France and England in North America, Part III: La Salle, Discovery of The Great West
_Interrogations faites à Pierre et Jean Baptiste Talon à leur arrivée de
la Veracrux._--This paper, which differs in some of its details from the
preceding, was sent by D'Iberville, the founder of Louisiana, to Abbé
Cavelier. Appended to it is a letter from D'Iberville, written in May,
1704, in which he confirms the chief statements of the Talons, by
information obtained by him from a Spanish officer at Pensacola.
APPENDIX.
I.
EARLY UNPUBLISHED MAPS OF THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE GREAT LAKES.
Most of the maps described below are to be found in the Dépôt des
Cartes de la Marine et des Colonies, at Paris. Taken together, they
exhibit the progress of western discovery, and illustrate the
records of the explorers.
1. The map of Galinée, 1670, has a double title,--_Carte du Canada et
des Terres découvertes vers le lac Derié, and Carte du Lac Ontario et
des habitations qui l'environnent ensemble le pays que Messrs. Dolier
et Galinée, missionnaires du seminaire de St. Sulpice, ont parcouru_. It
professes to represent only the country actually visited by the two
missionaries. Beginning with Montreal, it gives the course of the Upper
St. Lawrence and the shores of Lake Ontario, the river Niagara, the
north shore of Lake Erie, the Strait of Detroit, and the eastern and
northern shores of Lake Huron. Galinée did not know the existence of the
peninsula of Michigan, and merges Lakes Huron and Michigan into one,
under the name of "Michigané, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." He was also
entirely ignorant of the south shore of Lake Erie. He represents the
outlet of Lake Superior as far as the Saut Ste. Marie, and lays down
the river Ottawa in great detail, having descended it on his return. The
Falls of the Genesee are indicated, as also the Falls of Niagara, with
the inscription, "Sault qui tombe au rapport des sauvages de plus de 200
pieds de haut." Had the Jesuits been disposed to aid him, they could
have given him much additional information, and corrected his most
serious errors; as, for example, the omission of the peninsula of
Michigan. The first attempt to map out the Great Lakes was that of
Champlain, in 1632. This of Galinée may be called the second.
2. The map of Lake Superior, published in the Jesuit Relation of 1670,
1671, was made at about the same time with Galinée's map. Lake Superior
is here styled "Lac Tracy, ou Supérieur." Though not so exact as it has
been represented, this map indicates that the Jesuits had explored every
part of this fresh-water ocean, and that they had a thorough knowledge
of the straits connecting the three Upper Lakes, and of the adjacent
bays, inlets, and shores. The peninsula of Michigan, ignored by Galinée,
is represented in its proper place.
3. Three years or more after Galinée made the map mentioned above,
another, indicating a greatly increased knowledge of the country, was
made by some person whose name does not appear. This map, which is
somewhat more than four feet long and about two feet and a half wide,
has no title. All the Great Lakes, through their entire extent, are laid
down on it with considerable accuracy. Lake Ontario is called "Lac
Ontario, ou de Frontenac." Fort Frontenac is indicated, as well as the
Iroquois colonies of the north shore. Niagara is "Chute haute de 120
toises par où le Lac Erié tombe dans le Lac Frontenac." Lake Erie is
"Lac Teiocha-rontiong, dit communément Lac Erié." Lake St. Clair is
"Tsiketo, ou Lac de la Chaudière." Lake Huron is "Lac Huron, ou Mer
Douce des Hurons." Lake Superior is "Lac Supérieur." Lake Michigan is
"Lac Mitchiganong, ou des Illinois." On Lake Michigan, immediately
opposite the site of Chicago, are written the words, of which the
following is the literal translation: "The largest vessels can come to
this place from the outlet of Lake Erie, where it discharges into Lake
Frontenac [Ontario]; and from this marsh into which they can enter there
is only a distance of a thousand paces to the River La Divine [Des
Plaines], which can lead them to the River Colbert [Mississippi], and
thence to the Gulf of Mexico." This map was evidently made after that
voyage of La Salle in which he discovered the Illinois, or at least the
Des Plaines branch of it. The Ohio is laid down with the inscription,
"River Ohio, so called by the Iroquois on account of its beauty, which
the Sieur de la Salle descended." (_Ante_, 32, _note_.)
4. We now come to the map of Marquette, which is a rude sketch of a
portion of Lakes Superior and Michigan, and of the route pursued by him
and Joliet up the Fox River of Green Bay, down the Wisconsin, and thence
down the Mississippi as far as the Arkansas. The river Illinois is also
laid down, as it was by this course that he returned to Lake Michigan
after his memorable voyage. He gives no name to the Wisconsin. The
Mississippi is called "Rivière de la Conception;" the Missouri, the
Pekitanoui; and the Ohio, the Ouabouskiaou, though La Salle, its
discoverer, had previously given it its present name, borrowed from the
Iroquois. The Illinois is nameless, like the Wisconsin. At the mouth of
a river, perhaps the Des Moines, Marquette places the three villages of
the Peoria Indians visited by him. These, with the Kaskaskias, Maroas,
and others, on the map, were merely sub-tribes of the aggregation of
savages known as the Illinois. On or near the Missouri he places the
Ouchage (Osages), the Oumessourit (Missouris), the Kansa (Kanzas), the
Paniassa (Pawnees), the Maha (Omahas), and the Pahoutet (Pah-Utahs?).
