Vol. 1, pp. 545, 568, 569, 574
Vol. 2, pp. 204, 295, 317, 318, 319, 320.
| 545 |
brave warriors and the Miamis from 1200 to 1500, most of them armed with arrows
only, but great runners and very well fitted for effecting surprises, the Iroquois
proposed to divide them, in order to defeat them one after the other.
The Miamis used formerly to dwell on the west of the lake of the Illinois, but fear of the Iroquois made them fly to beyond the River Mississippi, where they settled. Some years ago, the Jesuit Fathers sent them presents to induce them to return to their former, dwelling places, and they succeeded in bringing away some of them who established themselves near the source of the river Teatiki, on which the Sieur de La Salle went down on his first journey, as we have said.
As the Illinois were the more numerous and the braver, the Miamis, who often had quarrels with them, feared them little less than they did the Iroquois; and so they listened to the proposals which the latter made to them, and came to an agreement with them, not thinking of the misfortunes to which they would find themselves exposed after the Illinois had been crushed.
When the Iroquois had made their arrangements in this way, they very soon found a pretext for making war on the Illinois in hunting encounters when they often quarreled with one another, and fell upon one another unawares. They seized upon the first opportunity of this kind, and began to make raids. After that they made their preparations, and they set out in the month of August in order to arrive at the time when the Indian corn would be ripe so that they might not run the risk of being in want of provisions. They went down by rivers to the south of Lake Erie and arrived among the Illinois on the 8th of September, at which time the Sieur de
| 568 |
matters were with the Illinois, it would be better than they should settle
among the Miamis, because the Iroquois could not object to them settling with
their allies; that the Illinois also would be well satisfied when they knew
that this choice was made only in order to induce the Miamis to grant them
peace; that he hoped to get the Miamis to consent to this by showing them the
interest they had in preserving the Illinois, who would be able to keep the
Iroquois occupied for a long time, and prevent them from turning their arms
against the Miamis, as they would be certain to do as soon as they had wiped
out the Illinois; that in order to ensure the success of this plan he wished,
before the Miamis came back from their hunting, to go to the Illinois and
incline their minds to peace, and prevent them from taking umbrage at his
staying among the Miamis; and that while he was on that journey, he and his
fellow tribesmen must go to the Miamis and prepare their minds to do, on their
part, what he wished.
While he was taking these steps for the safety of the settlements which he was planning, and in order to form a barrier which should hold the Iroquois in check and secure the peace of Canada, an incident occurred which assisted him greatly in carrying out his schemes.
The Iroquois, after the defeat of the Tamaroa, one of the Illinois tribes, returned to their country with 400 slaves by the River Ohio which, taking its rise thirty or forty leagues to the south of Niagara, flows towards the west for more than two hundred leagues and throws itself into the River Colbert twenty-five leagues below its confluence with the River of the Illinois, They came across two huts of the Miamis, who were
| 569 |
hunting at that place, and they captured or killed the whole party, and
afterwards came and encamped near the country of the Miamis; and, winter having
overtaken them there, they built three forts at a distance of two leagues from
one another, forming a triangle. The Miamis, learning of the defeat of their
men, sent envoys to the Iroquois to demand reparation, and to take a present of
three thousand beaverskins in order to obtain more easily the release of those
of their tribe whom they had made slaves. But the Iroquois, contrary to the
custom among all those tribes, who never accept presents without granting what
they are asked, kept the beaverskins and did not send back the prisoners. This
extraordinary action showed the Miamis plainly enough that the Iroquois were
nothing but traitors, and that they need expect no better treatment from them
than their neighbours.
At the same time a hundred Illinois of the Cascacia tribe, led by one of their chiefs called Paessa, who had been on the warpath when the Indians came to their village, returned to their own country with the prisoners they had made. They found the savage tokens of the defeat of the Tamaroas, and resolved, although few in number, to take vengeance on them; they followed the Iroquois, and came by night and stationed themselves in the midst of their three forts, intending to attack one of them on the following day. It even appears that they would have succeeded, but for a mischance which happened to them. Two Iroquois who were returning from hunting came by the spot where the Illinois were encamped, and they pretended that they belonged to the tribe of the Miamis. The two hunters were deceived and went to place themselves in their hands; but a
| 574 |
twice as well as they do in Europe on the best land.
Two canoes then came to him, from the Indians of New England, to tell him that they were waiting for him at the village of the Miamis to complete the negotiations which he had proposed. -He left some of his men, to work at cultivating the land, and embarked with the remainder.
