2" ravels in North America. t \ i 



guifties them much from the other Savages of this Continent, 

 whom we know ; but what is particular in their Chara6ler is, 

 that they have a great deal of Gravity ; at ieaft they appear fo, 

 in Comparifon of the Criftinaux^ with whom they have fome In- 

 tercourfe. The Cnftinaux are in Fa£l of an extraordinary Vi- 

 vacity ; they are always finging and dancing ; and they fpeak 

 with fuch a Volubility and Precipitation, that has never been 

 obferved of any other Savages. 



The Native Country of the AJjfimboils is about a Lake which 

 U T I r ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ Name, and which is little known. 



*h /n^ .1 M A Frenchman whom I have feen at Montreal, 



the Alimiboils. ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ 



feen it as they fee the Sea in a Port and en pajfant. The com- 

 mon Opinion is, that this Lake is iix hundred Leagues in Com- 

 pafs, that we cannot goto it but by Ways which are almoU im~ 

 pafTable, that all the Borders of it are charming, that the Air 

 here is very temperate, though they place it to the North Weil 

 of the upper Lake, where the Cold is extreme, and that it con- 

 tains fuch a Number of Iflands, that they call it in thefe Parts 

 the Lake of IJlands, Some Savages call it Michimpi\ which figni-. 

 fies the Great Water ; and it feems in Fad to be the Source of 

 _ the greateft Rivers and all the great Lakes of North America : 

 For by feveral Evidences, they make the River Bourhon to rife 

 out of it, which runs into Hud/on^ s Bay ; the River St, Laurence, 

 which carries its Waters to the Ocean ; the MiJJiJJippi^ which dif- 

 charges itfelf into the Gulph of M-exico^ the Mejfouri, which 

 mingles with the laft ; and which, to the Place where they join, 

 is in no Refpeft inferior to it ; and a fifth v/hich runs, as they 

 fay, to the Weft, and which of Courfe mufr go into the South 

 Sea. It is a great Lofs that this Lake waé not known to the 

 Learned, who have fought every where for the terreftial Paradifc. 

 It would have been atleall as well placed here as in Scandinaria, 

 But I do not warrant, Madam, all thefe Fads for Truth, which 

 are only founded upon the Reports of Travellers ; much lefs 

 what fome Savages have reported, that about the Lake of 



the AJJtnihoils there are Men like the Europeans ^ and who are 

 fettled in a Country where Gold and Silver is fo plenty, that it 

 ferves for the moll common Ufes. 



Father Af^rfz^^//^, who difcovered the 7kf//^^//>2 in 1673, fays in 

 his Relation, that fome Savages not only fpoke to him of the Ri- 

 ver, which taking its Rife from this Lake, runs to the Weft, but 

 that they alfo added, that they had feen great Ships in its Mouth. 

 It appears in the old Maps under the Name of Poualaks^ and of 

 whom fome Relations fay that their Country is the Boundary to 

 that of the CriJiinanXi or KillifiinDns. 



The 



