1687.] THE ENGLISH ON THE LAKES. 145 



and Indians from the upper lakes. 1 It had been 

 the work of the whole winter to induce these 

 savages to move. Presents, persuasion, and prom- 

 ises had not been spared ; and while La Durantaye, 

 aided by the Jesuit Engelran, labored to gain over 

 the tribes of Michillimackinac, the indefatigable 

 Nicolas Per rot was at work among those of the 

 Mississippi and Lake Michigan. They were of a 

 race unsteady as aspens and fierce as wild-cats, full 

 of mutual jealousies, without rulers, and without 

 laws ; for each was a law to himself. It was diffi- 

 cult to persuade them, and, when persuaded, 

 scarcely possible to keep them so. Perrot, how- 

 ever, induced some of them to follow him to 

 Michillimackinac, where many hundreds of Algon- 

 quin savages were presently gathered : a perilous 

 crew, who changed their minds every day, and 

 whose dancing, singing, and yelping might turn at 

 any moment into war-whoops against each other 

 or against their hosts, the French. The Hurons 

 showed more stability; and La Durantaye was 

 reasonably sure that some of them would follow 

 him to the war, though it was clear that others 

 were bent on allying themselves with the Senecas 

 and the English. As for the Pottawatamies, Sacs, 

 Ojibwas, Ottawas, and other Algonquin hordes, no 

 man could foresee what they would do. 2 



Suddenly a canoe arrived with news that a party 

 of English traders was approaching. It will be re- 



1 Tonty, Me'moire in Margry, Relations Inedites. 



2 The name of Ottawas, here used specifically, was often employed by 

 the Erench as a generic term for the Algonquin tribes of the Great 

 Lakes. 



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