the kind offices of the missionary, they died in great numbers. With a hope of arresting the progress of the fatal epidemic, the Indians determined to make a great sacrifice of dogs. "Forty of these poor animals, innocent as they were of the cause of the epidemic, to satisfy their suspicious manitous, were immolated and carried on poles, in solemn procession, round the fort. While the procession was moving, the jugglers were uttering exclamations, which, as recorded by father Mermet, were as follows: Manitou of the French! do not kill us all! Softly-softly there! Do not strike too hard. Spare us, else we all die!' Then turning to the father [Mermet] they would say: 'Oh! Manitou! truly thou hast life and death in thy sack. Keep in death, and give out life.""* The Indians soon moved away from the place of mortality; Mermet retired to the village of Kaskaskia; and the Sieur Juchereau abandoned the sickly post. About the year 1712, Gabriel Marest, a missionary, had his station at Kaskaskia. On one occasion he traveled from his station, among the Illinois Indians, to Michilimackinac; and he described, in the following passage, the character of the country over which he passed in making this journey: "We have marched twelve days without meeting a single human creature. Sometimes we found ourselves in vast prairies-of which we could not see the boundaries-through which there flowed many brooks and rivers; but without any path to conduct us. Sometimes we were obliged to open a passage across thick forests, through bushes and underwood, filled with briars and thorns. Sometimes we had to pass through deep marshes, in which we sunk up to the middle. After being fatigued through the day, we had the earth for our bed, or a few leavesexposed to the wind, the rain, and all the injuries of the air."† An account of the religious exercises which were observed by the missionaries among the Illinois Indians, at Kaskaskia, is related in a letter written by P. Gabriel Marest, and dated November 9, 1712. In this letter the missionary says: "The following is the order we observe each day in our mission: Early in the morning we assemble the catechumens at the * Bishop Bruté. church, where they have prayers; they receive instruction, and chant some canticles. When they have retired mass is said, at which all the christians assist, the men placed at one side, and the women on the other; then they have prayers, which are followed by giving them a homily; after which each one goes to his labor. We then spend our time in visiting the sick, to give them the necessary remedies, to instruct them, and to console those who are laboring under any affliction. After noon the catechising is held, at which all are present, christians and catechumens, men and children, young and old; and where each, without distinction of rank or age, answers the questions put by the missionary. As these people have no books, and are naturally indolent, they would shortly forget the principles of religion, if the remembrance of them was not recalled by these almost continual instructions. In the evening all assemble again at the church, to listen to the instructions which are given, to hear prayers, and to sing some hymns. * * * * These hymns are their best instructions, which they retain the more easily, since the words are set to airs with which they are acquainted, and which please them." In the summer of the year 1712, the post at Detroit was besieged by a strong party of the Fox tribe of Indians. Large parties of Pottawattamies, Ottawas, and Hurons, however, marched to the assistance of the French. Of the besiegers, a considerable number were killed; some were carried off as captives, and the remainder were forced to retreat to their villages which lay on the borders of the Fox river of Wisconsin. The settlement which was made at Biloxi, on the shores of lake Borgne, in 1699, under the direction of D'Ibberville and Bienville, was the first attempt that was made, after the death of La Salle, to plant a French colony in the province of Louisiana, near the gulf of Mexico. A war broke out between England and France, in 1702; the settlement at Biloxi was neglected; and it continued to languish until 1712; when, on the 14th of September, in that year, the commerce of the province of Louisiana was granted by Louis XIV, to Anthony Crozat, who was an officer of the king's household, and a man of great wealth. The king, in his letters patent to Crozat, said: "The care we have always had to procure the welfare and advantage of our subjects, having induced us, notwithstanding the almost continual wars which we have been obliged to support from the beginning of our reign, to seek for all possibility of enlarging and extending the trade of our American colonies, we did, in the year 1683, give our orders to undertake a discovery of the countries and lands which are situated in the northern part of America, between new France [Canada] and new Mexico; and the Sieur de La Salle, to whom we committed that enterprise, having had success enough to confirm a belief that communication might be settled from new France to the gulf of Mexico by means of large rivers, this obliged us, immediately after the peace of Ryswick, to give orders for the establishing of a colony there, and maintaining a garrison, which has kept and preserved the possession we had taken, in the very year of 1683, of the lands, coasts, and islands which are situated in the gulf of Mexico, between Carolina on the east, and old and new Mexico on the west. But a new war having broken out in Europe, shortly after, there was no possibility, till now, of reaping from that new colony the advantages that might have been expected from thence: because the private men who were concerned in the sea trade were all under engagements with other colonies, which they have been obliged to follow; and, whereas, upon the information we have received