•jHia X. X/m/A/.— ^^^nchdL 351 
plaiuitoiy report also serve us an iavalual:)le perpetiiatiuu- link, 
preserving with great accuracy, many aboriginal geographic de- 
tails and uniting early French exploration with recent known data 
through the agency of an appreciative and accomplished French 
scientist. 
When he last left the Northwest, after spending several weeks 
with general Sittley. at Mendota. he made his way. in the fall of 
1830, to P>edf()r(l, Pa., to the home of his friends, major and 
Mrs. Taliaferro. Avhere he remained through the winter, and 
where he was so feeble that he had to be carefully nursed and 
treated with the best medical attendance. It was doul)tless dur- 
ing this visit thut was made the small ivory painting, which has 
furnished the basis for the portrait which accompanies this paper. 
Two photogra[)h copies (vignette size) were presented to the Min- 
nesota Historical Society in ISOT. by 3Iaj. Taliaferro, and are 
now preserved in its archives. Of one of these this portrait is 
.an enlargement. Tiu> original has the following inscription on 
the rever.se side, in Maj. Taliaferro's own writing:* '• l^hotograph 
from painting on ivory of J. X. Nicollet, 188G. Photographed 
ISGT and presented to the Minn. Hist. Soc. by Lawrence Talia- 
ferro, Aug.. 1S()7. R. T. Gettys, Pedford, Pa." 
Of the last days of Nicollet we know but little. There is no 
■doubt, however, from the sttitenicnts of Gen. Sibley, and the 
facts recorded by Gen. Fremont, that his fine physical frame was 
over-taxed by the demands made upon it by the fiery spirit which 
animated it. :ind which drove him through the hardships and toils 
■of his frontier campaigns. 'IMie burden which was upon his mind, 
again, arising from the lofty idi'al he had formed for the publica- 
tion of liis scientific report to the (iovernment. wore on him con- 
tinually, and as time passed, and his nervousness did not dimin- 
ish, ]>ut i-ather increased, and the :u'comi)lishment of his purpose 
receded from him as the months wore away, he became irrita- 
ble iind more and more prostratccl. About this time. also, ac- 
■cording io Gen. Sililey. through the hostility which yet pursued 
him on the p;irt of some of iiis old iissociates in business affairs, 
he failed of election to membership in the Academy of Sciences, 
.jit Paris, an honor which he coveted. He had the support of 
*Tlus has been still further oiilurged into a life-size oil painting, by 
Mr. B. S. Hayes, an artist of ^liimeapolis, and hangs in the office of the 
•writer. 
