Indians, with their respective kings and their families. They will come to this place in order to meet the traders from Michillimackinac,who make this their road to the North West. From them I received the following account of the Lakes that lie to the north west of Lake Superior.

Lake Bourbon, the most northern of those yet discovered,. received its name from the French traders who accompanied a party of Indians to Hudson's Bay some years ago; and was thus denominated by them in honour of the Royal Family of France. It is composed of the waters of the Bourbon river, which, as I have before observed, rises a great way to the southward, not far from the northern heads of the Mississippi. This lake is about 80 miles in length, north and south, and is nearly circular. The land on the eastern side is very good; and to the south-west there are some mountains. In many other parts there are barren plains, bogs, and morasses. Its latitude is between fifty-two and fifty-four degrees north, and it lies nearly south-west from Hudson's Bay. As through its northern situation the weather there is extremely cold, only a few animals are to be found in the country that borders on it. (p. 107.)

*

Lake Winnipeck, or as the French write it, Lake Ouinipique, which lies nearest to the foregoing, is composed of the same waters. It is in length 200 miles, north and south; its breadth has never been properly ascertained, but is supposed to be about 100 miles in its widest part. This lake is very full of islands; these are, however of no great magnitude. Many considerable rivers empty themselves into it, which, as yet, are not distinguished by any names.

The lands on the south-west part of it is very good, especially about the entrance of a large branch of the River Bourbon, (Assiniboine), which flows from the south-west. On this: river there is a factory that was built by the French, called Fort La Reine, to which the traders from Michilimackinac resort to trade with the Assinipoils and Killistinoes. To this place the Mahahs who inhabit a country 250 miles south-west,

come also to trade with them; and bring great quantities of Indian corn to exchange for knives tomahawks, and other articles. * * *

Lake Winnepeck has on the north-east some mountains and on the east many barren plains. (p. 109.)

On the waters that fall into this Lake, the neighbouring nations take great numbers of excellent furs. Some of these they carry to the factories and settlements belonging to Hudson's Bay Company, situated above the entrance of the Bourbon river; but this they do with reluctance on several accounts; for some of the Assinipoils and Killistinoes, who usually traded with the Company's servants, told me that if they could be sure of a constant supply of goods from Michillimackinac, they would not trade anywhere else. They shewed me some cloth and other articles that they had purchased at Hudson's Bay, with which they were much dissatisfied, thinking that they had been greatly imposed upon by the barter.

Allowing that their accounts were true, I could not help joining in their opinion. But this dissatisfaction might probably proceed, in a great measure, from the intrigues of the Canadian traders; for whilst the French were in possession of Michillimackinac, having acquired a thorough knowledge of the trade of the north-west countries they were employed on that account, after the reduction of Canada, by the English traders there, in the establishment of this trade, with which they were themselves quite unacquainted. One of the methods they took to withdraw these Indians from their attachment to the Hudson's Bay Company, and to engage their good opinion in behalf of their new employers, was by depreciating on all occasions the Company's goods, and magnifying the advantages that would arise to them from trafficking entirely with the Canadian traders. In this they too well succeeded, and from this, doubtless, did the dissatisfaction the Assinipoils and Killistinoes expressed partly proceed. But another reason augmented it, and this was the length of their journey to the

Hudson's Bay factories, which, they informed me, took them up three months of the summer heat to go and return, and from the smallness of their canoes they could not carry more. than a third of the beavers they killed. So that it is not to be wondered at, that these Indians should wish to have traders come and reside among them. * * *

The French always kept a small schooner on Lake Superior whilst they were in possession of Canada. (p. 134.)

Two very large rivers empty themselves into this Lake on the north and east side: one is called the Nipegon river, or, as the French pronounce it, the Allanipegon, which leads to a band of the Chipeways, inhabiting a lake of the same name; and the other is termed the Michipicooton river, the source of which is situated towards James' Bay, from whence there is but a short carriage to another river, which empties itself into that bay, at a fort belonging to the Company. It was by this passage that a party of French from Michillimackinac invaded the settlements of that society in the reign of Queen Anne. Having taken and destroyed their forts, they brought the cannon which they found in them to the fortress from whence they had issued; these were small brass pieces, and remain there to this present time. (p. 137.)

