having arrived, the 
 Indians assembled in our cabin, to the number of fifty or 
 sixty of the principal men of the Nation. Their custom 
 on entering is to appropriate the most convenient places 
 which they find vacant, without reference to rank, and 
 immediately to take some lire to light their pipes,f which 
 never leave their mouths during the entire sitting of 
 the council. They say that good thoughts are produced 
 by smoking. 
 
 When the assembly had become sufficiently numerous, 
 we began to speak of business, and it was then M. de 
 
 * See page 10, note f 
 
 f The Indians, while attending a council, always light their pipes at the 
 
 fire which is kept burning while the session lasts. 
 
20 
 
 La Salle confessed he was unable to make himself under- 
 stood. On the other hand my interpreter said that he 
 did not know enough of French to convey his meaning 
 to us. So we deemed it more advisable to employ the 
 servant of Father Fremin to speak in our behalf and to in- 
 terpret what the Indians should reply, and it was so done. 
 
 It must be stated that Father Fremin was not then 
 at his post, but had gone a few days previous to Onon- 
 daga, to attend a meeting which was to be held there 
 of all the Jesuits scattered among the Five Nations. 
 There was therefore no one but the servant of Father 
 Fremin, who could serve as our interpreter.* ■ 
 
 Our first present was a pistol with two barrels, worth 
 sixty francs, and the message with which we accompa- 
 nied the present, was, that we regarded them as our 
 brothers, and as such were so strong in their interest, 
 that we made them a present of said pistol with two bar- 
 rels, so that with one shot they could destroy the Wolf 
 Nation, (Loups) and with the other the Andostoues, 
 being two nations against which they wage a cruel war.f 
 
 The second present, of six kettles, six hatchets, four 
 dozen knives. and five or six pounds of large glass beads, 
 declared to them that we had come on the part of On- 
 ontio,^ (it is thus they call the Governor,) to establish 
 peace. 
 
 * See page 13. 
 
 f The Loups or Wolf Nation were the Mohegans. The Andastes were al- 
 most exterminated by the Iroquois in 1672. The survivors were adopted, 
 chiefly by the Senecas. Relation 1667, Quebec Edition p, 28. II Charlevoix 
 page 244. 
 
 % The signification of Onontio is great mount/cut, being a translation into 
 Iroquois of the name of the second Governor of Canada, the Chevalier 
 Montmagny. The Indians always applied the. same name to his successors in 
 office. Jesuit Relation 1640-1, p. 77. 
 
21 
 
 The third and Inst present, of two coats, four kettles, 
 six hatchets and some glass beads, declared that we had 
 come on the part of Onontio, to see the people called by 
 them " Toagenha,"* living on the river Ohio, and that 
 we asked from them a captive of that country, to con- 
 duct us thither. They considered it was necessary to 
 think over our proposition, so they waited until the next 
 day, before giving their answer. These people have a 
 custom never to speak of any business without making 
 some present to serve as a reminder of the words which 
 they utter. 
 
 Early the next morning, they all came back, and the 
 most distinguished chief among them presented a belt 
 of wampum, to assure us that we were welcome among 
 our brothers. The second present was another belt of 
 wampum, to assure us they were firmly resolved to main- 
 tain peace with the French, and that their nation had 
 never made war upon the French, and did not desire to 
 begin it in a time of peace. For the third present, they 
 said they would give us a captive as we had requested, 
 but they desired to wait until the young men had re- 
 turned from trading with the Dutch, to whom they had 
 carried all their captives, and then they would not fail 
 to e'ive us one. We asked them not to detain us more 
 than eight days, because of the advancing season. This 
 they promised, and each one withdrew to his own cabin- 
 In the meantime they entertained us as well as they 
 could, and rivaled each other in feasting us according to 
 
 *The name Otoagannha signifies, " a people speaking a corrupt Algonquin." 
 The nation is described as living in a warm and fertile country, on a river, 
 which either empties into the Gulf of Mexico or the Vermillion Sea. Rela- 
 tion 1661-2, p. 9. This must refer to the Ohio, not then discovered by the 
 French. 
 
22 
 
 the custom of the country. But I assure you I was 
 many times more desirous of rendering up what I had in 
 my stomach, than of taking into it any thing new. The 
 principal food in this village, where they rarely have 
 fresh meat, is the dog, the hair of which they singe over 
 coals. After having thoroughly scraped the carcass, 
 they cut it in pieces and place it in a kettle. When 
 cooked, they serve you with a piece weighing three or 
 four pounds, in a wooden dish, which has never been 
 cleaned with any other dishcloth than the fingers of the 
 mistress of the house, which have left their impress 
 in the urease that always covers their vessels to the 
 thickness of a silver crown. 
 
 Another of their favorite dishes is Indian meal, cooked 
 in water, and served in a wooden bowl, with a small 
 portion of tournesol, nut or bear's oil.* 
 
 There was not a child in the village but was eager to 
 bring 1 us, sometimes stalks of Indian corn and oftentimes 
 pumpkins, besides other small fruits which they gather 
 in the woods. 
 
 We thus consumed the time, for eight or ten days, 
 waiting until the party should return from their trading, 
 to give us a captive. 
 
 It was during this interval that, in order to pass away 
 the time, I went with M. de La Salle, under the escort of 
 two Indians, about four leagues south of the village 
 where we were staying, to see a very extraordinary 
 spring. Issuing from a moderately high rock, it forms a 
 small brook. The water is very clear but has a bad odor, 
 
 * The Jesuit Le Merrier says in the Relation for 1657, p. 33, Quebec Edi- 
 tion, that the Indians extract oil from the Tournesol, by means of ashes, the 
 mill, fire and water. The Tournesol referred to is probably the common 
 sun-flower, which is indigenous to the warmer parts of North America. 
 