The names of many other tribes, "esloignées dans les terres," are also
given along the course of the Arkansas, a river which is nameless on the
map. Most of these tribes are now indistinguishable. This map has
recently been engraved and published.
5. Not long after Marquette's return from the Mississippi, another map
was made by the Jesuits, with the following title: _Carte de la nouvelle
decouverte que les peres Iesuites ont fait en l'année 1672, et continuée
par le P. Iacques Marquette de la mesme Compagnie accompagné de quelques
françois en l'année 1673, qu'on pourra nommer en françois la
Manitoumie_. This title is very elaborately decorated with figures drawn
with a pen, and representing Jesuits instructing Indians. The map is the
same published by Thevenot, not without considerable variations, in
1681. It represents the Mississippi from a little above the Wisconsin to
the Gulf of Mexico, the part below the Arkansas being drawn from
conjecture. The river is named "Mitchisipi, ou grande Rivière." The
Wisconsin, the Illinois, the Ohio, the Des Moines(?), the Missouri, and
the Arkansas are all represented, but in a very rude manner. Marquette's
route, in going and returning, is marked by lines; but the return route
is incorrect. The whole map is so crude and careless, and based on
information so inexact, that it is of little interest.
6. The Jesuits made also another map, without title, of the four Upper
Lakes and the Mississippi to a little below the Arkansas. The
Mississippi is called "Riuiere Colbert." The map is remarkable as
including the earliest representation of the Upper Mississippi, based,
perhaps, on the reports of Indians. The Falls of St. Anthony are
indicated by the word "Saut." It is possible that the map may be of
later date than at first appears, and that it may have been drawn in the
interval between the return of Hennepin from the Upper Mississippi and
that of La Salle from his discovery of the mouth of the river. The
various temporary and permanent stations of the Jesuits are marked by
crosses.
7. Of far greater interest is the small map of Louis Joliet made and
presented to Count Frontenac after the discoverer's return from the
Mississippi. It is entitled _Carte de la decouverte du Sr. Jolliet ou
l'on voit La Communication du fleuve St. Laurens avec les lacs
frontenac, Erié, Lac des Hurons et Ilinois_. Then succeeds the
following, written in the same antiquated French, as if it were a part
of the title: "Lake Frontenac [Ontario] is separated by a fall of half a
league from Lake Erié, from which one enters that of the Hurons, and by
the same navigation, into that of the Illinois [Michigan], from the head
of which one crosses to the Divine River [Rivière Divine; _i. e._, the
Des Plaines branch of the river Illinois], by a portage of a thousand
paces. This river falls into the river Colbert [Mississippi], which
discharges itself into the Gulf of Mexico." A part of this map is based
on the Jesuit map of Lake Superior, the legends being here for the most
part identical, though the shape of the lake is better given by Joliet.
The Mississippi, or "Riuiere Colbert," is made to flow from three lakes
in latitude 47°; and it ends in latitude 37°, a little below the mouth
of the Ohio, the rest being apparently cut off to make room for Joliet's
letter to Frontenac (_ante_, 76), which is written on the lower part of
the map. The valley of the Mississippi is called on the map "Colbertie,
ou Amerique Occidentale." The Missouri is represented without name, and
against it is a legend, of which the following is the literal
translation: "By one of these great rivers which come from the west and
discharge themselves into the river Colbert, one will find a way to
enter the Vermilion Sea (Gulf of California). I have seen a village
which was not more than twenty days' journey by land from a nation which
has commerce with those of California. If I had come two days sooner, I
should have spoken with those who had come from thence, and had brought
four hatchets as a present." The Ohio has no name, but a legend over it
states that La Salle had descended it. (See _ante_, 32, _note_).
8. Joliet, at about the same time, made another map, larger than that
just mentioned, but not essentially different. The letter to Frontenac
is written upon both. There is a third map, of which the following is
the title: _Carte generalle de la France septentrionale contenant la
descouuerte du pays des Illinois, faite par le Sr. Jolliet_. This
map, which is inscribed with a dedication by the Intendant Duchesneau to
the minister Colbert, was made some time after the voyage of Joliet and
Marquette. It is an elaborate piece of work, but very inaccurate. It
represents the continent from Hudson's Strait to Mexico and California,
with the whole of the Atlantic and a part of the Pacific coast. An open
sea is made to extend from Hudson's Strait westward to the Pacific. The
St. Lawrence and all the Great Lakes are laid down with tolerable
correctness, as also is the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi, called
"Messasipi," flows into the Gulf, from which it extends northward nearly
to the "Mer du Nord." Along its course, above the Wisconsin, which is
called "Miskous," is a long list of Indian tribes, most of which cannot
now be recognized, though several are clearly sub-tribes of the Sioux.
The Ohio is called "Ouaboustikou." The whole map is decorated with
numerous figures of animals, natives of the country, or supposed to be
so. Among them are camels, ostriches, and a giraffe, which are placed on
the plains west of the Mississippi. But the most curious figure is that
which represents one of the monsters seen by Joliet and Marquette,
painted on a rock by the Indians. It corresponds with Marquette's
description (_ante_, 68). This map, which is an early effort of the
engineer Franquelin, does more credit to his skill as a designer than to
his geographical knowledge, which appears in some respects behind his
time.
9. _Carte de l'Amérique Septentrionale depuis l'embouchure de la Rivière
St. Laurens jusques au Sein Mexique._ On this curious little map, the
Mississippi is called "Riuiere Buade" (the family name of Frontenac);
and the neighboring country is "La Frontenacie." The Illinois is