106 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIII. 



cause he was without the means — and merely esti- 

 mated the position by dead reckoning from his last 

 observation at Gould's Landing. 



And now the fatal hour for de Vignau had come. 

 His story of the North Sea seems to have been sug- 

 gested by some vague report he had heard of Eng- 

 lish explorations in Hudson's Bay. But he knew 

 nothing about Hudson's Bay, and in order to give 

 his imaginary sea a local habitation and a name, he 

 connected it with Lake Nipissing, which he had no 

 doubt heard spoken of by his Indian hosts as a 

 large bodj- cf water not many days' journey dis- 

 tant. Thus Champlain was led to ask Tessouat 



raised loud cries, and Tessouat said: "You are a 

 downright liar, you know well that you slept at my 

 side every night with my children; if you were 

 among the people mentioned it was while sleeping." 

 For a while the impostor brazened it out, but at 

 last gave in and made full confession. "After 

 meditating by himself he fell on his knees, and asked 

 my pardon, declaring that all he had said both in 

 France and in this country in respect to the sea in 

 question was false, that he had never seen it, and 

 that he had never gone farther than the village of 

 Tessouat. " His anxiety to return to Canada, he 

 said, had caused him to concoct the story — Cana- 



Gr(-f-n lalo-, near Coljclin, <)iit.; outlet flows 

 for canoes and men to visit the "Nebicerine" (Nip- 

 issings). 



At first agreeing very reluctantly — for they were 

 not on good terms with the Nipissings— at a later 

 council the Indians decided that the road was too 

 hard and dangerous, and refused to go. To over- 

 come these objections, Champlain pointed to de 

 Vignau as a young man who had travelled to the 

 Nipissings without encountering such great difficul- 

 ties or finding the people so unfriendly. Aston- 

 ished, Tessouat asked: "Nicholas, is it true that you 

 say you were among the Nebicerine? " It was long 

 before de Vignau answered ; then he said hesitat- 

 ingly: "Yes, I was there." At this the Indians 



IhroLiKh rushes at lower riKlit-liaiid corner. 



dians will forgive him a little for the implied com- 

 pliment to their country — and he trusted to the 

 hardships and hindrances of the road to turn Cham- 

 plain back before the lie was discovered. 



The Indians were greatly pleased that de Vig- 

 nau's avowals had vindicated them, but they tried 

 to wreak vengeance on the wretched liar. "Give 

 him to us, and we promise you that he shall not lie 

 any more," they cried, and all set after him shout- 

 ing — "their children shouting still more." But 

 Champlain, to clear himself of the failure of the 

 expedition, desired to have the impostor repeat his 

 confession before the Frenchmen at the ships, and 

 so he saved dc Vignau from the wrath of the 

 savages. 



