LAHONTAN. 317 



cursion up tliat stream, wliich was navigable, lie was assured, for 100 

 leagues. He now reascends tlie Mississippi and is at tlie River Illi- 

 nois on the 9th. of April. On the 16th he is at Fort Crevecceur on 

 that river. On the 24th he has made the portage and is at Chicago. 

 On the 28th he has pushed across the lake to the mouth of the St. 

 Joseph, where La Salle had once established a fort. On the 22nd of 

 May he arrives at Michilimackinac. 



At p. 245, we have spoken too strongly of the general improbar 

 bility of the expedition up the Rivifere Longue. On again inspecting 

 the narrative the particulars which it recounts do not appear so un- 

 worthy of credit. The special character, circumstances and object of 

 the writer must, as we have already intimated, be taken into con- 

 sideration, and some allowance accordingly made for over-coloring. 

 The winter of 1688-9 may have been unusually open and mild. It 

 is to be remembered that westward of Lake Superior the climate is 

 not everywhere what the parallel of latitude would indicate. So 

 that, after all, it is possible that Lahontan may have made his way 

 in the manner described, up the Minnesota River, as far as the western 

 extremity of the Lac-qui-parle. On the continuation of the stream 

 sketched on buckskin for him by the Indians, Big Stone Lake seems 

 to be laid down. On the engraved map accompanying the letters, a 

 bold double-dotted line is drawn vertically through the fleur-de-lis 

 which marks the limit stated to have been reached — a point dis- 

 tinguished also by the word " Borne." The double-dotted vertical 

 line divides the portion of the map sketched by the Indians from the 

 portion drawn by the traveller from personal observation, and is 

 inscribed in large letters, " Separation de ces deux cartes," showing 

 that the two portions were to be regarded as two distinct maps, 

 over the Indian portion, moreover, is written in conspicuous letters, 

 " Carte que les Gnacsitares ont dessine sur les peaux de cerfs, &c. ;" 

 while over the traveller's own portion is written in a similar manner, 

 Carte de la Riviere Longue, &c." Have we in the Essanapes, the 

 Assiaiboines; in the Gnacsitares, the Chocktaws; in the Eokoros, the 

 Absorokas, by the English called Crows ? 



Letter seventeen is dated at Quebec, Sept. 28, 1689. The writer 

 left Mackinaw on the 8th of June. On the 9th of July he is at 

 Montreal. "The navigation is pretty safe from Michilimackinac to 

 Erench River," he says; "for in coasting along Lake Huron we meet 

 with an infinity of islands which serve as a shelter. But in going up 

 4 



