ENDNOTES:
201. Champlain made a voyage to New France in 1617, but appears to have kept no journal of its events. He simply observes that nothing occurred worthy of remark. Vide issue of 1632, Quebec ed., p. 969. Sagard gives a brief narrative of the events that occurred that year. Vol. I. pp. 34-44.
202. Eustache Boullé. His father was Nicolas Boullé, Secretary of the King's Chamber, and his mother was Marguerite Alix. Vide Vol. I. p. 205 et passim.
203. Nicolas de La Mothe, or de la Motte le Vilin. He had been Lieutenant of Saussaye in 1613, when Capt. Argall captured the French colony at Mount Desert. Vide Les Voyages de Champlain, 1632, Quebec ed., p. 773; Relation de la Nouvelle France, Père Biard, p. 64.
204. Fauquets. Probably the common Tern, or Sea Swallow. Sterna hirundo. Peter Kalm, on his voyage in 1749, says "Terns, sterna hirundo, Linn, though of a somewhat darker colour than the common ones, we found after the forty-first degree of north latitude and forty-seventh degree of west longitude from London, very plentifully, and sometimes in flocks of some hundreds; sometimes they settled, as if tired, on our ship." Kalm's Travels, 1770, Vol. I. p. 23.
205. St. John's day was June 24th.
206. According to Sagard they were assassinated about the middle of April, 1617. Hist. Canada, Vol. I. p. 42.
207. Sagard says the French, on account of this affair, were menaced by eight hundred savages of different nations who were assembled at Trois Rivières. Vide Histoire du Canada, 1636, Vol. I. p.42. The statement, "on estoit menacé de huict cens Sauvages de diuerse nations, qui festoient assemblez és Trois Rivieres à dessein de venir surprendre les François & leur coupper à tous la gorge, pour preuenir la vengeance qu'ils eussent pû prendre de deux de leurs hommes tuez par les Montagnais environ la my Auril de l'an 1617," is, we think, too strong. The savages were excited and frightened by the demands of the French, who desired to produce upon their minds a strong moral impression, in order to prevent a recurrence of the murder, which was a private thing, in which the great body of the savages had no part. They could not be said to be hostile, though they prudently put themselves in a state of defence, as, under the circumstances, it was very natural they should do.
208. They were then at Trois Rivières.
209. The moat around the habitation at Quebec was fifteen feet wide and six feet deep, constructed with a drawbridge to be taken up in case of need. Vide Vol II p. 182.
210. Probably Père le Caron, who was in charge of the mission at Quebec at that time.
211. Vide Histoire du Canada, par Sagard, 1636, Vol. I. p 45.
212. They arrived on St. John's day, antea, note 205, and consequently this was the 25th of June, 1618.
213. Jean d'Olbeau.
214. Frère Modeste Guines. Vide Histoire du Canada, par Sagard, à Paris, 1636, Vol. I.p. 40.
215. Joseph le Caron, Paul Huet, and Pacifique du Plessis.
216. Louis Hébert, an apothecary, settled at Port Royal in La Cadie or Nova Scotia, under Poutrincourt, was there when, in 1613, possession was taken in the name of Madame de Guercheville. He afterward took up his abode at Quebec with his family, probably in the year 1617. His eldest daughter Anne was married at Quebec to Estienne Jonquest, a Norman, which was the first marriage that took place with the ceremonies of the Church in Canada. His daughter Guillemette married William Couillard, and to her Champlain committed the two Indian girls, whom he was not permitted by Kirke to take with him to France, when Quebec was captured by the English in 1629. Louis Hébert died at Quebec on the 25th of January, 1627. Histoire du Canada, Vol. I. pp. 41, 591.
217. These fields were doubtless those of Louis Hébert, who was the first that came into the country with his family to live by the cultivation of the soil.
