Voyages of Samuel De Champlain Volume III Part 11

88. Father Denis Jamay.

89. Jean d'Olbeau and Pacifique du Plessis.

90. This refers to the volume bearing date 1613, but which may not have been actually issued from the press till 1614.

91. Our views of the war policy of Champlain are stated at some length in Vol I. pp 189-193.

92. Laverdiere thinks it probable that Champlain left the Falls of St Louis on the 23d of June, and that the Holy Ma.s.s was celebrated on the Riviere des Prairies on the 24th, the festival of St John the Baptist.

93. This interpreter was undoubtedly Etienne Brule. It was a clearly defined policy of Champlain to send suitable young men among the savages, particularly to learn their language, and subsequently to act as interpreters. Brule is supposed to have been of this cla.s.s.

94. The Lake of Two Mountains.

95. The River Ottawa, which Champlain had explored in 1613, as far as Allumet Island, where a tribe of the Algonquins resided, called later _Kichesipinni_. _Vide Relation des Jesuites_, 1640, p 34.

96. This is an over-estimate.

97. Champlain here again, _Vide_ note 90, refers to the issue bearing date 1613. It is not unlikely that while it bears the imprint of 1613, it did not actually issue from the press till 1614.

98. The lake or expansion of the Ottawa on the southern side of Allumet Island was called the lake of the Algonquins, as Allumet Island was oftentimes called the Island of the Algonquins.

99. The River Ottawa.

100. Pere Vimont calls this tribe _Kotakoutouemi_. _Relation des Jesuites_, 1640, p. 34. Pere Rogueneau gives _Outaoukotouemiouek_, and remarks that their language is a mixture of Algonquin and Montagnais. _Vide Relation des Jesuites_, 1650. p. 34; also _Laverdiere in loco_.

101. _Blues_, blueberries. The Canada blueberry. _Vaccinium Canadense_.

Under the term _blues_ several varieties may have been included.

Charlevoix describes and figures this fruit under the name _Bluet du Canada. _Vide Description des Plantes Princ.i.p.ales de l'Amerique Septentrionale_, in _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_, Paris. 1744, Tom. IV. pp. 371, 372; also Vol. I: p 303, note 75, of this work.

102. At its junction with the Mattawan, the Ottawa's course is from the north. What is known as its east branch rises 150 miles north of the city of Ottawa. Extending towards the west in a winding course for the distance of about 300 miles, it turns towards the southeast, and a few miles before it joins the Mattawan its course is directly south. From its northeastern source by a short portage is reached the river Ch.o.m.ouchouan, an affluent of Lake St. John and the Saguenay.

103. Mattawa is 197 miles from Ottawa. We have no means of giving the lat.i.tude with entire accuracy, but it is about 46 20'.

104. Lac du Talon and Lac la Tortue.

105. Nip.i.s.sings, or Nip.i.s.sirini. Champlain writes _Nipisierinii_.

106. On the 26th of July, The distance from the junction of the Ottawa and the Mattawan to Lake Nip.i.s.sing is about thirty-two miles If _lieues_ were translated miles, it would be a not very incorrect estimate.

107. _Vide_ the representations here referred to.

108. Lake Nip.i.s.sing, whose dimensions are over-stated.

109. Sturgeon River.

110. Pere Vimont gives the names of these tribes as follows,--_Timiscimi, Outimagami, Ouachegami, Mitchitamou, Outurbi, Kiristinon_. _Vide Relation des Jesuites_. 1640. p. 34.

111. French River.

112. _Blues_. _Vide antea_, note 101.

113. This significant name is given with reference to their mode of dressing their hair.

114. Blueberries, _Vaccinium Canadense_.

115. _De cuir beullu_, for _cuir bouilli_, literally "boiled leather."

116. The s.h.i.+elds of the savages of this region may have been made of the hide of the buffalo, although the range of this animal was far to the northwest of them. Champlain saw undoubtedly among the Hurons skins of the buffalo. _Vide postea_, note 180.

117. Lake Huron is here referred to.

118. The greatest length of Lake Huron on a curvilinear line, between the discharge of St Mary's Strait and the outlet, is about 240 miles; its length due north and south is 186 miles, and its extreme breadth about 220 miles. _Bouchette_.

