THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
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considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
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Letter, Containing an Abridgment of Father Membre's Letter
(At the Island of St. Bonaventure, August 14, 1682)
Le Clercq, Father Christian In: Habig, Marion A., The Franciscan
Pere Marquette, Franciscan Studies, June,
1934, pp. 230-233.
(Archives Nationales, Colonies F3 241, fol. 6-7).
p. 230, 231.
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|
At the Island of St.
Bonaventure2 |
The Reverend Father Superior has apprized me of the fact that he has received a letter from Father Zenoble, by which he has let him know that they have at last reached the goal of the discovery they had aimed to achieve and that they have descended as far as the sea.
On the 15th of October, 1681, they arrived among the Miamis nation, where they waited for M. de la Salle, who (page 231) joined them on the 16th of December. On the 1st of January, 1682, they departed and entered the river of the Illinois, which they found frozen. They dragged their canoes, six in number, as well as their equipment, about 60 leagues; whereupon they found the river navigable, forasmuch as the cold weather there endures for but six weeks.
They descended by canoe as far as the Colbert or Mississipi River; but as they went by small stages and lived only by their hunting and, in addition were stopped for some time by the ice floating down, they had advanced by the beginning of March only a hundred leagues upon the river, planting the insignia of Jesus Christ and of our King in every village. On the 13th of March, having proceeded by longer stages, they reached the Akansa nation, where they immediately constructed a fort. The place, which is peopled by 15 or 20,000 souls, took alarm; but they were quieted by gifts, and they received our men with more charity than is exercised by some Christians."
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