77ie First Battle of Lake Champlain. 



133 



Mr. Otis, in his preface to his translation of Champlain's journals hints 

 at tampering with the journals of Champlain, (vol. 1, p. 220) and 

 says: " All favorable allusion to the Eecollets, to whom Champlain 

 was friendly, are modified or expunged in editions subsequent to the 

 first, while the Jesuits are made to appear in a more favorable light." 

 This is, at least, suggestive of the key to a possible motive for pre- 

 cisely such an interpolation as this, based on the desired establishment 

 of the alleged fact that Champlain, an adherent of the Eecollets, and 

 so zealous a Catholic that he might almost be ranked as a missionary 

 as well as explorer, 1 was the first discoverer of Lake George, or its 

 outlet, thirty-five years before it was seen by Father Jogues, whom 

 history names as the first white man who saw it. A suggestive 

 fact may be stated in this connection — that on Champlain's small 

 map of 1613 (" Geographical Map of New France, in its True Meri- 

 dian ") a cross is marked on Lake George, indicating pretension to 

 discovery or possession by Catholic missionaries thirty-one years before 

 its discovery by Father Jogues. 



The language of the phrase in parenthesis is at least ambiguous. The 

 Indians told him " It was necessary to pass a fall to go there, (which 

 I saw afterwards)/' What did he see? Literally, Champlain did not 

 say that he saw the fall, afterwards, but that afterwards he saw it was 

 necessary to pass the fall. It seems probable that what he meant was 

 that he perceived, or found, or became convinced, that one must pass 

 the fall to go to the lake; that he verified what the friendly savages had 

 told him. This he might have done through the Iroquois prisoners, 

 of whom his party had taken ten or twelve, and it is reasonable to 

 suppose that he would obtain what information he could from them. 



The language leaves a doubt as to its author's meaning, and iu 

 judging of it all circumstances bearing upon the matter should be 

 taken into consideration. It is undeniable that all the other evidence 

 in the case forbids the supposition that Champlain could have seen the 

 fall on the day of battle, even had it been fought at Ticonderoga or 

 near there. In many other instances the language of Champlain's 

 journals is doubtful and susceptible of double meaning. Thus, in the 

 journal of his voyage of 1603, he speaks of a " horrible monster 

 * * * which the savages called the Gougou * * * This mon- 

 ster makes horrible noises in this island which the savages call Gou- 

 gou," etc. Here he evidently means that the monster is called Gougou, 

 but construed literally he says the savages call the island "Gougou." 

 Again, in his explanation of his great map, he describes the Eiche- 

 lieu river as " very beautiful, with many islands and meadows. It cornea 



