BEING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS TRAVELS AND EXPERIENCES AMONG
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, FROM
1652 TO 1684.
TRANSCRIBED FROM ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY
AND THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
BY GIDEON D. SCULL,
LONDON, ENGLAND.
PREFACE.
It may be regarded as a fortunate circumstance that we are able to add to
the Society's publications this volume of RADISSON'S VOYAGES. The
narratives contained in it are the record of events and transactions in
which the author was a principal actor. They were apparently written
without any intention of publication, and are plainly authentic and
trustworthy. They have remained in manuscript more than two hundred years,
and in the mean time appear to have escaped the notice of scholars, as not
even extracts from them have, so far as we are aware, found their way into
print. The author was a native of France, and had an imperfect knowledge of
the English language. The journals, with the exception of the last in the
volume, are, however, written in that language, and, as might be
anticipated, in orthography, in the use of words, and in the structure of
sentences, conform to no known standard of English composition. But the
meaning is in all cases clearly conveyed, and, in justice both to the
author and the reader, they have been printed verbatim et literatim, as
in the original manuscripts. We desire to place upon record our high
appreciation of the courtesy extended to the Editor of this volume by the
governors of the Bodleian Library and of the British Museum, in allowing
him to copy the original manuscripts in their possession. Our thanks
likewise are here tendered to Mr. Edward Denham for the gratuitous
contribution of the excellent index which accompanies the volume.
EDMUND F. SLAFTER,
President of the Prince Society.
BOSTON, 249 BERKELEY STREET,
November 20, 1885.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
FIRST VOYAGE OF PETER ESPRIT RADISSON
SECOND VOYAGE, MADE IN THE UPPER COUNTRY OF THE IROQUOITS
THIRD VOYAGE, MADE TO THE GREAT LAKE OF THE HURONS, UPPER SEA OF THE EAST,
AND BAY OF THE NORTH
FOURTH VOYAGE OF PETER ESPRIT RADISSON
RELATION OF A VOYAGE TO THE NORTH PARTS OF AMERICA IN THE YEARS 1682 AND
1683
RELATION OF THE VOYAGE ANNO 1684
OFFICERS OF THE PRINCE SOCIETY
THE PRINCE SOCIETY
PUBLICATIONS OF THE PRINCE SOCIETY
VOLUMES IN PREPARATION BY THE PRINCE SOCIETY
INDEX
INTRODUCTION.
The author of the narratives contained in this volume was Peter Esprit
Radisson, who emigrated from France to Canada, as he himself tells us, on
the 24th day of May, 1651. He was born at St. Malo, and in 1656, at Three
Rivers, in Canada, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Madeleine Hainault.
[Footnote: Vide History of the Ojibways, by the Rev. E. D. Neill, ed.
1885.] Radisson says that he lived at Three Rivers, where also dwelt "my
natural parents, and country-people, and my brother, his wife and
children." [Footnote: The Abbe Cyprian Tanguay, the best genealogical
authority in Canada, gives the following account of the family:
