20 INTEODUCTION". 



country informed me that, at the distance of 150 leagues from 

 the place where I then was, their principal river empties itself into 

 a salt lake of three hundred leagues in circumference, the mouth 

 of which is about two leagues broad ; that the lower part of that 

 river is adorned with six noble cities, surrounded with stone, 

 cemented with fat earth; that the houses of these cities have no 

 roofs, but are open above like a platform ; that, besides the above- 

 mentioned cities, there are an hundred towns, great and small, 

 round that sort of sea; that the people of that country make 

 stuffs, copper axes, and several other manufactures, &c." 



In 1721, P. De Charlevoix, the historian of New France, was 

 commissioned by the French Government to make a tour of ob- 

 servation through the Canadas, and in addition to his topographical 

 and historical account of New France, published a journal of his 

 vojaige through the Lakes. He was one of the most learned divines 

 of his age, and although strongly tinctured with the doctrines of 

 fatality, and disposed to view everything relative to the Indian 

 tribes with the over-zealous eye of a Catholic missionary, yet his 

 works bear the impress of a strong and well-cultivated mind, and 

 abound in philosophical reflections, enlarged views, and accurate 

 deductions ; and, notwithstanding the lapse of a century, he must 

 still be regarded as the most polished and illustrious traveller of 

 the region. He first landed at Quebec in the spring of 1721, and 

 immediately proceeded up the St. Lawrence to Fort Frontenac and 

 Niagara, where he corrects the error into which those who pre- 

 ceded him had fallen, with respect to the height of the cataract. 

 He proceeds through Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan, descends 

 the Illinois and Mississippi to New Orleans, then recently settled, 

 and embarks for France. The period of his visit was that, when 

 the Mississippi Scheme was in the height of experiment, and excited 

 the liveliest interest in the French metropolis ; people were then 

 engaged, in Louisiana, in exploring every part of the country, 

 under the delusive hope of finding rich mines of gold and silver ; 

 and the remarks he makes upon the probability of a failure, were 

 shortly justified by the event. 



In 1760, Alexander Henry, Esq. visited the upper lakes, in 

 the character of a trader, and devoted sixteen years to travelling 

 over different parts of the north-western region of the Canadas 

 and the United States. The result of his observations upon the 



