THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and
considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather,
indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was
published.
A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America
Hennepin, Father Louis: Two Volumes, pp. 160-208.
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An Account of the Building of a New Fort on the River of the Illinois, named by the Savages Checagou, and by us Fort Crevecoeur; as also a Barque to go down the River Meschasipi.
I must observe here that the hardest Winter lasts not above two Months in this Charming Country; so that on the 15th of January there came a sudden Thaw, which made the Rivers navigable, and the Weather so mild as it is with us in the middle of Spring. . .
(page 171) . . . Our Men went on so briskly with the Work, that on the first of March our Barque was half built, and all the Timber ready prepar'd for the finishing of it. Our Fort was also very near finish'd; and we nam'd it the Fort of Crevecoeur, because the desertion of our Men, and the other Difficulties we labour'd under, had almost broke our Hearts.(see fn. 1)
Containing an Account of what was transacted at Fort Crevecoeur before M. la Salle's return to Fort Frontenac; and the Instructions we receiv'd from a Savage concerning the River Meschasipi.
Before M. la Salle and I parted, we found means to undeceive our Men, and remov'd the groundless Fears they had conceiv'd from what the Illinois, through the Suggestions of Monso, had told us concerning [111] the Dangers, or rather the Impossibility of Sailing upon the River Meschasipi. Some Savages inhabiting beyond that River, came to the Camp of the Illinois, and gave us an Account of it, very different from what Nikanape had told us; some other Savages own'd that it was navigable, and not interrupted by Rocks and Falls, as the Illinois would make us believe, and, one of the Illinois themselves, being gain'd by some small Presents, told us in great secresie, that the Account their Chief had given us, was a downright Forgery, contriv'd on purpose to oblige us to give over our Enterprize. . . .
The Illinois had made an Excursion South-ward; as they were returning with some Prisoners, one of their Warriours, came before their Comrades, and visited us at our Fort; we entertain'd him as well as we could, and ask'd him several Questions touching the River Meschasipi, from whence he came, and where he had been oftentimes, giving him to understand that some other Savage had given us an Account of it. He took a piece of Charcoal, and drew a Map of the Course of that River, which I found afterwards pretty exact; and told us, that he had been in a Pyrogue; that is, a Canou made of the Trunk of a Tree, from the Mouth of this River, very near the Place where the Meschasipi falls into the great Lake; for so they call the Sea; . . .
(page 177) . . . For several Savages of the Nations of Osages, Cikaga, and Akansa,(see fn. 2) came to see us, and brought fine Furrs to barter for our Axes. They told us that the Meschasipi was navigable almost from its Source to the Sea; and gave us great Encouragement to go on with our Design, assuring us, that all the nations inhabiting along the River, from the Mouth of that of the Illinois, to the Sea, would come to meet us, and dance the Calumet of Peace,(see fn. 3) as they express it, and make an Alliance with us.
The Miami's arriv'd much about that time, and danc'd the Calumet with the Illinois, making an Alliance with them against the Iroquese, their implacable Enemies. We were Witnesses to their Treaty; and M. la Salle made them some Presents, the better to oblige both Parties to the Observation of their League.
We were three Missionaries for that handful of Europeans at Fort Crevecoeur; and therefore we thought fit to divide our- (page 178) selves: Father Gabriel being very old, was to continue with our Men; and Father Zenobe among the Illinois, having desir'd it himself, in hopes to convert that numerous Nation: And I, as I have already related was to go on with our Discovery. Father Zenobe, liv'd already among the Illinois, but the rude Manners of that People made him soon weary of it. His Landlord, whose Name was Omahouha, that is to say Wolf, was the Head of a Tribe, and took a special Care of Father Zenobe, especially after M. la Salle had made him some Presents: He lov'd him as his child, but however, I perceiv'd in the Visits he made us, (for he liv'd but within half a League of our Fort) that he was not satisfied to live amongst that brutish Nation, though he had already learn'd their Tongue. This oblig'd me to offer him [114] to take his place, provided he would supply mine, and go on with our Discovery amongst several Nations, whose Language we did not understand, and who had never heard of us; but Father Zenobe foreseeing the Danger and Fatigue I was like to be expos'd to, chose to remain with the Illinois, whose Temper he knew, and with whom he was able to converse.
M. la Salle left M. Tonti to command in Fort Crevecoeur, and order'd our Carpenter to prepare some thick Planks of Oak; to fence the Deck of our Barque in the nature of a Parapet, to cover it against the Arrows of the Savages, in case they design'd to shoot at us from the Shoar. Then calling his Men together, he desir'd them to obey M. Tonti's Orders in his Absence, . . .
