[sulte] RADISSON in THE NORTHWEST, 1661-63 235 



" The seven boats just mentioned. 



" In one of the various portages of Long Sault, possibly at Chute à 

 Blondeau. 



'' Near Grenville it seems. 



"Rideau Falls, within the. limits of the City of Ottawa. Champlain 

 (1613) speaks of these "curtains" pretty much in the same terms as 

 Radisson. 



'" Nipissing-. 



'" French River. 



"" This was about September 1st. 



" North coast of Georgian Bay. 



" Sault Ste. Marie River. 



-^ After their dispersion from Manitoulin Island in 1650, a large band of 

 Outaouas had resided at Kionconan, south of Lake Superior. 



-* In 1662 the Iroquois appeared in arms both at Green Bay and Sault 

 Ste. Marie. 



^ Can this be an allusion to the two men sent towards Green Bay by 

 Governor de Lauzon in 1654? 



^" The Portal crumbled down five or six years ago. 



" We must take note that in the autumn of 1659 Radisson and Chouart 

 had passed by the same place, without mentioning the Great Portal, but 

 they may have ■ known of its existence. Other coureurs de hois, such as 

 Trottier and his men, were there also in 1660. Nicolas Perrot keeps 

 silent about this, and, indeed, never takes any interest in the natural 

 beauties of the country he travels through. "We must not forget to point 

 out that Perrot, Radisson, LaSalle, Hennepin and Duluth ignore system- 

 atically the names and the doings of each other and also leave in the dark 

 the bushrangers who preceded them in the West. 



^* Called Huron Island, at the entrance of Keweena Bay. 



■" East side of the Grand Point of Keweena. This point projects towards 

 the north to a full third of the breadth of Lake Superior. 



"* Portage across Keweena Point. The island opposite is called Portage 

 Island. 



" Pierre Boucher, writing from Three Rivers, in the autumn of 1663, 

 after the return of Radisson, says: — 



"In Lake Superior there is a large island of about fifty leagues in 

 circumference, on which there is a very rich bed of copper ore. Large lumps 

 of pure copper are to be found there in several places. There are other 

 places in that neighbourhood where there are similar beds, as I have learned 

 from four or five Frenchmen, lately returned from there, who had gone 

 thither in company with a Jesuit Father (René Menard left Three Rivers 

 in August, 1660), sent there on a mis.sion, who has since died. (South of 

 Lake Superior, August, 1661). They passed three years there before they 

 could find an opportunity to get away; they told me that they had seen 

 a nugget of pure copper, on the side of the hill, that would weigh more 

 than eight hundred pounds, according to their estimate. They say that 

 the Indians when they pass that way make fires on the top of it and then 

 hew pieces out of it with their axes, and that one of themselves broke his 

 axe in the act of trying to do the same. It would not be difficult to get 



