INTRODUCTION.
NO sooner was the late War with France concluded, and Peace established by the Treaty of Versailles in the Year 1763, than I began to consider (having rendered my country some services during the war) how I might continue still serviceable, and contribute, as much as lay in my power, to make that vast acquisition of territory, gained by Great Britain, in North America advantageous to it. It appeared to me indispensably needful, that Government should be acquainted in the first place with the true state of the dominions they were now become possessed of. To this purpose, I determined, as the next proof of my zeal, to explore the most unknown parts of them, and to spare no trouble or expence in acquiring a knowledge that promised to be so useful to my countrymen. I knew that many obstructions would arise to my scheme from the want of good Maps and Charts; for the French, whilst they retained their power in North America, had taken every artful method to keep all other nations, particularly the English, in ignorance of the concerns of the interior parts of it: and to accomplish this design with the greater certainty, they had published inaccurate maps and false accounts; calling the different nations of the Indians by nicknames they had given them, and not by those really appertaining to them. Whether the intention of the French in doing this, was to prevent these nations from being discovered and traded with, or to conceal their discourse, when they talked to each other of the Indian concerns, in their presence, I will not determine; but whatsoever was the cause from which it arose, it tended to mislead.
As a proof that the English had been greatly deceived by these accounts, and that their knowledge relative to Canada had usually been very confined, before the conquest of Crown-Point in 1759, it had been esteemed an impregnable fortress: but no sooner was it taken, than we were convinced that it had acquired its greatest security from false reports, given out by its possessors, and might have been battered down with a few four pounders. Even its situation, which was represented to be so very advantageous, was found to owe its advantages to the same source. It cannot be denied but that some maps of these countries have been published by the French with an appearance of accuracy; but these are of so small a size and drawn on so minute a scale, that they are nearly inexplicable. The sources of the Mississippi, I can assert from my own experience, are greatly misplaced; for when I had explored them, and compared their situation with the French Charts, I found them very erroneously represented, and am satisfied that these were only copied from the rude sketches of the Indians.
Even so lately as their evacuation of Canada they continued their schemes to deceive; leaving no traces by which any knowledge might accrue to their conquerors: for though they were well acquainted with all the Lakes, particularly with Lake Superior, having constantly a vessel of considerable burthen thereon, yet their plans of them are very incorrect. I discovered many errors in the descriptions given therein of its Islands and Bays, during a progress of eleven hundred miles that I coasted it in canoes. They likewise, on giving up the possession of them, took care to leave the places they had occupied in the same uncultivated state they had found them; at the same time destroying all their naval force. I observed myself part of the hulk of a very large vessel, burnt to the water’s edge, just at the opening from the Straits of St. Marie’s into the Lake.
These difficulties, however, were not sufficient to deter me from the undertaking, and I made preparations for setting out. What I chiefly had in view, after gaining a knowledge of the Manners, Customs, Languages, Soil, and natural Productions of the different nations that inhabit the back of the Mississippi, was to ascertain the Breadth of that vast continent, which extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, in its broadest part between 43 and 46 Degrees Northern Latitude. Had I been able to accomplish this, I intended to have proposed to Government to establish a Post in some of those parts about the Straits of Annian, which having been first discovered by Sir Francis Drake, of course belong to the English. This I am convinced would greatly facilitate the discovery of a North-west Passage, or a communication between Hudson’s Bay and the Pacific Ocean. An event so desirable, and which has been so often sought for, but without success. Besides this important end, a settlement on that extremity of America would answer many good purposes, and repay every expence the establishment of it might occasion. For it would not only disclose new sources of trade, and promote many useful discoveries, but would open a passage for conveying intelligence to China, and the English settlements in the East Indies, with greater expedition than a tedious voyage by the Cape of Good Hope, or the Straits of Magellan will allow of.
How far the advantages arising from such an enterprize may extend can only be ascertained by the favourable concurrence of future events. But that the completion of the scheme, I have had the honour of first planning and attempting, will some time or other be effected, I make no doubt. From the unhappy divisions that at present subsist between Great Britain and America, it will probably be some years before the attempt is repeated; but whenever it is, and the execution of it carried on with propriety, those who are so fortunate as to succeed, will reap, exclusive of the national advantages that must ensue, Emoluments beyond their most sanguine expectations. And whilst their spirits are elated by their success, perhaps they may bestow some commendations and blessings on the person that first pointed out to them the way. These, though but a shadowy recompence for all my toil, I shall receive with pleasure.
To what power or authority this new world will become dependent, after it has arisen from its present uncultivated state, time alone can discover. But as the seat of Empire from time immemorial has been gradually progressive towards the West, there is no doubt but that at some future period, mighty kingdoms will emerge from these wildernesses, and stately palaces and solemn temples, with gilded spires reaching the skies, supplant the Indian huts, whose only decorations are the barbarous trophies of their vanquished enemies.
As some of the preceding passages have already informed the Reader that the plan I had laid down for penetrating to the Pacific Ocean, proved abortive, it is necessary to add, that this proceeded not from its impracticability (for the farther I went the more convinced I was that it could certainly be accomplished) but from unforeseen disappointments. However, I proceeded so far, that I was able to make such discoveries as will be useful in any future attempt, and prove a good foundation for some more fortunate Successor to build upon. These I shall now lay before the Public in the following pages; and am satisfied that the greatest part of them have never been published by any person that has hitherto treated of the interior Nations of the Indians; particularly, the account I give of the Naudowessies, and the situation of the Heads of the four great rivers that take their rise within a few leagues of each other, nearly about the center of this great continent; viz. The River Bourbon, which empties itself into Hudson’s Bay; the Waters of Saint Lawrence; the Mississippi, and the River Oregon, or the River of the West, that falls into the Pacific Ocean at the Straits of Annian.