On reaching the village he found three Iroquois there, who had remained to urge the Miamis to keep up the war against the Illinois. They visited the Sieur del La Salle at once and expressed great friendship and respect for him; but, as he had learned that they had spoken of the French most scornfully and insolently, he received them coldly and told them that they had spoken ill concerning a nation which they ought to have respected, which would know how to teach them to behave properly if they should fail to do so; that he did not believe that they would dare, now that he had come, to speak as they had done in his absence. They saw that the Sieur del La Salle was accompanied by Frenchmen and by Indians from New England; and these words of his so confounded them that they fled the next night through the woods. Their flight had a very good effect on the minds of the Miamis, who were surprised to see that these Iroquois, who had not been afraid of the twelve or fifteen hundred men composing the Miami tribe, nor of the fifty Indians from New England, had been so frightened at the sight of a small number of Frenchmen who were incensed against them, that they had escaped by night, almost entirely naked, leaving behind their beaver skins and everything they most valued.
In these favourable circumstances, the Sieur de La Salle
| 204 |
alone is made up of three hundred huts. Now all these tribes are uniting and
are coming to settle here. The village of Matchinkoa, of three hundred fires
(each fire consists of two families ), is thirty leagues from the fort to which
it is also about to come, and a party of the Emissourites, the Peanghichia,
Kolatica, Megancockia, Melomelinoia, making together a village of from two to
three hundred fires have made their fields four leagues from the Fort. The Oiatenon,
to the number of a hundred and twenty huts, are there now, having come away
from their villages with me. On that account, several of these tribes have
given me children to be brought up in the French manner. Already there are some
who speak French, who belong to the more distant tribe. They will be well
suited for serving as interpreters, and for making peace. I have one belonging
to the tribe of the Pana, who live more than two hundred leagues to the West,
on one of the branches of the Mississippi in two villages there, near one
another. They are neighbors and allies of the Gatacka and Manrheat, who are to
the south of their villages, and sell them horses which, apparently, they steal
from the Spaniards of New Mexico. These horses, as I hope, will be of great use
to us. The Indians make use of them for war hunting and conveying everything,
they are not accustomed to shoe them, let them sleep in the open, even in the
snow, and give them no food except by letting them graze. Horses of this kind
must be very hardy and very strong, for it is said that they carry the meat of
two oxen, which together weighs nearly a thousand livres. What makes me think
| 295 |
I have taken to bring together and retain the Indians living around my fort,
who have never seen Montreal nor even used canoes, whom the Iroquois have
already driven in flight to the ends of the earth, and the success of my
exploration, would appear to have deserved this privilege, at least for a few
years.
For the rest, it is very desirable that this war between the Iroquois and the Illinois should come to an end. If we had opposed it from the outset, the former tribe would not have become so presumptuous from the victory they have obtained. Now it is rumored that the Iroquois want to make war upon us; and it seems that those who should prevent it are bringing it about, by inciting the Indians who are our allies, among whom they are living, to begin the war, in the hope, either that the war would ruin me by putting an end to the trade of Fort Frontenac, or that it would enable them to have a constant pretext for complaints against me. For I should not then be able to go to the Ilinois country except by way of Lakes Huron and Illinois, because the other routes which I have discovered by the end of Lake Erie and the southern shore of that lake would become too dangerous, on account of frequent encounters with the Iroquois, who are always about those parts. Thus they would always be able to accuse my men of trading in some way at prohibited places; but in case war occurs I shall have the route by sea open to me, and thus I shall care nothing for these designs. They have perhaps yet another, which I have suspected in consequence of the reports in circulation that the Iroquois had a special grudge against me, being angry at my establishing
| 317 |
juncture; for it will be necessary for me to abandon everything, if that fails
me, and my rivals have sufficient influence to impose upon me.
Two of my settlers dwelling at this fort, where they built a house of timber last winter, are now going to fetch the ammunition necessary for us to defend ourselves against two powerful enemies, the Iroquois and the Panimaha. I hope you will be good enough to grant them permission to come up again with their load, and also such men as Cauchois may find disposed to accompany them.
