Voyages of Peter Esprit Radisson   By: Pierre Esprit Radisson (1636-1710)

RADISSON'S VOYAGES.

VOYAGES OF PETER ESPRIT RADISSON,

BEING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS TRAVELS AND EXPERIENCES AMONG THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, FROM 1652 TO 1684.

TRANSCRIBED FROM ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY AND THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

WITH HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND AN INTRODUCTION,

BY GIDEON D. SCULL,

LONDON, ENGLAND.

PREFACE.

It may be regarded as a fortunate circumstance that we are able to add to the Society's publications this volume of RADISSON'S VOYAGES. The narratives contained in it are the record of events and transactions in which the author was a principal actor. They were apparently written without any intention of publication, and are plainly authentic and trustworthy. They have remained in manuscript more than two hundred years, and in the mean time appear to have escaped the notice of scholars, as not even extracts from them have, so far as we are aware, found their way into print. The author was a native of France, and had an imperfect knowledge of the English language. The journals, with the exception of the last in the volume, are, however, written in that language, and, as might be anticipated, in orthography, in the use of words, and in the structure of sentences, conform to no known standard of English composition. But the meaning is in all cases clearly conveyed, and, in justice both to the author and the reader, they have been printed verbatim et literatim , as in the original manuscripts. We desire to place upon record our high appreciation of the courtesy extended to the Editor of this volume by the governors of the Bodleian Library and of the British Museum, in allowing him to copy the original manuscripts in their possession. Our thanks likewise are here tendered to Mr. Edward Denham for the gratuitous contribution of the excellent index which accompanies the volume.

EDMUND F. SLAFTER, President of the Prince Society . BOSTON, 249 BERKELEY STREET, November 20, 1885.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

FIRST VOYAGE OF PETER ESPRIT RADISSON

SECOND VOYAGE, MADE IN THE UPPER COUNTRY OF THE IROQUOITS

THIRD VOYAGE, MADE TO THE GREAT LAKE OF THE HURONS, UPPER SEA OF THE EAST, AND BAY OF THE NORTH

FOURTH VOYAGE OF PETER ESPRIT RADISSON

RELATION OF A VOYAGE TO THE NORTH PARTS OF AMERICA IN THE YEARS 1682 AND 1683

RELATION OF THE VOYAGE ANNO 1684

OFFICERS OF THE PRINCE SOCIETY

THE PRINCE SOCIETY

PUBLICATIONS OF THE PRINCE SOCIETY

VOLUMES IN PREPARATION BY THE PRINCE SOCIETY

INDEX

INTRODUCTION.

The author of the narratives contained in this volume was Peter Esprit Radisson, who emigrated from France to Canada, as he himself tells us, on the 24th day of May, 1651. He was born at St. Malo, and in 1656, at Three Rivers, in Canada, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Madeleine Hainault. [Footnote: Vide History of the Ojibways , by the Rev. E. D. Neill, ed. 1885.] Radisson says that he lived at Three Rivers, where also dwelt "my natural parents, and country people, and my brother, his wife and children." [Footnote: The Abbe Cyprian Tanguay, the best genealogical authority in Canada, gives the following account of the family: Francoise Radisson, a daughter of Pierre Esprit, married at Quebec, in 1668, Claude Volant de St. Claude, born in 1636, and had eight children. Pierre and Claude, eldest sons, became priests. Francoise died in infancy: Marguerite married Noel le Gardeur; Francoise died in infancy; Etienne, born October 29, 1664, married in 1693 at Sorel, but seems to have had no issue. Jean Francois married Marguerite Godfrey at Montreal in 1701. Nicholas, born in 1668, married Genevieve Niel, July 30, 1696, and both died in 1703, leaving two of their five sons surviving.