472 



SAUK 



[b. a. e. 



person in an isolated place they would 

 kill him, especially if he were a French- 

 man, for they could not endure the sight 

 of the whiskers of the European. Yet, 

 two years later he reported that the first 

 place in which he hegan to give religious 

 mstruction was in a village of the *'0u- 

 saki," situated at the DePere Rapids, 

 Wis., wherein he found several tribes in 

 winter c^uarters, namely, the "Ousaki, 

 the Pouteouatami, the Outagami [Foxes], 

 and the Ovenibigoutz [Winnebago] — 

 about 600 souls." Allouez adds that a 

 league and a half away there was another 

 village of aljout 150 persons; that at 4 

 leagues farther away there was another 

 of about 100 persons; that at 8 leagues 

 away there was another of about 300 

 persons, situated on the opposite side of 

 the bay; that at 25 leagues, at a place 

 called Ouestatinong, dwelt the Foxes, 

 and that at a day's journey from this 

 tribe dwelt the Makskouteng [Mascou- 

 tensjand the Oumami [Miami], the lat- 

 ter being reputed to be a band of the 

 Illinois. The Indians of this region, the 

 Father reported, were " more barbarous 

 than usual," having no ingenuity, not 

 knowing even how "to make a bark dish 

 or a ladle," using shells instead. 



In the Jesuit Relation for 1658 (21, ed. 

 1858) Father Ragueneau reported what 

 he had learned concerning the upper 

 lake tribes from Father Bruillettes, a 

 skilful and accomplished Huron and Al- 

 gonquian linguist, who in listing these 

 tribes used to some extent the knowledge 

 of these communities obtained by Radis- 

 son and Groseilliers, who had then but 

 recently discovered and visited a number 

 of them. In the descriptive list of these 

 tribes cited by Father Ragueneau, the 

 following statements are pertinent here: 

 ' ' The third nation is distant about 3 

 days' journey by water from the town of 

 St Michel, gc)ing inland. It is composed 

 of the Makoutensak and the Outitchak- 

 ouk [i. e. the Crane Miami]. The two 

 Frenchmen [probably Radisson and 

 Groseilliers] who have traveled in those 

 countries say that these people are of a 

 very mild nature." . . . "The four- 

 teenth nation has 30 towns, inhabited by 

 the Atsistagherronnons. They are south- 

 west a quarter south at 6 or 7 days' jour- 

 ney from St Michel. The Onondaga 

 have recently declared war against 

 them." This is presumptive evidence 

 from seemingly competent authority that 

 the ethnic names Mascoutens and Atsis- 

 tagherronnons were not in 1658 by any 

 means synonymous or convertible epi- 

 thets, and that therefore the peoples 

 desiiiiiated by them were not identical. 

 This confusion as to names in question 

 persisted until about 1671, as the follow- 

 ing citations will show. In the Jesuit 



Relation for 1670 (99, ed. 1858) Father 

 Allouez stated that " We entered the 

 river which leads to the Machkoutench, 

 called Assista Ectaeronnons, Nation of 

 the Fire, by the Harons"; but in the 

 Relation for the following year (p. 45) 

 Father Allouez stated that "The Nation 

 of the Fire bears this name by an error, 

 properly calling themselves Maskoutench, 

 which signifies a land cleared of trees,' 

 such as is that which these people in- 

 habit; but because by the change of a 

 few letters which one makes, this same 

 word signifies fire, it follows that one 

 calls them the Nation of the Fire." There 

 is in each of these statements an error 

 which was due directly to the process of 

 the gradual elimination of tribes becom- 

 ing known from a group of unknown 

 peoples or tribes which bore a generic 

 name "people of the place of fire," 

 derived from the specific name of an 

 important one of these tribes, the Pota- 

 watomi (q. v.), whose name signifies 

 literally, 'people of the place of fire.' 

 This confounding of several tribes one 

 with another, and the consequent mis- 

 application of specific and generic names, 

 were made evidently not lay the Hurona 

 but by French traders and missionaries. 

 In the Jesuit Relation for 1671 (25, ed. 

 1858) Father Dablon, speaking of Green 

 bay, Wisconsin, wrote that the Menomi- 

 nee, the Sauk, tlie Potawatomi, and other 

 neighboring tribes, "being driven from 

 their own countries, which are the lands 

 southward near Missilimakinac, have 

 taken refuge at the head of this bay, be- 

 yond which one can see inland the 'Nation 

 of the Fire,' or Mathkoutench, with one of 

 the Illinois tribes called Oumiami, and the 

 Foxes." And in the same Relation (p. 

 37), he said: "The three nations who are 

 now in the bay of the Winnebago as stran- 

 gers resided on the mainland which is s. 

 of this island [i. e. Missilimakinac] — 

 some on the shores of the Lake of the 

 Illinois [i. e. Michigan], others on those 

 of the Lake of the Hurons. A part of 

 those who call themselves Salteurs [Chip- 

 pewa] possessed lands on the mainland 

 toward the w. ... Four villages of 

 the Ottawa also had their lands in these 

 quarters, but especially those who bore 

 the name of the island, calling themselves 

 Missilimakinac, and who were so numer- 

 ous that some of those who are still living 

 [1670] assert that they composed 30 vil- 

 lages, and that they had enclosed them- 

 selves in a fort a league and a half in 

 circuit, when the Iroquois, flushed with 

 a victory gained over 3,000 men of this 

 tribe who had carried the war even into 

 the country of the Mohawk, came to de- 

 feat them." Further (p. 42), the Father 

 relates: " Four nations make their abode 

 here, namely, those who bear the name 