We have received news of the march of the Iroquois, who killed a Miamy twelve days ago by stabbing him when the Miamys were already on their way, moving their camping grounds in search of a refuge which they hope to find near to the French. They had fled previous to this, last autumn, alarmed by what Alemioua told them, - an Indian belonging to a tribe allied to theirs, - on his return from Montreal where he had gone down to trade, who frightened them so much that they left behind all their corn so that they might not be hampered by it in their retreat. During the winter, on hearing the news of my return, they took courage again and came back to their villages; and the Illinois, on their example, came near fort Saint Louis, which I have built on their river. This murder, occurring towards the end of the snows, frightened them again, for they had lost ten whole households, destroyed by the Iroquois. Nevertheless, as I feared that their flight might be followed by that of the Illinois, Chaouenon and Cisca, whom I had brought together near here with considerable difficulty, and might prevent the
| 318 |
Emisourites and Matchinkoa from coming to join us, which they would do in a
short time if they did not turn back through fear. I came to the Miamy with the
intention of putting courage into them, and I pressed them to hold out until I
should receive the news I was expecting by the men I sent last autumn, upon
which I should have made arrangements for coming down myself to give you an
account of all that was passing. But they were very late, and I thought that
some obstacle must have been placed in the way of their journey; and I foresaw,
what has now occurred, that some attack would be made by the Iroquois upon the
Miamy, who would be sure to believe that I had deceived them in order to cause
their destruction, as almost all Hurons, Kiskakons and Frenchmen up here tell
all these tribes with impunity. I therefore called together the old men and
told them that, as I had not received your orders, I was unable to give them
any assurance since I had not the management of affairs, which rested with you
alone; that I should be very sorry, since they were trusting to my presence, if
the Iroquois should take advantage of that trust and massacre them before my
eyes when I had no means of avenging them; that they must therefore make up
their minds, themselves, so that they might not lay upon me the blame for what
happened, if it should be unfavourable; that, if they considered they would be
safer near my fort, by joining with the Islinois and the others who were
settled there, they would be received there as brothers, and we would defend
them at the risk of our own lives; that I was going to ask you for assistance
for them and for us; and that in case I received news of the approach of the
Iroquois, I would hasten to come and rejoin them. Their decision was soon made,
and their
| 319 |
resolve to retire was carried into effect the next day. I went down the river
and was stopped for four days at its outfall by bad weather. On the fourth day,
in the evening, some Kiskakons who had come to trade with the Miamy and had
followed them on their march, brought us news that the latter tribe had
discovered a broad path over which an Iroquois army had certainly passed; that
they had apparently made a fort near there; and that four of them, three of
whom had arrows only and the other a gun, had mortally wounded a Miamy who was
hunting roebucks away from the camp; that his dog had put the Iroquois in fear
of being discovered, because of his extraordinary barking, and they retired on
the main body; that the Miamy braves followed up the trails of their enemies
and traced them as far as this wide beaten path, on meeting which they went
back because their numbers were not sufficient for attacking that army. They
were, in fact, divided into three bands: the Oiatenon were the nearest to the
Iroquois; the Pepikokia occupied the middle place, with a party of
Tchatchaking; the rest, with a few Kilatika were a long way off, keeping along
the shore of the Lake of the Islinois in their retreat. This occurrence caused
them all to join the last named party and pursue one and the same route; for
they preferred to take the risk of provisions running short as a result of this
junction, rather than that of becoming the food of the Iroquois by marching separately.
You may judge from that, Sir, of the excellence of this country, when eight or nine hundred families, marching without any provisions, find their food everywhere, even in the neighborhood of several other villages just as populous, which take as little care as the Miamys. This news made me change my intention
| 320 |
of going to Missilimakinac and thence to Montreal, so that I might not fail
in the promise I had given, on leaving the fort, to all the Indians living there.
The Illinois made known to me that my departure made them uneasy, because the
Frenchmen trading at the Baye des Puante had told some of their men who were
there last autumn that I was going to build a fort in their country, but that,
if they came near it, I should not fail to abandon them to the Iroquois. You
see, Sir, how important this sort of talk is; I hope to prove to you who are
the originators of it, and that you will then be good enough to give me justice
against them. I replied that, if any young man had had so little sense as to
talk this nonsense to them, they ought not to believe it; that they were certainly
no friends of mine, and therefore they could not know my plans; that perhaps
the desire to get their beaver skins and to attract them to the Bay made them
speak without thinking; and that, in order to show them how untrue this foolish
talk was, - although I had most important business at Montreal, - I would retrace
my steps and give up my journey if I heard the slightest news of the approach
of the Iroquois; that, on my return, they might choose, either to await them
steadfastly and fight them with me, or leave the contest to me alone and retire
to a place of safety. They were not contented with that, but pledged me by a
present, which I dared not refuse for fear of increasing their suspicions, not
to go beyond Missilimakinac. If I were now to fail to go back, and during my
absence the Iroquois gained any victories, they would be certain to believe
that I was plotting to destroy them, and would perhaps vent their