[17] It is nowhere stated in the Relations that such was the object of Champlain in dispatching Nicolet to those people; nevertheless, that it was the chief purpose had in view by him, is fairly deducible from what is known of his purposes at that date. He had, also, other designs to be accomplished.
[18] Parkman's "Jesuits in North America," pp. 1, 2.
[19] This is assumed, although in no account that has been discovered is it expressly asserted that he visited the tribe just mentioned during this year. In no record, contemporaneous or later, is the date of his journey thither given, except approximately. The fact of Nicolet's having made the journey to the Winnebagoes is first noticed by Vimont, in the Relation of 1640, p. 35. He says: "Ie visiteray tout maintenant le costé du Sud, ie diray on passant que le sieur Nicolet, interprete en langue Algonquine et Huronne pour Messieurs de la nouuelle France, m'a donné les noms de ces nations qu'il a visitées luy mesme pour la pluspart dans leur pays, tous ces peuples entendent l'Algonquin, excepté les Hurons, qui ont vne langue à part, comme aussi les Ouinipigou [Winnebagoes] ou gens de mer." The year of Nicolet's visit, it will be noticed, is thus left undetermined. The extract only shows that it must have been made "in or before" 1639.
[20] As to the temper of the Hurons at that date, see Parkman's "Jesuits in North America," p. 51.
[21] The credit of first advancing this idea is due to Benjamin Sulte. See his article entitled "Jean Nicolet," in "Mélanges d'Histoire et de Littérature," Ottawa, 1876, pp. 426, 436.
[22] Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1635, p. 30. He says: "Jean Nicolet, en son voyage qu'il fit auec nous iusques à l'Isle," etc.; meaning the Isle des Allumettes, in the Ottawa river.
[23] Incidents recorded in the Relations, and in the parish church register of Three Rivers, show Nicolet to have been upon the St. Lawrence from December 9, 1635, to his death, in 1642, except during the ten months above mentioned. It is an unfortunate fact that, for those ten months, the record of the church just named is missing. For this information I am indebted to Mr. Benjamin Sulte. Could the missing record be found, it would be seen to contain, without doubt, some references to Nicolet's presence at Three Rivers. As the Relation of 1640 mentions Nicolet's visit to the Winnebagoes, it could not have been made subsequent to 1639. It has already been shown how improbable it is that his journey was made previous to 1634. It only remains, therefore, to give his whereabouts previous to 1640, and subsequent to 1635. His presence in Three Rivers, according to Mr. Sulte (see [Appendix, I.], to this narrative), is noted in the parish register in December, 1635; in May, 1636; in November and December, 1637; in March, 1638; in January, March, July, October, and December, 1639. As to mention of him in the Relations during those years, see the next chapter of this work.
It was the identification by Mr. Shea, of the Winnebagoes as the "Ouinipigou," or "Gens de Mer," of the Relations, that enabled him to call the attention of the public to the extent of the discoveries of Nicolet. The claims of the latter, as the discoverer of the Northwest, were thus, for the first time, brought forward on the page of American history.
[24] "Le huictiesme de Iuin, le Capitaine des Naiz percez, ou de la Nation du Castor, qui est à trois iournées de nous, vint nous demander quelqu'vn de nos François, pour aller auec eux passer l'Este dans vn fort qu'ils ont fait, pour la crainte qu'ils ont des A8eatsi8aenrrhonon, c'est à dire, des gens puants, qui ont rompu le traicté de paix, et ont tuè deux de leurs dont ils ont fait festin."—Le Jeune, Relation, 1636, p. 92.
"On the 18th of June [1635], the chief of the Nez Percés, or Beaver Nation, which is three days' journey from us [the Jesuit missionaries, located at the head of Georgian bay of Lake Huron], came to demand of us some one of our Frenchmen to go with them to pass the summer in a fort which they have made, by reason of the fear which they have of the Aweatiswaenrrhonon;[A] that is to say, of the Nation of the Puants [Winnebagoes], who have broken the treaty of peace, and have killed two of their men, of whom they have made a feast."