218. Platon. Vide Vol. 1., note 155.
219. Champlain says, donné charge d'aller vers les Entouhonorons à Carantouan. By reference to the map of 1632. it will be seen that the Entouhonorons were situated on the southern borders of Lake Ontario. They are understood by Champlain to be a part at least of the Iroquois; but the Carantouanais, allies of the Hurons, were south of them, occupying apparently the upper waters of the Susquehanna. A dotted line will be seen on the same map, evidently intended to mark the course of Brûlé's journey. From the meagre knowledge which Champlain possessed of the region, the line can hardly be supposed to be very accurate, which may account for Champlain's indefinite expression as cited at the beginning of this note.
The Entouhonorons, Quentouoronons, Tsonnontouans, or Senecas constituted the most western and most numerous canton of the Five Nations. Vide Continuation of the New Discovery, by Louis Hennepin, 1699, p. 95; also Origin of the name Seneca in Mr. O. H. Marshall's brochure on De la Salle among the Senecas, pp. 43-45.
220. Vide antea, p. 124.
221. The River Susquehanna.
222. He appears to have gone as far south at least as the upper waters of
Chesapeake Bay.
223. The Dutch fur-traders. Vide History of the State of New York by John
Romeyn Brodhead, Vol. I. p. 44 et passim.
224. Attigonantans or Attignaouantans the principal tribe of the Hurons,
sometimes called Les bons Iroquis, as they and the Iroquois were of
the same original stock. Vide Vol. I. p. 276, note 212.
225. Lake Huron. For the different names which have been attached to this
lake, vide Local Names of Niagara Frontier, by Orsamus H. Marshall,
1881, P. 37.
226. Brûlé was despatched on his mission Sept 8, 1615. Vide antea, p. 124.
As we have already stated in a previous note, it was the policy of Champlain to place competent young men with the different tribes of savages to obtain that kind of information which could only come from an actual and prolonged residence with them. This enabled him to secure not only the most accurate knowledge of their domestic habits and customs, the character and spirit of their life, but these young men by their long residence with the savages acquired a good knowledge of their language, and were able to act as interpreters. This was a matter of very great importance, as it was often necessary for Champlain to communicate with the different tribes in making treaties of friendship, in discussing questions of war with their enemies, in settling disagreements among themselves, and in making arrangements with them for the yearly purchase of their peltry. It was not easy to obtain suitable persons for this important office. Those who had the intellectual qualifications, and who had any high aspirations, would not naturally incline to pass years in the stupid and degrading associations, to say nothing of the hardships and deprivations, of savage life. They were generally therefore adventurers, whose honesty and fidelity had no better foundation than their selfish interests. Of this sort was this Étienne Brûlé, as well as Nicholas Marsolet and Pierre Raye, all of whom turned traitors, selling themselves to the English when Quebec was taken in 1629. Of Brûlé, Champlain uses the following emphatic language: "Lé truchement Bruslé à qui l'on donnoit cent pistolles par an, pour inciter les sauuages à venir à la traitte, ce qui estoit de tres-mauuais exemple, d'enuoyer ainsi des personnes si maluiuans, que l'on eust deub chastier seuerement, car l'on recognoissoit cet homme pour estre fort vicieux, & adonné aux femmes; mais que ne fait faire l'esperance du gain, qui passe par dessus toutes considerations." Vide issue of 1632, Quebec ed., pp. 1065, 1229.
But among Champlain's interpreters there were doubtless some who bore a very different character. Jean Nicolet was certainly a marked exception. Although Champlain does not mention him by name, he appears to have been in New France as early as 1618, where he spent many years among the Algonquins, and was the first Frenchman who penetrated the distant Northwest. He married into one of the most respectable families of Quebec, and is often mentioned in the Relations des Jésuites. Vide a brief notice of him in Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, by John Gilmary Shea, 1852, p. xx. A full account of his career has recently been published, entitled History of the Discovery of the Northwest by John Nicolet in 1634, with a Sketch of his Life. By C. W. Butterfield. Cincinnati, 1881. Vide also Détails fur la Vie de Jean Nicollet, an extract from Relation des Jésuites, 1643, in Découveries, etc, par Pierre Margry, p. 49.
227. Paul Huet and Pacifique du Plessis. The latter had been in New France
more than a year and a half, having arrived in 1615. Vide antea,
pp. 104-5.