74 NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



travellers proceeded up the St. Croix River, v^^hich they 

 called Riviere de la Tombeau, because an Indian grave was 

 there. On the 1 2th of April they were captured by the Isauti,* 

 or Chippewa Indians, and were unable to proceed further 

 than the St. Francis River. They were informed by the 

 Indians, that there was another fall, about twenty or thirty 

 leagues above St. Anthony's, near which lived a tribe of In- 

 dians called Tintonha, or prairie Indians. Having remained 

 two or three months in captivit}'' they passed down the river, 

 leaving Ako behind, and ascending the Wisconsin, passed 

 down the Fox River to the Bay of Puans. While they were 

 passing Lake Pepin Avith their Indian captors, a council was 

 held to deliberate on putting to death the prisoners. Those 

 who were in favor of this design cried all night, as is custom- 

 ary with them when they wish to prevail on their companions 

 to consent to the death of their captives. On this account it 

 was named by them Lac des Pleurs, as before mentioned. 



Father Hennepin must undoubtedly be considered the dis- 

 coverer of the Missisippi. The supposition that Marquette 

 was there before him, may or may not be in accordance with 

 the fact. No relation was given of it ; no information or ad- 

 vantage appears to have been derived from it. When La 

 Sale started on his expedition from Fort Frontenac, it seemed 

 to be for the purpose of discovering a river known only to the 

 Indians, not of merely visiting a place already known. It is 

 also stated in the volume which passes as the second work of 



* The Indians of the St. Mary's were called by the French, Sauteui's 

 (that is, Indians of the falls) of St. Mary'j. Those who dwelt by the FalLs 

 of St. Anthony, were called also Sauteurs, and corruptly Isati (Esaute). 

 They are the Chippewas. The Lame of Naudouessies, by which the Sioux 

 were called, was probably Nordouest, applied to them by the missionaries 

 and traders of Lakes Superior and Mackinac, who had been acquainted 

 with them some years, and which the Indians converted into Nordouessi. 



