[BouRINor | DUNDURN AND BURLINGTON HEIGHTS 15 
have, except from Indian sources. They reached at last the extreme western 
end of Ontario, and found welcome at an Indian village.” 
[This is the village called Otinaoutawa by Galinée, and, according to 
Mr. B. E. Charlton, of Hamilton, who devoted much study to such subjects, 
‘appears to have been situated on the borders of a small lake in the town- 
ship of Nelson, about ten miles from Hamilton, known as Lake Medad, not 
far beyond Waterdown,” where an Indian ossuary or bone pit, and other 
evidences of the site of a large Indian village, have been found. See Smith’s 
‘Historical Sketch of the County of Wentworth,’ pp. 34-36. Also ‘ Went- 
worth Landmarks,’ published by the Spectator Printing Co., Hamilton, 1897; 
art., ‘By Medad’s Marshy Shores,’ in which illustrations of Indian relics 
are given. I now continue Dr. Winsor’s account of La Salle’s adventures. ] 
“Here[at Otinaoutawa] La Salle came in contact with a prisoner from 
the Shawnee tribe held by these villagers, and this man told the French that 
it was a six weeks’ journey from where they were to the great river, and that 
he could lead them there. It was contrived to make this fellow’s captors 
offer him as a gift, and La Salle gladly accepted him. 
“Just at this juncture, word came from a neighbouring village [Tina- 
tona, see infra, note 4] that two Frenchmen had arrived there from the west. 
We must go back a little to account for their appearance. 
“In February, 1669, Talon, who was then in France, informed Colbert 
that he had brought with him from Canada a young voyageur who felt confi- 
dent of finding a way from Lake Huron either to the South Sea or to Hudson’s 
Bay, and that the man had already gone to a greater distance west than any 
one else, and was ready to go still farther. This was Peré, a frequent figure 
in these western explorations, and when Talon shortly after returned to 
Canada, Peré was with him. With Colbert’s countenance, the intendant was 
prepared to make new efforts to probe the secrets of the west. Plans were 
soon made, and Joliet, then at the settlements, together with Peré, was sent 
with the chief object of discovering the deposits of copper near Lake Superior, 
of which there had been many stories afloat. He was also expected to dis- 
cover if there was not a way of bringing the ore to Quebec better than that by 
the Ottawa route, with its laborious portages. Colbert had not failed to make 
Talon understand that to discover and make merchantable at a profit such 
copper deposits was of more importance than to find any passage to the 
South Sea, and for some time after this Talon fed the ministerial cupidity 
with such stories as he could gather of huge lumps of copper lying exposed 
on the shores and islands of Lake Superior. 
“Tt now turned out that the Frenchmen whom La Salle found to be in 
his vicinity were Joliet and his companion, on their return from this copper- 
seeking expedition. La Salle and Joliet were not long in establishing friend- 
ship, and the young explorer, who was not far from the age of La Salle, had 
much to say that interested the other. Joliet told these new friends about 
his journey, and though, as it seemed, he was not to carry back to the inten- 
dant any extravagant hopes about copper, he could tell him of a new way 
which he had opened for the growing communications with the west. He 
had descended the strait which led from Huron to Erie, and had for the first 
time followed eastward the northern shore of that lake. Fearing if he con- 
tinued to its outlet by the Niagara River that he would encounter the Iroquois, 
Joliet had turned up the valley of the Grand River,—an affluent on its 
