14 THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[La Salle, 1680. 



which they impose on slaves. They were never tied ; and after that, they promised the return of 

 that which their young men had seized, since Accault, who had found some men to whom he 

 could make himself understood, made them comprehend the importance of it, when they imme- 

 diately danced two calumets, and offered several beaver skins with which to begin the payment ; 

 but as these were too little Accault would not be satisfied. Six weeks afterward, all having 

 returned to the Ouisconsing with the Nadoesioux on a hunt, the E. P. Louis Hennepin and the Picard 

 resolved to go to the mouth of the river where I had promised to send messages, as I had done by 

 six men, whom the Jesuits deceived, telling them that the B. P. Louis and his fellow travelers 

 had been slain. They allowed them to go there alone, to show them they were not regarded as 

 slaves, and that Du Luth is wrong in boasting of having released them from slavery, since on the 

 journey and as long as their food lasted, the Frenchmen had the best, although they suffered great 

 hunger when the savages were without food. Jealousy was the sole cause of the pillage, 

 because, as they were from different villages, and but few from that where the Frenchmen were 

 to go, they did it in order to secure their portion of the merchandise, of which they feared they 

 would receive none if they once entered the village where the Frenchmen were to go ; but the 

 old men blamed greatly the young men, and offered and even began to make the restitution that 

 Accault ought to have. They regarded the French so- little as slaves that they gave to R. P. 

 Louis and the Picard a canoe to go in search of my messengers. All that Du Luth can say is, that 

 having come to the place where the Father and the two Frenchmen had gone in a hunt from the 

 village, where, along with them he went for the first time when they returned there, he made it 

 easier for them to return sooner than they would have done, because messengers whom I had sent 

 had been dissuaded from going on ; but we should have been in search for them the following 

 spring if we had not learned, as we did in the whiter, of their return by way of the Outagamis. 

 Accault found himself so little a slave that he was intending to remain there until he should 

 receive the payment that had been promised him. 



LA SALLE JUSTIFIES THE EXPEDITION. 



I do not doubt but several things may be said of this expedition. 



(1.) That I ought to have sent a man who understood the language. To this it is easy to 

 reply that I did not send Accault to the Nadouesioux but to explore the Grand river, that he 

 understood the language of those who were nearest, such as the Otontanta the Aiounouea, the 

 Kikapou and the Maskoutens Nadouesioux through whom he was to pass first, and to take an 

 interpreter from there for going further on, it being impossible to send those who understood all 

 the languages. 



It will be said also that in the first expeditions it was not necessary to go with so much 

 merchandise, which tempts the young men, already under bad subjection to the elders, and leads 

 them to deeds which they would not do if they saw nothing which tempted them. To this I 

 reply that, sending to those nations with whom we had acquaintance through the Islinois, and to 

 whom Accault was a friend, because he had passed two winters and a summer there, during 

 which time he had seen several of the most important of their villages where he was to pass, 

 whom he had won by little presents, there was nothing to fear, at least in all probability there 

 being no likelihood that they would encounter an army of the Nadouesioux three hundred leagues 

 from that country. (2) These voyages being difficult, those who undertake them do it only 

 through the hope of gain, which they could not accomplish without merchandise. (3) Several 

 of those savages having come to the Islinms while we were there, and having seen the merchan- 

 dise which we had there, they would be filled either with anger or jealousy, believing that going 

 into their country with but little would be either from a want of friendship for them or from 

 some evil design. Finally, wishing to attract them to come and buy of our commodities and to 

 make them accustomed to the use of them, it would be necessary to have a somewhat considerable 

 quantity of them. 



I have thought it proper to give you this account of the adventures of this canoe, because 

 I do not doubt its being spoken of, and if you wish to confer with Father Louis Heimepin, Recol- 

 lect, about it, who has returned to France, it is well to know something of it, for he will not fail 

 to exaggerate everything ; it is his character ; and to me even he has written as if he had been nearly 

 burnt up, although he has not been <:ven in danger of it ; but he believes it is honorable in him to 

 act in that way, and he speaks more in accordance with what he icishes than what he knows. 