23 
 
 like that of the mineral marshes of Paris, when the mud 
 on the bottom is stirred with the foot. I applied a 
 torch and the water immediately took fire and burned 
 like brandy, and was not extinguished until it rained. 
 This flame is among the Indians a sign of abundance or 
 sterility according as it exhibits the contrary qualities. 
 There is no appearance of sulphur, saltpetre or any other 
 combustible material. The water has not even any taste, 
 and I can neither offer nor imagine any better explana- 
 tion, than that it acquires this combustible property by 
 passing over some aluminous land.* 
 
 It was during this interval that they brought some 
 
 *The Spring above described was undoubtedly what is known in this re- 
 gion as a " burning spring," many of which abound in Western New York. 
 
 Being desirous of ascertaining if one still existed in the direction and at 
 the distance from the Seneca village indicated in the narrative, I found, on 
 consulting a map of Ontario County, that a village named " Bristol Centre," 
 was at the exact point. On addressing a note of inquiry to a gentlemen re- 
 siding there, he answered as follows : 
 
 There are in this Town burning springs, in a direct line south of Boughtorr 
 Hill, located in the south side of a small brook which empties through a ra- 
 vine into the west side of Mud Creek. The springs are on a level with the 
 bed of the brook. The banks opposite the springs are from 18 to 20 feet 
 high, perpendicular and rocky. The gas emits a peculiar odor. By apply- 
 ing a match the water appears to burn, and is not easily extinguished, except 
 by a high wind or heavy rain." 
 
 It will be noticed that the two descriptions, written nearly 200 years apart, 
 correspond in a striking manner. The same phenomena, that excited the 
 wonder of La Salle and his companions, are still in operation, living witnesses 
 of the truth of the Sulpician's narrative. 
 
 In the instructions given by the Earl of Bellomont to Col. Romer, to visit 
 the Seneca Country in September, 1700, he directs him "to go and view a 
 well or spring which is eight miles beyond the Senecas furthest castle, which 
 they have told me blazes up in a flame when a light coal or firebrand is put 
 into it. You will do well to taste the said water and give me your opinion 
 thereof, and bring with you some of it." N. Y. Col. Doc, Vol. IV, p. 750. 
 
24 
 
 brandy from the Dutch to the village, on which many 
 savages became drunk.* 
 
 . Many times the relations of the person who had been 
 killed at Montreal a few days before we left there, threat- 
 ened, ia their intoxication, to break our heads or dis- 
 patch us with their knives, so as to be able to say after- 
 wards, that they committed the base act, when not in 
 their senses. They are not in the habit of mourning for 
 those who are killed in this manner, for fear of giving 
 uneasiness to the living, by reminding him of his offence. 
 In the mean time we kept so well on our guard, that we 
 escaped all injury. 
 
 During this interval I saw the saddest spectacle I had 
 ever witnessed. I was informed one evening, that some 
 warriors had arrived with a prisoner, and had placed him 
 in a cabin near our own. I went to see him, and found 
 him seated with three women, who vied with each other in 
 bewailing the death of a relative who had been killed in 
 the skirmish in which the prisoner had been captured. 
 
 He was a young man 18 or 20 years old, very well 
 formed, whom they had clothed from head to foot since 
 his arrival. They had inflicted no injury upon him since 
 his capture. They had not even saluted him with blows, 
 as is their custom with prisoners on their entering a vil- 
 lage. I thought, therefore, that I would have an oppor- 
 tunity to demand him for our guide, as they said he was 
 
 * Father Bruyas, then located at Oneida, in writing under date of August 
 16th, 1669, from that village, as narrated in the cotemporary Jesuit Relation, 
 says: " The Indians have returned this day from their traffic with sixty ban'els 
 of Brandy, brought from New Holland." (Albany.) Jesuit Relation 1670, p. 
 45; Canadian Edition. 
 
 Thus Hie two Fathers, Bruyas and Galinee, of two rival religious orders, 
 and by independent testimony, that of one having never before been published, 
 verify the truth of each others statements. See Relation 1670-1, p. 79. 
 
2D 
 
 one of the Tougenhas.* I then went to find M. de La 
 Salle for that purpose, who told me that the Senecas 
 were men of their word, that since they had promised 
 us a captive, they would give us one, that it mattered 
 little whether it was this one or another, and it was use- 
 less to press them. I therefore gave myself no further 
 trouble about it. Night came on and we retired. 
 
 The next day had no sooner dawned, than a large 
 company entered our cabin, to tell us that the captive 
 was about to be burned, and that he had asked to see 
 the u mistigouch." \ I ran to the public place to see him, 
 and found he was already on the scaffold, where they 
 had bound him hand and foot to a stake. 
 
 I was surprised to hear him utter some Algonquin words 
 which I knew, although, from the manner in which he 
 pronounced them, they were hardly recognizable. He 
 made me comprehend at last, that he desired his execu- 
 tion should be postponed until the next day. If he had 
 spoken good Algonquin, 1 would have understood him,. 
 but his language differed from the Algonquin still more 
 than that of the Ottawas, so I understood but very little. 
 I conversed with the Iroquois through our Dutch inter- 
 preter, who told me that the captive had been given to 
 an old woman, in place of her son who had been killed, 
 that she could not bear to see him live, that all the 
 family took such a deep interest in his suffering, that 
 they would not postpone his torture. The irons were 
 already in the fire to torment the poor wretch. 
 
 * The Tougenhas were probably identical with the Shawnees who lived on 
 the Ohio, adjacent to the Miami and Scioto rivers. 
 
 f The Algonquin name for Frenchman. Ill Pouchot, p. 364. The mean- 
 ing of the name is "builders of wooden canoes," alluding to the ships in 
 which the Freneh first appeared to the Indians. Relation 1633, p, 43. Sagard 
 voyage, p, 97. 
 
