20 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



appointed to relieve the Sieur de la Véranderie, who could undertake 

 the task of conciliating all the trihes."^ 



Under date of the 14th October, 1737, Beauharnois again writes 

 the Colonial Minister,- forwarding an extract from the Journal of the 

 Sieur de la Véranderie, containing a fuller account of the circum- 

 stances which led up to and surrounded the Lake of the Woods 

 tragedy. The extract is as follows: — 



" During the month of June, 1736, this officer held a meeting at 

 Fort St. Charles, Lake of the Woods, as to the mode of obtaining pro- 

 visions and ammunition, and it was resolved unanimously to send three 

 canoes to Kamanistigoiiia and thence to Missilimakinac. To this end 

 Sieur de la Véranderie distributed powder and bullets to those who 

 were to take part in this journey, and Father Auneau, Jesuit, along 

 with the eldest son of this officer, left on the expedition. 



" The officer in question received during the same month of June, 

 a letter from Sieur Bourassa, informing him that having been met by 

 the Sioux they pillaged all that he possessed, without, however, causing 

 him any personal injury, and upon his asking these Indians why they 

 were taking him in custody, being good friends and brethern, they 

 answered that it was the custom of warriors not to recognize anyone 

 on their path. 



" The party which had gone to Kamanistigoiiia and Missili- 

 makinac not returning when due, Sieur de la Véranderie sent Sieur 

 Gras ^ with a canoe and eight men commanded by a sergeant, to go and 

 meet the expedition, but the sergeant having returned on the same 

 day, reported that those forming part of the expedition had been 

 massacred; that the great majority of the bodies had been found 

 decapitated, and lying in a circle one next to the other, the heads 

 being wrapped in beaver skins. Amongst the dead were found Father 

 Auneau and the eldest son of Monsieur de la Véranderye. An account 

 of this adventure was given last year, though at that time it had not, 

 however, been confirmed. 



" During the month of August following, two Monsonis Indians 

 having gone around the Lake of the Woods, found two canoes belong- 

 ing to this party, with more than twenty Sioux canoes, fastened 

 together two by two, and in which there was a great quantity of blood. 

 The two Indians, moreover, found human limbs which had been buried 



^ This translation is taken from The Aulneau Collection. 



^ Canadian Archives MSS. Nouvelle France — Postes des Pays de l'Ouest. 

 1679-1759 (F. 126), pp. 349-367. 



' The Sieur Gras (or Legras) mentioned here would appear to have been 

 one of the sons of Jean de Gras (b., 1656), a merchant, of Montreal. This is 

 the only family of the name mentioned by Abbé Tanguay in his Dictionnaire 

 Généalogique. Mr. Benjamin Suite is of the same opinion. See Tang-uay, p. 372. 



