AJ-043: Vimont, Journey of Jean Nicolet (1634)

              
16    EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE
NORTHWEST    [1634

household, and
fishing and trading for himself.    He
was
finally recalled, and appointed agent and
interpreter. While
in the exercise of this office, he was
delegated to make a jour-
ney to the nation called People
of the Sea,' and arrange peace
between them and the
Hurons, from whom they are distant
about three hundred
leagues westward.    He embarked in
the
Huron country,2 with seven savages; and they passed
by many
small nations, both going and returning. When
they arrived
at their destination, they fastened two
sticks in the earth,
and hung gifts thereon, so as to
relieve these tribes from the
notion of mistaking them
for enemies to be massacred. When
he was two days'
journey from    that nation, he sent one
of
those savages to bear tidings of the peace, which word
was
especially well received when they heard that it was
a Euro-
pean who carried the message; they despatched
several young
men to meet the Manitouiriniou-that is to
say, ""the wonder-
ful man."" They meet him; they escort
him, and carry all
his baggage.  He wore a grand robe of
China damask, all
strewn with flowers and birds of many
colors. No sooner
did they perceive him than the women
and children fled, at
the sight of a man who carried
thunder in both hands-for
thus they called the two
pistols that he held.    The news
of
his coming quickly spread to the places round about,
and
there assembled four or five thousand men. Each of
the
chief men made a feast for him, and at one of these
banquets
they served at least sixscore beavers. The peace
was con-
cluded; he returned to the Hurons, and some time
later to the
Three Rivers,3 where he continued his
employment as agent
and interpreter, to the great
satisfaction of both the French and
the savages, by whom
he was equally and singularly
loved.

    1 The Winnebago
Indians dwelling on the shore of Green Bay. The
French
called them ""Puants,"" a translation of their
aboriginal name, which signified
""ill-smelling or dirty
water,"" a variation of the word applied to the sea.
The
Winnebago were of Dakotan stock, and before Nicolet's
day had occupied all
of southern Wisconsin and northern
Illinois.
    2The Huron, of
Iroquoian origin, occupied the peninsula between
Lake
Erie and the southern end of Georgian Bay. The
earliest French missions were
founded in their villages
and were familiar to early westward
explorers.
    3 Three Rivers (Trois
Rivieres), on the St. Lawrence, at the mouth of
St.
Maurice River, was the third post of importance in
the colony of New France.