The impediments that occasioned my returning, before I had accomplished my purposes, were these. On my arrival at Michillimackinac, the remotest English post, in September 1766, I applied to Mr. Rogers, who was then governor of it, to furnish me with a proper assortment of goods, as presents for the Indians who inhabit the track I intended to pursue. He did this only in part; but promised to supply me with such as were necessary, when I reached the Falls of Saint Anthony. I afterwards learned that the governor fulfilled his promise in ordering the goods to be delivered to me; but those to whose care he intrusted them, instead of conforming to his orders, disposed of them elsewhere.
Disappointed in my expectations from this quarter, I thought it necessary to return to La Prairié Le Chien; for it was impossible to proceed any farther without presents to ensure me a favorable reception. This I did in the beginning of the year 1767, and finding my progress to the Westward thus retarded, I determined to direct my course Northward. I took this step with a view of finding a communication from the Heads of the Mississippi into Lake Superior, in order to meet, at the grand Portage on the North-west side of that lake, the traders that usually come, about this season, from Michillimackinac. Of these I intended to purchase goods, and then to pursue my journey from that quarter by way of the lakes de Pluye, Dubois, and Ounipique to the Heads of the river of the West, which, as I have said before, falls into the Straits of Annian, the termination of my intended progress.
I accomplished the former part of my design, and reached Lake Superior in proper time; but unluckily the traders I met there acquainted me, that they had no goods to spare; those they had with them being barely sufficient to answer their own demands in these remote parts. Thus disappointed a second time, I found myself obliged to return to the place from whence I began my expedition, which I did after continuing some months on the North and East borders of Lake Superior, and exploring the Bays and Rivers that empty themselves into this large body of water.
As it may be expected that I should lay before the Public the reasons that these discoveries, of so much importance to every one who has any connections with America, have not been imparted to them before, notwithstanding they were made upwards of ten years ago, I will give them to the world in a plain and candid manner, and without mingling with them any complaints on account of the ill treatment I have received.
On my arrival in England, I presented a petition to his Majesty in council, praying for a reimbursement of those sums I had expended in the service of government. This was referred to the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations. Their Lordships from the tenor of it thought the intelligence I could give of so much importance to the nation that they ordered me to appear before the Board. This message I obeyed, and underwent a long examination; much I believe to the satisfaction of every Lord present. When it was finished, I requested to know what I should do with my papers; without hesitation the first Lord replied, That I might publish them whenever I pleased. In consequence of this permission, I disposed of them to a bookseller: but when they were nearly ready for the press, an order was issued from the council board, requiring me to deliver, without delay, into the Plantation Office, all my Charts and Journals, with every paper relative to the discoveries I had made. In order to obey this command, I was obliged to re-purchase them from the bookseller, at a very great expence, and deliver them up. This fresh disbursement I endeavoured to get annexed to the account I had already delivered in; but the request was denied me, notwithstanding I had only acted, in the disposal of my papers, conformably to the permission I had received from the Board of Trade. This loss, which amounted to a very considerable sum, I was obliged to bear, and to rest satisfied with an indemnification for my other expences.
Thus situated, my only expectations are from the favour of a generous Public; to whom I shall now communicate my Plans, Journals, and Observations, of which I luckily kept copies, when I delivered the originals into the Plantation Office. And this I do the more readily, as I hear they are mislaid; and there is no probability of their ever being published. To those who are interested in the concerns of the interior parts of North America, from the contiguity of their possessions, or commercial engagements, they will be extremely useful, and fully repay the sum at which they are purchased. To those, who, from a laudable curiosity, wish to be acquainted with the manners and customs of every inhabitant of this globe, the accounts here given of the various nations that inhabit so vast a track of it, a country hitherto almost unexplored, will furnish an ample fund of amusement and gratify their most curious expectations. And I flatter myself they will be as favourably received by the Public, as descriptions of islands, which afford no other entertainment than what arises from their novelty; and discoveries, that seem to promise very few advantages to this country, though acquired at an immense expence.
To make the following Work as comprehensible and entertaining as possible, I shall first give my Readers an account of the route I pursued over this immense continent (through which they will be able to attend me by referring to the plan prefixed) and as I pass on, describe the number of Inhabitants, the situation of the Rivers and Lakes, and the productions of the country. Having done this, I shall treat, in distinct Chapters, of the Manners, Customs, and Languages of the Indians, and to complete the whole, add a Vocabulary of the Words mostly in use among them.
And here it is necessary to bespeak the candour of the learned part of my Readers in the perusal of it, as it is the production of a person unused, from opposite avocations, to literary pursuits. He therefore begs they would not examine it with too critical an eye; especially when he assures them that his attention has been more employed on giving a just description of a country that promises, in some future period, to be an inexhaustible source of riches to that people who shall be so fortunate as to possess it, than on the style or composition; and more careful to render his language intelligible and explicit, than smooth and florid.