Now we passed along south of the Island of Orleans, which is a league and a half distant from the main land and half a league on the north side, being six leagues in length, and one in breadth, or in some places a league and a half. On the north side, it is very pleasant, on account of the great extent of woods and meadows there; but it is very dangerous sailing, in consequence of the numerous points and rocks between the main land and island, on which are numerous fine oaks and in some places nut-trees, and on the borders of the woods vines and other trees such as we have in France. This place is the commencement of the fine and fertile country of the great river, and is distant one hundred and twenty leagues from its mouth. Off the end of the island is a torrent of water on the north shore, proceeding from a lake ten leagues in the interior: [308] it comes down from a height of nearly twenty-five fathoms, above which the land is level and pleasant, although farther inland are seen high mountains appearing to be from fifteen to twenty leagues distant.
ENDNOTES:
293. The deepest sounding as laid down on Laurie's Chart is one hundred and
forty-six fathoms. The same authority says the banks of the river
throughout its course are very rocky, and vary in height from one
hundred and seventy to three hundred and forty yards above the stream.
Its current is broad, deep, and uncommonly vehement: in some places,
where precipices intervene, are falls from fifty to sixty feet in
height, down which the whole volume of water rushes with tremendous
fury and noise. The general breadth of the river is about two and a
half miles, but at its mouth its width is contracted to three-quarters
of a mile. The tide runs upward about sixty-five miles from its mouth.
294. If the Indians were three days in crossing Lake St. John here referred
to, whose length is variously stated to be from twenty-five to forty
miles, it could hardly have been the shortest time in which it were
possible to pass it. It may have been the usual time, some of which
they gave to fishing or hunting. "In 1647, Father Jean Duquen,
missionary at Tadoussac, ascending the Saguenay, discovered the Lake
St. John, and noted its Indian name, Picouagami, or Flat Lake. He was
the first European who beheld that magnificent expanse of inland
water."—Vide Transactions, Lit. and His. Soc. of Quebec, 1867-68,
p. 5.
295. The first of these three rivers, which the traveller will meet as he passes up the northern shore of the lake, is the Peribonca flowing from the north-east. The second is the Mistassina, represented by the Indians as coming from the salt sea. The third is the Chomouchonan, flowing from the north-west.
296. There was doubtless an Indian trail from the head-waters of the Mistassina to Mistassin Lake, and from thence to Rupert River, which flows into the lower part of Hudson's Bay.
297. The salt sea referred to by the Indians was undoubtedly Hudson's Bay. The discoverer of this bay, Henry Hudson, in the years 1607, 1608, and 1609, was in the northern ocean searching for a passage to Cathay. In 1610, he discovered the strait and bay which now bear his name. He passed the winter in the southern part of the bay; and the next year, 1611, his sailors in a mutiny forced him and his officers into a shallop and abandoned them to perish. Nothing was heard of them afterward. The fame of Hudson's discovery had reached Champlain before the publication of this volume in 1613. This will be apparent by comparing Champlain's small map with the TABULA NAUTICA of Hudson, published in 1612. It will be seen that the whole of the Carte Géographique de la Nouvelle France of Champlain, on the west of Lumley's Inlet, including Hudson's Strait and Bay, is a copy from the Tabula Nautica. Even the names are in English, a few characteristic ones being omitted, such as Prince Henry, the King's Forlant, and Cape Charles.—Vide Henry Hudson the Navigator, by G. M. Asher, LL.D., Hakluyt Society, 1860, p. xliv.
298. This was June 30, 1608.
299. Isle aux Lièvres, or hares. This name was given by Jacques Cartier, and it is still called Hare Island. It is about ten geographical miles long, and generally about half or three-quarters of a mile wide.
300. Rivière aux Saulmons. "From all appearances," says Laverdière, "this Salmon River is that which empties into the 'Port à l'Équilles,' eel harbor, also called 'Port aux Quilles,' Skittles Port. Its mouth is two leagues from Cape Salmon, with which it must not be confounded." It is now known as Black River.