their places of habitation and they undertook long and perilous journeys to dispose of the which they had gathered and to see the ways of the white men thus it had happened that the savages of the upper lakes who had so lately been unknown had felt the charm of the presence and had come out of their to have intercourse with the superior race � an intercourse which in the end would be their destruction it was early in september when reached the and there he parted from his savage escort the or welcomed him to their village at the foot of the and with them he would gladly have but duty required him to go forward to a more distant field with only a few companions he embarked on the upper lake a portion of whose shores had been made known through the of and the visit of and per to these waters of which we have already learned did not take place until three years later was delighted with his voyage upon the upper lake of all the fresh water seas he had beheld this seemed to him the and in his enthusiasm he it lake in honor of the de the new lieutenant general of canada from whom the expected great things near the end of the month the missionary reached la at or near the place where and had built their hut in a straggling village close by where indians of several tribes had come together he founded the mission of st and there he built a on the upper lakes bark chapel as a place of worship � the first church if we may call it such within the limits of the old not far from the head of the bay were other villages where lived some eight hundred savages belonging to various tribes the greater number being over all these as well as over the farther inland father � hoped to extend some sort of pastoral care to the mission of st the savages soon began to resort in large numbers and the zealous used many devices to secure their confidence and friendship he told them that the french would surely crush and utterly subdue their old enemies the and he assured them that the time would soon come when they could return to their old homes by the head waters of the and on the shores of the with their young men he much of the country along the lake shore and from them he heard of the mysterious copper mines and of the great water called which flowed through mysterious regions far to the south on one of his excursions he fell in with e built a bark chapel a band of indians � the terror of the west � and from them he learned that their home was oh the farther west while beyond was an unknown land bordered by the great salt sea but with all his zeal and enterprise and patience the missionary of st made but few and the savages especially the remained as savage and degraded as before iii mar about a year before the coming of la to canada there arrived on the st a young priest whose name was he was of a gentle disposition refined well educated and intent only upon doing good no sooner had he set foot upon soil than he began to prepare himself for the duties of a missionary among the savages of the after spending a year and a half at three rivers studying the languages of the principal indian tribes he set out with a party of returning natives to the distant shores of lake superior he arrived at the without and took up his abode with the who rejoiced that he had come to establish a mission among them there he was soon joined by another missionary and the two with the help of their first built a little church on the bank of the river and surrounded it with it was near the spot where the gentle had been laid by his companion father the rude building had scarcely been completed when was commanded to go still farther west and on the upper lakes assume charge of the mission of st at la he obeyed without asking why but when he presented himself to take the place of the he learned the reasons for the change among the indians on the shore of green bay there had lately come from canada a party of reckless young � lawless woods or de � who were the savages in deeds of violence and crime the and other tribes near the river fox degraded though they were were by the doings of these to father in the distant mission of st they sent a messenger praying him to come and tame the wild spirits of the men of his own nation we are daily in fear for our lives we are terrified by their wickedness come and teach them something about that religion of gentleness of which we have heard could the missionary refuse to listen to this appeal to the superior of his order in canada he wrote an account of the whole matter and the result was that he received permission to go among the tribes of green bay to preach to the red savages and to and restrain the white but who should carry on the work which he had begun at la surely no man was better fitted for that duty than young father and this was why had been removed from his appointed field at the proceeded at once to the green bay region and on the fox river not far from its mouth he set up among the and other tribes the mission of st francis st iv st the mission of st had never the indians for whom it had been established were hardened wretches whose hearts could not be touched 