LAHONTAN. 243 



" Very boastful was lagoo : 

 Never heard he an adventure, 

 But himself had met a greater ; 

 Never any deed of daring, 

 But himself had done a bolder ; 

 Never any marvellous story. 

 But himself could tell a stranger." 



Everything, however, should not be set down as intentional extra- 

 vagant representation on either side. There must necessarily have 

 been many misunderstandings on the part of both traveller and 

 informants, arising out of mistakes in language and idiom, and from 

 interpreters not familiarly comprehending the dialects which they 

 professed to translate. On one occasion, after questioning some natives 

 far up the river which he had penetrated, we have Lahontan's own 

 remark : " This was all I could gather. My curiosity prompted me to 

 desire a more particular account; but unhappily I wanted a good inter- 

 preter; and having to do with several persons who did not well under- 

 stand themselves, I could make nothing of their incoherent galimatias.'' 

 He then adds : '* I presented the poor, miserable slaves with something 

 in proportion to the custom of the country; and endeavoured to per- 

 suade them to go with me to Canada, by making them such offers as in 

 their esteem would appear like mountains of gold; but the love they 

 had for their country stifled all persuasions; so true it is, that nature, 

 reduced to its just limits, cares but little for riches." The '' poor, 

 miserable slaves" were four captives in the hands of the tribe 

 visited farthest up the river. These captives were said to belong to a 

 people called the Mozeemleks. They had a thick, bushy beard, and 

 their hair hung down under their ears : he should have taken them, 

 from their general appearance, he says, to be Spaniards. Here is a 

 specimen of the information these captives gave him, whatever it was 

 worth : " The Mozeemlek nation is numerous and powerful. Its prin- 

 cipal river, they said, rose on the other side of the mountains, which 

 were six leagues across; and after a course of 150 leagues, it emptied 

 itself into a salt lake 300 leagues in circumference, by a mouth two 

 leagues broad. The lower part of that river, they said, is adorned with 

 six noble cities, surrounded with stone, cemented with fat earth. The 

 houses of these cities have no roofs, but are open above, like a platform. 

 Besides these cities, there are above a hundred towns, great and small, 

 round that quasi sea, on which they sail in large boats. The people of 

 that country made stuffs, copper axes, and several other manufacturee, 