26 
 
 On my part, I told our interpreter to demand him in 
 place of the captive they had promised, and I would 
 make a present to the old woman to whom he belonged, 
 but he was not at any time willing to make the propo- 
 sition, alleging that such was not their custom, and the 
 affair was of too serious a nature. 
 
 I even used threats to induce him to say what I de- 
 sired, but in vain, for he was obstinate as a Dutchman, 
 and ran away to avoid me. , 
 
 I then remained alone near the poor sufferer, who 
 saw before him the instruments of his torture. I en- 
 deavored to make him understand that he could have no 
 recourse but to God, and that he should pray to him thus: 
 
 " Thou who hast made all things, have pity on me. 
 I am sorry not to have obeyed Thee, but if I should live, 
 1 will obey Thee in all things." 
 
 He understood me better than I expected, because all 
 the people who are neighbors to the Outaouacs, under- 
 stand Algonquin. I did not consider that I ought to 
 baptise him, not only because I could not understand 
 him well enough to know his state of mind, but for the 
 reason that the Iroquois uVged me to leave him, that they 
 might begin their tragedy. 
 
 Besides, I believed that the act of contrition which I 
 had caused him to exhibit, would save him. Had I fore- 
 seen this event, on the preceding evening, I would cer- 
 tainly have baptised him, for I would have had ; during 
 the night, time to instruct him. So I could do nothings 
 but exhort him to endure patiently, and to carry up his 
 sufferings to God, in saying to him often, "Thou who 
 hast made all things, have pity on me." This he repeated 
 with his eyes raised toward heaven. In the meantime I 
 
27 
 
 saw the principal relative of the deceased, approach him 
 with a gun barrel, half of which was heated red hot. 
 This obliged me to withdraw. Some began to disap- 
 prove of my encouraging him, inasmuch as it is a bad 
 sign among them for a prisoner to endure the torture 
 patiently. I retired therefore with sorrow, and had 
 scarcely turned away, when the barbarous Iroquois ap- 
 plied the red hot gun-barrel to the top of his feet, which 
 caused the poor wretch to utter a loud cry. This turned 
 me about, and I saw the Iroquois, with a grave and 
 sober countenance, apply the iron slowly along his feet and 
 legs, and some old men who were smoking around the 
 scaffold, and all the young people, leaped with joy, to 
 witness the contortions which the severity of the heat 
 caused in the poor sufferer. 
 
 While these events were transpiring, I retired to the 
 cabin where Ave lodged, full of sorrow at being unable to 
 save the poor captive, and it was then that I realized, 
 more than ever, the importance of not venturing too far 
 among the people of this country, without knowing 
 their language, or being certain of obtaining an inter- 
 preter. I can affirm, that the lack of an interpreter 
 under our own control, prevented the entire success of 
 our expedition. 
 
 As I was in our cabin, praying to God, and very sad, 
 M. de La Salle came and told me he was apprehensive 
 that, in the excitement he saw prevailing in the village, 
 they would insult us — that many would become intoxi- 
 cated that day, and he had finally resolved to return to 
 the place where we had left the canoes, and the rest of 
 our people. I told him I was ready to follow, for I had 
 difficulty, while remainingTwith him there, in banishing 
 
28 
 
 from my mind that sad spectacle. We told the seven or 
 eight of our people who were there with us, to with- 
 draw for the day to a small village half a league from 
 the large one, where we were,* for fear of some insult, 
 and M. de La Salle and myself went to find M. Dollier, 
 six leagues from the village. 
 
 There were some of our people barbarous enough to 
 be willing to witness, from beginning to end, the torture 
 of the poor Toagenha, and who reported to us the next 
 day, that his entire body had been burned with hot irons 
 for the space of six hours, that there was not the least 
 spot left that had not been roasted. After that they 
 had required him to run six courses past the place where 
 the Troquois were waiting for him armed with burning 
 clubs, with which they goaded and beat him to the 
 ground when he attempted to join them. Mairy took 
 kettles fall of coals and hot ashes, with which they cov- 
 ered him, as soon as, by reason of fatigue and debility, 
 he wished to take a moment's repose. At length, after 
 two hours of this barbarous diversion, they knocked 
 him down with a stone, and throwing themselves upon 
 him, cut his body in pieces. One carried off his head, 
 another an arm, a third some other member, which they 
 put in the pot for the feast. 
 
 Many offered some to the Frenchmen, telling them 
 there was nothing in the world better to eat, but no one 
 desired to try the experiment. 
 
 In the evening all assembled in the public place, each 
 with stick in hand, with which they began to beat the 
 
 * This was a small fortified village, a mile and a half west of Boughton 
 Hill, and known as Fort Hill, among the early settlers. New York Hist. 
 Coll., Vol. II, New Series, p. 160. 
 
29 
 
 cabins on all sides, making a very loud noise, to chase 
 away, they said, the soul of the deceased, which might 
 be concealed in some corner to do them injury. 
 
 Sometime after this we returned to the village, to 
 collect among the cabins the Indian corn necessary for 
 our journey, and which was brought to us by the women 
 •of the place, each according to her means. It had to 
 be carried on the back for the six long leagues that lay 
 between the village and the place where we were en- 
 camped. 
 
 During our stay at that village, we inquired particu- 
 larly about the road we must take in order to reach the 
 Ohio river, and they all told us to go in search of it 
 from Sonnontouan. That it required six days journey 
 by land, of about twelve leagues each.* 
 
 This induced us to believe that we could not possibly 
 reach it in that way, as we would hardly be able to carry, 
 for so long a journey, our necessary provisions, much 
 less our baggage. But they told us at the same time, 
 that in going to find it by the way of Lake Erie, in 
 canoes, we would have only a three days portage before 
 arriving at that river, reaching it at a point much nearer 
 the people we were seeking, than to go by Sonnontouan. 
 What embarrassed us however more than all else was, 
 that which the Indians told our Dutch interpreter. They 
 said he was devoid of sense to be willing to go to the 
 Toaguenha, who were very bad people, who would 
 search for our camp-fires in the evening and then come in 
 the night to kill us with their arrows, with which they 
 would riddle us ere we had discovered them. Besides 
 
 * The route they proposed to take was probably up the Genesee river to 
 one of its sources, crossing from thence to the head waters of the Allegany. 
 
30 
 
 would run erreat risk alone: the river Ohio, of 
 meeting the Ontastois* who would surely break our heads. 
 That for these reasons the Senecas were not willing to 
 go with us for fear it would be thought they were the 
 cause of the death of the French, that they hud, with 
 great reluctance decided to furnish a guide, fearing that 
 Onontio would impute our death to them, and after- 
 wards make war upon them out of revenge. 
 
 These discussions continued among them without our 
 being able to understand their nature, but I was com- 
 pletely astonished to see the ardor of my Dutchman 
 abate. He continued to insist that the Indians where 
 we wished to go were of no account, and would surely 
 kill us. When I told him there was nothing to fear if 
 we stationed a good sentinel, he replied, that the senti- 
 nel, beino- near the fire, could not see those who would 
 come at night, under cover of the trees and thickets. 
 Finally it was apparent, from all these speeches, that he 
 was alarmed, and in fact he did not discharge his duties 
 as o-uide with as much zeal as before. In addition to 
 all this, it was evident that the savages were bribed. 
 Thus they trifled with us from day to day, saying that 
 their people delayed returning from their trading expe- 
 dition, longer than they had anticipated. 
 
 We suffered much from this detention, because we lost 
 the most favorable season for travelling, and could not 
 hope to winter with any nation if we delayed much 
 longer, — a contingency which M. de La Salle regarded 
 as certain death, because of the difficulty of obtaining 
 provisions in the woods. Nevertheless we have, thank 
 God, experienced the contrary.- 
 
 *So spelled in the manuscript. It may refer to the Andantes. 
 
31 
 
 We were relieved of all this difficulty, by the arrival 
 from the' Dutch, of an Indian who lodged in our cabin. 
 He belonged to a village of one of the Five Iroquois 
 nations, which is situated at the end of Lake Ontario, 
 for thereon veirience of hunting the deer and the bear, 
 which are abundant in that vicinity. This Indian assured 
 us that we r would have no trouble in finding a guide, 
 that af number p of captives of the nations we desired to 
 visit were there, and he would very cheerfully conduct 
 us thither. 
 
 We thought it would be well to take this course, not 
 only because we would be on our way, approaching the 
 place whither we desired to go, but as the village had 
 only 18 or fc 20 cabins, we flattered ouiselves we could 
 easily become its masters, and exact through fear, what 
 would not be willingly accorded to us through friend- 
 ship. 
 
 It was under the influence of these hopes that we left 
 the Sonnontouans. We found a river, one-eighth of a 
 league broad and extremely rapid, forming the outlet or 
 communication from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The 
 depth of the river (for it is properly the St. Lawrence), 
 is, at this place extraordinary, for, on sounding close by 
 the shore, we found 15 or 16 fathoms of water. This 
 outlet is 40 leagues long, and has, from ten to twelve 
 leagues above its embouchure into Lake Ontario, one of 
 the finest cataracts, or falls of water in the world, for all 
 the Indians of whom I have inquired about it, say, that 
 the river falls at that place from a rock higher than the 
 tallest pines, that is about 200 feet. In fact we heard it 
 from the place where we were, although from 10 to 12 
 leagues distant, but the fall gives such a momentum to 
 
32 
 
 the water, that its velocity prevented our ascending the 
 current by rowing, except with great difficulty. At a 
 quarter of a league from the outlet where we were, it 
 arrows narrower, and its channel is confined between two 
 very high, steep, rocky banks, inducing the belief that 
 the navigation would be very difficult quite up to the 
 Cataract. As to the river above the Falls, the current 
 very often sucks into this gulf, from a great distance, deer 
 and stags, elk and roebucks, that suffer themselves to 
 be drawn from such a point in crossing the river, that 
 they are compelled to descend the Falls, and to be 
 overwhelmed in its frightful abyss.* 
 
 Our desire to reach the little village called Ganastogue 
 Sonontou&O-tiii-a-oiia-ta-ouai prevented our going to view 
 that wonder, which I consider as so much the greater in 
 proportion as the river St. Lawrence is one of the larg- 
 est in the world. I will leave you to judge if that is not 
 a fine cataract in which all the water of that large river, 
 — having its mouth three leagues broad,f — falls from a 
 height of 200 feet, with a noise that is heard not only at 
 the place where Ave were, 10 or 12 leagues distant, but 
 also from the other side of Lake Ontario, opposite its 
 mouth, where M. Trouve told me he had heard it. 
 
 * Galintie's description of the Falls is probably the earliest on record. His 
 account, which is wholly derived from the Indians, is remarkably correct. 
 If they had been visited by the Jesuits prior to the time of this expedition, 
 they have failed to relate the fact or to describe them in their Journals. The 
 Niagara River is alluded to under the name of OnguiaaJira, as the celebrated 
 river of the Neutral nation, by Father L'Allemant in the Jesuit Relation for 
 1640-1, p. 65, published in 1642, but he makes no mention of the Cataract. 
 Its first appearance is on Champlain's map of 1632. Afterwards on Sanson's 
 map of Canada, published in Paris in 1657. It was mentioned by the Indi- 
 ans to Cartier, when he ascended the St. Lawrence in 1535. Lescarbot,. 
 p. 381, edition of 1609. 
 
 f At the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
 
33 
 
 We passed the river, and finally, at the end of five 
 days travel arrived at the extremity of Lake Ontario, 
 where there is a fine large sandy bay, at the end of which 
 is an outlet of another small lake which is there dis- 
 charged.^ Into this our £>uicle conducted us about half 
 a league, to a point nearest the village, but distant from 
 it some 5 or 6 leagues, and where we unloaded our 
 canoes. 
 
