proper to introduce brandy among the Indians, a practice which the Jesuits finally succeeded in abolishing. In alluding to Detroit, he says, "It is pretended that this is the finest part of all Canada; and really, if we can judge by appearances, nature seems to have denied it nothing which can contribute to make a country delightful: hills, meadows, fields, lofty forests, rivulets, fountains, rivers, and all of them so excellent in their kind, and so happily blended as to equal the most romantic wishes. The lands, however, are not equally proper for every kind of grain; but most are of a wonderful fertility, and I have known some produce good wheat for eighteen years running without any manure; and, besides, all of them are proper for some particular use. The islands seem placed on purpose for the pleasure of the prospect, the river and lake abound in fish, the air is pure, and the climate temperate and extremely wholesome."*

The Jesuit being requested by Tonti to visit the great council at Detroit, consented to do so on the day of his arrival; and his account of that council is here transcribed:

"On the 7th of June, which was the day of my arrival at the fort, (Detroit,) Mons. de Tonti, who commands here, assembled the chiefs of the three villages I have just mentioned, in order to communicate to them the orders he had received from the Marquis de Vaudreuil. They heard him calmly and without interruption. When he had done speaking, the orator of the Hurons told him in a few words that they were going to consult about what he had proposed to them, and would give him their answer in a short time. It is the custom of the Indians not to give an immediate answer on an affair of any importance. Two days afterward they assembled at the commandant's, who was desirous I should be present at this council, together with the officers of the garrison. Sasteratfi, whom the French call King of the Hurons, and who is, in fact, hereditary chief of the Tionnontatez, who are the true Hurons, was also present on this occasion; but as he is still a minor, he came only for form's sake: his uncle, who governs in his name, and who is called regent, spoke in quality of orator of the nation. Now the honor of speaking in the name of the whole is generally given to some Huron, when any of them happen to be of the council. The first view of their assemblies gives you no great idea of the body. Imagine to yourself, madame, half a score of savages almost stark naked, with their hair disposed in as many different manners as there are persons in the assembly, and all of them equally ridiculous; some with laced hats, all with pipes in their

* These travellers were not, nor could they be expected to be, in all cases accurate, from their rapid passage through the Western territory; but in their accounts of their own experience we derive much valuable information of its actual condition during the time when they wrote. Glimpses of wild beasts which they had never before seen, vegetable productions whose names they did not know, fragments of facts collected from the accounts of the Indians, always exaggerated and seldom authentic, passed in rapid succession before their minds, while they journeyed onward in bewildered amazement, through rivers, lakes, forests, and Indian camps; and their impressions, thus colored and distorted, found their way into their books. But, taken as a whole, their accounts are as accurate as could be expected, considering the circumstances under which they wrote. If, for example, the zealous Marquette depicts "wingless swans" as floating upon the Mississippi; if Hennepin describes "wild goats" upon the shores of Lake Erie; if La Honton discourses upon the "Long River," and Charlevoix alludes to the "citrons" as growing upon the banks of the Detroit, we are disposed to attribute their inaccuracies less to intentional misrepresentation than to natural and obvious mistake. Accurate observation and minute care are required to establish with perfect correctness the facts connected with any country, and he who should look to early records for historical matter will find much chaff to be winnowed from the genuine and golden wheat.

mouths, and with the most unthinking faces. It is, besides, a rare thing to hear one utter so much as a single word in a quarter of an hour, or to hear any answer made even in monosyllables; not the least mark of distinction, nor any respect paid to any person whatsoever. We should, however, be apt to change our opinions of them on hearing the result of their deliberations." This, as is described by Charlevoix, was the general mode in which the Indian councils were held with the French upon the lakes when questions of importance were to be decided. It was necessary to secure the concurrence of the savages in every measure of policy, so that these tribes should co-operate with them in carrying it into effect.

COLONIAL PIONEERS.

The posts of the French upon the lakes, while the Western Territory was under their government, exhibit a peculiar form of character, combined with institutions no less singular. The few feeble colonies that were scattered through this territory had emigrated principally from Britanny and Normandy, provinces of France. Working men, drawn from the more dense settlements around Quebec and Montreal, the seats of the bishops, the seigneurs, and the Jesuits, were sent out for the purpose of building up the posts, and of protecting the fur-trade carried on through the chain of the great lakes. Despatched for these objects, they were expected to endure cheerfully the hardships they would be called on to encounter in their establishment. The population assembled at these posts consisted of the military by which they were garrisoned, Jesuits, priests, merchants, traders, and peasants. But a small portion of this population, however, was stationary. It was moved from place to place, as the interests of the French government seemed to require.

The French commandants at these posts were the most prominent individuals, and, with their garrisons, constituted a little monarchy within themselves. Their power was arbitrary, extending to the right of doing whatever they might deem expedient for the welfare of the settlements, whether in making laws or in punishing crimes. Under this simple and imperfect form of government, the oldest merchants residing at the several posts were reverenced as the head men of their particular colony. Careful and frugal in their habits, without much of what we should call rigid virtue, it was their policy to exercise their influence among the settlers with paternal mildness, that they might secure their obedience, to keep on good terms with the Indians in order to retain their trade, and they often fostered a large number of half-breed children around their posts, who were the off-spring of their licentiousness.

