We Desired Not To Goe To The North Till We
Had Made A Discovery In The South, Being Desirous To
Know what they did.
They told us if we would goe with them to the great lake of the stinkings,
The time was come of their trafick, which was of as many knives as they
could gett from the french nation, because of their dwellings, which was
att the coming in of a lake called Superior, but since the destructions of
many neighboring nations they retired themselves to the height of the lake.
We knewed those people well. We went to them almost yearly, and the company
that came up with us weare of the said nation, but never could tell
punctually where they lived because they make the barre of the Christinos
from whence they have the Castors that they bring to the french. This place
is 600 leagues off, by reason of the circuit that we must doe. The hurrons
& the Octanacks, from whence we came last, furnishes them also, & comes to
the furthest part of the lake of the stinkings, there to have light earthen
pots, and girdles made of goat's hairs, & small shells that grow art the
sea side, with which they trim their cloath made of skin.
We finding this opportunity would not lett it slippe, but made guifts,
telling that the other nation would stand in feare of them because of us.
We flattered them, saying none would dare to give them the least wrong, in
so much that many of the Octanacks that weare present to make the same
voyage. I can assure you I liked noe country as I have that wherein we
wintered; ffor whatever a man could desire was to be had in great plenty;
viz. staggs, fishes in abundance, & all sort of meat, corne enough. Those
of the 2 nations would not come with us, but turned back to their nation.
We neverthelesse put ourselves in hazard, for our curiosity, of stay 2 or 3
years among that nation. We ventured, for that we understand some of their
idiome & trusted to that.
We embarked ourselves on the delightfullest lake of the world. I tooke
notice of their Cottages & of the journeys of our navigation, for because
that the country was so pleasant, so beautifull & fruitfull that it grieved
me to see that the world could not discover such inticing countrys to live
in. This I say because that the Europeans fight for a rock in the sea
against one another, or for a sterill land and horrid country, that the
people sent heere or there by the changement of the aire ingenders
sicknesse and dies thereof. Contrarywise those kingdoms are so delicious &
under so temperat a climat, plentifull of all things, the earth bringing
foorth its fruit twice a yeare, the people live long & lusty & wise in
their way. What conquest would that bee att litle or no cost; what
laborinth of pleasure should millions of people have, instead that millions
complaine of misery & poverty! What should not men reape out of the love of
God in converting the souls heere, is more to be gained to heaven then what
is by differences of nothing there, should not be so many dangers committed
under the pretence of religion! Why so many thoesoever are hid from us by
our owne faults, by our negligence, covetousnesse, & unbeliefe. It's true,
I confesse, that the accesse is difficult, but must say that we are like
the Cockscombs of Paris, when first they begin to have wings, imagining
that the larks will fall in their mouths roasted; but we ought [to
remember] that vertue is not acquired without labour & taking great paines.
We meet with severall nations, all sedentary, amazed to see us, & weare
very civil. The further we sejourned the delightfuller the land was to us.
I can say that [in] my lifetime I never saw a more incomparable country,
for all I have ben in Italy; yett Italy comes short of it, as I think, when
it was inhabited, & now forsaken of the wildmen. Being about the great sea,
we conversed with people that dwelleth about the salt water, [Footnote:
"That dwelleth about the salt water;" namely, Hudson's Bay.] who tould us
that they saw some great white thing sometimes uppon the water, & came
towards the shore, & men in the top of it, and made a noise like a company
of swans; which made me believe that they weare mistaken, for I could not
imagine what it could be, except the Spaniard; & the reason is that we
found a barill broken as they use in Spaine. Those people have their haires
long. They reape twice a yeare; they are called Tatarga, that is to say,
buff. They warre against Nadoneceronons, and warre also against the
Christinos. These 2 doe no great harme to one another, because the lake is
betweene both. They are generally stout men, that they are able to defend
themselves. They come but once a year to fight. If the season of the yeare
had permitted us to stay, for we intended to goe backe the yeare following,
we had indeavoured to make peace betweene them. We had not as yett seene
the nation Nadoneceronons. We had hurrons with us. Wee persuaded them to
come along to see their owne nation that fled there, but they would not by
any means. We thought to gett some castors there to bring downe to the
ffrench, seeing [it] att last impossible to us to make such a circuit in a
twelve month's time. We weare every where much made of; neither wanted
victualls, for all the different nations that we mett conducted us &
furnished us with all necessaries. Tending to those people, went towards
the South & came back by the north.
The Summer passed away with admiration by the diversity of the nations that
we saw, as for the beauty of the shore of that sweet sea. Heere we saw
fishes of divers, some like the sturgeons & have a kind of slice att the
end of their nose some 3 fingers broad in the end and 2 onely neere the
nose, and some 8 thumbs long, all marbled of a blakish collor.
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