 We waited here until the chiefs of the village came to 
 meet us with some men to carry our effects. M. de La 
 Salle was seized, while hunting, with a severe fever,which 
 in a few days reduced him very low. 
 
 Some said it was caused by the sight of three large 
 rattlesnakes which he had encountered on his way while 
 ascending a rocky eminence. f At any rate it is certain 
 that it is a very ugly spectacle, for those animals are not 
 timid like other serpents, but firmly Avait for a person, 
 quickly assuming a defensive attitude, and coiling half 
 the body, from the tail to the middle, as if it were a 
 large cord, keeping the remainder entirely straight, and 
 darting forward, sometimes three or four paces, all the 
 time making a loud noise with the rattle which it carries 
 at the end of its tail. There are many in this place as 
 large as the arm, six or seven feet long and entirely 
 black. It vibrates its rattle very rapidly, making a sound 
 like a quantity of melon or gourd seeds shaken in a box. 
 
 At length, after waiting three days, the chiefs and 
 almost every one in the village came to meet us. We 
 held a council in our cabin, where my Dutchman suc- 
 ceeded better than had been done in the great village. 
 
 * Burlington Bay. 
 
 f Probably the Mountain ridge. 
 
34 
 
 We gave two presents to obtain two captives, and a 
 third for carrying our effects to the village. The savages- 
 made us two presents. The first of 14 or 15 dressed 
 deerskins, to assure us they were going to conduct us to> 
 their village, but as they were only a handful of. people, 
 incapable of resistance, they begged us not to harm 
 them, nor burn them, as the French had the Mohawks.. 
 We assured them of our good will. They made us still 
 another present of about 5,000 shell beads, and after- 
 wards two captives for guides. One of them belonged 
 to the Chouanons* nation, and the other to the Nez 
 Percez. I have since thought that the latter was from 
 a nation near the Poutouatamites.f They were both 
 excellent hunters, and seemed to be well disposed. 
 
 The Chouanon fell to M. de La Salle, and the other to 
 us. They also told us they would aid the next day in 
 carrying our effects to the village, so that Ave might go- 
 from thence to the banks of a river, on which we could 
 embark for Lake Erie. 
 
 I have thus far followed the narrative of Galinee, in a 
 literal translation from the French manuscript. Belore 
 closing, I will give a brief sketch of the subsequent 
 events which attended the expedition. 
 
 On leaving Burlington Bay they ascended the Moun- 
 tain ridge, which, crossing the Niagara at Lewiston, 
 sweeps round the western end of Lake Ontario. This 
 must have been near and north of the present site of 
 Hamilton. Aided by the Algonquins, who carried their 
 effects, they proceeded to the village of Otinaouataoua, 
 
 * Shawnees. They were neai'ly exterminated by the Iroquois three years 
 after. II. Charlevoix, p. 244. 
 \ Pottawatamies. 
 
35 
 
 •situated between the head of the Bay and the Grand 
 River, reaching the former on the 22dday of September. 
 The Indians urged them strongly to stay at that point 
 for missionary work, bur their desire for further discov- 
 eries impelled them forward. 
 
 Here it was they met Juliet.* returning from a fruit- 
 less expedition, on which he had been sent by M. de 
 ■Courcelles, in search of the copper mines of Lake Supe- 
 rior, and who imparted valuable geographical information 
 to Galinee for the construction of his chart, and for his 
 course through the Lakes. 
 
 The missionaries, having separated from La Salle, left 
 Otinaouataoua on the first of October with their retinue, 
 accomplished the remainder of the portage to the Grand 
 River, and descended its difficult and tortuous channel, 
 now swollen with autumnal rains. In 14 days they 
 reached its month and encamped on the northern shore 
 of Lake Erie, which they describe as "a vast sea. tossed 
 by tempestuous winds " 
 
 At the end of three days they built a cabin for their 
 shelter, at or near the mouth of the river. Here they em- 
 ployed their time in hunting the game which abounded 
 in the neighborhood, and in drying the flesh of two of 
 the larger animals, which they had secured for subsistence 
 on their journey. To these were added seventy bushels 
 
 * Joliet had left Montreal before the Sulpicians and La Salle, with four 
 canoes and some merchandise for the Ottawas. Besides searching for copper 
 mines, he had been instructed to find a more feasible route than the one 
 then in use, for the transportation of the copper to Montreal. He was unsuc- 
 cessful in his search for the mines, but having met with an Iroquois who had 
 been taken prisoner by the Ottawas, the captive informed him of the shorter 
 route by the way of the Grand River and Lake Ontario, and it was while 
 testing its feasibility, that he met La Salle and the Sulpicians. 
 
 The copper mines were first made known by the Jesuits as early as 1659. 
 Relation 1659-60, p. 44. 
 
36 
 
 of nuts of various kinds, which they had gathered in the 
 woods, and apples, plums, grapes and hackberries* in 
 great quantity. The vine is described as growing spon- 
 taneously along the sandy border of the lake, pro- 
 ducing grapes as large and palatable as the finest in the 
 north of France. The expressed juice of the fruit served 
 them all winter for the celebration of Holy Mass. Here 
 they spent fifteen days, waiting in vain for the abatement 
 of the violent winds which prevailed on the lake at that 
 season. Winter being near at hand, it was deemed too 
 hazardous to trust their frail bark gondolas on the 
 treacherous lake, and they decided to encamp in the 
 neighboring woods for the winter. 
 
