ened vessel tnight more easily ascend into the
lake. We celebrated divine service on board
gvery day, and our people who remained on land
could heat: the Sermon on holidays and Sundays.
.The wind becoming strong from the northeast,
we em barked, to the number of thirty-two
persons, with two of our order who had come to
join us. The vessel was well found with arms,
provisions and merchandise, and seven small
eannon. I i
The rapids afthe entrance into the lake are
very strong. Neither man, nor beast, nor ordinary
bark can resist them. It istherefore almost
impossible to stem the current. , Nevertheless,
we accomplished it, and surmounted those violent
rapids of the river Niagara By a kind of
miracle, against the opinion ofhven- our pilot
himself/ We Spread all sail, when the wind
was strong enough, and, in the most difficult
places, our sailors threw out tow lines, which
were drawn by ten or twelve meh on shore. We
thus passed safely into Lake-Erie;
We set sail on the 7th of August, 1679, steering
^vest south west. After having chanted the
Te Dejm, we fired all the cannon and arque*
buses, in presence of many Iroquois warriors,
who had brought captives from TintonJm, that is
to say, from the people o f the prairies, who live
more than 400 leagues from their cantons. We
heard these savages exclaim, gannoron, in testimony
ofitheir wonder.
Some of those who saw us did not fail to report
the size of our vessel to the Dutch at New
Ifork, (Nbumlle Jorck), with whom the Iroquois
carry on a great traffic in skins and furs, which
they exchange for fire arms, and blankets, to
shelter thhm from the eolcl.
The enemies of our great discovery, to defeat
our enterprises, had reported that Lake Erie was
full of shoals and Banks of sand, which rendered
navigation impossible. We therefore did not
omit sounding, from time to time, for more than
twenty leagues, duringthe darkness of the night.
On the 8th, a favorable wind enabled us to
make about forty-five leagues, and we saw almost
all the Way, the two distant, shores, fifteen or
sixteen leagues apart. The finest navigation in
the world, is along the northern shores of this
lake. There are thremcapes, or, long points of
land, which project into the lake. We* doubled
the first, which we called after St. Francis.
On the 9th, we doubled the other two capes,
or points of land, giving them a wide berth.
We saw no islands or shoals on the north side
of the lake, and one large island, towards the
southwest, about seven or eight leagues from
the northern shore, opposite the strait which
comes from Lake Huron.
On the 10th, early in the morning, we passed
between the large island, which is toward the
fsouthwest, and seven or eight small islands, and
’an islet of sand, situated towards the west. We
landed at the north of the strait, through which
Lake Huron is discharged into Lake Erie.