The Coureurs des Bois, or rangers of the woods, were either French or half-breeds, a hardy race, accustomed to labor and privation, and thoroughly conversant with the character and habits of the savage tribes from which they obtained their furs and peltry. They could, with no less skill than the Indians, ply the oar of the light canoe upon the waters of the lakes, were equally dexterous in hunting and trapping, and, as they pointed their rifles at the squirrel on the top of the tallest tree, they could confidently say to their ball, like the ancient warrior, "to the right eye." These half-breeds generally spoke the language both of their French and Indian parents, and knew just enough of their religion to be alike regardless of that of each. Employed by the French companies as voyageurs or guides, their forms, which were models of manly beauty, were developed to great strength by propelling the canoe along the lakes and rivers, and by

carrying heavy packs of merchandise for the fur-trade across the portages, by means of leather straps, suspended from their shoulders or resting against their foreheads. From having travelled through numerous points of the wilderness, they became familiar with the trails of the most remote Indian tribes, and with the depth of the water in every inlet and stream of the lakes, as well as with every island, rock, and shoal. Their ordinary dress was a "moleton" or blanket-coat, a red cap, a belt of cloth passed around the middle, and a loose shirt. Sometimes, in their voyages through the lakes they wore a brown coat or cloak, with a cape which could be drawn up from their shoulders over their heads like a hood. At other times they had on elkskin trowsers, the seams of which were ornamented with fringes, a surtout of coarse blue cloth reaching to the calf of the leg, a scarlet-colored worsted sash fastened about the waist, in which was stuck a broad knife, employed in dissecting the animals taken in hunting, and moccasins made of buckskin. Affable, gay, and active, these men were employed by the French merchants either as guides, canoemen, carriers, or traders, to advance into the wilderness and procure their furs from the Indians, to transport them along the lakes and streams, and lodge them in the several depots or factories which were established in connection with the French forts.

The peasants, or that class of the lake settlers who cultivated small patches of ground within the narrow circle of their picket-fences, were few. Their dress was peculiar and even wild. They wore surtouts of coarse blue cloth, fastened at the middle with a red sash, a scarlet woollen cap containing a scalping-knife, and moccasins made of deerskin. Civilization and barbarism were here strangely mingled: Groups of Indians from the remotest shores of the lakes, wild in their garb, would occasionally make their appearance at the settlements with numerous canoes laden with beaver-skins, which they had brought down to these places of deposit. Among them were intermixed the French soldiers of the garrison, with their blue coats turned up with white facings, and the Jesuits, with their long gowns and black bands, from which were suspended by silver chains the rosary and crucifix, who, with the priests, had their stations around the forts, and ministered in the chapels.

Agriculture was but little encouraged by the policy of the fur-trade or the character of the population. It was confined to a few patches of Indian corn and wheat, which they rudely cultivated, with little knowledge of correct husbandry. They ground their grain in windmills, which were scattered along the banks of Detroit river and the St. Clair lake. The recreations of the French colonists consisted in attending the religious services held in the rude chapels on the borders of the wilderness, in adorning their altars with wild flowers, in dancing to the sound of the violin at each other's houses, in hunting the deer through the oak-land openings, and in paddling their light canoes across the clear and silent streams. The women employed themselves in making coarse cotton and woollen cloths for the Indian trade. In their cottages were hung rude pictures of saints, the Madonna and child, and the leaden crucifix supplied the place of one of silver. Abundance of game strayed in the woods, and the waters were alive with fish.

As these immigrants were sent out by the French Government, they were provided by its direction, through the commissariat department, with canvass for tents, hoes, axes, sickles, guns, so many pounds of powder, and meat, with the stipulation that these should be paid for when a certain quantity of land had been cleared.

The Jesuits, who were the most active agents in the exploration of these regions, were, as a class, persons of highly-cultivated and intelligent minds and of polished manners. The narratives of their wanderings through the wilderness throw a coloring of romance around the prairies, and forests, and lakes, which amounts almost to a classic spirit; yet they have left upon the lake-shores but few monuments either of their benevolence or their enterprise. The success of the Jesuits among the Indians was small compared with the extent of their labors. By the savages these Catholic missionaries were regarded as medicine-men and jugglers, on whom the destiny of life and death depended; and, although they were greatly feared, they succeeded in making but few converts to their religious faith, excepting young children or Indians just about to sink into their graves.