 They selected a commodious spot about a mile farther 
 inland, at the mouth of a small branch of the Grand 
 River. Here they rebuilt their cabin, so as to afford 
 them shelter from the weather, and protection against 
 an enemy. In one end of the building they raised 
 the first altar dedicated to Christian worship on the 
 banks of Lake Erie.f 
 
 *The Hackberry is undoubtedly the eeltvs occklentalis, or Nettle tree, a native 
 of New England and of the Southern States. There is a region in Canada, 
 lying north of Lake Erie, which has a climate and soil favorable for the 
 growth of more southern plants, and in which many of them abound. This 
 would be congenial to the Nettle tree. Gray says it is of medium size, bears 
 a sweet edible fruit as large as bird cherries, and ripens in autumn. 
 
 The Jesuits speak of apples shaped like a goose egg, with seeds as large as 
 beans, brought from the country of the Eries, having a peculiar odor and 
 delicate flavor. Relation 1657, p. 33. Quebec Edition. 
 
 f The Franciscan Father Daillon passed the winter of 1626-7 among the 
 Neuter Nation, which resided on both sides of the Niagara and north' of 
 Lake Erie, and he may have celebrated mass on the shore of the lake. So 
 also the Jesuits Brebeuf and Chaum mot, Avho visited the same nation in 
 1640, may have performed the same rite in that locality, but no record has 
 been left of the fact. 
 
 The first mass celebrated in Canada was at Quebec, by the Franciscan 
 D'Olbeau, on the 25th of June, 1615. I. Le Clercq, ttablissement de la 
 Foi, p. 60. 
 
37 
 
 Fortunately they found the winter much milder than 
 they had experienced during their residence at Montreal. 
 
 Six months had nearly passed away before they were 
 ready to proceed on their expedition. 
 
 On the 23d of March, 1670, they erected a cross, as a 
 memorial of their winter home, to which they affixed the 
 arms of Louis XIV., and took formal possession of the 
 country in the name of that King. Three days thereafter 
 they resumed their voyage toward the west, and arriv- 
 ing at the eastern side of Long Point, drew up their 
 canoes on the beach, and encamped near the shore. 
 •Overcome with fatigue they were soon buried in sleep. 
 Not anticipating any disaster, they carelessly left some 
 of their effects quite near the water. A violent north- 
 east gale arose in the night, disturbing the lake to such 
 an extent, that the water rose to the height of six feet, 
 and bore away the contents of one of their canoes. 
 Fortunately they were aronsed in season to secure the 
 remainder. Their powder and lead were lost, and more 
 than all, their holy chapel, without which the Eucharist 
 could not be celebrated. 
 
 Discouraged by these, misfortunes, they abandoned the 
 further prosecution of the enterprise, and returned home 
 by the circuitous route of the Sault de Ste Marie and 
 Ottawa river, reaching Montreal on the 18th of the 
 following June. 
 
 It now remains to notice briefly the further move- 
 ments of La Salle. After reaching Otinaouataoua, he 
 declined all further connection with the Sulpicians, 
 under the pretext that the condition of his health would 
 not warrant a winter encampment in the woods. 
 
 On the 30th day of September, the eve of their 
 
38 
 
 separation, the whole party united in celebrating their 
 last Mass together, and the next day the two mission- 
 aries, accompanied by Joliet, left for the west as before 
 related. La Salle set his face eastward, ostensibly for 
 Montreal, but really, as is supposed, with the intention 
 of making further efforts to reach the Ohio and the Mis- 
 sissippi through the Iroquois country. Unfortunately 
 the journals which he kept, and the charts which he 
 drew, have, it is feared, been irrecoverably lost. The 
 most diligent search among the papers of his family and 
 elsewhere, have failed as yet to discover the slightest 
 trace of the valuable documents. 
 
 If M. Margry's manuscripts, when published, do not 
 settle all the questions that have ariseu in regard to the 
 discoveries of La Salle, they will at least shed new light 
 and lustre upon the career, and fill some of the blanks 
 which exist in the history of that remarkable and in- 
 trepid explorer. 
 
 They will give us fuller details of his first expedi- 
 tion to the Ohio, in which he is said to have visited the 
 falls at Louisville, and from whence, being deserted by 
 his companions, he returned alone to Montreal, after 
 1,200 miles of foot and canoe travel, subsisting on the 
 game and herbs he found in the woods, or received from 
 the friendly Indians he met on the way. 
 
 They may afford us satisfactory proof of his discovery 
 of the Mississippi in 1671 and 1672, before it was visited 
 by Marquette and Joliet, when, it is claimed, he des- 
 cended the Illinois to its confluence with the Mississippi, 
 and down the latter to the 36th degree of N. latitude.* 
 
 They will give us details of his visit to France in 1674, 
 
 *Margry. in Revue Maritime for 1S72, p. 555. 
 
39 
 
 when he received a Patent of Nobility ; of his return to 
 Canada the following year; of his contentions with the 
 Jesuits; and of his voyage to France in 1678, when he 
 received new supplies for his American enterprises, and a 
 Royal Grant from the king. 
 
