The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-08-22
1880, they commenced ascending the


ed by five men, came to their camp from
Canada. They requested Hennepin,
Picard, and Ako, to accompany them TO
the Dakota villages, rs they did not un-
derstand the language. Leaving the
hunting party, they started for the villa
ges, were they arrived on the l4th OF
August. Having exchanged their COM
modities, they returned TO the encamp-
ment. Towards the end of September,
the Frcnchmen informed the Indians that
they wished to 20 back to Canada, to
procure iron and other useful goods. A
council being held, it was decided that
they might return. Ouasicoude present
ed them with some sacks of wild rice,
and then with pencil marked down on
a sheet of paper which Hennepin had
left, the course they were to keep for
400 leagues. In two canoes they de-
scendcd the River St. Francis. and en-
tered the Mississippi. Two of the men
took away from the Falls of Saint An
thony two beaver robes which had been
hung there, as a sort of oblation Hen
nepln demonstrated upon the improprie-
ty and danger of this proceeding Ou-
asicoudc hearing about the matter, fol-
lowed in pursuit, but was at length ap-
peased by the present of some tobacco.
Journeying by the way of the Wiscon-
sin and Fox rivers they at last arrived
at Mackinaw, where they passed the
winter. Leaving that post in Easter
week, 1851, they at last arrived at Mon
treal, where Hennepin was hospitality
entertained by Count Frontenac, the
Governor Of Canada.
In concluding a sketch of the Life
and Writings of this daring and enter
tanning traveler,it is appropriate to in
quire why the French called him the
great liar and Bancroft in his History
Of the United States, the "boastlul liar D
Our author having returned to Europe
by the order of his superior at Quebec,
published a narrative Of his travels on
the Upper Mississippi, at Paris, in 1858,
which he dedicated to the King. The
book was as truthful as any of the books
Of travels Of that day, and was called
"a Description of Louisiana.
In the year I697, according to Char
levoix, he published in Utrecht work
entitled "a new Description of vast
Country situated in America, between
New Mexico and the Frozen Ocean,
from the year 1910 to 1862, Sc"
In 1903, he published the same in two
volumes with the title page slightly al
tered
The same year an English edition APP
pcared, dedicated to William I'd. In
l704, another edition was published at
Amsterdam, with maps and Plates
This second work contained the descrip-
ton of Louisiana enlarged and improv-
ed, and in addition it pretends to give a
journal of Hennepin's voyage down the
lower Mississippi. The Interpolation is
poorly executed. He states that he was
only4l days in descending from the Hi
nois and the Gulf Of Mexico, and in re-
turning ;and that he left the Gulf on the
Ist of April, was at the Arkansas on the
9th, at the Illinois on the 2ith, aud at
the Wisconsin, according to his state
ment $50 leagues above) on the l3th.
Sparks, in his Life Of LaSalIe, re.
marks: "The suspicious Of the authors
veracity, which could not but spring
from these circumstances, were strength
ened by others. In the preface to his
"new discovery" he affirmed that he liv-
cd in America eleven years; whereas
the whole time Of his residence was less
than five years" In his first work he
says truly, that Joliet had descended the
Mississippi, but in the last work he says
that he was the first European who dis
covered the Mississippi. In the preface
to his new voyage he says that he was
obliged to suppress portion of his
travels in his first work for various reas-
ons, and among others the enmity of La
Sale, which he says this was induced
in this ways. Having been appointed
missionary to Canada, in 1916, he was
obliged to cross the ocean with num-
ber of girls. These continually danced
on deck so as to deprive the mariners o
their repose, and he felt called upon to
reprimand them, so that they might de.
I WIN
quietness. This, he says, caused La
Sale to 60 into rage, and call him a
dull, impertinent fellow, and unworthy o
respect He gives other reasons, also
equally frivolous for suppressing an &C.
count Of the journey for thirteen years. i
it had really been performed. To the
query, where did he obtain the muteri
ais for his asserted voyage to the Gul
ofMcxico; the reply of President Sparks
Of Harvard University, is very satisfac
tory, an abridgmt mt of which is given
"Some have supposed that he drew then
from the book ascribed to Tonty, which
appeared at the beginning Of the yeal
in which the "New Discovery" wa.
published. For the descriptions o
natural scenery, as far as the Arkansa.
river, he might have helped himself from
Marquette. 1t is true enough that tn,
agreement with Tonty, in many parts il
too close TO have been the result of ac
cident, and it is remarkable that the Re
collect and his two men should encoun
ter SO many events, which happened pre-
cisely in the same manner, and at tn,