The administration of the law around these scattered posts was founded on no compact and settled system. The Coutume de Paris, or custom of Paris, was the law of Canada; but this code, although it was received and practised upon in the older and more populous settlements of the lower province, was not adopted and enforced with any degree of uniformity or strictness among the more distant colonists. The commandants of the posts had the principal cognizance of the population around them, and exercised their authority in a mild though arbitrary manner. Indeed, such was the feudal character of this law, that the French paid a willing and implicit obedience to their commandants, who, being invested with unlimited power, were styled the "governors of the posts." A perfect system of law can exist only where there is sufficient intelligence to mark out and determine the rule of right, and sufficient moral power to enforce it. A register was kept, in which the character and circumstances of the colonists were recorded, and in which the Jesuit or the commandant of the post might inspect the condition of each one as upon a map. There was here no system of education like that which prevailed in New England; and all the knowledge acquired by the children of the colonists was obtained from the priests and related to the tenets of the Catholic Church.

A singular form of character was also thrown around the territory by the mythology of the savages. The Indians had not only their good Manitos, but their evil spirits; and the wild features of the lake scenery appears to have impressed their savage minds with superstition. They believed that all the prominent points of this wide region were created and guarded by monsters; and the images of these they sculptured on stone, painted upon the rocks, or carved upon the trees. Those who obeyed these supernatural beings, they thought, would after death range among flowery fields filled with the choicest game, while those who neglected their counsels would wander amid dreary solitudes, stung by "gnats as large as pigeons."

The plan of distributing the land was calculated to prevent the settlement of the country. A law was passed requiring the houses of the inhabitants to be placed upon ground with a front of only one acre and a half and running forty acres back. This kept the settlements in a close line along the banks of the streams. A feudal and aristocratic spirit also controlled the grants of land. The commandants of the forts had the power to convey lands, with the permission of the governor-general of Canada, subject to the confirmation of the King of France, the right of shooting hares, rabbits, and partridges being reserved to the grantor. The grantee was bound to clear and improve the land within three years from the date of his deed. The timber that might be necessary for the construction of fortifications or vessels was reserved; and no person was permitted to work upon his land at the trade of a blacksmith, gunsmith, armorer, or brewer but on pain of for

feiture. He was forbidden the trafficking in spiritous liquors with the Indians; and, what was the most singular requisition of all, he was bound to plant or assist in planting a long Maypole at the door of the principal manor on the first of May in each year. Such were the feudal features of this system, equally opposed to the increase of the settlements, to freedom, and independence. How striking is the contrast between this system and the policy of our American laws now acting on the soil, which, by furnishing land cheap, offer every encouragement to agriculture, and thus freely open the treasures of the earth to the labors of our hardy and enterprising citizens.

As early as 1749, the post of Detroit and the others upon the Northwestern lakes, Michilimackinac, Ste. Marie, and St. Joseph, received an accession of immigrants. The last two were called after the saints of those names in the Catholic calendar. Michilimackinac derives its name from the Indian words Michi-mackinac, meaning a great turtle, from its supposed resemblance to that animal, or from the Chippewa words Michine-maukinonk, signifying the place of giant fairies, who were supposed by Indian superstition to hover over the waters around that beautiful island. The origin of the name of Detroit is the French word Detroit, signifying a strait, because the post was situated on the strait connecting Lake Erie with Lake St. Clair.

During the whole period of the French domination, extending from the first settlement of the country down to the year 1760, the traffic of Michigan was confined principally to the trade in furs. This interesting traffic upon the great lakes was carried on by the French under peculiar circumstances. As the forests of the lake region abounded with furs which were of great value in the mother-country, it became an important object with the Canadian government to prosecute that trade with all the energy in its power. The rich furs of the beaver and otter were particularly valuable, from the great demand for them in Europe. Large canoes made of bark and strongly constructed were despatched annually to the lakes laden with packs of European merchandise, consisting of blankets, printed calicoes, ribbons, cutlery, and trinkets of various kinds, which the Indians used, and Detroit, Michilimackinac, and Ste. Marie were their principal places of deposit.

men.

To secure the interests of the large companies, licenses for this trade were granted by the governor-general of Canada to the merchants, who sometimes sold them to the coureurs des bois. The possessor of one of these licenses was entitled to load two large canoes, each of which was manned by six The cargo of one of these canoes was valued at about a thousand crowns. This merchandise was sold to the traders on a credit, and at about fifteen per cent. advance on the price it would command in ready money. But the voyages were very profitable, and there was generally a gain of about one hundred per cent. on the sum invested in the enterprise. The traders endured most of the fatigue and the merchants received most of the profit. On the return of one of these expeditions, six hundred crowns were taken by the merchant for his license; and as he had sold the thousand crowns' worth of goods at their prime cost, from this sum he also deducted forty per cent. for bottomry; the remainder was then divided among the six coureurs des bois, who were thus left with but a small compensation for all their perils and hardship.

The coureurs des bois were the active agents of the fur-trade. Thoroughly acquainted with the navigation of the lakes, they fearlessly swept along the waters of these inland seas, encamping at night upon its shores. Of mixed white and Indian blood, they formed the connecting link between civilization and barbarism. Their dress was also demi-savage. Lively and sanguine, they were at all times ready to join the Indians in the dance, or pay

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