119. Coasting along the eastern sh.o.r.e of the Georgian Bay, when they arrived at Matchedash Bay they crossed it in a southwesterly course and entered the country of the Attigouautans, or, as they are sometimes called, the Attignaouentans. _Relation des Jesuites,_ 1640, p. 78. They were a princ.i.p.al tribe of the Hurons, living within the limits of the present county of Simcoe. It is to be regretted that the Jesuit Fathers did not accompany their relations with local maps by which we could fix, at least approximately, the Indian towns which they visited, and with which they were so familiar. For a description of the Hurons and of their country, the origin of the name and other interesting particulars, _vide Pere Hierosine Lalemant, Relation des Jesuites_, 1639, Quebec ed. p. 50.

120. _Sitrouilles_ for _citrouilles_. _Vide_ Vol II. p. 64, note 128.

121. _Herbe au soleil_. The sunflower of Northeast America, _Helianthus multiflorus_. This species is found from Quebec to the Saskatchewan, a tributary of Lake Winnipeg. _Vide Chronological History of Plants_, by Charles Pickering, M.D., Boston, 1879. p. 914. Charlevoix, in the description of his journey through Canada in 1720, says: "The Soleil is a plant very common in the fields of the savages, and which grows seven or eight feet high. Its flower, which is very large, is in the shape of the marigold, and the seed grows in the same manner. The savages, by boiling it, draw out an oil, with which they grease their hair." _Letters to the Dutchess of Lesdiguieres_, London, 1763, p. 95.

122. _Vignes_ Probably the frost grape, _Vitis cordifolia_.

123. _Prunes_. The Canada plum, _Prunus Americana_.

124. _Framboises_. The wild red raspberry, _Rubus strigosus_.

125. _Fraises_. The wild strawberry, _Fragaria Virginiana_. _Vide Pickering Chro. Hist. Plants_, p. 771.

126. _Pet.i.tes pommes sauuages_. Probably the American crab-apple, _Pyrus coronaria_.

127. _Noix_ This may include the b.u.t.ternut and some varieties of the walnut. _Vide_ Vol. I. p. 264.

128. Doubtless the May-apple, _Podophyllum peltatum_. In the wilds of Simcoe this fruit may have seemed tolerable from the absence of others more desirable. Gray says, "It is slightly acid, mawkish, eaten by pigs and boys." _Cf. Florula Bostioniensis_, by Jacob Bigelow, M.D. Boston, 1824, pp. 215, 216.

129. _Les Chesnes, ormeaux, & heslres_. For oaks see Vol I. p. 264. Elms, plainly the white elm, _Ulmus Americana_, so called in contradistinction to the red or slippery elm, _Ulmus fulva_. The savages sometimes used the bark of the slippery elm in the construction of their canoes when the white birch could not be obtained. _Vide Charlevoix's Letters_, 1763, p. 94. For the beech, see Vol. I. p. 264.

130. _Perdrix_. Canada Grouse, _Tetrao Canadensis_, sometimes called the Spruce Partridge, differing from the partridge of New England, which is the Ruffed Grouse, _Bonasa umbellus_. This latter species is, however, found likewise in Canada.

131. _Lapins_. The American hare, _Lepus America.n.u.s_.

132. _Cerises pet.i.tes_. Reference is evidently here made to the wild red cherry, _Prunus Pennsylvanica_, which is the smallest of all the native species. _Cf_. Vol. I. p. 264.

133. _Merises_. The wild black cherry, _Prunus serotina_.

134. The Carantouanais. _Vide Carte de la Nouvelle France_, 1632, _also_ Vol. I. p. 304. This tribe was probably situated on the upper waters of the Susquehanna, and consequently south of the Five Nations, although we said inadvertently in Vol. I. p. 128 that they were on the west of them. General John S. Clark thinks their village was at Waverly, near the border of Pennsylvania In Vol. I. p. 143. in the 13th line from the top, we should have said the Carantouanais instead of _Entouhonorons_.

135. The Entouhonorons were a part, it appears, of the Five Nations.

Champlain says they unite with the Iroquois in making war against all the other tribes except the Neutral Nation. Lake Ontario is called _Lac des Entouhonorons_, and Champlain adds that their country is near the River St. Lawrence, the pa.s.sage of which they forbid to all other tribes. _Vide_ Vol. I. pp. 303, 304. He thus appears to apply the name _Iroquois_ to the eastern portion of the Five Nations, particularly those whom he had attacked on Lake Champlain; and the Huron name, _Entouhonorons_, to the western portion. The subdivisions, by which they were distinguished at a later period, were probably not then known, at least not to Champlain.