230 HILLS AND LAKES. 



ocean, was one great wilderness, a Jesuit missionary, 

 thinkin' to convert the wild Ingens, and make Chris- 

 tians jf 'em, passed up the St. Lawrence in a canoe, 

 and so on up old Ontario, and away to Lake Erie. It 

 seems he wrote down the curious things he saw, and 

 sent that writin' home to France, where it lay until a 

 few years ago, when it was discovered, and put in 

 print. I've been told that he was the first white man 

 that ever passed up the St. Lawrence, or coasted the 

 Ontario that he alone, of all the civilized world, had 

 heard the roar of Niagara, or looked upon the falls of 

 the Genesee. That was a great thing, Squire ; but for 

 all his writin' the world ain't much the wiser. He 

 was a simple-minded man, who had no eye for nater, 

 and took no notice of the wild things of the woods. 

 In all the country he travelled over, he saw only 

 heathens to be converted, and sinners to be saved. In 

 all his wanderings he carried only a Bible, and talked 

 with the savage Ingens only about their souls. It's a 

 great pity, Squire, you and I hadn't been along that 

 trip ; the world would be wiser about the country as 

 it then was, about the wild beasts, and birds, and 

 game, than it now is." 



" A man down to Plattsburgh, that I'd been out 



