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Page 59
MARQUETTE'S DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI
(1673)
MARQUETTE'S OWN ACCOUNT[1]
I embarked with M. Joliet, who had been chosen to conduct this
enterprise, on the 13th May, 1673, with five other Frenchmen, in two
bark canoes. We laid in some Indian corn and smoked beef for our
voyage. We first took care, however, to draw from the Indians all the
information we could, concerning the countries through which we
designed to travel, and drew up a map, on which we marked down the
rivers, nations, and points of the compass to guide us in our journey.
The first nation we came to was called the Folles-Avoines, or the
nation of wild oats. I entered their river to visit them, as I had
preached among them some years before. The wild oats, from which they
derive their name, grow spontaneously in their country....
I acquainted them with my design of discovering other nations, to
preach to them the mysteries of our holy religion, at which they were
much surprized, and said all they could to dissuade me from it. They
told me I would meet Indians who spare no strangers, and whom they
kill without any provocation or mercy; that the war they have one with
the other would expose me to be taken by their warriors, as they are
constantly on the look-out to surprize their enemies. That the Great
River[2] was exceedingly dangerous, and full of frightful monsters who
devoured men and canoes together, and that the heat was so great that
it would positively cause our death. I thanked them for their kind
advice, but told them I would not follow it, as the salvation of a
great many souls was concerned in our undertaking, for whom I should
be glad to lose my life, I added that I defied their monsters, and
their information would oblige us to keep more upon our guard to avoid
a surprize. And having prayed with them, and given them some
instructions, we set out for the Bay of Puan,[3] where our
missionaries had been successful in converting them.... The next day,
being the 10th of June, the two guides [Miamies] embarked with us in
sight of all the village, who were astonished at our attempting so
dangerous an expedition. We were informed that at three leagues from
the Maskoutens, we should find a river which runs into the
Mississippi, and that we were to go to the west-south-west to find
it, but there were so many marshes and lakes, that if it had not been
for our guides we could not have found it....
Before embarking we all offered up prayers to the Holy Virgin, which
we continued to do every morning, placing ourselves and the events of
the journey under her protection, and after having encouraged each
other, we got into our canoes. The river upon which we embarked is
called Mesconsin [Wisconsin]; the river is very wide, but the sand
bars make it very difficult to navigate, which is increased by
numerous islands covered with grape-vines. The country through which
it flows is beautiful; the groves are so dispersed in the prairies
that it makes a noble prospect; and the fruit of the trees shows a
fertile soil. These groves are full of walnut, oak, and other trees
unknown to us in Europe. We saw neither game nor fish, but roebuck and
buffaloes in great numbers. After having navigated thirty leagues we
discovered some iron mines, and one of our company who had seen such
mines before, said these were very rich in ore. They are covered with
about three feet of soil, and situate near a chain of rocks, whose
base is covered with fine timber. After having rowed ten leagues
farther, making forty leagues from the place where we had embarked, we
came into the Mississippi on the 17th of June [1673].[4]
The mouth of the Mesconsin [Wisconsin] is in about 42-1/2 N. lat.
Behold us, then, upon this celebrated river, whose singularities I
have attentively studied. The Mississippi takes its rise in several
lakes in the North. Its channel is very narrow at the mouth of the
Mesconsin, and runs south until it is affected by very high hills. Its
current is slow, because of its depth. In sounding we found nineteen
fathoms of water. A little further on it widens nearly three-quarters
of a league, and the width continues to be more equal. We slowly
followed its course to the south and southeast to the 42� N. lat. Here
we perceived the country change its appearance. There were scarcely
any more woods or mountains. The islands are covered with fine trees,
but we could could not see any more roebucks, buffaloes, bustards, and
swans. We met from time to time monstrous fish, which struck so
violently against our canoes, that at first we took them to be large
trees, which threatened to upset us. We saw also a hideous monster;
his head was like that of a tiger, his nose was sharp, and somewhat
resembled a wildcat; his beard was long; his ears stood upright; the
color of his head was gray; and his neck black. He looked upon us for
some time, but as we came near him our oars frightened him away. When
we threw our nets into the water we caught an abundance of sturgeons,
and another kind of fish like our trout, except that the eyes and nose
are much smaller, and they have near the nose a bone like a woman's
busk, three inches broad and a foot and a half long, the end of which
is flat and broad, and when it leaps out of the water the weight of it
throws it on its back.
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