concerning the disposition and situation of the said countries, known at present by the name of the province of Louisiana, we are of opinion that there may be established therein a considerable commerce, so much the more advantageous to our kingdom, in that there has hitherto been a necessity of fetching from foreigners the greatest part of the commodities which may be brought from thence; and, because, in exchange thereof, we need carry thither nothing but commodities of the growth and manufacture of our own kingdom-we have resolved to grant the commerce of the country of Louisiana to the Sieur Anthony Crozat, our counselor, secretary of the household, crown, and revenue, to whom we intrust the execution of this project. We are the more readily inclined hereunto, because his zeal and the singular knowledge he has acquired in maritime commerce, encourage us to hope for as good success as he has hitherto had in the divers and sundry enterprises he has gone upon, and which have procured to our kingdom great quantities of gold and silver, in such conjunctures as have rendered them very welcome to us. "For these reasons, being desirous to show our favor to him, and to regulate the conditions upon which we mean to grant him the said commerce, after having deliberated this affair in our own council, of our certain knowledge, full power, and royal authority, we, by these presents, signed by our hand, have appointed, and do appoint, the said Sieur Crozat solely to carry on a trade in all the lands possessed by us, and bounded by new Mexico and by the lands of the English of Carolina, all the establishments, ports, havens, rivers, principally the port and haven of the isle Dauphine, heretofore called Massacre; the river of St. Louis, heretofore called Mississippi, from the edge of the sea as far as the Illinois; together with the river St. Philip, heretofore called Missouri; and of St. Jerome, heretofore called Ouabache; with all the countries, territories, lakes within land, and rivers which fall directly or indirectly into that part of the river St. Louis.* "Our pleasure is that all the aforesaid lands, countries, streams, rivers, and islands, be and remain comprised under the name of the government of Louisiana, which shall be dependent upon the general government of new France, to which it is subordinate: and, further, that all the lands which we possess, from the Illinois, be united, so far as occasion requires, to the general government of new France, and become part thereof-reserving, however, to ourselves the liberty of enlarging, as we shall think fit, the extent of the government of the said country of Louisiana. The North American Review, No. CII, gives the names of the lakes and rivers of the northwest, as they appear in the writings of the early French travelers. Lake Ontario was called lake Frontenac. Lake Erie was called Erike, Erige, or Erie, from a nation of Eries destroyed by the Iroquois; it was also called lake of Conti. Lake Huron was Karegnondi, and lake of Orleans. Lake Michigan was called lake of Puans, lake of the Illinois, lake of the Illinese, lake of the Illinouacks, lake Mischigonong, and lake of the Dauphin. Lake Superior was called lake Superieur, and lake of Conde. Green bay was baie des Puans. Illinois river was sometimes called river Seignelay. The river Ohio was called Ouabouskigou, Ouabachi, Ouabache, Oyo, Ouye, and Belle Riviere. The Mississippi river was called river Colbert, river St. Louis, Meschasipi, Meschasabe, etc. Missouri river was called Pekitanoni, riviere des Osages, Massourites, etc. "We permit him [the Sieur Crozat] to search for, open, and dig, all sorts of mines, veins, and minerals throughout the whole extent of the said country of Louisiana, and to transport the profits thereof into any port of France during fifteen years. And we grant, in perpetuity to him, his heirs, and others claiming under him or them, the profits of, in, and to the mines, veins, and minerals, which he shall bring to bearpaying us, in lieu of all claim, the fifth part of the gold and silver, which the said Sieur Crozat shall cause to be transported to France, at his own charges, into what port he pleases, (of which fifth we will run the risk of the sea and of war,) and the tenth part of the effects he shall draw from the other mines, veins, and minerals, which tenth he shall transfer and convey to our magazines in the said country of Louisiana. "We likewise permit him to search for precious stones and pearls, paying us the fifth part, in the same manner as is mentioned for the gold and silver. We will that the Sieur Crozat, his heirs, or those claiming under him or them the perpetual right, shall forfeit the propriety of the said mines, veins, and minerals, if they discontinue the work three years; and that, in such case, the said mines, veins, and minerals shall be fully re-united to our domain, by virtue of this present article, without the formality of any process of law, but only an ordinance of re-union from the sub-delegate of the intendant of new France, who shall be in the said country: nor do we mean that the said penalty of forfeiture, in default of working for three years, be reputed a comminatory penalty. Our edicts, ordinances, and customs, and the usages of the mayoralty and shrievealty of Paris, shall be observed for laws and customs in the said country of Louisiana."* The Sieur Crozat was required to send at least two vessels a year from France, in order to support the colonists and maintain the trade of Louisiana. In 1713, the whole civilized population of the province, extending from lake Michigan to the gulf of Mexico, consisted of about four hundred French colonists. Of these, some carried on a profitable traffic among the Indians; others explored the country in various directions, making fruitless attempts to discover mines of the precious * Laws, etc., of U. S. relating to public lands, p. 944. |