 They will give us a more satisfactory account of his 
 expedition to the west in 1678-9, in which he built a 
 bark on Lake Ontario, and the Griffin on the Niagara; 
 'of his voyage in the latter to Green Bay; his coasting by 
 canoe along the western shore of Lake Michigan to the 
 river St. Joseph ; his portage from the latter to the 
 sources of the Illinois, and descent to the foot of Lake 
 Peoria, and of his long and wearisome return by way of 
 the river St. Joseph, and across the Michigan peninsula 
 to the Huron river. How he descended the latter in an 
 elm bark canoe of his own construction, to the Detroit 
 river, crossing which he found his way by land to Point 
 Pelee, from whence, in another canoe, he coasted along 
 Lake Erie and the Niagara as far as the clock on which 
 he had built the Griffin, and where he first heard tidings 
 of its loss, and of the wreck of another ship in the mouth 
 of the St. Lawrence, freighted with goods destined for 
 liis use. Plow, weary and foot-sore, bronzed by sun and 
 weather, but not disheartened, he reached Montreal after 
 65 days and 1000 miles of incessant travel by land, lake, 
 and river. How several of his canoes, richly laden with 
 furs, were lost in the rapids of the St. Lawrence, just in 
 sight of their destination. How the news soon followed 
 of the destruction of his forts at St. Joseph and Creve- 
 coeur, and the desertion of his men. How his creditors 
 received the intelligence of his disasters and seized his 
 effects. 
 
40 
 
 They will give us the details of his expedition in 
 1680, in which he penetrated the west by the way of 
 Lake Ontario, leaving which a little west of Toronto, 
 he ascended the River Humber, and passing through 
 Lakes Simcoe, Huron and Michigan, reached his deserted 
 forts in the Illinois country, where he passed the winter, 
 and returned to FortFrontenac in the spring of 1681. 
 
 We shall undoubtedly have full accounts of the expe- 
 dition which he made in the following summer, when he 
 accomplished his famous descent of the Mississippi to its 
 mouth, the first on record, and took possession of the 
 country in the name of the King, after whom he called it 
 " Louisiana." 
 
 How he returned to Quebec in 1683 and left for 
 France in 1684, where he defeated the machinations of 
 his enemies at the Court of Loui§ XIV., and, under his 
 patronage, organized an expedition of four ships, in 
 which he sailed for the mouth of the Mississippi, reaching 
 Matagordas Bay in February, 1685. 
 
 How, overwhelmed by the loss of those ships, and the 
 treachery of their captain, but, with a courage and self- 
 reliance superior to every adversity, and an energy and 
 resolution that never faltered, he set out in January, 
 1687, with twenty companions, on a long, perilous jour- 
 ney to Lake Michigan in search of succor for the little 
 colony he had left on the shores of the Mexican Gulf, — a 
 mission he was not permitted to accomplish. 
 
 De Soto, after traversing with his mailed warriors our 
 southern country, from Florida to the Mississippi, found 
 his grave in the bed of the mighty river he had discov- 
 ered. Marquette, the next in the order of explorers, was 
 overtaken by death while returning homeward through 
 
41 
 
 Lake Michigan, and buried where he died, on the eastern 
 .shore of that Lake, at the mouth of the river which 
 perpetuates his name. 
 
 La Salle, less fortunate in being denied a natural 
 death, also closed his career in the land he was en- 
 gaged in exploring. Arrested on his errand of mercy 
 by the hand of an assassin, he fell by treachery in 1687? 
 on a branch of the Trinity river in Texas, where his un- 
 buried remains were left a prey to the savage beasts of 
 the wilderness. 
 
 The American people, who entered upon and devel- 
 oped the inheritance he left as the fruit of his bold 
 and sagacious enterprises, have built no monument to his 
 memory. Here and there an insignificant locality bears 
 his name, and one of the four historical panels in the 
 rotunda of the Capitol at Washington is occupied by his 
 portrait, in proximity to those of Columbus, Raleigh 
 and Cabot. 
 
 An authentic and detailed account of his discoveries 
 and explorations, illustrated with maps and portraits, 
 compiled from original sources under the supervision of 
 one who has devoted a life-time to the subject, and pub- 
 lished to the world under the auspices of the American 
 Congress, will constitute a memorial more enduring and 
 appropriate than the most imposing structure of bronze 
 or marble. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME SENECA. 
 
 How this name originated, is a vexata qucestio among Indo-antiquarians 
 and etymologists. The least plausible supposition is, that the name has any 
 reference to Hie moralist Seneca. 
 
 Some have supposed it to be a corruption of the Dutch term for Vermillion, 
 cinebar or cinnabar, under the assumption that the Senecas, being the most 
 warlike of the Five Nations, used that pigment more than the others, and 
 thus gave origin to the name.* 
 
 This hypothesis is supported by no authority. The use of war paint, com- 
 mon to every Indian nation, was not so exclusively practiced by the Senecas, 
 as to be likely to give origin to their national name. Besides, Vermillion is 
 the red sulphuret of mercury, and was hardly procureable by the Indians in 
 1616, when the name was first used. They undoubtedly made use of some 
 vegetable dye at that early day. 
 
 The name " Sennecas" first appears on a Dutch Map of 1616, and again on 
 Jean de Laets' map of 1633. Inasmuch as it comes to us through a Dutch 
 medium, it is claimed by some that it is derived from the Algouquins, with 
 whom the Dutch had their first intercourse. The map of 1616 above 
 referred to, was compiled from the report of one Kleynties, based on a 
 previous exploration of the Iroquois country. On this map it is written 
 " Sennecas." A copy may be found in the first volume of the N. Y. Col. Doc. 
 p. 10. The tribe is placed on the map in the territory of the Iroquois, and 
 apparently near Oneida Lake, but in a note inscribed on the map, the author 
 says, "the Sennecas ought to be placed farther west into the country." 
 
 The question arises from whom did Kleynties obtain the name? The MS. 
 note above mentioned, says that he and his companion went on an expedi- 
 tion from the Mohmck country into the interior. They must have had a Mo- 
 hawk, rather than an Algonquin guide, as the latter nation was always at 
 enmity with the Iroquois. This renders it possible that the name Seneca was 
 obtained through the lips of the Mohawk, and that in writing it "Sennecas" 
 Kleynties attempted to give the name as it sounded to his ears when spoken 
 by the Mohawk. 
 