At the upper end of the Straits of Ste. Marie stands a fort that receives its name from them, commanded by Mons. Cadot, a French Canadian, who, being proprietor of the soil, is still permitted to keep possession of it. (p. 141.)

The banks of the River Detroit, both above and below these towns, are covered with settlements, that extend more than twenty miles; the country being exceedingly fruitful and proper for the cultivation of wheat, Indian corn, oats and peas. The inhabitants, who are chiefly French that submitted to the English Government, after the conquest of these parts by General Amherst, are more attentive to the Indian trade than to farming. It is badly cultivated. (p. 151.)

R

APPENDIX M.

(N. Y. Hist. Col., Vol. 10.)

PARIS DOCUMENTS, IX.

EXTRACT from an Abstract, in form of a Journal of the most interesting occurrences in the Colony, in reference to military movements, and of the various intelligence received, since the departure of the ships in November, 1746.

(Page 117 of the N. Y. Hist. Col.)

August 13.-Captain de Noyelle and Sieur de La Verendrye arrive from Michillimackinac, and deliver to the General a letter dated at that post, on the 23rd July, and addressed to him by Sieur de Noyelle, junr., commanding, in the absence of Mr. de La Corne, senior, and by other officers, who arrived from the upper posts, and happened to be then at Michillimackinac.

The General is informed by this letter of the confusion that prevails among all the nations of that post and neighbourhood, Outaouais, Sauteurs and Mississaguès. The Outaouacs of Saguinam have killed three Frenchmen who were coming from Detroit to Michillimackinac. Two French canoes which had gone en prime from Montreal to the West Sea,* have been attacked by the Sauteurs, about the place called La Cloche, f near Lake Michigan; one, containing eight men, has been wholly defeated; the second, by striking out into the Lake and throwing its cargo overboard, escaped to Michillimackinac. Another Frenchman has been stabbed by the Sauteurs at a place called La Grosse Isle,‡ only two leagues distant from the post. These Indians have offered divers insults and threats

* La mer de l'Ouest. In Carver's Map, the head of Lake Superior is called the West Bay.

+ An Island north of the Great Manitoulin, in Lake Huron.

An Island immediately north of Mackinaw Island; map of St. Mary's Straits, in Charlevoix, id.

at the fort, and in the vicinity; they killed all the horses and other cattle that they could not catch; they designed to surprise the fort, but were discovered and obliged to leave, by ringing the bell and beating the tap-too, as usual, and even by making some defensive demonstrations. There had been greater reason for presuming bad intentions on the part of the Indians, inasmuch as a crowd of young men had armed themselves with knives, in a council which had been held at their request, on the 3rd July, and which terminated in recrimination. The Indians have not been permitted to enter the fort, except under certain restrictions. Some Frenchmen from Point Chagouamigon, and Mr. de Noyelle, senr., on his usual return from the West Sea, arrived a few days after. Certain intelligence had also been received there from Detroit. This reinforcement will somewhat tranquillize the fort, which contained, before their arrival, only twenty-eight men. An Outaouas Indian, named Neguiouamin, arrived on the 2nd July at the post, to communicate in secret to the Commandant and the Missionary that the Iroquois, the Huron and the Flathead, had come to an understanding with the English to destroy the French and drive them to the other side of the Sea; that the Outaouais of Detroit is in the plot; that the Poutouatami will co-operate; that the Mississaguès and Sauteurs are gained over; that the Outaouac of Saguinam has already struck; that the Outaouas of Michillimackinac would have taken part against us had it not been for the portion of the village which is at Montreal, and that they would yet possibly declare against us on the arrival of seventy men from Saguinam, who are to be reinforced by the Sauteurs of Grosse Isle; that they were to leave in a few days, and to come in the night to speak to the Outaouas of the post, and that it were well to allow no person to go hunting, and to keep strict watch. Mr. de Noyelle, junr., adds that he will detain, until further orders, at Michillimackinac, the canoes which were to come from Montreal to the different posts, unless affairs changed, and it became certain that the dispositions of the Indians at those

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