leaves them only a very little time for receiving the instruction that we give them.

To render them more stationary, we have fixed our abode here, where we cause the soil to be tilled, in order to induce them, by our example, to do the same; and in this several have already begun to imitate us.

Moreover, we have had a chapel erected, and have taken care to adorn it, going farther in this than one would dare promise himself in a country destitute of all things.

Here, then, we have record of the beginning of the first white settlement in the now State of Michigan, making it the first permanent settlement on the continent west of Montreal'; and, as we have seen, there is proof of French traders and voyageurs having been here for a number of years previous to this, but whether as occasional or permanent residents, it is difficult to deter

mine.

Cassier's Magazine, Dec., 1911, vol. xxxx.

CHAPTER XI

The Recollets, Sulpitians and Jesuits are Given an Equal Opportunity— Expeditions Organized to Discover Southern Route-La Salle and the Sulpitians Dollier and Galinée Unite for that Purpose Péré Follows the Portage Route from Lake Ontario to Georgian BayJoliet Rescues an Iroquois Prisoner who Conducts him Down the Detroit River-La Salle, Joliet, Dollier and Galinée Meet at Tinawatawa-La Salle and Joliet Return to Montreal by Way of Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River-The Sulpitians Winter on Lake Erie— They Proceed to the Sault by Way of Detroit River.

HITHERTO the Iroquois had guarded the southern portal of the Upper Great Lakes so effectually that the French scarcely knew that one existed. They doubtless realized that there must be a great drainage outlet somewhere, and had probably learned from the Indians that it was at the lower end of the Lake of the Hurons; that region they had not visited, and whether the outlet finally found its way to the Atlantic or to the great river Mississippi, of which they had now definitely learned, was at best but a conjecture. Lake Ontario was early known to the French. Champlain had crossed its western end in 1615 on his expedition against the Iroquois; Father Poncet, in 1653, was the first known white man to descend the St. Lawrence from Lake Ontario, and Father Simon Le Moine, in 1657, the first to ascend the great river to the lake. Erie was the last of the Great Lakes to be known to the French.

The Iroquois had established themselves in several places on the northern shore of Ontario, and, since the 1 Canada and its Provinces, vol. i, p. 82.

expulsion of the Hurons, had occupied a few points near the north shore of Lake Erie.

The Recollets were the first to establish themselves in New France. They were followed and practically superseded by the Jesuits, whose success in the early years was almost obliterated by the invasion of the Iroquois. In 1669 the Jesuits had, west of Montreal, missions at Ste. Marie du Sault, at La Pointe and one had been reopened among the Iroquois south of Lake Ontario. The practical monopoly of ecclesiastical work and government benefits heretofore exercised and enjoyed by them was to be revoked, and Recollets, Sulpitians and Jesuits alike encouraged to enter the field.

Now occurred one of those remarkable conjunctions or coincidences which, without plan or prearrangement, often occur in the affairs of men, and which exert potential influences in shaping events. Three expeditions, or finally two, conceived entirely independently, in the heart of the New World wilderness hundreds of miles from their starting point, eventually merged for a time and opened to civilization first knowledge of the great southern waterway.

Abbé de Quylus, Superior of the Sulpitian Seminary at Montreal, an enthusiastic promoter of missions, became greatly interested in the tale of a Shawnee slave whom Dollier de Casson, then studying the Algonquin language with a chief named Nitarikyk, had sent to him with a message. The slave told de Quylus about his people, the Chaonanons, or Shawnees, who dwelt on the Ohio River near its junction with the great Mississippi. They were numerous as the trees of the forest, gentle in manners, and desired to learn about the white man's God. He assured the priest that he could guide a party to the home of his people.

Dollier and de Quylus had often talked of establishing

missions. Here was the opportunity to begin. De Quylus sent a return message to Dollier reminding him of his avowed desire to engage in mission work, and summoned him to his side when he gave him the necessary orders to prepare for the expedition.

René de Brehant de Galinée, another priest of the order, of a noble and distinguished Breton family who had received a mathematical training and knew something of map making, was to be associated with Dollier in the enterprise.

It is believed that the original plan was to proceed by the well known Ottawa route to Georgian Bay, thence by Green Bay and the Mississippi to the mouth of the Ohio in the region of which the Shawnee nation occupied a considerable territory.

Dollier repaired to Quebec to purchase the necessary supplies and equipment for the expedition. Here the plans were materially changed.

Robert Cavalier de La Salle, justly celebrated as one of the greatest explorers of his time, appears upon the scene. Of a wealthy and honorable Norman family, he had been educated for the Church, receiving minor orders; he had also served as a professor of science and mathematics in more than one college, but his ambition and love of adventure were too strong to permit him to be bound to any sedentary pursuit.

At Montreal, La Salle's elder brother was a Sulpitian of influence. From the Seminary at that place, the Chevalier received the grant of a Seigniory on Montreal Island, at the head of the rapids, and here laid out a fortified village, which he called St. Sulpice. The position was admirably chosen. Ottawas from Lake Superior and Iroquois from Lake Ontario alike drew up their canoes at this spot on their way to Montreal. Here Canada and its Provinces, vol. i, p. 88.

information came to him in the way of vague reports, of a great river to the south, flowing westerly, doubtless, it was argued, to the Vermilion Sea. Here was an opportunity for discovering the long sought passage to the Orient, and here an opportunity of making definitely known the vague reports of the mild climate and wonderfully productive soil in the valley of the great river. ' Either discovery would make the fame and fortune of the man who should achieve it.

On La Salle's assurance to Governor De Courcelle that the King was not to be subjected to any expense on account of the proposed expedition, he was granted the privilege of engaging in the fur trade and of traveling wherever he chose. Letters were given him directed to the English and Spanish governors, asking them to facilitate his passage. Soldiers were to be at liberty to enlist for the expedition. To raise funds for the enterprise, La Salle sold his Seigniory. Equipment was provided and merchandise procured to barter with the Indians.

Inasmuch as the ultimate region to be reached both by the Sulpitians and La Salle was practically identical, and the expeditions to start at about the same time, they were induced to join forces and proceed together, Dollier and Galinée thereby abandoning the more northern route hitherto contemplated.

The expedition, with the exception of La Salle, who followed some days afterward, left Montreal on the 6th of July, 1669, in seven birch canoes with twenty-one men including a surgeon, Dutch and Algonquin interpreters, beside two canoes of Senecas who were to conduct the party.

After toiling up the St. Lawrence they coasted all along the south shore of Lake Ontario to Burlington Bay. 2

I The Ohio.

• Ontario Historical Society Papers, vol. iv, p. 21.