away the whole drove; the savages being in a cir cle, they cannot escape without being shot; but as they become very fierce and dangerous when they are wounded, the savages shoot them in the thigh or the shoulder, to prevent their coming upon them, and when they are down, they break their heads with clubs. As they are excellent marksmen, they never miss, and twenty men will sometimes kill forty and fifty bulls..

That which is wonderful in this, is the havock, which the shot sent by the savages makes; for be sides the exactness and swiftness of the stroke, the force of it is very surprizing, and so much the rather, because it is nothing else but a stone, or a bone, or sometimes a piece of very hard wood, pointed and fastened to the end of an arrow with some fishes-glue, that causes this terrible effect. When the savages go to war, they poison the point, or extremity of their dart, so that if that remains in the body, death follows of necessity; the only remedy in this case, is to draw out the arrow through the other side of the wound; if it goes quite thorough, or if not, to make an aperture on the other side, and so to draw it through; after which they know by instinct, certain herbs, the application of which both draws out the venom, and cures 'em.

I stayed all the month of March in this place: Father Zenoble came back to me at spring, and we re-embarking at the creek we had left, came to land at Missilimachinac in the begining of April, with a design to stay there for M. de la Salle. From the 11th of September, 1681, when we took our leaves of the Illinois, to the 1st of April, seven months were slipt away; during which time, M. de la Salle, upon the advice that I had given him by my letter, was come down to the Illinois with a good recruit, with intention to help us. The Iro

quois having advice of his descent, and being afraid of being hemm'd in between two armies, were retired, and the Illinois were again entered into their possessions. However, M. de la Salle found but some few, the rest being gone to winter in the woods; he exhorted those that remained to call their country-men, assuring them he would build a fort that should shelter them from the invasion of their enemies; he visited the fort of Crevecœur, which was still in the same condition, and placed therein a small garrison of fifteen or sixteen French, and a commander, with ammunition and arms. After this, he went again up the river to the great village, whither many families of the Illinois were returned; he laboured hard upon the inclosure of his new fort, and having understood by some scouts, that I had taken my way towards Missilimachinac, he set forward again to join me, having left some soldiers and pioneers at the intended fort, to continue his work and defend that post.

He came not to Missilimachinac 'till about the fifteenth of August, in the year 1682. There we took new measures to perfect the discovery we had begun. We must needs think forthwith of making some new provision for so long a voyage. It was with this design, that after six days rest, M. de la Salle set out in a canoo for Frontenac, father Zenoble and I going along with him; having sailed happily the first day, we landed at a village called Trejagou, belonging to the Iroquois. M. de la Salle traficked there with some skins, and having ordered me to stay for him there, with father Zenoble, he went on board the canoo for Frontenac. There he found his bark ready, and stored her with abundance of ammunition and provisions; he listed there some new souldiers, and eight days after, sent me his bark laden with fresh men, good merchandise, and such things as were most necessary.

The father and I went on board, and landed the first day at Niagara, below the fall of the river; there we were forced to put our baggage and merchandise upon sledges, and so conduct them to the lake Herie, where we re-embark'd in a canoo to the number of twenty persons, as well souldiers as mariners, together with our best merchandise. After three days sail, we landed at the side of the river of the Miamis, where having lodg'd our selves in huts, I had time to reassemble there some French and some savages, Abenaquis, Loups, Quicapous, and others. There I augmented our provisions by hunting, and I barter'd some of our commodities for Indian corn.

There it was that M. de la Salle came to rejoin us towards the end of November; the day of his arrival we fell down the river of the Miamis in a canoo, to the mouth of another river named Chicacou; and we went up it again to a small harbour which is but a league from the great river of the Illinois. Having put on shore in this place, we passed the night with a very great fire; for the cold was so sharp that the next day the rivers were froze and unnavigable. We were oblig'd then to have recourse to the sledge, to carry our baggage to the village of the Illinois, where we found things in the same state that M. de la Salle had left them; only the village was better peopled; which gave us opportunity to defer our intrigues a little, and to renew our provisions.

The rivers being still block'd up with ice, we found our selves oblig'd to begin again our journey by land; the third day of January, 1683, we had push'd on our way to thirty leagues below. There the weather grew mild, and the ice melted, so that navigation appearing commodious, we went on board a canoo, the twenty-fourth of January,

and fell down the river of the Illinois, to the river Mississipi, where we arrived the second of February.

The river of the Illinois, reckoning from its first carriage to its disemboguing into the river, is at least 160 leagues navigable. The adjacent parts are as pleasant as fruitful; one sees there animals of all sorts, stags, hinds, linces, wild bulls, goats, sheep, hares, and infinite more, but few beavers. As to the trees, they are nothing but forests of high trees, with great walks, which seem drawn by a line; besides elms, beech, plane-trees, cedars, walnut and chesnut-trees; one sees there whole plains covered over with pomgranate-trees, orangetrees, and lemmon-trees; and in one word, with all kind of fruit-trees.

In many places there are to be seen large vines, whose tendrels being twisted about the branches of huge trees, bear bunches of grapes of an extraor dinary bigness.

Being embarked upon the Mississipi, we followed the course of this great river; six leagues from the mouth of the river Illinois, we met with that of the Ozages, the banks of which, and places thereabouts, are no less agreeable and fertile; 'tis true, its water carries so great a quantity of mud along with it, as to change that of the Mississipi, and make it all muddy for more than twenty leagues, Its brinks are bordered with great walnut-treesone sees there an infinite number of foot-steps made by the beavers; and the hunting for them there is very great and common. Going up towards its source, its banks are inhabited by savages, who trade much in skins; we passed one night at the mouth of this river.

The next day, after we had sailed ten leagues, we came to the village of the Tamaoas, where we met with no body at all, the savages being retired

into the woods to winter; we made there however some marks to let 'em know that we had pass'd by. After that, continuing our voyage, we arrived after a course of three days, at the mouth of the river of the Ouabachi, that comes from the east, and throws it self into the Mississipi, eighty leagues from that of the Illinois: it is by this river that the Iroquois come to make war upon the nations of the south. In this place we lay in huts one night, and after a course of sixty leagues, following still our great river, we came to land at a bank inhabited by savages, who are called Chicacha. Here it was that we lost a French-man of our company, named Preudhomme. The search we made for him during nine days, gave us an opportunity of discovering several nations, and of building a fort in this place, to serve as a rest and habitation for the French in that fine country..

During this interval, two of our hunters met with two of the savages Chicacha, who offer'd to conduct 'em into their village. Our men, led by a spirit of curiosity, follow'd them; they were very well received, and after laden with presents, and were intreated by the principal among them, to procure that our commander will honour them with a visit. Our people being very well satisfied with their reception, made their report of it to M. de la Salle, who the next day went himself with ten of his company; he received there all the good treatment that could be expected from people the most civiliz'd; and had no trouble to inspire 'em with sentiments of submission and obedience to the king. These savages also consented freely to the finishing of our fort.

This nation is very numerous, and is able to furnish out two thousand men; they have all faces flat like plates, which is reckoned among them for