 . It is claimed by some that the word may be derived from " Sinnekox," the 
 Algonquin name of a tribe of Indians spoken of in Wassenaer's History of 
 Europe, on the authority of Pieter Barentz, who traded with them about the 
 year 1626. Their residence is not stated, and it is by no means certain that 
 
 "Cornplanter Memorial, p. 24. 
 
44 
 
 they are identical with the Senecas. Doc. Hist. N. Y. Vol. 3. p. 29. As the 
 Senecas are located by De Laets' map on the south side of Oneida Lake, Mr. 
 Trumbull thinks that the name was bestowed by the Algonquins on the 
 Oneidas, from the fact that assene, in, Algonquin, signifies ' a stone," and ga 
 or ke, " place of," being an Algonquin translation of the Iroquois name of 
 Oneida, into Assinauke, or "place of the Stone." He thinks that when the 
 o-eooraphical divisions of the Iroquois became better known, Ihe Senecas 
 were assigned their true position further west, still retaining, in the nomen- 
 clature of the geographers, the name which belonged to the Oneidas. The 
 opinion of so eminent an authority as Mr. Trumbull is certainly worthy of 
 consideration It would however be a more natural and satisfactory solution 
 of the question, if their national name could be derived from the Senecas 
 themselves. Without assuming to solve the mystery, the writer will content 
 himself with giving some data which may possibly aid others in arriving 
 at a reliable conclusion. 
 
 The French, in their pioneer explorations of Canada, derived their knowl- 
 edge of the Senecas through the Franciscan and Jesuit Missionaries. Those 
 holy Fathers first heard of them through the Hurons, among whom they 
 established at a very early day the missions of their respective Orders. The 
 Hurons called them Sonontouerhonons, that is, "people of Sonnontouan" the 
 termination rhonoiM or rontons signifying "people." * 
 
 Their name first occurs in the Jesuit Relation for 1635, and is there writ- 
 ten by Brebeuf, Sonontoen7ionons. Relation 1635, p. 33. 
 
 Le Mercier spells it Sonontouanhrronon Relations 1637, p. 111. 
 
 Le Jeune mentions the Sonontotiehronons. Relation 1640, p. 35. 
 
 They are subsequently called Tsonnontouans. Relation 1670, page 69, 
 and Tshonnontouans. Le Clercq Etablissement de la Foi "Vol. II. p. 187. 
 
 The Hurons and Senecas spoke a kindred language, and the word Sonnon- 
 touan is the same in both dialects. It signifies "great hill," and in the Seneca 
 is compounded of onondah, hill, and go waah, great. 1 he Senecas, in form- 
 ing a compound word, usually drop all which follow the initial consonant of 
 the last syllable of the noun, and the initial consonant of the adjective, and 
 then suffix the latter to the former. Thus the compound of the above be- 
 comes Onondowaah, or great hill, written Sonnontouan by the Jesuits, f The 
 letter S when prefixed conveys the idea of 2wssession, and in some cases Ts, 
 is substituted to represent a lisping sound of the S, which was formerly quite 
 common among the Senecas, and is still occasionally heard. 
 
 To this word, Onondowaah or great hill, the suffix gaali was added, to denote 
 the Seneca people. By dropping the neuter prefix O, the nation d title became 
 Nan-do-rcah-gaah or " The Great Hill people" as now used by the Senecas- 
 
 Sometimes the suffix o-noh is substituted for gaah, which would make Nan- 
 do-wa-o-noh, having however the same meaning. Morgan's League, p. 51. 
 
 * Relations 1635. p. 33 and 1654, p. 18. See Relation for 1670, p. 69., where it is written Tsonnon- 
 touan. 
 t Alluding to their residence on Boughton Hill where their principal village was located. See p. 10. 
 
45 
 
 The termination o-noh signifying " inhabitants," is nearly identical with the 
 ronons or rlumons of the Hurons, and has the same signification. 
 
 The Mohawks use the terminations ronnon and fiaga, which correspond 
 with the similar words used hy the Senecas. Bruyas' Dictionary, p. 18. 
 
 In the vocabulary of the Huron or Wyandot language, as given by Mr. 
 Gallatin, Coll. Am. Ant. Society, Vol. II, pp. 334 and 348, the Huron word 
 for hill is given as onontali, and for great, (men. If compounded, they would 
 form Onontaouen or great hill, which is only a dialectical variation from the 
 Seneca JVan-do-wah, and embraces such a resemblance as we would expect from 
 the common origin of the two nations. 
 
 In pronouncing ihe Indian names written by the Jesuits, the French vowel 
 and nasal sounds must be regarded. The French, having no "w," express its 
 sound by the combination " ou." In writing Indian words the letters d and t 
 are often used interchangeably. 
 
 If the name Seneca can legitimately be derived from the Seneca word Nan- 
 do-wah-gaah as above given, it can only be done by prefixing Son, as was the 
 custom of the Jesuits, and dropping all unnecessary letters. It would then 
 form the word Son-non-do-wa-ga, the first two and last syllable of which, if the 
 French sounds of the letters are given, are almost identical in pronunciation 
 with Seneca. The chief difficulty, howtver, would be in the disposal of the 
 two superfluous syllables. They may have been dropped in the process of 
 contraction so common in the composition of Indian words — a result which 
 would be quite likely to occur to a Seneca name, in its transmission through 
 two other languages, the Mohawk and the Dutch. 
 
 The foregoing queries and suggestions are thrown out for what they are 
 worth, in the absence of any more reliable theory. It is to be hoped that a 
 happy solution of the vexed question may yet be reached by some investigator 
 having the necessary facilities and qualifications. 
 
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