The Land of tfu Winanish* 



Peribonca and to the south, where the 

 Laurentians are massed; but every stream 

 cuts its way in falls and rapids of great size, 

 beauty, and endless variety. 



This region was better known to the 

 French colonists two centuries ago than it 

 is to the average Canadian to-day. Tra- 

 ders had their eyes on the supposed El 

 Dorado as early as Roberval's ill-fated ex- 

 pedition in 1543 ; and as soon as Cham- 

 plain established La Nouvelle France, the 

 post at Tadoussac attracted the Indians 

 from the upper Saguenay. The " Rela- 

 tions des Jesuites " for 1647 an< ^ l ^5 2 g^ ve 

 accounts of Pere De Quen's voyages to 

 Lake St. John. In the Relation of 1658, 

 the various river routes to Hudson's Bay 

 are described with much greater accuracy 

 than in the would-be discoveries of sensa- 

 tional writers of the present time. In 

 1 66 1, Fathers Gabriel Druillettes and 

 Claude Dablon, in " the first voyage made 

 toward the Northern Sea," got as far as 

 Lake Nikoubau, at the head of the Ashu- 

 apmouchouan, where a great trading-fair 

 was held annually by the Indians. But for 

 fear of the Iroquois, who were then on 

 the war-path, they would have anticipated 

 Pere Albanel's journey to Hudson's Bay in 

 1672. In 1680 an adventurer named Pel- 

 tier had a trading-post at Nikoubau. 



31 



