IN NORTH AMERICA. 189 



Kidge, Licking County, Ohio, w licie cliert Avas mined and manufactured 

 into various articles at " Avorksliops" on the grounds. Some of these 

 various diggings were uii<h>ubtedly the work of "Indians;" wliat the 

 others were must be left to arcba'ologists to decide. All give evidence 

 that the natives of the country were close observers and i)ossessed 

 a considerable degree of skill in detecting and obtaining the various 

 minerals which pleased their taste or were of use in tl eir simple lives. 



The reason which has been given for supposing that the ancient 

 miners on Lake Superior had disappeared before the arrival of the 

 whites is that the Indians made no mention of the mines to the French 

 and had no tradition about them. But the first French explorers of 

 the St. Lawrence, who lett a record of their voyage, were informed by 

 the Iiuliaus even of the (xulf — over 1,500 miles away— that copper came 

 from a distant country in the west, and this statement was confirmed 

 as they proceeded up the river. The same story was repeated a hun- 

 dred years later, after settlements had l>een made, and it persisted until 

 the source of the copper was found. 



In the account of C-artier's second voyage, in la.');"), given in Hakluyt, 

 it is stated that the natives of the south shore of the (hilfof St. Law- 

 rence informed him that the way to Canada was toward the west, and 

 that the north shore betbre Canada was reached was the beginning of 

 Saguenay, "and that thence comnu'th the red coi)per of them named 

 Caignetdage."'' Subsequently, at Hochelaga (Montreal), the natives 

 described to the French the voyage up the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa 

 to Saguenay. "^Moreover, they showed us with signs that the said 

 three fals being i>ast, a nmn nnglit sayle the space of three moneths 

 more alongst that river, and that along the hills that are on the north 

 side there is a great river which (even as the other) commeth from the 

 west, we thought it to be the river that runneth through the countrey 

 of Saguenay; and without any sign or question mooved or asked of 

 them, they tooke the chayne of our Captaines whistle which was of 

 silver, and the dagger-haft of one of our fellow Mariners, hanging on 

 his side being of yellow cojjper gilt, and shewed us that such stufife 

 came from the said Iliver." " Our Captaiiui shewed them redde copper, 

 which in their language they call Caignetadze, and looking towards 

 that countrey fin a ditt'erent dii-ection from Saguenay], with signs asked 

 them if any came from thence, they shaking their heads answered no; 

 bat they shewed us that it came from Saguenay." "But the right and 

 ready way to go to Saguenay is up that way to Hochelaga [Montreal], 

 and then into anothei' | river] that commeth from Saguenay ]the Ottawa] 

 and then entei-etli into the foresaid river ]th<^ St. Lawrence] aiul that 

 there is yet one moneths sayling tliither. Moreover they told us and 

 gave us to understand that there are people - - - and many 

 inhabited towns and that they have great store of gold and red copper 

 - - - and that beyond Saguenay the said river entereth into two or 

 three great lakes, and that there is a sea of fresh water found, and as 