(page 179) M. la Salle was mightily pleas'd when I told him I was (page 180) resolv'd to go, notwithstanding my Indisposition: He embrac'd me, and gave me a Calumet of Peace; and two Men to manage our Canou, whose Names were Anthony Auguel, sirnam'd the Picard du Gay; and Mitchel Ako,(see fn. 4) of the Province of Poictou, to whom he gave some Commodities to the value of about 1000 Livres to trade with the Savages, or make Presents. He gave to me in particular, and for my own use, ten Knives, twelve Shooe-maker's Auls or Bodkins, a small Roll of Tobacco from Martinico, about two Pounds of Raffade(see fn. 5); that is to say, Little Pearls or Rings of colour'd Glass, wherewith the Savages make Bracelets, and other Works, and a small Parcel of Needles to give to the Savages; telling me, that he would have given me a greater quantity, if he had been in his power."
We set out from Fort Crevecoeur on the 29th of February, 1680, and as we fell down the River, we met with several companies of Savages who return'd to their Habitations, with their Pirogues or Wooden-Canou's, loaded with the Bulls they had kill'd; they would fain persuade us to return with them, and the two Men who were with me, were very willing to follow their Advice; telling me that M. la Salle had as good to have murther'd us: . . .
(page 183) . . . The River flows so softly, that the Current is hardly perceptible, except when it swells: But it will carry at all times great Barques for above 100 Leagues; that is, from the said Village to its Mouth. It runs directly to the South-west. On the 7th of March we met, within two Leagues from the River Meschasipi, a Nation of the Savages call'd Tamaroa or Maroa,(see fn. 6) consisting of consisting of about 200 Families. They design'd to bring us along with them to their Village, which lies to the (page 184) West of Meschasipi, about seven Leagues from the Mouth of the River of the Illinois; but my Men follow'd my Advice, and wou'd not stop, in hopes to exchange their Commodities with more Advantage in a more remote Place. . . .
. . .Having thus avoided those Savages, we
came to the Mouth of the River of the Illinois, distant from their great
Village about 100 Leagues, and 50 from Fort Crevecoeur. . . .
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1 (1, p. 171) Shea thinks (Hennepin's Louisiana, p. 175, note*) that La Salle thus named his fort out of compliment to Louis XIV, in allusion to his capture (1672) and subsequent demolition of Fort Crevecoeur, a stronghold in the Netherlands, near Bois-le-Duc. La Salle's fort was located a little below Peoria.- Ed.
2 (1, p. 177) J. 0. Dorsey thinks (Amer. Naturalist, xx, pp. 211-222) that, ages ago, all the Siouan race dwelt east of the Mississippi, and gradually moved westward. Five tribes-the Omahas, Ponkas, Osages, Kansas, and Kwapas-were then together as one nation, they were called Arkansa (Akansa) by the Illinois tribes, and lived near the Ohio. At the mouth of that river they separated (prior to 1540), the Kwapas descending, the other tribes ascending the Mississippi. At another and later separation, after these latter tribes had gone some distance up the Missouri, the Osages and Kansas settled on the rivers bearing those respective names.
The Chicasas (Cikaga, Chickasaws), a Maskoki tribe in Northern Mississippi, were warlike and enterprising, and carried on trade with the English as early as 1700. Frequent hostilities occurred between them and the French, and tribes defeated by the latter sought refuge among the Chicasas.-Jes. Relations, lxiv, pp. 279, 280; lxviii, 328.
3 (2, p. 177) Regarding the calumet dance, see Jes. Relations, li, pp. 47-49; lix, 129, 137, 159, 311 (where is given the notation of the song accompanying the dance); lxiv, 29; lxv, 121, 125, 149, 267; lxvii, 249-253, 299; lxix, 289. Cf. Charlevoix's Journal Historique, pp. 296, 297; and U. S. Bur. Ethnol. Rep., 1881-82, pp. 276-282.Ed.
4 (1, p. 180) Antoine Auguel was called "le Picard," because he came from the province of Picardy. Michel Accau (Ako) was a trader, who had married the daughter of a Kaskaskia chief. Parkman says (La Salle, p. 173, note 1.): "It appears, from La Salle's letters, that Accau was the reach chief of the party; that their orders were to explore, not only the Illinois, but also a part of the Mississippi; and that Hennepin volunteered to go with the others."-Ed.
5 (2, p. 180) The term rassade was applied to spherical or ovate wampum beads; the long tubular beads were called canons.-Ed.
6 (1, p. 183) An Illinois tribe, settled at that time on the east side of the Mississippi, with another tribe called Kaoukia (whence the later name of the French town there established, Cahokia); that tribe was eventually absorbed by the Tamoroas.-Ed.
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