18 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



improbable that, if the letter of the Stli June was among the docu- 

 ments in the Colonial or other Archives at Paris, it would have escaped 

 the notice of Parkman, and also of the late Mr. Marmette and of Mr. 

 Eichard, who, on behalf of the Canadian Archives, made exhaustive 

 searches through the Colonial papers in the various departments of the 

 French Government for anything that might have a bearing, direct or 

 indirect, upon the history of New France. 



The other document mentioned as forming the basis of Beau- 

 harnois' report — the Relation of Bourassa — is, however, in the 

 Canadian Archives. It reads as follows: — ^ 



■' A voyageur, Bourassa by name, relates that on June 3rd, 1736, 

 having set out the fifth (of the band) from Fort St. Charles, at the 

 Lake of the Woods, for Michilimakinac, met the following morning, 

 just as he was about to push off from shore, thirty canoes manned by 

 ninety or a hundred warriors, who surrounded and disarmed him and 

 his companions, and plundered their stores. When they had learnt 

 from liim that under the curtain^ of Monsieur de la Véranderie^s Fort 

 there were five or six wigwams of Cristinaux, against whom they had 

 set out on the warpath, they released him, and departed with the inten- 

 tion of capturing the encampment. They told Bourassa, however, to 

 wait for them, and at their return they would restore his arms. This 

 he did not think advisable to do; on the contrary, he hurried to 

 Michilimakinac, while the Sioux, on their side, pushed on to Fort St. 

 Charles, where they failed to find the five wigwams of Cristinaux who 

 had decamped, so they retraced their steps. 



" Meanwhile, twenty voyageurs, who had lately arrived from Lake 

 Alepimigon, were on their way to Michilimakinac. At a day's journey 

 from there (Lake Alepimigon)^ they were met by that same band of 

 Sioux, who massacred them all. 



"^ Among the slain were the young Sieur de la Véranderie and 

 Father Anneau, the missionary. 



^ This document is entitled " Affaire du meurte de ving-t-un voyageurs 

 arrive au Lac des Bois, au mois de juin 1736." A copy is among- the MSS. in 

 the Canadian Archives: Niouvelle France, Vol. 16. Postes des Pays de 

 l'ouest, 1679-1759, pp. 340-343. 



^ The curtain is the line of enclosure between two bastions. 



' The writer of this report was evidently somewhat at sea as to his g-eo- 

 graphy. A reference to the accompanying map will show that Lrake Alepimi- 

 gion (the modern Lake Nepigon) is north of Lake Superior, while the Lake 

 of the Woods is a considerable distance to the westward — certainly a number 

 of days' journey as men travelled in those days. In any case, the voyageurs 

 were travelling east, and therefore could not pos.sibly have come from 

 Lake Alepimigon to the Lake of the Woods. As a matter of fact, they had 

 come from Fort St. Charles, on the western side of the Lake of the Woods. 



